The Brocks

25 weeks!

2011-12-30T08:33:00.003-06:00

How far along? 25 weeks
Baby's size: 13.5 inches head to toe :)
Maternity clothes? Yes yes yes. Stomach shows if not, all shirts are now too short! and....just bought the largest bras in Victoria's Secret. not exaggerating. this is not cool!!
Stretch marks? nope
Sleep: still can't seem to wake up at a decent hour... but in the opposite way! 5:45 and 6 am are now familiar times to me. goodbye sleep!
Best moment this week: Laine and Jill got to feel her kick while they were home which was fun! I also get to feel her kickboxing sessions regular and wonder what in the world someone that little could be doing in there to be kicking and punching that hard! Started our registry this week, which was fun, exhausting, and overwhelming! (mom had to buy me a "maternity support" in the middle of it, basically a back brace that holds up your stomach. i proudly wore it all around the store, ha!). Seriously looking at cribs, strollers and car seats now, feeling more and more like real parents!!
Movement: yep, lots! she's even started to move some when I'm not completely still. very strong, energetic little one!
Food cravings: not really. trying to eat a lot of protein bc I'm told it makes you feel better and you need it anyways. Drinking a lot of milk and chocolate milk. mmm!
Anything you loved before that you absolutely cannot eat anymore?: coffee isn't very appetizing unless its something fancy from starbucks
Have you started to show yet: yes, very much so! lots of tummy touching and questions about baby from everyone :) its fun! (but also crazy to see yourself in the mirror and realize you look like that!)
Gender prediction: still girl :) we do have one more sonogram in the next couple weeks, so we can double check then!
Labor Signs: nope
Belly Button in or out? in, but somehow it kinda looks out at times through shirts
Wedding rings on or off? Off! still wearing my substitute ring, even it is tight at times now. yikes.
Happy or Moody most of the time: happy. Mostly very happy and excited but much more tired than i have been. Happy tears threaten often, definitely have my moody moments though!
Weekly Wisdom: This girl is going to be here before we know it!! Everything seems to be coming fast now. Also, she is somehow already so cute!! :)
Milestone: Losing the ability to sleep well. I guess I'm officially pregnant now. :) And little girl is past the 24 week viability mark which we are very excited about! :) Also, first Christmas of our lives with a little one (sort of). So much fun! We definitely got lots of pink stuff!! Thanks family!!

Baby Brock!

2011-12-12T21:53:00.002-06:00

How far along? 22 weeks 3 days
Baby's size: 11 inches head to toe :)
Maternity clothes? Yep! Or just comfy clothes or longer shirts
Stretch marks? nope
Sleep: can't seem to wake up at a decent hour... But I guess that's normal for me, haha
Best moment this week: Clint and I SAW movement from the outside! It's also now fairly easy to feel if you are patient.
Movement: yep, this girl is very active when I'm still and quiet and seems quite strong already!
Food cravings: not too bad. Oj, sparkling grape juice, grapefruit
Anything you loved before that you absolutely cannot eat anymore?: don't tend to eat as much of the meat in things as I normally would.
Have you started to show yet: oh yeah! Showed our little girl off at a holiday party in a little black dress. Fun!
Gender prediction: found out it was a girl right before thanksgiving! So excited!
Labor Signs: nope
Belly Button in or out? in, but getting shallower by the day!
Wedding rings on or off? Off! Too nervous about getting them stuck! Wearing a fake in a bigger size, haha, it's awkward when I get compliments on it
Happy or Moody most of the time: happy. Mostly very happy and excited but tired. Happy tears threaten often, definitely have my moody moments though!
Weekly Wisdom: shooting weddings is much more emotional, but makes me pray often that this little one will have a hubby as loving as her daddy is. It begins!!!
Milestone: seeing and feeling big movements, loving it! Bought first decoration for her room and the cutest dress ever at h&m! So much fun!!

We love her so much already!!

Bad Bloggers...

2011-03-28T00:59:00.004-05:00

...But we do have a reason.

We now have a wedding film business. And we are doing Apartment Life. And we both have full time jobs. (notice it is 1:06am as I write!)

So we are a little busy. :)

We are loving it though. Not to mention I get to do it all with my wonderful husband - how wonderful! You can see what we've been up to at candlelight-films.com or on our facebook page. It's a blast!

I'm not gonna lie, probably won't be posting again for quite awhile. But thought I'd let you know why! I'll leave you with a fun sneak peek of a recent wedding. Enjoy!

Anna + Josh :: Coming Soon from CandleLight Films on Vimeo.

Summer!!

2010-07-11T17:44:00.002-05:00

These are in the freezer, hardening as we wait!!

I'll let you know how the recipe turns out and will post it if they are good. It's from Everyday Food and sounds yummmmmy! :) Happy Summer!

Saturday morning

2010-06-19T11:11:00.005-05:00

So far today, I:

-sent Clint off to golf with his dad and brother at 6:45AM
-for some reason, did not get back in bed after send off.
-saw Charlie basking in the sunrise in the backyard (we are dogsitting at my parents) and decided to join him with some coffee and a good book.
-yelled at Charlie for spilling my coffee (all over the book, the blanket I had laid out and a Bible) and felt immediate remorse from the sweet look on his sad little face (he was only trying to have some fun!)
-got more coffee, spilled it all over myself as I sat down to read again, and felt more remorse
-read anyway without cleaning up second spill
-noticed GIANT mosquitos circling and decided to read inside (which Charlie was happy with bc he was getting hot anyway)
-read inside, had some diet coke, scrambled eggs, tuna and popsicles as it kept feeling like lunchtime but was only in the nines
-brushed Charlie so he would be pretty for going to Lorie and Rogers later
-Read Acts 1 and was confused about the basic drawing of straws for the new 12th disciple (doesn't that seem weird?!), researched a bit and realized they did not have the Holy Spirit yet, so what else were they to do without Jesus there but pray and trust that God would choose the right straw?
-Decided to look up the verses referred to by Peter as prophesy about Judas and was surprised to find they didnt't refer to Jesus or Judas at all (can you tell I have usually taken their word for it on references to the old testament??)
-Searched for a commentary, found many that skipped over that part of Acts 1, finally found one that said the verses are originally about David, who is a "Christ figure" and his enemies...which makes them allude to Christ and Judas, His "enemy." I guess most places the references are vague like this. I don't know why I thought they were all perfectly obvious before (probably bc I had never looked them up!) Any thoughts on that?
-Read a blog I am currently obsessed with and reading from start to finish like it is a book (Bring the Rain)
-smashed a bug, then left the shoe on top of it until Clint gets home because I do not want to pick it up
-eaten more popsicles (they are only 15 calories!)
-got a text from Clint that he is winning!
-Blogged a play by play of my day because I haven't blogged in 5 weeks and I'm feeling guilty.

Does that sound like a do-whatever-I-want-all-day day so far or what? It has been delightful but also I am not an alone time person for the most part so I am ready for my hubby to get home.

Tonight we are celebrating Father's Day with Lorie and Roger and then on Monday with my family since the rents are in Nashville this weekend.

I hope this weekend is nice for you as well. Isn't the summer weather wonderful?! (from sitting inside in the AC....horrible if you have to be out in it for too long) Something about summer just makes me happy. I'm off to get really sweaty taking Charlie on a walk, but he will be a happy puppy so I don't mind. (and I won't feel so bad about eating an unnamed double digit number of popsicles. yes i am still on the bodybugg bandwagon. i would love for you to get one and let me help you set it up. love it.) Happy saturday to you!

Me and Charlie reading :)

I am BUSY

2010-05-11T18:33:00.002-05:00

Really really really busy!!!

So sorry for my lack of posting, and for the fact that this post will not be cool. Work is crazy right now and at times it is overwhelming working for two different people who both have May as their busiest month of the year. Trying to keep perspective and remember how thankful I am not to have to begin a summer of being the Ambassador of Fun in a few weeks. It's already too hot outside for that!! Thank goodness I work inside this summer. :)

Biggest Loser is on tonight and we are getting closer and closer to the finale and I'm just so excited!! Can't wait until 30 more minutes pass and I can watch! The plan is to clean during commercials as our apt is MORE than a wreck. Busyness will do that to an apartment, but even moreso since I'm not great at keeping it clean in the first place. Eek! (some of you may have seen the kitchen picture on facebook after baking my mom an Italian Cream Cake for Mother's Day...the kitchen has improved SLIGHTLY since then, but not much)

If anyone watched the Undercover Boss episode with 7-11, come see Igor at the NEW 7-11 store in our little shopping center by our apartment! We are so excited!! Igor is so cool. He was a delivery driver who was just so thankful for the "American Dream" and being able to get a job. He and his wife worked different shifts and barely saw each other, but he still had so much joy just because he was thankful for what he had. Joe DePinto (the undercover CEO of 7-11) gave him his own 7-11 store at the end of the show - and little did we know it would be in our backyard! Hooray! I love 7-11. Got coffee there this morning and it was splendid!!

We are having VERY annoying internet problems that cause me to have to disconnect the wireless network and reconnect it all the time. The process takes a couple minutes and its really annoying. Hence I haven't wanted to use the internet much as it puts me in a bad mood!

Here is the recipe for the Italian Cream Cake I made. It turned out wonderfully despite a couple of mishaps and redos! (turning on the blender and sending buttermilk everywhere, overbeating the egg whites, realizing I only greased, didn't flour the pans AFTER I put them in the oven and taking them back out, washing the pans, regreasing AND flouring...but it still worked!!)

http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen/recipes/desserts/decadent-italian-cream-cake/

* CAKE BATTER:
* ½ cups Butter, Room Temperature, No Substitutes
* ½ cups Good Shortening
* 2 cups Sugar
* 5 Large Eggs, Separated
* 1 cup Buttermilk
* 1 teaspoon Good Vanilla
* 2 cups All-purpose Flour
* 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
* 1 teaspoon Salt
* 1 cup Shredded Or Flaked Sweetened Coconut
* 1 cup Chopped Pecans

* FOR FROSTING:
* 1 stick Butter, Softened
* 1 package Cream Cheese (8 0z.), Softened
* 1 teaspoon Good Vanilla
* 1 pound Powdered Sugar
* Chopped Pecans For Garnish

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Cream butter, shortening and sugar in a large mixing bowl with electric mixer. Add egg yolks, one at a time, mixing well after each. Add buttermilk and mix well; add vanilla.

Sift flour, baking soda and salt together in a medium bowl; add coconut and pecans and toss together well, then stir into wet ingredients. Mix well by hand.

In another bowl, beat egg whites until stiff. Fold gently into cake batter, then divide batter into 3 greased and floured round cake pans.

Bake 20-25 minutes at 325 degrees, or until lightly browned and cake tests done when a toothpick is inserted near the center. Cool thoroughly on wire racks in pans.

While layers are cooling, prepare frosting. Cream butter and cream cheese together in a medium bowl; add vanilla, and gradually add powdered sugar, beating until smooth.

Carefully remove cakes from pans and brush off crumbs. Place bottom layer on serving plate, top with frosting. Place second layer over first, top with frosting, then place the last layer. Frost the cake, then sprinkle with chopped pecans as desired. You can cheat and make this with a white cake mix, but it’s just not the same.

Keep cake refrigerated.

ENJOY!!!!! (I just stole a piece of my mom's at her house...Mmmmmm!)

Quick, exciting (and sad) updates

2010-04-29T23:34:00.004-05:00

Update #1: I'm still on the bandwagon with the Bodybugg. As of TODAY I have lost exactly 15 pounds since starting my attempt to lost weight using the Bodybugg. It has gotten easier and easier as I have gotten used to eating around 1650 calories a day and now it is just routine. I love it! I didn't really realize how much weight I had lost til I hit this milestone - 15 pounds! Wow. Weights that weigh 15 pounds are pretty heavy. So glad to have that OFF of me!! WAHOOOOO. I'm excited to keep going and hope to lose another 10 and then maybe gain some back in muscle....whenever I decide to start working out. :) Haha. So, there is the update. For some reason, this plan has been one I have been able to stay on, and I'm SO happy about that!

Update #2: Clint and I have officially been married 2 wonderful years! Our "day" was last Sunday and we went to Trulucks to celebrate, but it was a wedding filled weekend with Ashley's wedding and Caroline's wedding shower (and me being sick) so we waited til this weekend to really celebrate. We are off to a beautiful cabin near Beaver's Bend tomorrow at around 4pm!! We are so excited to have a relaxing, do-nothing weekend. It looks like it'll be rainy Saturday, but Sunday we might get in the canoe (the cabin is on a river) or build a fire or even go horseback riding! The cabin has a grill on the deck so we are bringing filet mignon and shrimp (got them at central market today - splurged - can't WAIT to feast on them!!) to make a nice dinner Saturday night. I can't wait to celebrate with my honey. He is so wonderful and I am SO lucky to be married to him. He is sick with what I had last weekend right now, so pray that he starts feeling better quick!!

Update #3: Tux, my childhood dog (a fiesty pomeranian) died today. My grandparents have been his real owners for the past several years and he became so sweet in his old age (if you knew him - he used to be quite the tiny terrorist to visitors in our home, but he grew out of it!). They really really loved him and are sad to see him go. He only weighed 5 pounds and his kidneys were failing. Poor thing. All of us girlfriends got dogs at around the same time in our childhood, and Tux was the last of the group to go. I believe he lived to be between 105 and 112 in dog years. He had a good little life. Goodbye Tuxy - we love you!

Update #4: We are still also on the Dave Ramsey bandwagon. Paid off our taxes we were paying payments on from 2008 this month. One more credit card to go and then all we have is my student loan. Feels good!

Tomorrow is FRIDAY! Happy almost weekend. :)

soooo excited!

2010-04-23T14:14:00.005-05:00

This weekend one of my best friends is getting married! I'm so excited to be a part of her big day! :) Ashley was a bridesmaid in my wedding (2 years minus 1 day ago on her wedding day!) and we were roommates in LA. I love her and am SO excited for her and Casey!!!!! Congratulations you guys!!!

my new way to cook

2010-04-18T20:41:00.004-05:00

... www.supercook.com !!!

this website is AWESOME!! i'm sure there are others like it, but i have not come across one, or at least not one this useful. you go to the site and start typing in some things you currently have in your kitchen. i have used it by first entering the ingredient i'm really wanting to use, like chicken breast or ground beef or strawberries or whatever i'm needing a recipe for. then it will have a list of ingredients it asks you if you have, and you just keep clicking yes and it keeps giving different ones that will help you make more recipes. you can emphasize certain ingredients (i tested it and tried strawberries AND tomatoes emphasized, and it found things with both!) and/or add keywords (side dish, etc). it then lists on the right of the page links to all the recipes online that you can make with the ingredients you already have, or what ingredients you need still to make them if you don't have them all. but generally there are hundreds you can already make which is quite wonderful bc i do not want to go to the store right now, thank you. i have LOVED it!! you know how sometimes you have an ingredient and you just don't feel like those few things you usually make with that ingredient? well this solves and AND helps you be adventurous in cooking!

So far i have used it to:

- find something to make with ground beef when i didn't really even have everything for spaghetti - it gave me a meatball recipe (actually i had several to choose from) and it turned out REALLY yummy. i had never made meatballs before so that was fun. just cooked some pasta and added some sauce and viola! a yummy new dinner.

- find something to use my yummy large shrimp from sprouts. mmmmm i let myself have butter smothered cilantro grilled shrimp and it was amazing! didn't actually even mess up my calories for the day either!

- wanted to try a new zucchini recipe and almost made some "zucchini cakes"... never had anything like them, but i do want to try them sometime!

- wanted something then our other chicken breast regular recipes, found a balsamic herb grilled chicken that was YUM! Clint is becoming an expert griller.

- and now i'm browsing supercook for something to do with my strawberries i need to eat. i don't feel like just chopping them up and adding a bit of splenda like i usually do. i also need to make some tea and am looking for a more exciting drink to make. my options i have narrowed it down to are(and i really haven't been to the store in quite awhile, so my ingredient list is not too large at all!):

for the strawberries:

-strawberry gelato (or balsamic strawberry sorbet, or strawberry foam, or...)
-"puffy dessert omelet" with strawberries
- oatmeal chewy squares
-Bretton butter cake with strawberry topping
-sweet wine fritters
-frosty strawberry dessert

for the drink:

-strawberry lemonade
-rico's passionate pink honey lemonade
-chunky strawberry lemonade

and then i also played around and found tons of apple crumbles, bundt cakes, cookies, etc that i could make right now. so cool. i think im just really excited bc whenever i think of making a recipe i think i have to go to the store to get the ingredients first bc what are the chance that i'll have all the things for whatever i decide to make. and this changes that. so i love it. hopefully i'll update you with new things i cook that supercook helped me find. i did do a play by play with photos of the meatball making, which i will post eventually. mmm i want to make those again!

happy cooking and recipe searching....warning - it can be addictive! :)

i'm addicted!

2010-03-08T21:48:00.006-06:00

I LOVE the kindle for iPhone app. Love. I LOVE to read and have had to curb my habit a bit by only reading about a book a month or so since husbands do not appreciate being completely ignored for several days in a row/wives that have only had 3 hours of sleep bc they read til it was almost morning/making and eating dinner alone/nothing ever getting done except reading. :) When I read a book, I READ a BOOK. Like, only ever read the book. So, I indulge myself every once in awhile when I know of a good book I can sink my teeth into. (the Twilight series really threw us for a loop! that one took extra days...)

Right now our book club is reading "The Help" by Katherine Stockett. I went to Barnes and Noble to find that it is only available in hardback and costs almost $30! In another life, that would not have phased me a bit as it is a BOOK. :) But, I've morphed into a penny pincher in some areas, and that $30 could certainly be spent on 8 starbucks lattes, a shirt, something for the house, or a yummy diner out. After the nice lady at Barnes and Noble showed me where the book was, I put it right back on the shelf and decided it was time for me to try out this kindle app. (After reading about 30 pages of Upton Sinclair's book, "The Jungle." Random, I know. But the quotes in our history books about the horrors of being an immigrant worker in those times flooded back to me when I saw the book - they had always been so interesting. So I decided I needed to take some time and see if I wanted to read the whole thing. I read enough. Too depressing. I hate (most) old timey things so the hour at Barnes and Noble reading about the horrors of old timey-ness really puzzled the husband. In the end, interesting, but too tiring and depressing.)

I looked it up and was pleased to find "The Help" for $8.55 on the FREE kindle app! I tried out a sample of the book on the app for free to make sure I could handle reading only on my iPhone. (We won't mention that I read the entire 5th Twilight saga unreleased book manuscript as a pdf file on my iPhone...). I LOVED IT! Its so easy to use and not weird at all to me to read on there - I do it all day long anyway. Also, its so great bc now I can read anytime during the day. Waiting in line, at a traffic light, waiting for the water to boil.. :) So now I can read a book without being a total recluse and it is wonderful! I fully recommend it, or at least trying it to see what you think.

The book is really great too - not done yet though, about halfway through. But I recommend it also.

Well, I guess I'm off to read on the couch while the hubby, brother and friend play xbox. It's still hanging out, right? :)

my fridge

2010-02-27T17:13:00.001-06:00

...looks like this right now.

and I am quite happy! :)

***update***

I had scheduled this post after I wrote it a few days ago, and sadly...there are now NO DIET COKES in my fridge. I think I have a problem!! Now I am quite sad. :(

I got an award! :)

2010-02-25T19:54:00.000-06:00

I don't really know much about this whole blog award business, but I'm excited to get one! So, here goes...

RULES 1. Post where you would like to be in 10 years

Hmm. 10 years. I always think about where I think I'll be when I get to the expiration date of my credit cards but 10 years! That's a long time. I definitely would want some kiddos (and I have two wonderful girl names I've thought up lately so that would be good to be able to use those...but throw a boy in there too :)) and hopefully will own a home that we are always fixing up (in a good way). I would love to have some sort of entrepreneurial thing going on the side with my hubby. I would love to have grown VERY much from where I am now as a person - less selfish, more generous, less me-controlled, more spirit-controlled. I hope to be better at loving my husband, and to still make time for him and me only often. I want to be fit (for a 36 year old! haha) and be good at feeding my family healthy, yummy foods and teaching my kids to be healthy and to enjoy food. I would also love to own two cars, haha. :) And I'm determined to be debt free! That's about all I've got right now.

2. Pass it on to 10 other special Bloggers!

Hmm. Lauren already gave it to a lot of people, but here are some:

Vicky at http://mckinneypenny.blogspot.com/ for her second attempt at blogging! (I fully understand slackers!!)

Can I give it back to Lauren at http://ricardoandlauren.blogspot.com/ ? She deserves it for giving it to me! :)

I would like to give it to Angela and Abi at http://littleabiwallace.blogspot.com/ because I think it'd be fun to hear about where miss Abi will be in 10 years :)

Annnnnnd everyone else has already been awarded. Ok ok I don't know what I'm doing and I'm not sure there is anyone else I know who would think it would be cool to be awarded this. Sorry I'm not a pro blogger! :) If you would like to take my 7 awards left, please do! Because if you want it, you deserve it!

Bodybugg update

2010-02-23T20:05:00.004-06:00

I realized I haven't talked much about my bodybugg lately and thought some (or most) of you probably were thinking I had fallen off the bandwagon - and with good reason! (Remember the Zone, P90X, etc?) BUT, I am happy to announce that I have NOT! I have been wearing my bodybugg and entering my food religiously now since Christmas. That's 9 weeks! And, what's even more exciting - I've lost about 9 pounds! My goal is to have lost 12 pounds by March 12 (not for any real reason, just bc when you set up the bodybugg program, it creates a 3 month goal for you with a certain amount lost each week). After that, I will create another 3 month program and keep on going! :)

On another note, I "sold" a coworker on getting a bodybugg and I'm helping her set it up this weekend. So excited! I'll keep you updated on how I'm doing with it more often now that I've realized it would be a good idea! Good accountability. :)

I'm even toying with the idea of promising to post my "before" pictures with some "after" pics once I meet my goal. But I would have to be quite a brave woman to promise that!! Clint and I took some intentionally unflatteringly lit before photos in swimming suits before we started P90X awhile back. I can assure you that NO ONE will EVER see them if there is not a pretty dang good after photo to put next to it. Even if there is, I'm not sure I could bear it. Who wants to look at a pic of themselves in a swimsuit at a time of life when they've decided they need to lose 20 pounds?! But we shall see! :)

Clint ordered me a pink strap to accessorize with for v-day, they had not come out with colors when I got my bodybugg. :) I'm loving it!

I also thought I would start adding a little structure to my blog with some tips/helpful ideas/takeaways from the Brock's life posts. So here are a couple tips/ways I've been keeping my calories down! (my goal each day is to eat 1650 cals or less and to burn 2250 or more. Most days I eat about right but some days if I sat around all day I do not burn as many as I'm supposed to).

-SOUP. Soup is awesome. I mostly eat Campbell's, but it's almost a guarantee that anywhere you go, soup is a good choice. I do not even really go for the "healthy request" Campbells bc I don't like them that much and the calories in the reeeeally yummy ones - think Chicken Corn Chowder - are not all that bad. Most are under 400 for the whole can. So that is what I do a lot of days for main course for lunch at work.

-Lean Pockets. 290 calories, and I think they are yummy. Amy's burritos are also good but cost twice as much. Another good lunchtime main course staple.

-I can't just eat those things at lunchtime though. I always want more/something else. So I bring things that are low in calories to go with it so I don't feel deprived. Individual diced fruit cups (80 cals), Chewy granola bars (90-100 cals), sugar free jello pudding (60 cals), an apple (100 cals or so), cutie oranges (35 cals), oatmeal sometimes for breakfast or a snack (160 cals), great value yogurt - GOOD and only 38 cents! (80 cals), or even a piece of candy (50-100 cals). I'll just bring one or two of these and I feel quite happy all day.

-At Starbucks I order it skinny and/or with no whip sometimes, but I really like my drinks there with whip, so a lot of times I will just go all out and make sure not to snack as much in the evening. It works out.:)

-For dinner/evening I try to have around 1000 calories left. Usually I'll eat 500-800 of them at dinner and then I like to have snack room left. But with 800 calories, you can really eat almost anything. Most meals at Olive Garden, notoriously bad for you, top out at about 2000 calories. So, if you split the meal (and they are giant!) you end up about right. At home, unless you are frying food or making something that is mostly cheese or cream (or eating too much food in general - I was before!), its pretty easy to stay under 800 as well. But, I will say we have a food scale and I do alot of weighing on it to make sure I'm entering the right amount of food into the program.

-I eat a LOT of sugar free 15 calorie popsicles. They are awesome. Dreyer's also has some real fruit ones that are 25 cals each but they are a splurge pricewise. We almost always have popsicles in the house.

-I still eat cereal occasionally, but I measure out a serving (usually 1 cup, sometimes 3/4) so I know what I'm eating.

-I enter my food I've eaten before eating something else. Otherwise I will enter my food and end up seeing that I ate too many calories and I underestimated. I can enter food on any computer so that isn't too hard to do multiple times a day.

-Deli turkey meat. So low in calories and so fulfilling and GOOD! We usually have cajun style and honey roasted. Mmmm I had 3 slices today as a snack when I got home from work. :)

-Hot tea with splenda and a bit of milk. Constant Comment Green or regular. YUM.

Wow, this is a long post! Sorry about that. I hope you skimmed through if you don't care about food tips! I'm planning on updating more regularly about what I'm eating and maybe working out (which I don't do that much but am starting to more now). Maybe that will help me not have bad weeks where I kinda give up (Valentine's weekend made that week a no-pounds-lost week...oops!).

Thanks for listening! I'm so enjoying STAYING on the bandwagon this time. It's a much better feeling! I'm also staying on the blogging bandwagon better this time too! Hooray!

Happy Tuesday! Have a great week! :)

solving the mystery...

2010-02-21T20:35:00.015-06:00

..of poached eggs. Never had one, never made one, never really understood them.

The inspiration:

Everyday Food magazine. They insisted that poached eggs were easy and that you could put them on/with anything. We bought an 18 pack of eggs on our last grocery run and had lots left, so I decided it would be fun to try.

I made a little english muffin-mozzarella-tomato-spinach-toast thing to try eggs with. Turned out looking YUMMY!

I asked hubby if he wanted to try my first attempt and he asked if I was making another one. When I said I was, he said he would like to try the second attempt. Ha! But he isn't too fond of things that are mushy and runny and seem like they might be undercooked, (even moreso when his wife is telling him she doesn't know what these are supposed to look like when they are done) so it was still sweet of him to give it a try on round two.

First try:

I thought it was pretty darn good and ate the whole thing. :) I had to leave it in the water longer than it said because I don't think I let it get hot enough before I put the egg in. But all in all, it seemed good to me!

Egg #2: Hubby did try this one and thought it was pretty good. The english muffin combo was dang good with it! (Lucky for me, he only wanted the one bite, so I got to eat the rest!) Looks like I almost broke the yolk, but it held, yay!

And egg #3...perfection!

I happily finished off this one as well. :)

So, poached eggs are quite wonderful, and I think I might try some other recipes with them another time. Still not sure I did it exactly right, but they were good enough in my opinion. Maybe I'll have to order eggs benedict next time I go out for breakfast. :)

Since hubby wasn't too fond of the eggs, he opted for this:

Which he insisted on eating out of the saucepan, as he always does. Very manly. To each his own!

Happy Sunday evening! Have a great week!

Love :)

2010-02-15T20:18:00.008-06:00

What a wonderful Valentine's weekend! We relaxed a lot, saw Aunt Lea and Uncle Jake who were in town from Amarillo, watched the Olympics, and celebrated!

On Saturday when I got back from Ashley's shower (fun!) I found this:

What a sweet husband I have. (That little candy is a ring pop, my favorite!)

That evening we went to Kara (Clint's step sister) and Jason's house to hang out with Aunt Lea and Uncle Jake who were in town. Jason had smoked a bunch of meat including ribs and it was soooo good!! I even accepted their offer to give me some to take home and didn't share any of the leftovers with Clint. Poor thing! :) Now I want a smoker! (It turns out Aunt Lea had to go to the hospital last night unexpectedly for what they thought was a heart attack, but it didn't end up being one. So keep her in your prayers.) We had a great time with the kiddos too!

The next morning Clint found two pettifores from Stein's (his favorite) and a funny Valentine's card. He also started my morning right with this:

MMMmmmm. I love these. He gave me one in my stocking at Christmas and I was hooked.

I also gave him a Starbucks card...I've had one since Christmas that I have been using and I know he was jealous, haha, so it was the perfect gift! :)

We enjoyed a very relaxing day including lunch at Aboca's - an amazing hole in the wall Italian restaurant you MUST try if you live in Richardson - with Clint's dad. Thanks Keith! :)

After moving back the reservation from 7:30 to 8 because I wasn't ready yet, we headed to Koto for some yummy sushi. It's just right by our apartment, so we walked which was fun but FREEZING. We had a great time and were so glad that it turned out to be really yummy! It was our first time to try this place and we were pleased. We ordered off of a special valentine's menu that included the "Lover's Roll" which was even wrapped in pink soy paper. So cute!

The calamari and rock shrimp were also quite tasty. It was a lot of fun! I love my cute husband so much! :)

He confessed that he had just shoved the flowers in the vase however he could get them to fit, so I had some fun arranging them. I've always loved arranging flowers! So pretty! Can't wait to see them bloom.

Happy love day! :)

a day for soup

2010-02-11T22:03:00.005-06:00

I just made this soup, which I made once last year (thanks to Katy's wonderful wedding present, a year of Cooking Light) and somewhat forgot about. The snow today made me want soup, and I remembered how good this was, googled it, and found it while at Target. :) Bought the stuff I didn't have, and came home and made it while Clint hung things on our walls. Yay for snowy days and warm soup and staying inside!

I modified the recipe a little bc Target was charging like $2.69 per bell pepper and we don't even like them that much, so I didn't put them in (except for the ones in the can of corn). Also they didn't have Serrano peppers and I googled them and they are hotter than jalepenos, so I substituted with mostly poblano (bc I knew they had a good flavor) and a little jalepeno (who knew a fresh jalepeno was like, 6 cents?!) to put a little heat back into it. The poblano pepper was a perfect substitute as it kinda filled in for the bell peppers too. YUM!!! It is very creamy despite the fact that there is no cream in it. The little flour at the beginning and the potatoes go a long way. I ate WAY more than a serving!!!

Ingredients

* 2 tablespoons butter (I used smart balance and some calorie free oil spray)
* 1 cup chopped green onions
* 1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
* 2 tablespoons finely chopped serrano chile (about 1 small)
* 1 (4.5-ounce) can chopped green chiles, undrained
* 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
* 1 1/2 cups 2% reduced-fat milk
* 1 1/2 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
* 1 1/2 cups frozen Southern-style hash brown potatoes, diced, thawed
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
* 1 (15.25-ounce) can whole-kernel corn with red and green peppers, drained
* 1 pound peeled and deveined small shrimp
* 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

Preparation

Melt butter in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onions, bell pepper, and serrano chile to pan; sauté 2 minutes or until tender, stirring frequently. Add canned chiles to pan; cook 1 minute. Add flour to pan; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in milk and next 5 ingredients (through corn); bring to a boil. Cook 5 minutes or until slightly thick. Stir in shrimp; cook 1 minute or until shrimp are done. Remove from heat; stir in cilantro.

Nutritional Information
Serving Size: 1 cup

Calories: 212
Fat: 6.7g (sat 3.4g,mono 1.5g,poly 0.7g)
Protein: 19.3g
Carbohydrate: 18.3g
Fiber: 2.2g
Cholesterol: 130mg
Iron: 2.5mg
Sodium: 702mg
Calcium: 131mg

Let me know if you make this! I'd love to hear if you liked it.

The apartment is coming along but still not ready for its close up. We hung some things, but a pretty large glass plate then decided to fall back down and crash on top of my newly painted desk and crack into a zillion pieces. So I spray painted the scratches (yes, inside our apt) and pouted for a bit and got nothing else done. So there it is. Photos still to come. Sorry! I did score a lamp shade I really had wanted at Target for $4.24 though. Good things come to those who wait (and forget about things they saw at full price a long time ago and liked)! :) It looks perfect on the desk, even if it is a little big for the lamp I have it on right now. I'll just switch it out when I come across a taller lamp on sale somewhere. :) Me and Clint laughed at it bc it looks like it has too long of pants on or something. But I don't care. It's pretty.

Before and After

2010-02-10T22:39:00.008-06:00

...of our new desk!

A couple weeks ago I searched and searched on craigslist for a desk with lots of drawers that was still cute and small, but could also house hanging files. It also needed to be not too nice so that I didn't feel bad painting it. I found the perfect one, paid $50 for it, and then it sat at my parents house for weeks while we waiting to move in and see what color it should be.

I had originally wanted to paint it a fun, bright color, but that doesn't really go with the modern, muted colors in our new place (which you will see in a post soon! we have a few more things to hang on the walls). So I ended up settling on a dark, muted navyish color, but bought the cutest green drawer pulls. It turned out better than I had hoped! Spray paint works wonders -- I highly recommend it. We had spray painted our bedroom furniture awhile back, so I kinda knew how it worked...but I forgot one very important thing - the spray handles! They make it so that you don't have to use your pointer finger the whole time. Hard to explain, but let's just say after a few minutes of spraying, my hands were stuck in a claw shape. BUT I had to keep spraying bc one, it was getting dark outside by the minute, and two, you have to apply the paint to the primer within an hour of putting it on, so I had to finish before it got dark. Not to mention the fact that it was FREEZING outside and the only shoes I had were my Uggs, which I did not want to ruin, so I was in my SOCKS on WET ground. Hence the almost frostbite. :) Though my forearms and hands had trouble doing simple things like locking my apt door or opening a can of soup today, the result was worth it! TADAHHHH!

I love it!!!

Cool post tomorrow, testing today

2010-02-09T23:55:00.001-06:00

Using pixel pipe from my phone! Testing 1,2,3!?

Cool post tmw about how my hands are currently painted blue and my toes almost got frostbitten today. You'll see the result!!

Baby Rose is coming!!!

2010-01-26T13:43:00.002-06:00

Katy is in labor right now! Just wanted to post so that anyone who saw this could pray for the Roses. I love you guys and I hope baby Rose's birthday is wonderful! This is such a special day!! I'm so happy and couldn't be more proud of you!

7-Eleven, Bodybugg, Family

2010-01-18T21:58:00.005-06:00

Just took a wonderful walk with Charlie, Clint and my mom to 7-Eleven. We used to take the same walk when we were little and it was the highlight of the WEEK! I can remember picking flowers for the cashiers along the way and happily presenting them to him as we bought our slurpees. We also thought it was cool that Laine's birth weight was 7lbs 11 ounces so it was kind of her store. 7-Eleven is really a great store. Having worked with them now for a while (I work for their Dallas PRC on Tuesdays and Thursdays), I have really noticed how nice and hardworking everyone involved is. And they put out a quality product. It's like a happy little family...and it has been a part of my family since I can remember. I love 7-Eleven! If I was rich, I think I might even like to own one.

Part of the reason for the walk was to rack up some extra burned calories on my Bodybugg. If you don't know what a bodybugg is, as lots of people I have found do not...watch biggest loser!! Haha.

It is quite a little wonder. Very motivating...and motivation is not something I have been able to find in the last long while....like since our wedding! I have worn it for the past almost 4 weeks straight and have LOVED it. I'm threatening to become a salesperson for them on the side bc I love it so much. I got it from my parents for Christmas and got the digital display (the watch looking thing) from Clint Dad and Trish for Christmas. It's a pricey combo but totally worth it. It also comes with online software and a subscription so that you can upload your burned calories (you connect the bodybugg through usb) and enter your calorie intake. It tracks everything and shows you how much you should be losing if you are entering your food correctly. One of the best things about it is that it shows you how little it takes to burn a few extra calories in a day. A nice walk, playing some intense Guitar Hero (we have had two noise complaints since I realized this burns a good amount of calories!), simply standing instead of sitting, going to the mall to window shop instead of watching tv...so many enjoyable, non-exercise things can add to your burned calories and really help you have a good deficit for the day. If you do go running or something, it does it a lot faster, but it shows that all you have to do is try to be active and get yourself moving a little. And then you don't have to eat dry salad and grilled chicken all the time, you have some room. I believe I have probably had one indulgent thing every single day since starting this "diet," and I have still lost the amount of weight I was aiming for (so far). It's just keeping in mind how much you have had and choosing what/how much to eat with your brain instead of your eyeballs/how-much-do-I-want-it-o-meter. It's like a little game. Yesterday I entered all my food and pressed submit and it came out to my EXACT goal of 1650 calories. I raised both hands in the air in celebration (Clint said I looked like Brett Favre) at my preciseness. And, even if you do go over on calories because someone made chocolate cake or bought you dinner out...just play a little extra Guitar Hero at the end of the night. :)

Baby Rose has not showed up so far, so continue to pray for the wonderful Rose family who are in anticipation of his arrival! I'm so excited for them and their new family. I can't believe my best friend is having a baby!! I love you Roses and I know you will be the best parents ever. I'm glad yall are gong first because I know I will have a lot to learn from yall and you will be wonderful examples!

New Year's thoughts...including more blogging!

2010-01-11T21:21:00.004-06:00

(please excuse the acorn background...no time to change it at the moment!)

Well, does blogging every 5 weeks or so count as blogging more? I don't really think so. I need to blog more so all my blogs won't be about how I never blog. Wow. That's a lot of blogs. I'm going to get a blogging application for my phone and try to think of blogging as more of a journal and less of a "I have to retell everything that's happened since I last blogged." In fact, I think I'll download the app as I type. :)

We had a wonderful Christmas and New Years with friends and family. I just love being with people I love, doing nothing or everything or anything. It is the best. Good thing I live with one of the ones I really love doing anything with and get to see the others (some of them...others I don't get to see as much as I would like!) as much as possible. So thankful for all the wonderful people in my life. So blessed. So thankful that Jesus came to give us all life and that we get to celebrate Him in such a neat way during the Christmas season. I hope to continue that celebration throughout my life this year.

Well, House is recorded on the DVR, and I must stick to my plan, though I am tempted to upload tons of pictures and tell you about everything that has happened since my last blog. Next time I'll tell you about my bodybugg, another time about our new apt (jan 30!) another time about how Dave Ramsey is whipping us into shape. I'll also remind you to pray for the Roses and their little baby Rose who is coming any day now. I'll actually blog about the title of this post, New Year's thoughts...once I get them all together or have a few. Happy New Year to everyone! Thanks for being a part of our 2009!

Gotta Keep It Up!

2009-11-30T22:54:00.005-06:00

Trying to keep blogging regularly again...

Right now I'm watching House, drinking a nice and frosty diet coke, sitting by my sweet husband. It is quite nice!

We are one month into Dave Ramsey's plan as of tomorrow and we are more than halfway through with our mini emergency fund, the first step! We surpassed our goal and are quite pleased with ourselves :) Next month we may decimate the savings with Christmas gifts, but at least we won't be using any credit for them! Once we move apartments, we can REALLY get going! Wahooooo. Also refinancing my car loan and getting a better rate, paying it off earlier AND paying almost $100 less a month. GO REFINANCE!! If you are with Viewpointbank already, there is no fee, nothing to lose. Very nice!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving/21st bday for the twins weekend! It was so much fun to hang out with the kiddos while they were home. They are the coolest siblings ever. We spent the night almost the whole break over there and had a blast. LOTS of yummmmmmy turkey and stuffing (thanks to mom!), games, bday celebrations, staying up late and sleeping in! Can't wait til Christmastime when we can hang out again!!!

Also found out Laine is moving home after graduating this December! We're so excited we'll get to see her so much more. YAY Laine!! :) (Mom and Dad were super happy too...this is my mom's recurring hope that every child will move back home at some point! :))

We are keeping Jon Jon, our nephew this weekend and are really excited! Anyone have any tips or fun ideas for us to do? I was thinking we could make and decorate Christmas cookies, but I guess that's kinda girly. I know Clint wanted to bike with him, but it has rained alot so the trails might be closed. (Jon Jon's quote when Clint was surprised his mountain bike didn't have gears: "My legs ARE my gears!!") Any ideas?

Well, sorry this post is boring, but I don't have the energy/patience to put pictures up. At least I'm blogging!! Woo hoo!

Catch up post

2009-11-22T20:54:00.012-06:00

It always seems really daunting to update after I haven't in quite awhile. I feel like I need to have some awesome post, complete with pictures recreating the last months to you guys. But, if that's the case, then I will never do it. I think I will just allow myself to blab about whatever I wish instead, maybe with some catch up included. :)

This weekend was our Thanksgiving with Lorie and Roger and the fam (Clint's mom and stepdad). Jared was in town so we decided to stay the weekend at Lorie and Roger's. Clint and Jared had a golf day on Saturday and enjoyed the awesome weather while Lorie, Roger and I cooked, went to Sam's for the holiday sample feast, Lorie, Kara and I did our nails and toenails, and just had a leisurely day in general. It was quite wonderful! Then Sunday was the big thanksgiving feast with the whole family. If I get around to it during this post, I'll upload some pics from the weekend from my phone. We cooked up a storm and had a wonderful meal and time with family. Then Clint and I decided to stay over one more night and just go to work straight from their house Monday morning. Woo hoo! I have had some bad allergies and just didn't feel like driving/riding home and or getting anything done at the house.

Homemade croutons for our Thanksgiving salad - cheaper AND yummier than buying them! (Lauren N - thanks for teaching me how!)

I'm really liking my job(s) and having a great time at all the events that come with them. I'm so thankful to work for such great people! In the past few weeks we have been working on: Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 release, Maserati GranTurismo Convertible unveiling, Coca Cola Dallas Elevators Kick Off Pep Rally, New Moon Advance screening ticket giveaway event, Star Trek release, New Moon screening, and many other little details. It has been bussssyyyyy!

The new Maserati GranTurismo Convertible! Prettyyyyyy

Rock T from 97.9 The Beat MCing our Dallas Elevators event!

Leigh Ann and I "posing with" the New Moon cast! We had a green screen station at our event that created these for everyone. Fun!

Clint and my Dad have been working hard on the release of DragonFire SDK, the first software development kit that allows you to write iPhone apps - in Windows!!! Until now, programmers had to have a mac, learn the mac programming language, and then create an app to send to the app store. With DragonFire SDK, they can create and test apps using Windows code they already know ON a PC! Clint has had lots of fun with it so far, including creating the website for DragonFire and the graphics for their first app, Unstacker, that is used as an example of the first iPhone app to be created in Windows. It's free - download it from the app store! If you want to check out DragonFire SDK, go to dragonfiresdk.com - send it to anyone you know who might want to create an app!

The awesome logo Clint created!

Angela, Lauren N. and I also threw Katy's baby shower since my last post. It was SOOOOOO wonderful to get to see Katy and celebrate baby Rose. I am SO very excited about his arrival and am just dying to get myself up to NY to see him somehow. It was a great time with friends, I enjoyed it so much! It was so wonderful to get to hang out with Katy, even just for a little bit. She is such a dear friend and I miss her so much these days! It was so great to be able to share in this amazing time of life with her.

Clint, myself, Lauren and Ricardo ran the 5k they talked us into! It was fun, tiring and a success! It got Clint and I thinking about options as far as training for something, but so far I can't really think about running more than 3 miles. Not sure what we will do but we need to do something! It was a good time, thank you guys for telling us about it! Good luck on your 8 mile turkey trot! -- They weren't able to talk us into that one!

Before the run...we look much happier than we did afterwards!

Book club has begun. One day after work I went in to Barnes and Noble to just look through the book and maybe read a bit, since I was planning to buy it on Amazon for about half of what B&N offer it for. I ended up reading about half of the book sitting at B&N! If you know me, you know I am notorious for this, I just can't put books down! But now I'm thinking...maybe I don't need to buy it after all! A couple more trips to the bookstore will do it! :) ...To book clubbers - I teared up at least 3 times in just the prologue and the first few pages...get ready!! :)

This happened awhile ago, but I don't think I ever posted about it: Jillian's first OFFICIAL EP came out on iTunes!!! This album is really pro quality, it was produced by a wonderful friend of Jillian's named Chris August. It has a nice sampling of several of her songs, showing the different kinds of music she writes, plays and sings. Her myspace has a link to it on iTunes, as well as her upcoming show dates, where you can buy a physical copy and get the cutely designed cover. myspace.com/jillianedwardsmusic. You can also hear many of the songs there. More news to come on her budding career. Good things are happening! :)

Buy it on iTunes here!

I should really split these things up into different posts huh? That way it wouldn't seem like there was so long in between posts! Oh wellllll. I'm long winded.

On more thing...Clint and I have become Dave Ramsey followers! November was our first month on our new budget and it has gone very well! We HAVE occasionally slipped and called him "Damn Ramsey" (Freudian!!), but it's more love than hate in the love/hate relationship. I promise it is, Dave!! I know when we get to call in and yell "We're debt free!!" in 8098340698 years, we will be loving you more than ever. Anyway, it's nice to have a good budget in place and to know we are ready for Christmas, at least. Hooray for talk radio!

We also got to go see the So You Think You Can Dance Tour! It was awesome! This was a birthday present from Lorie & Roger and Angela & Charles. Thanks guys!!

So much fun!

CHARLIEEEEEE!

2009-10-12T00:01:00.008-05:00

We decided to steal Charlie for part of the weekend, and here is what ensued:

Lots of fun...

(learned a tiny bit on photoshop to do these, that was exciting!)

Adorable cuteness...

And a little mischief...

Doesn't that face just look like he's up to something?? :)

We love Charlie! We're so glad he likes to sleepover every once in awhile. :)

We may be what some call a little "Charlie obsessed," but we don't mind and are proud of it!! (ahem, Jill, Cole and Laine)! If you're going to be obsessed over a dog, why not over the best one ever? :)

Fall, birthdaying, jobs, and talk radio

2009-10-09T22:10:00.004-05:00

It's Fall! I love it! We have the windows open right now and it is WONDERFUL!

Clint's birthday was this past week and we had a lot of fun. I gave him some jeans he had been wanting (and that I had been wanting him to have;)) and the Garmin Forerunner 305 for biking! It shows all sorts of things like the map of the ride where you can compete with your own last ride and your heart rate, speed, altitude, calories burned (you put in the weight of your bike and everything!), and then you download it all to your comp and use the cool software to analyze it (and google earth). He is excited about it! We had a relaxing day and lots of fun. :) I'm so thankful to have such a wonderful husband and I LOVE celebrating him as much as possible! We also went camping with his family last weekend and had a blast. Then we stayed the next night in Waco and watched the Cowboy game (grr) with Cole, Jill, and Amber! It was so much fun. I love them. :)

I started my new job this week. I'm working part time with the marketing company I've been working with and the rest of the part time with a PR company that I met through Hawaiian Falls. I have really enjoyed it so far and can't wait to really get going with it. I love the people I work with and am enjoying the work itself a lot too, so yay!

Ugh, the Cowboys aren't doing so well huh? Booooooo. This has made me start listening to the ticket after the games during the week, which then made me start listening to other talk radio in hopes of finding the Dave Ramsey show. Then I realized it had been a week and all I had listened to was talk radio! So I'm on a talk radio streak. Anyone know any good talk radio channels or shows?

Testing 1 2 3

2009-10-02T15:02:00.004-05:00

I'm setting this up to post automatically to my twitter account in hopes that I will update more. Let's see if it worked!

By the way, I'm LaurenBrock on twitter, and Clint is JamStudioClint. :) Follow us and leave a comment that you did so we can follow you back. I love Twitter!!

***EDIT - Clint's personal twitter is ClintKBrock. JamStudioClint is his work one. Follow him too! :)

What have we been up to?

2009-08-05T16:02:00.003-05:00

Wow it's been awhile!! But I'm back in blogging world, at least for today.

And today is a special day because HUDSON PETTIJOHN was born!!!

He looks so adorable, doesn't he?! I love him already. I'm so proud of Nat for delivering him too! Way to go girl!! Love you guys! I really wish I could be there!

Since that is the most recent news, I guess I'll go backwards from that to fill you in. Let's see. Currently I'm finishing up working at Hawaiian Falls for the summer (I am an Ambassador of Fun there - which deserves its own post) and am looking HARD for a teaching job. I made it into the teaching pool at RISD, but there are no math positions open right now, so for now, that's a no go. I'm signed up to sub if nothing works out. Also applying everywhere else and trying to find "ins" to get an interview. If you have any ideas, let me know!

Clint's dad is recovering very well from his heart surgery, and we are so thankful for that!

One of my best friends in the world in pregnant, and I'm SOOOOO excited!! I love you Katy and Kristian and baby Rose! :)

We kinda totally failed on The Zone Diet. Right after we started Clint's dad had his heart attack, and I was taking my math content test, getting a new job, etc. Things got hectic and stressful and there was not time to calculate and cook each meal perfectly. Grr! It really is a great diet and we are starting to do it a little more in a moderate way.

We have started running! By started I mean we will run for the 3rd time tonight. Our goal is a 5k with a tenative half marathon in the future (why do I ALWAYS type marathong??) We found out that the drive in front of our apt is a half mile around, so that makes it really easy. We've only done a mile at a time so far, but tonight I think we are trying for 2 (or maybe 1.5). I hope the running bug gets me again. I loved to like running last time! Haha.

We went to Del Lago over the 4th with my family. It was a lot of fun! My family used to go there for little vacations some summers, it is resort on Lake Conroe, but we had heard they redid the resort and WOW!! It was amazing!! I loved it. I need to post some before and after pictures from when we were little and we went. It even has a little waterpark now. We had tons of fun and watched the most amazing fireworks in the most perfect place - right underneath them! I've always loved fireworks, but I always wish I could be closer to them, so that I can lay down and look straight up and they are right there. And that is what we got!! We even had pieces of cardboard from the fireworks falling on us. It was so wonderful and romantic too! I can't believe it was our second 4th of July married. Time flies!!!

Clint also did something sweet for me during our blogging hiatus. I was putting off getting my hair highlighted bc I like getting it done at this one place by a sorta expensive haridresser and since I have been kinda in between jobs we were low on money. Clint secretly made an appointment for me and told me we were going to brunch with his parents. Then he drove me to the hair place instead! He is so sweet. AND on top of that, while I was there he secretly took my car and washed and cleaned it, inside and out! And if you've ever been in my car, you know that is a big job. :) He is such a sweetie! And then the other day I woke up and he had cleaned out and vacuumed out my purse for me! I don't deserve him. :)

Well, that is all I can think of to update you with for right now. I probably have some pictures in my camera to post later of some of these things. Glad to be back in blog world. Thanks for not getting mad at me while we were gone!! :)

This might seem stupid...

2009-05-24T14:33:00.003-05:00

but we are starting another blog! I realize we have not posted on this one in quite awhile, but hopefully having another will help us get back on the bandwagon. Our new blog can be found at

Life in the Zone - Hopefully

and will be our journal of our new fitness and diet plan. We'll keep track of progress, struggles and general thoughts and changes on what we are doing. We are really excited about this and I hope you'll read it so that we will have to stay accountable, haha.

In other news, I am studying to become a 4-8 grade math teacher! I take my test a week from Memorial Day and then will be eligible for hire! So, if you know anyone who needs a brand new teacher, ha, let me know. :) I'm also looking for a summer job until I get a teaching job, so any info on that would be great too.

The kiddos have been back in town from school and we've been having fun with them. It's so fun to have the whole family together!

Let me know what you think of our new blog! We are loving the new plan so far and in fact in quite full from my yummy breakfast right now. :) We'd love to chat with anyone about it!

My Sister is Famous!!! Part 2

2009-03-27T09:01:00.008-05:00

Jillian's first online album is now available at Cdbaby - click here to go to her page!

"Indie acoustic melodies and lyrics that sound like lullabies and feel like sunshine."

8 great original songs for only $5.99! How could you not buy it? :) Honestly, her songs are really some of my favorites. They make you think and also make you happy. You can hear excerpts at cdbaby too.

If you like Jill's music, please feel free to re-blog (is that a word?) this so that we can help her spread the word.

If you want to hear full songs, go to her myspace: myspace.com/jillianedwardsmusic.

Also, she is opening for Sleeperstar at House of Blues here in Dallas on May 1. Clint and I will be there and we'd love to get a group to go! Check it out! How cool is that?!?!

Isn't she just the cutest??

Biking.... again!

2009-03-07T20:28:00.003-06:00

This time it was Erwin Park up in McKinney. We went there because my 5 yr old nephew (who lives in McKinney) had his tonsils removed (which I'm jealous of) so we stopped by to see him on the way.

We've had easier 4 mile rides... This one was tough because I'm used to the 50 degree days we've been having, today was in the 80's. The last two times I went were when Lauren was busy with the 2nd half of her friends who ALL decided to get married this year, so she hasn't been in a while. We both shouldered a tree but we didn't crash, we got a good workout in and shot a short video of a fun spot we found on the trail.

The sound at 0:05 isn't a bird ;)

What is...

2009-03-02T22:52:00.005-06:00

...the cutest thing you have ever seen at a bridal shower? I need some cool ideas! Games, decorations, favors, anything you have seen done that was really thoughtful, inventive or cool. My cousin is getting married and we are throwing her a family shower - and her family threw me one and just did so much really sweet stuff for me. (Think hand initialed, homemade iced cookies, hand tied favor boxes in our colors, a game involving a video of my soon-to-be husband, a cake from Stein's, amazing food...etc.) So, since I'm pretty sure my readership (if you can call it that) is 99% female, I thought I'd ask for suggestions.

Also, I need more followers!! If you read our blog, scroll down and click "Follow." Come on. I look like a nerd.

Happy Monday everybody. Just four more days until Friday. Haha.

A couple pics from the shower the Lilley's threw for me. I wish I had more on my computer right now...I need to get them from my mom.

BREAKING NEWS!!!

2009-02-26T20:51:00.004-06:00

How cool is that?!

Jillian is opening for Bethany Dillon at a concert in College Station!! I'm basically related to someone famous now!!

If anyone wants to go, or knows anyone who loves Bethany Dillon who would want to go, you can buy tickets here. Clint and I will both be attending, if anyone wants to ride down with us! So exciting! :)

Jill's myspace is myspace.com/jillianedwardsmusic if you'd like to hear her latest stuff - it's really great! :)

upcoming posts

2009-02-21T17:17:00.003-06:00

We are in Waco right now, about to go see SING! :) So there will be an upcoming post about that. Also, we are overdue for a post-Valentine's Day post so that's coming too. It was wonderful!

Left town right after my wonderful friend Michelle's bridal shower. It was so much fun! We are so excited for her and Cody, they are getting married in 6 weeks! Cody is such a great guy and I'm SO glad Michelle found someone so wonderful. We had fun celebrating them!

Anybody on twitter? I'm getting addicted.

I really need to fix up my blog. I'm not in the know about all the new stuff. I still just have my old links to blogs that I never update or add to. Help!

blogging!

2009-02-12T21:07:00.005-06:00

So, we thought we'd start video blogging now that we have a camera...but that isn't so much happening and honestly I don't feel like people like it as much. Or maybe it is just bc we haven't been posting consistently lately. Let me know if you have a preference.

Lately we've been playing a lot of Guitar Hero World Tour. I'm the drummer and Clint's the guitar hero. It's quite intense. The other night we had been playing for about an hour and I realized I had been sweating for awhile!! So I guess it's a little healthier of a habit then sitting on the couch watching tv, at least. AND I'm beginning to think I'm an actual drummer...so I might have to try to learn for real. Then I could say I play like...4 instruments (not to say I play any of them well enough to actually claim them, but it would sound cool at least). Right now Clint is practicing up on the drums. I think he is trying to make sure there is still nothing that I am better than him at in the video gaming world. Maybe THE coolest thing about it all is that we got to make our own rockers that look like us. Well, they are crazy rockstar versions of us, at least. We'd love to come have anyone play with us! It's a lot of fun and we crack up at each other a lot. Wow I talked a lot about Guitar Hero!!!

In other news, I got a free magazine subscription (Marie Claire - not my fav but it'll do for free!) from our coke rewards points! We've since stopped buying diet coke so I don't die early from some kind of aspartame poisoning, but my days of being a total diet cokaholic paid off. Pretty cool!

I'm not sure if I have told the blogging world about our breadmaker we got for Christmas from my parents, but we love it! We have made white bread, cinnamon swirl bread (twice! it's Clint's favorite favorite), and we just tried rosemary bread - like Macaroni Grill's - the best ever! It came out pretty close! It's so nice to be able to make something SO homemade without making too much of a mess. And it's SO yummy!

At work we launched the new website - tangle.com - after much hard work and anticipation. My profile is tangle.com/laurenbrock. Be my friend :)

I'm working lately on having a positive attitude in different situations. I've found that it actually does work if you just look at the positive and stay joyful, life is in general, better. I usually try this in the morning when I'm usually grouchy and really not wanting to be awake. Just smiling and knowing this day is one God planned for me makes me joyful and helps me realize all that I have to be thankful for. And that really helps me not be so grumbly. Just a random little idea I've been working through. :) Contentment.

Read the whole Twilight series in a couple weeks. Loved it. SO good. I'm a big fan. I need some more books to read. Also read The Shack. Anyone heard of it? I thought it was great...did I hear that it was controversial? Any thoughts? Any book recommendations?

We've been eating chili like manly men. We had a huge thing of ground beef that was on sale, had to defrost it all, made an insane amount of really good chili, and are trying to finish it in time. It's pretty funny. And yummy.

Valentine's Day is Saturday and I have Monday off!!! Wonderfulness! I can't wait. Our first one married. :) Happy Valentine's Day everyone! <3

Fun at the Dog Park and Not So Fun at the Dog Wash

2009-01-26T21:15:00.009-06:00

We got a new video camera! And Charlie is the cutest/funniest thing ever!

My Favorite Thing...

2008-11-16T20:44:00.002-06:00

about the game tonight was when the referee said, "When it touches him in the rear" and pointed to his butt. (not to mention that it meant a touchback for us!) Gotta love the NFL!!

Clint's Birthday Trip!

2008-11-04T08:35:00.000-06:00

I know this is crazy late... but I'm blogging... shut it.

So my 27th birthday came around and we had a dinner planned at Houstons on friday with one of my best friends, Jason. He had been saying he wanted to take us out for Laurens birthday for more than a month now, he was now going to take us BOTH to eat. So I get home on Friday thinking I'm about to go out to eat and Lauren says I have to open this one present. My family always wanted to open Christmas presents before Christmas morning but I wanted the anticipation, it like... makes the presents even better! So I didn't want to open it, but she insisted... so I did. It was some bicycle tires I've been wanting! They're lyke totally crazy awesome, no slipping, no loosing traction and falling down huge hills anymore.

Ssoooo I thought we were going to go biking in the morning, little did I know that it would be in ARKANSAS!! She made me open another present which was a bike rack so we could take the honda instead of the Xterra. It pretty much paid for itself in that one trip. Lauren already had ALL of the "gear" packed so we went to the bike store, gathered all of the necessary supplies and hit the road, 5 hours to the Highway 27 Fishing Village. We put up the tent at about 3am and slept until it started POURING. That was day 1.

It rained for hours and hours, we actually left the tent at about 2 the next day. We drove into town (pop. less than my graduating class) and got firewood (from good-ole-boy-justin, friend of the gas station lady), went to a crystal shop because Mt. Ida is known for their crystals, and scoped out the best trails to ride the next day. We found an awesome spot to take pictures and I climbed up on laurens car to take them (pics below). That night we made hamburgers over the fire and then s'mores and hot chocolate. That was day 2.

Day 3 we woke up, got the bikes all ready to go, cooked eggs and sausage on the fire, packed our lunches and headed out. We were advised to wear hunters orange because it was the first day of hunting season... so we did... for a little while. It was sooo much fun, nothing like here in texas. The section we rode had something like a 600ft elevation difference between the highest and lowest points, but by no means was it a straight line. We had lunch on a big log on the side of the trail and met a few people along the way. It was a tough decision between calling someone to pick us up or try to bike all the way back to the camp because the Cowboys kickoff was in a few hours! We biked back and made it in time, but we were soooreeee. We convinced them to let us into a cabin that wasn't rented at the time so we could shower and then headed to hot springs to watch the game. We ate there and then cooked s'mores that night.

the pics below were from the trail. huge mountain behind us and a river in front

By day 4 we were really really tired and looking forward to the comforts of the apt. We ate breakfast at the Mt. Ida Cafe because Lauren found that it was THE place to go. Their slogan was "best vittles in Arkansas"... we thought, hmm... vittles sounds kinda strange, what are vittles? So we looked them up... they're food... just, any food. We're from dallas. Then we packed up everything and came back home. Since we didn't have time to make a cake I got candles on zebra cakes!! It was yumm! The next day we went to her parents house to celebrate with a real cake :) it was the strawberry family recipe, amaz. It was a GREAT surprise and a wonderful birthday. There is no way she is topping it next year, I don't deserve her.

Fair Day

2008-11-02T10:21:00.000-06:00

Work gave me two free tickets to the fair, plus 20 coupons! Awesome. We ate lots of good food that is super bad for you and enjoyed it thoroughly. Other than that, we walked around and laughed at/were in awe of people for paying $7 to go into funhouses and ride rides that make you throw up (no offense if you are one of those people!). We save our hard earned cash for the fried stuff!! (Which may also make you throw up...) Anyway, it was lots of fun. Loved the animals - the baby goats were so funny bouncing all over the place. I should have taken a video. Here are a few pics from the day...

Our Pumpkin!

2008-10-30T21:23:00.009-05:00

We made a Jack-O-Lantern!

Clint did the carving, but I did the scooping!

(Awkward picture of me...but then again I have orange goo all over my hands)

I drew a face on with a pen and Clint carved it perfectly.

We decided to make a happy pumpkin, but he actually turned out closer to goofy.

And he sat happily in our house :)

Making us laugh with his goofy smile!

Sorry to say, he imploded into a moldly mess the DAY before our apartment complex's pumpkin carving contest, so we were sad. BUT, when we went down to see the entries, no one had entered one! (And there were 3 prizes: $50, $30, and $20!) So we thought of a way we might be able to win a hundred bucks - plagarizing! We took down our (fake) pumpkin Lauren Neaves made for us with "The Brocks" on it that we had been keeping out in the hall with candy in it for our neighbors. We acted like it was a joke, but really, if we were the only participants...we're thinkin we're in the money. By the end of the night, there was one other entry, but I'm thinking were in for at least $20. We should probably split that with Lauren though. Anyway, we'll let you know who wins the carve-off...er, pumpkin off. We know who to thank if we place (thanks Lauren!). Great fun!

And just FYI, pumpkins don't last as long as they should. Especially when you keep them inside. They implode into a sticky, moldy mess that makes you have to scrub your carpet. But we loved ours!

Rodeo!

2008-10-29T08:15:00.002-05:00

A while back we went to the rodeo for my Papaw's bday. We got some fun pics so I thought we'd share even though it has been awhile. :) Also, if you have a chance to go to the rodeo, go! It's actually really entertaining. And you can pet animals! (Scroll to the bottom for a video!)

At the dinner before the Rodeo :) Me and Coley! Dad, Aunt Jamie, Memaw and Mom

Trying on cowboy hats at the gift shop

Cole found a horsey! And I found the PERFECT purse.

There was a petting zoo complete

with brushes to brush the cows' and goats' fur!

We had lots of fun! Happy late birthday Papaw!

This is actually pretty entertaining...

Clint made the music on JamStudio.com! :)

Belated Bloggy Buddy Thank You! :)

2008-10-28T08:55:00.002-05:00

It's not Halloween quite yet, so I've made it just under the wire with this post! The Sadlers gave us the cutest assortment of Halloween fun PLUS a CUTE koozie (something I had been wanting for work!) and some yummy tootsie rolls that we are sharing with our hall of our apartment complex (they are inside the pumpkin you gave us Laur!). The pumpkin plate is awesome, a nice subtle bit of fall decor. I didn't have ANY seasonal decorations so it was perfect. Love it. The candle is pumpkin scented and smells AWESOME. I light it every chance I get! :) We had so much fun getting a box in the mail. Thank you Sadlers!

Happy Halloweeeeeeen!

Happy Half

2008-10-26T13:45:00.006-05:00

Clint and I celebrated our 6 month anniversary yesterday! It is really hard to believe that much time has gone by since our wedding. We think being married is the funnest thing ever!!! I'm so happy to be married to my handsome, hot, wonderful, sweet best friend. :) It's the best.

We celebrated in style with a trip to Cuba Libre for some appetizers and drinks, then to Hibiscus down the street for the most wonderful apple pie with lavendar scented vanilla bean ice cream (officially the best ice cream in the world) and coffee.

Happy Half! :)

Guests, Frames and the iPhone Level

2008-10-16T22:04:00.005-05:00

We have some guests coming and that was the motivation we needed to fix up the storage, uh... i mean.. guest room. Out went the mountain bikes, the random printer on the floor and "scene it - friends edition". Up went a curtain rod, curtains (of course) and some picture frames. We didn't have a level and didn't want to measure from the floor behind the futon for every nail... In comes the Dual Level iPhone app!! It worked great!

Here's a screenshot of the app and a quick pic of the frames and the randomness that lauren has put up there testing my work to see if it'll hold :)

Wyatt

2008-09-11T21:54:00.002-05:00

we're dog sitting again! it is our new hobby

interesting...

2008-09-09T21:41:00.001-05:00

I promise a real post soon also! :) What do you think about Bebo's song for Britney?

More Charlie :)

2008-09-03T19:14:00.000-05:00

cutieeee!

Charlie!!

2008-08-31T23:17:00.003-05:00

Lauren's parents got a new chocolate lab puppy and he is the COOLEST dog EVER! We're babysitting tonight and just got back from a dog park so he is a little tired :)

My siblings :)

2008-08-31T10:50:00.005-05:00

Comment on it here and make them famous :) Aren't they the cutest?

2008-08-21T20:29:00.003-05:00

We really need to post...

Soooo...I really like my job! It's awesome and everyone that works there is really cool! I'm so thankful to have it.

We have been watching the olympics like we are friends with Team USA, even family members...we are very tired. We ALMOST had a baaaaad thing happen last night. There was a lot of thunder and lightning, and our power went out for a second, then our TV WOULDN'T TURN BACK ON!!! It was plugged into a surge protector, but for some reason it would not turn on! Clint moved it and tried it in another plug after a few minutes, and then it worked. We moved it back and now it works like normal. During the time it was down, we, or I should say he, brought my other tv in here (which we haven't turned on since the move...we haven't gotten cable yet) and turned it on to watch snowy olympics and...two of the corners were DISCOLORED!! So basically we had no good tv for like 2 minutes. It was a sad moment. But then his started working again and the discoloration seems to be fading some on mine. FUEF!

..........I got to see Braden today!!! (AND Ashley and Morgan and Brian!:)) He is so cute and tiny and perfect. He already looks like both of his parents. Love him!!!

Presidential Candidate Interviews at Saddleback

2008-08-21T17:41:00.002-05:00

http://info.godtube.com/SaddlebackExclusiveVideo

pretty cool!

Quick Update

2008-08-13T22:20:00.003-05:00

Well, I got the book for my bday (thanks family!!) and finished it in 2 days. It was so good!! Made me laugh a lot and cry some. I definitely recommend it. Great writer. I. want. a. dog. bad. (but not for real - need a yard first - and I'm in no hurry to buy a house so...catch 22).

I got lots of other fun gift certificates and things (yaaaaay for shopping!), and Clint got me a beautiful one of a kind painting set (kind of 3 paintings that make up one picture) that I really wanted to go above our bed. I'll post pictures asap as he's hanging it right now. Yay! (We have had nothing on our bedroom walls yet up to this point) I had a wonderful birthday weekend - my sweet husband did so many sweet things for me (and gave me a new Starbucks card! I had just run out of the one he gave me as part of my wedding present...it has "Lauren "Hottie" Brock" printed on it which is sort of embarrassing when actually using the card but quite flattering. :) Love you hubby)

I also started my new job this week! Hoorayyyy! I'm the new Media Coordinator for GodTube.com. It has been great so far, everyone is so nice and I'm already pretty busy. It really seems like a great place to work and everyone there keeps telling me how much they love it. Sounds good to me!! :)

Morgan and Brian had their adorable baby boy, Braden Joseph. He's adorable and I can't wait to see him in person.

Laine comes home from a month stay at Kanukuk (sp?) tomorrow. Yay! Can't wait to see her! I'm a horrible sister and didn't write her a letter so here's my shout out to her. :) The best counselor ever ever!

I'm so excited that the weekend actually means something this weekend! Yay for work! :)

It is also my dear friends Katy and Kristian Rose's 3rd Anniversary today. I'm so happy for yall and hope you had a wonderful day!

Woo hoo Olympics! Go Team USA! Our days revolve around nbcolympics.com and watching them on tv right now...who needs sleep?

That's it for now, as I actually am in need of some sleep...

:)

Awwwww!

2008-08-05T12:32:00.008-05:00

I want this book for my birthday!!!

(and a dog to go with it...or mom and dad, it would suffice if you just got one I could play with whenever I wanted ;))

Read about it here:

http://www.marleyandme.com/book.html

It sounds soooo good! I read a bit of it at Barnes and Noble yesterday and couldn't put it down!

I love dogs. Mom you need to read this book so you will get one. :)

It's August!

2008-08-01T11:31:00.004-05:00

and that means...

...I'll be 25 this month!! A quarter century!! That's craziness. But exciting. :) I'm a real adult! (with a sweet husband who already bought and wrapped my present and hid it under the bed! haha, being married makes surprises a little more difficult - but he isn't giving up! :))

...I start my new job at GodTube this month! :) August 12 to be exact. Finallyyyyy!

...I get to go grocery shopping today!! Some would not think of this as exciting but I've been trying to prove to myself that my shopping/inventiveness in the kitchen skills could make the July groceries last through all of July...(kinda gave up and got a rotisserie chicken last night - YUM!) and now I get to restock! Wahoo. Kind of a silly game, I know, but I like to grocery shop!

...Our great friends Morgan and Brian and having a BABY BOY this month! And hopefully this week. Pray for them that everything goes smoothly. :) We are ready to meet little Mr. Buchek!

...It's HOT outside and people should come swimming at our place as much as possible!! And grilling out by the pool!

...My siblings go back to their studies this month. :( So I will see less of them. But we will come visit/they can come stay with us anytime!

...Clint and I will have been married 4 months this month! Time FLIES!!! It's so amazing that we get to do this forever (like 4 months times 234582346!)! Kinda feels like a 4 month vacation of wonderful funness sometimes - but no, it's forever, and it just gets better! :) Love him lots. :)

...We will try to redeem ourselves from our horrible record in the past few weeks of posting so little. I'm trying this first without pictures post and I think that will help. :)

:)

2008-07-15T10:54:00.000-05:00

Clint likes to make me lattes with squirrels on them. :)

Not really. But sometimes. He is good at latte art!

Staycatiooonnnn!

2008-07-14T09:12:00.000-05:00

A stacation is like a vacation but you don't va, you sta! I got off of work on thursday at noon and didn't have to go back until monday. We swam and hung out by the pool, grilled, shopped with gift cards left over from the wedding, tried new recipes, watched movies, read, played with dogs at petco and watched fireworks! I seriously worked less that entire weekend than I already have on this blog :)

Fat Straws

2008-07-12T13:42:00.002-05:00

They are the best ever!!

(Katy this post is especially for you! I saw Fat Straws on the way to the mountain biking place in Plano and had totally forgotten about it!! I wished you were there to enjoy one with us. :) )

After a very strenuous bike ride at Arbor Hills, Clint and I treated ourselves to some yummmmmy smoothies at Fat Straws. If you haven't tried it, you should. It's a smoothie with black tapioca balls ("bubbles") in the bottom that you suck up while you drink through your fat straw. :) Sounds gross, and is pretty gross the first time you try it, but from then on I (Lauren) have been addicted. I tried my theory on Clint, and this was his second time to try it...and it did not prove true. He is still not a fan. But their smoothies are still greatness after a long bike ride. We had fun!

2008-07-05T15:16:00.002-05:00

We're in we're in!! We made it! :) We're still unpacking though...a real update will have to wait. We love it here!

A partaaaay at the new place is in the works for when we are all done unpacking...keep your calendars clear in two or three weeks! :)

Apartment Hunters

2008-06-16T22:08:00.006-05:00

We have become expert apartment shoppers over the last month. We found that you can get scary neighborhoods for a little less than a dollar per square foot and you can go as high as you want.... but exactly at a dollar per square foot there is a HUGE range of apartments. Some don't have pools, no hot tub, tiny showers, smell like smoke/wet dogs, chipped mirrors, peeling vinyl floors, corroded faucets, etc... OR you can get nice counter tops, cool track lighting, soft soft carpet, real tile floors, garden tubs, crown molding, maid service, parking garages... ok not maid service but some are SO nice compared to others in the same price range. Anyway, our new home is going to be at 635 and Luna! We decided on that place because my job is 6 miles away, down a street NO ONE drives on (and because its wonnnnnderful and big and pretty and we loooove it :) - lauren) Since we're cheesy here are some pictures of the model :)

In other news, I (Lauren) am waiting to hear back from a job I interviewed with today that just happens to be 2.6 miles from our new place! :) We will update you soon. Have a great day! :)

RCP

2008-06-10T21:13:00.001-05:00

Rowlett Creek Preserve is one of our favorite places to go mountain biking. Lauren got me TWO bikes for my wedding present. A while back I said I didn't want a bike because I didn't have anyone to go with, so she got TWO! Since I've been I knew she would want the bike shorts with the pad in the backside but I didn't think about gloves... her hands were sore after our first ride. So we got her some light blue gloves to match her helmet. If any of you want to go out with us sometime we'd LOVE it! :)

1/4, 1/3, 1/2, 1

2008-06-09T20:04:00.001-05:00

1/4 cup oil
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup kernels
1 tbsp kosher salt (more or less to taste)

Coat the bottom of a large covered pot with oil (we like corn oil because it is consistent with the corny taste) and place 3 kernels of corn evenly spaced in the bottom of the pot. Place pot on burner and heat on high, 9 out of 10. Once all 3 kernels have popped immediately add remaining kernels and sugar evenly, cover and shake to coat. Shake every 3-5 seconds until popping slows to 1 every 3 seconds. Immediately pour into large bowl while evenly adding salt. Do this quickly before coating hardens.

Sometimes it takes a few batches of burnt popcorn to get it right. Just make sure you shake it like a polaroid picture and it'll be great!

Enjoy!

National Donut Day!!

2008-06-07T21:06:00.001-05:00

I woke Lauren up saying "It's national donut day, it's national donut day!!" Everyone celebrates that right? I saw online that donut shops were giving away one free donut... well that isn't enough for breakfast, so what else is there to do but go to several different donut shops?? So we planned out the route and went to krispy kreme first. We ordered our donuts and they gave us the price... uuhh... we thought they were free. After a fight we got our free donuts, it was a rough day morning but it worked out. So much for the other spots on the route, we were full after the first stop! What else can you do but go to starbucks :)

Memorial Day Weekend - Dennis and Shawna's Wedding

2008-05-27T15:42:00.000-05:00

Hello!! Sorry for the long time between posts - we are not starting this out too well! But, we WILL be better about it. :)

This past weekend we went to Burnet (outside of Austin) for Clint's cousin Dennis's wedding. The wedding was at a lodge in the hill country and we stayed in a little cabin with clint's family. It was really fun to hang out with everyone, swim, and be the newlyweds at a fun wedding! :)

Here we are starting out on our roadtrip Friday night. It was a pretty long drive!

Us taking Clint's adorable niece and nephew Addison and Lawson (actually, 2nd cousins or something like that...) to the pool. They were lots of fun.

Here is Clint, Jared, Addison and I all ready for the black and white wedding. Addison was a flower girl and LOVED her dress (she kept telling me it was just like mine at my wedding:)).

We're silly.

Rattlesnake point, where the ceremony was held.

My handsome husband and I at the wedding. :)

Lawson in his tux shirt at the wedding. :)

Dennis and Shawna Humble

Cake!

Clint's creepy cake face

Mmmmm cake

Us at the reception

The reception

Us back at the cabin after the wedding. (We got to sleep in the same bed!!! haha).

It was a lot of fun! Being married and being an actual part of the family was really cool. We also got to see Jared and Tabatha and hang out with Clint's parents and the rest of his extended family from different places which was really nice. Yay for weddings! :)

After the wedding and Clint working Monday, we relaxed on the hammocks in the courtyard of our apartment complex, it was fun! We listened to the sermon we missed Sunday from The Village, it was so nice outside and relaxing!

It's so pretty with the lights, too.

We have also taken our mountain bikes out to the Rowlett Creek Preserve twice now -- it's actually really fun. Haha. This morning we went and I went down some steep trails!! Well they aren't really that steep...but to me they were! Next time I'll take my camera and document my mad crazy biking skills.

Also...I don't know how to add the links to everyone else's blogs on the right of our blog. Help! :)

Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend! We also found an apartment in Carrollton (Keller Springs and the Tollway) that we are most likely moving into at the end of June!! Woo hoo!

Have a great day!

Lauren and Clint

Newlyweds!

2008-05-10T15:50:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the Brocks' blog! We are back from the honeymoon and busy setting up our little home. :) It's so much fun!! We will post pictures of the place soon - once we have some progress to show for. Honeymoon and wedding pics to come as well!

We thought it would be fun to try to keep everyone updated this way (and Lauren Neaves tells me you have to start a blog when you get married, it's the thing to do) and that it would be a good way to keep in touch with friends far away. So bookmark us and make sure to check back often! :)

clintandlaurenbrock.blogspot.com

Have a great day!

Lauren and Clint Brock