Halloween was so much fun this year. Aubree ask to be a lady bug back in September and we found a very cute costume on the internet. Thankfully it fit her to a T. She wasn't too fond of the wings though. The strapes cut into her shoulders and bothered her. Grand Saline held the annual Goody Trail and this was probably the most people I have ever seen at it. The trail of costumed kids was awesome and afterwards we went to the carnival as well. Aubree enjoyed playing the fun games and visiting with all her friends. She is a social butterfly for sure. After all the excitement and seeing friends and family we ordered pizza and she was fast asleep in no time. All the excitement wore us all out. We celebrated Kerry's cousin Tim's marriage to Shannon at a beautiful ceremony and reception in Bullard. The wedding was beautiful and so much fun. It was a great time of fellowship with all Kerry's family. This particular weekend was a very blissful time but also one that was very sad for me and my family. On the same evening as the rehersal dinner I went to see my Aunt Wanda who was in ICU at ETMC in Tyler. She had a major heart attack and her organs were shutting down. Mom and I went in to see her and I held her hand and she looked at me and squeezed my hand and then not long after that she received her wings and heaven got another angel. I have always been very close to Aunt Wanda and it was hard to say good bye. I miss her dearly but am so glad she isn't living in pain. I have a very large, close family and during this time I was reminded how precious it is to have one another to lean on. This past weekend was a very exciting weekend for my home town. Grand Saline hosted the 1st Annual Peanut Butter Festival. We are home to a really unique PB store, Nutty's. They make their own 12 flavors of PB. It's a real cute, old fashioned store on Main Street kinda a diner type shop that has hand dipped ice cream , fudge, candy and of course pb. The festival was a huge success and Grand Saline attempted and successfully broke the world record with the largest peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It weighed 1,343 lbs and was massive. The peanut butter, jelly and bread all had to be made within 24 hours and in a certain distance from the location as the sandwich was assembled. It was an awesome experience and is cool to know that the world record no longer belongs to Oklahoma, but resides right here in East Texas. Pretty neat huh?!? The festival consisted of tons of vendors, rides, games, food and live music and entertainment. Aubree won 1st runner up in the 3-4 yr old category at the festival pageant. She was so beautiful and had a blast strutting her stuff. She was also awarded the "IT FACTOR" of her group. She was tickled to receive 2 trophies and said to me as we exited the stage, "Momma, did I do AWESOME?" As she stuck her precious , lil hand up for a high five. My reply of course was, "Yes, sweetheart you were awesome." The entire festival was so much fun and I am glad we got to be a part of it. We are so blessed and I am looking forward to some fun time next week with both our families as we celebrate Thanksgiving. I am so thankful that I serve a mighty God, for my family, our health, my friends, our jobs and all the many blessings in our lives. I am so blessed I could list them for days. WOW now that's a blessing; to be so blessed. Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Fall Fun

We had a wonderful time at the State Fair of Texas. It has become one of our family traditions. Kerry and I have been going together since 2001. We have so many fond memories and love to take pictures of the good times we share there. It's cool to see how much and how little we change over the years. There are pictures of Aubree in my belly and then every year there after. This year was by far the greatest for her. I know I probably say that every year. But it was priceless. The girl smiled the entire day and I can still hear her deep, belly laugh as she rode the kiddie rides and even a couple that I myself was a lil scared of. She is so brave. She laughed hysterically on one ride in particular that went super fast and then even went backwards. I was watching on the side but am so thankful she asked Bebe to ride that one with her. Thanks, Bebe, for saving me. Lol! We had a wonderful time visiting the exhibits and shows. And last but not least, trying all the food. It was a grand time and I am so thankful for all the wonderful memories. Nona and Gramps and Bebe enjoyed it so much they wanted a souvenir. They got a good deal for buying two so they purchased hot tubs at the fair and should be having them delivered any day now. That's kinda an odd sounding souvenir, but one we are all excited about. Hopefully, soon we can be enjoying some hot tubbing at both Nona and Gramps and Bebe's. We have been so blessed by beautiful fall weather. Aubree and I enjoy playing outside almost every afternoon. Her favorite thing to do is lock hands and run through the yard and pasture with our puppies chasing us and nipping at our ankles. It is beautiful to see how much she enjoys running outside. I love it and hope we can enjoy it for many years. We enjoyed a week full of fun homecoming festivities lat week. The parade was Aubree's favorite and she talked all weekend about going to the football game and wearing her pretty mum. I love the small town pleasures that she enjoys so much. Again, they are priceless. Saturday we celebrated a dear friends 2nd birthday and then her Momma's(who is a little older but I won't reveal her age). We went out for an adults night of good food and good times with our friends. Uncle Julio's still ranks pretty high on my list, might I add. We finished the night off with some great live music and then retired for the evening at the Marriott Courtyard. It is always so nice to spend time with our friends, even though we miss our baby girl dearly. It was a great weekend. Only thing that could have made it any better would have been to see the Cowboys win but I have learned not to rely on them so much. Win or lose I will always be a fan. I just smile and go on with life either way. Excited for what the Rangers got going on and hope to see them advance after tomorrows game. Let's Go Rangers!

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.