To sum things up for the past week I will start with Friday, since the week was pretty uneventful and spent mostly working. However, we did manage to spend time having dinner with Pa, Mema and Nona on Wednesday and Gramps and Bebe and Aunt Beth on Thursday. Then on Friday Kerry and Aubree met me in Mesquite for lunch at Jason's Deli. This is one of our favorite places to eat and probably one of the things I miss most about not living in the Dallas area anymore. Bree shares our love of muffaletta's, too. After lunch we headed downtown to have our taxes done with Mr. Orrick, which we love. He and his wife are really sweet people and they were so kind to Bree. His office is right across from SMU and overlooks Central Expressway. The walls on the outside of his office are glass and Bree enjoyed looking down on all the moving cars. They had this peg game where all the pegs were different colors and Mr. Orrick asked her to find the yellow pegs and sure enough she went right to them. And then she found all the blue pegs, too. We were all impressed. She loves her Doug and Melissa puzzles and one of them is about matching colors, so maybe she has learnt some colors from that. But I must also add that the week before we were making Valentine cards for her grandparents and on one page there was a place for her hand prints. So, I got out the hand paint and we did her prints. Well, Bree picked up one of the paints and said "paint pink" and sure enough, it was pink. So, I guess she is really learning her colors. To a first time Mom it is really cool how they pick things up so fast. After having our taxes done we took Bree to the Dallas World Aquarium. It was great! Bree loved all the fish, birds and turtles. It is really an awesome aquarium and I highly recommend it if you have not experienced it before. Of course we enjoyed it as much as Bree and it was unanimous, our favorite thing of all was the sea otters. They were very entertaining and friendly. We finished the day off with a little shopping. It was a perfect day. Aubree is such a good girl when we are out on the go. She really enjoys going places and was so fun to spend the day with. Saturday we spent the day in our pj's. We were complete bums. Kerry painted our front door black and mowed some but Bree and I spent the day playing inside. Kerry grilled cheeseburgers for supper and I never knew Bree liked them so much. She ate an entire half all by herself, along with some chips and ranch dip. What a big eater! Sunday on our way to church I asked her if she wanted to go to church with Daddy and Momma or go to the nursery and she said, "nursery." I guess she does like going to the nursery still. Mostly though, I think it is so neat how a 22 mo. old can understand what I am saying and express her thoughts so well. I am so glad we are able to communicate so well, now. It was only a few months ago that she could barely talk and now she has learnt so much and can tell me what she wants. After church when we got home from lunch Kerry went back out to mow some more and Bree was in her room watching him out her window while I changed. Well, when I went in there to see what she was doing I found her holding my lipstick with it smeared all over her chin. She missed her lips just a little. Ha! Well, it was the long lasting kind that last for like 8 hours and I couldn't get it all off. Hopefully it will wear off soon. She had sat on the bathroom counter with me this morning while I got ready and I let her play with some of my brushes, so I guess she wanted to complete the look with some lipstick. She is in the stage where she wants to do everything we do. If I put on deodorant, she wants some. If I spray perfume, she says, "Bree some." So I always pretend to give her some. She is the same way about my makeup and everything else. It is so fun to see her pretend and try to copy us. We spent the afternoon outside enjoying the beautiful day. Brandon and the 3 boys came over and Bree and I really enjoyed playing with them. I have a short work week this coming week. I work Mon. and Tues. and am off for the rest of the week. Woohoo!:) I can't wait to spend 5 days at home with Kerry and Bree. Kerry worked hard last week to get our gates painted black and a new mailbox and porch light up. I posted a picture of the gate to the front pond, which I love looking out at from our kitchen window. Although, we do miss some of the amenities of living in Dallas, we love the beautiful land we have in Grand Saline. Our house is small and cozy, but we love it. Plus the land is so pretty and we have a lot of hopes for it. We are starting to get things to looking the way we want them to. It is so fun working on our land and house. We are really enjoying the countless projects ands the difference they have made to the looks of our place. Thanks for checking on us. XOXO

In honor of Sweethearts Day I spent a lot of time this weekend remembering the special moments of my true love. For those of you who don't know Kerry and I both grew up in Grand Saline but he is 5 years older than me and we didn't really know each other until the summer of 2001 when we ran into each other in the infamous "bear grounds" in town. He was with some mutual friends of ours and I was with Audra, a long time girlfriend. We started talking and there was just something about him. He was funny, outgoing and witty, but also charming, sweet and polite and really thoughtful. (I know some of you may be wondering if we are talking about the same guy.Ha!) He has always been so sweet to me and treated me like a queen. He is this big, rough, tough man's man who has a heart of gold and really knows how to make a girl feel special. We ran into each other the next night at a friends house and again hit it off great. I must admit that after talking to him I couldn't wait to see him again. At the time I was living in Mesquite going to college in Dallas and had to go home then on the third day for school. Well, I can still remember the feeling I got on that Tuesday (5 days after running into him in the bear grounds)when he called me for the first time. We were good friends at first but both knew there was something really special between us. At the time neither of us were wanting a relationship, but we just couldn't let each other go either. We talked and saw each other on weekends and whenever we could for 3 years and then when he graduated from UT Tyler he moved to Dallas to be closer to me. We became engaged on Dec. 21 of 2004 and got married on May 14, 2005. We have always had this special connection and I am so glad God brought us together. May 14, 2005 was one of the greatest days of my life. I can still remember the look in Kerry's eyes as we stood there saying our vows. He and I have this deep connection, we are true soul mates. He makes my life so wonderful. So, as I spent time remembering all the special moments of our wedding day I got the album out and started looking at all the pictures. Seriously, that day was AWESOME! We were married at Castle Douglas in Rockwall, Tx. And everything about our wedding day was magical. I was so honored to share the day with some of my best friends and family. I decided to share some of the photos with everyone so you can see how truly wonderful the day really was. We have now been married almost 4 years and have been blessed with a 22 month old beautiful little girl, Aubree Malena Kindle. God has been so good to us and I am so happy to have celebrated my 8th Valentine's Day with Kerry. I was off from work Thursday and Friday and enjoyed my long weekend with my family and friends. I spent the majority of this time at the Dugan's house assisting with a garage sale. Bree loved playing outside all day and ofcourse spending time with Mommy, Daddy and the Dugan's. We spent Feb. 14th enjoying the beautiful weather outside and also enjoying our time with our daughter. That evening Bree spent the night with Nona and Kerry and I enjoyed dinner and some alone time. Our daughter is the center of our universe, but we do still love spending just a lil time alone together. I will spare ya the details. Ha!Ha! Anyway, happy V- Day to everyone! XOXOXO

House Painting

We have had a very busy week getting the house ready to paint. Kerry worked very hard caulking the house and sealing everything so that we could get started. We spent the weekend in our painting clothes. We are using a color called sand dollar on the upper half of the house and practical time on the brick and trim. Kerry painted the back of the house on Friday while I was at work. Then on Saturday and Sunday he worked on the upper half of the house and the trim while I rolled the brick on the bottom and then helped him paint the trim. I also got on the roof and painted the chimney. I must admit that this was the funniest thing ever. I felt so important and like I was really accomplishing something. Bree enjoyed playing outside and watching us paint. It was fun for her to get to spend so much time out doors. The sunny days were so nice and we all enjoyed being outside. I must say that I really had a fun time working with Kerry. It was fun to see the progress we were making and to share in the accomplishment together. By 5pm Sunday afternoon we had completed most of the painting. Kerry still needs to case out the pole on our front porch and paint it and the doors are going to be painted black and there are a few touch ups left to do, but it really looks very good at this point. We were amazed at how much the painting changed the look of the house. We love it. However, we would still like to extend the deck and put a rail around it and then stain it. And we also want to build a dock with a rail on the pond next to our house and paint the gates black and then also put up a new mailbox. So, we are thrilled to have it painted but we do have a lot of projects left to do. However, I know it will all come in time and I am enjoying all the hard work and progress we have made thus far. Kerry has done a great job and he has made our home very comfortable and although it is a small country house, it is exactly what we want right now and we are all very happy with our home and land. Lately we have been focusing more on spending time with our family and friends. We are cherishing the small moments in life with Bree. Teaching her and learning along with her. I have found myself in a state where the things that were once so important to me seem so minor right now. All I know is I feel a part of my soul has now found more happiness and peace in spending more time with the husband and daughter God has blessed me with. So often in life the days fly by without me really knowing where the time went and that scares me to think of my life passing by so fast. So, I have decided to focus everyday on slowing my life down and enjoying the precious moments God has blessed me with. Bree loves to run and play and especially likes to ride thru our pasture in Daddy's truck. She has taught me to treasure the small things in life that I often overlook. I love how innocent and sweet spirited Bree is. I want to be more open and care free as she is. We are so blessed to be back in our home town with our families and friends. It is the little things in life that are the most important to us and we are enjoying slowing it down a little and doing the small town things we love. I have finally posted some pictures of our home and our new paint job. And although the work turned out nicely and I am very happy with everything, I am also very thankful for all the memories that were made during the process of getting it all done. Thanks for checking on us. I hope everyone has a great week. XOXO

Our weekend was one filled with lots of fun with some of our closest friends. Friday evening we hung out at Lannie & Amie Dugan's house. Lannie and Kerry grilled steaks and we had a delicious dinner. Afterwards, the adults got a lil competitive playing chicken foot.(Which has become one of my favorite games..not sure as to why, but I love it!!) The girls enjoyed playing at Allison and Addison's art table and with everything else they could drag out. Bree loves to go over to their house and play. Saturday I had my Grandparents over for breakfast. I am not much of a cook, but I do make this breakfast casserole that my Pa really likes. Bree liked having them over and really showed out for them. We were thrilled to be a part of the twins 5th birthday party Sat. afternoon. It was at the skating rink. Boy, did that bring back memories of my younger years. Bree's feet were too small for the skates, but she loved watching the other kids skate and Lannie even took her for a few laps in his arms. Which she loved. She didn't want it to end. Bree also loved the cake. She ate a piece and a half. What a big, healthy eater!! Sat. late afternoon we hung out with Gramps and Bebe and then went out with Jennifer, Eric, Amie and Lannie for the night. Then on Sunday we had more fun at Lannie and Amie's watching the super bowl game with everyone. Like I said we had a great weekend with our friends. And Bree still didn't get enough either. She keeps talking about Amie and the girls. We are so blessed by our good friends. Have a great week and thanks for checking on us. XOXOXO