Happy 32nd Birthday Jason!

Thanks again for inviting us {or did we invite ourselves? ;) } to celebrate with you and Cheryl in Vegas.  We had such a GREAT time, and we hope that this year is the best one yet!

Stay tuned for more pictures...

Our Weekend

Like most weekends, this past one was over in a blink of an eye.

On Saturday, Ben went up to Aledo {near Dallas} for his friend Clint's memorial celebration.  Ben and Clint first became friends when he interned at Austin Bridge & Road during the summer and fall semester of 2006.  At that time in our lives, I was busy planning a wedding and in my first semester of graduate school, so Ben spent a lot of his time having fun with both Clint and Scott {probably TOO much fun} whether it was on or off the job.  The three of them have been good friends ever since and even did the Warrior Dash together about a year and a half ago. 

Before the 3.2 mile race.

After they had run though fire, climbed over hay bales, and crawled through mud.

Obviously, Ben was devastated when he heard that Clint's life had been taken all too soon and was glad that he was able to be there on Saturday to remember his friend.  Ben said that everybody that went up to the front had so many wonderful things to say about Clint but that the story that stuck with him most was a girl that talked about Clint's experience with Young Life.  She spoke about how Clint was the one who first introduced her to Christ and gave her her first Bible and then talked about all of the lives that he has now touched through her and her work in campus ministry.  What a cool story.

I had originally planned to go with Ben to Aledo but ended up going to Houston for Uncle Mickey's {my dad's uncle} funeral service instead.  Uncle Mickey was my Pawpaw's younger brother and actually ended up passing away on my birthday.  He had been pretty sick for the past few months, so although his family misses him greatly, and it is very hard to say "goodbye", it is comforting to know that he is finally at complete peace -- and in Heaven with Pawpaw.  Holly, Nelson, my mom, and I drove down there together on Saturday morning.  We attended the services and then went over to Randy {my dad's cousin} & Suzanne's house afterwards.  I wish that the reason for our visit were different, but it was so good to see that side of the family.  When I was little, we used to go to Houston all the time to visit Aunt Ellen, Uncle Mickey, and all of my dad's cousins and their families, but unfortunately, now that Holly and I are grown, we don't get down there nearly as often as we would like to.  Being with everybody brought back so many wonderful memories -- weddings, baby showers, birthday parties, fishing trips {for the guys and Holly}, and shopping trips {for the rest of the girls}, and I'm so glad that I was able to be there on Saturday to remember the life of Uncle Mickey and all of the good times.

Ben and I both ended up getting back into Austin late that night.  I had originally planned to wake up early and go for a run, but the plan changed when I woke up to thunder, lightning, and pouring down rain.  We went to Sunday School and church later that morning and then picked up Z Tejas for lunch and took it over to Erin and Brian's house. We had a great time catching up with them, and I loved getting to finally meet Abbie.

Abbie is 3 months old now and is SUPER cute.  I thought she looked exactly like Erin in the picture that her sister Kathryn texted me on the day that she was born, but now she looks so much more like Brian.  She has the most beautiful blue eyes!

And she's such a good baby, too.  Even Ben made a comment about how quiet she was later that day.

On our way home from North Austin, we checked on a couple of Ben's jobs and then spent the rest of the day doing laundry and other things around the house.  Aside from meeting Abbie, this weekend really wasn't what we had in mind.  Traveling to difference cities for funerals was definitely not the way either one of us wanted to spend our weekend, but we are glad that we were able to attend the services and celebrate the lives of both Clint and Uncle Mickey.  We will miss them both dearly and appreciate you keeping both of their families {and friends} in your prayers. 

Special Olympics & Birthday Fun!

In case you were wondering, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth.  I've just been so busy having fun the past few days that I'm just now getting a chance to sit down and blog about it.  Here's a little bit of what I've been up to...

On Friday and Saturday, we spent all day volunteering at the Special Olympics Texas Area 13 track & field event.  There was something for everyone -- track, tennis, softball throw, high jump, long jump, shot put, turbo jav....the list goes on and on.  Ben spent most of his time helping run softball, and I was responsible for getting all of the volunteers where they needed to be.  Over the past few weeks, I had to figure out exactly how many volunteers we would need at each event, get all {400!!!} of them registered for a volunteer shift, and then check all of them in and assign them to a particular task on the day of.  Super exhausting, but it was definitely worth it!  Over 800 athletes participated {and had the time of their lives!}, and considering there are only 3 staff members for Area 13, none of this past weekend would have been possible without the volunteers.

After volunteering on Saturday, we decided to go to Hula Hut for dinner.  Apparently everyone else in Austin had that same idea though because it was PACKED.

 

We waited about an hour and a half for a table, but thankfully, we had some drinks and chips/salsa to help us pass the time.

After spending all day out in the sun, dinner never tasted so good.  And it was such a beautiful evening, too -- a perfect ending to such a meaningful day.

On Sunday, I went birthday shopping with my mom and G after church.  Birthday shopping is the best!  I got a dress, a swimsuit, and a couple of pairs of shoes, and I had so much fun spending the day with my mom and G.  At one point in the dressing room, I decided to take a group shot with my iPhone.

Right as I was snapping the picture, my mom said to G, "Mom - why do you look so gray?  You look half dead."  G busted out laughing and so did we.

Later on in the day, we tried for another group shot.  I really like this one, but G thought she would look younger if she put her sunglasses on.

As soon as she put them on, she said, "There - that looks much better."  Cue the uncontrollable laughter -- haha.

I love these two so much!

After shopping, we went back to my mom's house for cake.  It was just the 3 of us, but we did some serious damage to that strawberry cake.  What can I say -- it's in our genes.

On Monday, I walked down to Panera and met up with Kristin {Firle} Genovese and Sophia for lunch.

Kristin and I were such good friends in middle school and high school, but unfortunately, we haven't seen each other since then.  She found me on Facebook the other day, and as soon as we realized that we're both in South Austin, we decided to schedule a lunch date.

I loved getting to meet Sophia, and Kristin and I had so much fun catching up on the past 10 years.  Neither one of us was really sure where to begin to fill the other one in.  As soon as we sat down, Kristin said, "I embarrassed to say it, but all I know is that you went to A&M."  My response was, "Don't feel bad.  The only thing that I know is that you went to St. Eds."  Pretty bad for a couple of people that used to be such good friends!

Sophia is 8 months old and is absolutely precious.  She and Kristin are pretty cute together, too, and it was fun seeing her as a mom.  She reminds me so much of her own. :)

Needless to say, we had such a good time, and we've already talked about getting together again soon.  And I'm already looking foward to it.

That evening, I went next door for dinner.  Cheryl had invited us over for an early birthday dinner, but what I didn't know was that it was actually a surprise birthday party and that she had invited Holly and Abby over, too.  Jason and his sister Clarissa had taken Miles out to dinner {and to play in the splash pad}, so it was just the girls, and we had a great time!

I had requested that Cheryl make her amazing shrimp scampi for dinner, but because she didn't know if everyone liked seafood, she went ahead and made homemade lasagna, too.  And bruschetta and a caprese salad.  Of course, everything was delicious, and she even bought Hey Cupcake for dessert.  Such a fun night for a birthday girl that feels so very blessed.  I have the best friends {and sister} ever!

After the party and as soon as I got home, Ben decided that he wanted to give me my birthday present early.  Up until that night, he had kept it next door so that he wouldn't give it to me early {because he ALWAYS does}, but his excuse this time was that he wanted me to be able to use it on my birthday, which was the next day.

Please notice the wedding gift bag that he chose to wrap it in.  Apparently he only looked at the blank blue side and not the side with the bride and groom on it -- haha.

I had asked Ben to buy me a nice purse that I could carry no matter if I was wearing black or brown, and of course, he went all out.  Because if you don't know Ben, that's just what he does. ;)

A beautiful Tory Burch patent leather tote.  I love it!

My actual birthday was so much fun, too.  I went for a run on the Lady Bird Lake trail that morning before work, and at one point, the group of ladies that I was running with started singing to me.  In the dark.  Very loudly.  I'm pretty sure the other runners probably thought we were crazy, but it was really sweet.  For lunch, I went to The Grove with Erin and Kathy.  I had a delicious berry salad, and we had a great time celebrating and catching up.

Later that afternoon, Kyle and Steve had Tiff's Treats cookies and milk delivered to my office.  4 dozen cookies to be exact.  Yep, that's right -- 48 cookies.  Crazy, huh?  Needless to say, my coworkers were excited.  And of course, I was, too.

A little bit later in the afternoon, I celebrated with the transportation group and Jennifer's homemade Italian cream cake.  At that point, I wasn't even hungry, but how do you pass up on cake?  Especially when it's for your birthday.  Personally, I just can't, so I ended up leaving work that day feeling somewhat sick to my stomach.

On my way home from work that evening, I listened to all of the voice mails that I had received throughout the day.  It was fun listening to them one right after another and hearing all of the sweet things that everyone had to say.  It reminded me of one of those Christmas songs that have personal greetings recorded over them from the men and women serving overseas and their families.  Those make me tear up every time.  When I got home, Cheryl and Miles brought over a sweet gift from Miles.  I love that little boy SO much.

That night, Ben and I went to Enoteca on South Congress for dinner.

We had never been there before, but we really liked it.  It was a perfect evening to sit out on the patio, and the food was amazing.  We had the suppli {crispy risotto balls filled with fontina cheese and served with arrabbiata} as an appetizer and then split a salsiccia {a.k.a. sausage} pizza.

 

Happy 28th Birthday to me!

When we got home that night, we hung out with the dogs for a little bit.  I wanted to take a picture with the two of them, but that proved to be a lot tougher than I thought it would be.

And I had to settle for semi-decent pictures with each one of them before we headed to bed.

 

This afternoon, as I was eating the last of the Tiff's Treats chocolate chip cookies and trying to decide if I should just eat a couple now and a couple of later or just go ahead and eat all of the now and be done with it, I came across this picture on Facebook.

Couldn't have said it better myself -- especially after all the birthday cake, cupcakes, and cookies that I've had this week.  Thanks to everyone for such a wonderful birthday.  I had a great time celebrating, and I feel so blessed to have such a great family and so many wonderful friends.  I can already tell that this year is going to be a good one. :)