Our happy little family on our 1st wedding anniversary!
(Sandi was super excited about the Ladwig's and their dog, Puddles,
being at the house, so we have a pretty tight grip on her)

Sandi posing for a picture in the front yard!
(looking like a lab more and more everyday!)
This picture reminds me of one that my Mom has of her black lab, Magic, when she was a puppy!

Our back yard when we moved in.... lots of leaves!

almost 4 1/2 months later... the grass seed is going to town!
(it's amazing what a little water can do!)

Although the success was delayed, we are thinking about putting down some more grass seed to see if we can get atleast half of our backyard to have grass! We'll keep you posted!

Shopping...

Nolan and I have never really been big shoppers...
I guess you could say we really prefer the buying part of shopping...
Our definition of shopping is ducking into a store that we usually find stuff we like to buy, finding something, or not, and getting out... so when I decided I'd head to the mall to see if I could find any clothes to wear to work (this upcoming school year) Nolan passed on the outing, but that was okay because he got to catch up from the 0430 mornings of the work week!

I must say I was quite frustrated by my lack of luck in finding any shirts (clothes for that matter) that I liked...

First of all, I am so very picky!

If I can't wear it to work, I won't buy it... so that means no sleeveless, which seems to be in (it is summer...) and a racy (sp?) V neck isn't very teacher-ish... if it doesn't cover most EVERYTHING.. that's no good either... haha so I really am limited...
And... can someone tell me what is it with the "empire waist?" shirts... No offense to anyone who is or is wanting to be pregnant, but I can't bring myself to wearing that type of shirt when I'm not pregnant and I certainly don't want to "look" like I am!

Back to my trip...

I visited Old Navy first.... I've usually had good luck finding work clothes there, but not so much today... although I did find a clearance pair of black slacks that were $20 and minus the $10 coupon I had they came out to $7.15! Whoop!

I walked in and out of:
Express ($40 - $50 for a blouse is way out of my league)
A&E (trendy I'm sure, but so not for me)
Gap (Old Navy clothes with $15 added to the price tag...)
Parisian (had never been in one... won't be going back in one)
The Limited (much like Express)

And finally I walked into New York and Company! VICTORY!
I found 3 very nice tops that met all my requirements and with the great sale they had going on they came out to $20/piece! (which I find very reasonable!) AND to top off my evening (2 long hours of shopping!) I got a 15% Military Discount!! So exciting! I had no idea... I simply grabbed the wrong ID to go with my credit card!

So the point of my post is two-fold...

1) Ladies, WHERE do you shop/can I shop for nice, but not too trendy or too racy (sp?) clothes for a reasonable price? Am I the only one with such random and uptight requirements? Please help! ;-)

2) Please shop at New York and Company! They have great clothes and they are supporting our military - what more can you ask for?! ;-)

For my Fellow Teachers...

Click Here!

Amen... and God bless!

Happy 1 Year Anniversary!

Below is our very first picture together...
We were just friends at the time, until we started dating in March of 2004 :-)

November 2003
Nolan invited me to be his date for the Sea Services Ball
College Station, Texas

June 2004
Disney Land, California


May 2007
Disney World, Florida


In my first attempt to make a video of pictures of the past year...
the computer put the brakes on finishing the video...
it is missing the move to Florida, our trip to Texas, Disney World, and getting Sandi
(so March to May.... see our old blog posts! ;-) until I try to fix it! )

None the less... Enjoy!

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

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Lately...

There's been a monster under our couch... we haven't caught it yet, but Nolan got this picture!
We can't wait 'til it gets too big to fit under the couch... soon! ;-)

Sandi's been swimming every weekend!
We are so spoiled to have such nice beaches so close to home!

And growing!
(above is around May 4th, when we got her, 6 1/2 weeks old)

Now!
(10 weeks old)

Nolan making some "mean" hamburgers!
Gotta love the grill!

We bought new sunglasses, on sale of course, 20% off and no tax!
My old ones had only one ear piece and the silver color of Nolan's had all peeled off,
so we were definitely due...

Nolan didn't start flight school at the beginning of June...
but hopefully sometime this summer... :-) All in God's perfect time... while we wait we enjoy our pretty easy going lifestyle.

I started physical therapy yesterday to strengthen the muscles in and around my left ankle, to hopefully keep me from rolling it again...(I rolled it once in March and again in April while jogging... I'm sticking to walking briskly for now ;-) ) I'll go twice a week for four weeks and then check back with the doctor to see how it's going... One test I did said I had the average balancing abilities of a 50 - 75 yr old person! haha Oh and my sleeping toe has been awakened, thanks to Celebrex!

Our 1st anniversary is this Sunday, June 10th! My dad had the top to our wedding cake so he overnighted it to us last week.... we are looking forward to enjoying it! It smelled great so we are hoping we are able to eat more than just a bite or two.

I'm going to post some old (well 2003 wasn't that long ago, but none the less) pictures of us, so be sure to check back! ;-)