Winging It

2012-01-31T15:51:00.000-08:00

Things that have happened since November:

Taking Christmas card pics: The afternoon was a little chaotic. Hudson was ready for a nap, didn't want to stay still long enough for a family portrait, and later spilled coffee all down his white shirt. Our dogs wanted to chase/ stare down squirrels the whole time and would barely look at the camera even with someone yelling their names and jumping up and down. Yet, somehow we each managed get a good enough picture for a card.

Christmas with my side of the family:
Fun things I remember…
-On our "Christmas Eve"/Dec. 16th the 4 sisters took a late night ride to look at the Chesapeake Christmas lights and sang Christmas carols the whole time
-Opening presents with a 3 year old who each present asks "I can help you open that?"
-Everyone wrapping presents last minute just like usual
-Reading Christmas books in bed on Christmas eve
-A traditional apples and bisquits Christmas breakfast
-Spending quality time with the entire family

Excited it's Christmas morning!

Waiting for breakfast

Hudson about to take his morning nap

Jack trying on my boots

Jack liking the race car box more than the toy

Hudson making a quick appearance after nap

After my family Christmas we went to the Aaron's parents for a couple days until his family's Christmas

Tug of war

Ollie bear

Christmas in Memphis with Aaron's side of the family includes shopping, relaxing, cooking, playing games, reading, going to church, and spending time with family.

The whole group

We went to Beale St. for an evening outing

We ate appetizers at BB King's while listening to live music

Beale St. at night

Evan Kate Fraim

2011-11-16T06:44:00.001-08:00

Last Wednesday, Aaron and I drove to Oklahoma City for the arrival of our new niece or nephew. My sister Shelby didn't want to find out the gender so that it would be a fun surprise on the day of birth. Her husband Isaac knew the gender, but was very good at keeping the secret. On Wednesday night, when we arrived into town, we went to my parents house for dinner with the family before Shelby and Isaac checked into the hospital to get induced. Shelby checked in at 8 pm and at 3:21 am the baby was born.

The next morning my family met in the Mercy Hospital parking lot and all went up together. Jack and Hudson colored and we waited about 5 minutes to go in. When we peeked in the door, we saw Shelby holding a little baby bundle with a pink and cream hat on. IT'S A GIRL! We finally have a niece mixed in with the nephews. Shelby told us her name is Evan Kate Fraim, that she weighs 7 lbs. 10 oz., and that she is 21 inches long. The rest of the morning was spent holding Evan and playing with Jack and Hudson. That afternoon we put together a present for Shelby with things we thought she might enjoy as a new mother: bottle of wine, stress relieving bath salts, a new shirt, a soft scarf, and some girl clothes for Evan. My mom and dad took the opportunity to get their first granddaughter lots of pink and/or frilly things!

On Friday morning Shelby and Isaac went home! I think they were excited but not quite as excited as Jack was. They spent the day getting settled in and having some one on one time with Evan. Aaron and I drove to OKC and brought everyone lunch from Panera. That afternoon Jessica, Emily, Aaron, and I went shopping at an antique/designer store called Mockingbird Manor and then had some coffee and cupcakes and Cuppies and Joe. It was nice to relax and spend time with each other without being rushed. Friday evening we met Aaron's parents and a couple of their friends at a restaurant for dinner before going to see the play Memphis. It was a great show with lots of singing, dancing, and fun costumes.

Saturday morning we ate breakfast with Dirk, Kathy, and Adrian at Old School Bagel Cafe. Then we went to Petsmart for a few items and then met Emily at the dog park. Shiloh, Thatcher, and Ollie had a lot of fun playing with all of the other dogs and got a lot of their energy out. After the dog park we drove over to Shelby's house. We ate lunch and then Jess and Hudson left to head back home. The rest of us stayed and held Evan, watched the OSU game, played with Jack, and talked. Saturday night we ate dinner with Aaron's family and then hung out at their house and watched a movie.

Sunday morning our friends Kelsey and Andrew brought their new puppy Madeline over for us to meet. We hung out with them watching the dogs play, talking, and then had lunch. After lunch Aaron and I packed up the car and drove back to Dallas. We started the Hunger Games last book The Mockingjay. So far it is really good and I am getting anxious for the movie to come out in March!

The "flowers" Jack picked to give to Shelby

Waiting to go see the new baby

Jak and Hudson coloring in the waiting room

Jack seeing Shelby for the first time since the baby was born

First one to hold Evan!

Carrying jack and Hudson to Shelby's new room

The Fraim family

Jack holding Evan for the first time

Moving in for a kiss on her cheek

Proud grandparents

Jack and I (and George the monkey) had a lot of fun pretending we were asleep then waking up and making funny faces

I think my scary face is a little scarier than his!

Backpacking Trip

2011-10-31T16:55:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Aaron and I went backpacking with our 3 dogs. I have had a good backpack for about 3 1/2 years now but hadn't had a chance to use it until now. Thursday night we loaded up our bags and left Friday morning. I took 2 shortsleeve shirts, a longsleeve shirt, the pair of pants and shoes I was wearing, a jacket, a vest, a rain jacket, a toothbrush and toothpaste, our camera with an extra battery and card, extra pairs of underwear, deodorant, an extra pair of socks, a camelback, a water bottle, a sleeping bag, some gear, and food. I used everything except the vest… just because when I was hiking my body was always on the hot side rather than cold. While listening to The Hunger Games book 2 Catching Fire, we drove about 4 1/2 hours right near the border of Oklahoma and Arkansas to get to a trailhead on the Ouachita National Trail. On Friday we parked and started hiking until we found a good campsite before it got dark. We had mapped out where we wanted to stay, with the distances, but we didn't quite make it to our 1st destination before the sun started setting so we stayed near a small stream. We set up our tent and tried to make dinner (ramen noodles). Our grill worked about 10 min before going out. Aaron worked with it about 30 min before getting frustrated and giving up since it is now pitch black outside. Then, we tried making a fire but everything was too wet so we ended up eating some of our snack/lunch food (cheese, sausage, and crackers) which was just as delicious. We went to sleep with Aaron, Thatcher, Ollie, Baxter, and myself crammed into a tiny 2 man backpacking tent. Even though it was a little tight, it was nice because the dogs put off so much body heat I never got cold! The next morning we woke up and ate some granola bars for breakfast since we couldn't cook our eggs we had brought then hung around the campsite for a little while before packing up for our days hike. Saturday we hiked up to Wilton Mountain and had a late lunch on top of the mountain before heading back down. We hiked down and set up camp at the Passhube Trailhead. This night we made a fire (sorry fireban… we were careful) and had a nice hot dinner of rice with chicken broth, almonds, and a few spices. It was pretty good but needed some salt so we split a pack of ramen noodle chicken seasoning and it ended up being very tasty! We roasted a few marshmallows for dessert, curled up in the tent and listened to some more of our audiobook, then fell asleep. Sunday morning we ate some more of the granola bars/ trail mix we brought, packed up camp, and hiked back down the trail until we reached our car. We loaded up the animals and our packs and headed home.

It was the most beautiful time of the year to go with all of the trees changing from golden yellow to deep reds. The weather was perfect, sunny with low 40's at night to mid 60's during the day, it had rained the 2 days before we got there so the streams had water for us to refill our camelbacks. I really enjoyed the whole backpacking experience, although, it was a little more challenging than I expected and I will probably be a little sore for the next couple of days. The dogs were really well behaved… Thatcher and Ollie loved every minute of it and Baxter really enjoyed snuggling with me in my sleeping bag! For an almost 11 year old dog I would say Baxter did really well, he kept up with us the entire time (getting a little tired on day 3), hopping over fallen trees, rocks, and making his way through some spiky vines.

Here are some of the pictures:

About to start hiking

Setting up the tent on Friday night

Our space in the tent… Thatcher is taking up my entire side

My cuddler

About to hike Sunday morning

Attempt at a group shot

Another attempt at a group shot

Pictures hiking the 3rd day

Our water source

Playing in the stream

The reason Bax isn't in many pictures… he was tired the 3rd day

He had a few leaves stuck on his chin from his nap

A picture of Ollie's crazy fur stage

Some of the pretty trees

It is hard to see but the mountain ahead is covered in multi-colored trees

And some iPhone pics:

Ollie sleepy from the days hike

Thatcher after hiking

Ollie has to be touching Thatcher

About to start hiking the 1st day

Such cuddly puppies

Wisconsin

2011-10-26T16:05:00.000-07:00

A few weekends ago we took a trip to Wisconsin with Aaron's parents to visit his sister Hollis and her husband Nick. Aaron and I drove to Edmond on Thursday night and then we left for Wisconsin early Friday morning. We kept ourselves entertained during the 12 hour drive by listening to the first book in The Hunger Games series. We arrived in Madison around 6:45, unpacked the car, and went to a Mexican place called Laredo's for dinner. Saturday Hollis made cinnamon rolls for breakfast then we drove over to the University of Wisconsin campus for game day activities and an early football game.

Near the end of the game Hollis, Aaron, and I walked around some of the shops on State Street and got a cup of coffee before meeting back up with Dirk, Kathy, and Nick after the game. That evening we went to a restaurant in Madison called The Old Fashioned that has authentic Wisconsin food. We ate cheese curds, macaroni and cheese, fish sandwiches, a turkey sandwich, and a chicken sandwich. We were stuffed by the end of the meal, and it was all delicious. Sunday morning Hollis made delicious waffles! After breakfast we went to an apple orchard/pumpkin patch called Epplegarden. We walked through the orchard, measured ourselves, looked at the pumpkins, bought some apples, and drank some homemade apple cider.

Later that afternoon, we drove about 20 minutes to Stoughton, WI to tour Hollis and Nick's new house! It is a charming 3 bedroom house with big beautiful trees and a good size backyard that has views of the river.

Hollis and Nick's new house

The backyard

The view of the river

That evening we went to an Italian restaurant and stuffed ourselves on warm bread and pasta. Monday morning we packed up and drove back to Edmond while listening to the second half of the book. We dropped Dirk and Kathy off then had dinner with my whole family before driving 3 1/2 more hours to Dallas. It was a wonderful fall trip! We loved getting to spend time with Hollis and Nick and hope we are able to visit again soon.

Nephews at the park

2011-10-03T16:41:00.000-07:00

Pictures from two weekends ago when I was in Edmond for Shelby's shower. We took Hudson and Jack to Shelby's neighborhood park to play one morning.

Kitchen Update

2011-09-27T19:21:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures after we cut the old sink and cabinets out:

Aaron measuring to build a platform to hold the new sink up

Pictures with the new sink, faucet and countertops in place:

What the stone and edges look like up close

In case you don't remember… this is what it looked like in May before we moved in.

Shelby's Baby Shower

2011-09-27T18:39:00.000-07:00

Last weekend my sister's and I, along with Isaac's mom and sisters, held a baby shower for Shelby at my parent's house. Here are some of the pictures from the shower:

Catching up

2011-09-14T14:44:00.000-07:00

Life has been really busy... Aaron and I always think the next month will slow down but it seems that each time that month rolls around it is just as busy as the last. I guess I will go back to Labor Day weekend (1 week after we got Ollie). Labor day brought in cool weather and gave us a break from the 100 degree temperatures for a little over a week! Aaron took off half a day on Thursday and we drove to Oklahoma City and had dinner with his parents, Dirk and Kathy.

Dogs loaded and ready to go to OKC

Friday we spent most of the morning enjoying the beautiful weather on Dirk and Kathy's back patio. We played with the dogs, talked, ate breakfast and drank a cup of coffee soaking in as much time outside as possible.

Later that morning my sister Emily and I took Thatcher, Ollie, and her dog Shiloh to the dog park. They all seemed to enjoy it but Thatcher wanted to swim in the pond next to the park so he kept running back to the gate wanting me to let him out... So much for playing with the other dogs! After the dog park Emily and I met our other sister, Shelby, for lunch at Cafe 501 in Edmond and had a delicious lunch topped off with cookies!

Ollie sleeping at Emily's house after the dog park

Friday evening Aaron and I went to a friends wedding in Tulsa at Post Oak Lodge. It was a fun wedding filled with time catching up with friends we hadn't seen in a while. Saturday morning Aaron took his parents to the airport for their 2 week trip to Ireland (sounds amazing huh?). Later that morning Aaron and I went to Shelby's house for breakfast with Isaac, Shelby, and Jack. We brought Ollie and Thatcher and Ollie loved following Jack around the house and tried to play with him. Shelby is pregnant with her second baby and just got the crib and bedding in so we got to see the those put together and bounce other design ideas for the room off each other. Shelby isn't finding out the sex of the baby until it is born so the room is a gender-neutral teal and lime green. After breakfast we got ready and headed out to Stillwater for the first OSU football game of the season. Since Dirk and Kathy were on their Ireland trip we got to use their tickets! One of our favorite things about going back to OSU games is seeing so many of our old friends and getting filled in on what they are up to now.

After the game I met up with my friends and Aaron met up with some of his that were in town as well. We spent the night in Stillwater then woke up Sunday morning and had breakfast at Old School Bagel Cafe. After breakfast, we drove back to Edmond and our good friends Kelsey and Andrew came and spent the afternoon with us and met spunky little Ollie.

Ollie couldn't stop chewing on his rawhide so he slept with it in his mouth
on the way from Stillwater to Edmond

Getting spoiled riding up front

Rolling around in Dirk and Kathy's green grass

Snuggling with Thatcher

We hung out at Dirk and Kathy's house then had a late lunch at a pub in Edmond then went to Kelsey and Andrew's friends house for dinner and games. Monday we relaxed all morning then drove back to Dallas. Over the long weekend I found out I got the job at Lighthouse Coffee!

Tuesday Aaron went to work and I started my new job. I worked 7:30- 1:30ish Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. It was a perfect time to work because I got up when Aaron did and took care of the dogs, made breakfast, and got ready then I was back home before they were in their kennels too long and could be with the dogs (and Lucy) the rest of the day. I am liking the job so far... I have made a lot of sandwiches, salads, soups, and coffee drinks. I mostly like the job because it gets me out of the house and gives me something to do a few hours out of the day and I get paid for it... which is always a bonus. Hopefully it will help our remodel process go a little quicker with the extra cash coming in. Thursday night my sister Jessica, and her family, came to spend the night with us. Friday we had breakfast then went shopping at IKEA with Emily... It took most of the day to go through the store. By the time we got home Jess, Adam, and Hudson had to leave to go to Fort Worth for Adam's dads retirement ceremony from the navy. Aaron and I ate dinner and watched the movie The Town... We love dinner and movies at the house!

Saturday Aaron's little sister Adrian came over and spent the afternoon with us and we took her to the Bishop Arts District for her birthday dinner and a little shopping. After dinner Aaron and I went to Fort Worth to meet up with Adam's family and spend some more time with Adam and Jess. Sunday morning Jess, Adam, Hudson, Emily, and her boyfriend John came over for brunch at our house.

The best picture I could get of Jessica with her squirmy little boy

Emily brought Shiloh, and Piper (Jess and Adam's dog) was already staying with us, so it was basically a dog park between them, Thatcher and Ollie... Except better than a normal dog park because they already all know each other and play the whole time. Just one of the perks of living on 2.5 acres! Everyone went their separate ways after brunch and Aaron and I spent the afternoon relaxing, working outside, and working on our kitchen cabinet under our sink (I will post pictures when it is completely finished).

This week has just been working, eating, playing with the pets, and watching Mad Men on Netflix. The temperature is back in the 100's which is sad because I was really looking forward to fall weather coming but I suppose I will just have to wait a little longer. Aaron and I started playing softball on a team through his work and play Wednesday evenings... We are terrible. Jt it is a lot of fun and good exercise! This weekend we are headed back to OKC for a friends bachelorette party and to pick Dirk and Kathy up from the airport. I can't wait to hear all about their trip!

Ollie is now 9 weeks old... I can barely believe we have had him 3 1/2 weeks already! He is such a fun puppy and is growing too fast. His legs and snout have sprouted and he has long fluffy fur which we have heard will fall out soon to get his adult fur in. He is pretty much potty trained at our house. He has only had 3 accidents in our house since we got him but he doesn't ask to go outside yet so we just let him out with the other dogs at this point. He is so spunky and playful... He runs and pounces Thathcer anytime Thatcher lays down and then they wrestle and Ollie growls and shakes his head while biting Thatcher's head, cheeks, ears, or anything else he can grab onto. Thatcher is so gentle with him and loves Ollie. He shares his toys with Ollie and plays with him and lets Ollie bite him all the time. We are curious to see what will happen when Ollie gets to big to lay on Thatcher and wrestle anymore. Baxter and Lucy like Ollie too but they don't really play with him... Thatcher and Ollie have been best friends since day 1.

Thatcher gives us these eyes when Ollie starts biting him

I will update with a kitchen sink/cabinet post as soon as we are finished painting and put the cabinet doors on!

Ollie

2011-08-22T13:59:00.000-07:00

Aaron's parents came to visit us last weekend and got in on Friday evening. We went out to dinner at a local mexican restaurant when they got into town. We got news last Thursday that the puppies went to the vet and were ready to go to their new homes on Saturday! I was so excited Friday night that I couldn't sleep… I tried everything but failed to sleep most of the night. When 6:00 hit Saturday morning I was wide awake just waiting until I could wake Aaron up… we had air conditioning repairmen coming at 7 so I only had to wait about 30 more minutes. Finally, everyone was up and we were ready to go get breakfast and make the hour and a half drive to Stephenville. When we got to the owners house they had just given the puppies baths and were still blow drying a few. I found our puppy and barely recognized him… he hadn't gotten as big as a lot of them and his fur was so long and fluffy! When we got home we first introduced Ollie to Baxter, then Lucy, then Thatcher, and then Roxy (Aaron's parent's dog). Lucy was, and still is, a little unsure of what he is and hasn't wanted to play with him yet… they just sniffed noses and looked at each other. Thatcher still loves Ollie and Ollie follows Thatcher all over our house and yard. They have tried playing together a few times but it is hard to wrestle when your head is as big as the opponents whole body. Baxter likes Ollie he has tried playing with him a couple of times but his barking scares the puppy away.

We are crate training Ollie and he is doing really well. The first night Ollie didn't cry until 4 AM! We were pretty surprised because Thatcher cried the entire night on his first night home. I went and let him out to the bathroom but he was ready to play when we came back inside so Aaron put him outside in our air conditioned garage. He learned crying wasn't going to let him out of his cage and on night 2 he didn't cry once. Ollie is doing great with potty training too! We let him out when we let the other dogs out and when he wakes up from long naps and so far he hasn't had any accidents in the house.

Ollie likes to chew on everything since he is 6 weeks and still getting baby teeth in. At this point his teeth don't do any damage but we are trying to train him to only chew on his toys.
Ollie's personality at 6 weeks is pretty spunky, brave, easy going, happy, loving, outgoing, playful, and sweet. Between play sessions he sleeps a lot like most babies do. We are enjoying this time with him as a little puppy but also can't wait for him to be able to play with Thatcher. We love our new addition!

Ollie meeting Lucy

Ollie followed Thatcher into the baby pool and took a nose dive

Following Thatcher around the yard

Chewing on a Nylabone

Thatcher sharing his toy

Nap time

His fluffy fur

Ps: I just walked downstairs and Ollie and Thatcher are curled up napping together!

Picking out our new puppy

2011-08-10T09:15:00.000-07:00

Last night Aaron and I went to pick out our new goldendoodle puppy. We drove an hour and a half away to see what the puppies acted and looked like at 4 weeks and to stake our claim to a specific one. The owners brought out the 4 males and set them on their living room floor so that we could watch them and play with them. They were all asleep at first, then they slowly all started to wake up and play. The puppies had on different colored collars so that we could tell them apart. The four males personalities went a little something like this:

-camo collar: the biggest of the four, the most passive, the fluffiest/waviest fur, only played when other puppies made him, the kind of dog to lay on the couch with you all night (like Baxter), and a little intimidated by other dogs

-little red collar: the fireball of the group, the smallest of the boys,wanted to play constantly, the most outgoing, very curious, hyper, the most dominant but still let me lay him on his back he just wiggled a little, the darkest in color with the straightest hair

-big red collar: one of the medium sized puppies, passive but not quite as much as the camo puppy, explored his surroundings, wrestled with the other puppies, medium temperament that wasn't too crazy or too lazy, fluffy wavy fur

-blue collar: a medium sized puppy, friendly, medium temperament, a little straighter fur but not as straight as little red, playful with the other puppies but not wild

We narrowed it down pretty easily to the big red and blue based on personality and temperament. At this point we brought Thatcher in to see how they would react to a big dog/ horse. All the puppies walked up to him initially (looking for some milk) then when they realized he wasn't their mom they acted differently. Camo- intimidated and backed away, little red- independent/ uninterested, big red- interested at times but quickly moved to other things, blue- wanted to play with him immediately: tugging on his ears getting down on his front two feet with his back in the air then pouncing, crawling on Thatcher's back, and finally laying with him.

Thatcher was great with all the puppies. Initially, we were a little afraid he would accidentally step on them so we made him lay down. So he laid there and let blue puppy crawl on him and tug on his ears. He wanted to play with him but didnt know how with the size difference. He loved the blue puppy and licked him, laid with him, and sniffed him all over. He seemed very excited to be getting a new playmate.

So, Thatcher made our decisions between big red and blue puppies pretty easy since he and blue had such an instant bond. We get our new puppy in 2 weeks! Here are some pictures from last night once the puppy was sleepy again. We were taking picture from our phone so some pictures are weird coloring from the flash and some are dark.

Thatcher thought the flash was too bright

We are still trying to decide between 3 names Oliver (Ollie), Tucker, and Murphy… he is going to be a lot scruffier as a grown up and have long hair. What is your vote?

Birthday Weekend

2011-08-08T12:54:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was my nephew Hudson's 1st birthday and my 21st birthday. We celebrated in Panhandle, TX where my sister Jessica, her husband Adam, and their little boy Hudson live. Hudson's party was held at Adam's parents house and was an afternoon swim party. Mine was a morning brunch at Jess and Adam's house. It was a fun weekend full of family time, decorating, and cooking. My favorite parts of Hudson's birthday were his decorations, when he ate his cake, and Jack and Hudson swimming together. My favorite parts of my birthday were the effort put into it (decorating, cooking, etc.), my Happy Birthday song from Jack when he woke up, and the thoughtful gift my sisters gave me (they wrote down 21 of their favorite things about me rolled them up and stuck them inside of 21 balloons so each time I popped a balloon I read a favorite). Here are some pictures:

Hudson's Birthday:

Sweet baby Hudson

Birthday boy fell asleep on the way to his party

Happy Birthday to you...

Sister picture

Too cold!

Jack and Hudson

Jack being his goofy self

The guys

I love this kid

Water break

Adam's parents Mary Beth and Steve

Jess with her 1 year old

Time for presents

My birthday:

Reading a favorite

Jack helped me pop all 21 balloons

The weekend

2011-07-12T13:17:00.000-07:00

Last weekend our good friends Kelsey and Andrew came into town to spend the weekend with us. We spent Friday swimming, playing with the dogs, and eating. Friday evening we made dinner and our friends Billy and Lesha came over for dinner before we all went to the Lone Star horse races. It was fun to see all the beautiful horses, the tiny jockeys, and bet on who we thought would win! After the races a few bands played including Josh Abbott.

Saturday we spent most of the day in Dallas shopping and driving around then came back to our house and watched a movie. Saturday night Aaron and Andrew cooked steaks and we played some games then went for a late night swim.

Sunday morning Kelsey and Andrew left and Aaron and I relaxed for a little bit before tackling the dog run project. Sunday evening we took down the dog run and trimmed up the trees all around it. It looks so much better not looking out onto a random chain link fence with chicken accessories inside. I am thankful it wasn't nearly as difficult as the last fence we took down!

This week Aaron will be in Arkansas for work on Wednesday and Thursday and then back for the weekend. We don't have anyone staying with us, so hopefully we can get some more work done around the house!

4th of July

2011-07-12T12:44:00.000-07:00

For the first time we had family come to our house to relax and hang out instead of helping with all of our projects. All of my family came into town to spend time together for 4th of July. We hung out in our pool, ate, played with the nephews, made some delicious drinks, played games, celebrated birthdays, and just enjoyed the time we were able to spend with each other. Now for the pictures…

Dad and Adam's birthday party

BIG bite

Jack and Papa

Mischievous grin

Everything except the wedding

2011-06-22T13:11:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Aaron's sister Hollis got married in Madison, WI. So, after we got home on Tuesday from Jamaica we unpacked and headed to Wisconsin on Wednesday. It was a beautiful wedding in the University gardens followed by a lovely reception at the University Club. We had so much fun spending time with Hollis, her new husband Nick, and all of the other family that came in for the event. Here are some pictures Aaron and I took up until the wedding started.

Aaron with Hollis and Nick's dog Bean.

Aunt Lee and Uncle Jorge

Aunt Connie, Kathy (Aaron's mom), Adrian (Aaron's sister)

Aunt Lee, Uncle Jorge, and their son Alexander

Friends of the bride Brent, his wife Kara, and Ashleigh

The great ring bearer Alexander

The beautiful couple Nick and Hollis

Aaron's grandparents, Fred and Mary Ann, with Adrian

Aunt Connie with Aaron's Dad, Dirk

The wedding party minus Kara and Ashleigh

Rehearsal dinner at Samba

Rehearsal dinner

College friends

Hollis and Nick

Hollis getting her hair done

Kathy and Dirk stopped by

Adrian and I were there for moral support

The finished product

Make-up time

Adrian

All finished

Sister picture

The dress

Congratulations Hollis and Nick on your marriage! Aaron and I are so happy for you both and are excited to have a new brother-in-law!

Our 1st Anniversary

2011-06-20T08:38:00.000-07:00

As you know we were trying to find a fun and fairly cheap place to go on a vacation for our anniversary a couple of weekends ago. I thought camping at a beach in Texas would be fun and Aaron had bigger and more spontaneous plans. When we found out all the campsites at the nearest beach were full we decided to start looking at more expensive options. After a full day of looking, we decided on Ocho Rios, Jamaica for 4 nights. We booked our hotel and flight through bookit.com to find a good last minute deal to an all inclusive resort. Aaron and I packed and got everything ready to go so we could fly out at 5:30 Friday morning (this meant leaving our house at 3:30…). We slept on the flight from DFW to Charlotte, NC and then boarded our flight from Charlotte to Montego Bay, Jamaica. We got in around 2:30 pm (Jamaica time) ate a little lunch, took a nap, then woke up for dinner and live music. The other days we went to the beach, visited the craft market for souvenirs, ate a lot of meat with jerk seasoning, drank a lot of frozen drinks on the beach, and climbed Dunn's River waterfalls. Jamaica's water was clear and warm and the weather was about 85 degrees and sunny the whole trip. We got back to Dallas around 11:30 Tuesday night. It was a wonderful trip and we would recommend it to anyone looking for adventure and relaxation. Now for the pictures:

View when you walk into the hotel

Breakfast area

Half of the hotel

The Lighthouse bar and grill cabana

The only picture we took together

The Ginger Lily restaurant

Lamb

The craft market

What it looks like outside the resort area

View of the pools and ocean from our balcony

2011-06-07T14:34:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went to a Pancake fly in at the Midlothian airport and walked around and looked at a lot of planes that flew in for the event. Before walking around we ate pancakes that they cooked and listened to live music playing. There were a lot of families with young children at the event so the booths included things like face painting and tickets to ride the kiddie train. Aaron really enjoyed seeing the different planes and watching the large remote control planes people were flying as well. Here are a few pictures of the many planes we saw.

This one is for you Jess

This one is for you mom

We did some fence demolition last weekend too. I will put up pictures as soon as we finish moving all of the leftover rubble of concrete and wires.

Making the house ours

2011-06-03T08:41:00.000-07:00

The pictures uploaded from the last picture to first… so we will start with pictures of the yard and garden.

Our pears

Peaches

Our sunflower patch that is currently growing in our fire pit

Our Asparagus patch after a lot of weeding

Asparagus

Cherry Tomatoes

Banana Pepper

Tomatoes

Our garden after weeding/mowing… now we have to till it

Our grass is turning yellow, so I started watering it. Aaron is afraid to get the water bill.

Master Bathroom

View of Master Bedroom from the door. We love our new carpet!

1/2 bath under the stairs

Guest Bedroom #1

Guest Bedroom #2. We are getting furniture from my parents house next time we are home.

The Storage Room… and someday will be the office

Our 1/2 decorated bookshelves

I can't wait for this to be a reading nook

Our stairs have carpet!

The living room

The Kitchen/Breakfast nook

Breakfast nook that will someday have different chairs (we stole those from our dining room table),
bench cushions, and lots of colorful pillows

Our Pantry

Laundry Room… I was doing laundry yesterday

Kitchen/ Dining room entryway

Kitchen

These mugs make me happy in the mornings. Thanks Jess for showing them to me!

View from the Living room into the Kitchen

View from the side door

View from the dining room

Dining room looking into the living room and kitchen

Dining room built ins

The dining room has been neglected… it is still a storage room too

Little projects we have been working on…
-I learned to weed eat our yard
-Installing the automatic gate opener
-Working in the garden and the asparagus patch
-Hanging stuff on walls and unpacking boxes
-Started taking down the many wire layers of fence around the shop… it is still in progress because it takes a lot of time to undo lots of metal wires holding all of the fences together

We are trying to come up with fun things that don't cost a lot of money for our anniversary. Let me know if you have any good ideas. I can't believe we have almost been married a year!

Moving In

2011-05-20T11:01:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning we found out that our carpet backorder date has been pushed back even further. It was originally supposed to be put in Monday or Tuesday of next week so that we could move in Memorial Day Weekend. Now, it is not going to be put in until around June 1st… which means we have to move in before we get carpet. Since there is nothing holding us back anymore we are moving in THIS WEEKEND! Aaron's parents, Dirk and Kathy, are coming down to help us with the move and see the place with all of the changes we have made. I will put up some pictures after we get all of the boxes over to the new house.

The Painter's Work

2011-05-19T10:06:00.000-07:00

The painters have been working on our house since Monday and it is looking like a completely different place. Every time Aaron and I walk in to see what they have accomplished we get so excited seeing all of the changes. Here are some pictures to show you what they had done as of last night.

The kitchen cabinets are painted, the walls and ceiling are textured, and the breakfast nook and bar are painted. Sorry for the bad lighting it was getting dark outside and the iphone wasn't doing well. They still have to paint the walls in this area.

Here are some pics of what the kitchen looked like pre demolition, bar building, and paint.

and now… Someday (hopefully soon) the countertops will be a dark gray quartz, until then, we are living with these

This is the laundry room right off of the kitchen… it still needs wall paint as well

It all looks very white right now since the walls have only been textured and the floors are covered in paper that now looks white.

Still lacking wall paint

Before pic

They have the first coat of wall paint done upstairs in most places so you can really see the change.

The in between stage

Looking downstairs

Upstairs… this is getting me very excited for carpet!

Here is what it looked like before

I will post more pictures after it is completely finished!

Starting the House Remodel

2011-05-09T16:31:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Aaron and I went to Oklahoma City for Hollis' bridal shower and bachelorette party, Aaron and Hollis' birthday celebration with his family, Mother's Day celebration with my family, and to run in the OKC Memorial half-marathon. The following Monday my parents, Jessica, and her baby Hudson came to Dallas to see our new house and start the renovation project. My dad worked out in the yard all week, Jess and I worked on scraping ceilings and then cleaning up the mess we made doing it, my mom took up old stinky carpet and other various jobs. My sister Emily came a couple days and helped scrape popcorn as well. Jessica's husband Adam came down on Friday and helped do some of the bigger things like building the bar, making the stair trim, and putting up the beadboard and trim. Aaron helped scrape ceilings after work during the week and worked with Adam over the weekend. With all of the help we had we got a lot accomplished… we could not have done it without them! Things got very messy and it looked like a construction zone all week, but Jessica kept reminding me it has to get worse before it gets better. Things are starting to look much better and I can hardly wait for the painters and carpet installers to come.

Here is what the front of our house looked like before last week.

This is what the front of our house looks like now. My dad took out the cedar tree that covered all of the windows on the right side and trimmed up the tree on the left so we wouldn't hit our head or cars on it.

He poured a lot of sweat digging out the tree
root and all!

Here is what it looked like during the scraping process. We had just begun the living room… later there were tarps covering the entire floor.

I am so glad we are done scraping!

Hudson in his jumperoo

My wonderful helper

Beadboard put on in the breakfast area

I love this baby!

Kitchen before we built the bar, took out the cabinets above the refrigerator, took out the microwave holder, put on the beadboard, and took out the cabinets above the sink.

Here is what the bar looks like built and the beadboard up.

We made open shelving above the refrigerator

We took out the appliance garage that was in the corner under the shelves

Took out the row of small cabinets at the top and put
in a new light fixture.

The old stair trim zig-zagged all the way up and around

It now looks like this

My dad trimmed away all week

Before

after

He also made a new wood holder and stacked the wood he cut from the trees

Limbs he cut

The trees look great Dad!

Thatcher really loves the new house/yard

So many limbs!

We moved most of our garage stuff to the new garage but it is mostly being used for cutting wood right now

Our bush is blooming

Our blue bonnets are gone but we have other wildflowers in their place

Our garden needs some help… maybe after we are moved in

This looked like a small thick forest before

Limbs in a long pile ready to be burned

Thatcher thinks it is great… he drags them all over our yard

The top of the dog run was covered in branches and vines

We even found out we had a raspberry patch

We can see the ground now that all these leaves are gone

The dining room with beadboard up

The upstairs looks a little something like this right now. The carpet is out and the popcorn ceilings are gone.

Our baby peaches are growing!

Scraped ceilings

Aaron and I stayed one night to work late and get up early to work again.

Thank you so much to everyone that helped. This week I will be cleaning everything up and getting ready for the painters to come next Monday. After the painters are done the carpet will be installed… then we are ready to move in!

Our First House

2011-04-11T15:24:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posts this past month... Aaron and I have been traveling, searching for a house, having family visit, buying a house, and working on loan paperwork. We decided to stay in the Dallas area and quickly after started searching for a home. We looked at a lot of different houses all over the Dallas/ Ft. Worth area and finally settled on a country home in the town of Midlothian (about 30 miles from Dallas and Ft. Worth). We are so excited to close on April 28th and start renovating the inside so that it will be updated for us to move in at the end of May. The house needs new paint, countertops, flooring, bathrooms, and appliances. We have even talked about knocking down a wall, but we will see how much we can get done before we have to move in. Here are some pictures of the house in its current condition:

2011-03-10T14:02:00.000-08:00

The time is coming for Aaron and I to list an order of where we would like to move next year… or not move. Yes, there is now a possibility for us to stay in the Dallas area so we have one more thing to factor into where we choose to live. Since we may be staying, Aaron and I have been looking at areas we would like to buy a house and looking at some houses. We don't want to stay in an apartment if we are going to stick around the area awhile. The type of houses we like are pretty hard to find around Dallas even in the country. Here is an idea of one style

I love the old feel of this house with the big wrap around porch. We aren't that picky we just want something that looks older with character instead of the typical brick and stone houses that we see in every new developing neighborhood. I have an idea of what I want the inside to look like which makes this process even harder and we have pretty much come to the conclusion that we will probably have to renovate it. We want at least an acre of land to enjoy as well… that is, if we are even staying in Dallas. On the other hand, if we decide that moving to another state would be the best choice for Aaron's career then we will start looking at apartments again and figure out if we want to move to New York, Virginia, California, or a few other places that are high up on the list. We have to put in our list by March 15th and we should know by April 15th where we will be next year! Wish us wisdom on choosing what is best!

This weekend we are heading to Oklahoma City/Edmond to visit family and go to some appointments on Monday. I am excited to see Aaron's parents, his little sister Adrian, and my family. Thatcher will probably swim in the pond, Lucy will play with Adrian's cat Jasper, and Baxter will sleep on the couch. We don't have many plans for the weekend except to enjoy time with family, relax, and enjoy the beautiful spring weather! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend as well.

March

2011-03-02T15:41:00.000-08:00

I am so excited that spring weather is here… in Dallas at least. I have been enjoying running with Thatcher in the 60-70 degree weather and seeing all the beautiful things spring brings: green grass, flowers, blooming trees, and people out and about.

I realize I haven't updated the blog in a while so here are the things we have been up to:
-training for the half-marathon (we both love our new running shoes)
-Jessica, Adam, Hudson, and their dog Piper came into town for a weekend
-We had a wonderful Valentines Day together
-I took a visit to Oklahoma and saw my parents new house and helped them go furniture shopping and I visited my friends in Stillwater
-taking Thatcher and Baxter to the dog park
-talking about where we want to live next year (we pref our top 5 places March 15th and find out where we are going on April 15th)
-we got some new items for the apartment (mirrors, placemats, door mats, etc.)
-my weekly schedule usually consists of grocery shopping, doing laundry, cleaning the house, and cooking… I have basically become a 50's housewife except I am wearing a t-shirt and jeans instead of a cute little dress when Aaron gets home
-Baxter got a haircut (Sorry his hair was so long in the pictures below he looked like a stray dog for a week or so)
-Thatcher is now 3 ft. tall from floor to the top of his head and 80 pounds… my sisters like to refer to him as a big oaf

Things we are looking forward to:
-we are going to OKC next weekend to visit family since Aaron hasn't been back in a while
-Birthdays are coming for many family members in March and April
-Jess and Adam are visiting again mid March
-Aaron is hoping to get the new iPad 2
-Planning a shower for my sister-in-law Hollis
-Planting herbs in the pots we bought from Ikea (I will post pictures after we actually do it)

Here are some pictures since the last post:

Lucy

Baxter

Hudson

Aaron and I before dinner on Valentines

Emily and Jessica

Piper

Shiloh

Austin

2011-02-11T10:07:00.000-08:00

Emily, Aaron and I had an amazing time visiting Austin. We drove in on Thursday night so Aaron could get up early Friday morning to work at the career fair at UT Austin. Thursday evening we went to a local mexican restaurant called Gueros where Emily and Aaron spent the rest of the night drinking all kinds of margarita: raspberry, lime, and sangria… I got to be the DD.

Friday morning we woke up to snow! We drove very carefully to take Aaron to the career fair only to find out school was closed for the day. We were all excited because 1. we got a free trip to Austin and 2. Aaron got to hang out with us all day instead of work. We explored a lot of cool places in Austin but mostly stayed around South Congress area. We shopped, ate at Home Slice pizza, then went back to the hotel to play with the dogs before heading to Uchi for dinner.

Jo's Coffee

We ate dinner with my cousin Kate and her boyfriend Cavan. Since Emily, Aaron, and I rarely eat sushi we decided to go with the option of letting the waiter bring out all of our dishes. He brought out 1 at a time and we eventually ate 7 or 8… then got dessert! We had a wonderful time with Kate and Cavan and really appreciated all of their fun ideas of things to do while we visited Austin.

Saturday we shopped around with the dogs, ate lunch at a crepe stand, and headed back to Dallas.

Sunday we had a small superbowl party with some of our friends that were in town. My favorite parts were eating, playing catch phrase, and watching the half-time show… even if Fergie's voice was a little disappointing.

Since then I have been enjoying my time not working and staying on top of chores around the house. Emily stayed with us Wednesday and Thursday. We ran in the bitter cold ice/snow Wednesday and luckily it was up to 40 Thursday. We will probably both catch colds now but we felt very dedicated to the half-marathon schedule since this is only the first week of training. We had a lot of fun hanging out together and Shiloh and Thatcher have been playing non-stop. Shiloh is staying with us now that Emily is on a trip to LA and Thatcher couldn't be happier. Lucy enjoys chasing Shiloh's tail and Baxter tries not to get stepped on.

Recent news:
Valentines day is approaching I will have to update you on what our plans are after the big day.
Sebastian (my 1 1/2 year old beta) died today… he was good entertainment for Thatcher and Lucy.

Weekend Bliss

2011-01-31T08:29:00.000-08:00

This Thursday and Friday my sister Emily and her dog Shiloh came to visit. After a crazy morning with the animals we went on a run with the dogs and took them to the dog park. Once they were tired we treated ourselves to manicures and pedicures. That evening we went and met Emily's boyfriend John for dinner at The Porch. The restaurant started with a long wait but ended with four very stuffed happy people. I would recommend The Porch to anyone but if you don't want to wait maybe go on a weekday or early dinner because they don't take reservations.

Saturday, we woke up and got breakfast at Einstein Bros Bagels. I forgot to mention that the weather on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday was in the 70's… in January! Saturday afternoon Aaron and I took the dogs for a picnic at the lake. We picked up Jimmy John's sandwiches, took some fruit, lemonade, and BBQ chips. After driving around a few spots at the lake we picked a flat spot where we could lay out a blanket and Thatcher could swim. We ate, threw sticks for Thatcher, and relaxed soaking up the beautiful weather.

Sunday included a full day of buying new running shoes, eating, playing racquetball, and taking Thatcher to the dog park. We bought our shoes from a place called Run On! that fits you to a shoe. We both are excited to start running and see if the shoes feel as good as they did in the store. It was a fun experience and got some good advice about running our 1/2 marathon.
This week the weather is supposed to get cold FAST! Tuesday we are expecting snow and ice and cold weather the rest of the week. Thursday is my last day of work and straight after work we are leaving for Austin! I am excited for the trip and exploring a new city. When we get back we are having a superbowl party at our apartment! It will be fun seeing friends that are coming in from out of town and eating good food! I don't have a preference at this point who wins the game but I am excited to watch the game.
I hope everyone had a great weekend and has a good week!

Life slowing down

2011-01-26T11:42:00.000-08:00

Past weeks:

Since the holidays Aaron and I have been home…well mostly (Aaron was in OKC one weekend). It is the longest period of time we have been in Euless. For one reason or another we were driving back and forth to Oklahoma City or various other places just about every weekend. It has been wonderful we get to clean up our apartment, do laundry, get groceries, go to eye appointments, take Thatcher on bike rides, snuggle up with Baxter and Lucy and watch movies, cook dinner, eat out… all the things we try to cram into the week is now accomplished before we even start Monday. A few of my friends from college came and visited me Martin Luther King weekend (this is when Aaron went to OKC). We had a girls/guys weekend just to hang out with our friends. It rained the whole weekend in Dallas so we watched movies, shopped, ate…a lot, and played with Lucy, Baxter, and Thatcher! It was nice and relaxing and just what all of us needed. Aaron drove to Oklahoma City and hung out with a bunch of different friends… he was making the rounds since when we are usually in OKC we don't have time to spend with friends. Since we have had the time to spend in Dallas we were able to have a wine/ game night. It was fun unfortunately the wine I picked out wasn't very good… probably because I just pick out the ones with labels I like.

Life this week:

Aaron has started his new OLDP rotation and now works every other Friday :( … I have to remind myself at least he doesn't work every Friday! So far I think he likes it but has been working a lot this week trying to finish up what he was doing and do his new work.

I only have 5 1/2 more days of work and I am very excited. I have been thinking about all the fun things I can do while unemployed… the most important one being start running for the 1/2 marathon with Thatcher. It will be great motivation having a crazy puppy pulling me along the whole way… we both need the exercise! This Friday my sister Emily is coming to spend the day with me and hang out, it will be great since it is supposed to be 68 degrees outside :) , because Aaron will be working, and because it is always fun to spend time together!

Next week:

My last week of work WOOOO HOOOO!

Aaron has to do some college recruiting at the career fair in Austin so Emily and I are taking up the opportunity to tag along and spend some time in Austin. We are going to visit one of our cousins that lives there who gave us so many fun options of things to do there. We are keeping the plan pretty open but are going to try a sushi restaurant called Uchi on Friday night… it is supposedly amazing even if you don't like sushi… we will see!

Have you all been up to anything fun? What are you looking forward to in the weeks to come?

Here are some more recent pictures of the animals:

Baxter must have been camera shy this time!

Our Holiday Season

2011-01-06T14:24:00.000-08:00

Christmas and New Years were wonderful. It is so nice that Aaron has enough vacation for us to spend quality time with both sides of the family. The week of Christmas we were in New York at Aaron's Aunt Lee and Uncle Jorge's house in Nyack.

It is in a charming old neighborhood where all the houses have siding with big wrap around porches. We spent most of our time hanging out with the family around the house. Aaron's sisters and I took one day to explore downtown Nyack and go in all the nice shops the town had to offer (there were quite a few).

We went skiing in Pennsylvania one day at Camelback Mountain.

Aaron and I took another day to explore New York City and everything we could fit into one day. We rode the subway all around the city since we had limited time. We saw the statue of liberty, times square, hundreds of stores, wall street, grand central station and everything in between. Rockefeller center was nice with the giant Christmas Tree and ice skating rink but it was so crowded we couldn't really enjoy it. Everyone else wanted to spend their Christmas Eve there too I guess.

Grand Central Station

The ceiling of Grand Central Station

The Statue of Liberty… from a distance

Our Subway Entertainment

Eating some delicious NY pizza, and yes everyone else had theres folded

This is for you mom

Times Square

Rockefeller Center

Everyone that went downtown (besides myself)

Christmas morning we opened stockings and presents and ate a nice brunch then had a lazy afternoon at the house. Then the snow came… it was beautiful, flaky, and cold. They got about 26 inches which made the next few days a little stressful figuring out flights. Hollis, Aaron, and I were supposed to leave Sunday afternoon and evening and after all of our hard work we finally were able to fly out Tuesday evening. It made for a very interesting airport experience and Aaron and I were even on the news...in a line, so it wasn't that exciting. We had to fly into Dallas because all of the Oklahoma City planes were full until Wednesday night so we stayed in our apartment and drove to Oklahoma City Wednesday morning to spend "Christmas" and New Years with my family. I made a dinner on Wednesday for all 10 of us and realized it is hard to keep the food warm long enough for everyone to get into the kitchen, get the table set, and start eating… it came out as warm poppyseed chicken, cold green beans, and cold mashed potatoes. Thursday we ate my favorite Christmas breakfast: Breakfast casserole and apples and biscuits!

After breakfast, we opened presents from everyone then cleaned up and went downtown to try and snow tube… it was sold out so we watched the prepared Emily and John snow tube since they had already pre ordered tickets.

We did that for a short time, took some pictures, then went and saw the movie the Tourist. New Years eve Jess, Adam, Shelby, Isaac, Aaron, and I all went downtown to Stella ate a delicious dinner, took a complimentary limo to the Thunder game, went to opening night, then saw the ball drop (actually it rose), then watched a fireworks show while drinking hot chocolate. I would say it was one of the most fun New Years yet!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Now that all of our fun and traveling is over we are back to work and back to our normal everyday life. Still trying to find motivation to run…

Some pics of the little ones:

What are your New Year's resolutions?

Christmas Time is Here

2010-12-15T09:51:00.000-08:00

Only 10 days until Christmas! We have wrapped most of our presents, our tree is up, and we have gone to a Christmas play! So far this has been a festive holiday season. This Monday is my nephew Jack's 2nd birthday, so Aaron and I are headed to OKC to celebrate with him this weekend. We have to pack up for 2 weeks before we leave for OKC because next Tuesday we head to New York for Aaron's family Christmas! I have never been to New York so I am extremely excited for the trip and seeing the city in all its Christmas glory. After New York we are headed back to OKC to spend Christmas with my family until New Years! We are all staying at my sister Shelby's new house in Edmond and doing fun stuff like making my grandma's fudge, cooking a big Christmas dinner, snow tubing/ ice skating in downtown OKC, opening presents, going to a Thunder game, and spending time with our adorable nephews. I can't wait to spend time with both sides of the family! What are you most excited for this Christmas?

Things I have been doing...
Last week my grandpa passed away from a rare type of cancer so this past weekend we went back to Oklahoma and got to spend some extra time with family. Aaron and I went with Emily and her boyfriend John to pick out a Christmas Tree and went on a dinner date.

Sunday was my grandpa's memorial (he didn't want a funeral) and it turned out really nice. A lot of my mom's cousins were there and we told memories we had with my grandpa and looked through old picture albums of him and my grandma. Even more recent.. last night Aaron and I went to the gym... this was the first time I had been since last April. We did a cycling class which was fun but very tiring. Hopefully we stay on this working out plan after the holidays as well!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and New years!

Deck the Halls

2010-12-04T12:18:00.000-08:00

It is finally that time of year again… CHRISTMAS! This year Aaron and I got our first Christmas tree, put it in our apartment and decorated it. It was a fun evening/ next morning event. Thatcher and Lucy enjoyed making the process take a little longer. Here are some pictures:

Our first of many yearly ornaments

Trying to Take a Picture with Thatcher

2010-11-22T10:25:00.000-08:00

My attempt at a photo started out simply enough…

Lure him in with a stick

Pull him in

Try hard not to fall down the hill

Redirect attention back to the stick

DO NOT LET HIM ESCAPE

Realize your ideal picture isn't going to happen…

Camping!

2010-11-11T09:07:00.000-08:00

This past weekend Aaron and I went camping with a few friends in Davy Crockett National Forest. It had been almost a year since we had been camping so we were eager to pack up and head out into nature. When we arrived at our campsite we couldn't believe how perfect it was: tall pine trees, easy lake access, space for both tents, etc. ... except for one thing... the sign posted saying ABSOLUTELY NO FIRES OR CHARCOAL. Yes we went camping during a burn ban. We thought about going other places or just making a small fire for light until we talked to a park ranger and found out that all the national forests in the area were on this burn ban and making a fire was a $5,000 fine and up to 6 months in jail... we decided warmth and light wasn't worth it. So, we unpacked and set up camp. The weather was amazing during the day, bright with a little chill in the air. Then night hit... at 6:00 so we had fun experimenting how to make our "fire food" on a small propane grill... in the dark... with chilly fingers. Luckily, we brought plenty of blankets and clothes so we were nice and toasty in our tents, especially when the dogs cuddled up on top of us... or in our sleeping bags! The next day was great we woke up, ate breakfast, fished a little bit, took a wonderful nap, ate lunch, then hiked the afternoon away in the forest. We thought we might see some wildlife until we let the dogs off-leash and ended up being too loud to see anything except one brave little squirrel. The hike went a little like this: Me: "THATCHER STAY!... good boy" Billy/Lesha: "Brinkley HEEL... BRINKLEY!" Brinkley runs up to Thatcher. Aaron: "Thatcher you STAY!" Then they run up ahead in pure happiness... until we caught up with them and they got in trouble. The dogs had the time of their lives running through the forest, swimming in the lake, and chewing on every stick they could find! That evening a friend of ours from Houston came and met us and stayed the night. We drank a little hot chocolate to warm us up and went to bed. We got up ate another wonderful breakfast and started packing up. Even with the burn ban and not having the campfire it turned out to be a really fun and relaxing camping weekend.
Here are a few pictures:

Baxter scavenged some tasty shredded cheese off the ground

Exciting things coming up: good friends visiting this weekend, seeing the whole family next weekend to celebrate thankgiving and moms birthday, Thanksgiving day with Emily, picking out our christmas tree and decorating our apartment!

Life since Chicago

2010-10-27T11:40:00.000-07:00

It has been about a month now since I last blogged and I can hardly believe it. Here is a quick look into what Aaron and I have been up to:

Emily came to Dallas for a visit!

We went to the botannical gardens

We went to the farmers market and found some GIANT pumpkins

We went to an open walled restaurant called Park

Aaron and I celebrated the new season by going to a Pumpkin Patch and Corn Maze

They had a little hay house for the kids

We have taken the dogs mountain biking... even little Baxter enjoys the sport

We have taken numerous road trips to and from Oklahoma to visit family or go to football games

The animals take full advantage of each others comfort in the backseat

We went to OSU homecoming with our friends Kelsey and Andrew... sorry I didn't take any pictures of the house decks!

Aaron is still enjoying where he works and is changing over to his second 6 month rotation in January. I have started nannying a 3 month old baby girl and 5 year old little boy... this is the main reason for the lack of blog posts.

What I am looking forward to now that October is almost over... scarves, jackets, hot apple cider with cinnamon sticks, snow (I hope!), lots of time with family around the holidays, New York trip, and figuring out where Aaron's job will take us next year!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Grapefest and Traveling

2010-09-27T14:09:00.000-07:00

I haven't updated in a while due to a busy schedule and traveling. The Grapevine Grapefest wine festival was 2 weeks ago. Kathy and Dirk (Aaron's parents) came to visit and go to the grapefest! We had a lot of fun walking around all the different booths. They had all kinds of events to watch such as grape stomping and concerts at two different stages. If you enjoy trying new kinds of wines they had a 90 minute wine tasting of all different types of wines from all over the world. We had a good time at the festival!

That same weekend Aaron, Thatcher, and I went hiking again.

Then we packed up since we would be away from Dallas for the next week!

First stop on the trip: Edmond, OK
We stayed at my sister Emily's house. She also watched our 3 crazy animals while we were traveling. Thanks Em! Thatcher and Shiloh had lots of fun playing together!

Emily and Shiloh after her house won yard of the week

Shiloh

Second stop on the trip: Stillwater, OK
Aaron was recruiting college students from the OSU career fair for Lockheed. I came along and spent the day with some of my best friends. The day consisted of bagels and coffee, watching Friends while Hayley and Kendal were in class, eating lunch at Red Rock, hanging out around Theta, seeing Theta/ AGR pomping coming along, spending time on Theta porch with some great people, and going to El Vac for dinner! It was such a fun day trip! Then we drove back to Edmond…

Third stop: (besides the gas stations and fast food restaurants) Madison, WI
Since we were already in Stillwater we decided to drive to Madison a day early to spend a little extra time with Hollis (Aaron's older sister) and Nick (Hollis' fiance). We stayed at their place, went out to eat, and went shopping a little bit. Friday morning has now come and we are on the road again…

Fourth stop: CHICAGO!
Aaron and I went to Chicago a day early, since I had never been before, and got a good taste of the windy city. Fall was in the air! It was in the upper 50's while were there and it was amazing. We spent Friday walking all over the Magnificent Mile, Millenium Park, and Navy Pier. Lets just say it was a LOT of walking! Hollis and Nick drove in and met us at Navy Pier and we found a place for dinner. Sadly Kathy, Dirk, and Adrian's (Aaron's little sister) flight was delayed so they missed dinner. We all met up at the house we stayed in. Saturday= Wedding Dress Shopping! Hollis had made appointments all over downtown Chicago to try on all different types of dresses. She looked beautiful in all of them… but we finally found "the one". I wish I could show all of you pictures but you will just have to wait until the wedding! Adrian and I tried on bridesmaids dresses for size and style and Hollis may have chosen which dresses she wanted. Overall, I think she got a lot crossed off her to-do list and we got a great trip out of it!
P.S. The boys went golfing all day Saturday then met us up for dinner… it was good they weren't shopping with us!
Sunday Aaron and I left at 5 in the morning which meant me lasting about 10 min trying so hard to stay awake little did I know I had already fallen asleep into my coma. I finally came back to life around 9:30 then after lunch went back into my coma… let's just say I am not very good car company. In my family car rides= sleep.

Aaron and I eating at Big Bowl a Thai/Chinese restaurant

Millenium Park

Navy Pier

View of Chicago from Navy Pier

Fifth stop: Edmond, OK
We arrived in Edmond about 4:30 Sunday afternoon and took a little break from the drive. We got our crazy animals from Emily's and thought she may have switched them for a full grown dog and cat… our babies got so big while we were gone :( We ate dinner with Emily and Shelby (my oldest sister) and spent time together until about 8:30… then we were back on the road… this time I drove! Not only did I drive but Aaron finally got some sleep.

Oh how we missed our animals!

Sixth and final stop: Dallas, TX
Home sweet home! Brought everything in from the car and passed out from exhaustion. Now to catch up on all the laundry that traveling brings!