Sunday, July 27, 2008

Happy Birthday Katelyn!!

She's such a big girl!

Can you believe that it's been a year?! We can't! Mike and I talked about her birthday this weekend and how we don't feel horribly sad that she's one. You always hear people say how sad they are when their baby turns one, but we have had such a great time watching her grow up that we're just excited to watch her turn 2! I think maybe that some people have guilt about missing their kids growing up, and thankfully we don't feel any guilt at all. We both feel that we've lived up every minute of this last year--and for me as a mother, I'm so glad with each new thing she learns. I feel a whole lot more confident and effective in my role as a mother as she gets older and bigger--that baby-baby stage stressed me out! :)
Anywho--she's our big one year old girl now--officially as of 2:56 this morning. We had a great day and it was so fun to have family here! All the birthdays of the last two years have been celebrated with just us two and our Texas friends, so it was neat to have family here again!

I made a really fun swimming pool cake for her birthday--we didn't have a pool party or anything, but Katelyn loves the water so I thought a pool cake was fitting. It was fun--although stale cookies don't taste so good! :)

Yum...Cake!

Katelyn totally has the opening present thing figured out--she just pulls out all the tissue and dives right in. It's really cute! She had way more presents then any little girl could possible need, but I actually think she is going to play and use them all!
Thank you to everyone who was so generous!

She has the best faces!! Oh! A Monkey! :)


Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Happy Birthday Dad Williams!!


Mike's parents are here!! We celebrated Dad's birthday last Thursday--one day early, but it was so fun. Mike's birthday and Katelyn's birthday are coming up this weekend--glad we got a birthday test run!
(Heavy, heavy hangover...)
Whoa! Watch out for the firemen!

Love you all!

Monday, July 14, 2008

Clean Joke...

I received it a few years ago, but when I got it again I decided to share it on my blog! This has got to be one of the funniest things I have ever read!
Hope nobody thinks it's TMI! :)


My mother was a fanatic about public bathrooms. When I was a little girl, she'd take me into the stall, teach me to wad up toilet paper and wipe the seat. Then,she'd carefully lay strips of toilet paper to cover the seat. Finally, she'd instruct, "Never, NEVER sit on a public toilet seat. Then she'd demonstrate "The Stance," which consisted of balancing over the toilet in a sitting position without actually letting any of your flesh make contact with the toilet seat. By this time, I'd have wet down my leg and we'd have to go home to change my clothes. That was a long time ago.
Even now, in my more "mature years, The Stance" is excruciatingly difficult to maintain, especially when one's bladder is full. When you have to "go" in a public bathroom,you usually find a line of women that makes you think there's a half-price sale on Nelly's underwear in there.
So, you wait and smile politely at all the other ladies, who are also crossing their legs and smiling politely. You get closer and check for feet under the stall doors. Every one is occupied. Finally, a door opens and you dash in, nearly knocking down the woman leaving the stall. You get in to find the door won't latch. It doesn't matter. The dispenser for the new fangled "seat covers" (invented by someone's Mom, no doubt) is handy, but empty. You would hang your purse on the door hook, if there was one, but there isn't - so you carefully but quickly hang it around your neck (Mom would turn over in her grave if you put it on the FLOOR!), yank down your pants, and assume "The Stance." Ahhhh, relief. More relief. But then your thighs begin to shake. You'd love to sit down, but you certainly hadn't taken time to wipe the seat or lay toilet paper on it, so you hold "The Stance" as your thighs experience a quake that would register an eight on the Richter scale. To take your mind off of your trembling thighs, you reach for what you discover to be the empty toilet paper dispenser. In your mind, you can hear your mother's voice saying, "Honey, if you would have tried to clean the seat, you would have KNOWN there was no toilet paper!" Your thighs shake more. You remember the tiny tissue that you blew your nose on yesterday - the one that's still in your purse. That would have to do. You crumple it in the puffiest way possible. It is still smaller than your thumbnail. Someone pushes open your stall door because the latch doesn't work. The door hits your purse, which is hanging around your neck in front of your chest, and you and your purse topple backward against the tank of the toilet. "Occupied!" you scream, as you reach for the door, dropping your precious, tiny, crumpled tissue in a puddle, and sliding down, directly onto the insidious toilet seat. You bolt up, knowing all too well that it's too late. Your bare bottom has made contact with every imaginable germ and life form on the uncovered seat because YOU never laid down toilet paper - not that there was any, even if you had taken time to try. You know that your mother would be utterly ashamed of you if she knew, because you're certain that her bare bottom never touched a public toilet seat because, frankly, dear, "You just don't KNOW what kind of diseases you could get." By this time, the automatic sensor on the back of the toilet is so confused that it flushes, sending up a stream of water akin to a fountain that suddenly sucks everything down with such force that you grab onto the toilet paper dispenser for fear of being dragged off to China. At that point, you give up. You're soaked by the splashing water. You're exhausted. You try to wipe with a gum wrapper you found in your pocket, and then slink out inconspicuously to the sinks. You can't figure out how to operate the faucets with the automatic sensors, so you wipe your hands with spit and a
dry paper towel and walk past a line of women, still waiting, cross-legged and, at this point, no longer able to smile politely. One kind soul at the very end of the line points out that you are trailing a piece of toilet paper on your shoe as long as the Mississippi River! (Where was it
when you NEEDED it??) You yank the paper from your shoe, plunk it the woman's hand and tell her warmly, "Here, you just might need this." As you exit, you spot your hubby, who has since entered, used and exited the men's restroom and read a copy of War and Peace while waiting for you. Annoyed, he asks, "What took you so long, and why is your purse hanging around your neck?" This is dedicated to women everywhere who have ever had to deal with a public restroom (rest??? you've got to be kidding!!). It finally explains to the men what really does take us so long. It also answers their other commonly asked question about why women go to the
restroom in pairs. It's so the other woman can hold the door, hold your purse and hand you Kleenex under the door.

Enjoy your next bathroom adventure! :)

Sunday, July 13, 2008

And She Walks!!

Katelyn has been sudo-walking for quite a while now...and she's getting better and better! Here's a short clip of her walking feet! :) So cute!! Sorry I haven't posted her new skill before!

Craven Family Vacation 2008



My family just left yesterday after a great 9 days of Houston and San Antonio excitement. It was so great to have them all here--I'm so glad they made the effort to come and that we had enough room for everybody!

Mom, Dad, Brielle, and Kyron arrived on Thursday, July 3rd and we spent the evening playing and swimming and the such.
We spent the 4th of July enjoying Freedom Over Texas: a big concert and festival featuring Jo Dee Messina, Miranda Lambert, and Sara Evans. By far Sara Evans was our favorite! Dad was the hero of the day as he braved the intense lines to buy us all treats and liquid refreshment! We tried to enjoy the heat and traffic was surprisingly easy to navigate on our way out--even with the 100,000 in attendance!
Kasey and Chelsi arrived Saturday morning and we spent the afternoon shopping at the Traders Village--the largest flea market in the nation--and avoiding (or playing in, depending on your heat level) the torrential downpours that frequented the area! After a drive-by of the temple, we picked Jillisa up and headed to my favorite fast food place, What-a-burger, for dinner.


Sunday was a relaxing day a home, and with so many hands to hold and play with Katelyn, Mike and I actually got to listen in church! We played some games and enjoyed a joint birthday party to celebrate Mom's birthday (she's turning 29), Mike's birthday (he's the big 27, on the 28th of July), and Katelyn's birthday (shes going to be 1 on the 27th!) No pie for Mike, but a great Texas shaped cake and homemade ice-cream! Yum!






Monday we spent in downtown Houston. We toured the underground tunnel network that connects all the major parts of the city (we wondered why there weren't any people up on the hot, hot, humid streets!) and were awe-struck at the Galleria (the 2nd largest mall in the nation; they sport an ice rink, work offices, apartment buildings, and the most expensive and ritzy stores I can think of!). Monday night was our big BBQ night--lots of yummy types of meat and BBQ, and Dad's favorite--straight from the coast Jumbo Shrimp! Gross! ;)


Tuesday Mom and Dad and the kids headed to San Antonio for a day of touring the Alamo, the Riverwalk, Sea World, and an IMAX movie, while Katelyn and I stayed home and packed--prepping for Mike to get home for us to get on the road to San Antonio. The ride to San Antonio is totally boring, but easy and manageable and it was fun to drive it and think of Mikes family who is moving there this week! We enjoyed a dinner at Rudy's--a premiere and yummy BBQ place in Texas, and retired to our cramped and little hotel rooms for a cramped and not real great night of sleep!


Wednesday we enjoyed San Antonio Sea World. All of us Cravens agree that it's not quite as good as Sea World, San Diego--but we had a great time nonetheless! It's amazing what they can get those animals to do--and even when that people can do! Just incredible! Katelyn loved watching all the animals and did really well in the heat and the crowds!



After driving home late Wednesday night, Mike got up early to go to work (poor honey!) and we all slept in and enjoyed a leisurely morning and a fun afternoon shopping trip...we found a $4.99 shoe store (Meg, when you come again, we have to go! It was something you would have TOTALLY loved!!), found great deals at Steve and Barrys and Dad bought a stylin' pair of boots at Cavendars Boot City. Kasey and Chelsi's plane got delayed so they got to stay another night and we enjoyed a dinner of Mike's yummy enchiladas! (I don't have any pictures from this day!! We should have taken one of the shoes...I think between the 4 of us girls we had 15 pairs of shoes!!)

Friday we headed to Mike's work for a tour and then to Galveston for a day at Moody Gardens. After Sea World, this was really nothing special and we ended up coming home earlier then we expected. Good memories though--who can ever forget the amazing underwater sea ride! ;)


Everybody flew home on Saturday--sad news!--and we spent the day running errands and trying to hold back the tears! Today is a better day and I'm already looking forward to my next trip to Utah! Hope you all enjoyed this long journal entry of our vacation! We learned some great things to do while we have visitors, and some not great things to do while we have visitors--so please come and visit and we'll share our expertise!
Love you all!

I've just reached my photo-upload limit! Guess we'll call this the end of the post~!

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

The Fam is Here!




Mom, Dad, Kasey, Chelsi, Jillisa, Brielle, and Kyron all arrived safe and sound! We are having so much fun! Enjoy!

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

A Shout Out to Miss Deanna!



So, just a real quick shout out to everybody who's dealing with a break-up....my best friend has had her share of hard-times over the last two months, and they've just come to a culmination this last weekend! Hang in there Deanna--you're the best! We're thinking of you--even all the way in Texas!
Deanna is one of the best listeners I know, and she's always willing to put other people before her own interests. She's one of the most patient people I have ever met, and I hope to develop the kind of faith that guides her. She's quick to laugh and even quicker to help--and I sure love her!