Happy New Couches...

Our new couches are here! Wahoo!! We love them--what a wonder, to have comfortable furniture!During our move, the moving company tore some of the fabric on our couches. It's pretty much minuscule, but the claims guys they had come and check out the tears said that they were unfixable--so they replaced them!
Although we've gotten new couches out of this move, just a tip, don't move with Graebel. It's pretty much been a nightmare...they showed up 3 days early to pack us, they were unbelievable hard to get a hold of, they trashed a bookcase, tore the couches, and punched a hole in Mike's guitar--which they say they will not replace and/or fix. Just don't go with them if your planning a move--it's been a joke!
Anyhow--even with all the junk, we're very glad that we got new couches out of it! Wahoo!!

One of the tears--can you see it?

A Birthday Surprise Foiled!!

Here's a tip--never hide birthday presents for a computer-junkie husband in the closet where the computer, Internet, and cable hookups are located! :) Silly me, guess I should have known that Mike would forget about my warning to 'not look in that closet!!' when the first computer problem occurred! Oh well!! And, because he'd already seen it, we just decided to hang it!!
So, Happy Birthday Mike!! As they say in my family, you just saw The Franchise!


I got this grand idea (actually, Mike gave me the idea, but didn't know it!) to make Mike a piece of art--heaven knows that we wouldn't dare spend the kind of money this type of art cost (being the cheap-skates that we are!) and so I made him one! Actually a really fun project to do, we're going to do it again! Maybe I should go into business!! And, yes, I did the whole thing myself! Using the power tools and all!! :)

Happy Birthday Baby Wood

Welcome to the newest member of the Williams Clan--and congrats to the exhausted momma who was in labor for 4 days! :) Wahoo Becky! Go Woman!!
Baby McKayla Joanne (we've heard that the jury is still out on the spelling of her name, so don't quote me on that! :) was born yesterday and mom and baby are safe and sound! We're jealous here in Texas that she's got more hair then Katelyn has--and she's not even 24 hours old yet! :)

Congrats!! We love you guys!! Can't wait till we get to meet her!

Mad Dash to the Finish

The big birthday is coming up--Katelyn turns 1! I know we've got a bit over a month, but I've been working a fast as can be to finish her ABC Book...my family comes the first week of July and I still have lots of work to do for Mike's birthday--which means that I've got to finish up Katelyn's birthday soon! Anywho--here are some of my latest pages. Cuteness!! :)











P.S. If anybody had any good ideas for the letter X...I'm stumped!! :)

Happy Fathers Day!

Happy Fathers Day! It's Mikes official first Fathers Day--and it's been great! Dinner was a complete flop...however there is a totally yummy, beautiful fresh peach pie to eat for dessert so all is well! Mike got a fun new game--Killer Bunnies (yahoo!) and a fun BBQing apron which Katelyn finger painted!

I'm so grateful for all the Dad's in my life--thanks to the great Dad that I raised me and helped so much to mold me into the person I am today! I still so appreciate talking to Dad and spending time with him--there never is enough of that! I'm grateful for his support and advice and listening ear! Love you Dad!!

And thanks to the Father-in-law who raised my sweet hubby! I'm so grateful for all that you taught him and how well you shaped him into the man he is today!


And much thanks and love to my dear husband! He's the best Daddy and Katelyn and I can't wait until he gets home everyday! He's so helpful and supportive and just the absolute best!! I'm the luckiest girl ever!!


And, don't forget our Heavenly Father. We are so incredibly blessed--and it seems that the blessing just keep coming, and coming, and coming. We are overwhelmed with gratitude!
Hope all of you have had a great Fathers Day too!

Welcome to the World of Fire Ants!

If you live in Texas you know one thing--it's not if you've been attacked by fire ants, but how many times you've been attacked by fire ants. I thought we would make it at least a year without any fire ant attacks for Miss Katelyn, but alas...only made it about 10 1/2 months! Ah!!
We were looking at a cute little puppy which was on a walk around the block and just happened to stand in a huge ant pile. Talk about a panic moment! We just started stripping Katelyn down and ripping off her diaper--all the while she's giving these horrible sad screams! Oh, that hurts a mothers heart!
She's got about 30ish bites and if they are as itchy and painful as the bites I received, then I feel really bad for her! She's actually handling it really well--she's not even acting any different at all! Poor little gooblet! These pictures are from last night, and you can't see very well--however this morning she looks like she's got chicken pox! Sad, sad, sad!

Growing a Garden...

We've been working some more on our garden. The soil here is so TERRIBLE!! It's just a whole bunch of clay and rocks! If any of our plants actually survive, it'll be a miracle! Those will be some hearty plants!

We rented a tiller for a Saturday morning and Mike went to work. We just tilled right over the grass--silly that our builder wouldn't not put the grass right there. All that hard work of laying sod...and we just ripped it up! Oh well! It wasn't our hard work.


We've spent several evenings in the garden--I think Katelyn eats more dirt then anything else, but it's fun to have her around. We've actually been surprised--the evenings have been so nice! Since we are so close to the coast, we have an almost constant breeze--which keeps the temperature down and the bugs away! So, due to our cool evenings we've been planting our little seeds and watching them grow--and shocker, shocker, shocker--things are growing!

A Gardener just like Grandpa!The aftermath of dirt! Guess we'll change those PJ's!

He's a Working Man!!

(First day of work...ain't he cute?!)

So, Mike has 2 weeks under his belt. The silly learning curve where you feel like you don't really have much to contribute isn't quite over yet, but things are going great so far. Katelyn and I went and had lunch with Mike on Friday and got to see his desk and meet his bosses and lots of the people he works with. It was great! Friday's are casual dress day and it's business casual attire the rest of the week, so Mike is nice and comfy all week long.
He loves the company culture--very laid back and self-motivating. He even got to go to a special business meeting on Thursday...to the Astros Game. Sweet! Things are going so well for us~!

Last Week's Project...

Anyone who has visited us in the past knows about our lack of furniture--and even, that the furniture we haven isn't all that comfy! Now, comfy furniture is pretty important, but it wasn't at the top of our list, so we found a way to get comfy furniture for cheap! :)
We got this ugly (!!!!) and dirty (!!!!!) and gross (!!!!!) couch and chaise lounge off of Craigslist for free.
The Befores....UGLY!

The During...WHEW!! Not a project we should have started in the hot, hot summer! :)

And then we spent about $50 on fabric to recover our couches! And while they aren't going to receive any pro-decorating rewards, they are SO MUCH more comfy then the free couch we got previous to these. We're tickled pink about how they turned out! So now, call me a re-upholsterer! That was easy! Anybody want help doing this project at your house? :)

The Afters...MUCH BETTER!!

P.S. Notice the air mattress in the pictures? We're equipped for MULTIPLE visitors...so put us on your summer vacation list! ;)

It's about Time!

I've been complaining to Mike that nobody updates their blogs as frequently as I would like (it would have to be an hour by hour update!) and then I realized that's it's been forever since I've updated my blog too!!
We're settling in nicely! I have lots of fun pictures that I could show you, but what did I do? I lost the camera!! I'm sure it's here somewhere, I just have to discover where!! The problem with a big beautiful house--there's much more room to lose stuff in! Arg!
Anywho--I can give you an update about our weekend. It will be out of chronological order from the rest of our life, which sorta bugs me, but here goes...

We have had some good friends in town for the weekend; Jennifer and Jesse Mitchell and their 3 kids, Thomas, Paige and Allie. It's so fun to have a house where people can come and stay without feeling like we are living on top of each other! Yeah!
We spent Saturday at the Zoo--are we crazy?!?! Tell me again why I live in Texas, and more importantly, why I would go to the Zoo when it's a hundred-freakin degrees outside? Crazy! But it was great!
Katelyn understood the zoo a lot more this time around, and since they had their camera, here are some highlights of the day!

They had this cool tunnel thing that you could crawl through, under one of the fish exhibits!
Do you notice the family resemblance?
Happy, It's-Too-Hot-To-Breath Pictures

Part of the Mitchell Clan (Jesse and Baby Allie not pictured)

Sunday (today) we're enjoying napping and eating yummy fresh bread! Mike and I both spoke in Sacrament Meeting today, which is always exciting, and I've got us booked several nights this week for game night with some new friends! Yeah! Another new couple moved in this week as well, so we get bumped up the totem pole from the spot of newest family!

Mike also started work this week. I've got a picture of his first day on the camera, but since I can't find it.... :) He's really enjoying his job, although he's beginning to get bored off all the training stuff he has to do. Schumberger is really safety conscious, so he's learned more about job safety in the last 5 days then he ever thought possible. His commute is as wonderful as we thought it would be--only about 20 minutes from our front door to his desk. He gets to start some real work this week, and then it's back to training stuff for 2 weeks after that!

Anyway--when I find my camera I'll post lots more, but posts without pictures are boring, so I will spare you all the details!