SEVEN YEARS

Seven years you say? That's right! June 2, 2001 I was married to the most wonderful man! It's been an adventure and I've loved every minute. We've both changed so much and are definitely far from where we thought we'd be. Here's a look at our lives (the condensed version).

2001:



Married. Keith was at a summer intern for Utility Engineering in Amarillo. After we married we moved into a one-bedroom apartment in Canyon together. After the summer was finished we moved to Lubbock so Keith could continue his education at Texas Tech. We found a great church home. Indiana Avenue Baptist Church. LOVE IT STILL! Keith worked for the city of Lubbock as . . . hmmm, well - I still don't know exactly what he did. He did copy an entire text book one day. I worked at Dillard's. We lived in the same apartment complex as Keith's friend Ty. This was my first time being away from my family and I had a really hard time. Keith used to let us go home once a month to visit. Everytime we left I would bawl. That Christmas I got Keith Simon. Our first bird. That bird never liked me. I take it back, he liked me until he realized he loved Keith more.

2002:


(Finding a hard time finding a digital photo of us - so this will have to do)

Keith was still finishing up his degree at Texas Tech. That summer we headed back to Amarillo for another intern at UE. That was the summer I found golf! Keith is an avid golfer and for our one-year-anniversary we had gone to Ruidoso, NM. His one thing he wanted to do was play a round of golf. So, that was the first time I also played and loved it. We ended up playing like six times a week that summer. When we headed back to Lubbock Keith continued working for the city of Lubbock . . . still not sure what he did there and I started working for Noble Construction Equipment. I LOVED that job and the people! That Christmas Keith got me such a great present! Levi!

2003:



No more internships for Keith. He started working for TTU as a research assistant. Keith had never worked so hard in his life. He worked in the pulsed power lab for such long hours with is good friend David. There were nights that he would work until two or so in the morning! I would make snacks and drop them off for him. So, college life is definitely harder vs. out of college life! That year I also lost my job with Noble. The company decided to move all of its offices to Mexico. So, I started working at Keller Williams for the best office in the whole company! I sure do miss them! That winter Keith graduated with his B.S. in electrical engineering.

2004:



Still working hard! Keith was finishing up his master's and I was still at KW. I believe this is also the year we lost Simon. Soon after Elijah was brought into our lives. He liked me for even less than Simon. What is it? All birds only like Keith? We celebrated our three-year-anniversary with a trip to San Francisco! It was amazing! Unfortunately, the day before we had an unfortunate accident. Keith's formula firebird with totaled and he was forced to look for a new car. Saying goodbyes was too common this year. We said goodbye to our friends the McAden's. They left to Russia on their mission trip and our good friends the Walker's. They left to Austin for Shane to continue his education at the University of Texas. (Yuck) Soon after we headed to Massachusetts once Keith received his masters. Keith and I soon found a new church home - Chapel on the Hill. Keith actually taught Sunday School for a while. We both took karate together and were soon making new friends. Some of our good friends included the Robinson's and Foley's. I transferred up to the KW office here. (blah) However, we did break the curse of the Great Bambino! The Red Sox won their first world series in over 80+ years! Go, Truman's! We also had our first Thanksgiving in MA at Plymouth Plantation with Keith's family!

2005:



We found out we were pregnant! We found out the day before Easter. I soon put a hold on karate, but Keith kept with it. I accepted a promotion at KW. This was the first year that family was able to visit during the summer. While I was pregnant with Joey I walked miles upon miles in NYC with family and friends. The Stout sisters had come to visit (right before I found out that) I was pregnant. My family came in July and Keith's in August. The Stouts were able to visit one more time before Joey came and soon after Joey was here! By this time we were living in a house in Framingham. We had also changed churches. We were now attending Chapel of the Cross (where we still attend). Our lives were forever changed by our little man joining us! We love being his parents!

2006:



I decided not to return to work. What a blessing! I also returned to school myself. I'm actually still in the process of completing my education. We bought our first house. Keith also stopped with his karate due to location. We celebrated Joey's first birthday and shortly after we celebrated Christmas in Florida! What an awesome year! Tutu and Popeye also celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary!

2007:



While in Florida we found out that one of the Stout's would be moving in with us. Around the same time that Tammi moved out we found out that we were pregnant, again! That year was a great blessing to our whole family! My sister Cindy married Ty and Papa celebrated his 90th birthday, ! Keith experienced his first (and hopefully only) earthquake. We had Clarissa at the end of the year. Such blessings! We love our kids! We love each other!

2008:



Present Day! Our kids are growing super fast. Life keeps us busy with a toddler and newborn. Keith received a promotion at work (his 2nd since he's started) and loves his job. I grow more and more in love with Keith and my kids daily. I consider myself truly blessed to have such a wonderful family.

WOW! I didn't realize I could sum up seven years that quickly. It's been a great seven years and I'm looking forward to the rest of my life with my husband and kids. I have the type of marriage I always dreamed I would have as a child. I have a hard working husband that loves me and our kids. I have wonderful kids. I thank God for such great blessings in my life!

Enjoying the weather

We've had absolutely gorgeous weather the past few days! I'm so excited! Does this mean summer will officially be here soon? Yea!

Our Memorial Day was really nice. We ended up going to our friends for a cookout and we had a blast. Joey was able to play in their kiddie pool with his friend Luke. Unfortunately, he got a sunburn. It's not bad, but I gotta remember my kid is pretty fair skinned and he needs a lot more sunblock than me!

That evening was Keith's softball game. Unfortunately, they lost that game, too. It was a good game, though. I promise! Keith's team is good, but they're in a league where most of the other guys have been playing together for a while. This is the first year our church has joined the league.

Joey had his last squeaky sneakers yesterday. That is such a great program for any of you mom's that are looking for something for their toddlers to do that enjoy sports. Another one will be starting in September.

Clarissa is doing as great as ever. She's decided it's easier to roll vs. crawling. So, she'll roll all across a room to go where she needs. It's actually quite funny. Her hair is getting so long. It's to the middle of her back and right past her nose in the front. Crazy! Keith wants to get her bangs cut . . . but I don't think so! I'll just pull her hair back out of her eyes. I don't ever want to cut her hair. It's amazing to see how much hair she's got. What's even more amazing is that Joey had more hair than she did when he was first born. I wonder how long his hair would have been if we'd waited to get his first haircut (at three months).

This coming Monday is Keith's and my SEVEN year anniversary. C-R-A-Z-Y! So much has happened in seven years! I'm truly blessed. I have such a wonderful family. I thank God continuously for them.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

Woo hoo! Keith has a four-day-weekend! Too bad he's having to work so hard. Anyone who knows Keith well knows that when he starts a project it has to be just perfect. He doesn't cut corners on anything. So, he's really making sure that the swing set is just perfect and safe for our kids.

Today is our friend Sue's birthday. So . . . happy birthday, Sue! We were able to go have brunch with her and Ken after church today. It was nice. Joey loves breakfast food and ate a bunch! Actually, Joey must be on a growth spurt because he seems to really be eating a lot lately. He's been eating more than I do probably.

Clarissa isn't too far behind. She loves to eat. She had eggs for the first time today. Joey was always a decent eater as an infant, but CJ eats EVERYTHING. She loves EVERYTHING. She wants EVERYTHING.

Well, guess what! I got pulled over today. :( Luckily, I did not get a ticket, but I was sure I was going to get one. I was going 47 in a 30. Oops. I honestly thought it was 45 and when I saw the cop I slowed down. He followed me for a while and I was only going 35 when he was tailing me. Finally, after making me nervous for a few minutes he pulled me over. I've never been pulled over, but I knew the drill. I've been in the car with Keith plenty of times when he's been pulled over. Ugh! Anyway, I pulled over to the side of the road, got my wallet, and turned off the car. Well, it turns out I did something very wrong! When I reached over to get my wallet I unbuckled. I had already turned off the car, but what was I thinking??? Luckily, the cop had seen me otherwise I would have gotten a big fat ticket. I sure was praying hard once he told me why I had been pulled over. I was sure that he didn't catch me speeding so badly. However, 17 miles over the speed limit is a big no-no. Sue's daughter Rachel did a lot less than that and was punished way too harshly. I was sure I was going to get a big fat ticket and something worse. Luckily, the cop must have noticed my driving record or felt sorry for me with two car seats in the back. Luckily, the kids were at home with Keith. Maybe he felt sorry for me since I couldn't remember what the registration even looked like. So, I got a warning. THANK GOD! Talk about being nervous! Anyway, so any of you visiting me - remember that the speed limit on my road is 30 . . . not 45, not 35 . . . 30!

Davis Farmland

Today with our Southborough group we were able to go to Davis Farmland. I would not suggest to anyone with a two-year-old to go there! Don't get me wrong - Joey actually did pretty well. He just was really overwhelmed and was afraid of the animals until the last ten minutes. He was more interested in playing on the playground and eating food. He didn't even like the hayride one bit. He was paying attention to the tour guide, but he didn't want to let go of my hand at all. Maybe next year he'll enjoy it more. Poor guy. He did have fun at the playground a lot, though. Our friends Bethany, Luke, and Grace were able to join us there and Joey had fun with Luke. They even got to "milk" a pretend cow.



The animals were absolutely adorable, though! The goats were my favorite. It turns out you can actually adopt them if you'd like. I told Keith and he agreed we needed one. (Well just for about ten days) They eat poison ivy and we've got a bunch in the back. Keith went and sprayed some stuff on it yesterday. Hopefully, that means no more!

Clarissa did really well. However, she didn't enjoy the hayride. That was my fault, though. I know she hates sitting while I have her in the wrap. So, she was just uncomfortable. Once she was out and about she was fine.



Well, I'm going to head to bed. It was a long day! Getting lost, going to the farm . . . it's hard with two kids! Oh . . . before I forget - look at this! It's a white peacock! It was absolutely gorgeous!

Workin' hard

Keith has been working super hard on the kids' swing set. He picked it up this weekend, sanded it, and stained it. He wasn't able to fully put it together since we thought it was going to rain last night. Hopefully, if the weather permits and he gets home from work at a decent hour, the kids will be able to enjoy it soon.




The mosquito's are out in full force already. So, Keith lit some citronella candles yesterday. Joey kept wanting me to sing happy birthday for him so he could blow them out. Crazy man.



Levi enjoyed being out most of the day. Joey and he like to play chase with each other.



Clarissa is really starting to chatter a lot more. I'm not sure if I mentioned this or not already, but she said "Dada" already! Gosh dangit, my kids are cute.

Random stuff

My dad will be turning 60 in two years! Wow! So my sisters and I got together and decided to either throw him a big party or go on vacation together. It looks like the decision has been made for vacation! It'll be really nice. The whole family has not gone on vacation all together in a LONG time. I know my dad will appreciate it and it'll be nice for us, too! Speaking of vacation I can't believe how quickly our trip to Amarillo is coming. Most of the family has not even met CJ, yet, except through pictures. It's been almost a whole year since most everyone else has even seen Joey.

We've bought the kids a swing set. It's absolutely great! Keith is going to go get it Saturday. The Robinson's also gave us their trampoline so it looks like we'll have a nice play area for the kids! I can't wait! I don't mind going to the park, but it's just tough with two kids. I'm so excited!

Happy Mother's Day and Other Stuff

Happy Mother's Day to all the mom's tomorrow! We wish we could be back home to celebrate with our mom's, grandma's, aunts, sisters, . . . you get the point. We sent this picture out to our family back home. I hope you can enjoy it as well.



This morning we went to the Tulip Festival in Albany, NY. We must have left at a great time, because it only took about two hours. Somehow we managed to shave about 20 or so minutes off our trip. We had fun. I don't think we'll make a point to go next year, but it was still nice being able to go. We were able to see the gorgeous displays of tulips and inside the park was basically a fair. Imagine the Tri-State Fair without the rides. That leaves food and vendors. Guess what! They even had CORN DOGS and FUNNEL CAKE. Here are a few pics of the kids playing and a couple of my favorite shots of some flowers. The rest of the pictures are online at the picture site.

Here's Joey in front of the police car. He was amazed by it and even went over to go talk to the police man. He told him he was two and gave him a high-five.



Here's Clarissa enjoying some sun while we were eating our yummy (and very unhealthy) food.



Aren't the tulips absolutely amazing?




I almost forgot to tell everyone that Clarissa turned 6 months Wednesday! She had her appointment Thursday and things went great. Well, medical-wise. She is measuring in the 25th percentile and is still continuing to stay in the 50th percentile for weight. Not too shabby considering she started out in the 1st percentile on both. Her doctor mentioned that she has continually shown increase in her length and is really starting to catch up quite nicely. Obviously, from the pictures she's definitely on par for her weight.

The appointment was so traumatic for her, though! She is at the stage where she only likes Keith and me. The nurse walked in and had to measure and weigh her and she did not like that one bit! Then, the doctor came in and she huffed and puffed while being checked. While we were waiting for the nurse to come back with the shots for CJ Joey decided he needed to go to the restroom. So, we frantically ran out of the room and told the nurse that we were headed to the restroom. Our doctor was there and offered to hold CJ. Well, that's when things turned upside-down and it make CJ cry! Actually, she bawled. Then, the shots made it even worse. She calmed down a bit when I started holding her and eventually put her back in her carseat, but she TOTALLY quieted down when we walked out of the office. Poor little girl. She has such a tough life.

Well, I've got finals this coming week so I've got to be productive and study! Happy Mother's Day!

Hello, Vanna White!

Today Joey had his therapy session with Pemberton. She is taking over for Dzintra since she went on maternity leave last week. Pemberton brought some different toys that Dzintra usually brought and one of them happened to be a telephone. It was really cute seeing Joey play. He would play call and talk on the phone. He called, Daddy, Grandma, and Vanna White. Can you tell that Joey LOVES Wheel of Fortune? He's seriously their biggest fan.

Today was also Keith's softball game. The game was really good and close. Unfortunately, our guys lost by a couple of runs. We sure did give them a run for their money, though.

Joey LOVED watching Keith play ball. He sat through like five innings yelling and clapping for his daddy. Afterwards, he and Luke played chase. Clarissa played with her little jungle gym. It was really sweet since Grace was also able to play with her. Bethany jokingly told Grace that she needed to share (since we're constantly telling Joey and Luke they need to share) and just then Clarissa grabs the toys from Grace! Is this a sign? They made up pretty quickly, though, because they held hands for several minutes afterwards. So sweet!

More Fire Pictures

I got some pictures of Joey emailed to me yesterday and just wanted to share them. I seriously have the cutest kids.





This one is my favorite. If you look in the background one of Joey's friends is rooting him along by giving him a thumbs up!

Duck, duck, goose!

Yesterday the kids and I met Keith after work to go feed the ducks. For those of you who really know me well know that I am the biggest baby and I get scared super easily. Joey, however, takes after Keith and isn't scared of much. I don't mind feeding the ducks as long as there aren't very many and they're not greedy. Well, since it's still freshly spring not many people have been feeding ducks. So, that means they're GREEDY! I don't like greedy ducks. We were out there a few minutes when the ducks realized Joey was feeding them and then they all came out to eat. I had been holding Clarissa in her car seat and panicked. She was getting heavy and I was scared of this one particular duck hissing. I grabbed CJ and we sat in the car while Joey and Keith stayed out and fed the ducks. Joey actually got the ducks afraid of him! He would run out into a group of them and just laugh. He wasn't being mean, just having fun. He actually got a duck to eat out of his hand. There's no way I'd ever let a duck do that to me. Keith said when he saw his two-year-old son doing it he figured he should "man-up" and do it, too. So, he did. Crazy.

Today was one of Joey's therapist's last day (well, technically tomorrow - but we won't see her then). She is going on maternity leave. I have to say that it's really awesome for her. With both of my kids I had no clue that I was going to deliver so quickly and never got to "enjoy" that last period. Dzintra knows exactly what day and time she'll be having her child AND she'll have family with her from Europe. How exciting! The girls and I threw her a baby shower a couple of weeks ago and she was totally surprised. It was really nice. She said back home (where she had her first child) they did not believe in baby showers. So, all of the showers she was having here were her firsts. She also mentioned that maternity leave for her started a couple of months before the due date and she also got 1.5 years PAID leave afterwards. NICE!

Keith has his first softball game tonight with church. I hope it'll be a good game. From the practices Keith says that everyone looks pretty good. For the past few years Keith has been on the Raytheon league and not much ever amounted to it. It's hard to play ball when so many people are traveling. Last year they dissolved after just one game. Before his Raytheon league days he played on an intramural team at Tech. They were really fun, but the team itself was not so hot. My favorite game I like to talk about was when they (EE - Electrical Engineers) played against the PE's. Petroleum Engineers? NOPE, PHYSICAL EDUCATION MAJORS. Can you say SLAUGHTER? Poor guys. The score ended up being 30 something to 3. The only reason they got three was because Keith hit a home run and bought in a couple of guys. Oh, fun times! So, hopefully this team will be better. We're excited!!!

Everyone has heard the saying, "April showers bring May flowers." When I moved here I learned more of the saying. "Mayflowers bring pilgrims." Oh my gosh. I must be turning into my dad if I'm telling such corny jokes. :)