Our 5th Wedding Anniversary!

June 19th was our 5th wedding anniversary! Looking back some memories of 5 years ago are very faint while it still seems like yesterday at times. I will never forget our big day though! It was 105 degrees in Humid Houston and we were wed on a small balcony overlooking the downtown bayou at the Magnolia Ballroom with about 120 friends and family as witnesses. It was the perfect little wedding. I had my dream cake from Cake Affairs, I had always wanted a cake from this upscale cake shoppe since I was a little girl. I had a beautiful dress, flowers, venue, musicians, pastor, guests, and of course the perfect Fiancee! .

I could go on and on and on but on to the 5th anniversary celebration! Sam and I spent the weekend in a little rented condo on Lake Travis. Did I mention that we were ALONE?! And it was wonderful!!! We cooked for ourselves and ate it all ALONE! And it was wonderful! My sweet father lent us his SeaDoos and we spent the day tearing up Lake Travis. We rode from our condo to the dam, it took about 1 1/2 hours straight, Im not sure how far it was but it was far! Once we saw the dam I decided to jump in the lake to cool off, it was about 105 that day, and I lost my sun glasses when I dove into the water. Yes, I know I should have taken them off but I forgot! So I spent some time acting like I was going to find them. After about 10 minutes or so I looked up to the cliff side we were floating near to see MANY stark naked people, some sun bathing, some rock climbing, some on boats, some on floats.... it was so weird! I had heard of "Hippy Hollow" before but had NO idea that it was right there across from the huge dam and public boat ramp! Oh my was it weird!! Aside from that shock we had a wonderful weekend ALONE! After about 24 hours I began to wonder what 25 year old married couples do all weekend that dont have little ones! It was so quiet, there was no sharing our food, no diapers to change, no fights to break up, -3 bodies to sun lotion, very quick meal prep and clean up! But in the same breath, we did miss the little laughter, sweet baby kisses, funny little man antics, and the over all joy our childern bring us each day. The kids had a great time too, EC and Si were in Houston with my parents "Papa and Oma" -escorted by "Uncle Mason"- I've got to give him props- he drove a 4 year old and a potty training 2 year old BY HIMSELF for 1 1/2! Did I mention he is only 19 - no kids of his own! And little Livia spent the weekend being sopiled rotten by our adopted grandparents Judy and Bruce Barton. In short- we all had a wonderful and all too short weekend!

Aquarena Springs

Today Nanna, my Mom, and I took the kiddos to Aquarena Springs in San Marcos. Aquarena Springs is now part of Texas State University and they have glass bottom boat tours and an aquarium on a beautiful part of the campus. We really enjoyed the grounds and the kids loved looking underwater throuhg the bottom of the boat! At the end of the tour the gide asked if there were any other questions and Emma asked "where are the octopuses?" It took a second but he realized she had thought that he said "aquafer" not "octopus"... I wonder if all along she was looking for an octopus?! When I was very young my grandparents took me and my brothers there when it was more of an amusment attraction. There was a submergable theater, it looked like a submarine with a huge window on one side, where we saw aquamaids and their swimming pig preform. Now the theater is mostly underwater due to a slow leak but it was neat to see it again!

Olivia's Baby Dedication

On Mother's Day Olivia Faith was dedicated at our church First Baptist Kyle by our pastor Brother Jeff English. It was a wonderful ceremony where we promised as her parents to raise her in our faith. To teach her the love of Christ by being the love of Christ in her life. Our church made a promise to encourage her and nurture her as well. The whole ceremony was beautiful! She was give a little certificate and miniature pink bible to commemorate the day. It was a special Mother's Day!

Yet Another Attempt!

Here it is six months into 2009 and I am just now sitting down again to update this blog! So sad! Now that I've learned that I can print and bind my blog into a book I am going to keep all of my family journaling here. Here is a quick up date on the past umm... 7 months or so! Since October of last year, my last post, we've gone through a failed attempt at adopting through the Texas foster care system, we celebrated EC's 4th and Josiah's 2nd b-days at Chuck E Cheese, Olivia had a tumor removed from the back of her head 2 Days before Christmas, we celebrated our first Christmas alone in our own home, I took my first vacation without any of my family memebers (Tonya took me to NYC for my 25th birthday in January), we've moved, for the 5th time in 5 years, to Plum Creek in Kyle, I have accepted the position as Coordinator of the new MOPS group for First Baptist Kyle, we have committed to homeschooling Emma-Claire this up comming school year, we've lost our beloved puppy Lucy, we've gotten a new puppy Bella and we are praying about how God wants us to grow our family! So many changes in the past seven months! And you know what? God has been so good through it all!! Enjoy these newer photos of the clan!




Ashley and Tonya in NYC! Our first girls trip :)

Josiah's Easter Pose!

The Spellings family came to Austin to celebrate my 25th birthday!

Olivia Faith at 10 months. Our littlest soccer player!

Cute kiddos riding in the grocery cart. This was our first trip with Olivia sitting in the cart and it was a success!

Our newest family member Bella. She is a 1 1/2 year old Cocker Spaniel. She was my Mother's Day gift!