Sister Moon...

I want to shout outloud to the whole world (or at least the Kandra-land world) and let them know that my sister "Shannon Marie Dorsey" a.k.a "Shay" is a phenomenually amazing woman and that she truly is the best sister and friend a person could ask for.....
It all started when I entered this world.. she instantly became my protector and guide. I have always admired her and looked up to her for guidance and she has been there for me 100 percent of the time throughout my entire life. She does it unconditionally and unselfishly and continues to show her love for me each and every day....
We have these audio tapes of us when we were younger being radio DJ's for our own talk show. She busted them out the other day... Shannon was "Downtown Julie Brown" and I was "Downtown Julie Brown JR". She has defiantely let me know over the years that she is the older and wiser one of the two of us:) (there is some definate truth to that) Shannon is someone who tells it how it is, there is no sugar coated Kandra-land version, she presents the reality of it whether you want to hear it or not. Shannon balances my personality out. I look to her for sound advice and she is my voice of reason at times. Even as kids we were close; at times she may say a little too close... for instance me sleeping with her everynight, wanting to hang out with her and her friends, and wanting to be around her ALL the time. I'm sure I was the annoying little sister at times, but I can honestly say I think deep down she liked it:).
Over the past 27 years of my life she has enriched my life in so many ways. We have been through the ups and downs together on this journey of life and I thank her for being my best friend, my protecter, my guidance counselor, my sound board, and most of all the bestest sister a gal could ask for. Thanks Shay! I love you to the moon and back:)
p.s. the photos are a glimpse of my sister from the time I moved to Cali to present. It starts out of her moving me to Cali and then of course she had to come back and get me:) Plus other random photos in between to present..

Fun in the 100 degree Sun

100 degree weather definately calls for a pool party. Last weekend we loaded up Sara & Randy's Honda Pilot that seats all 8 of us (5 adults-Sara, Randy, Jackson, and Ava Beach, Kate & Xavier (Kate's nephew), Shay, and I ) and headed to the pool. It was quite a site to see all of us piling in and out of one car...
The lovely manager of a pool we used to all work at (minus Randy and the kids) opened up the pool early for us to enjoy some private pool time. This was great because we didn't have to deal with the pool rats. (a.k.a kids who attend the pool daily w/out supervision)

Rain or Shine!

A few weekends back we decided to head to World's of Fun and Ocean's of Fun for the day with some friends. If you are not familiar with such places, it is kind of like Disneyland except it's not the happiest place on earth:) It's an amusement park and water park in Kansas City. I grew up going there as a kid with my family and have been back a few times as an adult. As we were driving to the parks it began sprinkling and somewhat pouring on and off. It was a little soggy but perfect park whether (especially for prego me) for a couple of reasons: 1. It was not lightening so the rides were still open but there were not many people who were die hard amusement park goers like ourselves therefore the lines were short. 2. It was not hot and there was an on and off mist of cool rain coming down. Although I did not get to enjoy the excitement of screaming and being jolted around upside down, I did enjoy people watching and going to the water park for a couple hours. Teaf and I hit up the "Lazy River" and the "Wave pool" while the rest of the crew re-rode some of the rides. Of course the experience is never complete without stuffing one's face with a funnel cake. All in all it was a great day!


L to R: Ashley(Nate's girlfriend), Nate, and Teaf

The ride in action-Notice Nate is no longer on Ride...or is he??

There he is...he was asked to move to the end seat...not sure why...this seemed to happen each time they reloaded the ride, someone was asked to move so that the lap bars would work-sure doesn't make me want to get on that ride!

5th car back-Teaf riding the rickety "Timberwolf"

World's of Fun goers-minus me taking the pic and Lindsey's husband who chose not to ride the Detenator

Notice- Car 2 and 3 is the crew...how sweet is that-Teaf waving??

Here they are upside down..

Here's prego-back achin' and extremely full from eating a delicious powdered sugar funnel cake:)

L to R: Me, Nate, Nate's sister-Lindsey, and Ashley

No Salmonella in our tomatoes:)

Here is our 1st beautiful tomato that came from our potted tomato plant. The plant was bought at the farmer's market a few months back and sat from the ground to about my shin in her pot. With the help of the green thumb expert, Mr. King, she has flourished into a great big beauty queen! The tomatoes taste great too...It's more exciting to eat something that came from your own garden or for us our own pot:) than buying it from the store!