One Landes Place

Here are a few pictures from our NYE at our friend Jodi and Jake's . Some of the guys played a vicious game of SORRY while the rest of us participated in a lenghty and "friendly" game of Phase 10, which should have been called "SORRY" since that's what we kept saying to each other as we nicely skipped them in turn. :) Here's the group, each with their spouse...well kind of. Josh was alone since Michelle was ringing in the new year in Ohio with her family and Adrian...well he got locked in the bathroom during the countdown and missed the whole thing. He did get in a kiss at 12:01. Oh well, better late than never.

Welcome to our home! I got this idea from Boo Mama's Tour of Homes It is the coolest thing, you have to check it out. But I'm warning you now, it's addicting! Now for our tour. This is our tree which we've had since our first Christmas together. It's funny how the first year you have like 3 ornaments and you gradually get more. Matt had a huge surprise this year when he got the tree down. I had my own idea of creating a "pre-lit" tree and at the end of last year I just left all the lights on and put the tree away. I was nicely told not to ever do that again. Sorry babe! This is Sarabeth's first ornament and the other is my favorite ornament which was given as a gift at my sister-in-laws wedding. This year I splurged on stockings and had all of our names embroidered. I even bought one extra just in case one year we need 4! Roscoe and Rowdy even got their own. Yes, I know Santa filled the stockings...

I don't think I could have planned a better picture of Sarabeth with Santa. All the other kids were screaming and running away and my little girl just laid there and slept...with a smile on her face. I guess the key is to dress up like Santa??? It's not the best picture because I had to scan it in, but if you look close you can see her sweet little smile.

Matt and I decided to try our hand at cooking Thanksgiving this year. Because Sarabeth is so little, we didn't want to travel far so we decided to stay close to home and visit with friends. Matt fried the best turkey ever! Here he is with his masterpiece: I made homemade dressing , Paula Deen style, giblet gravy, and a few sides. I also made Paula's Not Yo Mama's Banana Pudding . Notice the small hole in the pudding...there was a crooked cookie so I tried to fix it and it broke-poor cookie met it's end and it was sooo good! Here's the rest of the spread: Matt and I were so excited to have our first real Thanksgiving together as a family. Just the 3 of us. Neither of us had ever tried to cook Thanksgiving before and it turned out wonderful. It took all day to make and about 20 mintues to eat! It was well worth all the effort. Sarabeth just sat in her swing and slept while we...

Phenomenon ! Matt and I spent Easter in my hometown of Longview , Tx . with my mom and family. It was a great time to visit with family and relax, except for we drove all over the place while we were there! My grandmother was in Tyler, about 45 minutes away from Longview , having open heart surgery the Friday before Easter. Not the exact situation I would have wanted, however my dad flew in from Florida to see her and I had not seen him in over a year. On the way to Tyler on Saturday, it started snowing! It was the coolest thing to see. I was really surprised to see how big the flakes were and how long it snowed, almost 2 hours! Of course it didn't stick, but it sure was neat to watch it. Matt took this picture in the parking lot of the hospital. The snow was coming down like crazy! This is me and my dad in the courtyard at the hospital. It was his first time to see me since we found out we were expecting. He is so excited to be a grandpa for the first time!