I'm Famous!

NBC News did a clip on my company about temp work this time of year...look who's in the shot...that's me on the far right! Carly in the middle and Betsy on the left!

Then it gets better...they zoomed in on me talking to one of my candidates....a little too close in my opinion! It was pretty short, but neat to see yourself on TV. I have it on TiVo if anyone wants to see it someday!

Fa La La La La, La La La La

We are in the Christmas spirit around here - Lex was set on putting up more lights this year and he did a great job! He actually had to climb on the roof to get it to look this good! I am very happy with the end product! Check it out!

Only three more weeks until Christmas vacation!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

As a tradition, both of our parents come out to see us for Thanksgiving! We love it so much and really enjoy cooking and serving up a big feast! This year, Sandra made the dressing and salad and Julie & Clayton made the mashed potatoes and cheesecake, so it made our job a lot easier! We had a great time eating and visiting all weekend long. They all left his morning, which we were sad to see them go, but can't wait to see everyone in a few weeks for Christmas! Here are a few pictures of our weekend!

Mom, Me & Sandra

Lex and Fred carving the turkey! Check out my homemade pecan pie (thanks to Paula Deen)!

The spread...rolls, cranberry salad, dressing & gravy, sweet potato casserole, green beans, mashed potatoes, salad, ham & of course - fried turkey!

Mom and Sandra! Notice the beautiful flowers that Lindsay sent us from Singapore! Thanks Lindsay - wish you and Greg could have been here too!

Julie and Clayton got to join us again this year too! We are glad that were able to come over and as you can tell - can't wait to meet their new little one in January!

The desserts - Gingerbread Pumpkin Triffle (also a Paula Deen recipe), Cheesecake ( by Julie), Dogfood (by Mom - peanut butter, chocolate and powder sugar chex mix- yum) and a pecan pie!

Me, cooking up a few things in the kitchen!

The boys frying the turkey on the back porch!

The table all set and ready to go!

Friday morning we went to breakfast and then took the boat out and gave everyone a ride! It actually turned out to be a nice day, but once the boat got going, it was a little chilly!

Mom - getting a nice cold breeze on the boat!

We also got to put up the tree on Friday with everyone! Now the house is ready for Christmas! Here are Dad and Sandra this morning before everyone left.

Ginobili - not enjoying the photo shoot this year with his reindeer ears! :o) What a cutie pie though!

Puzzle Time

Lex has been working hard for about a week and a half to put together a 2000 piece puzzle of the Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany. He just finished on Sunday! He has so much patients for puzzles and loves the challenge. Our coffee table definitely came in handy and hopefully we'll inspire him to do more! Check it out!

A little over half way through...

The completed puzzle - how pretty!

This past weekend I headed out to see my family in Dallas and go to Susan & Adam's wedding. Friday night we celebrated the BIG 3-0 for Cindy!! (even though she does have almost two more weeks to enjoy her 20's)

Sisters!

Janet & I at Susan's wedding!

Mrs. Prewett & Mrs. Poth

Mr. & Mrs. Prewett

They fed us well - here is a menu for the sit down meal - as you can see it had several courses! Yummy!

The first dance, how sweet.

They had the reception at Kirin, which was a Chinese restaurant in Richardson - the decor was great! Notice the light reflecting on the curtain on stage with a large "P" for Prewett! It looked like something off of TV! Beautiful!

Janet & Matt are expecting their first little baby girl - Mackenzie Taylor York, due in March! Congrats you two!

Fall is in Full Force

I thought I would share a few pics of my drive to and from work. The leaves are changing so nicely this year! I just love the fall!

Fishing Boat

Lex has been working really hard these past few weeks getting the boat looking and working great. Last weekend he and Ryan and Clayton took it out for a good spin - luckily everything works really well! Yesterday Lex and Ryan took it for it's very first fishing trip! They both caught fish.

Baby Ciomperlik's Shower

Last night Sara and I hosted a couples baby shower for Julie & Clayton. We had a great time and got a little more creative with the games since this was probably the first baby shower most of the guys had ever been too. I think they actually enjoyed the games...check it out all the fun...

First of all, my gift to the Ciomperlik's was this diaper cake. I think it actually turned out pretty cute. I had seen them before, but never made one, so I thought I'd try! I hope you guys like it and all the goodies on it! :o) They got a lot of great other gifts - the baby's bath tub, lots of clothes and a Winnie the Pooh lamp - too cute!

The parents to be...Clayton & Julie Ciomperlik

All the neighbors from the left - Clayton, Julie, Ryan, Sara, Me & Lex

I made some cupcakes (from the box), but for the first time had the chance to use my cake decorating kit! I had a lot of fun making these!

The games...#1 - notice the blue clothes pins on Clayton's shirt - the whole night if you said "Clayton", "Julie" or "Baby" someone could steal your clothes pin. The person at the end of the night with the most clothes pins won! With these guys and their competitive nature, it kept them busy all night!


Game #2 - Chugging beer out of a baby bottle! It's a lot harder than you think. They ended up chewing through the top and it saved them a lot of time :)

Adam and Lex getting psyched about game #3...

Ryan in action....

Game #3 - With no hands find the Diaper Pin in the dirty diaper (aka - chocolate pudding)! They were scared of this one at first, but once they dug in, we couldn't stop them! Yummy!

Congrats Julie & Clayton - we can't wait to meet Baby Ciomperlik!

Mytrle Beach & Orlando

I have been lucky the last couple of weeks to go to two different conferences for work! One was for the SC SHRM (HR Assoc.) in Myrtle Beach and the other was for NAPS (National Staffing Firms) in Orlando, FL. I just got back from Orlando and thought I would post a few pics! The hotels I stayed in were beautiful! So here you go...

Marriott Grand Dunes in Mytrle Beach

Marriott in Mytrle Beach - View from my window!

Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress in Orlando, FL - Above: View from my window! This place was a true resort - Golf, Walking/Jogging/Biking Trails around the lake, canoes/paddle boating, arcade, 7-8 restaurants - it was a beautiful place!

Apple Picking

As a tradition, we go Apple Picking at Sky Top Orchard in NC each October! We love the chilly weather, picking (and eating) apples! This place really makes it a lot of fun. It is always packed and the kids all seem to really enjoy it too! Here are a few pics...

VEGAS - Finally!

So I know I have been slacking quite a bit on the whole blog thing, so hopefully I can try to catch you up on our exciting lives...

The last weekend in September, we headed to VEGAS with Lex's parents! It was my first time to Vegas, so I was so excited! We had a great time...we ate a lot, walked a lot, saw a show, shopped A LOT, we all won a little and had a great time. Here are a few pictures to recapture our trip!

M&M Store...fun times!

800 Quarters...you do the math!

Hofbrauhaus - Birthday Dinner!

Fred enjoying the Hofbrauhaus!

Sandra, Lex & and I in downtown Las Vegas!

This was the mirror in our hotel room - we thought it made us look extra tall and skinny :o)

Bartender entertainment - juggling to music and lights!

Paris @ Night!

NY @ Night

Planet Hollywood - great hotel choice!

The Venetian - including Gelato and Crepes!

600 Quarters - we were all big winners this trip!

Lex waving from across the Venetian canal!

Bellagio Fountains - one of my favorite attractions!

We had a great trip! Thank you Fred & Sandra, we can't wait to see till Thanksgiving!