Isn't it ironic..don't ya think?!

The one year I was early putting up Christmas decorations, and now I have taken them all down!...yes, even my beloved Commode Santa! Why? Because as of four days ago our house is up FOR SALE! Jeff got a great promotion with Bristol-Myers Squibb with the Oncology division and we are moving to the BIG D!!! Yep, we are moving to Dallas ASAP! And, we thought the house would show better sans Christmas decor. So, wish us luck selling our house in today's crazy housing market, and we're off to Dallas! 

'Tis the season

I have to confess, I already put up my Christmas decorations. And, I did it while listening to Christmas music.  

Normally, I don't really get excited for Christmas until after Thanksgiving. But, when I walked into Walmart (I hate that store!) the day after Halloween and they were playing Christmas music I found myself humming along! This will be our fourth Christmas traveling back to Idaho and I have realized that I usually wait to get in the spirit of Christmas until I get up there. But then it only lasts two weeks and it's over! Well, this year I'm starting early!! 

So, I am wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!

Best in Houston

The other night Jeff sent Allison over to me with a message, "You're the best mom in the world!" I loved it! So, I sent her back to tell him he was the best dad in the universe. She walks over to him and tells him, "You're the best dad in...Houston!"  Sometimes it's hard to remember everything you are told.  

A huge "thank you" to Grandpa and Grandma Warnick for this adorable dress! 

Warnick World Tour!

This is our new favorite thing to do as a family...Guitar Hero World Tour! Watch out music world...here we come! 

Cowgirl Jessie!

This year Allison was Cowgirl Jessie from Toy Story 2. She caught on to the Trick-or-Treating thing real quick. If candy is involved, she goes for it! She would walk right up to our neighbor's door and knock while yelling, "Trick-or-treat!" Thank you to the Dondos for coming up with the costume idea and for finding the cow print material! You guys are the best! Ethan was the cutest Woody ever! These two kids make quite the pair.

What were you for Halloween?

So, this is my thought here...say you have a mullet hair style for your everyday hair style. When you see a mullet wig as a Halloween costume in Walmart, wouldn't you get the hint that you need a new do? Oh well, we had fun with our wigs on Halloween! 

New Kids are BACK!!!

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK CONCERT, TOYOTA CENTER OCT 16TH 2008
There are a couple of stories to go along with this post:
1) Many, many years ago during the height of New Kids stardom, my older sisters got tickets to their concert in Salt Lake. It so happened that they had an extra ticket. I begged and begged for that extra ticket. Did I get it? NO. Who did? MY MOM. Why? Because the girls needed a "chaperon". I was a little bitter.
(PS. Just a note, being a mother myself now, I actually need to thank my mother for not allowing me at 8 years old to go. I think of letting my daughter do something like that, and it ain't happen! So, thanks Mom...I love you and you are forgiven.)
2) My sweet friend Kelly, I'm so sorry that you didn't get to go with me to the concert! I still can't believe that your baby came 6 weeks early and just 3 days before the concert! But, I am so happy that little baby Grant is here and doing so well!!! Congrats to your fam! Hopefully it won't be another 20 years before you get to see NKOTB...um, then the New Kids would be like 60...ugh, not so "new".
3) Thanks KK for filling in! Thanks for always being willing to step in when I need a date to a concert!

I have to admit, I went to this concert with low expectations. I was pretty crazy for them 20 years ago, but only because they were cute, not for their musical abilities. And, let's face it, 20 years isn't going to help either of those qualities. I wanted to go just so I could say I had gone and because I had wanted to go as a little girl! Surprisingly though, the boys put on a pretty entertaining show! I have been to several concerts this year, and I have never heard the crowd go so crazy! I had forgotten how they all stand at their microphones and do their little drill-team-like moves while they sing...hilarious!
Kelli and I


When they first came out and started dancing, Kelli started laughing so hard she had tears rolling down her cheeks. She stopped when we got some bad looks from fans around us.

I have a video of their opening that wouldn't post for some reason. I'll work on it!

What have we been up to?

Being the pathetic blogger I am, I have to do mass posts...so here are some of the things we have been up to...
Jeff's brand new car, Subaru Legacy. He got it the day before the hurricane hit. We were worried about it getting damaged during the storm, so Jeff and I actually pushed the boat far enough over in the garage to make room for his car.
We had a great time at the Texas State Fair in Dallas. Allison and Jeff had fun feeding the goats.
Our little fam posing with Big Tex! Thanks to Ricky and Becky for letting us come up and hang out! You guys are awesome hosts!
Two days before we left on our cruise, Jeff and I went to a Tom Petty concert! We had a great time! This was our summer of concerts! We were sad that our favorite concert venue, Cynthia Mitchell Pavillion, was damaged in the storm and that our Brad Paisley concert was then cancelled.

Remembering Ike...

So, I realize that this post is long overdue, but today I saw that my neighbor finally was able to get their roof replaced just a short TWO MONTHS after Hurricane Ike came rolling through and I was remembering what a crazy time that was. I know I will never forget going through that. It was exciting, terrifying, and extremely humbling to experience a natural disaster of that magnitude. I am still so grateful that we were safe and didn't have any damage done to our house. The last of the debris was just cleared from our streets last week and the city is still spotted with blue tarps on roofs. It's amazing to me though how fast a city can bounce back after a hurricane. But, like I said I don't think we will forget it anytime soon. The other day the wind was blowing and Allison said to me, "It's windy. Remember the hurricane, Mom? Remember that?"
PS. We just updated our operating systems last week, and I realized after I uploaded pics that it loads them opposite of the old one, thus explaining why the pics are not in the order I intended :)
Allison, our future gymnast, keeping cool w/out AC. I especially like the diaper poking out the sides!
Allison w/ friends & neighbors watching a movie. We were lucky to have a generator so we could charge our DVD player to provide some entertainment for the kiddos.
A car in our neighborhood that did not survive Ike.
A tree in front of our friends house. It was so amazing how often trees fell AWAY from a house, or JUST missed it. Amazing!
Preparing for Ike's wrath!

Weekend Getaway

Although we have lived in Texas for over 3 years, I feel that this weekend I will truly experience "Texas". That's right folks...we are headed to the Texas State Fair in Dallas! Here we come Big Tex, Fried Twinkies, and Mullet Heaven! Well, I better git goin'! I need time to git my hair done big!

Carnival Conquest Aug 31-Sept 7, 2008

We had an amazing time on our cruise! We were worried the whole week before that Hurricane Gustav would ruin our plans, but he didn't! He just altered them. Oh well, we still got to go! Thanks to the Thiot's for coming and for a great vacation!!! And, we owe a huge amount of thanks to Jeff's parents for coming down here to watch our little Allison so we could get away for 7 days! She had a great time and is still talking about it. When we left and returned to Galveston, little did we know that only a week and half later it would be hit by Hurricane Ike. Pics of that are soon to follow. Anywho, but back the cruise....here are some of the things we did on the ship...
Carnival Conquest
Jeff rocked it at Karaoke!
I posed with our towel animals.
We dressed up for dinner.
And, we had a blast on the slide! Jeff and Ricky were known shipwide as the "Splashdudes". They had that slide down to a science on how to make the biggest splashes and get the most people wet! It was great!

What did we do on our cruise?

What else did we do on our cruise? We ate...and ate...and ate.
Formal night
Midnight Mexican Buffet
Captain's Dinner (Jeff got a little sun during our vacation.)
Warm Chocolate Melting Cake. I got this every single night at dinner! It was delicious! I know, it kind of looks gross here...
And, this is how we usually felt after eating, but we kept doing it anyway!

First Stop...Progreso!

Our first stop was Progreso. We weren't even supposed to go there except Hurricane Gustav changed our itinerary. We were originally supposed to stop in Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and then Cozumel. Instead, we went Progreso, Cozumel, and then Grand Cayman. Can't say I minded too much though. I'm just glad we got to go!
Progreso was pretty cool. We took a two hour bus ride to the Mayan Ruins, Chichen Itza. We loved it! When we were standing in line to enter, this guy came and handed us his business card and said, "Next time, you call me!" He gives tours of the ruins with an "LDS perspective". I guess he could pick us out!
Jeff and Cara
Ricky and Becky
Ricky and I reinacting a ritual decapitation.
Have you seen that big pyramid lookin' thing?
This is on the ride back to the ship. Becky got stuck in the bathroom on the bus and these good gentlemen helped her out. Sorry, Becky, I had to include it.

Cozumel

We wanted Cozumel to be our beach spot. So, we just laid on the beach and played in the ocean. It was great!

Swimmin' with the Stingrays!

This was by far one of the best excursions I have ever done! I will admit I was a little nervous swimming with and feeding the same animal that killed the Crocodile Hunter, but...it was awesome!
On the bus heading for the boat that would take us to the sandbar.
The Men!
I was a little nervous.
Ok, really nervous.