Ophidiophobia?

Am I an Ophidiophobic? Why yes. Yes, I am.
But I didn't know I was. It wasn't until we moved to the wild forests of Texas that I discovered my new phobia.
Ophidiophobia- fear of snakes.
The place we live in is beautiful! There are deer everywhere, fireflies, egrets and a lot of other beautiful creatures. Unfortunately there are also a lot of scary creatures that you would never want running or slithering around your property. A couple weeks ago, I narrowly escaped being bit by a copperhead while taking my nieces and nephews out to see the rabbits. Luckily, Jimmy got there before anyone was hurt and shot it. That was just 1 day after I had seen a snake while gardening.
So this brings me to this past Friday. Jimmy was leaving the house after lunch to go back to work (which is about 50 yards from our front door) when he came face to face with a very large, very poisonous cottonmouth/water moccasin. After "checking to see if it was aggressive" by poking it with a stick, he got his gun and shot it.
I realize that technically I am in their habitat, but somehow this doesn't make me feel better.
So do I have a fear of snakes? Yeah, I guess you could say that.

FIVE (5) FEET LONG!!!

And yes, Jimmy is smiling in that picture. He is enjoying every snake encounter and I'm sure he thinks I'm so silly that I won't go outside now without full-body armor.

4.9.10

On Friday, my sister, Melissa, got married to her sweetheart, Erick. The wedding was beautiful and Melissa and Erick looked so happy!

We loved being all together. It hasn't happened since January 2006. And since my parents are leaving soon it may not happen for another several years.

Once in a lifetime...

you find your true love.
On Saturday we celebrated a year and a half of marriage.
With my sister getting married this Friday it got me thinking of the man I married on October 3, 2008. I knew he was wonderful, but I'm learning every day just how perfect he is for me. Thanks for a beautiful 18 months, Jimmy! These are some photos from our anniversary trip to San Antonio in October.

Shiloh Ridge

Last week the boys went camping and Mom and I joined them for a night. It was so fun to spend time with the family and enjoy the great outdoors!
Now the word camping means different things to different people. To some it may mean sleeping under the stars, catching your food in the wild and hiking. But to others (my dad) is means trucks, trailers, campers, four-wheelers, coolers, dutch ovens, tables, chairs..... you get the idea. It's anything but roughing it. When Dad does something, he goes ALL OUT! But this place is also not like mountain camping. We don't have mountains in Southeast Texas. But we do have awesome off-roading trails and rednecks who live for the weekends up at Shiloh Ridge.
This video is not the most exciting thing you will watch. For those of you who know Jimmy, you can tell he is being VERY calm with me there. It wasn't until the next day when Mom and I left that the boys went crazy. The camera left with me so there is no evidence, but their history is proof enough. ps- does anyone know if I'm going to get thrown in jail for using this song from my itunes library? I don't know much about youtube, sony, copyright, etc.



Really, our video does nothing to show what Shiloh Ridge is all about. Here is a quick video. I never knew these vehicles could go this far in the water/mud. I wish we had a video from when Adam was being cheered on by a huge crowd of rednecks while riding in a mud bog last year.




I love the title of that movie! Bubba on the Brute... classic!

Top o' the mornin' to ya!!

Waking up is always an unwanted event, but add pinching to it, and it's just awful!! I forgot to wear green to bed on Tuesday night so I woke up to Jimmy pinching me Wednesday morning! Well, good morning!! All pinching aside, it is fun to have someone that will get into the holiday spirit! (Thanks, Helen!! <-- Right, Newtons?)
He even stayed up to watch one of the most hilarious movies!

It is CLASSIC! It has Sean Connery from when he was just a lad. (Yes, I did!) Tonight I may see if I can trick him into watching another St. Patty's classic. Oh, the things we do for love!

The real reason for this post is to document that Jimmy was so into the Irish spirit (and so afraid that I would show as little mercy as he showed me) that he refused to change out of his GREEN shirt. Even though it was a polo! How uncomfortable.
He asked if I would pinch him if he changed and I said yes, but that I would only pinch him once. Once was obviously too much because he would not change. Rules are rules! I couldn't possible let him get by without a pinch if he changed. Right?

Ownership is overrated!

On Saturday, we took our last item worth more than 100 dollars down to Carmax and SOLD IT! It feels strange to not really own anything. Very liberating! You should give it a try.
You know how they say that Hondas are really great cars?? Well ours was not. It has not been an awful car, but last month we took a trip to Austin and it proved to be unreliable!

Note Adam's concerned face as he watches the engine smoke.

But, we LOVE Carmax! If you have a car that you have been wanting to get rid of, they'll buy it from you! Jimmy is afraid that it's going to be my fix-all from now on. Car has a flat tire? Carmax. Bad windshield wiper? Carmax. Low on gas? Carmax.
I don't think I will become that extreme, but doing business with them is so enjoyable, I just might!! Thanks Carmax!!On a side note, these two guys, from some eastern country, stopped to give us some crazy advice about our car. I had been documenting the whole evening so I continued snapping pictures of them. This guy stopped, asked if I was a cop,

then took off.

It was hilarious! Shady business!

What we've been up to....

Not much... but a lot at the same time. You know how it goes. We know we do something every day, but nothing exciting enough to be blogging every week.
We have been doing a little playing. (Not a ton of ping pong, but I like this picture of Jimmy.)
Traveling-Jimmy spent a week this month at the World Ag Show in California. These are three of the guys he works with. Dad (sitting in the back), John (left), and Ky (right).
Moving-It's our hobby! We moved at the beginning of this month and we will be moving at the end of next month. Fun times!
April is sure to be more exciting than the beginning of this year has been. But there's nothing wrong with calm, we like calm.
****To clarify- no, we are not moving out of the Houston area. We just wanted to see how many times we could pack our stuff up in a 12 month period. =)

Airman First Class!

My brother, Adam, was sworn into the Air Force on Monday, February 1st. We are SO proud of him! Only 17% of all people who apply to the Air Force are accepted! Not only was he accepted, but the commanding officer had never seen anyone perform the physical evaluation as well as he did. His written and physical tests were so excellent he has his pick of any job he wants. We are still waiting to hear when his ship date is and what job he will be doing. But whatever he does, he will do great! Congratulations, Adam! You are amazing! We are honored to have a member of our family defending our freedom!