Sunday, September 7, 2014

Disney 2014 (Post 1 of 2)

I've been wanting to post about our Disney trip for a long time, but there are SO many good pictures .....which ones do I choose? Jacob's kindergarten year ended on a Friday and we flew out two days later.  I definitely get the whole Disney craze and all it's magical influence. I was just as into chasing down a character as the kids! We met Jason's brother (Chris), his wife (Kari) and they're two kids (Austin & Kendall) there. We don't get to see them often, so it was a double treat! I'm going to break this into two posts .....

Before heading to the airport!


One of my favorite things on the trip was watching her get her hair and make-up and done in Cinderella's castle.


Addie Jude with her cousin Kendall, aren't they precious!


Aunt Kari and Kendall

Jaocob and Jason on Jacob's favorite ride, the race cars

Look at the pink Mickey Mouse clips in their hair

Jacob and Jason on Barnstormer, another favorite. Uncle Chris and Austin are behind them



Addie Jude LOVES Cinderella, she was completely speechless


Meeting the princesses in Cinderella's castle ... this was also a trip highlight! You sit and eat while the princesses come to your table, brilliant!







Her hair after we took down her Princess due!









They loved playing with their cousins







The night time parade was amazing!

Addie Jude all tuckered out.



One of my favorite pictures of the trip because you can see how star struck they both are, especially Addie Jude!

I'll post the one's that Disney took for us in another post.

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

How I Met Your Father

I originally wrote this post six years ago on another blog, wanted to re-post it! How cool will it be for our kids to read this one day? it's about how I met my husband, Jason.

The email. It all started with an email from a friend that many of you know..... Mallie. She said she met a nice guy at a housewarming party and thought we might be good together. For those of you that don't know Mallie and might be wondering why she didn't save this catch for herself .... she was already in love with her future husband at this time. The only info I got on him is that he also went to Texas Tech. I replied back and told her he could call my cell phone if he was interested. Now ... it's important to give you a little background on where I was in life. I had been on a few blind dates and a few non-blind .... none of them promising. If you've been single for any amount of time, then you know that going out with a lot of wrongs makes you wonder if you're ever going to find your right. I had come to the conclusion that MAYBE my right just wasn't out there. I say maybe because I of course still had a little hope. I decided that if this were the case, if I really wasn't going to ever find my one ... I better make my life more interesting. So, I cut back a bit on my work hours and ... well... got out there! I was a going out fool. Went out about 2-3 times a week. It was a lot of fun. Then the blind and non-blind dates came along ... none of them promising ... and now we're to the email from Mallie. As for where Jason was in life ... I'd say it was close to the same, and the rest I probably don't want to know! ;-)

The phone call. So, I'm in my apartment watching my beloved Smallville (no, I don't watch it anymore) and a weird number pops up on my cell. "Who is that? Ohhhh, I bet it's that guy Mallie mentioned. Let me see what kind of message he leaves."  Now when you're an established single ... your first question is ARE THEY CRAZY? ANY STALKER POTENTIAL? So, I listened to the voice mail and was immediately curious, in a good way. Jason's got a great voice, could be a radio host..... he disagrees of course. I called him back (after Smallville) and we talked for about 20-25 minutes or so .... had  a lot to talk about since we both went to Tech. I remember hearing a beeping in the background and him saying "dinner's ready, gotta go." So we made plans to go out that weekend. My initial thought was that he sounded really nice and cute. Yes, I could tell he was cute from his voice .....what can I say I was in the zone.

First Date. As I mentioned earlier, I was concerned about the psycho factor so I had him wait in the parking lot of my apartment complex. I had been nervous ALL day. Which was a sign because I had gotten to where I was NOT nervous for dates ... I was nervous because I was already crushing from our phone call. We say hello and I get in his car and immediately tell him how nervous I was .... he told me he wasn't nervous (well why not?) so off to the Down Under Pub 'n Grub it was. I was trying to check him out the whole way to dinner without looking like I was checking him out. I obviously likey! It was a great first date .... talked and talked and talked. He apologized for his corporate hair .... which I kind of found adorable - the hair and the apology. We went to Dave & Buster's then called it a night. He was such a gentleman. I'll never forget the next day - I felt so giddy. I hadn't felt giddy in forever, I had forgotten what it felt like.  Would he call? Oh please call - and don't play that stupid guy game.

Second Date. It's important to mention the second date because it was even better than the first. I let him come to the door this time. We get in his car and I tell him I'm not nervous this time and he said "really? because I'm very nervous this time since I know I like you". Did he just say he liked me? But, guys don't do that. They play games with your head and make you feel like crap about yourself ....what's this guy doing?"  And if you know Jason, you know that's him ... he's a very straight shooter. No games. Sometimes if I don't want the truth ... I don't ask him. I wasn't used to it, but I liked it. Back to the date ....  It was Halloween weekend and he brought me a Halloween goody bag. I had mentioned how much I loved that holiday in one of our conversations - he was just scoring points left and right. I also learned that the beeping microwave during our first phone conversation was all planned. He said just in case he ran out of things to say to me he had put something in the microwave as a planned exit. This way we would have plenty to talk about on our first date if he liked me -- or could make a clean break if it wasn't going well. So that may sound corny to some of you, but I loved his honesty and ability to plan (a fellow nerd!). He even planned an air hockey detour because he knew I loved it. He put so much thought and planning into this date .... it was so unbelievably flattering. And, well .... that's Jason.



And so here we are ..... with three years of marriage and he's still my thoughtful hero. Of course there were many moments when I knew he was the one.  But one of my favorites was when he was bringing his dog over (the one and only Oreo) and we were going to leave her in my apartment while we went to eat. He brought a gate to confine her to my kitchen and I told him he didn't need to do that and I would just shut my bedroom door. He said "no, I would never forgive myself if she ruined your mom's furniture". He remembered? I know it's so small, but the fact that he remembered it was my mom's furniture and was so considerate of my feelings towards it ...it melted me. Still does. Of course now I think he'd like to use some of that furniture as fire wood.

I'm a lucky girl. There are so many of those small things still today. I hope all my gibberish didn't give the impression that we're this perfect couple that wake-up to harmonious chirping birds every day, because we aren't and we don't.  It's more like a crying baby and a messy house.. But who wants perfect?
Who else would make a detour to Wild Buffalo Bill's something or an other's grave site during our Tombstone obsession phase and pose like this? (I need to find this picture)





Sunday, August 3, 2014

4th of July 2014

One of the things I love most about being back in the area is being so close to family again. It's no longer a well planned, suitcase lugging, five hour long trip to see each other. We got to hang out with my sister's family for the fourth this year. When Jacob was around two years old he would attempt to say cousins and "cuzzits" is what would come out, well it kind of stuck. Here's Jacob and Addie Jude with cuzzits. I'm pretty sure Addie Jude thinks cuzzits is the correct pronunciation at this point. 

I love when my sister volunteers to bring desserts because we get lots of tasty treats! Between my sister and my mother in law's baking skills, I don't think we've ever provided dessert at a family gathering. At least, not one that was ever requested again!






Emma (10), Alyssa (14), Addie Jude (4), Jacob (6) and Regan (12)




What a feast!

Alyssa was very proud of her master piece, as she should have been .... it was delicious!

These two turkeys were the last two left in the pool that day!




Saturday, July 26, 2014

Finally Found the Founding Fathers


I was lucky enough to join Jason on a business trip to Boston early in the summer. Other than touring a few historical sites, I wasn't quite sure what there was to do. My kindle was loaded up just in case! To both of our surprise, we loved it. I will admit we both love to travel and are easily entertained when we do. Just give us a seedy bar with decent music and we're set.  We did indeed find the seedy bars with LIVE music (big bonus), but we were taken by surprise at the amount of history you can still see and touch there. The locations were all so easily accessed to the public and some of them were 200 years old. With both of us being (mostly) native Texans, we're not used to seeing churches from the 1700's or getting to walk the same streets our founding fathers once did.

We stayed at the Parker House which happens to be located right across the street from a few of my favorite spots, one being King's Chapel. The church's bell was cast by Paul Revere and still summons parishioners to service every Sunday. The exterior of the church is nice enough but nothing like the inside. One of the neatest parts was the design of the box pews.

From a website: "The box pews of King's Chapel are the original pews. Each pew was owned by a family who paid fifty-four shillings a year (about $150 in today's money) for the space. They were designed with high sides to protect worshippers from winter drafts in the days before central heating. Parishioners would sit close together with a foot warmer on the floor providing heat. Each pew reflected the size and make-up of the family, who would bring in their own pillows, fabrics, and furniture for their pew. Children often faced their parents, rather than the chancel, so that parents could watch both the service and their children. The pews in the galleries were were available for those who could not afford the rent on the box pews downstairs. In 1906, the Church bought back the pews, which are now open to all. While the pews have required re-upholestering, the padding beneath is still made of horse hair."
The names of the families that originally owned the pew boxes are still there, including a nameplate for Paul Revere's family. So cool! Below are some pictures of the exterior of the church.








Paul Revere's home, we were able to tour the inside


I know it's odd to call a cemetery beautiful, but Granary Burying Ground is just that. Many of the gravestones are so old, any inscriptions have been long weathered away. Among others, it's the resting place to Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, John Hancock and Ben Franklin's parents.


Samuel Adams gravestone
The cemetery was surrounded by beautiful buildings and trees

Statue of Paul Revere, you can see the steeple and bell tower of the Christ Church
where he hung the lanterns, we were able to tour that church as well!



The Boston Massacre occurred right in front of this building


Jason's favorite part was boarding the USS Constitution




Twins


Just some pretty views:







This post reads like a brochure, but as you can tell we really enjoyed the trip!