Foundations

Hello! So, some have asked "What will you blog about", and I don't have a specific topic. I have so much going on in my life right now, it'll probably be a good combo/personal journal. 

Our home. We are so beyond thrilled to be building our dream home. We have worked really hard to get where we are today, to be able to do this. I am excited to share the pictures/updates/planning as we move forward. 

Also, something else we are doing...we have changed our lifestyle and eating habits. We decided to do the "Keto"/Low Carb plan. However, I'm also looking into the Non-Surgical Bariatric Program via Citizens Medical Center...I meet with the Dr. on the 23rd for my initial consult. Most people I've told about it, just think I'm nuts for spending that kind of money. The gastric sleeve is not even a thought for me. Because I know I can lose weight, and I know I have poor habits. And I'm not about surgery/complications. I think those who have done the sleeve or surgery, are brave...and in no way, do I think it was an "easy out" because it's far from easy in any aspect to lose weight. A co worker of mine taught me...never make fun of someone who's trying to better themselves. And that is SO true!

So I joined the HealthPlex in 2016 after I had Camryn. I went strong for over a year to classes, the pool, just working out on my own even. Then the move, the holidays, the stress...yeah. But I got back in the groove, and I am going just W & F for now until I meet with the doctor. 

Travis & I began the low carb thing about a week ago. It's been much easier than anticipated, and it helps having a bigger kitchen (here at my parents) to cook in. I've made some delicious stuff, haven't felt deprived, and have lost 8lbs! 

Anyways, I better get to working on some craft projects that have been looming for a few weeks...or months. :) Next blog will be updating on the kids! I can't believe we have a 4 year old & 18 month old...time? Where did you go? 

It's officially been a full year and a half since I've sat down to write a blog. A few reasons---life has been busy, and I was creeped out by people in a different country viewing my blog. Now that my settings are private, it'll just be for personal record & who I want to share with.

2016 we welcomed Camryn, July 18, at 7:55am. She definitely has completed our family, and is now a fun, diva of an 18 month old!

Corbin is now 4, going on 18. The things he says, are hilarious...and he's definitely developing his own personality & attitude. Some days are harder than others, and some days he's sweet as pie.

2017 was an interesting year. We worked on several home renovation projects. Travis replaced all of our carpet with vinyl plank flooring, we placed new appliances, and he finished the master bath remodel.

Late August we received Hurricane Harvey. It was a storm that was not much of a threat while I was working on Thursday, so I went to the store & picked up a few extra items to have on hand. Then by Thursday evening it was a Cat 4, headed directly for us. We didn't have time to run, nor were we ever planning on running. We were both cancelled from work on Friday, so we prepped the house, bought extra groceries and it made landfall early Friday morning. We hunkered down in our master closet on a pallet, power went out around 4am. So thankfully we kept it much longer than most in our area. Once I could see outside, I was assessing our backyard via window, and I didn't see any damages besides limbs. Trampoline & net were even still tied down and in tact! And then, one hour later, goodbye trampoline! I thought it flew away! But it didn't, it just flipped over, ruining the net. Unbeknownst to me at that time, it was the ONLY damage besides limbs, that we had. Much thanks to God. Our family as a whole all fared really well, considering the devastation other counties received.

We took the no damages, as a sign. We had been looking for land, for the past year or so. We were thinking we could buy a 1-2 acre lot, pay it off & then build our dream home. We searched and searched. We had a list of "must haves" in location. We finally found  a new development we fell in love with. Only, it was land/build package, not just buy the lot. Ok, so here begins the next process...

We meet with the builder of the development, love what we hear & see. Met with our mortgage lender, loved what we heard. Then we approached my parents, with the idea. "So, we're thinking of selling our house and building, something where we will have more room to expand for when/if the time comes that y'all need somewhere to live with more care, we can do that. But if our home sells quickly, we will need a place to live until the new one is complete" Of course they were perfectly up for giving it a try and helping us out. (Of course we pay them rent, and share cooking/cleaning duties). So we were going to do FSBO. Until Travis looked up the paperwork, and sent it to me...I was like, ok...really? We both work full time, have 2 littles (Corbin had added 2 soccer practices and 1 game a week at that time too), when were we going to show our home?! So I went ahead and called a realtor I had heard good reviews on. And boy, was that a wise decision!

Renee McKinney! She's an amazing realtor with Remax. She came over that evening that I called her to look at our house, give us a ball park of what we could list it for. We listed it online and had people interested in it immediately. We then had a huge decrease, had an open house, and then decided to drop the price down to a more realistic amount. We had an offer soon after! We countered and ultimately accepted. A sweet couple bought the house, who have been doing renovations to the popcorn ceiling and other things before they move in.

We moved our lives into storage, 2 bedrooms & 1/4 of a garage at my parents, and the kids have a "play nook". We have finally settled in. Took some time, as it was Thanksgiving weekend when we made the move. Then Christmas, work, New Years, vacations we had planned...shesh. Life, slow it a bit! So we are finally in a routine...Mom & I have our cooking schedules & hopefully it'll be smooth sailing until our home is finished.

On that note, our home! We were very held up by the weather. Since when does it SNOW in South Texas? When the Smith's decide to build a house! haha! It snowed 3" on Friday the 7th, the day we were supposed to begin dirt work & head out for Nashville/Vegas for vacation. Our plane was delayed that day, it was SO cold in Nashville & Vegas was fun fun as always. Nashville wasn't bad either, we went to a Nashville Predators game *totally awesome!* and literally were only there for maybe 10 hours-ish.

Our dirt work began last Saturday, the 6th, they've worked on it every single day...and our foundation was poured yesterday, on the 12th. Yay!!! So, now the time frame begins....4-6 months! Many people say "I'm so jealous!" or "You're so lucky", no. Don't be. We've worked hard, we will have a mortgage, and it just made sense for us to build what we wanted because there was nothing out there like this...and it would have cost more to buy something/alter it to what we want. I hope no one thinks I'm bragging, or trying to show off..I'm genuinely excited and want to just share experiences.

Fewf. OK, back to what I got on my computer to do. I'll update again soon with pictures!

And so the countdown begins! I feel like I never blog anymore, and frankly I shouldn't be spending time on this right now. Because I need to touch up the paint around the back door since I begged my husband to go out to the dark shed to get the can of paint out. I'm at that phase, the one where you clean constantly...and like to make things look nice again! I'm already a neat freak, and if we haven't vacuumed in 2 days I freak out (we have pets & a kid...it just NEEDS to happen) So it began on Monday when I got off of work. I sent Travis & Corbin to Lowes, and I tackled the living room. I steam cleaned the carpet and the whole time contemplated tearing it up and getting rid of it. I hate carpet!!! Why, WHY did we go back with carpet?! Maybe because we didn't know better...or because I was 9 months pregnant with Corbin & we were ready to be in our house...something like that.

So I've been cleaning. Living room, hallway & my office steam cleaned. And it looks SOOOO much better. I REALLY need to buy that throw rug I contemplate everytime I'm at WalMart or Target for the back door...it'll really help with these stinkin dogs on rainy days. Which we get a lot of lately!
Speaking of rainy days...We decided to buy Corbin a trampoline for the backyard. We assembled it in the rain, and he LOVES it. It's incentive for him to be good, to go potty, you name it. No potty, no jump.

 

 

 

Other than that, I feel like this pregnancy has flown by. Probably because I'm working full time, have a toddler, Oh, and did I mention the master bathroom that we're redoing!? Travis is in the finishing touches of sanding/texturing and we ordered our cabinets/granite & tile this week. As well as new windows. We're (Travis) is a big DIY person, BUT we decided to subcontract some...most stuff! Custom cabinets w/ granite...windows...and the seamless glass for the shower. I'm so excited to see the outcome.

 

 

Really no complaints this pregnancy though. I had a few weeks of some pretty intense heartburn, but that seems to have subsided. I go to the doc every 2 wks now, and so far so good. She's SUPER active, mainly at night...oh joy! And it's hilarious when a bony prominence of hers pokes out. It's super distracting too at times!

 

 

So we have our baby shower this weekend. I'm SUPER excited. We will get to see a lot of our family & friends to celebrate this sweet girl. Her nusery is coming right along. We will see what all we receive at the shower this wknd and then complete it up and just wait patiently for July 18th!

 



 



Before church. The look on little man's face...priceless!

I found some super cute shirts that were plenty long enough to suffice as maternity without being true "maternity" clothes. Considering this is our last kiddo, I didn't see the want/need to invest in any kind of maternity shirt for $30! NO way.

 

FINALLY finished her letters for over her bed! I really hate painting. Esp. the nooks & crannies. But I'm almost finished painting the bow holder frame, and then that should be it for the painting for a while (unless I decide to touch up all the paint in the house) haha.

 

 

So, cravings? Meh...nothing particular. Some nights I sleep better than others, it's kinda hard with someone kung-fu'ing you all night. We took Corbin to splashway waterpark last weekend kind of as our "last outing" as a family of 3. I won't be able to travel much in just a few weeks, and between working weekends and being busy...we wanted to & so we did it!

 

My parents bought a house here in Victoria, so they close this Friday (YAY!) So we will be helping them move & get settled.

 

Guess that's about all for now, until next time...

Hello 29...

Turning 29 wasn't as bad as I was anticipating. Maybe it's because we had a super fun weekend and I am carrying our precious baby girl (Camryn)! This is right where I thought I would be at 29. Married to the love of my life, own our house, successful college career & job (that I love), a wonderful 2 1/2 year old son (Corbin) and as stated earlier, pregnant with our baby girl! I always said I wanted to be finished having kids by time I was 30, why I don't know...but it worked out by the grace of God. :)

 

So anyways, my birthday fell on a Sunday this year. Friday I hosted a Pink Zebra party at our house and then Saturday morning Travis & Corbin went for haircuts while I cleaned & packed for our trip to San Antonio. They surprised me with beautiful flowers :)

 

 

We headed to the outlet mall in San Marcos, I wanted to go to Carters now that we knew we were having a girl, and as if I haven't bought enough girl clothes already...ah hem. But we did some shopping, ate at Cracker Barrel...this little guy was happy :)

 

 

And I finally ventured out of my 11 year run with Coach, and splurged on a Michael Kors purse!! I fell in love with the color (duh) and the style!! I had buyers remorse at first (eventhough between my birthday money & Travis' portion of my gift it was more than covered) I am super cheap in my older age (haha). I love it though. Until I get to carry a diaper bag again, but oh I can't wait for that!! 

We stayed in San Antonio at a Drury Plaza, Corbin for some reason didn't sleep worth a hoot. Maybe it was the Coldstone ice cream at 8pm?! haha. OH well. We ventured out to the San Antonio zoo. Corbin began to ask for his special blankie around 2-3 minutes after we left the hotel. Thankfully we both clicked that neither of us packed it, it was still in the hotel!!! We quickly went back, blankie retrieved and onto the zoo we went. 

We rode the train first! Corbin is obsessed with trains, almost as much as tractors!

 

 

We saw some beautiful butterflies!

 

 

 

And fed some pretty birds!

 

Corbin & I reminisced about the teacups while Daddy can't handle spinning so he rode the seahorse beside us :)

 

 

 

I was convinced we would leave with a goat that day!! He loved them.

 

Once we got home, Corbin of course had to ask about Grammie & PawPaw (non-stop) so we went to their house and he hung out with them for a few hours while we went and bought paint for baby girl's nursery! We then had dinner at a Mexican food place with my in laws for my bday. Good times indeed. (We had dinner with my parents before my birthday at Roadhouse, yum yum)

 

 

I was off from work on Monday, so I didn't do too much. Rested from the weekend & did some shopping to catch up around the house. I cruised the for sale on facebook and found an amazing deal on this little kitchen! $20! I took it! Corbin LOVES it. Now he has a kitchen to go with his grill, and it's something Camryn can use too!

 

Later in the week we had our 24 week check up. Since they didn't get all of the measurements at 20 weeks, we got another ultrasound (YAY!) She looked great. BUT didn't cooperate for pictures, like, at all! But she's an active little thing.

 

 

We partied for a friends birthday, and LOVED the bounce house!

 

 

And we hung out being "Neighborhood watch" with the dog.

 

 

Overall, I'm looking forward to all this year has to offer. We had 2 losses in our family last year, this year we're looking forward to a gain of a beautiful healthy baby Camryn! Now, we just need to get our butts busy on painting! I'm excited to get the crib & nursery decorated, just have zero energy! I finally brought out Corbin's baby book and caught it up from the last 18 months. Haha.

 

 

Speaking of Corbin, did I mention he can ride a bike!? Yeah. A BIKE. It has training wheels, but it's still quite impressive that he's not yet 2 1/2 and is doing so great on it!

 

Anyways...more next time...this girl has to get some shut eye before another long day of continuing education tomrrow! 

Baby Smith #2 is a...

 

GIRL!

 

We are so excited to be adding 2 more feet to our family, and it's even more exciting to know it's a GIRL! Corbin has been right all along "baby sister" as he would always point to my tummy and say what baby is. We took a little while, but came up with a name: Camryn Alice Smith--Alice was my Nana's middle name, so it was given...if we have a girl, middle name is Alice. Travis being quite fond of Nana himself, had no argument. We wanted to stick with a C name...and we fell in love with it & its so natural when referring to her. It really maybe, ok...sometimes STILL...hasn't sunk in that I'm carrying a GIRL this time. All I know is BOY! I had many dreams of baby being a boy, or twins...and luckily during the 20 week ultrasound all of my "concerns" were stomped when Camryn cooperated quite well, proving she indeed is a GIRL!

 

When we found out Corbin was a boy, it was like everything was natural. Well, we lived with my parents and honestly didn't decide to buy a home until around August...so we were prepping for small spaces! But we knew we wanted zoo/jungle theme. It was SO. HARD. to pick out bedding for Camryn! BUT we found some we love! It's Carters "Under the Sea". It's precious. And it has this color of blue in it, that we love. Our house is crazy with color, I mean...my kitchen is yellow---dining room orange---laundry blue---master bed brown---Corbin's room green's--Spare bath blue with frog theme---and currently Camryn's room aka old play room is bright blue. Oh, and my office--light blue/seafoam. Our entry, hallway & living are a nice neutral tan! Ahh, some calmness amongst the color!

 

This pregnancy has been going really well. She's an active little thing, and I feel so awful because I've had this horrible cough (2nd time within 2 months now) and I get to coughing so much, she must be getting jolted around in there!

 

Instead of doing the whole "chart thing" I'll jot down a few things:

 

• Severe gag issues. (IE:brushing my teeth is a horrid experience, certain smells in my profession make me more queasy than once before, and the thought of cat food--yuck!
• Ranch/French Onion dip please!
• NO swelling as of yet, happy dance!
• Still wearing my scrubs at 21 weeks wooHoo!
• Took Easter/Maternity/Family picts this past weekend
• "Baby Moon" will be my Birthday weekend--Family trip to SA area!
• Mexican Food please! Especially Vera Cruz...drool! 

Corbin is growing so much. He makes us laugh, makes us frustrated, but most of all...makes us happy. He is a sweet little boy (for the most part, unless he acts like his Mom :) ) He spent the weekend mornings with Trav recently while I worked and when I got home he said "Momma work, to help people with owies" yes...yes I did. Today I asked if he wanted to carry out the recycle bag of trash "No Momma, its too big, I too little" Haha....okay baby! If we're opening a door, moving something, doing anything ...it's always "ME DO IT!" He's so independent. I don't know many 2 1/2 (almost) year olds who will push their laundry basket to the laundry room, and load the washer! I was impressed! He also loves to get the vacuum cleaner out for me. Oh, and if I'm baking/cooking/doing anything in the kitchen, you better believe he's up on a chair at the counter helping me! But man...he can have some melt downs. Over the tiniest things! But, we wouldn't change him for the world. We're so excited to be welcoming baby girl into our lives in a few months, but most excitingly, to have a complete family to love & make memories with.

 

Until next time...

Baby #2 (14 weeks and before)

Due to the nature of this pregnancy {and having a toddler, working full time and having a house of our own this time} I've been slacking on the update department! 

With Corbin we were "trying" to get pregnant and I was tracking everything. Then when we did find out it was low progesterone, shots in the butt, and bed rest due to a subchorionic hematoma {which I've learned is more common than we thought back then!} We also lived with my parents while Trav did clinicals, and I was working PRN. Ample time to document the every little pain, craving and mood swing.😁

So let's see how far I can recall...

How about on November 21st when out of the blue I took a pregnancy test {remember, I have had hormone imbalances all year due to a lovely prolactinoma on my pituitary gland} so nothing was unusual. I was just exhausted and achy like I was with Corbin.

 

 Corbin spent the day with his Grammie & PawPaw, {they went to a farm with 2 of their little nieces & Corbin} so Travis & I started our day with grocery shopping {where I picked up some tests that spell it out for you} and then on our way back home I dropped Travis off to get his hair cut, came to the house & unloaded the groceries and contemplated taking a test. Well, I took one. AND it was defective! Luckily it comes with 2...so... Just KNOWING it'd say "not pregnant", I took it. Much to my surprise, "PREGNANT". So...I was like "hm. OK!" Grabbed the test, went to pick up Travis and debated how to tell him! I was like, well...I took a test...and...then I just showed it to him! We had lunch, and picked up one more pack of tests at Target while we did some shopping, since the 1st test was defective. I wanted confirmation! SO this one told us how far along. 2-3 weeks! Wow! We were just in shock. So we went to the movies, and then had to keep our mouths shut!

 

 

So we were hosting Thanksgiving at our house a few days later, but my inlaws would be out of town. So we went over to their house and shared the news with them.

 

https://www.facebook.com/tara.smith.1218/videos/vb.507731841/10154055824666842/?type=3&theater

 

 

The next day was Thanksgiving, and so when my parents got here we did the same thing...

 

https://www.facebook.com/tara.smith.1218/videos/vb.507731841/10154055826226842/?type=3&theater

Needless to say, they had similar reactions to baby #2 as they did with Corbin. Okay, maybe a bit more excited!? I am just thankful we aren't going to have to be house hunting, graduating, state boarding, buying, moving, and all that this time!

SO once we told our parents, we decided to text the picture on Thanksgiving to my sisters, since my oldest brother was here and we showed him in person. This is the picture Corbin gave to our parents.

 

We had our first US on 12/10/2015 and we got to see the babies heart beat! Due date of July 25th (my Dad's birthday!) But with it being a C-section it'll be the week before, or even before then. {We were induced with Corbin at 39+4, and he was 9lbs 4 oz...so early is okay with me!}

 

Once we had our ultrasound we knew we'd create our Christmas card to be an announcement as well! A LOT of our family missed it, but once they got it, they were super excited :) Here's the card we sent out...

 

 

 

So once everyone knew, we posted the card on facebook on our 5 year Anniversary {Dec 18}. And I began to document our pregnancy! 

 

 

 

We had our 12 week check up 1/8/2016. We weren't supposed to get an ultrasound, but the doctor couldn't find the heartbeat with her little Doppler, she assured us things were probably okay...so we got an US! And of course, all looked great! {Baby has it's left hand up on his head, making the appearance of a white dove my Dad says} Baby wouldn't cooperate very well! We saw legs/arms/body and it even had the hiccups, but to capture the still image was a bit challenging.

 

SO definitely "pooching" earlier this pregnancy! So far, I haven't gained anything! I'm pretty sure that's a record, because with Corbin I had gained within the first few weeks from being on bed rest haha.

 

 

 

 

Like with Corbin, I did a pregnancy chart weekly, bi weekly. Whatever it was. Well, I'm going to try to do one monthly. haha! Here's the 1st one!

 

 

Pregnancy Highlights How Far Along: 14 weeks & 4 days Size of Baby Smith: Lemon {3 inches}

Maternity Clothes: Not really. My regular jeans still fit surprisingly. I washed all of them though :) Gender: We will hopefully find out Feb 15th! Names: Have middle names picked out {Alice for girl (after my Nana)  and James for boy (after my Dad)}    Getting Ready: We have began to move Corbin's toys out of his play room {which is our 3rd bedroom, and will be the nursery} Movement: flutters! Sleep: AH, precious sleep. Once Corbin goes to bed, I crash out, wake up for a shower...then sleep most of the night! What I Miss: This sounds so wrong, but I miss a good Margarita! {I did have a virgin without the alcohol the other day, and that totally hit the spot!} Best Moment of the Week: When Corbin hugs & kisses my belly to talk to the baby :)

Food Cravings: Mexican food, spicy food, hot Cheetos...YUM!

Symptoms: Not many!

Due Date: July 25th

Next Dr. Appointment: Feb 15!

Daddy: Is super excited about the baby!




OK...well, that was that! Not much else to update on. So, until next time!

2015

A year for the books, that's for sure. We had a great year. Let me see if I can recap it a bit...

We celebrated New Years right here at home! Nothing special, just the norm. Celebrated both our Mom's birthdays in January and enjoyed many other activities.

In Feb. we celebrated Valentine's Day with our handsome...

 

And of course this Mommy was excited to be unique for his Valentine's Party and give Glow Sticks!!

 

 

St. Patricks Day, my happy happy boy!

 

During the month of March/April we began our project of redoing our Privacy Fence! It was a chore, but thanks to my Dad for insight and my husband & father in law's labor, we had a nice new fence in NO time! :D

 

We hosted Easter at our home. Invited my parents, Travis's Parents, his grandparents, and my sister Amy & her family. We had an Easter Egg hunt and cooked some burgers & hot dogs. Our backyard was still a disaster with the fencing project, so most of us congregated in the front/or inside! Corbin got a kick out of egg hunting!

Slamming his PawPaw with a confetti egg

Daddy & Corbin exchanging eggs

"Hm, I'll just stop right here & enjoy these M&M's"!

Having a good time with Pappy & T

My handsome, with his lovely Grammie looking on in the background

Corbin checking out what the Easter Bunny left him

 

I was a horrible historian this year. I was too busy making memories to document them. In April/May we took a trip to San Antonio for a couple of days. We stayed at our fav, the Drury, and had fun in the indoor pool

 

 

 We visited a farm outside of town & Corbin got to ride a pony!

We had fun looking at all the livestock 

Blowing kisses to Daddy on the hayride!

A trip to the San Antonio Zoo, we were waiting on the train!

 

 And a trip to the drive through safari ranch!

 

 

 

In the summer we got to go to the beach and have fun while Aunt Sue was down. We did some crabbing...and swimming... and daydreaming :)

 Oh, and we fed some seagulls!

 

We made 2 trips to Sheridan to Splashway! Not a fan of the actual character who walks around in costume, but was brave enough to tackle some of the bigger slides! I was too excited of a Mommy to take pictures, whoops! :)

We had our first Tropical Storm in our home, "Bill" dumped some much needed rain, and minor winds on us! We had to go play in the puddles... 

In May we took a trip to the Corpus Christi Aquarium. We had a great time seeing all of the animals, watching the dolphin show & having fun! 

 

In May we lost Nanny. Travis' Grandmother on his Mom's side. Nanny had been sick for a few years, she was a strong woman who I am so glad to have gotten to know. We made a trip to East Texas for her viewing, and while it was extremely sad & difficult, I'm glad we were able to go. We will always miss Nanny.

 

4th of July we made our annual trip to East Texas to visit Travis' PaPaw. It wasn't quite the same without having Nanny there. But we had a great time, and my MIL sent some flowers afloat on the lake for her Mom (Nanny's) birthday. We went over to Nancy & Charlies for dinner & then watched the fireworks from Travis' PaPaw's house. It was a great time, despite my migraine I had going on (hence the glasses)

We made a trip into Tyler and went to the Caldwell Zoo with Corbin while we were up there.

 

 

Corbin took his first boat ride

 

So here's where I'll interject some tid-bits about what we dealt with on my end this year. We began to try for baby #2 around the first of the year. With many negative tests, I went to my OBGYN for some answers. She did multiple lab work ups, over a couple of months, and found my prolactin hormone was abnormally high. Which will lead to infertility due to the hormone being high, telling my body I was pregnant and I wasn't. So I had an MRI done in July, after 4th of July wknd and it found a small tumor on my pituitary gland in my brain. Benign (non cancerous) but still a issue, because it was the source of too much prolactin being released. So they put me on a medication, to lower the level. And that seemed to work, and my body was "back to normal"! This was all GOOD news! We just have to monitor my levels and the tumor annually.

 

OK, so in October a certain little someone turned TWO! We had decided if we weren't pregnant by summer, we'd plan a trip for his birthday. So we did, because obviously, not pregnant!

 

 

We had a Mickey Mouse themed birthday party. And it rained, and rained, and RAINED. Like, 5 inches that day! So we turned the playroom into a ball pit room with the blow up pool & slide...it was a hit. And we did a piñata in a different fashion. haha...

 

 We had a great time!

 And so did Corbin!

After his party, we cleaned up and hit the road to Houston, so we could catch our flight out to DISNEY WORLD! (which I already blogged about, so here's just a few pictures)!

 

 

The day we landed in Houston from our trip (10/30/2015) we found out Travis' grandpa had passed away. He'd been sick for just a few months...it was devastating to lose such a wonderful man. We'll always remember him, and the time him & Grandma went to my parents house (I wasn't home!) and sat and visited with my parents & Nana just to check them out. :) He always called Corbin his catfish, and his saying was "I'm glad you got to see me again".

 

 

Once we returned we had a super-hero Halloween!

 

And we discovered Time Out... 

 

I recreated a picture 2 years apart :)

 

 

 

We took family pictures with the talented Heather Crump. Perfect weather...and there's something interesting about these pictures...keep reading to find out what :)

 

We went to Oklahoma to Winstar Casino for our 5 year Anniversary to see Penn & Teller. Treat to us, we got to meet them! Travis was so excited!

 

We attended 3 Christmas parties...the one for my department was a tacky sweater theme....so we got creative ;)

 

We hosted Thanksgiving at our house. My oldest brother & his family joined us as well as my parents. We had a great day of good food & visiting.

 

For Christmas it was all over the place. Wednesday before, my sister Amy & her family came by our house,  Christmas eve with my in laws, Christmas morning at our house, Christmas day in PL, the day after Christmas in PL with my sister Tab & brother Ted. Great times were had :)

Got to visit my Grandpa Husak & Barbara

Corbin got a horse from Gammie & PawPaw!

Mommy & Daddy bought him a Gator

Mimmie & Pappy hooked him up with a grill like Daddies!

 

We had a great & blessed Christmas. :)

 

So, on Dec. 18th we went to Oklahoma, we were supposed to stop in San Antonio to spend the night there on Saturday night. But we missed Corbin & traffic was horrific, so we came home a day early! And boy am I glad we did.

 

So here's the pretty tree in the middle of our front yard, all lit & decorated for Christmas...too bad that will never happen again, and here's why.

Yeah. That's why. So, Saturday the 19th we heard commotion, the neighbors were having a party. Whatever, they'd be parked everywhere and leave trash in our yard/road. We were used to it. We went to bed, obviously exhausted. We slept through the whole ordeal. And our phones were on silent. :( Thank God for our neighbor next door who woke up when all the commotion happened at 3am Sunday morning. I woke up at 6ish and saw a missed called from my neighbor. So I texted her to make sure all was okay. She replied back with "There was  a party, and someone was drunk, and they knocked down your tree" I was like "what tree?" She said "The tree in the middle of your front yard " I was like, "WHAT!?" I jumped up and looked out the window. I was LIVID. I am wearing only shorts & a tank top and it's COLD...but I ran out the front door screaming (like that was going to do anything...no one was awake to hear me) I woke up Travis, and he was like "What the ...." So I called the cop and they came out and gave me info on the case number. While he was here I made him go to the host of said parties house, and made him move his truck that was illegally parked in front of the fire hydrant.  Apparently a drunk, was leaving the party and missed the cul-de-sac, hit my drive and flew into the tree uprooting it. He tried to leave, but was stuck. And my neighbor called the cops. Thank God. He was arrested for PI. Unfortunately, not much can be done on our end. We'd be out more money than it's worth. However  Sunday after, my neighbor was like a watch dog, everyone who stopped at the house of party was getting an ear full. Then the owner came out. And I gave him an earful. I told him he's upset every neighbor, and that better be on best behavior. Any illegal parking, parties, ect, the cops will be here. No more Mrs. nice girl. It's been quiet..we chopped up the tree and had it hauled off.

 

 

SO remember the family photos? Well, they are special because there are really 4 people them! This was our announcement via Christmas card...that a lot of people missed. lol.

 

And we got to see baby the other day! Growing good! :) Will find out the gender in Feb. and we're due in July!

 

 

Overall, our year was very full & blessed. Here's to 2016...and our growing family!