Grateful...

Family Pictures, Take One

Mike's parents have a beautiful backyard, so we took the opportunity to take family pictures today. Can I just say, it's a joke with a 16month old! Out the window goes my dream pictures that I was planning in my head!! :) We got some good ones though, and I'm not giving up yet! You want lots of outfit changes, right?

(By the way...I still have a LONG way to go, but I bought new pants this weekend! Size 14!! I've lost 16 pounds! My goal is 31 more--but it's a race against time as we are officially 'trying.' We'll see! It was fun to feel skinny-ish, though!)

Any of these you want to see on your Christmas card?

Today I am grateful for modern technology that lets me take hundreds of terrible pictures without going through that much film!

A Fashion Show For Grandma...

We got a few packages from Grandma Craven and Aunt Jillisa--yeah for packages! Here is a fashion show for them to enjoy...(fyi, getting Katelyn to smile for the camera is...pretty much impossible...I know my child looks like a dweeb in most of these, but we love her anyway!)

Thanks Mom! You're a life-saver!

Today I am grateful for packages and Moms!

Young Women OF Excellence

Last Tuesday we had our big Young Women in Excellence evening. I'm SO proud of my girls! They have done such great things this year and worked so hard amidst their personal struggles! Man I love them!
We started our Young Women In Excellence Week by talking in church on Sunday. We prayed about this and were preparing for weeks. In our ward, among the adult members, we are fighting an attitude of negativity and a lack of hope for our youth. Many of the adult members of the ward that I have talked to seem to think that our Young Women are beyond help--and hope. Sunday, I think we started to maybe change some minds. Two of my girls spoke about Divine Nature and Individual Worth, and then my second counselor and I spoke along the same type of vein. All of the girls participated in singing one of the value songs by Janice Kapp Perry, and it was awesome! Picking that song was truly inspired, I'm sure, because almost everyday this week someone stopped me to tell me about how the musical number had affected them; about how it had reminded them of how tough it was to be a teenager and had given them a reason to care about our girls. YES!
Tuesday night we had a fun evening celebrating all the great things our Young Women do, each and everyday. It was a bit shorter then I had hoped, but I think it helped everyone there, and each of the girls to remember how much they are loved and how great they have the potential to become--and how great they are today!
Each mom decorated a table for the girls, and here are just some quick snapshots of their accomplishments. If you ever come to my ward to visit, you're in for a treat! These girls are the best! Wish I had a picture of all my girls--but these will have to do as a shout out!

Today I Am Thankful For My Young Women: Missy, Gabbie, Teresa, Gabrielle, Hannah, (Kayla and Tabitha too!)

Sad Day To Be a Couger...

Well...posting backwards today. Saturday--what a sad day to be a cougar fan. Rumor is that it's better for the Conference to have Utah win, but really, we're just bummed around here that BYU didn't win. Although, as Mike would say, they self-destructed.
In any case, I thought these were cute pictures. We babysat Kara, Elena's (my project buddy and vinyl lettering partner) baby girl on Saturday morning while they went to the temple. Andrew and Elena are avid Utah fans, so of course I had to dress Kara accordingly!

We'll still rise and shout for the cougars--but maybe a bit more quietly this week! :)

Today I'm Thankful To Be A Cougar!

Just like Grandma-

Of the many cherished memories I have about my Grandma Craven, one always includes cookies. It seemed that Grandma always had some sort of cookie in her freezer--and 9 times out of 10, one of the types of cookie would include gingersnaps. So when Mike picked gingersnaps as our Sunday-afternoon-cookie-making-activity, it took me right back to Grandma Craven's house.

Today I am thankful for Grandmas...and for cookies! :)

We Did It!!

Well...a new business has been born...
Welcome to the World...
TEXAS LETTERS

Elena (check out her blog, on sidebar) and I started a vinyl lettering business...we ordered our machine today, so as soon as it arrives, we can start taking orders! Put on your creativity thinking caps, and let us know how we can help! Yeah!

texasletters@gmail.com

Katelyn Does Tricks!

Recently I've had lots of people tell me how smart our little goober is--so we took some video footage of her today and I'm going to let you decide for yourself! :) Smart, or not, she sure is one cute munchkin!

Picture Tag-

Here goes...4th picture folder, 4th picture in...

(What a cute little wertlet! I'm thinking she was even 4 days old here! Fun!)

Tag...your it!

The Wonder That Is...Buc-cees!

Have you ever driven from Houston to San Antonio, on 90? Well, you couldn't have missed the billboards for Buc-cees. Here's how they go...

106 miles away..."You Can Hold It..."
96 miles away..."Road-Trip Headquarters..."
84 miles away..."Beaver-Believer..."
82 miles away..."Eat Jerky, Don't Drive Like One..."
60 miles away..."So Many Jerky Flavors, So Little Time..."
59 miles away..."It's Potty Time..."
53 miles away..."Silly Beaver, Jerky Is For The Customers..."
51 miles away..."Wag More, Bark Less...."
50 miles away..."Meat Good, Jerky Better..."
50 miles away..."Jerky: One Of The 5 Basic Food Groups..."
44 miles away..."Our Restrooms Are A Big Deal..."
34 miles away..."Excuse Me, Raccoons, This Is Beaver Territory..."
19 miles away..."Use Our Name, You'll Get A Good Seat..."
5 miles away..."Texas' Most Famous Restrooms..."

We arrived!
Shopping...

I've been wanting to stop at Buc-cees for a while now, and we finally did! It's a freakin Wal-mart! :0 They have shopping and a deli counter, 6 or more cash registers, and beef jerky that is 32 bucks a pound! The bathrooms were great too--nice big, clean, pretty stalls. It was great! We would reccommend this stop to anyone in for a fun time...and needing a potty break! :)

This One Is For Everyone Far Away...

One of the blessings I never expected about living in Texas is the chance to live close to family! We went up to San Antonio (actually, with how flat Texas is, it wasn't really up) for the weekend to check out Mom and Dad Williams' new digs! They closed on a house Thursday, of last week, and we spent the weekend helping to unpack and dream about fun things to put in their big house!

Emily helped me, and we took LOTS of pictures. I know that lots of times pictures taken on a amateur camera, with an amateur camera person don't always help one understand how houses look in real life--but here is our best attempt! :)

The complete 360 view of the house...


The front right corner...
A Closer View...

The right side, by the garage...
The back corner...
The Back Left Corner

The Left side...those windows are the kids' bedroom windows...

The Garage...

The View from the Upper Deck...
The Gargoyle, Emily...


The Backyard Views...



The entrance...

The fountain...

The view from the upper deck...

An awesomely great tree...

Speaking of trees...Dad found a Fig Tree! And they were actually sort of good!
Exploring the shed...

Moving inside...

The stairs going upstairs...


Romeo, oh Romeo...
The Living Room...


The Dining Room and Chandelier...
The Study...
The Door To the Master...

And Behind Door Number One...A Bidet!! :)
And super sexy wall sconces!
The Kitchen...
The Pantry...

The Family Room...

Moving Upstairs...
The View From the Top, Looking Towards the Front of the House...

The view from upstairs, looking down to the family room....
Bedroom 1 and 2...
Bedroom 3 & 4...
Gameroom Pic. 1...
Gameroom Pic. 2

Hope you enjoyed the insanely long photo journal! Hope it gives those far away a little taste of the new house! Love you all!