So I just turned 26 and here's how it went...

All week Mia had been hinting at something big for my birthday. I finally get it out of her that we're going somewhere for the weekend. Then I finally get it out of her that we'll be spending the weekend in Fredericksburg. I had to work the actual day of my birthday but manage to sneak out that night cuz my boss loves me. So I get home, we pack the car, and off we go to drive up to Fredericksburg. I slept in the car most of the way. After about three and a half hours of driving we make it to the hotel and crash for the night. The next morning we get up in time to catch the end of the hotel's continental breakfast. I get my food and sit down and start eating. As I'm eating I look up to see my parents and my little brothers walking towards me. I say hey, and then go right back to my breakfast. Whoa wait a sec...I didn't know they were coming! Mia surprised we with getting my family to meet us for the weekend and come to find out my sister and her boyfriend are coming up later in the day too! So I'm excited! I love Fredericksburg and I love my family and I really love my wife for all she did to put the weekend together for me. So we spend the weekend running around town and hanging out with the family. We did a lot so I'll just give you the highlights. Friday we had lunch at a cool little old school diner at the airport. Mia and I spent the better part of the afternoon with my sister and her man. We checked out several Wineries and experienced wine tasting Texas style. It was a great experience and I learned a lot. We went out for Mexican food for dinner that night and then we went to this place called the Rockbox Theatre. They stared with stuff from the 50's and just worked their way up. It was a really cool and really funny show. If you're ever up that way it's definitely a place to check out. Saturday we grabbed breakfast and then headed out to Enchanted Rock State Park to hike to the top of the second largest granite monadnock in the United States. Translation-it's a giant pink rock. So my whole family heads up the rock and about half way up my sister's boyfriend gets sick cuz he decided to race my little brother up a steep part of the climb. He blamed it on one to many pancakes at breakfast. My dad, who was two bad knees, makes it to the top. I'm sure he will be hatin life later for doing it but I was proud of him for makin it to the top. The top of Enchanted Rock has one of the most beautiful views of the Texas hill country and when the sun sets on the rock it seems to glow (that's how it got its name). We hiked back down the rock and then took a detour on our way back to the hotel and checked Wildseed Farms. Wildseed Farms is the largest working wildflower farm in the U.S. They have somewhere in the neighborhood of over 200 acres of wildflowers. It was awesome. I'm not normally in to that kinda thing but you got to admire anyone who plants 200 acres of flowers. We slept in on Sunday and did a little more shopping in town. There's a place there that sells old baseball cards from like the late 80's and my little brother just loves baseball cards. So we go in to look around and my brother buys a couple packs. The guy who owns the place tell him to wait there a sec and he runs out to his car. He comes back and hands my brother a pack of cards with a Nolan Ryan card from the last year he played with the Astros. Let me just tell you, it's a cool card and a collector's item. I tried everything in the book to get him to give me that card but he wouldn't budge. I loved Nolan Ryan as a kid. He was the guy who could throw 100 M.P.H. pitches.......Anyways. We grabbed some Dairy Queen for lunch and then all parted ways. I had an awesome weekend. Somewhere in all that Mia gave me an IPhone and some awesome sunglasses! Can't wait to start playing with that! My wife is awesome and I had a great weekend with my family. Life just doesn't get better than that!

Rusty - a New Dog

No don't worry he isn't ours, he belongs to the church. He showed up last week with a collar and so skinny you could see every single rib in his body. We called all the humane societies to see if anyone was looking for him and I contacted the lost pet hotline, no one was looking for him. So he became "our" dog. We took him to get cleaned up and "fixed", well he got his bath but he was too skinny for the second half. We have a sign sheet for who fed him and who gave him his heart worm medicine. He has learned to sit already and loves all kinds of food (AKA he is spoiled by everyone with their leftovers) just until we can get some weight on him. He is so sweet and loving but we have definitely created a creature of comfort. He even tried to steal my money bag from this weeks offering because he thought it was a food bag!

The Sun Shines Again!!!

Well Hurricane Dolly and Tropical Storm Dolly has passed and Corpus Christi is clear once again. It is beautiful outside and I couldn't wait to be outside and enjoy it! Unfortunetly today was another work day for me, but as soon as I got home I collared up the puppies and took them out one by one for a "lesson"/walk, they did fantastic with me. Sasha is a little slow on her mile and a half but she shuffled along! Now I am off to relax and scrape popcorn ceiling off the ceiling of Regina's brand new house! I'm excited to do some fixing up and do a little handy man stuff! Heidi isn't going to have anything on us tonight!

Hurricane Dolly

Just in case anyone was worried. We got a bag packed up and the puppies stuff all packed up just in case we have to head out of town. Looks like JT will stay behind and I most likely won't have to go anywhere but it doesn't hurt to be prepared right :)

Parenting Test 1 :)

So last weekend we were blessed with the opportunity to spend time with Jonathan's brothers for four days while his parents enjoyed a little vacation without any kids around.
Day 1: They got dropped off on Thursday early evening, had a little La Playa and then there were mine :) So whats the best thing for two boys??? Two dogs!!!! Each of us picked up a leash and went on an hour and a half walk with the puppies after coming home I'm not sure who was more tired. I did have to ask their mom when bedtime was because when I asked the boys the answer was midnight, one or two. I wasn't sure that was correct :)
Day 2: JT came home from work, got the boys all riled up and off we went to the aquarium. We looked, we touched and we saw about everything there was possible to see there. It was pretty amazing and the boys loved it! Came home for a kid friendly late lunch and off we were (Opening night of Dark Knight) to go see SPACE CHIMPS, yes I said Space Chimps, my inlaws owed me for that one :) Came back home and went for another walk, this time with a tennis ball in hand. Took the pups down to the creek and watched them over and over again find the tennis ball. Soon a small crowd of children were there all wanting to throw the ball. We had to stop once Shadows doggy paddle started slowing down but we all got a little bit of exercise in.
Day 3: Slept in a litte, woke up to find the boys outside in the back with the dogs again (I swear my dogs are like little babysitters). Didn't want to sunburn too bad so off we went to the beach, for an afternoon of sun, water, sunscreen, lunch, Sebastian and fun. Several hours later we came home to rest up for the nights event. Before getting ready for my first Arena Football game, I saw my husband with a shirt, he was bright red all over. I guess the mud that the boys were flinging on him took off his sunscreen, ouch. So off to the game we went with Dan, Sarah, Krystal, Josh, Owen, Regina and Katie. The boys loved it and were absolutely fantastic. They both got shirts, and a game football. Afterwards Josh tooks them down to the field to get autographs for Micah's football and Tylar's shirt. Of course how do you follow up something like that? B&J's Pizza. So we finally arrived home around midnight, put the boys in bed (had to pry the football out of Micah's hands) and ended a long day.
Day 4: I had to go to work, so I left Jonathan with the boys with Oragami, Baseball cards and US Coast Guard aircraft models, so there was plenty to do. Came home from work and spent a little more time with the family, went to go eat La Playa again (yum) and off they went. It was a great experience and one that we hope to repeat yearly with a little more time next time!

What an amazing Weekend

Last weekend a good friend of mine, Christina, came in from Alaska for the weekend. She got in Friday evening and we went to a friends birthday party. She had no probably fitting in and making friends along the way. We got a little hungry for some grub, so we headed over to Montana Mike's grabbed a drink while waiting for the take out to arrive. Grabbed the food and chatted up at home for a few hours. Crashed out and then awoke early to try my first Body Pump class. I have been wanting to check it out, but haven't been able to convince JT to do it yet, so Christina, Josh, JT and I went to the class where Christina was the only one who knew what to expect :) We got our butts kicked but it was a great feeling, I loved it! So after that we had a pancake brunch (made by my amazing husband) and then packed up with Sebastian and headed out to the beach. The beach was perfect, we had an umbrella for a little bit of shade, Sarah and Dan joined us for some hot dog cookout and the wind was just enough to keep the heat off of us. The boys all headed out into the surf as the girls caught up on the sand and just enjoyed the laziness of the day. Came up after a few hours, showeredup and caught a quick cat nap and then headed out to the Hooks baseball game. It was packed, or so they said when we went to buy tickets, we got to sit in the field but it was still a great time with amazing company. After the game we went to check out the new movie Wanted which was amazing and then finally came home to crash. The next morning we packed up Christina with snacks and let her head back to the airport :( After she left, JT and I went to church and then came home and crashed for another few hours, woke up to do some of the house chores that still needed to be done! Then realized that it was our 9 month anniversary, grabbed an amazing dinner and went to see Hancock. It was a great weekend but one of the most tiring that we have done in a long long time :)

Happy Fourth of July

As it seems to be a bit of tradition. We went to the Bowen Ranch for the fourth of July without any parents. It was already off to a rocky start, due to a pet injury and the trip was in the air. Barbie's mom's dog pulled through surgery perfectly and we were off to the Ranch. On arriving at the ranch, everyone has their own set of duties. Eddie goes to turn on the water, feed the deer, etc and JT goes with him. Leaving Barbie Therasa and I to unload the car. As we arrive in we find that the house is rather warm, later to find out that it was because the electricity went out. Not horrible, we just need to fix it else it will be rather warm out there. Well as we continue to unload the car, someone took the groceries and opened the fridge. OMG yup with the power out that means that the fridge was out too, while it was full of groceries. So onward to the task of throwing out rotten food and attempting the clean the fridge. As each of us took turns cleaning and also took turns to step outside and gag. We got the job done. We even got an electricion to come out on the 4th of July and fix the electricity. So we are all sitting outside with a nice breeze and we are waiting for the house to cool off and the smell to go away. Barbie steps inside for something and comes back out with a frown. Turns out something was wrong with the air conditioning so the house isn't cooling off. With all of this happening, I was so glad that I was with the people that I was with. No one complained, no one got fussy, no one got upset. We went out riding around the ranch. The house wasn't getting any cooler, we couldn't get much dirtier might as well have some fun with it. It was a fantastic weekend overall, we even got to go to the Horse Pasture and hear Corey Morrow play live. I had a great time with some amazing Friends!
(Waiting for photos from Barbie :) because she isn't busy or anything!)