Boring boring boring

I visit my other friends blogs and see how cool their backgrounds are so I decided to get techno and redo mine since it looked boring to me. I think it turned out nice, don't you? Since Travis won't let me rearrange the furniture EVER (fun-hatin-dream-crusher), I think I'll get my fix for "having to mix things up" by changing the background on our blog. We are so opposites, that Mr Kinley and I, which is probably why our marriage works well. He keeps me thinking realistically and I spice up his life...so he tells me :-).

On another note....Saturday night Travis and I got a babysitter for JT and we went to the airport at 9 pm with our friend Brooke (we had JT's birthday party at her house) and her son Abram to welcome back Brooke's husband, Ben, from Iraq. He was serving with the Marines for the past 7 months and it was so exciting to see this little family reunited. Abram turned 2 in Sept (while daddy was away) and I almost cried as I watched this little boy RUN to his daddy when he came through the doors. It was THE HIGHLIGHT of the year to see this little boy get his daddy back and for Brooke to have her husband home again. I'm so thankful to God that he protected Ben while he was Iraq serving our country. I wish I had gotten a picture of the reunion, but I was running Brooke's camcorder and Travis was taking pictures with her camera, so maybe I'll try and get one from her later.

So it's Monday and another week! My grandparents are coming for Thanksgiving and we are super excited to have some family here to visit. It's nice that we get to see them and not have to pack up and go anywhere to do it. This year was a marathon of travel for our family and as much as I love to travel, I really do think that we'll be taking a break for awhile. The first year, well at least for me, was all about figuring the whole new-baby-stay-at-home-mom thing and it was nice to break it up with some trips to Wyoming, but this year we've gotten involved in some weekly activities so we have to stick close and honor our commitments.

Hmm, let's see what else is new? Oh on Saturday before we put JT to bed and went to the airport we went to our neighbors house for a fiesta de cumpleaños aka a birthday party! Our neighbors are AWESOME and I just love the mom Laura. Juan and Laura have 3 kids and they are 12, 7 & almost 2 (at the end of the month). I think I've posted a few pics of Sabastian on here. He and JT love playing together. Anyway, Juan turned 36 and Laura invited us to the party. It was a huge party and the funny part was that they were all family. Juan is the only boy out of 7 kids!! All of his sisters, their husbands and their kids turned that party into one big fiesta! Thank goodness it's Texas and the weather is still warm enough to have parties in the backyard. Juan's family is super nice and I love that they have such a great sense of humor. Laura asked me to make some salsa that her and Juan love. Yes, I make salsa that the Mexicans can't get enough of!! It's a recipe that a Gringo friend gave me too, if you can believe that. Anyway, all of the family was eating it with their chips (and I have to admit they were all loving it) and one of the brother-in-laws said it was great, so when Laura told them that I made it, they were all shocked...to which I replied with a smile, "yes, the gringo made it and I do understand the phrase 'no me gusta'" (which means I don't like it)....that thought that was HILARIOUS!! We had so much fun and JT didn't want to go home...all those kids, home-made refried beans and tostados, he was in heaven.

On Sunday after church we did yard work. The leaves are falling in Texas and they are all falling right into our yard! Seriously, our neighbors leaves across the street end up in our front yard...so annoying!

Have a great week!