May 2010

May flew by!!! I had my first official Mother’s day! It was very sweet. I got cards and flowers and a new cell phone! (still haven’t figured out how to really use it- HA)


We were preparing getting Bryan ready for his TAKS test. He passed with commended! (that means he missed less than 3 questions) We are SOOO proud of him. His graduation ceremony was soooo sweet. We are so proud of our little man. We took him to Dave and Buster’s to celebrate graduation and his awesome job on his TAKS test. He LOVED IT and told us we were the best parents ever! LOL

April 2010

April was a FUN filled month! We really need that after the last few months!


Started off with EASTER! One of my favorite holidays. 2 weeks before Easter Bryan started reminding us that we need to get him an Easter basket. We heard this EVERYDAY and anytime we went to the store… “can we get my basket now Mom?”


Easter morning we woke Bryan up so he could see what the Easter bunny had left. Well that little turkey came out and didn’t see his basket (It’s tradition for David to hide the basket) and said “can we do this later I don’t want to do this right now” – OHHH so the kid who has been reminding us for WEEKS that he wanted/needed a basket is now not interested in the basket…I don’t think so son. We obviously told him no and made him find his basket. Once he found it he then went outside to find the yard COVERED in eggs! (Yes I went a little overboard I know but hey it was fun and I couldn’t contain myself) :D.

Speaking of turkey’s…we had one move into the neighborhood. I LOVED getting woke up at 6am every morning to “gobble gobble gobble” See video and pictures below. I can say after 2 weeks the turkey found a new home…(we hope)

Video of Turkey Alarm Clock:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldGQ-DZ8qjk

I also had a dear friend Kim and her kids come in from Abilene. She is one of my oldest friends and I just love her to pieces. Mom and Paul came over and we cooked out and the kids had a good time together.

April was also the birthday month for another dear friend of mine. We dropped Bryan off at my Mom’s for the night and David and I headed out to Camille’s dirty thirty party. We had a blast and so did Camille!

Also in April I finally had to break down and get glasses L I don’t look too bad do I?

March 2010

March was spent packing and unpacking. We moved into our new house March 9th. It’s a 4 bedroom 2100 sq ft house. We fell in LOVE with it. It has a HUGE backyard that the dogs just LOVE. It was so cute seeing them run around. They have never had a yard. We have always lived in apartments since we had them. They were used to leashes and not being able to run too far. We absolutely LOVE being in a house. It’s so quiet…no pesky neighbors beside or above that we can hear through the walls.

On March 10 momma # 2 Mary Jo Montgomery was called home and lost her battle to cancer. I cannot tell you how much that woman did for me. She was at EVERY big event and most of the small events we had growing up. She never missed a play, choir, or orchestra concert. She would always bring us flowers. She was our babysitter when Mom and Dad need a date night. She helped me get ready for EVERY formal I went to in high school and always had a dozen red roses for me. She cried as much as my mom if not more when I graduated high school. Her house was “home” when my parents moved to Midland after I graduated and I would come back to Abilene to visit while in college. SHE WAS SO EXCITED I MET DAVID! She loved him. She was so honored that we asked her son Stephen to be in our wedding. (WE were honored because he said YES) It still hurts so bad. She is family as far as I’m concerned. It is no different than losing a family member.


When we got to Abilene for her funeral we were embraced by her family. We had never met her mother or sisters (they all live in Chicago). They knew exactly who we were and told us she talked about us all the time and loved us like we were her own. We knew that. Mary Jo was a PRECIOUS woman. I am so blessed to have had her in my life for 23 years. She taught me SOOO much. The one thing I learned over the few days we were with her family is that the pillow I made for her was the ONLY pillow she would use. They struggled with wanting to lay her to rest with the pillow. Her son wanted to keep it because it meant so much to his Mother. I was HONORED and touched beyond belief at how much that pillow meant to her and her family. The service was beautiful just as she was.

Feb 2010

David and I started looking at houses…what a long painful process this was!!!! WE FOUND ONE! We loved it! We moved in March 9th.


David had his birthday on the 27th. I was sneaky and contacted Lori (the lady who made our FABULOUS wedding cakes) and asked her to make David a cake for his birthday. David had no idea I was doing this. I had to spill the beans though b/c we had to drive about 45 mins to dripping springs to pick up the cake.


David enjoyed his birthday. We spend the day together just he and I. Sat he went and played golf with Paul . Mom and I had a girls day and went and got our nails done. J

Jan 2010

This year did not start our good for us. My mother’s best friend and Momma #2 to me was diagnosed with stage 4 inoperable brain cancer. It was a shock to everyone. She was just at our wedding and was FINE. We all took a trip to see her in mid January. We made a scrapbook for her. She was so scared of losing her memory and not knowing who anyone was. I made her a pillow with her name on it. It meant the WORLD to her. See Feb post for details on that.


Some brighter things in January…


The Longhorns made it to the National Championship game. A dear friend of ours came over and watched the game with us. STUNK our horns lost but it was a well played game. We are very proud of our horns.


I officially changed my name from Stewart to Reed J and it only took 90 mins of waiting at the social security office.


I discovered Jet Puff again! Eating a peanut butter and JetPuff Marshmellow sandwhich brought me back to my child hood! SO YUMMY!


David finished up his flag football season 8-0.

We had an unexpected visit from the kids. Cyndi (their mom) her dad passed away of cancer in early Dec. He lived in Hillsboro which is about 80 miles north of us. She came in and picked up Bryan. The weekend before they left to go back to NM we got to keep the kids. It was nice having them…just wished it was under different circumstances.

It was our year to have the kids for Christmas. There 2 week stay was jam packed with things to do. The day we picked them up from the airport we went to Waco to have Christmas with my Aunt and Uncle. They took us to a glass blowing shop where we blew Christmas ornaments. It was sooo neat and then ornaments turned out BEAUTIFUL. I think we started a new family tradition. Mom and Paul brought the kids back to Round Rock and David and I stayed in Waco to watch the Cowboys at my Aunt and Uncles. We really enjoy spending time with me. When we got back to Round Rock to pick up the kids from Mom’s Bryan was complaining his tummy was hurting. Poor thing had the SAME stomach bug I had in Nov. Luckily it wasn’t as bad for him as it was for me. 2 nights later Kaitlyn had it followed by another 36 hours Kyle had it. I stayed FAR away and made David deal with all of it. Luckily for him he never caught it.

We took the kids to see Avatar in 3D at the Alamo Draft house. A first for everyone in the family but me. The kids and David thought it was so cool you could order “real” food and they brought it to you in your seat. I defintley recommend going to a draft house to see a movie. Yes it can be extremely pricey…especially with a family of 5 but EVERYONE enjoys it.

We spent Christmas eve with my Mom and Paul. We did the traditional Christmas eve service at their church followed by opening all sorts of crazy presents at Mom’s. We ALL (yes David and I too) got spoiled this year. Kyle’s big gift was a flip cam. Bryan’s didn’t really have a BIG gift that I can remember but he had lots more gifts then Kyle and Kaitlyn. (parents spend the same amount on each kid) Kaitlyn’s big gift was a keyboard. David and I received a couple of big gifts. We got a camcorder and a wolf gang puck griddle/grill that we just LOVE. Christmas morning Aunt Lisa and my Dad came over and watched everyone open presents. The kids surely get spoiled now having a “step” family.

Nov 09

Continued tailgating for our longhorns.

Got a HORRIBLE stomach bug that landed me in the hospital for 5 days. Was 12 hours away from having exploratory surgery before everything straightened out.

We spent Thanksgiving with my Dad’s family in San Antonio. It was great seeing all of them.

Me James Bevo and Camille (James is the one who throws the tailgates every year)

Me and Camille

Marcie Me and Camille

Bryan and Carolyn

Camille and I