Casey & Dawnielle

2011-08-19T07:30:00.001-07:00

'Nuff said? 'Nuff said!

2011-05-04T14:46:00.001-07:00

How will he ever out-do himself? I left to go run some errands during my lunch break today at work. When i got back, this was waiting on my desk. What an amazing husband i have. I literally sat and cried at my desk. I. Love. It. He never ceases to amaze me. :o) good thing i get him for eternity!

:: A Giveaway ::

2011-03-15T09:26:00.001-07:00

Hey friends Ü

I just wanted to let everyone know that I am doing a giveaway.

Over on D's Things.

It's for a fabulouse neckalce.

You should go and check it out.

:: Grandma Boudreaux ::

2011-02-20T20:26:00.000-08:00

My Grandma Boudreaux passed away on Jan. 30th of this year. I haven’t been able to find the words to write about her, until now.

Where do I even begin? She was my first best friend. She taught me to be my own person, and to never be ashamed of that. She taught me that making mistakes was OK, you just had to keep on keeping on. She was such an inspiration to me. Her never ending faith. Her ability to continually endure. Her amazing way of smiling and being happy through all the pain. Her never ceasing drive to give. I can’t even count all the little things that she used to gather and give to me every time I saw her. I always knew that I was going to come away from seeing her with something. Something that she has taken the time to think about, and consider that maybe I would need it or want it. Such selfless love. Always thinking of others.

When I first heard that she had passed from Des, I was numb. I sat in my office and pondered how I was supposed to grieve for her. I knew that I would cry, but I didn’t want to. She was out of pain, happy, and with her sweetheart and loved ones who have gone on before her. But the need to cry was still there, so I let it come. I cried most of the day. I would finally stop, and then another memory would come and I would start again. Talking to my dad that night, he put into words the meaning for my tears, the ones that I didn’t want to shed . He said, “ The tears aren’t for her. She is happy. The tears are for us.” He was perfectly right. The tears were for me. I miss her. I miss seeing her, talking to her, getting into mischief with her. I just miss her. I am grateful for the knowledge that I will get to see her again someday when the time is right. Now she gets to be with all the family she hasn’t seen in a long time and with all the family that is still yet to come here to us.

I have a vast amount of memories with Grandma. Christmases and Thanksgivings. Birthdays and summers. Baptisms, vacations and family get-to-gethers. Boudreaux Birthday Weeks, teaching me to drive in her large Lincoln Town Car, sneaking into her room late at night to watch old movies. Hanging out at her store, seeing her create. Her smell (white diamonds), her laugh, the way she put lipstick on. Her Birkenstocks, her love of ice cream, her steaks rare. The way she ate her cantaloupe with lime. The way she said “Dawnielle Kate” or when she called me Dawner. The pride in her eyes when she watched me play ball, and the love I felt every time that I saw her. She loved to tell us stories, mostly about her adventures while she was younger. But the story I remember her telling me most, was the one about her trip to New York with my aunt and postponing it, numerous times, so she could see me after I was born.

My memories of her will be something that I get to always hold and remember. Her love and advice and craziness, those are traits that I hope to possess and pass on to future generations. I hope that throughout my life I can live to be even half the woman that she was. I hope that I live my life to make her proud. I hope that in those quiet moments when I think of her and it makes me smile, I hope that she can see me and she knows that I love her. And if I know my Grandma, she is up there right now telling anyone and everyone that will listen all about her children and grandchildren and great grandchildren. What amazing people they are.

My words definitely don’t feel adequate to tell you about my Grandma. She was by far the most courageous and giving woman I have ever met. She left me a letter that she wrote back in 2001 when she was first diagnosed with cancer. She thought she only had months to live. She promised she would fight, but just in case, she wanted me to know all these things. I didn’t actually get the letter until Thanksgiving of 2009. She fought. She fought long and hard. She managed another 10 years. That letter, it is by far one of my most prized possessions. I miss her.

I made it to church today. I made it all the way through church today without crying… until the closing song in Relief Society. The last verse of “Come, come Ye Saints”.

And should we die before our journey’s through,
Happy day! All is well!
We then are free from toil and sorrow too,
With the just we shall dwell.
But if our lives are spared again
To see the Saints their rest obtain
O how we’ll make this chorus swell—
All is well, all is well!

I couldn’t even make it past the first line. There is not a more perfect way to sum up my grandmother.

In the very appropriate and fitting words of my little brother:

“ ‘Till we meet again Grandma B”

:: Happy {Early} Birthday to me! ::

2011-01-31T06:32:00.000-08:00

SO.....

I am a total goof and forgot to take pictures of all my hard work putting together my birthday party this weekend.

I was WAY sad when I realized that I didn't.

I seriously spent 2 days cleaning and setting up/decorating for it.

It looked FANTABULOUS!

I even made some disco balls (silver balloons that I modpodged and rolled in silver sequins.... they looked FABULOUS) and hung them up for the VIP birthday party!

There was a red rope and red carpet outside, and lights and candles and signs and balloons and musci and TONS of food!

I had an amazing turn out of friends and family that came.

Thanks to all who came and celebrated!

IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!!!!!!!

I highly recommend the game "Things" to anyone wanting a fun conversation starting game.

It was a non-stop laughing fest.

I am so grateful for all these amazing women who I can call my friends!

They all went in together on a very sweet gift and poem.

I loved it!

I did get a picture of that ( thanks Lisa! )

And my awesome sisters-in-law got me gifts too!

I don't have a picture of the one Camille made me yet, but as soon as I get it hung up I will post one.

They are fabulous!

And Tassia got me a gift card to Hobby Lobby (pretty sure I am already plotting what I am going to go and get!)

Thanks Ladies!

:: A Thought ::

2011-01-25T09:40:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday in my Sunday School class,

our teacher caught me off guard before the class started and asked me to be her reader.

She handed me two full pages worth of quotes.

I of course smiled and said "sure!"

My heart started pounding really fast though.

I don't do public speaking.

I don't really have a good reason as to why,

But I shake and start to sweat profusely and I get really nervous.

So, I tried really hard to listen to the lesson and not think about when she might call on me to start reading.

As I listened to the lesson, I felt that this one was meant especially for me.

And that there was a reason she picked me to be the reader.

You see, I don't normally pay much attention to the quotes that are read.

For that matter, I have a really hard time paying attention to much of anything in Sunday School.

It's bad, I know.

I am working on it.

But last Sunday,

I was paying such close attention to the lesson so that I didn't focus on having to read in front of everyone,

that I really heard what she was teaching.

And then when it was my turn to read those dreaded quotes,

I almost couldn't read them because I choked up.

I kid you not...

that entire lesson was meant for me.

It was a lesson on Elisabeth and Mary.

The part that felt like it was directed at me what the very first part.

We were talking about Elisabeth and how she was barren until she 88.

88!!!

are you kidding me?!?!?!

I suddenly felt like I didn't have it so bad, seeing as how I am only 29.

And then I read the first quote:

"All righteous prayers are answered, but in the due time of the Lord. There may be some delay until his time is due, as a man well-stricken in years learned when Gabriel appeared to him and said: 'Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard' (Luke 1:13) Though the answer was much-delayed, the prayer was answered in God's time. This experience says much about God's need and his timing." (Keith H Meservy)

Wasn't I just on my knees pleading with my Father in Heaven to let me have a little one?

Yep.

That was me.

Guess I need to learn a little more patience.

and then we moved on to talking about Mary.

I can't even think about Mary without getting teary-eyed.

What an amazing woman.

This is the quote that made me lose it:

Bruce R McConkie said: "As there is only one Christ, so there is only one Mary. And as the Father chose the most noble and righteous of all his spirit sons to come into mortality as his Only Begotten in the flesh, so we may confidently conclude that he selected the most worthy and spiritually talented of all his spirit daughters to be the mortal mother of his Eternal Son."

Wow.

I came away from church feeling very humbled and very much grateful for the women who lived so long ago.

:: Wanna know a secret? ::

2011-01-20T10:32:00.000-08:00

So, I'm gonna let you in on one of my secret wishes.

I guess once I get it out there it isn't really a secret anymore, but here goes.

Someday

I want to take one of these

( this would be a barn, just in case you were confused )

and turn it into one of these

(this would be a craft boutique.... and no it won't look probably anything like this one, but I wanted a visual)

with one of these in the back

(again, in case you were confused, this is a wood work shop.I plan to have one combined with a workshop area for creating all my FANTASTIC projects)

It's a really far-fetched dream.

But I have thought about it SO often that I am pretty sure I have it all figured out.

So why haven't I tried it you ask?

um..... well I probably need to be able to afford to try it.

So.... it's on the someday list.

But don't you think it would be awesome?

If it ever happens, I plan to have areas where other crafters (or whomever) can rent some spaces to sell their wares, and I will have a demo area where twice a week you can come and learn how to make certain things (for free! Ü) all you would have to do is buy the kits.

There are so many possibilities.

I have a couple friends who were talking about their photography and going into business together,

and immediately I thought that I could totally tie a photography area into it too! LOL!

I know.... I am out of control.

Oh, and I thought about putting a salon in there too.....

LOL, I just get going and my brain just doesn't want to stop.

That's me. What can ya do?

Anyway, there ya have it. One of my deep dark secrets.

It's ok, you can laugh at me now.

:: Some Positives ::

2011-01-18T13:20:00.000-08:00

I realized today that most of my posts of late have been me complaining.

I decided I need to have a better attitude.

I definitely have the attitude part down,

I just need to work on the 'better' part.

I started to thinking yesterday about how grateful I am for my life, and all the things that go with it.

All the ups and downs.

I was working on a project for my Activity Days girls yesterday making cards with pictures of the Prophets of the church on them.

I made it about half way through the pictures and I just started crying.

It was really random,

but the spirit was SO strong.

I KNEW that those men were all called of God.

I mean, I of course had known before.

But it was such a strong confirmation again,

that yes, these men all were Prophet of the church.

Right after I had that confirmation,

I found out that a friend had decided to join a different religion.

I have to admit that it did break my heart just a little, only because I wanted her to be as happy and as sure as I am of the truthfulness of this church.

It made me really think about how I treat others around me, and how often I bare my testimony.

I know that she is worried she may lost some friends because of the choice that she has made, but I hope that those of us that are LDS can see her for the wonderful and loving person that she is and not judge her for using her free agency and making a decision that she felt was best for her.

This experience was a positive for me.

It helped me remember how much I do love the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and how grateful I am for how I was raised and the examples I have had in my life.

Another Positive....

My mother and father-in-law are going to be staying with us for a while.

Though our house will be a little more crowded,

and we will have to adjust our schedules a little,

I am grateful for the opportunity to share our home with them.

I am grateful for the opportunity to be of service to them.

I am grateful for my husband's best friend (his dad Ü) to be close again.

I am looking forward to all the many things we will be able to learn from having them here with us.

Yet another positive...

I have made some AMAZING friends since moving out here.

I have to take total blame for not making any friends where we lived before.

I sort of had this theory that I wasn't the kind of girl that could make friends.

I had 4 best friends and they were just going to be the only friends I had.

But, when we moved out here and isolated ourselves from pretty much everyone, I quickly realized that I needed that companionship.

I needed those girls nights.

I needed someone that I could talk girl talk to.

I sill have those 4 best friends, and we do keep in touch, but these women who have helped me come out of my 'no new friends' bubble are amazing.

My entire life I have felt sorta out of place among girls.

I don't fit the girly girl mold so well.

But I am learning.

And these girls.... well they have taken me in and love me just for who I am.

For this, they will never know how truly grateful I am.

So there ya have it.

Some positives.

:: Chalkboard walls ::

2011-01-06T19:02:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to post these pics for a while.

We finished this project back in Nov.

I just kept forgetting to post the pics of it.

Anywho,

here they are.

Our Chalkboard Walls.

How cool is that?!

We both love it!

Oh, and the kiddos seem to like it to Ü

There is a reason we are the coolest aunt and uncle...

duh!

:: Coaching ::

2011-01-03T19:12:00.000-08:00

Basketball.

It was my life.

I, played, watched and coached it.

4 years ago I gave it up.

At the time, it was BEYOND a welcome relief.

I was burnt out.

11 straight years of it.... pretty much day in and day out, will do that to ya.

That last year though,

that was by far the sweetest.

I was the head coach of a high school team.

I was only 23.

It was a lot on my young shoulders.

But I loved every single second.

We didn't win much.

But seeing those girls understand and finally start to grasp this game that I loved SO much,

it was very fulfilling.

I had 9 seniors graduate that year.

It's a lot to keep on a team,

I know.

But they were such amazing, hard working and dedicated girls,

that I couldn't justify cutting any of them.

So, we had 9 seniors.

Every single one of them was an essential part of that team.

They all left their mark on me.

I still keep in touch with quite a few of them.

Facebook and cell phones are amazing that way.

Sorry for all the reminiscing.

I just happened upon these two things today while I was cleaning and organizing.

They brought back lots of raw and happy emotions.

I miss coaching.

I think I need to start back up.

Hopefully my husband won't kill me for even thinking about it! Ü

:: My Recycled Project ::

2010-12-29T18:42:00.000-08:00

So I am NOT into the whole recycling thing.

I refuse to do it.

BUT

today I made a fun little project out of stuff I normall would have just thrown away,

I made a little organizer for all my grocery sacks.

It turned out pretty stinkin awesome.

Well, at least I think so

Anywho,

Here is my little creation...

and I couldn't just leave it plain, so I added a little vinyl... in one of my new fabulous fonts Ü

:: When it rains..... ::

2010-12-12T17:56:00.000-08:00

I won't complain too much,

but I swear, when it rains it pours.

And, usually, I can handle it.

Don't get me wrong.

I vent, probably too much,

but I still manage without getting too emotional when things happen.

I am usually the one to talk Casey through things,and to help him see the bigger picture.

But yesterday, for some reason, it was just too much.

About two weeks ago my laptop died.

Nothing extraordinary happened,

it just decided it didn't want to work anymore.

The solution?

we have to buy a new hard drive for it.

Nice.

Then yesterday, I had just started a load of laundry.

It was about 20 minutes into the cycle,

and all of a sudden it started beeping at me.

Yep, it died too.

I came upstairs, and told Casey, while trying to hold back tears.

It was really stupid.

I shouldn't have been so upset about it.

But for some reason, at that exact moment, it just felt like too much.

I broke.

I waited until he went downstairs to look at it, and the flood gates opened.

I just sat and cried.

I kept asking "why?"

I am trying to do what I am supposed to.

I am trying to help others.

I am trying to love unconditionally.

I am TRYING.

So, I sat and let it all out,

while Casey proceeded to take the washer out into the garage and take it a part.

He found the problem.

The motor cracked.

We have to order a new motor for our practically brand new washer.

Great.

We looked up the part.

$170

Fan-freakin-tastic.

We both sat and tried to figure out how we were going to squeeze that money out of somewhere.

We finally gave up and Casey went outside to get the mail.

He came in and opened up a Christmas card.

It was from my Grandma and Grandpa.

They sent some Christmas money.

Casey looked at me and said:

"See baby, something bad happens and then something good happens"

So simple, but so very much what I needed to hear at that moment.

I needed to be reminded of that simple truth.

Yes, sometimes bad things happen,

but as long as you are trying,

good things happen too.

Oh, how I love my sweet husband.

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa.

It was definitely an answer to a very heartfelt prayer.

:: The End of a LONG Project ::

2010-12-09T06:15:00.000-08:00

So, it just so happens that I have been on the activities committee in my ward for..... oh..... 3 YEARS!

LOL I am not sure what that says about me....

either they don't have anywhere else to put me, or I must be too good at the whole activities thing.

ANYWAY....

last Friday was our ward Christmas party.

I was in charge of it.

By myself.

Yep.

Craziness!

So I enlisted the help of some friends (thanks Caro and Lisa)

and we got to work.

The end result is this......

The program was amazing (thanks Lisa and Carol!)

and the food and company were great.

The spirit was SO strong, and everyone loved it.

We had a GREAT turnout (as in I only planned food for 200 and we had at the very least 250 come)

All the stress was well worth it for my last and final Christmas party on the activities committee...

yep, there are NO MORE ACTIVITIES COMMITTEES!

WAHOO!!!!!!

I mean,

Oh, that's really too bad.....

Thanks again to EVERYONE who helped!

{ To Vent }

2010-12-01T14:16:00.000-08:00

You know how sometimes you need to vent,

but you know when you try to vent it just gets you into trouble?

Yep.

I am at that point.

Lame.

I need a girls night.

Any takers?

:: Homework - BLEH! ::

2010-11-23T06:39:00.001-08:00

OK...... so I know the post title doesn't make a whole lot of sense,

but let me 'splain.

For some reason, EVERY TIME I log on and look at blogger, I get this intense sense of dread.

I know that I need to do a post.

I want to do a post.

But, man oh man, it feels like a homework assignment!

I was never much of a fan of homework.

Sure, I had awesome grades and a really good GPA,

but let me tell ya....

I HATED HOMEWORK.

I procrastinated doing homework until literally the very last minute.

I am not sure how I passed a lot of my classes, because I know that I just made up most of what was on my homework.....

Anyway, back to my blogging dilemma.

I really do love blogging,

but lately it seems that I am a little intimidated (which, if i am being honest, I don't get intimidated very often) and I procrastinate it until I feel like I just can't put it off anymore(which is feeling VERY familiar and bringing back high school and college homework memories).

You see, my intimidation is because I have some SERIOUSLY talented friends when it comes to the writing aspect of things.

Ladies like Her, Her and most definitely Her.

I am NOT so good with my words.

I have a serious case of blog envy with these three ladies.

They can turn some simple, mundane, everyday thing in life into the most enviable experience.

I can't do that.

When I try, it just comes out as a massive pile of word poop.

But, oh well right?

Some of us are blessed with the gift for writing extraordinarily beautiful things,

others are blessed with creating beautiful things.

So, I am trying to see all the things that I CAN do and stop focusing on the ones that I can't.

In my effort to break this terrible habit I have of putting off my blog posting,

I am going to try and post at least once a week... on BOTH blogs.

And if you can't stand to read all of my word poop Ü I do apologize,

but unfortunately it's all I got, and danggit, I need to own it!

and

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

:: New Projects for the Front Room Wall! ::

2010-09-26T17:31:00.000-07:00

I just finished these!

I am SUPER happy with how they turned out!

I found "The Living Christ" and "The Family, A Proclamation to the World" while we were cleaning out some of the closets a few weeks ago.

I immediately started coming up with an idea for them.

I knew that I needed something on my huge front room wall, and I knew that I needed some of my token red on that wall too.....

and this is the result!

The wall is not quite finished,

it still needs a little bit more to make it look complete,

but so far I am super happy with it!

Yay!

{ to blog or not to blog..... }

2010-09-08T20:32:00.000-07:00

That seems to be the question on my mind almost every night.

All day long, I sit and think of cute and clever things to put on my blog (s),

but then when I get home and think about posting..... it just seems to be too much effort!

LOL

ok enough whining.

Here are some pics from my recent adventure with my Aunt Kelly...

We ALWAYS have a good time when we are together.

This trip, we decided that a trek to San Antonio's Riverwalk was needed.

We did a weekend getaway down there.

Some SERIOUSLY good times were had.

Here is a break down of our adventures in San Antonio:

Day 1

First, let me preface day one with what went down while trying to rent a car...

I didn't want to have to rent a car, I figured that I own 2, I should be able to drive one of them (that I pay for montly) to San Antonio.... but oh no! My car's check engine light is on...and has been for almost 2 years....and here in the fabulous state of Texas, they won't even do an inspection if your light is on.... so needless to say, my inspection is 7 months past due and my light is STILL on, despite the THREE attempts we have made to fix what is supposedly causing it to turn on!

So, now you understand that I HAD to rent a car.

In my mind, cheaper is better, and a smaller vehicle would get better gas mileage

So, trying to be responsible and on top of things, I go online and reserve a car supposedly the equivalent of a Nissan Versa...

not too small, but gets GREAT gas mileage.

I am feeling better about renting a car at this point because I think that I am going to be getting great gas mileage, therfore freeing up some of my dinero....

I head to pick up said car (with the VERY MUCH APPRECIATED HELP OF A FABILOUS FRIEND)

I get to the rental place, and the ridiculously short, and trying to be but not funny, guy behind the counter informs me that they don't have the size car I reserved, but that they have a car like a Geo Metro....

at think point I am wondering why in the FREAK you can reserve a car online if you don't actually get it, and secondly, does this idiot honestly see ME driving a GEO Metro?

I think that he VERY quickly picked up on my mood and suggested a Dodge Dakots... I had a VERY hard time not laughing right in his face.....

I, instead, told him that I was mostly concerned about gas mileage.

He informed me that it woudl get GREAT gas mileage.

When I asked if he had anything else, he said no, That was it.

So, a Dodge Dakota it was....

But wait.... there is more.

I hand him my card so he can put the hold on it (which was about $40 more that I had been told originally) and THEN informs me that on top of the rental fee, they have to put ANOTHER $150 deposit on hold too!

Yeah, I wasn't the happiest of campers.....

Fast forward to Day 1:

We are driving in the newly rented Dakota and passing the miles away just chatting and catching up on life.

We soon realized that we were already in Austin, and we didn't want to stop to site see, but we thought we would quickly grab a picture of some the the buildings downtown....lol this is the ONE picture we managed while driving by on the freeway......

just a few miles past this point, we happened to find a MASSIVE amount of outlet malls.... so we stopped, and soon realized that these "outlets" we just a bit out of our price range.....

and we continued on...

we made it to San Antonio, checked into our room and decided that we needed to immediately explore.....

so we headed of toward where we thought the Riverwalk was....

we wondered down the street and just by chance happened upon The Alamo.....

which we honestly didn't take too much time to look at Ü

and we headed off in serach of the Riverwalk again......

we found it.... and explored it... twice.... and FINALLY decided to eat at one of the MANY restaurants

and it wasn't good! LOL! It was SO bad that I actually took all of the stuff out of my burrito and then filled it up with just beans.... it was really silly, but yeah, where ever it was we ate..... I don't reccommend it!

We cound a little souvenier shop and I made Kelly try on the cute pink cowboy hat.... she wasn't all that thrilled that I made her, but dang it!

We walked some more...... watching as it started to get busy as the sun went down.... and realized that it was more for drinking and partying than anything.... lol being the party poopers that we are, we called it a night and walked back to our hotel.......

Day 2:

We woke up on day 2 and realized just how SORE our poor feet were from all our walking the night before!

But we had talked and talked about all the touristy things we were gonna do...... so we bucked up and decided to WALK to see the Historic King Williams District. See we both have a huge love for old restored houses, and there is this WHOLE NEIGHBORHOOD like that out there!

We has checked out the maps the day before and decided it wasn't really all that far to walk, so we would try it out....

Yeah.... not out best idea....

LOL we made it there, and walked the first street,.... seeing this

which of course we loved.... but then Kelly had to go to the restroom.... and there weren't ANY anywhere near us.... and we has walked..... A LONG WAY.... lol

so we took off in search of a bathroom....

we somehow ended up walking all the way to Hemisfair park (NOT close to where we were by foot)

and then ended up walking ALL THE WAY THROUGH THE PARK to find a bathroom....

and then.....we were SO SWEATY AND HOT that we decided we needed to go back to the room and cool off for a bit...

We made it back to our room and looking ragged and completely soaked with sweat, we decided we needed to eat.

We didn't want to head back towards the riverwalk, so we headed the opposite direction...

BAD IDEA!

We totally ended up in the G-H-E-T-T-O!

lol and the whole time Kelly kept saying how she could live there, no one would bother her because she has a nice face.... right.

we ended up finding a little caesars pizza (with a freaking drive-through!) but in order for me to get to it, ai had to do a little illegal manuvering.... so we go in and get a pizza and I am trying to tell the girl and the register my funny story about seeing their store and how I did some crazy driving to get there and I am laughing... she doesn't even acknowlege my existance and starts talking to someone at the drive through!

This of course, only make myself and my aunt laugh harder!

As we are leaving, we see a Walgreens across the street.

We definitely needed a beverage to go with our pizza, so we head over.

We get inside, find our various purchases, and get in line to check out.

When we are next in line to pay, the hispanic gentlemen in front of us, tells the older black lady at the register that his water was on sale 2/$1.29, but it's ringing up $0.99 each. She gets some SERIOUS attitude and tells him that she doesn't know what it said, she just has to go with whatever it rings up as.... so the gentlemen sort of tosses an extra dollar at her to cover the rest of the amount....

she is NOT ok with this, and lets the gentlemen know to NOT throw his money at her.....

He gets upset and tells her he just doesn't want any of it then...

so she hands him back his money and proceeds to THRO the bag of items behind her on the floor and cal him an A-hole......meanwhile, both my aunt and I are standing in line with, what I am sure were, stupid smiles on our faces.

The lady starts to ring us up, but oh wait, she still has to take off the register all those things he didn't buy....LOL so she picks up the bag of items she just chucked and takes them off.... then we make some stupid small talk to make her NOT yell at us and we hurry out to the car.... and BURST in to laugher the minute we are safely in the vehicle....and then Kelly tells me that maybe she doesn't want to live here after all... ya think!

anyway... we make it back to the room at probably 3-ish and sadly enough... stay in there till about 7.... BUT then we decide we don't want to sit there the rest of the night... so we pile in the truck and drive BACK to the houses and admire them from inside our nice air conditioned vehicle... it was a MUCH better plan than the one we had opted for earlier.

Day 3:

By day 3 we were wondering what more we would have to do, but we decided to tough it out and find something fun to do... AND.... we were bound and determined that we weren't going to go back and sit out or room and waste our vacation!

So... in tru Kelly and Dawnielle fashion... we decided to hit the local Botanical Garden.... and I had to admit..... it was a MILLION times better than our trip to the arboritum out here in Dallas.... here are a few pics

following the gardens... we thought we would catch a movie and check out the mall....

we walked aroung the mall... which was disappointing... and went to check on the movie time.... we had like an hour or more to kill, so we finally gave in and decided to take the silly riverwalk boat tour.

We purchaed the tickets, got on the boat, and started the tour and it started to DOWNPOUR! It has been sunny and hot the ENTIRE trip, except those entire 35 minuted we were on the boat.... and as soon as we were done, it stopped.....yeah.. this is what we looked like after the REALLY wet boat tour.... it's not a good picture... but man we were laughin like fools!

so, with our boat ride out of the way, we head to see our movie. We purchase tickets and head into the theater... we sit down and realize that the movie is already started! LOL we head back out and find the ticket guy... he informs us that "oh yeah, they messed up and started it about 30 minutes ago" What in the? So we head back to the ticket office... where we inform the girl who sold us the tickets not 5 minutes ago, that they started the show 30 minutes ago... she says " oh yeah, they messed up and started that one early" What?! And at what point do you think it would have been a good idea to inform us that the movie we just bought tickets for, and isn't supposed to start for another 20 minutes, started 30 minutes ago!? SO... we exchange the tickets and head towars the movie we didn't really want to see in the first place.... but it turns out IT WAS HILARIOUS! we laughed throught THE ENTIRE movie!

We get done with a fabulous flick, and realized that we are kinda hungry.... well we remember that we saw this really fun looking burger place when we were out driving around earlier.

We get back in the car and head out to try and find said burger joint.

We manage to find it on the second time around.

We park and start to walk towards it.... but when we hit the fence outside of it, in big bold letters it says that they close at 8 pm.

I glance and my phone... it's EXACTLY 8 pm......

what a day..... so we pile back in the car and finally end up getting a burger from Whataburger.......

Then, on the drive back to the room... I manager to almost run a red light and then stop at a green one... it was quite the night!

Day 4:

We headed home day 4... back up to Denton.

We made it home and discovered that Casey hadn't been able to fix my car... STILL but that he was going to fix it that night...

he managed to get it done and then went and had the light turned off

I was stoked! I was FINALLY going to get my car inspected

Day 5:

We decided to head to Downtown Mckinney for some window shopping....

we had lunch at Spoons (delicious, by the way... I Highly Recommend it) an then started to browse....

but apparently we waited to long because everything was closing up! So we saw what we could, and then came back to my house and just hung out.

Day 6:

We started the day off with me thinking my car was fixed... that was a big fat negative.

So we took the rental car back,

came back home and ate lunch and watched some videos,

and then we headed towards the airport.... in a MASSIVE storm!

LOL we made it to the airport and on the drive home I saw these rainbows....

and I thought that maybe I had better chack and make sure Kelly made it to the plane was everything was ok.... yeah that would be a NO.

LOL the flight was delayed and thus messed with her connecting flight.....anyway, she ended up having to spend the night here again. CRAZINESS!

But is was a FABULOUS trip, filled with lots of laughter and fun memories..... I sure do love hanging with her and miss her tons! Thanks Kell!

{ My new bedroom addition }

2010-08-07T20:21:00.000-07:00

OK, so I have had this vinyl saying cut out for about 9 months,

and I have had it finished and on the wooden plaques for about 4 months,

they were just sitting very peacefully in a box.... waiting for the right moment.

and then tonight, I had an epiphany and I realized exactly where I needed to put them....

RIGHT HERE!

{ please excuse Sadie and Chase..... they felt they needed to be in the picture too apparently }

I SO LOVE THIS!!!!!

LOL

I LOVE when I get these fantastic epiphanies!

They make the PERFECT addition to my bedroom.....

{ Check it out! }

2010-07-24T19:38:00.000-07:00

Hey friends and fam.....

I am doing a giveaway on my other blog......

you should go and check it out :o)

all you have to do it click here

Love you all much!

{ Table Project and Toy Tote Project }

2010-07-05T17:46:00.000-07:00

Super Fun huh?

Casey built this table.....

I have to say that he is so stinkkn' amazing!

It's almost finished.

We've painted, sanded, and stained it.... now we just have to put the finish on it.....

and........

we have a dining room table!!!

BUT

who knows how long it will take us to build some chairs so that we can use it Ü

AND

How cute are my toy totes?!?!?!?!

I. so. love. them.

they were $1.50 at IKEA

and they were red.....

so I of course bought them

and then I added the super cute labels....

now I just need some cuteness pillows for the bench.....

and it will be DONE!!!!!

{ My New Life }

2010-06-08T17:15:00.000-07:00

I have been itching to get home from work ALL day so that I could write this post, but now that I am here..... I am not really sure how to start it. As I am sure that you noticed with my previous posts, I have been in a bit of a funk lately. Yesterday was by far the worst of it for me...... for some reason the realization that I will NEVER get to be a stay at home mom finally sunk in. I have kinda always known, but it just really hit yesterday. It's true that my emotions and hormones are probably pretty out of whack, but I still felt REALLY upset about it. So, I came home in a terrible mood, mad at the world and mad that I have to face so many trials, when all I ever wanted was to be able to lead a normal, everyday life of an LDS woman..... I know, I know. There is not such thing, but in my head there was this ideal that I had wanted for probably most of my life..... and for most of my life I have never been able to fit into that mold I created.

So yesterday when all of this finally came to a head, I felt that all too familiar hurt of not being able to fit into my mold again. I was throwing blame everywhere, including myself..... and then I got on my computer to do my ritual checking of the email, facebook and my blog..... and for some reason I was drawn to this blog...... it's a girl I went to high school with in Provo. I can't say that we were friends, but I did know her. I remember admiring her and how confident and happy she seemed...... she was involved in an almost fatal plane crash about 2 years ago. I am sure that most of you know of her by now, or of her blog. But as I happened upon it yesterday, I saw her Mormon message video and I watched it...... as I sat there crying I realized that my trials were nothing compared to hers. I am not trying to say mine aren't hard, they are. But when I put it into perspective, there are a lot worse things I could be having to go through. I at least have a job, and I can help to provide for my family. I have my health and a wonderful husband. I have my testimony and the knowledge of the Gospel. I have friends and family who love me.

I just realized that I had so many things to be grateful for and so much to be happy about, that it made no sense to be so upset about something that is only going to make me a stronger person. I have trials to make me better, to refine me. I am no where near as amazing or as much of a spiritual giant as Stephanie is, but I will forever be grateful for the lesson I learned from her yesterday. And because I am so grateful for her and her willingness to get up every morning and live her life the the fullest, I posted her message to share with all of you. :o)

{ did i mention that i feel burned out? }

2010-06-02T20:22:00.000-07:00

I am fairly certain that I mentioned in a previous post that I felt...... overwhelmed. LOL, yeah, I haven't fixed it yet. The really ridiculous part is, I really don't have any reason to feel that way. I quit the 2nd job...... I haven't really had a huge amount of projects to do for people......I'm not sure how to fix it.

OK, enough with the depressing stuff.... on to the exciting stuff! Ok, well it's not really THAT exciting, but in my world.... it's EXCITING! LOL! We have officially started fertility treatments again..... it doesn't mean much, and we are just barely on the first month, but it is definitely us taking an active role in trying to have a family. We shall see if/when things work out, but for now, any and all prayers are very much appreciated :o) We are trying to stay optimistic and keep our hopes up......so we will try to keep everyone updated.

That's about it for news in our world......like I said, I am fairly burnt out! Hopefully I can pull myself out of all this and get back to putting some regular posts on here! Good grief!

{ Handmade Gifts }

2010-05-18T20:17:00.000-07:00

So, my ever fabulous friend Lisa challenged me to do this, and not one to back down from a challenge, I wholeheartedly agreed! Here is the deal:

She had a friend who posted about a year ago a game titled "Handmade Gifts". The goal is to be one of the first 3 people to leave a comment. If you are so lucky, you get to receive a handmade gift! So, she decided to continue the game, laying out a few NEW rules. Here is how it works...

1. Be one of the first 3 people to leave a comment here on my blog AND re post this and offer the same thing to the first 3 people on your blog.

2. No guarantees you will like what I make

3. What I create will be just for you.

4.It will be done sometime within the next year.

5.You have no clue what it will be

6. I will send it anywhere! It doesn't matter where you live!

So...... GOOD LUCK!

2010-05-08T21:07:00.001-07:00

Do you ever just feel like your life is just........too full?

LOL I am feeling VERY much like mine is at the exact point in time.

I don't feel overwhelmed..... I just feel like I might need to simplify.

How.... I am not exactly sure yet.

But I am going to try and get rid of things that aren't necessary.

What those are, well I still need to figure that out I suppose.

I will let you know what I decide......

2010-04-18T13:38:00.000-07:00

Well I'll tell you just how talented (and amazingly sweet) he is...

He built THIS shelf (complete with rods to put my ribbon on!) in less than an hour!

That's right..... LESS THAN 1 HOUR!

Apparently he decided that my craziness when I was crafting was due to my totally over-crowded and un-organized crafting table, so he came up with this (all in his head!) and ....

ta-da! Amazingness!

{ Sleep-over at Uncle Casey & Aunt D's }

2010-03-14T11:52:00.002-07:00

So, our adorable nieces slept over yesterday. I was sick and had to work, so Uncle Casey got to hang with them all day. They had SO much fun! I dare say that they might think that Uncle Casey is cooler than Aunt D at this point Ü. They went fishin' and played at the playground and made their own Treasure Boxes (which Uncle Casey made for them, and then they got to paint.....lol and lots of the paint didn't make it onto the treasure boxes but rather onto Aunt D's table Ü, but oh well!) and then they watched 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' (I personally LOVED this movie when I was little) and the 'Iron Giant' (which Uncle Casey had NEVER seen, and I think that he laughed MUCH harder than any of the girls did Ü). We blew up one of the air mattresses in the family room and they hopped into a couple of Uncle Casey's T-shirts (which he sure did take pictures of) and the went right to sleep! What sweet girls they are! We sure do love them and are very grateful that their mom and dad let them come and hang for the night! Hopefully we can have some more sleepovers soon!

P.S. I posted some videos of them at the park with Uncle Casey and there are some pics of them at the park, paintin' their treasure boxes and in Uncle Casey's T-shirts.

2010-03-14T11:52:00.001-07:00

2010-03-14T11:51:00.001-07:00

2010-03-14T11:50:00.001-07:00

Even MORE giveaways!

2010-02-21T16:53:00.001-08:00

That's right friends and fam,

there is ANOTHER giveaway going on!

Only this time, my AMAZINGLY AWESOME friend Morgan

put a massive one together!

There are 15 prizes in all!

To enter just visit Morgan's blog here

Everyone can enter!

I would strongly suggest checking it out!

There is some REALLY great prizes!

You only have until this Friday!!!!!!

Oh! And to view my prize I am giving away, check out my other blog!

D's Things

Yay for giveaways!!!!!

{ Birthday Number 2-8!!!! }

2010-02-11T19:42:00.000-08:00

So, I realize that I am a little late in posting this,

considering my birthday was on the 2nd.

But I just wanted to post some pics of the FABULOUS things that I purchased

with my birthday money from fam!
Oh, and I wanted to be sure and post a pic of the super delicious surprise,
that I received at home on my birthday.......

.... and I think that I was on a red kick... what do ya think?

These would be my new WONDERFUL curtains!

Purchased with the money that Casey's Mom sent me.

I tweaked them a little so that I had two for the front door and one on the back door.

THANKS MOM!!!!!!!

AND.....

I purchased the candles & picture holder with the money from Grandma & Grandpa Hatt....

AND......

This NEW centerpiece for my Table! LOVE IT!

Thanks Grandma & Grandpa!

AND.......

These are my NEW SHEETS!!!!
Purchased with the b-day money from my mom and dad!

I LOVE THEM!!!!!!

Thank you Mom!!!

AND......

My Surprise!!!
Thanks Brandon & Mel!!!! you guys ROCK!

Most Delicious Meatloaf......

2010-01-27T11:07:00.000-08:00

Ok All,

I don't consider myself a huge meatloaf fan,

but I tell you what.... this one is DELIGHTFUL! (and SUPER easy to make!)

Trust me, you need to try it at least once.

Meatloaf

2 eggs

1/2 C water

1 box stuffing

1 1/2 - 2 lbs ground beef

Ketchup or BBQ sauce

Pre-heat the oven to 350.

Beat the eggs and water together.

Add the box of stuffing, and make sure to mix thoroughly.

Add the ground beef and mix well.

Spread mixture in a 9x13 pan, and then top with your ketchup or BBQ sauce.

Bake in the oven for 1 hr - 1hr 15min.

ENJOY!!!!!!

Busy little Bee

2010-01-26T10:50:00.000-08:00

Well, I have been quite the busy little bee lately.

I posted some of my latest creations on my other blog.

Check 'em out here.

Not much else new.

I am creeping closer to my birthday...... the big 2-8!

Only one more week.

Craziness.

Giveaway ......

2010-01-20T10:37:00.000-08:00

Hey All!

I am doing a giveaway on my other blog.

Click here to check it out!

Paper Doll Books & Vinyl Sayings

2010-01-07T11:46:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone.... so I am just putting a plug in for my newest creation on this blog also. They are super cute and very fun to make! You can check them out here. Also, I have found a TON of new sayings that can be cut into Vinyl, you can see them here..... so if you are looking to have some cut let me know!!!!!

FABULOUS!!!!!!!

2009-12-28T12:07:00.000-08:00

Have you heard of this game? If not, you need to go and purchase it, or find someone who has it. It seriously is the funniest game I have ever played!

If you live near us, we are up for a round ANYTIME!

Some House Updates

2009-12-09T16:53:00.001-08:00

So we've been doing some changes around the house lately. Nothing too drastic, but fun nonetheless.

First: Casey came home from our Utah visit (sorry if we weren't able to see you, by the way) with a need for change.....

So you all remember the BEAUTIFUL entertainment center he built us about a year and a half ago........ if not you can look at this page here

Well now it looks like this:

{It's a Toy Bench! I had planned on having him build one eventually, but instead I just used part of the entertainment stand he took apart! I am going to get some cute baskets to put the toys in and then get some cute pillows to put on the top to use as cushion..... I think it looks WAY fun! }

{ LOL he definitely simplified huh? Oh well, It still looks FABULOUS! }

Second: We had decided a while ago that we wanted to re-do the floors downstairs. So we found some REALLY good deals on flooring and we purchased all that we would need. So far we have put the flooring down in the dining room and the living room. We still need to tile the entryway by the front door and the kitchen. But we are getting there!

Utah or Bust!!!!!

2009-11-09T13:09:00.000-08:00

OK all you peeps out there..... we will be starting our week long adventure on Nov. 20Th. We plan on having a get together (with the location To Be Determined) for any and all friends on Tuesday Nov. 24 for a couple of hours that evening. It won't be anything fancy, just a come and hang out kind of a thing. We are trying to work on somewhere we can go that is kind of in the middle of where all our friends live, which is most likely going to be in Salt Lake somewhere (So if anyone has any suggestions, please feel free to let them be known!). We don't want it to cost anything, and we have considered just doing something at a church, and maybe playing some basketball or something, but we don't know of any churches that we could use in the Salt Lake area. Other than a church, we have considered bowling alleys, or some kind of restaurant. But we are at this point stumped....... so we will try to keep you updated, but for sure plan on coming and seeing us on the 24Th!!!!!

Only 11 more days until we leave!!!!!!!

Just FYI

2009-09-20T13:58:00.000-07:00

Just some FYI for all those who check my blog..... I am doing a giveaway on my other blog

http://d-sthings.blogspot.com/

2 months?!?!?!?!?!

2009-09-18T21:08:00.000-07:00

Dear me! Where has the time gone? I apologize to all those out there that actually read this. I don't know how I let 2 whole months go by without posting anything. I've just been so busy with both jobs and making all my fun crafts that I haven't really paid much attention to my poor blog! I shouldn't feel too bad though, not really much has changed. We are still here in good ol' Texas and still both just working like crazy. I am still working both jobs and Casey is still doing some serious overtime. We had some visitors over the summer, it was nice to be able to see family again. Casey is actually in Utah this weekend attending his grandfather's funeral. He passed away this last week. For the short time that I was able to know him, I was rather fond of him. He is able to be with his sweetheart again now, and I am sure that it was a very happy reunion.

Anyway, that's not very happy news, but it's about all the news that I really have. I sure do miss all my family and friends that we are so far away from. Hopefully we will be able to see you soon. Oh! I guess that would be something I can post..... We are planning on going back to Utah for a week around Thanksgiving....... so we are thinking that maybe we can plan one night that we could get ALL our friends together and have a party somewhere. There are just too many people we want to be able to see and not enough time. So I will try and plan somewhere that we can all get together and a date and hopefully everyone will be able to come and spend a few hours hanging out.

Sleep doesn't want to come tonight.....

2009-07-07T20:31:00.000-07:00

I was laying in bed tonight, and for some reason I couldn't get to sleep. I feel exhausted.... I think that the two jobs might be catching up with me a little bit Ü, but still no sleep. So I started to let my mind wander. I usually try to avoid this around bed time, because my mind can go for HOURS if I let it. I was laying in bed, completely comfortable, listening to the ceiling fan thinking about the next few months. I was wondering if I am going to be able to accomplish all the things that I have planned. I keep telling myself that I might be putting just a tad too much on my plate, but the more I try to resist, the more I can think of to try and do.

So there I am laying their wandering in my own thoughts and starting to feel the stress climb up my shoulders and into my lower neck when I suddenly felt calm and peace. That everything is just going to work out eventually. I know... that is what everyone says, but I felt it. And then I started remembering some of the amazingly loving things that my sweet husband does for me. I know that it is a random train of thought and probably won't make sense to anyone else, but I felt the need to get out of bed and write it down. Not because I need everyone to know about it, but because I want to be able to always remember and treasure them.

Here is where my mind eventually wandered to:

I can honestly say that I am not completely happy with myself. Both physically and spiritually. I have goals and I do try to accomplish them, but I am honest and can admit that those goals are often neglected and not very often accomplished. I feel like I let myself down a lot. Now, I am not saying this because I am sad or depressed. Those emotions have come and gone. I am determined. I am determined to change myself to make myself better even just a little bit every day. I don't know any women who are happy with themselves 100%. I will gladly stand corrected if I do, but I don't think that I do. I think that we all have things that we want to change and make better about ourselves. And sometimes, for me at least, I let that overwhelm and consume me. So much so that I compare myself to EVERYONE. I know that I shouldn't do that. I know that I am a fabulous person just being me, but it doesn't change the fact that I STILL do it.

So when I am in these little pity party modes, I don't usually let Casey in on my secret bash. I just pretend that everything is OK and go about my day as usual. It never fails, however, that at some point in that day, Casey will see me ( and this is 100% the TRUTH, I am always looking at about my worst, in my holy T-shirt and old sweats with my hair a nasty mess or something) and he will smile at me ever so sweetly and say "Hello beautiful". Every time. It always makes me feel very loved and so very grateful to have him. But just tonight, laying in my bed, is when I realized the even deeper significance.

I don't have to perfect. I don't have to be the most beautiful woman in the world. I am not the most beautiful woman in the world. I am not the skinniest or most perfect woman in the world. I am not the richest or the most well liked. But I am his beautiful. And that my friends, is all that matters. Of course I can and will do things to make myself better and happier and healthier. But no matter what comes my way, or how often I fail, I always get to be his beautiful.

So..... I am going to try....

2009-06-21T15:34:00.000-07:00

All right.... so I am going to try and sell some of the things that I make. I have created a website.... feel free to pass it along to any and all. It's still under construction, but I decided I just needed to put myself out there and see what happens..... Heres to Hopin!!!!!

{ A whole Set }

2009-06-07T18:43:00.000-07:00

So.... I have been a busy little tutu maker lately! The tutu I made a few months ago for my niece for her birthday was a huge hit, and I had requests from her two sisters to please make them one for their birthday. It just so happens that their birthday's are about a week apart, so I have been working away! I made one last week for little miss Emma Jo, in all different shades of blue (of course) along with some matching flip-flops and a hair bow..... then I received, yet again, the request from both Abby and Kalli to please make them { A whole set } too! LOL so needless to say, I have been spending my free time make such pretty things for them! Abby just got the flip-flops and hair bow, since she received her tutu back in April, Kalli is getting the whole thing AND a butterfly necklace that I made special since she is turning 8! And last but not least I made myself a swim bag.... too cute, don't ya think?

{ of course they didn't have any PLAIN flip-flops when I bought Kalli's }

Wow.... where does the time go?

2009-06-04T14:27:00.000-07:00

Sorry for not updating for almost TWO months! What the crap! Wow. So I am still alive. I am surviving the two jobs. It's actually not all that bad, plus I am getting a nice tan from being outside all the time. Not much else is new for us. Just plugging along, day to day. It's definitely getting hot here now-a-days. We are enjoying the pools. I had a FABULOUS visit from Heidi a couple of weeks ago. TONS of fun.... LOL although I don't think that I have tried to cram that much into one weekend since I was in college! I hit my one year mark at this job (seriously?! it's already been a year?!) I am contemplating trying to go back to school in the fall and FINALLY finish my degree....... I am also trying to get my ideas together so that I can try to start some sort of business from home (how nice would that be?). My mind likes to come up with all the crazy ideas all the time.... and I am just abuot bored enough to try them all out!

I need to get back to work.... not sure if it's job one or two.... but I definitely need to get to it! Love and miss everyone!

Diaper Bags Galore!

2009-04-19T18:28:00.000-07:00

So this would be number 2. I only have three more on back order now! YAY! LOL and for all you out there that are thinking you might want me to make you one, I am considering making them on the side. If you are interested, leave me a comment. I will get back to you with how much it would cost!

I am still alive.... Ü

2009-04-12T14:49:00.000-07:00

Hey y'all!!! So I am still alive... I just don't have much time for other things lately. Working two jobs and then trying to spend some time with Casey and doing all my little projects doesn't leave much time for bloggin... I do miss it! Ü But anyway, I just finished Tassia's diaper bag and Changing mat and Diaper Wallet.... so I thought I would put some pics up... Enjoy!!!

A Birthday Present

2009-03-22T09:52:00.000-07:00

What little girl doesn't love all things sparkly, fluffy and princess-y? So I decided to make my beautiful little niece Abby a one of a kind tutu for her birthday. Hopefully she will like it! It's super cute though, right? I thought so. And it was super easy to make!!!!!

Yet another project.....

2009-03-17T16:07:00.000-07:00

So here are the few pictures that I took of my latest project. I decided that I wanted to sew a this really cute diaper bag for my sister-in-law. So I made a pattern, bought some material, got some advice from my mom (who is an AMAZING seamstress) and went for it. Thanks to my mom, who got me a sewing machine for my birthday, and whom I must have gotten a little bit of sewing talent from after all..... this is want turned out for my practice one. Not too bad for the first thing that I've ever attempted to sew in my life, right? I will post some more pictures of the others once I get them done.... LOL I have a waiting list now for some.

The best friends a girl could ask for.....

2009-03-13T16:35:00.000-07:00

So it's been really rainy the past few days out this way, and I always get to reminiscing on days like these. Lately I have been thinking about my very amazing girl friends back in Utah. We definitely had some good time in college and the years since. I miss them all so very much!!!! LOL so they are probably going to kill me, but I decided to post some pics of us all from back in the day. LOVE YOU GIRLS!!!!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CASEY!!!!!

2009-03-05T16:35:00.001-08:00

Happy birthday to my wonderful Casey. Ü Hard to believe that you are 28! It feels so very strange to realize how close we both are to 30. I hope that your day is filled with lots of happiness!!!!! I love you!!!!!

A very BIG thank you.....

2009-02-21T21:29:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to follow up on my previous post. I wanted to say THANK YOU to all of you who have commented. I am so very grateful to have all of you in my life. I apologize if the last post sounded a little bit down. I will fully admit that I was. But I am OK and doing much better. I am SO very thankful for all the blessings in my life. I know that things will work out eventually. I will keep my chin up and stay positive I promise. I sure do love you all!!!!!

It's been a while....

2009-02-15T10:08:00.000-08:00

So I noticed today that it has been over a month since I put a post up. So I decided to share on some of my thoughts recently. As I am sure most of you know by now, we are trying to sell our house. It has been on the market for three months now, and we have shown it about 4 times. I realize that it is slow with the economy right now. But that is still discouraging. I try to keep a positive attitude about things, but the other night I just couldn't handle it and had kind of a melt down. I had just checked my email, and our realtor had sent me a message with the feedback from the last showing we had. The people had very bluntly said, "Not a possibility". I realize that it shouldn't have set me off like it did, but it was the last straw for the last few months worth of issues. I didn't alert Casey to my fragile state of mind, I just simply went into your bedroom and laid down and had a good cry. I cried out all of my frustrations over our house not selling, our financial situation, our inability to have children, and over feeling very stuck in life. When I didn't have any tears left, I sat debating with myself about what I wanted to do to try and fix the situation. The solution that seemed to be the easiest and quickest fix, was to just quit. To just walk away from everything. But as soon as I thought it, I had a flash back to about 13 years ago.

I am not sure if my dad remembers that morning, but he taught me a very important lesson that has stuck with me ever since. Let me preface the story by saying that when I was almost 13 we moved to Vegas. I hadn't ever really played basketball. I actually despised it. But when I was in the eighth grade, I got put on the school team. I was terrible. Then when I got to high school in the ninth grade, I was pretty much forced to play on the Varsity basketball team. I was scared to death. I had only played one year before that, I was HORRIBLE and the majority of the team were seniors. Our practice schedule was really extreme. We had an early morning practice from 4:30 to 6:30, then I got ready and went to school (of course in all the honor courses, thanks mom Ü), after which I followed up with after school seminary and then finally went to another 2 hour practice before going home. It was a very grueling schedule for anyone who loved the game, but especially for me because I HATED it. One morning as my dad was driving me to practice in the wee hours of the morning, I broke down. I didn't want to do it anymore, I wanted to quit. What my dad told me next has had a lasting impact on my life. He told me he wouldn't let me quit. I was not a quitter. I was going to finish the season. Then if I decided that I didn't want to play anymore that was fine, but I was not going to quit now. I of course was not a happy camper about his answer, but when I look back now I am so very grateful for it. If he had let me quit, my entire life would have turned out differently.

So as I remembered that story, I realized that all this that I am going through will have an lasting impact on my life. I may not know what that will be, but I won't quit. I will carry all these things that seem to burden me down with a smile. I will continue forward with a positive attitude until they are over.

So thank you dad. Thanks for helping me to understand that quitting isn't the answer.

Newest Hobby....

2009-01-11T16:56:00.001-08:00

Hey everyone Ü So this is my newest hobby. Check out the photos that I posted and let me know what you think Ü

http://taekourbreathaway.blogspot.com/

Identity Theft

2009-01-08T17:46:00.000-08:00

Ok so to all my friends and family out there..... please please please, make sure that you monitor your bank accounts and credit. I am grateful that we caught ours when we did. I am unfortunately the victim of some identity theft. I always felt sorry for others that I heard it happened to, but I always thought that I would be ok because I am SOOOO careful with my info and Casey's. Unfortunately it doesn't matter how careful you are. So please check things often Ü. I am not going to post the whole story yet. That is for another day when I am feeling very long winded, or you can feel free to call me.

New Year......

2009-01-03T09:32:00.000-08:00

I don't know if anyone else experiences this, but I do my best thinking when I am almost asleep. It's when I am in that state where I am almost asleep, but still awake enough to know what I am thinking about.

Anyway, last night was one of those nights when I had sort of an epiphany. I was thinking that I don't tend to make new year resolutions, because if I am honest with myself, I don't ever keep them or follow through with them. Then I started to thinking about my past resolutions, and they all seemed to revolve around me not liking my body. So then my thoughts went towards all the things that I am not so much a fan about. I was mentally listing them, when I suddenly caught myself. I stopped my train of thought and went with the new thought that had just interrupted me. The new thought was this: I need to stop hating myself. Sure there are things that I would like to change. Everyone has those I am sure. I would love to be in better shape, lose some weight and be more active. I would really love it if my body worked right so that I was able to have children. I would love to have more perfect beautifully white teeth. But in all honesty, this is the only body that I get. I need to start being grateful that I have this body at all. I need to be more appreciative that I have to opportunity to live in this body, even with the things that I don't like about it.

And then it hit me. That is my new life time resolution. I am going to be more grateful that I have been given this wonderful miracle of a body and stop hating the little things about it. Of course I am going to try to take better care of it, but my ultimate goal is not the weight loss, or whiter teeth, it is loving myself because I am me. So to all of you out there who agree or disagree, I say this, it does not matter to me. I am who I am. Take it or leave it.

Miracle Worker......

2009-01-01T12:05:00.000-08:00

So I have been REALLY sick lately, which doesn't come as a surprise to most, I know. I have a tendency to get sick really easily and very often. So my most recent ailment had been this cold that started out as a sore sratchy throat and then turned into congestion in my head and chest. Anyone who knows me, also knows that I HATE going to the doctor. So because of my predicament I decided to try out this magic bottle of syrup that seems to always work miracles for me. It's called Black Edlerberry Syrup. I find it here at the health food store. It's kind of pricey for that little bottle (about $11), but well worth is because it saved me from that dreaded doctor's visit. I started taking it Tuesday morning and by Tuesday evening I was feeling A LOT better. I am still taking it until I am sure that I am over this. But anyone who knows me, knows how sick I tend to get and this fabulous bottle is my new favorite. I plan on keeping some in the house always. So for everyone out there, I recommend getting yourself some. It is WONDERFUL! It is safe for kids too. So there you go.

Cloned Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls

2008-12-25T11:08:00.000-08:00

Cinnamon Rolls

Dough: (dough is made in a bread machine)

1 Cup warm milk

2 Eggs, room temperature

1/3 cup margarine, melted

4 1/2 cups bread flour

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup white sugar

2 1/2 tsp bread machine yeast (I just use on package of the active dry yeast)

Filling:

1 cup brown sugar

2 1/2 Tbsp ground cinnamon

1/3 cup butter, softened

Frosting:

1 (3oz) package cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/8 tsp salt

Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer (I put the ingredients in the pan in the order that they are listed above).Select dough cycle; press start

after dough has doubled in size turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, cover and let rest for 10 minutes. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, cinnamon and butter (I would recommend melting the butter and then mixing it together, the mixture will spread on the dough easier).

Roll dough into a 16x21 inch rectangle. Spread dough with the cinnamon mixture. Roll up dough and cut into 16 rolls using a string or thread. Place rolls in a lightly greased 9x13 baking pan. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Bake rolls in preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes (FYI you will probably need to bake them longer). While rolls are baking, beat together cream cheese, 1/4 cup butter, confectioners sugar, vanilla extract and salt. Spread frosting on warm rolls before serving.

*** These rolls are FABULOUS. They do take quite a bit of time to make, so make sure you aren't going to need to go anywhere while you are making them Ü

7 LaYeR bEaN dIp

2008-12-25T10:58:00.000-08:00

7 Layer Ben Dip

1 Large Can refried beans

1 8oz package cream cheese

1 16oz container sour cream

1 package taco seasoning

guacamole

salsa

shredded cheese

green onions

sliced olives

Heat the refried beans until warm. In a large dish, spread your layer of refried beans. Mix the cream cheese, sour cream and taco seasoning, spread on top of the beans. Spread guacamole next, then salsa, then top with shredded cheese. Add sliced green onions and sliced olives. There you have it! 7 layers of YUM!!!!!

*** I use the less fat cream cheese and light sour cream and you can't tell the difference. Also I have used both real guacamole and guacamole dip, They both taste great.

Slack much?!

2008-12-19T16:59:00.000-08:00

Wow... so I have been a slacker lately with the whole blog thing! I am so LAZY. It must have something to do with the holidays...... Ü Not a whole lot happening here in Texas for us lately. We had a nice Thanksgiving with Casey's Brother's family and Casey's sister's family. We went to the Fort Worth Zoo, it was fun. I got some REALLY cute pictures of all the kiddos. But I am L-A-Z-Y and have not put them on the computer yet. So no pics I'm afraid. Also about a week ago was our ward Christmas party. Casey and I are on the activities committee. So we were in charge of the whole thing. It was A LOT of work. But it ended up being really cute and everyone said it was by far the best party we have had in a LONG time, and the food was FANTASTIC! (Casey cooked dutch oven chicken Ü) Not a whole lot more to report I'm afraid. The house is still up for sale. Not many interested people lately, but we didn't expect a whole lot of interest with the way the economy is right now. So we are just praying that it will eventually sell. But I guess what happens happens, right?

We hope that everyone has the best holiday season! I was going to do a Christmas card, but again with my laziness. Do you see a reoccurring theme here? Ü

It's Official

2008-11-18T05:42:00.001-08:00

So it's official, we put our home up for sale. We are going back to Utah. Well, we are going back if our house ever sells Ü So if you know of anyone who would like to buy a VERY cute home in Texas........ Cross your fingers that is sells quick!

A "Day Off" from work to ...... Work?

2008-11-12T05:17:00.000-08:00

So do y'all ever get this kind of a day off? I had yesterday off due to it being Veterans day. I was really excited to be able to sleep in and just lounge around all day. However, I realized Monday night that I wasn't going to be able to be lazy. So instead I spent ALL day cleaning the house. Literally I cleaned it from top to bottom. I don't think that house has ever been that clean. And when I say all day, I mean ALL day. I got up at 8 and started cleaning and I didn't finish until 5:30. There were no breaks, not even for eating. Anyone who knows me, knows that when I start cleaning I am EXTREMELY focused until the task at hand is done. So needless to say, I am not at all rested today as I return to work work. I am actually MORE exhausted then I was before my "Day Off". Lame.

Oh and just one more rant for a minute, those of you who know that we have been having car issues lately (with our NEW car!), we STILL don't have the car. Yeah, they supposedly fixed it and we picked it up a week ago, well then it broke down again a day after we got it back. So they came and picked it up again and told us that they forgot to replace a seal or something, oh and that a couple of parts they told us weren't bad before are now bad. But they insist that they didn't go bad because they didn't put the car back together correctly, so therefore they won't fix them for free. I still firmly believe that they did go bad because they didn't put the car back together correctly. But nonetheless they won't fix that problem and we are STILL waiting for them to fix the seal so that we can go and get it so Casey can fix the other two problems. Yeah, so that is what is happening in our life right now Ü fun for us!

Brandon & Mel's Wedding

2008-11-05T16:39:00.000-08:00

So for those who don't know... my younger brother Brandon got married on Halloween (Yes we all know it was a strange date, but whatever!) Casey and I were able to go back to Utah thanks to my mom and dad and be there for the wedding Ü Here are a few of the over 200 hundred pictures that I took. They sure are CUTE!

Roses are Red.....

2008-10-16T19:27:00.001-07:00

This is what I came home from work to today. He always seems to know the right time to get me flowers. There is not a special occasion, and no he is not trying to sweeten me up because he did something wrong. He just simply wanted to let me know that I am special. I wish that there were some way to put into words how much I love him and how much I appreciate him. It's these simple small things that help to keep me going. Knowing that I can act stupid or dumb or overly girly around him and he will still love me (yes he does make fun of me when I am stupid, but in all honesty, I totally deserve it and I am very,capable of laughing at myself). I am so grateful that he is forever mine. He is simply the best.

Comforting Chicken Noodle Soup

2008-10-14T10:23:00.000-07:00

OK so I realize that I just posted yesterday and that it was also a recipe, but I made this soup last night and it is AMAZING! Anyone who likes soups will love this! I am not a huge soup person, I mostly just like the potato soups, but this was REALLY good, and the best part is that it only took me about 20 minutes total to make. That's prep time and everything! :)

Comforting Chicken Noodle Soup

· 2 quarts water
· 8 chicken bouillon cubes ( I also add minced dried onion with this, however much you would like)
· 6 ½ C uncooked wide egg noodles
· 2 cans (10 ¾ oz each) cream of chicken soup, undiluted
· 3 C cubed cooked chicken ( I only used 1 chicken breast)
· 1 C (8 oz) sour cream
· Minced fresh parsley (I didn't really worry about this)

In a large saucepan, bring water and bouillon to a boil. Add noodles; cook, uncovered until tender, about 10 min. Do not drain. Add soup and chicken heat through. Remove from heat; stir in sour cream. Sprinkle with parsley (optional) Yield: 10-12 servings

Applebee's Oriental Chichen Salad

2008-10-13T08:37:00.000-07:00

Salad:

1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup corn flake crumbs
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 boneless, skinless chicken breast half
oil for frying
3 cups chopped romaine lettuce
1 cup red cabbage
1 cup Napa cabbage
1/2 carrot, julienned or shredded
1 green onion, chopped
1 tablespoon sliced almonds
1/3 cup chow mein noodles

Dressing:

3 tablespoons honey
1 1/2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon Grey Poupon Dijon mustard
1/8 teaspoon sesame oil

Prepare dressing ingredients by mixing in a small bowl. Refrigerate while
preparing salad.

Cut each chicken breast into 5 strips. In one bowl, beat egg with milk.
In another bowl, combine flour with corn flake crumbs, salt and pepper.
Preheat oil over medium heat.Dip individual chicken pieces in egg mixture and then roll in the flourmixture. Fry chicken until browned, drain and set aside.

Prepare salad by tossing the chopped romaine with the chopped red
cabbage, Napa cabbage, and carrots. Sprinkle sliced green onion on top of
the lettuce. Sprinkle almonds over the salad, then the chow mein noodles.
Cut the chicken into small chunks. Place the chicken onto the salad
forming a pile in the middle. Serve with salad dressing on the side.

** Ok so you can totally make your own breaded chicken like it calls for, but you can also just buy breaded chicken and use that and it tastes the same. Also this makes A LOT of salad. So plan accordingly. But it is FABULUOS!!!!!

Anniversary

2008-10-03T17:05:00.000-07:00

One gorgeous ring...

Two people in love...

Three crazy dogs...

Four homes.....

Five years of marriage!!!!!!!

Yep, that about sums up our life thus far :)

Happy Anniversary Sweetness!!!!!

Chaos & Confusion

2008-10-02T09:59:00.000-07:00

So my thoughts these last few days have been scattered and not very organized. I can’t seem to pin point my emotions. I can’t decide what mood I am in or what I am feeling. I know that seems very silly but for some reason, when I try to figure out what it is that I am feeling, I am at a complete loss. There have been a lot of events happening around me, some to me directly, some to my family, some to my friends, and some to the world in general. All these things have made my mind swirl, made me think about things in a whole new light. Some of them have left me in tears, and some have left me feeling overflowing with happiness. I sometimes wonder at the experience we are able to have here on this earth. I wonder if all the pain, loss and fear that we have to muddle through somehow makes those moments when we are filled with happiness and joy and love that much more fulfilling and rewarding. I sometimes consider other avenues my life might have taken at various points in time and find myself in great awe at the wisdom and loving guidance my father heaven has blessed me with. I am not without my faults, and I have made my fair amount of mistakes and “whoopsies!”, yet here I am still am, more blessed and loved than I could ever have imagined. How is it then that I sometimes still feel the need to complain? There is no logic behind it. I KNOW how blessed I am and I KNOW there is a plan for me that is beyond my understanding or comprehension. But on those days when I feel like nothing is going how I want it to go, I start in on everyone. I try not to, but sometimes I just don’t think before I open my mouth. Then later when I realize that I have hurt another or maybe just myself, I ask for forgiveness. Which then leads to my next thoughts regarding myself and what I plan to do to make who I am better. I make lists of goals in my head and little promises to myself about how I am going to go about making those changes. Sometimes I succeed, but more often then not I give up on the idea before it really even begins. I have come to realize that my biggest fear in changing or improving is that I will lose the me that I already am. I don’t want to lose myself. So I become frustrated and try to sort through my once again crowded and confusing emotions and thoughts. Trying so hard to figure out what it all means and why I can’t name my feelings. I am not depressed, I do not feel sad. I am pretty sure that I am happy and glad to be where I am at in life. I feel the tug of loneliness for my friends and family so far away. I love and am loved. I am grateful and blessed. But somehow still melancholy. See what I mean? How do I figure it all out? I know that I will eventually, just like with everything in my life, I tend to be extremely impatient and want to have whatever it is right now at this exact moment, but it always woks itself out in due time. So my conclusion is this: I don’t know what I feel, I don’t know when I will figure it out, but I do know that I love my amazing and sweet husband and my family and my fabulous friends. And for right now, that is enough.

Cinnamon Glazed Almonds

2008-10-01T10:33:00.000-07:00

So I decided since the seasons are changing that I wanted to make a nice treat the other day. I made thse almods.... wow they are AMAZING! And they are REALLY easy to make. I reccommend trying them at least once.

Cinnamon Glazed Almonds

1/3 cup butter
2 egg whites, at room temperature
Pinch of salt
1 cup sugar
3 cups whole natural almonds
4 teaspoons cinnamon

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place butter in a 13" X 9" pan;
place in oven to melt butter, about 7 minutes. Meanwhile, beat
egg whites with salt until frothy; gradually add sugar, beating to
stiff peaks. Gently fold in almonds and cinnamon. Pour almond
mixture onto pan; toss with butter. Bake about 40 minutes,
tossing every 10 minutes, until almonds are crisp. Serve warm or at room
temperature. Store cooled almonds in airtight container up to 2 weeks.

Aunt Kelly, Me & the Dallas Arboretum

2008-09-29T17:26:00.000-07:00

So my FABULOUS Aunt Kelly came and visited me for a week. I seriously miss her SOOOOO much! But the time we did get to spend together was a blast. We decided on Saturday to go and see the Dallas Arboretum (gardens for those of you who have no idea what an Arboretum is). We were SO excited! LOL but then it turned out to be kind of a drag. These pics kind of make it look better than it really was, but oh well at least we can say that we have been there right? :) Sorry the pics are not all that great. I am not a very good photographer. But what we did capture sure looks really beautiful in these.

P.S. sorry about all the people in the pictures.... I have no idea who they are :)

The tree is totally SMOOTH! I thought is was very interesting :)

Ok so this is NOT a flattering picture of me.... but Kelly looks FABULOUS!

LOL Too bad we didn't have any kids to play in the pumpkin house.

He totally posed for me with the acorn in mouth and everything!

This guy was the ONLY flower on the whole tree..... so I thought he deserved to have his photo taken.

This is a view of some of the houses that sat across the lake from the gardens.

So I am a huge fan of black and white photos, so I took this one in both color and black and white

Such a cute little cottage! :) LOL she was going to tell everyone at work that this was my house!

I fell in love with the Coy pond are of the gardens..... so there are lots of pictures of that, sorry :)

Memories

2008-09-19T11:27:00.000-07:00

So..... my fabulous friend Ash posted this on her blog and I thought it would be fun :)

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses.If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

Some updates on life.....

2008-09-12T12:14:00.000-07:00

All right so I decided that I would give y'all some updates on our life lately:

In June Casey's parents came and visited. Now I realize that June was quite a few months ago but I haven't quite gotten it together for a while so this is my update on all that. SO....while his parents were with us I had the fabulous opportunity to take his mom and go out to Mckinney, TX and walk around their down town square. I absolutely fell in love with it out there. There were so many cute shops and antique stores out there. We just did window shopping but I found some really cute things that I loved. Here are some pics. I plan to either make them or have Casey make them for me :) Sorry the pics are so little..... I took them with my phone.

Now this picture is of a REALLY old basketball that I found. I, of course, wanted it really bad but it was like $100. So I passed. But I still really loved it.

Then in July my fam came to visit me. It was lots of fun. Myself, my sisters, my mom and my grandma all made some super cute magnet boards........ and well I have kind of gotten obsessed with making them. I love doing it. I have kind of toyed with the idea of trying to sell them or something. But they are super fun. Here are some pics of one I made for a lady I work with. There are two sides to it

And then finally I found this picture at the store a couple of weeks ago that I loved and wanted to put in my bedroom. But Casey said that he wanted to just have his sister Tassia paint it for us. So he took a picture of the picture in the store and sent it to her and this is what she did for us :) Thanks Tassia!!!!

5
This is the one from the store

5
And this is the one Tassia painted for us!
She is freaking amazing!

2008-09-07T09:28:00.000-07:00

All About Me!!
So I got this off of my friend Taryn's Blog...... I thought that is looked like fun and I haven't posted anything in a while so I thought I would fill it out. :o) Here goes!

i am: A wife, a woman, a has been (hopefully someday again soon a 'still is') athlete, a once upon a time coach, and sometimes I still feel like a little girl
i think: that I am going to start school in the spring and finish my degree so that I can officially begin doing what I love.
i know: that life isn't always fair, but somehow it all seems to work out and you end up happier then you thought you would.
i want: to someday be able to have children, regardless of how I get them, and I want my wonderful, amazing husband to be able to follow his dreams.
i dislike: seafood and fish of any kind, and when my husband scratches me with his toenails (seriously it's like nails on a chalk board for me)
i miss: my bestest girl friends, and CEU and The Yellow House.
i fear: SPIDERS...... and not being able to have kids.
i feel: better than I did a couple of days ago (FYI I was in the ER for an infection..... but I am SOOOOO much better now)
i hear: absolutely nothing..... it's REALLY quiet around our house.
i smell: the air fresheners that I have in just about every room in my house, they are the really yummy one from bath and body works.
i crave: deep fried mushrooms.... I know that is random, but they sound really good right now.
i cry: not all too often, but usually it is because something really touches me, it gets me deep down, you know, where it feels like whatever it is that you just heard or saw is something that your soul understands.
i usually: keep my house pretty spotless, it's like this itch that I have. Whenever it get messy I have to clean it up or it bugs me until I think that I might go crazy ;o)
i search: the faces of people I see everyday, wondering what there life is like and what they believe in.
i wonder: where Casey and I will be a few years from now and what we will be doing.
i regret: not having finished my education earlier, not always being kind to everyone, and not always have a smile on my face to help make some one else's day a little better.
i love: My husband, my family, my friends, my Savior and my Father in Heaven
i care: about way too many people, according to Casey, and helping them in any way that I can.
i always: eat Ranch with my pizza (LOL you didn't see that one coming did ya?)
i worry: too much, about everything, all the time :o) just ask Casey.
i am not: perfect, but I try to do the right thing.
i remember: scents mostly, there are always certain things that I can smell and it brings back a rush of memories, not always good ones.
i believe: in myself and my husband.
i dance: not as much as I should.
i sing: not very well, but I usually enjoy myself as long as no one is around.
i don’t always: eat as healthy as I should.
i argue: with Casey sometimes, and it is usually over something stupid, and I usually end up apologizing.
i write: not very well, but I REALLY want to write a book. I keep hoping that maybe one day I will get the hang of this and be able to get my thoughts and ideas down.
i win: every time I look into my husbands eyes and see how much he loves me and know that it gets to be for forever.
i lose: my mind when I don't do anything but stay in the house ALL day!
i wish: that we were completely debt free and able to go anywhere we wanted and do anything we wanted to
i listen: to my friends and family, and I try to help when it is needed.
i don't understand: why I have been so blessed, but I am forever grateful that I am.
i can usually be found: at my house, or at work
i am scared: of heights, SPIDERS, and not experiencing enough of what this life has to offer.
i need: just my sweetness.
i forget: people who hurt me.
i am happy: when I know that Casey is happy

Everyone who reads this should do it too!!

Wow.... I have TOTALLY slacked off

2008-08-03T19:50:00.000-07:00

So I just wanted to apologize to all y'all who keep checking my blog and I haven't updated it in a LONG time. I am sincerely sorry..... but here is what my schedule has been like lately....

First we had Casey's parents come and stay with us at the end of June, so I was of course obsessed about making sure that my house and everything was in perfect order.
Then Casey has been working some crazy long hours so we haven't really be able to see much of each other when that happens.... which anyone who knows me knows that when I don't get to be around my most amazing and wonderful husband I get mopey and I don't really want to do anything.
And then my family came out and stayed with us for about a week in July.... which again I was obsessed with making sure that my house was just right and everything was how is should be... which means I totally exhausted myself running around my house cleaning like a crazy person.
Then when my fam was here all I wanted to do was spend as much time with them as I could.... which unfortunately wasn't a whole lot because I had to work the entire time.... so needless to say I was a little bit sleep deprived.
And then my Brother and his Fiance came and stayed with us the weekend the rest of my fam left...... so I was EVEN MORE sleep deprived.... and then I had to go to work all this past week too.....
And then I have been trying to clean my house once again now that the fam is all gone again.

So that is a nutshell is why I haven't updated my blog in a while. But I promise that I will get on it this week and that I am going to post some new recipes and that I will do better about staying on top of it!!!

Here it is.... my famous Chocolate Molten Lava Cakes

2008-07-13T09:57:00.000-07:00

Chocolate Molten Lava Cakes

1 18.25 oz box chocolate fudge or dark chocolate cake mix

1 1/3 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 bottle Hershey hot fudge topping
8 scoops vanilla ice cream
Magic Shell chocolate topping
Caramel ice cream topping

Texas-size muffin pan (for those who have no idea what this means.... you need to go and buy what they call a Texas size muffin pan)

Make the cake batter following the directions on the box. Pour 1/2 cup of batter into the greased cups of a large Texas size muffin pan. If your pan has 6 cups , bake the cakes in two batched of 4 at a time. Turn all the cakes out of the pan and let them cool.

The cakes will be served upside down, so you make have to cut some the rounded muffin top in order to make the stand. Once they are upside down, cut a 1 1/2 in diameter hole out of the bottom (which is now the top). Take a teaspoon and remove the chunk of cake.

Spoon about 2 tablespoons of fudge into each hole, then you can store the cakes in a sealed container in the fridge until you are ready to serve them.

When you are ready to serve, heat one cake at a time in the microwave for 40-45 seconds or until your hot fudge starts to bubble. Remove the cake and let it set for about 30 seconds. Then place a scoop of ice cream on the top of the cake and drizzle with magic shell topping and caramel topping.

Makes 8 desserts

*** OK here are my comments for this one..... IT IS FABULOUS!!!!! I seriously have made these SO many times for everyone. They are REALLY easy to make and they are just about to DIE for! Also on a side note, you can make the cakes in just a regular size muffin pan if you want to have smaller cakes. I have found that the smaller cakes work well for kids. So there ya go! Hope you all enjoy!!!

Tryin Something New.....

2008-07-03T19:30:00.000-07:00

So I decided to try something new.... hopefully all of you who actually do read this and check it often will like my idea. I am going to try to post one of my favorite recipes every couple of weeks or so. I just enjoy cooking SO much and I want to be able to share with others. So this week I am giving you one of my ALL TIME favorite salad recipes. Enjoy!

Summer Salad

3 cups cooked long grain brown rice (I use white, either works)
2 small boneless skinless chicken breasts*
1 can (15oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can(15oz) whole kernel corn, drained (I use frozen corn, just heat it up in the microwave real quick)
1/2 small green pepper. chopped (I don't like green peppers so I don't put them in... it still tastes fabulous!)
1/2 cup shopped red onion, optional
2 small tomatoes (I love tomatoes, so I usually add a little bit more)
3 1/2 cups fresh baby spinach leaves (~3oz)
6 oz Swiss cheese
1/2 avocado, peeled and sliced
3/4 cup fat-free vinaigrette dressing **

Cooke brown (or white) rice according to package directions. Cool.

Marinate chicken with favorite marinade; for a tasty marinade, see below*. Drain marinade and grill chicken breasts (or cook according to favorite method, I just cook them in a frying pan on the stove... it's REALLY good!). Slice, and set aside.

Combine cooled rice with drained and rinsed black beans, drained corn, chopped pepper, and chopped red onion. Chop 1 tomato and add to salad mix; set second tomato aside. Toss to mix.

Wash and pat dry spinach leaves. Arrange spinach in bottom of serving bowl. Place rice salad mix on spinach. Make 4 wedge cuts partially through the second tomato (I actually don't do this.... I just throw it all in the mix); allow tomato to open creating a flower. Place tomato flower on top of rice. Slice cheese into julienne strips and arrange on salad, add sliced chicken and sliced avocado. Drizzle with dressing just before serving; or allow guests to add their own dressing. Serves 6

* Chicken marinade: combine 1 can (12oz) lemon-lime soda, 3/4 cup soy sauce, 1/2 cup vegetable oil, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, and 1 tablespoon horseradish (I again am not a fan so I omit this one). Add chicken and marinate 1-2 hours or up to overnight. Drain marinade and grill chicken until cooked. (This marinade is AWESOME!!! I highly recommend it!!!!!)

** Huckleberry flavored vinaigrette goes especially well with this salad, as does raspberry and many others! Just find one you like and try it!!!!!

OK so it seems like a lot..... but trust me it really is easy to make and it looks SO pretty when it is done and it tastes even BETTER!!!!!! So I hope you all enjoy! I think that next time I am going to post a recipe for my famous chocolate molten lava cakes!!!! So check back often :)

Fishin in the neighborhood

2008-06-29T14:50:00.000-07:00

Hey Y'all!!!! So I realized that I hadn't posted in a long time, so I took some pics to show everyone our wonderful neighborhood and then I also added some pictures of Casey fishing. So the first few pictures are of just the neighborhood and of the neighborhood pool that has the water slides. I am warning everyone though that once you look at the pictures, you are mot definitely going to want to move here! ;o) j/k. It is beautiful though and we do thoroughly enjoy living here. We miss everyone and hopefully we will get a chance to see everyone in the next little while!

P.S. Sorry that there are SO many pics, but I couldn't decide which ones to put up and and which ones not to put up so I just figured that I enjoy looking at lots of pictures so hopefully you do too!

Newest Edition to the Boudreaux Fam....

2008-06-08T12:29:00.001-07:00

So here is the newest edition to our the Boudreaux fam. Des had her baby, Kale Chandler Smoot, on June 3. He was 8 lbs. 10 oz and he was 21 inches long! Now this is a big deal because he is the FIRST grandchild on my side of the family. So we are super happy for her and Chandler and thought that we would post these cute pics on here for everyone to see :o)

Updates....

2008-05-27T16:52:00.000-07:00

So here are some updates on us:

I now have a job. I work for Denton County Adult Probation Intake office.
Casey is still working as a Machinist
We now have THREE dogs (much to my dismay)
We explored some more of our neighborhood this past weekend and discovered that we have an AWESOME neighborhood swimming pool, complete with two water slides and all!
Casey has made it to level 70 on his World of Warcraft game ( yeah it doesn't really matter to me either, but he cares about it so I try to )
I was so bored yesterday that I actually alphabetized our movie collection (seriously)
I don't have anything else to put here because we are so boring.... :)

Here are some updates on my fam (Boudreaux clan)

Brock is going to graduate this Thursday! (YAY!!!!!!)
Denae is almost done with her freshman year and will be a sophomore next year when she will attending school where my dad works.
Desirae is most likely going to be having her baby boy this week sometime....
Brandon is in Florida working for the summer.
Brenton is home from Snow and working for the summer

So we love and miss you all and hope to hear from or see you soon!!!!

Finally.... I have a job!!!

2008-05-15T09:51:00.000-07:00

So this is just a quick little note to let you all know that I did FINALLY get a job!!!! I am going to be working for the county in the Adult Probations office as a secretary. I am super excited!!!! Thanks for all you love and support and prayers!!!! Love and miss you all!!!!!!

Newest memeber of our crew....

2008-05-14T08:10:00.001-07:00

So this is the newest memeber of our crew. His name is Tank. He was Casey's sister's puppy... but she didn't want him anymore.... so now we have him......

The New Family Room....

2008-05-12T07:35:00.000-07:00

So here it is... our family room. I finally painted it... and I LOVE the color. And Casey just finished the entertainment stand and we got it up here. As you can see it is HUGE. But that is when I wanted.

We still need to hang the pictures onthe wall and there is still a little bit that needs to be done on the entertaiment stand. Casey still has to build some abinet doors to go on the bottom there. But we LOVE this room!!!

Making the new entertainment stand.....

2008-05-12T07:30:00.000-07:00

So here are some of the in progress pictures. Casey built us this HUGE new entertainment stand for the family room. He just built it this week and I LOVE it. He is so amazing at stuff like this.

Some Fun Facts

2008-05-11T09:53:00.000-07:00

What is the best thing you cooked last week?

Well I made a roast wtih potatoes and corn and biscuits....... I LOVE to cook :)

If time, money, and babysitting were no object, where would you go and with who?

I would go and travel Europe I think.... and I would take Casey.... and then I would also go to Hawaii or somewhere warm and tropical.

When was the last time you cried?

Well.... I do believe that I cried this week. Unfortunately I cry over really stupid things but it deifinitely helps relieve some of my stress.

List 5 things you were doing 10 years ago: (1998)

1. The beginning of the year I was still a Sophomore at Basic High School in Henderson NV, and I was playing on the Varsity basketball team.

2. I turned 16 and got my driver's license.

3. Started my Junior Year in High school at Basic High School.

4. I moved back to Utah with my little sis and we lived in our parents best friend's house.

5. I started school at Provo High School and was on their Varsity basketball team.

List 5 things you were doing 5 years ago: (2003)

1. I was finishing my Junior year in College.

2. I was dating about 4 different guys at the same time at one point ( It was super tough !!!)

3. I had talked to my bishop about maybe going on a mission.

4. I went to a young adult dance being held at the Zoo and met Casey.

5. I married Casey in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple on Oct. 3..... 3 months after we met :)

List 5 things you were doing 1 year ago: (2007)

1. We were finishing the last few things on our house in Utah so we could get it up for sale.

2. We went on a week long vacation/job hunt to Texas.

3. I was working at Ben lomond High school with an amazing group of women.... I still miss all of you!!!!!!

4. We put our house up for sale and it sold in two days!

5. We bought a house in Dallas, Texas.

List 7 of your favorite hobbies.

1. Basketball - any and all aspects.

2. Cooking

3. Reading

4. Decorating my home... lol and ok everyone else's that will let me do it to theirs too.

5. Fishing

6. Shopping

7. Playing on the computer

Name 5 of your favorite foods.

1. Pasta

2. Pizza

3. Salad

4. Steaks and potato salad

5. Chocolate molten lava cake

5 places you have been.

1. Salt Lake City, Utah

2. Dallas, Texas

3. Denver, Colorado

4. Indiana

5. California

List 5 of your favorite memories

1. Playing basketball at CEU for two years. I made some of the best friends ever and I have some of the most amazing memories.

2. The few memories that I have of my Grandpa Boudreaux from when I was little.

3. Camping trips to the Cabin and all of the ones that we take every year with my fam.

4. My Wedding day

5. Watching old movies with my Grandma Boudreaux.

Beautiful Scene......

2008-04-19T20:01:00.000-07:00

So , we went fishing last night and I couldn't help but take some more pictures. It was SO beautiful! I know they are not the highest quality , but I only had my cell phone with me to take them. But you still get the idea. Pretty amazing huh? Just thought I would share!

Gone Fishin...

2008-04-13T17:10:00.000-07:00

So here are some photos that we took of us fishin. The lake is just down the street from our house. It is SO much fun to go there almost everyday and just fish...... LOL who would have ever thought that I love to fish!!!! (ok maybe you Carol )

Updated pics of the house

2008-03-21T13:51:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics fo the house. I only took pictures of the rooms that we have done something too. So yeah..... here they are :)

Looking into the Living Room from the front door

Living Room

Looking into the Kitchen from the Living Room

Breakfast Nook

Kitchen

Dining Room

Family Room

Our Crazy Dogs...

2008-03-14T08:57:00.001-07:00

So the other day I happened to glance over at Sadie and Chase and this is how they were sleeping. LOL!!!!!! They are SO out of control!

Tank

2008-02-19T08:52:00.000-08:00

So we puppy-sat Tank a couple of weeks ago for Casey's sister while she was out of town. I just had to post this picture because it was too funny!

So...... there actually isn't a job.

2008-02-10T16:23:00.000-08:00

Hey all.... just thought that I would update this real fast. The job that I was going to take, well it didn't so much work out. So I don't actually have a job at the moment. I am still just substituting. I have however interviewed for a job at a school and I have applied for a couple of other positions in schools also. So for right now my job is still just substituting. So just thought that I would let you all know.

Fabulous News!!!!!

2008-01-24T06:42:00.000-08:00

So.... I FOUND A JOB!!!!!! how fabulous is that? It isn't working in education but it is working with a small company that modifies airplanes. It is the perfect fit and I am so excited!!!!! I guess the six month stall was worth it right? Well, I don't actually know yet because I don't start until Monday. But YAY!!!!!! So thank you to everyone that was praying for us! We love and miss you all!!!!!

Thoughts....

2008-01-14T13:57:00.000-08:00

Alright, so I just have to get this off my chest. Why is it that men need huge TV's and then when they get them they feel the need to sit 3 feet from them? For instance, my husband got his 50 inch TV. And he also has his Xbox 360. So he plays his games on the new TV which is plenty big enough to sit on the couch and still see everything great, but no, he has to sit literally 3 feet away from it. Why? He says that it is because he needs to be able to see everything really good. Right..... I think it is because when men get their dream TV's they are like little kids. You know, the ones who like to sit really really close to the TV and you have to tell them all the time to scoot back because it isn't good for their eyes. Yep, that's my theory. Men are like little kids when it comes to their TV's. OH! and when it comes to the surround sound....wow. Too Funny! Silly Boys!

The Adventures of Flat Stanley

2008-01-09T10:26:00.000-08:00

Alright everyone.... this is what Flat Stanley did while in my care. I will put captions under the pics do you know what was going on..... SO MUCH FUN!!!!

Of course he had to get some XBox time in while here. Uncle Casey made sure of that.

Sadie looks so thrilled, don't you think? :)

This is Chase's " why do you do this to me?" face. :)

He was so thrilled to come to our house... can't you tell?

Yeah... casey looks real happy..... NOT!

Totally went and checked out the Choo Choo Train park.

Bought some new couches.

Ok so we didn't really watch this.... but it was the thought that counts right?

One of the many beautiful water features in the neighborhoood

Another water feature.....

The playground down the street... had some good times.

He totally helped me with my Plant Tycoon... yeah I am addicted.

I don't know....

Oh..... love!

And the most important thing that we did..... Wal-Mart!!!!!

Flat Stanley

2007-12-31T09:19:00.000-08:00

How Cute is this ?! My little niece wrote me this letter. Her name is Kalli and she is in the first grade. I almost started crying when I read it! I will translate for those who can't read it. It says:

"Dear ant Dee

Polees take him evreewer

I will send it to

you The flat stanly

From the postofis to Dee

Please send pichrs

Tack Ken

Thank you

Love Kalli "

So cute huh!? So I get to take Stanly around with me and take pictures and then send him and the pictures back to her so that she can take him to school. How Fun!!!!

So I suck at bloggin.....

2007-12-18T14:32:00.000-08:00

Alright.... so I was informed that I am not all that good at the whole blogging thing :) which is kind of true. Sorry everyone that keeps checking this to see what has been going on in our lives. Honestly though not a whole lot has changed since the first time I wrote on here. I am STILL looking for a job. I do substitute for one of the school districts out here when there are jobs available but that is not all that often unfortunately. Casey is still working as a machinist. He is working lots of long hours right now so that we can try to have enough to make all the payments that need to be made. Let's see.... Casey also traded the infamous truck in on a car. He finally decided that is was getting a little bit expensive buying fuel for it about once a week. So we bought an Altima. It is really nice. Definitely saves on the gas costs.
We are trying to get in the holiday spirit here. I also dicovered this year that we don't have a lot of Christmas decorations. I never realized how little we had when we were in the other house. I suppose it is because the other house was not very big so we didn't need a lot. But our poor house here is pretty bare of everything. It's kind of humorous. We don't have enough furniture or pretty much anything to fill the house! Well that is what I get I suppose for wanting a bigger home huh?
Our ward here is pretty awesome too. We both have callings now in church. Casey works with the young men.... which is kind of funny because he really has a hard time having patience with teenagers. I guess it's good for him then huh? I am in the Primary ( I know what you are thinking) and it most definitely is a challenge for me. I have a hard time with the little ones. I am good with the teenagers but not so much the younger ones. Oh well... guess I need to learn too huh? So pretty much that is our lives in a nut shell right now. Nothing all too exciting. Hopefully we will get the chance to see everyone in the near future. We hope that you all have some fabulous holidays and know that we love you all very much and we will be thinking about you this holiday season.

Our Dallas Home...

2007-11-12T14:14:00.001-08:00

Our Home!

Front Door

Porch to the Right

Porch to the left

Front Door inside

Dining Room

Laundry area from the Dining room

1/2 bath downstairs... across from the Laundry

Laundry area

Kitchen

Kitchen.... the orange is the color I want....the green... not so much... we will be changing that soon.

Breakfast nook area

Living room leading into the Kitchen

...Living Room...

More Living Room

Looking Down the stairs

Top of the stairs

Master Bedroom & Bathroom

Bedroom # 2

Bedroom # 3

The Family Room....

The Computer desk in the Family Room....sorry...still tryin to get organized!

Another View of the Family Room...

Life in Dallas...

2007-10-23T19:54:00.000-07:00

Hey y'all!

Life here in Dallas is absolutely fabulous. We have moved into our new house. We have yet to even come close to unpacking all of our belongings.... but at least we are in the house, right? Casey is working as a machinist here also. He is loving his new company. In January he is thinking that he is going to start school.... I know, it's about time right? :) Sadie and Chase are happy as can be here in their new home. They are not quite sure what to do with all the space. They run around the house like crazy. They also are in the habit of barking ALL THE TIME. I swear they do it just because they know that I hate it. Also we have them kennel trained now (thanks mom and dad!). I learned my lesson about leaving them out when they are home alone (we all remember the couches right?). Let's see..... I am STILL without a J O B. Hopefully the right one comes along soon. I never thought that we would end up in Texas, but here we are. Just so everyone knows.... we have every intention of going back to Utah once we are both done with school. But for now.... Texas is home. We miss you all and hopefully we will get to take a lot of trips back there to see all of you. I know this isn't the same but I will try to keep this updated as often as I can.

We love you all!!!

Casey & Dawnielle

:: A Giveaway ::

:: Grandma Boudreaux ::

:: Happy {Early} Birthday to me! ::

:: A Thought ::

:: Wanna know a secret? ::

:: Some Positives ::

:: Chalkboard walls ::

:: Coaching ::

:: My Recycled Project ::

:: When it rains..... ::

:: The End of a LONG Project ::

{ To Vent }

:: Homework - BLEH! ::

:: New Projects for the Front Room Wall! ::

{ to blog or not to blog..... }

{ My new bedroom addition }

{ Check it out! }

{ Table Project and Toy Tote Project }

{ My New Life }

{ did i mention that i feel burned out? }

{ Handmade Gifts }

{{ Simplify??? }}

{{ How Talented is My Husband? }}

{ Sleep-over at Uncle Casey & Aunt D's }

Even MORE giveaways!

{ Birthday Number 2-8!!!! }

Most Delicious Meatloaf......

Busy little Bee

Giveaway ......

Paper Doll Books & Vinyl Sayings

FABULOUS!!!!!!!

Some House Updates

Utah or Bust!!!!!

Just FYI

2 months?!?!?!?!?!

Sleep doesn't want to come tonight.....

So..... I am going to try....

{ A whole Set }

Wow.... where does the time go?

Diaper Bags Galore!

I am still alive.... Ü

A Birthday Present

Yet another project.....

The best friends a girl could ask for.....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CASEY!!!!!

A very BIG thank you.....

It's been a while....

Newest Hobby....

Identity Theft

New Year......

Miracle Worker......

Cloned Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls

7 LaYeR bEaN dIp

Slack much?!

It's Official

A "Day Off" from work to ...... Work?

Brandon & Mel's Wedding

Roses are Red.....

Comforting Chicken Noodle Soup

Applebee's Oriental Chichen Salad

Anniversary

Chaos & Confusion

Cinnamon Glazed Almonds

Aunt Kelly, Me & the Dallas Arboretum

Memories

Some updates on life.....

Wow.... I have TOTALLY slacked off

Here it is.... my famous Chocolate Molten Lava Cakes

Tryin Something New.....

Fishin in the neighborhood

Newest Edition to the Boudreaux Fam....

Updates....

Finally.... I have a job!!!

Newest memeber of our crew....

The New Family Room....

Making the new entertainment stand.....

Some Fun Facts

Beautiful Scene......

Gone Fishin...