To Grandmother's house they go

My kids (the dogs) are at there grandparent's house for the weekend. Josh and I are heading west to Ft. Stockton this weekend. Believe it or not, it was cheaper for me to drive 45 minutes to meet my mom than it would be to board both of them for the weekend. I met her on Wednesday evening at the rest stop on I-10 at mile marker 619. If you have never seen this rest stop, I definitely suggest you put it on your list of "must-see" things. It's awesome, especially for a rest stop!!!

If you don't know my kids, they are incredibly too smart for their own good. On Wednesday I started packing their things and telling them they were going to see their grandma. Well, Bayla knows the word 'grandma,' and he kept getting more and more excited. When I got home in the evening, I was waiting for my mom to call and tell me she was leaving, so I loaded the truck with their stuff and then just watched TV while I waited. Well, Bayla knew exactly what was going on. He was so mad at me because I didn't take them out with all the stuff and that I was just sitting on the couch doing nothing. He kept running to the door and then to me and doing his "talking" bark. He has a particular bark, except it's not really a full bark, that he does when he's trying to tell me something. He usually uses it when Rylie has a toy that he wants and he wants me to go get it from her, or in this case when he wanted me to get my butt off the couch and take him to his grandma. They were so excited they didn't even sleep in the truck. Normally they are passed out by the time I get on 1604. Nope, they stayed up to survey the surroundings. We got to the rest stop before my mom, so I walked them around while I waited. As soon as she pulled up and got out, their little butts started wiggling like crazy. They really love their grandma, so they were thrilled to see her! Grandpa RoRo on the other, I heard, was not too thrilled to see them. He always complains about them, but he loves it when Rylie wants to sit with him in his recliner. Of course, after their vet visits this month, he was ready to shoot them as much as I was! My mom called this morning and told me that I should never leave them or my future human children with him because they probably would not get taken care of! Ha! He acts all tough, but he's actually pretty soft when he gets around them.

It was really weird without them the last two days. It's amazing how time is different when they aren't around. I had so much time at lunch since I didn't have to take them out and entertain them. And then yesterday evening was so nice. I went walking and did some exercises and it was nice to not have them jumping all over me. The nights were the hardest though. Bayla has started sleeping under the bed all night, and Rylie has become my snuggle buddy. She normally likes to sleep on her pillow. (Yes, she sleeps on the pillow) But lately, she has started to sleep right next to me all night. So these past two nights have been kinda cold and lonely without my little snuggler. Luckily, at least I'm saying that now, they will be back Sunday night or Monday morning.

So, now I leave you with some pictures of the kids:

OMG...5 months!!!!

That's right...5 months until the wedding!! Wow. Where has the time gone? I think it has vanished into thin air. I had my first official "wedding freakout" the other night. I don't know what set me off or what got it going, but I realized that as of Sunday, it was 5 months and everything started rolling in my head. I made so many notes and lists it's not even funny. I called Josh and started listing it all to him. He was able to calm me down quite a bit and told me to quit going crazy. I know it's all going to be ok, but it just hit me and I couldn't stop!!

I had to take Rylie to the vet yesterday. I think she had the beginning's of what Bayla had two weeks ago. I didn't want another $850 vet bill, so I went ahead and took her in. The vet said he couldn't tell if she had it or not, but just to be safe he gave her a shot and meds for it. Thank goodness!!! These dogs are going to break me!!

Spoke too soon

So, I guess this is what I get for opening my big mouth so soon.

We went to look at the house again last night. It is on a zero lot line so we were not able to look at one side of it yet. However, we were in the front yard and noticed the neighbor out as well, so we asked if we could go look at it. About halfway down, we all stop and see a huge crack going from the foundation all the way to the top. And this was not some hairline crack, this thing had to be between 1/4" to 1/2" thick! Our realtor told us that we should just walk away from this deal because there is no telling what other problems there.

That's all fine and good. I am extremely disappointed because this was the perfect house and neighborhood for us! When I got home, I kept thinking about it and was bothered that the sellers had not said anything because there is no way you could not have noticed this thing. I looked through the inspection from when they bought it and noticed that there was a note about a larger than normal crack. So that means that this crack has been there for 4 years. We talked to our realtor this morning and she found out from their realtor that they knew it was there but for whatever reason did not think it was a defect!!! So, now I'm thinking, 'if they think this is not a defect, what else are they not telling us.'

Ugh, this is so frustrating. So, it's back to square one!!

Going once, going twice...

and the house goes to.....

US!!!!!!

Yes, we are in the process of finalizing the contract to buy a house! Am I scared out my mind? You bet! Am I excited? You bet! Am I nervous? Hell yeah! I can't believe it. Christina, one of our secretaries told me the other day that we were getting two big things out of the way in the same year...wedding and a house. And she said all we'd need is a baby on the way and we'd have it covered. And I told her that that was not funny at all!! No, there is not a baby on the way!

We put the offer in this morning and our realtor called this afternoon and they countered, but we can deal with what they want. I hate to be premature, but I'm pretty certain this is going to work out.

They want to close at the end of June, so by July 1st, we'll be in our "brand new to us" house!!!!

Time needs to slow down

so I can catch up. I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way though. There is so much going on right now!

There is a promising lead on the house front. We think we have found something that is going to suit us very well. We are going to check it out again today as well as some others, just to see what else is out there. But if we like it, we very well may be putting an offer in tomorrow morning...oh the scariness of opening another chapter in life. It is definitely exciting though and I'm anxious to get things moving, and getting myself moved! I can't wait until my dogs have a backyard to run around, and I can just open the door to let them out and not have to worry about it. I am hoping they will become a lot more independent too.

I went for my first dress fitting yesterday...all I can say is wow! I think my dress is going to be even more beautiful now that it will be hemmed. And the bustle they are doing is absolutely gorgeous! It's a little tight around my newly acquired "secretary's hips," but I am working on getting those toned up. If you work at a desk job, you know what I am talking about. When you sit down ALL day long, your hips have a tendency to widen a little bit. And I have been a complete slacker about working out...that is, until now...they will be gone in a few months!!

My mom came to SA this weekend and we had a wonderful, relaxing weekend. We did a little shopping, lots of talking, and laying out by my pool. I forgot how good being in the sun feels. My mom is so funny. It's amazing how she talks to everyone, everywhere, and somehow makes friends with them all. That is something I have picked up from her, but don't do it quite as well as she does. I can't wait until she is retired and come up here whenever and leave whenever and not be on a schedule. For those that don't know, my mom is retiring from teaching in a few weeks at the end of this school year. So far she has gotten job offers from Macy's, JCPenney's, Bath and Body Works, and Jared's, but she's not sure yet what she's going to do, but she is excited to be opening her own new chapter.

And I'll add a little story about Josh and me, and I know someone who will get a kick out of this. We don't get to see each other that much since we don't live together. Honestly, I am ok with this situation because I am very independent, and enjoy my alone time. So, pretty much the only time we see each other is on the weekends. Well, since my mom was in town this weekend, we didn't see each other at all...until yesterday afternoon. I called him after she left to tell him and see what he was doing. He says that he is coming over to see me...and I was disappointed because I was hoping to do some laundry and a little picking up before my Sunday shows. He kept saying that we never get to see each other and I told him that in a very short time, we would be seeing each other all the time and would be wanting to to find alone time! Yeah, I don't think he found the humor in that.

Nikki

In the beginning...

Wow, my first real blog. Myspace doesn't count...I can control that a little. I'm sure I can do that here too, but I haven't done any searching for it. There's really only one person in particular I would care to keep this from, let's hope he doesn't find it!

I really have started this because of my best friend Jennifer in Nacogdoches. She always gets a kick out my stories of my fiance and me and thinks I should blog about it. So, blog I shall.

I read quite a few blogs...I am a self-proclaimed internet junkie. If you want to know something, I will google until I find the answer. Josh, my fiance, makes fun of me for this. He has a way of using vocabulary in the wrong context or pronunciation, so I go to dictionary.com, look up the word and then send it to him. He says I correct him too much, which is probably true, but I look at it as doing him a favor...I don't want him walking around saying things incorrectly! Most people would probably not notice, but there may come a time that he says the wrong thing to the right person and he'll look like a fool. He usually doesn't see it this way though. I am also a huge fan of snopes.com. You know all those crazy forwards you get about some lady that was abducted in the Target parking lot because she tried to help on old lady, well go to snopes, search for it and see if it's true or not. Most of the time they are false, and I can't stand getting false information. Anyways, the point of this paragraph is that I can't wait to be able to share some of the amazing blogs of some pretty amazing people.

Quite a bit is happening in my life right now, and this space is going to be a great way to get it all out there and hopefully make some new friends along the way. A little breakdown of the life and times of Nikki that I will elaborate more on later:
~Getting married in October!!!
~Buying a house right now!
~My dog getting sick...and sending me to the poorhouse
~My sister
~And probably a few more things that are escaping me at the moment

Stay tuned for more!!!

Nikki