What the DUCK?!

It's Easter morning and Tevin goes out front to play. As he jumps from the front porch to the lawn, over the garden, he is met by a very angry duck!! She stands up and hisses at him and spreads her wings. I had no idea that ducks hiss, but do they ever! He comes inside to tell us and we all run out to see that a duck has indeed laid eggs in our garden....and on Easter nonetheless.

Needless to say, I immediately needed to know more about ducks and when those cute little ducklings were going to hatch. I read up on ducks and was pretty annoying with my duck facts for a few days. We have a pretty good idea of when the eggs should hatch so we'll just keep on waiting....for 28-32 days :)

Eggselent!

We died Easter Eggs yesterday and the kids seemed to thoroughly enjoy it. They said they wanted to dye a ton of eggs so we boiled more than 36 eggs. That's a lot of eggs between two kids! We helped them out a bit though.

They thought the stickers...and they...were cool.

I simply cannot wait to show some of these pictures to Tanner's dates:

Let's Get Ready to Party!

We have been in our house for 3 months and decided it was time to finally throw our house warming party we had been talking about for so long. We invited a bunch of our good friends and so many of them came! Also, Rick was in town which was great!! The biggest surprise of the night is that Michelle, my work friend from Dallas and her husband showed up! They came into town to go skiing with some friends and came to the party. It was such a nice surprise and so fun to see her and meet her husband. We have the best...and most fun friends! The night was a huge success and so fun! We did get short sheeted, but were too smart to be fooled by it ;) Sorry Dale and Steve!

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Last year my dad invited me to Hog Wallow for St. Patty's day and it was great. It was extremely warm for that time of year and we sat on the patio all night. This year, it was a little bit different! The weather wasn't bad, but it was pretty cold. And of course, my dad and I were both freezing! We didn't stay out on the patio long after dark, but still had a great time!

It's A Girl!!!

While we were in Hawaii I called Sarah a couple of times to make sure she was not planning on having that baby without me there. Being the wonderful sister she is, she waited for me. On Thursday night she went to the hospital and first thing Friday morning I was there. She was progressing slowly so we just hung out in the room for awhile. Kenzie came up in the afternoon and I was sitting by her and showed her my new ring. I told her I was engaged and her response was "to Lance?!". It was hilarious! She loves Lance, but the jury is still out on the boys!

Around 5:00 after a migraine and some pushing, little Hannah Marie was born. She was so dang cute and I was so excited to be able to be there when she was born. I filmed the nurses cleaning and weighing her and we made a DVD for Biff and John. I was also the yeller who was keeping the family informed on what was going on outside the door!

I am so happy to welcome my 3rd niece in to the world. She is adorable and I can't wait to be her favorite aunt!

We're ENGAGED!!!

I guess maybe I shouldn't have given that away right at first, but I just couldn't wait. I love Lance so much and I am so excited we will be spending the rest of our lives together. We just got back from Hawaii and that's where he popped the question. (Sorry Hailey, you were right!) But, not to the details of that yet, let's recap the trip.

We left early Wednesday morning and flew to Atlanta. Yeah, yeah, I know, wrong direction. We then flew from Atlanta to Honolulu. We stayed in an absolute dive of a hotel right by the airport. I will have to admit, the breakfast the next morning was outstanding, although a bit odd. We had fresh papaya, eggs and rice. The papaya was awesome!! Anyway, we then took a puddle jumper to the beautiful island of Kauai. We stayed at the Kauai Marriot Resort which was unbelievable. The grounds were beautiful and it was right on the beach.

One of the days we decided to take a cruise to the Napali Coast. It is a beautiful place that is only accessible by boat because of the steep cliffs and rocks. I always get motion sickness so I was prepared with motion sickness pills. However, they were at the hotel, we were at the dock. Problem! I thought I would be okay since it had been a really long time since I had gotten sick on a plane or boat. The beginning of the ride was great! They fed us breakfast and we saw tons of little dolphins swimming right next to the boat. I was doing great and having the time of my life. As we approached the coast where it is said to be the most beautiful and there are tons of whales and dolphins, I start feeling a bit sick and before I know it I am at the side of the boat, puking. The nice Hawaiians running the trip quickly take me to the back of the boat where it is supposed to be the best for motion sickness. Uh no, all the other people back there are not helping at all!! Seriously, I was puking off the back of the boat with 5 of my new best friends on the boat. Not fun.

Part of the trip is stopping to snorkel. Lance was really excited for this so was planning on going even though I couldn't. I was more than fine with that. Just as they stop the boat and are telling people to get in the water, I puke once again. And where you ask is the entry to the water on the boat...oh of course, the back! Well one of the crew sees this and announces over the loud speaker that they are going to turn the boat just a bit, THEN everyone should get in the water. I felt so bad. I am sure that's not what you want to see snorkeling!

I was interested in the snorkeling also and they say it's better to be in the water than on the boat, so I got on my gear and jumped in. We saw tons of cool fish and ocean life, it was awesome! I got back on the boat when we were done and stayed at the back with my "friends" and luckily made it back to shore with no more incidents!

After we got off the boat, we headed back to our resort and watched the Super Bowl on the beach. How cool is that?! They had big tents set up and big TV’s and there was an outdoor bar where you could order drinks and food. It was awesome!

The rest of the trip was spent at the beach, body surfing, hiking, driving around in the convertible, and eating at restaurants on the beach. The last night we were there had made reservations for this beautiful restaurant right on the beach where the sun set called the Beach House. We got there and had a table right outside in front of the sunset. We had a wonderful seafood dinner and the ambiance was incredible! We then ordered dessert and it was something that had to cook for awhile so they told us to take a quick walk on the beach which we did. When we came back, our dessert arrived and before eating it Lance said he wanted to make a toast on our last night in Hawaii. He set the video camera on the glasses on the table and said he wanted to record it. I thought absolutely nothing of it. He then proceeded to tell me how wonderful the vacation had been and how wonderful I was and how he wanted us to spend the rest of our vacations together (still not catching on, seriously!!) and he was saying how much he loved me and everything, then he got down on one knee and that's where I lost it (so did the girl at the table behind us!). I was crying and smiling and laughing and he pulled out a box and opened it to the most beautiful ring and asked if I would marry him. I am pretty sure I said yes, but I'm not sure :) It may have come out a little different with all the tears and laughter. It was a magical moment that I will never forget. We somewhat ate our dessert, but I was shaking and smiling so much that it was hard to eat. Just then our waitress came to our table with two glasses of champagne. They were from the couple behind us. She was in tears too and they wanted to congratulate us. I thought that was the sweetest thing! A few minutes later, this darling old man comes over with a folded up piece of paper and congratulates us. We open the paper and there are 3 items of advice along with his and his wife's address. He told us they had been together and happy for 40 years. And there I was, in tears again!

So, basically the night was perfect. Lance picked out the ring entirely on his own and did a fabulous job. We had never been ring shopping once so I think that's why it was such a shock. I wouldn't have wanted it any other way though!

The next day we had to leave which was so hard! We had a red eye flight so we checked out of the hotel and went back to the Beach House restaurant to take some pictures. We had a bag with the camera and everything in it and were taking a few things out of it in the trunk. Just then, we shut the trunk and the keys were inside it! Crap! Convertibles do not have trunk releases so we were just pretty much screwed. We didn't have our cell phones so we found a pay phone and tried to get a locksmith. Turns out there is only ONE on the whole island. So, if anyone out there is a locksmith and wants to live in Kauai, the opportunity is there! We couldn't get him there in enough time to get to the airport so we had to pay for a cab to go to the airport, get a spare key from the rental car company and drive it out to us. We then had to pay for him to drive it back because we couldn't just take it! It was such a funny experience that we can laugh at now, but we definitely learned our lesson!

The Hotel- Kauai Beach Club

An awesome Sushi Resturant

The Beach House Resturant

Lance body surfing

The last day on the beach

A very Pink Baby Shower!

Sarah's baby is due in the beginning of February and we are leaving for Hawaii in two weeks! Not much time for a shower, but this is my only sister and she is having a baby girl...I must do a shower!! So, we moved into our new house just last week, but I am determined to have it somewhat decorated and put together for the shower. It was a lot of work and so much fun at the same time. I invited all the cute travel girls and most of them came. I thought that was really sweet since many of them live pretty far North. We had a great time talking and laughing and eating several pink foods! At the end they all left with cinnamon rolls with a note saying "Thanks from Sarah and her little bun in the oven". So cute, I know, but I didn't think of it on my own, that is what the internet is for! Overall the shower was a success. Check out the pictures and the darling clothes line I made (that one was all my idea! I had Lance searching all morning for pink clothes pins!!) Now all I have to worry about is being back from Hawaii for the little one's arrival! Congrats Sarah, can't wait to meet little Jiffy :) (John + Biffy = Jiffy - John has threatened us many times with our lives if that name actually sticks after she's born!)