Snow?

At first glance, it might look like snow, but don't let it deceive you - our puppy (if we can still call him that at 75 pounds) wanted a snow white Christmas. This is what we woke up to - what used to be a pillow for the bottom of Cooper's kennel. Note - this was quite a fete - the feathers were about 8 inches deep inside and outside his kennel and filled up a 30 gallon trashbag!

Should we be upset or proudly amazed?

Holiday Happenings

These past 2 weeks have flown by way too fast. It is almost 2007. Where did Christmas go? We were blessed this Christmas with being surrounded by family. The holidays started out with an early celebration at the Connells so we could share Christmas with Tommy, Ruth, and John before they headed off on another excursion. (I hope you all got to see some snow!) In all, there was 5 grandbabies running around - with another one coming soon in the spring (are you sure it is not twins Justin and April? - that is all of the 'firsts' left - beside blonde children that is. Peter and Amanda's cutie below, Eleanor, loved to have her photo taken and then see herself in the camera. Dash claimed I kept taking pictures of her because that is what I want my daughter to look like - snow white hair and big blue eyes.

John loved the present Ruth and Tommy gave us almost more than his own presents at first - but it does have 'doors' that open and close. As soon as the weather clears and the ground dries up, we cannot wait to use our new picnic set, complete with wine glasses!

The White House Gingerbread House shindig was great, and we moved up from last year's last place to 3rd place "Most unique" with our winter skate park.

We hope everyone had a blessed, safe, and memorable Christmas and cannot wait to see everyone in 2007!

Weekend (or bad weather day) warriors

This week has brought some not so pretty weather but I am still holding out hope for the cold front that is supposed to make its way into town tomorrow. Rainy days are always hard on us because our grass in the back yard has not completely grown in yet. Combine that with the holes that Cooper has dug and we have a few mud pits when it rains. This morning, I put Cooper outside so I could go dry my hair - and I came back to this-

This picture does not even do it justice. Dash had to carry Cooper into the bathroom to wash him off. Try carrying a 80 pound covered in mud who does not like to cuddle.

The last room, if you can consider it a room, in our house is done! This weekend we started organizing our garage and we finished tonight - thanks to the bad weather giving Dash a day off work. For those that have had the luxury of parking in a garage, you may not see the excitement in this. But for Shae, who has never parked in a garage - today was a great first. Just for proof that our garage is organized - as it may not be in a couple years - both cars fit!

Birthdays

December is crammed full of birthdays for our families. Here are a few of our favorite pictures from the December birthday celebrations.

Mama Mindi's birthday date at PF Changs - I hope I age as well as my mama.

Dash getting ready to blow out his candles, with Brody's help.

Celebrating Dash's birthday with Shae's sis, Jessica, and the new boyfriend, otherwise known as Dash's friend, Ryan. Travis was sweet enough (or smart enough) to offer to take the picture and avoid being in it.

Happy Birthday Dash!

Happy Birthday Dash!

I wanted to wish my amazing husband a happy birthday a day early as we have a pretty busy weekend planned with a house guest/new boyfriend in the family coming to visit. I hope to post pictures next week of the birthday festivities.

10 days til Christmas! 5 more days of work this year!

Home Video

One of the funniest things I had seen in a long time - our huge lab puppy being chased by a 7 pound toy poodle mix.

Christmas tree, O Christmas tree

My favorite radio station, KSBJ, has been playing non-stop Christmas music since the day after Thanksgiving, so it did not take me long to get in the Christmas spirit. Dash and I have already hung our Christmas lights on our house and decorated, but were missing a tree - until today! We started a tradition today of cutting down our tree at a Christmas tree farm. We went to Spring Creek Growers and came home with our first Christmas tree. We had already hit Hobby Lobby's 50% off sale on ornaments and as I sit here typing next to our lit up tree in our study (sadly our study so Cooper does not eat the tree whole, as he might be capable of doing so), I must say it looks great. We only have one sentimental ornament on it so far, an aTm one we bought last year together. This year's ornament, our First Christmas Together ornament complete with our wedding date and a bride and groom, has no yet arrive, and I know Dash is sitting on pins and needles waiting for it. Or not. But he will appreciate it one day.

On the hay ride to the 7' Virginia Pine section

Our tree got shaken to remove the dead pine needles and placed in netting for the ride home. Below is the finished product - our first Christmas tree!

The last few weeks

We have been so busy the last few weeks with two trips to Dallas, a wonderful Thanksgiving, a party to watch the Ags BTHO t.u. at our house, and other things. Busyness is such a blessing as it allows you to treasure the time you do get to spend with each other, family, and friends that much more.

In Dallas/FW, we stayed with Courtney and Ed in their beautiful house one weekend for Stephen Dotson's 'bachelor party'. I went with Dash to keep him company on the long drive and to pick him up from the place the limo took everyone - in my pajamas sadly. The next weekend was Stephen and Katie's wedding which was beautiful - though lacking enough seating and complete with the vows "for richer or for richer". That is still a shocker. We got to spend some time with some of Dash's friends from high school, which was great.

Thanksgiving was great, as we tried to master splitting the holiday between each of our families, and realized it was possible - and surprisingly enjoyable if you don't stress over time. We had a great group over to watch the t.u. game and see our new house. The game was so exciting and we apparently have to watch it at our house again for next year for good luck. When will the Fightin' Texas Ags stop needing luck?

And somewhere in the middle of this, Shae squeezed in a trip to Anaheim, California. My hotel was only 2 blocks from Disney Land. It has changed so much since our Parker vacation there years ago. For those of you that ever have a chance to go, check out Downtown Disney - a free admission part with great restaurants and stores and fireworks every night.