Quite the Handful!

This just might be my favorite thing to do these days! I love to hold Ryan and Reece! Normally I don't hold them together but this morning it seemed that they both started fussing because they were hungry and mom was on the phone and Laura was drying her hair (a big treat these days), SO I just loaded up the boys and headed for the bottles.
I did have my first "shower" today! Reece actually tee-teed yesterday all over his face when I gave him a bath. But then today, he zapped me and himself! I was laughing pretty hard-this is something the "Reid-Girls" are going to have to get used to!
Everyone is doing great! They will see their cardiologist this week. We actually need to pray that they find some signs of heart failure in Reece. Ryan has been showing signs almost immediately, but Reece hasn't shown any yet. If he doesn't start having some heart failure, there could be damage to the lungs. I don't understand it all but that's what they tell me. Laura and I both think he has started in the last 24 hours because his breathing has changed. (We of course will leave this official diagnosis up to the doctors!)
Thought you might want to see their faces too! Reece is in the back and Ryan is in the front. Honestly, I think that's right but without checking to see who has the blue toe, I really don't know. Either way! I love them!!! They are soooo sweet! Thanks for everyone's prayers-these truly are our little miracles!

Oh, I LOVE them!! These have to be the two sweetest boys ever!! I can't believe they are finally here. What a crazy two weeks it has been-we are looking forward to Ryan and Reece finally getting to meet their little sister!
Oh, and our vote is that they have RED hair like Reid!!! Oh, how I love them!!

In honor of Leslie's blog about what annoys her, I am going to tell you a BIG annoyance of mine that happened today! (And don't worry it doesn't involve gross pictures of teeth!)


1. Why is it that if you order Water that means you aren't thirsty? Today at Quiznos, I ordered sandwich, chips, and a water. They pulled out the smallest cup! It was the super small styrofoam cup for coffee that you have maybe at a church gathering...although, the cups we use at Prestoncrest are Route 44 size compared to the one they brought out from below the countertop. Normally, I wouldn't have said anything but my throat hurt today with all the allergies blowing around and I wanted to drink a lot of water and have a cup for later at work. I finally said, "Listen, I mean, Can I have a regular sized cup?" So, she gave me a regular logo'd cup sized small and charged me $.23! How ridiculous is that!! I mean come on! At least at Taco Bueno when you ask they will just give you a large one - free of charge. Even Sonic gives you the big cups with yummy ice for free. I might just have to boycott Quizno's for a while!


2. Why do people think they can talk on the phone and get their teeth cleaned? I had a patient today that had 3 phones - one of which was one of those "Nextel" walkie-talkie type phones and it just kept ringing and dinging and making noise and he would talk every chance he got. I finally asked him, "Can you turn that off?" He leans up, picks up the phone, REPLIES back to the guy with the full "10-4" good buddy lingo, and finally sits back down for me to finish cleaning his teeth-(of which it had been 4 and 1/2 years since his last cleaning!) Please People!!! I didn't feel so bad either when he said at the end..."Man, that really hurt!" I really wasn't extra rough, but when you are moving all around, messing with your phone, and not cleaning your teeth at home anyways, it might be a little sensitive!


The good thing is that I am REALLY not bitter! :) Actually, I had a good day other than sneezing constantly all day! Oh this time of year-love the pretty flowers, budding trees, and green yards but they sure do a number on my nose!


The great thing about today was our dinner! YUMMY! My sister introduced me to the new Bertolli "Dinner for Two" meals. They are in the freezer section and take 10 minutes to prepare! IT WAS SO DELICIOUS!! We had the Shrimp and Linguine with peppers and garlic sauce! Fabulous. I had some grilled chicken left over that I tossed in and also some sundried tomatoes that I need to use up as well. It was ready in an instant and was so good. I try really hard not to make pasta too often but these are going to be kept in the freezer now for sure! It is a great back up! Brad wasn't sure on his schedule the past few nights - he has been working like a dog - and so when he called and said he was on his way, I popped it out, put in in the pan, and Viola! DINNER IS SERVED!!! (And I think they are only around $5 at Walmart!) I think I might add this to the dinners I take to people when they are sick, had a baby etc - I will make them a homemade dinner and then have this to throw in their freezer! There are LOTS of varieties-check them out on Bertolli.com!!


Ok, hopefully this blog entry ended a little more positive than it started-I didn't mean to complain! Have a great week everyone!

You Asked For It!!!

Ok! Well, many of you have asked me to post dental advice on this blog. I have hesitated to do that because basically all of my friends don't need dental advice because the all have good teeth-Trust me, couldn't be your friend if not. Anyways, lately, I have been getting THE worst patients of my career and because this office is so techno-savvy I can take pictures of patient's teeth and show them how gross they are to make them understand.
Everyone has been SO shocked that I have blogged so much this week, so I thought I would give you all a REAL shocker! If you have a weak stomach-you may not want to progress further if you can help it! The funny thing about that is that I faint at the EYE doctor and this is what I do everyday! Don't ask me to explain that one.




This is a 19 year old boy who just can't seem to remember to brush his teeth. He doesn't even brush everyday! GROSS! I have NO tolerance for this nonsense and I told him that too!! You can prevent this plaque from forming on your teeth just by brushing for 2 minutes everyday!
I mean SERIOUSLY!! This is the worst kind of patient for me-nasty, nasty! We call this "Fuzzy Sweater Mouth"



This is a 55 year old man who hasn't been to the dentist in over 25 years. He had a dentist stick a needle through his cheek or lip or something and feared the dentist so bad that he just never went. The first picture is the day I first saw him. The second picture is after 2 appts that were 3 hours long each. I cleaned his right side at one appt and his left side at another. I thought he was going to have a stroke in my chair-you should have seen this 400 lb man hanging over my chair all hooked up to the Nitrous (laughing gas), blood pressure cuff taking his BP every 3 minutes, and headphones. And then there was me, the little hygienist that could hardly even wrap my arms around the man to clean his teeth. It was EXHAUSTING! Now do you see why I don't blog daily-my arms are too tired after work!

Thankfully, many of us will not have to experience this problem due to the MANY advances in dentistry while we were young. Thank goodness for sealants. This is a typical broken tooth/filling. Those old silver fillings start to break down and cause cracks in your teeth. Eventually, if the crack gets to large before you replace the filling with another filling or a crown, your tooth will break! Bummer. So, if your dentist tells you that you need to get a crown because of a crack or that you have some older silver fillings to replace, Just Do It!! Don't let this happen-it is way more involved!

I hope I didn't gross too many of you out. I suggest scheduling your 6 month hygiene visit today if you are overdue! Hahaha...Have a great day-Tomorrow's FRIDAY!!! Yippee!!!

The Things I Miss While at Work!

Abby: The original Princess! In "Princess Heaven" all dressed up~she is just going to burst!

Reid: The sweet, oblivious princess: "What is going on here? My belly is way too full of Chick-fil-A to be wearing this get up!"

Mallory: The tough princess thinking that she is ready to get up and defeat the evil stepmother.

Busy, Bored, and Babysitting-Nothing New!

Dropping off the face of the blogging world is pretty easy to do~It's getting back in the mode of writing that is hard. The problem is that nothing too exciting has been going on here in the last month and a half. We certainly have been busy! Seems like there is always something keeping our calendars full. I have been a part of a fun bible study-mentoring-cooking class once a week. There are just 10 of us and 6 mentors who teach us some delicious recipes, have a great bible study on being a better Christian woman, and then we dine on the amazing food that two of the mentors have made. It is like going to III Forks every Thursday night~especially because the house we have it at is AMAZING! It is a little touch of heaven each week. Sometimes we have to laugh at the generational differences but overall it has been great getting to know these women. (I will be going on a diet after it's over though!!)

Brad and I both got a TERRIBLE stomach virus last week. Brad came down with it on Sunday and I was SHOCKED because he NEVER gets stomach problems. I was so impressed that he got it and I didn't! Until Monday morning!!!! I came down with it 10 times worse than Brad and didn't go to work for 3 days! If I had to miss 3 days sure wish I had been on the beach somewhere!

Once we do get a free moment though we don't know what to do. Yesterday I was so bored because I actually had some free time to myself. I did end up getting quite a bit done though which was nice and has made Sunday afternoon very relaxing!

Tonight Reid gets to spend the night with us! Very excited about that! I just love her little expressions-always curious and hilarious. Seems since we have been sick we haven't played with our nieces in a while! I miss them-we got to love on Emily at church this morning and she is getting so active-she runs a close second to Reid on the noise making! She is so cute and has the funniest giggle. Well, there's my update! Sorry so boring-I will try to come up with some fabulous and outrageous stories soon! Until next month????

Happy Valentine's Day!!

What a fun day-my dentist office rents out a local skating rink and invites all the kid patients to attend a skating party! My niece is a patient and so she couldn't wait to go to "MeMe's Skating Party". I swore I wasn't going to skate but when she looked up at me with those big blue eyes, what was I to do when she asked me where my skates were???
She did so great-we skated on the carpet for quite some time actually and finally made it out on the rink. You know how skating (especially if you aren't any good) makes you feel a little wobbly and unsteady? Well, every time this would happen to Abby, she would get so mad, throw her fists down, and say, "MeMe, STOP TRIPPING ME!!" I couldn't stop laughing each time she said this because she honestly thought I was tripping her and making her fall. Thankfully, I always had her by the arm and so if and when she did fall, it was VERY lightly! We had SOOO much fun-even though I don't think that we even made 1 full lap around the rink! Oh well, maybe next Valentine's Day!!

What Makes My World Go 'Round...

I have always felt that my life has been recorded through music. Name a situation and I can name a song that takes me to that part of my life. I can remember dancing to "Elvira" on the record player growing up. Laura & Amy & I used to have a whole dance choreographed to "Walk Like an Egyptian". Just the other day, Neil Diamond was on Oprah singing "They're Coming to America" and instantly I rushed back to long road trips in the suburban and watching Laura in Drill Team. I can't tell you how hyper I was dancing around the house. I will never forget the road trip to California with Amy & Brian listening to Grease and Garth Brooks the whole way and back. Mariah Carey's X-mas CD can be played YEAR round at my house and Christina Aguilera's "Come On Over" is a song that when I hear it-I just can't sit still. Even Jessica Andrew's song, "Who I Am", gave Laura & I confidence when we didn't seem to have any. This post could go on and on...I have NO musical talent but I seem to love all kinds of music...Hearing a good song or listening to a great cd can bring me out of any funk-I can dance for hours, enjoy sunny weather, or let tears fall. I can be moved so much just by our incredible worship at church and the songs we sing. All of that to say that I have found my song for "now". The words hit me like a ton of bricks when I listened to them...It has brought me a little peace and solace in the recent unsteadiness. To listen go to http://aaronshust.com and go to the "listen" tab. It is an awesome song!

My Savior, My God by Aaron Shust

I am not skilled to understand
What God has willed, what God has planned
I only know at His right hand
Stands one who is my Savior

I take Him at His word and deed
Christ died to save me, this I read
And in my heart I find a need
Of Him to be my Savior

That He would leave His place on High
And come for sinful man to die
You count it strange, so once did I
Before I knew my Savior

My Savior loves, my Savior lives,
My Savior's always there for me
My God: He was, My God: He is
My God is always gonna be

Yes, living, dying let me bring
My strength, my solace from this spring:
That He who lives to be my King,
Once died to be my Savior

A Reason to Rejoice

After being so sad the last few weeks, I just wanted to post something happy-if not for myself-for everyone else who has had a bummer of time lately...
One of my best friends, Mallory, delivered a healthy baby girl today! Audrey Beth came into this world at 4:59pm weighing 6 lbs 15 ounces and 19 and 1/4 long! I get to see her tomorrow after work and I can't wait. It is amazing what joy a little baby can bring. I am so glad that God brought her safely to her parents and big brother! What an answered prayer and a source of hope!

My Fours...

Four Jobs:
1. File Clerk at Hamilton Title (I think I was like 15 and it was some temp work for 2 weeks)
2. Babysitting Age 12 thru the present - my favorite! I love all of my nieces and friends kids!
3. Dental Girl-Jeff Duncum gave me my first real job in a dental office the summer in between my two years of hygiene school. Made some incredible friendships and met Brad thru it!!! Thanks Jeff!! Now I have been a hygienist for almost 5 years!! CrAzY!!
4. Independent Consultant for Arbonne! This job is lots of fun-I just want more time to work on it!

Four Movies:
1. Father of the Bride
2. 13 Going On 30
3. Life is Beautiful
4. Count of Monte Cristo - this is about the ONLY movie Brad will watch with me-he loves it!

Four Books:
1. Gift of an Angel - my favorite book to give as a gift
2. Anything Nicholas Sparks
3. ummm...out of books...People Magazine
4. Kraft Foods Magazine - LOVE it!!

Four Places I've Lived...I have basically lived here all my life but I will get creative...
1. Dallas/Richardson-born and raised
2. Abilene, TX for 3 years at ACU
3. Wichita Falls, TX for 2 years for hygiene school-I loved"Wipitar"
4. Plano, TX and I NEVER want to leave this area-not a mover; don't want to become one!

Four TV Shows:
1. General Hospital (I should be watching it now but I am blogging instead)
2. Grey's Anatomy
3. Alias when it was good-now I love the reruns.
4. LOST

Four Vacations/Travel Destinations:
1. Honduras
2. Guatemala
3. Lithuania
4. Hawaii-Oahu, Maui, Kauai (Keep in mind I STILL haven't even been to Austin, TX!!!)

Four Websites I Visit Daily:
1. Hotmail
2. Arbonne email site
3. My blog:I keep thinking if I keep looking at it-it will have written itself!!! (hasn't yet)
4. Google - I'm always looking for something

Four Favorite Foods:
1. Pizza
2. Raspberry Italian Cream Sodas
3. Seafood - cooked the BEST salmon the other night...I will post the "recipe".
4. ICE CREAM!!

Four Places I'd Rather Be:
1. On a Massage table
2. Getting a Manicure
3. On a date with Brad
4. Back in Maui with my whole family doing any of the previous three and pretending that the last three weeks were just an unpleasant dream.

Four Prayers: (I'm adding this one...)
1. For the Poes and their move, the adjustments, the business, living with inlaws, etc
2. For the Fouts and their move, Lane's job, the kids preschool, friends and a church for them
3. For all my friends that are pregnant: Mall, Tiff, Alyssa, Wendy, Lauren, (and any others I am forgetting)
4. For Laura, Todd, and their two precious babies. For definitive answers, strength, wisdom, safety, love, and comfort!

Nothing like a "list" to get me out of the blogging funk! Like Kristen, my heart has been so heavy lately-too much sadness, change, and uncertainty. Sounds like so many people are feeling that lately. Oh to the year ahead!

Craziest Week Ever

So much for vacation! Whew-what a week to come back to...Brad and I were both in bed, lights out, sleep sound on at 8:38 last night!!!! I don't remember a week that was so busy and so tired afterwards! Thankfully it was a REALLY fun week going something like this...
Sunday: Spent the day shopping and getting ready for a baby shower at my house...flowers, food, arranging, setting up...went to bed late...

Monday: Had a shower for one of my best friends-Mallory-we had an awesome turnout, she got the most precious gifts, and everyone seemed to enjoy it! She is due on Valentines Day and so we did the whole shower with hearts and red and pink. We had lots of fun making Strawberry Italian Sodas and they were delish! Thanks Tiff for that great idea!!! Late again to bed...

Tuesday: My friend Sharon wanted to have an Arbonne party for me with all her work friends. There was a great turnout and they all came to the party already wanting to buy products because my friend and her daughter have had such awesome results! Thanks Sharon and Allison!! Didn't get to bed until midnight (SO late for me)

Wednesday: Woke up and found out that our computer had crashed! TERRIBLE-we lost everything on our hard drive and hadn't backed up in a long time! BACK UP YOUR COMPUTER RIGHT NOW BEFORE YOU READ ANY FURTHER!!! :)
Went to Bible Study - Brad stayed up forever trying to fix the 'puter with no luck...

Thursday: Finally errands get done...stay up late getting things ready to prepare for Saturday because I won't be home until late Friday night...

Friday: At work at 6:30 AM, work until 3:30, pick up Brad and go to Amy's house. She is another friend that I just love! She is having a baby boy in two weeks and I helped her faux clouds in the nursery and painted "Cale" on the wall. She did the Pottery Barn Airplane bedding and so "hopefully" the name looks like the airplanes were doing some sky-writing. We had such a great time - the guys went to the driving range, brought home some awesome pizza, and we got home around 11pm. Once home, spent the next hour making dessert and breakfast casserole...finally fell into bed after midnight...missed Laura's b-day party and Bunko...

Saturday: Up at 7 am - Mallory, Macy, and Allie came over for an Arbonne meeting-we had a great metting focusing on our plans for this year! We are all ready to take our business to the next level and it is so much fun to work with some of my best friends! We planned to go to our National Training Conf in April in St. Louis! Can't wait...Missed Lucy's party...
1 pm: Helped hostess a shower for another good friend having a baby! Another fun time and good food! She got cute little girl things, too.
4 pm: Home - Brad had just put Reid down for her nap-we were babysitting our niece for the night because it was Laura's birthday. She was so sleepy-we had to wake her up from her nap at 5:30. Took her to Chili's-she was so good! Got home, gave her a bath, in bed easily, and we were right behind her! Finally the week was done and we were in bed!!

Today we were VERY lazy! Up at 6:00 am, went to church, lunch at Laura and Todd's because Reid fell asleep in our car on the way to the restaurant, I took over a 2 hour nap, Brad slept during football, and we had "internet" church tonight with Justin, Tiff, and Lucy! We FINALLY got some much needed rain and it was a great day! I feel totally rested and recharged-ready for the week ahead...luckily just work!!
Well, I hope everyone has a GREAT week that isn't as busy! Mine isn't going to be :)

Packing Up Is Even Harder To Do

Here is part of our dessert from tonight: It is this special cream sauce with brown sugar and chocolate sauce-the waiter made each of us a different picture. Then we dipped flaming strawberries in it! OH MY - It was SOOO good!
We've come to our last night in Maui! It was such a fun day though laying by the pool and soaking in the sun. We had a great time at dinner too! We went to Nick's where Laura and Todd had their rehearsal dinner. It was awesome-the food is the best and their service is unbelievable. The staff moves around that restaurant in one fluid motion-quite impressive. It has been a great trip! I am ready to get home to my own bed and actually sleep beside Brad-even with his snoring and talking. (We have been in the room with 2 double beds-which is actually a treat for me for a couple of nights to sleep alone, but like I said, I'm ready to be in our own bed.) No matter what though, any bed is going to feel great when we get home on Thursday morning at 5:30am!! Yikes...

A Hula, Hula, Hula Birthday!

HAPPY 60th BIRTHDAY, BOB~BOB!!!!! Well, here's the reason we are here-my dad's birthday. Although technically it was the 2nd, we chose tonight to celebrate. We had an AWESOME sunset dinner at the Hula Grill-one of our favorites, followed by a Hula Show in the Whaler's Village Shopping Center, ended with Hula Pie from Leilani's! The night couldn't have been better.

We have all loved writing tributes to our hubbies and best friends, but tonight is all for Bob-Bob-the greatest dad in the world...
I have so many favorite memories with Dad that this blog would take a year to write, but here's some of his best qualities and favorite memories...
1. He's THE most patient man I know-guess you learn this with 1 wife, 3 daughters, and 3 granddaughters!
2. I could talk to Dad forever and he always gave his undivided attention. (These talks were usually over Long John Silvers and Ice Cream.)
3. Dad was also the one that would tuck us in at night. He would get down on his knees and we would say our prayers. He and I used to get in SO much trouble because he would also read me "Oh Say Can You Say" by Dr. Suess. He would read this book of tongue twisters BACKWARDS making me laugh so hard that I would break into an asthma attack - that's when Mom had to break up the party!
4. He is so generous in all aspects of his life. He would go to any lengths to help anyone-not just his family.
5. He is a man of his word whether in business, with family, or with friends.
6. He has EXTREME will power-especially when it comes to dieting! Once he started a "Sugarless Delight Frozen Yogurt Diet" and only ate that!?!? In the last few months, he has stopped eating sugar and salt and has dropped 40 pounds-his clothes are hanging off.
7. I love that when he walked each one of his daughters down the aisle, he had his "quiverring" lip-His lip quivers when he is trying not to cry.
8. I love that his face can turn beat red when he laughs really hard.
9. Every Saturday night Mom would give us our baths and then Dad would dry our hair-most of the time while watching HeeHaw and eating tangerines. He always gave us a "cowlick" down the middle of our hair that drove us crazy.
10. When he wanted to wake you up in the morning, he would bust in and start singing "Oh What a Beautiful Morning" - again driving us crazy.
11. Almost every night, Dad and I would play PacMan and whoever lost had to dip the ice cream-seems he always dipped even if I lost.
12. Dad's motto that we hated growing up, but have learned to actually live by: Don't let other people control your emotions!" Man, that was the WORST when he would say that, but man, is it true and do we try to apply it!
13. He is a man of God-trustworthy, honest, spiritual, and to me-the definition of wise.

Again, I could write a novel and probably already did according to most of you, but he really is the greatest and I couldn't have asked for a better father. I love you, Dad! Happy Birthday!

My Three Girls

What can I say-I love these three! For X-mas this year, we gave gift cards to Roy's with an attachment for free Hawaiian babysitting! So, tonight is Date Night for Laura and Todd, Amy and Brian, and Mom and Dad. They are off to Roy's and we are here at the house with the girls!! We had to DRAG Mal and Abby out of their beds because they were SO sleepy from swimming all day. We finally enticed Abby out with an agreement that we would watch "Little Mermaid II"- She is a princess fanatic. When the movie started, Mal said, "MeMe, we need some popcorn!" and Abby followed that with, "Yeah, and some icecream!" They had also just told me that they weren't hungry for any dinner yet-but magically they were ready for popcorn and icecream-girls after my own heart. Reid was so content tonight just playing with Baby Tad! She was super cuddly too! On a different note-you know vacation is great when you don't know what day it is-I called my friend, Amy, today because I wanted to know how her shower went today-she just laughed and said, "Have you lost track of your days already?" The shower is tomorrow (Sat) and I was thinking about her all day wondering if she had fun! What a dork! Have a great weekend! Enjoy whatever day you think it is!! Here's some more pictures...

Waking Up Is Hard To Do

Well, I hate to say it - but this is what we have been waking up to the past two mornings! WOW! It is so beautiful here and the view is spectacular! We are up on the mountain a little bit making the whole scene gorgeous. It is peak "Whale Watching" season and so we are keeping our eyes peeled for some big splashes! Mallory is learning to look thru binoculars-although I'm not quite sure what she is "seeing". The boys are off playing golf right now and we are staying here at the house getting ready to hop in the pool. We taught Mal and Abby how to "lay out" yesterday but they enjoyed Uncle Todd and his "Cannon Ball" splashes much better! So far, only Mal has fallen in the pool-saved by Uncle Brad! He says that makes 2 life-saving rescues for him and Mal in her two short years of life! (Remember the seizure story?) Reid loves to get in the water-it was a little chilly yesterday so we hung out in the hot tub b/c it was a little warmer than the big pool. She splashed and splashed wearing herself out! We are having so much fun! We ended the evening with a YUMMY dinner at Bubba Gumps! If you haven't been to one of their restauants, they are so fun! We knew all the trivia about the movie and won several "prizes"!
I'll post more pictures later-Brad's got the camera at the golf course!

Thankful For Just the Two of Us!

Happy New Year!!! I feel like we have so much to be thankful for from 2005! As the year began, we were in the midst of craziness! We had a precious, new niece, Reid; Brad had just made a major career change: from the life in corporate America as a Financial Analyst to the stresses of starting his own business in Insurance; and we were in the emotional roller coaster of fertility treatments!


When I think back over this last year, I am so grateful for the way things turned out with each situation! Brad is doing awesome in insurance-I have never seen him happier about work and what he does. He is so driven and motivated and loves being able to help people. It is a big change from sitting behind a computer all day. I am so proud of him and all that he has accomplished this first year and never worry that he won't be successful!


After many months of fertility treatments, our doctor finally told us that InVitro needed to be our only option for my safety and the safety of any babies we might conceive. This started my year off with a very overwelming sense of sadness, fear, disappointment, and longing. Because our insurance doesn't cover the cost of InVitro, we needed to start some serious savings-we didn't want to wipe out everything we had just on that and not have anything else left-making me go back to work while there were twins or triplets at home...We put several time lines and goal dates and everytime we approached one-we continued to push it back a few more months.

In the meantime, I started a new job with Dr. Weyandt and have fallen in love with working again. Now, I am not ready in the least to do the InVitro and have decided not to put any type of time frame on it. I am amazed at the patience God has given me and the peace He has placed in my heart about it all. This has been a true year of growth in that respect. I wouldn't change the year we have had together and I am so thankful that it is still just the 2 of us! I am thrilled we are going to Hawaii and only have to pack 2 small bags (and golf clubs), and not all the carseats, strollers, etc! I laugh as I see all my sisters have to pack up!!!

So, to 2006! Whatever this year may hold~Who knows!? I resolve to continue to keep saving for when we are "ready"and continue to allow God to bless me and fill me with the love and peace He did in 2005. And for now, it is time to fill my suitcase with swimsuits and shorts and head to the beach! Aloha ~ I'll update from the beach!!

Christmas...

What a great Christmas!! It all seemed like a whirlwind over Christmas Weekend, but we had a great time! Friday night and Saturday morning we were with my family! After I told you all about our traditions, we ended up changing plans.

We still had seafood, we just went out for it and then we went and saw a little Christmas village in town. The girls loved it!
We opened our pajamas, the boys played poker, and all the girls hit the sack! We woke up and had our traditional breakfast and presents and then we ran out the door to go to meet Brad's Family!
We had a lot of fun with them and spent the rest of Saturday and all day Sunday with them-presents, good food, and movies occupied the weekend right up! I love the holidays and getting to spend time with family!! It was fun to have little Emily (Niece #4) at Christmas this year! Our families are only going to be getting bigger! I am still waiting to know when my sisters are each going to have more!!

Monday is was back to work for me!! YUCK-but it was good to get in a week of work because as of Wednesday, we will all be in MAUI!!! ALOHA!!! We are so pumped and ready for a long vacation!!

My Merry Christmas List!!

Why I love Amber Smith...She gave me something to Blog about after about a month of not blogging...man, we have just been CrAzY busy these days! But here goes...I love these lists!!!

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate: Umm, both actually, my NEW favorite thing is "Land O Lakes Cinnamon Hot Cocoa (available at your neighborhood grocery store) - It is SOOOO delicious! But you all know my LOVE for Egg Nog (Leslie) and I just had some left-over Peppermint-Eggnog Punch from a shower I had last week-DELISH because it has ice cream in it-what's not to love there???

2. Santa always wrapped presents but I am beginning to be a BIG fan of the NOT wrapping-that makes such good sense-however, I would have been out of a job there in college on X-mas break. One year my mom actually stuck me in the cold garage with a long folding table and had me wrap all the gifts! Burrrr!!! HaHa-I LOVE wrapping - the prettier I can make the bows the better!

3. ONLY, ONLY white lights for the tree/house! Because Brad wouldn't spend the extra dough for the pre-lit tree, I decided to "pre-lit" my own tree-now every year we just struggle it out of the box, fluff, and plug it in! What a miracle-it was just that first year that killed me to wrap a 10 Ft tree with 1200 lights!

4. I don't hang mistletoe but I have actually gone to the florist before to get some but the didn't have any-very disappointing.

5. We always decorate the weekend of Thanksgiving-this year we were babysitting my niece, Reid for the weekend and when she woke up from her nap the tree was all done and she looked up and then down and then up again and then got the biggest smile on her face-it was priceless!

6. My favorite Holiday meal is Christmas Eve at my parents house. As tradition holds it, we always have a huge Lobster dinner with salad, bread, lobster, and even sometimes crab legs! I LOVE this night most of all...I also love Christmas morning breakfast and "shrimp dip" another family favorite!!!

7. My most Favorite holiday memories include...unwrapping our Christmas pajamas each Christmas Eve, getting my Cabbage Patch Kid (I cried because mine had short blond hair like me and my sisters dolls had long hair-there started my obsession with wanting long hair-still don't have it though) I also remember the long hours of decorating the house from when I was younger. We put Christmas carols on the record player (complete with the "Chipmunks Christmas" and danced around the house decorating) We still do this every year-we just use the CD player or Dish Network Satelite Music Channel!!

8. I don't ever remember "knowing the truth about Santa" we used to sneak into my parents room and watch them put out gifts but I always thought Santa came after that. Dad used to set our burglar alarm and tell us if we came out of the hallway of our bedrooms it would set the alarm off-I knew it really worked like that and was scared to death that I would scare Santa away if the sirens were going off-so I never got out of bed!

9. We only were allowed to open one gift on Christmas Eve:it was always matching pajamas for us-we still hold that tradition from year to year and it is my favorite one!!!! We have even recruited the boys and grandkids in the tradition too.

10. Santa always got Chocolate chip cookies but I don't remember doing that very much...we do it more now as adults for my dad than anything.

11. Snow-I think it is beautiful and I like to look at it-sitting by the fireplace, drinking hot cocoa, wrapped in a blanket with flannel pj's on, etc...I really don't like to be cold most of all but if I am bundled up warm, I love the snow.

12. I cannot ice skate but I do have a good memory of a "father-daughter date to go skating at the old PrestonWood Mall. We weren't very good and we even got in free because they were closing soon, but it is a special memory with my dad.

13. Wow, my favorite gift...Brad proposed on Christmas night - the ring was in my stocking from his parents! I opened the last little gift tucked away at the bottom and it was a little box that I thought was like a paper weight-when I held it up to show Brad the top popped off and WOW there was a beautiful ring! He dropped on one knee, asked me to marry him, and I said yes! I was so happy-I didn't cry and he always gives me a hard time about that-I was just too happy to cry!

14. The most important thing about Christmas for me is being with my family and upholding our traditions. Our family only really has Christmas traditions : we ALL spend the night at my parents, eat our lobster dinner, open our pj's, play games in our pj's (Mexican Train, Uno, Farkel), wake up have Christmas morning, and have Christmas breakfast which is my mom's awesome breakfast casserole, cinnamon rolls, and orange breakfast punch! I just love when my whole family is together!

15. My favorite holiday dessert is Brickle Blonde Brownies (although I have been making them thru-out the year these days) and my mom's Peppermint Ice Cream Pie. My sister Amy and I used to have Vanilla Ice Cream and Ginger Ale every New Years Eve we were together-that is Yummy too!

16. I think I have mentioned all of my favorite traditions...I do have a new tradition that started this year...I went to the PrestonWood Baptist Christmas show and it was UNBELIEVABLE!! It was so beautiful and moving...I loved the "holiday festivities" at the beginning and was so touched by the story of Christ in the second half. It will move you to tears as Christ is crucified and then is raised-Angels are flying above Him and a 500 member choir is singing and it is just an amazing glimpse of Heaven. It was spectacular!!!

17. My tree topper is a big bow with funky beaded spirals spraying out-a little "untraditional" maybe but I love it.

18. I love giving gifts-especially when I know it is something they have wanted or something that is creative!

19. My favorite Christmas Carol: that is honestly IMPOSSIBLE for me to choose BUT here is a list of my faves...
Faith Hill's "Where Are You Christmas?" from the Grinch
TransSiberian Orchestra "This Night" (Cannon in D version-not really sure if that is the title)
Christmas CDs from Mariah Carey, SheDaisy, Aaron Neville, Kenny G, Celine Dion...Sirius Music Channel 6002 or XM Satelite Channel 23... the list goes on and on...I absolutely LOVE Christmas music...thankfully Brad does too - or he might go NUTS this time of year!! You should hear him singing to the SheDaisy CD!!!

20. Candy Canes...ummm, impartial...don't love 'em, don't hate 'em. I DO like peppermint flavored things though...I just wouldn't go sit and eat a candy cane!

Thanks to Amber for helping my in my busy, blogging slump! As y'all can tell I love the holidays and now some of you may know why! Hope everyone has a wonderful and safe holiday filled with everything you love and enjoy about the season. I am thankful that our Savior was born and that we can celebrate his birth! That is the best tradition of all! Merry Christmas!

My Thankful List!

I have really enjoyed reading everyone's lists of what they are thankful for over the last few days-now it's my turn...

I am thankful ...

1. That I have a husband who is my best friend, tidy roommate, and faithful man of prayer! (He is also manly enough to play "Pretty, Pretty Princess" with his nieces!)

2. That my immediate family is all within 20 minutes or less of each other. There is nothing like being able to meet for burgers at JCs every weekend.

3. That I have the best 2 sisters anyone could ever ask for-I love how we are getting closer and closer as we "grow up".

4. That I have 4 beautiful nieces-all healthy and happy-that I get to see whenever I want-and that each have a different name for me-MaMere (Abby), MeMe (Mallory), MerMer (Reid-although I really think she is saying a form of "mama" but I am going to take it anyways), and little Emily can't say anything yet but Chad and Allie call me "Aunt Meredith"

5. For a two wonderful dentist offices to work in each day-Today, one dentist hired the high school band to come play the UT fight songs b/c she is a longhorn and the other dentist is an Aggie! It was crazy trying to clean teeth with "The Eyes of Texas" being pounded out down the halls. When was the last time you had a pep rally during your cleaning?

6. For an incredible church family with an amazing small group that I know continually prays for one another.

7. Being able to have a relationship with God and the avenue of prayer.

8. Being 27 and having all 4 of my grandparents still living-my Daddy Bill is 92 years old, still walks 3 miles a day, and can eat a horse and still be as skinny as a string bean.

9. That my family has not had to endure any sort of tragedy yet-although I know when we do we will be strong enough to face it together.

10. For gift certificates for pedicures-Thanks Tiff-my toes were in need of some attention!

11. For the patience God has given me regarding having a baby-I know He will bless us in His time-and I am thankful that since we don't have kids yet we are able to love on our nieces and so many of our friends kids-I am thankful that He is preparing us daily and teaching us to rely on Him.


Now for my fun things I am thankful for:

Blue Bell Ice Cream
Electric Blankets (Brad doesn't want to use the heater)
Free Scrubs for work
Grocery Coupons
Heated Seats
Velour jogging suits in brown, black, light blue, and turquoise
Gym memberships
Blogging & Email
Arbonne sea salt scrubs
Peanut Butter
My 45 minutes a day to watch General Hospital
Christmas Decorations and Christmas Music

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! Hope everyone has a safe and happy weekend with family!!

Surgeries, Surgeries, and More Surgeries

Let me tell you about the day...now this is craziness...let's start out with the week...Monday, my boss' s little 9 month old had his 3rd surgery-a successful one thank goodness! So, she was going to be out the whole week. Her partner, who normally only works one day a week, said she would work all week except Wednesday. Monday rolled by, Tuesday came and went, and then Wednesday hit. She again wasn't planning on working so we saw patients in the morning and then scheduled a computer training for the afternoon-very productive day. We went to lunch at 11 and as we are sitting there, by boss calls and says they are going home, baby Carson is doing great and is going from ICU to home! Great! She even stopped by the bakery on her way and dropped off some goodies to have for our training-how awesome is she to think about that on the way home from the hospital?!?!

Anyways, we get back and her partner called and said she is on her way to College Station to take care of her sick mom and possibly won't be back for work on Thurdsay-which would be a crisis because we had a lot of new patients that have to be seen by the dentist by law. So, we frantically call our boss, tell her the situation, and she says she will come in for Thursday. Whew!

Then, Thursday came:Dun, Dun Dunnnn!!! She walks in this morning and into our staff meeting and told us that her baby's stitches had come out last night on one side and that he was probably going to have to go back into surgery this afternoon! The problem came when her partner called and said, "My mom is in the ER being admitted for something, and my dad is upstairs in surgery for kidney stones!" OH MY! To make matters worse, my boss's husband was also scheduled to have surgery on his toe THIS afternoon! I mean seriously, have you ever heard of so many people having surgery? Thankfully, little Carson was ok and he did not need to go back into surgery-we managed the day, Dr. W bought us lunch at Chili's, and even got done about 2 hours early since we had moved so many patients up! It was a whirlwind of a week!

I am thankful though that everyone's surgeries went well and hopefully that is the end of them! Like so many other blogs, pray for the family at our church that lost their little 11 month old baby girl! She was 2 weeks apart from my niece and my sister has been teaching her in craddle roll this quarter. I just don't know how they are dealing-it crushes me to think of losing my precious niece-much less a daughter.

I pray everyone has a safe and fun weekend! Time to eat less so you are hungry for turkey!