Wedded Bliss

this weekend has just been fun-filled with happiness all around! the kind of happiness when two people decide to spend the rest of their lives together. Friday kicked things off with Lindsay & Nate's engagement and Saturday we enjoyed celebrating the new... Mr & Mrs Cohagan. A BIG CONGRATULATIONS to Bill & Casie - we wish you both all the best. Bill is a fraternity pledge brother of Jonathan's. They also shared their first "post-dorm" apartment together with David Ray - a memorable time for all involved and the beginning of a long friendship. We all had a terrific time celebrating with the newlyweds. Bill & Casie definitely know how to throw a party - there were good times had by all!

Classic Kappa Sigs

Jonathan. Chris Lander. Bill aka The Groom. David Ray. Nate Riddle

David & Kim. The Cree'sCree Sibs: Linds & J

Surprise SUCCESS!

the last few weeks Jonathan and I have been in on a little secret and this Friday it was finally revealed with a successful surprise. Jonathan's sweet sister Lindsay and her fabulous boyfriend Nate are.... ENGAGED!! The ever romantic Nate whisked Miss Lindsay away on a beautiful tour of Dallas - by airplane! Jonathan and I were honored to be a part of the "surprise" by helping scheme a fake night out with friends in order to have Lindsay dolled up and delivered to her Prince Charming. For more on the engagement and the happy couple - follow this link to The Future Mrs. Riddle.

Here is Lindsay just after realizing she was the reason we were stopping by the airport!

Nate "officially" down on one knee for his soon to be bride!

Lindsay and Nate... we are both so blessed to have you in our lives and are so honored to be able to share in this experience with you. We cannot wait for the big day and look forward to all the fun family moments we will have in the future!

a new bed for Daisy!

so j and i went out on a mission the other day to find the perfect bed for our daisy. we found it at Foxy Paws and after a few weeks - it finally arrived. the perfect daisy bed for our Daisy!

the hopes was that with a new bed she might go from this....

to this....

isn't she just so cute!? if only she would STAY THERE!!!

so far we're a week in and we're about 50/50. only time will tell how "Operation: Get Daisy Off the Couch" goes. we'll keep you posted!

the BEES are GONE and their NEST TOO!

the BEES are GONE!! YIPPEE!!

we came home Labor Day to find the hive had vanished. it even made the recent community newsletter. we are so thankful for the answered prayer. Daisy (and the rest of the neighborhood) can finally enjoy the outdoors in peace.

on a side note... totally have to agree with DWTS judges. SUSAN LUCCI NEEDS TO EAT!! my love affair is beginning to end - the woman is way too skinny! sheesh. i'm truly afraid she just may break out there!

living room pics

so the family has been requesting some photos of the house... well we're still working on things but our BEAUTIFUL "happy anniversary to us" entertainment center just arrived this weekend! we LOVE it!! so please enjoy a few pictures of the living room and our latest addition. it is definitley a step-up from the coffee table the tv has been sitting on since we moved in!! (it so nice to have somewhere to rest our drinks again!) by the way - furniture shopping STINKS!!! it takes a lot of patience to find exactly what you want for what you want. good thing we had each other! we were about to throw in towel after a full day of shopping when we stopped in one last random store - low and behold - there it was. PFEW! we should be set in this department AT LEAST until our 25th anniversary!!

of course daisy had to make a photo appearance as well. it just wouldnt be complete without her!! (and yes, my hubby spoiled me with those GORGEOUS roses!) more photos coming soon... (dont mind "the dude" on the tv)

Welcome Miss Lainey!

A BIG CONGRATULATIONS to Jamie and Nick on their newest addition!!

Elaine Donna Campbell

Born September 2nd at 12:53am

5lbs, 11oz

19 and 1/2 in long

Princess Lainey

Jamie and I have been friends since high school. She has such a sweet soul and will be an incredible mom. We are just elated for her and her hubby. Baby Lainey is blessed to have such special parents! For more pictures of the sweet Elaine - go to the Campbell's Blog! or click on "Our Campbell's Soup" on the right side of this page!

MY NEW SPEED DIAL: 1-800-VOTE4-??

Did you HEAR?!

"Lucci is among the 13 celebrities slated to compete on the new season of the top-rated ABC dance contest, premiering Sept. 22"

I just may have to watch this season and put my vote in!

Check it out: Dancing with the Stars

tagged

so i've been tagged by my friend carole.... and have to come up with the 6 quirkiest things about myself. hmmm... let's see.

1. Ross makes me nauseous. No, not Ross from Friends fame (love him!) but as in "Ross - Dress for Less." Yes, that's right - I am a shopping snob down to the core. Stores like Ross and Marshall's make me run for the nearest restroom. Don't get me wrong - I still make the attempt to find a bargain but it usually doesnt last long. I have finally become a little better when it comes to the home sections of TJMaxx and Home Goods and the shoes too - in small doses. I can also now handle Hobby Lobby. (I LOVE that store!) But something about the racks and racks of clothes all jumbled together and the disorder makes my stomach turn.
2. I HATE being home alone at night. Trust me I'm all about alone time but something about being home alone at night freaks me out. A few years ago at our apartment, Jonathan and David came home LATE one night and I had dead-bolted the door with all the lights on. Of course, I was fast asleep and unable to know to let them in. I was feeling safe in my deep, locked up, lights on sleep. OOPS! They had to drive all the way across town to David's. But geez - I was SCARED! Then recently, Jonathan was out of town and Lisa was kind enough to let me borrow a nightlight she had brought back from Paris AND spend the night with me the second night! I even had Daisy sleep with me (she sleeps in her kennel) because I knew SHE would be protect me (all 12 pounds of her). Ha!

3. CLOUDS. i LOVE clouds! Back before digital, when I had a film camera and it would actually capture a good cloud - I would chase clouds. Seriously. I would see a cloud while driving and drive out of my way to follow it and capture the best photograph. Now you know why if I'm ever late to something - I was probably chasing a cloud. I have a bajillion photos of clouds. There is just something so captivating about clouds. Especially the ones where you can see each ray of sunshine beaming through them. I feel like you can just feel God looking down and shining over all of us.

4. As a kid - my sister and our across the alley neighbor friend Kristin and I would make up all sorts of games to keep us entertained during the summer. One was "Speed Dress-Up" - meaning we would put a pile of dress up clothes in the hallway and each be in a bedroom. When we would say "GO!" we would dash out of the bedrooms, grab as many clothes as we could and dash back into the bedrooms where we would have to fashionably put everything on. We would then come out of the room to model our creation. We also made up dance routines which we performed in Kristin's front yard - we particularly liked the song "Great Balls of Fire."

5. Speaking of dance routines... I LOVE to DANCE! I "took dance" at a dance studio from age 4-14 years and even did drill team for a year but to be honest - I don't have a rhythmic bone in my body. I can never find the beat EVER. I'm the girl during a song which requires clapping, that is a second behind everyone else - totally OFF. I still love to dance though, as ridiculous as I most probably look. I just try to stick to large crowds (where I can hide) or the privacy of our home!! At our wedding, ALL i wanted to do was DANCE! It's a good thing on the wedding video you cant actually HEAR the music that is really playing because there is no telling who's music I'm moving too! If you pay close enough attention though you can see our friends and notice that I am grooving to the beat of my own drum in my head!! Hey it was my wedding right? I can DANCE if I want to!

6. Susan Lucci. At the age of 5 years (maybe even younger), I wanted to BE Susan Lucci. My mom even has a photograph of me - dressed up in this long, yellow belted wrap/sweater of hers and her heels - announcing that I WAS Susan Lucci. What can I say?! I LOVED soaps as a kid. My mom and I would watch All My Children and General Hospital religiously. And for some reason, I was just awestruck by Erica Kane. I mean who wouldn't be? The woman was nominated EVERY YEAR STRAIGHT from 1981 to 1998. 24 nominations. (i can count, there were other years too) I would privately cheer for her every year to win that Emmy. I must admit it was bittersweet when she FINALLY won in 1999. I think that is when the obsession ceased - the rest of the world finally understood her greatness.

WAY TO GO SUSAN!!!

there it is 6 dorky, quirky things about me. now, i'm supposed to tag 6 more friends but since i'm a new blogger friends are limited so i think i may keep this to myself for now.

BUZZZZ OFF!

this weekend jonathan was out of town for the "Perfection Classic" aka the annual guys golf trip. back at home lisa and i attempted a garage sale in efforts to make some extra cash for the Texas Tatas and the Breast Cancer 3-day. saturday was quite a success. new to the whole garage sale business i was shocked at how EARLY people came. we made our first $50 before 8am! sunday unfortunately we had to cut it short... our neighbors have a MASSIVE BEEHIVE and poor daisy got stung on the nose. this was her second run-in with the neighboring bees in the last 10 days and had a SEVERE reaction. so we closed up shop and rushed to the Animal ER. much like the human ER we waited and waited and waited and finally 3 hours later we were able to go home with a doped up daisy. the busy bees have been next door since we moved in (6 weeks+) and we just don't know what to do. we have called the city, animal control and the HOA and everyone says "there is nothing we can do." i am dumbfounded by this! in the meantime, we have to cautiously watch daisy (and ourselves) every time we go outside and the hive just grows larger. and on top of it, the vet said her reaction will continue to worsen each time she is stung to the point that we may need to carry an epi pin for her! RIDICULOUS!! BUZZ OFF BEES!

lisa's quick note to garage sale shoppers

(we ended up closing after that - so if you need any furniture - give us a call!)

BUZZ OFF BEES!!
(pics taken 6 weeks ago - the hive is now almost 1.5x BIGGER!)

house guests.

well, we've been busy and very little unpacking has been accomplished (surprise!surprise!) daisy has been having a great time hanging out with her cousin for 3.5 weeks while her aunt (chris) had her wisdom teeth yanked and went to help our parents get settled in florida. daisy has had fun chasing martini (her mini chihuahua cousin) all around the house and backyard. the funniest part is that when martini arrived - daisy was about her size (5 pounds) and almost 4 weeks later - daisy is double and giving martini a run for her money. somehow we caught a pic of them actually eating out of their OWN bowls!we spent the 4th of july with the harp's and their giant puppy Riley. daisy was unsure of her at first but they are now best pals.AND... we had human guests too! jonathan's parents (sue & hal) came to spend a weekend with us. we had a wonderful time cooking out, enjoying the great weather and sharing our home with them. we always have a terrific time together - just hanging out. daisy (the grand-dog) was much of the highlight so, our weekend pictures are consumed mostly of her.

here she is with sue & jonathan's knee.

and then with her aunt lindsay!

daisy has been spoiled by aunt lindsay and her grand-dogparents with her new toy hamburger and hot dog! perfect to play with while her dad is grilling! THANK YOU!! RUFF!

memories...

Bye-bye Apt. 332... It's been 3 years of fun!

Neighbors to Texas Stadium and Season Ticketholders for a year!

Great Times @ Texas Bar & Grill... the local "watering hole"And of course who could forget the newlywed stories... The six hours trish spent having a stare off with the largest cockroach known to man (sadly to admit - from sitting on the kitchen table - awaiting rescue). Yes, people that is the sprinkler head just below that guy. This picture has NOT been doctored. He is about 6-7 inches long with antennaes! And then there was the time J plugged in the washing machine to become totally blinded. Needless to say, we had to call the maintenance guy at 11pm to return power to the entire apartment. Surprisingly, we weren't charged extra for the 6 inches of black smoke which singed the wall next to the outlet.

It's time for new memories to be made!

MOVED!

it has been a LONG week! each night, jonathan and i have been making several trips moving every thing. and then friday the movers came for the BIG stuff and sweet daisy hung out in the kitchen. do you like her home?

we have got to get her a kennel!!

saturday and sunday we spent cleaning/scrubbing the apartment. Daisy has been such a trooper. transporting back and forth in her "car seat" aka the laundry basket. we also just found out from the vet that she has giardia and is feeling a little under the weather. so she's been taking it easy, when she can. lisa, the ever faithful friend - always knowing how to make a situation seem better - informed me that she just heard the other morning that kelly ripa's pup has had giardia several times. somehow it is relieving/comforting to know that even a celebrity's puppy can catch such an icky thing too! so we are FINALLY OFFICIALLY ALL MOVED into our NEW HOUSE!! Let the fun begin! did i mention - we ran out of boxes, so in between trips we had to dump out the contents to create an empty box and then go back to the apt to refill. The thought of unpacking... YIKES! WHAT a DISASTER!!

puppy love

we are absolutely in love with our daisy!! she is as sweet as can be and so entertaining. we just love watching her - she is so curious, trying to check everything out. since we're constantly packing and moving things to the new house every night she is always on an adventure with us - trying to help of course!

here she has found a new friend.... she just makes me laugh! quietly barking at her friend, pawing at her friend and then circling the mirror trying to find out where her friend went.

see? who wouldnt be entertained by watching such a sweet pup!?

puppies are much like babies...
sleep and eat and sleep some more

look at those darling EARS!!

I'M SMITTEN!

and a Daisy makes 3…

was it me that said “Could we add any more EXCITEMENT to our lives?!” well, I guess we can and I guess we did! So yesterday, after evening rush hour traffic we drove an hour to Palmer, TX home to a woman named Georgia. We have been talking for a VERY long time about adding a puppy to make our family 3. The only thing standing in our way was the lack of a yard. After the wedding (one of our final weekend trips for awhile) we decided it was time to find that special little addition so off we went. My research for the perfect breeder was to the extent of calling classifieds in the paper and trusting the ominous person behind the black & white ad. We do NOT support puppy mills but I now understand how they remain in business. I’m not saying this was a puppy mill but I am saying I wanted to SAVE ALL the PUPPIES and take them ALL HOME!!

Picking the perfect puppy to bring home wasn't as hard as I had thought though (other than wanting them ALL) She connected with us right away!! :o) Jonathan had scooped her up and she just snuggled away - melting both of our hearts. After the "official" adoption - off we went. She seemed a bit confused at first but quickly snuggled into my lap for the ride home.

She is the most precious, cutest puppy EVER!! (the friendly staff at PetSmart all agreed) and she is a whopping 5 pounds - we'll see how long that lasts!

And her name.... "Daisy" of course!

on the way home... on my lap

enjoying her new ring toy

she LOVES tight spaces to snuggle up in!
(she's wedged between the couch, a pillow and the recliner)

Adventures in Amarillo

Thursday evening we began our adventure… our 10 hour adventure to Pampa. On a typical day our drive is only about 5 hours but today Jonathan and I had the chance to enjoy some true quality togetherness. STUCK. Stuck on Highway 287. Surrounded by semi’s in the middle of nowhere. There was no turning around. No moving forward. And for about 1½ hours, no knowing what was even going on. We had just driven through a fairly terrifying storm of torrential rain, high winds and green gloomy skies. When I say terrifying, I mean terrifying. Arms crossed, white knuckled, closed fists, nails digging into my palms – NERVOUS. I mean I had visions of cows flying through the air – a la “Twister.” Jonathan of course kept it together, always appearing like his calm and collected self. I admire and thank him for that. It truly eases my nerves when they are on end. So back to being stuck… come to find out about 15 cars ahead of us a tornado had hopped across the highway – overturning cars and bringing down power lines. Apparently, the power lines were on top of the overturned cars and crews were working hard to remove the power lines which had also caused a mass power outage through the area. NO ONE was getting by – not on either side. I guess I wasn’t so off with my flying cow visions! So we sat and we sat and spent 3 hours getting to know each other better, meet our stranded “neighbors,” and see stars like I have never seen before! Snoozing seemed like a good option but even in an SUV it’s hard to get comfy plus I kept having visions of serial killers attacking. HAVE YOU SEEN THAT MOVIE JOY RIDE?! It’s about a semi truck driving serial killer. I think Paul Walker was in it? Maybe it was Pacey from Dawson’s Creek? I digress…

Now why the adventure? We were off to Amarillo for our good friends - Matt & Michelle’s wedding. After the memorable journey we enjoyed a beautiful weekend celebration of love and friendship. Jonathan stood by as Matt’s best man – the two have been the closest of friends for 25 years! Pretty AMAZING! M&M’s ceremony was an inspiring expression of true, faith based love and the reception was perfectly planned down to each petal. I even had the opportunity to help set-up for the reception. How incredible to observe two groups of complete strangers come together and create not only a gorgeous setting for the evening but one where each lantern, votive, flower, and photo was placed with a tender hand full of joy and love. We boogied all night and stuffed ourselves on Matt’s mom, Anita’s famous cookies. It was a fabulous time had by all!

(we're in camera limbo and the disposable used that weekend has not been developed yet - here's a pic with us and the Harps' from the TX State Fair '07)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HUBBY!

Celebrations for Jonathan! We enjoyed the evening with the Texas Rangers who were playing the Cleveland Indians. The game was especially significant because the FIRST Rangers game Jonathan EVER attended was versus the Cleveland Indians – 20 years ago! Thank you to Lindsay, Nate, Rob, Sarah, Scott, Nathan, David & RJ who joined us. A VERY SPECIAL THANK YOU to Jeremy who swung FREE tickets for ALL of us! THANKS JEREMY! It was an evening filled with dollar dogs, frosty beverages, hopping fences and trying to “name that tune.” Even though the Rangers couldn’t pull it off… we still enjoyed a great time with good friends.

HALLELUJAH! I am OFFICIALLY EMPLOYED!

So… I had my second interview today and they offered me the job!! HALLELUJAH! I am ECSTATIC! My internship finished EXACTLY 4 weeks ago today and I am now officially employed as a CHILD LIFE SPECIALIST. The Lord has truly blessed us in so many ways. This position just affirms that I am doing exactly what He wants me to be doing. If yall don’t know… I quit my boring, unsatisfying full-time job last July to follow my passion. In doing so, I took an assistant position basically for peanuts to get my foot in the door. With persistence and a LOT of FAITH, I can honestly say I have achieved my dream job. YEA! I still have a LOT to learn but am so EXCITED for the opportunities ahead. I absolutely LOVE my field – if you’re curious what it is or what I do… Please ask – I LOVE it and LOVE sharing with others what it’s all about! My official start date is June 23rd – just a few more weeks for PACKING and UNPACKING! Could we add any more EXCITEMENT to our lives?! I am seriously on CLOUD 9! Home of my NEW AWESOME employer...

The Cree’s Have a New Nest… Look Out for Our NEW ADDRESS!!

YEA!! So we closed on our VERY FIRST OWN HOME on Tuesday May 27th. They say third times a charm and that’s how it worked out for us (regarding closing). Originally the closing date was set for 5/15 and then 5/21 and FINALLY 5/27. So YES… on a glorious day during a Texas summer storm we became OFFICIAL HOMEOWNERS! We may have been drenched due to the perfectly timed downpour but all you homeowners know how much you look forward to the rain and not watering the yard - we simply found this as a the perfect sign of good things to come. So BLESS the RAIN and BLESS OUR HOME!
(sorry for the pic's a bit blurry - i had to "borrow" it from the seller's website!)

...Home Sweet Home...