The Youngblood Family: 2009

Here's a run down of our vacation...let's just say we had a lot of fun...
We decided to drive to the airport and stay at the DFW Hyatt because they were offering a special to park. So, after Brooklyn's 5th birthday (our niece) we drove to the hotel. We had a lovely dinner at the restaurant and then Josh fell asleep shortly after that so I played on the laptop. The next day we woke up, had breakfast, and relaxingly strolled over to our terminal. I highly recommend staying the night before at the airport. It makes the beginning of your vacation seem so much less hectic already being at the airport. Plus, anyplace that has a Starbucks is on the top of my list in the mornings! Our flight wasn't very long and it wasn't as scary as I thought it would be to fly over water. In fact, it just looked like sky below us. When we flew over the Houston area we could see little boats. Well, actually if we could see them, they were probably huge but whatever! I just spent the flight reading some books and listening to my ipod. I was pretty excited to go to Cozumel since we've been there so many times but only by cruise ship. I was more nervous about flying to another country. I don't know why either because it wasn't that big of a deal. As we were standing around the aeropuerto de Cozumel I looked across the luggage conveyor and saw Amber Griffith from high school!!!! How crazy small is this world? Josh is not even surprised when I run into people I know anymore since it happens EVERYWHERE we go!!! As it turned out, Amber and her hubby Chad, and some of their friends were staying at the same resort as Josh and me so we ran into them often throughout the week. When we finally got to Occidental Grand Resort, it was pouring down rain. It continued to do this for the rest of the day but that was okay because we got some great pictures with my WATERPROOF camera!!! I realized that all these years I was missing out on the settings that digital cameras have by only ever using the automatic setting. My new camera has some pretty awesome settings so I started playing with them and if you didn't know any better one might think that my flower pictures are professional quality! Okay, so I have a long way to go but I tried my best to capture the beauty of this resort.

They clearly take pride in their landscaping. I asked Josh if he thought we could make our backyard look like the grounds of the resort and he said he didn't think that would be possible on the limited amount of knowledge either of us has on plants! So, looks like we'll just have to travel to tropical places to see it in person! Oh, darn! Anyway, we basically just relaxed and took in the island. After me taking about a hundred pictures of everything I saw on the island and Josh getting really annoyed, we were able to compromise when we found a bar! I was able to take pictures and Josh was able to not be annoyed with my picture taking! See, it's all about compromise!

Our 5 year anniversary

After the fun last Friday with Josh's accident, we started our vacation a little differently. In the beginning we thought we were celebrating the fact that we were married for 5 years but after Josh's accident things were perfectly revealed to me. We weren't celebrating 5 years of marriage, we were celebrating 6 years of being in each other's precious lives and building a life together. It was a celebration of love. I know, that sounds cheesy especially coming from me...but you know what? I don't care. I love that man and I am blessed everyday with that love and June 26 reminded just how lucky I am to have him in my life. So, having said that here's two pictures of my love and me. Both taken on July 3...

2004 That was then, this is now...2009
One thing is for sure...I'm still short!!

Friday, June 26, 2009

I can hold my breath for 8 minutes...

Well, my scariest nightmare came true in the form of a phone call. This morning I was woken to my phone ringing with Josh's ring tone around 5:40AM. The first thought that went through my mind was this can't be good if he's calling me from work at this time in the morning (he works nights). I breathed in the morning air, rolled over, and I picked up the phone very sleepily and said, "Hello." This is what I heard: "Mrs. Youngblood, this is Jeff with Medstar..." Phone disconnects, I jolt out of bed, stare at my phone waiting for it to ring. 5:42AM phone rings. "Mrs. Youngblood we are taking your husband to Harris Hospital downtown..." Phone call dropped again... Time completely stopped, I'm moving in slow motion telling myself to breathe but can't seem to manage that task, trying to get dressed, and praying that God watches over the love of my life. 5:45AM phone rings "Mrs. Youngblood your husband..." DROPPED CALL!!!!! 5:48AM phone rings again with a number I don't recognize. "Hello?" "Mrs. Youngblood, this is Jeff again with Medstar, your husband is okay but his phone keeps dropping the call." I finally was able to take a breath. Yup, 8 minutes. I stopped breathing and living for that matter for 8 minutes before I found out he was okay. But was he really okay? Or were they just telling me that so I didn't freak out on the way to the hospital? Was Josh just telling them to tell me that? So many thoughts were swimming in my mind and I felt like I was drowning in anxiety. I thanked Jeff for calling me and I hung up the phone. I calmly ran down the hallway and told my mom (who stayed the night visiting) to get dressed we had a hospital visit to make. I tried to keep it together and I was so glad my mom stayed the night and was able to ride with me to the hospital because I was a nervous wreck! I finally got to the hospital and found my poor baby waiting on X-rays. He was fine, no blood, and his feet were hanging off the hospital bed (seems to be a regular occurrence for him).
I couldn't help but laugh which helped break the nervousness. Everything was okay because the guardian angels I pray for everyday watched over my love. Apparently, Josh was driving 60mph down the I20 in his work bucket truck (exhibit A: Please explain to me how you do not see a truck that big driving down the interstate? But that is what the guy claims. Anyway, Josh is driving down the interstate in the far right lane when all of the sudden he is jolted forward in his truck. He said at first he thought his ladder came off his truck. He looked in all his mirrors and didn't see anything wrong so he pulled over and started putting out his safety cones. That's when he saw a tin can of a car about a football field away on the shoulder. He ran over there and checked on the guy driving the tin can of a car and the guy was able to get out but his response was, "Dude, where did you come from?" Josh kind of thought the guy was on something, evidently so did the police since they arrested him. Anyway, everyone was fine. So the story ends with some idiot driver (in a rental car) hits Josh while he's going 60 miles an hour down the interstate and fortunately for the other guy Josh's gigantic truck absorbed most of the impact and that is why both of them survived the accident because it could have been fatal. Guardian angels no doubt intervened. Here's a picture of a work truck from the back that hasn't been hit: and this is what Josh's truck looked like after being hit: Notice the step that is completely underneath the truck now? Yea, that was bent pretty good. The trailer hitch did some serious damage to the other car as it went through the windshield. Josh was discharged from the hospital shortly after X-rays and we started our vacation... Thank God for angels.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Madison's Here!

Well, my sister had her baby girl! Welcome sweet Madison Elizabeth to the world! Born June 4, 2009 at 8:12AM, 7 lbs 11.5oz, 20 inches long. Oh, and a full head of hair! :-)

Alert and ready to take on the world!

A very proud first time grandma!!!

She already loves her Aunt Julie!

The Happy Family!

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Winnie the Pooh

Well, today I woke up pretty sore after working my tail off yesterday putting my sister's nursery together. Though, I found out she was even more decorating impaired than I originally thought, I did get it finished. I am now convinced that I got all the creative genes in the family...
Here are the before pictures:

After it was finished being painted:

Then the decorating began...

Here's the finished product:

The happy expecting couple:

Aunt Julie was tired...

I started at 11 in the morning and finished at 12:45 at night!!!! Let's just say it was a really long day...but it's finished minus a few things like a tree in the corner, the nurser rocker, another winnie the pooh self, and a picture of roo. But, I think it turned out pretty well and definetly fits my sister's style.