2 weeks ago
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Way to go, Holly!
My mom and I went to Dallas this past weekend with Holly to watch her run her first half marathon. We had a wonderful girls' weekend, and Holly did awesome in the Dallas White Rock Marathon. She finished the 13.1 miles in 1 hour, 53 minutes and came in 849th place (with 4939 people behind her). Needless to say, I am VERY proud of her.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Monday, December 8, 2008
More prayers needed...
Please keep my friend Allen Bridges and his family in your prayers as his dad passed away very unexpectedly this past weekend. Allen's dad was a wonderful man. He served as Sheriff of Hays County and was loved by so many people. It's no doubt that Sheriff Bridges will be greatly missed, but it is comforting to know that he is with our Heavenly Father and is watching over all of us.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Please pray for Cody...
Please keep my cousin Cody in your prayers. He was in a car wreck on November 7th and has been in a coma now for over 4 weeks. He was at Brackenridge Hospital in Austin until this past Monday and is now at TIRR (a trauma hospital) in Houston. I haven't yet mentioned him on this blog because I'm pretty sure that the only people who actually read this blog are those that I talk to on a regular basis, but just in case there is someone who reads this blog and who has not yet heard about Cody, please keep him in your prayers. Please also pray for my Aunt Liz who is now a single mother (my Uncle Richard passed away very unexpectedly last year), for my cousin Audrey who is a very busy student at UT, and for his many doctors and nurses. If you'd like to follow Cody's progress and keep up to date with what prayers are needed, here is a link to my Aunt Liz's blog: http://www.codystraus.blogspot.com/.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
A few pics from this weekend
Our little Aggie...
The flowers...
...that Ben gave me "just because".
All of my favorite babies that I finally got to meet...
Sam (my best friend Abby's nephew)
Haley (Abby's niece)
Our house...
My other favorite babies...
And last, but not least,...
...our most recent Lowe's purchase.
Monday, November 3, 2008
A Trip To Aggieland
This past weekend we went to College Station with my parents for the Texas A&M/Colorado football game. We had pretty good seats (1st deck, 10th row, ~50 yard line), and the Aggies won (24 to 17) -- so, needless to say, it was a pretty exciting game.
And although I didn't get any pictures of Holly (why the heck didn't I?), getting to see her was definitely the best part of our trip. I hadn't seen her smiling face in over 7 weeks (not that I'm counting or anything), so it was so good to finally see her. She looked so good (as always), and I loved getting to hear all of her detailed stories (and if you know Holly, you know just how detailed those stories really are). I loved hearing all about her floral design class, her invention for her ENDS 101 class, and her trips to the Tap -- but the best thing was when she told us that she plans to move back to Austin after graduation. That sentence definitely made my night! Prepare yourself, Austin. Holly's coming back! Yay!!!
And although I didn't get any pictures of Holly (why the heck didn't I?), getting to see her was definitely the best part of our trip. I hadn't seen her smiling face in over 7 weeks (not that I'm counting or anything), so it was so good to finally see her. She looked so good (as always), and I loved getting to hear all of her detailed stories (and if you know Holly, you know just how detailed those stories really are). I loved hearing all about her floral design class, her invention for her ENDS 101 class, and her trips to the Tap -- but the best thing was when she told us that she plans to move back to Austin after graduation. That sentence definitely made my night! Prepare yourself, Austin. Holly's coming back! Yay!!!Thursday, October 30, 2008
When it rains, it pours.
When Ben and I got home yesterday evening, we were so ready to eat dinner, play with the dogs, and go to bed early. The past couple of weeks have been completely exhausting, and although we plan to go to bed early every single night, it just never seems to happen. Again, this was the case last night.
It all started when I got home and found that Annie had decided to use the couches in the front room as chew toys that afternoon. I knew that she had done something wrong the second that I walked through the door. Her ears were pulled back, she was crouched down, and I frantically searched the house for what she destroyed. Needless to say, I was not too happy. The worst part about the whole situation is the fact that she knows that what she did was wrong -- yet she still did it. For the time being, we have sprayed both couches with "Bitter Apple", but I don't know what we're going to long term. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that I don't find the same thing when I get home today.
Later that evening, after eating dinner and taking the dogs on a walk, Ben decided that it was time for cookies and milk. Because our refrigerator was not delivered until this past Tuesday, we've been eating out every meal since we've been in the house (which is not nearly as exciting as it sounds), and we haven't really had a chance to use our new appliances to cook. Therefore, last night was actually our first time to use the oven. He turned it on, and immediately a really weird smell began to fill the house. At first we thought that it might because it was new (it made sense at the time), but luckily Ben decided to check the broiler. Broiler? I thought the drawer below the oven was a storage compartment for all of our flat kitchen stuff like cookie sheets, baking pan lids, etc. That had been the purpose of that particular drawer in all of the previous places that I have lived, but I guess that's not the case at our new house. Oops. Needless to say, the plastic lids are goners.
As the night went on, Ben continued to compliment Amos on how he had been the good dog that day, and I continued to tell Ben that he was going to jinx us. Later that night when Ben was carrying all of my winter clothes in from the car (I had stored them at my parents' house this summer) and I was making room for them in the closet, Amos decided that it would be a perfect time to go pee.....all over our brand new bed. Luckily, it didn't soak through to our new mattress, but it was all over our new comforter and sheets. We threw them in the wash and tried to wait up for them. Unfortunately, some of us didn't quite make it.
It all started when I got home and found that Annie had decided to use the couches in the front room as chew toys that afternoon. I knew that she had done something wrong the second that I walked through the door. Her ears were pulled back, she was crouched down, and I frantically searched the house for what she destroyed. Needless to say, I was not too happy. The worst part about the whole situation is the fact that she knows that what she did was wrong -- yet she still did it. For the time being, we have sprayed both couches with "Bitter Apple", but I don't know what we're going to long term. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that I don't find the same thing when I get home today.
Later that evening, after eating dinner and taking the dogs on a walk, Ben decided that it was time for cookies and milk. Because our refrigerator was not delivered until this past Tuesday, we've been eating out every meal since we've been in the house (which is not nearly as exciting as it sounds), and we haven't really had a chance to use our new appliances to cook. Therefore, last night was actually our first time to use the oven. He turned it on, and immediately a really weird smell began to fill the house. At first we thought that it might because it was new (it made sense at the time), but luckily Ben decided to check the broiler. Broiler? I thought the drawer below the oven was a storage compartment for all of our flat kitchen stuff like cookie sheets, baking pan lids, etc. That had been the purpose of that particular drawer in all of the previous places that I have lived, but I guess that's not the case at our new house. Oops. Needless to say, the plastic lids are goners.
As the night went on, Ben continued to compliment Amos on how he had been the good dog that day, and I continued to tell Ben that he was going to jinx us. Later that night when Ben was carrying all of my winter clothes in from the car (I had stored them at my parents' house this summer) and I was making room for them in the closet, Amos decided that it would be a perfect time to go pee.....all over our brand new bed. Luckily, it didn't soak through to our new mattress, but it was all over our new comforter and sheets. We threw them in the wash and tried to wait up for them. Unfortunately, some of us didn't quite make it.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
My Favorite Things About Our House
My apologies for the delay on the post about our move into the new house. I know that all of you were on the edge of your seats with your eyes glued to your computer screen and repeatedly clicking "refresh" in hopes that the post would magically appear, so I hope that each of you will forgive me. In reality though, I highly doubt any of you were actually doing that as I'm pretty sure everyone knows how inconsistent I am at this whole blogging thing. But, here's your update.
We moved into our new house on Monday, and let me tell you -- it is wonderful! We are still unpacking and putting everything in its place (it's amazing to finally have enough space for EVERYTHING), but we are very much enjoying our new home.
Here's a list of my favorite things about the house so far:
1. Opening up the back door and just letting the dogs run out. No more running down 3 flights of stairs in hopes that Amos can make it all the way down before popping a squat. No more circling around the grass with the dogs until they each find their "perfect spot" (keep in mind that Annie's "perfect spot" was usually in one direction while Amos' was in the other direction). And no more pulling on leashes in order to keep the dog who is ready to wrestle away from the one is trying to go potty. They now have to deal with that on their own. It's wonderful.
2. Walking in the house barefoot. No more stepping out of the shower and into flip flops because the floor is so gross that it leaves the bottoms of your feet black.
3. Washing clothes in my super quiet (and super pretty) washing machine. I'll admit that I even sat on the floor in front of it for a few minutes to watch the clothes go 'round and 'round. Some of you might think that it would be embarrassed to admit something like that, but when you spend that much money on something, I think it's okay to sit down and admire it. Unfortunately though, Lowe's did not deliver the right dryer hose, so our clean jeans/towels are still waiting to be dried.
4. A master closet that is large enough to hold all of our clothes, shoes, and purses. I keep telling Ben that he really needs to get rid of some things. :)
5. Our discounted sprinkler system. When deciding which ammenties to upgrade from the "standard", a sprinkler system was something that we both wanted but decided against since the developer wanted a whopping $3000 for it. We knew that this was a rip-off and that we could easily water our small yard with hoses. However, when we found out that a sprinkler system had been "accidently" installed in both our front and back yard, we were estatic. The developer did later realize their mistake and asked that we pay for a portion of the cost, but at least we got a good deal.
6. Not having anyone live below or above us. I love that the dogs can run and play inside without us worrying about the amount of noise that they are making.
7. My brand new toilet. No more sitting on a toilet and wondering how many millions of people have sat there before you. Gross thought -- I know.
8. The kitchen cabinets that I was unable to completely fill. In every other place that we have lived, our kitchen has been tiny. When unpacking all of our kitchen stuff, I have always had to make a decision as to what to put away in the kitchen cabinets and what to keep in boxes that would be stored in various closets. However, in this house, the decisions to be made were a little different. There are so many cabinets that I actually had to decide which cabinets to fill and which to leave empty (at least for now). It's an awesome feeling.
9. My shallow pantry. While all of our previous pantries have been relatively 1 foot wide and 1 mile deep, our new pantry is wide and shallow. Everything has a place, and nothing will get lost. It's the little things in the life that matter the most, and this is a little thing that I really love.
10. And last, but definitely not least, the fact that the master bathroom is the coldest room in the house. If you know what I'm like when I'm getting ready in the morning, you know that God made this house especially for me.....and Ben.
We moved into our new house on Monday, and let me tell you -- it is wonderful! We are still unpacking and putting everything in its place (it's amazing to finally have enough space for EVERYTHING), but we are very much enjoying our new home.
Here's a list of my favorite things about the house so far:
1. Opening up the back door and just letting the dogs run out. No more running down 3 flights of stairs in hopes that Amos can make it all the way down before popping a squat. No more circling around the grass with the dogs until they each find their "perfect spot" (keep in mind that Annie's "perfect spot" was usually in one direction while Amos' was in the other direction). And no more pulling on leashes in order to keep the dog who is ready to wrestle away from the one is trying to go potty. They now have to deal with that on their own. It's wonderful.
2. Walking in the house barefoot. No more stepping out of the shower and into flip flops because the floor is so gross that it leaves the bottoms of your feet black.
3. Washing clothes in my super quiet (and super pretty) washing machine. I'll admit that I even sat on the floor in front of it for a few minutes to watch the clothes go 'round and 'round. Some of you might think that it would be embarrassed to admit something like that, but when you spend that much money on something, I think it's okay to sit down and admire it. Unfortunately though, Lowe's did not deliver the right dryer hose, so our clean jeans/towels are still waiting to be dried.
4. A master closet that is large enough to hold all of our clothes, shoes, and purses. I keep telling Ben that he really needs to get rid of some things. :)
5. Our discounted sprinkler system. When deciding which ammenties to upgrade from the "standard", a sprinkler system was something that we both wanted but decided against since the developer wanted a whopping $3000 for it. We knew that this was a rip-off and that we could easily water our small yard with hoses. However, when we found out that a sprinkler system had been "accidently" installed in both our front and back yard, we were estatic. The developer did later realize their mistake and asked that we pay for a portion of the cost, but at least we got a good deal.
6. Not having anyone live below or above us. I love that the dogs can run and play inside without us worrying about the amount of noise that they are making.
7. My brand new toilet. No more sitting on a toilet and wondering how many millions of people have sat there before you. Gross thought -- I know.
8. The kitchen cabinets that I was unable to completely fill. In every other place that we have lived, our kitchen has been tiny. When unpacking all of our kitchen stuff, I have always had to make a decision as to what to put away in the kitchen cabinets and what to keep in boxes that would be stored in various closets. However, in this house, the decisions to be made were a little different. There are so many cabinets that I actually had to decide which cabinets to fill and which to leave empty (at least for now). It's an awesome feeling.
9. My shallow pantry. While all of our previous pantries have been relatively 1 foot wide and 1 mile deep, our new pantry is wide and shallow. Everything has a place, and nothing will get lost. It's the little things in the life that matter the most, and this is a little thing that I really love.
10. And last, but definitely not least, the fact that the master bathroom is the coldest room in the house. If you know what I'm like when I'm getting ready in the morning, you know that God made this house especially for me.....and Ben.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Exciting News
We found out on Friday that we are scheduled to close on our house on October 20th.
Yay!!! Only 24 more days in this itty bitty apartment. Here are the most recent pictures of the house.
In other news, Annie and Amos are still doing great. They love being together. You just never know where you're gonna find them....
Yay!!! Only 24 more days in this itty bitty apartment. Here are the most recent pictures of the house.
In other news, Annie and Amos are still doing great. They love being together. You just never know where you're gonna find them....
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Quick Update
Ben started his new job at Aaron Concrete this past week and LOVES it. He really likes all of the people that he works with and truly enjoys the work that he is doing. He's only been there a week, but he's already helping to put together an estimate for a retaining wall project, assisting in management out in the field, and has even had the chance do a little bit of physical labor (which oddly enough is one of his favorite parts). He also gets to drive a new company truck, which is very exciting. Ben loves the fact that he finally gets to drive a truck again, and I love the fact that he has no car payment and gets free gas.
Ben and I are also having fun checking up on our house. As you can see in the pictures below, it's really coming along. It's still going to be a couple of months till it's finished, but we are definitely ready. Living out of boxes isn't as fun as it sounds (to be honest....it's not much fun at all).
Ben and I are also having fun checking up on our house. As you can see in the pictures below, it's really coming along. It's still going to be a couple of months till it's finished, but we are definitely ready. Living out of boxes isn't as fun as it sounds (to be honest....it's not much fun at all).
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Fun on Lake Travis
My parents rented a boat this past weekend and invited Holly, her boyfriend Sean, Ben, and me to go out on Lake Travis with them. It was a PERFECT day for the lake (but what summer day in Texas isn't?!), and we had a great time.
Holly and Sean had fun skiing,....
(you can't see it in the picture, but Holly was grinning from ear to ear)
...and Ben and I had fun soaking up the sun.
Thanks again, Mommy & Daddy, for a wonderful afternoon!
Holly and Sean had fun skiing,....
(you can't see it in the picture, but Holly was grinning from ear to ear)
...and Ben and I had fun soaking up the sun.
Thanks again, Mommy & Daddy, for a wonderful afternoon!
Friday, August 8, 2008
Meet Amos
I'd like to introduce all of you to the newest addition to our family...Amos.
Isn't he just precious?! He's a 9-week old Boston Terrier and is a perfect little brother for Annie. We picked him up in Buda on Wednesday night and have had so much fun watching them play together over the past couple of days.
In the very beginning, Amos was a little scared and unsure of his new surroundings, but Annie was very much ready to play.
However, Amos' fear quickly wore off, and he was in the mood to wrestle (even if Annie was not).
And, yes, the ferocious growling/barking that you hear in the video is from the adorable 3-pound puppy.
They really are the perfect duo. They love chewing....
...sleeping...
...sleeping...
...and sleeping some more.
It is very obvious which dog knows that he is "just a dog" and which dog thinks she is "queen bee". Don't you think?
Needless to say, we are having fun and are all smiles...
Isn't he just precious?! He's a 9-week old Boston Terrier and is a perfect little brother for Annie. We picked him up in Buda on Wednesday night and have had so much fun watching them play together over the past couple of days.
In the very beginning, Amos was a little scared and unsure of his new surroundings, but Annie was very much ready to play.
However, Amos' fear quickly wore off, and he was in the mood to wrestle (even if Annie was not).
And, yes, the ferocious growling/barking that you hear in the video is from the adorable 3-pound puppy.
They really are the perfect duo. They love chewing....
...sleeping...
...sleeping...
...and sleeping some more.
It is very obvious which dog knows that he is "just a dog" and which dog thinks she is "queen bee". Don't you think?
Needless to say, we are having fun and are all smiles...
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Goodbye Cripple Creek...Hello Double Creek
I'll admit it -- I haven't been very good about keeping up with my blog, but I promise to try a little harder in the future. Since my last post, we have sold and moved out of our condo at Cripple Creek. I am now living in Austin with my parents, and Ben is now living at his brother's place in College Station. Selling our condo was very bittersweet. While we were excited about moving to Austin, we were also very sad to be leaving our first home behind. We had only lived there for a little over 4 months, but during that time, we had definitely turned that house into a home. Here are a few pictures for those of you who never got the chance to come visit.
Since my last post,we have also found a new home in Austin. After lots and LOTS of searching, we have decided to move into a new neighborhood (called Meadows of Double Creek) that is being built at the corner of South 1st Street and FM 1626. The floor plan that we have chosen is a single-story house with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. 
We have also chosen a lot located at the back of the neighborhood that backs up to a 15-foot easement filled with lots of tall trees.
We are now in the process of making all of our interior and exterior selections through the design center and should have all of that finalized by the end of this week. Construction of our home should start within the next couple of weeks, and we should be able to move in sometime during November or December. I will definitely keep everyone updated on the progress as it is being built. I know that I haven't been very good about blogging during the past couple of weeks, but I promise -- I'll be better. :)
Since my last post,we have also found a new home in Austin. After lots and LOTS of searching, we have decided to move into a new neighborhood (called Meadows of Double Creek) that is being built at the corner of South 1st Street and FM 1626. The floor plan that we have chosen is a single-story house with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. 
We have also chosen a lot located at the back of the neighborhood that backs up to a 15-foot easement filled with lots of tall trees.
We are now in the process of making all of our interior and exterior selections through the design center and should have all of that finalized by the end of this week. Construction of our home should start within the next couple of weeks, and we should be able to move in sometime during November or December. I will definitely keep everyone updated on the progress as it is being built. I know that I haven't been very good about blogging during the past couple of weeks, but I promise -- I'll be better. :)