BINGO!!!

Last night Ben and I went on a date to a nearby bingo hall and had so much fun. It was the first time that either one of us had ever played bingo at a hall, and to be honest, we weren't really sure what to expect. When we first walked through the door, we were a little overwhelmed with the amount of smoke (and wrinkles!) in the room, but once we made our way to the non-smoking section, we had a wonderful time. The lady at the counter convinced us that we could each handle 18 cards per game (which I promise is a lot easier than it sounds), and after paying for our cards, we made our way to the snack bar. We had originally planned to eat dinner at the hall, but seeing the snack bar, we quickly decided that we would just settle for a coke and a bag of chips and eat after the game. We then searched the room for available seats and ended up sitting across from a nice middle aged couple and an elderly lady and her middle aged son (all of whom were bingo pros). We ended up playing 5 fun-filled games of bingo before our stomachs decided that it was time for us to go. Although we did not win any money, we did have a great time chatting with complete strangers and frantically searching our 18 cards for the numbers that were being called out. Needless to say, we will be returning to the bingo hall very soon for some more fun. If you would like to join us, please let us know. You won't be disappointed -- I promise!

NOTE: Please excuse our attire in the above photo. We purposely decided to not dress up so as to better fit in with the bingo regulars. :)

A Much Needed Update

I'll be the first to admit that I'm a little behind on my blogging. A lot has happened over the past few weeks -- some good, some not-so-good (please see my post below), but I fully intend to catch all of you up on everything going on with the Liggett Family with this single post.

First of all, we had a wonderful Christmas this year. We were able to spend time with both of our families and had a great time giving (and receiving) gifts. Christmas Day at my parents' house wasn't quite the same without my cousins Cody and Audrey and my aunt Liz, but we know that Cody is where he needs to be right now, and we are very thankful for all of the staff at TIRR (the rehab center in Houston) that is taking such wonderful care of him. Please continue to keep Cody and the rest of his family in your prayers. If you haven't already heard (although I'm pretty sure that I've told just about everyone), Cody smiled for the first time on Christmas Day. Isn't that awesome?!  He knew exactly what we wanted for Christmas this year.

Over the holidays, we also entertained our first out-of-town guest. Fan (one of my very best friends from grad school) came to visit us this past weekend, and we had a great time. On Friday evening, we went had dinner at Haiku at Southpark Meadows. The outdoor area was so beautifully decorated with Christmas lights that we stopped to take a few pictures on our way.

We also stopped at G's house that night so that we could introduce the two them. They were so glad to finally meet each other, and we had a wonderful time just hanging out and chatting.

On Saturday, we went to Houston to visit Cody, and Fan went with us as she wanted to wish him and his family a Merry Christmas. It was so good to see Cody (and the rest of the family), and it was so wonderful to see all of the progress that he has made while at TIRR. We spent the day in Houston catching up, reading all of his wonderful posters from the high school, and asking Cody to smile every 5 minutes (sorry Cody!). That evening we went to dinner for my dad's birthday and then dropped Fan off in College Station on our way back to Austin. It was so hard to say goodbye to our wonderful friend, but we know that we will see her again soon.

This past week, we rang in the New Year with some good friends from work. We went downtown with Mark, Chris, and Chris's girlfriend Grace, had a delicious mexican dinner at Iron Cactus, and spent the night dancing, drinking, and having fun. Needless to say, it was a wonderful celebration!

Well, I think that's about it for the updating. I'm a little tired of writing and posting pictures, and I'm sure you're probably just as tired of reading and looking at pictures (if you've even made it this far). Thanks for checking in on us. Goodnight!

Prayers needed for Emily & Peyton

I know that most of you have already heard, but please say a prayer for Ben's cousin Emily.  She and her husband Drew had their first baby, a beautiful baby girl named Peyton, this past Sunday evening.  That next morning, Drew was killed in a horrible car wreck while on his way home from the hospital.  He was only 27 years old, and he and Emily had been married for less than 3 years.  Needless to say, the entire family is devastated.