the crawfords

reasons why i'm happy

2012-01-28T12:26:00.000-08:00

I saw this on another blog and thought it would be a good exercise in optimism.

Adam - he's always calm and patient and understanding

Beckham - so sweet and always makes me laugh and likes to cuddle

Colors - bright fun ones for clothes and in my home

Driving - going to Lubbock this week

Exercise - honestly shocking, but endorphines really are real you guys

Food - the reason I discovered exercise makes me happy

Girls night - saw The Iron Lady this week, very inspiring I thought

Hope - for the future we're working to create for our family

In-laws - excited to see them and spend time with them on days I'm actually off work

Jammies - Becks and I lounging in them in the mornings

Kicking - our debt's ass

Listening to music - going to get Ingrids new album tonight

Moscato - drinking it with my sister while watching movies

New music - heard a great new song (to me) on the way to work

Oscars -all the excitement leading up to them can sometimes consume me

People watching - specifically at story time at the library. Great clothes inspiration there.

Quietness - rarely get it, but I think thats why it makes me happy

Reading - lots of great books I'm looking forward to reading right now

Sunny days - that are also cool/cold are my absolute fave kind

Toms - wearing them, getting them for B, just looking at the website

Understanding - from our friends and family of our crazy life right now

Vacations - currently just daydreaming, but they will become realites soon

Waking up - this morning to Adam and Becks laughing

Xmas gifts - still loving wearing and carrying all my new pretty things

Yellow - been my absolute favorite color forever and I'm currently loving it with black and white

Zzzz - sleep

my brain

2011-12-13T16:16:00.000-08:00

These are all the things I'm thinking about:

~Why does rainy weather make people so crazy?

~How cute and hilarious & how in love I am with my kid. (I'm always thinking about this by the way)

~I want to watch Bravo but my lack of cable is hindering this. I don't know why I miss this soul sucking network so much.

~I miss Ellen.

~I want some new toms. Possibly these.

~I love Christmas time. I need to find a Santa without a huge line to take Beckham too, I'm afraid this one is too low on my priority list to be accomplished .

~We're going to be home just the 3 of us on Christmas, and while at first I was sad, I'm now starting to become pretty happy about that.

~I hope Adam will stay up with me to watch a movie so I can fold the huge pile of laundry on our bed so we can sleep in it.

~I'm so thankful for my cousins. I know it's probably not the norm for most, but my life would just be drastically different and not as much fun without them. So thankful that one of them lives down the street and will email me everyday the whole time I'm at work to entertain me. Oh and watch my child at the same time.

~Adam, Beckham, and I are taking a family vacation this summer. It's just happening. Period.

~I'm also very thankful people write on their blogs so I can have hours of internet entertainment at work.

crazy stupid life

2011-08-16T13:46:00.000-07:00

(I saw Crazy Stupid Love last week and now I'm slightly obsessed with it)

Oh life. It is an amazing, emotional, exhausting, exciting rollercoaster. Or maybe it only feels that way if you are extremely in touch with your emotions and have a flair for drama like me. But nevertheless this is how I feel about life right now. I love it and loathe it all at once. Much like I feel about the blazing city of Austin in August.

Adam and I are about to make some serious life changes and sacrifices in order to be debt free within in the next couple of years. The amount of debt (stupid school loans) we have is kind of unfathomable to me and it was just feeling like we would never get on top of it. So we are going to make some big changes and buckle down and hopefully say good riddance. Then we can do thinks like give Beckham a sibling(s), go to Starbucks, buy a house, actually purchase things after walking around Target for an hour, go on vacations, eat sushi more frequently... you know, really important stuff. Crazy stupid life stuff.

Since we've been moving towards all these changes I've just been mentally reevaluating everything in my life and obsessing about it and rethinking it and so on and so on. I think what has made it different this time (as opposed to every other time I've done this, which might be as often as like every six months or something...) is that now I have a kid that is completely reliant upon me and that I want better for. And let me tell you that is a little daunting, yet also motivating like nothing else ever has been before. So I'm wrapping my head around all these changes and hoping for the best outcome financially, emotionally, spiritually etc.

Also, I've been working on teaching Beckham a good sense of humor. Because that is really why we had him ya know? For entertainment, so we don't have to pay for cable anymore.

five things friday

2011-07-08T15:28:00.000-07:00

1. I want to redecorate. I need someone to fund this please. Or be a visionary that is inpired by the things I already own.

2. I have been eating one of Adam's homemade brownies every day. It is starting to become a problem but they are just too delicious.

3. I finally got a 'smart phone' and it really has improved my quality of life. And encouraged my laziness. Please play Words with Friends with me: rachielane. But only if you're not an expert and I might actually win a game or two.

4. I've been wanting to go the movies every day, yet have not made it to one single movie. There are just so many good ones out right now. I'm planning on seeing one with my BFFLCs next week. I really hope someone besides my BFFLCs know what that stands for.

5. I tried to win 2 free plane tickets today. I'm pretty sure it was a lopsided deal thus I did not go through with it, yet I still gave enough information that I'm sure to have lots of telemarketers annoying me. I just really need a free vacation to someplace that is not as hot as hell.

little man

2011-03-31T13:26:00.000-07:00

I feel like Beckham is acting so old old these days, I mean for a 5 month old and all. Like I can see more of his personality and he's looking more and more like a little boy. The time is going by so fast and he's ever changing, which means I have to be too. That is a little rough for me but I'm learning more and more to be 'go with the flow' due to the two males that I live with.

So two new things that I had decided to stress about doing with him were breaking him of sleeping in a swaddle and starting solids. It is ridiculous that I decide to stress about things with him because it always works out, as do most things in life I guess. Anyways, I do think he will be pretty malleable and easy going like his dad, at least I'm hoping!

Sleeping sans swaddle & paci:

It literally took two nights of laying him down on his back and letting him cry it out for awhile. In fact he is sleeping better at night and for naps than ever. Of course he always flips to his stomach and likes to burrow into the sheet and bumper (which is why there is a bumper on because he had stuck limbs and red spots all over his large head from hitting it repeatedly on the bars), but I just obsessively check on him and he sleeps just fine. This is not 100% of the time, but it is more often than not....at least for now. Oh, and he broke himself of the paci, by screaming bloody murder every time we tried to put it in his mouth.

Since that worked out I decided to start solids last night, mainly in hopes that he will start sleeping through his routine 4 am feeding that I just love.

He clearly has no choice but to love owls since this high chair inspired me to be obsessed with them:

He was a little more interested in grabbing the spoon and chewing on it then what was actually going in his mouth, but he swallowed it all and seemed to be sad when we took him out and didn't give him more.

In these last 2 you can really see the difference in his eyes; his right one is hazel and his left one is blue. They aren't extremely different and you have to catch him in the right light, but they are definitely unique and I love it.

Delicious!

I love everything about this photo:

So basically he loved his food, who is surprised by this? Unfortunately it will be a little while before he can consume some barbeque, but I'm sure it will be a very joyous day for him and Adam.

friday five

2011-03-25T16:36:00.000-07:00

1. I took an infant from Austin, TX all the way to Artesia, NM and back in 4 days. It was exhausting and overwhelming and so worth it. We got to see his Gamma & Crawdad and cousins & spend quality time with 2 of my best friends plus lots of other fun people.

2. Beckham and I are already sweating a lot in this town. It's only March.

3. I ate from a taco trailor today that played Bob Marley music the whole time. It was delicious.

4. A friend from high school posted old pictures on fb this past week. In one picture I am a cowboy. Yes I played a man in order to avoid wearing a pink leotard and tutu.

5. Marta and Darby are coming over tonight so we can watch Les Miserables. It is the play that started my love affair with musical theater when my parents took us to see it when I was in the 3rd grade. I've seen it four times on stage since. It never gets old.

I'm going to try and post pictures of mine & B's trip at some point this week!

five things friday

2011-03-11T13:02:00.000-08:00

So my sister-in-law, Cari, has started doing 'Five Things Friday' and I liked it and so I'm going to do it too. Watch her not do it this week!

1. I love KGSR. Like obsessed with it. My sister-in-law first introduced me to it as the "keep austin weird" station when I moved here. I love everything about it.

2. Why do infant sleepers not all zip up? The ones that snap up take so long compared to the zipper. I just can't comprehend why there are more options in snaps than zippers.

3. I got Beckham on a pretty consistent schedule and he is taking two 1.5-2 hour naps a day! Just in time for the time change....

4. It has been beautiful outside! We've been taking at least one walk a day and it's been so nice. I'm sad because I know the heat/humidity will be here soon and my child will forget what the outdoors are.

5. I go to Target. all. the. time. It just gets us out of the house and keeps Beckham entertained. It makes me want to spend lots and lots of money on everything they have. Seriously, whoever they have working for them in product design & placement and marketing is a genius. Because I want everything.

Our travels have gone great and we're headed to Lubbock on Thursday and then on to Artesia on Friday. I'm nervous for the trip to Lubbock with just Becks and I, but thank goodness Michelle is going to join us for the Artesia leg of the trip. So excited to see lots of family and friends! I guess I might miss next Friday's five things....

schedules and judgement

2011-02-16T19:41:00.000-08:00

I want Beckham to be on a schedule. Period. I honestly feel like if he would be on a consistent schedule I would want for nothing. Clearly I'm delusional. Today I let him cry for an hour and a half instead of napping while being held (which he prefers, wouldn't you?) and then tried to keep him up until what I deemed should be his next nap time. I think that if I keep doing this within a couple days he'll take a nap when I want him too and we can have some consistency. I'm probably dead wrong, because there is a whole other blogs worth of factors that are hindering this schedule.

Which leads me to my next point, which is, that probably every mother that read that paragraph has some advice on what I should be doing differently or what they did that worked or what their favorite baby guru says. Lots of it I would want to hear and could potentially be really helpful, all of it will probably make me feel insecure and judged.

This is going to be a bold statement: I have never in my life joined a group that automatically comes with so much insecurity, judgement, and competition as motherhood. That is a bold statement because I am female and most 'groups' that I am a part of consist mostly of females, and lets face it, insecurity and judgment come pretty easy for us. I mean I thought after social club I could never be a part of something that bred more of those things, but motherhood probably just tops it. Before I had a baby of my own I noticed it so much in moms' conversations, blogs, facebook status' etc, and I did not want to be a part of it. But of course I have inevitably fallen into the trap more than once and its stupid and does no one any good, espcially me.

I get why it happens, because what has ever mattered as much as your kid? You want to do the 'right' thing, the 'best' thing for them and you want others to think you are doing that too. But the truth is no one else has my personality, Beckham's personality, Adam's personality combined with Adam's job and my classes and the things we need to do to make us happy and content people which will make us the best possible parents we can be. Nor do I have anyone else's personality or stressors so I can't possibly comprehend why they do the things they do, as much as I think I can.

Goodness, that whole paragraph just made me exhausted.

Bottom line is I'm going to try and do better to not perpetuate the problem. For me part of that is not taking everything personally and to stop assuming that everyone is judging me, because in truth they most likely aren't. I need to stop comparing and start accepting that everyone is doing the best that they can, including me.

So, we'll see how this nap schedule thing goes. To be honest I'm probably traveling too much to get him on a good schedule. But I would like him to take some good naps so I can plan our travels better, what a conundrum. I'm sure we will all survive and barely remember this time in a year or two (obviously Becks won't care) and hopefully I can handle it all a little more gracefully the second go round.

Here is a cute picture to lighten the mood:

Thankfully he likes me no matter how dramatic I choose to be on a daily basis. :)

rerun

2011-01-21T13:29:00.001-08:00

So basically Beckham is just a rerun of Adam 31 years later. Their birthdays are just three weeks apart and they are both easy to smile and laugh, especially in their sleep. Besides all that they look exactly alike. Seriously:

Adam - 1979

Beckham - 2010

Adam Ray

Beckham Bryan

Adam - 8 weeks

Beckham - 8 weeks

I had been thinking Becks was looking more and more like Adam, but when Rhonda pulled out these pictures over New Years I was floored. I hope Beckham is easy going, joyful, hard working, and kind just like his Dad. He does love the sound of his own voice though, so clearly I'm in there somewhere.

the come back kid

2011-01-18T19:37:00.000-08:00

I'm going to try to start blogging again! I really thought I would naturally do this when I had a baby, but then I didn't. I thought I might be one of those of people that blogged every month about what my baby is up to (because I knew that was the only way those month's milestones would be recorded), but I'm not. What I am, a person who loves to read blogs and occasionally desires to write on mine. When that desire meets up with the time/energy, I will blog. Today that has happened, lucky you!

So, even though my blog does not reflect it, I did birth a child this past October. Beckham was born on October 28, 2010 (due date baby!) at 8:20 pm. He was a massive 10 pounds 10 ounces & 22.5 inches, which explains my 30+ hours of labor and subsequent C-section. No, I had no clue he could even possibly be that big and had not had an ultrasound since 20 weeks, clearly we will be getting a new doctor. The good news is he skipped the awkward newborn phase and was immediatly cute & chunky and has never, in the slightest, felt breakable. He even gained weight in the hospital and now weighs at least 16 pounds. Other good news is the next delivery we will know exactly what to expect and that child's birthday well in advance.

We are so in love with him and I never thought staring at another human being who doesn't even know what he's doing with his own limbs could be so entertaining. He's currently smiling and cooing all the time and sleeping through the night in his own bed, these developments are very exciting and much appreciated. I have kept fully charged batteries in my camera and have a million pictures of him that I love. So many that I don't even know where to start to pick some to put on here. Thus, I will put one from the past three '28ths' of the last three months. I have at least managed to do that each month; any bets on how long I can keep it up?

October 28, 2010

November 28, 2010

December 28, 2010

I'm sure anyone who is reading this is probably my friend on Facebook & I have actually done a good job of uploading pictures there. Have to keep his massess of adoring fans happy. Maybe I'll do better about updating on here and then I won't be overwhelmed by the amount of pictures I have to choose from to post.

In other news, Adam is still a rockstar at his job and I am back in school. I took last semester off to grow and produce a child and as of today I'm back in class. It felt nice to use my brain for something other than eating and sleeping schedules, but I'm sure I'll be changing my tune about that in no time. I still don't really know how much longer I have, no longer than a year after this I hope. I'm trying to decide exactly what to do about my certification in hopes to be in the classroom sooner rather than later, so things are kind of up in the air.

Beckham & I are about to hit the road like nobody's business over the next couple months. In a couple of weeks we are going to Dallas to celebrate the upcoming arrival of Bennett Bell, then we're all three going to Lubbock to meet our new nephew/cousin Holden Haynes and go to LCU Homecoming, then Becks & I are going with Marta, Darby & Sutton to The Colony to see our life long friends the Featherstons and meet Luke, Jack, & MaryLee, then we're going to fantastic Artesia, NM to have a fun wedding weekend of showers and DIY projects for Mandy's wedding! In our one road trip so far Beckham did great so I'm expecting stellar behavior. I'm sure to have a whole blogs worth of hilarity from the drive to and from The Colony with mine and Marta's 3 kids packed in the back of her Camry. Hopefully Marta and I will return with our sanity in order for me to post about it.

My sister told me the other day that when she is reading she just naturally rearranges sentences in her head to make them sound better than they were originally written. That is all I have thought about the entire time I've been writing this blog and I'm nervous.

update and baby news

2010-06-10T07:35:00.000-07:00

Well I haven't done so great on updating my blog more often; I keep thinking about all the next events I will take my camera to in order to blog about them and then I remember that I need to buy batteries for the camera as we're walking out the door. My poor child may never have pictures.

So here are the things that I meant to take pictures of that would've made for good blog posts:

~I turned 25; Adam made me an awesome dinner and gave me a necklace with an opal in it which is October's birthstone. I'm a quarter of a century old and it's weird. Unfortunantly my husband will never have any sympathy for me feeling old!
~My best friend from high school, Jennifer, came to stay with me a couple nights and we attended "Encore" (the end of year choir show at our high school) in which her little brother was the clear star of the evening. So much fun and so hilarious to be back there watching that.
~We had a fun Memorial Day at my brother's house with the family.
~We watched our nieces Simone and Gabriella for an evening. My fave moment was when I asked Simone to please use the potty before bed and she said so seriously "Why are you mad at me?" She is a cute little manipulator.
~Our niece Darby turned 6 and had a fun rock climbing party at Main Event. Can't believe how big and old she is! Adam won our child a huge stuffed tiger. I love it.
~All the activities and funny things the kids I nanny do and say.

Things I know that are going to be happening that I am going to try and blog about:

~All the activities and funny things the kids I nanny do and say.
~Becoming a World Cup widow.
~Swimming with Darbs and the Button this weekend.
~Adams trip to North Carolina (I'll try to send the camera with him...we'll see!)
~The Jackson's visit to Austin.
~Our 4th of July in Lubbock.
~All things Baby Crawford.

And now for the most exciting news:

We're having a baby boy!!

Beckham Bryan Crawford

We're really excited! We've had Beckham picked out for a while now and I hope he's a Broadway star and Adam hopes he's a soccer player. ;) Bryan is after Adam's Dad; Adam's middle name is after his paternal grandfather and so Beckham's middle name will be as well.

We've already started collecting baby boy things and I will do my best to keep you updated on all the progress on nursery, showers, fun baby things.

Thanks for reading my pictureless blog!

PS I have blog followers? Who knew? Thanks to all 7 of you ;)

there's something inside of me with a heartbeat.

2010-04-22T19:09:00.000-07:00

Yes, its true. Don't worry, we're pretty sure its not an alien. All bets are on a human.

I'm due October 28th and we're pretty excited. It was so surreal hearing the heartbeat for the first time that when I said in shock 'there's something inside of me with a heartbeat', Adam's immediate response was 'yeah, like an alien!'.

Speaking of aliens my body does feel like an alien has taken over. No one fully prepared me for pregnancy, but I guess you can't really be prepared for something like this. Pregnancy is seriously the craziest thing that has ever happened to the human body. I am in amazement of it and think its awesome, when I have the energy left over from surviving all of my symptoms that make it difficult to live. Seriously, any pregnancy symptom you've heard of I'll bet you a hundred bucks I've had it. My alternative blog title was something along the lines of 'pregnancy turns out to be a pretty good diet'; I'm sure that will reverse itself but right now, for me, its true.

For those of you who have never been pregnant, I don't want to scare you, I just want you to be prepared. Also, apparently 'every pregnancy is different for every woman' so there is a chance you will have no nausea or other symptoms or what have you and I will hate you. :) I kid.

All of this to say we are elated and over the moon and super duper excited and out of our minds with joy, etc!

2010-04-11T16:12:00.000-07:00

Remember when I used to blog? Me too. Once I asked Adam why he didn't blog anymore and he said he just wants me to blog for our family. That has been since my last post.

I love to read blogs and yet don't know why I find it difficult to write on my own. If anything I think I really do want the memories for myself for long term. I mean I haven't ever printed off pictures from our wedding to place in the album that I bought especially for that almost two years ago. If I could at least take pictures and put them on my blog I would be coming a long way.

So we'll see what I can do. Hopefully this cute owl on the side is going to inspire me.

massie cousins

2009-12-08T10:10:00.000-08:00

I'm so glad to have such hilarious and wonderful cousins that are my friends. I've always felt way closer to them than the word cousin implies.

Here is 8 out of the 12 Massie cousins last May:

Back: Shad, Landon, Shawn

Front: Matthew, Meredith, Rachel, Marta, Rochelle

At the beginning of November Rochelle came down to Austin for Cousin's Weekend '09. She spent Thursday night attending school with me. It was pretty hilarious. Then we drank wine, baked, and stayed up way too late talking. Friday we visited Aunt Jeanie's school and did some shopping, then we headed up to Territory Trail (where Meredith and Marta live 8 houses apart) to get the weekend rolling.

I can't recount here all the hilarious things we did and talked about, because you might not find them funny. I will instead show pictures.

Cousins Night Out:

Marta, Rachel, Rochelle, Meredith

Eating Sushi:

I have a feeling Marta and Roch are texting their husbands; I think I'm texting Crystal

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of us going to Wal-Mart at the end of the night to purchase our matching shirts.

Saturday morning Aunt Jeanie and Haylie came over to Meredith's to make breakfast:

Darby and Sutton helped out too

Then we all put on our awesome matching shirts for the photo shoot. It's a tradition now apparently and it's hilarious:

Haylie and Sutton watching cartoons:

Darby and tutu:

After the photoshoot there were trips to the cemetary, Chick-fil-a, and the Outlet malls. Then we said goodbye to Aunt J and Haylie and met up with Uncle Lloyd and Aunt Pami for dinner. Saturday night included drinking wine and staying up way too late again. Sunday morning we slept, ate cinnamon rolls, drank coffee and then Rochelle had to head home.

It was one of the most wonderful weekends I've had all year! I've decided it should be twice a year, or perhaps even seasonal. Maybe we'll come to Odessa again for the next one Rochelle!

Thanksgiving came around and both Landon and Matthew were in town so it was time for more hanging out and more photos. Landon, Matthew, and Ty are not quite as enthusiatic about photo shoots.

7 of the 12:

Back:Haylie, Marta, Rachel, Landon

Front:Meredith, Matthew, Ty

2/3 of the Massie Girls:

We're going to have Cousins Christmas at Uncle Charlie and Aunt Jeanie's on the 19th and I'm so excited. I'm so happy that we live in Austin now with the majority of my mom's family so I do get to have these times with them.

The 19th will start our Christmas marathon and I'm excited! We'll be in Lubbock for a good long while, spending great time with the Crawfords, and then we'll be back in Austin to do Fenter/Goudeau Christmas. We'll be done with it all on the 3rd. I love it.

Fall and daydreaming.....

2009-10-04T18:24:00.000-07:00

These are two of my favorite things! Fall is kind of here in Austin, but I'm sure it will change soon, in fact I think it's supposed to be like 90 on Wednesday. I realize that I said I love Summer, and I do, but right now I love Fall more.

The older I get the more I realize how much I love change. I'm very happy and content where we are right now, but if we needed to move suddenly for some unexpected reason, I think I would be just fine with that. I realize that is not normal for only having lived here for six months, and I by no means want us to move, but I would definitely be very excited about many things that go along with moving. This is because I'm a daydreamer. I daydream about everything under the sun, plausible or not. Although I really love weddings, I think my obsession with my wedding (until I had one), was really because it was a great daydream.

So I said a couple posts/few months ago that I would have a post about my daydreams, and I know my fellow daydreamer Mandy is dying to read them, and so here they are in no particular order (soon, far away, realistic and never happening):

~Everything I would do if I won the lottery. Top of the list: paying of our debt and setting aside enough money for our kids college and parents retirement. Then I daydream about the fun stuff like buying a house on the lake, owning a boat, going on a million vacations, etc.

~Family Christmas card; I've decided I want to have one for every year of our marriage and someone has already put them up on their blog and thus I think about them way too much.

~The holidays in general; this year is Thanksgiving with the Fenter/Goudeaus and Christmas with the Crawfords. I don't really care which way it works out, I love it all the same.

~Owning a cute house and decorating it and imagining all the fun things that we will do in it.

~Vacations: going to Europe, cruising with Alison and Crystal, mountains with Daniel & Michelle, trips with both sides of our family, going to Oregon....hopefully at least one of these will actually happen this year.

~Having a baby.

~Being foster parents and/or adopting.

~Getting new furniture for the living room and our bedroom.

~Being a teacher.

~Being crafty, sewing, etc.

~Fun girl's weekend with Massie women when Rochelle comes into town in November and fun weekend with the Crawfords at the state fair in a couple weeks; these two are actually happening!

Um, I think I could go on and on, and I might regret sharing some of it, because I actually daydream about ridiculous things.

Maybe me or someone in my family will actually take pictures at my two fun weekends over the next couple months and maybe I'll actually put them on my blog! ;)

Back to School!

2009-07-31T14:10:00.001-07:00

I'm going to be starting grad school this fall and I'm so excited! My main excitement right now comes from the fact that I just put in my two weeks notice here at good old MHMR, but none the less I feel excited!

I'm going to be going to Texas State for my Masters in Secondary Education. Texas State's main campus is in San Marcos, but thankfully many of my classes can be taken online or at their Round Rock location. That means I won't have to drive to San Marcos for any classes this first semester, which will be really nice! I'm going to start off with the 12 hours my advisor recommended and if I stick with this pace I should be completely done (including student teaching) in two years! Not too shabby!

I'm really wanting to teach high school history, preferably US History and Government, but I'm sure I'll take whatever I can get! I honestly wouldn't mind teaching Jr. High either, I tend to get along with that age just great and will be certified to teach both, so we'll just see what happens! I decided to go ahead and get my Masters instead of just a certification because I think it will help me in finding a job and in advancement later if I decided I want to do other things in Education besides teach.

So, my last day at my job will be the 14th and then my first day of class will be the 26th. That gives me some time to try to get a non-stressful part time job somewhere. I'm hoping to get hired at a Starbucks since I've worked there before, they're normally great with working with your schedule, and on top of that I really liked it there!

As many of you may know I don't really have a reputation for being a great student; in high school and college I tended to not attend class or do my work. And I procrastinate. But, I am determined to do WAY better this go round. I have a goal in mind, I'm not there for social purposes at all, and I have the pressure of Adam! I think it will be like a whole new world for me!

summer time

2009-06-23T15:58:00.000-07:00

It's summer and I love it! Well, except for the heat and the fact that I have to work instead of play, but there is something about summer that's wonderful!

It's been a long time since I've blogged, so here is a list of fun things that have happened since I last blogged!

~I turned 24! We ate at Cheescake Factory and Adam got me some TOMS shoes!

~I bought materials for and then Adam assembled a headboard for our bed (pictures to come when I've actually made the bed!).

~My Dad's best friend's daughter, Jenna, whom I haven't seen in 6 years, came and stayed with us for a few days while doing research at UT. It was so wonderful to see her and catch up, although we didn't take any pictures! I'm horrible about that!

~Alison and Crystal came into town with lots of other LCU people for a wedding and subsequent fun-filled weekend. It was so great to see lots of people from college and have good quality time with my besties. Again, no pictures. I'm sure Alison took some that I won't approve of the general public viewing because I didn't get to preview them and then retake them when I didn't like them.

~Adam and lots of friends/family have started playing indoor soccer. Few things on this planet make Adam more happy then playing soccer! It is pretty funny to watch as it doesn't appear our team has a chance of winning a game this season. Adam has yet to go to the hospital or get ejected from a game, so the season is going well thus far.

~Awesome party at Meredith's with good food, drink, family, and friends.

I will try to take some pics of the soccer game this week! Next blog will be fun things I'm looking forward too, mainly because I love to day dream!

We Made It!

2009-05-12T17:54:00.001-07:00

That's what Adam kept saying this past weekend because one year ago from last Sunday we were doing this:

I honestly can't believe it's been a whole year! It's one of those weird time warps where it feels like it was a long time ago, yet it has flown by!

We went to San Antonio for the weekend to celebrate and we had a blast! We did all the touristy things like going to the Alamo:

and had Anniversary ("Mother's Day" for most everyone else) Brunch on the River Walk:

It has been a fabulous year and I can't wait for many more! I love you Adam!

weekends in pictures

2009-04-22T17:41:00.000-07:00

Here are the pics of our last couple weekends! The first are from Easter; thanks for putting them on Facebook so I could creepily steal them Jenn! The second group are from this past weekend when we went to the lake with friends/family, it was a blast, with very intense karoake!

Family Picture

Bryna and I shopping!

Bryna and Harper's matching Easter dresses!

Bryna keeping warm with her mom's scarf

Sleeping Harper

At Salt Lick

Riding the train at Zilker

Adam and tiny Harper!

Lake House Weekend!
the view

the girls

let freedom ring!

Marta and Kara's duet

the dogs playing

telling Scott he needs to buy a lake house like this one day

the whole group!

mystery solved

2009-04-14T07:09:00.000-07:00

RDM stands for Resiliency and Disease Management. We had a wonderful weekend with Adam's family in which we had a celebrity sighting of this man. You all must know how star struck I am.

More to come on all these things when I get some pictures from Rhonda and Jennifer and when I'm not at work.

ATX Livin'

2009-04-07T16:08:00.000-07:00

Okay my blog title is a little lame, but I'm very tired and my creative juices aren't flowing well, not that they do that often anyways!

Anyways...we've been in Austin for a little over three weeks and its been so wonderful! That probably has lot to do with the fact that I wasn't working for those three weeks, but none the less its been great!

We've gotten to do lots of fun things since we've been here, and a lot of them happened just this past weekend! On Friday we went with Jared, Kyle, and Chad to the Off-Centered Film Festival at Alamo Drafthouse for the Dogfish Head beer and cheese tasting and it was a blast. I now have a new favorite beer, Dogfish's Midas Touch; it was delicious. The owner of Dogfish was there and explained about everything we tasted and where the ideas came from and it was very interesting.

Then on Saturday Adam had a Senior Retreat for the Home's Seniors and I got to meet them downtown at Freddie's Place for dinner and then stay at the hotel with him. It was fun to meet some of Adam's co-workers and Freddie's is a very authentic Austin place, with live music and dogs. Yes, everyone brings their dogs, and some nights they have dog trick contests. I don't think Adam was a fan of the loud music or the dogs being so near his food, he's very picky about his eating environment!

Then on Sunday night we went to Stubb's for some delicious bbq and to see one of Adam's favorite musicians William Fitzsimmons. He really was incredible live, he maybe even sounded better live then recorded. It was so much fun and I of course like him now more that I've heard him live, I always do. If you haven't listened to his stuff you should, its a little depressing, but its beautiful, and his latest album was iTune's Best Folk Album of 2008.

Last night we got to eat dinner with our great friend Marina who we haven't seen in over two years! She is an admissions counselor for a university in North Carolina and was in town recruiting and thus we got to meet up with her. We ate at the restaurant that is in the building that the Real World Austin house was in and it was very disappointing because the food wasn't that great and no where did it indicate what the building was previously. It was so great to see Marina and catch up though. We can't wait to visit her and her husband Matt for World Cup 2010. They both have an obsession, along with Adam, so we're going to go visit them then, and I will take lots of books.

I also started my job today. I'm working for MHMR as the RDM Care Coordinator. As soon as I know what that means I will let you know. I'm not joking, I really have no clue what RDM stands for or what I'll be doing, but I'm sure I'll figure it out soon! Adam's job is going well, but is very stressful, its a good thing that he really does love it! I'll have to do a post about our jobs once I figure out what mine is!

Adam's family is coming to visit us this weekend for Easter and I'm so excited! I'm excited for them to see our home, and do fun Austin things, and FINALLY meet our newest niece Harper! I will try and take pictures to make my post about their trip more fun and less wordy!

Austin here we come!

2009-03-09T08:45:00.000-07:00

We are moving to Austin on Saturday! Most of you already know this I realize, but it's fun to write it on my blog, because I LOVE Austin.

Adam accepted a job as the Program Director of the Presbyterian Children's home there and so we will be moving on this Saturday and he will be starting the following Monday! He is a crazy man. This is such a great job for Adam, its right up his alley, and I know he's excited to be working with kids again.

I am so so excited to be near all my family, especially with 2 new nieces on the way! We have a great new apartment with a guest room and so any of you are welcome to come visit at any time, in fact please do! I'm also excited to be moving somewhere that I'm already familiar with, like I know how to get places and already know the radio stations! Yet, at the same time we will be living in a different area than I went to high school in, so there are still new things and places for us to explore together! I think its going to be a great change for us!

I am sad to be leaving Dallas though because some of my very best friends live here. I have loved being able to see Crystal and Jen each at least once a week, and even though I haven't gotten to see Liz as much since we moved further away from each other, I have loved the times I did get to see her and it's been nice just having that option! It will be hard to not have them so near and easily accessible.

Also, we have both been very fortunate to work for great agencies here in Dallas. Although Adam is very excited about his new job, he is also sad to be leaving Central Dallas Ministries. He really has loved/admired CDM for years before working there and that has only been enhanced by his time there. I know they really have loved him as well and are sad to be losing him. I have also loved my job at Big Brothers Big Sisters. It has become a little monotonous the past few months, but I have really enjoyed the agency and have loved my team and the friends I've made. It was honestly the best job I could have asked for to be my first job out of school, I have had great room for growth and lots of encouragement that really has made me a much more confident, and thus more capable, employee. We have both been very blessed by our jobs here.

Pray for me as I look for a new job in Austin! Its not the best time to be looking for jobs right now, especially in the non-profit world, but I know it will work out! I have applied for a couple of jobs that I'm excited about and at the very least I can start substitute teaching, I guess!

My next post will be as a proud resident of Austin, I am SO excited, I just love the city so much!

Joseph, Mary, the Angel, and baby Jesus

2009-02-23T19:09:00.000-08:00

Here are the pictures my nieces and nephew acting out a live nativity at Christmas. It was hilarious. None of us really knew what was going on, but my dad had gathered us in the living room after breakfast Christmas morning to read us the story of the birth of Jesus, something we have never done before by the way.

Then all of the sudden out of the bedroom appeared...

Joseph and Baby Jesus:

Mary (who was not really into live nativities or costumes):

and the Angel:

Mary scolding Joseph about his care of Baby Jesus:

Joseph placing Baby Jesus in the manger:

This was all so unexpected and hilarious! Simone (Mary) wasn't really into any of it, Darby (the Angel) was just interested in her costume and flying around and NOT saying "Glory to God in the highest" like Poppa told her too and Sutton (Joseph) LOVED it all. He loved that we were all laughing and laughed right along doing whatever we told him Joseph should do. It is for sure one of my favorite Christmas memories of all time!

wonderful weekends!

2009-02-10T17:18:00.000-08:00

The past two weekends have been a blast! I got to do two of my favorite things: spend quality time with my sister and see tons of friends and family at once!

Two weekends ago my sister's husband planned a fun filled surprise weekend for Marta and I while he was out of town. I got in Friday night and surprised her, although she had already deduced that it was probably me coming! On Friday night we went and saw Bride Wars (we thought it was hilarious) while Adam stayed with the kids!

Then Saturday we took Darby and Sutton to my aunts for the day and night so we could have a kid free 24 hrs! We then met my dad for lunch at one of our favorite places, Hula Hut. We had great quality time the three of us and then Dad even took us and bought us some pens. Yes writing pens; my dad collects fountain pens and bought us some really cool things called Sherpas. You'll have to google them. We love them!

Afterwards we got to go on a mini shopping spree; Marta had strict instructions to buy 2 dressy outfits, one for our night out on Saturday and one for a surprise Kyle has for her in March. I also took the advantage of shopping to buy myself an outfit!

Saturday night we got drinks and then went to see the Broadway show "Ain't Misbehavin" with Ruben Studdard and Frenchie (last name?) from American Idol! It was down town at the Paramount and it was AMAZING! It was basically just a musical review of 20's/Big Band music and it was phenomenal! There was actually another girl from American Idol in the cast too, that for some reason wasn't billed, but I can't remember her name! Marta? Afterwards we had another one of my other Austin favs, Kerby Lane! Mmmm breakfast!

It was a wonderful and fun weekend! Thanks Kyle!

Then this past weekend we went to Lubbock for Masterfollies/Homecoming at LCU. We got in late Friday and hit the ground running!

Friday night I went out with some of my good friends from club and had a blast catching up and staying up way too late.

Then Saturday we woke up early and went to our clubs alumni breakfast. Thankfully Adam and I were in "brother" and "sister" clubs and have the same breakfast, along with Marta and Kyle, even though they're all WAY older than me ;)! It was so great to see so many people that you haven't seen in at least a year or longer! We then went to lunch with some good friends and took much needed naps!

Saturday night we went to Masterfollies and I loved it. My club didn't do so hot, I think they are in a recession or something, but none the less I LOVE follies. I always have since I was a child. I guess at some point I'm supposed to grow up and get over it, but I might never do that. It was really fun to see all the shows though and all the people we didn't already see at breakfast!

Sunday after church we went to lunch with the Crawfords and then I got to go to my sister-in-law's baby shower for our niece, Harper, who will be here in less than a month! I'm so glad Heather thought to have the shower on this weekend so me and others from out of town could come, because I would have been sad to miss it! They got tons of great stuff and Harper is going to be a very well dressed child, that may have to have outfits changed 3 times a day in order to use all her cute clothes up!

My sister-in-law Jessica's shower for other niece, Gabriella (also due in one month), was on the same day in Austin and I was sad to miss hers! I want to see some pictures please, April and Cari! I'm looking forward to making April's shower though for our other niece (name yet to be determined), due in April. Yes, we are having 3 nieces in 2 months! Yay for girls!

Anyways, (if you actually made it this far in this post) I wasn't very good at taking pics in Lubbock, ie I did not take any. I did manage to get a couple from Austin though and one is below! I'll do another post later this week with some pictures of the kids live nativity at Christmas. No one put pics of that up on their blogs and they need to be posted for the world to see!

Marta and I in our new outfits before our night out!

Master Adam

2008-12-15T18:23:00.001-08:00

This past Saturday Adam graduated with his Masters in Social Work! It was a very exciting and long anticipated day. Adam has been working very hard and sacrificing a lot for school for the past 2 1/2 years and it was so exciting to celebrate the culmination of all that. Adam's parents, both his sisters, our niece, our cousin-in-law, and my grandparents all made it out for the big day and it was a lot of fun.

It was the most exuberant and exciting graduation I have ever attended! There was extreme cheering, yelling, clapping, and standing up for pretty much every graduate. The speaker was the new Associate Dean for the School of Social Work (it was only Social Work graduates) and surpassed any graduation speaker I have ever heard; she was inspiring, funny, and to the point (ie not very long!).

Here are some pictures of the big day:

Walking in....the girl behind him looks very excited!

Getting his name announced!

Getting "hooded"

Moving their tassles over

"Master Adam" and myself

Adam and his sisters, Heather and Jennifer

Adam and Gran

Adam and his parents, Bryan and Rhonda

It was a wonderful celebration and we're so so happy he is done with school...for now at least!

2008-11-20T06:25:00.000-08:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADAM!!!!

deep in the heart of texas

2008-10-22T19:36:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we went to the Texas State Fair! I have been looking forward to it all fall and I am so glad we went when we did because, little did I know, it was the last weekend it was here!

I went last year with my parents and my Uncle John the day after we got engaged and have just had such great memories of it being a fabulous day and so much fun; and thus I have built the whole experience up in my mind for a entire year. I tend to do this though: I think something will be fun, decide to do it, day dream about it up until the event, and then have way too high expectations! Thankfully, Adam has great memories of going to the Lubbock fair and thought it would be fun too!

My high expectations did make the start to the day a little rough; but we soldiered through and eventually all my expecations were met...once I stopped having them! (If only I could remember this life lesson, I learn it several times a year, yet always seem to forget!)

Here are some pictures from our FABULOUS time at the fair:

BIG TEX:

Attempts of BIG TEX, Adam, & Rachel:

Photo by Adam:

Photo by Helpful Stranger:

Best Fair Food 2007/Fried Grilled Cheese:
Tasted like pure grease:
At the top of the ferris wheel!:

It was a wonderful day and now I will start my anticipation for next year!

_________________________________________

I've decided to do better about blogging. I told my sister that facebook wasn't for half-doers and she threw it back in my face! She got on the facebook bandwagon full force, so now its my turn with this blogging thing.

I also need to be better about responding to comments and actually start to comment on all the blogs I read...I tend to stay on "safe ground" and only comment, occasionally, on family member's blogs! Part of my excuse is that I don't have "events" to blog about....but I've seen some things like posts about what people are reading, their "favorite things", favorite movies, or just life thoughts in general; and I'm sure I can muster up some more good office stories!

So, I'm throwing it out there so hopefully I'll follow through; I'm going to post and comment more!

good love is on the way

2008-08-22T14:52:00.000-07:00

This post is a little over due....but its never an inappropriate time to talk about my friend John. A few weeks ago I went with my best friend from high school (although our friendship obviously transcends the limits of good ole CP) to see John Mayer. It was simply amazing.

I just love John; him, Jen, and I just have so many great memories together. Like dancing in the car our senior year of high school to Why Georgia while "Nigel with the brie" (my crush for WAY too long) stared on, or having Room For Squares be the soundtrack to the best summer of our lives (felt that way in high school), or making an almost 24 hr trip to visit him & Jen in Oklahoma City my freshman year, or singing every word to every song our first time with him while Crystal yells "marry me John" in the background.....the list goes on.

With this concert we probably added our favorite memory, and I mean that for all three of us. The night was incredible: we ate Chuys before hand (John couldn't make it but we thought of him often), he sang all our favorites, we danced the WHOLE time, and John didn't wear his shirt; what more could we ask for?

It was a fabulous night and we plan on many more!

PS - I do still have a husband (he's totally supportive of mine and John's relationship) and he has started blogging again...you should read it!

the office...

2008-07-29T11:09:00.000-07:00

is honestly where I feel like I work sometimes. I have a great job, with great hours, great experience, great friends, great benefits, ect; but sometimes the things we do are hilarious and it feels like we're on an episode of "the office".

Bowl for Kids Sake (BFKS, bc I'm too lazy to keep typing that!) is a huge fund raiser we do all year long with volunteers throughout the community who get friends and family to sponsor them to bowl (think Jog-a-thon in elementary school). So, a couple of Fridays ago we had an All-Staff BFKS and if you participated then you didn't have to work during those hours, sounds pretty great, right? Well, here is where the "officy" stuff comes in.

Like a whole month before the actual day they had a Kick-Off Party, which was basically one huge extremely awkward bowling party. It was from 11 to 2 and it was "come and go" and they had Wii bowling, bowling decorations, a bowling cake, huge plastic bowling set, ect. and like 90's alternative music blaring. They presented it as "come and sign up and hang out"; except we're really supposed to be working, and there were never more than 3 people in there at a time, and you really sign up online so there was not a tangible reason to be there.

So awkward and hilarious.

Then for the actual day of BFKS your team had to have a theme and costumes and lane decorations. I mean, I really thought when I left LCU that my days of buying things at GoodWill and Savors were over and that my roommate's costume box was a thing of the past (apparently she knew better because she still has it!) But no, no it's not, not when you have to be a Bowling Barbie:

Tennis Barbie, Sleepy Time Barbie, Malibu Barbie, Rocker Barbie, and Evening Gown Barbie.

Oh yes, we had wigs, we had lots of blue eye shadow and pink blush, and we were each a specific Barbie. And yes, this picture is taken in my office; I was dressed like this in my work place where I'm supposed to be a professional. And to top that off, four of the five of us are from the same team, and apparently we were supposed to come into work in the morning before BFKS started, because our boss sure did! But instead, we showed up in these clothes and did eachothers make up in the bathroom!

I was getting a little nervous about how ridiculous we looked until we showed up at the bowling alley and everyone else was equally enthralled in the competition. Let me tell you though, we TOTALLY got the shaft on the awards, we didn't win anything! And look at our lane:

Overall it really was a hilarious and fun day. Thank goodness I have fun girls on my team (and Heather too!) that make things like this fun to do together!

But honestly, this is just one episode; you combine this with the general awkwardness that are some people on my team, and on other teams ,and just the feel of the office, with themed trainings where you win candy for having the right answer, and all-staffs where we are led in camp songs that require singing as well as choreography.....it is the office!

P.S. The Nerd Herd swept the competition:

Starting fresh....

2008-07-14T08:38:00.000-07:00

Well, I decided to start like new with my blog! Since it had been so long since I had posted and so much has happened, I thought a fresh start would be good!

Our wedding went wonderfully and seems like a lifetime ago now! It was everything I dreamed of, and even with the unbelievable heat and little mix ups here and there, in my mind it was still perfect! I, of course, couldn't pick out "just a few" pictures to put on here; but my favorite is up top and my sister posted a lot of great ones on her blog (click Marta on the side; I don't know how to put that link on my blog!). Marta also posted some really fun ones of our brother's wedding that was just 6 weeks after ours and absolutely gorgeous!

So much has happened since we got married that I don't even know where to start! In the two months since we've been married both of my maternal grandparents have passed away (3 trips to Austin), my brother got married (1 trip to Austin), Adam's sister Jenn had beautiful baby Bryna (1 trip to Lubbock), and one of my best friends from college came to visit before her 4 month trip to Peru (one fun filled bff weekend w/ Alison and Crystal in DFW). All of that mixed with our combined regular busy schedules of work, church, school, and practicums, with a little car trouble mixed in, and things have been crazy busy!

Adam warns me that this is how his life has always been and I should get used to it! And I must say, while its been a whirlwind, I wouldn't have it any other way or have wanted to have all these experiences with anyone else!

Right now we're going to enjoy the end of our summer and gear up for the fall when Adam starts working full time, finishes up school (only 9 hours left!!), and I start working long days for BBBS' "busy season"! Also, I'm making a vow to post more often and include pictures...much more exciting than all these words!