3 years and counting!

I hope this is always a tradition!  That we take a few days just for ourselves every Memorial Day weekend.  It works out quite nice that we got married on Memorial Day.  It gives us a guaranteed 3 day weekend around our anniversary every year.  We went to Daytona Beach for our honeymoon, South Carolina for our 1 year anniversary (never blogged about that, but we have video :)), Chicago last year and this year we decided to keep it a little close to home and save some money.  So, we packed the car with all the essentials for a fun-filled camping experience.  

Gary picked me up from work Thursday afternoon and we headed out to Cedars of Lebanon.  I was a nervous wreck the whole time that we weren't going to find a spot to camp, but no worries we did!!  We actually camped right beside the site we camped last time I was there.  It was a gorgeous and HOT 2 days!

When we got there Thursday evening we set up the tent, searched for firewood and then made my favorite new recipe, Bacon wrapped chicken shish kabobs!  They marinated for 24 hours and MAN was it delicious!!  Every one around us was eating hotdogs and I felt like a queen with my meal!  We didn't do anything too exciting our first night there, just hung out by the fire mostly.  

Friday morning we were woken up by the neighbors who had 3 young children.  The kids were pretty good, but the 2 year old would get a bit cranky.  They were actually packing up to leave as Gary was cooking our country ham and eggs breakfast.  We then changed into our hiking gear and hit the trails, well really just one 

  

trail because it was the longest one.

Things that happened on our 5 mile hike (we caught this all on video, but it won't let me load it :( ):

We came upon a cave...

A dried up creek with stairs (not man made)...

A huge hole that went into the cave...

A bug flew and smacked me right in the face.  It must have left him unconscious because when I looked down he was in my shirt.

Then it smelt good down my shirt.  That bug must have had some sort of perfume that came from it because I hadn't showered :).

After the hike we just kind of snacked and then we decided we wanted to go see the avengers at some point.  Before the avengers happened, Gary wanted to gather more wood for that night.  As he was gathering he came upon an old road that looked like it used to be the campsites.  There were decapitated tables all down this neglected deserted road.  It felt like we were living during the zombie apocalypse.  I tried to get Gary to act and use his imagination, but he wasn't into it...don't worry I still acted :).  

We went and saw the afternoon viewing of the avengers.  One of the things I was most looking forward to was sitting in a freezing cold movie theater for a couple of hours.  We all know that movie theaters are always freezing.  So, Gary and I got our tickets, our snacks and our 3D glasses and headed into the theater.  Right as we hit the entrance the warm air smacked us in the face.  HOLY COW it was burning up in there!!!  I was a little disappointed, but once we got seated and settled it really wasn't that bad, but the other family that was in there with us was complaining about how hot it was too.  

We both loved the movie!!  We hadn't seen all of the other individual movies so we will probably watch it again once we have seen all of those and get more out of it.  We headed back to the camp site and played cards, Gary finished a book and then we got ready for dinner.  That night we had italian sausage and macaroni salad...once again YUMMY!!!  Another family had moved in next door and what do you know they had a 2 year old as well.  Both families were really nice and they had really good kids, but it would have been nice not to have to hear them whine every once in a while.  We stayed up later that night because Gary got more wood and he just kept burning it and kept burning it!  

Saturday morning we got up and ate bagels for breakfast and then loaded the car and hit the road.  It was really nice to stay close to home because we had a short drive until we could relax again.  It was a perfect get-a-way for us!  

Our new plan is to try and camp at all of the Tennessee State parks!!  Wish us luck!!

Happy Camping!

It's a....???

I have mentioned these new parties that people are having.  Well my sister decided she wanted to have one as well.  I wasn't sure if she was going to tell me what the baby was before the day, but she did :).  She found out on Thursday afternoon (May 3rd) and she called me while I was at work.  I really didn't care either way, but I had in my head what I thought it was going to be :).  So, my cousin, Elizabeth, and I left right after work and school on Friday to head down to Arab to help my sister get ready for this party.  I love decorating things!!  But the most fun is decorating cheaply!!!  I take great joy in making something look beautiful at very little cost!!  Thankfully I have great family and friends that assist in this talent.  That's something you have to have in order to pull it off, I truly believe...ANYWAY!!  I told Shelley I would be in charge of decorations.  The only thing decorating wise that she provided was the pink and blue and table clothes and the balloons, everything else was all me!!!  I have to add that the table clothes were only a $1 each anyway :).

Here is the Boy Table.  I thought I got a picture before this, but it's the only one I have.  That's Jack getting some blue kool-aid.  There is also blue decorated cupcakes with little cupcake toppers that say it's a boy.  I previously purchased those for my diaper cakes so for this party they were free!  You can't see them in the picture but there is a mason jar with blue tissue paper and bow ties on a stick.  The bow ties were made by my cousin, Elizabeth, out of previously purchased scrapbook paper.  The bow ties were used when we took the big group pictures.  Then of course some blue kool-aid in one of my mother-in-law's drink dispensers (see the fam came in handy).  The blue B was less than $2 at Hobby Lobby and I got a roll of blue ribbon for less than $2 as well.  I already had the blue paint from canvases.  So all together with the cost of the table clothes, this decorated table cost us about $5. 

Here is the pink table and the cost was about the same!  Oh yeah I forgot to mention that my uncle has those cupcake stands (see I borrow a lot of stuff :)).  The picture prop for the girl voters is bows, also made by Elizabeth.

I bought some chalkboard spray paint (I think this was the most expensive item costing me about $8) and spray painted several things.  This is actually my frame that holds our wedding picture that hangs in our living room.  It was a bit dramatic and the glass actually broke but it's all good.  These are Shelley's answers for the Old Wives Tales.  Which one do you think it points more to??

This is another frame from my house, but I didn't put the glass in it so that people could cast their vote as they arrived.  I got the chalk from Hobby Lobby for about $2, I think.  It has several different colors, but it was the cheap chalk and it breaks super easy.  It also isn't very bright.  I think next time I might spend the extra dollar or so and get the crayola chalk.  

I also found an old cork board at my sister's the night before the party that I painted and wrote Baby Sharp Coming September 2012, but for some reason I can't find the picture I took of that.  It's really cute...just trust me!!  For the centerpieces on each table I had mason jars with pink and blue tissue paper stuffed in them and then sticks that Elizabeth and I painted pink and blue...FREE!!!!

Here it is!!!  The way everyone found out.  The whole night everyone was trying to figure out how they were going to tell.  Some people thought it was in the cupcakes, some people thought it was the box, but nobody knew for sure.  The box was provided by my uncle and then Elizabeth, my mom and myself painted it all up.  The balloons were the only cost.

Now here's some snapshots from the evening...

Jared's grandparents wearing their blue!!

 shooting the nerf guns

This is my granddaddy wearing my sunglasses.  He actually wore them for most of the night because the sun was right in his eyes where he was sitting.  I'm shocked he didn't rip them off his face!

All the blue voters with their bow ties.  Don't worry I got close up video :).

All the pink voters with their bows!

Shelley's best friend Rachel and her family, full of girls!!  They were voting for a boy, if you can't tell!!

Time to reveal...

BLUE BALLOONS!!!

IT'S A BOY!!!!!!  There were more balloons in there, but I guess this is the only picture my dad got.  I was manning the video camera (video coming later).

I am SOOOO excited!!  I honestly the whole time thought it was going to be a girl and most people knew that, so I had to keep a huge secret!!!

Here we are with our bow ties!

Shelley and the proud Grand-dads

With Jared's Pawpaw.  He was voting for a baby!!

With both grandparents!!  First grandbaby!!!  Oh I should probably link up to their reaction when they found out they were having a baby :).

Easton Neil will grace us with his presence this fall!  I am one excited aunt!!!

Happy Aunting,

Wood Pallet Craft

On Monday night we had another 2Hyrs adventure.  This time we made crafts.  They were supposed to be for our mother's and we going to give them to them for Mother's Day, but since we were a little late and I already gave my mom some very good gifts, I decided this craft was for me!!!  I found all of the steps here and bought all of the materials at Ace Hardware and Hobby Lobby.  I bought enough for 19 crafts, but only 9 people were able to come.  I can still take the wood back I didn't use...if I want to :).  Our friend, Lee, the tiler was gracious enough to come over and cut all of the wood up for us!  

I wish I had taken pictures along the way, but I usually forget to do that :).  In the original tutorial she did and she actually stained her wood dark under her yellow one.  I didn't buy any stain and so when I was sanding my yellow one it wasn't looking right.  So, I went back and painted over the yellow with grey and I must say I LOVE IT!!!!!  Alison and I cut the stencil from the cricut machine we have at church.  The negative of that was the holes for the O's, A's, D's and E's had to be held in while you were sponging in the letters.  Some people found that to be a bit difficult.  I want to try to improve this in the future and that would mean finding a different way to stencil.  Also, the stencil was done out of cardstock and even though we made a few they kind of wore out by the end of the night and the paint started running through differently.  It was fixable though and the last one that was done ended up being just as cute!!

I think the girls had fun and the adults that were able to come!  I really enjoyed it and I think we should have craft night more often!!

P.S. There will be more pallet art gracing this blog in the future...maybe for a nephew's room???

Happy Crafting,

I know a hero

Thus far in my wedding videography career, I haven't really met many new people because I have been working with friends and family mostly.  However, there have been a few couples that I didn't know very well before their wedding day.  Bryan and Ashlei Winningham were one of those couples.

My husband knew Bryan because they grew up together, but since Gary and I have been together Bryan hasn't lived around here.  Well, I told you all about Bryan and Ashlei to tell you this story...

A life-changing moment happened for two men on their way to work on Monday morning at Mason Road and the Katy Freeway.

"I was just sitting up here at the red light at the feeder road and that’s when I noticed the car," said Brian Winningham.

Winningham, who is a music teacher at Brenham High School, told us he saw a car ahead of him weirdly drifting into lanes.

"So I thought some guy spilled his coffee, or he was getting something out of his glovebox and I didn’t think anything of it," Winningham said.

That’s until the light turned green and he got closer.

"That’s when I looked over and I saw his head was tilted back. His mouth was wide open and his eyes were not blinking," Winningham said.

So instantly he made a move.

"He was right here, and he was creeping over into my lane, so when I saw him I just hit the gas as hard as I could and got in front of him," Winningham said.

It was an intentional accident.

"I jumped out of the car and ran over to him to check his vitals and there was no pulse. He wasn’t breathing, so right then I thought, this guy was a goner," Winningham said.

Winningham noticed the driver was wearing a uniform and was a police officer for the Katy Independent School District. He said he began to pray.

Paramedics arrived immediately. They were heroes too. They were able to bring the officer back to life. They hooked him up to an IV and transported him to Methodist Hospital in Katy, where he’s expected to survive.

The officer’s family, who didn’t want to be identified, told us they are so grateful.

"I’m just happy I was here to help, especially since he is a police officer and has kids. He has more to do here," Winningham said. 

Isn't that incredible??  I am so proud to say that I know Bryan!  Also, just a little side note his dad is an elder at our church and his mom is our ladies Bible class teacher.  They are a great family and this story just helps support that fact!

Be a hero,
Kimberly

A yearly tradition

It's something my sister and I have vowed to do until we die!  That is to drive to Henderson, TN on an April afternoon to re-live one of the most precious memories we have from our college days.  MAKIN' MUSIC brings joy to my life and song to my lips!  I can't hear a song on the radio that was in ANY show in all of the years I watched or performed in this coveted spectacle without remembering the lyrics that were sung from the stage.
We arrived in Henderson about 3:30 anxious to partake in a delectable feast at a world-renowned well known to all in the town restaurant.  Snookums is incredible!!!  The pregnant sister wouldn't have it any other way!!  On their website it says they open at 4, so we were prepared to wait a good 30 minutes to be first in line.  However, once we arrived and pulled into our front row parking spot and looked around to see that nobody else was even there (very unusual for Snookum's during mm weekend) we realized that it didn't even open until 4:30 (check out the sign).

So, we decided to head down to the Shell (the gas station/baskin' robbins that's a big hang-out) and use their facilities since we had so much time to spare.  We still had to wait a VERY long time once we got back.  Good thing we had CamWow to entertain us!

This is Carly, she is one of Shelley's high school girls at church and she is thinking about going to Freed!!  I'm pretty sure every single person Shelley saw she told them that we were trying to get Carly to go to Freed!!  I hope she had fun!! 

Me and a little CamWow!!

Shells and a little CamWow

There was this couple that arrived sometime before 4:30 that got out of their car and headed for the door.  Oh man we were freaking out!!  We were thinking wait a second, we got here first we should be first in line for this food!!  So, as soon as more cars started arriving we jumped out and got in line.  

Oh yes, Shelley and Carly first in line!!!  

And here it is folks, steak tips and a bake potato.  Oh and some Country Bob's steak sauce...YUM!!!

Once our bellies were full and happy we headed over to the gym for the before-party.  We missed the cast running through the show, but we were able to hang out with other alumni for a while before the show started.  We didn't get any pictures of that...whoops!

The show was great and I totally lost my voice when Phi Kappa hit the stage!!  Their show was good, but we weren't sure how the awards were going to go.  Every club was winning awards and once they got to the sweepstakes it was up in the air who was even going to place.  Of course they start by announcing 3rd place...drum roll please...PHI KAPPA ALPHA!!!!  WHOO HOO!!!  We were all sooooooo excited!!!!  We didn't care that we didn't place first, just so happy that we placed at all!!!!

Here's the cast cheering at the after-party!!

A yearly tradition is to take a picture of all returning and current Makin' Music directors.  We thought Shelley was going to be the oldest one in the picture, but Phil Waggoner and Jason Judd saved the day :).

We had so much fun and we can't wait for next year!!!

Happy Makin' Music, 

Kimberly