More of the Engagement Party

So many good pics taken by Debbie at this party. Matthew loved the food. Kanfy and Keith have some really cool bookends!

Mekara and Thomas' Engagement Party

What fun! Rhonda helped Thomas' parents throw an engagement party for Thomas and Mekara, who are tying the knot on December 18th.

We made wedding dresses out of toilet paper and white garbage bags. I wanted a Vera Wang look for our creation. I love how the "tiara" turned out! Brandon was such a good sport. He did his beat Derrick Zoolander pose for us! :)

Ethan's Baptism

I'm so proud of Ethan for getting baptized. It was a very special time and it was extra special for me, because it was Mother's Day.

Ethan is 8!

We had a little party Ethan at my friend Rhonda's. She lives in a condo on the beach so we swam and played in the water after we had cake. Ethan and Kylan (my friend David's son) got to play again. I like the pics of the two of them.

Single Adult Conference: Living Water

Wow, what an awesome weekend! Rhonda and David, two of favorite people, put together an amazing conference and had a great turn out of attendees from far and wide.
The classes we had Saturday morning were fantastic and parasailing afterward was SO fun. We had a group of 9 people on our boat and it was everyone's first time going up! We all loved it! Now, about that food committee...Kay Newton, you rock, girl!!! I'm privileged to have just been in the wake of your coolness and ability to feed the masses, and do it well!!!
To my friends: I feel we are like a sweet little family and of course, brothers and sisters in Christ our Savior. I love you all.

Matt in a hat!

I love this kid! I thought I was done after Ethan and it's so amazing to have been blessed with Matthew. He is a "healer" as my Mom likes to call him. Matthew has, since infancy, been able to make people feel awesome with his smile or by his loving way about him. He's so CUTE too!

More Easter!

My dear friend Rhonda invited us over for Easter dinner Sunday evening. We had some good food (my brownies were killer!) and then we went down to the beach. Rhonda lives in Mirimar Beach and it's so beautiful there, like so many other places on the Emerald Coast that I and my friends are so fortunate to live near.

The kids played in the sand and my friends and I took some fun pictures.

Happy Easter 2009!

Hello Everyone! I hope that everybody had a wonderful Easter. I sang in the choir at church today and it was so sweet to be able to focus on our Lord and Savior and His sacrifice and resurrection and His perfect, infinite love for us.

I love my boys! All I can say on a holiday like this is thank goodness for sugar free chocolate bunnies! Matthew's young palate could not tell the difference!

Hey All

Hi Everyone! How is everybody? We are doing well here. I have the three best boys in the world and am SO blessed to be their mother. This insane semester is winding down for me and I have almost completed 2 out of 3 papers that I have due. May sound boring or monotonous but it's a big deal in the life of a studentmom! Florida is so gorgeous this time of year and we are all enjoying that. As you see in earlier posts, we've been to the beach twice already! Ethan told me today that he is the fastest kid in his class. I believe him since he ran a mile in 9 minutes and 11 seconds about a month ago in PE. People who are runners try to do 8 minute miles when they run and Ethan at almost 8 can do it in just over 9, so that's awesome. Chris recently decided he wants to be a rock star (honest) and so he and Monica now have the same dream. Matthew, my sweet Matthew what can I say about him? He is a soul put on Earth to make people happy. He is precious!

Love to All,

Nicky, Monica, Chris, Ethan, and Matthew

Another Day at the Beach

Gotta love it, the Gulf of Mexico is gorgeous! Chris, Ethan, and Monica had spring break last week and so I knew I wanted to do a beach trip. I asked some friends to join us and we had a little and really fun birthday party for David's son Kylan who will be turning 9. We played in the sun all afternoon and had a blast. Love my single friends that I have here!!! Wish I had more pics of us all to put in this post but, oh well, we will be having more beach days this summer I'm sure

Chicago Part One

It always fun to go back to my roots and see family and have a brand new baby to hold. My cousin Jenny had a baby girl Adriana Diana in January. She is one of the most beautiful babies I've ever seen!

It was so great to see her other two children Mary and Tyler. We have a special bond from when I visited and spent time with them back in '07. They're so cute and sweet!

Destin Spring Break 2009

I took the kiddies to Destin for a very quick but fun portion of my short Spring Break. This semester of the SW program has provided a lot of anxiety for me (LOL) so it was fun to play in the sun, even if it was only for a day and a half.

We built castles in the sand and swam in the resort pool.

Ethan was his usual self and you will see a pic of where that got him.

We also went to Fudpuckers. For those of you who haven't had the pleasure, Fudpuckers is a restaurant with good hamburgers and fries and alligators in a makeshift pond. The alligators are usually only a few feet long (which one of the workers said means they are also only a few years old-a foot a year kind of thing) so they are not too dangerous. They are incredibly sedentary for being such accomplished predators. I'm guessing, and this is really genius of me, it's because they are hand fed. A quote from a waiter's T-shirt at this fine establishment: "How much fud could a fudpucker puck if a fudpucker could puck fud?"