Happy 16 Year Anniversary

Sometimes I don't realize it, I don't show it, I don't say it enough.....
but I have found the person that I love and loves me unconditionally. The person who is always on my side when it really matters. The person that trys hard to make me happy. The person that strives each and every day to be a better human being. The person that makes me want to be a better human being. I just want to say it out loud "Thank you God, you knew just what you were doing when you sent him my way 16 years ago".


Hubby surprised me and said we are going to San Antonio's Riverwalk this weekend to celebrate. I'm super excited, I love it there! Hope everyone has a happy weekend too!

Dresses

Here are some fabulous dresses!! You can find them all at Dillards.

I wish I had a reason to buy one!  But sadly, I have no weddings, showers or parties to go to anytime soon.  I love them all but am coveting the top middle dress by BCBG.  It's bananas! (as Rachel Zoe would say)

Outfit(s) of the day

I was supposed to start posting OOTD pics a while back but am just now getting around to it so I am doing 3 posts in 1 to catch up.  I will try to be more consistent from now on.



Dress: Target; Jacket: Limited; Shoes: Michael Antonio via Ross; Ring: F21; Bag: gifted



Top and sweater: F21; Jeans: The Limited; Shoes: via Kohl's; Jewelry: F21, SoSo Bella


Top: Express; Skirt and belt: F21; Shoes: via Dillards; Bag: a shop on Harwin St. in Houston

Mama got some new shoes

Look what I got in the mail yesterday afternoon!  Aren't they lovely?

Prime reason Mama is still working....

Awkward

Happy Friday!

We are heading to Austin for the weekend to visit family. Hope everyone has a happy weekend!

Metallic nails

I'm loving my gold and silver metallic nails!
Last week they were gold...

This week they are silver

A Love Letter to Arizona

Dear Arizona,

I’ve wanted to write so many times before but when I sit down to type I could never find the right words and the tears would start to flow. But I can put it off no longer. Today I am prepared to reminisce of our time together. My memories are fresh…my tissue is close…Here goes…

I remember when the thought of you seemed scary but it quickly turned into excitement as I typed “Phoenix” into Google and saw how beautiful you were and how much you had to offer. When Scott and I landed I knew instantly I was in love. Although your heat was strong, your beauty had me at “Hello”! Over the next couple of days we went to Scottsdale and the scenery was amazing. Ate some delicious coal-fired pizza and sipped wine. Browsed some “Old Town” stores and an outdoor mall. We went to the ASU campus and man was I jealous I didn’t attend that college! We saw a lot of houses (which is why we were there). I mean a lot of houses! They started to run together after a while but we did find the house we wanted so I took lot’s of pictures for decorating purposes and to show the kids their new place. I even took pictures of our street and the street sign. I realized as I snapped a shot of our street sign that the name of our street was Gold Dust Way. Just a couple weeks earlier, I had come home from the store when Scott told me that he had been watching Joel Osteen on television. He said Joel’s talk was about finding gold in the desert. I remember Scott making the comment that maybe we would find gold too since we would be moving to the desert soon. We both smiled and were looking forward to it. This was also the trip that I discovered Paradise Bakery. Anyone that knows me knows that I love that place. It’s not really anything too terribly special, just a bakery/restaurant but I love their food. I love their food so much that I made an “out of the way stop” just to have lunch on our way to California for Spring Break! Anyway, Scott and I had a sweet couple of days together exploring the city kidless. Back in Texas, I was even more excited about our new adventure awaiting us. The only thing stopping us was our darn house….needed it to sell or rent quickly. Finally, it took a couple of months but we did manage to lease it and I couldn’t wait to get back to Arizona and start making it our new home.

Fast forward….moving trucks came to pack us up but we left before they were even finished wanting to get a head start on our cross country journey. We stayed in a hotel for 4 days because our furniture had not made it yet but from the start Arizona felt like home. Once we finally moved into our house it felt like home. I miss taking the kids to school every morning, coming around the corner to find the sun peeking up from behind the mountain. And don’t even get me started on the sunsets, they were amazing! I miss our backyard and seeing hummingbirds fly swiftly in and out of it. I miss just sitting in a chair reading a book in the early morning sun. I miss the 6 palm trees we planted. I bet they are pretty big now and I hope whoever is in our house is enjoying them very much. I miss the little sand area that Holly loved to play in. I miss the big rocks she used to stand on while I took her picture. I miss our covered patio that protected us from the blazing sun. I miss our lush, green grass that felt so good on your feet. I miss taking trips all around the city to see something new. I miss taking pictures…of anything. I miss lighting the fire in our backyard and sitting under the blackest of nights with a thousand stars to look up at. I miss Holly asking me where the moon is during the day. I miss picking the kids up from school and always having some sort of treat ready for them. I miss having time to make teacher projects that they were so excited to take to school and show off. I miss friends and family coming to visit us and getting to share all the beautiful places we’d been with them. I miss my weekly trips to Target with Holly shopping in the dollar bins and grabbing lunch. Then we’d go home and take a nap. I miss weekly trips to San Tan Village. The best outdoor mall ever! I will always remember going to Sedona. That was a good trip. I remember going to Prescott for the 4th of July. That was a good trip too. It was also our last before we moved back to Texas. I miss our church that we went to where I felt closer to God than I ever have before.  I miss the kids classes at church where they would stay even longer than the class because they loved it so much.  I can’t help but to miss you so much it hurts. It’s been 2 years and I want to come back not for a visit but to stay. There is still so much I want to do with you and 1 year was not enough. I hope I get to see you again, I miss you so much! You are my gold in the desert.

Bits from my weekend

It was a busy one as usual!

Friday we went to one of our favorite Mexican restaurants for some of these


Then Saturday we went to a friends house for more of this


And some of this


And on Sunday we went to church and then to my nephew's 3rd birthday party and had fun on this


Someone at the party brought these cute little things and my girls were hooked!


So was I


Holly had fun playing with this


We spent Sunday night building this for Hannah's school project

A little Zara love

I am obsessing over Zara...just look at all this fabulousness!


And I'm absolutely obsessed with these shoes

My weekend in pictures

Hayley, Hannah and I got up early Saturday morning to meet my mom and sister for the 5k Cancer Walk at the University of Houston campus.



Hannah and I finished before the rest of our group and here's our celebratory picture

Yea!  We did 3 miles!!!!

We spent the rest of Saturday afternoon at our friends house for a barbecue.

Scott played some basketball and tag frisby


Hayley got to swing from a tree


Holly ate lot's of watermelon, played on the slip and slide, jumped on the trampoline and ran wild with little people


There was so much to do I didn't even catch a picture of Hannah!

Mostly, Scott and I got to hang out with big people and have conversation that didn't consist of "Don't, Stop, Quit, No"


I woke up to breakfast in bed Sunday morning followed by a showering of gifts!!! Man, was that awesome!


Then we headed to the beach for some family fun with my Mom, Dave, Aunt Shell and kids.







Awesome weekend...I love my family!