Our vacation to DC

We had such an amazing time, and I really don't think there is anything left to do in DC that we didn't do. It was quite EXHAUSTING!! We went to all of the monuments, did the Smithsonian (all of it), went to a Washington Nationals game, walked, walked, walked, and walked some more!!

The day we got there was the day we went to a Nationals game. Steven was able to get us seats in the diamond club level for $100 off the ticket price. Now I have sat in the suites at an astros game, but can say that I have never had someone disinfect my seat when I arrived before. That was a little weird, but whatever we were rich for a night :). The game was a new experience for me because I can honestly say that I have never been to a game where I didn't care about either team. Here's the view from our seats...

Not bad, huh? Notice how empty the section is in front of us. This was great! We enjoyed the first half of the game thoroughly, and then about 30 22(?) year olds came and sat by us. They were obnoxious, and had the waiter running back and forth for tequila shots. We decided at that point that we should just walk around and check out the stadium.

The next day we started our hunt for the monuments and such. It was a lot of walking, and I have to say all of the monuments were quite impressive! We also started our Smithsonian tours. If you have never been there, it's huge and there are a ton of buildings to go through. There is NO WAY you could do them all in a day, so we did them in a few days. Here's just a few of our pictures from the monuments:

There's a miniview of our vacation. We decided after this one, that our next vacation will be on a beach somewhere. We want to relax and have people wait on us hand and foot! Mom said she wants to come with us too :).

Well we decided on our vacation that when we got back home we would look for a friend for Lilly. We found a cute little boy named Cody. He's 5 months old, and he's a heeler mix. We decided to go to the pound, and rescue a little puppy from being euthanized. So here's a picture of him we got off of the Internet. We will get him today sometime between 12 and 2.

Elisabeth is EXCSTATIC! I will post more pictures of him with us after we get him. Wish me luck on training a puppy, good thing I have done it before! Also, it's great timing since I'm home for summer. We decided if we don't do it this summer, we might not ever do it because hopefully next summer we will have a different new addition to the Falgout family ;).

I hope you all are doing great! Sorry if this post is a little long. Until next time...

So much going on...

Well here it goes...

I'm offically a 2nd grade teacher at St. John Elementary and couldn't be happier!! I am going to be an inclusion teacher (which scared me at first, but now I'm excited). I am so excited about all of the ladies I get to work with, and can't wait to get to know them better :)

Steven and I are leaving on Sunday for Houston to spend two days before we leave for Washington DC

I CAN'T BELIEVE I have been married for a year!! This has been the most incredible year of my life!! I have moved, found a job, and most of all...married the MOST AMAZING MAN in the whole world!! I know most of you have hubby's too, but none compare to mine (for me). I just can't believe how much my world has changed in a year!!! I will post pictures of our 2nd honeymoon as soon as we get back, but think about us on June 6th because that will be our one year anniversary!!!

GOT IT!!!

Woo wee!! I got the job I have been waiting for! It's been a LONG year coming, but I'm finally there. I'm not sure what grade I'm teaching, but I'm thinking it could be 2nd grade. It really doesn't matter to me though, I HAVE A TEACHING JOB!!!

I'm going to have a girl's night tonight with some of my friends from work to have a nice night of dinner and wine! We are going to celebrate, and I'm excited about that too. We've been talking about getting together for a while now and we finally have an excuse.

Where in the world has Laura been???

It has been absolutely FOREVER since I have posted anything!! I could give you the "I've been busy" excuse (and it's true), but the real truth is I just haven't felt like coming home and typing on the computer! I'm sure some of you understand this. I have been keeping up with all of your busy lives on here via my palm, but it's such a pain in the you know what to comment that I haven't been good about that either.

So, all in all I'm a terrible blogger these days. Oh well summer's coming up and then I'll have LOTS of free time, and let me tell you I'm SOOOO READY!!

So where have I been? Home and school, and not much else! We moved into a house in the middle of March, and I love our new place! The hubby and I have become hermit crabs because we love our new place, and are saving up lots of money for our anniversary vacation! We're going to Washington DC for 7 days/6 nights, and let me tell you I CAN'T WAIT!!! I feel like I haven't seen my husband for 2 weeks! Since this is the case, I'm counting down until I get to spend 10 whole days with him. We are leaving on the June 2, and coming back on the 8th. We are flying out of Houston, and this is perfect because my Mom's birthday is on June 1st so I'm so excited to spend it with her. Last year on her birthday I don't even remember if we did anything because it was a little over shadowed by wedding preparations.

Elisabeth is now 10 years old, and I swear she's getting taller EVERYDAY! That child will definitely overshadow me any day now (not that it's saying much since I am only 5'2"). My dad got her a slip and slide for her birthday, and I think it's become more of a present for Steven than Elisabeth. He LOVES it! Here's a picture of the fun (he would KILL me for doing this).

Lilly couldn't help herself! She HAD to join in with Daddy!!

I really thought we were going to have to make a trip to the hospital!

Professionally things are about to change for me, and hopefully for the better! I did say before that I am not quite doing a full teaching job. What I do is a reading initiative program, and I'm paid by title 1 (for all of you non teachers this is a government funding program for underprivileged children which we have a lot of). The job doesn't pay a full teacher salary, and is a temporary position based on funding and needs. Well now that we are coming to the end of the year I have been VERY nervous about what's in store for me next year because of cuts in our parish. I have been sitting on pins and needles hoping and wishing for an interview, and yesterday I got one! I feel really good about the interview (especially since I was told about it 2 hours before the actual interview). I have it much better than the other candidates because I do know all of the people who were sitting in, and I just was granted a very expensive technology board for my classroom (without actually having one). I am just in the waiting phase now to see, so prayers please!! I'm thinking it's for 2nd grade, but wasn't actually told what grade I was interviewing for.

Well I think I've rambled enough, and I promise to be updating more soon! I hope all of you Mommies had a fantastic Mother's Day!!

Until next time...

Well things are going great!!

It's Tuesday so I figured I should make my Tuesday 10 about all of the great things I'm looking forward to, or am doing at the moment...

• Good news on the front is that my Dad found an amazing job! He is now making more money than he did before, has an amazing car allowance, and will travel a lot. It's all wonderful for him, and I haven't heard him sound this upbeat in a WHILE! He actually has been exercising (he has type 2 diabetes that he's ignored for YEARS) so I'm a happy camper.
• We moved to our amazing new place! We got all of the furniture in fairly easily, but now it's the dreaded decorating issue. I can never make a decision, and now I'm at the point where I refuse to try. I will get all of my decorations up soon, I promise :)
• My hubby's bday is coming up on Sunday. I took the day off on Monday because I wasn't sure if we were going out of town or not. We may come to Houston, but it's looking more like we might stay home. I don't care what we do I'm just looking forward to my 3 day weekend.
• My spring break is coming closer....we don't have spring break until easter week since we have 2 days off for Mardi Gras. I'm definitely looking forward to that!!
• My hubby's best friend is back from Korea, and I might actually get to meet him soon. Steven and I met the day after his best friend's wedding after which he went to Korea so I've never met him. I'm really excited about that possibility because he was such a huge part of Steven's life for so long.
• Elisabeth's birthday is coming up, and she'll be 10! I'm trying to plan a camping weekend for it because she's never done that and is excited to try it out. It should be a blast if I can get it all figured out.
• I'm going to a really wonderful training at the end of April for work, and I'm really excited for two reasons. #1 I have heard nothing but amazing things about it! #2 I love that my prinicipal is sending me because it makes me feel like she wants to keep me around for a while :)
• We are just 3 months away from our 1 year anniversary!! I'm so excited and I can't wait to go on our 7 day 6 night vacation to Washington DC!! I can't believe I've almost been married for a year!! This year has flown by so quickly....
• I just talked to my best friend and we want to plan a trip to Greece in a few years. I feel like if we get everything lined up soon, maybe it could happen...
• Well I just filled up 9, and I can't figure out what to put for our 10th. I thing this is pretty good though...

I'm so glad I can finally not post a depressing blog! I promise I will post pics of our new place soon, well as soon as I can figure out where to put everything.....

Well it's a new week so hope is in the air...

Well we just had gloom and doom all week long! I'm so ready for this week to be over, and for things to turn up. They should as we are going to start moving into our new place. I'm very excited that we found a perfect patio home. It's brand new and really nice so we are very excited about it. Elisabeth is excited because it's 2 stories and you know kids just love stairs! Also on the upside my Dad has two interviews this week, and had one last week. It's looking like things aren't going to be so down for him, and he is in MUCH better spirits than I have heard him in a LONG time!!

On the not so upside, some tragedies have fallen upon our families this week. We have had 2 deaths, a hospitalization, and a lost job. Since all of this stuff has happened in a week things have to turn up right?? Please pray for my husband's family as Steven's 26 year old cousin Nick was in a car wreck very early Saturday morning and passed away. It's an absolute tragedy, and his parents are not doing so well. We just need prayers while the family copes with their tragic loss.

The other death was an old family friend Bruce Willis (not the actor) who lived to the ripe age of 98. That is a happy occasion because he will now get to meet his family in heaven. Bruce drove himself around until two months before his death, and didn't suffer throughout his long life. He lived longer than his wife and children, so it is a very happy occasion.

So there's my update, hopefully my next post will be very happy all around as we start a new week!

What a day...

Well I want to start off by stating that this one is a bummer of a post, but my life isn't all gloom and doom these days. I really am a happy person, and I love where my life is right now. Now that that's cleared up...

This morning I got to work to find out that they are cutting back in Calcasieu Parish (where I work) on 200 education jobs and upping the kids in the classroom to 35 from 23 for next year. SERIOUSLY???? Tell me what person could handle 35 kindergartners/1st graders at a time? Am I going to have a job next year? This had me concerned, and worried a bit. Right as I decided to just let God take over, and started calming down I received an email from my Dad.....

I read the words, "I just got laid off" and my stomach hit my toes! I know that this isn't all that uncommon these days, but you just don't think it would ever happen to someone so close to you. My parent's divorce was final just a few weeks ago, and now this happens to my Dad! He now doesn't have a car, cell phone, or a job. I'm just worried sick about him because I think he's about at his max. Please pray for him that he will get himself a new job, and get out of his downward spiral sooner rather than later. I don't know I'm just sick with worry, and I have to unleash so here it is!!

Then my brother is having some trouble finding a job. He finished his 4 years in the Marine Corps, and came back to have a wonderful job working on seismic testing for oil rigs. Well he worked that job about 2+ months and has since been laid off. He's been trying to find a new job which has been harder than he originally wanted, and is getting frustrated too. He does have some possibilities, but we'll see. So I guess the Turner family needs your prayers, so please help!!

Came across a giveaway

I have never done an entry for one of these, but Krystyn mentioned it in her blog so I had to take a look. It's really a great giveaway so I'm trying to win! You can find it on Rachel's blog. Wish me luck ladies!!!

Oh and just to add I'm feeling MUCH better now just had to get a good cry out. Every once in a while I do that, and I'm sure I'm not the only one out there! I am excited today I'm going to Beaumont with my hubby, and my Mom's meeting us to go do some shopping and have lunch. I NEVER thought going to Beaumont, TX would be exciting to me, but then again I never in a MILLION years thought I would ever move to Lake Charles, LA!!! I'm thoroughly enjoying my long 4 day weekend (love living in Louisiana) for Mardi Gras. I even went to a parade Friday night with Elisabeth and her Mom. Hope you all are having a fabulous weekend :)

I'm having a bum week

So I know it's because my hormones are completely out of whack, but I am just extremely bummed out this week. I feel like so many things are right in my life, and for some reason I'm just bothered by things. For instance I cried my eyes out today because my hubby told me he probably wasn't going to work tonight, and then it turned out he had to go in. Ugh, I'm really not that much of a baby I swear!!

I have started tutoring for one of my students after school on Tuesday and Thursday until 4:30, which means I don't get home until 5:00ish on those days. It's been really great for this child, and I love seeing improvement in him from this. The only bummer is on Tuesdays and Thursdays I don't see my husband at ALL! I know later in our marriage (like 15 years or so) I might feel different about not seeing him for two days a week, but I still really like spending time with him. It just makes the night a little sad for me while he's at work.

I am also really missing my girls. I am getting friends out here now, but no one I would go hang with on a regular basis. I was thinking about coming to Houston this weekend, but I'm so behind on things at my house that I don't feel like it's the right time for me to come. Ugh!!

And then to top it off today I found out how hard my job can be at times. One of my kindergarten students told me this morning that he didn't get any sleep last night because his Mommy and Daddy were fighting. Then he told me that his Daddy was attacking his Mommy, and he went to ask them to stop. His Daddy told him he would stop, and then "C" said that his Daddy tricked him because he didn't stop. I went to the counselor with this information because it of course absolutely broke my heart, and it ended up that we couldn't do anything about it. Ugh this is the part of my job that sucks because it is our duty to report suspicions of abuse, but if it's out of our hands and we can't do anything it makes it really hard.

So I'm not trying to be a "Debby Downer" I'm just having an off day. Good news is that I am off for the next 4 days for Mardi Gras (one thing I love about living in Louisiana) so I should have time to get back to normal. I hope you guys are all doing well!!!

Having a case of the "Not Me Mondays"

Today has sure been a day!!

1. I did NOT get in a huge fight with Elisabeth this morning over the knots in her hair!
2. I did NOT call my Mom shortly after to apologize for being such a butt when I was a teenager, hoping that if I apologize enough God won't punish me like he should when Elisabeth (and our future kiddos) become teenagers!
3. I did NOT make some of my kids do extra work for fillers because I got behind on making some copies!
4. I did NOT wait to pick up the dog poop in our backyard so my husband would pick all of it up himself, oh no not me!!
5. We are NOT going to look at a house today because some extremely "ghetto" people were looking at the condo right next door.
6. We did not decide to go to Washington DC for our one year anniversary, and I'm NOT extremely excited about it!
7. I did NOT have to pick my child up from extended day care today because she didn't understand that her dad and I were picking on her when we told her she had to go after school today.
8. I did NOT have a great date night with my hubby on Saturday!
9. I did NOT give my husband all of my "little kid germs" and not get sick because I'm immune to them now.
10. I did NOT want to throw up myself when a teacher told me about one of her students having PROJECTILE vomit that went from one side of her room to the other! UGH!!!

It's been a while...

I haven't been able to update my blog in a while, and for that I do apologize! Things have been really busy for me lately, and I haven't quite figured out how to manage everything yet. I'll get there soon though, I promise.

I have one question, how do all of you with a full time job keep your house clean all the time? When I get home I'm exhausted because I'm usually running around all day at school. The thought of doing laundry, or vacuuming really just doesn't appeal to me at that point. My house isn't dirty by any means, I just don't have everything in it's perfect spot, and my laundry basket is quite full. Of course having a husband (who like most other husbands) that completely forgot how to do these things the second we said "I do" doesn't help at all!

I am really loving my new job! My 73 kids that I have (that's right I said 73) are wonderful, and they have really been putting their best face forward. We'll see how long that lasts! I am now working with k-3 instead of just k-2, which will be challenging I know. I'm trying to manage how to get my planning all done for the week, but I'm learning quickly!

Steven and I are looking for a new place to live because we are soooo tired of sharing walls with people. Our noisy neighbors that I may have mentioned in the past are moving out as I'm writing this, but we don't know what kind of people are moving in. We are just ready for more room! I didn't think it would be possible for us to fill up a 3 bedroom/2 bath condo but we definitely did! We're looking around our neighborhood for a place, and have a few possibilities that we are going to go check out tomorrow so we'll see how that goes. We just want to find a decent house to live in until we're ready to buy, but we're not ready to buy until we know for sure where we want to live for a while.

We were able to go to New Orleans for my birthday, which was amazing! I really love that city, and with our opposite schedules it was really nice to get some one on one time with my hubby! We had wonderful food, went shopping, and just walked around (freezing our butts off). I was very excited we got to pop in and visit my friend Lauren at work, I haven't seen her since our wedding so that was great. While we were spending time in New Orleans we realized that we could live there one day, so we'll have to see what the future holds.....

I hope you all had a wonderful week, and have an even more wonderful weekend!

I got sent to the principal's office!!

Well today was a great day!! I was subbing for a friend of mine Courtney (who's preggo and about to pop any minute) and I got a call from the office, "Mrs. Falgout, Mrs. Kingham wants you to meet her in her office in 20 minutes". All the kiddos started saying, "Ooooooohhhhhh Mrs. Falgout what did you do to be called into the principal's office?" also "Oh NO Mrs. Falgout you're in big trouble now!!!" Well my friend Lori (who's the inclusion teaching that stays in that room all day) says, "Oh my gosh Laura, I think you got a job!" I told her to stop saying stuff like that to me because I didn't want to get my hopes up.



Well fortunately for me, she was right! I FINALLY have a full time job!! I'm a reading coach for grades K-2, and am soooo excited!! It's not quite a teaching job, but I do have to have a teacher's certificate to do it (which makes me happy I can use my degree). I will have my own classroom, and my own kiddos. I am soooooo excited to be able to make my own plans, and have my own students. I start Monday, and couldn't be happier for my new job!! All of my friends that I sub for a lot are a little upset because the substitute list is slim, but they are all happy for me! One great thing about this job is that I will be in the prime spot for a job next year, one of the teachers Jaimie (who did this same job last year) told me that she was hired in April for the fall and had her pick of a grade level!! That would be amazing if I could get that :)



I hope you all are doing well, and since none of you live here I'll add a picture of my adorable school. It looks like an old timey school house, but it's only been opened 2 years.

Tuesday's Ten!

As 2008 is coming to an end I think it's time to reflect on this amazing year!! It has been my most eventful year thus far, and I can't wait to see what's going to happen in 2009

Ten Things I have LOVED about 2008!!!!

(I will try to go in chronological order)

• I went with the hubby (then boyfriend) to New Orleans for my bday present. We had an amazing time, and decided then that we should just do it and get married! It was such an amazing trip, and we're repeating it this year for my bday!!


• I got engaged on Jan 13, what a whirlwind that was! I knew it was coming, but was still nervous for Steven to ask my Dad since we had only been dating for two months. My parents knew exactly what Steven and I knew, and were ECSTATIC!!
• Lilly Martin was born on my birthday, Jan 16. I don't get to see that little one as much as I would like to, but I still love her like crazy!
• I had an amazing time doing my student teaching with two wonderful teachers! This really showed me that I have a huge passion for teaching, I still have it I just need a job to fill it!!
• I finally graduated college, only took 8 years (with time off) but I did it! It was a huge accomplishment that was overshadowed by my wedding, but it happened!!
• I got hitched, which was AMAZING and really overshadowed most of my year. This was hands down the best night of my life, and I really have to thank my Mom for that. She (and my Dad's wallet) went above and beyond to make sure it was the most wonderful night of my life. It was beautiful, I just wish it would have lasted longer. I'm sure my parents are glad it didn't last longer, after the big alcohol tab :)
• I became an instant Mom! I went from no child to a 9 year old daughter. Yes she's my stepdaughter, but she really treats me more like her other Mom. I love that little girl so much, and I don't know if I could love her more if she was my own. She is teaching me so much, and I know that will continue with the impending teenage years just around the corner!!!
• We went to McMinnville and Portland, Oregon for our honeymoon which was the best trip I have had thus far. We were able to relax, eat good food (which was nice since I starved myself for the wedding ;), and drink lots of yummy wine. If our life ever permits it Steven and I will move to Oregon, yes we loved it that much!! When we win the lottery we will buy our second house there, oh if wishing only made it so....
• I also had a wonderful trip to Tennessee with my amazing mother, Elisabeth, and Steven. I have talked about that recently so I won't bore you with that again.

There's some of the highlights of 2008 for me, and WOW there were some major life changes for Laura. Not just changing my last name from (easy to say) Turner to (hard to pronounce from the spelling) Falgout (Fal-goo), but many many more. We'll just have to wait and see what changes 2009 holds for me! I hope you all have a happy new year, and PLEASE stay safe! The hubby and I are both working at L'Auberge du Lac so we'll be able to meet each other in the employee hallway for our new year's smooch ;)

Can't wait to hear what 2009 holds in store for the rest of you either!!!

Tennessee....FINALLY!!!!

FINALLY I am getting to update my blog! Sorry I haven't done it in a while, but things have just been a little busy here lately.

Finally.... Our Tennessee Trip!!

Here's some of our highlights from the Falgout's first family vacation


I am so glad that my Mom got to go with us! She had a great time being with the Falgout family, and I do have to admit it was a little strange for me to be the Mom instead of her. It wouldn't have been the same trip without her, and Elisabeth had a wonderful time with her being there too :)

We actually loved Dollywood! It wasn't as cheesy as we thought it would be. We were the youngest people there (by far) which did have it's advantages! We were able to ride the roller coasters without standing in line. I was very impressed with our little daredevil, as long as she could sit by Daddy she rode every ride! I did them all except for the wooden roller coaster because that's just out of my comfort zone!

We had so much fun on our train ride through Dollywood at night, but did freeze our butts off during it! We went to Gatilinburg to get to the top of a mountain. Of course we had already decided ahead of time what day we were going to do this, and were not aware that it would be 15 degrees outside!! The wonderful thing about it was the snow (I didn't know at the time we were going to get a freak snow storm in the south later) Elisabeth had never been around snow before that actually stuck to the ground, so she was EXCITED!!! The not so wonderful thing about it was how cold it was!!!!
Our highlight of our trip had to be visiting the Biltmore Estate! This was an experience like no other!! We all thoroughly enjoyed it, and visiting it was well worth the money. We spent the whole day there, and still didn't get through everything. We started with a tour of the house using our self guided audio tour. Elisabeth was so funny with this because she HAD to listen to every word, and stay staring at whatever they were talking about until the person stopped talking. We kept getting way ahead of her in the castle, and I had to keep going back to find her. We then toured the gardens, which I'm sure are an amazing site when spring is in bloom!! Of course in November there wasn't much to see outside of the greenhouses. Then we did a wine tasting, and Elisabeth was our official grape juice taster. The wine wasn't that good, but it was still fun :). Then at night we had a tour of the estate complete with carolers, and ballerinas. It was so beautiful!! If you are ever in that side of the country you HAVE to visit the estate! It's so amazing. Steven and I would really like to visit it and stay at the Inn for a future anniversary.

All in all it was amazing! We had so much fun together, and I can't wait until we can go on our future family trips together. We will have many, many more Falgout family vacations! Thank you Kelly and Kenny for letting us use your timeshare, it was so nice to have a decent sized place to stay in for 5 nights!

I will have to add my favorite part of the trip.... My Mom told me after the trip was over that she is so happy to see the family that I have created for myself. She told me she loves the way we are together, and is very glad of the choices I made for myself. I know all of this, but it was really nice hearing it from my Mom! Love you Mom, and thanks for coming with us!!!

Not me Monday

Well I have seen a few people do this, so I figured I should jump on the bandwagon! Especially since this weekend I have a LOT I can add!

I DID NOT work three different jobs this last week!

I DID NOT call one of the jobs after my first day and tell them I could no longer work for them! (It was for my hubby's friend's catering company) oops!!

I DID NOT secretly want to ring my stepdaughter's neck when she told me she didn't like my chicken fried rice because it didn't taste like Panda Express!!

I DID NOT want to call Elisabeth's Mom to give her a piece of my mind this morning because she packed her shorts for school! It was 43 degrees outside this morning!!

I DID NOT realize I'm becoming a HUGE nerd and have found the all Christmas music station in Lake Charles, now that is NOT all I listen to.

I HAVE NOT procrastinated on updating my blog from our amazing trip!

I DID NOT hit my head on the car door today....AGAIN!!

I DID NOT become an emotional basket case for no apparent reason last night! It's definitely NOT because I'm going to start my period any day now!!

Well there's a few of my NOT ME MONDAYS! I hope you all are doing well, and I promise once I get my pictures downloaded I will update about it :)

Ok I got tagged....

I did just get back from my vacation, but instead of writing about that right now I'll just answer my tag. The vacation update will come soon...


8 THINGS....

8 TV SHOWS I WATCH

1. General Hospital
2. The Mentalist
3. Brothers and Sisters
4. Desperate Housewives
5. Eli Stone
6. John and Kate plus 8
7. Any HGTV show
8. Law and Order (not my favorite, but my Steven's)


8 FAVORITE RESTAURANTS

1. Kyoto (Lake Charles)
2. Snake River Grill (Lake Charles)
3. Luna (Lake Charles)
4. Truluck's (Houston)
5. Baba Yega's (Houston)
6. Dick and Jenny's (New Orleans)
7. Chuy's
8. Taste of Texas (Houston) --- yes I worked there, but the food is still good :)


8 THINGS THAT HAPPENED THIS WEEKEND - ok this is a sneak peak into my vacation

1. shopped, shopped, shopped at the largest outlet mall in North America
2. ate at a VERY disappointing restaurant for Steven and I's (dating) anniversary dinner
3. froze our BUTTS off in Tennessee!! (Friday it got down to 15)
4. toured the Biltmore estate in North Carolina
5. watched ballerina's at the Biltmore
6. spent LOTS of money at the Biltmore
7. went to a wine tasting at the Biltmore (Elisabeth was a grape juice taster)
8. Had the TIME of my life with my family!!!


8 THINGS I LOOK FORWARD TO

1. Coming to Houston to get to see everyone!!
2. Meeting Lincoln James Glass
3. Going to lunch with Karen and Angela at Taste of Texas
4. My first Christmas with my new family
5. Getting my own class ASAP
6. not having to drive for 13 hours any time soon!!!!!
7. Growing stronger in my faith
8. My next Jodi Piccolt book I will read


8 THINGS ON MY WISH LIST

1. Some new shoes
2. My own classroom soon!!! (I know I already mentioned this)
3. Moving into a house
4. Getting to see my family more often
5. New clothes
6. New purse
7. Our water to be on....... NOW!!! (long story I will explain later)
8. My hubby to be off of work for Christmas and a few days after



Ok now I tag.... Krystyn and Kelly

Off to Tennessee we go!!

We are leaving Wednesday morning at 5:00am to head out to Tennessee! I'm so very excited to go on our first family vacation, and that my Mom gets to go with us! Steven and I are packed (minus toiletries) with our two HUGE suitcases so I am ready to go!!!

I went ahead and packed today because I didn't have to work, so I feel very accomplished and ahead of schedule :). Really, I'm not that ahead because I would have no time tomorrow. This will be my day: I have to work from 7-3:15, go pick up Elisabeth (who I'm PRAYING will be packed), come home to get Lilly and go to Houston. We will be making a mad dash to Houston to pick up Mom and drop off Lilly with Slick (that's what Elisabeth calls my Dad). I could have boarded Lilly, but last time we did it was a DISASTER because poor thing got SOOOO sick!! We only boarded her for two days, and she could not keep food down. Luckily I have my Dad who's gracious enough to watch her for a whole week. Then, we will make a mad dash back to Lake Charles so we can get some much needed sleep before waking up at 4:00am. Wooweee I'm gonna be a busy girl!!

For our trip we have some really great things planned, it includes a trip to Biltmore Estate in North Carolina since we will only be about an hour and a half away from it. I'm most excited about our visit to the estate because I have heard nothing but amazing things about it. We of course will go to Dollywood, go on a ski lift that has a mini amusement park on the mountain, possibly do indoor skydiving, and just see what's out there to enjoy.

The Biltmore Estate


While we are on our vacation Steven and I will hit our one year mark (since we were "officially" a couple). Are we insane or what?? Sometimes I can't believe I have been married to a man for 5 months, and it's only been a year since we were officially a couple! Yes we were insane, but I definitely know it was in God's hands for us to get together. This has definitely been the best year of my life! It makes me sad that we're getting close to 2008 ending because this year has been the most amazing for me! In 2008 I got engaged, graduated college, got married/became a step mom, and moved to Louisiana! I just don't think 2009 will be quite that eventful for me, but it will be an amazing one I'm sure. If you don't hear from me don't worry I will update after we get back :) I can tell you right now that it won't be until after Thanksgiving, so I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving! Make sure to wear stretchy pants :)

Tuesday Ten

Ten things I miss about Houston:

Let me start off by saying, I absolutely LOVE my life and wouldn't change a thing but of course I miss things from my hometown! Secondly these are not in order of importance just merely in the order they popped into my head!!

10. I miss watching my dog Lilly get to play and play and play with Rowdy (Mom's dog)! She's getting a little lazy these days :)

9. I miss the Taste of Texas salad bar!! When you work there you get so tired of it, but now that I haven't had it in a while I really miss it. Maybe I should try and squeeze it in while I'm in town for Thanksgiving. Anyone want to join me??

8. I miss my Mema! I hate that I can't be there for her like I would want to be during this tough time. My Papa is on home hospice care, and it hasn't been a walk in the park for her lately. I just wish I could come and spend time with her more often.

7. I miss Kohl's and New York and Company!! I used to HATE Kohl's, but I have realized that they have really great clothes for work. The closest one to us is in Baton Rough 1 hr and 45 minutes away! Then New York and Co has always been one of my favorite stores, and I know we don't have one here. This just makes me spend less money on clothes, so I guess it's not the worst thing in the world.

6. I miss my nights with Mom. I have turned into a younger carbon copy of my mother, and really miss the nights we used to have. We used to lay in her bed and watch all of our dorky HGTV and TLC shows almost every night. I catch myself watching those shows whenever I can, but it's not the same without my Mama :)

5. I miss traffic! Oh wait that's the major thing I DON'T miss!! The longest I have ever been stuck in traffic here in Lake Charles is probably 10 minutes, so no I don't miss that!

4. I miss good restaurants. We do have a few here, but there's really not many out here which kind of stinks. If I ate fast food, or fried food, or gross greasy po boys I would LOVE the food here. Since that's not the case, the restaurants aren't quite the same.

3. I miss going to my Texas Country concerts with my Dad!! He and I would go whenever we had a chance to Robert Earl Keen, Cross Canadian Ragweed, Charlie Robison, etc. and it's been a while since we've gone. I have heard through friends of some great concerts that have been going on out there, and I sadly have missed all of them :(

2. I miss seeing little Lilly Martin grow up!! I hate that I haven't been there to spend a lot of time with her as she grows up! She's going to be 1 soon, and I can't believe it!!

1. I miss my girls!! You know who you are out there!! I haven't seen most of them since my wedding, and that's rediculous!! Angela, I miss your squeeky voice! Karen, I miss going to Onion Creek and talking for hours! Kelly, I miss your craziness and that big ol belly! Those are the three that popped in my head quickly, but trust me I miss others very much too!!

I have added some pictures of my girls, these are all from my bachelorette party. I would love to add more, but they are all on my laptop which my Mom is using. No, we don't drink a lot! Almost all of us are married and have families, but it was my bachelorette party so we let it all hang out!! Even the pregnant ones had a lot of fun that night :)

Some of us girls at Howl at the Moon
Kelly and I being retarded! We're pretty good at that

My cousins and I

I didn't write this because I'm sad and lonely! There are times that it gets a little tough, especially when Steven's working and I'm BORED out of my mind!! I'm doing really great out here, I just miss things from home. I want all of you to know that I do appreciate you all very much, eventhough I may not call as often as I should I still miss you all like crazy!! I get to see most everyone soon with the holidays coming, and I LOVE that :)

Yay it's November!!

November, December, and January are my three favorite months in the year, and I'm soooo excited November is finally here! It's crazy though to think that 2008 is really close to being over, I guess it's true what they say..."The older you are the shorter the years become!" To tell you the truth I have never felt as old as I do currently (trust me I know I'm not old). My days are filled with working, and my nights are filled with laundry, homework (when we have Elisabeth), cooking dinner, and cleaning. When did I get so old?? It's crazy when you go to your best friend's 30th birthday party, and it's scary when you realize that you aren't that far around the corner. Ok now that I have that off of my chest, here's an update on Laura's life:

For the past 11 days I have been sick! I got an upper respiratory viral infection, and my Doctor told me reluctantly that there was nothing he could do for me. That was frustrating, and once my fever was gone I have had this "gunk" in my chest, and completely lost my voice. It has been a VERY frustrating few days, but I am finally getting back to normal. I am ready for my immune system to get stronger so I can handle working with kiddos, and not get every sickness they carry! I haven't updated my blog lately because of this crud, but since I woke up this morning I have been feeling great! Still coughing, but I have a voice so I'm happy. That's another thing, it's Sunday and I woke up at 6:30am! It will take my body some time to get used to this time change, but 6:30 is REDICULOUS!!!

The hubby and I are thoroughly tired of our opposite schedules, that we know will just get worse as time goes on. With this the hubby has decided he is going back to school to get his teaching degree to teach high school. It will be less money for us, but the schedule will be so much better. Once we have kiddos we know this schedule will just get harder, and harder so Steven will be a student at McNeese University starting January. I'm very happy about this decision, and I think it will be great for us and our family.

We were very boring this Halloween! We saw the kiddo all dressed up for Halloween, and her stepsister. They were so cute! Cassidy (Elisabeth's stepsister) was a southern bell, and Elisabeth was Hermione from Harry Potter. They had a lot of fun, and probably stayed up really late since Halloween was on a Friday. I was a little disappointed that we didn't have a single trick or treater, but we do live downtown so it does make sense. Once we move to the suburbs I'm sure we will have nonstop trick or treaters.

So there's a wrap up of the Falgout's these past few weeks, we have been working, going to soccer games, and being sick. Soccer season is now over, which means we get a break until softball season starts :) We are going on our family vacation to the Smoky Mountains in a few weeks, and I can't wait for that!! It will be Steven & I, Elisabeth, and my Mom! We are going to have a BLAST!! It's our first family vacation, and I can't wait. I hope everyone has had a great couple of weeks, and I promise I will update more often. Until next time.....

The southern bell

Our cute Hermione

Whew what a weekend!!

Look at that scowl!! Little Lilly Martin
Here's little Lilly with her Aunt Laura
Here's the cutie Trevor!!
Look at the size of that head!!!
Our pumkins, this will be the before picture

I had such a great, but busy weekend this past weekend! Saturday I went to Elisabeth's soccer game at 9:00am. Let me tell you that little girl is AGGRESSIVE!! She's not quite the girly girl I was at 9 years old. Then I ventured to Houston to go to a show with my Mom and Grandma. We're TOTAL nerds and love the show "So You Think You Can Dance" so we went to the live show. It was really good, but not as good as the show from last year. (Yes we are dorky enough to have gone both years, and will go again next year!) When I got to Houston my Mom was watching my cousin Michelle's little boy Trevor, who's really not so little!! He's 5 months old, and looks like he should be walking!! What a sweet baby he is though, and I was so happy to see him since I hadn't seen him since the day after he was born. Then on Sunday I had an ABSOLUTELY crazy day!! Mom and I got up and went to church, then went to get a quick bite to eat for lunch. After lunch I ran a few errands, then went to see my Dad for a little while. I felt bad that I couldn't spend much time with Dad, but that's the way things sometimes go :). Then I hurried and drove from Humble to Katy, which takes an hour and a half on a good day. I went and spent some good quality time with my best friend Angela, who's now an old lady at the age of 30!! It was her birthday, and I'm so glad I could be there. I haven't seen her since my wedding 4 months ago, and I missed her terribly! I also got to see my sweet little niece(not by blood) Lilly Correne Martin. She has gotten SO big!! That baby girl is my birthday twin, and I couldn't love her more if she was my own. Then, I drove home and of course got stuck in horrendous traffic! The trip home took me almost 4 hours instead of the 3 it was supposed to take me, but that's the way it sometimes goes. I'm really glad that I could be gone on Sunday because Steven and Elisabeth really had a good Daddy-daughter day. Since we have been married the two of them haven't had a day alone together, and before I was in the picture that's all they had. I know that she missed those days, so I was glad they could get one in. It did make me feel good when I called her to tell her goodnight while I was on the road, I asked her if she was glad she got to be alone with her Daddy and she said, "Yes and no... I had a lot of fun with Daddy, but I really missed you a LOT!" That really made me feel good, I just love that little girl!

Then last night Elisabeth and I were super busy! We went to pick out our family pumpkins that we are going to carve next weekend. Of course Elisabeth picked out the three largest pumpkins she could find, and she wants the biggest one for herself naturally. Then we rushed home and made Halloween cookies for all the kid in her class which of course took longer than I thought it would! Elisabeth lost interest in decorating them so naturally I finished them for her. I love fall and all of the fun stuff you get to do, but I can't wait for my first Christmas with my new family!! We're going on our first family vacation to the smoky mountain in November, and taking my Mom with us which will be so much fun!