Texas in December

Thought I'd share a few pics from our road trip to Texas for Christmas. First of all I'm SO thankful that our drive was easy this year! We got there in 13 hours, which was a HUGE improvement to the 24+ it took us two years ago:

and...

Ya, so MUCH better this year. Lesson learned: check the weather before you go.

Anyways, we got there on December 23rd & stayed until December 31st, so it was a nice long trip! We did a lot of shopping, gift giving, & eating. A picture with my beautiful & very generous mother in law:

Mike got a boat...

Of course it had to be blown up in the dining room...

We went to a great Christmas Eve service at The Village. The pastor talked about how we're in a second season of Advent now, which I had never thought of before. One aspect of Advent is preparing for Christmas, but the second Advent is waiting for the return of our Messiah. And we're never going to be fully satisfied until He does, because we are waiting & longing for perfection, which comes after Christ returns. Anyways, quite interesting. And packed! We got turned away from the first service because the auditorium was already full! By the way, they are in an old Albertsons- it's not a small church!

Christmas was at Grannie's house, with lots of yummy food & a fun gift exchange. I got to spend some time with Michael's cousin Greg's 6 week old baby, which made me very happy. No pictures, though. =(

After Christmas, we drove to San Antonio for the Baylor bowl game. On the way we passed through Waco & I went back to the campus for the first time in a few years:

Sic 'em Bears!

Baylor really does have beautiful architecture!

 We went to the Riverwalk in downtown San Antonio, ate lunch on the river, & went to the Alamo, which is in downtown San Antonio!

P.S. The temperatures were in the 70s, and I was soaking up every second! It snowed about a foot in Colorado the day before we left, so 70 degree weather was much welcomed!!

That night we went to the Alamo Bowl, where Baylor & Washington set a bowl record for highest combined point total. Thankfully Baylor came out on top 67-56. Obviously both defenses were terrible! Honestly I got tired of cheering for touchdowns...

Baylor's first ever Heisman winner: Robert Griffen III

We win! Yay!

We drove back from San Antonio on the 30th, then took off for Colorado on the 31st. So, lots of driving those days. And driving on New Year's Eve. Yay. But now we're home safe, finally getting back into the routine of work, laundry, cooking, all the fun stuff you don't have to do while on vacation. This year made for a great trip & we're hoping some of our Texas family will come out to visit us in Colorado this summer!! **Wink, wink**

Happy New Year everyone! Check out my "12 in 2012" tab under the main picture to follow me on my new year's goals! I'd love to hear about yours!

Texas for a Weekend

I've got some catching up to do! I'm on to the third weekend in October... Here's a glimpse:

We flew to Texas for the weekend of Oct 14th-17th for Michael's 10 YEAR REUNION! Wow. To some, it may not seem that long, but for someone who can't imagine being in the "real world," it sure is a strange feeling. My husband has been graduated for 10 years. And I'm not far behind... It's just weird. Time escapes like a cloud of smoke. You think you can hold it in, but then it just disappears...

So I've got to set the stage for this. I went to high school in Ft. Collins, CO. I graduated with 600+ people in my class. I couldn't imagine driving 45 minutes to get to the mall. Michael, on the other hand, went to high school in Pilot Point, TX. His graduating class was 60-something. He drove 45 minutes to get to a movie theater. We grew up in different worlds. Small town Texas is everything you think of when you see "Friday Night Lights." Everybody knows each other, everyone goes to the Friday night football game, and let me tell you, it's serious business.

On Friday, there was a parade & pep rally in the afternoon:

Then the football game that night:

As I'm intently watching the game (mind you), I happened to be slightly distracted by this interesting phenomenon. There are these massive ribbony things that all the kids wear around. You know those cheesy ribbons you used to get for field day participation or something? Think of that. On steroids. I tried to get a picture:

The kids lug these ribbons around with them. I guess it's like wearing a letter jacket, or something similar. Guys usually buy them for the girls to take them to homecoming. I'm sure I'm messing the tradition up. But I was fascinated! =)

Anyways, back to important Reunion News. We were supposed to have a big fancy dinner at a big fancy place (it's his reunion, not mine...as shown by my being oblivious to details) . But I guess not enough people signed up... So, instead, we went to... a bar. Bully's, or something... Yay. Not to interfere with the awesome-ness of what is a 10 Year Reunion, but my idea of a good reunion doesn't exactly include a too-loud band, smoking (yes, inside), drinking & taking lots of photos. It was fine, & I know Michael was glad to catch up a little with his old friends, & I got free Diet Coke. Who's to complain?

We didn't have a huge amount of time, but in the time we did have, we got a fried chicken meal (a staple), went shopping for new jeans for Michael, a lovely steak dinner, & just time to spend with the Hollar family. We also went to The Village Church on Sunday morning. If you're ever in North Texas, go here.  Every time I get to go there, I am in awe of the great things God is doing. The church bought an old Albertsons & is reaching massive amounts of people with the Bible. The teaching pastor, Matt Chandler, was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2010, at the age of 35. If you have time, read this.  This place is rocking for Jesus, and I love it!

A few final photos from our visit:

Michael & I with my beautiful mother-in-law Sandra!

Fried chicken, fried okra, green beans, biscuit & gravy. Done.

Getting ready to head back to Colorado!

Overall we had a fantastic time & look forward to going back for Christmas this year!

Next Week: Birthday & Wedding Cupcakes...