Happy Birthday to US!!

Yesterday, I celebrated the best birthday anyone could possibly ask for!

Luke Gardner Bryan was finally born!

9 lb. 4oz. 20"

I feel so blessed that he came on my birthday!

After countless miles walked, 11 days of overdue misery & 38 hours of labor Baby Luke finally made his grand entrance. Tori was so tough and was seriously such a trooper!

I could not be more proud of my sister!

Still so surreal seeing her hold a baby!

What a beautiful family!!
I just want to kiss those chunky little cheeks!
How much cuter can he get!?!
Just can't get enough!
So much love for this little man already!

In the midst of all the excitement my husband was such a sweetheart! I told him I wanted money to go shopping and this is what he gave me! If you look closely you will see that the bills are twenty's & two's hence my 22nd birthday!

Isn't he wonderful?!?

What an amazing birthday!! More than I ever could have hoped for!!

Cannot wait for our big birthday party next year!!

Still Waiting...

For those of you who are wondering---we are STILL waiting on Luke!!

Last night Tori went to the hospital to be induced but after steady contractions they had to wait it out for a little while with hopes that would stop so they could do an alternative option before the petocin. After about 2 hours she was still having steady contractions...much like the ones she has been having for the last week so they could not administer the alternative to the petocin.

So...late last night they made the call to start a slow petocin drip. At that point Dad, Haley & I decided we would head to their house (a few blocks from the hospital) to get some sleep. Of course Mom wasn't going to leave..we all know that!

As of this morning they had increased her petocin 4 times but she had still not progressed as much as they would have thought. They are now thinking that Luke may come as late as sometime this evening or even early tomorrow morning.

For now we continue to wait. Please keep praying for Tori & Luke. She is getting very discouraged and tired as the contractions continue to get more intense. She has been a real trooper though---I just know this will grow her love for Luke even more WHEN HE FINALLY GETS OUT OF HER!!

As much as I don't wish tomorrow on Tori, Aunt Paige wouldn't mind sharing her birthday with Luke!! We shall see!

Interesting Friday so far....

This morning we celebrated Dad's birthday at the office & this is what they gave him!

Boy was he excited!

It has been funny to see how excited he actually is! He now has "he & Luke's tractor" sitting outside his office so that if anyone comes in they will ask about it and he can tell them about his grandson!

How cute is that?!?

He also has it set in his mind that Luke is coming on his birthday Sunday!

Look at the Glasco & Co. sticker on the back!!

Now this is the disgusting sight that I saw when I went...or should I say tried to go in the back door of our house!

Sick!!! I don't care what size it is...BIG or SMALL it is still disgusting!!

Fortunately Nathan shut the door all the way...he has a habit of leaving it slightly cracked because it doesn't shut easily.
I swear if that thing would have been inside my house I would have
FREAKED OUT!

I sent this picture to Tori in hopes that this might scare Luke right out of her...
I haven't heard back from her---should I be worried?!? ;)

Friday has started out fairly interesting so hopefully
Luke will end it with a little..OK A LOT of excitement!!

Luke...you can come any time now!

Before Luke decides to make his big entrance I wanted to share these maternity photos that I took a while back. It was such an honor to do for Tori & Colin and we had so much fun doing it!

We got some nice pictures of Haley too but she would kill me if I posted them...

"The turtle is out of it's shell!"

Pretty Mommy-to-Be!

One of many looks to come...

Mia & G-Pa couldn't be happier!

Feel free to make your entrance now Luke!

I know your Mom would greatly appreciate it!

Projects...they are just what we do!

Well, we have gone a whole week without a project so we decided to start a new one!

We decided to cover the back porch so every time it rains...

we don't get dumped on,

so my wonderful husband will quit putting his muddy shoes inside on my clean floors,

and more than anything

so we can enjoy our deck!!

Before
I promise our yard is not always this trashed.

This was from a while back when Nathan went crazy cutting down limbs
...and this is the only picture I have of the deck.

In progress...

If Baby Luke doesn't come this weekend hopefully I can get it all painted...
not making any promises though because if that boy comes
I am out of here and headed to Temple!

The little man should be here anytime now...
I think he is going to take his sweet time to drive his Mia crazy!

Congrats Kelsey & Kyle!

One of my good friends, Kelsey Krebs got engaged this weekend!

Of course I am a little bitter because she kept me in suspense for FOREVER before I finally got some details on the proposal...BUT it was well worth the wait and I couldn't be more excited for these 2 die hard Aggie fans.

Look at that gorgeous ring---nice job Kyle!

Congrats to the future Mr. & Mrs. Kyle Toomey!

Let the planning begin!!

Somewhere between Before & After...

As you know Nathan & I have taken on the challenge of remodeling his Dad's house in Sabinal. Along with new paint, floors, furniture & my "girly dust collectors" (as Kenneth calls them) comes some interesting experiences...

The absence of women in the this all boy household makes things quite interesting when you are trying to remodel and I'm pretty sure my father-in-law had no idea what was coming when I came into this family. Let's just say I like to shake things up...

More on that later...check some of the pics below.

See what a difference trim & new paint make!

We also hung a new light fixture & wall decor.

Next trip we are planning to rip up the carpet & seal the completely untouched wood floors underneath!

So excited to see how it turns out!

Below is an almost after...think wood floors & different couches.

Got the vision yet?!?

We will also change the current lovely light fixture to the one below.

These couches are going to have to go...for sure!

Now below is the room we did on the last visit---the Dining Room. Then again you wouldn't know that considering there is no table for dining...only a clothes rack for his clothes.

Needless to say, I told Kenneth to enjoy his last few weeks with his clothes in the dining room before I go out with the clothing rack and in with the dining room table!!

I think he thought I was kidding...I'm not!

While the boys went dove hunting, Kenneth & I started the cleaning process. After a truckload full of junk to the burn pile, multiple trash bags and boxes for Goodwill, the cabinets & drawers are organized & clean.

I know this means nothing to any of you but if you have seen it, you would appreciate Kenneth & I's efforts.

After putting drawer liners in the cabinet & drawers, Kenneth responds by saying

"who would have ever thought of putting paper in your drawers!"

Gotta love him!

It is now official---my father-in-law has

no earthly idea what to do with me!!