Texas Boyds

Hogwarts Halloween!

2011-11-02T22:19:00.006-05:00

So, I'm a sucker for Harry Potter. I've loved the series since discovering it almost 10 years ago and it has ignited my passion for reading again! I have since read so many books that I'm sure David figured I was finally losing it! ;)

This Halloween, in honor of the final Harry Potter movie, I decided to throw a Hogwarts Halloween party! :)

As with any good Harry Potter party, you must have a platform 9 3/4 sign. So, I decided to create one. We had some plywood hanging around so I had David cut it to the size I wanted (a little bigger than I probably needed) and I got some paint at Home Depot (Behr Ultrao Paint and Primer - Chianti). I painted the sign and let it sit for a day. I then got some yellow gold craft paint, black craft paint and white craft paint and got to work on the details! I printed off the words in Microsoft Publisher (FrankRuehl) in outline mode and cut them out, placed them, traced them with a pencil and then painted! Phew!

Next time - I'll just pay the extra money and by vinyl lettering so I can just place and go! This sign looks great from a distance, but the lines aren't perfect up close. :(

You also must have a brick wall to enter Diagon Ally (or to get onto the platform). I didn't get a good picture of it (next year!), but you can see it in front of the door in this picture. I got some brown fabric from JoAnn's and a large sponge and the remainder of the paint from the sign, and got to work! It took a few hours, but turned out fantastic!! I though the paint might be too dark, but it was perfect! Just make sure you have more than a sheet underneath to catch the extra paint... :)

Another important piece is the Golden Egg and some Dragon Eggs. :) Luckily, I had a large egg from Easter, so I got some gold spray paint and had fun! :) It turned out great. I also go some stone textured spray paint and painted some small eggs for dragon eggs. This Easter, I'll look out for some large eggs to add to my collection.

I also thought it might be fun to have some wands as part of the decor so I purchased some bamboo shoots at Micheals, used a bush trimmer (hand held) and cut the shoots into pieces that were about wand length. I stained them with some wood stain (Red Chestnut) and they looked really cool! I also found some rose bush sticks (which were remnants from when we cut down the roses in our yard) which were even better as wands due to their unique shapes and darker color.

Because we had some plywood, I thought it might be fun to make some gravestones in memory of those who died fighting He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. I traced the gravestones on the plywood and Dave cut them out. :) Then I spray painted them with Primer (which helped the gray color) and then the textured stone spray paint - which turned out fantastic! Then I painted some words on using the white craft paint. I think they turned out great!

I had to readjust my sign because the screw holding it up wasn't strong enough. This is what it looked like on Halloween. :)

My party was a kind of potluck type thing (well, kind of) because it's usually more fun when everyone brings something. So, I found this yummy Hershey Pizza and it totally fit in with the qwerky Howarts theme! :)

I'll post a picture of my costume when I can find one. (I had one taken at the church party, but forgot to take one myself!) I was Hermione Granger. :) Accent and all!

At the party, we had Berty Bots, every flavor beans (really Jelly Belly's because I have not desire to taste puke or ear wax). Next year I promise to take more pictures! Overall, the party was tons of fun. We played Harry Potter scene it and Pictionary.

It wasn't my best party, but there's always next year! :)

Update... again! :)

2011-11-02T21:32:00.005-05:00

So 2010 was an incredibly busy year! If you're Facebook friends with me, you've seen all the pictures and received all the updates. If not, sorry! Between a new baby, being laid off, studying and passing all 4 parts of the CPA exam within 3 months and finding a new job - it was a busy year! :)

Will is now 21 months and he is already proving that boys are a handful! He is in child care right now and seems to find a new way to prove how cleaver he can be (with the cuts to prove it!). He is actually starting to talk a little more clearly which has been fun these last few days. :) He is an absolute daddy's-boy and we love it! He adores David which I know he enjoys.

Bellah is 5 and started Kindergarten this year. She loves school and has impressed us with how bright she is! She's already ready, writing and doing some arithmetic! ;) I hope her love of school continues to grow as she gets older. :) She did so well with dance class last year that we are doing it again! We're also trying gymnastics and she LOVES it! It looks so fun, I want to do it! :D

Well, I've gotta run, but I will try to update this thing sooner than later - see you around! :)

Love ya!
JB

Life With A Newborn Part 1

2010-08-05T20:46:00.009-05:00

Well, since it's been a while there are TONS of pictures to post so I'm doing this all bit-by-bit! :D

Well, Will was born on Monday, January 25, 2010 and on Tuesday Bellah had to leave school early with a fever that didn't get better. By the time we got home from the hospital on Wednesday afternoon, Bellah had been to the doctor who informed us that there was a Pertussis (Whooping Cough) outbreak going around and she had all the symptoms and so she needed to be quarantined away from the baby (since if he got it he could die...). And since the test results took 5 days (I KNOW!) before we would know if she was positive, you can imagion how wonderful those first few days were...

The test ended up coming back negative (though about 3 months later she got it for real!) and the quarantine was over! (THANK GOODNESS!) She was dying to hold him, so we set her up on the couch and let her see what being a big sister was all about!

Will Newborn:

She immediately thought he was the coolest thing since sliced cheese (which she still does!) and enjoyed being a big sister!

Sisterly love!

If we put Will down anywhere, Bellah was right there trying to play with him. She lovers her little brother soooo much! :D

Will One Month:

Babies are wonderful and so cute when they sleep... and sleep... :D

When I had Bellah at Darnell (Fort Hood), the nurses tought me a way to swaddle that I had never seen before (and still never see) in which the baby's hands are next to his face instead of by his side... the way they are in the womb... So both my babies have loved being swaddled like this... :D

Once Will got a little closer to 2 months, I was able to dress him properly for church! :D No suits yet... they don't make them in baby size... :( [just 12 months and up!]

I'm wondering if Austin Powers is going to be one of his favorite movies! ;)

It seems that babies inherently know how to box!! ;)

By three months, will was holding his head up pretty well! :D

This is one of my favorites!! He's soooo cute! Just like his daddy! :D

Gigi, (my mom), got him an elephant which he LOVES! Up until around 6 months it was the only way we could get him to sleep... Will LOVES to have his face covered when he sleeps and so we would put this elephant next to his head and the ear over one of Will's eyes and he would turn his head and nestle in the elephant's ear and pass out - THANK YOU GIGI!! :D

We went to visit Gigi for Easter... here's some pix (more to come later).

Soooo hungry!

So I LOVE the newborn-baby stage of life... I love nothing more than to be with my babies and watch them grow. I've been blessed to have babies with sweet cries and good temperments and I am grateful that the Lord has sent me these sweet angels to love and teach.

More updates coming soon... we have soooooooo much to catch up on!

Love ya!

DB, JB, BB & WB

Update: Coming Soon

2010-07-27T15:16:00.002-05:00

Ok - so I've been super busy the last 6 months with having a baby, being laid off, celebrating David's 30th birthday, Bellah's 4th birthday AND taking and passing (we'll know next month) all 4 parts of the CPA exam that I have neglected my blog. :( But, my last CPA exam is tomorrow so look for an update some time next week! :D

JB

Welcome Home Will

2010-02-01T21:43:00.006-06:00

On January 25th, 2010, we welcomed our first son, Will Austin Boyd, into the world! At 8 lbs 13 oz and 21 inches long, Will was very healthy.

As a tribute to my pregnancy with Will, here are a few pix from the pregnancy.

This is me in October.. I was 23 weeks preggo!

This was taken at the end of November... I was 29 weeks preggo.

This is me 38 weeks preggo... quite a belly! :D This was about a week and a half before Will's arrival.

On January 25th, somewhere around 4pm, I started having some regular stomach pains. Since I had just experienced some false contractions (on the 21st) I was reluctant to label these pains as contractions.

Around 4:30pm they started becoming noticeably regular and around 4:50 they became a bit more painful. I was still at work so I got up and walked around, wondering if they would go away, but they didn't.

When I left work around 5:30pm, they were between 8 to 10 minutes apart. Not wanting to get my hopes up, I continued to track them until around 6pm when they started getting more intense. At 6:15pm I decided that they weren't going away and that we should probably head to the hospital.

I called my doctor and left a message and then called the hospital to say we were on our way. Well the hospital said they would rather my contractions be 4-6 minutes apart when I came in, so, reluctantly, I decided to wait a little longer.

Well, about 5 minutes later, my contractions were between 5 and 7 minutes apart and to the point where I was snapping at Bellah and unable to talk and concentrate during the contraction. I told David that we're going to the hospital and this time, I'm just calling my doctor to let her know we are going. (I had called her previously to tell her the hospital wanted us to wait.)

After dropping Bellah off with a friend (thanks Syndee!!), we got to the hospital around 7:30pm... and boy was I in pain!

We walked in, very slowly, and they got me in a room and checked me and I was 5cm... I was not going home. They said we'd be having a baby before midnight. David started sending mass text messages to my Labor/Delivery group list in my phone and was thoroughly enjoying himself when people were thinking it was me texting.

I had to wait for my doctor to get there for my epidural, so around 8:45pm-ish is when I finally got my epidural. This one was different than with Bellah because it was more of a block epidural where I would still have control over my legs. It was very weird and I got a huge burning cramp in my booty when they stuck the needle in, but my contractions were much better after that.

After the epidural, my doctor broke my water and discovered that there was meconium in the waters. To reduce the risk of any further ingestion by Will, they flushed out the uterus with a saline drip. They also decided that instead of being put on my stomach, they would take Will to the side and get a deep suction into his lungs and stomach right after he came out. (Luckily, everything was fine with Will and there were no complications from the meconium.)

Then, around 9:35pm-ish, my doctor had me push twice at which point I had to wait for her to put on her "baby catching gear"... I guess she didn't realize how good of a pusher I was! lol :D

One more push and at 9:47pm, Will Austin Boyd joined our family. A healthy baby boy. Although he was a little bigger than Bellah was (I think she was around 8lbs 9 or 11 oz) he didn't have near as many rolls as she did! :D He was a cutie from the start - we were both smitten!

This is him after they put that gunk on his eyes. The nurses said some of the red on his face was probably bruising because he came out so fast!

And here's our first shot of mommy and son the next morning. :D

And another pix! This is in our recovery room.

And a close up. :D

The labor/delivery nurses were great and the hospital food was pretty good. Will stayed in the room with us and was a good sleeper and eater! It was hard to get any sleep after he was born (we didn't get to our post partum room until around 1am) because all I wanted to do was look at him and hold him. :D

I am working on getting more pix taken of the little man, but adjusting to a new baby takes a lot of work... especially when your older baby has a possibly contagious illness. On Tuesday, Bellah had to be picked up early from school due to a fever. And when it didn't get better the next day (it actually go much worse) we had to take her to the doctor's and were told she definitely has a small ear infection (which is what I thought it was) but that since there would be a new baby coming home, she could have pneumonia or pertussis(which can both be deadly to a new baby) and that until we find out what she has, we would need to do our best to keep Will and Bellah separated.... yeah...

So, unfortunately, because of that complication, Bellah hasn't adjusted to Will's arrival as well as we hoped. She's always been a mamma's girl and when mama is around the baby so much because of feeding and sleeping and all that - it's been difficult for Bellah to understand what's going on and made this transition pretty stressful. We finally go the results back from the Pertussis test today (after over a week) and she doesn't have that nor did she have pneumonia.

What a week!!

So, here are some pictures of the little guy from his first days at home.

This is on our bed (we were washing the sheets since they needed to be washed!)

All snuggly warm. :D

Here's a pix of him in his crib... :D

And another...

And one of him in his paupsaun... he hasn't quite developed a like for this piece of equipment yet. :D

And another pix. :D

Hopefully now that I'm not working for the next few months, I can update the blog more often.. though I would bet on that just yet. :D

So, we finally have our newest member in our family and David's parents finally have a grandson! :D Happy days!

Stay tuned for more adventures in parenting! :D

Princess Bellah

2010-02-01T19:25:00.004-06:00

Bellah got some dresses for Christmas... this is her favorite one.... the Cinderella dress.

She loves to twirl!!

Christmas 2009

2010-02-01T17:58:00.005-06:00

So, this past Christmas was David's first Christmas in our new home since he was in Iraq for the previous two Christmases. It was fun getting the house decorated with him here and I had been looking forward to having him here for Christmas since the summer!! :D

At Bellah's school, they made some reindeer antlers and she wore them for three days! She was upset when daddy washed off her Rudolf nose. :*(

Santa brought Bellah a bike for Christmas, which she really liked.

Bellah was great about opening gifts... she seemed to like opening the presents more than getting them! :D

More hairbands for Bellah! :D

Ooooooo... daddy got some nice shirts for work since he no longer has to wear his ACU's!! (First time in 4 years~!)

Daddy showing Bellah how her nifty blanket cover up works... so pretty! ;o)

Some necklaces for Bellah!

I think this is a video for Bellah.

Oooo... a book! :D

Safety gear for Bellah's new bike.

Gigi's new DVD player.... ooooooo! :D

Bellah playing with her new princess case (thanks Ginger!)

Bellah's Princess bike!

So, Gigi came over for Christmas, which Bellah really enjoyed! We spent the rest of the day hanging out, playing with toys and washing baby clothes in preparation of Will's arrival. :D It was awesome to have David home and we are definitely enjoying having him around more! :D

Bellah's First Nutcracker (and mine!)

2010-02-01T17:43:00.005-06:00

We went to visit Gigi in December and while we visited, Gigi treated Bellah and me to the Victoria Ballet production of The Nutcracker. (David stayed home to work on his school work.)

We got all dressed up and headed out!

Here we are before the production! I wasn't sure how long Bellah would last since we had never gone to anything like that.

Smiling for the camera! :D

Gigi let Bellah borrow her scrunchie which matched her dress PERFECTLY! It was BEAUTIFUL!! :D

Bellah actually did very, very well! She enjoying watching the dancing and was thoroughly entranced by the ballarinas! She did get mad a few times at me for clapping... she apparently didn't think it was appropriate! lol!

A great time was had by all and I now feel confident to take Bellah to more of these types of performing arts events - she'll love it! :D

Dining Out

2010-02-01T17:39:00.003-06:00

On December 5, David had his first Dining Out as an Army Reservist. It was fun to get dressed up (though it's hard to find a flattering dress when you're 8 months preggo!) Our friend Syndee watched Bellah for us (and took this picture) while we had a night out on the town in Austin!

Bellah's Cow

2010-02-01T16:52:00.005-06:00

Well, at the beginning of December, Bellah was playing with her cow flash light and ended up getting it stuck in her teeth!

It's a little hard to see, but the silver ring was stuck between her teeth!

We tried gently pulling on it, hoping it would come out, but it wouldn't budge! So, rather than risk pulling out her teeth and the cow, we got a pair of wire cutters and cut the silver ring to get the cow out.

Hopefully, Bellah will think twice before chewing on her toys!!

Halloween

2010-02-01T15:02:00.010-06:00

Well, Halloween didn't go like we had planned. Bellah didn't get her nap and passed out as we headed out to trick or treat so she was a little cranky when we finally went out. Here are some pix.

Here's a pix from Bellah's first haunted hay ride. It was a cold night and Bellah wasn't liking that too much... and daddy's back didn't like it either.

Here's Bellah posing in her Cowgirl outfit.

Howdy!

Here's Bellah at trick or treat time. She refused to walk so we had to push her around in her stroller...

Even though she didn't last too long, she got a pretty good amount of candy. Next year, we go with friends!

Gigi's Birthday

2010-02-01T14:48:00.003-06:00

Time to update the blog - so much has happened! But first things first!

Back in September, Gigi came to visit for the weekend which coincided with her birthday. Here are some pix from the celebration. :D

Bellah was very excited about the birthday cake! I think she even picked out the color.

IT'S A BOY!!!

2009-09-11T22:11:00.004-05:00

David and I had the anatomy ultrasound today and we are please to announce - duh-duh-duuuuhhhh - it's a boy! :o)

As usual, Garrett loves ultrasounds and was moving around like crazy! It was so fun and exciting seeing him moving around and kicking - too funny! So at the beginning, they go through and measure the head and look at the heart and the brain and some of the organs to make sure things are going ok. Since he was moving so much, the ultrasound lady had to try many times to get the profile pix and the heart pix and all that jazz. But, when it came time to check out the package, she had NO trouble - I think he's very proud of his package! lol

**WARNING** Graphic ultrasound pictures... be ware! ;o)

[Disclaimer:....You must be old enough to know what a penis is to read this blog.]

So this is a side view of little Garrett:
The two arrows are pointing to his.... um... unit. :o)

The left arrow is the scrotum and the right arrow is the penis. :o) His butt is just underneath that and I think that's a rough profile on the right of the pix.

Here's another shot of his manhood:
You can see his two legs (knees towards the top of the pix) and manhood front and center! lol

Here's a pix of his leg and foot (top, left). Amazing!

And last, but not least, here's a great profile of the little man!

His face is on top and you can see his forehead, nose, mouth and chin! :o)

We are soooo super excited for a boy! This will be the 4th (technically 5th) grandson on my side of the family and the FIRST on David's side! (I'm sooo getting brownie points for this!!)

Everything went well with the ultrasound and his measurements were normal for 20 weeks and they estimated that he weighs 12oz... crazy! Like I said before, he was soooo active during the ultrasound. We were able to see him kicking and stretching his legs (David liked that!) and he is just the cutest thing ever! He was even looking into the camera a few times... kinda creepy with the black and white pictures and a funky half formed eyeball looking directly at you on the monitor! Loved it! I wish we could of had a video of it because there is no doubt that this little guy has a Spirit already - and a personality too! :o)

I don't remember Bellah being so active, but her kicks were a little more solid than his were. I love that every time I sit down or lay down and can feel him flutter kick me - it's the best feeling in the world and worth every porcelain prayer! Now, I have to not go crazy over the next 20 weeks waiting for him! With Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas on the way - I'll have plenty to keep me busy!! heehheheeee!

Other than that - we've been doing well. David has started working full time with his Army Reserve unit which has made Bellah happy because now she's back in school (which she has been talking about ever since we took her out in July). She loves her friends and teachers (which she calls her friends) and I'm happy knowing that she's getting lots of social interaction and back to learning more regularly again!

David's position isn't permanent, but it's a fill in position till they find someone for it (which will hopefully be him because he's applied for it!). Either way, he'll be doing something with them while he gets his MBA which will work out great for us! :o)

I'm taking my last class that I need to hit my 150 hours needed to sit for the CPA exam! Yay!!! So, if all goes well, I will start sitting for the CPA next year and hopefully by December be a licenced professional! Go me! :o)

Well, gotta run - sooo much to do and baby's getting hungry - again!

Love ya!

DB, JB, BB & GB :o)

Happy Birthday Bellah & Daddy

2009-07-25T17:20:00.011-05:00

Well, it's been a really long time since I update this thing - sorry about that! In case you didn't know - David and I are expecting baby #2 (Jan 28) and I've been bed ridden - again - with morning sickness. :o( I took most of June and July off of work and have recently starting going back to work - wahooo!

So, July is a busy birthday month for us! David's mom's b-day is the 9th, David's is the 17th and Bellah's is the 24th! :o)

We celebrated David's Birthday on the 17th, unfortunately I was too sick to be of any help so he had to go get his cake and ice cream all by himself. :o( I wasn't even able to get him a birthday card. :o( But it was probably his favorite birthday since he doesn't like all that stuff anyways! :)

Here's Bellah and daddy - Bellah was so excited about the birthday cake! I wasn't able to get a candle "9", so we used 9 candles we had laying around the house..... much better effect! :)

Daddy blew out ALL the candles! Yay daddy! Yes, he picked out the pink cake... I think the choices were slim and so we have a pink cake. It was a strawberry cake and was really yummy! :o)

Next, onto the big 3-year-old! Bellah is officially 3 years old, which I have been reminded, makes her a Sunbeam in church next year! YIKES! I didn't realize that was so close! :*/

Bellah's favorite color is either pink or purple, depending on the day. :o) For whatever reason, after daddy's birthday, Bellah kept talking about a blue cake. Sooooo.... when mommy went to the store to get her cake... I got a .......

BLUE CAKE!

She LOVED it, of course and we finally got to use that fancy Scooby Doo hat I bought for her 1st birthday party back in Atlanta-but forgot to bring! DOH!

She LOVES to pose for the camera and have her picture taken. Be advised that she is NOT naked, but does have panties on.... I am no longer it complete control over what she wears and this day was half-naked day - apparently.... :o)

One of her signature poses. :o)

Blowing out the candles.... (daddy had to help because with each "blow" she started spitting a little more and we wanted to eat the cake too!) :o)

When I was looking for some cake decorations, I actually found some really cute Disney Princess stuff for $1! Yay!

She loves opening her presents too!

This is her new Princess crayons and notebook with pink pen set. :o) She LOVED it!
Go mommy!

Opening Papa's birthday card.... daddy had to help her read it. :o)

And still more Princess stuff for $1! Wahoo!

This was her "big" present....... soooo exciting! I wonder what it is!?!?!??!

A bubble gun! Yay for bubbles!

She loves playing with bubbles outside and this gun makes it easier for her to make the bubbles. She likes to chase the bubbles around too which is too cute to watch! :o) So, another low-key birthday this year... next year, when I'm better, I think we'll try to get some of her church friends together and have a friends party! yay!! Then Jojo can come over and help me actually make the cake for the party instead of always buying it (though I do love some store bought cakes)

So, life is good. David is officially out of the military and has been for almost a month and a half! Still no job, but he's going to school for an MBA and started classes a few weeks ago. He's just concentrating on that for a few months and then we'll see if we have a better idea of where we can go or what we can do.

I'm almost done with 2 out of the 3 classes I need to sit for the CPA exam. Yay! Hopefully by next summer, I'll start taking some exams and by next December I'll be a CPA.... wish me luck!

Hopefully I'll be better at monthly updates, though not much is happening these days!

Love ya!

DB, JB & BB

Disney Cruise! :o)

2009-05-12T19:38:00.021-05:00

Finally, finally, finally! Our Disney Cruise has come and gone and so did our money. :*( As you may know, David, Bellah and I went on a 7 night western Caribbean cruise with Disney. I know... sounds greater than it was. :o(

Here's us Saturday morning, May 2nd, watching some T.V. before we head down to Port Canaveral. We got this great hotel with a kitchen and everything (not that we were there long enough to use it.)!

This is a view from our room - the Disney employees had giant Mickey hands and they were waving us a bon voyage. They did the wave and everything - it was a great start. :o)

We went and checked out the kids area for Bellah and they had a really cool tree slide.... Bellah didn't go down it exactly the way she wanted. It was a really cool place. :)

Our first night we had dinner in Animator's Palate - it's this kinda cool room that's black and white and turns colors. There are black and white pictures everywhere that turn to color pictures at different parts of the meal. It sounds neater than it was... the food wasn't very good. :o(

This is Bellah eating her Mikey Ice Cream bar... mmmmmm

When we came back to our room the first night, we had our first towel animal... I think it's a swan. :)

On Sunday morning, day 2, we had a character breakfast which was really cool. The food was old and not so good, but there were Disney characters out the wazoo! The went rotating to each table to take pictures and sign autographs. It would have been much more fun if Bellah wouldn't have been afraid of the characters. :o/

Even Mikey's own puppy Pluto was a scary sight!

When the characters weren't around, she was as happy as could be with her Mikey shaped pancakes.

Daddy wanted to take a picture with Minnie Mouse - his dream girl. ;o)

This was our waiter trying to put a napkin hat on Bellah... yeah... she wasn't having that. (I don't blame her.)

So, we put it on daddy to show Bellah how cool it was!

Not a happy cruiser - unfortunately - this was her face during most of the cruise.....

This was a weird, freaky statue at the Port in Key West, Florida. David was going to look up it's skirt, but he thought better of it.

This is my hott Latino hubby.... mmmmm so sexy in that ascot!

And here's me in my bikini and maracas.... ahhhh yeah....

Another towel animal.... freaky lizard! Hey Lizard - where'd you get those cool sunglasses? :o)

A picture of Bellah's bed all made up by our room guy.

Breakfast at the Topsider Buffet.... again... food was not good at all. But, Bellah found other ways to entertain herself. She put this cup over her mouth and then laugh... it sounded like she was in the next room - but it was sooooo funny. :D

Sexy studd muffing with a blue shirt babe! :o)

A picture of the boat as we head into Grand Caymen... pretty big boat. :o)

Headed to the turtle farm in a taxi. Bellah's very happy.

On of the big turtles at the turtle farm - it was HUGE!! They had a couple dozen of these huge turtles in this pool area by a little beach for them to lay their eggs. CRAZY!!! But very cool tourist attraction. :o)

Bellah posing by the breeding pond. She didn't want to leave this area because the turtles were that cool!

Daddy holding one of the turtles from another take at the farm. Bellah was very gentle when she touch that turtle.

Me by the turtle tank. I didn't care too much for holding those turtles.

Eating at a local restaurant. Best food the whole week long!

A view of the boats from our table.

Back on the boat - exploring this huge ship! Beat Street was the place that had all the adult entertainment at night. We didn't get to enjoy this because the child car on the boat didn't have a bed time and we didn't want Bellah to stay up all night since we would still have to deal with her.

Mommy and Bellah hanging out on Beat Street. Too bad Bellah didn't enjoy the child care more - maybe we could have see some really cool shows. :o( Next time, we bring night sitters. :o)

Hanging out in one of the port holes.

Another towel animal.

Bellah and daddy playing in the pool while mommy reads her Nicholas Sparks book... :o)

Another towel animal - really don't know what this one is... a monkey on my husband's back?

Outside the Hard Rock in Nassau - we waiting for this place to open for lunch - they said 11am... but 11am came and went, then around 11:15am when we asked how much longer - they said about 10-15 minutes. I had island time! We ended up going to Sbarro's down the street - YUMMY! :o)

Walking to the beach in Nassau - daddy took the stroller out of the trunk before we left Texas, so he became the stroller.

Gorgeous Nassau, Bahamas beach! We were supposed to go to Mexico, but with the swine flu, our itinerary was changed to Nassau. I'm not complaining!

Taking a horse and buggy ride in Nassau. Poor horse looked totally abused.... where are the animal rights activists when you need 'em!?!?

Our $20 horse and buggy ride lasted 20 minutes - then the driver's buddy got out and took our picture and asked for a tip! They try to get everything they can out of you at these ports. Not cool!

Taking pictures before we head onto the boat at the end of the day.

More pictures! Daddy had Bellah hold out her arm for the pose - so Bellah was doing that for every photo from then on! (As you'll see later)

The moon was gorgeous as the sun was setting in Nassau. I had Bellah pose and this her her signature look. :o)

Her new signature pose!

Welcome to Castaway Cay (pronounce "key"), Disney's private island. This place was nice! The beach was nice, the food was ok but the view was stunning! Yes, that is the very same Flying Dutchman from Pirates of the Caribbean. :o)

A picture as we head to the beach!

There were lots of cool places to take pictures on the beach.

More towel animals and my new DSL bag! :0) ($10!)

And so, the cruise is finally over and we head back home! Definitely not what we thought it would be. It's actually better if you take family and want to lounge around during the day. Which was not fun for us, because David and I wanted to do things. We did see Bolt in 3-D - which was really cool. :o) Unfortunately, Bellah didn't enjoy the children's activities until Thursday and Friday. Next time David and I cruise alone! Now need a vacation from our vacation!

Love y'all!

DB, JB & BB

Easter 2009

2009-04-26T17:38:00.007-05:00

Here are pictures from Easter morning here in Texas. :o)

The Easter bunny got Bellah this cool bunny with jelly beans in the back.... she LOVED it!

Nice close up of Bellah and the bunny.

Bellah wanted some piggie tails too - I put them pretty high up and her hair was just too precious to not share. :)

Daddy and Bellah doing some Easter wrestling! :)

Bellah's New Bed. :o/

2009-03-15T17:56:00.007-05:00

Well, I've been wanting to do this for a few months now - thinking, and waiting, thinking and waiting... and with our tax refund this year, decided that now was a good time for.....

A new big girl bed for Bellah! :o) ..... :o/ ........... :o( .........

Last weekend, we went to Rooms to Go Kids to look at some beds for Bellah (David heard they were having a really good sale)... so we went and looked and bought. :o)

This is Bellah right before she walks into her room to see her new bed... she has no idea!

The set we bought had a dresser with a mirror, a tall dresser and a night stand!! It was more than we needed, but cost the same as we were expecting to pay for a full bed. :) We got a full bed so that the guests who come to visit us won't have to sleep on an air mattress... ;o) Plus I was afraid that if we got a twin she might fall(roll) off. :o(

(Yes dad, that's her shiny baby cup on the dresser - decided to finally pull it out.)

So, Bellah was SOOOO excited about her new bed! :o)

Testing out the boards....

Climbing the bed......

Jumping on the bed - yes on her knees... I don't want her jumping on the bed so I compromised for bouncing on her knees.... :o/

Wrestling with daddy! >:o)

And finally.... sleeping her first night in her big girl bed.... =::::: o/

She's been sleeping the whole night through in her big girl bed ever since! :o) And, she hasn't fallen off once!! :o)

As for the other bed - it's going in the attic to collect dust while we wait for baby number two.... which won't be anytime soon. :o( We'll keep you posted.

Love ya!

JB, DB & BB

Captain D Boyd

2009-03-08T10:28:00.003-05:00

Helloooooo everyone! :) This last week was a very exciting (and busy) week! On Thursday, David finally had his promotion ceremony for Captain.

I took the morning off work to go and pin my hubby for his new rank. :o) They had an official welcome back ceremony for his company and another company that came back that came back at the beginning of February. It was out side and crazy windy! I swear I almost fell over a couple times!! lol

This is right before the ceremony - David was trying to get his pin off his hat so that I could put his Captain rank on the hat (b/c the Lt Col. was pinning his chest)- he was having some technical difficulties. :o/

That's Colonel Andresiak about to pin David's rank on him - he's a big guy! :o) I told the colonel to punch his rank on, but he said he'd let me do that. David was grateful - I'm sure! :o)

Here he is, Captain Boyd - no more "L-T" Boyd. Wahoooooo! Soooo happy!

Now, if we could just get him a civilian job - that would be awesome! We have 3 months left in the Army, so wish us luck! Thanks for the support you guys have given us - we LOVE our family and friends! :o)

Love,

DB, JB & BB

Happy Birthday To Me!! :o)

2009-02-21T20:23:00.006-06:00

Well, better late than never! :o)

David and Bellah threw me a "surprise" birthday party on my birthday (Feb 10 - In case you didn 't know) :o) "Apparently" David made it a point not to wish me happy birthday all day so that I would be "surprised when I got home...... hmmmmmm..........

So I got a card from my coworkers and David sent me chocolate covered strawberries AND flowers on my birthday - the strawberries were yummie! :o) We went out to lunch at a place called Silver and Stone here in town and were VERY not impressed. We waited over 30 minutes for our appetizers (on my 1 hour lunch break) and another 30 minutes for our entrees... AND it took the guy forever to get us our bill. Not good when you are on an audit and you aren't supposed to take long lunches. :o(

When I got home from work, this is what I got:

Happy Birthday To Me!!!! Wahoooo.... another year closer to 30.... doh! :*(

Bellah and David spent all afternoon decorating the house! :o)

More birthday pix - I'm about to unwrap some gifts - wahooo! :o)

Trouser socks!! Just what I've always wanted!!!!!!! No - for serious! - I needed them.

Check it out people! The Melting Pot cookbook! Courtesy of my wonderful, amazing and the bestest sisters ever!!!! I even got some chocolate bars too! WAHOOOOO FONDUUUUUUE!!

Clean up, clean up, everybody, everywhere. Clean up, clean up, let the daddy do his share! :o)

More cleaning up the decorations. :o)

So, that's my birthday. :o) Other than that - no too much happeing in our world. It's very surreal to have David home. It's taken some getting used to having the help - it's been nice! :o) He's started going through his out processing stuff - oh yeah - he's now a Captain in the Army. :o) Sweeeeet!! We have no idea when he'll be pinned because his batallion commander is on "vacation" - punk! But, at least we get a nice raise! :o) I'll post some pix when/if we have the ceremony.

Love ya!

DB, JB & BB

David's Homecoming! :o)

2009-02-07T15:27:00.004-06:00

I'm so glad when daddy comes home, glad as I can be!!!!!!! :o) Well, the wait is OVER!! David finally came home last week on Wednesday, February 4th. His flight came in just before 3pm and he finally got to the gym on Post a little before 5pm. It was the looooooooongest 2 hours of my life!!!

Bellah and I were walking around outside when the 5 buses pulled up to the gym. All the soldiers lined up on the other side of the street in formation and then they had them run into the gym, single file - it was kinda cheesy, but very energetic! It was like a rock concert with all the screaming! Too funny! There was even some a smoke machine!! LOL!

Bellah and I went into the gym - the General said a few words and then released the soldiers to their families! David was so jet lagged - but it was sooo wonderful to see him!!! <3

Bellah did sooooo well - she went to David almost immediately. On the way out she let him carry her. Then he went to get two of his three bags and met Bellah and me back at the car. But when he went back for the third bag, Bellah got so upset! She was like: "Daddy, where'd daddy go...". She was sooo upset! It was too funny.

Then, I went to drive up closer to where the bags were so that David wouldn't have to walk so far and Bellah freaked out! She was like: "No, mommy - daddy! No, daddy!!" She thought I was leaving him! LOL But we got him and headed back down to Georgetown. :o) It was sooooo great!!

Here we are, back home. My sexy soldier man and all his crap-o-lah!!

We got home around 7pm-ish - it was good to be home! Bellah enjoyed having daddy home! She kept staring at him in the car. It was so funny!

Bellah thought that everything he did was hilarious! I forget what he was doing to make her giggle, but she was instantly addicted to daddy!

David has been home for 3 days now and it's been fantastic!!! :o) I've been working on Thursday and Friday to try and give David time to adjust and unpackand settle in. It's been hard because I just want to hang out with him all the time - but he needs to get settled in. It's been nice to have him here - Bellah hasn't started favoring him yet, but the've been having fun together.

David is still adjusting to life back in the states: he hasn't been talking in his sleep and I haven't woken up to him in some wierd military position in the middle of the nights - so, so far so good! :o) He goes back to work next week and should start the first half of his block in a month or so.

We are so grateful that this 15 month deployment is finally over!! It has been a huge blessing for us to have the opportunity to grow as individuals in the gospel, especially for me, though it sucked big time to be a single mom. I'm so excited to finally be able to get on with the rest of our lives. Thanks for all the support and prayers you guys have given to us. We appreciate the love that we've been given and look forward to the rest of our journey here on Earth! :o)

Love,

DB, JB & BB - together again! :o)

One Day Closer!! :o)

2009-01-30T16:58:00.002-06:00

Well, as most of you know, David will be home next week! We are hoping by Friday, but it could be as early as Tuesday (3rd) and as late as the following Sunday (8th). This was moved up 3 days from the previous window. We are soooooo excited for this to be over and done with! The fifteen month anniversary is February 6th, that's a long time!

David and his company are currently in Kuwait waiting for all the paperwork to go through so that they can head home. He is finally getting some down time over there now that they are in the last stretch - thank goodness!! I will update this blog with pictures when he gets home! :o)

This will be the first Birthday and Valentine's Day that he's been home for in 2 years - crazy! I'm a little worried about the transation from single mom to married mom, I hope I don't stress him out too bad when he comes home. :o)

Thanks for all the prayers and support that you have given to our family - all our prayers are about to be answered! :o) I've told Bellah daddy's coming home next week, but she doesn't understand yet. This week was dragging, but Bellah was sick today and now time is dragging!! Go figure! :o)

Love ya!!

JB & B

Our Very First Car Accident! Wa-hoo :o(

2009-01-08T20:40:00.001-06:00

Well, I guess I should blog about this since not everyone knows. Bellah and I were in a car accident yesterday morning. (Jan 7th). We were rear ended at the stop sign in our neighborhood. It was 7:55am, I was on my way to take Bellah to school and head off to work and we were about to turn right out of our neighborhood, but there were cars coming to the left so we stopped. The lady behind us saw us inch forward, but assumed we had gone and looked down at her wallet and hit us square in the back of my Passat. :o(

Bellah freaked out a little because of the impact and wanted to get out of her seat, but the smoothie that was in my hand (I was about to take a drink!) was all over me and the seats and I didn't want Bellah to get dirty. She calmed down after a little bit and entertained herself while I called the insurance company and got this lady's insurance information.

This is my very first accident (as well as Bellah's too) and it was not a fun experience! The first thing that went through my head was "Are you kidding me?!? Do I really have to deal with this? Did this just happen? Maybe it was my imagination!" And then I looked down and my cup that was once half full was now empty-literally! :o( It took me a minute to realize that someone actually hit me from the back and that my drink was everywhere.

The first thing I tried to do was find some napkins and clean up what I could. Go figure that I only had two in the car!!! I actually used one of Bellah's shirts in her backpack to clean some of it up!!

So, there's the damage. Not bad considering it was a Ford Expedition that hit us. I love my VW - it's totally a tank!! You can see some scratches on the bumper, the dent in the top of the bumper and the truck a little buckled.

This is one of the major areas that was damaged - nice little opening, huh? Maybe no one will notice. :o)

Here are some views of my trunk. It didn't buckle as much as it felt like it could have, so tha car is still drivable - unless it rains! :o(

The lady was very nice and said that she thought I had gone and looked down at her wallet and then hit me. If there weren't two cars coming from the left, I would have gone, but when there are cars coming - I think it better to stop! I didn't know what to do so I called my insurance company, USAA, to figure out what I needed to do and they were very helpful. I got all the info I needed from the other driver and USAA got all the info they needed from me. I love USAA!!

I've already filed the claim with the other insurance company and so far they have been very nice and cooperative. Hopefully I'll get the car into a shop by the weekend and be in a rental as well until my car is fixed!

Bellah and I went to the doctor's today to get checked out and we both are fine. I've got some serious stiffness in my neck and shoulder and lower back, but the doctor said that might go away in a week and keep and eye on it. If it doesn't, I'll go back in and we'll try to schedule some therapy or something. Bellah seems to be doing fine and hasn't acted like she has any paid or discomfort from the wreck.

Anyways, so Bellah and I had a wonderful Wednesday! :o( It would be much easier if David was here because he does all that phone call stuff. I HATE making phone calls! It's one of those things I will procrastinate until the very last second, if possible. It's a bad habit. Oh, well. I will keep you posted of any developments, but hopefully we won't have any.

David comes home in less than 30 days and we are anxiously trying to keep ourselves busy so that the time flies!! The military has pushed back his "window" to come home to the middle of February, but I'm hoping it'll be earlier - these guys keep getting screwed with this Unit they are with. America may "support" the soldiers, but the Military sure doesn't! The political world of the Military is a very frustrating beast. Thankfully, David won't be fighting it much longer!

Love ya!

JB & B

David's Visit

2008-12-23T19:28:00.000-06:00

Well as promised, here are some pix from David's visit. At the beginning of December 2008, David's dad had a very serious heart attack. There was a Red Cross message sent to David and because of the seriousness of his father's condition, David's Company gave him 10 days leave to come back to Atlanta to spend some time with his family. David's dad had quadruple bypass surgery and has been recovering better than expected.

Bellah and I were able to travel out to Atlanta and be with David for the full 10 days. :o) It wax such a welcome break from this separation - it was a great Christmas present! It's just a shame it had to come at such a stressful time for his family.

Bellah and her cousins (Leah, Carlie and Nathalie - Suzie's kids) had a blast at Papa's house. They played ring-around-the-rosies a thousand times! That's one of Bellah's favorite things to do!

All Fall Down!! (Bellah, Leah and Carlie (laying down))

Natalie (standing), Bellah (to the right of Natalie), Leah (sitting) and Carlie (to the left of Leah - on her back)

Bellah had tons of fun playing with her other cousins Gage, Ethan and Sadie too! (Joyce's kids)

We went to an outlet mall near Atlanta and one of Bellah's favorite toys is the carousel. She could ride it aaaaalllll day!

Gage and Ethan were monkey boys - they wanted to climb on the carousel - Bellah thought they were soooo funny!

There's this place called Noah's Ark near Joyce's house - it's an animal shelter for rescued animals - but the typical animals. They had Emus and Ostriches and Tigers and Deer and Lions and all kinds of exotic animals. It was a really cold day, but Bellah love it!

That's Aunt Joyce and Cousin Ethan.

There's David!! The cage around the animals said not to touch them, that the animals can bite, kick, spit and other stuff. The llama seemed pretty tame - they had some llamas running free around the park - it was crazy!!!

Aunt Joyce had a coupon for Chuck-E-Cheeses so we all went there for dinner one night. Obviously - we had a lot of fun!! :o)

Daddy and Bellah had lots of fun! :o)

Bellah wasn't too fond of the game when the horse started to move a little - it kinda freaked her out. :o)

We had Bellah on this horsie, but it was lame because it was weight activated and she was too light to make the game register that she was on it. So mommy had to help. :o)

Mommy got on the horse with Bellah, but as soon as it started to move - well, she didn't like that too much. (See previous picture for details!)

We spent a little time over and Aunt Suzie's house and Bellah discovered Leah's Barbie computer and was captivated!

Bellah's eating a plastic egg that David, Carlie and I were throwing back and forth. :o)

Uncle Nate got a kick out of Bellah on the computer - her typing skills were phenomenal! :o)

So, now David is back in Iraq and we only have a few weeks left in this deployment. It was a welcome break to have David back in the states, but Bellah and I were happy to get back to our routines! Bellah enjoyed daddy, but had a lot of separation anxiety issues and took a long time to warm up to David. Hopefully when he's back home and Bellah's in her environment, she'll adjust better.

Merry Christmas everyone! We'll see you soon.

Love ya!

DB, JB & BB

Family Pictures

2008-12-17T13:54:00.000-06:00

Holy Guacamole! It's been a while since I last wrote and soooo much has happened!! But, first things first: about two or three weeks ago, Bellah and I had some family pictures (minus daddy :o( ) taken by a lady in our church. We got them while we were in Atlanta visiting with daddy (details in a post to follow) and they were soooooo great, we wanted to share them with everyone!

These pictures were taken by Kam at a park that is just down the street from our house. It's litterally less than two miles from our house and we never knew it was there! It used to be an old farm that was donated to the city for a park. (Hence the donkeys in pictures below.)

Bill and Carlene just happened to be in town when I scheduled the pictures so they joined us for our session.

We got some great pictures! Kam (www.kamlingphotography.com) is very talented!! I saw pictures on her web site after I heard that she was a photographer and I was very impressed! Thankfully she's as good as her pictures and all our pictures look so professional without the price!!!!

This black and white picture of Bellah is one of the first pictures on her site - we are so honored!!

As I said, the park has donkeys and Papa Boyd brought some apples to feed the donkeys with. They were very nice and you could tell that people feed them often because they came right up to the fence! :o)

I can't believe we got this picture because we were all right next to Bellah making sure she didn't curl her fingers too much and get a chunk taken out! Kam is very good!

This is what it looked like around Bellah feeding the donkeys - she loved it though and we all had a great time watching her. :o)

Mimi and Papa Boyd and Bellah checking out the donkeys. There were two of them in this corral area - it was really cool - very Texas-y!! :o)

There was also a park area and Bellah and Mimi had LOTS of fun playing on that. Bellah wasn't in the mood to smile that day (go figure) so the slide pictures were really the only ones where she would smile! :o)

I've got some pictures from our trip to Atlanta that I'll post in the next week. David's dad had a heart attack two weeks ago (he's doing very well now) and the military let David come back for 10 days to spend time with him (Merry Christmas to us!), so off to Atlanta Bellah and I went. Stay tuned for more details! :o)

Love,

DB, JB, & BB

2008-11-15T20:29:00.000-06:00

Well, it's been a while since I last posted - sorry about that! Things have been getting a little crazy in our house trying to prepare for the primary program, reupholstering chairs and breaking my laptop. :o( Here are some of the latest pictures of Bellah.

Bellah loves to put band aid on old owies and this is no different. Notice the careful precision as she places the "band-aid" on the problem area.

The dedication as she carefully maneuvers the... ummm.. noodle (yes, that's her dinner!) to cover the scar.

Almost there, just once more..... noodle....

TADAAAAA!! The spaghetti noddle band aid is complete! The scar will heal! Hallelujah!!! The operation was a success!!!!

So, I've grown tired of the old dinning room chairs that we have and the countless "accidents" Bellah has had on them. :o( I figured it's probably cheaper to reupholster them myself so I did a little research to figure out how hard it would be to do. (This was the first one - it's Bellah's chair.)

Thankfully, reupholstering isn't too hard or expensive. I decided to go with a nice dark blue to hide stains - then a thought from my childhood manifested itself - PLASTIC! My mother's a GENIUS! As a kid those chairs were kind of annoying, but as a mother who has to clean up after messy kids - it's PERFECT!!

So, not too bad! I am going to finish the last two tonight - I'm so excited!!! :o) And, Bellah has already broken them in! They work GREAT!!! Hopefully they'll last for a while! As you can see, Bellah thinks they are pretty cool. She kept trying to help me get the staples out and wanted to play with the nasty foam. :o( Yuck! Luckily I threw them out before she could get into too much trouble!

Life is going well - we only have 2 1/2 months left and we are SOOOO EXCITED! Luckily, we have a lot of activities going on in the next two months to keep us busy and hopefully help the time to fly! We'll keep you posted on the "after" party!

Love you!!!!

JB, DB & BB

Happy Halloween

2008-10-31T22:48:00.000-05:00

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!! What a week!! With meetings and church functions and trick or treating, this week has flown by. (Yea!!!) Bellah and I have had a blast with this holiday! This picture is from Bellah trying on her Halloween outfit right before the Fall Festival at church. (They didn't do a trunk or treat this year but they let the kids dress up at least - I know- Lame-o!!)

Bellah loved going around in her outfit. In case you couldn't tell, she was little red riding hood. She and mommy were twinners this year! (Check out the last picture for my outfit.) She did the cake walk and came back with some little chocolate bar. She found her little friend Ian and ran laps around the satellite dish on the sidewalk - it was so stinkin' hilarious!!

There was some music at the Fall Festival at church and Bellah was a dancin' fool!! We had some square dancers show up from Sun City (You know, the neighborhood that hates kids ;) ) and Bellah was hooked - I could not get her to leave. It was 8pm and she was running around dancing and trying to get me to square dance with her too!! I eventually got her to leave, but it was definitely pulling teeth! I'm glad that she had fun - she loves going to church!

So, on Friday, Bellah's school had a Halloween Party, which really was come and see how much sugar your kids can eat before getting sick! I mean seriously, do you really need to have parents of 2-year-olds sign up for, cookies and cupcakes and any other sugary substance you can get your hands on? Really - REALLY!! But, I guess it's Halloween - I'll let her get high on candy once a year, I guess... :(

The lady in the orange UT shirt is her teacher Miss Heather . I had woken Bellah up from her nap when I got there so she was a little clingy and unhappy at first, but then she saw the sugar cookies and got VERY excited! lol .... She has my sweet tooth. :o)

So, Bellah and I decided to go trick or treating with some friends in the ward. This little boy is Ethan (I know! Great name!) and he LOVES Bellah and she LOVES him too! She is always talking about Ethan and Savannah (his little sister). Ethan is a few months older than Bellah (His b-day is March) but they have a great time. Kinda like Camden and Gage - a little wacky and get really hyper together - pretty crazy! :o) They are a trip!!

So, of course, in Halloween spirit, Zeta dressed up too. And, how appropriate - a Devil Dog..... crazy little rat! :o) j/k Zeta. ;o)

Since I hardly ever (well, never really) take Zeta for walks, I couldn't find her collar or leash, so after a few times of her trying to run and get candy from strangers too and running into garages, I had to ground her. Into the stroller, she loved it - I know she did. :o)

Here's Bellah, after a house or two - starting to get the process down. At first she wanted to sit in the stroller, but after the first house she was allllll about walking!! Too funny!!!

Here she is doing her thing - at first we did a few houses without porch lights on, but from what I understand, if your porch light is off - you don' t want trick or treaters. But Bellah wanted to see. :o)

It was sooooo much fun watching Bellah start to understand what was going on. We were with Ethan and Savannah and Jenny (the older daughter) was walking around Savannah and Sandra and I were kinda hanging back and watching and talking. It was so cute to watch Bellah look and Ethan and Savannah going up to the door and getting candy in their bags and understand that she could get candy just by going up to doors too.

So there's Ethan and Bellah again. Ethan was Elmo. :o) Everyone loved Bellah's outfits - soooo cute and they loved Zeta's too. :o)

Candy! Candy, candy, candy, candy, candy, candy, candy!!!! A very happy Bellah with a sack full of candy. At one point it was getting so heavy she kept dragging it! So, we had to unload a little so that she could keep going! hahahahaha!! We stayed out for an hour and a half! The last 15 minutes were Bellah in the stoller because she was too exhausted to walk! I don't think she's ever walked that much in her life! It was awesome!!

And to continue the tradition of the coolest accountant - we were allowed to dress up for work today. In case you don't live in Texas, there's one thing you have to understand - Texans are crazy for football. I mean, seriously crazy! They go nuts over high school football- seriously!! They are also crazy about college football. So, for those "too cool" to dress up, they wore their team shirts instead of a costume. And Ginger, our receptionist, felt we might need a little intervention, so she wore a referee costume. lol! Soo funny!! :o) And, of course, I was little red riding hood too. Bellah and I were twinners! :o) I didn't get a picture of us together (I know, I know) but Arien did, so I'm gonna harass her for the pix and I'll post it when I get it.

So, we had a really great Halloween week and we are so excited that October is over! One more month closer to daddy coming home! Daddy can take Bellah next year while mommy holds down the fort. :o) We hope you guys had a great Halloween and we are soooo excited for this holiday season to come and go. We have so much to do and so many people to see - it's going to be awesome!!! :o) Take care and stay tuned for more posts - I love doing this!

Love you!

JB & B

Pumpkin Painting :o)

2008-10-28T19:16:00.000-05:00

So, a few weeks ago, Bellah and I got some pumpkins at the grocery store and this week we decided to paint them. Obviously Bellah can't use knives and things, so painting was the next best thing. So, we painted pumpkins - this first one is Bellah creation... my little Van Gogh!!

This next one, is mine. Awesome, I know!! :o) You can see Bellah's amazing creation in the background.

So, after painting the pumpkin, we had some paint left over and Bellah wasn't quite done painting. :o) So, we decided to "think outside the pumpkin" :o)

The table was a hand-me-down thing and has been outside for a few years - so Bellah decided to spruce it up! :o)

We had so much fun - we'll have to do it again. Maybe next time it rains. :o)

Stay tuned, with Fall Festival/Trunk or Treat on Thursday and Halloween on Friday - we will have lots of fun pictures this weekend!!!! :o)

Happy Anniversary!

2008-10-18T23:02:00.000-05:00

So, Saturday, October 18th, was our 5 year anniversary (I know!!) Since David is overseas this year we couldn't celebrate it together, but we did get gifts. The first two pictures are of the gift I got for me and David. As I was looking through ideas for a "wood" gift, I saw this plaque and I knew it was perfect!

I was trying to get Bellah to hold it so that I could take a picture of her and the plaque, but as I was putting her hand on the bottom so that she woudn't drop it - it went up and hit her in her mouth: hence the teary-eyed Bellah in the next picture. We have the plaque mounted above our front door. I LOVE IT!!! :o)

The next two pictures are what David sent me. David went by the modern gift list and got me some new silverware! Ooooooooooooo..... It's a bamboo pattern. So now, I have enough silverware for everyone in the family to visit, but only 3 people will be able actually stay in the house with us... sorry. :o/

My Precious...... Oooooooo, shiny! :o)

One of our anniversary activities, was shopping for some shirts for me for work(Kohls and JCPenny's were having great sales!!!). While at JCPenny's, Bellah found an Elmo shirt that she just had to have! (And a pink, poodle purse :o/) :o)

And, a fantastic smile! :o) I don't know why the picture turned out so blurry (stupid camera!!) but it was a cute smile so we had to share it. Yes, I know it's sideways - but, hey people - I can only do so much! :op

Here we go, out to pick up mommy's anniversary dinner - Chili's... mmmmmm... :o) I caught her as she was walking - she is not giving me the "I can't believe I have to take this purse - lame" look, because she picked it out!!!! Doh!! ;o)

So, Saturday morning, mommy was getting ready for the day and putting curlers in her hair - well, Bellah loves to play with my curlers - so while she was sitting on the sink in our bathroom, she decided to fix her hair like mommy. She put the curlers in all by herself - precious!

The Coolest Accountant

2008-10-15T17:54:00.000-05:00

So, I've been trying to take a picture of my office for a few weeks now. Being that Halloween is one of my most favorite holidays - I took the liberty of decorating my office to be more festive.

These first few pictures are of my desk - ooooooooooo, spooky!! Obviously you can tell that I've been at the company for quite a while! lol! :) I'm still working on decorating my office, my desk has a gimpy leg so I'm afraid to move it again, because it might break - again! Doh!

Yes, if you paid close attention you can see that I have two laptops and one monitor - I'm a very busy lady... gotta get stuff done!! :o) I'm the only one in the office who decorated for Halloween because I've got the attitude to celebrate!!! :D

This is my door (I know! I have a door!!) It's my list of clients to do so that my bosses don't try and overload me and know what I have to do. I also have a calendar up with pics of Bellah on it. My current picture is of her from Halloween last year. I still have no idea what we are going to be this year - any suggestions? I also have a little heart shaped "valentine holder" that Bellah made last year for Valentines Day for her valentines. It has her hand imprints on both sides - it's so cute! Right now it's my dry erase marker holder - very convenient! :o)

I've got to take some pics of the house's decorations, but I haven't had time this last week. Being in the Primary Presidency and working take up a lot of time - who'd have thunk? Maybe some of my sisters will move closer and help a sista out!! ;o)

Stay tuned for the anniversary up-date. I just got my anniversary gifts in the mail from David (and myself) and they are soooooo cute!!! Wahoooooo!! Love you!

<3>

JB & B

Bellah's New Do

2008-10-06T16:49:00.000-05:00

Well, after many years of short, unmanageable hair - we have come to the point where her hair is long enough to do all kinds of cute things with! After taking Jojo's advice (letting Bellah see herself while I play with her hair) we have started experimenting. :o)

This past weekend, while grocery shopping, we picked up some new hair clips - including these little baby butterfly clips. Bellah calls them "Yellow Clips" because that was the color she was holding.

Bellah is actually starting to enjoy having her hair put up into different styles. Now, if I can get her to sit still long enough to get the hang of braiding - that will be the next challenge!! Stay tuned for the next phase!!! :o)

Happy Friday!!

2008-10-03T18:18:00.000-05:00

Hey Everyone!

Well, it's the first Friday in October and Bellah and I are having a nice evening at home. Bellah is eating Lucky Charms (well, the HEB brand) and we are watching Friends on T.V. I've been a little sick the last few days, I think Bellah brought a cold home - or maybe someone at work!

Bellah and I went to church last night (I had a Primary Presidency meeting) - I think she likes hanging out with mommy. She wants to go wherever I go - though, luckily, Hailey (an 11 year-old from church) was there and she watched Bellah for me for most of the night. Yeah!

Bellah's growing like a weed - she loves to sing and dance and run around like crazy! Her favorite song is the turtle song. We are looking forward to daddy coming home in four months (maybe three!!!). Until then, we have lots of holidays to celebrate! We've already decorated for Halloween - I've decorated my office at work too. As soon as I remember to bring my camera to work with me, I'll take some pictures of my work area. :o)

Daddy's Homecoming

2008-08-23T17:30:00.000-05:00

Well, we are finally getting ready for David to head back to Iraq. We had so much fun when he was home; going to Sea World, Schlitterbahn, movies and all kinds of places! Only a few months more of single motherhood and then, hopefully, never again!!! :o)

Bellah has thoroughly enjoyed having daddy home and so has mommy. It's so nice to not have to do the dishes or laundry!! We'll keep you posted on the rest of our progress through this experience.

Love,

The Boyd Family

Welcome to Our Website!

2008-05-25T21:22:00.000-05:00

Hey Everyone!

Well, I decided to start a web page so that we could keep everyone posted on the Boyd family happenings. I hope you enjoy the site!!!