CRUISING THE CARRIBEAN!

WOW! Have I been super busy or what lately? I don't feel like we've slown down in the past 2 weeks! Anway, we got back Tuesday from our FABULOUS (as Kimora says) vacation on a cruise! This was my FIRST time cruisin and I must say a TOTAL blast and VERY relaxing! We left little Boss man behind with my parents (THANKS A BAZILLION AGAIN!) and headed for our boat (or ship..whatever you wanna call it).

THIS is how we got on the cruise in record timing of 20 min compared to everyone else's 2 hour wait! Kent flirted and spoke a little ghetto talk with one of the workers and she sent us straight to the top with Kent's "gimp" leg! Everyone was quite impressed with Kent's skills.

We played....

We caught OH SO MANY rays..

We ate til we were about to BLOW! Notice Chase's "pregnant belly" after one of our meals!

We hit up Cozumel where we snorkled (sorry no pics of that) at a nice all inclusive resort where we watched a black lady freak out about getting in and out of one of the hammocks and some TOTALLY DRUNK LSU fans doing what they do best--being loud, talking trash and drinking!

My first time on a little moped! Kent and I cruised all of Cozumel on this thing yelling out "HOLA" every where we went waving to all the little MEH-HE-CAN-O-S (Kiers no worries, I told your ancestors hello..)

We had UNLIMITED ice cream which I think I ate 3-4 cones in one sitting and of course one night Kent felt the need to make the biggest ice cream cone and NO he DID NOT succesfully eat that!

We had a friend waiting for his every night when we got back to our room.

I think our waiters all serenaded us this night with some Italian song and most of them were Philipino, Asian or something to that affect...it was entertaining though!

The GROUP!

Things not pictured:

• The HAIREST MAN competition (why that's something to be proud of I don't know...)
• WAY TOO many women who were in swimsuits they shouldn't have been in
• The 100 lbs I gained from all the food I ate
• The night we hit up the dance floor and showed off our moves and learned the CUPID SHUFFLE (okay, don't make fun of us for just learning it...and for those of you who have NO IDEA what I'm talking about, that just makes me feel that much better about learning it so late!)
• The waterslide to which for the first time I came to a complete halt in the middle of
• LSU took a slaughtering to Florida...the boat was bad luck
• MANY drunks making fools of themselves (many 40+ yr olds thinking they were still 18)

So we ate too much, caught a tan, drank too much (my fountain card gave me unlimited cokes to which now I MUST have a DP everyday or the headaches come on), relaxed too much and partied like we were 18 again! It was SUCH a fun vaca and I was SAD when it was over! Although, it was nice to see our little man again finally!

OH! And Kent brought sexy back!!!!

A TALKING TANNING BED?

To prepare for our Caribbean get away next week, I bought a tanning bed membership in order to be prepared for the sun and to not be too pasty in my swimsuit. I go into the tanning salon today and these little salesman are CONSTANTLY trying to get you to buy lotion, upgraded beds, and who knows what else. I, of course, always decline and turn my head to roll my eyes (it's SOOO annoying! All I want to do is tan people!). Today, the lady informs me that I have "credits" on my account to tan in their level 4 bed. At first I decline thinking that it was going to cost me money but then realized I DID in fact have credits on my account to upgrade! So I took it! I don't know how many of you have seen the latest in tanning techno these days BUT as I go into the room this bed was MASSIVE with all kinds of lights and contraptions that I'd NEVER seen before. Anyway, I proceed to get in and as I push the power button this MAN starts talking! Initially it honestly made me jump scared a little! He talked to me about how the bed worked, which buttons to push, how to turn up the fan, how to adjust to volume of the radio, etc! HE SAID EVERYTHING!!! Honestly, I didn't quite like it. I felt like he was SOOO loud that EVERYONE in the salon could here him!! I tried not to push any buttons because I didn't want him to talk ANYMORE. The tanning sessions ends (he tells me that), I get out and the music all the sudden changes from Leona Lewis to some techno music that starting BLARING! I mean it was SOOOOOOO loud! I tried adjusting the volume but nothing worked! So I hurried and got my things and bolted out still being able to hear the music ALL THE WAY TO THE FRONT OF THE SALON! Oh level 4 bed! I will NEVER use you again! Not only were you loud and obnoxious BUT I also left with burnt red lips!

WOW, THE BIG 2-4!

My birthday was probably 2 weeks ago or so while we were in Utah house hunting (more to come on that later). I was a litte bit disappointed that we were flying out on my birthday to Utah and that it was going to be a crappy day filled with very little celebration. I'm happy to say that my husband and sisters proved me wrong! Kent brought home donuts (although I didn't get a single ONE before they were eaten), gave me my WONDERFUL WRAPPED presents, my mom had a layover at DFW so I was able to hang out with her for a few hours, Boston was GREAT on the plane, we arrived to Kari's in Utah with FOOD GALORE and presents, cake and ice cream to go with, and on top of THAT LSU BEAT AUBURN in honor of my birthday! So although I had about 4 hours of travel in there, the day was GREAT! Thanks to everyone for making my day SOO special! And yes, we did sport our lucky LSU gear ALL day letting everyone on the flight know who we were cheering for!

TODAY WAS A ROUGH DAY!

I think Boston was just trying to teach me patience...

MR. INDEPENDENT!

I don't know necessarily when the right "time" is to allow your child to feed them self so I don't know if I'm totally late on this or right on or what. BUT Sunday was the first time I let Boston try to use silverware. Part of the reason why I've been putting it off is because I'm a little bit of a clean freak and I HATE messes and I KNEW it would be messy and quite frankly I didn't want to deal with cleaning it up! So I caved Sunday and decided to let him try it. I was VERY impressed with my little man. It was funny to watch him get the mashed potatoes on the spoon. He was VERY into it and was concentrating SO hard. He took this new freedom VERY seriously as he usually does with exploring and learning new things. Although he's not quite perfected it, he IS getting the hang of it!

PRAYER....

Today before church, we knelt down to say a family prayer. Usually we always just hold Boston in our arms. As we were trying to get him to come over to us so we could hold him, he walked over and collapsed to his knees all ready for prayer! Talk about making your heart melt! We let him kneel all by himself for the first time. I had to peek during the prayer to check him out and see what he was doing...the WHOLE time he had the BIGGEST smile on his face pretty much saying, "Mommy aren't you SOO proud of me!" Yes, Bubba, I'm SOO proud!

WHAT COLOR ARE YOU?!?!

You Are a Blue Crayon

Your world is colored in calm, understated, deep colors. You are a loyal person, and the truest friend anyone could hope to find. On the inside, you tend to be emotional and even a bit moody. However, you know that people depend on you. So you put on a strong front. Your color wheel opposite is orange. Orange people may be opinionated, but you feel they lack the depth to truly understand what they're saying.

What Color Crayon Are You?

Funny that my opposite color is ORANGE--opinionated people--people who know me KNOW that at times I like to share my opinions with others....

COVER BOY!

This morning I woke up and saw this "Moments Photography" brochure on my counter. Leslie dropped if off whenever she brough Sidney over this morning. At first, I just though Leslie gave it to us because Alicia was SOOO sweet to take Boston's 1 year pictures and wanted us to see her brochure. Then I opened it up AND LOOK WHAT I SAW INSIDE:

YEP that's my sweet little man's picture that Alicia put inside! I don't know why but it made me SOO proud and SOO happy! Alicia, you are so sweet to have his picture on your brochure (I keep calling it that and I hope that's what I'm supposed to call it). Most of all I'm SOOO happy that you came and took his pictures. Once again, I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED how they turned out and I can't wait to put them up when we get into our house (Kent's kinda vetoed me buying anything new--including picture frames--before our move)! I can't believe my little man made it onto the MOMENTS PHOTOGRAPHY (http://www.louisianamoments.com/) brochure. Alicia, THANKYOU, THANKYOU and THANKYOU again! And yes, I HIGHLY reccommend her!

OUR DANCING BOY!

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Like his father, Boston LOVES to dance! Anytime any form of music comes on this boy will GET DOWN! He cracks us up! The funniest is when we are in the car and he is in his carseat thrusting his hips as much as he can while being all buckled up! Maybe one day he'll make it on America's Best Dance Crew!

Two things that I need to vent about....

1.) So I'm taking a walk yesterday with Boston and Stella and the WHOLE time all I smell is this STANK smell that I keep breathing in. I already know what it is....THE LANDFILL! Yes, we leave RIGHT NEXT to a landfill. The funny thing is that this is a NICE area and it's crazy to think that high priced homes sit in the landfills backyard (I'm sure that's not good for resale)! There are days where you NEVER smell it but for some reason usually at NIGHT and when the weather is cooler the air REEKS of garbage! I HATE IT! I never knew they put landfills in nice developed areas. There is SO much right near this thing it's CRAZY! I would be okay with this landfill thing if it didn't bring about so much stankiness! It just makes the air feel SOO dirty!

2.) I run out of deodorant so I head to the store to buy more. I run into Target, they have the brand and all new scents but no Secret PLATINUM POWER FRESH in SOLID! I think, okay that's fine usually Target doesn't always have everything brand wise. So I head to Wal-Mart where I KNOW they have it. Run in, look, look, and look. NOPE! NO SECRET PLATINUM POWDER FRESH in SOLID! They have brought in all kinds of NEW scents and taken away the old ones and made them ALL GELS! I HATE GEL deodorant! I always just feel so slimy that I just can't wear it. I HATE getting new scents because I'm weird about scents and I don't want to spend the money on something I'm not going to like. PLUS you always put on a new scent and I feel like I'm constantly smelling it and that everyone else around me can smell it too! They've totally vetoed my deodorant at secret and I'm TOTALLY upset about! I want it BACK! I'm not one to switch deodorants because I've tried that and can never find another one that works. I had to settle for some new coconut scent which I must say isn't TOO bad BUT I do sit and smell it ALL day long because I'm not used to having that scent under my armpit! Why must they take away a good thing?

FALL BEGINS!!!

No, although I'm VERY excited about visiting the pumpkin patch this year, I have NOT been yet. Infact, I don't even think it's open yet. I stole these pictures from last year's visit. The weather today is SOOO beautiful outside and it's just making me anxious for fall (it is in the 80's so not too cool but it's cool for what we've been experiencing)! Now I HATE cold weather so I'm not looking forward to that downfall but there are a few other things I AM looking forward too besides that:

*CoolER weather (although I'm afraid when we move to Utah we're going to have a drastic change in the weather)

*PUMPKIN PATCH-If you only new how much I LOVE the pumpkin patch. Why? I couldn't tell you but I'm just SOO excited to take Boston back. In fact, I told Kent that we couldn't move from Dallas until AFTER Oct. 31 because I HAD to take Boston to the Flowermound pumpkin patch this year. Sad excuse but hey, I just LOVE IT! Don't worry there WERE other reasons holding us back to move out there until the first of November!

*NEW CLOTHES-I LOVE shopping for fall clothes

*It means Kent is nearing the end of selling

*Fall decor

*HALLOWEEN--it's gotta be one of my favorite holidays! I've committed myself to finding Kent and my costumes early this year. Any suggestions? Kiers another Halloween party to try and out do last year's competition? "Competition against myself? I LOVE that kind!"

*Making soups-somehow they just don't taste as good in the summer.

*MY BIRTHDAY (this Saturday everyone!)

*Thanksgiving Dinner-I told Kent I would try to attempt to make it myself this year...Paula Dean HERE I COME!

*MOST OF ALL: GETTING INTO OUR HOUSE!!!!!! I believe it was fall last year when we signed with our other builder that we backed out of. NO WORRIES THOUGH NOW this deal is FOR SURE! No changing our minds now because we should be signing on the dotted line next week!

This picture was of Boston last year when we went to "the patch." Maybe we can get a remake this year????

Now, I've gotta got get my fall decor out....

At the end of August, we headed up to Utah for a reunion for Kent's mom's side of the family. We rented two cabins up at Bear Lake and had a weekend of fun. Many of Kent's cousins I had never met before so it was nice to meet them. It was also nice to hang out with Kent's family since we don't all get to see each other very often. Boston enjoyed the water SOO much but then his fun ended when he got TERRIBLE diaper rash that ruined our chances of hitting up the lake on the second day! I felt bad for the little guy. All in all it was a nice vacation even though it was quick. Kent and I decided that ONE DAY we have to have jet skis, a boat and a lake house somewhere! BIG DREAMS but we'll see!

NEWEST OBSESSION!

When I was pregnant, I really got into the habit of having a book to read weekly! I'd finish one book and I already knew what book I was planning to read next! This started my addiction to reading. Unfortunately, since Boston was born I haven't had near the time to just sit and read all day. This year I have really slacked in the reading department and have actually kinda struggled with picking a book to read. Finally on Tuesday I was on a hunt to find a great book! I had about 5 books in my hand and decided I should just pick one right now since my reading time is scarce! I decided on "The Wednesday Letters." I thought I'd heard something about it before...but maybe I haven't, either way I got it. So what have I been doing the past two days? I have been HOOKED on this book! I LOVED IT!!! It was sweet, funny, sad, and meaningful! I couldn't put it down! I HIGHLY recommend this book. I told Kent that he needs to start writing me letters every Wednesday like this husband did for his wife. READ IT! Let me know what you think! Also, if any of you have a book you've read recently that I would love, PLEASE let me know. Recommendations are always good!

15 MONTH CHECK UP!!!!

Where has the time gone? My son is FIFTEEN months! I can NOT believe that we are to that point already and I can hardly remember how little he used to be! I LOVE this stage (ok minus the tantrums and whining that DO occur) but he laughs and loves SO much! We got his stats in when we went to the doctor today:

WEIGHT: 27 lbs 70%

HEIGHT: 31 1/2 inches 48%

Every time the doctor always says, "He's a little bit of a chubby baby, but that's okay! And his height, well you know, it's still too early to tell if he'll be tall like his dad one day. But you know average isn't bad!" I think that's just a polite way of telling me your child is fat and he will NOT be anywhere NEAR 6'3" like his daddy!

We were also informed that my scare of Boston having mono was just that-a scare. NO MONO! Thank goodness! Although it is annoying not knowing what is with my sleepy, edgy, no eating, full of diarrhea baby! Just one of those things! I'm even MORE happy that now Boston and I can give each others kisses without worrying about passing mono! YES, Boston officially allows you to kiss his lips instead of just his forehead (although there are times where he still only wants the forehead kissed) but we have a funny way of doing it. It's not like a normal kiss. Instead, I always have to fold out my bottom lip and then he'll pucker up for me! Weird, I know but it's cute!

THE DAMAGE!

And the tree came tubbling down...

OUTCH!

There is a better shot of the gameroom. Looks like they've taken everything out...crazy! And no, I don't think the missionary came with the tree, I believe they've been battling out the storms at my parent's.

I think this was after all the madness happened....get a little wet dad?

BREAKING NEWS: GUSTAV!

This morning Gustav officially hit land in Louisiana! When I was little I used to LOVE when hurricanes came because that meant 1.)NO SCHOOL 2.) NO LIGHTS and 3.) WE GOT TO PLAY IN THE FLOOD WATER! Then there were the times that hurrincanes were supposed to hit and so they called off school and then the next day it was perfectly bright and sunny which meant a nice vacation day and bad predictions from the weatherman! Well there was no bad predicting done on this hurricane. Gustav is having a party on LA right now! I have been watching the news all day to keep a close watch on the fam. I got a text saying the power went out. Then I got another text saying the fence went down. Now I just got a call from Kelli saying a TREE fell into my parents gameroom upstairs! The worse part of the storm hasn't even passed through yet so we are keeping our fingers crossed and praying that nothing else serious occurs to all our family there! GOOD LUCK EVERYONE! WE LOVE YOU!

This is a terrible picture of some of the damage. Kelli couldn't get a better one. It looks like the fan is dangling from the ceiling and I know the far right window that you can't see is busted. OH and you can't miss the huge hole in the ceiling! I'm sure dad's upset about this one...hey on the positive side, maybe you could do some fun remodeling now...?

AND IT BEGINS!

LSU VS. APPALACHIAN ST.

41-13

FIRST WIN OF THE SEASON WITH MORE TEAMS TO DOMINATE TO COME!

(cross your fingers that we can go experience it LIVE this season atleast once!)

HE NEVER STOPS!

The past few weeks Boston is finding new places to hang out all over the house! It will get real quiet around here and I have to go on a hunt to find our little guy in our tiny apartment. Here are a few places I've found him lately...

One of Boston's favorite hangouts lately is Stella's kennel...why, I don't know but he LOVES to just crawl in, close the door behind him, and hang out...have I mentioned that one of his favorite "snacks" is Stella's random pieces of dog food that he finds on the floor. Is there a connection?!?

I guess he learned how to get himself into the dryer.

This picture is him getting "BUSTED!"

But then he thought, "I'm cute, so mom doesn't care!"

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE BIRTHDAY BOY!!!!!!!

Don't you just HATE it when people don't update their blogs regularly? I DO! But...I can't be too mad lately because I've been quite the slacker. I have an excuse for this past week but other then that...I don't have a thing. So today, hopefully I'll be able to get caught up....here we go!

My beautiful attempt at a home made birthday cake! HA!

Last Thursday was Kent's 27th BIRTHDAY! YES 27!!!! I can't believe he's almost 30! Where has the time gone? Last Tuesday, we had a little combined birthday party that night for Jared N. and Kent since their birthday's are within the same week. We got everyone together and grilled, ate, and visited. That was Kent's official bday PARTY so when Thursday rolled around we didn't do too much especially since Kent doesn't get home from work until 9:30 or so. I failed to make Kent a birthday dinner since I was running around all day getting his birthday stuff (yes, I was a slacker and waited last minute) and preparing for our trip to Bear Lake that we were leaving for the next day. Sooooo I made him pick a restaurant to order takeout. We ate dinner from ON THE BORDER (WE LOVE) at about 10 pm, opened his present, blew out candles but were too full from dinner to eat any cake and then Kent stayed up until 2 am playing with his new present!

Since the ipod box is sooo small, I always feel like I have to keep him guessing and wrap it up and put it in bigger boxes to keep him wondering what it is.....

Still going...

Almost there...

GOT IT!!!

I was asking Kent what he wanted for his birthday and his first quick response was a video ipod. He didn't want me to spend alot of money on him so he quickly tried to come up with something else and said to get him a new black belt for church (BOOOORING!). I KNEW he wanted one SSSOO bad but I also new he REALLY didn't want me to spend too much money...so I went in with my parents and I surprised him with what he REALLY wanted! He was surprised when he opened it and said that he was REALLY happy that I ended up going through with it and getting him one because he was secretly hoping that's what he would get! I know him TOO WELL! Thanks Mom and Dad for pitching in!

I LOVE this man and I hope he had a GREAT birthday! He's SUCH a great husband and father who's not afraid to work hard! He has such a great spirit about him and is always finding the positive things in life. He will always be a kid at heart and knows how to make anyone laugh! I'm so glad that I'm the one who got lucky to be stuck with him for eternity!

WE'RE ON THE MOVE AGAIN!

Yes, that's right! Does it seem to anyone else that we can't seem to stay put in a place very long? We just felt like being in Dallas for a year was WAY too long to be in one place and decided we better get out! Okay, TOTALLY kidding, in fact Kent and I both HATE to move but change happens and sometimes that also requires you to move!

We finally came to the conclusion on what to do with our life after debating and praying about what we should do. Should we start our own pest company or should we take the offer from Source? Well, after much prayer and thought we have decided to stick with Jared's offer to become "VP of Sales!" This also means that we will be moving......where to.......?

Yes, the great state of Utah (I have very mixed emotions about this)! All of the manager's under Kent are all going to school and doing their recruiting out of Logan, Provo and Rexburg so being in UT allows Kent access to them alot easier and to be able to keep tabs on everything. Last year I think it was a little bit more difficult being here in Dallas and just going up and visiting once a month. So we came to the conclusion that this was the best bet for us. I say that we will live their MAX 5 years and Kent says ATLEAST 5 years! Guess we'll see! The positive and most exciting part for me is to FINALLY get into a house! I told Kent I WAS NOT going to move into another apartment! He feels the same way so in Septemeber we will be heading out to go house hunting! That's the part I'm THRILLED about! I'm also really excited to be so close to family and good friends! I won't go into any of the negatives...I'll just keep looking at the glass half full! OH! Kent will also be getting back into school which is a DEFINATE positive so he can finish up quickly! When will the move happen? Well, Kent will be selling until the end of October and then we'll move hopefully sometime the first of November! This is all so crazy and probably for some of you out of left field. We've kinda kept it under wraps for the past month and a half or so. But now it's out and we've committed to this decision so that's where we stand! Yes, we are CRAZY and YES this decision is FINAL!

WE ARE STILL ALIVE!


I feel like I've been an aweful blogger lately! Part of that I blame on our internet being down and the other part...well I don't really have much of an excuse except for laziness! I also don't have much to post about so to some this may be a boring post! Sorry!

Can I just say that Boston is EVERYWHERE!!!!! He has been walking since 10 months and I always felt like him being into every thing was THAT big of a problem...up until about 2 weeks ago! He is into EVERYTHING! It drives me nuts because I like to have a clean house and I'm really having to learn to let go. This is VERY hard for me which is also resulting in me pushing VERY hard for a playroom in our house even though I'm sure it really won't help THAT much!



I feel like Boston is picking up on things alot more lately and is really comprehending what we say! I love that everything he does makes me laugh. Kent and I could seriously just sit on the couch while he entertains us all night! I love him! I have been trying to record all of his new accomplishments on video but he REFUSES! All he wants to do is hold the camera and play with it therefore resulting in no video of him doing anything! SOOOO ANNOYING! I managed to get a few without him 1) knowing about it or 2) for some reason actually not caring which usually NEVER happens...

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Boston LOVES to get his shoes! He LOVES to have them on his feet and he gets even MORE excited when he knows we are leaving the house! He'll run to the front door and open it (yes he has escaped) and run out the door to the car! He's getting pretty smart for a little guy...

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Climbing up on chairs was Boston's first thing he conquered as a climber. He still hasn't quite achieved anything else but he tries really hard to get on the couch but can't quite get it. It's sooo funny seeing his chubby self try to manuever up on things and he gets SOOO frustrated if he doesn't get it on his first try!

Did I mention Boston is everywhere and into everything? Well on this day I couldn't find him for awhile and I was calling him and calling him and finally went into my closet and found him sitting in his old carseat just relaxing! As soon as he saw I had the camera he was trying to climb right out to take the camera from me...

See...nothing much exciting happening in our life. Just counting down the days until Oct. 31st!

I did forget to mention that Boston has now had his first pooping in the tub incident! I was TOTALLY grossed out but kinda relieved it was NOTHING like the poopy crib incident! Let's cross our fingers that he's gotten it all out of his system and it won't happen again! I've still not sterilized his tub toys (NO he's not still using them). I've just been lazy but I should do that today...

I'M SO READY TO BE OVER IT!

Who else is ready for their husbands to be finished selling this summer? I feel like this summer is taking FOREVER and all I want is to go to the beach as a family and RELAX! 3 more months...