Crash Test Dummy

Thank God she is OK, but Jo got into an accident yesterday when she was coming home from school. A car rear ended her as she was in the turning lane. The back end of her car is banged up and the trunk is popped open but she is not hurt. She woke up sore and with a headache today but she has a chiropractic appointment tomorrow and will get fixed up. Poor girl, she was so mad yesterday at the young girl who hit her, but thank goodness she has insurance. One more thing on my list of stuff to worry about. :(

She is Growing Up

On Sunday we let Jo go to a concert in Albuquerque, which isn't a big deal except for the fact that she drove herself! EEK!!! Yes, she drove herself to the concert and back. She has never driven on a highway to my knowledge at least, so this freaked me out beyond description. Nathan informed me that I have to let her grow up and not keep such a tight rein on her so I reluctantly agreed to let her take her car and drive. She left early in the afternoon with directions that Nathan gave her and off she went with a friend. I was a nervous wreck ALL day long. The concert didn't start until 8 or so and was over at almost midnight. Jordyn is a self proclaimed Mac Miller fan, so she just had to try and get a photo with someone in the group and an autograph so they waited at the buses. She lucked out and got a pic and he signed something for her and then they went to eat and gas up and hit the road. She finally rolled in at almost 6 AM!!! I could not sleep to save my life and I wanted to text every 5 minutes but was told not to do it!! Haha! It turns out she did A OK and didn't freak out on the highway drive as I suspected she would. She took it slow and steady as Nathan told her and she did fine. Too bad Mom couldn't relax!

Yay Jo!!

I am proud to say that Jo has once again entered the work force!! She starts her new job on Wednesday and is so excited. We told her that if she got a job by the 13th of this month that she would be able to go to the Mac Miller concert in Albuquerque with her friends on Sunday. She is on cloud 9! Way to go Jo, Nathan and I are very proud of you!

8/12/11 Update

It seems that life is running at about 150 mph these days. No time to even pick my nose! School starts on Tuesday so we are busy trying to get the girls situated and ready for that. My parents are taking them to El Paso today for a day of shopping and lunch and then I will take them on Sunday for the same thing. Spoiled trolls!! :) It was a busy week and a half for me. I traveled up to northern NM for my job and got to see some amazing areas of our great state. I worked in Farmington on Thursday and actually loved the area, then went to Gallup and worked there on Friday. I had to then work in Las Cruces on Tuesday and then work in Los Lunas on Wednesday! I actually enjoy the traveling. I am so lucky to have a great job, wonderful boss and co-workers. It makes it so much easier.
Lola had her 6 month eye exam with her opthamologist yesterday. Her peepers are well and no serious problems can be detected. She still has that small cataract on her right eye, but it hasn't grown or deterred her vision so that is a plus. She has to see her opthamologist on a routine basis because of the 2 medications that she has taken for 10+ years and all the side effects that they can have on the eyes. The Prednisone and Plaquenil are monsters to this area. So she will be back to see Dr. Yang in February and we will discuss contact lenses at that time. I cannot believe that she is gonna be in contacts soon! She is growing up too fast.
Jo should be getting her car out of the shop today. Yikes, hide your kids, grannies and families and get them off the road! She will have wheels and is not afraid to use them! Hopefully JR will have her car done today and she can be on the road soon. So off to DMV I go today for her registration and all that jazz. Thank you Nathan for all you have done for her by getting the car and all the parts and working on it to get it ready for her. You are amazing and I cant put into words how thankful we are for all you do!
So we are 35 days out from the wedding! So many little things to get done. Today I will go drop off his suit and tie at the dry cleaners so it can be pressed and made fancy and Monday I will order the flowers and this weekend we will find Jo her shoes. Yup, still no stress or anxiety and not quit sure if I will really have any, this is just too easy!! :)

Pre-Application for Marriage License

We did it this morning.... we submitted the pre-application for our marriage license in Clark County!!! We are about 56 days away! We cant wait to celebrate this momentous day with the girls and our family and close friends. We have family already making airline and hotel reservations and we are finishing up some last minute details and decisions and its been such a fun process for us both. So far we have kept our sanity and just had a good time working on projects for this day. I just talked to my good friend and photographer, David Thompson, who will be our amazing photographer for the day. His work is totally amazing and I am so thankful for him and I cant wait to see him and catch up. I know he will catch some beautiful images of the first day of the rest of our lives. Thank God for PhotoShop which he will use to make me look tan, tall and skinny!! LOL. I cant wait to see the girls in their beautiful black dresses, all dressed up and even Lola in her surprise "kicks", since she doesnt do dressy shoes. Still have many things to finish and check off "the list" but we are well on our way to our goal.

Road Trip

Me and the kids will be heading to Santa Fe this evening and meeting Nathan and his parents for the NMSP promotion ceremony tomorrow morning. It is also Jordyn's 17th birthday, so text her, call her or post "happy slappy birfday" on her facebook wall. Her gift is en route and wont be delivered until tomorrow evening, so that stinks, I was hoping to have it today so that we could give to her tomorrow when we take her to lunch at Rio Chama Steakhouse. :) Oh well, we will be back tomorrow night so it will be here when we get back home. I hope she likes it.
So it will be pizza, wings and poolside when we get into Santa Fe tonight. We found a pizza joint in Santa Fe that does gluten-free pizza for Lola and she is just beaming about this. The Rooftop Pizza does GF crust so this is a plus. I can almost taste the Dions and chelada. C'mon 5 o'clock!!!

Jo's New Wheels

Can I possibly be this old already? My first born just got her first car! What?!!! It just seems like yesterday that she was running around saying "narbles" because she couldnt say marbles right and now here she is with her first car. Where did the time go? How did she grow up on me? Enter sad face here.
Nathan went to Socorro on Tuesday and picked up her pimp mobile. Its a 2002 Mitsubishi Mirage that needs some work but she is super excited and thankful. She is already wanting to deck it out with headlight eyelashes and Hello Kitty junk all throughout! It will be a pink nightmare by the time she is done with it. Nathan will be doing the majority of the work on it to getting it ready for her. He is waiting on some parts and once they come in, he will throw on his grease monkey garb and get down to business. He is so handy and a true man! Me and the girls are blessed to have him in our life. Thank you babes, for all you have done for us and how you so effortlessly take care of everything! We appreciate you more than you will ever know!

Relaxation, What Is That?

No one can seem to explain to me what relaxation is. These days its 200 MPH with no end in sight. I cant seem to not ever have anything to do. Its crazy how fast the year has gone and its now almost half over! Today I glanced at my wedding countdown app on my iPhone and gasped when I saw that we are 99 days away!

Holy schnikes, where did the time go? I will be Mrs. Nathan Barton in 99 days! Oh my goodness, I am so excited! My girls dresses have been bought and they look so amazing in them. Jordyn loves hers and she tried it on and I couldnt believe she is only almost 17 years old! Yikes, I'm in big trouble! And Allorah, well, she is no longer my baby girl, she looks so grown up. Now if I can just convince her that converse sneakers are not my choice of shoe, then we will be fine! :) I just wish that Diesel Bentley could make the nuptials. I just want to see him in a tuxedo! He would be our ring bearer but with our luck, he would eat a fairly large amount of jewelry and we would have to be scouring his turds! So, maybe leaving him at home is a more suitable option! We have decided that we are writing our own vows and we are actually already almost done with that. Can you believe how we are just so organized and on top of things? I know I cant! Here is our wedding website if you wanna take a sneak peek on what we are planning: http://www.mywedding.com/shannonandnathan/
Its cheesy and corny but so are we.

Schools Out!

I cannot believe that another school year has come to a close. I offically have a senior in high school and a 7th grader! Wow! I can say that I officially feel old! The wrinkles and grey hair that I sport are evidence that its true! It will be a very busy summer for my family. We will be leaving for Dallas on Monday morning for a week, then heading to Chicago on June 16th for Allorahs surgery the following day and then her appointment with Dr. Pachman on the the 20th. Then Jo got a car and we will be bringing that home and working on that for her, preparing the house so I can rent it out, packing and cleaning and then moving up north and getting situated up there, then finishing up the summer with a trip to Vegas in September to tie the knot! It will be a hectic one for us thats for sure. Hardly enough time to relax.

2011, New Beginnings

Its a brand new year and a brand new time for me and my family. The old blog has been brought down and a new one arrives. As we move forward into the future, all I can say is "WOW"! So much has changed in my life in this short time that I am taken back at times at how truly blessed I am. The girls are doing so well in school and Allorah is still fighting her battle with Juvenile Dermatomyositis. Jo has a job now and is driving. Diesel is getting so big and is just a mess! As for me, this princess has found her Prince Charming! We have something that only fairlytales are made of and I will be marrying my best friend on September 17th. The kids are so excited and I can hardly contain myself! So, as you see, happiness and a wealth of love is at my fingertips.