Sunday, October 31, 2010

Happy Birthday Dad!!!

Happy Birthday Dad!!!  Randal Jean, Matt and I love you so much!

Your passion for food and cooking has certainly rubbed off on me.  You are the first person I want to call after I have had a good meal.  The first person I call when I need help with a recipe or need to figure out a replacement ingredient.  And you are the reason why I don't have a favorite restaurant....because you are the best chef I know.  Seriously, your shrimp and grits, brunswick stew, clam chowder, etc, etc, are the best in the world!!!

On a more serious note, Dad, I want to thank you for taking a more vested interest in yourself a few years ago and finally going to the dermatologist about some questionable spots and also kicking your smoking habit.  Since having Randal I have really thought about how lucky we are that your timing to finally agree and see a dermatologist (after much nagging I might add) was just in time that your cancer had not spread.  And what really makes me proud is that you put your pride aside and gave hypnosis a try and were able to quit a 30 (give or take) year smoking addiction cold turkey.  I don't think I have every really told you how PROUD I am of you for quitting, but I am overwhelming proud.  Taking a more vested interest in you ultimately means you are taking a more vested interest is us (your family) and are committed to celebrating as many birthdays with us as possible.  

Here's to you Dad!  I love you!
25 years ago at Hatteras
Present day helping his granddaughter walk

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween everyone!!!

For Halloween Randal Jean was a Panthers cheerleader :)  I made her dress which reads "Panthers" on the front and some fleece pom poms.  

The reverse of the dress has a little ghost on it :)

Randal playing with candy...dont worry she didnt get any this year

She thinks bags of skittles and big pumpkins are pretty great

My pumpkin is in a pumpkin!!!  For the record when I bought the hat and had this picture in mind I had no clue how big my baby would be by the time Halloween rolled around.  Seriously, she is growing too fast!  Also, could you please note that my child is standing in the pumpkin all by herself without holding on to anything.  We are going to have our hands full very soon....

Playing with the pumpkin goo

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

3 years!!!

Today is our 3 year wedding anniversary and my has time flown by!!!  This blog has been a bit sappy as of late so I will try not to get to gushy on all of you....if you want a lovey dovey anniversary post you can read last year's post.  For our three year anniversary I will take you all down memory lane :)

Matt and I met when we were sophomores in high school at the Kernersville Spring Folly.  Well, technically I met him on the way there....he was my ride.  Although I was 16 I didn't have my license yet, and he did so he took my friend, Sara Beth, and I to our annual town festival.  Matt's first car was a silver Sentra and it makes me laugh now to think back about that car.  If you now Matt, he is as far from a silver Sentra kinda guy as they come.  Anyways, that night I told my friend Sara Beth and thought I liked him. And so it begins....  Soon enough Matt's friend Sam got a hold of this information and told me Matt was interested too.  This was a TOTAL LIE!!!!  Sam told me that Matt was expecting a call from me and gave me his number.  Somewhere I got the nerve to call him and he totally was not expecting this.  Like I said, Sam lied...  That first phone call wasn't too eventful as I don't remember any of it, but I do remember thinking I was going to kill Sam next time I saw him.  

For almost a year Matt and I would hang out but nothing too serious as neither us could get on the same page about being in (or out) of a relationship at the same time.  In fact I remember one night before we were an official couple he was going through his phone and he told me that he had so many Katies in his phone (such the ladies man) that I was listed as "Matt's Katie."  For the record before this moment I was totally leaning towards the lets be a couple but as soon as I heard the possession in "Matt's Katie" I was done.  I had never had a real boyfriend before so to hear a guy call me his more than freaked me out!

Well I obviously gave in to being "Matt's Katie" or I wouldn't be writing this.  About a year after we met in March 2002 Matt and I became an official couple and although we have had our share of high and lows we haven't taken a break for a minute!!!

So that's how I came to be "Matt's Katie" and I am ever so proud to be his girl :)

Here's a look back at Matt and I through some pictures:

Prom 2002

Summer of 2002
 Summer of 2003
Christmas 2003
 Sometime during our sophomore year of college (2004/5)
Summer 2005 in NYC

Matt's graduation Dec. 2006
Engaged!!!! 
 MARRIED!  October 20th, 2007
Fishing in Hawaii on our Honeymoon

Reminding Matt who has caught the biggest fish...ME!
Just the two of us (2009)

Expecting (2010)
And 8 years after becoming a couple and being married for 3 of them
 we have started a family of our own




Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Too Cute!

I haven't shared pics of just Randal Jean lately. So here she is!!!! I have so much to update you all on in terms of what she is in to now so I hope to get to all that soon....




Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

Happy Birthday Mom (aka Nana!!!)

Today is my mom's 51st birthday :) Uh oh! did I just share her age on the world wide web...why yes I did! Sorry mom, I hope you don't mind. Honestly, I debated whether or not I would include it and then I thought about it and I thought about what I would want my life to look like when I am 51. If I have a husband that I have been married to 25+ years, three grown (and healthy) children, and a most precious grandbaby when I am 51 I will be proud to say I am 51 and look at what I have to show for it! And not to mention my mama makes 51 look pretty darn good.

To celebrate my mom's birthday we went out to eat at Catch last night with my dad and brother, Tyler. Riley and Kacie are back in Greensboro but we sure did miss them. Like I said we ate at Catch so the food was marvelous and the desserts were over the top!

Oh mother, I love you so so so very much and hope you have the most fabulous day. You most definitely deserve it! As I have mentioned many times before (even in the post below) you are my bff and I dont know where I would be with out you. I am so thankful for you and everything you do and have done for me. I am so grateful that while I am at work you have forfeited your life back home to keep my precious Randal Jean. Knowing that my daughter is safe and sound at home with you is a priceless gift I will never be able to properly thank you for.

I love you mama. I hope you have Randal have a spectacular day today...and just maybe Randal Jean will pick your bday to start crawling. Although I dont know how much of a gift that would be....haha!