Life's A Ball!!

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Happy Birthday Justin!!!

Justin's 26th birthday was Sunday, however, we celebrated ALL weekend! WE had a blast. Starting Friday night, Justin and I were blessed to attend the Astros vs. Yankees baseball game! It was so much fun to hang out with Justin's momma and Richard because we are die hard Astros fans and Richard is a die hard Yankees fan! We always have such a good time at the game, and this was no exception, except that we lost! Oh well! Thank you to Richard and Lessie for getting things going on Justin's birthday weekend, and we love you and love hanging out with you!!!

Sorry Lessie about your eyes, but the picture is so cute!

So much fun!

Hunter Pence... whoowhoo!

The next day, Justin and I had a fabulous party! Afterward we counted how many people actually fit in our house and the count was 31!!!!!!!!! Holy cow~ We had AWESOME ribs, chicken with homemade pesto, salads, Homemade momma hot wings, BBQ corn, dump cake made especially for Justin by Cody, and chocolate peanut butter cupcakes made especially by Lessie! The day was filled with fun and food. We had a pinata, a mini Frisbee golf game and water balloon volleyball, too! Of course after all that the kids enjoyed playing MarioKart on the Wii! Justin got some really great gifts, and we had soooooo much fun! Thank you to everyone who helped (Momma, Lessie and Amanda... oh and Cody too!!), and thank you to EVERYONE that came and made Justin's birthday so great! We are blessed in how great our family is and how wonderful our friend's are! We missed you if you couldn't come this time, but there is always next time! Enjoy the photos! Love you!

Justin's day!

Mom and Amanda dressed the same... too cute!

Nancy got some cuddle time with Jason (Justin and my nephew)

SMILE!!!

Just hanging in the kitchen (Carol, Dee Dee and Momma)

Mom and Dad to be... 6 months and counting, Steph! You look beautiful!

Play time with Joey... "you are this BIG"

Grandpa giving some chocolate cake... yum- yum!

WHAT??!!??!?! Socks!!!!

Lots-o-shirts!!! So handsome!

Laugh it up, Chuckles!

Wii time!

Jake had a swing that almost took momma and I out!

Water Balloon Volleyball is the best family game in the world!

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Happy Birthday TJ!!!!

TJ turned 12 on the 10th!!! Everybody took the day off so that we could celebrate with him (we missed Justin because he had to work!)!!! We travelled to San Marcos, after TJ opened his Wii, yes he knows he is spoiled and that is what makes him NOT rotten, which he got from mom and dad, and another controller and a nun chuck from me and Justin. Once we got to San Marcos, Brian and Keila had decorated for TJ AND made him a special cake (see pictures below) AND bought him some more Family Guy DVDs... it was super cute and you know TJ enjoyed it!

TJ decided that he wanted to go to the chutes at the river. It was really fun, and once momma got over being scared, we all went down them and had a blast! There was a lot of application of sunscreen and H2O drinking!

After we played ALL DAY LONG, we went back to Brian and Keila's apartment to change and we went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. Yummy Teryaki steak kabobs, $1 margaritas, and Brian's cake made the day complete... oh and I almost forgot, TJ had to mount a saddle and swing his napkin to get a good ole' Texas Roadhouse birthday salute! Funny! Enjoy the pictures and the videos are pretty cool! I know there are a lot, but they are very fun! Love to everyone!!!

TJ being cool at Brian's apt

Getting the Wii controllers

Dinner at Roadhouse

Me and buddy at the end of the day!

Momma and Jimmy lookin' all hot... whoo whoo!!

Momma and Buddy!

Sofie takes a ride on Bub's back

Sofie takes a swim

So sweet!

Brian and Keila check out the floating boat!

If you want to play with the big dawgs, you gotta have heart and skill!

Happy Birthday Roadhouse Style!

Monday, June 9, 2008

Pawpaw's Volleyball Championship

I love playing in the pool, and the greatest times are when EVERYBODY plays! Pawpaw was a great sport and played with Momma and Justin and me to make the teams even while Jimmy cooked an amazing dinner and TJ played with his friend Andrew. Pawpaw and Justin tightened up real nice and beat Momma and me good! 3 outta 5 games! 3 up and three down! Whoa! It was a great time!

This is Max's Idea of Swimming! Pretend surfing on the float! So cute!

You have to pause the music to hear the Viola

TJ's Viola- ing Skills

We are so proud of TJ, yet again! He has made the Symphony at school, which is the HIGHEST level to play in Middle School. It is a great honor and a tremendous accomplishment for TJ. Just listen to his Irish Jig.... oh, and then Justin takes the Viola and turns it into a Banjo to play "I'll Fly Away."

Panama City Beach Florida

Weekend after Memorial Day, Justin and I took a road trip to Florida to meet his family at the beach. It is their family tradition and it was incredible to be included this year! It is so fun to have family traditions, and Justin and I look forward to the days ahead when we get to create traditions and memories... these are the types of events that make an imprint on your soul. They are irreplaceable memories! They used to come here with his Nini and Didi, and, for me, it was so cool to see the places in person that I have only seen in pictures!

The road trip was super neat too! We always find so much to talk about with conversations revolving around how we are going to raise children to putting on random music and figuring out who the artist is and trying to sing ALL of the words! Its a blast!

Once we were at the beach, the first day consisted of playing and relaxing until about 5. Then we all got dressed for family picture time... which came out so incredible! the picture above is one of them and that will be part of our Christmas card! Yea!!!! Then we went out to dinner and came back to celebrate 2 birthdays. Justin's cousin, Lauren, turned 16, and Justin's birthday is the 15th and he is turning 26 (he is so young = ) )!! Justin's aunt and Momma decorated 2 delicious ice cream cakes, so cute!!! The next day was full of beach volleyball, which is so hard but so fun, riding the waves on $1.88 floats (thank you Walmart!), and doing something kinda dumb, and it kinda made Justin and I realize that we are not teenagers anymore... we rode the Banana Boat AND actually asked for a rough ride!!! Whoa! That was a white knuckled, life flash before your eyes sort of event! Holy COW!!!! Fun but petrifying at the same time, and I was actually hoarse from screaming the ENTIRE time!!! So funny!

We just chilled that night, and the next day was the trip home... again conversation started with A-Z names that we could see our future children having to sports! It was a great trip, one I am looking forward to making again in the future!

Thank you to all who made it possible! Enjoy the pics!

Panama City

Justin relaxing

From the balcony of the room where we stayed

Funny pretend Olan Mills shot #1... Thanks Scott! This was a blast!

Scott and Amanda pose in a laughing manner... funny!

Sunset

The decoration of the cakes

Yea!!!

Happy Birthday to "This Guy"

Sing it ladies!!

Pretend Olan Mills Picture #2... looks like the Church Directory Pic! Haha!

The Ladies... or should I say Bahama Mamas!

The four of us!

Justin and Nini

HOME!!!!!

Friday, June 6, 2008

Memorial Day Weekend and a celebration for the happy couple

Memorial Day weekend was a fabulous weekend in Arlington, Texas. We got a chance to toast my cousin Michael and his soon-to-be bride, Kristin. They are getting married in October in Maryland, and I cannot wait to see them join their lives together! They compliment each other perfectly! It is amazing to see our family grow! The love that is shared is beyond describing with words.

Marriage is a beautiful thing! I have said it before and I will say it forever, marriage between a man and a woman is so sacred, so beautiful, and it is the beginning of a new adventure that God has given to us.

I am so proud of Michael and Kristin! They do life so well! Both of them are good decision makers and are avidly making their lives better. It is truly wonderful that they have found out who they are individually and now they venture into finding out who they are together!

I love them both so much, and October cannot get here quick enough! These pictures to follow show how much fun all of us had celebrating a graduation, a birthday, and a wedding to come! Whoo hoo!!!!

The boys figuring out the pool toys