ALLURE Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery

I know it's been a while since I last updated. I owe all of you a very good explanation as to why it's been so long. Here's my reason...LIFE IS BUSY!!! I promise to update with pictures of the house and kids soon, but today I wanted to let you all know that Derron's website is up and running and I hope you will all check it out.

Derron has been busy at Allure and things are moving along nicely. I am so very proud of him. He is an amazing doctor and surgeon and Tift County is lucky to have him.

Here is the web address, make sure you check it out.

www.allureprs.com

1st day of school

So I know it's a been a while, but we have been so busy. I know, excuses, excuses. The kids started school August 18 and so far they LOVE it! Here are a few pictures. Hopefully I can get more updating done soon.

BYE BYE MISSOURI...HELLO GEORGIA

We left Missouri on July 4, 2010 and headed to the hot and sticky south. We left behind our best friends, our "Missouri Family" and we are trying to deal with that. I thought when we moved to Missouri that it was going to be awful. I was wrong. Living in Blue Springs Missouri was absolutely wonderful. Derron, the kids, and I forged friendships that will last a lifetime. Our family grew in size and strength. I had the pleasure of working with the young women of our ward for 5 yrs. That's right 5 yrs. It was such a blessing working with those beautiful young ladies. I am not sure that they are aware of it, but each one of them touched my heart and helped my testimony of the Gospel grow. I love them all so much.
Our first Sunday there this sweet young woman invited us over to have dinner with her and her family. Little did I know that she would become like a sister to me. Katie Stowe, if you read this...thank you for always being there for me and for welcoming my family into your family.
Derron and I were blessed to have amazing friends...The Stowes, Waites, Poulsens, Ostroms, Kiefers, Atagis, Farrs, and a few others. We will always love you and hope that you come to visit us often!

GEORGIA...........IT'S HOT and MUGGY! But, it's home. It always has been and always will be. Our families are here. Our childhood best friends are here. We are so blessed to be able to live near them all and to have our children grow up around them. We have a beautiful home(that we can't move into until the stair rail get in) and we are trying to get used to being in a small town again. That may take a while! We are definitely excited about our new adventure, but things are crazy right now. Everyone says we should be so happy to be moving home and that everyone is so happy to have us home, but leaving our "Missouri Family" was very difficult. It's going to be a slow journey adjusting to life in the south again, but we like a good challenge. As of right now we still feel like we are just visiting. We are living out of suitcases at Derron's parents house until the stair rail gets put up. I guess it will sink in Sunday when we don't have to leave to fly back to Missouri. I promise to try my very best to update as often as I can. Love to you all.

Coming to an end...

I'm awful at updating this thing. I apologize. On to the topic at hand. Our time in Kansas City is coming to an end. I have mixed emotions about this, but that is a topic for another time. Right now I want to share something else with you. I feel that it's important to pass along valuable information about some of our FAVORITE places to eat in the area. That way if you are ever passing through here you can stop and enjoy some of the wonderful tastes of Kansas City.

BBQ!!!!!!!! This is a HOT topic out here. Everyone has their opinions about the best. There is GATE'S BBQ, AURTHUR BRYANT'S BBQ, ZARDA BBQ, AND FIORELLA'S JACK STACK BBQ.
I have tasted them all and JACK STACK is by far the best!!!! There are 4 locations in the area, but we always seem to choose our 2 favorite locations. The first being The Country Club Plaza and the second being The Freight House District. They have some of the yummiest food.

STEAK!!! I'm not much of a red meat girl, but every now and then I love a good steak. There are several steak restaurants out here, but my favorite by far is PLAZA III on The Country Club Plaza. It is a high end dining establishment (NO CHILDREN) and I would recommend this place for a special occasion. But the food is amazing!

LOCAL!! We just discovered this local place a Friday afternoon and I can honestly say we have been missing out. They have been open a little over a year and the food took us by surprise. WILD BILLS is located out at The LEGENDS shopping center and if you visit you should definitely get the pork chops and white cheddar mashed potatoes with a garden salad and cowboy ranch dressing. DELICIOUS!!!!

MEXICAN! Our favorite mexican place out here is EL MAGUEY. The food is good, but it's like all other mexican eating joints.

We love The Country Club Plaza and we have so many great memories down there. So, if you are ever in the area stop by there and enjoy fabulous shopping and some really good food.

We love Kansas City. It's been a great home to us for 6 amazing years and leaving is going to be bittersweet. But, like I said...That's a post for another time.

Awesome

Derron and I have truly been blessed through this whole process of building a house. We are so fortunate to have the best builder ever building our house. Derrell has done an amazing job. He has put so much hard work and love into our home and we are so thankful for him and all that he does. He is AWESOME!!! Below are some pics of the kitchen cabinets and a light fixture in the breakfast area as well as a picture of Dad!

126 Plantation Drive

This is pictures of the hardwoods, foyer light, Derron's office, Callie's room and the Bonus room.

Sounds so southern doesn't it. 126 Plantation Drive. It's our new address and the house is coming along great. So, here is another look at our future home. Again, Thank you to all the wonderful people involved in building our dream home...especially you Dad(Derrell)

Just a few pictures.

I am not sure why people say that the first child is the most photographed. Because I photograph Olivia quite a bit. Here are a few of the most recent. She is probably not clothed in most of them. She hates clothes.

I almost forgot!

I almost forgot my favorite part of the house so far...OUR FRONT DOOR! I know, it's just a front door right? Wrong! It's the most amazing piece of wrought iron(that right you heard me correctly) you have ever seen. I fell in love with it the moment I saw it and knew that it was meant for our home. To me, it is front door perfection.

House Update!

Well...Our house in Missouri has shown a total of 15 times in 2 weeks! Unfortunately NO ONE has made an offer. UGH! Anyway...On to better news!

Our house in GA is coming along so FAST and it is so BEAUTIFUL!!! Thanks to that awesome builder we have(DERRELL)! So, here are a few pictures of the tile in the master bathroom, laundry room, and a few other pics of various rooms!

It's Official...

It's official! The house is up for sale! Hopefully it will sell soon. I promise to keep you posted.

HOUSE!

Our new house!!! Hopefully I will have some more pictures soon.

Olivia 6 month pics

Here are a few of my favorites!

UPDATE!!!!!!!!

I have truly neglected this blog. Sorry. But, I figure there is only a handful of people who read it anyway. Still, sorry for the neglect. I promise to try to be better about updates.

Life is CRAZY around here. We are packing and trying to get the house ready to go up for sale. I hope and pray I NEVER have to do this again. EVER! Baseball season has started back up so along with everything else, school activities, church activities, and social activities we now have baseball again. But, this is what Gavin loves and so we go and support him. Callie is preparing for her first school play "Stone Soup" and we are so exited! Gavin just had is 1st and last band concert. He plays the trumpet pretty well, but Tiftarea Academy doesn't have a band and he honestly hates playing. Madison is doing well and is quite the little social butterfly. Olivia is growing so fast and trying to crawl. This makes me very sad. But she has to grow up. She is so sweet and precious and has really added so much joy to our family.

Derron and I are both crazy busy. He works and comes home and packs and cleans. I pack and clean all day and play with Olivia and then we both try to pick things out for the new house and his office. It's really an exciting time at our house right now.
Speaking of the house(GA house) it is looking FABULOUS!!!! I will post pics. Derrell is doing an AMAZING job and we are so blessed to have such a wonderful talented builder.
Hopefully this will catch you up to date for now. I PROMISE to update more frequently.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

So, Derron NEVER reads this. I am pretty sure he doesn't even know how to access it. That being said I can gush about him all I want. Yesterday February 19, 2010 we celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. That's right 10 YEARS! I am so blessed to have an amazing husband, who loves me and our children and supports us in all we do. We had a beautiful evening out and thanks to that wonderful Mother in law of mine we were able to spend the night away from home. THANKS A BUNCH VICKIE! Derron and I are already looking forward to the next 10 years and are so excited about the new chapter we are about to start. But first I have to turn 30... Anyway, here are a few pics of me and Derron. Honey, if you read this, I LOVE YOU!

SORRY!

I am so sorry that it has been so long since I last posted anything. Life is extremely busy in the Spikes' house these days. I have lots of pictures and lots of updating to post. I PROMISE it will get done this week.

Olivia 4 month (18 photos), by Candace Spikes

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