I'm glad I tried!

These past few days have been memories that will last forever. I decided to tryout for American Idol since it will be my last year (I'm almost 29) to tryout for it! I called my friend Nicole (who lives 10 minutes from the new cowoby stadium) and begged her to go with me. Well not really, I didn't even have to beg! I haven't seen the girl in 2 years and she stopped everything to go with me on this experience. I arrived at her apartment on Thursday morning around 8:30. We stopped by the store and got a few snacks and drinks before heading to the stadium. We had heard the day before people were waiting in line to register for 3 hours! So we thought we should be prepared. We get to the stadium a little after 9 and NO ONE was there. We walked right up, got our tickets and wristbands and headed back out the door. We were laughing at all the stuff we bought. We had all afternoon to do nothing. We decided to head to Northpark mall to catch a movie and did a little shopping. (We saw The Proposal! If you haven't seen it, go tonight!) That night we tried to get in bed early since we had to get up at 4:45, but I couldn't sleep for anything. I tossed and turned until the last time I looked at my clock it said 2:45! WHOA, 4:45 came early. We got to the stadium at 6:30 and I can't even described to you how many people were already in line. It was the craziest thing I've ever seen. We got inside about 7:30 so that wasn't too bad waiting in line. Once inside we all started practicing singing Kelly Clarkson's song, "My life would suck without you." We did it over and over again until they finally started shooting us. The camera was mainly in the center of the crowd and we were down on the end. I doubt Nicole and I will be found in the huge crowd. We filmed for about an hour and then the tryouts began. I waited for 5 hours before I FINALLY made my way down on the floor. By this time I was so tired and worn out I wasn't even in my right mind! We were put in groups of 4 and then taken to a table with a judge. Down on the floor you could hear everyone singing. I was probably down on the floor for 20 minutes and I saw 2 people advance. There's 12 judges in all and probably 20 people in front of every judge. Do the math. Not too many people got through all day. I think that's what is so crazy about the whole thing. People all around me could jam, but no one was getting through. I think they have a certain look they want and you have to be pretty lucky to make it to the next round. So, I was first in my group, did my thing and stepped back. Once we all 4 went she told us we all sounded great, but not what she was looking for. So I gave it a try and I'm glad that I did, but I was pretty bummed about the whole show. I really thought it would be different I guess.

After I sang I went back to Nicole's and took about an hour nap before heading to the condo in Dallas (my sister-in-law's parents own a condo in a really nice part of Dallas, I mean REALLY nice!) So Molly's sister Meagan (who I have been friends with for a long time) decided to invite a few ladies up for a "Girls Weekend!" There were 6 of us total. We had a blast. We ate at Mi-Cocina's the first night (please take note of all these places if you are ever in this part of Dallas) and Chuys the second night. We did lots of shopping at Northpark, got our toes done and make-up done. It was so much fun! That night after eating at Chuy's we went to West End for a little while and then headed to Kinki's to meet up with Nicole and her friends. Kinki's sounds pretty bad, but it was hip-hop music and dancing! We had a blast! I was so ready to get home though. I felt like I had been gone for a month or something. Leven had taken Taydem and Trever to visit his parents in Mexia while I was gone. I couldn't wait to see them all, especially my tooter poot! Check out some pics from the wild weekend!

Some of the crowd!

Nicole and I that morning, EARLY!

View from Condo

House update

Dad says we should be finished in 4 weeks!! O-M-G! Here's some newer pictures of the house.

Pooped out

This weekend was so tiring for all of us. Friday night Trever had his first all-star game with his new team. They kicked Kilgore's butt. I think the final score was 18-7. Saturday morning Danin and I went into Longview and ran a ton of errands before Trever had to play again that night. His game was scheduled for 8, but they didn't step on the field until 10! OMG! While we were waiting on the game to start we let Taydem play in the water. The park had this area that had water shooting up from the ground. Taydem was scared of it at first, but quickly started playing in it. She LOVES the water! Trever's team won that night as well, 10-4. We didn't get home until almost 1 in the morning! Wednesday night they will play for the championship game and head to state after that. The top 2 teams advance. Yesterday Mom and Dad had family over for Father's Day. There's always so much food to eat when we all get together. Everything was wonderful and the kids played and played!

Taydem and the water hole
Trever's new mohawk

Grandkids in their Tatum Eagle outfits

You tube sensation!

Check out Julia Nunes at the bottom of my page!

You need to watch the video "Build me up, buttercup!"

It's so funny

It's looking like a house now

They have now finished texturing all the walls and are in the process of doing all the "trim" work. They are putting up crown molding and building the shelves for all the closests. They also cleared out all of our backyard and front yard. It looks so different now behind the house. In the beginning it looked like some deep woods were behind our house. They will finish the trim and the painter will start painting a few rooms until the cabinet guy arrives with all the cabinets. Tomorrow they will start bricking the outside. Wow!! That's all I can say! Walk-in shower

Weekend recap

Friday night Leven and I had a wonderful time together in Shreveport! Thanks again Danin for watching Taydem.

Saturday night was my class reunion and I was so glad that we had such a good turnout. The decorations turned out so nice, we had really good food and our DJ was fun! It ended at 11 and then I brought the after party back to our house until 3 in the morning. The guys started playing poker and you know how long that takes. I loved seeing everyone again!

Yesterday Trever had his end of the year baseball party. After the party we headed to church to listen to a really good performance put on by the choir! We loved it. Our house is being textured TODAY! Wow, my dad can hardly keep up it's going so fast!

"BUBBA!!!!!"

On the water

We took a late afternoon ride on the boat Wednesday night. Here's a few pictures:

3 years folks

Our anniversary is next Wednesday (the 17th), but we are so busy that tonight is the only night we can celebrate for it. (Trever's all star team starts practice next week and their first tournament is next weekend!) So we are headed to Shreveport (and I told Leven NO BOATS this time!) to eat some yummy seafood and spend the night on the town. Every time we go over to Shreveport we always just go hang out at the boats. This time we are gonna go check out a comedy club and hang out with the locals. I'm excited. Any time away from the kiddos for a day, is a treat for me. Danin is so nice to watch Taydem for us and Trever will be around as well. Three years married...time zipps by doesn't it???

Speaking of time flying by, my 10 year class reunion is tomorrow night. I'm really excited about this. There's quiet a few of us that still live around East Texas and I will see them from time to time. But I'm really excited about seeing the ones I haven't seen since I graduated. Hopefully we will have a good turn out. Thanks for my mom and dad for watching the kids tomorrow night!

House update:

We have our cabinets drawn out and they will start cutting them out ASAP. He said it should take them about 3 weeks. We picked out our appliances yesterday so the cabinet guy would know the exact measurements. We had planned on putting a small fridge and ice maker in the gameroom, but we only got the small fridge. The icemaker was as much as a big fridge. I couldn't believe how expensive that little thing was. That wasn't that important too us thank goodness. Any money we can save is what we want. They put the insulation in yesterday and will start the sheet rock today! Wow...next week at this time, we should have the walls taped and textured and maybe see some brick on the outside! Have a nice weekend everyone!

Headache in the works

Leven and I went and met with the guy who's building our cabinets. I swear, as long as we don't kill each other things will be great. The thing with Leven and I is we don't have a clue what's going on or how we want everything to look. So then we start arguing about stupid stuff. Most husbands and wives at least have some sort of idea how they want things to be in a new home. Not us! So today making all those decisions gave me a huge headache. We had to pick out the style of the cabinets, the type of wood, how we were going to design Leven's "Trophy Case thingy", what type of fancy pullouts in the cabinets, and it goes on and on! So thank goodness we have a good cabinet guy. (What is he called?? I hate calling him that!) He is going to put something together by what we told him and we will go from there. He said he has all the time in the world and will draw it up for us 10 times if we need him too. That made me feel a little better.

Trever's city league team is playing in the championship game tonight. Then it's All-Stars time. It never ends!

My 10 year class reunion is this Saturday. We have about 70 people saying that they are coming. Which is a lot considering I only graduated with 87! I'm pretty excited about it!

Powel/Smith Wedding= AMAZING

This past weekend was so busy for us. Saturday morning we got up and went over to the house and did some major cleaning up. All the trash and sawdust that was left from the plumbers and electricians needed to be swept up. It took us about 2 hours to get it all finished. It looked 10 times better than it did.

Saturday night we went to the most amazing wedding EVER! Kacey Smith and Chad Powell got married at a church downtown Longview and then had their reception at Kacey's dad's airplane hanger! OMG! The hanger itself was just finished being built like a week ago and how they put it all together still blows my mind. It was so beautiful. They had an excellent wedding planner to pull it off that's for sure. From the lights, band, food, drinks, cake, decorations, flowers, etc. it was probably the best wedding I've been too. Don't get me wrong, I've been to a lot, but this was the first time I've seen one decorated from floor to ceiling. Just imagine and empty airplane hanger and it was turned into a piece of art! Gorgeous!! Here's a few pics...

Taydem- 21 months

The past couple of days it's just been Taydem and I. Leven and Trever are headed back to East Texas this afternoon. They went to Misti's graduation (Leven's niece) down in Austin yesterday. Sorry Taydem and I couldn't make it Misti! So last night I decided to record Taydem running around the house. She is at that age where she wants everyone's attention that is around her. I might as well forget about doing anything that I want to do. I usually have to do all my "stuff" once she heads to bed. She is finally starting to grow some. She's up to 23 pounds now! And her foot is finally out of a 3. She's now a size 4. Her favorite things right now are books, cheese, taking her shoes off and putting them back on, playing with her Daddy, giving hugs and kisses, playing in the water, making noises with her mouth, pacifer (ugh!), singing, dancing, and her babies! She loves to eat! (See pic # 1) She really has good days and bad days with her eating. If she's hungry she will tear it up. If she's not, I don't worry about making her eat b/c I know she will make up for it later on. Her favorite things to eat are cinnamon donuts and honey buns for breakfast, cheese, any type of juice, chicken, french fries, green beans, beefaroni, any type of noodle, and any type of fruit! Her new thing is dipping! She doesn't care what she's eating as long as she can dip it in ketchup. She's a sweet little girl. She's our little blessing from God.

Taydem loves her rocking chair that Grans and Mike bought for her!

More pictures

Dad said it's going up really fast. All the sub-contractors are wanting work so they are the ones calling Dad for once. Today I went by to check on it and the electricians, AC men, and framers were at it hard. The windows and doors arrived this morning and should be in this afternoon. I took these pictures yesterday after work.

Kitchen Pantry

Kitchen bar and front door

"I'm outta here Mamma!"

No more summers off

Since I started school way back in 1986 I have always had summers off. Once I graduated high school and started college, I still never took summer school. I always wanted that break from work or school. Then after college I became a teacher and STILL had summers off. So this is the first time in forever that I will actually be working through summertime. It really does stink too. While Leven and Trever will be out playing all day, I will be stuck in an office wishing I was playing too. Leven and Trever are headed to Mexia today to make their rounds to everyone (Mexia is still in school until Thursday!) and then they will head to Austin for Leven's niece's graduation on Wednesday. Yea MISTI! So Tooter Poot and I will be all alone for a few days.

Our house is coming along so fast I can't hardly keep up with all the pictures that I need to be taking. Dad said he will for sure have us in the house before school starts back up! Isn't that crazy? Today Leven is meeting with the surround sound system guy (I'm not sure what you call him) and the alarm guy. All the windows and doors will be installed and the trim will get some color on the outside! EXCITING stuff happening.

Dustin and Darin are also building homes. There's just so much going on right now in our family. I don't think any of us ever slow down.

Baseball

Trever made the 14 year old All-Star team in the Longview League! I think 12 were picked...yea Trever!

Moving right along

We had a really fun and relaxing weekend. Saturday morning we ate breakfast at Jucy's and then headed over to the house to meet with the electrician. We got all our plugs, switches and lights in order then headed back to the lake. My cousin Whitney and her two girls, Rylee and Carysn, spent the day with us on the lake. That night we went to my boss' 50th birthday party. Yesterday we went to church and about 4 we decided to all head back on the lake. Dustin, Darin, Danin and all our kiddos went. We stayed out there until 8! It was so nice out there towards the afternoon.

This week on the house: Our windows, doors, tubs, fireplace, plumbing, and electricity stuff should all be placed inside. The outside of the house will be painted as well. Shingles and brick will come after that!!