Dad's 50th Birthday

On June 19th, my dad turned 50. And since everyone knows 50 is a BIG milestone, we had to celebrate it with a surprise party. This was a bit of a challenge, as my dad usually find out surprises before we get to surprise him. But this time, we did a pretty good job of keeping it under wraps.

Randy & I headed home on Saturday morning (after a quick stop at Mardel's for some awesome bargains!). When we arrived Daniel and Randy decided to go fishing. Dad joined them later. Mom and I visited and she helped me get caught up on my coupon clipping and sorting (thanks mom!).

We got cleaned up and dressed to take Dad out for his birthday. Now let me preface all this by saying we almost always take Dad out to Outback for his birthday. Unless he is in Colorado on vacation. So when Mom suggested we go to Muenster to eat, Dad's first response was, "..or we could go to Outback or someplace in Sherman." Mom told him that she and Vickie & Ezelle had eaten at The Center in Muenster and it was really good. Dad said ok, but we all were thinking he was a tad bit disappointed.

We took our yearly birthday pics and here they are for you to enjoy:


Then came the big surprise. Daniel drove Mom & Dad's Expedition. On the way there, we were passed by a car they all thought they recognized. Turns out it was Reid & Debbie (Mom & Dad's friends) who were heading to the party, a little late. Luckily they never turned around and saw us and Daniel slowed way down for them to get ahead of us. After a few hiccups, we finally arrived in Muenster and started to pull in to the restaurant parking lot. And who was walking into the restaurant? Reid & Debbie. So Dad knew something was up. Then he started picking out other friends and family's vehicles. Making it to the parking lot before giving up the surprise wasn't too bad. We walked him in and all our friends and family were waiting for us. Dad was really surprised, I think. Mom counted a total of 36 people, which is a great turnout.


Dad was so special he got 2 cakes!

Overall it was a great party and a celebration of a great man. So glad I get to call him Dad! Love you Daddy!

Memorial Day Weekend

This year we spent Memorial Day weekend in Odessa with Randy's family. Since Kristi and Andrew live in Tyler and were heading right past our apartment, and since they have the bigger vehicle, we all piled in after work on Friday and started our roadtrip to West Texas. After a stop in Weatherford for Rosa's (YUM!), it was back in the car and on the road again. Bella was such a good little traveler! She made it until about 9:30 or so and then fell asleep. But since she was in her car seat and probably not in the most comfortable sleeping position, she woke up an hour later. The rest of the trip was spent trying to keep all of us (minus Bella) awake. We got in late, and headed to bed. The next day we just relaxed and hung out. The girls went to Hobby Lobby (of course!) while the boys went and did manly stuff (not really sure what they did). Sunday we got to go to Sonia and Bruce's new church with them. It was really cool to see Brian's parents, Samye, and others who I know I should remember their names, but I don't! Sorry! We also got to meet a family who unknown to us would be moving to Arlington and coming to TCAL the week after we met them. You can check out their blog here: http://www.jesusbotme.wordpress.com/.

After church came the fun stuff. The men decided to cut down the tree in Sonia and Bruce's front yard.

After the tree fell.

Randy working hard.

All the limbs and wood.

Andrew trying to work hard....he really did do more than sweep. :)

Bruce supervising....he did more than this too.

We also took Bella for her first ice cream while we were there.

She loved it! And sat like a big girl in her chair by herself the whole time.

We hung out and played games on Monday. It was nice to have a few days with no worries, stress, or work to think about.

Here are some other pics I took on the way home.



When you are driving 5+ hours with a 18-month old, you get pretty creative to entertain them.






She held my finger like this for the last 30 minutes of our drive to Dallas.


Proof I really was on the trip.

And proof that baby girl was so tired but just wouldn't fall asleep with us in the backseat:
This was the picture Kristi sent me 30 minutes after they left out house. Bella sound asleep with truck, Lily, Bunny, Bunny, and duck hidden somewhere under all that.

Mother's Day 09

For Mother's Day this year, we met my parents and Daniel in Denton for lunch at Outback and then an afternoon at the park. After a scrumptious meal at Outback, Mom opened her gifts. We got her an MP3 player. She had been wanting one to use while walking and exercising. She was excited! We went to a park in Denton after lunch to walk off all the rich foods we'd eaten, but the mosquitos were BAD. Like really, really, really bad. So we opted for the traditional photo op session and these are what we got:



And yes, we did have 2 cameras out. That's why a lot of the shots look the same.

Catch up blogging

So the next few posts will be my attempt at getting caught up on blogging our lives. Why you ask? Because I want to have some sort of diary/scrapbook of our lives. And it's fun. Be on the look out!

Better Picture?

Here is a better picture of my project.



And the project in pieces:

My Weekend Projects

Just wanted to take a few minutes and show you one of my weekend projects.


While we were on our anniversary trip, I got the idea to create a photo collage of our name - Harrelson. So while Randy was fishing, I went exploring for letters. From trees that looked like letter to sticks and rocks in just the right formation. Some letters were harder to find than others - R being one of them. I found all the letters, got them printed when we got home, and then came the task of putting them together in a collage.



Since Harrelson is 9 letters long, I had to look for a long skinny frame. I thought I found one that would work and since they were on sale 50% off this week, Randy & I went to Hobby Lobby to get it. Turns out, the longest one wasn't long enough. We priced the custom frames, but the price was way too much. So after much deliberation, this is what I came up with:


What do you think? It still is a work in progress. The pictures are all twisting a little to the left because of the ribbon. Got to find a way to make them all lay flat. The borders are just some scrapbooking paper I had on hand. I figured this would be a easy way to change out the theme if we ever decide to decorate differently. The rod is just one of the expandable curtain rods.

I also found 2 wall shelves that I am painting black on clearance for $4, a cool "H" that I think will look great on one of the shelves. And Mom, I'm finally painting the mirror you gave me. You'll be excited to see it when it is finished.

So that was my weekend. How was yours?