Feeling so blessed today. Blessed that I have a career I love and a job at a great, small hometown hospital that allows me to do what I love and be only a few minutes down the road from my baby girl. It is so nice to work with people I grew up around and to have the opportunity to provide care for people right here in my own community. I am loving this opportunity God has given me. I am also feeling blessed because I am at peace with what all has been going on with my thyroid. I am happy to report that my medicine is doing the trick. My thyroid levels tested normal this past time and the cyst, which is called a goiter is shrinking. It is down to 3.2x 2 cm. I am so relieved and happy that this was able to be corrected with medicine. God is so good! I will continue to monitor it but am so pleased with the way it turned out. Got a fun filled weekend planned with a beautiful forecast ahead. Gonna spend the evening relaxing at home. This is probably Aubree's favorite thing to do. She is becoming a pro at riding her bike and loves to play outside. She is a really smooth driver, and the puppies spend a lot of time chasing her in her gator too. I enjoy leisure time at home like this. Although it is rare. We are going tomorrow to the Sate Fair of Texas and I can hardly wait. Aubree will enjoy the games and rides so much more this year than the previous years. Hope you all have a blessed and wonderful weekend.

Another 2 months post rolled into 1 big blog

Hmmm, Where should I start? We were busy in the month of August celebrating summer with a wonderful Casey Donahew concert under the stars. It was an awesome performance and made me even more of a fan. We enjoyed our night out with good food, good friends and good music. We spent the weekend of Aug. 14th in Houston celebrating Kerry's Dad's parents 60th wedding aniversary. They requested the entire family(there were 35 of us) travel to Houston and have an outdoor photo shoot of everyone together and then some family groups. It was priceless. Afterwards we had a cookout and pool party at Kerry's uncle and aunts house. It was a great time. On Saturday everyone traved to the Nasa Hilton and we enjoyed the day and then spent the evening at the Kemah beach boardwalk. There we ate at the Aquarium which was fabulous and enjoyed live entertainment and music. This was a really neat trip and I am so glad we got to share in their celebration. We met up with my girlfriends for a girls day the following weekend. Aubree enjoyed having her nails painted at the saloon for the first time. She chose neon green and I must say her nails were hard to miss for days. She was so good and still though. Bee was so impressed she gave us the entire bottle of green nail polish. Either that or it is so hidious only Aubree had chosen it. LOL! Either way we got neon green nails and toes anytime we like. Aubree started tap and ballet leasons the 2nd Monday of Sept. She is so cute in her pink tights and black leo. They are learning the basics and it is the highlight of my Monday(Nona's too. She doesn't miss a class). Aubree still loves gymnastics too. The running around to this lesson and that has already started and it is so much fun. But makes me a lil sad that she is growing up so fast. We have a full pledge petting zoo now at Kindle farm. In addition to our 11 yr old golden retriever Alex, and our 16 month old cat Blue, we have our duck Cinderella, Dora, and Polly and now two baby pups Max and Zoe. I wasn't kidding about the zoo was I? It's a lot of mouths to feed but we are animal people and love our zoo so much. I was against two new pups but Kerry and Aubree baited me in and made it hard to resist theses precious pups. They are outside dogs and they run and play with Aubree so well. She is the happiest 3 year old around. So life is good. Mom threw me an awesome birthday dinner on the 10th with all my close friends and family. Seafood always makes me happy and mom went all out with hot pink and zebra decorations and chocolate cake. It was a great time and if I had to turn another year older there is no other way I would like to spend it. We went out the following night for an adult evening of good food and live music. Kerry thoughtfully surprised me with a new Victoria's Secret perfume and also a pair of black Coach boots that I love and the sweetest card I have ever gotten. He never siest to amaze me and knows how to spoil me rotten every day of my life but he always puts a lil extra effort in on my birthday. After a steak dinner at Four Winds Steakhouse with his parents and my mom the following week I couldnt have had a better birhtday. I feel so blessed by all the people in our lives. A family RVing trip with my grandparents, mom and three generations of the Phillips family at Hawkins Lake wrapped up the month of September. We had a fun trip and Aubree is definitely a lil camper. We are loving the beautiful fall temperatures October has brought us. This weather is perfect! We have eatten atleast half of our meals out on the deck this past week enjoying the changing season. Happy Fall Y'all!!

Summer Lovin.....

I know this is a redundant statement that is in like all my latest blogs, but I absolutely LOVE summer!! We are outdoors type of people and enjoy grilling, relaxing outside on the deck, gardening, fishing, camping, long walks and runs in the warm evening air and beautiful days playing in the water. Those were just a few of the wonderful past times we have been enjoying this summer. We spent the entire week RVing a couple weeks ago at a lovely family rv resort. We had a great time enjoying the lazy summer days where the only time schedule we were on depended on what time the pool opened and closed. It was a great week!! Aubree has learned to swim under water and is getting really close to being able to swim on top of the water. I am so impressed with her progress this summer. We also enjoyed a road trip with Kerry's parents to Austin last weekend . It is always refreshing to get a way for a few days. Kerry helped his Uncle Steve build a privacy fence with the guys while us ladies enjoyed a more leisure trip. We did a good deal of shopping at the Round Rock Outlet Mall. I love that place, too! So much to see and do but just not enough time to do it all in. Oh well, it was probably better on my check book that away. Lol! It was a great trip that included lots of shopping and good eatting of course. Aubree had her first dental appointment a few weeks ago. She did fantastic and loved Dr. Richie. She got a good report with no cavities. He advised me to not allow her to have her OJ in the middle of the night as she has been accustom to having. So we immediately started giving her a cup of water to take to bed. She no longer even wakes up during the night for a drink. Which is great for us both. I am a light sleeper and always woke up when she did. So we are FINALLY sleeping through the entire night....most nights anyway. That is such a nice improvement. She remembered almost everything the doc told her and reminds me often if I am not following his orders to a tee. Aubree is also doing well in gymnastics and still anxiously awaits her weekly lesson. The girl is so full of energy and coming up with the craziest things these days. She is a hoot! She loves to play outside and the other day got such a kick out of playing in the water hose while I was watering the flower beds. She laughed so hard and thought she was so funny when she sprayed me or Kerry. She can turn the small simple chores of day to day living into fun, joyful times. She lights up our home and makes the world a better place. I could talk about the joy she brings to us for hours. On another exciting note, I am getting ready to change jobs and am really excited about the opportunity God has laid before me. I am leaving the office I have been in for the past 2 1/2 yrs to take a job at the hospital in my hometown, Grand Saline. I am nervous about the change of jobs but am very excited about the possibilities ahead. I will be trading in my long work days and 2 hrs of drive time a day to be right here in town. It will allow me so much more time with my family and I am excited to be able to contribute to the community I grew up in. My grandmother worked all of my childhood at the clinic there, so I have a lot of fond memories of it. I am sad to leave the office I have been in but feel this is a chance I must take. It will be a great opportunity and is a blessing for me and my family. We have another fun Saturday at Splash Kingdom Water Park in store this weekend and I can't wait for the good times ahead. Hope everyone has a great weekend!! XOXO

Here I am again blogging a whole months worth into one mega blog. I do apologize and am going to try harder to sit down and post more frequently. God has been doing some amazing things in my life! I have been enjoying this summer and seeking God"s plan and will for me and my family. In my career I am blessed with ample opportunity to show God's love and grace and I have really enjoyed reaching out to my patients. However, it is my desire to step out of my comfort zone and seek Him in every opportunity. He continues to pour down His blessings and I am ever so grateful! I experienced some really difficult times last month when I discovered a 5.7cm x 3.2cm complex cyst on my left thyroid. After having a complete ultrasound, thanks to a girlfriend of mine from college, Dr. Zeb sent me to an ENT in Rockwall who did some blood work and discovered I have hypothyroidism. Which means I have an under active thyroid. Dr. west is hopeful that is what caused the cyst and he started me on synthroid. He then scheduled me to have a fine needle aspiration(FNA) done at Lake Point Medical Center. There a pathologist collected some of the cells and tested them. They drained 20cc of fluid out of the cyst at that time. Thank God 72 hours later the pathology report came back benign. Unfortunately the cyst has came back and is currently 4 cm x 3.2 cm. I am scheduled to see an Endocrinologist in Tyler on July 12th to get my medicine regulated and hopefully then the cyst can be drained and will stay that way. According to Dr. West that is a long shot but is worth a try being that I am not crazy about the alternative of having my left thyroid removed. I have learnt a lot during this process and God reminded me how precious life and the everyday small stuff really is. Often in life we get caught up in the day to day routine and take our health for granted. I am guilty of that and am trying to be more appreciative of all the blessings in my life. On another note, Mom and I recently took Aubree in for her 3 year check up. I still take her to MDPA in Coppell due to my dislike of change. I am comfortable there and they have seen her since the day she was born. She hit a big growth spurt this past year. She has always been in the low percentiles for her age but not anymore. She weighed 32 lbs and that put her in the 50%. She was in the 5% at her 2 yr check up and in the 3% for height and now she is in the 75% for height. The doll grew 6 inches in one year. I remain amazed at that. We had a great visit with Dr. LeYoung and then enjoyed a fabulous lunch. Following lunch we headed over to Fire Wheel Shopping Center and shopped a bit. Aubree enjoyed using her birthday gift card at Build- A-Bear. She picked out and designed a white unicorn in pink princess attire on roller skates. It is adorable! And her new bff for the moment. Also in the past month we welcomed a dear, sweet, new addition to the Phillips family. Justin Rex Phillips was born on May 18. He is so precious and to me favors his big sister Finlee Rae. I know Audra and Justin are proud parents and probably very tired too. Audra said its a hard transition going from one child to two. I hope I know the feeling in the next couple of years. Lol! We have been enjoying our season passes to the Splash Kingdom Water park in Canton. This year Bree is tall enough to ride the big tube slides with me. She absolutely loves the big blue one! I love it too....mostly because I enjoy hearing her deep, belly laugh all the way down it. What memories we are making!! I have been loving every minute of summer and all the fun it brings. We have an all American camping/boating trip planned for this weekend to celebrate July 4th. Its us and the Phillips family and we can all hardly wait. Happy Summer 2 u all!!!

So Much To Do, So Little Time To Post!

Sorry to all who have been wondering why it has been so long. The only excuse I have is...LIFE. We have been going from day to day and everyday I have the intention of blogging and then look back and remember, oops I forgot! So where do I start? In the month of April I helped host a baby shower for one of my besties, Audra Phillips. It was a fun shower that my girlfriends threw for her. Man did she rack up on the lil boy things. Baby Rex is already so blessed with overwhelming love. We also enjoyed our first camping trip in the new RV. We went to Whispering Pines along with Pa and Mema, Uncle Bobby and Aunt Nadine, and Kerry and Darla Phillips. It was the first voyage for Pa and Mema's, Kerry and Darla's and our trailer. We had a great time and enjoyed the new roomy camper so much. It is like double the room we had in our other camper. The trip was so fun and Aubree and Finlee were great entertainment. Lol! Aubree Malena Kindle hit another milestone in April. It was three wonderful years ago April 26th that God blessed us with a beautiful baby girl. She had a wonderful Mickey Mouse Clubhouse party. It was in our back yard just as she requested. All her friends came and enjoyed her playhouse, swing set and trampoline. She loved it!! They also enjoyed driving around her new green gator(Aubree refers to it as her tractor). I had the patio decorated in all MMCH decor with huge balloons and streamers. Salt City Sweats made this amazing two layered MMCH cake that was breath taking. It turned out just as I had requested. I threw in a few snacks and drinks and as Aubree put it, we had the best party ever! It was a huge success and I so enjoyed watching all the kids play and enjoy themselves. The girls didn't even give the boys a chance at the pinata. It only took about four beauties to have that thing busted. Watch out guys, we got some tough girls around here. He-he! Happy 3rd Birthday to the apple of my eye! You have blessed us more than you will ever know. With this beautiful spring weather we have been enjoying our beautiful patio and back yard. We have enjoyed many BBQ's and cookouts with our friends and family and look forward to hosting many more. I love this time of year. The beautiful weather and late evening sunsets are my favorite. Plus it allows for Aubree to do what she loves most, play outside. Kerry completed his 2nd semester with all A's again. He made the President's and Dean's list again. I am so very proud and excited for him! And for us, cuz we got the whole summer to enjoy him home in the evening with us. Yippie!! Another reason I love this time of the year! I had a fabulous Mother's day and enjoyed spending the day with my Mom and Grandparents for lunch and a nap and then that evening enjoyed a shrimp boil with Kerry's Mom and family. We are surrounded by loving, caring, Godly, amazing Moms that are such a great example of how a Mom should be. It was truly a blessed day. Last Friday, May 14th was me and my honey's 5th wedding anniversary. As much as I would have loved to run away with my groom, due to our schedule at this time we were unable to take a trip but have a couple in the making for later. We did enjoy a fabulous, romantic dinner at Four Winds Steakhouse and of course ice cream to follow. We spent the night talking and laughing and well, I will spare ya the juicy details. Needless to say it was a great evening and we both enjoyed our anniversary to the fullest. I could not imagine my life any other way and had no idea how someone could complete me the way he does. He knows EVERYTHING about me, even my darkest secrets and feelings and still he loves me unconditionally. He is the only person who I can completely be myself around and know no matter what he has my back. He makes me feel so safe and secure and loves me like I never imagined. We have had our ups and downs, but in the end of the day we always know where our heart belongs. He is my soul mate and my one TRUE love. I look forward to the rest of our lives together. I knew I had chosen a great man to be my husband, but never imagined how wonderful of a father he would be and how every day together gets better and better. I am such a lucky girl to call him my man! The rest of the last few weeks have been filled with what to some may seem like boring everyday life but to me it is a treasure. I have enjoyed some rays by the pool watching Aubree splash around with her Daddy(the water is still a lil too cold for me). We have also enjoyed a craw fish eating with some dear friends and neighbors and Aubree's first recital, if u will, at church. It was so cute! Her class sang three songs and she did an amazing job. I was a proud Momma once again. Like I said, that may all seem mundane to some but to us it is precious, just as everyday is. ~Come grow old with me, the best is yet to be.

LITTLE MISS VAN ZANDT COUNTY

There is a queen among us!! As if she ever lets us forget. She is already treated like royalty by all of her grandparents and great grandparents but just to make it official Aubree had to get herself a crown. A couple of weeks ago Aubree was in the Miss Van Zandt County Pageant and did such a good job. She was so big on stage and hit every X all by herself. She is a ham and ate up all the attention and being center stage. It was so cute how she waved and blew kisses and pranced around. We have it on video if anyone ever needs a good laugh. Its hilarious how much personality this chic has. I love it...could be because I am her mother but I will proudly say she is a beautiful doll any day of the week. I curled her hair on hot stix for the first time before the pageant and that was so "cool" to her. I think those are the same hot stix Malena used to curl my hair sophomore year of high school for the Favorite's dance and those babies still worked like a charm. The curl held all day. Her hair was so pretty, too. During the crowning she was so sweet and so proud. She clapped for all the girls and even for herself when they crowned her Little Miss Van Zandt County. She loved her trophies, flowers and crown so much! She wanted to carry the trophies everywhere, even to church the next morning. She was so happy and that made me so happy too.

What a beautiful time of year!

We are loving this beautiful spring weather! Thanks to day light savings I now can almost cram everything I need to get done into the day. Almost! Aubree is loving playing outside lots, too. It's just beautiful! We had a delightful Easter weekend. Friday afternoon Aubree and I met a friend at First Monday Trade Center and enjoyed shopping out in the sunshine. It was a perfect day and we enjoyed the leisure time together. Saturday we did some good ole fishing at Tuttle ranch and then went to the community egg hunt and play day at the ranch. Bree loved it all. She is such a lil fisherman. She is not scared to grab the bait or fish either one. She also enjoyed the egg hunt. This year she is not bashful. She found a bucket full of candy. The highlight for her though I do believe was the horse back riding. She loved it!! She also enjoyed participating in the egg races, obstacle courses, bounce houses and other games they had set up. It was a perfect day to spend out at the ranch. That evening we went out for delicious Mexican food and then called it a day. A wonderful day indeed.
Resurrection Sunday was a wonderful day as well. We rushed out of the house in our Easter best and enjoyed worshipping with all our family in Christ. I had organized a breakfast for our Sunday school class and it turned out flawless.(If I do say so myself.) Thanks everyone for chipping in and making it a success. After a very heartfelt worship we went to Kerry's parents to spend time with some of his family. It was a delicious meal and a great time spent with my other family. We arrived at my great Uncle Bobby and Aunt Nadine's at 4pm just in time for the traditional egg hunt. It is always so much fun cuz the "young" adults hunt along with the 2 little girls. This year it was all about Aubree and Finlee, my cousin and bff's lil doll. The girls are great friends and cared more about being next to each other than actually hunting. Although they both managed to snag a basket full of goodies. Bree is a fast learner, she would shake the eggs and if they didn't jingle she threw them down. It was hilarious!! The girl is a toot I am telling ya. Funny thing is she would rather have change than dollar bills. Oh well, her loss was Finlee's gain. We ate supper with my family and then visited for a while before we made another round by Kerry's parents. It was a busy day!! But such a blast and Bree got to have another egg hunt at Gramp's and Bebe's before the sun went down. It was such a blessed and beautiful day to celebrate the rising of our Savior. Oh and I almost forgot to mention the 4 new members of our family that were Bree's early Easter present from us. Last week Kerry and I took Aubree to get 4 baby ducks. They are so cute and messy all at the same time. The idea is to raise them inside until they are big enough to live out on our pond. We will see if I can stand them that long. LOL! Actually they aren't so bad, but they are noisy and messy. However, Bree is crazy about them. She holds them and sings to them and reads to them. It's adorable!! She wakes up and the first thing she says is "Can I hold my ducks?" She has named them all by herself. Cinderella(that's her favorite duck), Belle, Daisy and Donald Duck. It is really fun having them around....most of the time.