A Roomba and a Mexican Cake...

was what I got for my birthday! I had such a great birthday this year!!! My first surprise when I got home from work was a delicious cake!! Jep had ordered a cake for me from a bakery down the street from our house. The catch is that the bakery is a Mexican bakery....with a staff that doesn't even speak English!! He had one of his brick mason's translate the order...a three milk cake with mango filling and Oh.My.Goodness...it was SO GOOD!! And, very fancy I might add- complete with roses and pearlized frosting. We have definitely found OUR bakery. Jep's birthday is coming up in a few weeks and I have already started working on a plan for when I need to place my order--I really need to start brushing up on my Spanish skills. My next surprise was a Roomba! I've been really wanting one for awhile now and finally have one of my own!!

The Cake!

I also got some other really thoughtful gifts from the rest of my family, friends, and co-workers. I just want to thank everyone for making my birthday a very special and memorable one!!

Lastly, I can't forget that I do share my birthday with Dread and he did have a pretty good bday himself. He got two brand new bones- one of which that has already been thrown away because he's torn it up to pieces.

Me and Dread with our presents!

A few days ago Jep and I decided to try out P90X which is a home fitness training system that's all about "muscle confusion." The program comes with 12 workout CDs that include workouts like yoga, cardio, abs, legs, back, etc. Well, today we decided to do "shoulders and arms." Jep went out and bought us some brand new barbells...we had no idea that Dread would get so confused by the new purchase! I had just gotten home from work and was loading the dishwasher and all of a sudden I hear Jep yell, "what are you doing!!" I look over and Dread had been chewing on my brand new barbells!! I really couldn't help but laugh because can you blame him when...

This....

Looks so much like....

This?!

In this picture you can see some of the damage from Dread on the purple weight. He sure was sad when I had to take it away from him. And, we learned our lesson not to leave my 5-pounders lying on the floor-I think we'll be safe with Jep's!

Christmas 2009

We hope everyone had a wonderful and safe Christmas! This year we spent Christmas with my family in Carmel and Jep was introduced to many of the Cwik Family Christmas traditions. Here's the rundown of our trip...

On Christmas Eve we went to church and then headed to a nice dinner at Sullivan's Steakhouse.

While at Sullivan's, we were surprised to see Peyton Manning who was sitting at a small table with his wife!! I have to say that this had to be my first run in with a famous person! I have never been lucky enough to spot a celebrity in person. It was so exciting seeing him especially since we were going to be watching him play the Jets a few days later!

Christmas day with my family is always a relaxing one...we get up, open presents, stay in our pjs ALL DAY, eat ALL DAY, and watch movies and football ALL DAY! We also introduced Mom and Dad to Apples to Apples this year and they LOVED it! As far as presents go, I think we all made out really good!! One of the big presents this year was a new laptop for my Dad--so my parents are FINALLY making the move from dial up internet to high speed! I don't know who is more excited--them or me?!

On Saturday it snowed!!! Photo op in the backyard!

On Sunday, Jep and I headed down to Indianapolis to watch my COLTS play. One of the Christmas presents from my parents was a night at a hotel close by the stadium. We got a huge surprise when we when we got to our room which had been upgraded to a huge suite!! Thanks Mom & Dad!! Before we headed out to the game, Jep and I exchanged our gifts to each other. I have to brag for a second because Jep did so good this year!!! He surprised me with the pair of diamond earrings from my mom's store that I had worn on our wedding day as my "something borrowed." I love, love, love them and was so shocked!!

After exchanging gifts we headed out to game. The city looked gorgeous with all the snow falling down!

We had a great time at the Colts game despite the fact that Jim Caldwell made the terrible call to pull the starters with only a 5 point lead ruining their undefeated run!!! Ugh, it makes me so mad still thinking about it!!!

Early Christmas for Dread

Christmas came a little early for Dread this year. I made the mistake of putting a Nyla bone in Dread's stocking not knowing that the little guy could smell it without even knowing it was in there. I tried to fake him out by getting a Milkbone and pulling it out of the stocking and giving it to him-- he was too smart to fall for that one. So, we gave in and let him have his presents early.

Waiting under his stocking

This past weekend we celebrated Christmas in Elba with Jep's family and got a huge surprise--his mom surprised us all with a cruise to Cozumel!!! So, we'll be setting sail to Mexico in February!!!

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas...

around the DuBose house!!

I was so excited to decorate the house for Christmas this year. Honestly, I was actually ready a couple weeks before Thanksgiving to start putting decorations up, but Jep put a stop to that. His rule--no Christmas decorations until AFTER Thanksgiving.

So, the Saturday we got back from Elba we went straight out to find our perfect tree. Once home, we got it all decorated with the few ornaments we own--the tree is lacking in the ornament department but I figured we have plenty of time to collect over the years--and the tree looked great!! After we completed the tree, we went outside to work on the outdoor lighting. Jep did a fantastic job with the outdoor decorations. He even got up on the industrial size ladder to hang icicles along the peaks of the house!!! It was nerve racking watching him up so high on the ladder so I really couldn't watch--but I did get a few pictures!!

Once, the decorating was done we got settled on the couch to watch TV and call it a night. And, the next thing I know, our 9 ft. Christmas tree has fallen over and crashed onto the hardwood floor--breaking the majority of my small ornament collection!! Looking back on it...it's funny now but at the time I was so upset! The ornaments that meant the most to me were completely broken to pieces. But, thanks to some Krazy glue...I was able to salvage what was salvagable. Now, each year when we get out the ornaments to hang on the tree, we can laugh at the broken ones and remember our first Christmas together in our first home. (Cheesy--I know!)

FINALLY...an Update!

I know I have been such a slacker and haven't updated our blog in a long time!! We are alive and well! :) Just, haven't had too much to blog about lately...

This past weekend Jep, Dread, and I traveled to Mentone, AL to meet up with the rest of Jep's family for a weekend in the mountains. His family plans a mountains trip every year, so it's a fun little family tradition that we look forward to each year.

We spent the weekend lounging around the cabin, checking out the sights and scenery, and of course playing board games! And, let me tell you...there were quite a few competitive games of Apples to Apples and Scattegories!

A few pictures from our trip...

Gorgeous waterfall at Little River Canyon

The kiddos

Beth with all her boys

Up next, Thanksgiving and the IRON BOWL!!!!! Go AUBURN!!! WAR EAGLE!!

Beach Getaway

This past weekend Jep and I went down to Santa Rosa Beach to spend a couple days with my parents who are vacationing down there for an entire week. I absolutely love going down there this time of year!! The weather was just perfect and there were no crowds! We ate at all our favorite restaurants and had some DELICIOUS seafood!! We also got a little bit of beach time in.

Jep on an early morning walk

Mom & Dad at Red Bar

Jep & I at Bud and Alley's

All of us at Fat Tuesdays in Baytowne Wharf

I won first place in a football pool this week all because of the Miami Dolphins! This was me and Dad doing our fins!

On a different note, I'm pretty sure everyone who knows me knows how much I LOVE the Fall (especially Halloween!!!) I couldn't wait to put up my Halloween decorations- Jep made me wait until Oct. 1st because I was especially excited to decorate our first house. Well, I got most of my fall decorations up and here is the front of the house. I still want to get a few more pumpkins! :)

And, last but not least is an adorable picture of Jep and our niece, Ollie!