Happy Sweet 16 Brianna!

Today is Bri's 16th Birthday!! If she was in town I would have made this cake for her. But she's in Gulf Shores on vacation. I suppose that's a good thing since I don't think I could make this cake!!

Bri was 11 years old when I met her, less than 2 weeks shy of 12. This is what she looked like. And those hand gestures...typical Bri. Still. She probably couldn't talk if we tied her hands behind her back :)

13 years old! This was when she made oatmeal lace cookies. And used red food coloring, instead of vanilla extract. And couldn't figure out why her cookies were red. She is soooo dingy. One of the many reasons we love her.

When Bri turned 14 Rachel brought her birthday cake! Rachel is the girls stepsister. She gets to hang with them during the weeks that we don't. I wonder if Rachel gets to be my Step Step Daughter now? That would be awesome, because we love Rachel! And not just because she makes cake :)

And here she is when she was turning 15. And when her dad really started not wanting her to leave the house. Ever.

And finally, 3 weeks before turning 16. Sometimes I wish we could just work some magic and keep her like this forever. Growing up way to fast. But we couldn't be prouder of her. She's bright and funny and sweet and beautiful. And we love her. Very much!

On this day we wish you all the wonders in the world. All the happiness in your eyes. All the stars in the sky. On this day may each moment be like a wonderful dream. On this day believe in your wishes. As we all wish you the very best in life. Happy 16th Birthday Brianna!

My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes

This book has always been a favorite of mine.

It's got so much truth to it.

The box part anyway.

Sure, I've never personally seen a cat that plays the violin.

Or one that flew an aeroplane.

But I've definitely never seen a cat pass up a box.

Especially this cat.

Oops! "Not very well hidden are you, Vinnie."

And I wasn't the only one that found him.

And then there are cats that just don't get it.

He's always been a little slow.
But he sure looks comfy.
The end.

The Familymoon Part I - The Drive to Tennessee

We had planned to leave the house at 3am on June 22nd. That was a Monday. On Sunday night we put off packing until late so we decided we'd get an extra hour of sleep and get up at 3am, leave at 4am. It was actually Duane's idea and I couldn't have been happier. Even though I would be able to sleep as soon as we got on the road.

We had bought this really cool cover for the bed of the truck and it was lockable! So we were able to pack the truck the night before. All we had to do was get up and go! And that's what we did. We had a 10 1/2 hour drive ahead of us.

First stop (with the exception of breakfast, lunch and bathroom stops) was Sevierville (pronounced severe), TN. This is where the county courthouse is that we needed to pick up our Marriage Licence.

The girls slept for a good bit of the morning but woke up bright and cheery and ready to drive some more!

Some more bright and cheery than others.

We finally made it to Tennessee!

Except after you hit the border you still have about a 3 hour drive to get to the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge area. We stopped for lunch at Hardee's. This is the equivalent to Carl's Jr. and I hadn't had a Western Bacon Cheeseburger in over 5 years. Used to be my favorite burger, but we don't have Carl's Jr or Hardee's in Louisiana. Of course I got my favorite burger and you know what? It just wasn't the same. Guess my taste buds have changed. Something else changed while we were in Hardees. THE TIME! Apparently there is a time difference between Tennessee and Louisiana that we weren't aware of. That meant we had one less hour to get to the courthouse before it closed at 5:30. And we had been planning on getting there at 4:30. So this meant we would be getting there right when it closed and if we got there a minute late we would have to drive an hour back out to Sevierville the next day...our wedding day!

The courthouse in Sevierville was in the town square and it was so pretty. Pretty brick building and paths through the grass. Trees and statues. Just very pretty. I wish I had taken a photo but we were in a big hurry to get in and pick up our license. We had just minutes to spare. And then their printers decided they were done for the day and didn't want to print out our license! After about 30 minutes and several phone calls our clerk was able to get our certificates and we were on our way.

We assumed that our GPS system would take us through Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg before getting to Cosby, which is where our cabin was. Nope. Our Tom Tom decided he wanted us to take the scenic trail. And I am so happy he did. We went through the hills, twisting one lane roads and lots of trees. It reminded me of my old home. Especially this covered bridge. I wanted to stop and eat pancakes..but I didn't see any firemen.

We drove for miles. Past old barns.

And horses.

and more horses.

And I still couldn't get a picture of Bri. I did get a picture of her cute little pinky finger though! Isn't it sweet :)

I took a lot of pictures out the window. I wonder how much I missed because I was looking though the tiny little viewfinder? Lots I bet. But I was so happy with what I did see.

We passed over this river and even followed along side of it for a while. After such a long drive I just wanted to stick my toes in it. But we pressed on.

Everything was so green. And the driveways were these steep, winding roads. Another memory of California. My mom can attest to the fact that every friend I ever had as a child lived up a steep, winding road. I'll love her forever for driving me up those roads.

The GPS said we were getting close to our destination. We had been driving forever on this back road. And then we ran into this:

And we all groaned about having to drive all the way back and find the other way to go. But we had no choice and since it had been such a pretty trip, it wouldn't be so bad.

But still! We were ready to get to the cabin. And we needed to get ourselves in front of the TV so we could watch our LSU Tigers Baseball Team. They were playing in the College World Series. Just them and Texas were left. We weren't about to miss it.

And then we saw Copeland Rd. And we took the chance that it might take us around the road outage and get us to our cabin.

So we drove down Copeland Road, crossed Copeland Creek and it took us out to Hooper Hwy. Which is where our cabin was. How appropriate that I had to take a trip down Copeland road to get where I was supposed to be. Sounds like my real life.

A life that I'm so very excited about. With this waiting for you, wouldn't you be?

4th of July

It was my first 4th of July with my new camera. I knew I could take some great pictures, I just didn't know how. So I turned to my photography guru, Pioneer Woman, and she didn't let me down. She has this great post on how to take pictures of fireworks and it worked great! You can find the instructions here if you're interested.

Here are my firework shots. Words aren't necessary, so I won't bore you with any.

I hope you all had a safe and fun 4th of July. A BIG thank you to all of the men and women of the armed forces (past, present and future) for all that you do.

The Proposal

I know, I know. I haven't gotten our Familymoon pictures up yet. String me up now! In between catching up with work, house, swimming, laundry & etc. (not necessarily in that order) I've been able to upload, delete, crop, laugh and smile at most of the pictures we took on the trip. I've still got a few more days to go through and also a 2GB card that I haven't done a thing with. The good news is that the card I did empty was an 8GB card and it was about 100 pictures shy of being full. The 8GB card holds over 1000 pictures! And I'm almost done with those pictures plus the other ones that I was able to upload that first day of vacation. So I'm actually way ahead of the game!

I'm thinking we should start with the proposal anyways, since that's what started this whole Familymoon to begin with.

Yesterday was my 4 year anniversary of being in Louisiana with D and the girls. Both of us have been married before and neither of us (so I thought and would tell anyone that asked) thought we needed to take our relationship to the next level. I was perfectly happy being the girlfriend and wasn't about to pressure him into anything he wasn't interested in. We were happy. Just the way we were.

It was getting close to Valentines and all the lovey dovey commercials were popping up on the TV. You know the one with the jingle "Every kiss begins with K"? It wasn't too long ago that I realized that the K they were talking about was for Kay's Jewelry. Not kiss. Well, probably kiss too.. but I never thought about Kay's. How slow am I? And my new favorite was the one where the couple is in the car and she hands him a valentines card. He opens it up and REO Speedwagon starts singing I Can't Fight This Feeling Anymore and they flash back to their younger days in those cool clothes. Then it flashes back to the present and they grab each other and start making out. I laughed at that one every time.

Ok, back to the story.

So, Duane and I never get dressed up to go out and eat. But he asked me if I wanted to go to Primo's Steak and Italian restaurant (omgosh, I think that's the first time I've ever spelled restaurant correct the first time around without having to look it up!) for dinner on Valentines. We decided to get dressed up and act all fancy for the evening.

Our reservations were originally for 9pm or some crazy time like that, but knowing me and my crankiness when I eat late, Duane had them changed to 6pm.

It was drizzling a tiny bit and He wanted to drop me off at the front door, but I didn't mind the drizzle and said I'd walk from the parking lot with him. A little water never hurt anyone. Except the Wicked Witch of the West. But I'm not her. Hardly ever anyways. We get to the front door and he tells me that he forgot his glasses in the truck. A normal occurrence, so nothing that would set bells off in my head.

We go inside and tell the hostess that we had a reservation for Bauer and she says "oooh" and gives me a big smile. I thought she was really happy that we made it since we were a few minutes past our reservation time. Still no bells. We sit down at our table that's pretty much smack dab in the middle of everyone and next to a bare Christmas looking tree. At one point I mentioned to Duane that we were the only table that had roses and they probably did that to make it look nice since we were next to the Christmas tree that was still up in February. And still no bells.

Our salads came and I proceeded to squirt tomato guts all over the white tablecloth in an attempt to cut it. I'm classy, what can I say. Meanwhile Duane is playing with my new iPhone that I had just gotten that day. At dinner. The fidgeter.

The rest of the night became a big blur. We usually don't buy Valentines gifts for each other. Just a card works for us on this Hallmark holiday. But Duane tosses a white business sized envelope on the table and tells me he got me something.

I'm sure I looked at him all crazy, because we don't do gifts. I proceeded to open up this white, crumpled, folded in half business envelope.

And it's a gift certificate. To get my nails done. Huh? I never get my nails done. Never. Ever.

And then all of a sudden he's up out of his chair and on one knee next to me. HUH? And he told me that he thought I might like to have my nails done if I'm going to be wearing this:

Oh my. He asked if I'd marry him! And I said Yes! And I'm sure I was probably looking at him all crazy still because this was so completely out of the blue. I couldn't believe that he never let on that he had something like this planned. We have no secrets! That sneaky guy! I love him so much.

And in all the excitement I forgot to give him his card. So after we got home I dragged him back out to the carport and we got in the truck. And he opened his card.

And here is where you should start hearing REO Speedwagon belting out I Can't Fight This Feeling Anymore in your head.

And we kissed.