The Things I Did Today...

• Ran 10 miles.
• Swam in Barton Springs.
• Got gas.
• Picked up all my garage sale signs.
• Went to church.
• Ate chinese food for lunch.
• Bought new running shoes.
• Went by Ben's office.
• Stopped by Ben's parents' house.
• Got Ben's truck washed.
• Bought Ben a new gun case.
• Took Ben on his first trip to Whole Foods.
• Got together with the running group for a party.

It's amazing what you can get done in just one day when you wake up at 4:45 a.m.  I don't think I'll be making this a habit anytime soon though...

Garage Sale

We had a huge garage sale today, and despite the fact that it was really hot outside, it went really well.  Holly and I both took off work yesterday to price everything, which ended up taking ALL.DAY.LONG.  When Ben and Nelson got home, we sent them to pick up Serranos for dinner, and after finishing everything up for the next morning and chasing an armadillo out of our yard {random, huh?}, we hit the sack.  The garage sale was supposed to start at 8:00 this morning, but as soon as we opened the garage door and pulled the first table out, the chaos began.

 

We had a lot of stuff for sale and a lot of shoppers, but thankfully, we had a lot of people there to help out, too, so that was good {as opposed to our last garage sale when it was just my mom and me, which was just a tad bit overwhelming}.

Both my mom and G came over this morning to help.  G hung out in the house with the dogs and bought us a delicious BBQ lunch after the sale, and my mom kept track of all the money.

Cheryl and Miles had their own garage sale next door, and Miles had a blast watching all the people.

A view of our garage sale chaos from Cheryl's driveway.

We decided to call it quits at about noon when it started to get unbearably hot and when people stopped coming by.  We definitely didn't sell everything {and plan to take the stuff that didn't to my mom's garage sale when she has one}, but considering how much we started with, we did pretty good and made just under $700.  My mom didn't have that much stuff in the sale but still made $28, Holly made $167, and I made a whopping $504.  Wow.

Thanks again to Holly, Ben, Nelson, Mom, and G for all your help and for making the whole thing a lot more fun.

Happy Birthday Miles

Happy 1st Birthday to our very favorite neighbor...

I still can't believe it's already been a year since we went up to the hospital to meet you for the very first time {see that post here}.

 

Watching you grow up over the past year has been so much fun, and we can't wait to see what year two brings.  We love you and are so proud of you!

Wheeler Brothers Homecoming Concert

Last night, we went to the Wheeler Brothers Homecoming Concert to welcome them home after being on tour for the past month.  Before the concert, Uncle Jack and Aunt Lisa took a group of family, friends, and co-workers to Eddie V's for dinner.  Neither one of us had ever been there before, so I was really excited about going, and I'm not exaggerating when I say that it was probably the very best meal I have ever had.  I had the lobster and shrimp bisque, crab cakes, roasted sea bass, and berries and whip cream for dessert, and everything was amazing.  After dinner, we walked a few blocks over to The Mohawk to watch the concert.

 

I had never been there before either, and it was a pretty cool venue -- although, if I had realized that it was outside, I probably wouldn't have worn jeans.  It was so hot!  The band sounded great though, and we had a great time seeing everyone that was there.

Holly, Audrey and Audrey's friend Roger came out to hear them play, and I had a great time hanging out with them and introducing them to everybody else that was there.

 

After dinner, we went to Magnolia Cafe with Aaron and Norma for coffee/breakfast.  We had fun catching up with them and didn't end up leaving the restaurant till about 2 o'clock in the morning.  I was practically falling asleep on the car ride home but woke up really quick when we turned onto South 1st and came up on a motorcycle wreck.  There was no other vehicle involved, so I'm not quite sure what happened, but Ben jumped out of the truck to check on the guy, and I called 911.  Thankfully, another car stopped, and one of the passengers was a girl who worked in the ER, so she took over until the paramedics got there.  He wasn't conscious at first, but he started waking up just before the ambulance arrived.  He was able to them his name and that he could feel his feet, so hopefully he'll be okay, but if you could please keep Mark in your prayers, I'd really appreciate it.  I was pretty shaken up after the whole thing and didn't end up falling asleep till about 4 o'clock in the morning.  Needless to say, I didn't end up meeting my running group at 6:00 am to run 11 miles and instead slept in.  I was exhausted, and my bed never felt so good.

Date Night with Abby

After work today, I met Abby at Southpark Meadows for dinner and a movie.  We decided to try out the new pizza place that they put in next to the theater.

Their pizza rolls are amazing {I will definitely be going back!}, but unfortunately, because it's set up more like a take-out type of restaurant where you place your order at a window, there really wasn't any type of seating.  We ended up sitting on a bench in front of Amy's Ice Cream and scarfed our pizza rolls down just in time to buy our tickets at the self-service ticketing kiosk {how convenient is that?!} and get into the theater before the previews started.  We saw "The Help", and it was such a great girly movie!

I can't even tell you how many times I laughed out loud, teared up, or cried.  It's crazy to think about how different things used to be, and when you think about it, the 60's was really not that long ago.  Our society really has come such a long way, and this movie was a good reminder of that and of what it means to be a true friend.  Two thumbs up from me.  Thanks for the fun night, Abby. 

Hanging out with Miles

I babysat Miles tonight while Jason and Cheryl went shopping for his birthday gifts.  Despite his congestion and double ear infection, we had a great time hanging out.  We ate dinner...

Took some self-portraits...

{I thought taking self-portraits with a husband was hard...}

Did some crawling...

While holding lotion in one hand and a drum stick in the other...

And played lots of hide-and-seek...

I gave him a bath and then his nighttime bottle...

And played a little bit more before putting him to bed...

It's hard to believe he'll be one year old this weekend.  Feels like this picture was taken just yesterday ...

I love you, Miles.  Thanks for inviting me over to play tonight! :)

Sad Day.

Dave Ramsey is no longer on the radio in Austin.

I realize that Ben and Holly some of you are probably tired of hearing me start every sentence with "Dave Ramsey says..." and are glad he's gone, but I was really disappointed when I turned my radio to 98.9 The Big Talker at 12 o'clock sharp only to hear one horrible oldies song being played after another.  Don't get me wrong -- I like oldies, but not when I'm expecting financial advice.  I looked it up online, and apparently, 98.9 The Big Talker's audience did not grow as quickly as they had hoped since they started back in November 2009, so they were dumped by owner Border Media and are now being replaced by True Oldies.  The decision was made late last Friday, and it was a complete shock to all of the fans when they tuned into today.

I'm not gonna lie -- I'm really going to miss listening to Dave from 12-3 every weekday afternoon {except for Fridays when I'm spending money as opposed to making it}.  Obviously, Ben doesn't share in my sadness, but thankfully, a random stranger who came by our house to buy something off of Craigslist does.  Ben and I met him in our driveway, and after talking for a little bit about the good deals that you can get on Craigslist, he asked if we had ever heard of Dave Ramsey.  Evidently, he listens to Dave everyday on the radio, too, but because he was unable to listen today, he had no idea that Dave was no longer on the air.  Unfortunately, I was the bearer of the bad news, and he was just as bummed as I was.

I'm not really sure how Austin expects me to plan for my retirement and save for my future children's college without being able to listen to Dave's daily words of wisdom, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that another local station will pick up Dave's show soon.  And until then, I'll contemplate whether streaming Dave's shows online is worth risking my job... ;)

Happy 25th Birthday Nelson!

We're sorry we missed your birthday dinner, but we're looking forward to our double date!  Thanks for always being so good to Holly and the rest of our family and for being YOU! :)

Meeting Savvy

Today at lunch, Stephanie and I went with Varian to his house to meet his precious baby girl -- Savannah Parker.  Savvy is 5 weeks old now, and she is absolutely precious.

Stephanie and I both held her while we were there, and she slept through the whole thing!  I don't know why Varian isn't getting much sleep these days -- she seems like such a good baby to me.  Granted, we were only there for about 30 minutes, but still. ;)

Congrats again, Varian and Crystal.  She's definitely a keeper!

Wheeler Ranch - Tarpley, TX

We left for the ranch on Saturday morning, and as soon as we got there, we headed down the to the spring.  It was pretty hot out, and the water felt great.  Unfortunately, I forgot my swimsuit, but as long as my legs were in the water, I was fine.

After we swam, we had a delicious dinner {brisket, pasta salad, spinach salad, fruit salad, bread, and homemade salsa and guacamole} and then headed down the street to Williams Creek Depot for the concert.  The Wheeler Brothers went on first, and they played great.  Unfortunately, the sound guy that worked at the venue wasn't the best, so the sound was a little off, but it was still a really good show.

It was pretty hot when we first got there, but as the sun went down, it started to cool off a bit, and believe it or not, there was even somewhat of a cool breeze -- especially up on the dance floor.

After the boys played, Max Stallings went on, and Ben and I had a great time dancing {two-stepping and waltzing} to almost every single song -- under the stars and in the cool breeze.  We didn't get to bed till late that night, and after eating a delicious bacon and egg breakfast in the morning, we hit the road and headed back home.  G had stayed at our house with Annie and Amos, and as always, the 3 of them had a great time together.  They both crashed as soon as she walked out the door and slept most of the day.  Thanks again for taking care of our babies, G.  We love you!