What ever happened to Billy Bob?

If you were a kid in the 80's like me than most likely you know that before there was Chuck E Cheese's there was a little place called Showbiz pizza. Instead of a Giant rat, its front man was a hillbilly bear named Billy Bob. There is a picture of me in some old photo album wearing a birthday hat and dancing to mind blowing songs played by Rock-afire Explosion, a motley crew of animatronic animal musicians, that rocked out to classic songs from the 60's. I remember thinking that was the coolest place ever and I always wanted to go play there.

Recently, Kevin and I took Morgan to check out Chuck E Cheese's. I was curious to see what she thought about the hustle and bustle of all the kids running around. She actually enjoyed it a lot. The only problem is a 14 month old doesn't quite understand that you have to take turns to ride the rides.  So not only did Morgan have a blast running around and riding rides, she also had a few tantrums as well.

Morgan and daddy checking out the concert.

Morgan driving the car. We were actually impressed because we never told her what to do.  She just grabbed the steering wheel and started turning.

Then "real life" Chuck E. came out to say hi.

"Is it ok, dad?"

"I've never seen teeth like that before."

Right after this picture another tantrum started. I took her by the hand and started walking to let another little girl have a turn and she freaked out. This girl goes crazy for giant characters. I guess we know how she would be at Disney. Too bad we aren't taking her until her 5th birthday :)

After we left I kept thinking that just wasn't as cool as when I was a kid. It felt smaller and well not as edgy because Showbiz was a little rough around the edges.  I remember being a little scared of the gorilla keyboardist, but loving the show just the same.  I think about the gradual transition from Showbiz to Chuck E. Cheese and I can't help but wonder what ever happened to Billy Bob? He was such a sweet, loving character. Sure he wasn't the most educated of all childrens characters and he might have promoted alcoholism (*Note the jug of moonshine on stage), but I loved him just the same.  Billy Bob thanks for helping making my childhood a little more fun!

Coasters

Way back in December I started making some coasters out of tile. It took me a while to complete this project  because I kept finding myself involved in Christmas activities or chasing after my daughter, but after I got my creative juices flowing and just went for it I came up with these two designs..

 

 I have to say I was actually pretty happy with how they turned out and I know Kevin was happy to have our dining room table back :)

If this is a project you think you would want to do all you need is:

Tile

220 grit sand paper

bonding primer

waterproof ceramic type paint

and felt to hot glue to the bottom

utah Part 3

When I lived in Utah, forever ago, I met my friend JoAnn. She and I were roommates for a while and had a blast. JoAnn is now living in Idaho, but when I told her I was going to Utah she made the drive down so we could meet up. I thought that was so amazing that she would drive all the way over there for one night.

I had never met her husband before and she had never met Morgan so it was nice that we can now actually say we know who the other is talking about instead of just feeling like we do.

I learned that Jordan does not like taking pictures and therefore rarely ever takes a normal one.

This is the picture I got after trying to do a stupid dance to get him to smile. He may not be looking at the camera, but seeing this smile on his face makes me consider my mission a success.

These guys will be welcoming their first child, a daughter, in April.
Congratulations guys! I'm so excited for you :)

HoAnn it was SOOOO good to see you. I'm so glad that we have stayed such close friends over the years. You and Jordan make a cute couple and I know you were just meant to be a mother. I love you hand twin! I I hope we can see each other again soon.

This whole trip I was really impressed with how comfortable Morgan is with people she just met. She really likes people and loves feeling like she is part of the action. My mom warned that this could be a bad thing later on. I will definitely have to teach her about not talking to strangers.

On my last night in town the Alabama crew got together again. This time Jared asked if I could stop by for a quick visit because his family wasn't quite well enough to venture out, but he wanted to make sure we got to meet up if even for a second. So...a few of us stopped by on our way to kjirsten's place.

Here is Jared's cute family. They are expecting their first little girl in May :)

It was so nice to see everyone. I find myself saying that I recharged my "friend battery" after missing people for so long it is nice when a friend comes to visit or I get to visit someone else. It just makes me remember that even though I am still building friendships here, I do have people that truly  know and love me. Even if they are hundreds of miles away.

Brooke thank you so much for letting Morgan and I come and stay with you. It was so good to spend time with you again. You are such a compassionate and sincere person and I love that about you. I always find myself laughing when you are around and that really is the best medicine. I know you aren't quite sure where the future will take you, but I know that we will always be friends. I love you Squnch face!

utah part 2

Every time Brooke and I get together at some point she does my make-up for me.  It is one of our traditions.   Well....one of Brooke's  roommates happens to do hair so it just made sense that together they would give me a make over :)

Before:

After:

 she added some blonde and it is considerably shorter. It is hard for me to not be able to just throw it up in a ponytail, but knowing me, if it were longer that is still all I would be doing. Thank you so much, Leah! I'm so glad I got to meet you. You are one cool chick and you are hilariously funny. I enjoyed getting to know you and I hope we will get to stay in touch :).

One thing that I love about good friends is that you really don't have to do much to have a great time. One night we had some of my oldest friends from Alabama over to have a cook out (there is some southern jargon for ya) and to play games. Let me introduce you to-

Jessica

Mark

and Vinny

Isn't his beard out of control? Apparently, this is brought on by his mother asking him to shave. Instead he decided to grow it out even more. He said he isn't shaving until MAY! Brooke lovingly pointed out that with his head shaved and beard like that he looks like Shel Silverstein.

Crazy huh? Anyways, it was nice to see everyone again and to have us all in the same place. (All except my friend Jared who couldn't come because his family was sick)  We attempted to take some group pictures. These are the only ones I can post. The rest are not exactly blog appropriate. (I'm talking to you boys)

After dinner we played some games. The first being Beatles Rockband.   I swear I had nothing to do with that. Brooke's roommate just happened to have that version :)  Austyn, Jessica's little girl was a riot.  She has such a spunky personality.  She was the singer for Rockband a couple of times and she wouldn't let her mom help at all.

Jessica already knows she is in for trouble with that one ;)

After Rockband, the kiddos went to bed and we went upstairs and played catch phrase. Ok can I just say that I love that game? Every time I play it I have so much fun. We were all being ridiculously silly and laughing way too much.

Here is Vinny with his girlfriend Kjirsten. I really wish we had known her and Brooke when we were growing up. They would have fit right in.

Now on to part 3

Utah Part 1

I recently took a trip to Utah and stayed with my awesome friend, Brooke. She and I met when I was living in Florida. She was a nanny there at the time and she and I hit it off. Well there were three of us that would hang out (Shout out to you Elissa!), but when our third Musketeer moved away we had to fend for ourselves. We spent a lot of our time taking pictures, watching movies, and being all around ridiculously silly.

It had been a really long time since I had seen Brooke and it was so nice of her to let Mo and I crash with her. She instantly loved Morgan and kept telling me that she made her want kids. It was nice to have another friend FINALLY meet my daughter.

I tried my best to catch up with other friends while I was there too. One being my friend, Tami. She and I met when I lived in Utah, several years ago, when we were both working at the same call center together. Sometimes it makes me laugh that we have stayed good friends because on the outside we don't necessarily have many things in common, but I love Tami and I love how different we are. She had two little boys and is pregnant with her third. Poor Tami. She wanted a daughter really badly, but I think her husband is totally excited about having all boys.

After grabbing some lunch, Tami asked if Brooke and I wanted to bring Morgan over to this inflatable gym. They have bounce houses, slides, and all kinds of inflatable activities. So we headed on over to the Kangaroo Zoo.

Tami, it was so good to see you and your boys. Thanks for inviting us to play with you guys. Hopefully we will get to see you guys again soon.

To be continued...

Almost 30-Yikes

Earlier this month I entered into the last year of my twenties. High school me is telling me that I am OLD, but the present me disagrees. I don't feel old so even though I willl accept how old I am I think I will live by the saying "you are only as old as you feel". So I guess I am about 26ish. :)

I enjoy celebrating my birthday, and I hope that no matter how old my birth certificate tells me I am, I will continue to do so. I might even adopt my mother's mantra that the whole month of February is my birthday!

Kevin and I went on a date to play mini golf (my choice) and then we enjoyed some In and Out burgers. This may sound underwhelming to some of you, BUT it was actually almost exactly what we did on our first date. Plus, we never really get out without the tot and it was SO NICE to be able to enjoy a night by ourselves. A big THANK YOU to my wonderful mother-in-law for watching Morgan for us.

A shower for P.

Sometimes  I make up nicknames for my friends and for some reason they usually sound like a wannabe rappers name. I recently attended a baby shower for my friend that I lovingly call P. Lemmie. She is expecting a little boy on March 1st and she makes a beautiful pregnant lady. Don't ya think?

This isn't everyone we came to the shower. Unfortunately, we only thought to do a group shot after the shower was over and we were just sitting around gabbing and of course we had to do the "silly shot". Kudos to P. MAN that is one scary face! :)

Just for fun I thought I would throw in a picture of us at my baby shower.

(P. trying to stick her stomach out to look like mine)

P. Lemmie,

I am so excited for you and M! I know you are going to be amazing parents. I can see how much love you already have for this little boy and I can't help but think how lucky he is :) I wanted to say thank you for being my friend when I didn't feel like I had many. I can't tell you how much it helped to know that you were just down the street to go jogging with or just watch a movie. I'm sad that I don't live close anymore and we can't take our kiddos on daily walks to the park, but I will try to come and visit you as much as I can.

Love,

H. Shizzle :)