It has been hard for me to get back into the groove of things at work after being off last week. I enjoyed sleeping in, lounging around and the fun filled days I got to spend with Bree. We spent most of the week camping in our rv trailer at whispering pines resort. My family was there all week and it was so nice to enjoy the beautiful, HOT summer outdoors. We did a lot of swimming to cool off. Which is one of Bree's fav. summer activities. She is learning tho. I spent about 30 min a day working with her on kicking and moving her arms. She can do it... when she wants to. That's about how things go around our house. We like to think we are in control, but a lot of the time it is our very own little"PRINCESS" that is ordering us around. Sad, I know...but we don't go out of the boundaries of what's safe and what is right. Pretty much she just tells us when she wants to swing, or swim, or what she wants to wear, or when she wants a sucker. ( Suckers are her favorite treats. My Mema bought a huge bag of 500 dum dums from Sam's, so thanks to her we have plenty on hand.)Things like that. And of course we all enjoy making her happy. Anyways, this past weekend was the "Riggle Reunion". My grandfather has a large family. He is one of 8 children. I cannot imagine how his parents survived 8 children. One keeps us busy enough! (For now, anyways) Well, every summer all his siblings and their families get together for a weekend long reunion. They have been doing this for as long as I can remember...even before I was thought of. For the last 7 years it has been at Whispering Pines Resort, which is one of our favorite camping places. It has a lot to offer. Very nicely kept, beautiful cabins for those who don't rv, 2 pools(1 for adults and 1 for children), jumping pillow(kinda like a huge, cushiony pillow set in the ground) sand volleyball, tennis courts, basketball, putt-putt golf course, horseshoe pits, nature walks and much more. It really is a great place to spend some time relaxing with ur family. We always have a great time!! And as always it was so nice to spend some time with my Pa's family. Our time together is usually centered around lots of good eating. We have these huge breakfast where everyone brings something and then throughout the day there are snacks and then lunch together and of course every evening we met in the air conditioned building for an enormous supper together, which was followed by an assortment of homemade ice cream. My family loves to eat!! And there is always plenty of delicious food at our gatherings. The theme for this year was "Survivor" and we played some really fun games. Bree especial loved the crafts for the kids. The cereal necklaces were her favorite. She enjoyed eating her fruit loops off the necklace even more than she enjoyed stringing them. It was fun to spend time with my cousins, who I have always admired and to see Bree playing with their children, which are her cousins too. There were around 90 people at the reunion. We are always so pleased with how many families come and participate in the weekend long event. Its neat how we have such a large family and everyone gets along. I mean our family is very close and there is no division among us. We are all always there for one another and it is cool that we still get together every summer. We get together at Christmas and through out the year too, but the summer reunion is really great. I am so blessed by my large, close family. This week we have been trying to get caught back up on things around the house. No fun I know, but it had to be done. I hope everyone has a great weekend! XOXOX

Happy Father's Day

I know this is a lil late, but I wanted to wish every father a Happy Father's Day and most importantly honor the best father in the world!! When I searched for my soul mate and partner in this world, I always tried to imagine how they would be as a father. I knew Kerry was an extraordinary person, a wonderful man and my soul mate, but I never knew he would be as good of a Dad as he is. He is amazing with Bree. He takes such good care of her and loves her and me so much. He is so patient with the both of us and is such a fun Dad. He plays with her and has so much fun with her. We are always laughing when he is around. Bree is definitely a big Daddy's girl. We spent Father's day with Daddy at my g-parents for lunch. Bree enjoyed Kerry pushing her in the swing and playing outside with her. Then we ate supper and spent the evening at Kerry's parents house. We had a wonderful day and want everyone to know our Daddy is the best!!

Happy 4th of July

We have had such a wonderful holiday weekend. Friday Bree and I spent the day at Splash Kingdom Water park. We got season passes and Bree absolutely loves to go and play in the kiddie castle. She crawls on her hands thru the water and says to me, "Look Momma, Me swimming!" She is such a hoot!! The things she does and says keeps me rolling! So we spent the day there having fun. Then that evening we went with Kerry and Gramps over to A Taste of Italy which is overlooking Lake Hawkins. It has the most beautiful patio out on the lake. We enjoyed dinner so much!! Great food and an awesome view. Then we rode around the lake site seeing. Something Kerry and I love to do together. Sat. morning we were complete lazy bones. The three of us slept in til 11:00. Wow!! It was so nice!! So once we finally got around we headed out to Lake Tawokini where we met up with the Dugan and Tolar family. We spent the afternoon out boating and swimming and man was it a fun trip. Bree is fearless. Which is cool, but scary for us as parents!! She, like her Daddy & Momma, is a water person. Put me out in the water and I am content for hours...that is exactly how she is. She loved it!! Then Sat. evening we headed over to the Hill's home for a fish fry and pool party. More swimming and fun. They have a gorgeous home on 80 acres and from their balcony we could see numerous firework shows. We had a wonderful 4th!! Thanks everyone for spending the holiday with us. Sunday at church the Children's Director told us that Crew(Bree's 1st cousin) and Bree were so cute hugging and talking to each other but that they may need to separate them. I am sure they were too busy talking to each other to listen to the SS lesson. It is sweet tho how good they get along and how close they are. Bree will definitely be taken care of by her 3 big cousins. Sunday evening Gramps and Bebe brought Parker, Brett, Crew and Kate over for grilled burgers and hot dogs. Then Kerry made some of his famous homemade strawberry ice cream(actually the recipe is my mom's, but Kerry is getting pretty good at it!!) The kids had a fun time playing on the playground and then they helped Kerry and Gramps pick and shell some peas from our garden. Which I must give Kerry and Gramps props for cuz we have gotten all sorts of fresh produce from our garden. It is therapeutic to work in and man are the tomatoes delicious!! Kerry also made some pickles that I swear are the best I have ever had!! We are enjoying our garden and I am checking the watermelons daily to see if they are ready yet. Last weekend we met Kerry's brother and his family, his parents, g-parents, and his aunt and cousin along with his wife and daughter at the Alligator farm. This was such a cool place. The kids got to pet the baby alligators and watch as the big ones swam and ate. We had lunch and the kids enjoyed playing and then we finished the trip off with homemade peach ice cream. It was a great day!! We have been busy this summer introducing Bree to all the wonderful things of summer. Bebe and I took Parker, Brett, Crew, and Aubree to the Blueberry patch in Edom to pick blueberries. The bigger boys were a lot of help but as for Crew and Bree well they spent their time playing in the dirt. Which was really pretty cute...Thank goodness we brought a change of clothes cuz Bree was covered in it!! No kidding, head to toe covered. We did pick a large bag full of blueberries and then the kiddos enjoyed some blueberry lemonade. What a treat!! We stopped at an amazing bakery for lunch and enjoyed some delicious food. Another wonderful day that I can't wait to scrapbook about. We have been enjoying this summer so much. I am a summer girl for sure!! I love the water, sunshine, camping and the beautiful scenery of the flowers and green grass around us. We have enjoyed hanging out on our patio most evenings enjoying the fresh air and the quietness of country living. Last Thursday we had the Stewart family over and it was so nice to sit and visit and watch the girls swim. I even commented on how precious it was to sit and hear the girls sweet laughter as they played. They had so much fun. Which is what summer is all about. I hope you all are enjoying this wonderful season!! XOXOX

Malena Louise Spencer Nov. 24, 1977 to June 19, 2004

(This was written on Friday June 19th but not published until today.)Today is an especially difficult day for me and my family. Five painful years ago my beautiful, sister Malena was killed in a horrible car wreck. As I have tried to focus on the wonderful memories of Malena, who I and my family referred to as Nina, left us with. I am reminded of all the hurt and devastation her tragic accident caused me and my family. Nina was the sweetest, most loving, forgiving, non judging person I know. She always thought of helping others and was a very dedicated worker at ETMC Athens where she was a registered phlebotimist going to school to be a nurse. She truly had a heart of gold. I miss her loving personality and the joyfulness of her laughter. She and I had a very close relationship and she was always there for me...never judging me, just always listening and being a friend. She and Kerry were very good friends and like each other in many ways. They both had the same take on many things and would team up against me from time to time. I love the memories I have of the three of us going and doing things together. I am grateful for the 26 years we had her on this earth, but cannot help to wish we had longer. I miss all our long telephone conversations and her rational advice and the way we had so much fun together. Nina wasn't too crazy in the past about the guys I chose to date and usually disapproved. Until Kerry and I started dating that is. She knew Kerry from high school and always thought he was a good person. She liked us together and would go just about every where with us. She even kept us together a few times. We hung out just about every weekend together. It was really cool for us to be so close. Now I am so thankful for all the memories we made and Kerry and I always laugh when we think of my sister. She left us with many fond memories and I know we all miss her dearly. Please remember my family in ur prayers as this is a very difficult time of year for us all. XOXOX

Hello...Where has the time gone?

Ok, I am so sorry that it has been so long since I have posted a blog. So much has been going on in our lives and I have pushed blogging aside. Kerry and I celebrated 4 wonderful years of marriage on May 14th. Bree spent the night with Nona and Daddy and I spent an evening out to dinner and a movie. The years have gone by so fast and we enjoyed our special date in celebration of our anniversary. Bree is so much fun to be around. She loves playing outside and most of all playing in the water. Memorial weekend we went and stayed in The Embassy Suites in Irving and this was her 1st experience of the summer of swimming in a pool. She absolutely loved it!! She couldn't get enough of it. We had such a fun time with her. Then we spent a few afternoons out on the lake boating with the Dugan and Tolar families and that was another favorite for her. She laughed and giggled the whole time we were cruising on the water. She is a little fish! While we were boating Bree went without a diaper for like 6 and 7 hours at a time. She would tell me every time she needed to use the restroom. So I realized that if she could remember to tell me for that amount of time then she could possibly tell me the rest of the time. Hey, it was worth a shot anyway. So, I ran to Wal-Mart and picked up several cute, girly panties for her and we were both so excited. Bree loved wearing her big girl panties and she was so easy to train. Since then(knock on wood) she has done great. We welcomed baby Austin D. Dugan into our world May 29th. Bree went with us to the hospital and was so excited. When he was born she was running and singing in the waiting area, saying "want to see, want to see." We decided to give her dear binky, which she loves so very much, to Austin. It was a lil hard at nap time that afternoon. She cried for it and wanted to go to Nona's house to get another binky.But I convinced her that we gave them all to Austin, even Nona's. And after that she has adjusted rather well.Although every once in a while she wants to go look in the cabinet where they were kept to make sure they are still gone. My baby is such the big girl. Big girl panties and no binky all in the same week. Wow!! Well we wanted to reward her, so we got her two, new baby kittens for being so big. She wanted to name them both Gracie, I think after our Pastor's baby that stays in the nursery with her. But since they are both boys we had to help her pick another name. We named one of them Tiger because he has tiger stripes all over his body and the other one is Lil Blue cuz he is a grayish blue color. They are really sweet and playful and Bree loves to drag them around. Poor kittens!! But they do love her, too. The other morning I was getting her ready to take her to Pa and Mema's house and they were meowing like crazy, as they usually do when they see us. Well Bree said "Kitty's crying, want me...want me to hold them." I though it was so cute. She thinks they are her lil babies and she is their Mommy. She is definitely an animal lover. As natives of Grand Saline we enjoyed introducing Bree to the annual Salt Festival which was held the 1st weekend of June. We took her downtown to the kiddie capers, which she enjoyed. Her favorite thing, which came as no surprise to me, was the petting zoo. She loved the blow up slide and games too. That evening we dressed her up in her Ariat Baby Phat red boots along with a denim skirt and red tee that said, Mommy's Cowgirl and took her to the rodeo. She loved seeing the cows and horses and sat in the bleachers cheering for the calves during the calf roping. It was a lot of fun for us all. She makes everything so much more enjoyable! The Salt Festival will surely be something she looks forward to as her Daddy and I both did when we were kids. We have been so busy with lots of summer birthdays. We recently celebrated Bebe's, Uncle Brandon's, Finlee Rae's, Hardy's and Finley White's, Marti's and Macoy's and we have Hannah's and Crew's this week. Wow, there are a lot of blessings that were born in the summer months. Which means lots of parties and celebrations for us. We have enjoyed celebrating our loved ones and friends so much!! Happy Birthday to them all! Well I know this has been like a huge post of all sorts of things, but I have been going non-stop. I'll try to post again soon. XOXOX

Our babay girl is 2!

Wow...Sunday the 26th Aubree Malena turned 2 years old. It is impossible for me to think of where the time has gone. She is speaking in sentences now and learning her colors. She loves to sing, mainly twinkle twinkle little star and Jesus loves me. She is such a joy to be around. We had a Fancy Nancy party at our house Sunday afternoon to celebrate this milestone. There were 17 kiddos and they enjoyed playing on Bree's new wooden swing set Gramps and Bebe gave her for her b-day. They also enjoyed the cutest pink, tiara cake and banana splits. I tried to take quotes from the book and apply them to the party. There were frilly toothpicks in the sandwiches, cuz Fancy Nancy states that, " Sandwiches always taste better with frilly toothpicks in them." The kids also had fun dressing up Fancy Nancy style. After the party Bree said to me, "Party fun, Momma." It was so sweet. I am glad she enjoyed her party. Thanks everyone for coming and celebrating Bree with us. We have been so blessed by her precious soul. Last week we enjoyed taking Bree to the Van Zandt County Fair. We met The Stewart family at Jerry's for some pizza first and then took the girls for a fun nite at the fair. Bree and Hannah, who is a few months younger than Bree, had fun riding the elephants together. Them and the lil train roller coaster, and the carousel were Bree's favorite rides. She had such a great nite. Daddy even won her a cute, purple stuffed teddy bear. I am just left wondering how my baby got so big so fast?....

Ok I know it has been forever...but I will try to get back on track. We have had such a busy month. I helped give Amie Dugan a sweet shower to get her ready to welcome her precious baby boy, Austin into the world. He is scheduled to arrive May 29th, unless he decides to come earlier. Easter was a great experience for Bree. Lots of egg hunts and candy. We took Bree to the Tuttle ranch, which is one of our neighbors' ranch, for a huge town hunt on Sat. afternoon and then that night we ate supper with Kerry's family and then she hunted eggs with her cousins. We had candy running out our ears at this point, but we still managed to take her to one more hunt on Sunday after church at my great Uncle & Aunt's house. Going to Bobby and Nadine's for Easter has been a tradition in my family since I was small and Bree seemed to enjoy it as much as I always did. She is like a pro now at the egg hunting thing. We celebrated the rising from the dead of Jesus with lots of family and friends and of course we r trying to teach Bree all about the meaning of Easter and everything else. She gets a lil of it. We will just keep teaching her. I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter as well. Aubree has been busy helping us work in the garden and in the flower beds around the house. She mostly just loves to play in the dirt, but she thinks she is helping. We have also been getting the deck and porch fixed up, too. We have been working especially hard to get everything ready for her 2nd b-day party at our house this weekend. She is so excited. She says, " Bree 2, Party with cake, ice cream and friends. " It is so sweet. She tells me like everyday who she wants to be at her party. I cannot believe she is already 2. I haven't been blogging cuz I have been scrapping like crazy to get her 2nd scrapbook finished by her b-day. And I can happily say....it is finally finished. 35 pages that sum up the last year of her precious life. I will post more later...I just wanted to let everyone know I do intend to get better with this again. XOXOX