Hawk Nelson is my Friend!

So for those of you who don't already know... I'm a total nerd. At least I think so sometimes. Here's where this comes from... Zach and I got tickets to the Faith Night at the Rough Riders game on Thursday night. Hawk Nelson was in concert and well that's what we were going for... not the baseball. The concert was before the game in the side parking lot and it featured Capital Lights as the opener and then a little diddy by Mark Stuart, formerly the lead singer of Audio A and then headlined Hawk Nelson. It was a great concert as they really put on a good show, but I'll just say Zach and I were some of the oldest people there. I don't even think that Hawk Nelson is as old as I am and I'm not even that old. For the most part though, it was all little teenie boppers and some of their parents with them. Then what made me feel even more like a nerd... I wanted their autograph... so I got it. I know that I was probably the only one my age asking for this punk rock band to sign my cd, but I sure didn't care. It was definitely a great night and a highlight of my weekend. Now for some pictures....

Mark Stuart came out as they were playing Big House... he sang a little bit, but his voice was soo raspy. His vocal cords are completely shot from years of straining his voice with Audio A.

The lead singer, Jason Dunn.



Drums: Justin BennerBass Guitarist: Daniel Biro

The whole Band, Hawk Nelson - up close and personal. What a nerd I am!

Get to know the Shirley's...

This summer our small group has chosen to meet separately as men and women and then we are also hosting get to know you nights. The girls have been faithful about meeting every week since the first of July and well, we won't speak about the boys. ;-) This past Friday, we hosted the get to know you night and were able to enjoy the company of 4 other couples. The Kirksey's, Libby's, Fletcher's and Hindman's joined us for Backyard BBQ, small Shirley slideshow and watching the opening ceromonies of the Olympics. Good times! I must give all kudos to my husband because he did most all of the work on our meal... BBQ Ribs. We had ribs, sausage, grilled corn on the cob, salad and then Zach's favorite, homemade Vanilla Ice Cream with brownies. Thanks Jamie, Holly and Sarah for helping to bring food. It was definitely a hit!

The girls - Holly, Sarah & Jamie

The Hindman's - Jason, Angela, Helen, and Issac

The boys - Aaron, Tyson, Drew & Zach

On a side note... a couple weeks ago, Zach got bored at work. So he took it upon himself to strip the wallpaper in one of the model kitchens and paint a cool design on the wall. So far I think it's a hit with most of his managers and other coworkers. Now I'm sure customers will ask, where can we get something like that done. Well I know just the person who can do it. ;)

Brodee Boy

This weekend, I made a trip to Austin to visit The Johnson's. It was so great to finally see their house and to spend time with Neena, Josh and Brodee. He's so precious and fun at this age, 9 months. Neena and I were able to catch up and just hang out. I also got to go to their church, Westover Hills. Good times. Seems like they have a good thing going on there in Austin/Round Rock. Thanks for the good times this weekend... and here are some pics...Brodee winking... the flash was a little much for him.
There's that cute smile that we saw all weekend.
What a cutie patootie!
What a blessing that little guy is to Neena and Josh! Such a great time!

And now... I know that you have all been waiting in suspense... Finally here are some pictures of Zach's projects that he did in ceramics.

His teapot and cups... They are car parts, I believe pistons. But don't quote me on that.


The water feature... Zach's wants to build one off of the deck outside and this will be part of it. One of the vases... my favorite actually.

And here are all three vases that he did.

I really like that Zach is able to create all this cool stuff in his art classes. But here's my question... where the heck am I supposed to put it all! I think that we need a bigger house just for art projects! We'll see! ;-)

Bailey's Halfway House

The other day, we were cleaning the base of Bailey's crate and this is what we found in the process. Too funny is all I have to say!

The deck!

So let's go back... almost a year ago. (We actually signed our papers on our house July 9, 2007.) When we looked at the house back in June of last year... this is what the backyard looked like. It's what I like to affectionately call the JUNGLE. I believe there was a post of this at the very beginning. Anyway... we knew that one day it would be beautiful, but it would take lots of hard work.


SOOOO..... that one day is finally here. We have (Zach) has finished building the deck! It's amazing and it's huge. A whole lot bigger than I would have expected, but it's definitely beautiful. Now we must stain it (that's my job). My parents have donated their old patio furniture to the cause and so we'll be adding that soon as well. More pictures to come once it's all finished, but at least it's open for use! ;-) YEA!!!


Side note: Zach has finished his last summer school class. Ceramics is now over and he'll get his grade sometime next week! One more class down. What a great feeling!

Our crazy dog...

Beware - This video may make you sick from my horrible filming techniques, but it's absolutely impossible to keep up with our dog. This proves Bailey's abilities as a Jack Russell and I think that she could do real well in the Jack Russell Races, but she'll just have to keep dreaming.

Due to the shakiness of my video techniques, I have posted some pictures of the deck progress below. We only need a couple more support beams for the underneath and then it will be time to start the top boards. Not too much longer before we'll be able to enjoy our deck with our family and friends!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

School's out for Summer...

Well I wish that I could say that... Work is still on for the summer for me. And unfortunately Zach is also still in school. So that phrase doesn't really apply, but the fun times of summer have already begun.

Last weekend (May 30-June 1), I got to spend lots of much needed time with friends. On Saturday night, Amy, Abby and Amy's parents came over to the casa to see it and to have dinner. It was tons of fun and Abby was such a cutie pie! Here are some pics from the evening together....




I also got to see the Beller family last weekend. It was the first time that Zach and I had been to their beautiful house. We also got to spend some quality time with Lane and newborn Caroline. Good times... unfortunately, there are no pics to document this adventure.

Zach finished his Maymester course in Sculpture about two weeks ago. He's now started his ceramics course which will be over at the beginning of July. In his 3 week sculpture class, he had to do the following projects... I'd say that they turned out very well!

Project #1Project #2


In other news... we got a new oven as we are slowly trying to replace the appliances that we have. Our new oven matches the microwave that we put in the house and it's just beautiful. Again, a really good deal from Home Depot. Some would call it spaving... Spending so that you can save. I don't care what it is... it's pretty!

I think that's it... I'll let you know when the next project begins in the Shirley household! I'm feeling unloved people... leave some comments!