The holidays…

Posted on January 4, 2009 by Laurie Blundell

ARE OVER!! Not that I’m happy about that but life can finally calm down now and get back to normal. What did we do for the holidays you ask…well, here is a look at what all we did the last few weeks/months. Over the last month I have taken several family photos. There were the Treadaways, our pastor and his family…

…And then Jalyn, our friends Josh and Shalyn’s baby…

…then there were the Nash’s. Gracelyn, who is 2, didn’t really want any part of taking photos so it made for a difficult day, along with my camera that was acting up…that’s a whole other story…

We went with a group of our friends from church to see Bethlehem Revisited in Waxahachie…

Our holiday festivities with family started on Dec 21 when we held our annual Turner-Medlin Family Christmas/Jake’s Birthday party. We all went to the Medlin’s and had some yummy chili and all the “kids” (we’re too old to be called kids) did a white elephant gift exchange and then Jake opened up his birthday presents. Jake turned 8 this year and I can’t believe he’s getting so old. I remember the day he was born…anyway, we had fun time together and couldn’t wait to do it all over again on New Years Day, when we celebrate my dad and Bob’s birthday…more on that later in the post.

On the 23rd we had all of Jonathan’s family over to our house for dinner and games. We all had a great time and always look forward to seeing everyone. (to see any of these collages bigger, simply click on it and viola)

Christmas Eve we went to our parents church for a candlelight service and then back to my parents house for dinner. After dinner we headed over to my aunts house to spend some time with her and my cousins and their kids. Had a good time seeing all of them and about 10:00pm my cousin’s son, Bryce, announced that “there was good news and bad news…the good news is that santa is in Texas, the bad news is that santa is in Texas and I’m not in bed!” So with that we all headed home.

Christmas morning Jonathan and I opened gifts at our house, well some of them…I made Jonathan go on a scavenger hunt for his gift. He started out at our house and then headed to the park which sent him to our pastors house where they slipped the present in their mailbox for me. I think he enjoyed it but maybe not as much as his present which was two tickets to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert.

After that we went to my padres house for Christmas with my familia and ate a great lunch and opened gifts. And as always, we let the kids go first which only takes about 10 minutes total because they rip through them all at warp speed. After lunch and presents we decided to play a game of family feud…that was a lot of fun, except my dad kept forgetting the rules! My niece got a doll house and my nephew got a new Wii so they were both preoccupied with those the majority of the afternoon and that was a gift to all of us!!! That’s the only way we were able to play family feud.
Later that afternoon we headed over to Jonathan’s parents and hung out there a while. Tim and Kara got rock band for the wii so we played that for a while and then Jonathan’s dad made a great ham for dinner so we ate and opened some gifts. Over all, we had a wonderful Christmas and are blessed by our family and friends that spent it with us!

Then for about a week our lives were back to semi normalcy…I went back to work but Jonathan had the week off. New Years Eve we spent over at Richard and Amber’s house playing games and eating some yummy mexican food. Then for the countdown to bring in the new year we lit some sparklers–that’s always fun!

And finally, Welcome 2009! We have entered into yet another new year. We slept in new years day because lets face it, we were up late partying the night before!! You know us, we’re such the partiers-HA! Then later that afternoon my family and the Medlins came over to our house and we grilled some fajitas and celebrated our dad’s birthdays! Honestly I can’t remember how old they both are–somewhere in the early 60’s! yikes, sorry guys, I love you, but that’s old!

We always have fun getting together but don’t do it as often as I would like. The Medlin’s have always been a second family to us, Bob and Vicki were like our “other parents” and Ty and Tami were like siblings growing up. It’s so much fun now that we are all grown up and adults…We’ve all grown up together and shared special occasions together as we each get married, have kids and watch each of us, or them, become parents for the first time…it’s been fun!! A great way to start a new year. I’ve been told that how you spend your New Year’s Day sets the stage for that year…we’re off to a great start!

Because we had so much fun on New Year’s Day, you get two collages.

Tonight Jonathan and I went to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert for his Christmas gift and had a blast. This is my 5 year to go to the concert and I have loved every year. It’s a Christmas tradition that I had and then when Jonathan and I started dating we decided to make it our tradition. We are going on a cruise in February so we decided that we just wouldn’t be able to spring for tickets to TSO this year and the cruise. We were both bummed about not getting to go, Jonathan was pretty bummed so I decided to surprise him with tickets for Christmas. He tried many times to get me to agree to get tickets and it was hard to tell him “No, I just don’t think we can this year” when I had already bought 2 tickets. Anyway, we went to the concert and love it! The camera police are usually out making sure you don’t take any pictures of the concert but I was able to sneak some with my camera phone–gotta love them! So here are some illegal pictures from the TSO concert:

After the concert we met Jen and Jed for dinner at Patrizio’s in Highland Park Village….let me tell you, they have some amazing italian food! I’ve been there before and have always wanted to take Jonathan so I figured why not now! We had a good time with Jen and Jed and then decided to get some Italian Gelato at Paciugo’s to go with our Italian food.

And that concludes our holiday festivities! I hope everyone had a good time with their family and friends over the holidays and here’s to a wonderful new year!

Time Of Your Life…

Posted on December 16, 2008 by Laurie Blundell

GAME RULES:

1. Put your music player on shuffle (ALL MUSIC).
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS!
4. Tag 10 friends who might enjoy doing the game as well as the person you got the game from.

IF SOMEONE SAYS â€œIS THIS OKâ€ YOU SAY:
Miles To Go

WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
Dreamer–no lie, that’s the title

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
satisfaction

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
Drive Away

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
The Chain

WHAT IS 2 + 2?
Midnight Bottle

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
Harder To Breathe

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
White Dove Fly High

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
Party People

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
123 Like A Bird I sing

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Low

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
Ready, Set, Don’t Go–Yes A Miley and Billy Ray Cyrus song

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
She’s In Love With The Boy

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
Butterflies

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
Until You

WHATâ€™S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?
Right Now

HOW WILL YOU DIE?
Lost

WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET?
Get Your Back Off The Wall

WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?
X Girlfriend

WHAT MAKES YOU CRY?
Clothes

WILL YOU EVER GET MARRIED?
Labels Of Love

DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU?
Without A Sound

IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?
Fever

WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?
Borrowed Home

WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
Time Of Your Life

Ok, I don’t have 10 friends who blog or whatever so I tag….um, Shari again-HA and Amber

Memories

Posted on December 3, 2008 by Laurie Blundell

I was cleaning out a big box we had in our guest room closet yesterday and found a bunch of old letters, cards and what not from high school. It was fun reading them and reliving the memories of trips to Mexico, Honduras, Colorado and other places, along with some of my former youth leaders who became good friends. There were two women that I absolutely loved, Alison and Annie. I found some letters they had written me while in high school and it just reminded me how much they helped form who I am. They were mentors for me in my high school years and helped me grow as a Christan woman. I haven’t talked to either of them in years and would love to see them.

It got me thinking how much I miss having people like these two in my life. I don’t have a “mentor” or a woman in my life now that has a role like Alison or Annie did years ago. I think it’s good to have someone in your life that not necessarily leads you but is a mentor of some sort and you can look up to or help you become a better person/Christian. I look at Jonathan and he has that person in Brian, our pastor and friend. Brian has played a major role in jonathan’s life and probably more than either of them will admit!

Oh the memories, I also found an old notebook that Jen and I passed back and forth in high shcool so it was fun reading some of those notes. I’ll have to let her read them too.

Palin on SNL

Posted on November 9, 2008 by Laurie Blundell

Jonathan found this video today and I’m not sure how but I haven’t seen it. It must have been the weekend I fell asleep during SNL. Anyway, it’s hilarious so I thought I’d share it! And yes that is Sarah Palin and not Tina Fey.

Every 4 years

Posted on November 4, 2008 by Laurie Blundell

Every 4 years I dread the election! Especially this time around–I don’t really like either of the candidates but I did my duty and voted. I hate all the politics and how petty the candidates and their campaigns can get, oh and don’t forget all the dumb TV commercials. Then there’s the uneducated American’s who are voting for someone simply because its “the fad” right now or all their friends are voting for them, when they have no clue as to what this person stands for. I’m not saying they shouldn’t vote, they have every right to….I’m simply saying they should read up and find out what the person stands for and if they agree with them first. The only thing I like about this election are all the SNL sketches! So all this to say don’t forget to go out and VOTE!

It’s November!!

Posted on November 3, 2008 by Laurie Blundell

Can you believe it, the year is almost over–2 more months! That’s craziness. This year has flown by and honestly I don’t know where it went. It’s also been a while since I posted anything on here…it’s been neglected. Not a whole lot has been going on the last few weeks. Jonathan and I started our new small group on Saturday nights at our house. We’ve had a good time and are getting to know some new people, which is good for me because it’s difficult to meet new people…simply because I’m not as outgoing as say, my husband. ha. Anyway, we went camping a few weeks ago with Tim and Kara, and Izzy and Presley (that made for an interesting trip). Lets just say, a dog who shall remain nameless didn’t sleep more than about an hour the entire night. Anyway, other than that, we had a great time.

We kept Jake and Brooklyn last Friday night for my brother and sister-in-law. They are definitely growing up. Jake read most of the time (just like his dad) and Brooklyn chased Presley around the house and backyard most of the time.
We did carve some pumpkins with them and that was fun.

Other than that we haven’t done a whole lot, a lot of relaxing, which I personally love! We have manged to keep ourselves busy with separate projects though. I manage to keep myself busy everyday coming up with a new photo idea for my 365 days project on Flickr. Go check them out and let me know of some good ideas because I’m starting to run out! Jonathan has joined this writing thing for national novel writing month , basically he writes a novel within the month of november–crazy! It’ll be an interesting month, that’s for sure. Well, I’m off to find an interesting photo idea…happy November peeps!

So it’s been a while…

Posted on October 13, 2008 by Laurie Blundell

I just realized I hadn’t posted anything on my blog since like the end of September…so here’s a recap of what’s been going on at casa de Blundell.

The hubs and I got to go to the fair last week and had a great time. Piece of advice–don’t waste your time going to the laser show…it’s horrible. We walked around and looked at the award winning gardens, some sculptures that local artists made and then looked at the car exhibit. And, of course, we ate a Fletcher’s corney dog, nachos, rootbeer and some salt water taffy. Mmmmm, tasty!

Jonathan has started a challenge with his friend Thomas over in Scotland to see who can lose 30 pounds first….hmmmm, who will win? So Friday after dinner we decided to go for a bike ride at the hike and bike trail in Waxahachie. I just found this panoramic mode on my little point and shoot camera and decided to try it out while on the trail.

Yesterday (Sunday) Jonathan and Josh gave the message yesterday at church…he did a great job and as always, I love hearing him speak! After church we went to the Chisolm Grill in downtown Waxahachie with his parents and then came back to our house to eat some apple pie and look at pictures from their trip to New England.

Side note–it was very bright, hence the squinting

Then last night we watched the Cowboys play (and I use that term loosely) and lose.

Now it’s Monday morning and time to start another week!

Presley’s Fun Afternoon

Posted on September 22, 2008 by Laurie Blundell

Saturday we decided– and when I say we, I really mean I–to take Presley to the dog park at White Rock Lake because she had a vet appointment around the corner from there. She pretty much just sniffed the entire perimeter of the gate instead of playing with the other dogs or even chasing a ball. Maybe she’s an S personality..hmmm…anyway, I think she had fun but then ready to leave when we left. She didn’t have as much fun at the vet but she did good. I chose the vet I take her to because one, I adopted her from there so they know her, but also because all the vets there are females and Presley doesn’t necessarily like males. But since she has been there they hired a male vet–what were they thinking…and of course the only vet there on Saturday was the male vet…so she started barking at him when he walked in the door. The barking didn’t last long though and she was fine. After the vet she got a bath! Presley doesn’t like baths and I hate giving her a bath, mainly because I don’t like having to clean the tub afterwards. After all that we came home because Presley was pretty pooped, and we were too..then had Tim and Kara and Josh and Shalyn over for dinner. It was a fun, long day!

Insomnia

Posted on September 19, 2008 by Laurie Blundell

It’s 2:00am as I type this, why am I still up??? I am asking the same thing. This happened last night too, I just can’t fall asleep, I’ve tried–I just lay there. I was wondering what could be keeping me up, my mind isn’t going everywhere and I’m not thinking of a bazillion things, I haven’t had any caffeine, we just recently doubled my cardiac meds, but I have been on that for a little while so my body should be used to the adjustment, so that’s not it. I don’t know! Then I remembered that I just switched to the generic instead of brand medication…and then read tonight that can cause “trouble sleeping” until your body gets used to it–NO JOKE!! I hope I get used to it pretty soon! So I’m thinking of things I could do when I should be sleeping and I only came up with two- organize all the loose papers in the office or work on my photo for the day for the project 365 on Flickr, since it is a new day already. Hmmm, well I’m off to do something, other than sleep apparently.

Weekend update–late

Posted on September 11, 2008 by Laurie Blundell

I meant to post this earlier this week but I honestly just forgot. This past weekend was one of the few weekends we actually had nothing “planned” or anywhere we had to be, so we just did what we wanted. Friday night we had some friends over for dinner and played some games. Jonathan and I used the recipe from www.thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/ to make some yummy chicken legs and Keri brought a scrumptious chocolate cake from the same site. This woman is unbelievable–she has the best recipes on her site, you should check it out. Now I’m not gonna lie, these are NOT non-caloric recipes, but soo tasty. Anyway, Saturday we slept in, well I slept in, Jonathan did a little bit but then got up to meet a friend that morning. About noon we headed for Dallas to do our thrift store scavenger hunt. What you do is have a list of things you have to find (weird items or hard to find items) and you split up and see who finds the most. We took a picture of each item we found with our phone to prove that we actually did find the item. I won–yeah! by one point but I still won, so I got to pick where to eat lunch. We were in Dallas and there are soooooo many places I love to eat in Dallas so it was a tough pick. But before we ate lunch we headed over to the new firewheel shopping center in the Garland/Rowlett area. There is a winery there that we really like, it’s Texas wine and they make it right there. Jonathan got a black cherry wine and I got a strawberry white wine. We got home and tried both of them and ended up switching wines, the lady at the winery said the strawberry wine I got was not dry and sweet…she lied! It was very much dry and not that sweet. Jonathan’s black cherry wine was really good…anyway, if you like wine you should make a trip to D’Vine Wine. After our wine extravaganza we headed to old navy, no luck there, and then to James
Avery to look at rings. I am wanting to get the ladies version of Jonathan’s wedding band. I have started wearing a band to work and not my wedding ring because it’s getting really scratched up and dinged at work when we have to use the big wrenches and change out oxygen tanks and such. Anyway we tried those on and found the size/ring I need and headed off, whithout the ring…maybe sometime soon I’ll get it. Next was lunchtme and I chose Freebirds!! Have you ever been to freebirds? you should go, it’s good. Kind of like chipotle but different, they have monsterous burritos with all the fixin’s–soo good. I hadn’t been there in atleast 2 years. After lunch we headed home. Not much happened the rest of the weekend, just relaxing. As of now, we have NOTHING planned so just another relaxing weekend before my surgery on Monday.