The results are FINALLY in........

Josh is a registered PROFESSIONAL ENGINEER!!!!!!!!!!!

Congrats babe!!! I know you worked so hard on this!! I am sooo PROUD of you!!!

I love you!!!

For those of you who don't know the engineer world (which I wouldn't if my husband was not in it) it is seriously pretty much stupid how things work. You have to got to college to get an engineering degree, which of course is a major accomplishment in and of itself but that's not enough. In order for you to call yourself an "engineer" and put it on your business cards and such there are only two ways that it can go. 1.) You work for a Professional Engineer and so you can then put "engineer" as your title (which to most of the world would think that means you are an engineer, little do they know you are just riding on the heels of someone who really is, and you don't even have to have a college degree much less a college engineering degree) or 2.) You take the test and become one yourself. The test is by APPROVAL and RECOMMENDATION ONLY. That means you can't just take the test if you feel like it. Also, you have to be out of college for at LEAST 4 years before you can even think about taking the test. Then after you get approved to take it, have other P.E.'s send in referrals you get to study your rear off, and spend major money (like 4 figures) to take the test and hope like Hell you pass it. So for all those business cards you see where people have "engineer" listed as their job title, that is great and all but they aren't a ENGINEER. When you see Josh Luig, P.E., that means ENGINEER.

Congrats babe! You deserve that title!!! My husband is an ENGINEER!!! :)

We have had an AMAZING Christmas this year! We are so thankful for all our family and friends! Thank you for making this year better than ever!

This is the first time since I can remember that I actually feel relaxed and pretty put together after all the holiday hustle and bustle.

We have had one HECK of a 2010!

It is such a GREAT feeling to be starting a new year in the position we are now.

We had a mission to de-clutter, de-stress, and simplify our life and we have actually somewhat accomplished that!

If we can handle what the last 6 years have had us go through then we can handle anything!

In the last six years.....

We both graduated from college, started into the "real world" of jobs/careers,

Bought our first home (moved),

Lost my Grandmother, my Great-grandmother then my Grandfather all in 6 months,

Got engaged,

Almost lost my Father to a massive heart-attack,

Got married,

Switched jobs,

Built a house from the ground up all by ourselves on the weekends while living 2 hours away,

Moved to Holliday, Tx (aka: Blackflat- middle of nowhere)

Got pregnant with Cade,

Lost my other Grandfather,

Went skiing in Colorado for Thanksgiving (not me obviously being 7 months prego)

Had Cade,

Started a photography business,

Josh and I both had our 10 year High School reunions,

Traveled with another couple to San Francisco and Napa for 4 days,

Spent 4 days snowed in at last Christmas with a four-wheeler, tractor and truck all stuck in our driveway and no way out,

Cade started Mother's Day Out (let the juggling begin),

Sold our Fort Worth house finally after 3 years of renting and trying to sell (more moving),

Josh switched jobs,

Moved to Wichita Falls,

Josh took his P.E. test,

A Four Generation Ladies trip to New York City,

Sold our Holliday house and land (more moving),

and all the "normal" everyday things in life as well.

As I look back I can't for the life of me figure out why I am tired. ?????

hahahaha!!

I see a pattern of MOVING in there... our LEAST favorite thing and yet we know there is more moving to come. It can be a daunting ugly thing or a new, fresh start and a way of cleaning out things we no longer need. I'm going to go with the new, fresh start and besides that also means new, fresh house to DECORATE! hehe!

Obviously there have been highs and lows over the years but ONE of the things that stays the same and that helps me get through it all is...

Josh.

If it wasn't for my family, friends and God, I don't know where I would be.

We are so anxious to see where God takes us this 2011 and all that he has in store.

We have the past that makes us stronger, the future that makes us brave and the present to show us what it is all worth.

Make Today Great!

M.I.A. ?????

Yes, Yes I know, it has been FOREVER since I posted and boy oh boy have we had a lot going on! To recap.... Josh started a new job. It is going great and since has started a snowball effect of changes.

1. We MOVED! That's right! We Moved! We found a great house in Wichita Falls and when opportunity knocked.... we answered. It is sooooo great! Major stress relief. We are all three very happy! :)

2. We are selling our land and house in Blackflat. It was something we were not 100% sure on but decided we would put it out there and see what kind of bites we got. Well, it never made it "out there," word spread and the next thing we knew without even listing it we had two people extremely interested. !!!! Seriously!!! Never would have thought! So we took it as a sign that it is meant to be and the best choice.

3. Josh took his Professional Engineering Test and we are anxiously awaiting the results. That is a huge load off his back. It is hard to study with an 18 mth old, work, moving, a wife and everyday life. We tried to make it easier on him.

4. I am CRAZY with pictures right now! It is GREAT! Check out the Muddy Road Blog for new pics in a couple of weeks when everyone gets their cards out.

5. I am TRYING to get this house decorated, organized and unpacked.

6. The next big thing that happens starts tomorrow for me and that is.......

NEW YORK CITY!!!!!

That's right folks! My mom, GRANDMA and Aunt Barbara are all going for 5 days!

So excited! Can't believe we are actually going! For those of you who know my Mom and Grandma, Seriously! Can you believe they are GOING!!!

I may not be prepared for this trip but I certainly know NYC isn't ready for us four!

God help the locals that run into us!

hahahahahaha

So that is a quick update on what in the world we have been doing. I will be back to post a TON of stuff from all of our adventures over the past few months after Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I know I am thankful for so much that words can not express.

Love you all-

Brandi

Summer??? Where did it go?

This summer has been CRAZY!

I honestly can say that if it wasn't for some pictures being taken I might not be able to tell you what we did all summer. It has been a BUSY summer that has been filled with a LOT of good stuff.

First, we had the first ever Liardon Family Reunion and it went GREAT! We don't get to see that side of the family very often so it was wonderful to spend time with them.

Second, I got to FINALLY join the Luig Ladies on the Annual Women's Retreat. I'm still lost on how I also got volunteered to PLAN the whole thing but I think it was a success. We laughed and laughed and got to spend time with each other which is the main goal.

Third, Josh started his new job! It is going good and we are adjusting and relishing in having a schedule and the freedom that comes with it. It was a whirlwind of changes but we made it.

Fourth, HOUSES FOR SALE..... SOLD!!! We FINALLY sold our Fort Worth house and talk about a RELIEF! WOW! Not to mention CRAZY.... My parents also sold their Grapevine house and we closed in the same week! What are the odds! We are both so glad to be home owners of just ONE house. :)

and lastly... I'm still on my rampage through the house. I've got some rooms painted, got rid of a LOT of stuff and have rearranged the furniture about 100 times. I am finally starting to see the change and can taste the sweet finish.

I am EXTREMELY ready for fall!!

I am ready to say "goodbye" to summer and all the chaos that came with it. I'm ready for Cade to start back to Mother's Day Out (it's been a long summer without many breaks) and get back into a groove. I'm ready for COOL weather, boots, layering clothes, jeans, sweaters and most importantly NOT sweating as soon as you hit the outdoors. I LOVE Texas and I would never want to live anywhere else but these HOT days could make me stray! I'm a fall, light winter and spring girl all the way!

Someone else can HAVE summer, I'm done with it! :)

Luig Women's Weekend of FUN!

I am very blessed to have been born into a wonderful family and then to marry into another wonderful family! It's AMAZING!

Few pics of Liardon Reunion

Good times, good food and a LOT of laughs. That's our family!!

Mmmmmmm...

The last few weeks I have been really paying attention to dinner time and what I was cooking. Josh's new job is allowing him to actually be home for dinner these days and earlier than 8pm so I am back in my cooking mode. :) I really love to cook. It has it's trying times with a one year old but I still love it. Here is a recipe that I made last night and boy oh boy!!!!! It is good!!!! Different than the "usual" mexican food I make and so fresh tasting!

Pork Carnitas Tacos

Recipe and photo by For the Love of Cooking
Recipe adapted from Noble Pig and Martha Stewart's Everyday Food

2 pounds boneless pork shoulder, cut into 1-inch pieces

4 garlic cloves, crushed

Sea salt and ground pepper, to taste

1 tbsp olive oil

1/2 cup fresh orange juice

1/2 cup milk

Corn tortillas, warmed

Fresh cilantro, chopped

Red onion, thinly slice

Guacamole

Sour cream

Cotija cheese, grated

Lime wedges

In a large Dutch oven over high heat, combine pork, garlic, sea salt, pepper, and 8 cups of water. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a medium low and simmer covered for 45 minutes. Drain well. In the same Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add pork, 1/2 cup fresh orange juice and 1/2 cup milk then cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid has evaporated and pork has browned, about 8 to 12 minutes. The pork will start browning after liquid has evaporated. Season well with sea salt and pepper, to taste. Serve carnitas in corn tortillas with cilantro, red onion, guacamole, sour cream, salsa, cotija cheese and fresh lime wedges. Enjoy.

This may sound a little overwhelming but while the meat was cooking that 45 minutes I did everything else. Cut all the toppings up and made the guacamole. I served it with black beans and fresh guacamole. It was even great for Cade. He loves black beans and then I made a little cheese taco for him and he dipped that in his sour cream and guacamole.

Guacamole

(basic structure and photo courtesy of For the Love of Cooking.net, changed it up a little)

3 large ripe (soft but not mushy to the touch) avocados

1/4 red onion, diced

6 cherry tomatoes, diced

1 small handful of chopped cilantro

2 clove of garlic, minced

1 jalapeno, diced finely (if you want it spicy)

Sea salt to taste

1-2 limes juiced to taste (forgot to add to the picture)

Josh said this was the best guacamole he might have ever had! It really is good!!! I'm glad because tonight Cade and I are going out of town for the next few days so Josh will have leftovers to eat. :)

Enjoy!!!!

Fresh start and a fresh coat of paint

So I have decided in my very early midlife crisis that I want a totally different design then what I currently have in my house. Well I say that but actually when I was cleaning out a bunch of stuff I came across my house book of stuff that I like when we were building this house and all the pictures are similar to this look. So I have always loved this look just didn't realize how much until now. I want WHITE, WHITE and more White. I want CLEAN! I want LIGHT! I want FRESH! So I have started painting all the walls and trim. It actually is rather easy since I already got rid of most of our stuff in my de-cluttering rampage I had just a few weeks ago. :) Here is some of my inspirations.....

(unfortunately don't know the source of these pics, if they are yours they are WONDERFUL.)

Yearning for New beginnings...

I have never been in a similar place as I am now in my life.

Change doesn't scare me like most people.

I actually yearn for it sometimes.

Currently I am yearning for it but differently than ever before.

Usually I have an idea of where, what or when I want change to happen. Now, I have no idea. You know when you decide to go off to college you know where you are going. When you change jobs you know what you are going to be doing.

Everything in our life has been at a stand still for both Josh and myself.

Until now.

The first change is happening and I know there is more to come.

Josh is changing jobs.

He has decided to consult on his own instead of with the company he has currently been with for almost 6 years now. It is a major change in a lot of ways but in some ways not really a change at all. He will still be doing the exact same thing as before but with a different title and different people.

Josh and I both feel like the last few years have been going by so fast and we got lost in the day and day stuff. When I first met him he was so ambitious and I was instantly attracted.

We went from possibly living in China to living in Holliday, Tx.

I'm not saying that is bad at all, just one extreme from the other. Obviously getting married and having kids changes your goals or at least can redirect them. I think that we both got off our goals all together so that is why we feel like we are questioning our whole life and where we want to go.

We are anxious about this first piece of the new puzzle.

Excited to see what happens next.

I am de-cluttering my house and my head.

Like I said in a previous post, Parenthood changes everything. It definitely has us re-defining our happiness and what we want out of this time we have here on earth. Our ambitions have been re-ignited but in a different way then say when we graduated college. We know what we want but we don't.

I think God is toying with us. :)

We both yearn for change and he is just giving us a little taste with Josh's new job.

He is keeping us on the edge of our seats.

This crossroads has brought us closer together and we have even a stronger relationship than before.

God works wonders.

Maybe this was his goal all along.

We both believe that everything happens for a reason and God won't put more on you than you can handle.

Rain, rain, rain

Rain can be heavy, cold and hard to see through but when it stops and the clouds part it is a glorious, lifting, bright feeling full of freshness and renewed sunshine.

Date night this week was much needed!!

Boy oh boy do I love thee!! :)

Things are starting to look clearer...

For any mother out there you can probably understand where I am coming from when I say "becoming a mother changes EVERYTHING!" It is the most wonderful thing on earth by far. The love you have for something so small and so instantly can't be anything more than a miracle from God. This last year my view on "life" has changed drastically. This last few months my view has changed even more. I have always been that type of person who goes, goes, goes and have managed to keep that up until lately. I seriously thought that our "crazy" life was normal but I think I was living in denial. I can't explain what hit me upside the head but I am ready for a change. I don't feel like I have missed out on things but I have definitely not felt them and really took them in like I should. My little boy is already 15 months old! He is growing up so super fast and if I don't slow down and simplify my life I am going to end up missing or forgetting. We are blessed that I get to stay at home and be a full-time mother and a wife and that is now my goal. I have to learn that I can't say "yes" all the time, I can't be at all events and I can't do everything alone. I am obsessed with making people happy but really the only people I need to worry about making happy is myself and my family. In the last few months I have been questioning my "country life" and thought that it was making my life more complicated. I thought that if we moved back to the city that everything would be perfect. I would have everything at my fingers tip and it would just be easier. In the last few days after a lot of crying, talking and evaluating our life things are starting to look clearer. It doesn't matter where I live if I continue to live this 90 mile an hour lifestyle. It isn't healthy for me physically, emotionally and definitely isn't healthy in my relationships. I am tired of doing things half-ass around the house just to get by, I'm tired of scrambling around like a chicken with my head cut-off to get household chores done and most importantly I'm tired of always feeling tired and unfinished. I want to start and end every day knowing that I worked hard, played harder and loved unconditionally the two most important men in my life. I know God has a plan for us and we will follow him where ever he takes us but right now, today, it is here in Holliday, Tx.

Movie and Popcorn Night

Cade LOVES popcorn!! It is seriously CRAZY how much he likes his popcorn.

Swim Lessons

So we started swim lessons last night for the first time. Cade has been indecisive here lately of whether or not he likes or dislikes the water so I was a little worried about how the night would go. I am glad to say it went really well. He wasn't impressed with trying to blow bubbles or floating on his back. Every time he laid back and his ears went under water he got confused and a little upset. It is weird how sounds change when you go under water so I understand where he is coming from. He actually did a decent job at kicking his feet some times so that was a success. There was no major crying or fits thrown so overall it was a pretty good first lesson. They are Tuesday and Thursday nights so we will see how things go over the next month. Most of my family and friends already know this about me but I am not a great example for my son when it comes to the water. I CAN swim. I CAN water ski. I CAN do most water activities. But I CANNOT go under water without holding my nose. It is something that has always bothered me and a handicap that I have not let slow me down in having fun in the water but it is embarrassing and annoying. So I don't expect my son to grow up to be an Olympic swimmer but I do want him to grow up to be a good swimmer that doesn't have to hold his nose or isn't afraid of the water. That is one of those vows I made to myself in my list of "I'm a successful parent when....." Just in case anyone was wondering, the hardest thing to do in the water while one hand is holding your nose..... it's DIVE. It really takes two hands to make that work so needless to say I don't do much diving!! :) haha. The one thing that I do hope my son can learn from my embarrassing water handicap is that even though it is annoying at times I don't let it affect my ability to have fun and make do. I have always got razzed for it and always will but who can blame anyone. I even think it is freakin' hilarious when I am doing great skiing and as soon as I am about to wipeout my hand can make it to my nose in lighting speed. It really is rather funny!!

Cade by Muddy Road Productions

more pictures at www.muddyroadproductions.blogspot.com

First taste of brownie batter... mmm...

Spring Update...

So this spring is going by super fast as I new it would. We have a garden again this year but it is definitely a little different to tend to this year with a 1 year old versus the newborn we had last year. :) Cade is into helping me do everything these days and doesn't quite understand that I'm pulling weeds in the garden not just ANYTHING green. So needless to say we have had a few crops harvested way early. :) lol To paint a picture of what it is like doing work around here... imagine a nosey cat, two large great danes that like to step exactly where you don't want them to and a 1 year old who wants to help by throwing rocks, eating dirt and either picking the crops or just sitting on them and smashing them flat. I will be thrilled if we actually get to harvest anything this year. :) haha.

Cade is currently finishing up his last month at Mother's Day out. He has gotten to be such a big boy these days!! Most of the time when I drop him off he just walks on in, ready to play and completely forgets that I am leaving or to even bother saying bye. But, that's okay... I want a strong independent boy and I have a feeling he is going to definitely be Strong and Independent. :) He is talking and blabbing up a storm! Half the time we have no idea what he is saying and that is probably for the best. haha. He is very good at yelling at the dogs and trying to snap his fingers at them. It's rather funny to us and I'm pretty sure the dogs as well. The boy LOVES being outside. If we could live out there he would always be happy. Really though for the most part he is always happy. He has become a major little flirt these days as well. Waving and grinning at all the ladies. He knows how to work his magic. It works really well on his Poppy, JuJu and Mimi. Not that that's any surprise to anyone I'm sure. The boy is changing so much everyday and learning so much it is amazing and scary at the same time. We love that boy to pieces!!!

Playing around in the back yard....

Easter- Sorry it's so late....

This was Cade's second Easter. He got a lot more out of the egg hunts this year that's for sure. :)