It's Christmas time....

Tolbert Family Christmas

Cohen has arrived!

I am so proud to announce that I finally have a nephew!!!!! His name is Cohen Matthew Carreker (LOVE the name) and he was born 11/20/08 at 6:09 pm weighing 8 lb and 14 oz!! He is the most precious thing in the world and I just LOVE him. I was so thankful to be able to be there for the delivery and it was honestly the most amazing experience ever. As a labor and delivery nurse I see deliveries every day. However, it's WAY different when it is your sister and nephew. I was a bit anxious watching my sister go through it all but she did wonderfully and I was just SO unbelievably proud of her. Chris did great the whole time! He coached her through everything and was so supportive! His face lit up as he saw his son for the first time...it was priceless!

I was so sad to leave but hope to get back down to Dallas soon before school starts! So here are a couple of pics of the most adorable nephew in the world.....

Big news

No....I don't have a nephew yet. But I did get in to the FNP program!!!! I got the letter in the mail yesterday. It is now official and a huge weight has been lifted (Well, at least for now.) So, my plan is to finish in two years. But as I have said before...life happens in between.

Thanks to all for your prayers and support. I am so thankful for your encouragement!

When the boys are away, the girls will....

I finally cut off my hair!!! I do this every year. I get to the point where all I do is wear it in a pony tail. Now, about this picture. I had no one to take a picture at the time so I turned to my last resort for picture taking. This person has always been...God bless her..my mother!! She can't seem to take a picture without cutting my head out of it! It is quite funny really. I asked her to take a picture of my haircut and we had to take about 10 shots because she kept cutting off the top of my head. I finally had to sit down in a chair. LOVE YOU MOM!!!!! YOU ARE THE BEST!

So, my hunter is finally home from his trip. It was a really long week. Unfortunately, they did not shoot any elk but did manage to tough it out under some pretty extreme weather and living conditions. They literally were in the middle of nowhere in a blizzard. Sounds like so much fun, right? He did remember our anniversary and even sent me flowers at work!! Which means....he planned it a week ahead. I am so proud. I love my husband so much and it has been a wonderful two years of marriage.

I have officially started my weekend shifts. I LOVE having the time off during the week to do whatever I want. Who knows, now maybe I will blog more than once a month:) I still haven't found out if I have been accepted into the FNP program. I did hear a rumor that they received 95 applicants this semester and are taking 25. This is up from the usual 60 applicants. So, we shall see.

Have I told anyone that I am expecting my nephew ANY DAY NOW????? I am SO ready and can't even tell you how excited I am. I am just waiting on the call. I have my bags packed and everything. I even have my little 3 oz travel size containers in quart sized ziplock baggies. It's funny because Lindsay has not had any weird dreams during this pregnancy. I, however, have had them all for her. For instance, last night I dreamed that Lins and I were swimming at the lake and she said she thought she was about to have the baby. No warning of course. No labor...just that she was about to have him. So then I proceeded to flag down the nearest man on a jet ski and he so nicely offered to give us a lift to the hospital. Only this was no ordinary jet ski...it was an off -road, or should I say, off-water jet ski. We went up and down hills, through the trees, and back across the water....all while making normal conversation with the nice man driving us. Strange. I don't remember how it all turned out but I sure hope we made it.

Well that is about it for now. I hope to post pictures of my nephew soon!!!

HUNTING SEASON

So it has been way too long since I last posted. Well, I am still waiting to find out if I have been accepted to grad school...so no news there. I officially switch to the weekend shift on November 9th...so same ole stuff right now.

Ben and I have been to a couple of Auburn games this year ( Can I get a War Eagle!!!!) Still love my Tigers through it all. I am still holding on to the hope that they remain better than Ole Miss..hehe. We shall see come November.

Believe it or not, Ben will be out of town for that game. He is celebrating our two year anniversary by going to Colorado for an elk hunt. However, I am not going to be there with him. It is a total boy's trip. He will be going with his dad, brother, and brother-in-law and will take a 3 hour horseback ride to the middle of nowhere and left there for a whole week!!! Sounds like fun right?? My hubby has been a hunter practically his whole life so HE is not the one I worry about...it's the Bears and what not that scare me. That and the fact that there may not be cell phone service in no-man's land.

So about hunting....I did not grow up around it. So therefore, it took some major getting used to at first. In Woodville, MS....that is what the men do. HUNT. It is abnormal if you don't have a four-wheeler in the back of your truck. Ben absolutely LOVES it!! It really is funny to watch him get excited when the weather gets a little cooler. He goes out into his shop and gets all his "gear" ready weeks in advance and then starts going out before the opening day to "scout out some land". I think he is secretly excited that I am switching to weekends because he can hunt all weekend long without me there to nag him about it:) I have gotten used to it now though. It just means that mom and I can go shopping:)


So here's to my hunter...hope he shoots a big ole elk!! I still have yet to figure out how he's going to get the thing home?????

Weddings and Babies

So this past weekend was really busy but a ton of fun! Lindsay, Chris, Kathy and Buck all came in town for a visit. Lindsay and I were both in Debra's wedding...which was really neat. I wish I had a picture of Debra.....she looked gorgeous and so very happy!! I am so excited for Brent and Debra and wish them the very best!

My mom has such wonderful friends. They gave my sister a baby shower while she was in town and she got a ton of great stuff. He is gonna be the cutest baby ever and I can't wait...as if I haven't said that enough:) I don't have any pictures from the baby shower but I do have a few from the wedding and rehearsal dinner. Oh and don't let the picture of Linz fool you!! Her dress is totally an optical illusion. There is quite a baby bump and I am LOVING it!!!

Change

So there will be quite a few changes coming up in my life here over the next few months....and no I am not pregnant...just crazy! First, I have decided to go back to school for the third time. If I am accepted, I will start the masters program at the U of M in January and hopefully become a family nurse practitioner in the next couple of years.

Secondly, I am switching to the weekend shift at the hospital so that I can focus on school during the week. CRAZY...I know. My plans are to go ahead and get school done now so that I can focus on "other things" later down the road. We shall see. Life as I have known it lately is about to turn upside down but hopefully for the good.

Thirdly (if that is even a word), I am going to be an aunt in November and I can't wait!!!!!!!! Oh, and for those of you who haven't heard, Chris' lymph nodes were all clear!!!!! whooohoo...check out The Carrekers blog for the update.

Meet Copper.....

So these are just a couple of pictures of my baby...and they are pretty old acutally. Believe it or not...he is even bigger. Copper is completely spoiled rotten. His days consist of lying around all day in the AC, people watching out the window, and growling at whatever and whomever he wants. (Ben and I are convinced that it's usually at the wind.) However, he is still a puppy and LOVES to play. We can't get him out of the lake and once he is in he will fetch anything...tennis balls, trash, and even SNAKES. Yes, it's true. He tried to fetch a snake from the water. He bit the snake but luckily it didn't bite back!

That's about it for today unless you want to hear about how I cleaned house and washed clothes....Probably not!

So here I go......

So here I go with my first blog posting. Of course, in DIRECT response to my sisters threats of posting more ridiculous childhood pictures of my scrawny, side-ponytailed, tap- dancing self. Believe it or not, there are some that are even worse. However, I don't want to give her any ideas. Love ya sis!

Well, I've been happily married to Ben Tolbert for almost 2 years. We live in Germantown, TN where I work as a labor and delivery nurse and Ben is a superindendent for a homebuilder. We have a precious golden retriever named Copper who is about a year and half.

Nope, no babies yet. However, I am so excited about my little nephew that is on the way!!

For now, that is about as creative as it's gonna get folks. I may not have gotten my sisters artistic talent, but I am trying right? I promise to try and post something a little more interesting next time.