Daddy's Girl

Jeff fell asleep in the chair last night watching the Nebraska vs. Arizona bowl game. This is what I found when looking for Chloe...

Chloe Claus

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Chloe is sad it is all over...

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas...

This was how our Christmas Eve began...

snoow...

snooow...

snoooow...

Merry Christmas!!!

Texas Sized Sunset

I rushed home from work the other day so I could snap a few shots of the gorgeous sunset. I love being away from the congestion of the city sometimes because I can marvel at the wonderful beauties we have on earth. Enjoy!

Botanic Gardens

The past few weekends I have spent some time at the Botanic Gardens in Fort Worth. Here are a few of my favorite shots... Enjoy and let me know what you think!!

(P.S. Please do not copy without permission) Thanks!

Poor Chloe

The Chloester had to get her annual vaccines last Friday. It was so sad. She was pathetic after the whole visit to the vet, and I was the 'bad guy' for a week! Here are a few shots of my poor pumpkin-pie-doodle-muffin-head...

Worth

Jeff and I ran to Wal-Mart last night to pick up a couple of things. All the while I thought how wonderful Braum's ice cream sounded, a brownie fudge sundae, in particular. We must have been on the same wavelength as Jeff pulled in the parking lot on our way back home. He thought it sounded good too! I was SO happy! My mouth was watering, and all I could think about was brownies, hot fudge, whipped cream, and cherries. YUM!

Jeff gets his 'two scoops in a cup' before I get my sundae, and he is happily eating away when David brings me mine. Jeff says, "You only gave her one cherry?? Ain't she worth two?" David gives a half smile and returns with, not two cherries on my sundae, but FIVE!!! David thinks I am worth FIVE cherries! I was on cloud 9... :o)

Commercial Break

Many of you know what a sarcastic, funny, hopeless romantic guy I married. A prime example of these traits took place last night while watching 'The Good Witch' on the Hallmark channel. An advertisement came on for a new series called 'Flower Girl.' The main character in the series goes through boyfriends like candy bars, and a women tells her "if you pick the right guy, love will bloom..." I turned to Jeff and the following conversation took place:

Stephanie: "That's what happened to me!!"

Jeff: "What?"

Stephanie: "I picked the right guy...and love bloomed."

Jeff: (tight squeeze) "And it's the best thing that ever happened to me!!"

Stephanie: "Really?!"

Jeff: (focusing on the television) "uh huh..."

Thanks for sweeping me off my feet, Jeff! You really know the way to a girl's heart! :o)

Halloween 2009

Please forgive my delay in posting about our Halloween. We had a GREAT time this year at two different Halloween parties - both put on by dear friends of ours.

For the first party Jeff was a hunter and I was a motorcycle mamma! We changed it up for the second party, and Jeff was a surgeon while I was 'Flo' from the Progressive insurance commercials.

I was also 'Flo' at work on the Friday before Halloween. Here I am imitating the real Flo from a commercial!

Chloe was a bumblebee...

...but she should have been the devil :-)

It Wasn't Me!!

Each night Jeff, Chloe, and I have a routine. It's not much, but it's our routine. We turn off lights and fans, let Chloe out for her last escapade in the backyard (hoping she'll use the restroom at the same time), turn on the porch light, and set the alarm.

Sunday night brought some nasty storms to our area and the power kept flickering on and off - ruining any chance at watching Sunday night football without interruptions from the National Weather Service. We decided we should head to bed, and initiated the nightly routine to make it happen. About twenty minutes after laying in bed the power went off again. Jeff decided to check the refrigerator outside to make sure it didn't lose power, and in doing so had to re-set the alarm upon re-entry of the house. Then, we fell asleep...

Monday morning brought about a new experience for each one of us in the Stevens' household. Jeff kissed me goodbye, grabbed his things, and headed for the door when the alarm went off. As he RAN into the room he screams, "IT WASN'T ME!!!" We grabbed our guns and cleared the whole house in under 30 seconds - thanks to our NCIS, CSI, and any other police show training we have received throughout our dating/married lives.

As we return to the living room I glanced around and conclude each door is still locked and intact in it's frame. The following conversation occurred:

Stephanie: "Did you set the motion on the alarm the previous night?"

Jeff: "No, remember we were walking in the living room after the football game?!"

Stephanie: (I don't comprehend much at 6:10am, but I did muster up the response of) "yes, we did that, but you also checked on the refrigerator after that."

Jeff: "Oops...(silence) this has been a test of the Stevens emergency plan. Have a nice day!"

All guns were placed back in their respective homes, another kiss goodbye, and an interesting start to our day was over. Thank goodness we can laugh about it now!

Point, Click, and WIN!!

I received an e-mail early this afternoon from Medical Arts Press. I entered a photo I took last November at the Botanic Gardens in their photo contest and was chosen as runner-up!! I was SOOOOO excited!! Here's the photo:


As their way of saying 'thank you' I received a 15% coupon to buy office products. (Sarcastic "Hooray") First place received $1,000.00 and I get a 15% coupon... :o(

Oh, well - I was RUNNER-UP!!

Melons galore!

Our garden has done wonderfully well this season. We are both surprised and extremely grateful at the same time. We have had tomatoes, jalepeno peppers, watermelons, and cantaloupe. It has been fun to watch the plants grow and develop into a substance we can eat and enjoy. Here are a couple shots of our recent produce...

Birthday #25

A couple Saturday's ago I turned 25. It was a great day overall! Chloe got me a new Miami Dolphin t-shirt, and Jeff got me a new Miami duffle bag. Hopefully I can wear both items with pride this football season. Go Fins!



After Jeff made a wonderful breakfast of breakfast burritos I went to the mall with Mom and Katy. It's always fun when we get together! I got a new pair of jeans and a couple smokin' hot shirts. After we got back from the mall I rushed home to get ready for dinner with Jeff and his parents. We went to El Rancho Grande, and the food and company were fantastic! Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes, cards, and gifts!

My little helper!

School started about three and a half weeks ago, and I have since spent every moment after work at the kitchen table trying to keep my head a float on assignments, posts, readings, and comments.

To be honest, it is very overwhelming and frustrating at times. Here are a few shots of what helps make it all better...

If only she could do my homework for me... :o)

Pantry size = Religious affiliation

I rushed home Friday during lunch to let the bug guy, Jack, in so he could spray inside the house. I thought I was going to miss him since I ran an errand real quick, but he was just finishing the backyard! He asks if I have had any problems inside, and I quickly respond 'yes, please come in.' The following is our conversation when he walked in:

Jack: What kind of problems have you been having lately?

Stephanie: Spiders

Jack: Okay, let me spray all areas of entry, and we will see if that helps.

Stephanie: That would be great!

Jack: (coming out of the pantry...) Are you Mormon?

Stephanie: Ummm, yes. How did you know?

Jack: Your pantry size... Mormons have big pantries. All the other homes I have been in with big pantries they were all Mormon too. I would hate to foot the bill to stock it though.

Stephanie: (sarcastic laugh) Oh, that's interesting. Do you know why we have all that food? It's called food storage, ya know, for a rainy day...

Jack: Uh, huh...yeah. Okay, I'm finished. See you in a couple months!

My conclusion, with Jack's help, of course :

Pantry size = Religious affiliation

(this is not a true statement either, I am simply making a joke)

Looking Back...

Two months ago today, our family was brought together unexpectedly for Dad's brain surgery. He had two subdural hematomas that needed to be removed immediately. The call I received two days prior will never be forgotten. It went something like this:

Stephanie: (phone rings) "Hey mom, is dad okay?" (long pause, silence...my stomach sank)

Mom: "(Amid sniffles) No... I am on my way to pick him up to take him to Plaza Medical. He has two subdural hematomas. They found them within 15 minutes; he has no idea."

I cannot describe the feelings I felt the rest of the day and into the night. The shock was somewhat of a numbing to the pain. I could not concentrate; I could not move. I was worried about Dad; we all were. As we all walked into the room that night we were in awe. We knew he was finally getting help, but we never expected the tubes, needles, medication, etc to be prodded through nearly every vein in Dad's tender body. It was heart wrenching. There was nothing we could do to take any of it away...

My brother and sister-in-law were able to fly down from Utah because of my sweet mother-in-law. She let them use her family passes to get here just in time for the surgery. We will forever be grateful for her generosity and love. As we were all preparing for the surgery we could feel the arms of our Heavenly Father wrap around us. We knew, deep down, all would be well. We had many family members, friends, and c0-workers all praying for Dad and his quick recovery. We are so blessed to have wonderful people in our lives who care so much. Dad did wonderful through the surgery, and for that we are all thankful.

He made a return trip to the hospital only after a week of being home due to blood clots, but yet again, he pulled through and is continuing to make progress each and every day. He looks great and is doing great. He has a long way to go, but the little milestones he has reached in the past two months are remarkable.

I am so grateful for the miracles we have seen throughout the past two months, and the blessings that have been bestowed upon our family. Dad being with us still IS a miracle. He has fought hard to recover, and we are so proud of him. Our family just would not be the same without him! We love you, DAD!!!

Lions and Tigers and Chloe, OH MY!

...enough said... :o)

Fishing for Chores!

The house needs to be cleaned. The list is long. Jeff wants to go fishing...

So, we go fishing... fishing for chores!

We get to Lake Benbrook and barely make it out of the marina since the lake is six feet low. Mud and water were spewing EVERYWHERE! We finally make it on to the main lake, and Jeff suggests we fish for chores. We both love competition. This seemed reasonable. Here are the chore brackets:

* Clean the guest bathroom or the master bathroom
* Clean the refrigerator or the oven
* Sweep/mop the kitchen floor or vacuum the carpet
* Dust or empty the dishwasher

So we began... we cast a few times and then the boat jerks. I thought for sure Jeff caught the first fish. I was disappointed. I knew I had the master bathroom to clean now. I tried to smile as I turned and asked, "Fish on?" His response, "Oh, you will know when I have a fish on. I will yell guest bathroom!!" We both had a good laugh and went back to fishing. It was a nice day, beautiful really. We stayed longer than we intended, mostly because we didn't find too many fish to catch, but it didn't matter because we were enjoying ourselves. The overall results were:

Stephanie - master bathroom, refrigerator, sweep/mop kitchen floor, and dishwasher

Jeff - guest bathroom, oven, vacuum the carpet, and dust

As you can tell...I lost. I caught one fish to his two, making the fourth bracket a draw. He finished all his chores before I even finished one! We had a great time being together. We couldn't look at each other all day without cracking up! We got some sun, some play and a clean house!

Pumpkin-Pie-Doodle-Muffin-Head

...or, Chloe, for short... :o)

Birthday Boy!~

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEFFREY!!!

Well, there is a lot to blog about...but not enough time. I had to wish my wonderful husband a Happy Birthday though!

Jeff turned the big 3-5 this year! We had a nice time going shopping together so he could pick some stuff out. We celebrated with his parent's on Sunday, and will celebrate with mine in a couple of weeks... (Dad was back in the hospital so we had to shift some things around!)

Here is Jeff with the cute little cake his mom and dad got for him:

Chloe even got something for Jeff's special day...a bass fish toy! :-)

Hope your birthday was GREAT! We sure do love you, Jeff!!!

Catch-up!

Wow! I can't believe it's been a MONTH since I've written...I was doing pretty good there for a while!

Well, I will attempt to make this concise, but I don't know how...

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Concrete Slab Addition

To start, we got a concrete slab poured the first week of June so we could park the boat in the backyard without having to worry about it sinking in the crazy Texas thunderstorms. It was quite an experience to say the least. After ruining the fence, using too flimsy a board on the curve, and not returning our stepping stones we finally have a concrete slab that the boat sits comfortably on. They had to come out and cut the curve to make it straight because I was NOT happy with it~ They made a small attempt to repair the fence, but I think we are going to have to redo the boards again...

When they were finished we decided to go ahead and clean up their mess, tidy the edges a little, and fill in some dirt where we had holes. Chloe thoroughly enjoyed helping us, however, she chose to DIG holes in the ones we already filled! Here she is enjoying herself...

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Garden Update

We have a had a little success with the garden. We have tomatoes growing and peppers. The cantelope and watermelon are spreading like crazy too!

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Conference in Austin, Texas

Every year I have to attend a Court Clerk's conference to not only brush up on my court skills, but to continue to be a certified court clerk. The conferences are always pleasant because the hotels are remarkable, the food is interesting, and the people are very friendly. This year I went to Austin. We stayed a block away from the famous '6th Street' and even ate at the Iron Cactus one night! While I was there I visited a long time friend and got to see her new baby. It was so much fun going to dinner and catching up! Thanks Alicia for letting me drop in!