Family Time...

We have had a GREAT two weeks with my parents. We've spent our time talking, shopping, hanging out in the pool, visiting property (my parents are looking for property here in Florida), and eating.

We try to make at least one trip to Bonefish each time they are here because they don't have one in Houston. And who can ever get enough of that Bang Bang Shrimp????

Dad, mom, Cathy, me and David.

Dad and mom.

Cathy, me and David.

We had a great evening and stuffed ourselves silly!!!

Looking forward to the next visit from my parents...

La Anima Sola...

I was blown away by a piece of artwork that one of our students created at my school. I noticed it during the first few months of school and just thought it was so simple, yet stunning...

It is a print of a shirt or a little dress with detail that is out of this world. It reminds me of a little girl and her innocence.

At the end of the year, our seniors put their artwork in a gallery and are able to sell some of their pieces. I was overjoyed to discover that this particular piece was going to be up for sale. Although I was unable to attend the gallery that evening, I made sure that I placed my order for the piece before anyone else laid their eyes on this masterpiece.

I brought it home about three weeks ago and finally had it framed and matted. I noticed that the student artist titled the piece "La Anima Sola" which translates to the lonely soul or the forsaken soul. I couldn't help but sense a deeper meaning of the forsaken soul as it relates to this piece of artwork..perhaps a child that had been abandoned or forgotten.

As we are getting closer and closer to adopting a baby, la anima sola, really tugs at my heart. I hope that one day our child will know how much he/she is loved and that although he/she became a part of our family through the adoption process, he/she was never abandoned or forgotten...yet the greatest gift of all to us.

I am so thankful to have La Anima Sola hanging in our home...

It is a constant reminder to me of how precious the gift of a child is.

Mother-in-Love Day!!!

Yesterday was my mother-in-love's birthday. So we had a little family celebration.

Here she is opening her gift from my parents...

You can't really tell in this picture, but it's a wine glass necklace. The wine glass literally sits in the necklace...too hilarious!!!

David and I got her the cutest night shirt and a gift card to Pottery Barn. She has been remodeling her house and we thought she could use the gift card for more decorations.

It was a pretty relaxing afternoon, but I think my mother-in-love enjoyed her day.

Happy Birthday Cathy!

Failed...

Okay, I admit it...I have FAILED as a blogger :(

I am trying so hard to balance work, family, and I guess life in general and it seems as if blogging keeps taking the back burner. We have been so busy, yet SO many great things have been going on, so I am going to try my best to commit to keeping up with journaling about our happenings.

First of all, my parents and grandparents are here in Florida for a visit. So you can imagine how busy we have been catching up and just enjoying each other's company.

David planned a fishing charter for him and my dad the very FIRST day they arrived in Florida. Here are the guys that went on the trip....

My dad is on the far left in the back, David is in the middle, and David's uncle is on the far right.

 They had a GREAT time...I seriously never thought David would stop talking about all the fishing stories!! They caught a lot of dolphin and we have a freezer full of fish right now. Here is a pic of my dad catching a sailfish...it was catch and release, so they made sure they got a pic of what he caught before they put this beauty back in the ocean.

My parents drive their RV to Florida when they visit and I think my parents enjoy staing in that thing MORE than staying in a hotel. So we've spent a lot of time at the RV park.

Here is a pic of mom and I as we are waiting on one of dad's awesome meals...

My grandparents were here for a long weekend and I was THRILLED that they finally made the trip too.

Here is a picture of me and Mother (that's what I call my paternal grandmother)...

A lot of people say that we favor...which I think is a compliment :)

We've also made several trips out on the boat while they are here. Mom isn't too thrilled with the water, but she was a trooper and went out with us anyway.

We took our nephew out on the boat last night. David has been wanting to take him (and our brother and sister-in-law) out on a boat for a while, so we finally had the opportunity for a sunset cruise.

Here is a sweet pic of my brother-in-law, sister-in-law, and nephew...

Mikey was so excited!! Of course he was a little timid at first, but once he got used to the boat, he was in rare form :)

Here he is driving the boat...

He kept saying..."D, let's go faster!!"

And he really liked the red, white, and blue lighthouse so we took a pic of them with it in the background...

And of course I couldn't leave out a pic of the gorgeous sun setting...

As you can see, although I have failed as blogger, I have a pretty good excuse :) I'll be back soon with more pics of our Mom and Daughter day!!!

Busy, but Good Busy...

All our weekends seem to be VERY busy lately. And this weekend was no exception!!!

We got up extra early on Saturday morning to run a 5k. The hubby has been dying to walk/run over this bridge...

He found out about this 5k the DAY before and asked if I was interested. We hadn't been training, but I thought, what the heck..let's give it a shot. So we did. David finished in about 30 minutes and I finished 5 minutes later :)

On our way home from the 5k we stopped by the nursery and picked up some mulch for our backyard. It's amazing what a little mulch can do...our yard looks SO much brighter and ready for summer.

I planted these lillies last year and was excited to see the first blooms of the summer...

Then we jumped in the shower and got ready for our friend's son's 1st birthday party. Jackson had a golf-themed party with EVERYTHING a little boy could dream of...

They had two bouncie houses...one for the big kids and one for the little ones.

This little girl just melted my heart...isn't she a cutie?

They gave out pink and blue golf visors for all the little ones to wear.

Jackson's daddy got in the golf-spirit and wore these argyle golf pants...we laughed so hard when we saw him!!! LOL!!!

They had a cotton candy machine and the kids were in heaven!

The birthday boy FINALLY woke up from his nap and decided to join in on his party :)

They also had a clown that did face painting, created balloon animals, and even did a magic show!!

So you can imagine...the kids were on cloud 9 at this party!

It was finally time to sing Happy Birthday to Jackson...but unforunately, he did NOT like his cake :(

His birthday hat was adorable, but the cake was not his favorite.

We finally got home around 7:00 p.m. and we both were literally sound asleep by 8:00 p.m.

LONG DAY!

The next day was Mother's Day and we celebrated with my mother-in-love. We had blackened red fish, the BEST cajun mashed potatoes, and a huge salad. I was ridiculously full :(

The highlight of my day was receiving these gorgeous flowers and a sweet card from my mother-in-love...

She gave them to me because her card said...I would be a wonderful mother one day.

What a perfect gift :)

Overall, although busy, we had a fabulous weekend full of good quality time, friends, and family. Our next weekend looks about the same...busy, but good busy.

Disaster Fixed...

I could NOT wait to have my hair colored yesterday...my appointment had been scheduled for six weeks and I was getting to the point where I knew I had waited too long. So I was overjoyed to finally see my hairstylist.

She has been coloring, cutting, and highlighting my hair for almost six years now and I LOVE her. I trust her judgement and let her do the colors and the styles she thinks would look best on me. After she did my root touch up, she asked if I wanted to add a little copper to my color. She said because of my blue eyes, she thought it would look really good on me and my eyes would really stand out. So I said, why not??

Girls...when I lifted the towel from my head, I nearly fell off of the chair...my hair was SO dark and SO red!!! I asked her to tone it down because I knew the color was just not me. She did tone it down, but I felt like such an idiot for agreeing to the copper. I guess I was thinking of a lighter, more subtle copper....not DEEP RED.

Needless to say, I was MISERABLE when I left. She urged me to just give it a little while and to try and get used to it. But as soon as I got in my car, I had the worst pit in my stomach. I called her when I got home and asked if I could please come back and get it lightened...it's summer and I've never had my hair that dark. She totally understood and wanted me to be happy, so she scheduled me for 4:30 today. And let me tell you, the clock SLOWLY ticked all day long...I couldn't wait to get to her and get this color fixed.

Here is my copper color...

The wind was blowing so my hair isn't styled like it always is, but I wanted to take a picture outside so you could see the true color. My eyes do look REALLY REALLY blue, but I think my face color looks so washed-out and it just, well, it's not me.

BUT, she put in some highlights and lightened it up around my face and this is what I look like now...

MUCH better!! It's still really brown, but there is a HUGE difference. I look a little tired, but it was late when I took this pic and I didn't feel like touching up my make up. I go back at the beginning of June and I'll go a little lighter, but I'm so glad that I went back and had her lighten me up and fix this disaster!!