What a Week!!!

What is my problem! I just spent like 30 min uploading all these photos and thought I was doing such a good job- I did them backwards????!!!! Anyway! Please enjoy the backward sequence of a GREAT week!

Monday- Rangers Opening Day with Miss Mindi! We had a blast and got super sunburned!

Friday- Dave and I celebrated our TEN year anniversary! Exciting! Rick's paid for our dinner! Have to give them a shout out!

Saturday- Samantha's Fifth Birthday Party!

Sunday- Easter Sunday with a special furry surprise!

Monday- Mommy is tired, but it was worth it!!!!

Thanks for sharing in this special week with us- we hope you all had a blessed and wonderful Easter with your families!

The Easter Bunny (Aunt Kat and Uncle JP's dog, Major) brought us a wonderful Easter surprise- two baby bunnies. They were sooooo precious! Sam named them White Spot and Ali Girl.... We put them back in the bushes last night, and they were gone this morning. We are hoping Mama Bunny came and got them. hmmmm...... Too sweet!!!

Aunt Kat, Sam, and Emily (not me, Emily- I have been replaced by and American Girl!)

Sammy Bear in her Easter Dress- we ran out of time to curl hair- I will probably regret that forever, but I am going to have to get over it!

Aunt Kat and Uncle JP- aren't they so cute!!!

The Youngblood Fam!

Looks like mommy ate a little too much birthday cake in this picture!

On the hunt!

Sleepy Girl checking out her Easter Basket!

Samantha's Fifth Birthday Party!
For Samantha's Birthday (this Wednesday!) we took a couple of her friends to Benihana, and when we came home, we had arranged for a few of our close friends/fam to be here to surprise Sammy Bear and sing, "Happy Birthday!" We were so grateful for all of our friends who came all the way to McKinney on Easter Eve to help us celebrate! The Morriss, Wells, Harper, and Hornsby Families, Aunt Kat, Uncle JP and Major, and Miss Becky, who represented all my girlfriends with a gift card to the American Girl Store-yee haw! Thank you all so much!

Sam's party was Hello Kitty, so everyone wore pink (even some of the guys!)- that is true friendship!

I wish I had thought to take pics of all the kiddos, but I think mommy's brain was fried at that point!

Miss Samantha, Jada, and Macie before we went to Benihana! Aren't they so PURTY in their tiaras! Needless to say, they got a lot of attention at Benihana!

The Wells Family! They lived across the street from us in our old house- they mean so much to us! Paige babysits Samantha! They all wore pink for Miss Sam!

How sweet is Landry- I think wearing pink was a little too much for him, but he did wear Hello Kitty socks for Samantha! He is going to wash him and then pass them onto Sam- too girly for his sock drawer! Thank you for our book and sweet pic, Landry and Ryder!

I am so mad that I did not get more shots of this! Miss Sam blowing out her candles! FIVE of them! Wow!

This is right when we walked in and Samantha had 18 people there to wish her a Happy Birthday! What a fun surprise!

Sam and Macie playing in the color-changing fountain at The Shops at Legacy- too sweet! As you can see, it was VERY exciting!

Our sweet waitress took this photo- she wanted it to be girls only- sorry, Dave!

Yummy ice cream surprise! The Benihana staff sang the "Happy Song!"

These expressions are priceless!

Yummy soup!

"YAY!" for Hello Kitty! How pretty are these little girls?!?

On our way! Lots of giggling!

I love this picture (I think it's on here twice, and that's why!). These girls are so close because of Mama Di!

Thank you for our Easter Goodies, Miss Amber!

Miss Amber sent Samantha a special Big Sister package full of all kinds of goodies- we have all had a great time with the bunny ears!

Samantha posing with her Hello Kitty cake- she put all the little Hello Kitty treats on all by herself!

Five Years Old! What a big girl!

Samantha helped decorate her Hello Kitty table! Didn't she do a good job!!!

Aww.... I love this pic! Sam and pups have become so close! He loves to lay on her belly- Sam can't stand it too long because his head weighs about 25 pounds and he has yucky breath!

Love the Minnie Mouse dress, by the way- The Ates Family gave that to us a long time ago, and it we have gotten PLENTY of use out of it!

Rangers Opening Day!

What a great day!!! We had a blast and Sam really enjoyed her first REAL baseball game! It was freezing and super windy that day, but hot inside the stadium. Poor Sammy got a sunburn! Yummy hot dogs, peanuts, and nachos!

Sam LOVES her some Miss Mindi!

Aunt Kat and Uncle JP got this shirt for Sam- she made it clear to them that she did not like it because it looked like a boy's shirt. She wore pink leggings and a pink t-shirt under it, so that helped!

President George Bush! We love him! We can't help it!

Sammy the day after the Rangers Game- we are still sunburned a week later- bad mom!

What an awesome week full of fun memories and great friends!

Yee Haw!

This weekend Mimi and Papa came in town and we went to the Fort Worth Rodeo and Stockshow! Dave and I both grew up in Ft. Worth, so it always brings back fun memories when we go! We got to see a lot of Dave's family- a lot of them were actually showing animals at the Stockshow. It was a great weekend!

This baby chick was only a few days old- so sweet!

This is Dave's Uncle Corky- Mums' little brother!!! Sam has a special place in her heart for him! Notice his "Director" badge! We have connections!


Mimi and Papa! Papa ate too much Angelo's, so this was a good smile for him!

Daddy bought bunny ears for Sam! Just one more thing to add to the junk pile!

This is Sam after she devoured Aunt Kat's funnel cake!

Daddy and Uncle JP enjoying some cold rodeo beer!

Mommy's Knocked Up and "Baby D" is on the Way!

It's funny how with your first pregnancy, you get all sneaky and tricky and creative in revealing that you're pregnant. And you don't dare reveal before the three month "safe" period! Well, I am super early, but we do have a little test that says that I am indeed pregnant, which means.... (Well, it means many things!) that Sam is going to be a big sister! We have not told everyone, but I guess this post will show if people really read our blog :) My guess is that since I haven't posted anything since December, most of you have given up! I would too!

Here is a pic of Miss Sam before she told Mimi and Papa this past weekend! We are all very excited! Of course, Dave wants a boy and Sam wants a baby sister- they both seem to think I have control over this! Due date is October 3!





























Since Sam is the photographer of the fam, she insisted on taking a pic of me after I took one of her. Enjoy seeing me before I get all round and bloated!

The World from Sam's Eyes!

Sam loves to take my camera and take photos of random things (I am sure each image is of great significance!). I thought I would share a couple...

Sam (unfortunately) is obsessed with Sponge Bob, so it only makes sense that she took about 15 shots of him (and all the other role model characters!)






I went up to Sam's playroom the other day, and she had this set up.... Her barbies were having a wedding! It was laid out so well- I was very proud!!! She obviously was too! Notice the pianist off to the right!

Sam always has fun when Dave brings his boat home. After having her run around on it for about 30 min, he is reminded that she might be a little too young to take to the lake for the day! She is showing off her new fishing pole!


Poor Dubya! Sam came in to tell me that I HAD to get my camera! She had dressed Pups up and we had to get a picture. Poor dog!

Thanksgiving in Hackberry!

We got to spend Thanksgiving with Dave's family in Louisiana this year! Dave's parents built a beautiful home on the water (it has survived three hurricanes!), and it is the perfect place for big family gatherings. Almost all of the cousins were able to make it- it was so fun to see all of them together having such a fun time. I know they have many wonderful memories ahead of them!

Sam was so excited to see her Mums and G that I didn't know if we would get a nap out of her or not, but she finally fell asleep the last hour of the drive into Louisiana.


Our first night in Louisiana, Uncle David smoked a brisket all day- it was so yummy! Then the Duzan Family treated us to their awesome dance moves- this is Aunt Stacy (Dave's sister), Uncle David, Ashleigh, and Brooke doing the "Skanky Leg."


Sam and Maddie set the table for Thanksgiving Lunch- isn't it so pretty!


Don't Mums and G make a good looking couple!!! G spent ALL morning in the kitchen (if there was a floorlength shot, you could probably see G's fishing boots!). The guys made it back from a morning of fishing just in time for Thanksgiving Lunch and the Cowboy Game!


Sam ready to eat at the kiddie table


This is the Duzan Fam reading up on super important information- is Jennifer Aniston pregnant with John's baby?


These pictures speak for themselves! I loved watching all the cousins together! They were all so sweet and got along so well. I wish we had more photos of Cole, but he spent a lot of time fishing with Dave and John. Happy 18th Birthday, Cole!





You can't beat this photo either! Dave, Uncle David, John, and Cole got some great fishing in! More fish to add to the freezer!!! Anyone want to come over for fish tacos?

A Scary Meal (not just the way it looked!) and Night!

We had a lot of fun with Princess Leia's wig! What a fun night! Rather than saying, "trick or treat," Sam would say, "May the force be with you!" Funny!






We had a really fun and ghoulish Halloween this year! Sam and I spent the day making a delicious Halloween spread for daddy! It consisted of fingers and toes (little smokies), Mr Bones (pretzels, cheez wiz, olives, etc. on a graham cracker- yummy!), scary-shaped bologna sandwiches, and much more! What a great treat for daddy before our trick-or-treating!

Too Cute!

I have been a HORRIBLE blogger! I don't even have our Halloween photos up (Pretty funny!). Dave even got me one of those Flip cameras so I can be a video blogger (notice you haven't seen a video yet). This moment tonight was too sweet, though, that I had to stop and post. Sam moved Dubya's ("Pups") dog bed into her room. Look where we found him- he has been going in there at night and sleeping with her. It took several years, but they are finally becoming friends!