Potluck and Graduation

What a fabulous weekend! On Friday night, Drew and I hosted a Thanksgiving Potluck at our house. We invited 4 other couples: Danny & Sarah Kenyon, Cody & Lindsey Carver, John & Deborah Perkins, and Tony & Lara Larson. Everyone brought the most delicious items to the feast! We had cranberry salad, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, salad with Sarah's green goddess dressing, stuffing, beer bread, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, and apple cider drinks to top it all off!! Drew and I attempted our first turkey with success! Thank you Popeye's (and mom and Diane)!! Haha! We bought a cajun turkey from Popeye's that you just take home and bake for about an hour and a half after thawed. I borrowed Diane's portable roaster and just poured a cup of water in the bottom to make sure the turkey stayed moist. It got great reviews from our guests of it being moist when most had only had dry turkey in the past and that it was flavorful! I highly recommend this turkey to everyone. Sorry I look a little bit hagard in this picture...I haven't quite figured out how to clean house, cook for guests, and look cute by the time guests arrive. Thankfully I was able to accomplish 2 out of 3 of those...can you guess by the picture which skill was left by the wayside?! Drew cut our turkey for us with a new electric knife I got for the occassion. I asked him if he wanted to watch a Youtube video or something to learn how to cut the turkey and he asked me, "Did the pilgrims have youtube videos?!?" and then just went for it! I think he did a great job...bones and all! We had a great time visiting with everyone and Drew even made a fire for us to enjoy after dinner. Thanks to everyone who came!!

On Saturday, we went to Kellye's graduation at her cosmetology school, Ogle! Here she is pictured at her station all decorated up for the big day. So cute!!

Cindy (aunt), Kellye, Diane, Ken, Drew

We are so proud of Kellye and can't wait to see how God will use her in the future! I have heard this girl has mad skills with updo's so if you are in the market for a smashing look for your next party, wedding, or prom...Kellye Branch is your girl!

Who's Paying For My Botox?!

What a day! And, I don't mean that in a good way. Warning: venting session ahead! These Kindergarten kiddos are about to be the end of me! I think what people should really call me is "Person who molds kids into decent human beings" rather than "teacher." Today I had two students pushing each other in the lunch line. One student lied about it. I watched a student take a pink eraser out of another student's box when they weren't looking and watched him place it in his own box very quickly! I had one student make fun of another student because he didn't have very many books in his book box to read...why does this constitute making fun? That doesn't even make sense! I had a fun activity planned for the end of the day: cutting open pumpkins and exploring what the insides look like and feel like while they pulled out the seeds. I had 3 boys that didn't get to participate in this fun activity as a consequence for all the craziness they chose to do throughout the day. They just had to sit and read books to themselves/watch us with interested eyes. Sad!!! I should start charging students money everytime they make me put up with that kind of behavior! Why? A) Because I would be rich! and B) Because I could pay for Botox Treatments...Look at the horrible frown lines I am getting from these kids causing me to make this face so many times throughout the day!

Not to mention the therapy I have go through after days like this...today's therapy was fantastic, but there wasn't much left by the time I got home. (Yes, I ate these in my car.)HELP!!!

The Fire is So Delightful

Yesterday was the most relaxing and wonderful day EVER! I spent the majority of the day in my flannel pajamas that I had pulled out for the colder weather recently. My friend, Patricia, a Kindergarten co-teacher, texted me on Saturday to tell me that she just saw a new Blue Bell icecream called Pumpkin Spiced Pecan that she knew I would probably "need." Aren't friends that know you fabulous?! I told Drew that I needed it badly! So, yesterday while I was taking a long Sunday nap in my flannel pajamas, Drew went to get firewood and surprised me with the Pumpkin Spiced Pecan icecream!! Am I married to the best husband ever or what?!? Let me tell you...that icecream is delicious! I think I have a new favorite. The rest of the evening was spent relaxing, watching football, and playing with our sweet/crazy dog Brisket by the fantastic fire Drew built for us in our fireplace. Oh! and pictured with the icecream are two new favorite pumpkin scented candle finds! On the left is a Paula Deen candle that was given to me as a birthday present from my Kindergarten room mom and the candle in the tin on the right is called Pumpkin Clove from Target that Lara Larson gave me for my birthday and it smells wonderful as well! I had given this same kind of candle away as a prize at my last Bunco party and wished I had won it myself...but once again, what are good friends for? Knowing you wanted that candle and giving it to you for your birthday of course! Thanks Lara!

The 50th Day of School

{Me, Stephanie Lucero, Kim Blevins, Patricia Guajardo}

On November 2nd, our Kindergarten classes celebrated the 50th day of school by dressing up 50's style! Even the teachers whipped out their cardigans, rolled up jeans, rolled down socks, and poodle skirts. I even used my Aggie ring on a chain around my neck! The kids loved it and it was so fun to see all the girls in pony-tails with scarves and the boys with their hair slicked back! We learned how to make 50 tally marks, colored a pink and black pattern on 50 squares (looked like a diner), counted to 50 by 10's, counted to 50 by 5's, counted to 50 by 1's, drew a picture of how we celebrated the 50th day of school, listened to 50's music all day while we worked on different activities, hula-hooped in PE, and danced to 50's music in Music! To top it all off, we had coke floats for snack-time at the end of the day...uhhh what was Mrs. Branch thinking on that one?!?! They were hyyyyper! I can't take credit though, Stephanie Lucero (in the pink ladies jacket) had heard of this idea and really got it all together for our Kindergarten team. I think this idea is a keeper as it was a huge hit!

My Birthday Weekend

So, I am truly embarrassed at how long it has been since my last blog entry! September...really? SEPTEMBER?!?! Wow. Now that one of my favorite months has come and gone (October), I will just have to pick up from the most recent happenings to stay up-to-date.

This past weekend, Drew and I headed off to College Station for time with family and many celebrations. The first big news of the day was that Drew got a NEW JOB!!! We are so thrilled and find ourselves thanking God over and over again and how He has blessed us and answered our many prayers. Drew will be working in the Human Resources department for a company called Ferrovial! They are a company based out of Madrid, Spain (I'm dreaming of Drew taking me with him on company trips in the future to Spain...and then remember that I am JUST dreaming!). He won't be working in Spain, he will be working here in DFW! One of their offices is in Dallas and another office is in North Richland Hills by our church. Drew thinks he will be splitting his time between the two offices. I know he will be excellent in this career and can't wait to see how the Lord will use him!!

The second celebration of the weekend was my 27th birthday on October 30th! I hadn't been to an Aggie football game since I graduated and was dying to go back to Aggieland, so my parents were sweet enough to get us tickets so that us four could see the Ags beat the Raiders (Texas Tech). It was a fabulous game and so fun to hear the yells, see all of the maroon, kiss my husband when we got touchdowns...sigh...it was wonderful! I snuck in some shoe shopping with my mom while the guys played 9 holes of golf earlier that Saturday. After the game, we ordered Double Dave's pizza rolls and Trey and Katie came over to hang out.

I got wonderful birthday gifts: panini maker from Trey and Katie, mula from Branches, Powell grandparents, Carver grandparents, and Branch grandparents, black Coach purse from my parents, and diamond earrings from my sweet husband! I am spoiled!!! Sunday we went to church and then over to my grandparents' house for lunch with the whole family. It was delicious! When we got back to our house, I discovered cute birthday decorations on my fridge, cupcakes and candles in the fridge, and a card from Ken & Diane (my father-in-law and mother-in-law)! We got home just in time to hand out candy to cute kids trick-or-treating on Halloween!

What a blessing this weekend was!

I love pumpkin

I do, I love it with a passion! I could eat pumpkin things for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and die a happy happy girl. I tend to sound like Bubba in Forrest Gump, who talks for hours about different ways he likes to eat shrimp. Except, I talk about all the ways I like to eat pumpkin! I saw an ad for World Market earlier last week advertising all of the new fall pumpkin products they had in the store and I made a bee line to the store to get the goods. I got pumpkin coffee, pumpkin bark, pumpkin bar mix, and pumpkin popcorn (already gone...you know how much I love popcorn too--the combo was bound to be the first to go!). I had already picked up my favorite pumpkin bread mix at the grocery store. To top it all off...Starbucks has their pumpkin spice lattes out again!!! That seriously made my day when I discovered that! Kellye Branch...if you are reading this and love me--hook a sister-in-law up! {Kellye works at a Starbucks in Southlake} Anyway, yeah I love pumpkin--what a great time of the year!!

Bringing Awareness

Lately God has been moving my heart. Touching it in strange ways. My thoughts when this is happening are, "Ok, God...I know you are touching my heart for these things for a reason...but I don't understand why or what you want me to do." Have you ever felt like that? I could be quick to decide what I think God is telling me and what He wants me to do with this, but that would just be ME deciding and not allowing myself to be truly led by God. So, I continue to read blogs, books, and pray. I continue to ask God to make meaning out of this for me and to guide me where He wants me.

Here are some of the things that have been drawing me lately:

The Voss family shared in our new Young Adults Ministry class about their mission trip with Touch A Life to Ghana, Africa. I really enjoyed getting to hear about their trip and their passion for these African boys that have been enslaved to fish on boats on a lake called Lake Volta. I was immediately interested in Touch A Life and looked it up on the internet to find out more about it. You can too! Either read more on the Touch A Life website, or watch this informational video by Mercy Project.

Shannon Voss also mentioned having her hearstrings pulled to go to Ghana when reading a book called Jantsen's Gift by Pam Cope. She said it was in our church's bookstore. So, what book did I find myself being gravitated toward less than a week later while getting coffee at our church's bookstore? You guessed it...Jantsen's Gift! I couldn't put it down from the time I bought it. Now, to be honest, life has just gotten super hectic with school starting and I haven't been able to find as much time to read it as the weeks before school began. However, every chance I get, I am picking it back up and being amazed by this woman's story. It is all about Pam Cope's (sister-in-law of Mike Cope, a famous preacher) life leading up to and including her ministry in Vietnam and in Ghana. Her road there hasn't been easy. It includes the loss of her teenage boy due to a rare heart problem that caused sudden death. I won't lie...it is heart-wrenching, but it is SO inspiring. Pam started the Touch A Life Foundation and I am just so intrigued!

While reading more about Touch A Life and Jansten's Gift on the website, I read that Mercy Project led a camp there in Ghana this summer. Mercy Project is founded by some of my friends that I grew up with and went to church with, Chris and Stacey Webb. I will be honest and admit that I had never paid much attention to this foundation they started before, but now that I was reading more about their involvement in Touch A Life, I was interested to read more on their website to see what they were all about! I have never been more proud of or touched by my friends, Chris and Stacey. Wow! God has really grown them and used them in amazing ways!!


Anyway...I still don't know what all of this means or why I am so intrigued and interested in all of these things. So, I will continue to pray, read blogs, and read this book.

Birthday Breakfast and Back To School

Drew turned 28 on August 22nd! This year he decided that he wanted to have a "Birthday Breakfast" at IHOP with family before church as his birthday fell this year on a Sunday. Naturally, instead of placing the birthday candles in a cake...they were placed in a stack of pancakes! This has been a lifelong dream of Drew's because he really wanted a groom's cake at our wedding to look like a stack of pancakes but I kind of vetoed that one. Sorry, Drew!

Drew's sister Kellye, mom Diane, and dad Ken came to the birthday breakfast too in order to celebrate Drew!

Drew won my heart when I returned home the following Monday from my first day of school to find these BEAUTIFUL flowers waiting for me! What a sweet husband I have!! They have been slowly blooming even more throughout the week. So romantic! Kellye, my sweet sister-in-law, also had come over and given me coffee and my new favorite travel mug as back-to-school gifts. SCORE! I feel loved.

So, I have completed my first week back to school with those cute Kindergarten kiddos this past week. This year has been a little easier because I have a student teacher, Lindsey, who is already taking over teaching some lessons. Having an extra pair of eyes, hands, and voice in the room can be extra handy! The kids are so concerned with the schedule. It cracks me up when they are asking if it is snack time before lunch when usually our snack time isn't until 1:40! Or better yet, they ask if it is snack time as we are walking back to the classroom from lunch!! Uhhh no, kids--you JUST ate. They act like they have never eaten before. One day, I told the kids it was time to line up for lunch and a student went up to my student teacher and gave her a huge hug and said "Thank you JESUS!" Think he was starving? Recess is another big one they are always wondering about. Oh and when they will get to see their mommies and daddies! It's pretty much a constant slew of questions all day about what we are going to do and when their favorite parts of the day are going to happen. Haha! I have 20 this year and there are a couple that I can already tell will have me on my toes. Please pray for me when you think about it. I am determined to have a fantastic year this year and want to give my all to these precious five year olds.

On another note, please also keep Drew in your prayers. He recently took a physical and written test to become a police officer. They announced everyone's scores when they turned in their written tests and when Drew's score was announced, police officers in the room cheered! I think that's a good sign, don't you? He ran the 1 1/2 mile in 10 minutes and 40 seconds. He went at lightning speed with those handsome long legs of his on the 300 meter run. He did 25 pushups and 30 situps as well as doing exceptionally well on his written test! I am so proud of my man!! Because he scored so well on everything, he was handed a card with an interview time on it for the city of Hurst as he was exiting the test! His interview is around 2pm on Tuesday so say a prayer if you think about it for Drew! Thanks y'all!!

Summer Fun

This summer has been filled with tons of fun places Drew and I have been together. Drew and I were realizing this in the car today and I figured this would be the perfect time to go back through my pictures and post about those experiences that I may have forgotten to blog about at the time (please forgive me!).

We went to the new Cowboys Stadium with Drew's family.

I was excited in the locker room to see Martellus Bennett and Stephen Magee's lockers! WHOOP!!!!!!

Drew was a sport and put on the gear for us to see what a real Cowboy looks like!

Drew took me to a Michael Buble concert.
Drew has a man-crush on Michael Buble!

We went with our small group to a Rangers baseball game at the Ballpark at Arlington.

Today, Drew and I went to the Omni Theater in the Fort Worth Museum District to watch a 3D film on Sharks! Here Drew is pictured with a crazy dinosaur that had water coming from it in front of the museum.

I got my picture taken in front of the museum with a giant turtle made out of metal!

Then we borrowed Ken and Diane's bikes and loaded them into the Honda Element, because you can do that in a Honda Element...just put them in and hook them to the sides of the car, and went to Trinity Park in downtown Fort Worth to ride the bikes on the Trinity Trails. It was beautiful and so much fun with my sweet husband!

The view along the trails=downtown Fort Worth and the Trinity River!

This is how it's done, folks!

My dad used to always call me his "go go girl" because I always wanted to be going somewhere...didn't necessarily matter where...just wanted to go! I don't think I have really changed except for the fact that I am now Drew's go go girl and now he has to put up with my outrageous ideas to get out of the house. Thank you Drew!!! I've had a blast this summer and I don't want it to end.

Jefferson Davis Pie

For some odd reason, Jefferson Davis pie is my husband's favorite. A long time ago, when we were still dating, I asked him what his favorite kind of cake was. He thought for a long time and then smiled and said, "I think it's called Jefferson Davis pie!" I had never heard of it before and really thought he was just making it up because who names a pie Jefferson Davis?! Weird. I researched it and...it should have been named SUGAR pie! Haha! No wonder he likes it so much. I decided to surprise him with it when he got home from work today. Needless to say, I have a happy husband in my midst.

First, I mixed together the dry ingredients: 1 3/4 cups sugar, 1 tablespoon flour, 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice and a pinch of ground nutmeg.

Next, I mixed into the dry mixture the stick of softened butter and 4 eggs. Lastly, I mixed in the cup of milk and tablespoon of vanilla extract before pouring the mixture into a 9in pie shell.

Bake at 400*F for 10-15 minutes to set and then turn oven down to 350*F to cook for 30-40 minutes.

Drew seemed pretty happy with the results!

So...I was on a baking kick...and made ANOTHER dessert! I made the classic Nestle Tollhouse chocolate chip cookie recipe but spread it on a greased baking sheet to make a cookie cake/cookie bars instead of the normal cookies. YUM!

What I haven't told you yet is that all of these pictures are taken by ME! I read some photography tutorials by the Pioneer Woman this morning and asked Drew lots of questions and decided to give his manual fancy camera a try. All of these are taken without ANY automatic features! I learned how to adjust the apperature and shutter speed!! So fun! Included below are a few more pictures that I used to practice my skillz.

This is an AWESOME new "skin" I got in the mail today for my laptop! Does it look familiar? I made it look like my blog!! Haha! I'm a loser.

Flowers from Drew! He came home last week with them for me and a cute little glass (I'm collecting random drinking glasses so that each one in my cabinet is unique!). Isn't he sweet??Here's one of those glasses that I got recently at Home Goods! I am even drinking more water during the day because it is so cute!!

I think I am going to keep working on this photography thing. I smell a new hobby!!