The view from our backyard...

Tonight we enjoyed having our brother in law, Casey, here for dinner. Casey was in town from Dallas on business. We had a great time sitting in the backyard and watching it storm all around us. There was an awesome breeze and you could just smell the rain...and the cigars...
Sutton cooked sausage and peppers on the grill and it was just nice to relax and hang out. Sutton has been very busy and this was the first night he has been home before ten in about a week. Hanging out in the backyard tonight made me excited for summer. It also made me realize we have some work to do in order to get the yard in shape for entertaining...It is a mess! (Chels- this pic is just for you! Wish you and sweet Caroline were here!)

Finally...

I am just about caught up on my blogging...I have added quite a few new posts and pictures today, so keep reading and scrolling down for more. I hope I don't ever get that far behind again...but, I want you to know I appreciate your patience with me over the last few months. I have really not felt like doing anything I love lately including blogging, cooking, scrapbooking, walking, and taking care of my house...Fortunately, I am feeling more and more like myself. We will be 14 weeks tomorrow and I am really hoping the second trimester will be as golden as some have described! I am still throwing up, but I am now going a day or two without getting sick at all, so I am hopeful!

Oh, and I almost forgot...I am going to add a new feature on the blog. I am thinking of calling it, On the Road Again, but I welcome your suggestions. Becky B., Joanne, Jamie, and Kelli have all inspired me with their fun features to do one of my own. I realized the other day as I was driving that there are a lot of fun places that I look forward to visiting when I am on the road...This is one of my favorite aspects of my job, so I decided I will share these places with you each week...Who knows, you might be in Rising Star, TX, one day and want to pick up plants, or you might wonder where you can get a great lunch in Big Spring, TX...I will share that information with you here. It will be kind of like Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives on the Food Network, but it won't just be restaurants. I hope you will comment and let me know what you think about the new feature...

Meeting My Hero!

Recently, my friend, Ali, invited me to the San Angelo Community Healthy Woman luncheon. It was really a neat event focused on women's health and how we balance our hectic lives. The highlight of the luncheon was hearing Marla Cilley, aka "the Fly Lady" speak then getting to meet her afterward. My sister, Judith, shared the Fly Lady and her book with me early in our marriage and this philosophy truly changed my life. I highly recommend her book, Sink Reflections, to anyone who is interested in getting organized and taking control of your house and life.

Our friend, Denise, came with us too, and she is absolutely the best I have ever seen at balancing work and home life. She has been practicing these habits for years based on pure need and common sense. It was a fun day spent with good friends and getting to meet one of my heros!

Ricky's Graduation

A few weeks ago, we traveled to Fayetteville for Sutton's brother's graduation from the University of Arkansas. It was a long drive, but we would not have missed this special weekend for the world. We had a great time and loved catching up with our family including Rick's parents and his sister, Martha, and his brother, Marks. Here are a few pictures from the fun weekend...

The graduate, Ricky, and proud parents, Rick and Nancy, at lunch after graduation.
The whole family
A cute one of Chelsea and Casey before the graduation celebration.
Dick, Ricky, and Rick- three generations at the graduation dinner.
The whole family after the graduation dinner. (Click on the picture to enlarge)
This will probably be the Gillham family Christmas card this year...It is rare that we are able to get a picture with everyone in it!
The awesome sign that Nancy made for the graduation party...The party was held on top of the roof of a neat bar in Fayetteville. The weather was perfect.
Ricky's cute girlfriend, Jessie, and her mom and aunt
A fun self portrait (this reminded me of college when we took pics like this all of the time)
I love this one of the boys.
Davy,Gigi, Ricky, Daden (Caroline's name for Rick), and Caroline on Sunday celebrating Mother's Day.

A Happy Birthday

I have blogged alot about how blessed we are to have such amazing neighbors...but, they have gone and done it again. A few weeks ago I celebrated my 32nd birthday. It was a low key birthday with Sutton meeting me in Abilene after work and us having a nice dinner and going to see a chick flick. We stayed the night because I had my end of year review the next morning early with my boss (it was a great review, so that was a nice birthday present, too). I got lots of sweet cards and messages during the week and felt very loved. Ashley and Lori took me to dinner the next week and I enjoyed a special luncheon with Ali and Denise that I will blog about in another post. The best gift was from my neighbors who came over on the Sunday before and surprised me by planting flowers in my front flower bed. I was having a rough weekend and had been throwing up for two days and I have to admit I was feeling pretty sorry for myself...Then the doorbell rang, and there singing "Happy Birthday" around my freshly planted flower beds were my sweet neighbors and their babysitter. It made my whole month! The hibiscus are blooming and every time I go through the front door I am reminded of how much God has blessed me with such dear friends and family.

Gourmet Wine Dinner

A few weeks ago we attended our first San Angelo Cultural Affairs Council gourmet wine dinner. In the past, we have always gone to the wine tasting finale, but this year we went all out. Our friend, Ashley, was co-chairperson and she did a fabulous job with the planning and execution.
"The Sexy Sixpack" as Lori likes to call us with our friend and Justin's brother, Blake
The meal was created by Chef David Bull who is the Executive Chef for Bolla in the Stoneleigh Hotel and Spa in Dallas. The meal was beautiful and everyone said it was fabulous. Unfortunately, the pregnancy has thrown my taste buds off and this was during a time when I really was not feeling very well, so I did not enjoy it as much as I would have normally. This was disappointing to me because I love this kind of food and even fancy myself somewhat of a foodie. I didn't even miss the wine, just the food. Sutton was glad I did not want my lamb so he could have mine, too. He said it was probably the best he had ever eaten, and Sutton knows lamb. We enjoyed getting to visit with the chef when he came by our table and he told Sutton how he cooked the lamb. They say this is his signature dish, so if you are in Dallas you might want to check it out.
Flash Cured Bronzino. Arugula Salad. Red Pepper Oil paired with Joel Gott Savignon Blanc
Sea Scallop. Spinach. Speck. Brown Butter. Pine Nut Crema paired with Gagliardo Fallegro
Potato Gnocchi. Tomato. Artichoke Confit. Black Olive Oil paired with Bogle Merlot
Slow Roasted Rack of Lamb. Cipollini Onions. Celery Root Puree. Espresso Crust paired with Alexander Valley Vineyards Pinot Noir

Chocolate Terrine. Amaretto Marsh-mallows. Caramel Crisp paired with Messina Hof Barrel Reserve Port

Avery's Birthday and a Surprise for Jessica

I am going to attempt to catch up on 2 months worth of posts this weekend, so be patient...Easter weekend we traveled to Hereford to spend time with my family. While we were there we enjoyed getting to celebrate Avery's third birthday with a fun family pizza party. Here are a few cute pics of the sweet birthday girl...
Here she is dressed in her favorite present- a cute pink tutu skirt from Aunt Judith and pink slippers.
The twins have really grown and they are really funny to watch...Josef climbed up on the piano bench at one point and started playing for everyone.
A bit later, Johan found the Peeps and by the time we could get to him, he had already shoved an entire Peep in his mouth.


On Saturday, we all surprised Jessica with a baby shower at Judith's house. The party turned out great despite the rainy weather and I think Jessica was really surprised. Here are a few pics from the day....
Surprise!
We decorated with pastels since the gender of the baby was unknown. The theme was perfect since it was also Easter weekend.
The cute petite fours from a great bakery in Canyon. I did not get a picture of the buffet, but the food turned out really well. I have to say we pulled together a great meal...perfect girly shower food. The menu included awesome club sandwiches, chicken and wild rice soup, fruit skewers with fruit dip, strawberry romaine salad, mini brownies, and petite fours. The only thing we did not make ourselves were the petite fours and we received rave reviews on the food.
The shower hostesses
Jessica and the rest of the Detten family
Judith's friend and one of the hostesses, Ann, performed the wedding ring test on Jessica to determine the sex of the baby...She also did the test on me and it showed that we will be having a boy- so we'll see!

At the end of the party we found Josef on the table eating M&M's...
Alex and Johan
Miss Georgia
Ingrid and Georgia

Happy Mother's Day!

Hope all of you mothers out there had a wonderful day yesterday. Please check out my sweet sister in law's blog, Bookmark this Page, for the most beautiful Mother's Day video. It is so sweet and the best part is that two of the stars of the video are related to us! Davy and Becky are featured at the beginning of the video and then towards the end.

We had a really good day yesterday. We had breakfast with our family and then made the 9 hour trip home from Arkansas. We had a great audio book (We love Harlan Coben and Myron Bolitar! They are two of our favorite traveling companions...) and I had dramamine, so the drive home was not bad at all. We were in Fayetteville over the weekend celebrating Ricky's graduation from the University of Arkansas. Ricky is Sutton's baby brother and we are so proud of him! I will post pictures later this week. In the mean time, be sure to visit Becky's blog, I promise you will be glad you did!

11 Weeks

We had our first "official" doctors appointment yesterday and he said everything looks good. The baby is very active and the heartbeat was good. The due date is still November 24.

Easter Sunday

It only took a month to get these posted, but here are a few pics from Easter Sunday in Hereford...
The Tusas
The Pages

The Groteguts
The Dettens (Sam joined the family a few days later)
Mor Mor, Pop, and Georgia