The Von Hohn's

Couponing fun!

2011-07-31T17:33:00.004-05:00

I coupon every week...I've learned to enjoy it (or at least I enjoy the going to the store and saving money part). I've actually gotten to the point where I feel ripped off if I have to pay full price for something. Asher is learning the value of a good coupon early. Here he is helping me with this weeks coupons...

Hum...where are the good ones...

Oh here's a good one mom...get this one!

How can we save more on diapers...I just don't know?

Let me eat my ball while I think about it...

I'm all done...I'm happy with the savings :)

Asher update

2011-07-05T14:56:00.003-05:00

Okay so I've been really bad about updating the blog. We've had so much fun the last couple of months I haven't had time! We've gotten to do some spring/summer traveling over long weekends. We went to Arizona for Kris's 20 year HS reunion, we've traveled to Indiana to see my mom's side of the family, and we've traveled to the lake house in East Texas twice.

Asher is now 7 months old. He has 7 teeth (I know it's crazy). He can crawl, sit up by himself and say "mama" and "dada". He LOVES to play with his toys, go swimming and take baths. He is a really good eater, his favorite foods include, bananas, squash, cheerios, apple sause, watermelon and peaches. He's always happy and smiling.

Here are some recent pics:

All Camo-ed out!

2011-03-18T21:26:00.006-05:00

Daddy and Asher had their first camo excursion - to the front yard.

Attack of the doggie

2011-03-17T22:02:00.008-05:00

It was just a normal evening...Asher was in his "frog and friends" pjs getting ready for bed.

Then all the sudden out of nowhere a doggie came and started attacking...

It was okay, cause Asher had a plan of defense...eat his nose.

After that they made up and decided to be friends...

And then they headed off to bed.

7 week Pictures

2011-02-19T14:55:00.007-06:00

We got professional pics taken of Asher at 7 weeks. He did amazing! The photographer said that she had been shooting babies for 5 years and does about 100 babies a month and can count on one hand how many will smile and look at the camera that early. She actually ask if we would give permission for the company to use him in promotional material (maybe you'll see him around). We are thrilled with how well the pics turned out! Here are just a few of my favorites!

Bath Time

2011-02-15T22:06:00.006-06:00

Ash loves bath time! The warm water, the nice smelling soap...I mean what's not to love?

Here are a few pics of him enjoying the bath (aka master bathroom sink)...

Here's a pic of him and dad in his Baylor towel...dad is teaching him sic'em bears!

Happy Baby

2011-02-01T08:50:00.010-06:00

I'm so blessed to have such an easy baby. He's so portable, he loves to go visit friends, go on car rides and go out to eat. He also has enjoyed shopping from time to time. Ash has been all smiles since we came home for the hospital (which I guess is a little unusual that he smiled so early). He is Mr. Personality!

Here he is at 1 week

5 weeks

6 weeks

7 weeks

9 weeks

Of course Asher does mean HAPPY in Hebrew.

Asher 12 days old

2010-12-12T20:31:00.010-06:00

I love the pouty face!

Birth Story

2010-12-05T03:56:00.013-06:00

First I want to start by thanking Sharon and Kandis of First Birth Ministries. You ladies have truly been a blessing to us and without your wisdom, support and encouragement I know our birth story would not be the same.

So here's my birth story, I don't know how interesting it is to anyone other than me, but I want to document it before I forget it.

I was scheduled to be induced on Monday, November 29th since I was 9 days past my due date. I was to go in to the hospital that night, they were going to ripen my cervix with some cream or something and then hopefully Tuesday I would have a baby...that was the doctors plans anyways, turns out the Lord had other plans...way better plans.

Sunday we ran around like crazy looking for housing supplies for a rental house we had purchased, I was hanging in there pretty well considering I was 10.5 months pregnant. Sunday night we got home and I had this urge to clean the house, or make it cleaner than it was considering it was already pretty clean, I should have known then the crazy nesting phase had kicked in and labor was not far away. I stayed up until 1:00 vacuuming (yeah I said it was crazy). At 2:30 am I awoke with contractions, these had felt different than the braxton hicks because they were lower and coming at regular intervals. I labored in bed until 4:30, remembering that Sharon had said to get as much rest as possible in early labor. From 4:30-6:00 I walked around the house and got into different labor position that seemed to ease the pain, I was contracting about every 3-4 minutes. At 6:00 I decided I wanted to take a bath...only problem was that in my crazy nesting stage, I hadn't thought to actually clean one of the bath tubs. I had to wake up Kris.

I woke Kris up and ask him to clean the tub, I remember his response being something like "This is crazy, didn't I JUST clean it?", my response "JUST, was 4 weeks ago and since then you went to Canada where you didn't shower for a week and then came home and used our bath tub". He agreed it probably needed cleaned - lol. By 6:15 am I was in the tub. The bath water was amazing, I remember there being a point in time where I actually thought my contractions had stopped. Turned out they hadn't cause the second I got out of the bath, they were back, coming at about every 2 minutes. I labored in different positions around the house for a little while longer and then took a shower so I could wash my hair and clean off before real labor started. When I got out I was pretty hungry so I thought I should wake Kris up, again, and have him go get us food.

By the time Kris got back with food it was 8:30 am and I was really in some pain. I told him we didn't have time to eat that we needed to get to the hospital (big mistake I should have stuck it out and eaten cause later I would be starving). I think he was a little shocked that labor had progressed that quickly. He loaded up the car and we were off. The drive there seemed to take forever and having contractions in the car with a seat belt on was not much fun. Not to mention that Fannin is like the bumpiest road in Houston!

By 9:10 we were at the hospital checking in and by 9:30 I was in a labor and delivery room. The nurse checked me and I was already at 5 cms! Labor was going well so far, but the pain was starting to get worse. Kris was doing a good job coaching me and helping me implement the breathing skills we had learned in our birthing class. We were determined to stick to our birthing plan and complete the process without an epidural.

By 11:30 I was at 7 cms and the pain was continuing to get worse, I was still on board with our no epidural plan, but I wanted something for the pain. They offered me Nubain to take the edge off, so I took it. I felt so much better, I was finally able to relax a little. The only problem was that it slowed my contractions. Luckily, the Nubain wore off in about two hours, however I had not continued to progress any. By 2:30 they were wanting to give me Pitocin. Kris and I both knew if I took the Pitocin the chances of me making it without the epidural was slim. The nurse was pushing me to take the epidural and the Pitocin; it was pretty obvious that I was getting tired and hungry. Kris actually had to ask the nurse to leave our room for a little while so we could discuss our options. It was time to call for back-up. Kris sent out a prayer request and called Sharon for some advice.

After talking to Sharon we knew that I had to get into some different laboring positions in order to keep progressing. I laid over the back of the bed face down to change my position. Kris also kept reminding me every contraction to continue to stimulate my breasts (not going to lie, I was getting pretty tired of hearing him say it). Doing this releases hormones that help the rogression of labor. I could tell the contractions were getting closer together and more intense. At this point I really thought I couldn't do it anymore and really wanted the epidural. Kris continued to be upportive and remind me that I was almost there...but I wasn't sure I was buying that, I still wanted the epidural.

All the sudden I was feeling the urge to push! I told the nurse and Kris that I was feeling the urge to push. She doubted that was really true since she had just checked me 15 minutes earlier and I was still at a 7. She ask if I wanted more Nubain and some pitocin, I agreed. So she checked me again - the look on her face was priceless - I had gone from a 7 to a 10 in 15 minutes (the power of prayer)! She agreed that I probably WAS feeling the urge to push.

She encouraged me not to push, to wait for the doctors (which I ignored and continued to push cause it felt better than contracting). I remember asking what happened to my Nubain; she commented that it was too late for that? I was going to have to do this with no meds - I wasn't sure I had it in me, but at this point it was too late to turn back. Kris continued to coach me and help me breath through the contractions, which were coming every minute or so at this point. At 3:30 the doctors and nurses were set up and they were ready for me to start pushing!

Then all the sudden - stage fright...the contractions stopped for 8 minutes. Nothing, everyone was just sitting there waiting. Finally they came back and I continued to push. Kris and the nurse held my feet and encouraged me that they could see the head! Finally after an hour of pushing Kris exclaimed - he's out!! I was so happy - I had done it and with no drugs!! At 4:38 pm, after 14 hours of labor, Edward Asher Von Hohn was born! He was 8 lbs 2 oz and 20.5 inches long!

I remember asking the doctor if I had to continue to push for the afterbirth, he said no that it would come out on it's own. What he failed to mention was that they would practically karate chop my stomach in order to get the plicenta out. After about 3 minutes the plicenta was out and I was done. We had done it, no drugs, no epidural, no c-section. Praise God our little boy was here! I was so happy! I of course immediatly ordered some food!

Maternity Pics - 26 Weeks.

2010-08-20T15:48:00.004-05:00

I still need to post pics of our super awesome trip to Mexico! In the mean time, we went to Austin last weekend to visit our good friends, the Guesskids. Elizabeth is starting her own photography studio and took some maternity photos of me. She did such an awesome job! If any of you are in the Austin area and want some fun family photos, I highly recommend Elizabeth - email me and I'll put you in contact with her!

Here are a few of the fab photos:

Babymoon

2010-07-21T15:47:00.002-05:00

Kris and I are back from our babymoon on Isla Mujeres...we had a fabulous time! The resort was so wonderful, the weather was perfect, and the food was so amazing...our favorite thing we did on the trip was swim with whalesharks (which aren't actually a whale or a shark, but rather, a giant fish). Here's a pic of the fun...more to come later!

Week 18 Momma and Baby Pics

2010-06-25T09:48:00.008-05:00

Here are pics from week 18. We went in for our ultrasound on Tuesday - we're having a baby BOY!! Still right on track for a November 20 due date.

Baby BOY Von Hohn pics:

He def has 5 toes on that foot!

The whole 3D thing kinda trips me out...but I do think he has my nose...Kris thinks it's too early to tell :)

Guard Dog

2010-06-24T16:45:00.005-05:00

I'm home sick today and when I woke up from my nap I looked outside and this is what I saw...

Glad to know that Pate is so diligent at guarding the house during the day :)

Pregnant Belly - Week 15

2010-06-06T16:54:00.004-05:00

Okay so a bunch of you (mainly my 4 sister-in-laws) have been asking for pregger belly pics. Kris took these pics a week ago...you can't really see much so far, mainly cause I'm just now getting to the point where I'm keeping food down. But I have started to feel my pants getting a little tighter and my bellies a little flabbier, but that could be the lack of working out - not sure?

\

What we've been up to

2010-05-19T14:37:00.010-05:00

Okay so I've been really bad at updating the blog lately, I'm going to blame it on the fatigue and morning sickness (which really should be called all day long sickness)...but really it's more just because we've been busy lately. So what have we been up to... Baylor Men's Basketball was in town for the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight - it was super fun to go see them play - Go Bears!

Kris threw me a super, awesome surprise party for my 30th b-day!

I started a new job in mid April at Direct Energy and am really enjoying it. The hours are much better than in public and I really like the group I'm working with. Greenway is a super fun area of town to work in. Everyone switch your electric provider to DE!!

We had a super-fun crawfish boil with our Sunday School class, Found. The weather could not have been more perfect for it!

We've also been to the family lake house in East Texas several times to view the progression of the build out and wrap up the loose ends up there. Kris planted wild flowers and put up a bird feeder and bird houses, hopefully the birds are enjoying their new habitat. Puppy Pate always enjoys trips to the lakehouse, he particularly loves attacking the sprinklers!

Back by popular demand...

2010-03-24T12:49:00.006-05:00

PUPPY PATE!!

He's a giant...he's only about half grown but already weighs about 55lbs.

Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo

2010-03-04T17:02:00.002-06:00

I love, love, love the rodeo! Did you know that this is the 78th year of the HLSR? 22,000 Houstonians volunteer annually to make it a success! "It's the world's largest livestock exhibition, world's richest regular-season rodeo and the Southwest's premier entertainment event." In 2009 almost 2 million people attended the rodeo making it the third largest fair or festival in North America. Since 1932 the rodeo has contributed more than $250 million to schalorships, research and other educational programs. And if that isn't enough...the mutton busting is sure to be a hit!

It's so much fun, this year we're going with a group of friends to see the Black Eyed Peas - I can't wait!!

Puppy Pate Update

2010-03-04T12:09:00.005-06:00

So puppy Pate has been growning like a weed...he went in for his 5 month shots and microchip and he now weighs 42 pounds - yikes! Appearently there was a Mastiff in there earlier the same age as him and he didn't weigh as much!

He's doing really, he can sit, heal, stay, fetch, come and kinda lay down (he's not too great at that one). He's starting to bite less which is really nice, but he's still ALL PUPPY!!

Here he is fetching Martin, he's favorite squirl toy (that recently took a trip to the lake house and didn't return, I think he made a break for it).

He's such a happy puppy!

Projects

2010-03-02T09:08:00.009-06:00

Now that I know how to sew, I've had a lot of fun doing little projects around the house...

A few weeks ago I painted and upholstered this bench (which didn't require any sewing, but it did require cutting the material, which I think is the hardest part). It now sits at the foot of our bed with a "His" and "Hers" basket for misc. stuff found laying around the house...

I also made this fun apron with Rachel and Sam. We all got together a few weeks ago and cut the patterns and then finished them on our own, it was a lot of fun. Here's the finished product:

Here is it on...which isn't the best picture since I was taking it of myself.

My latest project was a pillow for our guest room. I'm quite proud of this one cause it was the first time I had used trim and velcro and because it only took me 2 hours from start to finish!! I was worried that I would get done and my pillow insert wouldn't fit inside...but it did!

Here's Trinity helping out...

Here I am inserting the pillow into it's case.

AND here is it...resting in it's new home in the guest room!

Sew Crafty

2010-02-09T17:47:00.007-06:00

A few weeks ago my friend Rachel and I took a sewing class at Sew Crafty in the Heights...it was so much fun, we got to bring our own machines and learn all about them! Here is my machine (Kris got it for me last year as a birthday gift).

Since then I've made a window treatment over the kitchen sink.

And a valance for over the kitchen table. Kris cut out the shape for me with his jigsaw and then I covered it and put trim on it. Sewing the material so you couldn't see the seam proved to be harder than I thought it would. Now if I could only get DH (dear husband) to hang it for me...

Here's a pic of my boys admiring my awesome work (not really, I just thought it was a cute pic of them)... I would also like to add that Pate isn't usually allowed to come in the house, let alone on the coach!

This weekend Sam, Rachel and I are making these cute aprons - I'm so excited!!

I'm also hoping to make window treatments in the living room and matching pillows!

Stella & Dot Spring Line

2010-01-05T16:28:00.002-06:00

Stella & Dot is coming out with the new spring/summer line soon and I cannot wait! Plus the fall/winter items are up to half off right now!!

Stella & Dot Spring Teaser

www.stelladot.com/jacquie

Happy shopping!

Puppy Pate

2009-12-27T08:19:00.006-06:00

Puppy Pate is home!! So far he's been living inside cause he can still slip through the gate in the back and can't be trusted outside by himself. He's now 10 weeks old and is a giant! He's going to be big! He's doing really well, he can sit, come, respond to his name, heal (kind of) and hasn't had that many accidents inside. He's house breaking nicely. Now if we can just keep him from chewing on everything!!

He's gone to the lakehouse with Kris for the weekend, which is nice cause I can actually get things done around the house without worrying about him eating something. He keeps falling in the lake so we had to get him a puppy life vest, it's so funny to see him wearing it.

He also got a visit from Santa, Mrs. Claus, the Elf and the Grinch. He didn't seem too excited about the visit until he discovered the eating the Elf's shoes were quite fun!

Anniversary

2009-12-24T17:50:00.007-06:00

While I was traveling, Kris and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary on October 20th! It's been so amazing to be married to such an awesome, Godly man for 2 years! He's such a great husband (especially to put up with me being out of town for our anniversary). I love you Pumpkin!!
Even though I was out of town for our anniversary we still managed to get each other gifts (which is my love language, so Kris has learned to become very good at giving gifts).
I got him a remote control airplane. It's so cool, it can do anything a real airplane can do. Kris has become very skilled at flying it. I flew it for about 20 seconds and almost crashed it, but Kris learned to fly it and take off on land and water and hasn't had any major crashes...he's amazing at it!

And as my present, Kris got me a puppy!!! PUPPY PATE, we've been waiting a while for the breeder we picked to have puppies and they finally did, on our anniversary! Puppy Pate came home on Dec. 13th! He's a white lab.

Happy Anniversary Pumps - I love you!!

Where have we been...

2009-12-24T17:14:00.009-06:00

Yes I know it's been forever since I've updated the blog (4 months actually)...and I never finished the Europe Trip (I really am going to try to get back to that). So where have I been? Traveling for work! It's been crazy, hectic at work, thus I haven't updated the blog in a while. So where did I go you ask...

For 2 weeks I was in College Station. Whoop! I hadn't ever spent any time in Aggieland, I was quite surprised by the plethora of good restaurants (which is really the most important thing when you're traveling for work). One evening I walked all around campus and checked it out. It definitely made me miss the college days - going to class in pajama pants - so awesome!

While we were there the client took us to a restaurant and gift shop called Maddens in downtown Bryan - it was so awesome, if you ever get the chance stop in there and eat, do it. The food is excellent and the gift shop is so cute, I wanted one of everything!
We also ate at the Chicken Oil Company burger place - the burgers were so delish! And the restaurant was so Texan, I loved it!

After my trip to College Station I headed to Denver City, Texas (no relation to Denver, Colorado). To get to Denver City we flew into Odessa and then drove 3 hours south west - yeah so basically to the middle of no where...we staying in Hobbs, New Mexico, which was about an hour away cause it was the closest town with a new hotel and restaurants. We audited a power plant...it was so interesting to learn about how electricity is generated!

The sky in West Texas is so beautiful - it's so flat you can see the storms rolling in!

From West Texas I traveled to Galveston to audit Moody Gardens. Moody is always a lot of fun at Christmas. They set up the Festival of Lights which is 1 mile of lights that you walk through, it's really beautiful. It was much nicer being on Galveston Island in Nov/Dec of this year verses last year right after the hurricane.

So what has Kris been doing while I've been out of town all this time. He's been keeping busy working and dealing with estate stuff (particularly the lake house)...more to come on that later...

Laminin

2009-08-13T11:40:00.003-05:00

Okay I promise eventually I'll get the rest of the Europe Trip up! But for now, I got this e-mail forwarded today, and think our God is so amazing!

A couple of days ago I was running (I use that term very loosely) on my treadmill, watching a DVD sermon by Louie Giglio... And I was BLOWN AWAY! I want to share what I learned.... But I fear not being able to convey it as well as I want. I will share anyway.He (Louie) was talking about how inconceivably BIG our God is.... How He spoke the universe into being... How He breathes stars out of His mouth that are huge raging balls of fire.. . Etc. Etc.

Then He went on to speak of how this star-breathing, universe creating God ALSO knitted our human bodies together with amazing detail and wonder. At this point I am LOVING it (fascinating from a medical standpoint, you know.) .... And I was remembering how I was constantly amazed during medical school as I learned more and more about God's handiwork. I remember so many times thinking.... 'How can ANYONE deny that a Creator did all of this???'

Louie went on to talk about how we can trust that the God who created all this, also has the power to hold it all together when things seem to be falling apart....how our loving Creator is also our sustainer.

And then I lost my breath. And it wasn't because I was running my treadmill, either!!!It was because he started talking about laminin. I knew about laminin. Here is how Wikipedia describes them: 'Laminins are a family of proteins that are an integral part of the structural scaffolding of basement membranes in almost every animal tissue.' You see.... Laminins are what hold us together..... LITERALLY. They are cell adhesion molecules. They are what holds one cell of our bodies to the next cell. Without them, we would literally fall apart. And I knew all this already. But what I didn't know is what they LOOKED LIKE.But now I do. And I have thought about it a thousand times since (already).....Here is what the structure of laminin looks like... AND THIS IS NOT a 'Christian portrayal' of it.... If you look up laminin in any scientific/medical piece of literature, this is what you will see...

Now tell me that our God is not the coolest!!! Amazing.The glue that holds us together.... ALL of us.... Is in the shape of the cross.

Immediately Colossians 1:15-17 comes to mind.'He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.For by him all things were created; things in heaven and on earth, visible And invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities;All things were created by him and for him.He is before all things, and in him All things HOLD TOGETHER. 'Colossians 1:15-17

Call me crazy. I just think that is very, very, very cool. Thousands of years before the world knew anything about laminin, Paul penned those words. And now we see that from a very LITERALstandpoint, we are held together... One cell to another... By the cross. You would never in a quadrillion years convince me that is anything Other than the mark of a Creator who knew EXACTLY what laminin 'glue' would look like long before Adam breathed his first breath!!

Stella and Dot

2009-08-02T22:18:00.006-05:00

It's official! I'm selling Stella and Dot! What is Stella and Dot you ask? It's a fab new jewelry line that combines classic looks with a modern twist, and still at a reasonable price! I decided to sell it because I absolutely fell in love with the jewelry and what the company stands for, and hope you will to!

http://www.stelladot.com/sites?id=ZW]X&reload=true

Wedding March

2009-07-30T08:49:00.002-05:00

This is seriously one of the coolest entrances I've ever seen to a wedding...if I had seen this before my wedding, my wedding party totally would have been doing this! Renee - be glad you got out of it :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-94JhLEiN0

Castles, castles and more castles...Day 3 & 4

2009-07-27T21:59:00.008-05:00

I know at this rate it's going to take me 3 months to get the whole trip up...but it's not easy working a full-time job, serving at the church, studying for the Exam, and blogging all at the same time, so something had to give...okay back to day 3 and 4.

On day 3 we headed back to Starbucks, where the English speaking tours meet and took the tour to Neuschwanstein Castle. Due to the train tracks being under construction it was 3 hours out there and 3 hours back...

Kris was ready to hit the road...or train track I should say...

The palace was commissioned by Ludwig II of Bavaria as a retreat and as an homage to Richard Wagner, the King's inspiring muse. The king was rather eccentric (to say the least) and decided that he wanted a romantic, picturesque castle, so instead of having an architect design him a castle, he hired a painter...and then had the castle constructed based on the painting (not always the most practical way to go about things).

The hike up to the castle was soooo steap...not going to lie, it kicked my butt!!

He was notorious for changing his mind during the construction of the castle, thus only 1/3 of it was ever finished. In 1886 he died a mysterious death...he had basically bankrupted the royal family building his extravagant castles and they were ready to put and end to that. They sent the commissioners to go get him from the castle and return him to the Residenz in Munich. The commissioners had a very difficult time getting through the castle wall to him, however after a week of trying a servant finally let them in (that servant should definitely have been fired for that). Ludwig was declared mentally insane by Dr. Gudden, although never having been examined. Why you ask...it was the easiest way to remove a king from the thrown.

He was captured and taken back to his Uncles house in Munich where 2 days later his body, along with the body of Dr. Gudden, was found, having drawn in the Lake Starnberg. Claims are that perhaps they tried to make an escape and drown, although unlikely, since Ludwig was 6'3, an excellent swimmer and was found in 4 feet of water. To this day the autopsy results will not be released by the royal family.

Neuschwanstein Castle is the most visited castle in all of Germany, but not because of it's interesting history, but because it is the castle that inspired Disney's Sleeping Beauty castle at Disneyland. That mouse has some marketing power.

On Day 4 we rented a car and drove the autobahn to the Hohenzollern Castle, outside of Stuttgart. Kris really enjoyed getting to go as fast as he wanted (within reason, you can still get a ticket for recklessness). This castle was very special to Kris because his family is somehow related to the Prussian lineage at this castle. How glad am I that they Americanized their last name to Hohn?

Why are there no pics of this castle you ask? Oh that would be because at the end of day 5 of the trip, while at the pub in Salzburg, I decided to erase all the pictures on Kris's camera from day 3, 4 and 5...not the highlight of the trip...

More to come on that topic later...

Day 2 - Dachau

2009-07-15T19:08:00.019-05:00

On day 2 we got up in the morning and headed to the main train station. In front of the Starbucks is where the English speaking tours left from (I know so American). We went to Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial. Our tour guide was named Matt, he was from California and was working on his PhD in History, he was very knowledgeable.

Dachau was open from March 1933 - April 1945 when it was liberated by the US troops. 32,000 were there at the time of liberation. It was estimated that up to 80,000 had been there the year before.

This was a replica of the main gate as you entered. It reads "work makes you free". The Nazis not only wanted to suppress people physically, but emotionally and mentally as well. People would read this walking in thinking that if they worked hard they would be released, when in reality the harder they worked the faster they became malnourished, dehydrated and exhausted.

Dachau was a main concentration camp, meaning people would be registered here and then could be sent to one of the 123 subsidiary camps in the surrounding areas. Sometimes people would leave for just the day and return in the evening to Dachau.

The bunk houses

"The Showers" - there was never any plumbing installed, proving that they were truly built with one purpose, a gas chamber.

An estimated 250,000 people died at Dachau. 11-12 Million would die in concentration camps during WWII. 6 Million of those were of Jewish decent.

After Dachau we headed to the Hunting and Fishing Museum (I think everyone can guess which one of us wanted to go there). It was actually pretty interesting and the building was beautiful, I loved how it was all displayed.

No...don't bite! Down boy...

After that we headed to the Residenz. The Munich Residenz served as the seat of government and residence of the Bavarian dukes, electors and kings from 1508 to 1918.

I've been wanting to paint my ceiling blue...but gold applique could work too...

After the Residenz we were quite hungry so we decided to walk around and look for a good place to eat...and that's when we found the mothership...

We ended up eating at this place called Spatenhaus. We had pork and spartzels with cheese in a mushroom sauce, it was so yummy I wanted to eat it everyday!

Europe Trip Day 1 - Munich

2009-07-13T20:54:00.021-05:00

I'm going to try to recap our super fun, jam-packed Europe Trip day by day...we flew out on Friday the 26th. We got to Munich the next morning around noon. We had a lay-over in Amsterdam and met a couple (Neal and Vanita) that were from Jersey. We were on the same flight to Munich so we rode the train into the city together. We had planned to do Mike's Bike Tours at 4:00, so they said they would meet us there! Mike's Bike Tours was a great way to get a feel for the city and meet lots of great (English speaking) people!
This is the main town square in Munich, this building is so beautiful!

here we are on our bikes and all ready to go...

The famous Hofbrauhaus

All the gold mosaics and status in Munich face West, so if you get lost it's easy to figure out which direction you're facing.

This church was beautiful on the inside

Most of Munich's churches were heavily bombed during WWII, it's hard to imagine the task of having to rebuilt them...it must have been so overwhelming...

English Garden, it's 22 miles long, so you do not want to get lost in it...

We stopped at the Chinese Beer Garden in the English Garden for some food and drinks. This is one of the largest beer gardens in Munich seating up to 7,000 people.

There had been so much rain in Munich lately (it rained just about every day that we were there, the weather was crazy) that you could surf one part of the river that runs through the English Garden.

After the bike tour a group of us headed to the Hofbrauhaus for some dinner. It was a lot of fun hanging out with everyone!

The food was delicious! We had crackled pig knuckle and potato dumplings - yum!!

After that we were pretty tired from all the traveling so we headed back to the hotel for another exciting day in the morning.
Oh yeah, and Kris got attached by a wild boar statue on the way home...good thing he was up to date on all his shots :)

He was very friendly towards me, I don't know why he decided to attack Kris??

1 Week in Europe

2009-07-03T16:42:00.002-05:00

This week has been awesome! I´m too tired to write anything else right now and we have to catch a train to Germany in 5 hours - but it´s been fun so far! We´ve been to Munich, Fussen, Stuttgart and Salzburg. Tomorrow we go to Florence! Don´t worry I´ll post pics when we get home.

Weekend in Denver

2009-06-22T13:20:00.009-05:00

After finishing up in Cripple Creek for the week I spent the weekend with Matthew and Ursla (Kris's youngest sister, aka Merv) at their home in Denver - we had so much fun and excitement (especially when we had to take cover from a tornado, but I'll get to that part in a minute)!

Friday night we headed to the Rockies game...that night made for a 9 game winning streak. I didn't really pay much attention to the game (baseball's not really my thing) but I did have a lot of fun talking to Merv, Matthew and their friends Becky and Jodi.

Saturday morning we got up and drove to Boulder. We sat outside and had brunch at this great little restaurant and then went to the market, bought some fresh produce and walked around the shops in Boulder. It is such a cute town, although a little overpriced! We had a great time, I did very well and only purchased one little re-usable grocery bag for my lunch at work.

Saturday night we headed to a couple house parties of friends of Matt and Merv. On the way to one of the parties we spotted Senator Bennet in the car next to us. Since I was driving and Merv was navigating we handed the camera to Matthew to snap a picture...and this is what we got...

I think it's safe to assume the Matthew wont be quitting his day job and joining the paparazzi anytime soon.
Sunday we went to a restaurant called RootDown and ate brunch. The weather was perfect and they had a great patio that faced downtown! From there, Merv and I headed to the Woodhouse spa for a pedicure. Matthew, not super excited about the idea of getting a pedicure, headed to the Rockies game. The spa was so cute, it was in an old Victorian house with a huge wrap-around porch, it was just charming.

After our pedis we headed to the grocery to pick up some food for "jazz in the park" that evening...little did we know the weather had other plans. While driving to Safeway is started to get very dark, the clouds were rolling in...while is Safeway it let loose - it was pouring! The crazy thing about rain in the summer in Denver is IT'S FREEZING! The rain water was so cold, it even started to hail a little at one point, there was no way we were running to the car in that! Then...the tornado sirens started to go off - that was pretty freaky! As soon as the rain let up, we dashed to the car and made it home to take cover. Matthew in the mean time, was still at the Rockies game! Apparently, they could see the tornado from the stands!

After about an hour the weather moved on, the sirens stopped going off, and the baseball game resumed play. We decided not to go to jazz in the park since it had been pouring and the ground would be very muddy. We headed next door to hang out with Matt and Merv's neighbors, Jeff and Paul. That evening was really pleasant so we took a walk around the neighborhood. There were some really cute houses...this one was my favorite...it's very french country...

Monday I was glad that it wasn't raining, so I had no flight delays. Overall it was a super fun weekend in Denver! Thanks Matthew and Merv for hosting!

Hail Storm

2009-06-22T13:09:00.002-05:00

It was so cold in Cripple Creek while we were there, one day it even hailed! It was crazy, I didn't know they could have weather like that in June (meantime it was 99, humid and not raining in Houston - seriously we need some rain).

Hail storm in Cripple Creek...

Friday we headed to Denver, here were a picture of Pikes Peak that I took (while driving on a windy road) on the way down the mountain.

Garden of the Gods

2009-06-10T23:15:00.008-05:00

Today after work we decided to drive an hour away to the Garden of the Gods...as we drove the weather became really bad. It started pouring down rain and even hailing...we were nervous the drive would be for nothing...but right as we got to our destination the clouds opened up and the sun started shining!

On the way back we stopped in this cute little mountain town Manitou and walked around.

On the way back we saw Pikes Peak...with snow on top still...

Cripple Creek Colorado

2009-06-10T22:44:00.010-05:00

I'm traveling this week and next for work. I'm staying in a little town in the mountains called Cripple Creek. It's at 10,000 feet, so I'm not going to lie, the altitude is killer, I'm winded just climbing up the stairs! It's also been unseasonably cold here - the high today was 47 - burrrrrr...but we've still managed to have fun (I'm here with a co-worker Kathy).

Yesterday after work we walked around town to check the place out. Cripple Creek was founded in the early 1800s and boomed during the '49 Gold Rush, in fact it still has one of the largest gold mines in the US. When the gold dried up, so did the town. It's also the most haunted city in the US, however, I've yet to have a face to face with Casper.

When the '49ers left they left their donkeys behind...today the town has wild donkeys that roam the street and eat every one's flowers.

You can see the gold mine in the background.

The town of Cripple Creek

Main Street in Cripple Creek - the town is mostly casinos now...

This is my favorite house in town

This casino cracks me up...

Scottsdale Wedding

2009-05-27T15:23:00.011-05:00

April 30th is the offical end of busy season (for my audit at least), which was great cause I took May 1st off for a wedding in Scottsdale (Kris's home town). One of the guys that Kris has known since Kindergarden was getting married - it was such a fun weekend!

We got a great last minute deal at the new Intercontinental Montelucia on TravelZoo and it was awesome!

I hung out at the pool on Friday while Kris went off and did groomsmen things.
Saturday was the wedding. Jenn, the bride, lives in this beautiful house that used to be a B&B, so the grounds are gorgius, thus the wedding was in the back yard. This was not you typical backyard wedding! Everyone wore white, including the guests! There were white tents, white sofas, white tulips and white candles, it was beautiful!

The bride and groom, don't they look so happy?

Some of the peeps Kris grew up with since kindergarden!

Sunday morning we got up and had brunch with Kris's long time friends the Gruell's (Kris and Mark were friends since kindergarden as well, he was a groomsmen in our wedding). It's always so much fun to see them! We ate at the Camelback Inn - the food was outstanding!

How do you catch Swine Flu?

2009-04-29T16:45:00.002-05:00

Sushi and a Shower

2009-04-26T18:58:00.013-05:00

I'm so far behind on blogging it's not even funny (I guess that's what happens when you work 60+ hours a week for all of spring)...and this post I wrote a long time ago but never released it for some reason...

Friday night Kris and I went to dinner with Dan and Renee - it was so fun - as always! They all ate yummy sushi while I enjoyed habachi steak and superb fried rice (it was so good I had to order another bowl)!

Saturday I had a shower at my house for my dear friend Amanda. We've known each other since we were 11, it's so fun to have grown up together and seen what life has brought us so far! Here's a pic of the table, I can't find the other pics I took that day, hopefully I didn't delete them off my camera on accident...

Flip & Tumble

2009-04-22T18:22:00.004-05:00

After reading numerous articles about the plastic trash the size of Texas floating in our oceans, I've decided to go green. It really is unbelievable how many plastic bags Kris and I can accumulate in one week!!! After doing some research on the different options for re-usable bags, I've decided to go with Flip & Tumble. Although I will say, Baggu was a very close second (and comes in a multitude of colors)! However, Flip & Tumble comes in scarlet and gray, so that right there was enough to convince me to buy. Plus it is very easy to get it back into a little ball, where Baggu takes a little more time to actually fold. I'm very excited to start saving the environment one plastic bag at a time!

I haven't actually placed my order yet, so let me know if any of you have advice or a different bag I should check out before I purchase my new Flip & Tumble.

Tea Party

2009-04-19T11:07:00.006-05:00

April 15th marked the day that taxes were due, it also marked the day that many Americans joined in the "Tea Party" to protest the recent government spending, size of the current government and redistribution of wealth. This was the first time since the election that there seemed to be a nonpartisan agreement that the current government is out of control.

Kris and some of our friends went to the downtown Houston Tea Party. I was busy at work so I couldn't join, but I met them at dinner afterwards.

Here are a few pics from the Tea Party:

One of my personal favorites:

My Birthday

2009-04-18T23:39:00.005-05:00

Unfortunately my birthday falls during the middle of busy season (and man has it been busy this year). It's always hard to plan anything big since I'm working so many hours this time of year. So for my bithday we just did something low key. Kris took me to dinner at Backstreet Cafe and we sat outside on the patio. The food was excellent. It was a perfect, relaxing, birthday dinner.

April Showers (or Floods) bring May Flowers!

2009-04-18T13:35:00.015-05:00

Being a Houstonian, you learn to deal with the rain, otherwise there's seldom a month you would go outside. This weekend was no exception. Friday we had already had intense storms dumping 1-2 inches of rain and some gusting winds. Saturday was forecasted for the same, with a chance of tornadoes or hail. They even canceled the MS 150 (a bike ride from Houston to Austin to raise money for MS disease) which had approximately 13,000 bikers signed up.

Saturday morning I awoke to clouds and light drizzle...it was actually quite nice sleeping weather. Kris was out of town (man did he pick the right weekend to be gone) so I thought I'd spring clean and run some errands. Little did I know the weather had other plans.

Everything I needed was in about a 3 mile radius of the house, which was nice because it didn't require me to go very far (or fill up my 3/4 empty gas tank). It started raining just as I left the house and continued to get more intense as I drove. I finally had made it to I-10 and the Beltway in about 20 minutes (normally a 5 minute drive) and thought "I better go back before the streets flood"...little did I know that it was too late.

By the time I turned around and came home the access road to Beltway 8 was already impassible. Luckily I was in an SUV so I was fairly confident that if the cars could make it through I would be alright. It took me about 30 minutes to drive the 3 miles back home, by the time I got there I noticed the streets in the neighborhood were flooding badly! Some cars were already immersed in water! I slowly made it back to our street and noticed it was completely flooded, there was no way I could get down it. So I decided to pull up on a neighbors driveway, leave the car and walk the rest of the way home. Thank goodness for my trusty rain boots from Target that kept my feet nice and warm on my walk home.

Our truck (the Duck) was still in the street, so that would need to be moved right away. As soon as I got in I had Morgan (the intern living with us this spring) help me move the truck.

I then saw my neighbor outside raking the drains to ensure no leaves were blocking them. So I decided to get the rake and help him. Come to find out, there were no leaves blocking the drains, there was just nowhere for the rain to go. This was getting intense, what if it came in the house?

Luckily after about an hour the rain let up, and the street slowly started to go back down.

Britains Got Talent

2009-04-13T12:55:00.001-05:00

This lady Susan Boyle went on Britains Got Talent...her performance was very unexpected!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-KiGva9dV4

She's seriously amazing!!

He is Risen!

2009-04-12T07:37:00.005-05:00

Praise the Lord for Easter Sunday - that through Him our sin has been forgiven, death has lost it's sting, the devil has been defeated and salvation is our free gift for eternity!

How appropriate the Christ would die in the spring, the season of renewal and rebirth. Every new plant in bloom points us to the Cross! Every winter, there are plants I look at and think "this guy's not going to make it, it's too late for him" but every spring, some how, they are miraculously born again. We are those plants.

While we can grow on our own and we may be able to produce a small flower or fruit, it is a constant struggle. When we turn our lives over to the Lord, the Master Gardener, He prunes us, shapes us and waters us; that is when we grown healthy, strong and bear much fruit.

He is Risen Indeed!

Flowers

2009-03-02T20:45:00.009-06:00

I love flowers, they're so pretty! We've had so many beautiful flowers delivered lately and I am truly enjoying them. Thank you to everyone (particularly Second) for all your love, support and prayers during this hard time, and thanks for the flowers!

Flowers that Kris got me last week (as a late V-day present). He knows I love tulips. He's such a great husband!

Second sent us these flowers, they are beautiful!

These came from my sweet grandparents, they're now planted in our garden! I love azaleas when they are in bloom, they're so pretty, it's one of the perks of living in the South in the winter.

These came from the Deacons at Second, and being that they're my wedding colors, I'm particularly partial to them.

Amazing version of Amazing Grace!

2009-03-02T15:55:00.000-06:00

Kris and I

2009-02-26T21:06:00.002-06:00

This is a fun little survey I found on facebook. I'm not going to tag anyone, but if you want to answer it, I'll read it :)

♥ What are your middle names? Mathis and Hec, mine was Nan before I was married.

♥ How long have you been together? 1.5 years - yippee

♥ How long did you know each other before you started dating? quite a while, 1+ years??

♥ Who asked who out? He saw me at YL and fell madly in love with me ( I don’t remember meeting him there), and then we hung out at the lake house and got to know each other better and then he ask me out.

♥ How old are each of you? 28 and 36, should I be revealing this to everyone?

♥ Whose siblings do/ did you see the most? Lately Kris’s but usually I would say it’s about even.

♥ Do you have any children together? Not yet.

♥ What about pets? Victory, our yellow lab and Trinity, our calico cat

♥ Did you go to the same school? No I went to Ohio State – go buck! And he went to Baylor

♥ Are you from the same home town? No, Sugar Land and Scottsdale

♥ Who is the smartest? Hum…tie for first?

♥ Who is the most sensitive? Kris

♥ Where do you eat out most as a couple? El Gallo, it’s a total whole in the wall Mexican place in our neighborhood and we love it!

♥ Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple? We went 8 hours into Mexico this summer in a truck with no AC, I would say that was the furthest, but we’re hoping to go to Europe this summer so that would win.

♥ Who has the craziest exes? Not sure, we don’t really make a habit of talking about our exes…

♥ Who has the worst temper? Me (sometimes Kris)

♥ Who does the cooking? Me most of the time, but one night this week Kris cooked and it was excellent! He’s really more of the “grilling” type

♥ Who is more social? Wow that’s a hard one since we’re both super social, but I’d probably say him.

♥ Who is the neat-freak? Me for sure me, if I see one more pile of laundry by the bed I’m going to go crazy!

♥ Who is the more stubborn? Oh…again tie for first, we’re both pretty stubborn.

♥ Who hogs the bed? Little Trin, she usually sleeps right in between us and then you can’t move or you’ll wake her up. Although Kris claims I steal the covers every night.

♥ Who wakes up earlier? It used to be me, but lately Kris has joined a running club at 5 am so he’s for sure earlier than me now.

♥ Where was your first date? We went go cart racing and played lazer tag and went to eat mexican

♥ Who has the bigger family? Kris for sure

♥ Do you get flowers often? Not often, but he’s def good at surprising me

♥ How do you spend the holidays? Usually at the lake house, it’s so much fun!

♥ Who is more jealous? Not sure, we both try to not be jealous, but sometimes I do wish he’d spend more QT with me, so I guess that means me

♥ How long did it take to get serious? 4 months, maybe?

♥ Who eats more? For sure Kris, but he is running in the mornings, so I guess that’s okay.

♥ Who does/ did the laundry? Me. But I do hate putting it away, I don’t know why, I just hate that part

♥ Who’s better with the computer? For sure him, hello, he’s only worked at HP for 10+ years!

♥ Who drives when you are together? Him, that way I can just hang out in the passenger seat

The Life & Times of Falcon Eddie

2009-02-21T17:01:00.003-06:00

The last couple of years Ed had been working at a film production company, Agora, they are all so talented - they were kind enough to put together these wonderful videos in remembrance of Ed! Thanks Agora - we love you guys!

The life and times of Edward Lewis Von Hohn from AGORA ENTERTAINMENT on Vimeo.

In Memory of Ed

2009-02-10T22:58:00.005-06:00

Edward L. Von Hohn Jr. , of Dallas, Texas, passed away on Friday, February 6th, joining his Lord in Heaven.

Born December 13, 1964 in Bessemer, Alabama, Edward led a full life leading his community and earning multiple distinctions along the way. While his accomplishments were notable, Ed's true spirit lies in leadership and caring for others. Always with a smile on his face, Ed was a gregarious person who could always make you laugh. His achievements in his professional career were only exceeded by his generosity, a unique ability to bring out the very best in others, his dedication to his family, and his desire to share his blessings with others.

He is survived by his children whom he loved dearly Harrison (7) and Anna Jane (5) and his mother, Wyla Hohn, and grandmother, Maxine Jenkins of Sun City, Arizona. His father Edward Hohn Sr. and wife Patty of Phoenix, Arizona. Also survived by his brother Kristopher Von Hohn, and his wife Jacquelynn Von Hohn of Houston, Texas; as well as his sisters, Ilsa Weaver, and her husband, Trent Weaver of Waco, Texas and their children, Taryn, Taylor, Trent Jr. and Tatum; Kirsten Howren, and her husband, Todd Howren of Austin, Texas, and their children Hayden and Heath; Isolda Griffin, and her husband Jagger Griffin of Phoenix, Arizona, and their children Mackenzie Griffin and Stevie Patterson; and Ursla Null, and her husband Matthew Null of Denver, Colorado.

Edward, an expert in the field of law, was noted for his ability to make us all laugh, his generosity toward others and his dedication to the betterment of his community. He graduated from Baylor University in 1987, receiving his B.A., with honors. Immediately upon graduation he entered Baylor Law School receiving his J.D in 1990. Edward began his career as a law clerk for Federal District Judge Sam B. Hall, in Marshall, Texas. As a rising star in the legal field, he later secured a position with Nix, Patterson and Roach having the privilege to represent clients in several landmark cases.

He went on to serve as lead litigation attorney for Data Treasury, in many precedent setting cases, while he continued to focus his works on Products Liability Law; Personal Injury Law; Toxic Torts; Intellectual Property; and Patent Litigation. His expertise in Intellectual Property Rights led him to successfully protect businesses and individual rights both nationally and internationally. Additionally, while as a Senior Partner at Nix, Patterson and Roach, LLP, Edward helped to build a team of lawyers who led the field in successful patent protection and legal securities. Most recently Edward served as lead legal counsel for Agora Entertainment Partners, LLP.

Ed’s immense leadership skills were further evidenced through the following organizations: Phi Delta Phi Member, Harvey M Richey; Moot Court Society, Adjunct Professor, Paralegal Studies, East Texas Baptist University, 1991-1992, District 1 Director, Texas Young Lawyers Association, 1994-1995, Texas Young Lawyers Liaison, State Bar of Texas Court Rules/Administration of Justice Committee, 1994, Recipient, President’s Award of Merit, Texas Young Lawyers Association, 1996, Chairperson, Federal Court Practice Committee, 1996 TYLA; Chairperson, Technological Support Committee, 1995-1996; TYLA, President, 1994-1996 and TYLA Treasurer, 1997, Daingerfield Chamber of Commerce; ATLA Texas State Director New Lawyers Division, 1995-1996.

Memorial service will be held at 1:00pm Saturday, February 14th, in the sanctuary of First Baptist Church of Daingerfield, 202 W W M Watson Boulevard. Visitation immediately following. Afterwards, Edward will be laid to rest at a private family service. If desired, the family suggests memorial donations in Edward’s name to Global Centurion at www.globalcenturion.org a philanthropic organization that embodies Edward’s vision for ending abuse against children.

Basketball Star

2009-02-04T09:41:00.001-06:00

This story is a little dated now, but so great! This kid, Jason, was actually on one of the Gatorade commercials for the Super Bowl this last weekend - good for him!

Texans Game and the search for Hot Chocolate!

2009-01-10T08:50:00.004-06:00

I love football, I'm so sad the season has come to a close, mainly because now it means baseball season will start soon (yuck). Football really is the best sport (even when the Buckeyes go 0-3 in BCS games). This year I got to go to the last home game of the Texans with my friend Jen. It was a lot of fun! The first quarter was kinda boring but the game really picked up from there. The Texans even managed to pull off a win - yeah go Houston!

The only downside of the game was that it was freezing - the retractable roof has been broken since the hurricane, so all the games have been outdoors! We really haven't had too many cold days this winter in Houston but this was one of them. It was in the 40s and raining. Jen and I didn't mind it so much because we both went to school in the north so it kinda reminded us of college football and we knew you could keep yourself warm on tons of hot chocolate.

The only difference is when they expect you to sit outside in the cold the stadium makes sure to have an ample supply of hot chocolate ready for the fans...not so much in the Texans stadium, we couldn't find any hot chocolate anywhere! Finally we had to settle for drinking really disgusting coffee (at least it was warm, but it sooo wasn't the same as tasty hot chocolate)!!! Hopefully next year the roof will be fixed or they'll clue into the fact that on cold days you have to keep the fans warm! Oh well, at least we pulled off a win in the end...who knows maybe next year the Texans will have a winning season, and the Buckeyes will pull off a win in a BCS game!

New Year's Eve

2009-01-10T08:45:00.009-06:00

Okay so I'm like a million years behind on blogging...it tends to happen this time of year when I'm working long days...so I'm finally posting my New Years post that I wrote the day after New Year's...

I've always found New Years to be kinda let down...I mean you plan for this super exciting way to bring in the new year and it never ends up being as fun as you think it will be. I always enjoy the casual New Years plans the best! This year for New Years Kris's youngest sister, Ursla and brother-in-law, Matthew were in town from Denver. Our friends Jen and Seale came over too. We all just hung out, ate Mexican food, and played games all night long, it was so much fun! The boys proceeded to beat the girls at every game we played...I mean really, they could have let the girls win once! Happy 2009!

Christmas Day

2009-01-09T18:23:00.031-06:00

For as long as I can remember we've always gotten up on Christmas morning and had Santa Pancakes (so I of course have kept the tradition alive). My parents were out of town this Christmas so my brother and his puppy, Jadie, came over Christmas day to hang out with Kris and I. We got up in the morning and had homemade, buttermilk Santa Pancakes (yum). And then opened our gifts.

After eating yummy breakfast it was then time to open our stocking and gifts. The tree was quite full with presents, even Jadie, Vic and Trin had gifts to open!

This being Jadie's first Christmas she was quite excited to open her gift, but we told her she would have to wait, stockings come first.

Stocking Time!

After the stocking it was present time (and being that gifts is my love language, I was equally as excited to open gifts as Jadie was).

Here's Jadie opening her gift, her and Vic got plastic retrieving ducks and camo collars. Jadie's collar was pink camo and Vic's was green camo. Vic was still a little under the weather but he appreciated his gift.

I got new rain boots, a pig pot (I saw one in Mexico this past summer and really wanted it, so Kris set out to find me one), a steamer to get my floors super clean and a new SMOKEY QUARTZ RING!! It was a great Christmas!

Kris got camo, waterproof slippers, an AR-15 (nothing says Christmas like an assault rifle) and old school Nintendo.

Joe got camo pajama pants and a really nice heater for when he goes duck hunting.

Kris and I also got pen fishing poles from Kris's dad and step mom, in case we're ever driving along and spot a great place to fish! Thanks Ed & Patty!

Even Trinity got a gift - she got a pink, fuzzy, kitty bed, which is where she spent most of her day...

After all the gift opening we were pretty warn out, so it was nap time!

Once we were done catching up on sleep the boys decided to play a little duck hunt!

Then we ate Christmas dinner and enjoying each other's company. All in all it was a great Christmas!

Christmas Eve

2009-01-04T13:18:00.009-06:00

Kris and I started a Christmas tradition last year that on Christmas Eve we would both open one present, and it would be our Christmas Pajamas! Last year we decided to start this tradition very last minute, so I rushed out on the 23rd to buy Kris some Christmas Pajamas. I had them all wrapped and was so excited to give them to him, when I realized that there didn't seem to be a Christmas Eve present under the tree for me??? Kris felt horrible, he didn't realize that HE was supposed to buy the Christmas Pajama's for ME (for some reason he though I would buy them for both of us). So this year (knowing that my love language is gifts) he knew he would have to make it up. He bought me 2 Christmas Pajamas and snowman slippers - it was awesome! I got him some super fuzzy, camo deer pjs.

Here I am with my snowman slippers...

Kris with his new PJs

Kris all dressed in camo and ready for Santa

Mikey the Penguin

2009-01-02T11:38:00.006-06:00

I've been working at Moody Gardens on an audit for the past several weeks. While out there, we got to know the General Manager, Robert. So one day we ask him "hey can we pet a penguin?" We really were just kidding cause we didn't know if it was even possible to pet a penguin, but he replied back "yes, that shouldn't be a problem".

We were so excited! I mean really, how many people get the chance to pet a penguin? So the last day out there we went over to the aquarium and got to pet Mikey, a chinstrap penguin.

Much to my surprise, penguins are fluffy, for some reason I envisioned them being like a dolphin and slick, but since they are of the bird family, I guess I should have know they would have feathers and feel like a duck more than a dolphin.

For more information on Chinstrap Penguins check out: http://www.penguinworld.com/types/chinstrap.html

We were excited to see Mikey, and glad that he was very friendly and didn't bite us while petting him. Bye Mikey, see you next year!

Puppy Update

2008-12-23T18:22:00.010-06:00

This whole experience with Vic has been quite traumatizing, I pray that our children never have major surgery, it is stressful. Thursday he had his surgery and was pretty droggy most of the day. Friday he was feeling better, Sat morning he went in the get the tube out. He was doing great, everything looked fine, no worries.

Well once that tube came out it was like he was a free dog, he wanted to run and jump and play and go for a walk...only problem was that he still had an 8 inch insistion on his chest. Saturday evening one of his stitches popped, now there was a small whole in his chest. By Sunday morning he had ripped 2 stitches out, now there was a sizable whole in his chest...we were really getting worried, we were debating if we wanted to take him to the emergency clinic or if it could wait until morning... but he still seemed to be feeling fine.

Luckily our Vet lives one street down from us, so Kris got his cell phone from the neighbors and called him. He was sweet enough to come by and check on Vic on his day off. He gave us some antibiotics and told us not to worry unless another stitch in that area popped. Well guess what - by Monday morning another one had ripped, there was now about a 3 inch whole in Vics chest - this was no good. Luckily, Kris had Monday off (thank goodness) - so Monday morning he took him back to the Vet, the Vet said that without putting him back under they couldn't restitch it. There was no way we were paying for more anaesthesia, so Kris decided it was time for a second opinion.

We have another Vet Clinic right down the street that Vic has been too before. They said that they could numb the area and restitch him right away - so we went with that plan. They also wrapped gauze around his chest and suggested that we put a t-shirt on him to keep him from scratching the area. He doesn't seem to like it as much, but it is keeping him calmer and from ripping any stitches.
Kris now has to change his bandages every 3 days (it's a good think Kris used to work in an ER, cause I'm not sure I could handle doing it). We've also been giving him benadryl to keep him nice and calm. Hopefully by Saturday he will be healed up enough to take the stitches out and he can go back to being a playful puppy.

True Christmas Spirit

2008-12-23T18:14:00.002-06:00

My cousin e-mailed this story to me and it touched me so much it actually brought tears to my eyes (which is hard to do in an e-mail). I hope you are touched by it in the same way I was...

It's just a small white envelope stuck among the branches of our Christmas tree. No name, no identification, no inscription. It has peeked through the branches of our tree for the past 10 years or so. It all began because my husband Mike hated Christmas -- oh, not the true meaning of Christmas, but the commercial aspects of it -- the overspending, the frantic running around at the last minute to get a tie for Uncle Harry and the dusting powder for Grandma -- the gifts given in desperation because you couldn't think of anything else.

Knowing he felt this way, I decided one year to bypass the usual shirts, sweaters, ties, and so forth. I reached for something special just for Mike. The inspiration came in an unusual way. Our son Kevin, who was 12 that year, was wrestling at the junior level at the school he attended.

Shortly before Christmas, there was a non-league match against a team sponsored by an inner-city church. These youngsters, dressed in sneakers so ragged that shoestrings seemed to be the only thing holding them together, presented a sharp contrast to our boys in their spiffy blue and gold uniforms and sparkling new wrestling shoes. As the match began, I was alarmed to see that the other team was wrestling without headgear, a kind of light helmet designed to protect a wrestler's ears. It was a luxury the ragtag team obviously could not afford.

Well, we ended up walloping them. We took every weight class. And as each of their boys got up from the mat, he swaggered around in his tatters with false bravado,
a kind of street pride that couldn't acknowledge defeat. Mike, seated beside me, shook his head sadly, 'I wish just one of them could have won,' he said. 'They have a lot of potential, but losing like this could take the heart right out of them.' Mike loved kids -- all kids -- and he knew them, having coached little league football, baseball, and lacrosse.

That's when the idea for his present came. That afternoon, I went to a local sporting goods store and bought an assortment of wrestling headgear and shoes and sent them anonymously to the inner-city church. On Christmas Eve, I placed the envelope on the tree, the note inside telling Mike what I had done and that this was his gift from me. His smile was the brightest thing about Christmas that year and in succeeding years. For each Christmas, I followed the tradition --one year sending a group of mentally handicapped youngsters to a hockey game, another year a check to a pair of elderly brothers whose home had burned to the ground the week before Christmas, and on and on. The envelope became the highlight of our Christmas. It was always the last thing opened on Christmas morning, and our children, ignoring their new toys, would stand with wide-eyed anticipation as their dad lifted the envelope from the tree to reveal its contents.

As the children grew, the toys gave way to more practical presents, but the envelope never lost its allure. The story doesn't end there. You see, we lost Mike last year due to cancer. When Christmas rolled around, I was still so wrapped in grief that I barely got the tree up. But Christmas Eve found me placing an envelope on the tree, and in the morning it was joined by three more. Each of our children, unbeknownst to the others, had placed an envelope on the tree for their dad. The tradition has grown and someday will expand even further with our grandchildren standing around the tree with wide-eyed anticipation watching as their fathers take down the envelope.
Mike's spirit, like the Christmas spirit, will always be with us.

May we all remember Christ, who is the reason for the season, and the true Christmas spirit this year and always.

Charlie Brown Christmas Song

2008-12-19T16:27:00.000-06:00

Poor Puppy

2008-12-18T09:46:00.007-06:00

Kris and I had noticed a few weeks back a weird bump on Vic's chest...we thought it was just a cut that had gotten infected, but after about 3 weeks we noticed it was getting worse...so we decided to take him in to the vet. It was very sad news, Vic had a tumor and would have to have surgery. We knew after the surgery he wouldn't be able to run for about a week, but we had no idea what all the surgery entailed. Vic had his surgery yesterday. They had to shave most of his chest area and made an incision about 6 inches wide (yikes). They removed the tumor and stitched him back up. He now has tubes in his chest and is bloody and has to wear a cone around his head.

Poor Vic, he looks so miserable. Usually he stays outside, but for now we decided the he could come inside and stay in the bathroom (we don't want him getting blood all over the house, plus we're not sure how he and Trinity will interact seeing each other face to face). I went and bought him a fluffy new pet bed last night at Target so he's enjoying his time inside with a nice, new bed, but you can still tell he's in a lot of pain. I feel so bad for him. Luckily Kris has all next week off to take care of him.

Here you can see a little of the incision. I didn't want to be too graphic cause I knew Renee would read this and be grossed out.

Tagged

2008-12-17T20:52:00.003-06:00

It's very sad...I finally have free time to blog (since I have about 3 weeks of stuff to post) and I can't find that cord that connects my camera to my lap top...tear. It's just not the same without pictures.

Okay so I'll take Camille's quiz since she tagged me today :)

8 shows I watch: Wow this is kind of hard cause we don't have cable. I would say Dancing with the Stars, Everybody Loves Raymond, Priviledged...and lots of random stuff on PBC. When we did have cable I loved Top Chef - such a great show!

8 favorite restaurants: Houston's (Houston), Rum Jungle (Las Vegas), Grand Lux (Houston), this little Italian restaurant in Florence that I don't know the name of, El Gallo (Houston), Comet Cone (Greentown, Indiana), Cap City (Columbus, Ohio), Chili's (I love Chili's, you can't go wrong there)

8 things that happened today: My migraine finally went away!! My dog, Vic, had surgery, the weather changed from 30 degrees to 75 degrees, I talked to my sister-in-law who's coming to visit for New Year's, I worked my butt off, I got to leave at 5:45 (which is the earliest I've left in the last 3 weeks), I gave my hubby a hug and kiss when I got home, I went to Target for some Christmas Shopping,

8 things I look forward to: Christmas, seeing Matt and Merv, going to Europe next summer, busy season being over (even though it hasn't officially started yet), snuggling with Pumpkin tonight, 10 days of vacation from work, Vic being all healed up, giving Kris his awesome Christmas presents

8 things I wish for: a happy marriage, less stress at work, my migraine to stay gone, God's peace in my life, fun vacations in 2009, financial security, healthy kids (someday), and to be more like Christ daily...oh and can I add one more, Ohio State to beat Texas in the Fiesta Bowl.

8 people I tag:
Ana
Amy (Littlepage and Martin)
Dianna
Angie
Beth
Kristin
Rachelle

Holiday Eating Tips

2008-12-10T11:26:00.002-06:00

1. Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet table knows nothing of the Christmas spirit. In fact, if you see carrots, leave immediately. Go next door, where they're serving rum balls.

2. Drink as much eggnog as you can. And quickly. Like fine single-malt scotch, it's rare. In fact, it's even rarer than single-malt scotch. You can't find it any other time of year but now. So drink up! Who cares that it has 10,000 calories in every sip? It's not as if you're going to turn into an eggnog-aholic or something. It's a treat. Enjoy it. Have one for me. Have two. It's later than you think. It's Christmas!

3. If something comes with gravy, use it. That's the whole point of gravy. Gravy does not stand alone. Pour it on. Make a volcano out of your mashed potatoes. Fill it with gravy. Eat the volcano. Repeat.

4. As for mashed potatoes, always ask if they're made with skim milk or whole milk. If it's skim, pass. Why bother? It's like buying a sports car with an automatic transmission.

5. Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to control your eating. The whole point of going to a Christmas party is to eat other people's food for free. Lots of it. Hello?

6. Under no circumstances should you exercise between now and New Year's. You can do that in January when you have nothing else to do. This is the time for long naps, which you'll need after circling the buffet table while carrying a 10-pound plate of food and that vat of eggnog.

7. If you come across something really good at a buffet table, like frosted Christmas cookies in the shape and size of Santa, position yourself near them and don't budge. Have as many as you can before becoming the center of attention. They're like a beautiful pair of shoes. If you leave them behind, you're never going to see them again.
8. Same for pies. Apple. Pumpkin. Mincemeat. Have a slice of each. Or, if you don't like mincemeat, have two apples and one pumpkin. Always have three. When else do you get to have more than one dessert? Labor Day?

9. Did someone mention fruitcake? Granted, it's loaded with the mandatory celebratory calories, but avoid it at all cost. I mean, have some standards.

10. One final tip: If you don't feel terrible when you leave the party or get up from the table, you haven't been paying attention. Reread tips; start over, but hurry, January is just around the corner.

Christmas Cards

2008-12-06T22:35:00.004-06:00

Ahhh...so on top of the migraine that I've had for the last 2 days, my Christmas cards are giving me a headache - lol. I made the scrapblog and thought it would be cute as our Christmas card this year. So I went to Shutterfly and printed it as a 4x6 photo. I was extra careful to ensure that the image fit fully in the preview (which it did). So then I ordered my cards, all 250 of them.

Then about 10 days later they finally arrive. Well, when I pulled them out to look at them the bottom and right side was chopped off. The thumbnail that came with the photos was correct, but all 250 were wrong. So this morning I decided to call Shutterfly.

I waited for 40 minutes to speak to a representative and when I finally got a hold of someone she barely spoke English. I explained my situation and what had happened and her suggestion was to send them back and they would look at it and if they decided it was their fault they would send some new ones. Right, cause I have time for all that 19 days before Christmas...so I asked to speak to a manager.

After waiting another 10 minutes to speak to a manager, the phone hung up...okay I'll have to call them back later. In the mean time, I decided that I would go ahead and mail the cards even though they're not as good as I was hoping for. So now I needed envelopes (since basically I had just ordered pictures).

Then I remembered that I have 250 envelopes from our wedding that had the wrong return addresses on them - perfect! So this year everyone's getting less than desirable Christmas cards in really fancy envelopes with the return address scratched out...CLASSIC!!!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

2008-12-03T11:22:00.005-06:00

I heart Christmas, it's such a fun time of year. Last weekend Kris and I started putting up the Christmas decorations, which I like to refer to as "winter wonderland". It was so much fun to get everything out of the closet and set it all up! There's still quite a bit of stuff to do in order to get ready for our Christmas Party on the 13th, but I'm sure it will all get done in time!

Happy Decorating!

Von Hohn Thanksgiving (East Texas Style)

2008-11-30T17:36:00.014-06:00

Okay so I have a lot of blogging to catch up on - work has been busy and I've been traveling so I haven't had time to blog. But here's a quick summary...the last two weeks I've been in Galveston for an audit of Moody Gardens (pictures to come). Wednesday night I drove in from Galveston, unpacked, repacked, grabbed the food I had prepared the weekend before and then Kris, Sam and I hit the road for the lake house! Kirsten (Kris's sister) got 2 ATVs, a dirt bike and a Polaris for the lake house, they were so much fun! Wed night we finally arrived at the lake house at midnight. Kris's three siblings (Kirstin, Ilsa and Ed) were also there, as well as their 6 kids. Also Kirstin, Ed, Kris and I brought friends, so total there were 8 kids, 11 adults and 3 dogs - it was a full house!

The next morning the ladies got up and started cooking while the guys enjoyed the new ATVs. Ilsa and I also got a quick jog in before Thanksgiving dinner. That afternoon we ate tons of food, then that evening the guys went out beaver hunting (I did warn you that we were in East Texas). After beaver hunting, we all gathered in the living room and watched Kung Fu Panda (so funny if you haven't seen it). Ed (Kris's brother) brought a friend from Russia with him, Alex. She also happens to be a film major at USC, so she captured all the ciaos on film - good times.

Tatum making her film debut...

Friday the ladies went shopping (which consisted of one shop since we were in Daingerfield, TX aka nowhere). But we still managed to have a great time and spend some money! The guys and kids continued to ride the ATVs all day! It rained most of that day so they made a mud pit and went mudding, they were covered in mud when they got home! Then we ate left-overs and packed up and hit the road. We finally got home at 3am Sat morning.

Saturday afternoon Kris and I put up the Christmas Tree and met my parents for dinner for my dad's birthday. Today we went to Church in the morning and then finished putting up Christmas. I also managed to get a little work in this afternoon and now am cooking for friends that are coming over for dinner tonight. Then I will pack up and leave back for Galveston tomorrow morning - wow - what a weekend! It was so fun!

The kids with the dirt bike and Polaris

Hayden riding the dirt bike.

The spread - there was so much food - it was amazing!

Kris fishing in the rain

Got one!

The guys gearing up for beaver hunting!

Kung Fu Panda time!

A fun night of mudding!

Kris's contribution to decorating - lol

Updates

2008-11-24T09:07:00.000-06:00

Now that I'm done studying like crazy for the Exam, I'll have time for more updates...check back soon...I have lots to catch up on. Happy Thanksgiving!

Studying and Fencing

2008-11-14T09:29:00.004-06:00

Over the last week I have been very busy studying for the CPA Exam - Audit section. Which I'm actually feeling okay about taking (it does help that I've been an auditor for the last 6 years). Whenever I study Trinity likes to help me study by laying on my book (which really doesn't help, so I have to move her off). But she's enjoying the quality time together.

Here's a picture of Trin and I studying together...

Here's another pic...

While I've been doing that (and was sick this week with a sinus infection), Kris has been busy putting up fence at the rental house. That house lost the entire fence, all the way around the yard, during the hurricane. We finally got the insurance proceeds to fix it, so Kris has been taking advantage of his free time (since I've been studying during every spare moment) and has been putting the fence back up. It's looking really nice...

Thanksfulness

2008-11-05T16:35:00.005-06:00

Ana challenged the ladies reading her blog to say why they are thankful for thier husbands. I decided to make a list of ten things that I'm thankful to Kris for...cause otherwise the list could go on indefinitely...and I added a picture, cause pictures just make the blog more fun...

1. He's a Godly man and a true leader of our household
2. He's very handy around the house (which has allowed me to have an amazing home on a modest budget)
3. He's sensitive to my feelings and is so patient at trying to understand me (and women in general)
4. He's really, really, ridiculously good looking
5. He always helps me do the dishes after I cook dinner (thanks baby)
6. He's so good at telling me he loves me (love you too pumpkin)
7. He watches chick-flicks with me
8. He likes to travel as much as I do
9. He inspires me to be a better wife and person
10. He's not scared to speak the truth, while still being kind and caring. I admire that everyday he tries to be a better husband to me. He's truly a man after God's own heart.

I love you pumpkin...thanks for being such an amazing husband!!!

Now I for the ladies reading this...I give you the same challenge that Ana gave me...
****In the spirit of thankfullness for our husbands, I encourage each of you ladies reading to post what you are specifically thankful for in your husbands today. This is a time of bragging, so don't be shy....

Baylor Homecoming Weekend

2008-11-02T21:13:00.025-06:00

Kris and I headed to Waco this weekend for Baylor Homecoming. As always, it was a blast! Kris's sister and brother-in-law (Trent and Ilsa Weaver) were kind enough to let us stay with them!

HALLOWEEN

Friday night was Halloween, the Weaver kids were all dressed up and ready to get some candy. They had some neighbors over that also have 4 kids, so it was a full house! We went "trick-or-treating" with the kids and then headed to the bonfire and 10:30 showing of Pigskin.

Here are most of the kids on the stairs possing for some pictures...but really they just wanted candy!

Taryn and I

Trick or Treat - the boys got both at this house...they got candy, but since this was the neighborhood dentist house, they also got toothbrushes and toothpaste :)

Kris and little Trent making "tough guy" faces.

After all the candy was collected and half of it eaten Kris and I headed to campus to see Pigskin and hang out for Homecoming. One of Kris's YL guys is going to Baylor this year after graduating from Second last year, so we also got to hang out with him for a little while and see his awesome pad (aka dorm room).

Kris and Greco.

Kris and I on campus

THE GAME

Saturday morning we all slept in and missed the Homecoming Parade (oops) but we had a blast at the game. Baylor hung in there, almost beating #14 Missouri - it would have been a huge upset! Unfortunately Missouri pulled it off at the very end with a field goal - 31 to 28. SICK'M BEARS - it really was a great game!

Kris and Trent getting fired up for the game!

Taylor, Tatum and I watching the game

Touchdown Baylor!

Taryn, Hayden and Trent
Turned out that Hayden and Todd (Kris's nephew and brother-in-law) had come up from Austin to watch the game and were only one section away from us - so they came and watch the 4th quarter with us!

The boys - Todd, Trent and Kris

Kris and I

SUNDAY IN THE PARK
Sunday morning was so beautiful, 80 and sunny, it was hard to believe that it was November. We all headed to the bike and hike trail near the Weavers house to enjoy the sunshine!

Taylor, Tatum and Victory making thier way to the park.

Trent jumping out of the swing

After the park we continued down the trail to the river to check it out, it was so beautiful outside.

Even Vic was enjoying the river...

The whole gang (some of Ilsa's sorority sisters had also come in town for Homecoming)

Kris, Tatum and Vic at an old shed that was along the trail.

Taylor and Kris holding hands on the way home after a funfilled afternoon!

Troops for McCain

2008-10-31T20:58:00.001-05:00

Color Accent

2008-10-30T09:26:00.007-05:00

So you may be noticing that some people are able to take black and white photos with only a certain color showing, and if you were like me had no idea how they were doing that. Finally Renee filled me in on how to get your photo to look like that. It's called Color Accent (if you own a Cannon Digital Camera you too have to ability to do this). At first it's hard to use, but the more you play with it the easier it becomes.

Here are some examples...

The original bouquet

Color Accent Orange

Color Accent Red

Color Accent Purple

Color Accent Yellow

Here's another example with a pumpkin patch...

Color Accent Green

Color Accent Orange

Okay so I think you get the idea...go out and try it, it's really fun!

Fear Not...Pray Now

2008-10-29T12:45:00.001-05:00

I got this as an e-mail forward from my sister-in-law and thought it was really well written. A man named Scott Whitley wrote it (not sure who that is, but he brought a good word so I though I would share it).

Are you sensing that there is something different about this presidential election? I was telling someone just recently that it seems like this election is far more serious than those in the recent past. Something in my spirit is very uneasy. In the past I have felt the need to pray for different elections but I have never felt so strongly the urge to pray, and pray fervently, for an election as I do for this one. I truly believe that if the wrong person (Obama) is elected this nation will be changed forever. We may not be able to undo the things that will be unleashed during an Obama presidency.

My concern about an Obama presidency is not based on politics; it is based on righteousness. Look at any of the major moral issues and you will find Obama on the wrong side of the issue, and Palin and McCain on the right side of the issue. What makes this so disturbing is that the Obama team has raised far more money than McCain/Palin and the media is unabashedly supporting Obama with every story and headline they write. Currently McCain/Palin is behind in the polls and is having a very difficult time. Some in the media have suggested that the race is over and there is little or nothing McCain can do to change the outcome. Oh how wrong they are!

Let me briefly share a story I recently read in 2 Samuel Chapter 5. David had just become king of Israel and the Philistines went up to wage war against him. So David inquired of the Lord and said, 'Shall I go and attack the Philistines? Will you hand them over to me?' The LORD said, 'Yes I will surely hand them over to you.' So David went and defeated them. He said, 'As waters break out, the LORD has broken out against my enemies before me.'

After suffering a great loss in the first battle the Philistines must have thought they now knew David's defense strategy and they would be ready for him the next time, because once more the Philistines came up to attack David. So once again David inquired of the LORD, but this time the Lord gave different instructions. He said to David, 'Do not go straight up, but circle around behind them and attack them in front of the balsam trees. As soon as you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, move quickly, because that will mean the LORD has gone out in front of you to strike the Philistine army.' David obeyed the Lord and was victorious.

This story holds a very important lesson for us at this time. In most presidential elections a frontal assault, a face-to-face battle, is what is needed. But this is no ordinary election. McCain is trying all the normal tactics but he is not prevailing. It seems no matter what he says or does it is not effective. I am convinced this election CANNOT be won using normal methods. Just as the Lord told David to go around behind the enemy and attack him there, so we must go around the face of this election and wage war where the battle is truly raging…in the spiritual realm! The fact that the normal physical methods are not effective this time should tell us that this is a very important spiritual battle and we can only win by using spiritual methods…Prayer!

What about the sound of marching in the treetops? What is that? I have read on the Internet several accounts of fellow Christians being stirred up in their spirits to pray. Many have been drawn into times of deep prayer and weeping as they intercede for Palin and McCain. Some have woke up in the middle of the night and sensed a great need to pray, other have told of how when they heard about Sarah Palin being chosen as VP that something came over them and they wept and felt a need to pray for Her and McCain. Many others are feeling the calling and urging of the Spirit to enter into a time of fervent prayer and fasting for Palin and McCain and our nation.

What is this unusually stirring that is occurring? I believe it is the Sound of the Lord marching in the trees, calling his children to act quickly to pray and fast for Palin and McCain. Think about this, what would the marching have sounded like to David? It may have sounded like the rustling of leaves as when wind blows through them, but was this time something was different and out of the ordinary. Maybe it was like the sound of the great wind when the Spirit moved on the day of Pentecost. Also, God’s people are referred to as Trees of Righteous in Isaiah 61. So the sound of the Lord marching in the treetops in David’s time is a portrait of the Spirit of the Lord moving among and stirring up his children today.

So what are we to do when we sense this stirring of the Spirit? Two things, first we are to take it as the sign that the Lord is moving out in front of us. Anytime the Lord calls us to do something he goes ahead of us to prepare the way and fight for us. When Joshua returned from spying out Jericho the Lord gave him insight to see that the Lord had removed the Jericho ’s protection so Israel could defeat them. When the Lord calls us into battle he goes ahead of us, removes the enemy’s protection, and fights for us to give us the victory. Secondly, the Lord tells us when we sense the stirring of the Spirit we are to act quickly and join Him in the battle (through prayer, fasting, praise and obedience)

This election is by no means lost. For God would not be stirring up his children all across this nation and indeed around the world, to pray, if he did not want to give us the victory in this election. And he wants us to join him in the battle. God will hear the cries of his children if we will only cry out to him with fervent, earnest, prayers for this election and this nation. If those who are being drawn to prayer by the Spirit will indeed enter into a time of prayer and seeking His face, then God will have mercy on America spare us from having an ungodly leader, I’m sure of it!

One more thought, after the last debate, so-called ‘conservative’ David Brooks gushed about Obama, 'I thought Obama had the night he needed to have. You know, through this whole 20 month marathon, I think what struck me is how incredibly even he is. And how frankly reassuring he is. It is like you’re camping, and you wake up one morning, and there is a mountain. And then the next morning, there is a mountain, and there’s the next morning, there’s a mountain. Obama is just the mountain. He is just there. He is always the same, he doesn't hurt himself. McCain can sometimes lob a cannonball at the mountain, but the mountain doesn't move, and the mountain doesn't care. And so I think his steadiness, his temperament has been the dramatic theme of this campaign, dramatic in being undramatic. And it was on display tonight. And the good part of the mountain is that he is reassuring and reliable.'

I’m really glad he used the word ‘mountain’ to describe Obama. It caused me to remember what Jesus said about unmovable mountains. Jesus said, I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.'

And it only takes a little faith!

This election can only be won by going around the face of the election and attacking the enemy where he is vulnerable, through prayer, fasting and praise. If you hear the sound of the Lord marching in the tree tops, if you feel the stirring of the Spirit calling you to pray, then move quickly into a time of prayer, for God is moving ahead of you at that time to give us the victory. May God give us ears to hear the marching!

Together with you in the battle, Scott Whitley

Fun Filled Weekend

2008-10-29T10:47:00.006-05:00

This past weekend was super busy, but also super fun! Friday night Jen came over and helped me bake cupcakes, pecan tarts and all kinda of other goodies for a baby shower we were hosting on Sunday afternoon. We also made a diaper cake and tied ribbons on the booboo bunnies that Jen had made. We finally finished at 2:00am! Then Saturday morning Kris and I got up early and started cleaning the house, we had a lot to do since we were having a shower at our house on Sunday and a dinner party Saturday night for his small group and their families. Saturday afternoon I cooked for the dinner party - I made dark chili and white chili, it was a hit! We forgot to take pics of the dinner party (tear). Then after the party wrapped up, Kris and I headed to SROs (a sports bar near us where both the Ohio State and Penn State Alumni meet to watch the games) to watch the game with Jen (a Penn State Alum). Too bad my Bucks lost...they scored on a fumble and then we could have taken the lead, but our freshman quarterback threw an interception to end the game...

This is Jen gloating in her victory and me being sad for our loss. I was additionally sad because I lost the bet and knew I would have to spend all day at work on Monday wearing blue and white and this ridiculous Penn State necklace that Jen had (oh well, it was fair, she had to wear scarlet and grey and a buckeye necklace the year before).

Sunday a bunch of the girls from work and Rebecca's family came over for a baby shower for Rebecca and Baby Boy Kuhn (he doesn't have a name yet). The shower was really fun...we had tons of dessert and things to munch on! She got some really good gifts.

The spread...so yummy!

Rebecca and all the hostess (we're all co-workers at PKF)

Rebecca with the gifts

Rebecca got us all make-up/lunch bags (they're multi purpose) as hostess gifts, they were so cute - we loved them!

Our first Anniversary

2008-10-26T20:38:00.025-05:00

Monday Oct. 20 was Kris and my one year anniversary! I can't believe it's been a year already. The first year has been such a blessing with such a wonderful and supportive hubby - love you pumpkin! Here's a look back at some of the fun over the last year...

Our Wedding Day

Our Honeymoon - Mexican Rivera

Thanksgiving at the Lake House - redneck style

Kris and I in DC

Howell Christmas in Indiana with my grandparents and cousins

Kitchen Renovations

Trip to Arizona to visit Kris's mom - who overcame breast cancer this year! They switched wigs...hahaha

Hill country camping with Rachel and Kevin

In Denver visiting Matthew and Merv

Redoing the landscaping

Loreto Mexico with our friends Mitchell, Ed, Shannon and Rebecca...the trip was so fun - Kris caught his first Marlin.

My 10 year High School Reunion - Go Rangers!

San Carlos Mexico with Kris's Dad and Taylor and Elizabeth

Labor Day at La Cantera in San Antonio

Hurricane Ike - 15 days, no power

Okay that concludes a very high level look back at the last year - man has it been fun!

Kris bought me flowers and made me a poster from pics of the last year. I got him some CDs of his favorite bands. We stayed home and ate pot roast, watched Dancing With the Stars and ate our cake top (or really subsitute cake top since we threw ours out after the hurricane).

The flowers the Kris got for me!

Kris excited for his CDs!

Our stand-in cake top..

Us eating our cake top together - happy anniversary pumpkin!

Pumpkin Party

2008-10-26T20:15:00.013-05:00

Ana and Jeremy Good decided to have the gang over for fajitas and pumpkin carving - it was so much fun! The boys really took to the pumpkin carving - I was very impressed by how well the pumpkins turned out!

The whole gang working on thier pumpkins...

Ana and Jer

John and Cassie

John and Sarah

Kevin and Rachel

Kris and I

The finished product

The boys with the pumpkins...

Game Day - Let's go Bucks!

2008-10-21T17:50:00.010-05:00

Saturday was game day - so we all got up and watched part of the UT vs Oklahoma game and then headed to campus for the Purdue vs. Ohio State game. Kris had never experienced a game in the Shoe, so I was very excited for him to see campus on game day.

Here's Kris getting pumped for the game and pretending to be Brutus!

We all headed down to campus and grabbed a bite to eat at the "Out-R-Inn" - they have amazing pizza. We also watched some more of the UT vs. OU game while there. We then made our way through the crowd on campus to the stadium.

Jess, Mar and I at the Out-R-Inn

Stadium Cake - this was a replica of the Shoe made out of cake! I knew how long it took Kirby and I to make the Wall-E cake, I can't even imagine how long this cake took! We made sure to eat some on the way back out.

On the way to the Shoe.

Inside the Shoe - the fans were ready for a good game!

The real Brutus running the flag after the defense scored a touchdown on an interception (it would be the only touchdown of the game)

Kris and I in the Shoe after OSU won 16-3 - go Bucks!

After a long day of college football, Kris decided to take a little nap on the way home :)

The next day we headed to Easton (a nearby mall) to do some shopping and grab some lunch before our flights. And I discovered that there's now a Tiffany's in Columbus - it was very exciting...too bad they didn't have a Tiffany's Brutus, that would have been awesome!

Brutus Buckeye

2008-10-20T17:08:00.013-05:00

O-H-I-O

Kris and I headed to Columbus to watch the Ohio State vs. Purdue game and visit with Jessica and Paul and Marc and Maribeth (Maribeth and Jess were both bridesmaids in my wedding). Jess and Paul bought a new house in Columbus a year ago and were so gracious to let all of us stay with them for the weekend. Mar and Marc came in from DC.

I was super excited to show Kris campus (since he hadn't been there before) and to go to the Shoe! Friday we all hung out on campus and met up with some of the professors from the business school, at the famous Varsity Club for lunch. We learned that there had been tons of Brutus' (our school mascot) put all around the basketball arena, we had to head over there to see all the Brutus'.

Dot the "I" Brutus!

Toga Brutus

Indiana Jones Brutus

Golf Brutus

Graduation Brutus

Dave Thomas Brutus

Hippie Brutus

Woody Hayes Brutus

Mad Hatter Brutus

John Glenn Brutus

Archie Griffin Brutus

Irish Brutus

Butter Brutus

Jim Tressel Brutus

LET'S GO BUCKS!

Cousins from DC

2008-10-20T13:12:00.002-05:00

The same weekend that we dog-sat, my cousin Cheryl and her husband, Robert, came to visit from DC for the weekend. Robert's son, Carson, lives in Katy, so they came in to see Carson for his birthday. They all stayed with us and hung out. Saturday night we all went to Champps to watch the Texas and Ohio State games. Sunday morning we met my parents for brunch. It was a fun weekend, however, I forgot to take pictures (probably cause I was outside taking pictures of Vic and Gus)...so this is the only pic I have from the fun-filled weekend.

Wedding blooper

2008-10-15T21:45:00.002-05:00

Okay sorry about having 3 posts in one day...but this was too funny not to put on here! My friend Dianna (you may have seen her blog since it's linked to mine) put this on her blog and I thought it was so funny that I should continue to pass it around...good find Dianna - this is hilarious!

Dog Sitting

2008-10-15T21:19:00.009-05:00

Two weekends ago (yes two weeks, can you tell I'm behind on blogging) we dog sat for our friends, Taylor and Elizabeth Guess' puppy Gus. I thought it was so funny how Gus and Vic became instant BFFs and Gus would do whatever Vic did.

Here's a couple of examples...
Oh...let's run this way with our toys in our mouth.

Look to the left...

Now look to the right...

Now look back to the left...

Okay now let's walk over here...

Enough of that, now let's just play...

Here I am taking the pups for a walk...

It was a fun weekend, Vic was sad to see his new BFF go back home, but I'm sure they'll see each other again soon!

Tagged - 6th picture, 6th folder

2008-10-15T21:02:00.005-05:00

This is a fun little game...I was tagged by my SWEET friend Camille to post the 6th picture in the 6th folder in My Pictures...so here it is.

In late May I went to a little town called Cripple Creek, Colorado for work (my sweet friend/co-worker Kasey came with me, it was so much fun). The road to Cripple Creek took us through the mountains, it was so beautiful. This was a picture taken on the way to the little town.

I tag Dianna, Ana, Angie, and Amy (and Renee, since she hasn't done it yet).

Are you ready for some football?

2008-10-06T12:06:00.010-05:00

Being that it's football season, Kris decided to join in on the action and play flag football on Wed nights at the church. It's a lot of fun to watch him play - this week was the opener! They won by one touchdown - go Sledgehammers!

Planning the strategy of attack!

Here is Kris catching the winning touchdown (not really, actually it was too dark to take pics so I made him pose for a few after the game) - not sure why blogger keeps rotating this pic upright...

Kris getting tackled (by his own teammates) - in flag football mind you.

Ready, Set, Hit!

Gulf Coast Ike Relief Fund

2008-10-03T09:45:00.003-05:00

Our firm is raising money and awareness for our families and friends that were affected by Ike. As most of you are probably aware, "Hurricane Ike has devastated the lives of thousands in the Greater Houston Area. They’ve lost their homes, their property, their businesses and their jobs". While Kris and I (and most of our close friends and family) have been very fortunate and only lost minor things such as windows, fences, tree limbs and food in the fridge (due to having no power for 14 days), many families have lost considerably more. Residence in the Galveston area were finally allowed home just this week, most of them having lost everything. There is still no power or water. Residence in the Boliver area have been told they are not allowed to return home for an indefinite period of time. Even more unfortunate than loosing their homes, many of these residence lost their live stock, their crops and their small businesses - these loses are now impacting their livelihood.

Ike's impact is causing a financial strain on us as well as a lot of our friends just having to replace fences, food and cut down trees, I can't imagine what kind of a strain it's causing the families along the Gulf Coast. The clean up cost after Ike is expected to exceed that of Katrina. If you or anyone you know is able and willing to donate to this cause, I know that it will not go unappreciated.

For more information on how to donate please visit www.ghcf.org.

Day 13 still no power...

2008-09-25T09:06:00.005-05:00

So we're still without power at our house, however, Vic and Trin don't seem to be bothered too much by it. Actually Vic is loving the fence being down cause it means that he gets an extra long walk every evening rather than running around in the back yard. We also had a water line break during the storm that the city still hasn't fixed. Water has been gushing down the street for the last 13 days. I've been feeling really bad that all that clean water is going to waste, so I was happy to see Vic utilizing the stream of water as a bath tub after his walk the other day! He was really enjoying the cool water. He's such a happy puppy!

JibJab Pictures

2008-09-23T14:37:00.001-05:00

Okay so I totally stole the below pic from my sweet friend Camille (I saw it on her blog - I love it Camille, good find!), but what makes this photo greatness is that I pasted my liberal, democratic sister and brother-in-law's picture into the photo, I'm sure they are loving that! Hahaha..

Matthew and Merv join the McCain Campaign!

2008-09-23T14:36:00.001-05:00

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Kris hits the campaign trail with Obama and McCain!

2008-09-23T13:53:00.001-05:00

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Wall E Birthday

2008-09-22T17:21:00.025-05:00

Since Kris was still out of town and our house still didn't have power I decided to head to Austin on Thursday and help Kirsten (Kris's sister, aka Kirby) get ready for Heath's (aka Dewey) 6th birthday party!! Dewey wanted a "Wall E" themed birthday party, which I have to admit I had never heard of "Wall E" before the weekend (for those of you who don't know what Wall E is, he's a robot in Pixar's newest animated film); I am now intimately familiar with him! Kirby discovered a "Wall E" cake online, it was so cute that we thought we would replicate it for the party. Granted, the online "Wall E" cake was made by a professional pastry chef and came with no instructions as to how to make the cake, but nevertheless, we decided, it could be done. Which we discovered it could in fact be done, it just would take about 10 hours - lol.

Here is a picture of the professional "Wall E" cake we were trying to replicate...

Here are all the supplies we decided we would need for the cake...

Here's Kirby and I at about midnight decorating the cake (oh yeah we're still going strong, we are determined to finish Wall E before the party).

The next morning we got up and frantically finished Wall E and prepped for the rest of the stuff for the party. We then headed to Hayden's football game for a little while before the party started.

Finished Wall E!!! It's not quite as good as the one on the Internet, but we're amateurs...

Hayden's football game - Go Dawgs!!!

After the football game we headed to HEB to pick up the party tray and balloons for the party (getting the balloons in the car was rather interesting, especially since the back of the Suburban was already full)

Kirby had rented a giant bouncy thing for the party (not really sure what you call those things), anyways, it was awesome! It had a part to bounce in and a basketball hoop and a slide, I'm seriously thinking about renting one for my 30th birthday! I wonder if they make those things for adults, it was greatness!?

Here's Dewey and Hayden playing it in before the party started!

The spread of food for the party - pretty impressive for a 6 year old b-day - good job Kirby!

Here's Dewey hitting the pinata (of course it's a Wall E pinata)

Apparently it also doubles as a hat...

Here are the kids scrambling to pick up the candy - wow, it was a little crazy! You would have thought they had never seen candy before - lol!

The kids getting ready to dig into the awesome Wall E cake!!

As if that wasn't enough excitement for one day, we then headed that evening to Dave and Busters to play some games! Here's Dewey in the car ride home holding his giant bear that he won! He's so cute!

It was a fun weekend, I was excited to get to be there for such a big occasion (both seeing Hayden play football and Dewey's b-day party). Plus it was just nice to hang out someplace with AC for a while! Thanks to the Howren family for having me up for the weekend!

Facing Certain Death

2008-09-17T17:52:00.043-05:00

Wow what a week! Currently I'm at a friends house and going on day 5 without power at my house - yuck. So much for the food in the fridge.

Where to begin...Thursday night we knew the storm was coming for us, so we started to pack up. We moved everything outside into the garage and then packed for the weekend. Houston residents not near coastal waters were told to hunker down and stay in their homes, however we had a wedding in Dallas so we were planning on leaving town anyways. That night we were reading the news online (Kris and I don't have TV) and an article from the Associated Press read "Stay and Face Certain Death"! Now really, that's kinda like yelling fire in a crowded place when there is no fire. They had been telling everyone all week to stay and now the press comes out with something idiotic like that to put fear in every ones minds. Anyways, since we were leaving we found it rather amusing and it became a theme of the trip. Danielle and Mike came over and ate dinner with us and spent the night - made sure to eat all the ice cream (we wouldn't want that to go to waste if we lost power).

The next morning we headed to Dallas, Mike drove his Tahoe; Kris, Danielle, Kara, Trevor and I all rode along. Vic (our dog) and Tucker (Kara's puppy) rode on the trailer up to Dallas. The drive was really not too bad, the freeway was full of evacuees, but moving much better than it did for Rita.

Here is Trevor boarding up his house (Kris and I decided to chance it and not board).

Here are the doggies on the trailer and ready to hit the road!

Preparing for certain death - Mike's really the only one that appears to be afraid.

Certain Death is nearing us!

What are we going to do?

We arrived in Dallas just in time for rehearsal - which meant by the time we all changed and then drove half way across Dallas to Fort Worth to the church we were about 45 minutes late...ooops...

Here's the gang practicing - yes that's right, 11 bridesmaids and 11 groomsmen!

We then headed to rehearsal dinner for some tasty Mexican food and good stories of Jennifer (everyone calls her Tank) and Adam. Mike, Danielle, Kris and I were staying at Kris's good friends the Harrells. They were so sweet to let us stay - and we even all had beds, which was such a blessing, the only downfall was there house was about an hour from rehearsal dinner, so we packed up and hit the rode back across town...

The next day we got up and Carri made us homemade, buttermilk, banana pancakes, we were living in style for refugees! The pancakes were amazing! After that the boys went to shoot their bows while Danielle and I went for a walk. It was raining during the walk (apparently Hurricane Ike had made it to Dallas by this time and was creating some weather), so we wore rain coats while we faced certain death. We then headed back to Fort Worth for the wedding - by this time it really was raining quite hard from Ike, which caused us to arrive at the church a little later than the itinerary suggested (about an hour late). Everyone got changed, all the pictures got taken and the bride and groom got married. It was a beautiful wedding!

The rain on the road from Ike on the way to Fort Worth for the wedding.

Kris and I before the wedding - isn't he so cute in his tux?

The bride and groom - such a cute couple!

The church was really beautiful!

Tank and Adam after the wedding - the happy couple.

After the wedding there was a 3 hour break to go get dinner (as the reception was dessert and candy bar only). We didn't really know the area that well, but were pretty jazzed to find a Luby's - nothing like some home cooking. We were pretty much the only people under 65 in the place, and were certainly overdressed for the occasion, but we enjoyed it!

After dinner we headed towards the reception, man was it far! We felt like we were on a mini road trip! I think we may have even had time for a nap - lol.

Poor Mike, behind the wheel again...

Trevor and Kara in the back along for the ride...

Danielle and I also chill'n in the back.

Finally we arrived to the reception hall, it was like a giant barn (that had been decorated in pink and brown for the wedding). It was sooo cool! The candy bar and cake were amazing!

The bride and grooms first dance!

Candy bar - yummy!

The wedding cake was amazing! But my favorite part was the cake topper...

Oh yeah, that's awesome!

This was most of the Second Baptist Gang - yeah the Houston crowd represented!

After the reception we made the hour and a half drive back to Rick and Carri's, it was so far, but we were so happy to have a place to stay. The next morning Kris left early on a flight to Washington (state not DC) to go elk hunting with his best friend growing up Rick Bush. We knew the house had not been servery damaged so we decided it was best for him to go ahead and go on the trip since it had been planned months ago (I would end up regretting that decision once I got home and saw the amount of debris in the yard and fallen fences - lol).

Mike, Danielle, Kara and I decided it was best to start heading home. We knew there was no power, but we weren't sure when we would be called into work (especially Danielle since she works for MD Anderson) so we though if we could get to Waco or College Station we would at least be a little closer, plus Mike really wanted to get back in the car and drive some more - lol.

We loaded up the trailer and headed out. Danielle ended up finding us an awesome place to stay in College Station. They were a couple that she had done a bible study with and gone to church with while she was at A&M. A place to stay was an understatement...it was more like our own mansion to stay in! They living outside of College Station in Boonville and had bought a couple acres of land and built their dream home. We staying in the pool house - it was awesome! Plus Vic and Tucker got to run around, they loved it since they had been kenneled most of the trip. Mike being out numbered by girls was forced to watch 27 Dresses against his will that evening (we know he secretly liked it).

The kitchen in the pool house.

Mike playing the coffee table...

Donna made us fresh cookies upon our arrival - they were so tasty!

The girls bedroom...

Mike's bedroom

The backside of the house (where the pool house was)

Vic and Tucker were so happy to go roam around the garden.

The next morning we decided to head home and see what the damage was, we knew we still didn't have power, but Mitchell's house did, so worse come to worse we could crash there (which is where I'm typing from right now). We were pretty sure we had dodged certain death, it was time to go see how much there was to clean up. But first we decided to stop at Freebirds for some burritos...

Driving home was sobering...as far north as Magnolia there were roofs down, trees up rooted, and debris everywhere. We knew the people in Galveston and nearby counties had to be suffering tremendous loss. Kris and I were very fortunate, we had some limbs down, one window broken and part of the fence blown in, but other than that, no real damage. Palo Pinto (one of the rent houses) lost the entire fence, but suffered no other damage. The townhome had a lot of trees fall, but as far as we know, nothing structual was damanaged. In addition to that, there's been a cold front blow in and the weather has been amazing! 80s during the day and 60s at night - it really has been such a blessing to the people in the Houston area with no power.

Our patio...

Back yard

Back yard again...

Fences down around the neighborhood.

Kara and I spending the night at Mitchell's house

Tuesday morning Kara and I got up and went to the grocery to get a few things. There was a line, but we were happy to get fresh produce.

I was a little sad to throw our wedding cake away...but we did overcome certain death, so that was good.

Hurricane Ike

2008-09-16T23:04:00.002-05:00

I have so much to blog about from our crazy evacuation weekend, but I'm too tired right now from cleaning up debris all day. Praise the Lord that there was no substantial damage to our house - so many people in Houston are so much worse off! For those of you with power that are reading, continue to pray for those of us here in Houston and surrounding areas. I'll update pics later after the power comes back in our house.

Hill country for Labor Day weekend

2008-09-03T10:48:00.011-05:00

Kris and I decided to take advantage of the long weekend and head to the hill country (San Antonio to be more specific)to celebrate our one year anniversary (a little early) and to get some quality alone time in. We stayed at the Westin La Cantera, the hotel overlooked the hill side and was so beautiful! It was a very relaxing weekend consisting mostly of hanging out by the pool and eating yummy dinners. We also kept our eye on the news to track Hurricane Gustav...we were slightly worried that our weekend get away would turn from us being hotel guests to being refugees, but luckily Houston dodged the bullet again on having a major storm hit.

We ate at some truly amazing places while in San Antonio. The first night we headed down to the river walk and ate at a Mexican Fusion place called Acenar, I think it might be my new favorite Mexican restaurant (which is a huge honor cause I have eaten at a lot of Mexican restaurants). The second night we headed out into the country and ate at this little restaurant that had been there for 80+ years. It was called the Grey Moss Inn. The atmosphere was very quaint and romantic. I had a tasty steak and Kris had a rack of lamb, both were excellent.

We saw about 500 empty buses, along with ambulances and National Guard heading East on I-10 to help evacuate for the hurricane when it made land fall. It was kinda freaky to see that many buses and supplies going towards Houston.

Here we are on the main lawn overlooking hill country.

The pools at La Cantera were really nice. Kris decided to check out the water slide!

The view from our pool chairs was simply amazing!

Here we are enjoying a romantical dinner at The Grey Moss Inn.

The patio at the Grey Moss Inn.

College Colors Day

2008-09-02T13:43:00.005-05:00

Every year to kick off football season my firm, PKF Texas, has everyone wear their college colors to show school pride. There's a prize for whoever is showing the most team spirit! This year Ana won first, and I won second - it was really fun! The firm brought in hot dogs and hamburgers and we all got to talk and mingle over lunch.

Here's Ana winning and me taking second (everyone liked the nut hat).

Some of the girls that I work with supporting our school t-shirts.

Go Baylor Girls!

The whole gang eating lunch, Greg likes to remind me that LSU beat OSU in the National Championship last year...hence the #1

A Day at the Dog Park

2008-08-26T15:43:00.006-05:00

Friday night and Saturday morning, Kris and Taylor (you'll recognize him from our trip to Mexico) attended the Men at the Cross Conference. After the conference let out, Elizabeth and I met the boys at Mint Cafe (a yummy Mediterranean place close by) for lunch and then headed to the dog park with our dogs, Victory and Gus. Vic is a 6 year old golden lab. Gus is a 6 month old chocolate lab. They both loved playing at the dog park with the other dogs. They also enjoyed retrieving their toys from the water. Gus was a real water baby, he loved to hang out in the doggie pond. After playing at the park, they both got baths...it was a fun filled day for everyone!

Vic and Kris playing fetch

Gus hanging out in the water

Vic retrieving his toy.

Gus, still just relaxing in the water.

The whole gang after a fun day at the dog park!

Comments

2008-08-21T17:05:00.002-05:00

Okay so why do the comments show up on everyone else's blogs and on mine you have to click on the comments box to see them? What's up with that - does anyone know how to fix that - I've been through all the comment settings and can't figure out how to change it???

PS - I love getting comments cause then I can tell who's reading :)

Snapshot of Saturday

2008-08-19T23:01:00.017-05:00

One of my good friends Dianna is an amazing photographer, you may have seen the link to her blog on mine (Karelle Photography). Anyways, she needed some help working at a kids fair at the Woodlands mall on Saturday, and since Ana and I basically staulk her blog daily for updates, she figured we'd be good candidates. She was one of the photographers at my wedding, as well as my bridals, she also shot some "experimental" pics of Kris and I downtown a few months ago!

Ana and I hung out together all day Sat at the kids fair. It was fun to people watch...and hopefully we convinced some people to use Dianna in the near future :)

Here is the display Dianna put together, it looked so nice, I like the clean lines.

Here are all 3 of us by the Chick-fil-a cow, he was our friend, especially since he was handing out free kids meals! Eat More Chicken!!

Here are some of the pictures that Dianna has taken from our wedding and when we were downtown Houston!

Go Astros!

2008-08-19T22:12:00.007-05:00

Our good friends Sam and Carolyn invited us to go to an Astros game with them - it was a lot of fun! We met up at Buffalo Wild Wings before the game and grabbed some food and then headed out to watch the Stros. We had great seats, thanks to Carolyn being the nanny for Lance Berkman. The Berkmans were kind enough to give us four tickets to the game that night. It was too bad the Stros lost 12 to 2! But other than that, we had a great night "out at the old ball game". On Fridays after the game, they have an awesome fireworks show - the theme this week was British Invasion!

Carolyn and I sitting on the giant baseball outside of the statium

Kris pretending to be a tiger - or something???

The view from our awesome club level seats!

The awesome fireworks show after the game!

The Rooster has Landed

2008-08-18T17:34:00.009-05:00

Once a quarter or so we love to get all of our friends together and go out to dinner. We usually go to a local Mexican joint in our neighborhood, called El Gallo. It's a family owned business with great food and reasonable prices, so it wins our vote! Kris and I frequent there quite often cause we love the food and there's not much immediately around us as far as restaurants go. Since they knew us (from eating there so much) they were so accommodating and blocked off half the restaurant for our fiesta! About 30 peeps ended up coming, it was so much fun! Although, I think the highlight of the night might have been Mike's new moped and the awesome stereo system that he installed himself!

check out the system on that thing - yeah baby, yeah

Matt couldn't resist taking it for a spin!

Week-end Review

2008-08-14T18:21:00.020-05:00

Wow I'm a very bad blogger and now I have multiple blogs to post all this week- yikes! This weekend was fun filled! Saturday morning we went to Jason Kates (Kris's old roommate) wedding. It was very fun, we got to see lots of friends, and of course the wedding cake was delicious! I'm excited that Kris and I will get to dig into our cake tops soon for our one year anniversary (although I don't feel like they can really be all that tasty after a year).

Kris with our long lost friend Charles Luke, aka White Tiger (he moved to Virginia, it's very sad). Although I'm not friends with him anymore cause he said bad things about OSU and that the Big 10 Conference was weak - I'll have to have God work on my heart towards forgiving him :)

Me and my handsome hubby - you're so cute pumpkin!

The bride and groom- Janel and Jason

Then later that evening we had a "Nearly and Newly" (that's our Sunday school class) social at our house! It was really fun, we had lots of appetizers and played Rock Band (which is seriously the best video game ever - I can jam on the base guitar and Kris is pretty awesome at vocals). It was a fun, but tiring Saturday!

Some of the rockers! Rock On!

Sunday was a nice relaxing day consisting mostly of going to church and taking a nap. Here's Vic hanging out in the front yard!

The sky was so beautiful, I love Texas Thunderstorms as they roll in!

We're back...

2008-08-08T11:09:00.019-05:00

We're back from our second trip to Mexico this year! After this extravaganza there's one thing I know for sure - I never want to own a boat! Here's the breakdown of our trip:

Day 1- Fly to AZ, drive 8 hours south to San Carlos (in a truck that barely has AC)
Day 2 - go to the boat shop to check on the boat
Day 3 - hope the boat get's fixed
Day 4 - go out on the boat that's moderately fixed (mind you we have no working radios and the swells are 4-6 feet)
Day 5 - go out on the boat - oh wait then it breaks down
Day 6 - hope that the boat gets fixed
Day 7 - pull the boat out and put it in dry storage until next year
Day 8 - Drive back to AZ just in time to find out there's a hurricane in Houston

They say the happiest two days in a boat owners life is the day he buys his boat and the day he sells his boat - so true!

Haha...actually despite all the boat problems and lack of fish caught, we really did have a blast! We went with our good friends Taylor and Elizabeth Guess and Kris’s dad. It was such a blessing to have the Guesskids with us – they made the trip so much more enjoyable. We got to eat at some really great restaurants in Mexico, the house we stayed at was amazing, we had our own pool for most of the vacation (cause our neighbors weren't home) and that was awesome! We saw some truly amazing sunsets over the water - I always love a good sunset. We also got to attend the fishing tournament banquet (even though we didn’t catch anything or even enter – due to boat problems). Kris’s dad received a special award for having been in that tournament for 30+ years (with the same boat- haha).

Overall the trip was a lot of fun (minus the minor set backs with the boat, oh and the night that we all got Montezuma’s Revenge, oh and we had to fly back during a hurricane). Other than that we had a great time and got nice tans in the process!

Kris hanging out by the awesome pool at the house we rented.

The first night there we all went out to dinner for Ed's birthday - the boys dressed up in tux shirts for the occasion.

Kris and I at dinner.

Sunset over the Sea of Cortez

This was one of the nearby fishing villages that we ate at one night.

Here we are waiting for the boat to get fixed.

Here are the boys putting gas in the boat in hopes that it will be ready to go in the morning.

There was this really cool shop in town that the back room was all glass, it was so beautiful when the sun came in through the glass.

Taylor and Elizabeth

We're finally making our way out of the harbor!

The harbor at sunset was so beautiful!

The girls!

The whole gang at the banquet where Ed won an award for being there for 30+ years.

Mexico...again...

2008-07-28T12:21:00.003-05:00

Well we're headed off to Mexico again - super excited! This time we're going with our good friends, Taylor and Elizabeth. We fly out at 7:00 am Tuesday morning (yikes). And of course I haven't started packing yet! We're flying to Phoenix (where Kris grew up) and meeting his dad and step mom and then all of us are loading the truck and driving 9 hours south to San Carlos. Kris's dad has a boat there - we're planning on fishing, laying by the pool, eating awesome Mexican food, and just hanging out. There's a tournament on Friday, Sat and Sunday, so hopefully we'll hook into something big! I want to catch a giant Marlin! Stay tuned for pictures of the trip when we return!

Here's a pic of how large my Marlin will be:

When it rains, it pours...

2008-07-24T17:43:00.008-05:00

Houston weather is known to be unpredictable...it's also known to rain a lot in the summer, but right now it's a little more then we bargained for. After most of Texas having been in a drought this summer, it's literally been raining for about 2 days straight in the Houston area. We're currently on the dirty side of Hurricane Dolly -and she is dumping a lot of water along the Texas Coast! Here is some footage of Kris playing in the rain (really he was checking the drain to make sure our house wasn't flooding - but I thought I'd make him do something funny since he was already out there and sopping wet - I'm sure our neighbors thought he was crazy out there in the pouring rain).