mi madre

this is way overdue but i needed to give a HAPPY BIRTHDAY shout out to my mom on my blog... her birthday was on February 2nd.. :o and it is now March 12th. i know shame on me but i had forgotten we took some pictures from her birthday and we found them today... so i'm a little embarrassed it took me so long to post but none the less i got it on... 

this was the pic we took last month... 

haha jk but this was us on her birthday about 18 years ago... my mom is the best mom out there.. just saying ;)! i love her so much and she does so much for me!

she is probably the biggest jokester out there and loves to tease! :) she can make me laugh almost all the time. she loves the sun.. to say the least. she has killer dance moves and an award winning herkie!! she supported me in everything that i did... especially cheer! 

she is loving, friendly, kind, honest, hardworking, strong, funny (so she thinks :), smart, dedicated, loyal, generous, cute ha, amazing, and everything else you can think of!! i couldn't ask for a better mom! thanks for everything you have done for me... 

so here's to another birthday for you and another awesome year ahead! sorry i was so late to post this! aren't we just so cute? 

you are the best mom! i love you so much!

shopping.hawks.sushi

all good things... right?! well i thought so. on days steve had work, kel and me had a girls day shopping (mostly me shopping and kel chasing cooper everywhere :) he didn't think shopping was cool.. ha such a great sister/mom). 

kel and steve took me to the atlanta hawks game. they played the new york knicks and lost.. sad but it was worth it! 

we also ate out at many delicious restaurants, particulary Flip Burger Boutique. Top Chef competitor, Richard Blais, is the chef of the restaurant. it was seriously so good. we all tried different burgers and loved them. i definitely recommend this place... sooooo good!

 i thought that i should be adventurous this trip and try some sushi. kellie and steve love it so i thought i would give it a whirl.

we kept it safe with some cooked ones. mmm delicious? not quite. i did eat four of them.. but i think it will take some time to get used to. seaweed is definitely not my favorite! kel got a kick out of my first time trying sushi haha.

it was such a great week spending time with the clarks! thanks again for such an awesome trip! i loved it all!! i can't wait to come out again! you guys are the best... miss you already!! 

atlanta bound

my sister kellie and i had been planning for me to fly out to visit her in atlanta for awhile now... and we finally made it happen. just a week ago i flew out to atlanta to hang out with my sister for a week. it was the best trip!! i had such a great time hanging with my nephew cooper and with kellie and steve. they were great hosts and planned lots of fun things to do! it was a much needed trip and i'm so glad i went! looks like we will have to make this a tradition ;)... right? thanks again kel and steve! you guys are the best! and thanks to the parents for the ticket... you guys are too kind!

photo credit goes mostly to kellie because she did most of the picture taking.. thanks kel (mom we missed your picture taking!!)

the flight to atlanta.. i snapped some shots on my phone because it was so pretty 

i arrived in atlanta late wednesday night so that was it for us that night. steve didn't have to work the next day so we headed for the georgia aquarium, a new experience for me. it was pretty much amazing! 

kel and me 

me in front of the big glass wall

i could watch these fish all day

i love this kid we call cooper... he is constantly making me laugh, and he is so much fun to play with. he has the best expressions and knows how to have a good time. so glad i got to spend some quality time with him... miss him already!

steve and me... we're real happy to be here!

we found a lot of neat creatures...

thanks steve and kel for the awesome aquarium time!

ATL... i'm coming soon

clear eyes.full hearts.can't lose

so if you know me then you know that i'm obsessed (that's taking it lightly) with the tv show "Friday Night Lights." my brother Kurt introduced me to this wonderful show a couple of years ago and ever since i've been hooked! the show is about the Dillon Pathers, a high school football team in a small town called Dillon, Texas. It focuses a lot about the team, the town, and their coach Eric Taylor. it's filled with drama, romance, and mostly FOOTBALL! there are five seasons and the fifth one just ended on direct tv and will show on nbc later this year. this will always be my all time favorite tv show. i love all the different characters and the different story lines. Critics have rated it one of the best tv shows on television... i highly recommend this show... and now it's over. i'm sad to see it end but it was a great five seasons! clear eyes.full hearts.can't lose!

latest read

a little update on what i've been doing with my off track... well nothing really besides working at the credit union and going to the gym. but i have picked up on a little reading. i actually hate reading but i must be bored enough that it sounded fun. i was at walmart the other day picking up some stuff and looking at magazines when i found a book that looked interesting. i found The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. i realize that i'm a little behind on the excitement about this trilogy but i really had no interest before. it was six dollars so i thought what the heck.. i'll give it a whirl. little did i know i fell in love with it. i bought it on saturday and finished it today and that is a record for myself who doesn't entirely enjoy reading. i don't want to give anything away but i highly recommend this for anyone who wants an easy read with lots of action and romance. you won't be disappointed! and now i'm gonna head back to walmart for the second book!

the hoLAZYdays

so my siblings thought it would be cool and let me fly solo again with the parents for christmas this year (even though it's our off year and they are at their in-laws:). it was a very quiet and relaxing christmas break.  i was able to catch up with some friends and enjoy being lazy before i had to go back to work.

a big happy birthday to this great fella!! i am so thankful for him and everything he does for me (and he does A LOT) he is the most amazing dad ever! hope you had a good one.. love you dad!

 we had christmas eve at the Valentine's as usual.. one of my favorite traditions. and then after we always get to come home and open our christmas pajama present! 

Merry Christmas everyone! i look especially great this christmas morning but i promised erin davis i would put this picture on my blog. ever since we were little my mom has made us set up all of our presents so they look nice and then we had to sit and take a picture in front of them. and that still continues today.

 haha this was probably the highlight of my christmas but my brother in laws have the greatest sense of humor. whenever they are here for christmas they find random things around the house and wrap them for other family members and they put other people's names on them... it's pretty hilarious to watch them open up the gifts because they didn't know they were getting a gift and the other person didn't know they were giving the gift. so this year since they weren't here i continued the tradition and wrapped a couple of gifts for my parents from my brother in laws... adam and steve. great ideas for gifts this year guys! look how happy they look! they loved them!

 i got to catch up with some of my best friends ashley and kaitlyn before they headed back to school. we went and saw burlesque. two thumbs up for that show from me!