Could it really be???

I think we (FINALLY!!) found a church!!! It has been so hard for us to find anything that is a) in our price range, b) NOT already booked, and c)allows non member weddings!! I have literally talked to almost thirty churches!! So Shell and I got serious this weekend and we drove around and looked at churches and when I called today, we were able to go look at it and everything seems to be working out! It's First Baptist Church and it's in downtown Lafayette. It's so gorgeous!! Here are some pics...

THE OUTSIDE:

This is a picture of the bell towers. Actually, in a weird twist of fate, I used to go to this church when I was younger and have actually been up into the left bell tower! It was very scary for a girl who's scared of heights!!

This is the front. Gorgeous!! And you can see my friend Brooke with her arms up on the steps if you look close enough.

And this is a closer look of the exit doors. I've always envisioned the exit of our wedding to be spectacular, and I love the doors and the steps!

THE SANCTUARY:

This is a pic from the back of the sanctuary. I love the dark wood.

And this is the alter. Obviously, the tables and furniture would be moved.

THE WINDOWS:

This is a closeup of one of the tall windows that line either side of the sanctuary.

And here is a pic of the windows all in a row. You can see the sun shining in and this is at 2 or so...about an hour and a half before our ceremony will be.

Finally, this is a pic of the balcony window. It's huge, and if you look to the right on the wall, you can see a bit of the reflection on there. The coordinator said that at around 4:30, the sun shines right in and comes all the way down onto the sanctuary. It's so pretty!!

We'll hopefully get it all booked this week!! Yeah! The streak is over!! And we can finally order invites and Save the Dates!!!

Look at our neice/nephew!!

Is this not the cutest belly you've ever seen?! Shell's really starting to grow and we're hoping we get lucky enough in the next month or so to find out what it is! (I'm already buying girl clothes...hopefully it's not a jinx!)

Awwwww!! Griff said my name!!!

Griff: The Dancing Machine!! Just like his daddy!


I've been waiting for this day for SUCH a long time!! Every time I am with Griff, I'm coaching him to say my name, but to no avail. Tonight, I got off the phone with Shell and about a minute later, she called me back and Griff was saying "Sissy" as plain as day!! I almost cried! It's kind of a hard word for kids to say, but he was saying it over and over just like a pro!!

Somebody got in the mud!

Kowe got in the mud, so we had to give her a bath. Here she is out of the bath and in her robe. Then one of her all clean! She didn't like the blow dryer one bit so we just let her air dry...leaving her head a little puffy....like me with no mousse!


And here is one of Kowe the other night, just lounging with her diaper on. She's been so tired! She'll fall asleep anywhere, anytime!

Abby's Baby Shower

My good friend (and bridesmaid), Abby had a baby shower on Sunday, and I thought I would share these cute pics. She's due in March, and I can't wait to hold a new baby boy!! They're going to name him Jackson. Here are a couple of her opening the gifts Josh and I got her.


And here are some of Griff eating cake! He's so cute.

Awww. Poor Kowe has come of age!

It's too comical not to share! We had to go get puppy diapers for her and she hates them! She's pretty miserable so we're trying to make it as easy as possible for her. Look how big she is sitting on Josh's lap! She's grown!!!

I hate Indiana weather!!

How the heck is there a tornado watch in February?!?!?! This weather is just so freaky!

I'm blogging and knotting to try to keep calm, because Josh is at work (of course...somehow, every time there is bad weather, he's working! It's probably a good thing, really, because he'd be outside watching it, and that would be sending me over the edge right now!) and I'm sssoooo terrified of storms!! In my actual educated mind, I know that I'm safe, but then my neurotic fear takes over and I am kind of comical really. Currently, I have the weather radio out (which, thankfully, Patty got me for Christmas...what a lifesaver!), our storm closet is stocked with lots of blankets and pillows and a flashlight, and I have candles lit all over the living room. And it is only raining with a bolt of lightning and some thunder once in a while! I think it'd be great to be a fly on the wall in this house tonight! Kowe's pretty freaked out too! She's staying close to me.

Anyway, Josh just called to check on us, and hopefully 10 will come sooner than later! Hope everyone stays safe in this weather!! I'm sort of hoping for some snow!! We haven't gotten to build a snowman in our front yard yet! That's kind of a necessity for our first winter in the house!! Maybe next week.....

Yay for Valentine's Day!!!

We hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day!! We had a great day.....didn't do a whole lot, but that often turns out to be the nicest time!

I was actually having a pretty bad morning, and then I got to work. I was there for about thirty minutes, when I look up and Griffin is standing in the doorway with a vase full of roses for me...he looked so cute! And the best part...they were all wet because he had spilled the water out in the lobby. He was soaked! It was just the cutest sight to see my little cupid standing there!! And to make the day EVEN better, thirty minutes later, flowers are delivered from Josh!!! It doesn't get any better than receiving flowers TWICE in a day, from the two most important guys in your life!!!

Then I got home and Josh had made cabbage and smoked sausage (because I had been craving it since we had it on New Year's Day) and au gratin potatoes!! It was delicious!!! We watched The Brothers Grimm (well, okay, Josh watched it...I fell asleep!...if that tells you how interested I was...), and then one of the things that I had gotten Josh was the Simpsons "The Story of Their Love" DVD, so we watched a few episodes of that, and then several episodes of Lost! What a relaxing night!!!

Anyway, it was a great night.... We hope you all had just as great a night as us!

...for your dining pleasure...

Josh made the most delicious dinner tonight, we decided it would be a good idea to share! It was Classic Baked Ziti, with Josh's special twist.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
16 oz. Ziti
1 lb. ground beef
1/2 c. chopped onions
2 cloves of minced garlic
1 c. pasta water reserved from cooking Ziti
2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese
1 c. grated parmesan cheese
6 c. of meatless spaghetti sauce (OR...use Josh's amazingly tasty special recipe for spaghetti sauce below!!)

• Slightly undercook Ziti, about 6 minutes.
• Drain, reserve 1 cup of pasta cooking water and set aside.
• Preheat oven to 375o.
• In large skillet over medium heat cook meat, onions and garlic; stirring frequently 6-8 minutes or until beef is brown. Drain excess fat.
• Stir in 5 cups spaghetti sauce and pasta water. Reduce heat, simmer 10 minutes.
• Mix meat/sauce mixture with Ziti.
• Spoon 1/2 of Ziti mixture into 13x9x2 baking dish.
• Sprinkle with mozzarella and 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese.
• Top with remaining Ziti mixture and remaining 1 cup of spaghetti sauce.
• Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese.
• Bake 25-30 minutes or until heated through.

JOSH'S SPECIAL SAUCE:

(This is what Josh uses in place of a jar of bought-spaghetti sauce...Josh says, "Ragu, yuck!")

1 can (14.5 oz) tomato sauce

1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes

1 8oz can of tomato paste

1 can (14.5 oz) chicken broth

~1/2 cup brown sugar to taste

1 tbsp. oregano

1 tbsp. basil

1 tbsp. parsley

a dash of salt and pepper

• Just combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. It should equal around 6 cups...give or take.

Enjoy!! Let us know what you think if you try it out!!

I got to play auntie today!!

Griffin started school last month, and he goes twice a week. Today, I got to go pick him up and it was the cutest thing I've ever seen! I got there really early and stood outside the door. He was going to town singing and dancing and shaking some morroccos around! He's got such a personality!! He loves to dance (like his daddy) and he just makes me melt!! It's weird to watch his personality grow and change every day. Anyway, on the way to mamaw's we danced and danced, and then he tuckered out and fell asleep. Of course I had to take pictures, because what kind of proud auntie would I be if I didn't?! Is he not the cutest little guy you've ever seen?? Look at those eyelashes!

Another sweet story...our flower girl, Ellie, is in Griff's class. Today, when I walked in, she said hi to me, and then just started staring at me with this perplexed look. Finally, she said, "I didn't know you were a mommy." She was so serious, like "How could you hide that from me? And how come you never have your baby when I see you??" When I talked to her mom today, Penny asked her about it. She told Penny the whole story, just like a little adult. It was the funniest thing for her to look at me like that, and then to hear her in the background telling her mom about it.

Soon enough, Ellie...soon enough!

Anyway, here is a picture of Miss Ellie MoMo with her little brother Brock. So stinkin' cute!!

Here's an interesting article...

It's certainly true that the Hawks didn't play to par....missing a lot of opportunities to win the game, but there is no question that there were some arguably bad calls!! I found this article, which I thought pretty much summed it up......
http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/5310192

Anyway, it's a good read if nothing else...

Gramma's Attempt at a Walk...

So we just got Kowe her leash...which she still hates! But one of the funniest parts of yesterday was when Patty tried to take her on a little walk. The pictures tell the story..but needless to say, Gramma gave in and carried the poor girl back home! Look how mad Kowe looks when she's coming back in the door. It was almost like her back feet forgot how to function...quite a sight!! Anyway, good thing her gramma was there to pick her up and save her!! Spoiled little girl!


Of course, in the end, she ran to daddy to save her from the evil leash!!

A sad Seahawks defeat! :(

We had such a great time on Sunday!! Even though the Seahawks didn't win, and Josh was more than upset about that, we still had a really good time! As I said in the post a few days ago, we decided not to attend any parties this year, but to instead enjoy our new house and let Kowe get in on the football fun (without having to be put in her cage). Ronnie and Patty came over for a while and we had lots of good food and lots of beer! (Yep...I passed out for a brief moment in the second quarter....a little too much beer a little too early! But I bounced back for the rest of the game!!)

Here are some of the pics we took throughout the day:

The obligatory taste testing pics....even Kowe got a little try!!


I attempted a football cake...and, though it was a little flat on each end, it turned out really cute!


All in all, it was a great day! We didn't want to go back to work today! Boo!!

See the resemblance?!

Yes, she's cuter, but the resemblance is there! This is why Lhasa Apsos are always thought of as little Ewok puppies...and how we got the name Kowe....which is Ewok spelled backward.

I took this pic while Kowe was sleeping on my lap, but I took it to show her underbite, which we thing is too cute! But then when I was looking at it, it struck me how much she looks like one. So here it is!

Another lazy weekend! They're great!!

We've had a very relaxing weekend so far! We watched movies last night, and lounged all day today. March of the Penguins was such a great movie!!! We decided that we didn't want to do any of the Super Bowl parties because we wanted to enjoy it in the new house! But we didn't want to have a party ourselves because we don't have a big screen! (Maybe next year or the following...or so Josh hopes!) Plus, we didn't want Kowe to have to be in the cage all day while we were gone. So tonight, we're making some of our goodies....we're going all out!

Also, in big news today...Kowe is finally big enough for a collar! Which means that it was time for a leash! Here are some pictures of her figuring out what the heck was going on...and she certainly wasn't thrilled about it! She chewed on the leash and jumped all around! Needless to say, we'll have to ease her into it!


And finally, how cute is she in her cozy little spot while Josh is reading! She's such a lazy little girl!!