OMG. It's been forever since I've updated, but I have so many good excuses!! I guess I'll fill everyone in on our lives the last few months. In a nutshell, we moved 3 times in 4 months. We sold our house, moved into an apartment, thought we had a house, but didn't work out, had to move out of our apt and into a lease house, thought we had another house, but it didn't work out either, then we found our favorite house of all and FINALLY got to move. We were only in our lease house for like 3 weeks! We lived out of boxes the entire summer and I just came across my summer clothes now that summer is coming to an end. Oh well. We didn't understand why things were so crazy and why we kept losing the houses we wanted, but now we are SOOOO happy and it all pretty much makes sense. At least we KNOW this is the perfect house for us. It's crazy how much joy we were missing until we were "home". We knew we would be happy once we got settled, but neither one of us knew we would feel THIS happy about it. It's a dream come true. We live in a neighborhood SURROUNDED by people we know and actually like on every street. It's such a blessing. Not to mention that I live right across the golf course from my sister and the boys. Literally, they walk out their backyard, down the golf cart path a few yards, and into our backyard. We have a pool and they have been over to swim many times already. Having them so close is SUCH a blessing. My sister and I have already been making yummy meals together and I look forward to all the fun family and food in our future. Thank you LORD for the blessings!!!!! Here are some pictures of Davis one night when we cooked out by the pool and had some watermelon. 

On another note. I'm sure you already know this, but my husband pretty much deserves a medal. Seriously, he does. I can't quite soak in everything he does for me. Here's the latest. Not sure if you all know, but some of you do....my obsession Curtis Stone, from Take Home Chef, for the last 3 years. It's the one guy that Troy completely "gets" my obsession with...tall, blonde, super cute, from Australia, and a chef. Seriously? Well, I always recorded his show on TLC and would hope to run into him everytime I went to the grocery store. Recently, he stopped the show, but works for Today Show now. He is on there cooking a lot and does a lot with Kathy Lee and Hoda. There's been a few segments they do with him called "Girls Night In with Curtis Stone". It's where he comes to your house and cooks dinner for you and 3 friends in your kitchen! This is one of those things you think, "That would be a dream come true for whoever gets it, but it will NEVER happen to me." Well, I was wrong. My husband, being the sneaky guy that he is, entered me in this contest!! He wrote the NICEST email ever about why I deserve this, and how much I LOVE Curtis. Actually, here is the email he wrote:

The Question Was:  Explain why you deserve Curtis Stone to come to your home and cook for 3 of your friends.


"Because our DVR had over 50 recordings of "Take Home Chef" and all I hear around the house is how cool it would be for Curtis Stone to snag her at a Central Market!  Ha! When Curtis is on the Today Show, I just quit talking because I know anything I say is going in one ear and out the other; her eyes are focused on something or someone else, I should say. My wife absolutely loves Curtis.  And so do I. I hope being married doesn't disqualify her because you don't know how much this would mean for her. Apart from having a newborn son (5 months), my wife has endured so much stress and has been so strong these last 5 months. I'm so proud of her. We've sold a house, moved  3 times in 5 months, she's preparing to go back to school to teach her 4th graders, and also trying to finish her Masters Degree! I cannot think of a stronger mom.  And all thru this time, she has missed (and I have too) her other passion, cooking. All of her pots and pans, mixers, etc have been in boxes for months, which means no more Micky D's and WhichWhich's! She is so thrilled to have her kitchen again.  We just moved and have yet to prepare a meal.  Mainly because we've been so busy and have had boxes covering the kitchen.  Well I took time to clear it out and give her her favorite place back. It's ready to be used and it would be such an honor and blessing to have Curtis Stone melt her heart and stress away. Selecting her would not only be selecting the best candidate, but it would be that last ingredient to getting her over this hump. Please, please, and a DALLAS TEXAS SIZED PLEASE consider my wife.  It would mean the world to me to make her happy through your contest.  Thank you!"

Here is the video of me when I found out I won...out of like 2000+ entries!! I'm on the phone LIVE with Hoda and Kathy Lee...this was the Thursday before they came. I had ONE week to prepare!

So after this, I was told Curtis and his crew were coming the next Thursday. I had ONE week to prepare and my house was STILL in boxes from moving. Needless to say, that week was SO CRAZY. But, thanks to all my friends in the neighborhood and my family, it got put together and looks GREAT. I was a nervous wreck. 

So Curtis came to my school on Thursday, and they did some filming of us in my classroom with my kids, which they loved. =) And then from there, Curtis, my sister, my friend Annie and her sister Beth, got in my car (yes, I was driving with Curtis in the passenger seat and I almost killed us on 75 b/c I illegally entered the HOV lane and Curtis told me I needed to slow down b/c the car in front me was stopped) and we drove to Deep Ellum to make cheese at The Mozzarella Company. Apparently it's famous. We made lots of fresh cheese, went to Central market to get ingredients and then went to my house. He made us an incredible meal that was centered around cheese! We ate outside on the patio and had SUCH a fun time. I will never forget the experience!! Here is the link to the video of when it aired on the today show!

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891#32777630

And here are some pictures of our day!

Make a Smilebox slideshow