Yay For Christmas Trees

So this past Friday night was a late night for Brandon and I.  First, we went to a youth dance in New Orleans, and then ran by Jelani's apartment to drop off a computer that he's helping us with. It was about midnight when we arrived home and I was extremely tired. I saw a light shining in the living room and expected to find Garrett playing "Black Ops" on PS3, as that's one of his favorite things to do. :)

However, when I walked in, there was a beautiful Christmas tree all lit up and decorated!!! Apparently we had two little elves, named Garrett and Mrs. Kim, come visit our house that night. Thanks to both our elves for our wonderful surprise!!!

Aquarium Update

Just wanted to give an update on our beautiful aquarium!  Brandon has been doing an incredible job taking care our tank!  He is pretty much a "regular" at the local aquarium shops and spends lots of time researching how to improve the quality of life for all of the little inhabitants of the tank.  It's exciting to see him participate in a hobby that is fun for the both of us.  As of today, our aquarium includes the following fish/invertebrates:

1. Two Clown Fish
2. Sailfin Tang
3. PJ Cardinal
4. Coral Beauty Angelfish
5. Leopard Wrasse
6. Three Clams
7. Two Cleaner Shrimp
8. Serpent Starfish
9. Watchmen Goby
10. Lawnmower Blennie
11. Sea Urchin
12. Emerald Crab
13. Teddy Bear Crab
14. Various Snails and Hermit Crabs

Here are a few pics of a few different critters/coral!

Our PJ Cardinal and Coral Beauty (purple fish)

One of our Clown fish.  They like to swim against the current created by the fan in the background!

This is Brain Coral.  Guess what!  It looks like a brain!  Lol

These are Watermelon and Dragon-eye Zoanthaids.

This is Trixie!  A Sailfin Tang.

More Zoanthids

This is Mr. Grumpy Guts.  :)  He is a Watchman Goby.  He is quite territorial and is super cute!  I love his little frown.

This is Candy-Cane Coral.  I just want to mush on them... they look so soft!

To the right are Green-stripped Mushrooms, to the left is Cabbage Coral, and in the very back is a Purple Mushroom.

This is a Serpent Starfish!  It's really fun to watch him when it's feeding time!  He uses his tentacles like legs!

One of our two Cleaner Shrimp!  They clean the little fishies.  Like little car washes!  :)

This is the coral that I picked out!  It's called a Rainbow Acan.  I think it's gorgeous!

Bubble Coral.  Really pretty, but can be kinda mean to other coral.  It stings!

One of our three clams!  If you look really close, you can see the neon blue spots all over it!

3 Years and Counting!

Today we celebrated our 3 year anniversary! I can't believe that it's been so long! It seems like just a little while ago I was looking at a picture of Brandon on Mrs. Nelwyn's refrigerator thinking, "if only I could go on one date with him... I think I could be happy!". Little did I known that I would marry that boy! :) And I wouldn't have it any other way! I absolutely love Brandon with all my heart! He is an incredible man and an amazing husband... and I know he is going to be a wonderful daddy!

That's right, friends! We are proud to announce that we are officially expecting a new member to our little family!!! Not only did we celebrate our 3 year anniversary today, but we also celebrated the 8 week mark for our new Baby Tingle! :D

We are soooooo excited to start our family together and I wouldn't have chosen anyone other than Brandon!!! Happy Anniversary, babe! I love you!

Family Pics!

This past Friday, Brandon and I took family pictures with Uncle Bob! We're going on 3 years of marriage and thought it would be nice to document our years together!  To take these pictures, we headed over to Cajun Village in Sorrento and Uncle Bob did a phenomenal job, as always! Here's one pic, and can't wait to see more!

Salt Water Aquarium

We have a salt water aquarium! Brandon has been working very hard, and doing lots of research to make our tank just perfect! Mr. Todd gave us an aquarium about a month ago, and we have just introduced our fist 2 little fishies! Their names are Jack and Jill! :) They are Yellow-tailed Blue Damels.

I absolutely love this aquarium! And can't wait to add more colorful, little fishies! Thanks babe, for making it happen!

Sand, waves, and sun burns!

So this past June, the company that I work for, Trendsic Corporation, took us on another family vacation! I am so blessed to work for such an amazing company, who takes us out on amazing trips! We took a long weekend and had a blast!

The house that we stayed in was incredible! It was 3 stories with a pool and hot tub AND across the street from the beach! Needless to say, we were lovin' it!

The beach house from the front.

Beach house from the back. The bosses, Joel and Jelani and their families stayed on the top floor. Brandon & I were on the middle floor, which is where the kitchen and living room were. And James and Jared and their families were on the bottom floor.

Pretty much every night we went swimming. One night we had a mad game of Marco Polo going with me, Joel, Jared, James, and Jelani! Got lots of bumps and scrapes from it, but it was really really fun!

Anyway, we spent A LOT of time at the beach. The very first day, the water was kinda rough because a storm was rolling in. But we still had lots of fun out in the water and in the sand.

You can see the storm rollin' in in the bakground. Actually, quite pretty. :)

Joel and Holly

Ashlyn contemplating whether to check out those waves or not!

Jelani coming in from boogie boarding! The water was extra choppy from the storm, but he wasn't skerred! :)

One of the few times Brandon got in the water :)

We actually ended up swimming out pretty far and he put me on his shoulders so i wouldn't drown! It was REALLY fun! Poor thing was getting smashed in the face by huge waves, tho! I love you, baaaaaabe!

Look Eli, a plane! If you can't tell, that's me and Eli.

Anderson playing in... and taste-testing the sand!

Building sand castles!
Holly, Jared, KK, Eli, Ashlyn, and an Anderson tushy

Daddy and daughter digging in the sand!

Little miss KK covering herself in sand!

Jared, Keri, and Baby# 3 (Eli in the background)

Sweet Ella chillin' under the umbrella.

Brandon baking in the sun, getting his tan on.

Siblings, Kailey and Eli playing together! How cute!

Kailey and Ashlyn building a fortress around themselves!

Anderson was tuckered out from all the playing in the sand!

As you can see, so were Joel and Kailey! So they snuggled up on the couch!

Brandon had to leave early from the vacation to go back to work, so we took a couple last minute photos before he headed back home.

So by the end of the trip, everyone was burnt. So we decided to hit the beach at sunset, which turned out incredible, and we got some really pretty pics!

The cute couple, Jared and Keri.

The other cute couple, Joel and Holly.

Uncle Joel and Ashlyn playing. You can see Ashlyn really had a blast!

Anderson's eyes totally light up when he smiles! He is absolutely precious!

Me and one of my wonderful sister-in-laws

Whew! That one almost got us!

Ashlyn laughin' it up with Dad

Holly making sweet Ella giggle

Momma and son

Mom and Ashlyn catching some waves

Anticipation.

This is what it looks like to have fun!

The wave was seriously chasing him, ok?!

How can you look at this and not smile??

KK getting sucked out by a wave!

KK doing a pose for us!

I love this pic of Eli! He is such a cute little boy!

Anyway, our trip to Destin was amazing! We really had a lot of fun and really appreciate Trendsic for taking us on this incredible trip!

Thanks again, Joel and Jelani! Y'all are AWESOME! :)