Ensor Family Blog

Elsie Pearl! It's Your Birthday!

2011-03-17T20:28:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Katy Jace!

2011-03-13T15:20:00.000-07:00

2011-02-03T10:47:00.001-08:00

Hi Everyone,

I am taking a Basic computer class and am learning to post to my blog using word. Let's see if it works.

Jace's Adventure

2010-09-16T05:34:00.000-07:00

Jace's back has been hurting since New Year's Day this year. He had an MRI done in Las Cruces in February. They said that it was arthritis and that physical therapy was his only option. He started pt. We went to Dr. Otero and he gave him him supplements and exercises to do. He had a kenalog shot and was living on Ibuprofen. When the second kenalog shot did not work. Dr. Spence told him to send his MRI to the Laser Spine Institute. He had them sent. They called. We planned on going. There was one in Scottsdale, Arizona. That is where we wanted to go because we could see Kristi and Ken but our insurance paid more if we went to Florida so here we are.

We left Monday, September 13 and drove to El Paso. We arrived at the airport right on time, an hour before the flight. When we got to the ticket counter we found out that our plane was an hour late so we would miss our connection in Houston. So she put us on a plane through Dallas. We changed planes there. We flew to Austin but we didn't have to change planes. We arrived in Tampa at 9:20 at night. Our hotel had a shuttle so it was easy to get to the hotel.

The next day we went to the Laser Spine Institute. We saw the anesthesiologist and two nurse practitioners. Jace had another MRI and xray taken. He had an EKG and blood taken. After all morning at the institute. I call it that because it is really not a hospital. We went back to the hotel and took a nap. Then we went to the mall. The hotel shuttle took us. We shopped a little and went to a movie. We ate seafood at a local restaurant We went back to the hotel and watched a movie.

The next day we went back to LSI and saw the doctors who read the MRI to us and told us what they were going to do. We could see the discs bulging. I don't know what the people in Las Cruces were thinking. It would be interesting to see the first MRI. This made Jace feel a lot better. There was really something there causing his pain.

Today, Thursday, September 16, I sit in the waiting room typing this post to my blog waiting for Jace. He is in surgery now. They will call me when he goes to the recovery room. He went in at 8:00 and the surgery takes about an hour and a half. So I wait.

Feeding the Buffalo and Septic Tanks

2010-03-06T15:19:00.000-08:00

Today Jace and I went to Arabella, New Mexico. There is a man there that needed Jace to tell him where he needed to put his new septic tank. The place was old and had stuff everywhere.

He also had buffalo. He gave us some food and the buffalo would eat out of your hands. They would pick up the food that was shaped in a cylinder with their tongue. It was very interesting.

Las Vegas

2009-10-14T20:28:00.001-07:00

We (Jace & Jan) had a wonderful time in Las Vegas. We saw (the fake) Bette Middler, Michael Jackson, & Elvis, then got to see the REAL Cher. Cher put on quite a show! Our days were spent walking and watching people. My goal Sunday was to take 10 photos for other people, I got to 5 and kinda got bored of that.

We went to the top of the Eiffel Tower (1/2 size anyway). We rode the roller coaster at New York, New York. And we solved a case at the "CSI Experience". We disagreed with their conclusion, the injured guy that was eating the pizza and watching TV would have been damaged on the LEFT side of his head, not the RIGHT.

M & M World is always a fun stop, they make 22 different colors! Jan's class was very excited that she was bringing them all of the colors in a mix. She'll have stories to tell about that! Jan had her very first Massage, I think she's hooked now! She also got a pedicure and manicure. Back to reality! Jace Ensor

We ate at the buffet at Caesar's Palace before the Cher concert. They brought crab legs to all of the tables.

Pictures from Gulf Shores

2009-08-16T20:56:00.001-07:00

Beautiful Kristi

First Anniversary August 10

Sweet Elsie with Mama and Daddy

Jace and Jan

California Ensors

Tennessee Ensors

Family Picture at the Beach

2009-08-16T20:46:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Ken and Kristi we have our family pictures that we took at the beach. I got them just in time to update my All About Me powerpoint that I show to my class. We are a really good looking family. I'll post more later if someone else doesn't beat me to it.

California Pictures

2009-07-18T17:44:00.001-07:00

Rock Wall

2009-07-18T07:24:00.000-07:00

This is what Jace has been doing. He has 174 clips of knocking down the side of the mountain with the crane. He has looked at the clips for hours. They are kind of mesmerizing when you start watching them. You wait and see how much dirt will fall with each hit of the rock. This mountain is behind the trash transfer station on Gavilan Canyon next to the Humane Society. They were afraid to work under the looming rocks so the city had Jace knock them down.

Jan's Summer

2009-06-16T09:39:00.001-07:00

I like to stay busy and by that I mean scheduled where I have to do something. I enjoy summer vacation from school but Jace can attest to the fact that I get restless and clingy accusing him of not spending enough time with me. This spring I planned on preventing this and planned to have a busy summer but I didn't realize how busy I was going to be.
School got out Friday, May 29 at noon. Our flight to Nashville left El Paso at 3:45. May 29 was our first grandson's due date. He hadn't made his arrival yet and Jace and I hadn't heard if there were any signs of him coming any time soon. We were anticipating waiting in the hospital for his arrival.
Jace had planned three days of work in half a day. I just listened to his scheduled and realized that I would not have to rush home after school to meet him at the house and leave for El Paso.
The last day of school in Ruidoso is crazy. The kids just come to school for an hour to get their report cards. The teachers needed to stay a little longer. After the kids were gone Linda Hamilton came to see me and she wanted to go lunch. I called Jace to see if he was ready to go. He wasn't so I went to Farley's with Linda to eat lunch. It was 11:00. I know that we needed to leave Ruidoso at 12:00 in order to get to thevEl Paso airport an hour early. Jace called me at Farley's and told me to pick him up and be ready to go to El Paso. It was 11:40. Thankfully Linda and I were finished with lunch and I rushed home and threw our suitcases in the car. Nanci was there ready to help any way that she could. I asked her to pick up some prescriptions at Walgreen's and get something for Jace to eat from Sonic. She was going to meet us in the Bealls parking lot.
So I was on my way to get Jace. He was working out near Spencer. That was about 20 miles in the opposite direction. It was 12:00. I had to wait for Jace to get the crane put up so he could park it.
12:15 we were on our way to meet Nanci. Jace had called her to get some money from the bank and we needed gas so we had a new meeting place Allsups! As we were driving to town Matthew called and told us that the baby would probably land when we did. They were at the hospital. The race was on. Who would get to Nashville first our grandson or us?
We arrived at Allsups and filled up with gas. While Jace was in the restroom changing clothes Nanci arrived with money, medicine, and food for Jace. I told her that she probably needed to look online for a later flight out of El Paso because it was 1:00 and we needed to be there at 2:45 in order to be an hour early. She didn't see anyway that we would make our flight.
We left the Allsups at 1:00. It takes 2 and a half hours to get to El Paso. I saw no way that we would get to El Paso on time. I drove first so that Jace could eat. I drove faster than I have ever driven before. We used the radar detector. I drove to Alamogordo. Jace took over from there. I had a book on CD to listen to but we were so intense about getting to El Paso on time that we weren't in the listening mood. Nanci called and told us that there was another flight out but it would be early in the morning and she had checked to see how much it would cost us. We were between Alamo and El Paso when she called. Jace told her to wait.
We took the short cut that everyone told us about. We had the Magellon on and followed it's directions. We got to the airport about 3:00. We texted Nanci and told her that we had made it.
We checked our luggage, went through security, and went to the restroom. When we got to the gate they had just finished loading the A group. We were in the A group so we walked in front of the B group and boarded the plane.
We flew to Austin and had to change planes. We ate supper there and of course we called Matthew. Our grandson had been born while we were in the air over Texas.
When we got to Nashville, Brain was at the hospital to pick us up. He took us straight to the hospital. We went through the maze of parking garages and halls and finally walked into the room where Jennifer sat up in the bed looking great, Uncle Michael sat, and daddy Matthew sat holding a big little boy. After seeing little Elsie Ensor in March this little boy looked so big. He weighed 9 pounds and 2 ounces. I think the first thing that I said was, "He is big!" Everyone laughed and told us how much he had weighed. Jace and I took turns holding him and finally we asked what his name was. They joked about his name should be Thad because he was so big but finally they told us that his name was Micah Charles Ensor. I didn't believe them at first but they said yes that is his name. My eyes watered up. The name Micah that we had named Matthew's little brother and Charles after Jennifer's daddy. We had seen our grandson when he was three hours old. We stayed awhile and then Matthew took us to our motel room.
The next morning Vail Neal, Matthew, Vail, and Katy picked us up to go see Baby Micah and Jennifer. It was so fun being there when the little girls met their brother.
The rest of the week was a blur. Micah's first outting was to our motel to the swimming pool. The little girls played in the water and Micah sat with his mama on the side of the pool.
Monday Jace, Matthew, and I took the girls to see UP. I took Vail out to the restroom and then we got popcorn. I wanted to get the best deal so I ordered a family combo. I got so tickled at the size of everything that I almost couldn't carry it into the movie. I did have to have a crate to carry 4 giant popcorns and 4 giant drinks in to the movie. Katy looked at her drink Sprite of course and kept asking if it was hers. She had never had such a big one. Just ask Matthew about the family combo.
Tuesday Jace and I took Vail and Katy to the zoo. They were so good. The girls were so good that we almost stayed too long and the girls almost didn't get a nap. Jammie and Papa had a great time.
Wednesday Vail Neal, Katy, and I took Jace to the airport. He had a flight home. He had to get back to Ruidoso and work. We also picked up Avery for the day.
Friday Matthew, Vail, Katy and I went to a baseball game with Michael and Avery. We didn't stay too long because the girls were more interested in changing seats than watching the game. We did let them play in one of the Jumpy Places. It had a dill that you could climb over and then slide down. It was tall but Katy did it all by herself. It was so cute to see her coming over the top so proud of herself.
Saturday we shopped for Katy a tricycle and found one at ToysrUs. That is one of the highlights of the day, for the girls, is to go outside with their mommy and daddy and ride tricycles. Matthew draws with side walk chalk a track for them to ride around on. Papa drew one too. The girls ride and ride and ride.
Sunday I went and watched Matthew play ice hockey. His game started at 12:30. My flight left at 3:00. Again another tense time trying to make it to the airport on time. I got there just in time to walk on board the plane. I had to change planes in Chicago. I had never changed planes in Chicago by myself before so I was just a little nervous but everything was great. The plane was full so I was squashed between the window and a man who spread out a newspaper and read it most of the way. It was a three hour flight. My arms went to sleep trying not to touch him but I gave up and put my arms on the armrest too.
Lois our schools reading coach picked me up from the airport. I had flown into Albuquerque to attend a reading first conference. We went back to the hotel and checked in. I knew that I would be sharing a room with someone because I always had but not this time. I had a room to myself and it was a nice room. I called Jace and told him to come to Albuquerque because I had a nice room with a king sized bed. We both laughed.
The next day I got a call from Jace. He said that he had slipped off the truck bed and had to get stitches. He was planning to come to Albuquerque the next day because he was supposed to stay off his feet. Well he did come but he went shopping most of the day Wednesday. He stayed Tuesday night and Wednesday night. He came home Thursday morning and I came home that afternoon.
Saturday evening we went to the movies and saw Night at the Museum. Sunday we went to church and I went to Clovis.
So far this has been my summer. This is what is still planned:

June 22-25 Ruidoso Vacation Bible School
July 3-5 Ensor Lake Reunion at Logan NM
July 5-8 Tulsa to see Ken and Krisiti
Sometime in the two weeks in July to take Mama and Daddy to California
July 25- August 1 Gulf Shores
August 3-6 Math Workshop
August 12 School starts for teachers

Tell me when I am going to clean out my closet, and deep clean the house.
I guess I won't be too clingy this summer.

Star Trek

2009-05-08T20:57:00.001-07:00

Jace and I went to see Star Trek tonight. I was a little apprehensive about seeing it. I want all of the facts to be right. I almost backed out of going but we went and it was great. The characters did a great job of acting like the original ones on the show. It was great. I would see it again.

Happy Easter!

2009-04-09T20:06:00.000-07:00

Videos from Cali

2009-03-29T20:44:00.000-07:00

Jace and I did take pictures of our new little granddaughter. I took these videos and wanted to share them with everyone.

SHE"S HERE!!!

2009-03-21T12:53:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday Katy Jace

2009-03-13T05:45:00.000-07:00

I liked my video Birthday card so much that Papa and Jammie wanted to send one to Katy on her special day.

2009-02-19T11:25:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Jammie!!

2009-02-13T07:04:00.000-08:00

Nunsense

2009-01-14T19:47:00.000-08:00

Monday Night when I got home from Curves our next door neighbor called and asked if we wanted their tickets for Nunsense at Spencer Theater. They weren't going because their daughter was sick.
I called Jace and he said yes. So we got ready and went to the play Nunsense starring Sally Struthers. It started at 8:00 and ended at10:30. I enjoyed it. Jace did too even though he was ready to leave at intermission. We had a good time.

Surprise New Year's Eve

2009-01-01T14:19:00.000-08:00

This year Jace was not asked to raise the New Year's ball at the church. There wasn't even going to be a party at the church until the las minute. We drove by the building but we didn't know who was there. I had called Jeri and they were not in charge. They weren't even going. So Jace and I went to KBob's and ate supper. We then went to Blockbuster and rented Ironman. Then we went home. Jace put the Christmas tree into the box and I carried the boxes of decorations and ornaments that I had picked up earlier that day down to the closet. ( Oh, Nanci and I cleaned the office today also.) I started looking at the videos that we had downstairs. I found one that was labeled Christmas 92. I took it upstairs and started watching it. It was two hours long. It was Christmas 92, 93, 94, 95, and 96 with some of Kristi's and Matthew's birthdays mixed. Grandma Mc was in them and Baby Ashley and Andrew were in them. I really enjoyed watching them. We will watch part of it next Christmas. I just want to say Thank you to whoever made sure that these events were recorded. What a great New Year's Eve surprise.

We are Heels Over Head for You to Get Here!

2008-12-17T20:43:00.000-08:00

December 9, 2008

2008-12-09T16:35:00.000-08:00

We woke up this morning and everything was white. I turned on t.v. to see if we had a two hour delay but we didn't. School was on time! Here is a picture from the back deck.

A Really Busy Weekend

2008-12-08T20:09:00.000-08:00

We had a really busy weekend. First we tried to make it to the Museum of the American West. They were having Christmas of the Past Activities. I had a Dicken's Christmas in mind but of course the Museum of the American West had western Christmas in mind. We got there in time to see the Native American presentation. The pioneers and Civil War people were putting their things away. Then we picked up Grandma Billie and went to the electric light parade on Sudderth.
Sunday after church we went to the Ruidoso Little Theater performance of The Snow Queen. One of the little boys in my class was in the performance.
After the Snow Queen we went to Wal-Mart for our weekly shopping trip. We took our groceries home and then went to Angus Hill where Jace is building a barn. I watched Jace work his magic with his backhoe. Then we went to Angus Nazarene Church and went through their walk through Bethlehem. We waited an hour to go through it. Then we went to Farley's with Beth and Mark Hadley for supper.

Thanksgiving with Jace and Jan

2008-11-28T14:57:00.000-08:00

Well, we finally made up our minds to go to Hobbs to see family at Thanksgiving. We are glad that we did because we had fun. We left Ruidoso about 8:30 in the morning and got there at 11:30. I helped Terry finish up the meal. Mama and Daddy were there. Julie, Joe, Ashley, and Andrew were there. Aaron, Kelly, and Kelly's sister Ashley were there. Ashley goes to Harding. I think that she is a junior. Emily and Jacob were there too. Terry had invited 6 boys from college to come and they did. She teaches remedial English and she has them in class. It is amazing how that little junior college attracts kids from all over the country.
We ate lunch at 1:00. Jace laid down for a little while. I visited with my family Mama, Daddy, Scotty, and Julie until she took a nap. We left at 4:00 and got home at 8:00.
Friday we went to Alamogordo and Christmas shopped. Then we came home. Jace said that he had a surprise for me. The surprise was to make a cake with him to take to church on Sunday.
I know you all had a Happy Thanksgiving. I can't wait. 3 more weeks!

Pruiksma Update

2008-09-06T20:22:00.001-07:00

First off, married life has been absolutely wonderful! Ken and I are having lots of fun just doing normal ordinary things, like playing warcraft, rockband, scrabble, mounting surround sound speakers, and watching Planet Earth on Blue-Ray disc :) We got an amazing TV that Ken hooked up to a computer (you know, one of the extra ones that was just laying around) so we can browse the web and watch tv shows from online (not to mention a program that folds proteins at home to contribute to solving cancer! you'll have to ask Ken to explain that one more). He's brilliant.

Last weekend we went to Dallas and stayed with Lorisa and Michael. We had a wonderful time hanging out with them! They are just wonderful people! Michael is great! We even got to see him preach and it was wonderful- truly inspiring. We also made a stop by IKEA- that place is just crazy! Not to mention we were there over labor day weekend so it was extra crazy! We found some awesome office furniture, but unfortunately, when we got home we realized we forgot to pick up an integral piece. We got two desks but a frame for only one of the desks. Getting all the stuff home was a whole different story. We took my Honda Civic (instead of Ken's truck) because we wanted to save on gas and the back seats in my car can lay down, making lots of extra room. Also, we wouldn't have to worry about the weather if we took my car. As pictured below, this was not such a good idea :) The desks were fine lengthwise, but they were about a foot too wide to go into the trunk! So there we were, at the very front of the IKEA parking lot, trying to squeeze a huge box into a little bitty car. We got lots of funny looks.

Thanks to Ken's boy scout skills, and Michael's help lending us some rope, we managed to get our desks home! Thanks Michael!

Here are some pics from California

Whale watching- I didn't get a very good shot but you can see one in the distance. We spotted some humpback whales that were quite playful- they were waving their fins at us, slapping their fins against the water, and diving so their tails came up out of the water. One of them even jumped out of the water a couple of times. It was amazing!

Learning to sail!

The ABSOLUTE BEST hamburger Ken and I have ever had! We had one for dinner and had to go back the next day to get another while we still had the chance!

Redwood Forrest

Sonoma Valley

Ken's very fist visit to a laundry mat!

One day your prince will come....

2008-08-20T12:28:00.000-07:00

Oh wait Kristi's finally did :) I am putting some photos from the wedding on the blog so the whole world can see them because no one else would. We had a fantastic time. Jace and Jan sure know how to throw a party!! Enjoy the photos. I figure they are pretty self explanatory. These photos were all taken by Sara House :)

Ready or Not.....

2008-08-07T17:57:00.000-07:00

Here we come!!!

Attention Please

2008-07-10T15:51:00.000-07:00

Attention everyone attention, the California Ensor's no longer have a home telephone. We don't need it so now we don't have it. Please erase the 951 phone number from your records and contact us on the 909 numbers.

Ciao

Lonestar Weekend

2008-07-06T20:02:00.000-07:00

Saturday night Jace and I took Nell and Rex Hartgraves to the track to see Lonestar. We had box seats. I recognized four songs that they sang. Nell and Rex were troopers. They would not have gone by themselves but because Jace asked them they went. We had a good time.

July 3 Jace and I went to the Inn of the Mountain Gods to see their fireworks. There were so many people there that we had to park a half mile from the Inn and walk up the mountain. I was amazed at how many people were there. The show was good. We had a good weekend!

See you in a week!!

2008-06-03T07:29:00.000-07:00

Jan's Graduation Party

2008-05-19T18:57:00.001-07:00

Saturday night we had a graduation party at Texas Club. We had two gowns, two caps, and two hoods. We shared them and had pictures taken. We ate and had cake. It was a lot of fun. I will miss getting to be with the group every month but I am glad that the work is finished. Now to finish my dossier and I will feel like it is over!

When We First Met, How Could I Forget?

2008-04-20T21:20:00.000-07:00

Exactly 1 year ago today, Ken and I met on the streets of downtown Franklin, TN. I was visiting Matthew and Jennifer for the first time since they moved to Tn. Katy was a month old, and I was making my trip out to see the latest addition to Matthew and Jennifer's family. Friday night, we decided to eat out at the Mellow Mushroom, which is a groovy pizza place in downtown. Matthew knew Ken was meeting some friends at the nearby Irish pub, McCreary's, so as we were waiting for a seat, Matthew suggested we take a little walk. I knew what he was up to, but acted like i didn't, even though I was a little nervous. So me, Matthew, Jennifer, Katy, and Vail walked down the sidewalk, crossed the street at the light, and turned the corner, and there he was. Ken was sitting at a table on the sidewalk with a group of his friends. I don't remember who was with him now...I wasn't paying attention to that. So I tried to be as normal and non-chalant as possible and we made normal chit chat conversation for a couple of minutes. I don't remember exactly what was said, but I do remember walking away thinking about how Ken treated me as if we were best friends already. He was very warm and welcoming and put me at ease. I remember asking Jennifer if she thought our meeting was at all awkward. I also told her that Ken was cuter than I expected (Ken wasn't scrawny like I thought he would be :), to which Matthew responded by covering his ears. I don't think Matthew realized what he started. Matthew insists that I said something about it not being attractive that Ken had a beer....I don't remember saying that at all :) For a long time after that, anytime Vail was in downtown Franklin she said "Find Ken?"

I had no idea that I had just met the love of my life on that evening, April 20, 2007. I found out tonight, that April 20 is also Ken's parent's anniversary. All this to say, its amazing what can happen in a year.

Recycle Take 2 by Jan, Shirley, and Yvonne

2008-03-29T09:28:00.000-07:00

Nor Cal

2008-03-29T07:52:00.001-07:00

Hey Fam, yes I am still alive and no my fingers aren't broke. I just havn't been inspired to blog in a minute HOWEVER, today is different. I am overflowing with inspiration, I am oozing inspiration, one might say I am even spewing inspiration. OOPS, i've got inspiration running down my leg....

Nat and I got home around 11pm from our trip to Monterrey to check out the ceremony site, the towns of Monterrey, Carmel and Pacific Grove, hotel ideas, bakery's and florists. Most of those items don't concern me but I wanted to give you my take on the hidden treasure that will be Kristi and Ken's haven of romance.

I will spare many details as I am sure Nat will do a comprehensive and exhaustive re-canting in her blog in short order. Complete with pics.

Monterrey is a historic village that was obviously founded with fishing as it's primary trade. The town is reminiscent of an east-coast fishing village but has a strong california flava. It is nestled in the hilly, not quite mountainy, woodlands of northern california with gorgeous beaches and a TON of outdoor activity and tourism! Everyone we encountered was extremely friendly and loved the life they were living in this area. Even the waitress that served us lunch at this awesome little "home converted restaurant" told us she moved down from SFO and would never leave. Once we told her we were from the Temecula area she winced and said, "You should move here". Delicious sandwiches by the way and I had the best crock of white corn soup I've ever had in my life.

The actually location of the ceremony is a really cool secluded beach about 20 minutes away from the reception/hotel area. It is a beautiful cove that boasts a round sandy beach that has large rock formations jetting out into the bay on one side. The cove is overlooked by $3.5 million dollar, 2,000 square foot, cottages that look like they came straight out of Snow White.

The reception building is very deceiving. From the outside it looks like a lime green boxcar on the beach. Once we went inside I nodded my head in agreement that, from what I heard Ken and Kristi talking about, this was the beachy, party environment they were looking for. No this is not a boring, elegant hotel conference room with moveable paper thin partitions (walls). This place is designed for a CELEBRATION and that is what it is all about.

All in all, this is going to be a lot of fun for everyone involved and is going to be a precious memory for Kristi and Ken to treasure as their wedding site. I can see them taking trips back to one the many bed and breakfast locations in the hills on their benchmark anniversaries. Pictures do not do this place justice but TYLER IS GOING TO HAVE A FIELD DAY PHOTOGRAPHING THIS PLACE!!!!!

ENSOR OUT!!!!

Happy Labor Day to Jennifer!

2008-03-13T08:00:00.001-07:00

Oh and birthday to Katy :)

Boy does she look tired.

Katy told me this morning that she is skipping over 2 and going straight for 3! WAHOOO!!

Awesome Weekend

2008-02-28T18:19:00.001-08:00

Jace and I had a very awesome weekend with all of our kids with us in Ruidoso. It was great to see everyone and to start talking about a wedding for August. Thank you kids for spending time with us. We love you.

Getting engaged!

2008-02-13T15:30:00.000-08:00

Casual Bloggers Beware

2008-02-11T17:17:00.000-08:00

mwahahahahha....

http://www.theblogreaper.com/

You never know when he'll strike!

2008-02-06T17:24:00.001-08:00

Here's the Story

2008-02-04T10:55:00.000-08:00

Kristi's Perspective: Ken lives in Nashville and I live in Tulsa. Ken had plans to come visit me in Tulsa. He was supposed to fly in Friday night at 9:00. Ken's house in Nashville is for sale and I was convinced that we wouldn't get engaged until his house sold.

Thursday morning I gave Ken a call while I was on my way to school and he was supposed to be on his way to work...No answer. So then i think to myself, "maybe he is still sleeping...uh oh....or maybe he took some sick time since he was feeling bad....hopefully he will call soon." I go about my business at school and don't hear from him, til I get on a computer and he IMs me to tell me he stayed home for a few hours because he felt bad and he left his phone at home and he is going over to his friend Tyler's house for dinner and a movie. He assures me he will get home soon so he can call me and we can talk. That is all fine and well.

I get home that evening going through Ken withdrawals and spending my time doing pilates and studying for my oral comps. It starts getting late and I start getting inpatient. I decide to look at Tyler's photography website to get his number. I find it and call Tyler to see if Ken has started his long drive home (45 minutes or so). Tyler answers and tells me they were watching some live anime movie (whatever live anime is???) and that the power is out due to the weather so his phone might act funny. I think to myself, "live anime??? that's weird...but that seems like something those two would watch." I offer to look up the weather on the internet so I could let him know if the storm had passed or not. Tyler tells me Ken is in the bathroom and asks me if he should harass him. I emphatically say "YES" then there is a click and the phone is disconnected. I call back...no answer. Again, I am unable to talk to my boyfriend.

So I start complaining to my roommate that Ken is out late and is sick and needs to pack for his trip to come see me. I really miss him and am mad at him at the same time....are you supposed to be mad at people because you miss them? I was trying not to be mad.

I get in bed and read a little more and think to myself "hmmm if he calls now, maybe i just won't answer. maybe i will just be asleep and he will learn his lesson." Its 11:30 and the phone rings. I don't think twice about answering :) He tells me he is sorry for getting in so late. I just say "ya." Then he says "to make up for getting in so late, I had something delivered to your front door." I think that's weird....but then again I did hear my roommate lock the door, so maybe she is in on something. I look out the peep hole and nothing is outside. I open the door and look on the ground expecting that there might be something there. Then I look up and Ken is walking around the corner. I just start crying. It didn't seem real that he was right there. I don't even let him inside because I am too busy hugging him. So we are hugging and I'm crying and having trouble breathing and finally take a step back so he can come inside (it was really cold out that night). I'm starting to catch my breath when he kneels down and I just starting crying and hyperventilating all over again. He tells me I am the love of his life and that he has known that for a long time and he wants to spend the rest of his life with me. I think he asked "will you marry me" but I can't really remember that part. But i do remember that i didn't say "Yes"..... I said "Of course!" He pulls out the ring from his coat pocket and I can't really see it because I was wearing my glasses and they were foggy from being smushed up against ken. But I don't care...i just want him to put it on my hand.

Luckily, a few days before, I was sitting in my car filling it with gas. As I was waiting, I noticed some finger nail clippers in the car and decided to fix a nail that was chipped and I proceeded to clip all my nails on my right hand but then the gas pump was done and I never got around to clipping my nails on my left hand so they were nice and long and pretty for showing off my beautiful new ring :)

Ken's Perspective: So for me this whole process started a while back. I really did want to try to sell my house before proposing since it'd just make things easier, but as time went on I started to get impatient about that. I started talking to Kristi's friend Sara House about ideas, and she mentioned at some point how Kristi thought my house HAD to sell before I'd propose. So, I figured I'd use that to my advantage.

The most important thing I needed to take care of though was a ring. And while Kristi was out visiting me, there really was no way I could get away without her knowing about it. Thankfully Sara came to the rescue again by coming out to Nashville to visit Kristi and another friend of theirs up in Kentucky. So I had one day to find a ring while they were out of town.

I knew that to be able to find a ring that fast I really had to have a lot of information going in. So I started out by researching stuff about diamonds late at night after Kristi went to bed and we were off the phone. It was actually pretty interesting how they grade things, and I think it being interesting to me made it really easy to remember. I also asked around quite a bit about different jewelers and who was good to go to. I got a lot of recommendations for Genesis Diamonds, which had just recently opened a store right behind where I worked.

So the day that Kristi went to Kentucky, I spent my lunch hour at Genesis. They didn't really have a huge selection at that store, but there was one ring there that I really liked a lot. The problem was that it was a designer ring, and I'd have to wait a few weeks for it to be built with the diamond that I picked out for it. That night I decided to go to Shane Co. with Jennifer to look around some more. Shane had a huge selection, but after two hours of searching, I couldn't really find exactly what I was looking for, and I found that me and Jennifer have very different tastes in rings ;). They did have one ring that was decent when it was paired with a wedding band though. And they said they could solder them together to look like one ring. That and the fact that they could have it done in a few days convinced to me to at least put $500 down to hold on to that ring until I decided (I could always get the money back).

So, the next day before lunch I took an hour off of work to go talk to Genesis again. Seeing the ring that I saw the previous day again reminded me how much I liked it - and how much more I liked it than anything at Shane. Genesis also had some good responses to some of the deals that Shane was offering. So, I figured I'd see what diamonds they had available. Being a small store, they didn't really have a ton of diamonds, but there was a diamond up at their larger Nashville store that seemed to fit what I was looking for. But, it would take another $500 deposit for them to bring it down for me to look at. So I went ahead and had them do that and went back to work.

Kristi was back in town again so I went out to lunch with her. On the way back I got a phone call from Genesis, and was like "Hey, can I call you back in 10 minutes..." Kristi asked who that was and I just told her it was someone from work. So as soon as I was back to work and Kristi was gone, I went over to Genesis again. I started looking at the diamond the brought down and really liked it a lot. I'd looked at quite a few diamonds at this point, and it really bothered me when I could find a flaw in them, even if it wasn't very apparent to the naked eye. So I really wanted to go with quality over size. After looking at that diamond for five or ten minutes in a loop, I couldn't find anything wrong with it, and decided to go with it.

Kristi was leaving in about a week, and since the ring was special ordered, I knew that I wasn't going to be able to propose while she was still in Nashville. But this way, I could surprise her even more by just showing up in Tulsa. Kristi really wanted to see me again before the family get-together in late February, so we decided to see each other the first week of February. I'd originally wanted to just show up out of the blue, but with Kristi having such a busy schedule, I figured maybe it was good that she'd already have the weekend blocked out... But I still wanted to surprise her somehow. So I thought, I could just show up a day early - her Fridays weren't usually very busy anyway. But would the ring be here on time?

I called up Genesis to see if they could give me a specific date that they knew that the ring would be in by, and they said January 30th. That just gave room for it to be one day late. They promised though, so I went ahead and got plane tickets for Thursday. I took the itinerary they emailed and changed all the dates and day names to fit Friday, and emailed that to Kristi, and From talking to her friends, I knew that she had no clue I was planning on proposing soon.

The ring came in about a week earlier than scheduled, so it was really nice to have that taken care of. I still needed a good plan for how to be unavailable while I was traveling on Thursday night. I didn't want to say that my phone was out of power, because I may still need to talk to people and I didn't want Kristi to call and get a ring. So, I told her on IM that I just forgot to bring it that day, and I was going to be out that night at Tyler's house (I picked Tyler because I knew she didn't have his phone number....but apparently she's too clever for that and found his number on his website). I told her I wouldn't be out too late though, because I was supposed to be getting in to Tulsa a little before 9:00.

This is where things went a little wrong though. There were bad thunderstorms in Houston that day, so almost all continental flights that go through Houston were delayed. Mine was delayed over two hours. They got me on a backup flight out of Houston though, since unless my connecting flight was delayed just as much, I wouldn't be able to make it. I finally got to Houston, and my backup plane was going to leave in about 15 minutes... and it was in another terminal. So I rushed to the other side of the airport and made it onto that flight in the nick of time.

I finally made it to Tulsa a little after 11:00. I was sure that Kristi was starting to worry where I was at this point. I even got a text message from Tyler saying that Kristi called him, and he covered, but I needed to "Fly faster." Sara house picked me up and drove me down to Kristi's apartment...

I'd originally wanted to think of something really cool to do for the proposal, but there were some things working against me. I didn't really know much about Tulsa, I'd be getting in rather late (probably later than Kristi would be willing to go out with her friends somewhere), and there was always the possibility that a flight could get in late ruining all my plans anyway. So it's good that I decided to just go with something simple...

So I showed up at the apartment and gave Kristi a call. At this point I just acted like I just got home from Tyler's - I apologized for being out so late, but told her that I got her something to make up for it, and it was just outside her door. At first it sounded like she wasn't buying it, but a few moments later she opened the door, and I just walked around the corner - she freaked out!

So we just hugged for a while - I was really happy that I'd surprised her so much, and she was pretty much hyperventilating, so I didn't even want to propose until she calmed down a bit. After a few minutes she invited me inside... I still think she wasn't really expecting a proposal. So I said "Oh, about that present I got ya..." then I knelled down... told her I loved her and wanted to be with her for ever, and asked her to marry me. I don't even remember exactly everything that was said. It was just one of those moments, but she said "of course", and tada, we were engaged.

We spent the rest of the weekend calling people and being very sick. I'd already been getting kinda sick by the time I got out there, and it got bad enough that I had southwest move my flight back a day to give me some time to get better. Hopefully when we get together in a few weeks in Ruidoso, we'll both be feeling much better.

Live free or die hard

2008-01-31T06:28:00.000-08:00

I know it doesn't look like it but that was the theme of last Friday night at the Ensor household. Ken went to dinner with us and then came home to watch a movie after the girls were in bed. Die hard was the movie choice for the night. Next thing I know I look over and Matthew and Ken are both covered in blankets (separate ones) and sharing a bowl of popcorn that earlier Ken had said he really didn't want.(which sounds like something Kristi would say and then end up eating it too). And yes they sat in the middle of the couch during the entire movie and I fit in the small space next to Matthew.

2008-01-08T19:38:00.000-08:00

Here are my pictures from the trip. Seth has more that I'll pull in. Half way through the trip some of the plastic on my camera was melted. I thought it would not work and decided to let him handle the photo documentation from there. Here ya go...

A Day at the Zoo

2007-12-26T21:37:00.000-08:00

Today, Ken and I had a lovely time at the Nashville zoo. Ken was kind enough to let me use his camera and learn a thing or two about photography. Apparently, Nashville Channel 5 News decided we were cute enough to report on.....us and a story about tigers :)

here is a link to the news story with a cute lil picture of us.

http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?S=7545756&nav=menu374_2

Or you can watch the video below -

Making Cookies

2007-12-17T20:54:00.000-08:00

Jace and I made cookies together Sunday night. He had heard that the number one Christmas memory was making cookies so he found a recipe on the internet and had grandma buy the ingredients. The cookie dough had cottage cheese in it. There was no sugar in the dough so you really didn't want to lick the bowl. The cookies had a pineapple filling. It was pineapple mixed with cornstarch and cooked. Well, it wouldn't thicken so I kept putting cornstarch in it. I told Jace that I didn't know why it wouldn't thicken. He looked at the package and I had been putting powdered sugar in it instead of cornstarch. We still used it. I bet those cookies were sweet. I took some to school and they were gone by lunch time. I didn't see any in the trash. Jace took some to Cemex too.

Greater Tuna Christmas Party

2007-12-11T18:36:00.000-08:00

Saturday night after a day in my college classroom our school had our Christmas party. It was also the Electric Light Parade. We all stood in front of Mountain Annie's and watched the parade. I heard that there were 80 entries in the parade. After the parade we went inside Mountain Annie's and had supper. We had chicken, roast, mashed potatoes, corn, rolls, and chocolate cake. Then the play began. It was pretty bad. There were two actors who dressed up as all the characters. At intermission half of the audience left. We stayed of course and really had the best time at the end.

New York City with Kenny

2007-11-30T21:07:00.001-08:00

we found time square on the way home

dinner at rockefeller center overlooking the ice skating rink- watching skaters biff it whilst partaking of a 16 oz steak...lovely date
where's kenny?
smooching in central park for your throw-up-in-your-mouth-viewing pleasure
not smooching in central park but looking dern cute for your throw-up-in-your-mouth-viewing pleasure
ken's dream world....i mean....nintendo world
atop rockefeller center with the empire state building in the background...we didn't go up the empire state building...we couldn't find it
waiting for the train to take us into the city. we got to enjoy some lovely jersey snow

Nashville Thanksgiving

2007-11-29T18:38:00.000-08:00

Jace and I had a great Thanksgiving in Nashville. Jennifer fixed a great Thanksgiving meal. After the meal we all napped except Jennifer. then we all went to the Opryland Hotel to see the Grinch carved in ice. It was the whole story carved in ice. The room was so cold. We had to wear these funky blue parkas over our own coats!

SE7EN years of Bliss

2007-11-11T18:41:00.000-08:00

For our anniversary Jen surprised me with tickets to see the Titans play the Jaguars today. This single act proves what a great choice I made for my bride. I told her 'if you ever leave me, I'm going with you'.

Other than the Titans stinkin' to high heaven, we had a great day. We saw an awesome flyby and had 2 skydivers drop in to the middle of the field. Jen started figuring out how to watch what the QB was doing with the ball, and we even bumped into some friends from work.

Side Note: If you have ever attended an event of some sort with a Neal, you'll come to learn that Neals love nachos. I have noticed this with both Jen and Brian. If there are refreshments to be sold and nachos are among the choices, their nacho radar kicks in and you know they're going to get a read on that fake cheese.

Here are some pics from our adventure....love ya snuggle-muffins!

Meet the Parents

2007-10-30T21:23:00.000-07:00

just another one of ken's cool pictures
the only normal people in Westcliffe

umm wait a minute

this is a restaurant ken and i had dinner at last time we passed through Denver

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

2007-10-28T15:23:00.000-07:00

Friday night Jace and I went to the Spencer Theater to see the Hunchback of Norte Dame. I thought that it was going to be a play but they showed the old silent movie starring Lon Chaney. They did have a band and some dancers that sang. They sang and danced with the movie. Their songs and dances went along with the movie. At first I was mad but I ended up enjoying it. Then Sunday we ate lunch at Mountain Annie's. There was going to be a gospel sing and the Gateway singers were going to sing but Jace and I left because we needed our Sunday afternoon nap.

Matthew at a Dave Ramsey Meeting

2007-10-23T09:02:00.000-07:00

I LOVE YOU MATTHEW!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyD_FzqTICc

I'll spend my days in New Mexico....

2007-10-15T21:11:00.001-07:00

getting picked up by some boy in New Mexico

2007-10-03T11:36:00.000-07:00

Batten down the hatches. We are on our way! (in a week:))

JUMPING!

2007-10-01T13:45:00.000-07:00

We all know Vail likes to jump. Today she had the ultimate chance to do just that. We went to a place called pump it up with a few of the wives of some guys that work with Matthew. So much fun! Vail had a blast. At the end she was sliding by herself.

HAPPY 25th!

2007-09-30T09:07:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NAT!
WE MISS YOU, HURRY HOME THE HOUSE IS FALLING APART WITHOUT YOU!

Puppy Don wants to say something:

"hI moMy i hVNt eAT'en AnyTHEn aLl WeAK cePT FoR dOG fO'd iM 2 HelThy Andd i wANt sOmE jUK FooD soE CoME hOMe eXpONentIALLy!!"

2 WEEKS

2007-09-25T14:27:00.001-07:00

WE'RE COMING!

Missing Person!

2007-09-16T19:49:00.001-07:00

DOES ANYONE RECOGNIZE THIS MAN? He has fallen asleep on our couch. We tried to wake him up and as you can see he just made himself more comfortable. If he belongs to you would you please come and get him. At least by next weekend. Thanks.

Thank you Papa and Jammie for Vail's sandbox. She absolutely loves it. Although I did not enjoy washing the sand out of her hair. As you can see she has already started dumping all the sand out of the box. :)

Ken came over today and took some photos of the girls for us. Here is a little teaser of them for you. We are going to pick out some we like (there are lots to choose from) and he is going to tweek them a bit. I am extremely happy with how they turned out.

VICTORY!!!!

2007-09-15T08:12:00.000-07:00

I'M COMPS FREEEEEEEEE!!!!! FREEEDDOOOMMM!!!!
the test went well yesterday and now it's over! i had lots of fun last night (maybe a lil too much fun) celebrating with everyone. here is a picture of yet another deposit into the love bank from ken :) he had quite the ordeal getting these to me but he did it and i was very surprised

Farewell Family

2007-09-08T09:16:00.000-07:00

The trip has sadly come to a close. We dropped off Jen, Matty and the girls at 730 this morning. We were very sad to see them go. Here are a few images of the grand farewell. And yes, as we drove away tears were shed...

The Lonely Breakfast...

La Jolla

2007-09-07T19:59:00.001-07:00

Today we went to the seashore in La Jolla (San Diego) where we discovered new marine life in the tide pools. After that we made it home for one more round of swimming then we enjoyed a steak dinner hot off the grill. It really was a perfect day

The Explorers

Coming to a Christmas Card Near you

Looking for the Black Pearl

Dangling the bait

Crabs, Anemone's and Hermit Crabs

Straight Chillin

Down Time

2007-09-07T19:47:00.001-07:00

We finally took a break from the whirlwind over the past few days. So we laid around in the hammock, played in the pool, grabbed a bite from IN-N-OUT, went to the park and capped the night off with some BJ's Pizza.
SO THIS IS LOVE...

Day 4 THE BIG D

2007-09-06T09:30:00.000-07:00

Wednesday was Disneyland Day and what a day it was. The park didn't open until 10 so after battling traffic for 2 hours we still got to the park 1 hour early. There were too many good pictures so I just chose the highlights.

Waiting to be let into the parking structure. What cute little matching outfits (Thanks Aunt Nat)

Ride #1: The Tram

Vail decided we would find Nemo AND Sharks in the Submarine

Tea Party
Aunt Nat had a little too much Tea.
This is was happens to Jen and Nat when they get hungry and cranky

Pooh!

Eeyore

Baby Kates Loved the Peter Pan Ride, she didn't want to miss a thing!

Classic

"Sea Turtles, Mate" Says Captain Katy Sparrow

Aunt Nat's Squeeky Hat

L-4 Not bad for a rookie

Stick a fork in these two, they are DONE
Time to go home...

Day 3 Ensors vs. The Cracken

2007-09-04T20:32:00.000-07:00

Today was beach day. The weather was hot, the ocean was cold and Davey Jones was out for revenge.

SAND EVERYWHERE

Matty and his girl

Nat, Jen and Katy??? (see if you can spot her)

The Island of Tortuga

Day 2

2007-09-04T20:20:00.001-07:00

Day Two was crazy. We hosted a huge bbq/pool party at the house to close out the griling season. At one point there were close to 20 people in the pool. It was a long day and we didnt shut it down till about 10pm.

Nash to Cali Day 1

2007-09-02T20:28:00.000-07:00

Last night Matty and I had a great time at the USC game. It was quite an adventure finding parking and navigating our way through downtown LA. Today was non stop action. First we had coffee and muffins on the back patio then made our way to church. After running a muck at CCO we headed back to Menifee for some Santana's Mexican food and some swimming with the Nantroups. After several hours we grilled some sausage dogs and are now winding it down getting ready for the big shindig tomorrow.

Nat Arrives at the Airport

Baby Kates in her Crab float

Me and Baby Kates

Vail Taming the Shark

Two things

2007-08-28T10:07:00.000-07:00

1) Mom, thanks for changing the picture of Nat and I in the left hand column but this one is a little stretchy
2) Mom, please add Nat's blog to the links. www.nataliensor.blogspot.com

GRACIAS!

"BREAKING" NEWS

2007-08-25T14:43:00.000-07:00

Katy is currently getting her first tooth! She was chewing on my finger and I could feel her bottom left tooth breaking through the gum. I can not believe this. Vail got her first tooth when she was 7 months old. I looked in little Katy's mouth and I could see the top of her tooth and I thought what is going on here? You aren't supposed to have teeth yet. I know you want to see a picture but let's be realistic here. You probably won't get a picture of this tooth until she is one year old. We all know how hard it is to take pictures of your baby's teeth. Where is the time going?
ONE WEEK UNTIL WE ARE STAYING AT CASA DEL CALI!!

Reesy Dosee

2007-08-19T16:55:00.001-07:00

ONLY TWO WEEKS UNTIL MY NIECES COME OUT TO SEE ME!

Here are a few shots from our fabulous getaway to the cool pines of Ruidoso. Actually that was probably the only dissapointment, the pines weren't that cool. It was quite hot. Luckily we har our Limeaide's with cream from Mr. Burger to keep us cool. Aside from that it was very relaxing and as beautiful as always.

Nat and Dad at the Flying J
Panning for gold

Enjoying a cup o joe and a Western Show

For Kiki

2007-08-15T07:48:00.000-07:00

Here is Vail checking out her pigtails in the mirror.

check out these tails

2007-08-12T18:34:00.000-07:00

Katy will be five months old tomorrow. Seems a bit crazy she has been here for that long. She is such a sweet little girl. She is sitting up pretty good. She only falls over every now and then or when Vail pushes her. :) She loves her big sister. When Vail takes the time to slow down and talk to her, Katy smiles and laughs at her. It is so much fun to watch them interact together. Priceless. I know there will be many fights but I also know they will be great friends. Life is good. We got Katy a booster seat like Vail has and she has sat in it the past few nights while we were eating dinner. She has seemed to enjoy being up at the table with us and loves to smile at Vail across the table. It has been a lot of fun. Vail is going through what I prefer to call the "terribles". Some days I feel like all I do is get on to her. I wonder sometimes if it is like that for everyone or if I am doing something wrong. Those are hard days. We had a good time with the fam at mom's house. It was good for us all to get together. We don't seem to do that quite enough. Mom is in the last stages of packing up her house and moving across town. I know she is ready for that phase to be over and to feel settled again. Today we did some organizing in the garage. Sometimes the more we organize the more unorganized it seems out there. Why is that? I finally bought some of those teeny tiny ponytail holders and was able to get Vail's hair into pigtails. SHE LOVED IT!!! She was so cute looking at herself in the mirror and smiling and touching her hair. PRECIOUS! Hope everyone is well.

Jen

Ode to Aunt Nat

2007-08-06T07:44:00.000-07:00

SEE YOU SOON! CALI HERE WE COME!

Boyfriend

2007-07-30T19:13:00.001-07:00

Here are some pics from my great weekend with Ken. He said he Tulsa was surprisingly interesting :) I will try not to make you all too nauseous.
This one is from last weekend at Ken's birthday party...we played lasertag, ate sushi (yes...ken got me to try sushi and i actually kinda liked it :) Then we got cheesecake factory cheesecake, thus Ken's messy face

Notice the awesome necklace in this one...it was a pretty substantial deposit into the lovebank cha-ching

I like a man who can take awesome pictures

here is a cheezey picture of the cheesecake we made...ken is responsible for the heart i might add

ken loves smoothies so we decided to make our own...we hunted all over tulsa for a special ingredient called Acai....we finally found it...very yummy and healthy

HAPPY BIRTHDAY VAIL BLUE!

2007-07-25T09:27:00.001-07:00

Then and Now.

T-shirt says " Monkey See. Monkey Do. Monkey get in trouble too.

Very appropriate.

2 year and 4 month check-ups

2007-07-24T09:01:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the girls had their check-ups. Vail weighed in at 26lbs 10oz and the doctor said she was tall. Katy weighs 15lbs exactly. The doctor said they both looked great. He said Vail behaved very well for a 2 year old. He normally has to hold them down I guess. He gave her a pretty cool butterfly sticker which occupied her for most of the time. Katy had to get her 4 month shots. She cried pretty hard but it didn't last very long. Vail watched and said "Oh Katy, it's ok". It was very sweet. Katy took her shots really well. She was a bit fussy yesterday but not too bad. Katy is trying very hard to sit up by herself (as you can see from the photos) it can be a little difficult with Vail in her face most of the time. Tomorrow is Vail's birthday and we can't believe how time really does fly by. I will end with this funny story:

Yesterday we had some pretty loud thunderstorms come through town. After the first thunder I told Vail "It's ok it is just thunder. God makes the thunder and the rain, and grass, and trees, and... (Vail finishes my sentence here with this) "JED'S POOP".

See everyone soon!!

Weekend Plans

2007-07-20T10:10:00.000-07:00

Time to put on my Slytherin cloak and go sleep outside of Waldenbooks.

Nash Vegas

2007-07-18T20:22:00.000-07:00

Here are some jewels from our Camera. Yes these are the family jewels. I'll narrate where necessary:

This is a Nashville Stop Sign

Words can't describe the magic in this photo
Mamaw hit her funny bone on the Tony Roma table

Vail and Mamaw took turns pushing eachother in wheel chairs

Yes Mom we know her head smells good!

Jammin at the Grand ol Opry

No they didnt plan their outfits together...

Oddly enough they have the same I. Q.

Mmmm.... Cream Cream

Tasty!

Katy double fisting

Big Pimpin, spending dad's G's

Disturbing Picture

2007-06-28T11:24:00.001-07:00

Let me paint a word picture of the night of sleep Nat and I got last night: (Dad, dont read past this point)

1. Puppy Don
2. Lawn Fertilizer
3. 1130pm-3am
4. 13 vomits
5. 2 diarhea's

Going Going back back to Cali Cali

2007-06-20T18:43:00.000-07:00

A whole Butt load of crap has been going on since my last post and since I now have a computer that isn't powered by a hamster running on a treadmill, I thought it would be fun to throw some random pictures up for your viewing pleasure.

Don Killed Sponge bob and got sick

Spitting off the balcony at Opryland

Everyone is on CRACK!

Two beautiful flowers at the Opryland Hotel

PRECIOUS!

MORE PRECIOUS!

Memorial Day BBQ, MAHALO

Dad's Minute of Glory
Kamikazy Skydiving Crew
Mom's got an itchy trigga finga
Monte Cristo's all around
Bowling for beer

Father's Day

2007-06-17T20:31:00.000-07:00

Matthew is such a great dad. I appreciate everything he does for us. So thankful to have him. I mean how many dads want to dress like their girls on Father's day?

2007-06-01T13:36:00.000-07:00

Well it looks like we are going to have a thumb sucker on our hands. Katy has never really loved a pacifier and now she very rarely will take one because she would much rather be sucking on her thumb. She looks so cute when she is doing it I have taken several pictures. It seems like we have had visitors nonstop. We have had some breaks but I think our last visitors will be leaving on July 5 and then we should be getting together for Neal weekend. Maybe by August we can settle down a bit. We have enjoyed everyone's visits though. Our next visitors are friends from Springdale. We are very excited to see them. It has been almost a year.

The girls are doing great. Vail has hit her head twice today and in the midst of crying she managed to ask for some potato chips. She also loves to dance around and put on her dress up shoes and make noise on the kitchen floor. She has started to sit and read books out loud to herself. Sounds like gibberish except for a few key words here and there. Katy has started noticing Vail in the past few days and smiling at her. That has been fun to watch. She mostly sits and coos and smiles. She has also slept through the night for a week now. So I am a much more fun person to be around these days (I think). Except I keep getting sick. Newest sickness is a touch of Mastitis. I got some medicine so I feel better. Enjoy the pics

Jen

Nashville Shores

2007-05-22T13:43:00.000-07:00

This weekend was the Dave Ramsey staff party. It was held at Nashville Shores which is a water park. Unfortunately no cars were given away this year. It was a very nice day but the water was ice cold. Vail did not seem to care one bit and had loads of fun playing in the kiddo pool. Katy and I hid out in the shade while matthew braved the ice water with Vail. He is such a good sport. We basically got together with everyone and ate BBQ, hot dogs and chicken. We had a lot of fun hanging out with people from Matthew's work. Not much else is going on. I have been a little under the weather. Went to the doctor yesterday and according to her it is allergies. We will see if my throat gets better or justs falls out completely. Can't wait for Opryland weekend. Nothing like lunch on the General Jackson to make the day special. So excited Mammaw and Pappaw are getting to come! It will be great to see everyone together. Love you

Jen

2 month checkup

2007-05-16T07:53:00.000-07:00

The top picture is Katy at 2 months then Vail at two months. Just a comparison.

Katy had her check up yesterday and the doctor said she looked perfect. She weighed in at a hefty 13 lbs. She has grown two inches in length and 2 centimeters in her head size. I guess that is good. She is above average in everything. She got three shots and one oral vaccine. Matthew went with me so I left the room with Vail when the shot lady came in. Yes I am a chicken. Thankfully Matthew is my "knight in shining armor" and he saved the day again by being the brave one. Love that Man. Vail just wanted to play with the toys in the waiting room. This past weekend Matthew bought Vail a little pool and they played in it. She tells me sometimes she wants to go take a bath and points outside. I think she finally gets it is a swimming pool now. Precious. We had tons of fun with Nat and "Cah Cah". Although we do think Micah was the culprit of the "Rio Verde". But because we can't be sure he can come visit again sometime. I have been trying to get a picture of Katy smiling but can't quite get a good one yet. Yesterday we went to have lunch with Matthew and Vail says " Mommy go eat Daddy?" I am pretty sure she meant eat with Daddy. Other than that we are glad to be getting well and unpacking boxes slowly. Maybe I will have them all unpacked before we move again.

Love you all
Jen

look veerry closely

2007-04-29T17:54:00.000-07:00

well there it is :)

2007-04-24T09:15:00.000-07:00

We went to the zoo today and got a membership pass. Now we can go any time we want to. It was a beautiful day. The wind was blowing so it wasn't too hot. Vail had a blast. She of course loved the fish and didn't want to leave until Matthew said we were going to get a snack and then it was see you later fish. Kristi was here this weekend. Vail had tons of fun with "KiKi" and was still calling her name after she left. Precious. Katy is chunking up as you can see. Matthew and I are learning how to calm her down a little better when she is crying. Vail loves to get in Katy's face and ask "How we doin Katy" over and over. Vail has been speaking in sentences. It is crazy. We went from "more" to I want some more please". We are slowly settling into the duplex. Still love it. Finally purchased a double stroller and have liked it so far. It worked well at the zoo. Love you all!

2007-04-15T17:22:00.000-07:00

My Grandma Mac loved coloring Easter Eggs with Scotty, Julie, and me. She loved coloring Easter Eggs with Matthew, Micah, and Kristi and here I am coloring Easter Eggs with MY granddaughter. WHAT A BLAST!

One month and counting

2007-04-15T11:46:00.000-07:00

It has been a bit over a month since we became a family of four. It finally feels like things are settling down a bit. We moved a week ago from the apartment into a duplex. We are very happy here. It is very homey and we don't have annoying upstairs neighbors who lift weights and drop them at 10:00 every night. Thanks to Matthew, Jace, and Jan who basically packed and moved everything in two days. I didn't have to do a thing but watch the kids. Vail and Katy are doing good. Vail sometimes has a hard time when Katy is crying but other than that she loves her. Katy basically eats, sleeps, poops, and cries. so here are some random pictures of the past few weeks. We had a great time with papa and jammie. it was fun getting to watch vail get to know them a little better. although i was unaware of the tasting the easter egg toxin incident. oh well she is still alive. maybe it boosted her immune system. enjoy the pics of the park and others. yes i still read this thing. love jen

?

2007-04-14T20:45:00.001-07:00

does anyone ever look at this anymore?

next step

2007-03-24T19:46:00.000-07:00

here is a silly little picture my roomie and i took while in branson. that place is crazy. pretty much a cheezey-middle-aged-religios-patriotic- wanna-be-las-vegas.....with good outlet malls.
so all weekend, and pretty much all year, i have been busy getting a presentation and paper together. i am presenting my pre-candidacy project (pretty much a master's thesis) on friday. keep me in your prayers! i feel pretty good about it. after this i will be moving to the next step of studying all summer for my written comprehensive exams which will be in september. i think that might be the hardest part of the whole grad school career thing. ick. all i know is i am ready for some nashville trips!

2007-03-18T19:08:00.000-07:00

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2007-03-07T21:04:00.000-08:00

Vegas Adventures

2007-03-06T15:31:00.000-08:00

Kristi was shrunk

I told Jan "Look Glamorous" and this was her first reaction

Here is Dad and Kristi petting the MGM Lion

Nat and her M&M's

Dad finally realized his dream as he was taken on stage during the Blue Man Group Perfomance

He also spent a little time on the green with Tiger.

Mom got to meet two of her heros.

Posted By Micahtcb not Jammie

2007-02-22T07:44:00.000-08:00

I hope yall have a WONDERFUL time in vegas!!! be sure to visit arthur and help him with those pesky dragons!!!!

More sleeping pictures

2007-02-15T09:18:00.000-08:00

PRECIOUS!!!