My beautiful sister - Rebekah

This past weekend Jeff and I went home to Paris to watch my BABY sister graduate from Paris High School. I can't believe that Rebekah is already graduating from high school. It seems like just yesterday that I was walking across that stage getting my diploma. It was actually 8 years ago for me.
I'm so proud of Rebekah because she was ranked 4th in her Senior Class! She is headed to University of Texas at Austin this Fall. My mom and I tried to convince her to go to Baylor - but she decided to follow in Dad's footsteps!


The graduation was scheduled to be at the football stadium but due to the threat of rain, they moved the graduation ceremony into the auditorium at the last minute. When they moved the ceremony inside, they limited each graduate to only 6 tickets. We had many family members come up for the ceremony, but they ended up not being able to come. Here's the six "lucky" ticket holders after the ceremony. It didn't start until 8:00 PM, so I look a little exhausted.
After the graduation on Friday night, Jeff and I got up early on Saturday morning to drive back to Dallas. My college roommate Michelle got married at 11:30am on Saturday morning. Pictures of that in the next post. Also, I just had to post these beautiful pics of Rebekah at her Senior Prom this spring.

Doesn't she look beautiful?Dad and Rebekah

Memorial Day Weekend

Jeff and I packed up and headed down to Austin for the long Memorial Day Weekend. The past 4 years over this weekend, I've worked the Capital of Texas Triathlon in Austin for Team In training. This was the first time that I've been to the race and not had to work it. Jeff raced in the Cap Tex Sprint Triathlon on Sunday while I cheered him on.

Once baseball season ended in early May, Jeff decided that it was time to start training for triathlon again. He got in a few open water swims and a few bike rides before the race. He did great considering that he had really only trained for about 3 weeks for the race. The weather in Austin on race day was very HOT and HUMID!! It was tough spectating so I know that it was tough to race in. Here's Jeff and I before the race started.

The swim portion of the race was in Town Lake which is just south of Downtown. Jeff is somewhere in this mass of swimmers.

Jeff loves this bike course as he has done the race several times. It's a relatively flat and fast course that winds through Downtown Austin. Here's Jeff leaving out of T1 to the bike course:

During the bike portion of the race, I made myself comfortable in the Hyatt hotel lobby on a couch in the AC. I was miserably HOT and tired of standing up. I then made my way out to the course and saw him on the run before he finished. After I saw him on the run, I started to waddle my way over to the finish line. I thought that I could make it there before he did. But - I was about 1/4 mile away from the finish line and I hear "Sweetie - you better hurry up or you are not going to see me finish" I turn and look and Jeff is running past me on his way to finish. So - unfortunately I did not see him cross the finish line - but I have seen him cross many other finish lines before. We caught up with our friends Greg & Heather Diamond at the finish line for a quick pic.

After the race, we headed back over to my cousins house and relaxed the rest of the weekend. Besides the traffic on I35 to and from Austin, we had a great time visiting friends and family.

Animal Control and Pitbulls

Jeff and I have had a little problem with one of our neighbor's dogs. This just isn't any dog - it's 55 lb. pit bull!!! For those of you that know me, you know that I'm scared of dogs (big and small)! This issue started about 2 months ago when I woke up one Saturday morning to find a dog in our back yard. I couldn't figure out how it got into our back yard because the gate was closed and locked! After a few minutes, I watched it disappear under the fence through a hole that it had dug. Here's the whole that it dug and the fence that it broke to get into our yard.

Later that afternoon I went over to our behind the house neighbors and told them that their dog had dug a hole into our back yard. They then told me that it wasn't their dog - it was their next door neighbors. So basically this dog has been digging into several back yards. After that instance I didn't see the dog for a while.

But then, this past weekend we got a call from our behind the house neighbors saying that the pit bull had gotten into our yard again and now animal control & the police department were involved. The police told me that animal control would be by the next day to pick up the dog. At this time, the pit bull was issued a citation from the cops. I didn't know that dogs could get citations but apparently they can. Then on Tuesday morning, I was standing in the kitchen making breakfast and I heard a horrible noise. I looked outside and saw the pit bull BUSTING out of OUR back yard!!! It basically ran into our fence and broke a big enough hole to get out. Are you kidding me???

I then called animal control and asked that they come immediately and catch this dog. It is dangerous to have it loose in the neighborhood with all of the kids outside playing. Animal control came and after about an hour they found the dog across the neighborhood! They took it into custody because the owners can't keep it in their back yard and it tried to attack the animal control man.

Long story short, or short story longer, I got a call on Wednesday from animal control saying that they were taking the dog and its owners to court. He asked if Jeff and I can appear in court next Friday! Yikes! Animal control wants us there to say that we feel threatened by this pit bull that keeps busting into our back yard. I sure don't want to have my daughter outside playing in the future and be scared that the pit bull will come in any moment to OUR back yard. I'll let you know what happens after we go to court next Friday!

Happy Mother's Day - what a weekend!

Happy Mothers Day to all of the mom's out there! It's fun to think that I'm in the mothers-to-be club this year and next year I'll have a little one crawling around. This weekend Jeff and I went out to Cleburne to visit the Sherman family on Saturday and then today we headed to Paris to visit my family. This is Austin Montgomery, our little godson. His mom, Melissa, is Jeff's cousin. We had so much fun playing with Austin out at the "ranch". Notice the big "blue jeep" in the background. Austin and Jeff had fun riding around the property on that.

Here's the "adults" playing around on the "big blue jeep" as Austin calls it.

Jeff strapped Melissa and I into the "back seat". The ride was a little bumpy but fun!

Jeff's Grannie Sherman came to visit from Abilene. It was very nice to spend time with her as well as Jeff's cousin, Trinity.

After our time in Cleburne on Saturday we headed to Paris on Sunday to visit my family. My GREAT grandmother Jane lives in the guest house at my parents. She is 99 years old and so much fun to be around.
This picture is 4 generations - My great grandmother Jane, my grandfather Karl, my mom Debbi, and me. Technically my great grandmother said that we had 5 generations including baby Sherman. She said that she can't wait to hold her and take a five generation picture in the fall. She will turn 100 in December this year.

Jeff loves getting his "dog fix" in with my parents two golden retrievers Lacy & Chrissy. They love when Jeff comes to visit because he plays ball with them.

And last but not least, here's another belly picture. I'm 24 weeks now! I can't believe that it's already been 6 months! Time sure has flown by. Baby Sherman will be here before we know it.

New Blog Design

So - many of my friends have such cute blogs. I feel that mine is somewhat blah. I found a link to a person that does custom blog design: http://pinkarmchairdesigns.blogspot.com/ Check it out. I've entered her contest to win a free blog redesign. I hope to win.

Wetsuits and pregnancy don't mix

So I really wish that I had pictures to go along with this post. Let me paint the picture....
7:00am
Lake Lavon
49 Degree air temperature
25 mph wind

This morning Jeff was meeting one of his triathlon training buddies for a little open water swim and these were the conditions that met us at the lake. I was going to be their kayak support. It was pretty chilly with a very strong wind. When we left the house this morning, I wasn't sure what to wear to keep DRY and WARM on the lake. So I grabbed a few things like a windbreaker, sweatshirt, large trash sack (I'll explain), and my wetsuit. I knew that there was no way I was going to use the wetsuit but I'd take it just in case.

When we got to the lake, I was dressed in running shorts with my long sleeved shirt and windbreaker. I decided that the best way to stay completely dry was to put on the wetsuit as much as I could. Now, I knew that with my growing belly I wouldn't be able to get it all the way on but I was hoping for at least half way up to cover my legs. So the struggle began....for any of you that have put on a wetsuit before, you know that it is a lot of hard work! Well - try doing it while you are 5 1/2 months pregnant! I got it up to my knees and was beginning to think that this was a bad idea. But I knew that I would be sorry once I got in the kayak if I didn't get it on. So I had Jeff help me wiggle my legs into the suit and I eventually got it on both of my legs. At this point, I think I was sweating and decided that was high enough. I then took the large trash sack that I brought with me and tore a whole in the bottom and stepped into it oh so gracefully. I then pulled it up and cinched it around my waist so there was no chance of water getting to me while in the kayak.

By this time the guys were ready to start swimming, so I waddled down to the water while they dragged the kayak down there. They got the kayak in the water and I "gracefully" made my way into the lake. Again, I really wish that I would have had my camera. The wind made it a challenging swim because the water was pretty rough. Once I got in the kayak, I did great staying right with them in the water. My purpose is to make sure that they stay on track. Also, if they run into any trouble, I'm right there to help.

Overall, they did great on their open water swim practice. They then went for a little 3 mile run and I drove along with them and gave them water along the way. It's weird not being out there swimming and running with them. But, to be honest, I'm enjoying this little break from triathlon training.

So lesson learned - I probably shouldn't get into my wetsuit while pregnant!

Baseball, Bellies, and Birthdays

I apologize for the delay in posting anything for the past couple of weeks. Things have been very busy at work lately. We go to the Doctor tomorrow for our next check up on Baby Sherman. My belly is growing and I'm starting to feel her move around and kick. Many of you have asked us about names for Baby Sherman. We have not decided on a name yet, and when we do we are going to keep it a secret!

Here's a pic from 22 weeks.

This past weekend was a busy one. I went home to Paris on Thursday night for my little sister's high school graduation party. I can't believe that she is already graduating from high school. This Fall, Rebekah is headed to the University of Texas in Austin. My mom and I really tried hard to convince her to become a Baylor Bear - but my Dad's orange blood won out.

There was a little too much orange at this party! (Just Kidding Bek!)

Here's Rebekah and my Dad at the party. I didn't get any pics of the whole family.

I hung out with my family in Paris on Friday and then on Saturday morning I left to come back over to Dallas for a wedding shower. My sweet college roomie, Michelle Nix, is getting married in June. Yeah for weddings!
After our busy weekend, I got to celebrate my 26th Birthday with my hubby yesterday. We went to a Rangers Baseball game and out to dinner. We met up with one of his college roommates and wife for the game. The Rangers actually won so we had a great time!