SURPRISE!!!...ish

Whew! The weekend is over, and with that all the little bits and pieces of making sure Keith had a splendid welcome into his 30's. We had lots of things going on (some of my planning and some not) and it will take a few posts (hopefully not days) to write about all of it!

I knew waaay back that I was gong to do a surprise party for him because, well, I had to at least TRY and get him! So I decided to do it at a resaurant which would mean WAY less stress for me! No cooking and NO cleanup! We ended up at Red, Hot & Blue on Saturday night. I made up some cute (and pretty funny) postcards (so EVERYONE could see them!) and finally got them out in time.

It was a nice turnout, though it is SO HARD to be able to talk to everyone! I felt bad and so did Keith, which made me feel worse, LOL, and so goes the life of a woman, racking myself with guilt over things I can't control! But I think everyone had a good time and that was what was important!

Oh, I almost forgot...was Keith actually surprised? NO! Thanks to me and my HORRIBLE poker face I gave it away an HOUR before the party! I got off work at 5 (I was covering the afternoon for Sarah so she could get the cake!! Thank you SO much Sarah!!) and we weren't supposed to leave until 6. Well, let me tell you that was HARD! I had 3 hungry people on my hands, one of which was starting to get suspicious by the second. So I claimed I needed to lay on the heating pad (which I really did) and then my excuse was that I wanted to finish the show I had started (Shear Genius on Bravo...love it!) which I also really did, but I am told that I gave it away by a little smile I did when asked why we weren't going NOW. Oh well! LOL, what can I say, I am a TERRIBLE liar! At least there was some semblance of surprise because he really wasn't expecting anything on Saturday. Anywho, we both had fun at the dinner, it was nice to see our friends there even though we weren't able to TALK to all of them! And the cake was cute...complete with a little skateboarding Keith. And the waitress and restaurant were WONDERFUL!

Keith enjoying his favorite appetizer.
Brady, Brady, Brady...this little guy sures knows how to act in public...CRAZY! He wasn't satisfied until we gave in a let him do whatever he wanted! In the name of staying NOT stressed, we just let him, at least he stopped screaming!
Party goers... Erin and Natalie
Sarah and Bella
James and Aube
Kelli and Bryce (Ewan was opposed to the camera that night)
Fynn (he knew what to do!)
Hayley and David
Grayson (Um, yeah can you say CUTE? This is his "big" smile!)
Luke and Hayley
Dad with his JELLY BEANS!
Keith Fake blowing out the candles for the shot ;)
Look at those cuties, and check out that Costco cake!

So in the end Keith was happy and that made me feel good! Another birthday for the books.

Happy Birthday Gramps!

I can't believe time has flown by so quickly that my husband is now 30 years old! The big 3-0. We don't care too much about age in this family, I feel like it all depends on how you feel and I know Keith is just a kid at heart! I love him so much and wanted to publicly wish him a happy birthday!! Here are 30 things I love about my old man! In no particular order...

1. He is my best friend, and he loves me through all the ups and downs.
2. He loves our kids and would do anything for them.
3. He loves the Gospel, and he sets a good example for the whole family with his strong testimony.
4. He is fun! He will wrestle with the kids or play video games with me and it is always a good time.
5. I love that he does the dishes, every day!!!
6. He is sweet and kind hearted and balances out my craziness.
7. He loves his Momma and never treats her with disrespect. I love that!!
8. I love that he talks to at least one of his brothers EVERY DAY!
9. He is mad crazy about them Cowboys!
10. He has ambition and drive for life, he doesn't just want to sit around and get dusty.
11. I love that Keith helps me in raising the kids, he is not a guy to sit on the couch while I give the kids a bath or change a nasty diaper, he is right there too, in the trenches with me.
12. I love that he supports me while I am having to work, which means that most of the time he is the one giving them those baths!
13. He never bosses me around (much appreciated!).
14. He buys me things like a fan for my hot office or a heating pad for my sore back. Always thinking about me, so sweet!
15. I love his soft skin! Seriously his arms are so soft and he doesn't even lotion!! (He has all the luck!)
16. I love his sense of humor, even though I don't laugh at all his jokes. Sometimes the man can bring me to tears with laughter, and it feels good!
17. He isn't afraid to be goofy! To dance around with the kids to crazy music, or sing silly songs in the car.
18. He humors me when I ramble on about stuff that he probably could care less about, but he lets me talk and is a great listener.
19. I love when he rambles on about stuff that I could care less about ;)
20. He isn't afraid to get his hands dirty. Whether it's changing a tire in the middle of the night on the side of a road, or just cleaning the bathtub.
21. He doesn't get mad when I am afraid to get my hands dirty!
22. I love how excited he is about law school, and about the job he has now and all that he is learning. He will make a great lawyer one day soon!
23. I love that he is willing to serve others, he is always ready to help with "emergency" moves, or whatever else comes our way.
24. He watched every single episode of the Gilmore Girls with me.
25. I love how excited (I am talking EXCITED) he got over the HUGE container of Jelly Belly's he got for his birthday (thanks Kirchmann's!).
26. I love that he is so SHY and reserved at first, and everyone thinks he is this quiet guy, but at home he is the life of the party.
27. I love that he is OK with a quiet night in, he doesn't want to be out all night doing stuff. He just wants to spend time with me and the kids.
28. He loves sports and fishing and video games. He loves all that guy stuff, and I like that, and I also like that he won't ditch us to do those things.
29. He lives his life worthy. He doesn't drink or smoke or swear. He is setting a great example for the kind of man I want Brady to be.
30. He is all mine! LOL. I couldn't have picked a better match for me in every way! He balances me daily, and makes life fun!

There are more things, tiny things, every day things that make me love this man! I am so lucky and blessed to have him in my life. He is the perfect match for me, and I know that, even when we fight!

I love you Keith Bowers! Happy Birthday!

Copy Cat

OK, so Jenny first had the great idea of making a separate blog to showcase her pages and I realized that is what I need to do too so I don't clog up this blog with all my pages! I am trying so hard to do a page a day so that I can get through these pictures and maybe one day get caught up! So if you do like to look at that stuff I will keep the new button on the right updated and all you have to do to go to my new blog is click on the picture, pretty cool!

Tag! I'm it...again!

Caroline tagged me this cute tag, and I thought it was perfect considering Keith's big birthday is just around the corner!

Whats his name? Keith Aaron
How long have you been together? 7 years, married for 6.
How long did you date? Technically 4 months from being "boyfriend and girlfriend" to getting engaged, but we knew each other as friends before that for 9 months.
How old is he? 29 going on 30 on Monday!
Who eats more? Keith. Period.
Who said I love you first? Well, we had been saying I love you to each other as friends for a long time, but for REALS...Keith, and then I didn't talk to him for a week! Because he was too old, and I was so young, and I knew this was someone I could fall in love with and marry and I wasn't sure if I was ready for that!
Who is taller? Keith, by a foot.
Who sings better? Me, for sure! LOL
Who is smarter? That is debatable...I won't even TRY to answer this one!
Who does the laundry? Me, because I promised Keith way back when we had to cart the laundry down to the laundry room that if he would do it then, I would do it when we had the washer and dryer in our house. And I have been pretty good about keeping my end of the bargain!
Who pays the bills? Keith
Who sleeps on the right side? Moi.
Who mows the lawn? We don't have one, but if we did, it would be the Mr.
Who cooks dinner? We totally take turns (which is AWESOME!!), Keith cooks when I work, and I try and cook when I don't!
Who drives? We take turns, it seriously depends, but I really don't like when he drives my car because he is SO TALL and messes with my settings!
Who is more stubborn? I honestly don't think I would label either of us as stubborn, but I probably have more of a tendency to be than Keith.
Who kissed who first? Hmmm...Keith kissed me our "first" kiss during a lame game of truth or dare on a loooong car ride. But the first kiss was mutual.
Who proposed? Keith, at Folly Beach while we were trying to catch a South Carolina sunrise, the sunrise didn't happen, but I didn't mind!
Who has more friends? I do, but that is because I have more play dates and more activities during the week while Keith is busy at work!
Who is more sensitive? Keith, for sure!
Who has more siblings? It is a tie!
Who wears the pants? LOLOL....I do!

I tag....Kelli, Sarah, Danielle and Mindi. Have fun with this one!

Pretty Girl

I might need to start another blog to post all these, unless you readers don't care! The title on this one is CHEE-ZAY, but I think it fits!
I like the way this one looks, I tried to add stickers, but couldn't get rid of the background, but maybe I like it plain and simple. It looks like something I would paper scrap, and I like that.

Template by Erica, #34 (surprise, surprise! This woman has wonderful templates!)
Papers by CuppyCake Digital Designs, Fairy Fresh Kit

Holy Hotness!

Ok, so Missy convinced me last year that I needed to watch So You Think You Can Dance. And Oh. My. Goodness! Last night was SOOOO good! SO GOOD! Loved it, and I actually voted, and I made Keith come watch some of the dances over again with me! They were SO GOOD! I have so many favorites already, so I am scared to watch the elimination show tonight! So far I have agreed with all the eliminations, and I am sure that my most favorites will be safe tonight (Courtney and Gev and Chelsie and Mark), and I also really like Jessica and Will and hope they will be safe too! SO GOOD! If you aren't watching it...START! For serious! Oh! It gives me chills on some of those dance routines! So good!

P.S. Ever notice how funny Kat says "So you think you can dance"? It is like she doesn't move her mouth or something, I don't know what it is, but watch for it, you will see what I mean!

One more...

I love this one!

Template by Erica's Templates, #54
Papers by TwoBoyz, Backyard Boy
Font by Fonts for Peas, Pea Missy

Couch Potato

I have been wanting to make this one since I very first started. I am not sure if I am in LOVE with it, but it needed to get done so I would stop thinking about it! (In fact now that I am looking at it, I am sure I am going to edit this one later!)


Template by Erica's Templates, #48
Paper by Mandy Mystiques, father's day blog freebie
Font by Fonts for Peas, Pea Times New Camileon

Hurrah!

Thanks to Bonnie and her wonderful, wonderful, WONDERFUL tip! I was finally able to figure out how to get started on digiscrapping with PSE6! Yay! Now I just need someone to tell me how to add these super cute little elements and get rid of their white backgrounds...any takers?

This page will be done (I think) once I can get rid of those white backgrounds! I am LOOOVING this!

Papers by Ellie Lash, Little Bird design
Buttons and Sun by TwoBoyz, Backyard Boys kit
Template by Erica's Templates, #42
Font by Fonts for Peas, Pea Missy

Oh, what a day!

This was one of those days that happen and if you are a journal writer it is one for the books! I don't have a journal so it is one for the blog. This is a VERY long post, I wanted to remember the WHOLE day! Seriously, don't even try to read this unless you have a free hour or so!

The day started out well enough, I woke up rested and migraine free after a major migraine complete with nausea and severe pain behind my left eye (luckily it went away so no CT needed...lol). Anywho, the kids ate well, watched a little Arthur and we were out the door to the Rec center for our thrice weekly visit. Once there I was in such a good mood that I had a great work out! I was so proud, I burnt 300 calories and did upper arm weights. Felt GOOD! The only downside was that Brady likes to have his smelliest. diapers. EVER. at the rec center, so that is always nice!

Then we headed off to Sarah's for a dip in the pool. The weather was nice, the kids were enthusiastic and I was hoping this would be a nice smooth day...oh was I wrong! I should have gotten the clue when Natalie started acting as if she had lost her best friend. Complete with sad face, not playing and splashing, and just generally not acting like herself. So we headed in for a bite to eat, and of course she didn't eat anything! A quarter of a PB & Honey sammie and a bite of a cheese stick. Not a good sign. And she said she had to go potty but didn't. Hmmm... So after cleaning up Brady's 4th MESSY diaper of the day (what the heck?!?) we were heading out and I bent over or something and felt a strain in my back. It hurt! I wasn't sure what it was, but it wasn't too horribly painful (yet) so I wasn't too worried. Well, so out the door we went and on our way to the wonderful Wal Mart (insert sarcasm here).

The whole ride over there Natalie was complaining of being hungry, and I knew something was up and they didn't fell well, so I splurged and let them get happy meals to eat in the cart. Did they eat them? NO! Of course not, Natalie had half her apples, one bite of her cheeseburger (no onions, no pickles), and a few gulps of milk. Brady ate most of his apples, 3/4 of his apple juice and didn't touch his burger! Oh well! I knew Keith would eat the burgers, so no real money lost. Anywho, so we start shopping and Natalie is riding in the back because she is tired and doesn't want to walk, Brady is clinging to my chest and forcing me to basically hug the cart because he wants me to hold him which I obviously can't! So here I am leaning against the cart trying to console my two tired children and shoving the necessities in the cart as fast as I can! Oh! and I forgot the MOST important part! By this time, my lower back and right flank is KILLING me, I felt like I strained it trying to get Brady out of the car, and at this point I can barely lean against the cart without grimacing in pain. So, this was a pretty fun trip I must say! LOL. Finally our mad dash through the store is over, I pay for our crap, load our reusable WM bags (thank goodness I remembered them this day!) and head to the car. By this point I am in some SERIOUS pain, I don't get in actual pain very often, never, that I can think of other than my C sections, so this was NOT COOL for me. I am cringing bending over to buckle the kids and luckily Nat was a big helper. It was pretty comical actually, something I can't describe, but I don't think I will forget! We were all jammed into the car, 2 kids, one aching Mommy, 1 swimming inner tube, 2 huge bags of groceries, 1 purse, 1 beach bag and I think that about covers it! We were tight, but I didn't want to risk putting the stuff in the trunk because I knew I wouldn't be able to get it out! Anywho, we were on our way! Only one last obstacle before we could all get cleaned up and lay down for naps...

...the stairs! Oh my heavens! This is why I am glad I had my WM bags, because they fit SO MUCH that I was able to get all the groceries into 2 bags, so that meant I only had to haul 2 bursting grocery bags, 1 bursting beach bag and my purse as well as 2 very tired kids up the stairs to the house. Piece. of. cake. Hahaha hehe hoho hmm. Yeah, not so much. As soon as I maneuvered the kids out of the car (remember at this point I can't bend over AT ALL), and somehow got all the bags on my arms I told Brady that, "Yay!" he can go up the stairs by himself, which normally he LOVES to do. Not today. Oh, no, not today. And then? The bliss of knowing my neighbors came to fruition! Our downstairs neighbor happened out at just the right time and he took all my bags for me so I could carry Brady up the stairs. That one last bright light got us all in the house safely and we were THIS CLOSE to naps!

By this time I had called Keith and told him of my pain (and I am not exaggerating, surprisingly), it was SO bad, I just can't handle pain, especially since I rarely ever am actually in PAIN. So he had called his brother Ryan to see if I had pinched a nerve or something, and he said probably not because no real numbness or anything, so we were still stumped. So with no relief in sight for my pain I put the cold things in the fridge (and left the rest haphazard all over the counters and floor for poor Keith), got the kids washed, changed and in bed (we even skipped brushing teeth, lol) by this time we were all so tired! No one cared! Brady went right to sleep in his bed and Natalie and I were off to cuddle in mine. The worst was over! It was a crazy, crazy morning! But my kids were such troopers! They knew when Mommy needed help, and they did it. Natalie was so awesome to help me get Brady's shoes off (since I couldn't bend over, did I mention that??), and she just really showed how grown up she has gotten. The worst was over and we all made it in one piece with NO YELLING!!! Hurrah for me!

Anywho, the end of the story goes like this (did any of you figure out my pain yet?)...at work that night Dr. Sarah suggested my sciatic nerve. Ding ding ding ding! We have a winner! That is totally what it was/is! She found me all these super great websites with tips on how to ease the strain. And it all worked. That is what I get for exercising without stretching, and that is how I have really realized that my body isn't healthy! I need to take better care of myself! So luckily I know what is wrong with me (thanks again Sarah) and though it still hurt pretty bad for a bit this morning, I am pretty able to keep it under control with heat and ice and lots of laying down and stretching. I can NOT imagine having this pain while pregnant. I am such a wuss no one would be able to be around me for all the moaning and groaning I would be doing!

Whew! So what a day! My first foray into sciatic pain and on a day when my monkeys weren't well either. Not likely to forget , but at least now I have all the details written down!