Pure of heart

At the women's retreat last weekend, we wore nametags with our names and the meaning of our names were written on there. Katie means "pure" according to my nametag. All weekend I kept saying that I am "pure of heart" and I couldn't remember what movie it was from where I had heard that. This morning while I'm working, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days is on tv. Now I know where I had heard the "pure of heart" phrase. When they are sitting on the porch at Matthew McConnaghey's parents house playing BullS**t (the card game), Matthew McConnaghey says his mom isn't very good at this game and she says it is because she is so "Pure of Heart"!



I like to think that I am not just "pure", but "pure of heart"!

When the lightning strikes

I love the light from candles, it is such a soft, beautiful glow.

This morning at 5:45 am, Katherine and I were texting each other saying that we weren't going to go run this morning because it has rained most of last night and it was too wet. I am so glad we decided not to go. At 6am, a huge storm hit with lightning bolts everywhere and thunder crashing with pouring rain. We would of been stuck in the middle of it on our 2 mile course. We have been running every tuesday and thursday. Okay, back to my story. Our power went out at 6:15 and didn't come back on till 8:30am. Luckily Taylor slept through the storm and I got a hot shower right before I had to take her to KDO.

I pulled out candles and the flashlights this morning and ran all over the house unplugging appliances and electronic equipment. Monday we had a storm and our neighbors house 3 houses down was hit by lightnng. The lightning hit the a/c outside and ran into the house blowing out all the outlets in the entire house. They smelled gas after the lightning hit, so the fire department was called out and they spent hours searching for the gas leak. I don't know what they found, but needless to say, I was a little freaked about the lightning this morning and that is why I unplugged everything in the house.

Taylor loved playing with the flashlight this morning.

Big brother is coming home!!!

Taylor and I talked to my brother yesterday on Skype. Skype is a free service that lets us talk over the internet and even use our webcams to see each other while we talk. It is awesome. Taylor loves getting to talk to her Uncle Zach. Zach is going to be coming home over Memorial Day weekend. He will be here for a week and then he is going to California to see some friends and then to Oregon to see GiGi (our Grandmother). We are going to go to the lake and spend a few extra days with Zach and my parent. We are super excited. We haven't seen Zach since last August right before he left for Moldova.

Rain, dinner, smile

It has been overcast all day, but finally started raining this evening. It just happened to start sprinkling when we were getting in the car to go to dinner with some friends. Nathan noticed that one of his tires was a little low, so we went to the gas station to put air in the tire. He had his work clothes on and took the umbrella while he filled up the tire, but it was raining so hard, his back and legs were soaked. Poor guy. We came back home so he could change and then we headed to dinner.

We met Mike and Dacia and Bryan and Ashley for dinner at Road House. YUM! Precious little Cody is 10 months old and just adorable. Cody ate mashed potatoes for the first time tonight and loved them! I love watching babies faces when they try new food and like it. They aren't too sure about it at first and then a light goes off in their head and a huge smile comes over their face. Love it!

Nathan's soccer game

Nathan has been playing in a soccer league on sunday nights for the last few weeks. Last night was the first game that Taylor and I could go to. Most of the games are at like 9:45, 10:45 and there are even 11:45PM games. Can you believe that!?! That is just way to late for a sunday nights. Nathan loves playing soccer and has played his whole life. Nathan Christianson plays with Nathan, so Courtney and Chloe came to the game. The girls had a great time running around and cheering for their dads. Taylor is quite the cheer leader. She yells," Go Daddy! Go Daddy!" She is getting pretty good at is since she cheers for Nathan when he plays basketball too. Nathan is about to start playing sand volleyball as well, so I might need to get Taylor a cheerleading outfit with "Daddy" on it!

Nathan is in the green shirt with the #4 on it with the orange socks.

Chloe and Taylor watching their daddy's play soccer together.

Taylor said daddy was stinky after the game.

Womens Church Retreat

This weekend we had a women's retreat with our church. We went to the Texas Star Ranch in Weatherford, Texas. The facility was pretty nice, but the bunk beds were pretty uncomfortable. Our speaker for the weekend was Debbie Eaton from Saddleback Church in California. She was wonderful! We left friday after work and got home saturday afternoon. I can't lie, it was nice to be home. We went to dinner with some friends and then Nathan and I watched a movie. It was so relaxing!

Sunday morning we went to church and I thought that all the women were going to wear their retreat T-shirt, so I sported mine to church. I was the only women in the entire church who wore her shirt to church! Nathan thought it was so funny. Last year, I didn't go to the retreat and they all wore their shirts to church that sunday, so I figured that was just what we were suppose to do. I did feel funny at first, but I was comfortable in my T-shirt, jeans and flip flops. During the church service, we introduced ourselves to a new couple that was visiting our church and the lady pointed to my shirt and asked me about the retreat. So, I don't feel like it was a total loss - something good came out of me wearing my T-shirt.

Earth Day 2009

This is a picture of Taylor before KDO. We didn't do much for Earth Day this year. I was hoping to take Taylor to the new movie Earth by Walt Disney, but we didn't make it to the movie theatre. I'm just not sure if Taylor is old enough for the movie theatre. I think she will love the movie - it is all about animals. We did spend the evening outside though. Taylor loves to play outside. We bought her a play gym for the backyard for her birthday - it's an early present. We don't have it up and probably won't till closer to her birthday. We are also thinking about building a covered patio in the backyard so we can spend more time there in the summer. I am so glad Taylor likes to be outside. I love being outside, but Nathan likes to be inside.

Art Festival in Fort Worth

Saturday afternoon we went over to Fort Worth to the Art Festival. There were tons of people walking around and I think Taylor enjoyed seeing all the puppies. This one biker dude had a little chihuhah dressed up in Harley Davidson gear - it was the funniest sight. I wish I would of taken a picture of it. Anyways, we walked around and looked at all the fabulous and not-so-fabulous artwork. It turned out to be a beautiful day and very enjoyable being outside.





Taylor watching Clifford on Nathan's I Phone on the way to Fort Worth





Quite the pair - Taylor is definetly her fathers daughter!





We parked on Taylor St., so we had to get a pic





On the way home from Fort Worth, I appeased my husband and we went to look at 4-door Jeeps. He has wanted one since they first came out, but I have always said no because of Taylor. I don't think they are that safe for children. Nathan got to test drive one, etc.... and the salesman told us that next month is Jeep Month, so I think we will be going back next month to REALLY look at them if you know what I mean.

First swim lesson

We took Taylor to the pool friday night to see how she would do in the pool. She did great - she walked right into the baby pool. The deeper it got, the more unsure she got and needed our support, but overall, she did great. We even got her to put her mouth in the water to blow bubbles.

Saturday morning we went back up to the pool for Taylor's first swim lesson. I video taped it while Nathan was in the water with her. She was okay at first, but after a little while, she just broke down and cried. I ended up getting in the water with her while Nathan video taped us. She didn't really like being on her back or laying on the kick board. She did like jumping into the water though.

Did I make it?

New bird bath

I have wanted a bird bath and a bird house for the back yard since we moved here. For our anniversary, my parents bought us a bird bath - hopefully I will get a bird house for Mother's Day. Taylor picked out the bird bath at Walmart. When we saw it, she kept saying, "froggy, turtle" - how could I deny her? When we brought it home, we put it in the back yard and filled it with bird seed. Since then, I hadn't seen any birds eating out of it, but this morning there was a squirrel sitting in it eating. Yea!!

Sorry it is hard to see the squirrel. I had to take the picture through the back window.

Here is close up of our adorable bird bath.

Getting ready for swim lessons

Taylor starts swim lessons on saturday. Nathan and I are a little nervous about it. We took her swimming last year several times, but it always took her about an hour to get use to the water. Swim class is only 1/2 an hour, so we can't wait an hour for her to get comfortable. We tried to take her two nights ago to the pool to see how she would do, but got denied. We went to the Coppell Aquatic Center, but they were having swim lessons and wouldn't let us in. We then tried the YMCA, but they were having swim team and swim lessons, so we couldn't get in there either. We are going to try and go tomorrow night when they have open swim at the aquatic center.

Easter 2009

We had a fabulous Easter with our parents. The Easter bunny stopped by our house Sunday morning. Taylor rifled through her Easter baskets and gifts and then we headed to church. At church, Taylor had an egg hunt with all her little friends - it was precious. When we got home from church, we had another egg hunt at our house with real eggs that the grandma's and I dyed the night before. My parents left to go back to Houston after the egg hunt and we went to lunch with Nathan's parents. Taylor didn't go down for nap till 3pm and then slept till 6pm. Needless to say, she wasn't ready for bed at 8pm. We heard her talking in her bed around 9:30pm.

Pointing to her Easter baskets

What the Easter bunny brought Taylor

Egg hunt at church

Taylor hunting real eggs

Coppell Easter Egg Hunt

Saturday we took Taylor to the Coppell Easter Egg hunt at Wagon Wheel Park. We got there 20 minutes early and the place was already packed. We arrived about the same time as The Christiansons, so we found a place together for the hunt. The hunt started a little late and the kids were getting restless. When they finally started it, it was over in a blink of an eye. I'm serious. I was going to just let Taylor go out there by herself, but all the parents went into the field with their kids - it was nuts. Every time Taylor reached down to pick up an egg, someone else got it. She ended up getting TWO eggs and a few pieces of candy. That's it. Luckily she is young enough to be excited about the two eggs. Taylor is quite the sharing kid - she handed each grandparent and Nathan and me a piece of candy or an egg. It was so sweet. After the egg hunt, she got her picture taken with the Easter bunny.

Starting the hunt

Chloe and Taylor before the race

Look at all the eggs!

Taylor while hunting

Taylor handing out candy

Taylor sitting next to the Easter Bunny.

Race Day.....Race for the Cure

Katherine, me and April before the race

I have to admit that friday night I was regretting my decision to sign up for the 5K. I'm not one to quite, so I figured if worse came to worse, I would just walk the darn thing. Katherine and April came over at 7:15 saturday morning and we headed to downtown Fort Worth. We were all kind of asking ourselves why we signed up for this since none of us really trained for it. When we got downtown, we noticed the mass of people that had turned out for this thing. It was amazing! There were thousands upon thousands of people there.

We got in the line for the and since there were so many people in the race, we didn't even get to the starting line till about 15 minutes after the race had started and there were still thousands of people behind us. It was crazy. We were packed in the street like sardines waiting to cross the starting line. Once we crossed it, we fanned out to the side walks and started running. We ran the entire first mile and then decided to walk a little bit. This turned out to be a good decision because there was this hill that seemed to be straight up! Once we got to the top of the hill, we started running again. April had kept running when Katherine and I stopped at the 1 mile marker. I won't hash out every detail of the race, but I would say we ran about 3/4 of the race. Katherine and I finished the race in 40 minutes which I think it pretty darn good!

I've heard people say that there is the huge sense of accomplishment after you run a race and boy was that right for me. I LOVED it! Absolutely loved running this race! I have always wanted to run a 5K and I did. We are talking about running another one now, but I am going to have to train for this one because my leg muscles (or the lack there of) are killing me today! I talked to April this morning at church and she said she was a little sore too, so that me feel a little better.

I am so glad I did it and I am so thankful that Katherine and April did it with me. My friend Crystal is the one who asked me to do it, but we didn't meet up with her until after the race. She ran it in like 30 minutes, which is great!

This is just a peek at all the people waiting to run infront of us. The balloons mark the starting line.

Crystal and me after the race

me, April and Katherine after the race. I don't think we look too bad for having just run 3.2 miles.

Good Friday

Poppy chasing Taylor in the Collisuem



Cowgirl Taylor on a saddle



Taylor watching the cutting with our friends granddaughter


I took half a day off on Good Friday to take Taylor over to Fort Worth. Nathan's parents were at the Will Rogers Collisuem to watch the horse cuttings. Nathan's dad is a rancher and trains horses for competition. Taylor and I went over to watch the show for a while, but before we went, we stopped by Kami's office to surprise her. Kami works not even a block away from the Collisuem, so we thought we should go see her. I think she was surprised! After seeing Kami, we went to the horse show and Taylor seemed to enjoy watching the horses work the cows. She even got to pet a horse.

I had to work that afternoon, so Nathan's parents came back to the house with us. Nathan got home from Louisiana around 5pm and boy were we glad to see him! Thankfully he won't have to go back for a few weeks. My parent's didn't come in from Houston till around 8pm, but they made it just before Taylor went to bed. I love having our parents here. It is so fun and Taylor just eats up all the attention.

The Easter Bunny came a little early this year

We have been wanting to get Taylor this toy called a Roby. It is an inflatable horse or donkey. Abigail got one for her birthday at her party and Taylor went crazy over it. She cried and cried when someone else would sit on it and then when they would get off, she would grab it and carry it around. It was nuts! I had never seen her act like that before. We were going to wait till her birthday to get her one, but they aren't that easy to find. I went to Healthy Me today and they had 3. Taylor saw them and I think she probably said my name 300 times while dancing around and pointing at the Roby. I asked her what color she wanted and she said Pink - which just happened to be the color of one of the Roby's we were looking at. I'm not sure she really knows what Pink is, but that is the only color she can say. Works for me - pink is awesome!

I was going to try to put it away for Sunday morning, but let me tell you - it wasn't worth the fight I would of gotten. She carried the Roby in the house from the car, sat it down and jumped on it. I had to pry her off to eat dinner. After dinner, she climbed right back on it! Abigail came over so her parents could go to dinner by themselves, so she brought her Roby over so they could ride them together. The icing on the cake was when I took her up to bed, she started crying and saying, Neigh, Neigh and pointing at the Roby. I had to promise her she could ride it in the morning. She told it goodnight and waved at it. Sweet, sweet girl.

Riding her Roby

Feeding her Roby

Abigail and Taylor riding their Roby's

Easter at KDO

Taylor took her Easter eggs to KDO this morning for their Easter egg hunt. I wish I could of gone to watch her hunt eggs with her friends at school, but we are going to have our own egg hunt this weekend with the grandparents. Anyways, she was super excited about taking her eggs to school. She came home with this huge bucket with a ton of eggs in it.

Taylor wasn't cooperating with letting me take a picture, so sorry I don't have any better ones.

Flower child

Taylor and I bought some flowers today for the front yard. I bought her a little trowel, a little rake and some little pink gloves. She loved sitting outside with me and digging in the flower bed. We found 3 worms while digging, so we talked about worms alittle bit, she pet them, and then put them back into the earth. Taylor didn't like me putting the worms back - she cried and cried. I tried and tried to explain that we couldn't keep the worms, but she wasn't having it. She probably cried for 10 minutes and I finally got her to stop when I took her inside to play with her puppies. Silly girl.

Anniversary celebration

Saturday was a crazy busy day. We started out with Taylor taking Easter pictures in Frisco with little bunnies. She did great and loved the bunnies. The lady put the bunny in her lap and she just held it close and pet it so gently. Nathan and I were a little nervous, but she did amazing. We haven't gotten the pictures back yet, but I can't wait to see them. We then headed to Micah's birthday party at the Choo Choo Station. We were a little late, but made it in time for cake, so Taylor was in heaven. While Taylor was napping, I went to my bosses son's memorial service. My bosses son lost his 2 year fight with cancer a week ago - he was only 27 years old. When I got home from the service, we got Taylor ready and took her over to Abigail's to play for the night.

Now our anniversary celebration started! Nathan and I went and got massages - they were fabulous. Actually, my lady was like an angel massaging me and Nathan's lady pushed so hard she bruised him. After our massages, we went to Daddy Jack's here in Coppell for dinner. We split steak and lobster - it was pretty good. We decided we wanted to go somewhere else for dessert, so we thought we would go to On the Border for their decadent tres leches cheesecake. I know, I know, you are all thinking we are crazy for going to On the Border - but their cheesecake is beyond fabulous. Well, we got there and waited 20 minutes for our waitress to come take our order. All we ordered was a cup of hot tea and a slice of cheesecake to split. After she finally took our order, about 5 minutes later another waitress came to ask us what we ordered because our waitress couldn't remember. I mean really!?! Then, about 10 minutes later a waitress came out with this dinky slice of cake and asks us if it was ours. We said no and she asked what we ordered - we told her and she informed us that they stopped having that cheesecake a week ago. I wish our waitress would of told us that 45 minutes ago! What a waste of time. I drank my hot tea and we left. We then headed to Pete's dueling piano bar in Addison. Pete's is such a blast. I had called friday to see if we could reserve a table and they were all already reserved. The guy told me to get there at 7pm to get a bar stool. We didn't figure anyone would get there that early, but boy were we wrong when we arrived at 8:15. Every table was filled and most of the bar area was packed. We couldn't believe it! Anyways, we partied with the best of them and had a blast! Yea for our 5 year anniversary. Oh, I almost forgot to tell yall - Nathan sent flowers to my office on friday! There were gorgeous and I have always wanted to get flowers at my office (like in the movies).

Butterflies

As I lay awake last night in bed till 1 am, I was thinking about my post about April Fool's Day. I hope it didn't sound to harsh about not getting to celebrate tonight since Nathan is out of town on our anniversary. Yep, today is our 5 year anniversary! Yea! I was thinking last night about how bummed I was yesterday thinking that we aren't going to get to go out tonight and live it up. Then I started to think about how it really doesn't matter if we get to go out to dinner and such today. All that matters is that I have a wonderful husband who still loves me after 5 years and I still love him.

This morning when he called to wish me Happy Anniversary, I felt happiness in my heart. I got those nervous, happy butterflies you get when you fall in love with someone and can't wait to see them again. I can't wait to see Nathan again. I haven't had those butterflies in a long time, probably our wedding day. What a wonderful feeling to have when you hear your partners voice on the other end of the phone. Huh, I think I have a crush on my husband!

Happy Anniversary Husband, I love you!

Kids say the cutest things

I know the saying goes, "Kids say the darnest things", but in Taylor's case, she says the cutest things. Lately she has been getting upset when someone plays with a toy that she is playing with, is hers or she has looked at. She has frequently said the word "MINE" which I have grown to hate. It is such a selfish word. Anyways, I have been telling her that when she gets upset about something like this, that she is not being sweet and she needs to be nice and share. Every thursday before school I tell her that she needs to be nice to all the kids in class and share. She then usually repeats the word nice a few times. Not that she isn't nice to everyone, I just want to remind her. Well, today when I picked her up from class, I asked her if she was sweet to all the kids and she said, "very nice". So darn cute.

People tell you that kids are little sponges and that they pick up on everything. It is so true.
Her other frequent words are - Awwwww Man! and No, No, No! She said Awwww Man the other day and I just started laughing. I couldn't figure out where she would of heard that. I asked Nathan if he says it and he started laughing. He said that I say it all the time. I never realized until he told me that and now I catch myself saying it all the time. Taylor says it cuter though. I almost died the other day in the store. Taylor was sitting in the cart and I was looked in the dollar section at Target. A lady walked by and started looking in the same section as us and Taylor yelled at her with her finger pointed straight at her with this ugly, mean look on her face, "No! No!, No!" I couldn't believe it! Luckily the lady was so nice and said that she has a 3 year old, so she totally understood. Taylor and I had a little talk after that about yelling at strangers. It was so embarrassing.

A super fun day

Taylor and I had a great, fun filled day. This morning we went to breakfast and got donuts. We have cake donuts because I feel like they don't have as much sugar as glazed donuts (I may be wrong, but it makes me feel better).Then Taylor went to school (which she loves) and played, played, played. After school I had to get some work done, so Taylor watched Clifford till I finished. We then met April and Abigail at Chick-fil-a for dinner and then went to Going Bonkers for a fundraiser for KDO (Taylor's preschool). Taylor was exhausted when we got home and went straight to sleep!

This is what I get now when I ask Taylor to smile at the camera!

Well, our super fun day just got disgusting while I am writing this. Tait just threw up in my office. The worst part is, he obviously ate a bird. It was full of feathers. So, I made him go outside and when I went to get him, he wouldn't come inside. I went out to see what he was up to, he had another dead bird in his mouth. I mean seriously, gross! I got him to drop it and I put it in the trash. The crazy part is, I found a dead bird in the yard yesterday. That makes 3 dead birds in 2 days. What is going on here???