Still Here!

We're still here! It's been busy the past month, and it looks to get even busier over May and June.

This past weekend, we traveled to Hemphill, TX, for Wyatt's Great Uncle John's 90th birthday party. This was a birthday party/family reunion combo., and we were so glad we got to go. It's always neat to go to Hemphill with Wyatt. He has so many stories and memories from that town; I enjoy getting a better picture of what his childhood was like. Most importantly, his Granny and PawPaw live there and we love getting to see them.

At the beginning of the party, Wyatt's Great Uncle Raymond led us in a prayer. It was so neat to hear him pray the way he did. It wasn't a run of the mill "thanks for the food" prayer; it was a prayer thanking God for Uncle John's life and the legacy he is creating for the family. Uncle Raymond thanked God for working through the good and the bad, for being sovereign and having a purpose for each and every life event. It was so clear that he has led a life of devotion to Christ and that he desires the same for his whole family, the young and the old. I am really blessed to see such deep devotion to Jesus and to know that I am part of that heritage also.

I have pictures from the party that I hope to add soon...so be on the look out.

Next weekend, we'll be in Arlington for a couples shower. The shower is for Wyatt's cousin Jonathan, who is getting married on June 6th. We're excited for Jonathan and I'm looking forward to meeting his fiance, Bethany.

In other events, I'm doing my best to get back into a consistent work out routine (which is stinking hard!). I'm considering registering for the 2010 Houston Marathon and am deciding whether or not I should join a training group.

I'm also ramping up my Arbonne business, which I'm excited about. So many new and exciting products have come out in the past couple of months, and being a consultant gives me a legitimate excuse to buy them. I have to try each and every one of them out before I can recommend them to others, right? (This is the logic I try to use on Wyatt, with limited success).

Ellie seems to have recovered from her injury. We never figured out for sure what was wrong, but she seems to be back at full speed again. I'm glad about that; trying to keep a lab sedentary is not easy or fun.

Lots more is coming up in May- Wyatt's 30th birthday on May 13th, various and assorted graduations, and our 5 year wedding anniversary on May 29th. I'll do my best to be a better blogger and actually post about these events as they happen.

Warrenton, Here We Come!

Every six months or so, something wondrous happens in a little town called Warrenton. It's called Antique Weekend, and if you enjoy hunting for great antiques at a bargain, it's a must do! It goes on for two weeks twice a year, usually falling during late September/early October and late March/early April.

Wyatt's favorite part of the event is the food, and I won't try to pretend I don't love it too. There are turkey legs (Wyatt's favorite), fried chicken on a stick (a recent serendipitous find by Wyatt), fried twinkies (Emily's favorite, don't tell mom), great pie, and kettle corn (my favorite). Royers Round Top Cafe, a great restaurant in Round Top, always has a booth there. If you go, make sure you get a piece of buttermilk pie; it's wonderful.

We're off to Warrenton this Saturday, and I'm excited. The weather's supposed to be perfect, so that's an added bonus. The big challenge will be to eat less than 3 types of fried food during the time we're there.

Let us know if you've ever been to Antique Weekend or if you're going this year. It's always fun to bargain hunt with friends.

Injured (and Sad) Ellie

Our beloved Eleanor is injured. We're not sure when it happened, but we know for sure that something's not right. She won't jump on the bed any more (and before I get in trouble on this, let me clarify that she's not allowed on the bed unless we ask her to come up, and we don't do this that often). She's having a hard time jumping up- even in getting in and out of the car and the pool, which she usually does with ease and enthusiasm. She still runs fine usually, but there have been a few incidents where she'll sprint after her ball, stop suddenly, yelp repeatedly, and pick up her back right leg.

I took her to the Vet last Saturday, and they prescribed her an anti-inflammatory medicine. We're supposed to watch her to see if it helps her return to normal, and if not, we'll have to take her back to get sedated and get an x-ray of the suspect leg. Thus far, it's looking like the medicine isn't helping a whole lot.

The injury by itself is bad enough, but to keep her from hurting herself further, we're having to hide all her balls and keep her inside and inactive as much as possible. Hello...this is a LAB we're talking about. ALL she wants to do is play, run, chase, and move...on a continual basis. So, needless to say, she's depressed. The look on her face when we get ready to go for a run and she realizes we're not going to take her with us is SO pathetic.

I'm really hoping this is just a pulled muscle that needs rest, but I'm getting worried. I'll post again when we have an update.

The Big 3-0!

Yes, this is very late, but I did turn 30 on February 15th. I haven't given much thought to the whole "turning 30" part of my birthday. Yes, I realize that's what a birthday is, but it just didn't feel that significant to me. I know I could still pass for 18 in most circles, so it's hard to think of myself as 30. Maybe some day my mind will catch up with my age, but until then, I'll just keep on keeping on (I don't know who says this, but it seems to fit here).

The day itself was very uneventful; I had a really bad cold and spent most of the day lounging on the couch. On Friday (two days before my birthday), we went to one of my favorite restaurants (D'Amico's in the Rice Village) for dinner. My brother David, his friend Abby, and my parents came along. It was great food as usual, but I felt so bad I really couldn't enjoy it. Eating out just isn't that fun when all you want to do is take Benadryl and lay down.

Wyatt surprised me with a purse I'd been wanting but definitely didn't expect to get, and I got a much-needed new briefcase-y bag for work from my family. It was as good a birthday weekend it could have been in light of my icky cold.

The next weekend, Wyatt threw me a surprise party. I won't lie; I had an idea it was coming. It's a long story how I knew, but let's just say I was pretty sure a party was going to happen that Saturday.

That morning, Wyatt arranged for me to have a massage and a pedicure at a spa in the Galleria area. My sister Emily went along, and we had a great time. We shopped around a little bit after we got done at the spa, and arrived back at the house at about 4:00.

I was greeted by a bunch of friends and a ton of food! Wyatt had enlisted the help of my brother and sister, and they did a great job planning the party. There was a donkey pinata filled to the brim with chocolate and an inflatable/bouncy boxing ring (I don't know what else to call it). Wyatt told me later that he was planning on hiring a mariachi band to come and play, but they wouldn't budge on their $400 price, and he thought that was just a tad too much to pay. :)

It was hilarious to see a big bunch of 20 and 30 somethings doing things you usually see at a 5-year old's party. I wouldn't have had it any other way. Wyatt knows me well.

The pinata was especially entertaining; it was totally authentic and nearly indestructible. It was even lined with Mexican newspaper on the inside; that is a real pinata.

One funny story...when the rental company arrived to drop off the inflatable boxing ring, they asked my brother David if the kids were upset that they were late. David responded that he thought they were ok with it. Of course the kids were ok with it; there were only 2 real "kids" at the party. The real upset people were the 20/30ish people who wanted to relive their childhood in the bouncy boxing ring, and do it ASAP! It was a funny moment.

Here are some pictures from the party:

The donkey pinata

The cake

Wyatt manning the pinata

Me trying to hit the pinata

The inflatable boxing ring

Partygoers

More partygoers

Karaoke Fun


Thanks to all who made my birthday so fun, and special thanks to my endlessly creative and sweet husband for planning such a great party. Thanks also to the lady that made the tortillas at Lupe Tortilla. They were delicious.

Skiing Fun

We're back from our ski trip. We went to Angel Fire, New Mexico with a group of friends from our Sunday School class. We had six couples, two condos, four home cooked dinners, a lot of aspercreme, advil, and pepto bismol, and a great time!

Unfortunately, there were some injuries while on the trip. The ironic thing is that most of the injuries occurred while tubing down the mountain rather than skiing. I don't think our group will be tubing down mountains again any time soon.

Wyatt came down with a really nasty cold toward the end of the third day of skiing, so he had to sit out the fourth day, which was no fun. He did great on the three days he was able to ski, though. I was very impressed. He says his method of skiing is "controlled chaos," but I can't confirm this. He was usually so fast that I wouldn't have been able to see whatever "chaos" there was.

I surprised myself by skiing a bunch of black slopes (the hardest level there is) and not killing myself in the process. One slope, called Hari Cari, was ridiculously steep, very long, and covered in huge moguls (the ski term for hills of snow). My legs were literally shaking when I got to the top of the slope. I had to lean way forward just to see where the slope led; that is never a good sign. Thankfully, though, I made it down the slope with only a couple minor falls and no tantrums or fits of crying/screaming. That is a success in my book.

The best part of the trip was the people we went with. Our group was great. It was such a blessing to get to go on vacation with our friends. We learned a lot about each other that we didn't already know, and I heard more "that's what she said" jokes than I can count.

I remember when Wyatt and I first got married and how hard it was to transition from being single and having all single friends to finding married couples to hang out with (especially married couples that lived remotely close to us). I look back on that struggle and my many prayers that God would bring couples into our lives that we could really "do life with"...really be real with, find support in, and be able to be a support to.

I am so thankful to say that God has more than answered that prayer. The friends we have found have demonstrated such grace, love, and support to us that it really does give me a better picture of what God's love looks like. So, in short, I am incredibly thankful for our friends.

And did I mention that I am thankful for my husband? He is so fun to be around and such an encourager. I am a blessed lady!

Here are some pictures from the trip.

Wyatt and I on the slopes


The skiing men- Andre, Brandon, Terence, Wyatt, Josh and Adam

The skiing ladies- Stephanie, Jessica, Me, Carissa, Grace and Gina

The whole crew- Stephanie, Brandon, Me, Wyatt, Terence, Jessica, Adam, Carissa, Gina, Andre, Josh and Grace

One more picture, just for fun

A sad day for Ellie

So, Wyatt and I decided that Ellie could use a hair cut. She's never gotten anything beyond a bath and a furminator treatment (basically a good brushing with the furminator), and we've heard good things about getting labs shaved for shedding purposes.

So, we took the plunge. We took her up to our local PetsMart and left her in the hands of the expert groomers/washers/shavers. They asked me how short I wanted her hair cut, and I had no idea, so I asked what people usually did for labs, and I went with that.

3 hours later, Wyatt picks her up from PetsMart, and they arrive back at home. I catch my first glance of her, and my sweet Eleanor is practically BALD everywhere other than her head and tail. This is not PetsMart's fault; I'm sure it's what I asked for. I just had no idea that what I asked for would look like THAT.

This is what Ellie looks like with hair (the BEFORE picture):

Here's what she looks like AFTER the hair cut:

Poor Ellie! More than that, poor me. I am pretty embarrassed for Ellie and actually have taken to dressing her up the past couple days to make her (well, really mainly me) feel better about her lack of hair.

I think we learned our lesson really well. No more super short hair cuts for Eleanor ever again. I'm just glad dogs don't have the ability to look in the mirror!

My 25

I was "tagged" on Facebook to fill this out, and since it took me so long to do it, I'll repost it here.

Here's my 25:

1. I've never filled one of these out, although I've been sent them many times.
2. I love carbohydrates and am pretty sure I could live on candy alone (if my heart didn't explode first).
3. I was a founding member of "the cool kids club" in high school. Hello Jennifer, Abby & Lauren (can't remember who else was in it).
4. I enjoy listening to Delilah on Sunny 99.1, especially when she starts giving out cheesy advice.
5. I am pretty much always cold. I keep my heater on at my desk at work pretty much all day, every day.
6. I LOVE the movie "The Sound of Music" and can't count how many times I've seen it.
7. For real, when I was a kid, I really wanted to BE Amy Grant. I actually had criteria in my mind that my future husband had to have Grant as his last name so I could legitimately call myself her name. Not kidding.
8. I am EXTREMELY literal. I named a stuffed animal "Machine Washable" because it said it on the tag and so I thought that was the proper name. Seriously.
9. I am the middle child and am pretty sure that I have full-blown middle child syndrome. I always get the smallest piece of chicken (literally and figuratively).
10. I almost got sent to the Principal's office in high school for eating wheat thins in Spanish class.
11. I am an aspiring super-blogger. I just started our family blog a couple months ago and am really enjoying it so far. (In case you didn't know it, you are currently viewing the blog of which I speak.)
12. I love Arbonne and am an aspiring white Mercedes driver.
13. My husband and I started dating in 1995. (Yes, you read that right.)
14. I once had a guinea pig named Iggy. He squeaked really loud when he was hungry.
15. I am NOT a fan of amphibians/reptiles/etc. My most hated animal ever is a snake.
16. I have huge aspirations when it comes to reading books, but I rarely live up to them. It has to be really good to motivate me to finish a whole book (e.g. The Twilight Series).
17. I really enjoy 80s music. The dorkier the better.
18. Flowers make me really happy. My favorite is raununculus.
19. I was obsessed with pink, purple and blue as a child. As far as I was concerned, those were the only colors that existed.
20. I was a Political Science major in college, but before I settled on that, I was a Psychology major, and before that, was gearing up for Biomedical Science (until I realized I don't like blood).
21. I've broken my left ankle twice and sprained it once, all in the span of about a year.
22. I went to Istanbul in 2001 and ate a lot of McDonald's while there (bad choice, I know).
23. My middle name is Louise. I never liked it as a kid, but now I really like it a lot.
24. My choir teacher in high school made me be Cosette in Les Miserables. I was not happy.
25. I know my purpose in life, and am blessed and challenged by that knowledge daily.