Southern Hospitality

As we were watering our garden the other day, our neighbor invited us over on Sunday to pick blackberries!! I was so excited. I have never picked anything before and I have never tasted blackberries but I was excited for the chance to get to know our neighbors and try something new.

Before we got to pickin, we were given a tour of their property. Our neighbors have about 50 acres and they are beautiful acres. They have a stocked pond, a running track, wild berries, a vegetable garden, a beautiful peacock, a chicken coop, a trampoline, a basketball hoop and a baseball field. It sounds like a great place to raise three boys!

We were given supplies, and a few instructions and headed our. It was hot. We were up to my neck in foliage. The plants have thorns. And I still had fun!

We picked close to a gallon of blackberries! Thats more than I know what to do with but they suggested to freeze some. So let me know if you have any good recipes for blackberry use!

We were pleasantly surprised when we were greeted with exotic iced tea, and two salad options. They have a very talented son whose hobby is cooking large meals on Sunday. We sipped our tea, chatted with our neighbors, and enjoyed the weather.

It was a great Sunday!

LIFE @ 3349

Spring has never been more visible for me than it is this year. It is so obvious and I'm sad that it passed me by every year without notice.

The wildflowers out here are outrageous! They are everywhere and every week, its a new type of wildflower. And I must say, I enjoy picking flowers in our yard for small fresh bouquets around the house. These are a few of the different ones we have had in our yard. ***pictures by Neil***





About a month ago Mom and Dad Shanks came down and helped us with a vegetable garden and I have waited a little while to show it because I was not sure that it would be successful. Well, now I'm all giddy about it because it is growing! and its growing fast. We have not gotten any vegetables yet but its still exciting for a city girl who has never kept anything alive!

We have tomatoes, cucumber, spinach, jalapeno, cilantro, and zucchini squash

BEFORE AFTER


These are the zucchini squash. They even boom yellow flowers.

It has been fun watching it grow but it has resulted in an ongoing water fight. This guy thinks he can spray without consequence.

We have some regulars that hang out in our front yard. Rexx does nothing.

I also planted geraniums about two months ago..... and they are still alive too! Something about the air out here I guess. I have not watered them once, though we have gotten a lot of rain.


Well, these are all new life at 3349. Hope you had a great spring also.

Beach to Bay Marathon

We spent this weekend in Corpus Christi, TX. My family and i ran a relay marathon. Most of us are not really runners so our goal was to beat the last place from last year...lol. A relay marathon uses six runners each running one leg of the race. I ran the second leg which was 4.69 miles.

This is a picture of My cousin Liz and her husband Gabe. They went to school down in Corpus Christi and have been running the race for like 10 years. Liz recently had a baby so she decided that it would be a great year for a family run...... oh ya, Gabe's team WON!!!

So, we all hoped that it would be nice weather. Last year it was 99 degrees but this year it rained and rained and rained during the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th legs. although I preferred it to the heat, it was out of control! Considering our inexperience and the weather, we did ok. We finished 95th of 300 womens' teams. And we won best costume!

This is the scene you get for most of the run....except the 2nd leg (my leg).

It was a lot of fun and we are planning our trip for next year...any takers?

Special thanks to Neil who drove us around all over town and waited in the parking lot for two hours!

Class of 2010!

This weekend my sister graduated FROM COLLEGE! She graduated with a degree in Criminal Justice. Its still a little hard to believe but we celebrated all day! We had a great dinner with family and friends. Its always so great to see our big family get together for EVERY occasion. Here are a few pictures to celebrate Megan's graduation.

Things I've Done

This is a tag from another blog. I know I have not written in a long time but we are coasting through till the end of the month. May will be full of things to blog about.

Things I have done... Just copy and paste this to your blog and bold the ones that you HAVE done and make sure to put your score at the end. It got me to thinking about what I would like to do in life.

1. Started your own blog

2. Slept under the stars

3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii

5. Watched a meteor shower

6. Given more than you can afford to charity

7. Been to Disneyland






8. Climbed a mountain

9. Held a praying mantis

10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped

12. Visited Paris

13. Watched a lightning storm at sea

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch

15. Adopted a child

16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty

18. Grown your own vegetables- working on it

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France

20. Slept on an overnight train

21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked

23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill

24. Built a snow fort

25. Held a lamb

26. Gone skinny dipping

27. Run a Marathon

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice

29. Seen a total eclipse

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset

31. Hit a home run

32. Been on a cruise

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors

35. Seen an Amish community

36. Taught yourself a new language

37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person

39. Gone rock climbing

40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt

43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant

44. Visited Africa

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight

46. Been transported in an ambulance

47. Had your portrait painted

48. Gone deep sea fishing

49. Gone without food or water for 24 hours or longer
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling

52. Kissed in the rain

53. Played in the mud

54. Gone to a drive-in theater

55. Been in a movie

56. Visited the Great Wall of China

57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class

59. Stayed up for 24 hours with NO sleep at all

60. Served at a soup kitchen

61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies

62. Gone whale watching

63. Got flowers for no reason

64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma

65. Gone sky diving

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp

67. Bounced a check - oops
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial

71. Eaten Caviar

72. Pieced a quilt

73. Stood in Times Square
76. Changed a light bulb

77. Broken a bone

78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person

80. Published a book

81. Visited the Vatican

82. Bought a brand new car

83. Mowed the lawn

84. Had your picture in the newspaper

85. Read the entire Bible -working on it

86. Visited the White House

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating

88. Had chickenpox

89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury

91. Met someone famous

92. Joined a book club

93. Lost a loved one

94. Had a baby

95. Seen the Alamo in person - too many times

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake

97. Been involved in a law suit

98. Owned a cell phone

99. Been stung by a bee

41 of 99
Not many but I'm working on it. What is your score?

Birthday Surprise!

This weekend Mom and Dad Shanks came down for a Birthday Surprise for Neil. And he was sure surprised! We did some celebrating, a lot of eating, a trip to the Sports Hall of Fame and started a garden (in the rain). But the big surprise was his new toy. For the past six months Neil has been mowing our 1.5 acres with a push mower. But now, he will be cruising along on his new riding mower. Check out this postcard of America - with the boots and all!

Happy Birthday Husband

Today is Neil's 24th Birthday! I know he does not like to be the center of attention (ex. balloon story below) but a little Birthday Blog won't hurt.

happy birthday to you - and many more, old man! It is great to be able to spend a whole day celebrating YOU! I love you.
Thank you for all your phone calls, cards, and messages too.

Balloon Story:
for his birthday I decided to surprise him with lunch from his favorite restaurant but I couldnt stop there so I brought him cupcakes and balloons. We ate our lunch and then.....he stuffed the balloons in the closet and left them there for the rest of the day, so no one would know it was his birthday.

please excuse this picture, Neil decided to make funny faces for EVERY picture so this is the best one. We celebrated at home with a birthday cake, pizza and presents. And you can't forget the birthday hat!

Porch Phase 2

We finished phase 2 of the porch which involved putting up the columns and the ceiling. We scored the columns from the Habitat for Humanity ReStore for $12 each. I didn't actually realize how great a deal that was until a recent trip to Home Depot ($60). We can't decide whether or not to put porch rails up because we like the look already and we enjoy the uninterrupted view from our chairs. We also put up a raised ceiling with all the trimmings and a fan. In the mean time, we will continue work on priming and painting.

Here is a close up of the columns.

Rock-n-chairs

In my birthday blog I mentioned the great gift Neil gave me - a pair of rocking chairs. The required assembly (which is a story in itself) and then the weather was not so good so they stayed inside. Well, now Spring has sprung and they have made their way outside. So here they are.


The pillows were made recently to match the footstool mentioned in an earlier blog. Made out of burlap, they should withstand the elements pretty well.

We have enjoyed them already and look forward to many more sunsets and wildflowers.

Meet our Neighbor

This is our back neighbor. We have seem him many times but never up close. He is very skittish and doesn't seem to like people. Hopefully he will warm up to us.

I love having him in our backyard. We get to enjoy the view without the work.

Look how handsome.

Books to blog about

Reading has ALWAYS been a big part of my life. I was the kid that asked for dictionaries and encyclopedias for Christmas. While Sister played with dolls and Barbies, I tried to memorize the Ls in the Thesaurus. When I met Neil, I met my match! If there is anything Neil spends money on its books but we have VERY different reading tastes so here are a few of MY favorite books in our library.

This book was actually given to me by one of my college health students after I taught a chapter about body image issues. It is a book that every woman should have in their back pocket. It speaks on all forms of women's body image issues, as they relate to culture. But, every topic is built on a foundation of scripture. It speaks to single women, married women, young, old and in between. Even if you feel body image is not one of your vices, it can serve as a basis for understanding and helping other women and girls in your life and what they might be going through. For only $12 you can have a great girls group discussion.



You may already know, but Jody Picoult is my favorite author. I have read all of her books and while many of them are great, this is one of my favs. I really appreciate the research that the does prior to writing her books. This one takes place on an Amish farm so in order to be accurate, she actually spent weeks on the farm! I learned a lot about the Amish community but it also had a great story line - infant death on an Amish farm...where did it come from? who is responsible? who is protecting? Will US laws or Amish laws prevail?

Some other good ones are Keeping the Faith, My Sisters Keeper, and Perfect Match.

Baylor proud

We are


We are playing in the elite eight this evening @ 4:00pm
This is the first time in 60 years that Baylor has made it this far.
We are hoping for a win for a trip to the FINAL FOUR!