Silliness...

So Emily goes to AWANA every Monday night....and at AWANA they learn a new Bible verse each week. A couple weeks ago the verse was ...a Savior has been born to you...(Luke 2:11) As you may know you have to teach children her age a couple words at a time till they get it right. So SLOWLY we went....but she got it pretty quick. So the final time I had her say it all the way through by herself. "a Savior has been born to you, and uncle Skisco, and aunt Brittany, Bryce and Emma"....she thought we had been telling her that Xavier (our nephew) instead of a Savior. TOO FUNNY!!!!

The latest in the life of us Warrens

Holy crap! It's been almost 2 months since I last posted....guess I really have been busy! I have been having TS parties like crazy, going to different functions for church, trying to keep Emily entertained until school can start again, trying to keep the house clean or at least manageable, trying to hang with the girls, and so many other things........'tis the season, right!?!? Anywho, we got our first BIG snow (we're talking between 6-8 inches in the past 2 days) of the season and I am taking this opportunity to get caught up, at least a little anyway. Emily has been school less since October 30th....L-O-N-G story there, but hopefully there will be a replacement school SOON!

Work for me has been great. I have had quite a few parties in the past couple months, and 3 more this coming week. I truly have enjoyed getting into the business and seeing all of the opportunities there are for me!

I had a cookie exchange here at the house a couple weeks ago....WHAT FUN! I got some great new recipes and had great fellowship to boot. Can't wait till next year to invite MORE people and have a blast!

We have a new addition to the family.....

His name is Baklava...got that name at the shelter. We decided to keep it cause at the time he was pretty small, pretty sweet, and a little flaky...lol. He truly is the SWEETEST kitty I have ever met. The pic to the right is of him just chillin' on my "shelf". It has become an every day occurrence. The pictures below are of the way he shows his love and affection....he literally gives kisses on the lips and hugs all the time.

We finally got our Christmas tree up this week...only 6 days late. Usually it's up Thanksgiving evening....but it's up. Jay's schedule has been CRAZY and we wanted to put it up as a family, so we had to wait. Almost as soon as we got it up, a little someone wanted to see what it was all about and climbed up and found a spot that was comfy...take a lookSneaky little bugger! He scared the pee out of me. I heard some movement in the tree, but wasn't expecting to have little eyes looking back at me...at eye level. Needless to say we have decided to take extra precautions and REALLY attach all of the ornaments. We might have to leave the tree up till next year since it might take us that long to get everything off of it....lol.

Well I better get back to being a mom for a while. Hope everyone has enjoyed themselves, sorry it's taken so long to post!

BUSY!!!

So for the past couple of weeks I have been SUPER BUSY! I can't seem to get caught up...but I do see the light at the end of the tunnel. I have taken on so many projects, started a new business, gotten Emily envolved in a ton of activities, and I am meeting more people (which in turn means that I have more opportunities to do things with them). Monday nights we are busy. Tuesday and Thursday mornings we are busy. Every other Wednesday morning we are busy. Friday and Saturday we are busy. Sunday mornings we go to church...and then not much for the rest of the day. So I guess Sunday is our true day of rest a week....Until we impliment our get togethers on Sunday evenings. With Jay's work schedule being so CRAZY, we find it hard to have family time, but it does happen at least once a week.

As for my business....It is going slowly. But it is going. I am SUPER close to meeting my second goal of 6 parties by November 5th. BTW if anyone wants to host a party, feel free to contact me!, but only if you know me!!!!!

We just helped our church celebrate it's first year. What a BLAST! If you are interested, you can check out the website for the church at http://www.elementweb.net/ and click on the link for Pastors Blogs and then Pastor Jeff's Blog. Lots of FUN info about the past events along with a 5 min video about the past years happenings.

Well I must go for now. Love to you all!

a quick catch up, and a few tears of joy

So this weekend was a wonderful weekend for me. I got to take a trip from Cheyenne to Billings Montana for a Beth Moore conference! What a great time I had. I went with 5 ladies from our church and had a B L A S T!!! The trip up was one filled with beatuy and laughter. Watching the changing season get more in depth the farther north we went was amazing. The conversations were ones filled with questions to get to know each other better, along with some plain craziness. The conference was so much bigger and better than words can begin to describe. There were 4500 women (and a few guys) packed into this arena listening to one of the best speakers that I have ever listened to. Beth's way of intertwineing her life into her Bible study was phenominal! We laughed so hard that we almost peed our pants...several times. During worship almost everyone in the arena had tears flowing with love for our Father. It was unlike anything I have ever experienced....but believe me I AM going to do it again (in May of next year). We all learned a lot this weekend and can't wait till May!

Now for some tears of JOY!

This morning I am fartin' around on the computer, and I have K-LOVE on the radio. As I was sitting here deciding if I wanted to blog now or later, I heard Emily's voice coming from the other room. She had begun singing that song Amazing Grace ( believe it's by Chris Tomlin..I may be wrong though). During the chorus ("My fears are gone, I've been set free. My God my Savior has ransomed me.........") she sung with all of her might, and I lost it. I have never heard her sing any of the songs from the radio...but her voice singing the words to such a powerful song, made my tears flow like there was no tomorrow. I couldn't help but to be reminded of the great Father we have and that he truly knows how to bring us to our knees, weither through tears of sadness or JOY.

Morning Music

So it's gonna be short this morning....

The first thing Emily asked for this morning was her microphone. Usually it's cartoons, food or nothing at all....but for some strange reason, she wanted her microphone. We bought it for her a couple years ago. It plays music and allows the child to sing into it while the music plays. It's pretty cute, but dang, it's early!

1st day of preschool.....

So the time has come. Emily started preschool yesterday. I think she was totaly psyched because she wore her backpack around the house for an hour and a half before we left. When we got to the school, she took off her backpack and ran to the toys....leaving me behind to pick up after her and then call her to say bye. But she did great. The teacher said that there was no sort of transition issue, because she just jumped in. They only had one kind of small issue with Emily. She kept taking off her shoes. That wouldn't be a big issue but they had a fire drill and they couldn't find her shoes. So on the way home I bought some new tennies that have to be tied. I hope this works for her.

As for the rest of our lives, we have been super busy. We had everyone up for Emily's 3rd b-day and then 2 days later we left for Missouri to help with my mothers house that flooded because of a water pipe leak. Then it's been non stop since we got back home. I do promise to get a couple blogs up about the past few weeks soon!

taking money from strangers....

So this morning Emily and I were at Wal Mart getting the last of our shopping done for the weekend, and we had something weird and unexpected happen. We were standing in by the bananas when this older couple said hello to Emily. I prompted her to respond and she gave a wave along with her quiet hi. As I turned to tell them to have a great day, they told me to bring that "little beauty" over so they could see her up close. So I did. As we walked closer I realized that the wife was holding a dollar bill in her hand. I said that they didn't have to do that and they wouldn't take no for an answer. So I let Emily reach out and take the money, and when she did she said thank you. They explained that they were tickled to have her say hello to them earlier and that they wanted to do something special for her. Then they went into the story of how they have one son, 2 grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren who love 685 miles away, and that they felt the need to spoil a little...so they did. Emily held on to that dollar with all of her might until she decided to put it in her pocket. She even offered to pay for the groceries...

UUUGGGGHHHHH!!

So I woke up this morning earlier than normal because a little girl decided to jump....literally jump into my bed. Then I realized that it was HUMID!! We have been praying for rain around here, but man I tell ya, it would be nice to actually get some! Normally the humidity only rises when it is raining or about to rain.....otherwise, it is so low that sometimes Emily's hair stands on end....pretty funny to see but all of the shocking is not so nice.

We called 8 or so companies to give us an estimate on installing central air in the house, and haven't heard anything for sure.....and I am getting a little impatient! I was told that if I could make it through July I would be able to stand the heat once August hit...yeah right. I have been talking to people who have lived here their whole lives and they say that August is the hottest month here. So with highs already in the 90's I am NOT wanting to "stand the heat" of August!

Sears was one of the companies that we called for an estimate. It turns out that they apparently don't care so much about customer service. I have made two phone calls to set up the appointment and received a planning packet in the mail. On the day of the appointment we waited about 45 minutes after the appointment to call and find out where our rep was. We found out that the rep had supposedly called out phone number only to talk to a Joseph Warren who had never heard of me (duh) and was not aware of any appointment. So they decided that the appointment was bogus and called the whole thing off. Can you believe it? We didn't get any sort of call back from the home office to double check our number (which is what I would think should have happened since they were coming from over 3 hours away). All we got was a bunch of we are so sorry, and you must have given us the wrong number, and well the tech. talked to a Joseph Warren at your number, and after telling them that we were not going to reschedule with them, the last thing the operator said to me was "we'll call you in a couple days to reschedule". After this issue, I am not likely to trust Sears for any sort of installation...tools maybe, but not installation. I mean come on, they have been around for many, many years, and I thought that they were worried about customer service....guess not.

We only have just over a week before family starts to arrive and we still have a TON of work to do. The patio is coming along, SLOWLY. But other than that, we still have to replace the base boards in the living room and hall, get the beds set up for everyone, and make sure that there is enough food for 12 people. Plus all of the extra goodies for Emily's party.

Man I tell ya, sometimes I feel that I have too much going on at one time, and that I'll never get all of the things done that I want to get done before time runs out. (here's the important thing to remember) AT LEAST I HAVE LIFE TO COMPLAIN ABOUT!

8 Years

Today marks the celebration of our 8 year anniversary. Can you believe it......8 YEARS!! I seems like such a short time ago that we were exchanging our vows.......

Now the more that I think about it a lot has happened in that short time! We have moved 7 times, lived in 4 countries (Texas counts for it's own country...lol), gone through 4 pets and currently on numbers 5 and 6, traveled countless miles to visit family and friends, had one amazing child, eaten some pretty strange things, lived in 9 homes and finally have one to call our own, owned 8 vehicles, we have gained more weight that either of us wish to tell, our "stuff" has grown from a car load to well over 7,000 pounds........this is pretty fun, but I better move on.

All of these things have happened because two people met, became friends, fell in love, and got married.....pretty amazing stuff!

Long time!

So it seems like forever since I last posted....guess maybe it has been a while. I did paint the living room blue....it turned out well! Now our focus is on the back yard. We are putting in a patio and let me tell you, it's hard work. The ground here seems to be made of mostly clay with a little sand mixed in about a foot down. Digging is the hardest part. I hate digging! In the past couple days we have put in a small retaining wall and started to put the steps in. Our next course of action is to level the ground and lay the sand and stones. We only have a couple things left to do, but I know it will take a couple weeks to finish. I promise to post pics of our work once we have finished! We are also working in the house. We decided to take the carpet up in the bedrooms and hall upstairs. We knew there were hardwood floors underneath, so we took a chance. We now realize that we have a lot of tedious work ahead of us. The previous owners decided to paint the walls without laying some sort of protective sheet down. There are paint splatters EVERYWHERE!!! I have no idea what they were thinking. But we are going to clean them up and make them shine! Now if we could only get central air......

Been BUSY!!

This week Jay has the week "off". He still has little things here and there that he must take care of, but for the most part he is home. So we decided to make the most of the time and work on the yard and get it ready for family visitors. I will post pictures when I get around to taking some.

I miss having my girls around!

So as you can tell by my title, I am a little lonely! We have lived here about 6 months and I haven't really met any friends. I mean I joined MOPS, only to attend 3 meetings and then the session ended for the summer. There has only been one squadron function, and I did meet one gal there, but I think she has a ton of things going on in her life that will prevent us from getting to be good friends. Our neighbors are the "keep to yourself" type people. And I am here. With Emily most days, not really doing much of anything. Just hangin out. Trying to get things finished around the house, only to get to the point that I don't want to do much of anything because I see this house all of the time! I know it's crazy, but that's how I feel. So seriously, I think I need to make some friends! Hopefully when MOPS starts back up in September, friendships will begin to flourish!

silly woe's

So we have lived in this home for about 3 months now, and I wanted to paint the living room. It is currently brown and cream with a lot of brown thrown in for good measure. You see we wanted to have hardwood floors, that added brown in a big way. Then we have the shrunk....which is brown. Of course we bought out sectional which is 3 shades of brown. And there is the issue of the brown wall from the previous owners. I HATE BROWN!! So I have decided to go with a light Wedgwood blue for the walls. Hoping that it will look tasteful and not too "fad-ish". So I guess while Jay is gone with work, I shall try it out.....maybe. If I can get other things done, then I might just go ahead with the painting....maybe....

I've been around for 30 years....

Ok so I turned the BIG 30 on April 29th....yeah me! I just figured that I was going to get 30 of something from Jay and call it a day. Boy was I wrong! On the 28th Jay was returning from the field and told me to have a bag for Emily and I packed for an overnight trip. He wouldn't tell me where we were going.....drove me nuts not to know what was going on. So when he got home we finished up a couple of things and headed down the road. All I was told was that we were going somewhere in Nebraska. (I figured since Emily and I just got home from visiting Cherith and Morgan that there was no real good reason for us to drive 7 hours just to get up the next morning to return home, so I had no clue where we were going.) We drove about 2 hours to...well...I forget the name of the town at the moment, but after about an hour into the trip he told me that was where we were going. We stopped for gas and some coffee, and once he got back in the car he confessed. We were not stopping in at_______(still forgetting the name of the town), but we were going on to Omaha. SURPRISE!! Ok so you would think that I would be happy to make the trip again in less than a week, but I was tired. I was not prepared for such a long trip. It was late and all I wanted to do was lay down in a comfey bed. BUT no. I couldn't do that. We still had about 6 hours worth of travel ahead of us. So we carried on. At that point we had no cell phone reception, so we wern't able to contact Cherith and let her know how far we had to go. We finally stopped at a truck stop and called her. A few hours later we arrived in Papillion. Around 2am...in the morning people. Emily had a nap...well she fell asleep and after about 4 hours she woke up ready to play with Morgan. SO finally around 4am we all fell asleep hoping that Emily would sleep past 7am. Well she did, she slept until 8am.....woo-freakin-who. 4 hours of sleep....not good!! I woke up on my birthday with a headache and I was tired as crap! I still had no idea what was going on that day. I wanted to take a nap, and Jay sad that I would have the opportunity. What was the opportunity you ask? Well it was another 4 hour car ride from Omaha to Harrisonville Missouri. So for the 4 hours I tried to get out of him what was going on. NOTHING!! He wouldn't tell me anything. We arrived in Harrisonville after picking up Cisco (our brother in law) tired, hungry and a little cranky, but we arrived. Jay had managed to rent the B&B next to his parents house, and our families were waiting there to celebrate my birth. HOW freakin cool was that? I had NO clue, his family knew...even Britt his sister, who can not keep a secret to save her life. We ate and talked until late in the evening and then headed off to bed. The next day Cherith and Morgan headed down and stayed with us for a couple of days. On Thursday we had a photo shoot with Cherith, which was FUN! Other than the not knowing what was going on (I like the idea of being surprised, but I don't like it when I can't figure it out before hand), being a built in baby sitter, and having my mother in law do something really STUPID, we had a great time. So that's what I did on my 30th birthday. Jay finally pulled of a surprise, and it only took him 9 years...lol. I would love to hear what you did on your 30th!

randomness

So we got new livingroom furniture....well a sectional to be exact. Here is a picture of Emily being silly on the sectional. I think she may have a little model in her....lol.

Easter Sunday came a little quickly for us this year. We wern't ready with the eggs or baskets. (yes, yes I know we are bad parents) Luckily realtor Liz brought over an Easter basket for Emily a couple days prior to Easter. She got a hat, a purse, a basket, and some candy out of the deal. We truly are blessed to have Liz in our lives!

Our new home

So, as you can tell we have a new home. We finally took the plunge, and it feels good to say this one belongs to us! I tell you that buying a home is not that hard, just a little nerve racking....but what isn't. Below you will find the beginning of our home-ownership story....

We arrived here in Cheyenne at the end of January 2008. We wanted to see what kind of housing was available, and once we were told that there was at least a years wait for base housing, we solidified out decesion to buy. We contacted USAA and they hooked us up with a realtor (Liz Burgen, in case you were wondering) and we began our home search. The first day we saw 17 homes and the next day we saw 13....I think it was 13 anyway. We say homes ranging from really nice to eeeeewwweeee, why would anyone want to live here. Liz took us all around town, and even as far as 10 miles out of the city....not that far, but factor in the snow and ice that falls here and the commute could be way too long. Then we found it....the one (or so we thought). We put an offer on a home that we really liked! We started taking measurements and pictures to decide how we would do things throughout the house. Within a few hours we heard back from the sellers with a counter-offer. So we in turn countered. It seemed like things were going smoothly, and then within the last hour they had to respond, we heard that they pulled out of the deal because they got another offer......that was better than ours......poopie!

So we were a little upset. But then Liz said she had a few houses she wanted us to take a look at. So we loaded up the car and met her. The first house was....well....really lived in. The second, was too small. The third was perfect. Liz said she didn't know why she hadn't taken us to see this house before, but here we were. The rooms were good sized, the kitchen was a little small, but had potential. There's a play set and a dog run. Ok this could work. We could put in a few cabinets and make the kitchen a little more liveable. The garage is HUGE! We could park both cars inside and still have room for manville. Ok off to the basement. We were looking at the laundry room and we heard Emily from another room saying "Look, Veggie tales". We said no we can't watch the movie at the moment, but maybe later. But she kept saying "Look, Veggie tales". So as we moved on to look at more rooms, we realized what Emily was talking about. There was a room decorated with Veggie Tales wallpaper. That was it. The house was sold as far as Emily was concerned. Once we finished looking at all of the rooms, we felt the same way. There were enough rooms for each of us to have our own space, as well as room for LOTS of visitors. So we went back to Liz's office and filled out paperwork for an offer. A couple of days later we heard that our offer was accepted. Yippie! We scheduled our inspections and waited for things to happen.....you know normal things that happen when you buy a home. There is a lot of waiting and wondering....and more waiting! But then came closing day. February 28th 2008. The BIG day. We arrive at 8 am to sign papers. It takes about 45 minutes, then we are done. We closed! We own a home! So we headed out to the house with our bread basket in hand (from Liz). We got there and the son in law was still taking things out of the house. So we wondered why. Once we walked around the house we realized they had not cleaned. We headed to TLF to gather our stuff and gave Liz a call to let her know what shape the house was in. Then the phone call came. We were about 15 minutes from checking out of TLF, and Liz said there was a problem and the previous owners didn't close. That was all the info she had for us at that time, and told us she would call back. A couple hours of waiting and we finally heard from her. Aparently the sellers were not aware of the amount of money it was going to take to close their deal (they had crappy agents!!). So we were worried. We had 2 days left before TLF kicked us out and no other place to turn. Liz told us that things would work out, and that we just needed to give it some time. About 4pm, Liz called us to tell us that the finally closed! What a relief! We couldn't wait to get to the house! But then Liz reminded us that part of our contract was that we would close on Thursday, but couldn't move in until Friday....giving the sellers a chance to clean once their things were out of the house....it all made sense! Friday morning came and we were so excited...again! It was ours. We finally had a place to knock down walls and paint...or whatever we wanted to do! Horray!

Thus far in homeownership, things have gone well. We have had a couple of issues, but we are in the middle of correcting them. So until next time, have a great day!

Off we go

So here it is, time for me to create a blog. I guess that by doing this I will be able to keep family and friends updated on how things are going and add some of our thoughts as well. Come along with us as we go through highs and lows of homeownership, laugh out loud by some of the things we say and just enjoy watching us grow. Until next time......toodles.