Two of Texas Tech's cutest fans ever!:)

This past weekend, we went to a college football kickoff party and the invitation said to be sure to wear your team colors! Well, our team is Texas Tech since that is where we both went to college, so I went online and found the cutest Texas Tech dresses for the girls and a shirt for me (Russell already had his shirt...) We showed up and were, of course, the only red raiders in a sea of Alabama and Auburn fans, but we represented our team with pride and let me tell you...Marissa and Allie were the cutest little things in their dresses...I can't wait for the season to start so they can wear them more often!

Marissa decided she didn't want her picture taken, so she hid from me...but look how cute she is from the back with her pigtails and big red bows:)

Getting Miss Allie all ready to go...she was too busy watching Baby Einstein to look at the camera

My 3 red raiders!

The 4 of us, this was about the 6th or 7th picture we took and it was the best we could get of everyone...

We are hoping for a GREAT season this year!! WRECK 'EM TECH!!!!

After 11 days, 21 hours on the road and 1256 miles, we are finally....

HOME!!!!!
It's official, my girls are some traveling little girls!! I have dragged those poor little girls all over the east coast the past couple weeks and they are such troopers!! On Thursday, August 13 the 3 of us piled in the car, ready and armed with DVD players, DVD's, snacks, bottles and toys and we HIT THE ROAD! Our first stop was my parents house in Statesville, NC to drop the girls off with them for the weekend. Then I drove an hour to Charlotte for Courtney's (my best friend from high school) bachelorette party! We had such a great time and it was so nice to have a free weekend! It was a very relaxing and fun weekend, filled with lots of laughs, great food, and just good catch-up time with great friends:)
The bachelorette and her girls on Friday night-Charly, Krystle, me, Courtney, Cindy (Courtney's mom), Karen and Melissa

Dinner at Rooster's on Friday night-it was DELICIOUS!

Dinner at Zink's on Saturday night-the bride in white and the girls in black:)

The weekend came to an end and I headed back up to mom and dad's in Statesville and was so excited to see my girls!! We stayed there until Thursday and of course, had lots of fun. Marissa and Allie love Papa and NeeNee (not sure if that's how to spell it...we were calling my mom Neecey, but Marissa shortened it to NeeNee...) You saw in the previous post some of the fun we had with the bubble wrap and here are a few more fun moments we captured!

Allie watching the dogs play outside...she is getting so big:)

Allie and Papa watching some Monday night football (On a side note-NeeNee, we need to be sure to get some pictures of you with the girls next time...I don't have any to post:( )

We got the pool out on Wednesday and the girls loved it!

Splashing mommy:)

Allie-she looks just like her daddy.

Our time with Papa and NeeNee came to an end and we were back on the road...7 hours south to Jacksonville, Fl to see some of my most favorite people in the world-Joby and Gretchen! Joby was my high school youth minister and most definitely one of the most influential people in my life and his wife Gretchen has become a very dear friend of mine and someone I look up to very much! I try to go down and see them at least once a year and I always have such a wonderful time!! They have a little boy, JP, who is almost 4 and Gretchen is pregnant with a little girl, Reagan, who is due in October. They live about 15 minutes from the beach, so on Friday we attempted to take the kids so they could play, however as you can see from the pictures below...mother nature decided against it. I can honestly say...I was a little scared-I swear it looked like something from that movie "The Day After Tomorrow" where the whole earth gets destroyed by bad weather....needless to say, we left-quickly!

On Sunday, we went to their church where Joby is now the executive pastor and he leads the 1122 service, which is AMAZING! Here are a few pictures Sunday after church-just hanging out at their house.

Marissa, JP, and Gretchen (doesn't she look great-she only has 8 weeks to go!!)

JP took this picture and it is seriously my favorite picture of the 2 of us...I think he may have a future in photography:)

JP and Marissa were the best of buds....

Is this not the cutest.picture.ever?? I mean, really, it looks like a Baby Gap ad. Oh my, I just love it.

On Monday morning, it was finally time to head home, so we piled in the car and got everything we needed for another 7 hours on the road...but this time was different, we were excited and ready to get home to see DADDY!!! Once home, Russell and I decided, no more 11 day long trips...it was just too long to be away from each other. But I'm so glad we went and we had a wonderful time! Hope you enjoyed reading about our trip!! Until next time.....

Who says you need toys?

bubble wrap + energetic toddler + t-shirt and diaper only = some good ol' redneck fun.....

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NOOOOOO SAMMY!!

This was what I heard coming from the living room the other day while I was in Allie's room changing her diaper. Marissa was in there playing and all of a sudden she is screaming at our dog Sammy. So I run in there to see what's going on and this was what I found.....


That would be Sammy with his head STUCK in Marissa's bag of teddy grahams....ugh-poor Marissa. I would like to take this time to let you know we have two weenie dogs to give away free to a good home....(just kidding, Russell....kind of....)

A visit from my 3 favorite kiddos!!!

(besides my own, of course!)
For those of you who don't know, I was a nanny from June '06 until Marissa was born (I still helped some after that, but not as much...) I started when the youngest, Cooper, was just a month old, and he turned 3 this past May!!! So you can imagine just how much time I spent with these kids! McKane is 6, Riese is 5 and Cooper is 3. The job was completely brought to me by the Lord and it was by far the best job I ever had! I was in Beth Moore Bible study with a friend of mine and she told me about Kelly and that she was looking for someone to help her with her children...I was working in retail at the time and was soooooo ready to do something different. So, I went to meet with Kelly and Ron and it was just perfect from the get-go. I spent almost everyday with them for about 15 months and just grew to love them so much. Soooooo....when Kelly called me yesterday to say they wanted to come visit us today-I was beyond excited!!!
They got here about 11 this morning and left around 5 and we had such a wonderful time. Marissa followed Riese around all day long and Russell took all 3 of them for a cart ride around the course while my girls were sleeping. I was so thankful that they drove to see us and I can't wait to see them again!! I only took a couple pictures, but they are good ones!!

All five of them! McKane, Marissa, Cooper, Riese and Allie

How sweet is this picture?! Marissa and Riese walking out to the car to say their goodbyes:)

And then they were gone....and Marissa was so sad :(

Well, I didn't want to end with a picture of Marissa crying, so here is one of McKane, Riese and me from a couple years ago:)

Can't wait to see them again!!!

Sisterly Love Part 1

I am doing this as a "part 1" in hopes that there will be many more "sisterly love" posts to come in the future:)

So, one of Marissa's most favorite things to do is get in Allie's bed with her after Allie wakes up from her nap. I usually take her in there with me to get Allie up and she always says "Say Hi, Mommy Say Hi..." (she wants me to put her in the bed so she can say hi to allie:)) Anyway, this is such a sweet time for the two of them because they are both so happy and Allie just loves watching her big sister. So I finally grabbed my camera and took a little video of them having some "sisterly love" time:)

Enjoy! (and don't worry-Allie was not injured during the filming of this video...I'm still trying to teach Marissa to "please be gentle with Allie"....)

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Girls' weekend getaway and wedding in Santa Fe

A few months ago, my mom called with an offer I couldn't refuse....she told me that she and dad were invited to a wedding in Santa Fe and that dad wasn't really interested in going, would I like to go and dad would watch the babies for me? uh, let me think--YESSSS!!! The wedding was for Chris McVay, who is the son of one of dad's best friends growing up. We used to live near them and spent many, many summers together at the lake. The McVay's have 4 kids, Chris (27), Ryan (26), Alix (24), and Camye (21). I have so many memories of the McVay's and it was so wonderful to see them...I think it had been almost 10 years since we last saw each other.

So anyway, mom and I have been looking forward to this trip for a few months and with the exception of a terrible flight to New Mexico, we had a fabulous time!!! We left Thursday morning and were supposed to arrive in Albuquerque, NM at 3:30 but thanks to the weather we didn't get in until 9:30. It was a loooooong day-to say the least. But we made it, safe and sound. Friday morning we got up, had a wonderful breakfast and walked around Santa Fe. The buildings and scenery are just beautiful and the weather was so nice.

This was a building that was around downtown-I have always loved adobe and Mexican style design-so I thought it was gorgeous!

This is the downtown market-it is called the Palace of the Governors and every day locals come and set up little shops and sell all their handmade goods-mostly jewelry. This is also where the ceremony for the wedding was located.

Another cool building.

My mom took this picture-I love it!

We then headed to the rehearsal dinner Friday night, got to see a lot of old friends and had a great time! Here is my mom, the mother of the groom, Elaine and me after the rehearsal.

On Saturday, mom went to lunch with some of the family and I went to the pool to hang out with the "youngsters". Let me tell you, it was soooo nice-I haven't laid by the pool in well...a really long time!! I had a very yummy and refreshing mojito and just chatted with some old and new friends and loved every minute of it. Here is Ryan (the best man) and me at the pool.

Then came the wedding...it was at 6:45 and the weather was perfect. It was overcast with a little breeze and just so pleasant. This is the groom, Chris, best man, Ryan and their cousin, Michael Ross.

And here is the beautiful couple-Chris and Whitney

The beautiful wedding party! (fyi-Cammye (the youngest sister) is the 2nd from the left; Alix is the 4th from the left; Casey (who is married to Michael Ross-the cousin and also grew up best friends with Alix) is the 6th from the left; Michael Ross is 9th from the right and his brother, Blake is 4th from the right) They are obviously a close family:)

My mom and me at the wedding-doesn't she look so beautiful!:)

Alix, Molly (cousin and Michael Ross and Blake's sister) and me.

So, one thing I have yet to mention is that this was a very bittersweet wedding. The groom's dad, Ted McVay, got very sick with pancreatic cancer about a two and a half years ago-he was in full remission from the cancer after chemo and radiation, but his body was never able to recover from the many surgeries. He passed away this past April at the age of 56. This picture is of Ryan giving his best man speech and at the very end he talked about his dad and how much he was missed and he ended his speech with "This is the celebration of one great man's journey coming to an end and another great man's journey just beginning." It was a beautiful speech.

All in all, there were a lot of tears shed for Ted's absence and Mom kept talking about mine and Zach's weddings and how stressful they were for her and how she couldn't imagine having to go at them alone, without my dad. There were a lot of prayers said for Elaine (the mother of the groom) and the kids that weekend. Like I said...it was a very bittersweet but very beautiful time for everyone.

And it was finally time to head home...here we are at the airport in St. Louis waiting to board our 5th (in 4 days) and final flight home to Birmingham. We were exhausted and soooo ready to get home.

We finally made it home to Anniston at about 5:00 in the evening and let me tell you the best part about the whole weekend:

Mom and I pull up in the driveway and dad, Russell and the girls are outside playing. I open the door and Marissa sees me and runs as fast and as hard as she could directly to me and knocks me down with the biggest hug she has ever given me. Let me tell you....it was the best homecoming present ever!

And lastly-a big, big thank you to the best Papa in the whole world! My dad took over my job as stay-at-home mom Thursday-Sunday and well...I think he was better at it than I am. (Russell actually said after 2 days of me being home and apparently not keeping up with the cleaning as well as my dad..."I think I want your dad to come back"....Thanks Russ, I missed you too....) Papa set the bar high doing all the laundry, keeping the house clean and taking care of the girls. Thank you so much, dad!! You're the best!!

And mom, next stop-New York City!!!!