Happy Bday to Nanny

Markus' Godmother's Bday is today!  We were able to get a date with her on last Friday for her birthday which we couldn't believe she could squeeze us in.  She is a very busy lady and when Markus called to see if she was available and on a Friday and she said yes, I told him good, this will be her bday visit!  So off to the store I went to find her a Tyler candle.  I'm so in love with those things ever since Sarah got me one for my bday last year.  Crazy thing about the candle is she told us right before she opened it that she would be out of town in Tyler, TX for her bday!  That just so happens to be where they are made too!  I laughed.  She loved it.  We talked, and laughed together then treated her (if you want to say that) to Jason's Deli.  I was craving the salad bar and Nanny said I was encouraging her to eat better, LOL!  Back at her place we got to talking about babies and what we were hoping Sweet Pea would be and what we would name HER.  She loved the name Markus picked out for a girl of Abigail.  She then helped us to come up with a middle name or at least have a better idea of what would go ok.  That was fun.  Nanny apparently has been making us a pile of stuff at her house of things she wants to give us.  I was confused.  Then she takes us back into her back bedroom and shows us the most beautiful things.  Like 2 little stuffed animals I think her mom made, and the dress she was christened in and Markus too, and this blanket her mom made, and lots of other cool things.  I was happy to see all of these things.  She didn't know if I was sentimental or not and I told her most definitely!  So I'm excited for the goodies, some of which she says she wants back and we were happy to oblige.  

So here's to wishing Nanny a wonderful birthday in Tyler, Tx.  We love you and were happy to spend an evening with you :)

A New Calling

I was released from my responsibilities of working with the Stake YW.  For those not involved in my church reading this, that means I was working with "young women" in our region (BR, Gonzales, Lafayette, New Iberia, Morgan City, Plaquemine) and I got the opportunity to visit them at church and plan activities for them.  It was loads of fun but loads of work too!  But I learned so much and I'm so grateful to have had the experiences that I did.  I felt so young and under-qualified in the beginning but quickly found out I was doing what the Lord wanted me to do.  With that experience, apparently after being released the Lord had other plans for me.  I was thinking oh now I can relax.  Ha!  Only 3 weeks later to find out I was being called to be with the YW in my own home ward (congregation).   I felt that coming on and even told Mrs. Rita I think I might be called to be in YW, but we will see.  Sure enough that's what it was!  So after 1 Sunday under my belt (that was like orientation) and 1 Wednesday night activity under my belt (getting into the grove of things) I'm feeling excited and overwhelmed all at the same time.  Excited because I love the youth program at church.  It's amazing and the kids are too.  But overwhelmed because I remember how much I looked up to my youth leaders and I'm just thinking about me being one of those people... and I just don't see myself in the same light.  But anyway it's crazy to think how much things have changed over the years since I was a teenager.  Crazy!  I can't wait to get to know these girls and help bring them closer to Christ and support them in their lives.  It's gonna be great.  I just hope the Lord can help sustain me through this pregnancy and this calling.  I know He can come through for me and pray I can come through for Him and his girls :)

D&C 93:40 But I have commanded you to bring up your ^achildren in ^blight and truth. 

Here's to a new beginning!  Cheers!

P.S. I guess that means I'll have to get texting back on my phone, LOL!

Bye Bye Guest Bedroom! {Hello Sweet Pea's Nursery}

For a little while when we first moved into our house, this "Guest Bedroom" was empty therefore it was tagged with the name "Spare Bedroom".   We eventually graduated from a full size bed onto a King size bed and moved my childhood furniture into the now "Guest Bedroom".  We have fiddled with furniture placement in this room way too many times for Markus' taste, but it has been fun!  I have always liked this room and knew one day it would be our nursery.  Here are some before pictures:

A look in from the hall

Corner view, Markus' favorite mirror in the house and also the same mirror I take pics of my Bump through.

Bears!  The 2 on the outside my Granny made from my Grandpa's shirt and from Markus' Uncle Harry's shirt, and the one in the middle was my Christmas present from Markus in 2006 :)

Another Corner view.  See the LSU painting on the left, yeah at one point the bed used to be on that wall.

Well everything is all moved out!  And the rocking horse has moved in!

It's crazy how empty it feels... my favorite part of the room, Look up... the ceiling.  It's a smaller version of the master bedroom ceiling.  Perfect for Sweet Pea!

Ah the LSU memorabilia hasn't moved out yet.  Not sure about this one...

Other fun stuff about this room.  It's the only room in the house that we haven't painted yet, but appears the only one that really went with the rest of my color scheme.  Funny!  It gets morning sunlight which is my absolute favorite in a bedroom.  But it does keep some heat now.  We will have to address that as well.  It has 2 boxes on the wall that are the biggest eye soar ever that we were too naive to realize what they were before we bought the house.  Cut outs (in the wall) from when the house was treated with termites!  In the crazy big walk-in closet it has supposed "patch jobs" of the type of termite damage we found in our master bath which just so happens to butt up against.  Will definitely be fixing that nightmare.  I would take pictures and post, but it's kinda embarrassing that we didn't catch this when purchasing...

Well that's all folks.  We are reading to begin this journey of welcoming Sweet Pea in our home.  Boy or Girl it doesn't matter either way.  We'll have another person in our house!  Crazy, but exciting :)

HERE WE GO!

Maternity Shirts for Football Season!

Boy they are real slim pickins if you are preggers.  Unless you custom make one or something but who wants to do that with all the crazy copyright stuff.  So here's the cute ones that I'm debating on.   Felt like this applied to this blog since we are such huge LSU fans :)  haha!  Did I mention we gave our football tickets up for this season...  yep only going to one game this fall, but that is what I had planned.  It'll be a nice break then back up next year.

 #1

 #2

 #3 (Only if it's a boy people and with something over this)

 #4 (only if it's a girl)

Detail of #4

Which is your favorite?  Just curious.  

I'll only be wearing for such a short time, but will be saving for baby #2 and so forth.  So it should get its wearing, least I hope. 

P.S. Won't be purchasing one of these until we know the sex of Sweet Pea.

Swiss Goodies {Oh Hells Yeah}

I'm not a big chocolate fan for those who didn't know. Just don't care for it unless it involves caramel or nuts or something. But when Swiss Chocolate and I became acquainted... Yeah I fell in love! In-laws just got back from Switzerland. Guess what that means.... Chocolate and Biberli Cookies!!!!!!

Here's the biberli cookies.  These are great.  It's like a chewy ginger snap with a marzipan (almond paste) filling.  You talk about good?  But I'm a big spice girl so Markus didn't have to try too hard to get me to like these.

Did I mention we got chocolate?  Did I mention that it's so great it melts in  your hand or on the table if kept at room temp.  I can't speak enough about it.  The Swiss really know what they are doing when it comes to this.  Just sayin!  I loved this kind called "Minor" until I became acquainted with this "Torino".  Holy Goodness.  I still can't believe the creaminess in my mouth. 

Oh Pete and Esther... thank you thank you thank you!!!!  If only I wasn't pregnant... yeah it would be gone in 2 days like usual.  On second thought, that might not be a bad thing. 

July 4th with Florida Cousins... and Aunt & Uncle :)

When we weren't downtown hanging out, we were hangin' at Aunt Nancy & Uncle Bruce's house with Mendy, James & the girls (pictured below). We had a great time with them. The girls just eat Markus up which is hilarious and very cute to watch. They kept him very busy. They are by far the most impressive kids I have come across EVER! And they have the best parents (and grandparents)! Here is what we got to see while in FL:

Olivia playing with the bee bee gun.  Such a natural!

I love my man.  We were chillin' on the porch (wish I had one like them!) and watching the girls.  See Lauren in the background with the bee bee gun?  I'm telling you these girls are awesome!

And they have a puppy, his name is Bonsai.  Cute cute border collie.

He was bouncy just like Bogey.  

Mendy (Markus' 1st cousin) and her hunny James.  We love them both!  They are great people :) and have raised some wonderful, beautiful, intelligent girls.

The chickens laid eggs.  Seems we were supposed to take some home, but forgot.  Would loved to have tried some.  I have this egg craze going on...

James lighting some bottle rockets.  Check out the lighter?  Sweet, huh?

Ava watching her Daddy very intently.

Lauren showing her spirit with what Markus picked out for them @ Target.  Such a good cousin he is :)

Aunt Nancy's 4 o'clocks.  This is where I got my 1st seeds from.  They are the prettiest shade of pink too!

Megan watching just where that bottle rocket was going.  Love it!

Ok Lauren is at least my height if not taller so I really didn't mean to cut her head off... it... just.. kinda... happened!  (L to R) Megan, Olivia, Lauren

All four girls!  (L to R) Lauren, Olivia, Ava, Megan.  So precious!

Watchin' those fireworks.  Oh to be a kid again... and see things through their eyes!

Lauren & Markus.  They were having so much fun!

Will you look at that?

Probably my fav pic of the girls with their Daddy!  Who doesn't love SpArKLerS!

Ava having a ball with the sparkler!

Megan was having her share of fun too!

Olivia was doing double dusey!

Not sure what Lauren was saying, but Markus was right there...

Sparklers!

Which do you like better, color or B/W?

Olivia with her light that looks like something from Star Wars, but it had stars and stripes all over it!

Mendy & Uncle Bruce comparing pics on their cameras!

James getting ready for the "Grand Finale" and Markus helping find the place to light it!

The best pic I got of "The Grand Finale"!  It was so amazing :)

Monday we got to go to the blueberry patch to pick blueberries and we were surprised to find BLACKBERRIES!  Markus' favorite :)  He was a happy camper.  We picked every single one on the bushes that had not been dried up yet.  Not bad. 

Here's my beloved blueberries!  We picked a whole Walmart bag full of them.  I freakin' love these things!  They are so awesome too!

Well that's all folks.  Can you see why I've been putting off posting about 4th of July?  Yeah lots to see.  Hope everyone had a great 4th.  The best part of it all was when we had a little lesson given by James (he's in the military and pretty important too) about the Declaration of Independence and how the country was founded and came to be.  I was so happy he did that and so grateful it came from him, someone anybody could look up to.  He has served so faithfully in the military and seen the ups and downs.  We are so proud of you James and thank you for all you do for us (as Americans) and the wonderful example you are to all around you in your family.  I was glad to be a part of their weekend and so happy they let us come and invade for a couple of days.  Hoped you enjoyed it as much as we did.  Love you Cupits & Dunns :)

July 4th In Florida

We went to Florida for the 4th of July weekend and had ourselves a nice relaxing time.  Didn't have a whole lot planned, just spending time with family hanging out.  Just the way Markus likes it.  Saturday was our catch up day.  We drove through the night to arrive in FL at 3:30AM.  It was crazy.  We weren't very productive, haha!  We did manage to go downtown Milton (right outside of Pensacola) and eat at a cute little cafe that served the best Red Pepper Gouda Soup and then caught some girly shopping at a neighboring boutique.  It was fun.

On Sunday, July 4th we went to church.  I had to go to church because I absolutely love the songs we sing around this time of year :))))  It was great.  I was so glad we went to make the effort.  Everyone there thought we were a new military family moving in.  How sweet.  Then we went downtown Milton again to see if we could catch some of the festivities.  And that we did.  They had a lot going on on the Riverwalk and we even caught a car show.  Here's what we saw:

I just loved this sign.  Sadly we didn't try any cause we left our cash in the car.  By the end of it we were wishing we had some!

One side of the riverwalk.  It was such a beautiful day!

Markus under the bridge catching some shade!  He's such a cutie :)

Thought this was a nice positive... Negative turned into positive should I say?

Here's the little downtown.  I know right?  How cute.  So DS.  Just sayin', not hatin'!

Corvette, shall we?

I just loved the mirror on this truck!  So cool!  They just don't make cars/trucks like they used to, huh?

Oh looky at TaZ!

Family car anyone?  Loved this cute little thing. 

She was my favorite!  I freakin' loved the paint job!

See, told you she was pretty!

Now this one, yeah I can see Markus drivin' this one.  How 'bout you?  I know his fam will agree.

The full side view, so Markus!

Now let's take a look inside...  How about those seats, awwww yeah!

All that chrome!  I was blown away at the beauty of it really.  Only Markus wouldn't keep it that clean, LOL!

Did you guess it was an Impala?  Huh bruh!

Loved, let me repeat, loved the tail lights!

Look at the cute miniature... Do you see it?

You see I am so awesome with my camera (haha!) that none of the car pics are edited, how 'bout 'em?  You like?  You like?  We really had a blast.  I felt like I should have had my Daddy right by my side telling me all the cool things about these cars.  Then he would probably be telling me which angles to catch to get the best shot of the car.  Oh how I miss him.  So, to do a little throw back in remembrance of my dearly beloved Daddy, I changed my playlist :)  All the songs remind me of being a kid and singing along to these (and more!) and listening to him give the history behind the songs and what he was doing, wearing, etc. last time he heard it or when it first came out.  I'm in a real vintage mode lately.  Hoping to capture some of that in the nursery for sweet pea.  Really want sweet pea to know their Papa.  He was sure a great man and is missed terribly.

Here's to wishing you were here Daddy, this pics are for you.  I love you.  And Markus, thanks for taking me and enduring the heat so I could ooohhh and aaahhh!  You are the best a girl could ask for :)  Glad we finally got a mini vacay!