April... REALLY?!

Yes, it is really April, time is flying by these days!!! Let me recap the first quarter of the year!

January
We celebrated Christmas first week in January when Tim came home. We had our little Christmas at home, then celebrated with both sets of Tim's folks the following week! December also marked our THIRD year as members of church! WE LOVE our church and church family! We really didn't set resolutions but we do both want to get back into shape and Tim found out he receives a discount through our health insurance for a gym membership so he now goes to Anytime Fitness here in town. Glad it is local! I signed up for ABC here in town, but can't seem to schedule time to go! It gets better though...

Here was a tripod shot of us on "Christmas morning" ;)

February
Tim turned 31! We celebrated by going to Logan's Roadhouse on Tim's actual birthday and then joined friends the following week for the Eli Young Concert @ The Rodeo! Let's rodeo San Antonio! We had a great time! We also started back up co-leading the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace Class at church. Such a blessing to be a part of that ministry!!! Keeps us in check every year and gives us the opportunity to bless others in so many ways! Picture before Tim's birthday dinner! This time I placed the camera on the truck ;) Should really know better - that is almost how my last one got broken!

March
I turned 27! We also started the Advocare 24 day challenge the day after my birthday. We will be done on April 21st... I will update on progress! :) Tim has been going to the gym daily when he is home. He is doing great! He seems to lose at least five pounds every time he is at work?! For the photo world I did Bunny mini sessions. . . here is a quick shot of dude!

We are doing great overall! We have started to look at SUVs and trucks... purchase around Christmas we think... we shall see! We have started talking about baby in the future... not sure on when that will happen though. Sometimes I have crazy baby fever, but then I remember how much I enjoy my 8 hours of sleep and our little family routine :) Baby fever cured! LOL.  Personally, I have house fever. All. The. Time. No joke. I am so ready to have our starter home. Just have to remember to leave it up to God, it will be in his time, and when (he says) we are ready. I do love to look at 'em though! I like to know what pricing is like in our area and see how often deals pop up. I think it'll make us more knowledgeable buyers when we do!  

April has been going great! Tim and I have been doing well on the 24 day challenge, we end on April 21st.  We will be going to the beach that following weekend - Dude's FIRST beach trip! We are pretty excited :) Strick already has three swim trunks! Mom and Dad will probably get new suits though! 

Strick will be three in just a little over TWO months. Where does the time go? I already have his invitations picked out and his picture ready to be edited for his birthday invitations. Doing indoor/outdoor party this year... hopefully goes well?! It is a dinosaur theme this year! Last year was the Hulk & Superheros, year prior was Baseball. This one will be fun :) 

More pictures and updates from 2013 to come!

End of the Year!

Goodbye 2012! Nice knowin' ya!

The Busby family is looking forward to a fantastic 2013!!! 

We are really diving into spending the next year paying off Tim's legal fees to be done FOREVER! SOOO close to the end and we are going to push it! We are also going to be saving a little on the side for me to get another car (SUV)!! Hoping that this time next year brings momma a new(er) ride! :)

Then hopefully 2014 will bring a house and Disney world! Lots of things to look forward too!

Not to be cliche or anything - but we are both looking forward to working out this year too! I have not had a lot of luck with consistency and Tim needs another gym membership. He will be doing the Gold's Gym thing and I'm headed to boot camp twice a week! Starting either second or third week in January - I'm SO Excited!

We are already looking into Strick's THIRD birthday party! CRAZY. We are looking at a few venues... I'd really like to explore indoor opportunities... we have done the park two years in a row now - which is fine - but it is HOT in June! Tim and I have agreed no more summer babies :) I'd like to do a Sunday afternoon party if possible... we shall see!

Happy new year!

Christmas time...

Happy December y'all! I missed a month's post in November - whoops!? However, so much has gone on, we are definitely due for an update!

October was a very busy month (as you could probably tell from that post), lots of fun and some sad. We lost Nana (Tim's grandmother) on October 18th at the age of 92. Funeral took place in Hondo. We had family come in from up north to say their goodbyes to Nana. She was such a wonderful lady and will be missed! Michele actually made us an ornament with all of Nana's earrings on it :) I'm not one for a colored tree but that ornament will always be up as a token to remember her by! Below is a quick cell phone shot at Nana's viewing.

November was... November. I honestly can't remember very much of it?!  Main points are that Strick and I spent Thanksgiving with Michele's side of the family.  Tim was working but they did give them dinner, which I know he appreciates. 

December is here and half way done just about! We just started our Christmas shopping when Tim was home... and when I say we I mean Tim ;) We will finish up when he returns. We are not celebrating Christmas until January 5th! :) Strick will get a few presents to open on Christmas morning with me, but our main celebration will be when Tim is home and we can celebrate as a family. :)

I managed to get our Christmas cards out last week - whew! I usually like those out by December 1, but we didn't take our pictures until the week after. And a good friend did them for us this year - turned out great!

Going to start some traditions this year with Strick - just not sure what yet?!? I like Amanda's idea of making Jesus a birthday cake - we may do that! It's a fantastic idea! I'm not much of a cookie maker or carol-er, but I can make a cake! Going to start elf on the shelf next year, didn't get one in time this year! :) 

Will update more later!

Mid October Mini - Post!

Here we are October 17th - this year has just FLOWN by! 

My last post in September we were gearing up for a busy fall - and yup - still busy :) This is probably the busiest birthday month we have! It's fun! We celebrated three birthdays already. I was sick for two of them! 

This weekend is filled with fun things! Friday is fun marrieds, Saturday is Abby's birthday party and Girls Night and Sunday is Lauren's Bridal Shower! Fun Filled Weekend! So glad Tim & I got over our bugs and can go play!

Fun Marrieds is off to a great start - gotta work on the game for Friday! - The newly wed game! ;) Then we have another fellowship then Christmas party in December! Who-hoo! Love getting together with these couples!

Got my braces yesterday - 22 month treatment time, possibly a month or two less. We are going to try and straighten without removing or adding any teeth! Who-hoo! I am all for this game plan! They didn't hurt yesterday, but I can definitely feel it today! YIKES!

Will update later - off to work Amber goes!

Definitely Busy

So I am positive our "busy" time is Spring, but this fall is shaping up to be real busy real fast!

We have our once a month fellowships which we really look forward to :) then a friend of ours is getting married in November and we have our baby niece coming in December! With showers and other events it looks like our calendar is pretty full! Makes me glad we are celebrating Tim's family's side of Christmas in January again! :) ABP calendar is pretty full as well. WHEW!

Tim is getting ready to head back to work this week, he will be leaving Tuesday afternoon. He will be on days this hitch, at least it's getting cooler! We are still praying for a little promotion, however, since the election is coming up we are hoping he doesn't get demoted or worse! Prayers please! Oil field is notorious for slowing down right around election time, hopefully it doesn't!

I had my class last week in San Antonio, some of those days DRAGGED. Information overload! And to top it off I was sick two of the three days I was there! No bueno! However I learned a TON (and retained!) and I'm proud to say I passed my General Lines P&C license exam :) go me! My boss is also very excited. This means next I'll be up for the binding authority class (this is strictly an Allstate thing) with a lot of information coming my way! Hoping to learn a lot and hoping to be given the opportunity to sell...mainly business...I REALLY would like to learn commercial sales. I know I have to start out with the basics, but I'd LOVE to do B2B! Cheers to learning! And... I am hoping for a little more respect from the office manager - that'd be nice! Tim & I are hoping I stay with Allstate for the next few years so we can buy a house :) I really, really, really want to own a home! Instead of "baby fever" I have "house fever!" oh - and car fever!

Braces coming soon... I have to do my records appointment first, which is only 20 minutes, then I have my next appointment for the "game plan" and then braces! We opted to switch orthodontists for a variety of reasons... 1. Proximity to my work - right outside my office!!! Literally takes me 1 minute to get there! SAME building! 2. Cost - about $600 cheaper! HECK YEA! Instead of New Braunfels Orthodontic Associates we will be going with Ferris Orthodontics. He also thinks we may not have to remove three teeth and I've REALLY got my fingers crossed for this. He said he may determine that they may have to come out but he has to see my records, and such. Hoping we can just shift bottom portion of my mouth over and stick an implant in and save three good teeth!

Since we opted to do braces first we are putting the car purchase off until late 2012. We have decided to keep the Pathfinder as well. Tim really wants me to have a suburban, we'll see. I'm leaning towards a Jeep... either way, BIG expense since we are paying cash. But it'll be SO nice to have a newer car!!! Mine is 13 years old! Luckily I only have a ten minute drive to work so I'm not so hard on it, but I'd love to be able to visit the family in CC every now and then!

Ok, that's all for now!

Fall is upon us!

Well it has been awhile since I posted last! Lots of changes in the Busby house!

Let's start with work stuff! Tim is into his hitches doing his new job...and sometimes his old job at the same time! Poor guy :( Hopefully they find someone for his previous position so he can continue to improve in his new job.  His new position entails some studying and tests and classes from what I understand. He was trying to get a head and study before he got promoted so he'd know a little bit more - which is great! Still praying for driller in the near future, would make a Christmas present to our family I think?? We'll see! Oil field sometimes goes down in production during an election year so November will be a little scary.

I am still with Allstate, so I've been there for about two months now? I was having a little bit of a hard time adjusting to certain things, but I've decided to try and "let go" and move on. Tim & I feel that this is a good place for me right now. I love my hours - 10-4, I'm sure they will change in the future, but right now it's perfect for letting me work out in the morning and getting home early enough to make dinner early  for us! NICE! I'll be taking an insurance class next week at the Marriott (I think) by the RIM in San Antonio next week. Not looking forward to the drive, but definitely looking forward to getting out of the office for a couple of days :)

Photography is going great! I'm getting more clients and got a new lens that I'm learning to use! I still need a lot more practice but it's my dream so well worth it! I started taking my photography classes too! The New York Institute of Photography - Complete Course in Pro Photography! I'm going to learn all the basics and techniques and proper terminology of photography! Right now all I know how to do is take my own style of pictures, but in order to learn and grow, I need to get educated! SO looking forward to it. I'm on lesson one in unit one. I've read the texts, but I need to go back and answer the quizzes and also do my online comprehension tests! I'm still surprised at the number of people who have NOT supported me in my business that are supposed to be "friends" And by support I do not mean book a session and pay me, I mean saying the ... "hey, good job," "congrats," "way to go," "you are getting better" ... you know those kinds of things! And even as silly as it sounds, liking my business photo page! Kind of "urked" with those people.

Strick is still as active as ever! He is learning more words daily and trying to put sentences together. Very excited :) He randomly counts things too! Very excited that he has started his "A-beka" curriculum at daycare. :) He should be really prepared for school in a couple years. We will keep our options open as he gets older for other teaching programs prior to school age but right now we are content! We are thinking about his theme for his birthday party next year... sharks or dinosaurs... hmm :) It's always fun to search pinterest and get ideas!

Braces & a new car are still in the works for 2013! I'm thinking braces first, but we will have to see what we feel is more important at the time. As for car...thinking a Jeep maybe? We'll see! We are also going to start putting some money aside for maternity clothes :) Baby #2 preparations will start next year too, not as in, trying to have a baby, but preparing for the cost... clothes for my expanding belly, the birth photographer we are going to hire, breast pump (thinking of trying to breast feed the next one), deductible and our percentage and those kinds of things. We aren't planning on another until 2015 but babies are expensive :) 

We are hoping to be out of debt in 18 more months - FINGERS CROSSED! A lot of this will depend on if Tim gets another promotion and if my pay increases... or my hours, OR BOTH! LOL.  Then it's time to look for a house! Tim wants to save 20-25% so we may not wind up buying until 2015 or 2016. Depending on the Joiners plans we will stay renting here or find another rental, since we have our monetary goal of down payment we want to save. We love them dearly and don't want them to move over their new home plans because of us. They have goals & dreams as we do! They are just further along in their journey than we are. :) Whatever happens we will be ecstatic! Once the debt is gone a HUGE weight will be lifted for us and will open SO many possibilities!

Ok - tis all for now!

Busy Bee Busbys

Well summer is in full swing and busy busy busy! What I refer to "birthday party season" starts in April and doesn't end until the end of October keeps us pretty busy! Today we were supposed to be at a birthday party but the family went to the beach instead - super fun for them! And gives our family a day off! :) win-win!


A lot has transpired since my last post in oh... May was it??? ha-ha! Again - busy!


Tim received a little promotion at work and we are pretty excited about it! Promotions are good! I think he is one promotion away from being driller which is awesome for him! Very, very proud of the hubs!


I took a different turn in the employment game...now I am working for Allstate in Spring Branch.


Strick is growing every day! His 2nd birthday party was a huge hit! Hulk theme-inspired! We had green and purple balloons :) Strick wore his green Hulk T-shirt and purple shorts. I cannot BELIEVE he is TWO!!! Time really flies!!!  We enrolled him at the Lighthouse Children's Learning Center right down the street from us and he is doing SO well! He can count to ten (although, 8 sounds like "ape" LOL) and is already getting better with his colors! So happy! <insert proud momma dance here> Here are a few pics from his special bday party!