Hello, Richard here.

This past week we celebrated our two year anniversary together. On February 3rd, 2008 we met and since then we haven’t been apart. This year we decided to go do something we have been talking about doing since we had been together: Going to the Drive-In theater.

First, I had to give her a present:

This was my grandmother’s wedding and engagement ring she received just shy of 50 years ago. No, guys, we’re not engaged, if that’s what you’re thinking, but I do intend on spending the rest of my life with Brooke, so this gift seems fitting.

She loves the ring, so I’m very happy about that.

Fast forward to yesterday, when we got to live our 1950s dream of enjoying a double feature at the drive-in.

On the screen: Dear John and Avatar.

Dear John was exactly what I expected and neither of us liked it. We’ll spare the rant.

Avatar, on the other hand, was a wonderful (if not really long) movie.

Now we are relaxing with Kynlee for a lazy Sunday!

Have a good one!

I may have gone overboard on stickers. Good thing I can peel them off if I need to :p

picture boards. next step is putting pictures in them! i’ll have to actually make physical prints now, instead of digital

And finding that when I have help, I can succeed…sort of?

I’ve never. Ever. Ever. Been good at decorating. Or maybe that I’ve never liked it. But I’m pretty sure that it’s mostly been that it’s never liked me.

I would love to be good at it, I really would! I just don’t have “the eye.” I see things I like and things I don’t like, but things don’t speak to me.

Anyway, since we bought a house, I’ve decided that I’d like to learn more, and become better at things. It’s definitely a learning process. However, I do see the fun and appeal it can have. I think if I was someone who had a decent amount of  money and time, I could actually learn to like it. But, things being what they are, I don’t have much of either.

However, with the help of some friends, I have gotten some things done around the house, slowly but surely. I’ll post some of what we’ve done to chronicle my trials and errors. And I always, always, always welcome and encourage tips and ideas. Cheap ideas, of course

To start tonight off, I’m just posting a quick look at some letters that I’m doing for Kynlee’s room. The house isn’t clean enough right now to get good pictures of the other stuff I’ve done. And believe me, none of it is “big” stuff. I’m talking curtains, wall decals, and plants. I know, basic stuff, but I’m new to all of it!

So, for starters, here is what my friend Heather helped me put together tonight for Kynlee’s room. Her room is going to look great after we get everything up! The name I did will go above her bed, and I’ll post pics of the rest of it as I get them completed.

I love them! What do you think? It’s always such a great feeling to actually make something yourself and like the result. However, I still maintain that it’s NO FUN to actually put the time it takes into making stuff like this. Even though the end results usually make it worth it.

All these posts about Kynlee, Richie, friends, family…I feel that my canine babes, Tyson and Ambi, might be feeling a little neglected. So to prove that they are not in fact, neglected (although they definitely don’t get the attention that they got before their human sister came along), I’ll show that they actually got presents this weekend, new puppy pillows!

Although, I’m not sure if they like them….

What do you think?

What an eventful weekend! Whew!!

After waaaaaaaaaaaaay too long of labor (by my calculations, almost 40 hours), on Friday evening, Adryan finally had her precious darling baby girl….Rowan Grace Dupre. Isn’t she a doll?!?!? Congrats Nick and Adryan! Love you guys!

Saturday started off with my baby sister Karli’s last home basketball game. Wow. My baby sister is a senior. Since it was the senior’s last home game, they call it “senior night” (even though it wasn’t night…it was supposed to be Friday night, but got canceled due to the weather). So She got to walk to the center court with our parents, and we got to cheer loudly while they announced fun stuff about her. I’m a proud big sis. Unfortunately, I couldn’t stay for the game (which they won), because it overlapped with Christina’s bridal shower. But glad I got to go see her run out for her last game. Plus, it’s a rare occurrence these days that you’ll see my whole family together. And bathed. And dressed. So enjoy these pics, there are very few of them in existence

Me (28), Kayla (20), Karli (17), Brent (24). We clean up pretty nice, don’t we?

The parentals with their baby girl.

Aren’t they cute?

So, after the game, it was time to head over to Christina’s shower. It was so great to see so many of our friends,  I saw girls I hadn’t seen since high school, which I can officially say has been 10 years now. 10 years! 10 years? 10 years

The bridesmaids with the bride and mother of bride

I can confidently say that Christina completely has cleaned out all inventory at Pottery Barn. She owns the whole store now. I’m only a little bit jealous. I won’t be able to make fun of her anymore for only owning two pieces of tupperware/bakeware. Man.

And to end the  fun Saturday festivities, Richard and I actually got to go out to dinner together (he ACTUALLY had a Saturday off, and he had spent the day hanging out with Kynlee while I did the shower stuff…so my parents came over to babysit while we went to dinner) with our friends Curran and Matt. Curran used to live here, but last year she moved to Atlanta, so we jumped on the opportunity to hang out while she was in town. They’re pretty awesome folk. We ate at a place downtown called Cantina Laredo, muy yummy! Too bad it took them 2 hours to seat us! Anyway, we had good drinks, good food, and good conversation. It was a good end to a good day

Me with Curran. Love her

Me with Richie. Love him, too

And although I have more to post, I think I’ll do it in a separate one. Happy back-to-work-tomorrow dreams!

One of my bestest friend’s Adryan is in labor right now, weeeeeeeee!!! I can’t wait to meet her little one. And more than that, I can’t wait to find out the baby’s name! That’s right, they have kept her name a secret this whole dang time. So not cool. Anyway, she’s been in labor for 16 hours now, according to her sister Alyson, who has been keeping me updated throughout the day, and she’s still going strong. Go Adryan!

And in other fun news this weekend, tomorrow night Richie and I get a date night out with our friend’s Erin and Shawn for a birthday celebration. Then on Saturday, Christina’s bridal shower, yahoo!!! Can’t believe her wedding will be here in less than 3 months, eeek! Saturday evening might be spent with our friend’s Curran and Matt, because Curran will be in town from Atlanta. And Sunday might be a day of dress shopping for Kynlee, she is going to be the flower girl in Christina’s wedding. I try not to think about all the disasters that might be able to happen there. Ugh.

And I leave you with these awesome pictures:

This is what happens these days when I ask Kynlee to say “cheese,” or smile for the camera. I blame this on her Aunts, Kayla and Karli, who taught her how to “flash her grill.” After many failed attempts at getting a glimpse of her real smile, I finally threw in the towel.

If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.

Heather and I officially have made it through 4 weeks/one month of working out at 24-hour Fitness, and the best part is, I don’t want to quit yet!

I haven’t lost any weight yet, which will hopefully come after I can get this dang appetite under control (what’s with me wanting to eat double everything now?!), but I do have more energy. A lot more, I think. I feel more productive and I sleep better, too! Soooo, maybe if I can just get the eating better part down, I can start to shed some pounds. Regardless, I’m proud of us.

Cheers to Heather and me! And yay for having a great work-out partner

So, for those of you who weren’t aware, my boyfriend is a bad ass bass player. Seriously, I don’t know anything about playing instruments, but I do know that he rocks :p

Saturday night his band had a gig in Dallas, and my little sis Karli was kind enough to come babysit so that I could go enjoy the show. A couple of my friends Noah and Mary got to join us, and he had a pretty good turn-out of friends, too. I’m just proud of myself that I was able to stay up as late as I did! They didn’t go on until 12:30, which didn’t put us home until about 2:30. Normally, I can’t hang til those hours anymore, but I did it this time, go me! (Of course, he was still the amazing daddy who woke up with Kynlee the next morning and let me sleep in….I know, I am a lucky girl)

Here are some fun pics from the evening:

Terry and Richard…I am not sure what Richard is doing here, but I’m sure a dirty joke is involved.

Noah and Mary, they are getting married this summer. Aren’t they cute?!?

Mary and me, I just love her!

Me with Linda, Richard’s mom. Now speaking of a trooper, this woman can hang!

Who is that weirdo?

My bass player boyfriend guy.

Andrew, Terry, Jeremiah, and Linda enjoying the show

Jeremiah, where’s the smile?

This one’s my favorite. I kind of love him

Strep throat sucks. It is not my friend. It used to think it was my friend. I used to get it every year like clockwork, most years twice a year even. Always over Christmas break. And it was always terrible. Fever, vomiting, diarrhea, white puss-filled lumps in the back of the throat, aches, pains, and sleeping all day. But one year in college I decided that I didn’t want to be it’s friend anymore. Actually, I think the last straw was getting mono. Strep that led to mono. So, I told it I wanted it gone forever. We had to break up. I didn’t need toxic friends like him in my life. So I worked up the nerve to get those always-swollen and pussing tonsils and adenoids of mine removed. I think it was my sophomore year? That’s when I had started dating my college boyfriend, Clint. Maybe that’s what gave me the nerve to give my Strep throat inducing tonsils the boot. There was a new man in town, and this woman doesn’t do two-timing. Don’t worry, Clint and I broke up, too. And this time it only took me 3 years instead of 19. Progress, people! I digress.

Sooooo, after my break up with the body parts that always invited infection, I stopped getting strep throat. for the last decade or so, I’ve been Strep free. It was wonderful!

Until now. Two weeks of luxurious, wonderful, family and friend and fun filled Christmas break, only to come to a screeching halt on Sunday (yes, the DAY before going back to school!). Going to bed Saturday night, I had mentioned my throat felt a bit sore, but I attributed it to allergies or a cold or something. However, by Sunday I had full blown fever and chills and aches and pains. I still didn’t think of it as Strep though, because even though there were lumps in the back of of my throat, they weren’t white. Just lumpy. And there was no vomiting. So I didn’t sleep Sunday night. Went to work Monday. Throat hurt. Came home. Didn’t sleep Monday night. Went to work Tuesday. Throat hurt. Came home. Didn’t sleep Tuesday night. Throat hurt. Went to work today (Wednesday). Decided during my planning period that this damn throat hurting wasn’t going away, and I needed help to boot it.

Went to Minute Clinic at CVS during my planning period. Told the doctor lady (or physician’s assistant, or whatever they are there) what was going on. She peeked in my mouth and said “Yeah, I suppose your tonsils are a LITTLE bit swollen.” I say “I don’t have tonsils.” She says “Oh. Wow. Well then, we need to do a Strep test.” Got to see my own Strep Test (very cool, actually, kind of like a pregnancy test…you just wait for the little blue line to appear on a stick). Got drugs. Went back to school. Home now. Throat still killing me. Neck feels so swollen, I feel like I have baseballs inside my skin. Waiting for drugs to kick in. Praying for freezing rain tonight so school gets canceled tomorrow and I get to have a day to recuperate. Cross fingers for me, please. For freezing rain, and sleep tonight.

We hope everyone had a restful and wonderful holiday. We had a great time, and I am NOT ready to return to work tomorrow

We did get a lot of stuff done over break…

Christmas x3 – check

Had fun bringing in the new year, welcome, 2010! – check

Took down Christmas decor – check

Started gym memberships – check (although Heather and I have gone a few times this week, and Richie has gone zero, hehe)

Finished Kynlee’s photo album from 1-2 years old (which took forever!) – check

Mounted the TV above the fireplace – check

Bought and assembled a bookshelf to host all of the accessories that go with the newly mounted TV - check

Slept in almost every day and stayed up way too late most nights – check

Played with Kynlee every day and did fun things like “Let’s Bounce” and Incredible Pizza Company – check

I know there is more, but my brain is not at it’s normal functionality right now since I haven’t been to work in 2 weeks.

Here are some of our 2009 Christmas shots:

Merry Christmas from Richard, Brooke, Kynlee and Santa!