Zoe's nursery

Finally, I got to "nest" when Zoe was about 8 weeks old! I had a blast doing her nursery and she loves it! It was the only room I cared anything about when we moved in. I got on it right away, painting and fixing it up!
Rewind a few months.. Our first adventures with Miss Z!

Week 1: in Texarkana at mom and dad's
Week 2-3: in a hotel on base in Shreveport
Week 4-5: living with aunt and uncle in Shreveport
Week 6: back in Texarkana at mom and dad's and Scott driving back and forth every night after work.
Week 7: FINALLY closed on our home!!!
Week 8: moving, unpacking, Zoe started daycare
Week 9: I started work

We couldn't be more grateful to be in our home and back to "normal"!!!



Daddy putting crib together






Bookshelves were given by someone who wanted to get rid of them. I spray painted them blue, they were white. Love them! And the picture above the shelves is a gift from Uncle Doc. When he brought it to us it made me tear up! There's deep meaning to his drawing, but I won't go on about that..
The little rocking chair was Zoe's great great grandmother's when she was a baby! How cool is that? Trying to decide if we want to paint it or leave it.







Since I've been working on this post, Zoe rolled over from her back to tummy for the first time and I missed it!!! :( Next blog post will have to be during nap time so I don't miss anything.

3 months isn't that long..

I CAN NOT BELIEVE I HAVE BEEN SO LAZY ABOUT THIS!
Okay, first off, confession. I have been too lazy, tired and busy to even get my computer out and see if I could bum the internet off a neighbor. UNTIL TONIGHT. I haven't opened my computer since Zoe was born. We don't have internet, television or phone yet (and may not for awhile) so I just haven't even bothered with it...
I don't even know where to start! But I'll keep this one short and sweet then catch up on pictures and fun stuff later.
We are settled into our home and love it in Bossier! I have a job and it's going good and we absolutely LOVE Zoe's daycare. Scott is work on base two weekends a month for the next few months so we stay here in Bossier most weekends and our families are here a lot of weekends. Since he's working so many Sundays we haven't found a church yet but have visited the one Z goes to daycare at and will be visiting again.
Zoe is an absolute JOY. We are crazy about her and don't know what we did before her. (blog, maybe?) She is at such a fun age right now! I swear she does something new every week!
If you are my friend on FB you've definitely kept up with me. All thanks to mobile upload pictures. I really should be ashamed of myself, but life is just busy! In the meantime, here's some Zoe love :)

1 month?!?

So, this has probably been the busiest, unpredictable, exciting, emotional, unreal, crazy, most wonderful month of my life! I imagine I won't be too good about blogging for awhile.. but here's some of my favorite pictures over the past month. Miss Zoe is a great baby. We have our good nights and our bad nights but here recently they've become much better and more predictable and she's on a pretty good schedule. Makes baby, mommy and daddy all happy! We are loving every minute with her and I can't believe how much shes changed in just 5 weeks. It's unreal. She is truly a blessing to our families and is loved SO much by SO many. I can't tell you how many people have held her since day 1. There were over 30 friends and family at the hospital anxiously awaiting just to SEE her! We are truly blessed.

Enjoy my sweet girls pictures :)


This is the first time I held my baby girl. When she came out her umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck so they couldn't give her straight to me and had to check her all out so it took them forever to clean her up, check her out and everything before I finally got to hold her! It seemed like an eternity. Scott has video of me saying "I'm ready to hold my baby!" Not in a mean way or directed at anyone.. just stating the fact!


Sweet Daddy falling in love..



Who knows what we're laughing about.. but I was on cloud nine.. and stayed there for weeks!


Zoe's first doctors appointment. Already back up to her birth weight at her 2 day appointment!


This is the first bath she actually enjoyed. It took her a few before she decided she liked them.


Little bit! Taken by Whitney Kelly!


Zoe and Scotty :) My sweet loves


Wenzel family photo. Zoe wasn't near as excited about this as I was..


5 Generation picture.. Of course Zoe and Scott, then Danny Wenzel, (Grandfather) Diane Wenzel, (Great Grandmother) Virginia Stockman (Great great Grandmother)

I hope to be back again soon!
MUCH LOVE :)

Introducing Zoe Elizabeth

Hereeeeee's ZOE!

Born February 27th, 2011 @ 5:37 P.M.
5 lbs. 12 oz. 19 in. long

Thank you Carolyn for capturing the most special day of our lives! We love you.

More pictures of follow hopefully soon!

35 weeks

A little late considering I'm 38 weeks and 3 days! But here it is for the record none the less..

35 weeks in the SNOW!
Our second snow of the winter.. we had three this year! Not very common for our East Texas town but it was so pretty while it lasted.

As I previously wrote in a blog before my baby showers, my best friend Whitney took maternity pictures of me and Scott at 35 weeks. She did a great job! Here's a few of my favorites.






Thank you Whit for capturing my little growing family! :) We can't wait for Zoe to get here to get some precious pictures of her sweet face!

100th Post-50th Birthday!

My Mama Lisa turned 50 last Saturday! About a month or so ago my dad and I started planning a surprise party for her. We'd actually talked about doing it last year then thought let's wait til the big 5-0! She couldn't have been more surprised. She had about 30 friends and family show up for her big birthday bash and you couldn't wipe the smile off her face. Her brother and his wife came down from Shreveport, my Dad's sister (also mom's best friend) and her husband and daughter also came from Shreveport AND mom's old friend from Elementary school, along with many of her sweet friends and their husbands. It couldn't have gone any better had we tried.

Mom blowing out the candles on her sombrero cake!


A friend of mine, Kandace made the cake. She did an amazing job! And it was yummy.


Mom with her Brother, (my Uncle Tony) and Christie.


Mom and Dad AKA (WE NEED A GRANDMA NAME FOR MOM! HELP! And Papa) :)


Some of the ladies


Zapata's is a GREAT place for a lively party! Not to mention the margaritas and fajitas are to die for. No, I didn't have a margarita.. but of course I have before! Scott made sure he took care of the drinking for the two of us. :)

As mentioned above.. we need a "grandma" name for my Mom! We've said Mama Lisa, but that's a mouth full for a little one. And I thought Gram but she wasn't so sure about that. She said Mimi but I think we've ruled that one out too. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

This baby girl may not be here as soon as I've envisioned.. which is okay! I went to the doctor this morning and I'm still dilated to a one. They did a sonogram and she's positioned where she should be which is great news but she still has some growing to do. She's measuring at 5 lbs 13 oz and the doctor said she'll probably be 6 1/2-7 lbs when born. So a little baby but a healthy baby. :) I got to see her sweet face again too! Love it.

catching up on the chaos

Where has the time gone? These past couple of weeks have been a little crazy. Where to begin? I don't really know so I'll just sum it all up.

-Our offer has been accepted on a house but we are still in the "works".. we shall see! Please send up a prayer that this growing family gets a home SOON.

-I was off Monday and Tuesday of last week but ended up staying in Shreveport til Thursday afternoon due to the weather. Yeah, I was stuck in Shreveport with my hubby.. terrible, huh? :o)

-Last weeks doctors appointment on Thursday I was dilated to a 1! I go back to the doctor tomorrow morning for a sonogram (yippee! love seeing her) and to get checked again.

-Scott is in Baton Rouge Monday-Thursday this week, PRAYING Zoe doesn't decide to come in the next couple of days.

-Had a successful surprise party for my mom's 50th birthday party!! Pictures soon to come.


On to the fun stuff! I still haven't blogged my second baby shower! Til now! This shower was on Sunday, the day after my "cute as a button" one. Several girls from our Sunday school class and a few ladies from church gave this one. It was at my dear friend, Jaclyn's house.



How precious is this monkey cake?!? Absolutely LOVE it. They did good!


My lovely hostess! Sure gonna miss our awesome friends we've made since being at our church.


They got me my glider rocker! It is oh so comfy. I'm really going to enjoy it.


And at this shower I got LOTS of Razorback stuff! She's gonna be one cute little Hog. I'll have to post a picture of the monogrammed Razorback blanket we got, too. Hope our future Louisiana friends can accept us Hog fans. :)

things kids say..

I had a very interesting conversation today with a little girl who informed me she'll be 4 on February 11th. I was at work and I've seen her at my office before and she's always very sweet and seems to be very intelligent. Here's our conversation today.

She is staring, very obviously at my stomach while I'm asking her about her birthday and what kind of cake she wants.

Little girl: "What is in your stomach?"

Me: laughing, "A baby"

Her: "How did it get in there?"

Me: oh crap. "Well, God put her in there."

Her: "God is a Spirit, how did He put her in there?"

Me: still laughing, "He made you in your mom's belly and He made my baby in my belly."

Her: "How is the baby gonna get out?"

Me: oh crap again. "I'm going to go to the doctor and he's going to take her out."

Her: "I don't have a baby in my stomach."

Me: "No, maybe when you are a grown up God will put one in your stomach, too."

Her: "Oh, like when I'm grown up and married then I can have a baby."

Me: "yes, when you are married."

Her: "she's not a very big baby, how old is she?"

Too funny.. one question after the next and somehow I came up with answers to explain this to a 4 year old!

Moments like that make me soo soo excited to have a sweet funny little girl. LOVE IT!

baby shower saturday

Saturday my fab five girls and a few other close friends hosted a wonderful baby shower for me and Zoe. They went over board and put so much time and love into the little details! The theme was "cute as a button".

Here I am with my hostess!


How cute are the tables? I love the bright colors and ALL THOSE buttons!


LOVE the banner made by Katie

This diaper cake was AMAZING! It is huge. Thanks to Carol's sister for making one of the cutest diaper cakes ever!


Button sugar cookies made by Megs and delicious cupcakes with super cute flower/button toppers also made by Katie. So fun!


And me opening up one of the many gifts for sweet Zoe girl. This girl is gonna be one well dressed little princess. She got sooo many cute things!

I so enjoyed having my girls here for the weekend and greatly appreciate all the hard work they put into welcoming my first little one. A lot of family came in for the shower, too which is always exciting. I also had a shower Sunday after church that I'll post pictures of next. Needless to say, but Sunday night I was wiped out. Completely. This prego girl can only be on her feet and entertaining for so long! But we got so many great, cute, useful, much needed things for Zoe. Now if she'd just hurry up and get here!

P.S. Thanks Megs for letting me steal your pictures. :)

pregnancy highlights-week 35!

Pregnancy Highlights

How far along? 35 weeks, only 5 weeks to go!

Baby's size? About 6 lbs and 20 inches long

Weight Gain? up 1 lb from my last appointment 2 weeks ago. Puts me up 24 lbs I believe

Maternity clothes? Actually wearing a shirt today that is not maternity! It's a large and before baby I wore a small in the same shirt!

Stretch marks? nooope.. still keeping my fingers crossed and my belly lathered!

Belly Button in or out? in, i don't think it's gonna pop out.

Sleeping? not so good. i wake up a lot in the middle of the night and can't go back to sleep. unfortunately i sleep like crap when scott is home. :(

Foods I'm loving? nothing in particular..

Foods I'm hating? nothing!

Movement? Ohh yeah! all the time :)

Best moment this week? getting mango salmon from ironwood that i'd been craving for a week!

Symptoms? braxton hicks have started! and some back pain. mostly in the morning when i first get out of bed and at night.

What I miss? our home, being settled in TOGETHER, normalcy!

What I'm looking forward to? Baby shower weekend! sooo looking forward to seeing my fab five girls this weekend! and i have lots of family coming in for the shower too that i'm so excited to see. it's gonna be fun! :) oh and maternity pictures! by whitney kelly photography!

Weekly Wisdom: keep feet up, drink a lot of water!

Milestones: one month to go!

Emotions: feeling pretty good emotionally. only break down to scott every few weeks or so.. which i would say is pretty good considering all we have going on!!! :)

I just went to the doctor this morning and previously he was going to have me come back every week after this appointment then this morning he said he'll see me at 27 weeks then once a week after that. We talked about inducing me so that we can make sure that Scott is here and not having to kill himself rushing to Texarkana! This idea puts me much more at ease than I have been about the whole labor and delivery part.
Stay tuned for lots of 35 week prego photo updates!

Hope everyone has a grand weekend! I plan on it!

weekend highlights

Well, kinda..

Not much went on this weekend, but it was GREAT. Scott flew in from his last of training in Phoenix on Friday night and got to be at home (in TXK) all weekend! We were pretty lazy for the most part but we did make it to Sunday school and went down to Atlanta to visit Scott's mom and see his brother for his birthday. Saturday night we grilled out burgers at mom and dad's. Scott and I soo enjoyed getting to cook together again! It's been too long. We made some pretty dang good burgers and homemade fries if I must say so myself. Paul's girlfriend came over to eat with us (Paul was at work though) and surprised me because everyone else already knew.. they just got the CUTEST puppy EVER! Zoe has a cousin! :) Gutherie is his name and he is too cute for words. He's a bassett hound, 7 weeks old!

Sorry the pictures are so dark, we had the lights down low and he was napping a lot. His ears are so big and floppy he was stepping on them when he would run around! And he knows who his mama is. He went straight to Natalie over and over. So sweet!


And Happy Anniversary to me :) Scott sent me flowers on Wednesday! LOVE them. He usually gets me flowers on our anniversary but never a surprise delivery at work! He was out of town so he didn't have much of a choice though. They were beautiful and still are! I think I read the card 10 times throughout the day.

3 year anniversary

Three years ago..

My Dad gave me away..

To one loving, selfless, handsome, funny man..

Who happens to be my best friend, too.

No matter what we are going through, we always just hold tight to each other. I can't imagine going through this life without him. He is TRULY my BEST friend in the world. I can honestly say that I have prayed that Zoe will one day find a man just like her Daddy. (Although Daddy already doesn't like the thought of her growing up and taking someone elses last name.) Someone who will treat her with respect, make her laugh, hold her when she needs to cry, help her hold her head up through it all and be the Godly leader their family needs.

We have had more fun in the past three years of our marriage than we ever did in our three years of dating. It truly keeps getting better all the time!

Just a little trip down memory lane..

On our honeymoon! Cozumel, Mexico


Mentzelympics, Oklahoma City, OK 2008


Octoberfest, Hermann, Missouri 2008


Christmas time, Marshall, TX 2009


Scott's birthday trip to Astros game, Houston, TX, Spring 2009


Cancun Vacation, Summer 2009


Good ole downtown Texarkana, November, 2009


Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma, December 2009


Our 2 year anniversary, Hot Springs, AR 2010


Out on Valentine's day with friends, Texarkana February 2010


Washington, D.C. Vacation, March 2010




I cannot WAIT to see him fall in love with our baby girl even more than he already is.


Thank you baby for the best years of my life.. I can't wait to see what else God has in store for us!