Happy Birthday Brian!!

Ice Skating in Winterpark was a blast! No one else was there!!

As you can see, it was FREEZING!!
At the top of the mountain at a clear point of the trip!!

The sky was black and huge flakes were coming down, but it was fun!!

Us at Beaver Village Condos, where we stayed on our honeymoon 5 years ago!

Sledding!!!

Taking a break from skiing in the blizzard!


Happy Birthday Brian! The girls decorated the bus, all wore Happy Birthday hats and even made cards for their favorite coach! Awww!!!

Well, January 15th was Brian's 29th birthday!! Every year he complains that his birthday is no fun, so this year, his last year as a twenty something, I decided to change that!! He had to work on his birthday, better yet, coach a tournament in College Station, but I tagged along on the bus, brought cookie cake and set out to celebrate! The girls did their part too. They brought cards, goofy dollar store gifts, balloons & decorated the bus. It was a lot of fun and the girls ended up getting 3rd in the tournament that was rigged. :) It was a lot of fun. On Sunday we celebrated with my parents at Pappadeaux and then Brian's parents at Los Lamas. Monday we went to a movie and dinner and just relaxed! He loved the weekend that is, "never any fun." The next weekend we packed up and got on a plane to Denver, CO for a ski trip in honor of my sweet husband! He's loved to ski since I introduced him to the sport on our honeymoon 5 years ago. We decided to relive our honeymoon and went back to Winterpark, CO., stayed in the same condos we had 5 years ago, and even ate at Deno's, the same place we had on our honeymoon. The weather was terrible. It was 6 degrees, with windgusts of 45mph. It was cold and snowed the whole time we were there, but it was a blast! I'm so thankful to be married to a man that I can laugh with & ski in crazy weather with. (Most people gave up and went to the lodge, so we really had most of the mountain to ourselves.) He's such a blessing and I'm so glad that he was born! So again, 2 weeks after, HAPPY 29th BIRTHDAY BRIAN!!! I love you!!

Lately...

Well, if you could tell by my last post, things have been very busy lately. We are wrapping up our first semester and getting ready to end basketball season. This is bittersweet for me because it will be nice to both get to come home in the evenings before 7:00, (this will be the first time in 5 years for that to happen) but at the same time a fun, crazy part of our life is ending. I've already told my principal that I don't plan to coach cheerleading next year because we'd like to have a baby, I'd like to be able to attend my husband's games and a difference of coaching styles between my co-coach and I. However, I don't sit still well and I worry that I'll be bored not having 3 jobs. What will I do with myself? I'm so ready to start my masters, but Brian is planning to get his first since he will have a much better chance of getting a job as an assistant principal than I will in the curriculum department of a school district. However, that means I have 2 years before I can even begin. I guess that coming to a cross road in my life kind of scares me. I've always had too much to do and now I'm ready for a baby and don't have one, I am ready to be in a masters program and am not in one, and I'm ready to be at a school that challenges me in ways other than my patience and I'm not. (That sounds like I have a miserable life... not at all what I'm saying.. sorry) I am just saying, I'm ready to figure out what's next. I don't sit still well, I never have, and with life beginning to slow down I don't know what to do with myself. I literally haven't watched TV since I was like in the 8th grade because I've ALWAYS been busy! I need something to keep my sanity. I love to craft, but I end up just spending money. I love helping others, but sometimes get too involved with carrying the weight of the world. What else is there to do? I have taken up bunko with some girls from church and am SO excited about that, but that's just once a month. I am praying that God will show me some answers and place great things in my life for me to be involved in this year. I'm excited about the friends we have at church and the possibility of actually getting to hang out more now that things are settling down, but I also want clarity on what I am to do with my time this year. I've never had extra time to do great things with with exception to my two years at Impact. Now that I'm going to have it I want to make the best of it and really have a great year. Pray for clarity for us! Pray that we will spend time blessing others and growing closer together rather than just wasting time. Pray that if I am at York another year there will be changes that make it a better working environment. Life is great! I feel so blessed with the things/relationships God has given us, I just want to make sure I keep up with that and continue to grow even when life begins to slow down.

Back to Work!!

Well, it's been a very busy week! We've gotten back into the swing of things as far as work goes. For the most part the kids have been pretty good! Brian and I are exhausted, but the week is almost over. Tonight we have his College Park basketball game & then tomorrow I'm painting a second coat over my dining room, taking Linzy to the doctor, & going to our friend Jake's 1st birthday party. I'm hoping to get a little rest in this weekend because next weekend we have tournaments & the following weekend we leave for our ski trip! Fun is ahead!!! Well, Hope everyone is having a great week! Enjoy your weekend!

Holiday Fun!

Wow! It's been a whirlwind around here for the past two weeks! We started with small family Christmas the 22nd when Wade came home, had a Christmas Party with Lyndsay & George, Christmas with Brian's family the 24th & Christmas with my big family the 25th! All of these were an absolute blast & it's been SO nice to spend time with family and friends. After our Christmas celebrations we went up to Ft. Worth to see the Mallettes and meet our sweet new god daughter Cassidy! We had a blast with them. Sam still thinks he's super man so running (flying) with him was what we did most of the time. It was so nice because Sandra is on maternity leave & Caleb was off so we got to spend 3 days just hanging out with them & of course doing a little after Christmas shopping. Sandra and I came home with lots of goodies from garden ridge and I'm already ready to start decorating for fall & Christmas next year. We love those guys! After we got home from Ft. Worth we relaxed, watched some football & then had a great time celebrating New Years Eve! We just hung out at our house, watched movies, shot fireworks, watched fireworks and ate! It was nice. After a great New Years Eve, I started 2010 with a project and painted my dining room. I like the color, but now I need to add curtains, do some paint touch ups & some more decorations. :) It just seems like the projects never end around here! Well, I've got to run to the store. We are out of milk & coffee creamer! Tonight we are going to dinner with Wade one last time before he heads back to school so I better actually get dressed today too. All you can eat sushi at Tokyo One... I'm all about it! I'm sure I'll have more updates later, but for now, goodbye....

White Elephant/Tacky Sweater Fun

Last night we had a white elephant party for our friends at church. We also welcomed cute or tacky Christmas sweaters to add to the fun! It was a great party with lots of gift stealing, good food and tons of fun!! From a Blades of Glory movie poster to a can of relish from last year that has been open for a couple of years tons of goofy gifts were brought and exchanged. Juli even ended up with a Mili Vanilli cassette tape! Although it was hard to get everything organized after our anniversary weekend it was a lot of fun & something we will have to do again! I wanted to post a few pictures of our guests in their Christmas sweaters! We did have prizes for the most Christmas Spirit! HAHA!

The Perfect Anniversary!

Wow, Wow, Wow and Wow again is all I can say about the day Brian planned to celebrate our anniversary! I have always known what a special man he is & realized how lucky I am, but he really made me feel like the most special person in the world for our 5th anniversary! It was a day filled with love, laughter, tears & wonderful memories to last a life time. It started out at 7:30 because our dog Linzy started barking. Our Anniversary shares the same day as her birthday so we are convinced that she must have known it was her big day. I wanted to give Brian his gift from me so I ran and got the book I had made for him on Shutterfly! I was so excited about giving him this because it was the story of us! It had pictures of the 5 wonderful years we spent together and it was a really cool little gift. He loved it! We got out of bed although we had planned to sleep late and took Linz on a walk. We came back, got ready and went to lunch at Ellen's in Old Town Spring. It was fun to eat there and walk around for a little bit because that is where we spent our 3rd anniversary. We then got Linzy some doggie treats and came back to spend a few minutes with her. I knew Brian had something planned, but I had no idea what! He made me get back in the car and handed me a card. We pulled out of our neighborhood and into a Spa that is right across the street. I opened the card and there was a gift card to the spa to pay for what I was having done & cash to tip. He pulled flip flops out from under the seat and then sent me on my way. I had no idea what was going on. He just told me to go inside and they would take care of me. I went inside and they knew exactly who I was. They all were telling me Happy Anniversary and what a special man I was married to. I was escorted back to get a pedicure, then a one hour massage and was topped off with a manicure! I was there for three hours getting pampered while he was working on the last minute details for the rest of the evening. I was convinced that this was my gift until I got a text telling me to match my nail polish to wear a red sweater. Weird, I thought, maybe we are going to dinner. Needless to say, I was in for a HUGE SURPRISE! He picked me up and gave me a new card. It said, get comfortable while we take a little ride. We started driving and I just started asking questions, where are we going, what are we doing, is it ok that I'm wearing flip flops? HAHA! He drove downtown and I was still SO confused. Then... we pulled in to my favorite hotel, The Magnolia! I was SUPER excited, but still confused. Are we staying here I asked? What about Linzy? Is she taken care of? Do I have clothes? He just laughed! The valet guys came to take the car and opened the back, he had suitcases and presents galore. I helped gather the things and then we went to check in. I had mentioned on the way that I'd love to stop for a snack but when we got to the hotel that was the last thing on my mind. We checked in and went upstairs. I opened the door and there were rose pedals leading to the bed. There was also I love you spelled out on the bed in pedals and then chocolate covered strawberries, & chocolate chip cookies. YEA!!! I couldn't have been happier! I felt like such a princess. If we had done nothing else that day it would have been perfect, but there was more! Brian handed me a package and asked me to open it. I did and the most beautiful dress appeared! He had picked out the most stunning outfit for me to wear and had packed shoes, jewelry & everything I needed to look like a princess! He also had bought a matching tie & shirt for himself. He told me that we had about an hour before we were going to dinner so that I needed to get ready! I enjoyed the strawberries while putting the dress on and fixing my hair. We then went downstairs and got in a escalade to take us to..... there was another card with only the address. 1201 Fannin. Where were we going? The car dropped us off at McCormic & Schmick! YUM! We got out & walked inside. We were greeted with Happy Anniversary & menus that were personalized! The dinner was amazing. We had stuffed shrimp, complementary champagne & dessert, a steak & lobster tail & fried shrimp. We were so full!! Then Brian handed me another card. It said, "You didn't think I'd get you all dressed up with no where to go right?" This time the card had tickets to A Christmas Carol! WOW! I was so excited & couldn't believe the day that had been planned for me! It was perfect & so thought out! Brian is amazing, I'm a VERY lucky woman! The day couldn't have been better! I truly felt like I was in a fairy tale & will never forget the wonderful day from my sweet husband!

Busted Lip

I jinxed myself!I was sure yesterday was going to be amazing but it ended up being a very rough day! My car battery died and I had to get it replaced, which led to us being late to Brian's Christmas party. Since we were late getting there we were late leaving, so I was late getting started on the 6 dozen sugar cookies I need to make for my kiddos for our party on Friday. I was laying on the floor waiting for Brian to finish putting up clean dishes feeling sick, exhausted and 100% ready for bed when Linzy decided it was time to play. She ran over to greet me with full force and hit me in the lip with that thick skull of hers. It hurt so bad! 60lbs. of power right in the face. My lip started gushing blood, swelling up and I started balling. Poor Brian, I couldn't seem to pull it together after that. I was in pain, couldn't breathe, mad that my lip will be purple on my 5th anniversary and just sick of the day. I woke up this morning and had to laugh, my lip is swollen, but not black, THANK GOD! I'm sure my kids think I got punched, but such is life. I love my bulldog, but man, I wish she would understand when to just be calm and lay down. If you get lucky I might just post a picture later so you can laugh. I've got a game tonight and a cookie exchange at Jessica's so I'll be going looking like I got in a fight. :( At least today is a new day! Please be praying that I get to feeling better. This chest congestion is killing me. I've been feeling bad for almost a week and don't want to be sick this weekend. I was going to go to the doctor Tuesday, & then Wednesday, but due to the car battery I didn't make it. Needless to say, I'm thankful for mucinex!!