where to begin?

we've had a long week. rett found out wednesday morning that his dad had passed away. he was in shreveport when he got the call and had to drive home. he came to my office and then went to his brother's. i can't even imagine. it appears that he died peacefully in his sleep. we're grateful for that. i came home yesterday and rett is on his way home now. please pray for us as we walk through this journey.

olivia only got to meet "granddaddy hamby" a few times but we know we'll be able to tell her stories of what a great man he was.

in honor of him...

at olivia's christening in august

in july at his house

the day we came home from the hospital. he had dozed off holding olivia and woke up right as i took the picture!

he became a photographer after retiring about 6 years ago and he was awesome! we have thousands of his photographs on a computer. one day olivia will be able to look at these and know he was great! maybe she'll have his talent!

there's an awesome video of him (and some of his work) on this website - www.wellsfuneralhome.net

her first game!

*disclaimer* - i look horrendous in these pics... humidity and long hours does not do me well but we all had a great time!

we're so proud. olivia was a "champ" yesterday. here's how our day went...

6AM - wake up, feed, get dressed

7AM - leave for the "race for the cure" in monroe

8AM - watch daddy, jackie & john run the race

you can see barely see olivia's pink breastcancer sticker on her bib - but she was supporting!

as they ran by i yelled "slow down" - i didn't have my camera ready! the girl by john just looked at me like "are you crazy"! that's rett behind john.

jackie trucking it

8:30AM - watch daddy, jackie & john finish the race11:30AM - start tailgating in the rain, sun and steam! it was HUMID yesterday!
6PM - game time
9:15PM - game over; dawgs win!

it was a LONG day and olivia did great! considering she took about three 30 minute naps ALL DAY LONG she did awesome! she only cried once; after the game when we were loading up from cleaning up the tailgate.

i'm so glad we took her. now that we've done it we know it's not nearly as bad as we imagined! as long as she cat naps throughout the day she's fine. she entertained everyone with her smiles and giggles and met lots of friends at the game. i think we can say she was officially the youngest fan in the stands!

just for grins

look how much she's grown!

4 months old!

rett and i are officially the parents of a 4 month old precious little girl! where does the time go??? we'll be starting rice cereal this week. she's playing in her exersaucer and jumpy thing on a daily basis. growing so fast!

went to the doc for her checkup today and she did great!

14 pounds even (50th %)

24 1/2 inches long (50th %)

happy 4 month birthday little girl!

i couldn't decide which photo to post so you're getting all of them...

pics from the week

i'm tired so i'm just posting pics from the week. enjoy!

reading with mommy

trying out the jumper for the first time
daddy dressed her - just look at the duck shoes - he said "but they match, they're both yellow". poor thing.

cheering for the dawgs at WOW - we weren't wow'd by their performance.

there's just something about a baby in footie pj's...

who let the dawgs out???

tech didn't. they fought a good game but just couldn't overcome the auburn tigers. boo hoo.

emery, eric and hudson came over to watch the game with us. we grilled hamburgers and emery brought this hot corn dip. yum! we had a great time watching the opening game of the 2009 season. wish it would have turned out better...

i think olivia and hudson had a good time too!

her is our future cheerleader and their future football player! can you believe he's 6 weeks younger than olivia!

our first game day family photo!

ready to cheer on the dawgs!

and b/c you always were your's school's gear the friday before all games - olivia wore her tech polo to daycare on friday

i'm a sucker...thank you budlight for the fan can

up next, navy. they scared the crap out of ohio today. hope we're ready!

lsu better be scared.... going into halftime only up by 4 to a team that was 0-12 last year... but something tells me they'll pull it out. they somehow always do.

diptacular!!

oh my! i've hit the jackpot. just ask emery how much i love dip (she does to)! we could eat dip all day everyday and not get tired of it. we actually took dips to work today just to have something to munch on all day!

boomama is hosting a "diptacular" blog tour. here are my favs...

keep in mind that here in louisiana it's still HOT until about half way through the season. therefore, the first half of the season gets "liquidy" dips and the second half gets anything with mayo, sour cream or cream cheese.

dope dip

2 bunches cilantro - chopped

2 small cans chopped black olives

2 small cans chopped green chilis

1 bunch green onions - chopped

1 can zesty italian tomatoes - drained

1 pound shredded mexican cheese

zesty italian dressing

1 package taco seasoning mix

chopped jalapenos - optional

tony's seasoning

mix all together in a bowl and chill. serve with the big frito scoops.

salsa

1 14.4 oz can hunt's diced tomatoes with roasted garlic

1 can "hot" rotel

1 8 oz can tomato sauce

cilantro - use however much you want - i like a lot so i use a lot

half of an onion - doesn't matter which color

salt, pepper, tony's

combine in blender and blend away

**this is really spicy. if you use the regular rotel and a purple onion it's bearable

corn dip

1 cup sour cream

1 cup mayo

2 green onions - chopped

2 jalapenos - seeded and chopped

1 jar pimentos - drained

2 cans whole kernal corn - drained

4 oz shredded monterey jack cheese

4 oz shredded sharp cheddar cheese

mix all and chill. serve with the big frito scoops

and, this isn't a dip but super good tailgate food...

pretzels

1 1/2 bags of pretzels

1 ranch dressing packet

1 tsp garlic salt

1 tsp red pepper

1 cup vegetable oil

combine all ingredients and pour over pretzels evenly coating. bake for 1 hour 15 minutes at 250 degrees.

there's sooo many more but this is enough for now.

here's a hint of what olivia will be wearing tomorrow...in this picture it's not finished. it's finished now and super cute!

football

is finally here! is anyone else watching the south carolina/nc state game? i am! and then at 9:15 i'm watching boise (fellow wac foe) and oregon. i'll be tired at work tomorrow...

there's just something about this time of year. cool (eventually) weather; the smell of the grill while tailgating, drinking ice cold beer and cheering with your closest 10,000 (or 60,000) friends; the sound of helmets and pads hitting on the field; the sound of your band playing your fight song and your alma mater. it gets me everytime. we meet new people every year. this will be our 3rd year with these particular season tickets. we've befriended the people that sit around us and hope to meet lots of new people this year!

tech's first home game is sept 19 and i can't wait! people think i'm kidding when i talk about how much i love football. it's true. my dad instilled it in me at a very young age. and it stuck! i hope olivia enjoys this favorite pasttime of ours as much as we do. rest assured, she won't be missing very many games! she's also going to get her fair share of tailgating!

independence bowl 2008

independence bowl - 4 months pregnant

home game - last seaon - somewhere around 10 weeks pregnant

i have sooo many more pics of us at football games but they are on our other computer and i'm way too lazy to walk into our office and blog from in there. these will have to suffice.

fyi

i woke up monday morning and had two thoughts...

1) i need to go check on olivia
2) college football starts this week!!!!!!!!

go dawgs! beat auburn!

to all of our peeps that will actually be at the game...please have fun for us! we'll be cheering with you from the comfort of our couch. and, olivia has a surprise for everyone that reads this. you'll see it soon (hint - it has to do with football!)

cute summer outfits!

so, i went through olivia's closet late last week. we have all these clothes that she's just now fitting into. so, while it's still somewhat warm we have to wear them all!

here was monday's outfit - don't you love the worm coming out of the apple!

and tuesday's - the flower MAKES this outfit!

i'm not sure why but when i dressed her in this that morning i handed her over to rett so they could go and he said to her, "little girl, i'm sorry, i don't know why your mama does this to you." should i be offended???

and, we still have a bunch of size 3-6 month clothes that are pure summer. it's been in the 80's here this week. surely it's gonna get hot again before it cools off for good. surely. it'd be a shame to not wear these!