Support Our Soliders...

...Saturday afternoon, I went to Jess' Matt's Going-Away party. He is leaving in October to defend our freedom for one year. Thank you Matt and all of our soliders for everything you do for us.

Here is Matt and Jess
Then I jumped in for a picture with the happy couple...

Be safe Matt! We'll be thinking and praying for both you and Jess. You guys are awesome!

A Visit to Cape...

...Thursday night I headed down to Cape for a nice long weekend. Matt had to work and I had Friday off so I figured I'd go see the fam. Friday night we went to dinner at Ray's in Kelso, they are famous for their steak and pizza. I ordered a version of their cheeseburger pizza and it was pretty delicious!!!

My grandma, Sally, my dad and I

We had bananas foster made table side...

...it was delicious!!!

There was so much pizza!!! My grandma and Sally split one and they had leftovers, I had leftovers and then my step-sis, Brooke, was going through recruitment at SEMO so we brought her home a pizza. Here's my dad looking like the pizza delivery man.

Saturday morning Brooke accepted a bid from Alpha Delta Pi. She's in for a ride now! Sally and my dad adopted a basset hound who doesn't like too many people. Anytime he'd come out while I was at their house, Sally would ask me to go in the bathroom/bedroom and shut the door. It was kind of funny! Saturday morning, Butchie got to go couponing with my sis, Haley, grandma and me. I was very busy while I was down there but we still had a lot of fun!!!

Happy Birthday to Cody!!!

...Cody is five!!! Everyone loved the frame that I made (see my post from Monday) and I even almost made his mom cry.

Here is Cody with the gift that Matt picked out-a blow up punching balloon and gloves to match. (Their grandpa got them the camo hats, they were fleece but the boys insisted on wearing them!):
Here is Cody's little brother Nick trying to get us with a crossbow and his Burger King hat on:

Happy Birthday to Cody...it was an ice cream cake from Schnucks!?! And it was delicious!

Me and the birthday boy as I'm about to head out.

Happy birthday Cody! Hope you enjoy being five...next year is kindergarten!!!

I'm Starving My Husband...

...or so my co-workers think. I told them a story about how Matt came home from class and was eating a banana. I got upset because I'd bought just enough for him to have for breakfast. I also always tell them about how Matt drinks all the milk. So one of my co-workers brought in half a box of Twinkies and said to give them to Matt so he could snack on something. About four of us got a good laugh out of it, I mean tears in the eyes and doubled over. I'm not trying to be mean, I'm just trying to keep us on a diet and keep food out of the house so we don't snack.

Needless to say, Mattie was pretty excited about his Twinkie when he got home from work!

Baked Potato Pizza...

...yum! Hubs and I went to Pizza Street back in July and they had baked potato pizza. It was my mission to re-create it at home but I couldn't quite figure out what the sauce was. The other day, I happened to be flipping through the channels and saw the Pillsbury Bake-Off where a lady was making a loaded baked potato pizza and I figured out the sauce!!!

It was so good! The only thing was that it needed more hashbrowns and hubs said it needed more bacon. I usually have the WORST time with crust so this time, I put the crust in the oven while it preheated then when it got to 400, I took it out and put on all the toppings and I must say it turned out pretty yummo!

So all I did was use a pizza crust from the store. Then I mixed half sour cream with half ranch. I browned hashbrowns in a skillet and bacon. So the pizza went crust, sourcream/ranch mixture, hasbrowns, shredded cheese, then bacon to top it off!!! Bon appetite!

New Blogger!!!

...I would appreciate it if everyone would jump over to Angie's blog and welcome her to the Blogging World! She is using her blog to promote their team, Runners 4 Luke, which is participating in the 2009 Saint Michael's Day Dash to help raise funds for Backstoppers. The 5k is on Sunday, September 27 and is the 16th birthday of her son, Luke who was killed outside the St. Louis Zoo in May 2001. I know Angie would appreciate any tips on blogging and even if you wanted to join her team to help raise funds for our community. Welcome Angie!!! Show her some love ladies!

A Walk Down Memory Lane...

...so this picture arrived in my inbox the other day from a cousin in Florida. In the car is my Grandpa Cotton and standing beside the car are my great-grandparents Carl and Votra.

I was lucky enough to know each of them. I wish hubs was around to meet them too. It makes me feel so good when my dad makes the comment, "Your grandpa would really like him" or "Your grandpa would love that you found someone that takes you fishing."

My great-grandpa always called me Lightnin' because I was always into something and by the time I got caught, I was on to my next mess. When we'd go to his house, I would always dance and sing in front of the tv and if I was doing it while he was watching it, he would take his cane and pull my leg to move!

Now my great-grandma always had oatmeal creme pies at her house and that is how I fell in love with them. I'd sit in the kitchen eating my pie and looking into her locked China cabinet. It was filled with figurines from all over that she collected and people brought to her. One day, I realized there was a figurine of a naked lady and I freaked out! "Grandma! You can't have that in there."

Now my grandpa Cotton, lots and LOTS of memories of him. I remember this picture of me sitting on his lap on my fifth birthday and I'm fanning out the money I got from him. I think it was five one-dollar bills but looking at that picture, you'd have thought I hit the lottery! Him, my grandma and I used to go to the lake all the time and go fishing. We'd have a system, he'd catch them, I'd reel them in and then grandma would take them off the hook. Just like today, I did not touch fish then either. We went to visit him when I had my permit so him and I took a drive around the corner. I was at a stop sign, no one was around, and I started to pull out and he started hitting his car door and screaming scaring the bejeezus out of me!!! Oooo, I was so mad at him! Right before he died, he was at the hospital in St. Louis, they discharged him real late in the afternoon and my grandma wanted to head on home. But grandpa insisted that he come and see my new house, I wasn't home because I was at work, but him, grandma and my dad came over and my dad showed them around. To this day, everytime my grandma comes over she points to where Grandpa sat and tells me how he insisted on coming to see my house because he knew I was proud of it and he was proud of me for buying a house at 22.

So there's my walk down memory lane. I miss all of them very much but I feel so blessed to have been able to share all the special moments with each of them.