Happy Thanksgiving!

This Thanksgiving was by far the best one yet!  It was such a wonderful time with family and I realized how truly blessed I am to have all of these people in my life.  God is good!

Me and my brother with David and Olivia!  Love them so much!

The kids set the table all by themselves!

Checking the crab traps to see what we caught.  Out of five traps, we caught two!  YAY;)

An amazing pic of the bayou where my aunt lives!

Family picture!  Love you all!

Uncle Mike getting ready to fry his turkey...legendary in his neck of the woods!

A kitchen worth cookin' in!!!

We've been wanting new kitchen countertops for over a year now and have finally "up and done it"!!  We did a lot of research about creative ways to re-do laminate counter tops.  We came across a product where  basically, you buy this kit and after 2 days you have kitchen countertops that look like granite.  It was a viable option considering the fact it cost $4,920 dollars LESS than laying down real granite!!!!  We decided to go with the kit.  Here is what our counters looked like before the project began!

AND here is the recently finished project!!!

We are OVER THE MOON excited!!!  We could not believe a little primer, sponge painting and clear coat could result in this!  It was easy, fun and involved no stress whatsoever!  This could be a major business in the making people!  We were so happy with it that we are in the middle of making over our guest bathroom counters!  

Landscaping!

When we bought our foreclosure the backyard looked like a sand bomb went off!  There was barely any grass and the wall that closes the yard off was full of mildew.  After 20 + hours of removing rocks, painting, planting, mulching and seeding, we have a new backyard!!!  It was probably the most exhausting work I've ever done but SO worth it!  There is nothing more exciting than working your heart out on a project to completion:)  I really want to flip houses one day!  Here are some pics to show you the difference a little "labor of love" can do:

Before...ew gross!!!

During...notice half of the rocks and weeds removed from the treeline.  This already looks so much better:)

We had just painted the wall and were starting the planting process!

The finished product!!!  Ain't she purrrrty???  Next up, a deck!

Gone Fishin'

We went to Panama City Beach to visit my dad.  He recently bought a home within two miles of the ocean so it wasn't hard to convince us to drive over;)  We went to Pier Park which is the new "hot spot" for tourists.  The pier there goes out a quarter of a mile and is pretty impressive...that is where we decided to hoist the ol' fishin' lines!

Playing around until Edwin agreed to model his new straw hat;)  Lookin' somethin fierce, sweets!

My dad with his infamous straw hat...ready to fish!

The pier!

Beautiful shoreline!

Ok, ok...I bought a straw hat too;)

Edwin and dad fishing like rock stars!

I could get used to this:)

It was a perfect day for fishing and we caught ONE fish the size of a baseball glove...look out Thanksgiving!  In remembrance of the fish, we fried and ate the little pieces he had to offer!  Our 'other' dinner consisted of TGI Fridays of course!

An Indiana Wedding!

Jill's wedding was such a gorgeous and happy event!  She looked stunning!!  We drove from Tampa all the way up to Batesville, Indiana.  The setting for this wedding was unreal and the story behind it is amazing.  We had such a great time and were blessed to share in the celebration!  We love our friends:)

This is the beautiful barn her dad created for the wedding on their farm!  It took him 10 months and a lot of blood, sweat, and tears:)  Jill and her dad have an amazing relationship. Very cool to see that!

The father/daughter dance!

The front of the barn!  It was gorgeous at night too!  I love the way he did the lighting!

Me and momma Ky:)  She is due to have her second baby girl this August!  I'm excited because I get to see her a lot this year!

The bridal party!

The photographer told us to run towards her and as you can see, Kat and I are having a blast running while holding the back of her dress up!  That was probably the first time I ran in 2 years....haha!

The wedding had a bonfire too which we sat around at the end of the night.  It was sooo relaxing and a great way to end the night.  Glad we relaxed the day before we drove 15 hours home!!!!  Hahaha!  We are truly the road warriors of all of our friends b/c I HATE flying;)  

Congrats Brian & Jill!

Missing Edwin...

So Edwin left yesterday for NYC.  I'm so proud of him because he is really making waves at Citigroup and is there this week to represent his Tampa office!  BUT...oh my gaaahh, I miss him terribly!  We haven't been apart in 7 years.  I am NOT complaining because I realize so many families endure much more time apart.  BUT I can miss my husband if I want;)  Haha!  What have I been up to in the last 24 hours you might ask?  Well, I am doing everything to keep my mind off the fact that my soul mate is away....here is a glimpse!

Of course, in my hopeless depression, I immediately self medicate with Papa John's pizza.  Surprised?  Probably not;)

Take the dogs on a long walk!  I've never had to walk both at once so this was an experience.  Lets just say it was a much shorter walk than usual and poop had to be left where it was dropped:)

Comfort my Bourbon...he misses Edwin too;)  

Of course Bear is just concerned about his beverage.  He usually likes wine and beer but coconut water was fine with him today!

Having Sangria with my dear friend, Lori!  Columbia restaurant...superb!  I spent yesterday with Lori in St. Pete where she lives.  So excited she moved here...she is one of my favorites!

This is the view from Lori's rooftop where she lives.  Amazing!

Where's daddy?

So, I have had just enough to keep me busy so far;)

Cinco de Mayo! Haaayyo!!!

The dinner went off like fireworks!  Everyone was so excited and left the party with full tummies and happy hearts;)  I think we had around 35 people which was right at what we expected.  Jim and Barbara were so excited to be able to relax and only worry about eating that night!  What a blessing it was to give them the night off.  We all had a blast and even turned up the mexicano tunes while we served everybody.  I was the burrito roller and sour cream technician;)  I'm a little heavy handed when it comes to sour cream so I was graciously directed by each person on how much to slop on.  The first person wasn't so lucky....would you like a burrito with your sour cream?

10 pounds of taco meat.  This actually looks a lot smaller than it was.  Picture a turkey sized aluminum dish full to the brim!  YUM!

Kelly and me!  I met Kelly over 2 years ago when I went with a church group to feed the homeless downtown.  She was the only woman in a crowd of hungry homeless men who didn't approach us to eat.  It was freezing outside and she was sitting on a bench down the way huddled in an over sized sleeping bag.  I walked over to her, quietly sat next to her with a hot plate and introduced myself.  The rest is history!!!  I LOVE her so much and she has been such a blessing to me!  God has used her in amazing ways and she is such an inspiration:)

Edwin taking a break after setting up the table for the fixings!  Edwin was in charge of stuffing the burritos with meat and made my burrito rolling very challenging with his generous portions;)  Haha!


Our life group came out to help serve and provided some of the sides to go with the dinner!  It was awesome to work together and we are very thankful they came out to show Amazing Love....LOVE:)  We are hoping to do this again in the near future!!!