4th of July - LBJ Lake

To celebrate 4th of July we went with a group of our closest friends to LBJ Lake. We had a blast!!!! Great friends, great weather, great food, and A LOT of FUN!!!! I'm pretty sure we did it all in one weekend - we wake boarded, surfed, tubed, played volleyball, played wiffle ball (some glass might have been broken, but no one was hurt!), went to church, got too much sun, and ate a lot!! It has been extremely hard to get back to work this week, but it was all worth it. We are so blessed with this group of friends that we not only get to have fun with but grow in the Lord, challenge each other, and hold each other accountable. We feel so honored to call each person a friend and hope that these friendships last a lifetime! This will be a picture overload because our professional photographer, Amy, took some great pics (this is just a few of the 600 that she took!!!).

The group (minus two) waiting on the fireworks

Sam and I (supporting our Texas teams!)
Amy & I being launched from the banana
(must always hold the nose!!!)

Amy & I - Perfect form!!!

Me surfing

(I was never able to let go and just let the wave take me; next time!)

Sam - wake boarding

Amy, Amber, and I

This is the life!!!

Amy & I

Me - wake boarding

Trent getting some air!!!

Jeremy getting some water

(he really was very good for his first time!)

Hanging on!!!

The Girls - Diana, Amber, Mandy, Amy, and Hillary

(t-shirts and pants = too much sun the day before!)

Sessler's, Hadley's, & Maenius' enjoying the fireworks

Jeremy, Brandon, & Sam
attempting the banana Jeremy & Brandon
Brandon

Having a drink while surfing!

The Whole Group

Montoyas', Hadley's, Sessler's, Maenius', & Calahan's

The guys before golf

(I can't remember which two-some won)

Chilling!

Four Years Ago

Four years ago today I married my best friend. Four years ago today I was preparing to become a wife. Four years ago today I was stepping into the new life we would begin. Four years ago today I would never have been able to know how blessed I would truly be by the man God gave to me. The song below started playing on the radio not to long ago and while we were celebrating our anniversary last weekend it began to play in the car and the words could not be truer. God truly did give Sam to me and has created him to be the man that I need. The Lord speaks to me and blesses me daily through the man I call my husband and my heart swells just trying to express how much I love Sam. So Happy 4th Anniversary Sam, may the next 4 and next 40 more years be as blessed as the last 4 have been! Thank you for being you and for loving me unconditionally!

Dave Barnes - God Gave Me You (2010 Video & Lyrics)

Like I said above we celebrated our anniversary this past weekend. We changed things up a bit from the past and stayed at a bread and breakfast called Garden Manor. The picture below is the place that we stayed and we really enjoyed it. The grounds were gorgeous and so relaxing, so we were really able to take time to just sit and reflect on our relationship. We had such a great weekend and we really enjoyed getting to shut the world out and just concentrate on us!!!

Project

Me and Pops built a little arbor for my grapevines, and just for fun as well. I found a picture of a prototype that I liked and modified it a bit. I cut cedar to the measurements that I wanted and then stained the wood. Then it worked out that my parents came into town a couple of weeks ago, so it was a perfect opportunity to have a project to do with my dad. Plus I was able to use "the master's skills" in case I screwed something up very badly. :)

PS we did hit a sprinkler line :/ That was fun...

Here is the picture I went by:

Cut to Size:

Stained and assembled:

Installed and braced until the concrete dries:

Yay!!

Next step is to add some flagstone underneath or some type of pavers.

The flowers are blooming in the garden as well. Makes it very enjoyable back there (I'm an old man).

Mia tured ONE!!!

Thanks Sam for picking up my slack on blogging!!! Maybe your blogging will be more entertaining for any male readers that we might have!!! I am a bit delayed on posting this, but on May 15th we celebrated our niece, Mia, turning ONE!!!! It was such a special and day meant so much more to her mom and dad and all of us than just a birthday party!!! Her mom Jennifer put together the most precious Candy Shop party for Mia. She pulled out all the stops: life-size Candy land, candy bar, candy necklace making station, and lots and lots of food and goodies. Go check out her site for more pictures and details!!! Mia's cake was my very first 1st birthday cake and although she didn't dig in and attack the cake, I was honored to make it for her!!! We love this little girl more than she could ever know and are so blessed to be apart of her life. Here are some pics of the big day and of the goodies I made for the party!!!

The Birthday Girl!!!

Mom, Dad, and Mia
King Kandy, Jennifer, Mia, and Princess Lolli

Me and King Kandy

The Cake!

Singing Happy Birthday

The rest of the Goodies

Lemon Cake Lollipops

Red Velvet Cake Lollipops

"Almost" Perfect Game

Last night, in front of a hometown crowd in the Motor City, Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga was robbed of a perfect game. With two down in the top of the ninth, the 28-year-old Venezuelan hustled to first base to catch Miguel Cabrera’s throw that should have sealed the first perfect game in Detroit Tigers history. But umpire Jim Joyce called Cleveland’s Jason Donald safe and Comerica Park erupted in boos and shouts that carried on through the next batter and final out.

After the game, Joyce apologized, saying, “I did not get the call correct ... I just cost that kid a perfect game.” Though Galarraga was graceful, telling reporters, “Nobody’s perfect,” apologies won’t give Galarraga his perfect game back. But a reversal of the call by Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig could. With the exception of questionable home runs, there is no instant replay in baseball. So, despite Joyce’s repentance, the game still stands as a one-hit shutout.

It wouldn’t be the first reversal in baseball history. On July, 24, 1983, George Brett came to the plate with his Kansas City Royals trailing the New York Yankees 4-3 in the top of the ninth. Brett knocked a two-run home run out of the park to give the Royals the 5-4 lead. But Yankees manager Billy Martin requested that Brett’s bat be examined. Rookie umpire Tim McClelland ruled that Brett’s bat, slathered with pine tar, exceeded the rule that “a bat may not be covered by such a substance more than 18 inches from the tip of the handle.” Brett was ruled out, the home run nullified, and the Yankees notched another W.

The Royals protested the call and American League President Lee MacPhail overruled McClelland’s decision, restoring Brett’s game-winning home run, and ordered the game be resumed with two out in the top of the ninth and the Royals in the lead 5-4. Joyce doesn’t want to have this asterisk next to his name for the rest of his career and Galarraga certainly doesn’t. Do the right thing, Bud, reverse it! If only for the sake of vindication. Besides, the state of Michigan doesn’t need another soul-crushing defeat.

The Enemy

I've hijacked this blog post. You will be able to tell who's posting what, I suppose. Sam's posts (third person action) will most likely consist of home repair, yard stuff, mustache growing and anything else that isn't really that interesting to most. Except maybe to Underdogtamu and company. Oh, video games too most likely too. My latest fix:

Weed Description: A clump-forming perennial with a tall membranous ligule and a seedhead with many finger-like branches. Dallisgrass is primarily a weed of turfgrass and lawns, but also occurs in pastures, roadsides, and occasionally agronomic crops.

All I can think about as of late is how to eradicate this guy. Our Bermuda doesn't seem to put up a fight (which is surprising) even the healthy areas.

Apparently what kills it (MSMA) is harmful for the environment, so I'm trying Weed-B-Gon. Anyone had any luck with this? So far it's been weak sauce. I'm thinking about busting out the Round-Up. But you know what that means, brown spots everywhere :)

P-p-p-oker Cake

My brother hit the big 30 a few weeks ago and had a men only poker party. They enlisted me to make a red velvet poker cake and this is what I came up with. It is no Ace of Cakes, but it did the job!

This weekend my niece turns 1, so I should have some pretty fun pictures to post of the big birthday bash!!