A Little Boy at Heart

What guy doesn't want a remote control truck? How about a gas powered truck that can go up to 45mph? Well, last month Kevin's sister Karen and her husband Mike moved to Arlington (about 45 minutes from our house) for Mike to start work at an electrical engineering firm in Fort Worth. It has been so much fun having family close by and getting together with them.

Anyway, a few years ago Karen gave Mike a gas powered remote control truck and ever since then, Kevin has been dreaming of the day he could ride his little trucks around the yard with Mike and he made that happen the day they moved in!

Kevin driving his new baby in the empty lot next to ours

Of course, sometimes you roll the truck and it dies (it doesn't like being flipped) and you have to restart it

And sometimes it takes a little more tinkering!

A 50's Girl

I've been a little blue lately. I am not going to lie, it's been a rough couple of months. You've probably noticed my lack of blogging. I promise, Kevin and I don't just sit at home and stare at each other - we do things...I've just stopped blogging about it. Call it indifference or probably more accurately, laziness, but I am kind of in a funk that I have been unable to draw myself out of.

Kevin has been great about all of this - he's been sensitive and patient (well, as patient as Kevin gets, that is) and has tried to draw me out. Well, nothing perks up a girl's mood like a present...a really BIG present.


Yesterday, while I was napping after work, Kevin went to the grocery store for me. And do you know what he brought back for me? A Dyson. He bought me a Dyson vacuum cleaner, the one I have been coveting for a loooooonnnnnngggg time - the big one with the ball, otherwise known as the DC25.

I cried. If you know anything about Kevin, you know that he is NOT prone to making big, expensive gestures like this. I won't call him cheap - just very frugal and very aware of our finances at all times (I can't sneak ANYTHING by him!).


Some of you may be thinking about how it looks for a man to give his wife a VACUUM, of all things (think Father of the Bride when Bryan MacKenzie gives his fiancee Annie Banks a blender and she freaks out and almost calls off the wedding), and the message it sends ("get back in the kitchen wench and don't come out until my dinner is ready!"), but I am stoked!

Kevin promised me (what I assumed was a pie crust promise - easily made, easily broken) that when we got a house, he would also get me a Dyson and then my happiness would be complete. Well, he has kept his promise and has made me the happiest girl ever! I can't wait to banish our old vacuum to the upstairs! I've hated it ever since we bought it and it broke so that the only way to turn the blasted thing off was to pull the plug out of the socket.

Thank you, Kevin! You're the best husband EVER!

How sexy is that ball?

Day at the Races

The Hansens invited us out for a day at the races a few weekends ago and we had so much fun! We didn't place any actual bets, but it was fun trying to figure out how to pick winning horses and rooting for our favorites. If you've never been, it is a lot of fun just to watch the beautiful horses.

St. Patrick's Day Party Pictures...At Last!

I had the greatest intentions of taking pictures of all of my carefully and meticulously planned decorations, food, etc...but it didn't happen. The party started and then was going and then I remembered to snap some photos...so here they are!

We cleared out all of our living room furniture (there isn't much anyway!)
and had seating for 50 people. My mom had sent these great St. Patty's Day dishes and tablecloths and even made cute shamrocks for my centerpieces. I bought different candle holders and candles to add to the centerpieces and accented them with cute beads and candy. I used paper goods for the place settings, but bought pretty gold chargers to make it look a little more formal.

The Jacobs, Krista Hanvey and our awesome realtor Becky Bochniak.

The Walkers, Preeces, and the Farmers

Kevin's cousin Mike Bell and his wife Jessica (live here in Dallas) and Kevin's aunt and uncle Liz and Jim (live in Tyler, Texas)

It was quite the adventure cooking and serving for 50 people, but I think it was a success
(despite the fact that my cornbread muffins were as hard as a rock!) and we can't wait for next year's St. Patty's Day bash!

No...It Didn't Just Snow in Dallas - These are Just Really Old Pictures!!

We had several "big" snow storms this year in Dallas...while the rest of the East Coast was stuck under 4 feet of snow, we were boasting our own snow fall record - 1 foot! In TEXAS!! It was really neat...and here is the evidence if you don't believe me!

This is the lake near our house

I love this red barn! It looked gorgeous covered in snow!

This is the view from our 2nd story back windows...see the barn? It's the same one in the picture above and do you know what? They filmed several episodes of Walker, Texas Ranger there...so, yeah, we practically know Chuck Norris!

Ol' Bessy

This is the only warning you'll ever get:

• Don't come stalking around our house at night or you may get shot
• Don't set off our alarm system in the middle of the night or you will be shot

You see...Kevin and I have a shot gun lovingly referred to as Ol' Bessy. It isn't fancy, but it will do the job you need it to do. We bought it for home defense two summers ago when Kevin left me for his 13 week internship - and before he left, he made sure I knew how to use it - up until a point. I never learned how to un-cock the gun. But why would I ever need to un-cock a loaded gun?

Well, one summer night the wind was really strong and knocked over some of the plants I had outside on my porch making a sort of banging, crashing noise that in my half-asleep-freaked-out-because-I-was-awoken-by-a-big-bang-noise state I interpreted as someone trying to break into my apartment. I have always had a healthy fear (okay...it borders on paranoia when I am sleeping alone) of home intruders and rapists (yeah, I know, imagine that!) that makes me extra careful whenever I am alone in and out of public. You can never be too careful.

So, back to the story. I heard the crash, jumped out of bed, grabbed the shot gun, loaded it, and expecting a big scary man to walk through my bedroom door at any moment, crouched behind the bed with the shot gun aimed at the door. With adrenaline coursing through me and my heart pounding so hard it hurt my chest, I then cocked the gun and waited. If the big scary man was going to get me, he was going to have to go through Ol' Bessy first! But he didn't come...after waiting without hardly breathing for who knows how long, I willed myself to calm down enough to call Kevin because I didn't know what to do with the loaded gun lying on my bed.

Poor Kevin...I probably gave him a heart attack! He groggily told me that I had to hold down the cocking thingy and pull the trigger - PULL THE TRIGGER!!! Crying, scared, and tired, I did what he said and it worked. After an inspection of my apartment aided by the butcher knife I kept at my bedside, I discovered that plants were to blame. And to think I could have blown a hole through the wall!

Fast forward to last night, or rather early this morning. Sleeping soundly, a loud beep, beep, beep noise coming from our alarm system panel wakes both Kevin and me up and before I can even understand what is happening, Kevin is simultaneously screaming "Get the @#$% out of our house!" and leaping to where we keep our gun, loads it, and goes off seeking our intruder with frightening intensity. Blinking and trying to process everything, I realized that our alarm was not set off (we heard beeping, not the tell-tale sirens and did not get "the call") and waited for Kevin to come back from his search.

It turns out that it was actually our smoke detector letting us know that the batteries needed to be changed, but in the middle of the night any noise that wakes you up is automatically a burglar, rapist, or murderer.

Thinking we were under attack from a sinister source, Kevin literally leapt to my protection. We heard something go "bump" in the night and he was ready to shoot to kill. If this was a test, he passed - he would have saved me from whatever was coming. I am so thankful it wasn't necessary, but there is nothing more reassuring than when you are put in a situation where action and violence is not only necessary but warranted (thank you Castle Law!), you not only have a husband ready to be the knight in shining armor, but he has a trusty "sword" (AKA our gun) he can take into battle.

Consider yourself warned :)

The Soup

Ahhh...The Soup...how I love thee! Please tell me you guys watch this show!

The Soup basically makes fun of all the crazy shows and people on TV. Joel McHale is the sarcastic host that "watches it all for you." He shows clips of reality shows, daytime talk shows, morning news shows and lots and lots of Jersey Shore!

That show is just begging to be made fun of with its overly tanned, bouffant-ed, self proclaimed "guidettes" and disgusting greasy haired guys pumped up on man-juice and roids. Like it or not, this show is part of pop culture and although I would never actually watch a full episode, I am glad I know what it is and can make fun of Snookie and The Situation with the rest of them!

He also loves to pick on Tyra Banks and both her talk show "Tyra" and "America's Next Top Model"....all I have to say is that Tyra is one vain, crazy, girl! Some of the topics for her shows are just out there! Most recently, Joel McHale made fun of one featuring 5 women supposedly born with 2 vaginas...the tag line was "5 women - 10 vaginas!"...really? Is that what you've stooped to? And, furthermore, what woman is going on TV to share that? I mean, WOW! If I had a freak 2nd vajayjay I certainly would not be on national TV talking about it with Tyra Banks of all people. And how do they find these women? Just WOW!

Moral of the story: watch The Soup on E!