I Cross My Heart

I must be having a really soppy day (hehehe) or I am just turning into a country girl, who knows but this song below is from a movie called Pure Country which I have not seen, but I totally love this song, it's so beautiful, one certainly worth dedicating to my loving husband David whom I love so very much.



Here are the words for those people who's ears are not tuned into country yet (hehehe) And come on guys, I know I asked for comments but no cocky ones here ok (Gavin !!!)

I CROSS MY HEART - GEORGE STRAIT

Our love is unconditional
We knew it from the start
I can see it in your eyes
You can feel it from my heart
from here on after
Lets stay the way we are right now
And share all the love and laughter
That a lifetime will allow

Chorus:

I cross my heart
And promise to
Give all Ive got to give
To make all your dreams come true
In all the world
You'll never find
A love as true as mine

You will always be the miracle
That makes my life complete
And as long as there's still breath in me
Ill make yours just as sweet
As we look into the future
Its as far as we can see
So lets make each tomorrow
Be the best that it can be

Chorus

And if along the way we find a day
It starts to storm
You've got the promise of my love
To keep you warm

Lovely Spring Day

Firstly before I go on ... I believe some of you are battling to leave comments on my blog, I am sorry it seems to be so difficult but it is a lot easier if you already have a gmail account. If you don't just follow the steps and quickly create one, hopefully that won't be too difficult and then if you manage leaving comments will be easy as pie or I hope so ... let me know how you do. Comments would be great, that's the only way I know people are viewing the blog and worth my while doing.

Secondly I know some family have enquired how to print pics from the blog, just right click on the picture and save it to where you normally save your pics and then print from there, hopefully that will be easy too, if you have a problem let me know. I am thinking and I could be wrong but I am thinking that if you click on the picture and the full size good quality one comes up, if you go FILE, SAVE AS and save it to where you usually save your pics, you will now be getting better quality pics than the ones I normally would send you in email since those pics are usually reduced by my email package. Good Luck !!!

Well it is once again a beautiful Spring Day here, the crazy thing is that tomorrow and only tomorrow it is going to be really cold again, like jackets kind of cold from what I hear, I almost think they have made a mistake because from Friday it is hot again but there are many thunderstorms predicted so we will see.

Anyway I thought Jade looked so cute in her little outfit today I sent her outside for some pics but she didn't cooperate too well but at least I got a few good ones, or I hope so, see for yourself.













I bought her the cutest little Easter dress now I just have to get some nice pics taken, maybe this weekend, we will see. The next while is full of Easter stuff, this weekend in Downtown Matthews there is a big Easter thing on with egg hunts for all the kids and so much more. We have not been to this one yet but I think we might go take a look if the weather is good. Then next weekend the 7th is the big one that we usually go to at the park close by our home, that's a fun one and Jade loves it, everything is pretty much free, you pay like $3 for the kids to have unlimited rides, the lines are long and last year Jade was still a little impatient but maybe this year it will be better. I hope to get a pic of her with the Easter Bunny too if the lines are not too long, last year she was still a bit nervous of him so we'll see what happens this year, hold thumbs. Even though the park is in walking distance from our house we make it more fun and catch a bus from Jades school so she has a bus ride too, she loves that, also then we don't have to both too much with parking and stuff, the walk from the car park to the actual event is very far, did it one year, never again !!!

Anyway if I don't update again before the weekend, have a good one.

Oh one last thing, I am not putting any more time into this blog that just quick updates so please excuse any grammar and spelling, it does go through a spell check but some things it won't find and well, Dave already has been hounding me with errors !!! MEN !!!

Good And Bad News

Well getting this blog going has been a total pain, I thought it would be way easier than it has been but anyway, I have to appologize for it not being perfect, you all know me, I hate doing things half but I just couldn't get the spacing right and thought if I don't get this published and started, I will never get it done so ... here I am.

So the last two weeks have been relatively slow, we have all been sick, Jade just slightly although she still has a runny nose and a bit of a cough, the sad part is with all that she got an ear infection which hopefully is on the mend now since we are more than half way through her antibiotic. Me well I am still coughing but life goes one right ... no time for moms to get better, I know all you moms out there know what I am talking about !!! Then Dave was also sick for a while, he played the 'I'm dying' card like only men can so all I can say is thank heavens he is almost better now too. He is actually in Denver Colorado today for a business meeting, nothing like flying 4 hours in one direction and 4 hours back for a 3 hour meeting and well you all know how Dave likes to fly right ?

Well I had a birthday, although I was sick, I had a good one, thanks to everyone that called, sms'd and emailed, it really made me feel good how many remembered and made me feel special.




Dave spoilt me rotten as usual even though my main present he gave me is more like a mans gift (hehehe) we needed it so check it out ... my new grill !!!


I got a bunch of other things too but my biggest present is that in three odd weeks Dave is taking me along with him on a business trip to Vegas, I can't believe it and what is even better, my neighbor Tina has offered to keep Jade for a couple of days, how cool is that ?

Oh before I forget, we got a fish !!! I promised Jade when we got back from South Africa, I would buy her a Goldfish which she was going to call Goldie, orignal right ? Anyway as things go apparently Goldfish don't live well in bowls, who has ever heard of that ? So we landed up getting a Betta fish, she chose the color and seems very happy with him, she named him Mia, like the bee ... and told me he was a she so, who am I to tell her different. Her is a picture of Mia.



Well the weather here has been crazy, when we arrived back it was warmish and then it got really cold again but this past week, it has been hot, I think we are in for a very hot Summer. Yesterday it was so warm that the kids decided they wanted to wash Tinas car so they all got in bathing suits and half washed the car and played in the water the rest of the time. Now being only Spring you can only imagine how cold that water was but they had fun and actually the sun was so hot that they got burnt, those that din't have sun lotion on. After all that fun, our new next door neighbors asked all the kids to come around and play with their 3 year old son Cody in their backyard, the kid were thrilled as they had been checking out that new backyard for a while wondering how they were going to get in :-) Here are some pictures of them in the sun. I don't have time to label them but hopefully you can see how much fun they had out in the sun.












Then came the sad news, Daves Moms sister Vicencia passed away suddenly last night, she had not been well all day and landed up in hospital late morning. Thankfully the entire family was at her bedside to be with her, she passed away peacefully last night. She will be missed as she was a wonderful lady with a beautiful spirit and such a giving nature. She will always hold a special place in our hearts. I thoughts and prayers are with the family during their time of Sorrow. Below is a picture of her for those that new her, unfortunately not a very clear one but the only one I had on hand.



I am going to try hard to update this blog every two weeks or so so keep checking ok :-)

Getting Back To Normal Life After Our Month Long Trip

Ok this is the second time I am trying this ... I pretty much finished this update and somehow pressed the wrong button and before I could even try and undo the damage I just did, everything that I had typed was gone :-( I am certainly going to have to learn the hard way with this one !!!

So let's try again :-( Firstly before I go on ... this blog is for family and friends and I have set it up as such so that only people invited to view the blog will actually be able to view the blog. I would appreciate you not sharing this blog with others so that I can keep it as private as possible. Blogs really scare me and honestly I do not want to put as much information about my family on the web as I am doing so in here so keeping it private is what is key for me, thanks !!!

Anyway, I cannot believe it's been weeks already since we got back from our month long trip to South Africa and even though we had tons of fun, nothing really says it better than 'Home Sweet Home', living out of suitcases to me is never fun !!!

Taking these trips once every two years reminds us of how much we miss out on being so far from our family and friends but it also makes us realize how lucky we are to be living in a first world country with everyday stuff that we take for granted. The worst for both Dave and I was constant traffic, traffic, traffic, it was such a frustration for us to have to plan days around traffic in Cape Town, I know people that live with it on a daily basis don't probably think much of it but for us, it was painful. Actually that wasn't the worst for me, the worst was Tv, if you don't have satellite in South Africa, there is NOTHING to watch, it makes my basic cable of over 100 channels look like total luxury !!! And let's not talk about the Internet, golly !!!

For me the best part of going back was seeing Jade getting to know grandparents and cousins, she is now at an age where she will actually remember this vacation which makes the trip so much more worth while for us. Ok so I lied, that wasn't the best part for me even though it was way up there ... the best part was that for the entire month we were out there Jade spent only 3 odd nights with us at our timeshare, can you believe that, can you imagine what that must have been like for us ? As much as we missed her and we did, we have never been away from her for this long, yeah we saw her frequently but I mean, it still felt like she wasn't with us much because she wasn't spending every night with us. It was very weird for us, we could sleep late in the mornings, that already was a huge treat, but we could go see movies whenever, eat whenever, out at places that were more adult friendly, just do adult stuff together and stay out late without a schedule of any kind to stick to, it was amazing and well we are very thankful for this special time we were given :-) Thank you grandparents, uncles and aunts !!!

Dave and I also went away for a very romantic weekend, this was a weekend that I had planned a long time ago but it was a surprise for David, I took him Shark Cage Diving in Gansbaai, a place famous for this. It was amazing, we spend the Saturday taking a long and slow drive up to Gansbaai, spent the evening with my departed grandmothers best friend Rosemary which helped me put this little trip together, you see she runs one of these Shark Cage Diving companies :-) she was instrumental in all the fun we had and we are very thankful to her for the probably once in a lifetime experience we had with her. The long and the short of it, after a long while on the Sunday out at sea on the boat we eventually started seeing sharks, the biggest one was 5 odd metres in length and believe it or not, Dave was in the cage in the water when that shark came by, less than a metre from the cage. I was freaking out onboard as you can well imagine since this shark was just a little too close for comfort for me, anyway the sad thing is that the visibility in the water wasn't good, even though we had a perfect day out at sea, so when Dave looked under the water he couldn't see much even though the shark was as big as a car !!! Thankfully when he came up for air he could see how big it was and had an even better view when he came aboard and saw it as we had. We really had a wonderful time. After a long day at sea we spent the evening at a luxurious bed and breakfast in Hermanus, again what a rare treat for us, we had a wonderful time. Took a slow drive back on the Monday and then it was back to the rat race in Cape Town.

David In The Cage Waiting For The Sharks To Arrive

Now That Is As Close As The Shark Gets To The Cage, Dave Was In The Cage When This Picture Was Taken

He Doesn't Look That Big In The Picture But This Shark Is The Size Of A Car !!!

Jade on the other hand, had a ball, she got to see the best of both worlds. She spent time up at the river in Stilbaai with Oupa and Nana, she got to go to the beach frequently, play in the river and on the sand bank which is on their doorstep, Oupa taught her how to catch big fish with her new fishing pole they gave her while Nana helped her catch little fish in the pools on the sand bank. Nana also taught Jade how to drive her Beach Buggy which Jade thought was a real treat after learning to drive her Barbie Jeep at home in the States ... I cannot believe she didn't catch an African tan while she was there but I guess the grandparents were being very careful. She also got to spend a little more alone time with uncle Gavin and aunty Gigi too, time enough to put them off kids for a while longer (hehehe) !!! I keep telling them they are not born this way but in time I am sure they will forget all they went through this holiday.

Oupa Showing Jade How To Catch Big Fish ... Which She Never Caught !!!

Nana Having Better Luck Showing Jade How To Catch The Litte Fish ... Which Were More Fun For Jade Anyway !!!

And Who Said You Had To Be 16 To Learn How To Drive ...

So Peaceful In The Middle Of The River

Uncle Gavin - My Brother And Aunty Gigi Relaxing At The End Of A Tough Day With Jade

Jade Watching The 'Happy Feet' At Boulders Beach

Dave And Jade At Boulders Beach - I Wish We Could Have Spent More Time There It Was An Amazing Day

Nana And Jade Giving Each Other Some Love

Saying Goodbye To Aunty Gigi At The Airport

Saying Bye To Uncle Gavin, Jades Godfather

Then she also got to spend time with Daves family too, granny and grampa and of course uncle Sion and Aunty Tiana and her cousins Jessica and Olivia. She got to swim there a lot too, our swimming lessons that we rushed her through before we left really paid off, she had a ball swimming with everyone. She also got to go ice skating, thank heavens I didn't have to watch that one, hopefully we will get pictures shortly and I can let everyone see them too, she also got to go to the beach with them and to many fun other places but I can tell you one thing she enjoyed the most and that was her cousins new little kittens, the poor things were probably happy to see her go but she still talks about them a lot !!! Hopefully that we now have bought her a pet Betta fish since we got back, she will stop wanting me to buy a cat, yuck !!! I am definitely not a cat person !!!

Look At My Little Fish

Looks Like Our Swimming Lessons Paid Off (Hehehe)

Jade With Her Cousins Jessica And Olivia, Daves Sister Tianas Kids

Relaxing After An Afternoon At The Pool And A Good Home Cooked Meal

Uncle Sion, Aunty Tiana, Jessica And Olivia


The Three Cousins



Saying Goodbye To Grampa At The Airport

David And His Mother At The Airport

On the whole she was amazing, even flying she was so much better than two years ago. I would never travel with another two year old again, that is for sure, that trip was a nightmare for me but this one, as long as I prepared her for everything that was going to happen, she did fine. She was a little uncomfortable on the plane sleep wise but still she did amazing. Also be shunted from one family to the next sleeping wherever, she did so well, I am so very proud of my little girl, I can hardly tell you :-)

Anyway leaving as usual was tough but now we are back into everyday life here, both Jade and I have been battling colds with bad coughs which hopefully we will both be over soon, it becoming Spring here isn't helping but anyway.

One last thing ... thank you to everyone that had us over for a visit and spoilt us rotten, it was great to see everyone again, you all contributed to us having a great vacation. Please keep in touch !!!

I will write more soon but thought for right now, this is already major overload for you guys, since it's been a while since I have written something this long.

Where Do I Start ?

I guess I should start with a picture of David, Jade and I, yeah I agree, not the most flattering picture but hey, it's a picture of the three of us which you don't often get. I wanted to load our latest Christmas picture but that was just too complicating right now, I need to figure all this out still and then we can get more fancy.




Anyway for those that know me well, they know I am a good communicator, or try to be but in the past year or ever over the past 6 years, the communication has become less, I know, but when we moved over here, I had nothing much to do but sit on my computer and update everyone on our lives here but now with Jade in the equation and just my full life in general, I hardly get time to sit down and email everyone back let alone update websites so ... I thought I would give blogging a chance and we will see how that goes, hold thumbs !!!

Now I have never done this before either so it will be trial and error for a while I am sure so hang in there and let's see what happens ok :-)