In loving memory of GRANDMA DEMO

On June 16, 2010 I lost my first immediate family member. My Grandma Demo passed away that morning at about 8:00 A.M. I am so thankful that my entire family made the trip to Hutchinson, Kansas to see her just 4 days before. When we went to visit her I was honestly bracing my self for the worst. I had been warned by my family that she wasn't doing well at all and she probably wouldn't know who I was. Much to my surprise she was completely alert and aware! The first thing she asked me was if I was being a good house wife! Haha! Gotta love her! It was so great to spend time with her. She asked me how my married life was going and if I had been cooking, etc. I got to tell her the funny story of my attempt to make her famous CARROT COOKIES! How was I supposed to know there is a difference between baking powder and baking soda?!?! I think she found me quiet entertaining that day :) When we headed back to Oklahoma after visiting her I honestly did not think that was the last time I was going to see my grandma. I thought she had many many more months in her. But Jamey warned me that he thought she was holding on until we all got to say goodbye to her. And that was exactly the case. How sweet of her to wait for us all to get to see her one last time! I know she was suffering and was completely ready to go. She even told my aunt that she was ready to go to her Heavenly Home. And that is exactly where she is looking over me right now!

Grandma's funeral was beautiful! There was a slide show and TONS of pictures of her with her family. I love seeing old pictures! She was so beautiful! That day was really hard...

There was one thing that my mom told me that really just made me love my grandma more than ever. My grandma's friend went up to my mother and was giving her sympathy. She told my mom that my Grandma Demo had told her a while ago that she really just wanted to "hold on" until I got married. She wanted to make sure that she got to see me marry a really nice man! Wow... Even though my grandma didn't get to make it to my wedding she stuck around to know that I was taken care of. The last day I saw her I took her my wedding video to watch :)

I loved my Grandma Demo so much and will miss her! I hope I grow to be a wonderful woman just like her!

Mary Lodema Wright

Me and Grandma Demo

Our Last Christmas together

Too Busy Too Blog

So lately life has been crazy! I have picked up more responsibility at work and therefor have been left no time to blog! I promise to get my stuff together soon and give you some wonderful posts :)

Dallas

Last weekend Darren and I decided to head to Dallas to see Marnie and the kids. We planned on heading out of town after getting off of work on Friday and after we dropped off the dogs at my parents house. Well...that was the plan at least. Marnie text Friday morning and told me that Presley REALLY wanted me to bring the dogs. Who could turn down such a precious 6 year old. So after work I went and packed up the dogs and we headed out of town. Normally when the dogs go on car rides they sit in my lap, I was not sure that I could handle 3 hours of that so I put them in their crate in the back.

We were honestly SHOCKED by how good they were. Gidget whined for a little bit but then the both fell asleep and stayed back there the entire time! Such good babies!

When we got to the house Marnie had to give us the tour! They just moved into their house in January and it is absolutely BEAUTIFUL! I am so happy that they found such a wonderful home that is so perfect for them. After the tour we all settled into be to get a good nights rest for the long day of playing that we would have ahead of us.

This is what I walked out of the shower to Saturday morning... (a little blurry)

We all got ready Saturday morning and hit the town. Their house is so perfect because it is WALKING DISTANCE from everything. So we walked over to the plaza and had some lunch. After of course we had to hit up the ice cream shop. Here are the kids playing on the chalk board.

Later that afternoon we went home and got ready for a night on the patio. Everyone got their swim gear on and we prepared some pizza. Their house has and AMAZING brick oven on the patio so we had HOMEMADE pizza...basically like the Italians do it :)

I started by kneading the dough...

Then Darren tossed it...

The kids put on the toppings...

We put it in the oven...

And PRESTO...an absolutely DELICIOUS brick oven pizza!

After pizza we swam and played and relaxed!

T and Cashie

Ringo testing out the water...

And trying to make his escape!

We had such a wonderful weekend and can't wait to return! We love you Marnie, Presley, Jett, and Cash!

Gardening

Last summer Darren and I got into gardening. We planted some flowers and the front flower beds and did our mailbox planters and a few pots. This year we decided to go about and beyond and tackle the flower beds in the back. Since we got all new patio furniture I LOVE being in the back yard. I wanted to make the scenery a little better so Darren took on the feat of clearing out the flower beds and we ventured off to TLC for some flowers! It is almost sickening how much you can spent on flowers. The upside is that HOPEFULLY they will all come back next year so you only have to spend the large amount once!

Here are some pictures of the front. I love how the flowers get bigger and bigger each year! There is actually a plant in the middle that get HUGEEEEEE with flowers but it blooms a little later.

Here is the back!

Unfortunately the flower bed on the bottom was completely destroyed by the dogs. At first we thought that they were eating them then Darren discovered that that is where they go to fight so they just trample all over the flowers. Sad day :(

The guilty culprits...

Doxie Dash

The title says it all...

I am obsessed with the Dachshund Dash and every year I want to go and have never been. Well this year I had the perfect companions to drag with me! I started warning Darren from the moment the Gazette started advertising that we were going. He acted resistant but I knew he would pull through.

Well the day of the race it was a little rainy but I was determined! We decide to leave Ringo behind since he is so little and let Gidget be the princess for the day! Boy does she LOVE BEING THE PRINCESS!!!

In the car ride on the way to the race I could tell that Gidget had to potty...she had a little gas :) This totally freaked me out because I did NOT want her to potty in the middle of the crowd...I didn't want her to be THAT dog. When we got there I think she was in total shock. There were dogs EVERYWHERE! She was so good...she didn't bark once!

We all got situated in the stands and waited for the races. Here is a picture of Gidget ready for the show!



Gidget and Mommy (excuse my crazy eyebrows...)


The races were HYSTERICAL!!!!! OMG! Darren was not real happy about being there but once he saw a race I think he kind of liked it! (he would probably say that was a stretch) After 2 races we decide to go and check out what the vendors had to offer. I LOVE buying things for my dogs...it is sick. I can only imagine how I will be with children. Well, I got tired of holding Gidget while I was looking so I made Darren hold her. All of the sudden he starts FREAKING OUT and tells me that she is trying to poop WHILE HE WAS HOLDING HER!!!!! So I grab her and we make a mad dash for the exit outside. Of course it is still raining and of course Gidget refuses to poop, she finally peed and I knew that was all I was going to get.

We went back inside and decide to head for the car. We parked at the Chase building so we took the Sky walk back to the parking garage. It was so fun to see all the little Doxies headed for the show. Gidget wanted to stop and greet all of them! Darren was walking Gidget on her leash and she stopped and started pooping! Darren starts FREAKING OUT AGAIN and tells me to CATCH IT! Catch it??!?!?! REALLLLLY?!?!?!?! But I obeyed. I seriously got the plastic bag and tried to catch her poop as it was coming out. I was MORTIFIED. Oh...and don't you worry...we had an AUDIENCE! Ugh. So needless to say Gidget was THAT DOG that pooped in public. LAME.

We had so much fun and I hope we can go next year and bring Ringo along.

I will leave you with a picture of my sweet little babies sleeping...

It's been a while...

you ever feel like you are SOOOOOOOOOOOOO behind on your blogging that you are to overwhelmed to put together a post? That is exactly how I have been feeling! There have been so many events lately and I feel like I am so behind that I can't even get up the energy to post about them...well here we go!

First thing we have missed is my BIRTHDAY! I am astonished that I haven't dedicated an enter post to this...but oh well! This year I turned 24 (on April 5th) and it was wonderful! My parents, Jessica and Eric, Suzanne and Noah, and Darren and I all made our way to Eischens for my birthday dinner! It was AMAZING! I think Darren and I liked it more than everyone else! Let me rephrase that...I think Darren liked it more than everyone else...he at an ENTIRE CHICKEN! Who is he?! I continue to wonder where he stores all of this food.

For my birthday my wonderful sweet husband bought me these. http://shop.nordstrom.com/S/2915149?Category=&Search=True&SearchType=guidednav&keyword=tory+%3e+Women%27s+Shoes&origin=searchresults
(I still don't know how people post the link without making it look like the above)

I am so excited about my new shoes. I actually already had this pair but I have had them for 2 years and they have had ENOUGH! I could not wear them ONE MORE TIME!

I had the most wonderful birthday ever and am so glad I got to spend it with the people I love.

I swear I will post more this week...this one just wore me out ;)

Yummmmy

To fight off cabin fever during our heavy snow Darren and I got productive in the kitchen! I have been dying to try out our brand new kitchen aid mixer and Saturday was the perfect opportunity.

I decided that I would get really creative (well by my standards) and make Banana Nut Bread from scratch! I have never made anything like this unless it comes in a box...I was very nervous! Well let me tell you that this mixer is AMAZING! I am not even kidding, I feel like it made the banana bread by itself! I was amazed by the power of this thing...it is my new favorite toy! Darren decided to take a nap while I made the bread which got me nervous. What if I didn't do something right? He is normally right behind me making sure I am doing everything correctly (annoying, but often useful). Well, IT WAS A SUCCESS!

Since I made the yummy bread Darren made us some DELICIOUS stew! OMG! It was probably the best stew I have ever tasted! Good job babe!

I would say we had a very successful weekend of cooking/baking! It was really fun and a change from what we normally do. I think I am going to make a habit out of baking but I need to make sure to not make a habit out of eating! I think I will try carrot cookies out next! Stay tuned!

I have to leave you with a sweet picture of precious Ringo napping!