Peek-A-Boo Curly Sue!

This past Sunday after church, Ray and I traveled East to visit our Gathings friends for a fun afternoon lunch date. We enjoyed great fun, great food, and great friendship. I love this little family of three. Sally and I are previous co-workers, and this sweet little girl is Miss Harley Raider. 

I  love her beautiful auburn curls. While the men talked sports, the three of us ladies had a little dress up session, played with some toys, and caught up on our summer activities. It was definitely a fun afternoon of peek-a-boo with our little curly sue!

Sunday Funday with Our Gathings Group!

This past Sunday, after spending time with our ABF and serving in Joyland, the husband and I traveled to Mesquite to visit with our sweet Gathings group. We were so excited to catch up with Sally, Paul, and their one year old Miss Harley Raider. For over a month, we had this little outing planned, and I am so thankful that we can pick up exactly where we left off. We enjoyed an afternoon of pizza, football, ladies conversation and catch up, and of course a photo session with little miss. I am so thankful for these sweet friends and love the moments that we share together.

Harley turns ONE!

This afternoon, Ray and I had the opportunity to celebrate Miss Harley's first birthday. Sally and her husband, Paul, welcomed Miss Harley Raider into their lives on December 8, 2010. She is such a beautiful blessing and I am so thankful for her sweet parents. Sally and I worked together at Checkpast for over 3 years together. Sally was my best gal pal, friend, confidant, and partner in crime. It is so amazing to see where the years have taken us both and I am so thankful to be here and help celebrate another great milestone in her life. Here are a few pictures of her sweet daughter's first birthday party.

Harley was no stranger to sweets. She was so ready for her cupcake. In this picture it looks as though she's telling her mama to hurry. :) I love it!

Let the present opening begin. Of course as any one year old she was super excited about the tissue paper and wrapping. Plus as many of us had the same idea, little Miss Harley had no idea she would receive 3 little tea pots.

Miss Harley... we wish you a special first birthday and all those to come:)

A Taste of Our May Weekend!

We were told that North Dallas would be experiencing horrible weather from Friday to the following Tuesday. Well thank goodness meteorologists are typically mistaken as we had absolutely beautiful weather for this weekends many fun activities.

Saturday afternoon Ray and I traveled to Addison to enjoy a little taste of summer as well as many tastings and tours of local eateries in what is called Taste Addison. This year we met up with a few couples including the Gathings and sweet baby Harley, Whitney and her man Doug, as well as Whitney's brother and brother's girlfriend. The group enjoyed many tasty treats including random samples, my lunch from Los Lupes including fabulous combo nachos and a drink, Ray's Fish and Chips from The Londoner, and many more. We also enjoyed several tastings from Robert Mondavi's Winery in Napa and amazing frozen wine based margaritas from various restaurants. Here are a few pictures of our outing.

My Checkpast Ladies including Whitney, Sally, baby girl Harley (at almost 6 months) and myself

Ray and I at Taste Addison

Tasting and Tour of Robert Mondavi's Wine
Wine is Passion

I love asking random people for photographs as it is always imperfect perfection. I do think a 1,2,3, countdown would have helped us out. But I do love the ever famous "action" group shot.

Here is a much better version of our group shot at Taste Addison

Whit, Doug, and Baby Harley

Sally and Paul Gathings

Mama with her furbabies. I heart my Tobs and Mattison!

Saturday night after our return home, we ventured over for dinner with the Fants including Bryson or B-rice as Ray calls him. We had such a great time with our friends, enjoyed an amazing dinner... seriously I'm so going to have to make that chicken... it was delicious:), and a fun time with sweet boy Bryson. I swear he has gotten so big and I love all of his new words and tricks. Here are a few cute pictures of Ray with Bryson playing "miniature" golf, giving big hugs, and making fun faces. Mr. Ray is of course super silly:) I love these two boys.

Sunday after a great time in Joyland with our kiddos we spent a few hours with our friends the Dukes including Duckee, Adam, and baby Jacob. Finally!!! For the past several weeks it seemed as though whenever we had a visit planned I would get sick from my kiddos at school so it was soooo nice to get to catch up with our friends and see how much Jacob had grown. Here are a few pictures from our hang out Sunday afternoon. At almost four months baby Jacob is such a big boy and so adorable.

The Ladies with baby Jacob

Adam, Ray, and Jacob

This weekend was definitely a great weekend with old friends and new little friends alike. Only 10 more days of school until Summer. I absolutely cannot wait to spend more quality time with these sweet faces. Happy weeks ahead!

Spring Break Specialities & Updates

This has been such a wonderful and exciting Spring Break. A week of special events and fun updates. Here are a few of those fabulous activities.

Monday I met up with a sweet friend who was having sinus surgery. I spent the day babysitting her 5 year old son, Ethan. We enjoyed several board games and movies. I had such a fun time with her sweet son. That night Ray and I decided to eat at a local Mexican Food restaurant near our home in McKinney called Petra. It was absolutely delicious and I so cannot wait to go back and enjoy more of that tasty goodness.

Delicious chips, salsa, tortilla soup, fresh salad,
and a chicken burrito covered in queso. YUM!

After dinner we stopped by Blockbuster for a few movies to enjoy a night in with the furbabies.

Tuesday I woke up early and quickly got ready. I had some errands to run. By 10AM I wanted to be the first person in line at the McKinney USPS to get my passport renewed. In early June, the Husband and I will be traveling with friends to Cozumel, Mexico for six days of fun in the sun. Tuesday afternoon/night I enjoyed a relaxing night at home. I love that my husband is working support this week so I am able to see him and spend some fun family time together.

Wednesday afternoon we drove to Uptown to meet up with our favorite Gathings crew... Sally, Paul, and baby Harley for lunch at Chilis. It was absolutely delicious!

We had such a fun and fabulous time catching up with our friends... and look at this adorable sweetie. This picture was sent by Harley's mama. I just love her beautiful blues!

The ladies ordered bottomless lunches and the boys chicken fried steak and shrimp. All was super tasty. Our chips and salsa came out pretty late so they gave us free dessert. YUM! What a wonderful time with great friends. I absolutely look forward to another visit soon.

In other and exciting news, baby Jacob is finally home. This past Monday our sweet friends, the Dukes were able to bring home baby Jacob from the hospital.

God truly is amazing! Baby Jacob is doing great and mama and daddy couldn't be more excited! To our great friends, we are so thankful for all the blessings that God has given and are so excited for your sweet family of three. Baby Jacob is home and we can't wait to visit!

More to come! Hope you are having a fabulous Spring Break:)

February Facebook Refresher

February seventh through thirteenth...

February 7th: Alicia Zellner went back to school from a 6 day weekend, picked up her almost full functioning vehicle:), sat down for dinner with the hubs and watched a movie... a great way to end her Monday and a good start to her week. Have a great one!

February 8th: Alicia Zellner could handle another mid-week vacation. Potential Ice Day tomorrow! It's getting cold:) brrr!



February 9th: Ice Day number 5! Plano ISD closed! Beautiful outside but enjoying the view from nice warm apt. Ok time to buckle down and get some studying in... Maybe a movie or two!

So I have decided that reading blogs seriously put the biggest smile on my face! No wonder it is my favorite hobby!

... And who knew I would be learning how to do math from early childhood all the way though twelfth grade AGAIN?!? Math was NEVER my strong suit. Oops! Another 40 pages and I am done for the day!

Alicia Zellner says, so studying is complete for tonight as I have only 60 pages until this book is 100% FINISHED! YAY! I did not get out of my pjs once or step foot into the cold, lots of oreos and Dr. Pepper were consumed, no television until now was watched, and it's officially time for some mac and cheese. I say a pretty productive-ish day:) HA!

February 10: Alicia Zellner is excited about today! Ready to enjoy a lesson on hot and cold... Enjoy some hot chocolate with marshmallows... Then some painting with a twist! Happy Thursday!



Alicia Zellner says, seriously painting with a twist rocks my socks off! What an awesome girls night with such great friends!



February 11: Alicia Zellner is excited about a fun girls movie night with her work ladies! We will be viewing psycho 1 and 2 while enjoying yummy treats such as queso, 7 layer dip, pizza, and strawberry short cake for dessert! Yay!



Had a fabulous night! Now off to bed and hopefully sleeping in if the dogs will allow... I have Sally and her sweet little girl Harley coming over for a fun ladies afternoon tomorrow!



February 12: What a fun day with my Gathings girls! Now ready for a fabulous date night with my hubs! Enjoying some wonderful buca di beppo for dinner! Yay for such a wonderful Saturday!



February 13: Alicia Zellner spent a wonderful morning in church then served in joyland serving 3 year olds with her husband.



Now back to finish some buca di beppo for lunch, watch some movies, blog and spend some time with my cute fam of four!

Gathings Girls!

Saturday afternoon, I got to spend some amazing time with my sweet Gathings Girls! Sally and sweet little Harley came over to spend the afternoon with me. We enjoyed some desserts, wine, and of course as always some amazing conversation with a great girlfriend and her absolutely adorable 2 month old. Here are some pictures from our afternoon.

Sweet little Harley

She's absolutely Prrrr-fect! I loved her cute little kitty outfit!

As always I love spending time and am so blessed to have such sweet friends. I am absolutely looking forward to our next visit with these lovely ladies and continuing to see miss Harley grow.

Gathing Visit & Sweet Baby Harley!

On December 8, 2010, sweet baby Harley Gathings was brought into this world. At 7 lbs 5 oz of pure adorableness... I was so excited to officially meet this sweet girl and get to catch up with her amazing mama and daddy. This afternoon we officially had the opportunity and I absolutely couldn't wait. After our ABF Sunday school class, a morning in Joyland serving 3 year olds, and a quick stop for lunch we made our way to the Gathings home to visit and see this precious lady. At almost seven weeks she sat there absolutely perfect and with the cutest chubby cheeks in the world. I am so excited to see how much she's grown in this short time, am excited to continue to watch her grow, and spend more quality time with this super sweet family.

Sally is my dear sweet friend from Checkpast, my previous place of employment. She is such a wonderful person and was a great companion, source of entertainment, side kick, venting partner, lunch buddy, and role model. We definitely had over two years of really amazing memories that I couldn't be more thankful for. Both Ray and I have had a wonderful time getting to know both Sally and her husband Paul and are looking forward to having more time with them as well as their cute new addition. To the super sweet family of three or five if you include their two pups... congrats again on such a wonderful adventure! Sally I'm looking forward to seeing you again very soon:) oh and I'm totally ok with changing diapers:)

After our fun visit with friends, Ray and I returned home but not before we stopped for icees. How did you spend your Sunday?

She's Having a Baby

Little Miss Harley Raider Gathings will be born on December 8, 2010... and I couldn't be more excited. This afternoon after work, I drove to Checkpast to help celebrate Sally's work baby shower. What a special treat! This shower was filled with so much love, precious decor, and pink of course! Here are a few fun pictures from the party.

Sweet pink flower arrangement

Delicious cake to mimic the bedding

Sally at her sweet work baby shower

Sally too is our one of a kind. Congrats again mama:)

We cannot wait for this sweet girl to make her arrival. May God truly bless the Gathings family
for all of their new adventures to come.

Here's to my old Checkpast Ladies... oh how I love and miss you all but wish you luck in your futures! May you all remember our lunches, 4 o'clock emergen-c sessions, Brother's Pizza, Friday breakfasts, theme parties, and so much more! Love you all:)