.:The Brooks Family:.

It has been way too long!

2009-02-13T23:28:00.000-08:00

Boy, oh boy. where do I even start? It has been way too long since I have posted anything and things are changing daily. I started school at the beginning of January and have been so busy since then, there is no time for anything else. One of my projects for a class, is this "sacred space" I choose this walkway that Gayle, my good friend, took me to walk the dogs. It is, now, me and Me'sha's favorite place to go! Its a place to just walk and not stress about anything, so the pictures below are from our outings!

Then it snowed and I got some really cool pictures!

My Me'sha Girl!

So, I threw Shane a huge party for his 21st Birthday at our house! Here are some pics! it was too fun, but I think we drank too much! eek!

Me and my brother!

Sam and Scott

Anna and Rebekah

My mom!

Shane needed a tattoo!

He ended up sleeping on Me'sha's bed!

So, a couple other things we have been up to...Shane was laid off about two weeks ago and has been job hunting/doing odds and ends for my dad and a couple family friends. He has been waiting on orders from the military as it is almost CERTAIN that he will be shipping to Iraq in April. (well he will be in Georgia until July, then to Iraq)...so life has taken its turn and we are taking one day at a time...that's all we can do!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

2008-12-23T16:32:00.000-08:00

Well, first off, since it is almost Christmas Eve...Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you have a great holiday!!

so....Its been snowing and I LOVE IT! We stayed home all weekend, except for outings to the store and up to dad's for a bit. I got some pretty good pictures of Me'sha (who LOVES the snow by the way) and the house!

We are still settling in, but thank goodness the wood stove is in! It has been keeping us nice and toasty!

I made it to work all last week as did Shane but yesterday we both stayed home as we just thought there was TOO much snow :) I enjoyed it! I think we have at least a good 8 inches! Dad had over a foot and Shane's parents have at least a foot and a half. That should be interesting gettin up there on Christmas eve....We will probably have to walk! UGH!

I have to say Shane and I are loving having our OWN place for the first time and for the holidays, its even better! Its fun to do things our own way!

Our First Tree! Ya, its not too big...

Me'sha wants to go play!!

By the fire...

Cody's car up at dads...Dad's HOUSE!Our poor Christmas lightsOur walk way! looks kinda cool!Icicles!

So, its been awhile...

2008-12-06T15:25:00.000-08:00

alright, I haven't written in a while. Things have just been crazy! let's see...So, the 14th of November we got the keys to our house and the work began. We painted our kitchen - one wall red, our bedroom - one wall blue, the living room is now green and our bathroom is a tanish color! That took a good week and a half with work and all the other craziness of life. So we finally moved in the day before Thanksgiving... Mom came over and cooked for us and her boyfriend on Thanksgiving while I worked on the many boxes! I wish I would have gotten pictures of that first night! Our living room was absolutely stuffed full of boxes and furniture! I am loving the house and it is slowly getting put together. I have made numerous trips to Ikea trying to find the right curtains! I think I finally got them! Ha Ha! The last room to finish, well besides the guest bath that we don't pay much attention to is our room and bath! ha ha! We bought a new washer and dryer and they are coming on MONDAY! I am so excited! I need to do laundry! Other than that, we are just settling in, got some christmas lights up! and working like crazy! Shane's army christmas lunch-in is tomorrow and that should be fun! along, with my work party/ babyshower for Jamie. I truely know the meaning of the crazy holiday season! hope all is well!

Our house with lights!! So exciting!

Colt and Candice's Wedding

2008-11-16T19:26:00.000-08:00

yesterday, my cousin Colt and his fiance, Candice tied the knot! Congrats guys! It was beautiful! They had the ceremony in a Catholic Church in Forest Grove and the Reception was at The Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club, AMAZING! The food was great! The flowers and Center Pieces were lovely and Everyone had a great time, I could tell ;)! (Oh, Candice, I know you will have a ton of pictures, but I have some if you wanna see them, let me know!)

Before the wedding...

Dad and Gramps

Cody and Kasey

The Church

Our handsome Groom waiting for his bride!

Giving away the Bride.

The Groomsmen

The lovely Bridesmaids

"You may now kiss the bride!"

The Center Pieces, so pretty!

Dad and I

TOASTS!

THE FIRST DANCE!

Wrong way, buddy!

Mother and Father of the Groom

Our adorable Bride!

The Goofy Groom!

WE HAVE KEYS!

2008-11-15T09:36:00.000-08:00

So we signed the papers on Thursday and officially as of yesterday, WE ARE HOME OWNERS!! We cannot wait! Today, I have my cousin's wedding, but after that, I think I will be over there painting! We got some sweet colors at Home Depot. I will post pictures soon! Until then, SEE YA!!

THE LOAN FINALLY APPROVED!

2008-11-09T09:13:00.000-08:00

So, we have been playing this really long waiting game. We put the offer in on the house at the beginning of October and we have waited and waited for the loan to go through. Shane got a new job and ended up telling the broker. She had to rush a new loan through and had to extend our closing date. We just found out Friday it was accepted and We will be closing this week!!! YAY! we are so excited! We will be in before Thanksgiving, meaning we get to spend the holidays there! Cannot wait to decorate!!!

I am completely intrigued!!!

2008-11-03T16:31:00.000-08:00

So after all this time, Micaela has been telling me to read this series. I wasn't so sure about the vampire thing...but OMG! this book was absolutely amazing! I finished it in a week, that's 500 pages!! I am kinda proud of myself! I cannot wait for the second book to come, I ordered it on Amazon! It should be good! I will keep you all posted! I am addicted!

If you haven't read it, READ THEM!!!

Thanks Jess -- I have been tagged!

2008-10-29T12:23:00.000-07:00

So honestly, since I am new at this, I had no idea there was such a thing! But...

Here's how you play: Once you've been 'tagged', you have to write a blog of 7 weird / random facts/ habits/goals about yourself. At the end choose 6 people to be tagged, listing their names. You can't tag the person who tagged you, since you can't tag me back - let me know when you've posted your blog so I can see your answers.

1. When I was young, my parents put me in those tot gymnastic classes. When I was in the 4th grade, I taught myself how to do a backwalkover and after that I was placed in another class at the gym. I ended up competing for four years at levels five and six!

2. I secretly love getting up early, but love to sleep in too! Does that make sense? I have to be to work at 445 am and I don't mind it, but on the weekends, I love sleeping in!

3. I really want to finish school. I have attended PSU for 3 years and I still don't have any clue as to what I want to be or do. sigh.

4. When I was a baby, my mom took me to this modeling audition and my picture was on the box of a child's toy!

5. I am a myspace whore! I am addicted! ugh. this isnt much better though...all these posts..

6. My arms and fingers are double jointed! Gross right? My arms bend further than straight (look at my profile pictue) and my fingers bend at the top joint, closest to the nail, while the rest of the finger is straight...kinda weird.

7. I could live off mashed potatoes! And cheese. My two absolute favorite foods!

ok, so I only have two friends here and one tagged me. So, I guess I tag: Candice (soon-to-be) Guillory

Just Feeling Blessed. :)

2008-10-23T20:50:00.000-07:00

I have been doing alot of thinking about family and all the blessings Shane and I have recieved in the last couple months! So, I thought I would just write a couple thank you's.

Dad-

You are truely amazing! If it wasn't for you, Shane

and I would not have the opportunity to buy this house

and have the wedding we had! We appreciate all

of what you have done for us! I

love you to pieces and am so thankful

for the relationship that we have :) Thank

you for all the support and love over the years too.

Mom -

Thank you for all your support and help for the last few months

up until the wedding, we truely appreciate all the running

around and helping you did to prepare for our big day. Thank

you for the room allowing us to save money! You made things

possible and we love you dearly! :)

And last but not least, my hubby!

You have made my life wonderfully full of excitement

and some stress, but that happens :) The wedding was

wonderful and you are amazing! Thank you for keeping

me in one piece before and after the wedding. Thank

you for keeping my head level when I wanted to

explode! I love you always & forever!

Candice's Bridal Shower

2008-10-20T16:27:00.000-07:00

My cousin and his fiance are getting married on the 15th of November, so my aunt and I threw Candice a shower! It was a lot of fun. I was in charge of games, so we got to know our bride-to-be and created our own wedding dresses! (out of toliet paper) There were lovely snacks and she got lots of great gifts! I am more than excited to see their beautiful wedding to come!!

Lovely Snacks:

Our Cousin Shega as model One:

Candice's Mom as Model Two:

Our lovely Toliet Paper Models!

Cousin Christina and baby Rene

GIFTS GALORE!!

Just an Update...

2008-10-18T21:02:00.000-07:00

Hmm... let's see...
Shane and I are patiently waiting to sign the final papers for the house..Things are in process, the inspection went well, the appraisal went good, and we found out we will be getting 1500 dollars back to fix the roof and a couple other things that need to be done (the owners told us they would do them before closing, but there is not enough time). We were okay with doing it ourselves and the CASH!! The house has wall heaters as the source of heating the house, so we want to put in a wood stove in the living room. Thanks to my dad, we can use his older one that will do the job we need it to do!! That will save us so much money in the long run too!

What else? My cousin and his fiance are getting married in a month, so my aunt and I are throwing a bridal shower for her tomorrow! I was put in charge of the games...I got some good ones! I will post some pictures of the events! I cannot wait to see their wedding either!

Other than that, our lives are still full of chaos as we work almost every day and try to save as much as we can for the upcoming months. I am working toward managment position at work. I am completing my first schedule and doing the shopping list, plus trying to keep our small, yet busy shop clean and in order! We are definitely keeping busy!

I will post pictures soon! until later...

The House and Inspection

2008-10-09T19:58:00.001-07:00

YAY!!! I got photos of our soon-to-be house!! Its definitely nice, but we had the inspection and there are a few smaller things wrong as there would be with any house! I am so excited to move in! I should have gotten a photo of the back yard, but I can add those later. So, a bit about the inspection... my dad works in construction and knows alot of people that are involved in houses! He had a friend do the inspection, well he was super nice and very thorough. There was a few issues under the house with posts, but dad said it was an easy fix (it will only take MONEY - and we don't have much). The guest bath needs the facet in the sink and shower tightened or just plain new ones. And the roof had a couple issues, but thank goodness Shane did some roofing work a couple summers ago and could take care of most of it!! I am waiting for the report now and we will be signing papers soon!!

Guest Bathroom

Kitchen
Dining Room
Living Room
Master Tub and Sink
Master Walk-in Closet
Master Potty and Stall shower

Master

Bedroom #1 - there is another bedroom, but it looks just like this!

HONEYMOONERS!!!

2008-10-06T19:05:00.000-07:00

So I figured since I posted wedding pics, I better post some honeymoon ones too! So, here they are! We had so much fun and met some really cool people: Jessica and CJ and Stephanie and Joey! We went on a seven day cruise to the Carribean where we sailed to Grand Caymen, Honduras, Belize, and Cozumel!!! We ate way too much and Shane had a little too much to drink in Mexico. Our poor room attendants :( ha ha!! We danced in the deck party! BLUE, THERE IT IS!! We played BINGO before the night shows, and almost won $700 one night. The waters were GOREGOUS and the beaches were covered in white sand, imagine that! We wish we were still on vacation and want to take another cruise VERY soon!!

Wedding Pics!

2008-10-06T14:28:00.000-07:00

Our wedding was amazing (and I am not trying to brag). I was so happy with the outcome and it was simply more than I could have ever wanted!! So, I figured I should post some photos, these are just a few so if you want to see the HUGE gallery: www.alderbrookimaging.net/guillory_wedding

My Maid of Honor, Connie!

Me and Jojo being Goofs!

Liz and I

Gayle!

First Time seeing him!

The Older Boys

All the Girls!

Both Families!

My baby Brother!

Love this one!

Our Flower Girls

Our Tables

Our Cake!!

Our Guestbook

Me and Daddy

Ok, so our first dance was not your traditional dance! :)
Shane doing "Hound Dog""The Twist"Running man!How about a little "Thriller"?My brother and his girlfriend, Kasey

We Signed on A HOUSE!!!

2008-10-05T10:44:00.000-07:00

ok, I know this is the first post, but since we have been home from the honeymoon for two weeks now (I will post some pics) I thought I would start with our more recent, most EXCITING NEWS!! WE SIGNED ON A HOUSE!! Our inspection is Tuesday and if all goes well, we will finalize all the paper work! It is in St. Helens on a quiet street. There is a back yard for our beloved companion Me'sha. We will have to fix the fencing, but not a big deal. The living area is good sized with a HUGE kitchen and dining area! OOO and it has vaulted ceilings! Our master has a walk-in closet and a big soaking tub! There are two other bedrooms and another bathroom! We cannot wait to have our own place! I will get some photos when I can!