Combat Boots & Flip Flops

Update on Daddy

2009-10-08T19:46:00.003-04:00

To our wonderful friends and family:
I have been trying to decide if it was appropriate to blog about such an event in our lives. Today I had lunch with Mama and we decided to try to keep everyone updated through our blog. So, here we are. Let me start from the beginning...
Back in August, Daddy was sitting at the computer working and noticed a small lump on the right side of his neck, just below his jaw line. He went in and showed it to Mama and they decided that he would mention it to his doctor at his appointment the next week, which he already had scheduled.
After talking with the doctor about it, he went for an MRI. It was determined after that, that the next step would be to do a biopsy. But, since they were going to remove it either way, they decided to just skip the biopsy and go straight to the surgery.
Which brings us to Tuesday. It was all of our thinking (including the doctor's) that this was pretty much going to be a routine surgery. It was to take 2 1/2 hours, and by the end of it we would know that it was self contained and benign, and just move along with the recovery process.
So Tuesday, Daddy and Mama were at the hospital and checked in at noon. They took him back for surgery about 2:15 and got started on the surgery about 2:45. A whole group of us sat in the waiting room for right at 2 1/2 hours while Daddy was in surgery. About 5:15, they called us back to talk to the doctor. Mama, Channing, and I went to meet with the doctor. It was at that point that we got the news.
As it turns out, and much to even the doctor's surprise, the tumor that they removed was malignant. So surprised by the turn of events, the doctors sent it to Pathology for further testing. Not really sure what to do at that point besides pray, a LOT of prayers went up. The doctor said that he would meet with us again on Friday morning and have some more information that would lead us to a new game plan for what comes next.
Basically, that is where we are right now. We are meeting with the doctor that did the surgery and the pathologist tomorrow morning at 9:30. I will continue to update this blog as we get more information.
We ask that you keep Daddy in your prayers. Prayers for his recovery as well as prayers for the news that we will receive tomorrow. Please pray for the doctors, and please pray for the strength of the family, and for God's healing hand to continuously be on Daddy.
I will keep you updated as we know more.

I figured it out...

2009-09-23T20:53:00.002-04:00

20 weeks. No make up, hair pulled back.... Don't judge! :-)

Long time, no post...

2009-09-23T19:17:00.005-04:00

Yes, I know it's been forever since I posted. Hey, I have been busy! :-) Not really that busy, just tired. Lots of stuff has happened since my last post.

I started my new job with Partsmaster and am loving it! It is outside sales, and I feel like I am starting to get the hang of it. Right now, it's a lot of hard work, and some longer hours than I would really like, but once I get in the groove, it should not be these long hours.

Moving on to more important things... In the world of Baby...

Let me just say, this kid is going to be spoiled rotten! She will have the best grandparents, best aunts and uncles, best great grandparents, best friends, and best family in the world! Hopefully, her parent's won't be too bad either.

And if you haven't already figured it out... WE ARE HAVING A GIRL!!!!! Brady Lynn is set to grace us with her presence on Feb. 5, 2010. We are so excited to finally find out that she is a girl so we can start planning! No registries have been done yet, but we will get to it. But...she has already received her first gift. Her sweet "aunt" Jill from South Carolina sent her her first pair of high heels. They are SO precious! I can't wait for Brady to wear them home from the hospital! With her rockin outfit, too, I am sure! :-)

I was so excited when I got the package in the mail, but I had no idea what it was. Then, I opened it and the sweet card inside said "Brady, remember you can do anything...and you can do it backwards and in high heels. Love, Aunt Jill" Then, of course, I knew what it was, and ripped into the package finding these...

Seriously, how precious are they?!?! John even agreed that she can wear them "As long as we find the right outfit" to go with them! I can't wait!

We went to the Doctor yesterday and everything looks good! She has two arms, two legs, four chambers in her heart that is pumping well, and the sweetest little face! Okay, so I couldn't really see detail of her face, but I am sure it is precious! :-) I am 21 weeks tomorrow, which puts me on target for a Feb 5 due date.

John has been completely awesome through this whole pregnancy. When I get home and feel tired, he tells me to relax and lay down. When I say I feel like I am being lazy, he reminds me that I am growing our sweet baby. And, when I am so tired for the millionth time that week, he vacuums and dusts for me while I nap. I swear one of these days I am going to get back to being a good wife and taking care of him as much as he takes care of me! He is the best!

So, I thought that I was going to leave you with a belly picture, but for some reason I can't get it to upload. I am going to check with my sister and see if she can do it. She's awesome like that! :-) Not so much me. Stay tuned for that...

Hope everyone is having a fantastic week! Love and hugs!

Our growing family...

2009-06-29T16:24:00.002-04:00

Yes, this time, it is what you think. No, we didn't get another dog. Three is enough for us for now. But, yes, our little family is growing.

We are having a baby!!!!!!!!

We are SO excited!!! We found out a few weeks ago, and couldn't be more thrilled!

We hadn't told anyone, but had been trying to get pregnant while we were in South Carolina, for about a year. Once we found out that we were going to be getting orders, we quit trying due to the upcoming move. Not to mention, I wouldn't have a job here yet. And, here we are now, with a baby on the way! It just goes to show, it's not on our time. God has an ultimate plan for our lives, and it will be in His time, not ours.

I will try to answer some of the questions that I have gotten recently... I am about 8 1/2 weeks along, so the due date as of right now is Feb. 4, 2010. Sounds like a long time away, doesn't it?

Yes, we want to find out the sex of the baby. I am WAY too much of a planner to not find out. Unfortunately, it won't be until mid September when we can do the ultrasound to find out.

I am feeling pretty well right now. It was a little rough for a few weeks, but I hope that I am on the downside of the sickness. I have been told that it usually only lasts through the first trimester, which should only be about another 3 weeks. I am holding on to that! :-)

We have a few names picked out, but haven't settled on anything for sure yet.

John is being such a wonderful husband and being so supportive through this whole thing! I am not sure that it has really hit either one of us yet, but he is being great! I feel like I am being so lazy because I am so tired all the time, but he keeps assuring me that I need to rest and take care of myself. He is helping me so much and I can not even put into words how lucky I am to have such a great husband!

So, that's it! That's our great news! I will keep you updated as we make our way through this amazing process! We would appreciate your prayers for a healthy baby!

Lots of love!

Spurt Blogger...

2009-06-10T22:47:00.003-04:00

This last weekend, I was told that I "blog in spurts". I know. I am guilty.

I promise there is some exciting stuff coming up on our blog very soon. There has just been a lot going on around here the last month. I have a lot to update everyone on. And, I promise I will get around to it!

Until then, check out this site.... http://johnandbevinwilliams.shutterfly.com

I started this site because it is so much easier to just upload my pictures and go. So, here, you can see what we have been up to recently. (Not to mention, some great old pictures) And, again, I will get caught up with this blog. I promise! Very soon!

Until then, love and many hugs...

The M&M Weekend, and SO much more... Part 2

2009-05-19T17:40:00.004-04:00

Here are more pictures from this weekend.

The M&M Weekend, and SO much more...

2009-05-19T16:17:00.004-04:00

Well, this last weekend, while John had drill weekend at work, I trotted off to South Carolina to visit my extended family. The weekend flew by with not much down time, but that's how we roll :-) It was the weekend of the annual Brother/Brother Golf Tournament at Old South! We had a blast! Of course, we didn't play, but we participated in other ways. Lots of pictures, lots of hugs, lots of laughs. It was so good to be back! I was welcomed back at Old South with open arms, and it was so great to see everyone!

Of course, it is always good to see my Johnny and Jill. We had such a wonderful time, it's no wonder we were all in tears at the airport on Sunday. I have posted a lot of pictures. We are now eagerly planning and looking forward to Johnny and Jill's trip to the great state! Hopefully that will fall sometime in July! The sooner the better. As for me...I am already planning their MOVE here, not just their visit :-)

This week is a HUGE weekend in our family! Channing and Austin are getting married on Saturday! We already have relatives in town, so the festivities are already beginning. I am sure I will have a lot of pictures to post after this weekend. Stay tuned!

I have a big interview this Wednesday, so keep your fingers crossed. I hope to have some good news to post soon!

Hope everyone has a great week! Here are some pictures from this weekend...

Love and hugs!

My wonderful husband...

2009-05-11T15:39:00.002-04:00

So, this coming weekend is Drill weekend for John, which means he was off work today. I got up early and went to work. I come home after work today and walk through the door, and this is what I find sitting on the table in the entry way...

Really?!?! How great is my husband for getting me flowers for no reason at all! He said that they are "happy flowers".

What a thoughtful thing to do! I love you, baby!

Happy Birthday, Dave!

2009-05-11T14:57:00.005-04:00

Saturday was our sweet Dave's birthday. We spent most of the afternoon and evening at Cheryl and Patrick's house, just hanging out. We had such a great time! We got to see the beautiful new house, eat some rockin' hamburgers that Patrick grilled, and just enjoy the beautiful weather. This is our favorite way to spend a Saturday night! Happy Birthday, Dave! Thanks for including us in your family! We love you!!!

Kyle and Shelly's Wedding Shower

2009-05-10T20:06:00.006-04:00

Last weekend we celebrated Kyle and Shelly's upcoming wedding with a fantastic wedding shower. We had a great turn out, good food, lots of presents, and a great time visiting! Mandy, Shelly and Caleb were all even able to make it in town for the festivities, and we were SO glad to have them here!!!!! We wish they would move back to Texas!!!!!

Finally, the new Casa...

2009-05-03T21:33:00.003-04:00

I know that many of you have asked me to post pictures of the new place. Quite honestly, I just didn't want to put any up until we were close to being finished with it. So, here we are. Here are pictures of our new house that we LOVE!!!Entry way

Living Room

Dining Room

Kitchen

Master Bath

For those of you who haven't been over to see it yet, please feel free to stop by! We'll have a glass of sweet iced tea ready for you!

Thanks again to Mama and Daddy who helped us out so much with getting this house!

Showers, Showers, Bridal Pictures, and More Showers

2009-05-03T20:42:00.004-04:00

Let me just start off by saying that we have been in Texas for about 5 weeks. And, in that 5 weeks I have been to 4 wedding showers! That's a lot! But, I wouldn't have missed them for the world! I am so excited that I get to be here with my sweet sister and Austin and my sweet Shelly and Kyle to help them celebrate this exciting time!

The first shower was a family shower that Moriah and I threw for Channing at Mama and Daddy's house. I don't have any pictures from that one because Moriah took them on her camera. So if you want to see those, click here...http://blakeandmo.blogspot.com/2009/04/shower-for-chan-wan_03.html

The second shower was at the church building where Channing and Austin are members. I don't have any of those either, because I took all the pictures with Channing and Austin's camera. And I haven't seen them :-)

Here are some pictures from her most recent shower that her soon to be sister-in-law, Laurie, hosted for Channing at her house...

This is Jessica, she is Channing's Maid of Honor

Mama and Channing

Channing and me

Patmommie, Chan, Mama, Me, and Mema

Patmommie and me goofing around

(Please excuse the quality of these pictures. I changed the setting on the camera when we were at Christian's power lifting meet, and forgot to change it back. My bad.)

A few weekends ago we went downtown to take Channing's bridal portraits. Obviously, I can not post them on this blog, but they turned out AWESOME! Here are the few that I can post with out getting in a lot of trouble...

This is the only picture where you can't see her dress :-)

Deidre, Glenda, and Dwayne were all there for the day. Glenda took the pictures, Deidre always has the artistic eye, and Dwayne is in charge of hair and sometimes make up. They are quite a great crew to have around!!!

After the bridal portraits were finished, we made a mad dash for some good lunch at La Playa Maya in the Stockyards. Yum!!!

How beautiful is my baby sister?!?!?!

Pictures from Kyle and Shelly's couple's shower from this weekend will follow shortly...

Good food...Good friends...

2009-05-03T20:19:00.005-04:00

Two weekends ago we were invited over to Dave's Dad's house for a cook out. Worth is Dave's dad, and he likes us to all come over and eat all his food :-) Instead of cooking out, though, we had Cousin's BBQ, and trust me, it was awesome! (Just like it always is!)

We were celebrating Dave's sister's birthday, so the whole family was there. John, Kyle, Dave, Shelly, and I spent most of the afternoon chilling with Dave's sweet family. We had such a great time and felt so honored that they wanted to include us in the festivities!

All the "men" sitting at the dining room table talking about important issues, I am sure! :-)

All the "women" chillin outside and watching Kyle and Dave throw washers.

Dave and Kyle broke out the washers....

I swear this could keep all of us occupied for at least a whole weekend!

This is actually a pretty good one of all the boys. They are always so reluctant to take pictures.

Sweet Shelly

I love this picture of John and me. We rarely get a good one of both of us at the same time! :-)

Crazy Strong Kids...

2009-05-03T19:56:00.003-04:00

We were so excited to go watch Christian in his power lifting meet a few weeks ago. Christian is Craig's son, and John has watched him grow up. The power lifting meet was one of the craziest things that I have ever seen. These high school kids are SO strong! I hadn't ever been to one before, so I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was so surprised! There were kids that were bench pressing over 250 lbs! One kid squatted 400lbs!!!! It was insane. Keep in mind, these are highschoolers!

We were so proud of Christian! He was doing the "power cling" event. He lifted his personal best, 205lbs! Which was 20 pounds heavier than his previous personal best that he did two weeks ago! He was so awesome! Here are a few pictures...

Christian is the one in the white shirt. I think he looks just like his dad. John says he is bigger than Craig...

He is so strong!!!

This was the guy that was squatting 400lbs! I love how everyone is rallying around him!!!

Fun times!

2009-05-02T12:35:00.005-04:00

We have been super busy since we have been back in Texas. One of the great things about living back at home is that we get to have fun outings with fun friends who we have missed so much!

One of the first weekends we were here, we went to Canton with Deidre, Craig, and Hope. First Monday Trade Days at Canton is awesome! For those of you who haven't ever been, I highly recommend it! I don't really even know how to describe it. It's like a huge market/garage sale/trade show...I don't know. It's HUGE, and you can find really really great stuff there!

Deidre (with Tahoe), Craig, and Hope

John and me at Canton

One of the other things that we have really been looking forward to is the great live music. Back in April, we went with Kyle and Shelly and some friend out to Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie. It is a horse racing track, and on Friday nights in the summer time, after the horses run, they have a Lone Star concert series. This night, we saw the Randy Rogers band. We had a great time and it was so good to be with good friends listening to great music!

Kyle and Shelly at Papasitos before the concert

Shelly and me at the concert

The HUGE crowd

John and me

Our last few days in SC

2009-05-02T09:08:00.008-04:00

Please bear with me, I am playing catch up with my blog...

Our last few days in South Carolina were filled with boxes, moving trucks, cleaning, and most importantly, spending time with our friends who have become our family that we love!

Here are a few pictures from my last Family Readiness Meeting. I miss my girls like crazy! I haven't had an opportunity to get into the Family Readiness circuit here, but am really looking forward to getting involved. I know that it is going to be impossible to replace my MALS 31 girls, but look forward to meeting new people and making new memories!

We also had one last golf outing before we left. Even though there was a ton of stuff to do, we talked John into letting us take a morning off for one last Sunday golf game. And by we, I mean Jill and me. And by "Talked into" I mean, we begged and bugged him until he gave in. Jill and I can be such children if we don't get our way! :-) But, we paid for it. The boys made us sit in the back seat of the car while they sat in the front seats and John drove all the way back to Johnny and Jill's house, from Dave's house with the windows down and the AC on when it was freezing cold outside. Speaking of being children...

Totally worth it, though. This was one of our most fun golf days yet!

Yes, we have matching towels. We are complete nerds!

One of the things I will miss... Gators on the golf course.

My husband and his awesome game...

I love my Jill, even though we don't have such an awesome game :-)

My even more not so awesome game...

Sweet Dani. She took my place at the course, and she is a rockstar!!!!

Hanging out on the course. I am sure the boys were waiting on us to take this picture! They are so patient!

It was a hard day for all of us knowing that this would be our last round for a while.

Sweet Jill and me

Precious Johnny and me

I miss Edison!

John, Dave, and me

One last shot of the gang...

We found a house!!!!

2009-03-13T07:19:00.005-04:00

We are so excited! We found a new house that we LOVE! Okay, so yes, technically, we haven't seen it. But we have seen lots of pictures, and Mama and Daddy went out and looked at it for us and took even more pictures. Mama told me that they were going to have us move into their house and they were going to take this one. Haha! A HUGE thank you to Mama, Daddy, Channing, and Mema for driving out to Eagle Mountain Lake to look at this house for us! That ended up being a great life saver! Now, we can move directly into our house instead of having to crash with the parents! Not that I wouldn't have loved sleeping at Mama and Daddy's again, but it's going to be nice to get the move over with! I am sure they are relieved that we won't be bringing the mass chaos into their house, too! :-) Here are a few pictures that Mama took. I will put some more up once we get things moved in.

Living room. I am SO excited it has a wood burning fire place!!!!

Kitchen that is open into the living room

Guest bathroom

Who needs a chiminea when we have a gas fire pit in the back yard?!?!?!?!

Mass Chaos!

2009-03-12T22:14:00.006-04:00

Okay, I usually consider myself a pretty organized person. Even a little OCD at times. Even a lot OCD at times, I guess, too. But not these days... As we are packing up boxes and preparing to move all of our stuff half way across the country, I am going crazy! This is what we are living in these days...

I will, no doubt, be so glad to get into our new home and have some wonderful friends and family to help me get unpacked and get reorganized as soon as possible! I am going nuts!!!!

I forgot one...

2009-03-12T21:51:00.005-04:00

I forgot a story... On Friday night a group of us went to Pepper's Porch for dinner. John and I had been there once before with Johnny and Jill. John decided to hang back and hang out with Bobby, so I went out there to join the others for dinner. We were having a grand old time until Robbie thought it would be a great idea to order a bucket of oysters. Now, for any of you who know me, know that I am in no way, shape, or form, a lover of ANY kind of sea food. It usually makes me gag to just look at it. But, circumstances what they have been for the last 2.5 years, I have tried my best to branch out and try new things. I have tried the shrimp, the crab stuffed founder, the calamari, etc. Not a big fan of any of them to be quite honest. But on Friday night, I reached a whole new level. A level that I will not likely be returning to in the near future. Or the distant future for that matter. I tried an oyster. Yup, I said it. I did. Due to much influence from sweet Johnny, who I call my best friend. Yeah, not so sweet Johnny at that point. He assured me that I would love it. He even put it on a cracker and put red sauce on it for me. That's the "southern" way of eating oysters, I guess. So, because I trust him, for he would CLEARLY never steer me wrong, I tried it..... I though I was going to lose it. But, I successfully kept it down, of course not with out a few yucky faces. So, now I can say that I have eaten an oyster, which is something that my mom informed me that she hasn't even done! And I will NEVER eat another one!!!!!!

This is Johnny promising me that I will like it... LIAR!!!! :-)

Are you SURE that I will like it????

The face says it all!... Never again!!!

So, after dinner at Pepper's Porch we went back to Jocks. Cause that's where we usually end up. Here are a few more pictures of that super fun night...

Jill, Addie, and Me

We never actually made contact. :-) Just a fun picture.

Addie and Glen

Jill and Johnny

I guess I still love him, even though he made me eat an oyster.

Boating on the May River

2009-03-12T21:11:00.004-04:00

Last Saturday the weather was absolutely amazing! We had a cloudless day in the low to mid 80s. Just a perfect day for cruising around Bluffton with the top down. No, I don't have a convertible, but even better than that (as far as John is concerned) Jill has one! So, Jill, Erica, and I all decided to spend the day shopping and doing mini makeovers for this spring. The idea was to think out of the box. To find and purchase something that we wouldn't normally even try on, much less buy. We did great! We found a great necklace for Jill and a few great pieces at JCrew. Erica and I also found a few great pieces at JCrew. We all found a GREAT deal on the cutest clutches that you have ever seen in your life! They were on sale at the Coach store. Such a sweet addition to a great day!

To top it all off, we met Johnny and Robbie, Erica's fiance, out on Robbie's boat and went boating on the May River. We ended up in Hilton Head and went to an Oyster Roast. It was so much fun, but the ride home on the boat after the sun went down was really really cold. But we managed. Here are a few of the best pictures...

Jill, Me, and Erica

Captain Jill and Robbie telling her where to go

We saw about 10 dolphins on our way out, just swimming beside the boat. It was SO cool!

Jill was REALLY excited about the dolphins! Love you Jill!!! :-)

Erica and Me

Johnny, Jill, Robbie, and Erica

How beautiful is my sweet Jill? I LOVE this picture of her!

So many things...

2009-03-11T21:38:00.006-04:00

It seems that just around the time that things should be winding down here in good ol South Carolina is just the time that they are blazing full speed ahead. So, let me see if I can start putting this in a little bit of an organized manor...

Last thursday was my last day at Old South. Tears... Many flowed... Especially from me, go figure. But, even my boss cried, which I thought was totally sweet! Here are a few pictures from the last hoorah...

The one thing that really got me through a rough day was my sweet Jill. She texted me on Thursday morning and asked me to meet her for a drink after work. Since I knew that I would be a wreck after work, I told her that I thought it was a great idea! So, I met Johnny and Jill, and their friends (now my friends, too) Glen and Addie at our favorite hangout, Jocks. We had a blast and they totally made me feel better by just being there for me. I am sure a few sarcastic comments from Johnny were thrown my way, but hey, that's why we love him! All in all, it was a super fun night....The owner of Jocks, John. (Go figure) He loves Jill and I! And, I guess maybe the boys too. But not as much as us! :-)

Our favorite bartender!

Our traditional picture.

Gotta love that Level Vodka!

My sweet Johnny

Bevin, Jill, and Addie. I am sad that they are going to be getting here after we leave.

What a fun night that was! Stay tuned, I am trying to get caught up...

The Golf Crew...

2009-02-22T13:23:00.004-05:00

So, these few past months we have been doing a lot more golfing. And when I say "we", I mean John AND me. :-) We have started kind of a new, though be it short lived, tradition. For the last few months, Johnny, Jill, John, and I have been playing golf on Sundays. We have so much fun with our sweet friends! Johnny and John usually shoot about the same, and they are so precious for putting up with Jill and me because we usually don't play THAT great. Here are a few pictures that we took one Sunday while we were all out at Old South. Thanks to Jill for putting them on her website, and letting me steal them! :-)

Jill, Johnny, Me, and John

Me and John

Jill and Johnny

Me and Jill

Johnny and Me

Stay tuned, hopefully we will have some more pictures to post soon...

I'm horrible, I know...

2009-02-17T21:41:00.007-05:00

I never promised that I would be great at blogging. I know, I go through spurts. So, I was "gently" reminded by Moriah today that I needed to update my blog. So, here I am...

I mean, I guess you can't really blame me, can you? I am about to pack up our house and move half way across the country. No stress there!

Work is work for both John and me. Same old stuff. John is ready to be out of the shop, and he should only have another couple of weeks before he starts checking out of his command. I have about 3 weeks left at work. I went up today to pick up my paycheck and met the girl that they are hiring to replace me. She seemed very sweet, and so I feel much better about leaving. I would hate to leave them if they didn't have a replacement. Granted, it's Food and Beverage, how hard can it be? But, still. :-)

John's birthday was at the begining of this month, literally, Feb. 1. And because he is an awesome husband, it was his 30th birthday, and I wanted to get him something really great, I flew one of his bestest friends out here to surprise him. Dave got here on Sunday night and was able to stay with us until Thursday night. Monday the boys played 36 holes of golf, 18 of them at the Robert Trent Jones course in Palmetto Dunes. Tuesday, they played another 36, at Old South and at Parris Island. Wednesday, they played at Savannah Harbor, and it was about 30 degrees with 30 mph winds. Not a fun day, but they were sports, and totally stuck it out. Thursday, because I got some good hook ups through my work, they were able to play at Harbour Town. It was a great week for the boys. He said that he had a great time, and it was SO good to have Dave here!

This past weekend, we kinda decided to sneak out of town for one last time before we head back to the great state! We went to Isle of Palms with our sweet friends Johnny and Jill. Again, Jill and I were able to talk the guys into going by promising them that they could play golf all weekend. Haha! Which they did, but was perfectly okay because Jill and I spent the weekend shopping and at the spa! I had my very first facial, and my goodness, I am totally hooked! We spent Valentines night at a great restaurant and had a fantastic four course dinner! Another wonderful dinner on Sunday was followed up by a quick trip home on Monday, 18 more holes of golf for the boys and more shopping for Jill and me. We think that one of these days the boys will catch on and make us quit going shopping while they golf. But, hey, for now, we are definitely taking advantage! :-)

Here is a picture that has become a tradition for me on road trips. This is my precious Jill and me on our way to Isle of Palms. We are in the car by ourselves because the boys left super early to get a head start on the golfing. So, she and I antiqued and made a few stops on the way to the hotel. It was a blast!!!!

So, now, I guess, it's back to reality. Back to realizing that we only have one month and 2 days left here. Back to stressing about finding a house, packing up all that we own, and finding employment. Which, in all reality means working on my resume, which I am totally dreading. As a matter of fact, I am blogging right now to put off working on it... Nice.

I am sure I say this every time I post, but I will try to be better about blogging, especially with the move coming up. I will try to keep everyone posted. So, until next time, hope everyone has a great week! We will see y'all soon!

Our "little boy" is growing up!

2008-11-30T10:00:00.005-05:00

Not quite a year ago, we acquired a precious addition to our little family. We picked up Django as soon as we got back from being in Texas for Christmas last year. He was such a precious puppy and so full of energy from day one!

Even though he has been dubbed "little boy", and even though we still call him that, he is not quite a little boy any more. In fact, he is the biggest one in the group. Although he still acts like a puppy, and still isn't quite aware of exactly how big he is, and still gets pushed around by Gypsy, he is the largest of the 3. And he had his 1 year birthday on November 17. I can't believe he is a year old! Where does the time go? :-)

So, since I am a nuts-o mom, we had a little birthday for him, and he got some new chew toys and a new bone! Here are some pictures of our "little boy"...

Happy Birthday to our sweet little boy!!!

Marine Corps Birthday Ball

2008-11-30T09:13:00.005-05:00

This is me, still trying to catch up on all my blogging. Sorry!

November 10 is the official birthday of the Marine Corps. Started 233 years ago at Tun Tavern in Pennsylania, the Marine Corps is full of traditions and the Birthday Ball is no exception!

This year John and I went with Brownie and his date, Heather. Since the boys had to work in the morning, Heather and I spent a whole day together getting ready for the evening. I was so glad to have Heather here to hang out with and have some "girl time"! After spending a day of beauty, we met the boys at Truffles for dinner. After dining on steaks for dinner, we all ordered different desserts and shared :-)

Here are some pictures from the evening...

Precious Brownie and Sweet Heather

Sitting at our table before the ceremony began

John, me, Kelli, and Chuck. Chuck is John's CO and Kelli is his wife and my sweet friend.

Brownie and Heather, and yes, that is an F18! How cool is that?!

Florida crazies doing their "Gator Chomp"

And, of course, Get Your Guns Up!

Wishing for a Florida vs Texas Tech National Title Game. Of course, this was before Tech played OU. Well, there's always next year.

Such great Marines!

Once again, Florida crazies!

We decided that the best thing about the ball this year was, for all of us, in fact, this would be our last ball in Beaufort! Next year, more than likely, Brownie will spend his Birthday Ball at some embassy overseas, and we will spend ours....

BACK IN THE LONE STAR STATE!!!!!!!!

Trying to Catch Up...

2008-11-19T07:04:00.003-05:00

I know it has been a while since our last post. So, I am going to try to get you caught up on what has been happening around the Williams' household lately.

First off, we have some big big news. No, I am not prego. But, we do have some good news. Back in October, John reenlisted. He took his oath, signed his papers, and shook the OIC's hand, and BOOM! he is a Marine for another 4 years! This has all been in the works for quite a long time. About 6 or 7 months, to be exact. We have been talking about making this move and contemplating what we were going to do. He has been talking to people at work and trying to figure out what the best road would be for us to take.

As part of reenlisting your first time, you get to give them a list of preferences where you would like to be stationed for the next 4 years. Of course, we said Fort Worth, then San Diego, then Hawaii. Hey, who wouldn't want to live in Hawaii, huh? So, back in August, they told him that we could go to Fort Worth. We were soooo excited! But, since the orders had not officially been cut, he told me that I couldn't tell anyone. So I didn't. (Except for Moriah, which he was SO mad about) But, I couldn't keep it in! :-)

Once we got back from Arkansas and our family vacation, we got some disappointing news. I came home from work one night and I could tell something was wrong. So, I asked him. He took a piece of paper out of his pocket and tossed it in my general direction. He said, "I got my orders." I picked up the paper and looked at it, and right there in bold typing it said it...... San Diego, CA.

I paused for a moment, trying to hold back the tears. Okay, who am I kidding, I cried. I cried pretty much all night. I was completely stressing out over how we were going to tell our family and friends, and especially my grandparents, that we were going to be in Cali for 4 years. It was bound to kill them. But, after a while, and MANY long conversations, we decided to do it. We were going to reenlist and go where ever they sent us. We talked about the fact that this was a rare opportunity. Who gets to travel on the government's dollar and see places that they might not have seen otherwise? We resolved to the fact that we have our entire lives to settle down and live in Texas, but while we have the opportunity to live elsewhere, we might as well. Once he gets out, that's it, there's no getting back in. So, still having not told anyone yet, because he had not officially reenlisted, I began to mentally prepare for Cali. I actually began to get excited about it! I decided that living in Cali was going to be totally cool, and it would be a much more fun place to come visit than Beaufort, SC, that's for sure!
So, moving on. About a month ago, I am at work, at the golf course, in the middle of lunch, and I get a phone call from John. This in itself is a little weird, because he rarely calls me in the middle of the day. (And, I didn't realize until later that I had missed 4 of his calls already.) So, I answer it, and ask him how his day is going. He says...and I quote... "A lot better now that I got orders to Fort Worth!" I completely lost it, and screamed and started jumping up and down...with my GM sitting about 6 feet from me! Nice.
But, with out offering any explanation as to what had happened, John just says, "I have to go, I will call you back in a while"....Are you kidding me???? So, now, I have this information, no idea what to do with it or how it came about, and he's going to call me back?!?!?!?!
So, I continued to freak out a little bit, or a lot, whatever. But finally heard back from him. Apparently, he had gone to see the Monitor (the lady who cuts the orders) to finalize things for San Diego. He was finished talking to her and about to stand up when she remembers that he was the one who wanted to go to Fort Worth. He verified that yes, he did want to go to Fort Worth, but that he was told that there wasn't a spot there for him. So, she typed a little on her keyboard in front of her, and said "Yeah, I can get you to Fort Worth."
So, once again, plans changed. But, still, having not reenlisted yet, we couldn't tell anyone.
On Wednesday, October 22, John was supposed to go on leave at noon. We were flying home to Texas for Derek and Casey's wedding. At about 0900, I got a call from him that said that I needed to be ready to come up to the base for his reenlistment, at a moment's notice. Wait. Reenlistment???? We were supposed to do that once we got back from Texas. The papers all still said California. This was kind of how that conversation went...
Dub: I need you to be ready to come up here when I call you. I am probably going to have to reenlist today.
Bevin: Really? I thought you were going to do that when we got back.
D: My reenlistment package expires tomorrow, and if I have to redo it, there might not be a place for me, especially in Fort Worth.
B: So, do your orders say Fort Worth.
D: Not yet.
B: So, are you going to get that fixed?
D: (Increasingly irritated) I am working on it.
B: So what happens if you don't get it fixed?
D: You might be getting on the plane by yourself today.
B: Pardon me?!
D: I am going to do my best to fix this. Just stay close this morning and be ready to come up here if I call you.

Oh my goodness! Fine. So, he calls me at about 1000 and says to be there at 1030. We hold an impromptu reenlistment ceremony in which he takes his oath, receives his reenlistment certificate and signs his papers. Usually, the reenlistment ceremony is held wherever the Marine wants it, and will have all the Marines present that the reenlisting Marine wants, and can be held in any type of uniform that the Marine prefers. But, this was done so last minute, that it was just in John's shop. It was actually a great little ceremony, and of course, when he was taking his oath, I completely cried. I am so proud of my Marine! I got some great pictures, but unfortunately, since the ceremony was in his shop, I can not post them on our blog. Everything in that shop is classified, so I can't put the pictures on the Internet. Bummer.
So, we leave the reenlistment ceremony, and immediately head for Savannah to get on a plane home. We are able to tell everyone when we get home that he reenlisted and that we will be stationed in Fort Worth for the next 4 years. (Unless, of course, they decided to move us.)
Let's see.....Daddy cried, Shelly cried, Mom said "Now you can start trying for babies!!!!", and everyone in general was so excited. It was super fun to get to tell everyone that we saw, in person, that we were going to get to move home!
So, that's the big news. We will be home by April! We are super stoked and can not wait to be back! We are already planning on lots of stuff when we get home. Texas Tech football season tickets, here we come! :-)
We have missed you all so much, and can't wait to be closer to everyone! Not much longer now!!!

DC Done Right.

2008-10-13T22:12:00.002-04:00

Last week, John was able to take a trip to Washington DC with 9 other Marines. He took some GREAT pictures! Here are some of the best ones. Keep in mind, he took ALL of these pictures. (I am just amazed because they look they belong on post cards! :-) )

Sergeant of Marines

2008-10-01T17:44:00.004-04:00

We are so excited, and I am so proud of John! Today, he was promoted to Sergeant of Marines! We have been waiting for, and he has been working and striving for this day since he was promoted to Corporal last year! He has worked so hard, and today he was rewarded! Congratulations to my precious husband....Sergeant Williams!

The Ceremony

2008-10-01T17:28:00.004-04:00

There were many exciting aspects of this promotion ceremony for us. One of them was because not only was John getting promoted, but so was our Brownie! Our sweet friend, Matt, was being promoted to Sergeant as well! It was such a great deal for John and Matt to be promoted together since they are such good friends. So, since Brownie was promoted today, he got to pin John's new chevrons on him. Each Marine being promoted has two people pin them in the ceremony. Brownie's mom and dad were able to come up from Florida and pin him. And Brown and I got to pin John. It was SUCH an honor for me to be able to be a part of their ceremony!!! I am so thankful that I have such a wonderful husband that wants me to be a part of his special day!

Still waiting...

2008-09-04T23:45:00.003-04:00

So, not much news yet on the hurricane front. We are still waiting to see what is going to actually hit us. For the most part, as of right now, it looks like the majority of the storm is going to be north of us. We are expecting to get heavy rain and strong winds starting tomorrow afternoon. So, we'll see what happens. Please keep it all in your prayers, though!
I will try to blog again tomorrow with another update.

Hanna Update

2008-09-02T22:10:00.002-04:00

Well, I never actually thought about blogging about getting ready for Hanna to hit us. But, I have had several people e-mail me and tell me that they have checked our blog for a status and there wasn't one. So, I decided that I better write a blog about what is going on here.
First of all, of course, we are all fine. We are still having beautiful weather and I was outside in it all day at work today. Barely a cloud in the sky. John has been off work since Friday for the holiday weekend, and went back in this evening for a formation. He was told that as of right now, there have been no decisions to evacuate. Of course, there are all kinds of rumors flying around right now, of a voluntary evac. tomorrow with the mandatory evac. on Thursday, but that is again, just a rumor, and having to do with the civilian population. That has nothing to do with us. Our base commander will make the decision of when/if we go.
Of course, we are taking all precautions, keeping the car full of gas, keeping snacks and water handy. I have all of our important things in a box ready to throw in the car if need be.
But as of now, we are going about life as normal. We will both get up in the morning and head off to work as if it is another normal day. Nothing will change until we get the order.
I will keep you all updated as new information arises. Please pray for the wisdom of the people who are in charge all around us tonight, as I am sure lots of them are losing sleep.
More updates to follow tomorrow....

2008-08-10T18:41:00.015-04:00

Every year, for the last 31 years, we have gone on a family vacation to Lake Ouachita in the beautiful Ozark Mountains just outside of Hot Springs, Arkansas. I have only missed one summer since I was born, the year that John and I got married. So, this year was no exception. We left on Friday and stayed in Nashville at Moriah and Blake's house. We introduced Django and reintroduced Gypsy to their cousin, Maverick. They were so excited to meet Maverick and his girlfriend, Maybelle, who belongs to Moey and Blake's friends, Justin and Katie.

We got up early on Saturday morning, and in 3 cars, Mo, Blake and Maverick; Justin, Katie and Maybelle; and John, Django, Gypsy and I all headed west to Hot Springs. We were so excited to get to see everyone and spend a week at the lake again this year! We had such a great time! John and I shared an apartment type place with Craigo and Deidre. We always have an awesome time when we get to spend time with them, and were so excited to get to hang out all week! This year was especially fun for all of us because for the first time, we were joined by Kyle, Shelly, and Shelly. They came up on Wednesday night and stayed with us the rest of the week. We had SO much fun!

This week is always such a great time for me, because it means that I get to see my sisters and my mom and dad and Mema. Living so far away from home sometimes takes its toll, and I am always so excited to spend time with them! This week was no exception! We spent lots of time out on the boat with Cap (which is short for 'captain', what John calls my dad) and Mama.

Channing and her fiance, Austin, were there with us as well! Austin's parents came up for a couple of days and brought their new boat!

Of course, Glenda and Dwayne were there too, this year. They are Deidre's parents, and my surrogate mom and dad. We miss them all the time, too! This year we were missing a special part of our group. Derek and his fiance, Casey, weren't able to join us. As well as my Uncle Kenneth and Aunt Barbara. But, Lord willing, they will all be there next year!!!

Here are some more pictures from our great week! They will all be out of order, but you will get the idea!

This is our gang. We all stayed in the Firehouse. What a great time!

I heart my Shellys!!!!!

Kyle, Shelly, and Shelly out on the boat

So beautiful!!!!

Chillin on the boat

I love this picture! Deidre and me skiing together. It's tradition!

Mo, Chan, and me sitting outside the bath house where we just finished our massages!

Mom and me on the boat
That's all for now. I think that I finally am updated on all of our happenings from this summer. I am sure that I will find some more things to post about soon! Hope everyone is having a great summer!

2008-08-10T18:10:00.002-04:00

Here we go with John on his wakeboard. He is really fun to watch out there!...for most people....honestly, I am the careful wife, and he makes me nervous. Go figure. But, he loves it, and he didn't hurt himself too bad this year!

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I'm on it!

2008-07-28T11:59:00.002-04:00

Hey guys! I know you are eagerly anticipating some new posts from me! :-) I am working today, but I brought my computer with me and will be working on some new photo posts. I will hopefully get them up tonight! Have lots to update on!

Hope everyone is doing well this summer! Thanks go out to Moey for redecorating our blog!!! And congrats to her on her new job that she starts next week! Lots of love, sister!!!

Look for new pics tonight!

Guest Blogger...

2008-07-25T14:41:00.002-04:00

This is Moriah, Bevin's younger sister. I re-vamped the blog to inspire her to blog more. Let's all encourage her to get her act together ;-)

Memories #1

2008-04-30T21:34:00.005-04:00

This post is dedicated to my Shelly and my Neeley. Shelly is my bestest friend in the whole wide world and she now lives in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Neeley is my other bestest friend and she is in Phoenix, Arizona. At one time, we were all causing trouble in Fort Worth together. Here are some fun pictures and fun memories to share...

I have no idea what order these first few go in, so in no particular order, here we go...

This is Neeley, me, and Shell at a club in Dallas. This was the night of Amie and Bradley's wedding. We all went out afterwards and met up with some old friends from ACU. This is in the VIP suite that Britt got us all into. What a fun night that was!!!!

This would be us on during one of our road trips to San Antonio. We stayed with my wonderful cousin RJ and got to spend some great time with "Uncle"Ron and "Aunt"Cindy. This picture was taken at an outside Mexican food restaurant. Some lady stopped by our table and said that she was trying to get some advertising pictures and asked us to pose for an add. Not sure what ever happened with that, but I love this picture!

This is taken outside a TCU football game. We had been at an OU bar in North Richland Hills earlier that day to watch the OU football game. Then, we ended up here, tailgating at the TCU stadium. We were always together, and had a blast all the time. Neeley and Shelly...quiz time...do you guys remember who we went to the OU bar with? :-) Two funny things about this picture...#1, we sure are sitting in the middle of the parking lot to take this picture as evidenced by the stripes on the ground. #2, it is obviously summer time and tank top weather, but why am I wearing boots? Not sure what was going through my mind at that time. Probably not much :-)

And this is the last one for this post. This is us in Vegas, circa July 2005. I couldn't even write enough to do that trip justice. But, I love this picture! Shell & Nee.....here are a few things for you...Cabana #19...."I look like I am about to grab your forehead"....From one extreme to the other..."I've got cheese up in my hurr"..."Blowin' and Goin'"..."I haven't said anything funny so far"

I love you guys more than life itself and I miss you so much. Neeley, I am ALL ABOUT doing another trip to Vegas for your big 30! You just let me know when and where, and I will be there!!! You guys are my bestest friends, my sisters, and the missing pieces to my "Flying V". I can't wait to see you guys again!!!!

Stay tuned for more "Memory" posts to come!

Some more catching up

2008-04-30T21:00:00.005-04:00

Some more stuff... By the way, this is about to be all kinds of out of order, which is driving me nuts, but it's the best that I can do :-)

I found another picture of the Jane Wayne Day. This is of the rappel tower that we went down....Such a good time!!!

Okay, so picking up where I left off...

The next week after Jane Day weekend was this last weekend. We had a huge tournament at our golf course called the Brother Brother. Lots of golfers come from all around to play a two day tournament with their brothers. It was a very long weekend in which I worked about 40 hours in 3 days, served lots of free drinks, and just generally had a blast! The pairing party kicked it off on Thursday night before the tournament began on Friday morning. Saturday the tournament continued with a wrap party and awards banquet following. I met lots of fun new people and can't wait to see them all again. Although, with as much alcohol as I served, I am sure that the golfers would agree with me when I say, I am kinda glad that this only happens once a year, but it sure was fun!!!! (I think that there are some cute pictures from that weekend, but I am waiting for MARY to e-mail them to me....)

Now, that brings us to this week...

Monday night we had an appreciation banquet for all of the Key Volunteers. We had dinner and were entertained by a barbershop chorus. It was lots of fun and good conversation. Here are some pictures from Monday night...

This is a group picture of all of the MALS KVs that were at the banquet.

This is Kelli and me. She is John's CO's wife, and a sweet friend of mine.

And of course, my precious husband. He was so wonderful to brave this banquet with me. I think that he even ended up having a little bit of fun!

And that brings us to my last picture for this post. This one, I took today. I have a group of about 5 gentlemen that play at my golf course EVERY Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I finally got a picture with them today. They always come into the restaurant and get bowls of soup for lunch. They have adopted me as their golf granddaughter. Hugs all around when they are there. Such a sweet group of boys!. Gene-o, Bob, me, and Chuckie

Chuckie actually has his own golf cart that he keeps at the club that says "Chuckie Boy" on it. They are so fun!

Okay, this is it for this post. I am about to do the first one of my "memory" posts.

2008-04-29T22:49:00.005-04:00

Well, when I sat down tonight and turned on my computer, I had this great idea that I was going to do a "memories" post. Now, in this post, I was going to post some old pictures from college and some since, and comment on them for all of my sweet friends to read about and reminisce with me. This is a great idea, I think, in theory. Great, of course, until I realized that all of my pictures had been wiped out when I had to get a new hard drive at Christmas. No biggie, I still have them all, but they are all on many separate CDs and on Shutterfly. So, I will do this, just not tonight. I think that I will tag everyone to do this as well. Let's see what kind of fun pictures and stories that we can come up with! :-)

Now, since I haven't posted in a month or so, let me catch you up on a few things that have happened.

1. Masters weekend. Now, normally, I am not a huge fan of golf. Especially on TV. But this year, since I am working at a golf course, now, I am kind of into it. John and I watched the masters this year, and it was a really good time. I especially liked seeing Brent Snedeker do his little waggle before hitting the drive. He is fun to watch! And congrats to Trevor Immelman for winning the green jacket this year!

2. Heritage weekend. The PGA has a tournament every year at Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head called the Verizon Heritage. And this year, being in the industry, John and Brown and I got to go. It was fun! We saw lots of good golf, walked around an amazing golf course, and spent a day out in the beautiful weather. We also go to eat at Fuddruckers on Hilton Head, which is a rare occasion. Such a fun day!!!

3. The next weekend, I had Jane Wayne Day. This is a day for military spouses to go to Parris Island and get to do some of the things that the recruits do during Boot Camp. We got to shoot M16 rifles, stand on the famous yellow foot prints, and rappel down the rappel tower. Such a fun weekend was had by all spouses. This is a few of the MALS spouses that were there.

Okay, so I still have a few things to blog about, but it is 11:00 and John is trying to go to bed. I think that he is getting a little bit irritated at the sound of my typing in bed. So, I will stop for now, and post the rest tomorrow.

Hope everyone is doing well and having a great week!

FINE!!!!! I give in!!!!!

2008-04-29T22:11:00.002-04:00

Okay, okay! Here you all go! I have been getting e-mails, threatening messages, and tags to post a new blog. I am sorry, people! Things have been a little crazy over the last month. So, I will post a few things tonight, I think.
First of all, I will start with the tag. My dear sweet friend, Lacie, tagged me to post 7 random things about myself. And, since she is one of my dearest friends, and I love her so much....I will do this for her. So, here goes...

1. I brush my teeth in the shower. Some people think that it is gross, but I do it. I have a tooth brush in the shower for the morning time, and another one in my bathroom for night time. I am a freak about my teeth.

2. I guess you could say I have a touch of OCD. People at work make fun of me all the time because all of my money in my register/cash bag has to be facing the same way and in order by denomination. It stresses me out when its all messy. Also, I have to have all the coke cans/beer cans/power-aide bottles facing the same way in the cooler. Okay, so tied in with the fact that I have two toothbrushes, maybe it's not just a touch of OCD.

3. I LOVE to 'pay it forward'. When ever I am in a drive through, especially at lunch time, when I get up to the window, I like to pay for the person's order who is behind me. I never know them, and I am sure they don't know me, but I like to think that I just brightened their day a little bit.

4. I am INCREDIBLY close with my family. I talk to my mom AT LEAST once a day. Talk to Daddy usually 3 or 4 times a week. Talk to both my sisters at least once a week, and to my grandparents about every 2-3 days. And I LOVE IT! I miss my family so much, I am glad that we all have unlimited long distance :-)

5. I have been skydiving. I only bring this up because we were talking about it at dinner tonight, and are talking about finding somewhere to do it again. It is the biggest rush, and SO much fun!

6. One of the things that I miss most about my "college days" is the dancing. Country dancing, with some of the best friends and dancers that I have ever danced with. Swinging around and twirling around and being thrown all over the place. Waltzing....with one of the best waltzers EVER. They know who they are! I miss dancing so much!

7. I play the piano. Not much these days, obviously, because we don't have one. But, I love to play. I love to sit down and play by ear, even though I am not that great at it. I love to read music, too, even though with out practice, it takes me a while. But, probably, mostly, I like to play because it means that I am sitting at my mother's piano....at home, in the living room where I grew up...and that is what makes it so special.

So, here are my 7 random things. I feel like these were all pretty boring. So, sorry about that. My next post will be a little better, I hope. But, I still need to tag someone to do this, and I tag CHANNING and DADDY. Neither one of you have posted since CHRISTMAS!!!!! At least it didn't take me 5 months!

Love you all!

A few thoughts...

2008-03-06T22:24:00.003-05:00

I realize it has been a while since I blogged. Sorry for that. I never said that I would be good at this. But, I do have a few things to post.

I have been talking to the fam and extended fam back home and I hear that it is snowing there. That is AWESOME! Another reason that I wish I was home. But, I can't complain too much. I was at work yesterday and was just driving around and thinking about how beautiful the weather was. We had a few bad storms blow through on Tuesday night, so I don't know if that was why, but the sky was SO blue. It was a blue like I don't remember ever seeing. Ever. I tried to get a few pictures of it, but of course, I wasn't able to truly capture just how pretty it was. But here are a few anyway. This is on the fairway at 6.

I love the trees out here, with all the moss.

This is the Tee box at 8.

#7 Green

This is the view from the clubhouse of the #5 fairway and green and the 1st tee over to the left.

This was one of those days when it was 75 degrees out side with a light wind blowing, and I drove around all day thinking "I have the best job in the world! I get to work out side, at one of the premier golf courses, in the middle of Hilton Head, the golf mecca of the world, and get paid for it!" How cool is that?!

I hate Wal-Mart!

You know, every stinkin time I go there, I have an incident that I think, "I have GOT to write about this on my blog!" Then, I get home and forget. But, here it is. I went to Wal-Mart yesterday to do my grocery shopping, and every time I am there I swear that I will find somewhere else to shop. But, unfortunately, it is just the easiest.

So, yesterday, I was waiting in line for about 15 minutes. No biggie, I wasn't in a huge hurry. So, a new register opens up right next to me. The lady that was standing in front of me had two people standing in front of her, and she whips right over and starts putting her stuff on the belt thingy. The next lady, who was two up from me, just looks back at her with this distressed look on her face. She just cut in line. The cutter had a HUGE basket full of groceries, and the other lady had 4 kiddos who were obviously ready to go home. I felt so bad for her. So, I stepped in line behind the cutter, and when it was my turn, I got the other lady's attention, and let her go in front of me, because the people in front of her were taking forever. She just smiled and gave me a look of relief when she said thank you. You know, it is just a little thing, and it probably only saved her a few minutes, but she appreciated it, and I felt better for her.

Surely there is a better way of helping the right people, in order, when a new register is opened. Or maybe, just maybe, people should have a little bit more compassion. Who knows?

So, off my soap box, and moving on....

This is my last thing for tonight, but I have just had this on my heart, so I thought I would share it. The other day, I was sitting at Sonic, waiting on my Medium Cherry Coke to be delivered. I pulled down my visor, where I have a few pictures. It's funny that I have these pictures because they are from college. One is of me and Emily on BidNight our Junior years, so we are dressed up in our old pledge uniforms. Totally silly. One is of me and Amie and Emily outside our dorm freshman year. Another is one that was taken in Arkansas of me and Ashley, the year that she went on vacation with us. Just a few random pictures.

But the thing that really made me think was a piece of paper that was torn off a Delta Theta note pad. It has my name at the top, with bubbles on the letters, go figure.

Let me explain, when we were all Sophomores at ACU, we pledged, and out of all of us girls, we pledged 3 different clubs. So, on Wednesday nights, before we went to our club meetings, we had a girls devo. This one particular night, I think that it was Amie that led the devo, and it was on Words of Encouragement. She brought this paper and gave a piece to each of us. We wrote our names on top, and then passed it around to everyone else. Everyone was supposed to write something positive about you. So, I still have that piece of paper, and it has been in my car ever since then. It has even managed to make the switch from my truck which I had at the time, to my new Civic.

So, on to the point... One of the comments that was written on my piece of paper said that the person had the most respect for me because "you never have a bad word to say about anybody".

Man, that is heavy. And I realized that since college, I have kind of gotten away from that. I started thinking and wondering, would anybody say that about me today?

So, I am starting over again. Kind of like a New Year's resolution, but in March. I am going to make it a point to be aware of the negative things that I say, and not say them. I don't know, maybe eventually, I won't even think them? At least that is the goal. :-)

So, that's all. Goodness, this was a long post. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

MORE COMBAT BOOTS.

2008-02-17T20:28:00.004-05:00

Well, I was looking at our blog and realized that there was just too much flip flop and not enough combat boots.

My friend Matt(Brownie) and I took the dogs to the beach over the weekend and here are the pics. For those who don't know, Gator is the white American Bulldog, Django is the Chocolate Lab, and Gypsy is the fat little Red Heeler. We found out that Gator does not like the ocean, Django loves the ocean, and as expected Gypsy really doesn't care where she is as long as she is with someone. I am training Django to pay attention to my voice no matter what is going on. How do I do this? It's quite simple when you have a dog that has already mastered the skill. I tie him to Gypsy and call both their names.. It didn't take him that long. Anyway, we had a good time and the dogs slept the entire way home.

Matt and Gator

Me and our kids

Catching up...

2008-02-04T20:39:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I just got off the phone with my sister, and she told me that she needed to see new pictures of Django, or she wouldn't recognize him when she saw him, because he is so big. So, here we go. Here are some of the most recent pictures. We went to the vet a week ago, and he weighed 22 lbs. He is getting so big!!!

He is too cute!

The kiddos love love love their dad!!!

I feel like we may have created two very big couch potatoes! We got Django and Gypsy new beds to sleep on, and they love to lay on them. And, they lay on them alot.

Here are a few more things that have been going on since the last time that I blogged....

1. John's birthday was last Friday, and we decided to take a new adventure. We went on the Diamond Casino Cruise. This is a big 3 story boat that cruises from Savannah, GA out to international waters, where you can gamble. It was fun. We aren't talking about a super fancy boat, but, it floated. We all had a good time, including me and Brown, who got sea sick. We are talking gross, sick, puking, sea sick. I was miserable until about half way through the trip, when the seas finally calmed down, and I was better. The second half of the trip was really fun! We all did pretty well and didn't totally lose all of our money. Not sure if we will do it again, but, if we do, you can bet that I will be briging the DRAMAMINE!!!

2. Yesterday morning we went to church in Charleston, where John's sister and her husband, Darci and Stephen, were going to be. Stephen was trying out to be the full time minister at the Sullivan's Island Baptist Church. We found out after worship yesterday that they offered the position to Stephen and they accepted it! We are totally excited that we will have family living so close to us! Only about an hour and a half away! We are so excited to get to spend some time with Darci and Stephen and getting to hang out with their precious kiddos!!!!

3. We just figured out tonight that there was no need for us to spend money on buying toys for Django. All we have to do is empty a two liter coke bottle and let him play with it. It has kept him busy and running around ALL night. He should sleep well tonight! :-)

Let's see...I think that is probably about it. If I think of anything else, well, I will just post it later. Hope every one has a good night!!!!

My Birthday Present

2008-01-17T20:45:00.000-05:00

Well, I finally got them!!! After months of searching, I finally decided on which golf clubs I wanted! You would think that living in the epicenter of the golf world, it would be easy to find a good set of clubs. Well, in part, you would be correct. But, the thing that I also had to take in to consideration is that because we are in Hilton Head, which is the premier place to play golf, things here are ten times as expensive as they should be. My husband, being the wonderful and patient man that he is, took me to several different places and we picked out the perfect set of irons, and then proceded to order them on the internet for half the price! :-) I got a slightly used driver, and a brand new Nike bag! I never thought that I would be that excited about golf clubs, but I am!!!!!!

Thanks to Mom and Dad, Patmommie and Grandaddy, Mema, and Moey and Blake, and of course, Dub for giving me money to get my clubs! This has been a great birthday week!!!!

Also, Mom and Dad got me a sweater from Ann Taylor that I have worn 3 times since I got it 5 days ago, that I LOVE!!!! Patmommie and Grandaddy got me an awesome tank and sweater from Ann Taylor that I will completely wear out, I am sure. And, my sweet sister, Chan, got me a Chris LeDoux box set with 6 CDs in it! I have already listened to all of them, some twice!

This has been a great great great birthday! I have such a great family that makes WAY too much out of birthdays, but they sure are fun! Here are some pics of my new clubs! :-)

Totally cool bag stand!!!!

Notice the Callaway driver!!! I am so cool :-)

It has a really neat fur lined pocket to keep my rings in while I am playing. I know...it's the little things....

This would be my HORRIBLE golf stance. Don't worry, the more I play, the better it will be....I hope!

Such a GREAT birthday!!!!

Family pictures...

2008-01-08T23:05:00.001-05:00

Okay, I just realized that I just posted pictures of our trip home and didn't include any of our family. I know this. I have pictures...really good pictures....my sweet sister put them on a CD for me because I took them with her camera because my battery was dead. SO, I can't find the CD right now. I will find it. Soon. I promise. I just need to clean my house, which I plan on spending ALL of tomorrow doing. As soon as I find the CD, I will put up pictures of the fam, of my girls night out with Amie, Lacie, and Em., and of our trip to Billy Bob's. I am not slacking, just unorganized for the moment. And, may I stress...FOR THE MOMENT. I am not liking this unorganization. It will end tomorrow :-)

The newest Williams...

2008-01-08T22:49:00.001-05:00

His name is Django, and he is SO precious! He is a chocolate lab. Here are some of the cutest pictures that you have ever seen.....

Really....how stinkin' cute is he????

A continuation....

2008-01-08T22:33:00.000-05:00

Okay, so continuing on.....

A stinkin' great picture of Gruene Hall.

I love this picture... the Payne's and the Williams'

Our traditional 'in the parking lot' picture at the end of a road trip.

Shelly and me in the bar at Luckenbach.

No words necessary.

Again... no words can do this justice :-)

Cooper's BBQ in Llano. Now, that's some good eatin'!

Next....pictures of the pup!

Too Many Stories....

2008-01-08T21:43:00.000-05:00

Let me just start off by saying that these past few weeks have been SO absolutely wonderful! We had such a great time back in the great state of Texas! We spent 16 days at home with our awesome friends, family, good food, great places, and lots and lots of fun and good music!!

Now, we are back in South Carolina....not home, mind you.....just in South Carolina. But, we are excited because we have decided to extend our family. Okay, okay, before you freak out, no, I am not prego. We just decided to get a puppy! We picked him up when we got back here, and he is precious! His name is Django. Too cute for words.

SO...with out further hesitation....here are some pictures to summarize our trip. Not nearly enough to convey how much fun we had....but, just some.

Dave and me....we love him TONS and wish he would move out to SC! :-)

Now, where else in the WORLD besides TEXAS are you going to find great boots above the bar?!

Good friends about to go see a dang good show!!!!

Standing outside our hotel in New Braunfels, about to go see Stoney!!! I love my Shelly!

Yes, this is John and Dave playing checkers while we wait for our table at the New Braunfels Smokehouse. You gotta love old school Texas!!

Oh, the Shelly's.....WE LOVE THEM!!!!

This is the inside of Gruene Hall. A true texas legend!!!

The 'Gang' at Gruene Hall. This was the night we saw Stoney LaRue.

This is one of my favorite pictures! You know what is silly? I can tell you who everyone is, just by their boots :-)

This is the 'Gang'....the complete 'Gang', now because Deidre and Craig and Rik were there. This is the night we saw Reckless Kelly.

The girls.

The Boys. Silly Craig!

This is during the band that opened for Reckless Kelly. They were not great. Notice Rik's face :-)

This is how close we were to the stage. Love me some RK!!!!

"Here's to Willy...."

Okay, I am getting paranoid that I am going to lose all these pictures, so I am going to post this blog, then start on another one to finish up.....I know, I am a freak....

Continually Blessed.....

2007-12-12T12:14:00.000-05:00

You know, God is just amazing. I say this for several reasons, but one in particular that just hit me last night. I had a KV meeting last night, a Christmas party. For those of you who don't know what KV is, it is Key Volunteers. It is an organization of Marine's spouses that are a support system for the Marine families. Mainly, we keep in touch with the spouses and family of Marines that are deployed and keep them up to date on things that are going on. The KVs are composed of Marine spouses and some of the 'higher ups' in the Marine Corps.
So, back to why God is amazing... So, I went to this Christmas party last night and was having a really good time talking to a few of the wives that I have become friends with. The question came up about where everyone is going for the holidays. As it turns out, one of the wives, whose husband is currently deployed, said that she was debating on just staying home with her 3 kids. She said that she would really like to go see her side of the family, but this is the year that they were supposed to go see his side. I asked her if his family would be mad if she went to her side of the family this year, even though her husband was deployed. And she said that it was already a huge blow up argument that she had with his family. I just can't even imagine. Having to deal with a deployed husband, especially during the holidays, then add 3 kiddos under the age of 5 to the mix, then an extended family who is constantly fighting. Poor woman, just seemed so stressed out.
I have always been thankful for both of our wonderful families, don't get me wrong. But, sometimes, God just likes to remind us how lucky and blessed we truly are.
Kim and I had this discussion the other night, about how the holidays are so much more than gifts and presents. It has become even more apparent to me since I have been away the last two years. Christmas time is about family. Spending time together and laughing and loving. So, where ever you are spending your holidays this year, be sure to make the most of it. Let your family know how much you love and appreciate them, and be mindful of those who aren't as lucky.
Merry Christmas, y'all!

One more thanks....

2007-12-11T12:02:00.000-05:00

I wanted to make a special post to say thank you to my sweet sister, who knows WAY more about computers than I do....I know you didn't think that I fixed up my blog all by myself! :-) Thanks, Moey, for making our blog look so cute! You are the best! Love you!

Filling up space...

2007-12-07T20:38:00.000-05:00

So, I wanted to post another...well....post, I guess. I have been working on this blog, and I thought that it looked so sad and short. So, here are another few lines. As long as I am trying this out, I might as well try to post picture or two.... Here goes nothing....
This is one picture in a pretty long series of attempts to get a Christmas Card picture. Thanks to our precious friend Brown, for taking time to take some pictures for us. You can't really see Dub's shirt in this one, but it says "Get Your Guns Up!" Thanks to Kim-bo for all the great Texas Tech wear she sends us!

Here is a picture of the fam at Thanksgiving. We all went to Nashville to Moey and Blake's house and had a wonderful long weekend! We had Thanksgiving lunch at Blake's Mom and Dad's house. This was the second year for Richard and Sharon to open their home to us, and we are so greatful to them. We had a blast!

Okay, well, I am going to post this and try to get some sleep. I know, it's 9:15 on Friday night, but Dub and I both have to work tomorrow, and he is already asleep. Aren't we the exciting married couple?!

Okay, Okay, I give in

2007-12-07T19:58:00.000-05:00

For months and months, our friends have been telling me to start a blog. So, I am finally giving in. I won't promise to post every day, or even every week. But, I guess this is a good way to keep everyone up to date on the happenings of the Williams family, way out here in SC. Please forgive me as I get used to this whole 'blogging' thing.