Brooke & Brian

2011-05-04T15:10:00.000-07:00

Well welcome to our wonderful journey!! We are having a blast with baby Brodye, she is such a blessing in our lives and I don't remember what my purpose was before she got here! Here are a few (haha) pictures of what has been going on this past month!!

This was taken the Saturday before Brodye got here, I was 37 wks 2 days.

We're PARENTS!!!

Our precious slurpee baby (7lbs11oz)

Sweet Brodye (sorry, I dont know how to rotate the picture on here)

Day 2...I love the double chin!

Our sweet girl!

Going home!!! We were super nervous and excited at the same time! March 30th

The stork came to visit while we were gone!!

The Sunday Brodye was presented with her 1st Bible at church. April 17th

(sorry, this is out of order)

I love how teensie she looks in Brian's arms!

1 Week old

Her favorite place!

1st bottle!! April 9th

First Sunday! April 10th

3 Weeks old

I uncovered her and this is how she was!! Haha it cracks me up!

Easter at Grans, lining up behind the baskets is a tradition that we have been doing since I was a baby. These are all the great grandkids.

Our 1st family Easter picture in front of Gran's tree.

Brodye's 1st Easter

Wow how fast a month passes by! Our sweet baby girl is already a month old! One of the best months of my life, and I know there are many more to come!

Me and the best sister ever!! Brodye is so lucky to have Courtney "Norny" as her aunt!

Precious!

I love this girl!

5 Weeks old!

Well I hope this gets you caught up with sweet Brodye! Hopefully I wont wait as long next time to update you on what is going on. Sadly I will be going back to work next week, pretty sure my mom will be bringing Brodye up to school because I will be having a meltdown!! 3 weeks 'til summer break, hopefully I can make it!

35 1/2 Weeks and counting

2011-03-15T14:00:00.000-07:00

Well if you didnt already know Brian and I are having a baby girl named Brodye Shea here in a few weeks!! We are so excited for her to be here but as nervous as any first time parents!! So I know it has been a really long time so I will try to give you a picture recap of our year.

Our new house Brian is the song leader at Camp Evergreen

Brian's 1st year teaching, Halloween My 1st 5K...and Brodye's

this is his treble choir 6 months pregnant

Brian's 1st deer Christmas at Pops Brian decided we could

and Crenie's...no we are take our own pics, bad

not too big for footy pjs idea!!

Brodye's 1st pair of Brian learned new years eve 2011

skater shoes that there is a flash before the

actual picture takes...silly boy

Brodye's California Shower Happy New Jenna and Travis's

Year Wedding Jan 2011

Still didnt fix the flash He is a mess!!! Brodye's furniture

getting ready for the

princess

Brodye's Shower Court, Mom and I at 35 1/2 weeks

March 6th Brodye's shower

Whew, what a year! Stay tuned for more pics of Brodye's nursery...maybe!!

Hello Old Friends!

2009-10-24T19:48:00.000-07:00

My Dad's 50th Birthday

Pop's on his birthday!! Gotta love him!

Me and Brian....this is how we feel after a week of school!! Haha!

Here we are...in case you forgot what we looked like!!

Well after much harrassment I am updating our blog for ya!! We have just been so busy running between volleyball games and choir concerts for PTA that we have not had time since school has started! We celebrated my Dad's 50th Birthday this month and it was so much fun....I think there like a 100 people in our house....ok so that is an exaggeration, but there were 20+!! We have just been teaching, coaching and trying to stay awake long enough for our shows every night!! Haha, I feel old!!

Brian has now moved from his middle school placement at Dunbar to his elementary placement at Roscoe Wilson. He had so much fun at Dunbar with John Paul and the kids and was not ready to move to elementary! After a few days of convincing he realized that Roscoe Wilson was not so bad! Now he comes home with stories of how cute the kids were today rather than how bad the kids were!! Graduation is just around the corner, he has a countdown going on his ipod, and checks it regularly!! After passing his PPR test that he has to take to be a teacher he is just waiting to get into a music test so that he can be fully certified!! I know that he would never tell you this, but he has received so many compliments from several people, even people who have nothing to do with teaching, but just work at LCU!! I am so proud of him!

I am still working like a mad woman at Atkins with my sweet little angels who are not so sweet most of the time! We are just finishing up Volleyball season this week, and I am a little sad! The girls worked so hard, and I am so proud of them! Things have been pretty good, although we are suffering from several losses at Atkins. Two of our teachers have lost immediate family during this school year, my sweet Kammi from last year lost her dad, and one of our current athletes lost her mom, so we are struggling. Aside from the loss, we are having a good year, hard but good! Second six weeks is hard because the newness has worn off and the kids are starting to get a little braver about breaking rules. So mean Coach Cole has to come out every once in a while...and we all know that mean Coach Cole is a little crazy!

Well that is all for now, hopefully I can keep you a little more updated!! Maybe it wont be months again before I post!!

The Devil's Plant...and DISNEYLAND!!!

2009-06-17T11:04:00.000-07:00

The Devil's Plant (Jabba the Hutt)

Well, I told you the other day that we were headed to Disneyland but before I get into that you have to hear about the most awful plant in the world!!! The Cactus! Brian's Grandma asked that if while we were here we would take care of this little problem she had...little did we know that the problem was not so little it was actually a huge problem!! So we went to Downey last week with work on our minds and got busy! This cactus has been growing for forever (or at least it seems forever) and it was huge! When we first started Brian took his machete and started chopping, the scary thing about this cactus is that if it had been cut off at one time, it started growing in a new direction, I tell you the Devil's plant. So we were chopping away and we start seeing spiders everywhere, and these weren't just little spiders, these were black widows...BIG black widows! Eek, I hate spiders! I eventually had to get over the spider fear and kept chopping! Another problem was that Brian's Grandma had planted a blackberry bush, and if you have never dealt with a blackberry bush consider yourself blessed. They grow like vines, and they are covered in little thorns!! So we not only had to worry about the cactus, we had to deal with the blackberries also...HORRIBLE! We really had a hard time after we chopped most of the new growing cactus because after it had been chopped once it died it petrified and was just like trying to cut through wood. So Brian had to put up the machete for now and we had to saw through it and this was awful because the cactus was growing through each other weaving in and out....huge mess!! Well, (I am tired just telling you about it) after we cleared out most of the plant Brian, Doug and I were just pulling and cutting and pulling and cutting then all of the sudden this little white face pops out!! There was a baby possum that had been living underneath the cactus!

So gross!!! While we were trying to get rid of all of the cactus the possum kept going deeper and deeper into the cactus and as Brian was trying to get it out it started hissing at him...I hate possums! We finally got him out and he went to a new home inside all of Grandma's other plants! Ugh!!! So we finally were able to get the rest of the cactus down, and only shared a little with the neighbors over the fence...on accident!! When all was said and done we had a huge pile of cactus back in the back and a huge pile of cactus and brush in front of the maverick, many cuts and scrapes, a new pet, and a huge feeling of accomplishment!! Every time I see a cactus now I will have to run the other direction, really fast!!

Brian and Doug with one of the smaller limbs they pulled off!!

I pulled a root!!! Woohoo!

Here is the after picture! Notice the full trash cans and the huge pile of horribleness!! (The corner is where the cactus used to be)

This is the one pile in front of the Maverick (we had already filled up both dumpsters)

This summer the Cole's found Disneyland tickets for 3 days and I was 3 times as excited! I love Disneyland!! So Tuesday was our first trip and we thought we had planned it to where it might not be as crowded, boy were we wrong!!! By lunch time the park had reached maximum capacity and we could tell! It was shoulder to shoulder people and every ride had an hour wait at least!! But no matter how crowded and how hot it may be Disneyland is always great!! Brian, Doug, Amanda, Katie and I went up early that morning and Jenn and Julie met us for lunch. We thought that after lunch it might settle down, but I was wrong, again!! But we did some pretty good people watching while we were in line and hopefully our next day will not be so busy!!

Talk to ya soon! Brooke

Quick Hello

2009-06-16T06:35:00.001-07:00

Good morning!!! I just wanted to say hello and give you a little taste of what is to come!! We are headed to DISNEYLAND today and I am so excited!!! So I will let you know about that tomorrow! I will also post about our adventure at Bob's house (Brian's Grandma), here is a picture for ya! Just imagine that horrible thing and all the horrible creatures that live under it and I will tell ya more tomorrow!!! It was bad!!! Talk to ya soon!! Love, Brooke

WE'RE BACK!!!

2009-06-10T16:36:00.001-07:00

Well hello blogging world!! We have missed you!!! There is so much you have missed so I will try to catch you up in a cliff's notes version!!! Right now we are in Temecula visiting Brian's family and we are having so much fun!! We brought sweet Riley with us this summer and it has been nothing short of an adventure!! But to start back since we have last visited we need to go way back................

Lets start with April/May time!! I was ending the school year, finishing track season and just getting everything ready to leave for the summer! I had a little taste of success at the City Track Meet this year, my 8th graders placed 3rd in the 800m Relay, and one of my 7th graders placed 3rd in the 400m Dash!! I was so proud of them, they worked hard....well sort of, maybe we were just fast!! But as the school year came to an end I was a little sad to see my 8th graders go, and really I was sad to see most of the 8th grade class go! They were so much fun!!! During these months Brian was finishing up his semester of methods and not without a ton of stress to end the year! He actually made it through with more sanity than I can remember finishing with!! So now he is waiting to take one more summer class and then student teaching!!!

So now we can head into June which has been super busy already!! The week after school ended I worked the Monterey Basketball Camp for a couple of days and then we loaded up the car and headed out to sunny California....which turns out to be not so sunny...yet!!! On Tuesday night (or morning if you want to be technical) we got the car ready, got the dog ready and we left Lubbock around 1:00 am! We decided that it would be better to get the night part of the driving out of the way first so that when we were most tired it would at least be daytime!! So we left Lubbock, Brian..Brooke..Riley..little Mazda..18 hours non-stop. Riley was a little anxious at first!! I guess if I was a 60 pound dog shoved in the back of a car in the middle of the night I might be a little nervous too!!! But really and truly as soon as he realized that we weren't stopping he settled down and just relaxed the whole way!! The only thing we were worried about was that he would not go potty! We would stop every once and a while and let him out and nothing! So finally we were either in New Mexico or Arizona, who knows, he started whining and pacing in the back seat so we knew we had to stop so I pulled of (yes I was driving) and we just let him out, no leash no nothing, and the poor guy ran to some grass and let loose, and we probably stood there waiting for at least 2 minutes...I felt so sad for the poor baby!! Since we have been here we have been pretty lazy! Riley met Denver (The Cole's dog) and they seem to be better friends now, we have decided that Riley kind of annoys her (he is two and she is 12ish). He also met Phyllis (The Cole's chicken...no joke) but they are not allowed to hang out together...Riley thinks she is a running, squawking toy (not so good for Phyllis)!! Riley was accidentally let out in the backyard with Phyllis one day and when Katie looked outside Riley had Phyllis in his mouth, luckily she looked out when she did because he might have had Phyllis for dinner!! As far as the cats go, I don't think they have officially met, but I don't think that is part of the plan!! Poor Riley, he just wants to be everybody's friend!!

Since we have been here it has been pretty gloomy. Everyone keeps saying "oh ya, June gloom" but I am saying sad day for cold weather!! I have had to wear jeans and a jacket at night so no beach for us, at least not yet!! Oh, but it was so cute the first day we drove in it had been thundering and lightening all morning and Julie (Brian's mom) was telling us the cutest stories from her kids that morning. They don't really have thunderstorms here so it was quite exciting...and scary for her kids, most of them cried all day, and some would not even go to the bathroom!! So cute!!!

Well, I guess that is all I will bore you with for now, I will try to keep you updated as our trip goes on! So glad to be back with you in blogger world!!!

Breaking & Entering

2009-03-30T21:17:00.000-07:00

"The Suspect in Custody"

I know that it has been a while since we have last talked, but I was waiting for a blog-worthy moment...tonight it happened!!!

After a long day at work, and Brian had a long day at school we like to just come home and relax. After dinner, tanning and watching a few shows we were getting ready to go to bed. Brian went outside to the car to get his ipod and sneaky little Riley snuck out with him. I had gone back to the bathroom to go potty (I know T-M-I) and I heard this loud crash; I assumed that Riley was just looking out the window and had pulled the mini-blinds down and I was going to be mad. As I started walking down the hall I noticed glass, and Brian, from outside telling me that the dog had ran through the glass door. As I rounded the corner I saw Riley cowered over in the dining room and Brian trapped outside with no shoes on....oh ya, and glass all over my house!! So the first step to recovery was to get the dog outside and shoes on Brian! In the meantime I am trying not to cry because my poor little puppy ran through a door and I knew he was scared, and that he might have been hurt, so I got Riley outside and checked him over...I really needed Shanna tonight, and got Brian some shoes. Now came the hard part, there was glass from the front door all the way to the opposite wall leading to the backyard and it wasn't like big chunks of glass, there were millions of teensy weensy pieces of glass all over. While Brian took the door off the hinges I started sweeping up the glass...I should have put on real shoes instead of flip flops because little glass pieces were getting all over my feet!! After about 30 minutes of sweeping and vacuuming we thought we had all the glass up, and it was not until we went to get the dog that we noticed there was glass by the back door...how it got way back here we don't have a clue. We are so amazed and so thankful that our sweet little puppy (who is not so much of a puppy, obviously he can bust through a glass door) was not hurt at all, no scratches no anything...CRAZY. So after the feeling to cry went away Brian and I had a good laugh because how often do you hear of a dog running straight through a glass door!! As far as our door goes...we didn't like that door anyway!!!

Blogger and I were in a fight!

2009-01-19T06:54:00.000-08:00

Ugh, I think I am technology dumb! I spent at least an hour last night...45 minutes this morning and just realized that in order to change my background I couldn't just add a gadget, I have to delete the others in order to get my new picture! I was literally fighting with it and now I feel a little stupid....OK a lot stupid! I don't know how every person my age can be so technology savvy and I don't have a clue? It is like when people our age were born they were given some knowledge about this stuff and I missed the bus! I feel so left out!!!! Anyway, I am done with my pity party, I got it changed, I just feel sorry for my keyboard (I think I hit it a little harder than it needed) ha!

Well Brian and I are back in full swing with work and school. He is busy juggling methods and all the hoopla that goes along with it. If he can get through the busy work and crazy lesson plans he will be golden!! I am going full swing with basketball, but also preparing for track. We found out last week that Atkins is in charge of hosting the first track meet and this year the district changed the meets from two days to one. So not only am I learning how to host a meet at someone else's track (the middle schools don't have tracks, we have to go to the high schools) I have to figure out how to change all that they have done in the past and make everybody happy! I know it is possible, but I don't know if it is possible to have it run off in the short amount of time that my coaches are used to. We (Atkins) were actually not allowed to run off a track meet last year because they ran it off way to fast the year before! The male coaches are extremely precise in their timing and like to get through things fast! It will definitely be interesting!! Maybe a little clashing between me and them...but that is nothing new!!!

Well I guess that is all I have to say for today, sorry no pictures, I don't think you want to see anything from our lives right now (a bunch of smelly middle school kids, or Brian's homework)!! Not really, the kids don't smell that bad! We will try to get some photos up soon! Have a great week!!

Just a quick hello!

2009-01-05T21:16:00.001-08:00

Ok friends and family, I just have a short update because it is getting further and further past my bedtime but I thought we should say hello!!

The second semester of school is in full swing and I am already exhausted!! Today was a crazy day at school, everybody showing off their new Christmas clothes (or hooker boots in the case of the kids at my school) and so many hugs for missed friends....middle school kids are too weird! And just to top the day off we had a game! Thank goodness my girls decided to come together and get a good win because I was going to be quite evil if we had lost all of our hard work from before Christmas! So lucky them, I guess I will be nice tomorrow, at least at the first of practice! Ha ha!

Brian will start methods tomorrow, which is the last set of classes that he takes before student teaching and graduation!! So we are so excited to get this last semester out of the way!

I am so sad that the Christmas vacation is already over! We are so blessed to have such great family surrounding us, we just ran and ran all through the holiday trying to get around to see everybody! First we spent Christmas with my family in Shallowater, then a few days later went to Lovington, then a few days later went to Snyder, and then just a few days after that we were coasting along in sunny California with Brian's family. We always have so much fun spending time with our families, especially when presents are involved!! Not really....it just was an added perk! We really did have a great holiday, it was just too fast!!!

Well, that was just a little snippet of what has been going on in "Cole Land" (that is what Brian's sister's boyfriend Garrett calls the Cole family gatherings) we have so many more stories and pictures to share, but maybe another day when it is not after my bedtime!!

Tiny Dog Free!!

2008-12-07T19:57:00.000-08:00

Brian and I (and I guess Riley) are free of little dogs taking over our house! And that is what they did, we have made jokes about them coming between Brian and I because last night I slept on the couch with the little dogs, and Brian and Riley took the bedroom (they just need lots of lovin)! We had a great time keeping the dogs, but I think that Riley is glad to have the full attention of his parents again, and I know the little dogs are glad to be back with their parents!!

He got camera shy!!

Tomorrow is a big game against Mackenzi, so around 6:00 if you happen to be thinking about me, say a prayer for my sanity, patience...and maybe a miracle! Haha! I hope you have a great week, and hopefully we will be back with more stories soon!! Lots of love, Brooke and Brian...and Riley!

I have missed you!!

2008-12-05T22:35:00.000-08:00

Well hello blogger friends, it has been way too long since we have been together, but this year has turned out to be quite busy!! So much has happened since October I don't even know where to begin, but I guess I will just update you on what is going on at the Cole household.

This weekend we are dog-sitting for my parents and my sister as they are off partying in Vegas (well not so much partying as they are watching the NFR and shopping, and more shopping, and more shopping) and it has turned out to be a bigger job than expected, and I don't think big ol' Riley likes being stuck outside while the little dogs get to snuggle inside where it is warm. We bought a baby gate to keep the small dogs in while we are gone to school and thought it was the greatest idea to keep them contained...not so much! Courtney's dog Angel probably weighs 3 pounds and is quite sneaky. Thursday night we put the dogs in the kitchen and said goodnight and went to bed, well Angel decided she did not like to be trapped in the kitchen with Taz, so she hopped up on a chair and jumped over the baby gate and was barking at our door. So lesson learned we moved all chairs away from the gate, put the dog back and went to bed. Tonight we went to supper, put the dogs in the kitchen, and came home to find Angel, who is normally clothed (ask her mother) undressed and out of the kitchen. The clothes that she was wearing apparently came off as she was squeezing herself though the baby gate! Poor Taz is a little bit rounder than Angel and well, he did not get out of the baby gate! Haha!

Angel's shirt is the teal colered thing inthe corner that is standing on its own!!

As many of you know already, but for those of you who don't, my volleyball team won the Consolation bracket for the City Tournament. We had to really fight to win, and I was so proud of my team. It was so exciting for them to win a trophy, and it was so exciting for me to accomplish this with my first volleyball team. Now that we are on to basketball I thought it was going to be pretty laid back and easy, I have been told of how great this group of girls would be for me and that they were so talented in basketball, boy was I wrong. Not that they aren't talented, because they could easily win all their games this season and go on to win the city tournament, but the girls have developed this attitude (I know who would have thought junior high girls with attitude) and are not listening or trusting me. I have given this team a motto and it is "I do what I want" (you have to say it with a little ghetto in ya) and they hate it when I point it out to them. But just as junior high girls will do, some days we have great practices and everybody is in a good mood, and most days we have some sort of drama...oh the life of a junior high girl!!! Needless to say we are working hard and hopefully we can get it together and start playing to our potential!!

Brian has also been working at Atkins with our Choir teacher and he absolutely loves it. I knew that we had made the right choice in staying in Lubbock when he was offered to be employed by LISD and work with an amazing choir teacher, and get some good experience before he heads into student teaching. It is so cool to see God's plan unfold, especially when you have to make a choice and you start feel that you made the wrong one, and God steps in and shows you why he put you where you are. So Brian is really having a good time. The kids love to come in and tell me that they saw Mr. Coach Cole (yes, not Mr. Cole, he is Mr. Coach Cole). I also had a student come to PE the other day after Choir and she was so worried because Mr. Coach Cole wasnt wearing his wedding ring and she thought we werent married anymore. After explaining to them that he just left it at home they were very releived, but it is so sad that they automatically assume things like that. I have been told over and over that we work with damaged kids, but it is hard to understand until you hear their stories and work firsthand with them. I know that Brian and I were put at Atkins for a reason and I think that just seeing us together is help to them. I know that Brian has definitely helped some of the boys at that school, and I love to hear them talk about how cool Mr. Cole is!!

Well I am not sure how much more I have to say right now, there are thousands of stories, funny and sad, that I have to share about our jobs and dogs, so stay tuned and hopefully it wont take me 3 months to post again!! Have a great weekend!!

I hope you didnt forget about us!!

2008-10-02T19:22:00.001-07:00

Well hello! Sorry we have not been on in so long, but I feel like we have been going and going so much that when I get a second to myself I just want to sit!!! But Brian is having a guys night, and I am procrastinating on grades, so here we are!

I feel like there is so much I need to catch you all up on, but I don't even know where to begin! My job is going good, it is tough, especially since we are getting into the silly "junior high girl drama", but I really enjoy my new school. It is also so fun since Brian is working there as a supplemental teacher with our choir teacher. I get to see him in the halls every once in a while and then after school most days. It is nice to see someone who you know is on your side and thinks you are doing a good job, especially when you are surrounded by junior high kids all day! I will admit, being a head coach at this age is tough!! And it is extremely hard be over people who are older than you and think they know more than you do, but I am learning and I do feel that I am getting a little thicker skin, and stronger back bone....that could be why my back hurts at the end of the day....or it could be from all the backstabbing...who knows!!! Ha, not really! One thing I can say, I have grown more in this first six weeks than I have through all college and my first year of teaching! Volleyball is so much fun!! I knew that I loved to play volleyball, but I LOVE to coach it. I look forward to practice everyday, and I am sad that we are almost done with our season!!

Riley Update - We still do not know what type of dog lives in our backyard, but he is quite possibly the cutest thing ever!! But this cute dog is also very accident prone!! We have come to know our vet very well, and I have the number on speed dial....well maybe that is a little exaggeration, but we have been to see them multiple times. So the other day we went out to see Riley and his poor little tail was just hanging between his legs, and it is normally wagging uncontrollably. So of course we were worried and took him to see his friend. On our way to the vet we were feeling like terrible parents who couldn't take care of our dog, and that we couldn't afford to take him in as often as we have, so we asked the vet about adoption, and once the words left our mouth the tears started flowing. It was like once we said it out loud we realized how bad of an idea that would be! The vet assured us that we were not bad parents, and as Brian and I sat there crying we decided to get him fixed and see if that would help calm him down. So the next Monday we took him in and we do feel that he is better now....and a little more cuddly!! So our $20 dog who has cost us ..... well way more than $20 is still at home, and snoring on his bed as we speak!! Gotta love him!!!

So, sorry this is so long, but I haven't blogged in forever! Hopefully I can stay a little more updated, but we shall see! Have a great weekend!

Brian's Birthday (Not Really)

2008-08-24T17:43:00.000-07:00

Courtney's friend Kimberly has a little girl named Kambree, and she decided that she wanted birthday cake. She also decided that today would be Brian's birthday. Kambree then told us that he was turning 42 tonight!! We had alot of fun playing "pretend birthday" so here are some pics for you!! Happy Birthday Brian!!

Brian cutting his birthday cake.

Courtney with her "cake lips"! Kambree kept saying "don't kiss her, don't kiss her".

Kambree wanted all the balloons that were on the cake, so Brian gave her ALL the balloons! She had a plate full of cake...and a mouthful!!

The Tornado is Coming!!

2008-08-23T20:38:00.000-07:00

Well I am so sorry it has been so long, but I have been running around like a chicken with my head cut off for a few weeks now!! To start it off I will give you just a little idea of what has been happening at the Cole house.

We started our teacher in-service last week, and I was so excited to get to know everybody. It has been so much fun hanging out with the other teachers. There is a group that we all go out to eat with, and they have been so welcoming to me. I am really starting to figure out everybodies personalities, and it is making me feel like Atkins is where I am meant to be. In our second week of in-service we were really getting tired of sitting and listening and ready to see some kids, so finally on Thursday night we had "meet the parent" night and it was super fun!! I got to meet about 40 families, and I lead my first meeting as the head coach. I was so nervous that I was sweating profusely and a little sick to my stomach, but after talking to my first parent and student I felt so much better. The meeting went well, and I left with a good feeling, but sore feet!!

During this time Brian's parents came to bring one of his sisters back to school and were staying at out house. While they were here they were busy little bees...well not literally bees, but they worked hard around our house. Julie and the girls (and Garrett) helped pull down border and paint our guest bathroom, and it looks a thousand times better. During this time Doug found some problems in our shower and got busy fixing them. We also decided that if we ever wanted to grow grass in our front yard we would have to get rid of some trees. As sad as it is to cut down trees we had three removed from our house during this time also. So within one week we had our bathroom painted, shower fixed, and trees removed. So thanks to my wonderful in-laws my house looks better!

So that is just a little clip of what has been going on around here. Brian has been working hard all summer and it has all paid off because now he will just work part time and go to school, so he is way excited about that. He is also excited because we were able to buy him a keyboard that he has been drooling over for a few years now.

Well I guess that is all for now! I hope that I can be a little better about posting when school starts, but we shall see!! Love you all!!! Have a great week, especially you teachers...a new year starts on Monday!! So get ready...the tornadoes are coming.

Back to School!

2008-07-25T11:31:00.000-07:00

Well sort of back to school! I have been getting ready for next year, and I was told that one of my duties is to decorate the trophy cases outside of the gym! So thanks to my Mom and Husband we got it done, and not without a little blood shed...let's just say I don't get along with staplers, and Mom had a fight with the exacto knife! I also got to meet one of the other girls I will be coaching with and she was VERY informative, and so nice! I have also realized that there is no way that I will live up the the FABULOUS lady that I am replacing! I am sure she was awesome, but so far I feel as though there is alot to live up to, and I am not ready to take over a motherly position (she was the "mom" of the group, I mean she was here for 30YEARS!!! She should have been the "grandma" ha), but I will have to be on the ball because everything is set a certain way and has a spot!! Very serious business up here let me tell you, don't you think about taking a t-shirt without checking it out!!! But all jokes aside I am SUPER excited to get to know everybody, and get going with this school year!! So I better get busy with lesson plans (no Madeline Hunter though, for you teacher people, such a waste of time, but don't tell Stutler hehe)!! Love you all!!

Leaving Sunny California

2008-07-17T18:14:00.000-07:00

Well sad day, we are signing off from sunny California!! Today is our last day with Brian's family and we are so sad. For the last day of our trip we had breakfast at Sweet Bean (only the best sugar-free IBM) and the girls took a trip to Victoria Gardens (an outdoor mall with anything you could ever want), and are finishing up with dinner and our last trip to White Lime frozen yogurt for this trip. It is so funny how different the food really is in Southern California than it is in West Texas, so that has been our agenda....to hit up all of Brian's favorite places to eat, and I think we got to everything, and some places more than once!!! We really did have a great trip between beach trips, Hollywood, and spending time with Bobs (Brian's Grandma in Downey, we were building her a new gate....long story, literally) we had so much fun!! You should probably expect us to bring home a few new phrases from spending time with the California Cole's, our own little Malibu Barbie seems to pick up new phrases. So if you hear people referred to as "Silly Little Clowns" or anything referring to Clowns, that is from our very own Jennifer!! The other new phrase you will have to figure out on your own, "Pretty Phyllis" will surely be used in Lubbock and we will let you decide what you think it means!!! Well, we are so excited to get home to see all of you and I personally am excited for our girls (and some boys) trip!!!! So see you back in "God's Country" according to Courtney!! Love you all!!!

More Vaycay!!

2008-07-14T08:58:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been a while since I have posted some pictures so I kind of have a random assortment! There are some pics of the chicken, because she is so funny and wierd, some pictures are from a swimming trip to one of the Jen's house sitting houses, and we also have some pictures of Wicked. Brian's aunt bought us all tickets to go and see Wicked in Hollywood at the Pantageus Theatre. It was so exciting, and we all had such a great time. We are having a great time out here, but miss you all very much!! Sorry the pics are out of order....just deal!!

All of us kids at one of the pools, we love Jen's summer job!!

Brian and I at Wicked!! Everybody needs to go and see this show!!! AMAZING!

Here we are again outside of the musical!! Isnt he cute!!!

This was when Brian and I were waking the girls up with Phyllis the bird. Katie didnt much like it once she woke up.

This was all that was left of my birthday dinner at Oscars!! Katie was the artist, a few pepperonies, some smeared pizza sauce and a rib! I love Oscars....notice there arent any breadsticks left!!!

Phyllis the bird is a little unpredictable about pooping and so Jen had an idea to put a diaper on her. So we got a paper towel and tried to staple it on her....she didnt really like the idea, and a few seconds after she stepped out of her diaper she pooped on the floor!! Big mess!!!

Phyllis loves Denver!! I dont think Denver likes her very much!! But arent they cute!

Here is Amanda at the pool, looking throught the waterfall! She is very sneaky, sneaky!!!

"Vaycay"

2008-07-11T10:28:00.000-07:00

Vaycay is the Malibu lingo for vacation, so Brian and I are on Vaycay and having a blast!!

So I told you the other day about Phyllis the chicken, the Cole's new pet. She is so funny to watch, and when she doesnt get put in her cage when she wants to go to bed she sits on the highest point on the table outside and pouts, it is pretty cute. She also likes to get up early so when Brian and I get back from our morning walk/jog we normally let her out. On Tuesday morning we woke up really early (still on Texas time) and we went to visit Phyllis. As soon as she steps out of her cage she makes this toot noise, and behind her was a huge pile of poopy!! So after she got her morning poop out we decided to go and wake up the girls....with Phyllis! Haha, we had so much fun trying to sneak the clucking chicken into the rooms and put the bird on the bed without them waking up before she was set. Katie started pushing her off the bed and Phyllis threw a flapping fit! I dont know how much the girls liked Phyllis waking them up, but Brian and I LOVED it!!

This summer one of Brian's sisters is house sitting for all the fabulous Californians, so we are getting to go and swim at one of her houses today, I will publish some pictures later!!

Our trip to the Cole's

2008-07-07T21:40:00.000-07:00

Brian's family lives out in Southern California, so we drove out there to see them. Two days of driving makes me tired, and we smelled some funky smells on the way! When we got here the Cole's had a suprise for us. They informed us of a new pet they had and led us to the backyard. Then we were introduced to Phyllis the chicken!!!

The drive was making us crazy!! Kingman to Barstow....torture!

A gallon of gas in Needles, CA was $5.19!!

Here is Brian with Phyllis, she climbed up his arm, EEK!

My turn, I wasnt as calm as Brian, and shortly after the picture she flew up in my face and I screamed bloody murder!!! But she is really sweet and has fun feathers on her head.

4th of July & Summer Fun!

2008-07-07T15:27:00.000-07:00

Well last week was a busy week! While I finished painting and getting ready for our vacation, Brian worked and we ended up wearing ourselves out before we could get out of town. On our way to California we stopped in at my parents for the 4th of July. This was also the celebration for our town's centennial so we had fun with that too.

Brian and I at the Centennial/4th of July Parade

Courtney and I out at the park on the 4th!

My goofy husband! We were watching the fire crackers on the 4th and we couldnt get him to take a normal picture, he always had some sort of silly face! He makes me smile!!!

Shanna-Banna! My bestest buddy! Too bad she lives so far away!!

We went ahead and celebrated my birthday on July 5th because I am in California on my real birthday so my family had a party. My parents were sweet enough to share their 28th Wedding Anniversary with me to have my party so we let them blow out candles too!!! It was Gran's famous coconut cake!!!!

Babysitting Abbye Cate

2008-07-02T13:48:00.001-07:00

I posted the other day about babysitting my baby cousin Abbye, so here are some pictures to document our experience together!!

My feelings going into our babysitting adventure! Haha, not really I love to spend time with little Abbye!

Here is how Abbye started, so peaceful!!

This is Abbye's famous pose, hand behind the head!! A little "Diva-ish". I just love it!

She really enjoyed her play mat....and looking in the mirror!

Abbye in the Bumbo...maybe starting to get tired! Although I don't know why, it is only the hundreth toy I put her in!! Hehe!

And here is how we ended our day!! Haha, I guess she got more tired playing in all her toys than I did. She is so sweet and I figure we will have many more babysitting days!

Painting....Such a bad idea!!

2008-07-02T12:51:00.000-07:00

Well maybe not a bad idea, but a very time consuming one! We, I mean I, decided I wanted to remove wall paper and paint some rooms in our house, and when your husband says it is a bad idea, you should listen (sometimes).

If you have ever removed wall paper then you know how unbelievably un-fun it is and that it takes so so so long to get all of it off!!! But, it finally came off and we got the kitchen painted and are working on the living room. I was so excited when we first started, but I didnt realize that I would get sore and be so tired (and I am not even that old)! But the rooms look great and I am loving our new colors, and no more 80's wallpaper!

Here are some pictures to document our fun painting experience. Enjoy!!

Here is the kitchen in the middle of the border removal. Tons of fun!!!

Painting the wall above the cabinets was not as easy as it looks! Ha, I had the crick in my neck to prove it!!!

Brian too! (sorry blury, he was just too fast!)

Almost done with the kitchen!

The living room....what a mess, I didnt know we had so much wall to cover!

What a week!!!

2008-06-20T06:00:00.000-07:00

Wow!! This has been the craziest week ever! Starting a few weeks ago Brian and I started interviewing for new jobs, we went to Lovington and interviewed, and I had an interview in Lubbock. Well after waiting and waiting and waiting, and a little more waiting we finally had some response, actually multiple responses and both places offered us jobs. I guess that is the "you get what you pray for" so be careful. So after a little more prayer and talking it over we decided that the best place for us would be Lubbock so we are staying put for a while, and much to my mothers dismay (and I guess anyone else who had a fued with Lamesa) I will be a Tornado at Atkins Middle School. I am so very excited, I will be teaching girls PE and I am one of 3 other girls coaches for all athletics. So my work load is going to be way less and I can hardly contain my excitement!!!

Now as for Brian, he will be walking across the stage at LCU in December with his Bachelors in Music and I am so proud of him!!! He is actually already done with school, but that is just the next graduation date. He is most likely going to substitute for LISD while he finishes up his education degree.

This week was also exciting because I had the chance to babysit Abbye for the first time!! She is so sweet and we had a blast (well I did, and I guess sleeping is pretty fun for her)! It is so fun to have babies around and I wish Miss K was a little closer (that is my other baby cousin Kenna Beth and she is so precious too)!

Our First Blog!!!

2008-06-16T18:17:00.000-07:00

As exciting as our first blog may be...Brian doesn't want me to get "all corny" so I will just say YAY and be done with it.

After a super fun weekend with my folks in Lovington for Fathers Day we are home and starting another week. Brian is sweating his life away at Standard Coffee, but really enjoys goofing off with his coworkers and planning 80's dance videos to be viewed over the surveillance film. I on the other hand am just wondering aimlessly waiting for someone to offer me a job so we will know what lies ahead of us, either Lovington schools or Lubbock schools, but as for now nobody knows.

We have a special dog named Riley, and by special we mean we don't know what kind he is. We love to just sit and watch him run around and whine because he needs some attention (he is so mistreated).

Well I guess that is all for know from our happy little home, and I guess we will see what tomorrow will bring ...hopefully a new job!!