Mother-Daughter Weekend!

Last weekend, Mom and I went to Cloudcroft, NM for a girl's weekend. It was so nice to have Mom to myself and get to relax and shop in the beautiful mountains!

Mom got here on Thursday and we left Friday after I got off of work. It was a beautiful drive.. we think. We don't know because it was dark.

 We finally got to our cabin around 9:00 pm Texas time, 8:00 Mountain time. So since we gained an hour, we thought we'd go check out the desserts at the Lodge, an old famous resort there! This is what it looks like in the daytime...

Then we got back to our cabin and crashed.. The next morning, we slept in until 9:00 and then headed to the Lodge for our massages!! They were wonderful. BUT at one point, the masseuse was massaging my temples, and I couldn't help but think.. he's rubbing straight up oil into my skin! Lo and behold.. I'm breaking out this week like I was in high school again. Especially at my temples. Great.



Anyway. After that, we came back to our cabin and made brunch with some groceries we brought with us.

<-- Our cabin at the Spruce Cabins.

(Sidenote: Do not rent the Spruce Cabins if you are a girl or need more than 1.5 feet to take a shower.)

After that, we finally put on something other than our pajamas around 1:00 and went shopping down the "Boardwalk".

There were lots of shops to look at and a coffee shop we stopped and had a cookie at.

Around 5:00, we decided we really wanted to get pedicures but there were no places in Cloudcroft to do it! Seriously!? So we had to drive about 15 miles to get to Alamogordo, where we ended up eating dinner, too, because we wanted Mexican food for the green chile sauce. It was a gorgeous drive!

So, we made ourselves not feel so ridiculous for driving 15 miles to get our nails done by saying we just did it for the scenic drive..

When we got back Saturday night to Cloudcroft, we decided to get dessert at the Lodge again where they are famous for the Bananas Foster.. It was amazing. And super rich. I couldn't even finish it. And if you know me - you know I don't not finish desserts.

Sunday morning, we got up around 9:00 again and went and ate at this cute little coffee shop on the Boardwalk, where we planned how Mom was going to put into motion her dream of owning a coffeeshop/bookstore/bakery. Now that is my kind of place. Get on that, seriously, Mom.

We had a few more hours before we needed to leave to get Mom to the airport in Midland, so we decided to hike a little and walk around the neighborhood and see the houses.

We stopped at a little bed and breakfast that we thought was really cute to look inside and guess where the owners were from?? Lubbock! They moved there a year ago to pursue their dream of owning a b&b. And this one, I will recommend because it was really cute and her husband was raving about her cooking skills.. Yes, he is biased but he sold me. So if you're looking for a good b&b in Cloudcroft, The Crofting is your place. I just looked at their website and she does French cooking lessons so see - he wasn't lying.

After that, we rushed back to the room to pack and be on our way. It was such a great trip! I don't think Mom and I have had a chance to talk that much since before the wedding.. So ready for next year's trip already!

fall is here!!

Fall is my favorite season!! I love the weather, the change of wardrobe, the HOLIDAYS, the smells! In all honesty, I've never really liked summer and I especially don't now that I don't have 3.5 months off for it!! Adult life is hard to get used to..

Interruption: Mom and I had a GREAT weekend in Cloudcroft and I told her I would post about it this afternoon, but I am busy at work and will do it soon, Mom!

In anticipation of the season coming up.. I had two firsts today. I bought my first item on Etsy ever. And that purchase was my first wreath! ..... That sounds a lot more boring once I type it out.

But does this look boring to you?!

I don't think so!! It is a handmade yarn wreath that I bought off of Ginny Winny's page. I'm so excited! Wreaths on Etsy can run up to $70 (ridiculous) but this one was only $25 and definitely one of the cutest.

I get really excited about seasonal decorations. I can see this getting ridiculous..

Very Excited!

I pick up my Mom from the Midland airport in 4 hours!!

Mom called me a few months ago and asked what I thought about taking a girl's weekend trip every year, just me and her? YES.

We decided to go to Cloudcroft, NM this year. Its three hours from Lamesa, where I work, so she's going to come meet me at work tomorrow when I get off and off we go! We are going to be staying at some little cabins in town called the Spruce Cabins..

and we'll spend our time there shopping (window..), getting massages, eating out, etc, etc. All the girly stuff. I'm so excited!

While I'm gone, though, there is a lot going on here in the Welch area! I'm sad that I will be missing all of it but thats just the way things worked out! 

Dawson School (K-12 school in Welch, where Kanyon and his family all went to school (including parents and maybe even Vaughn's mom, am I right?) is having Homecoming Week this week and they'll have the game and announce the Queen this weekend.. I'm sorry I'll miss it! I have way more school pride for Dawson than I ever did for my own schools. It probably has to do with the fact that I graduated with about 650 (800 were supposed to graduate.. yikes) and Kanyon graduated as one of 11 graduates.

Also, Al and Kasha are having their annual gin dinner with a big celebration for their 10th Anniversary as Punkin Center Gin owners! Its going to be a big bash with lots of food and I wish I could be there to help celebrate and eat their great BBQ! They cater several events in the area because they are so good at it. Save me some leftovers, please, Kasha!

AND last but definitely not least.. what is my husband doing this weekend? He is working another Kairos Prison Ministry with several members of our church! Sunday's attendance is going to be slim but Kalith (my father in law) made a great point Sunday that that's a good thing.. Our church members can't make it to church this Sunday because they are busy out ministering to prison mates. That's awesome. Love it. Please be prayin for those guys!

Monday ...

Mondays at the church are pretty slow.. all the ministers have Mondays off so I usually have to figure out things to do.. thus.. I'm updating our blog.

If any of yall follow Ree Drummond's blog (Pioneer Woman), yall may have come across one of her "favorite things" post. I have a love/hate relationship with them.. I am always tempted to buy the things she posts about.

Well, there are a couple things that I want to share with you. This could get girly.

Number 1: Clinique Quick Eyes Cream Shadow in "Sparkling Nude"

I am pretty uncoordinated and inexperienced when it comes to eyeshadow. I never wore it in high school and never really learned how to apply it (kind of) until senior year of college.

BUT when I went to the Clinique counter to buy my wedding makeup about a year ago, the girl at the counter (with perfect makeup) showed me this life-saver.

It is liquid eyeshadow in a nude color with a little sparkle (hence the name, duh) and she showed me by applying it on her hand that if you put it on your eyelid first, it will make your eyeshadow .. 1) stay on all day, and 2) actually be the same color it is in the compact on your eye, if not better. My eyeshadow has never been the same since. I have even ventured out into using more than one color on my eyelid. Amazing! Seriously, I highly recommend this. Find it here.

Number 2: Thirty-Six Ten Jewelry on Etsy

(Amy, if you're reading this, I hope it's ok to be doing this!) I just stumbled onto my friend Amy's Etsy page. If you are unfamiliar with Etsy, it is a website where small business owners can sell some of their stuff. Most of it is handmade and unique. I was shocked by how beautiful everything was on Amy's page!

A couple of my favorites:
 

Here is a link to her page: ThirtySixTen


That's all I got right now. I hope this Monday is good for everyone!

so sad

This is what I have to see everytime I drive away from my driveway. Heartbreaking.
 

I took it on my phone as I was sitting there thinking to myself -- I don't really have to go to work today, do I?

Please someone make him not as cute!!

Wait no. Don't!!

In other news, here is another article for ya. The youth minister at work sent this link a couple days ago and its really funny. Its about churches getting a little crazy when trying to be creative picking a name for themselves. I love it when we (churches) make fun of ourselves..

Church Names - StuffChristiansLike.net

It's Friday! Football and maybe some relaxing this weekend. For me, at least. Kanyon has a Kairos meeting all day Saturday for the one we.. he is working next weekend. Long story short on why its "he" and not "we".. Mom and I planned a girl's weekend AROUND this Kairos weekend so I could work it. Turns out I had the dates written down wrong and we planned it for the exact same weekend. Bummer. But I think I'll be okay once the massage therapist starts on me on our girl's trip.

A dog's life

Kanyon's birthday was on Sunday. Ya know what we did? Nothing.

Kanyon was so exhausted from the weekend. But what a great weekend it was! Sunday's Closing Ceremony for the Walk to Emmaus was very encouraging. All of the men were changed from their experience. My mom is on the next Walk in November and my dad and Robert Jones are on the men's Walk early next year!

I didn't even have to make a birthday cake because they had food left over that they were going to throw away! Throw away a homemade red velvet cake? I don't think so. Give it to me.

On another note, Vaughn (my mother-in-law) leads a bible study every semester and we started our new one last night. It's an older one by the never disappointing Beth Moore called "Jesus, the One and Only". I really liked what we heard last night and I actually think Beth is still super cute in her 1990's get ups. I just want to know how she gets her hair to look that perfect all the time! Especially in Houston! Not once in my 18 years there was I able to get my hair to behave.

Zeb has grown a lot in the last couple of weeks! He grew out of his awkward stage (ha) and now looks more like an Australian.

Look at that little handsome man .. I mean dog.

Another pose..

He sure missed Kanyon this weekend.. No farm work for 4 days straight makes Zeb do weird things. Like put his food and water bowl on opposite ends of the backyard. Not just once, either.

I'd bet he's loving getting to ride in the truck again today and run through the cotton... Oh a dog's life.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Cole and Dad in Vatican City last summer.

Today is my dad's 53rd 33rd birthday!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

I am so proud to be his daughter. I don't know why God chose to bless me with two amazing parents, but I'm not going to question Him.

My dad is one of the most self-less people you will ever meet. He doesn't view his job primarily as a way to provide for his family, but as a ministry. Some people may just say that - but my dad seriously does minister to people in his job. He is a sales representative for a medical company. He works with some hard-to-love people (as we all do) and he doesn't hesitate to share God's love with them.

I know in my heart that the reason Cole and I had no hesitation believing that our Heavenly Father loves us unconditionally is because we have an earthly father who does also. I can't tell you in words how much of a blessing that is.

Not to mention that he's fun to be around, too. Case in point:

Cole got "Most Humorous" award in high school.. where do you think he got it from?

I love you, dad. I hope that you have a great day, today!

Catching Up

Ok, I'm back at my office and I have a chance to blog now! I feel like I haven't been able to sit down this week much to post. So here's some catching up ..

Last Friday, Kanyon and I (and the whole town of Welch.. and more) went to the first Dawson home football game. It was so fun to get to see everyone after a long summer of everyone running around and going on vacation. I have never been a big football fan and Kanyon has been embarrassed on many occasion because of my lack of knowledge of anything football. Don't worry, I now know a lot more. But I can credit that to 6-man football and not the 11-man that I grew up watching. In 6-man, it is so much easier to see everything that is going on and thus.. I learned who the running back is. Which helped me understand 11-man better, too, and this year I may actually watch the Superbowl. Maybe.

On Saturday, Kanyon and I and Al and Kasha all went to Lubbock to celebrate Kanyon and Al's 24th and ... I won't tell you how old Al is.. birthday. Ha, just kidding, Al. But seriously, how old are you? We went to Outback and had some greeeat food. Their steaks are really good! We did decide though that if you order the Outback Special, they just give you whatever steak they had lying around. Three of us ordered it and all got different cuts of meat. Whatever.

Sunday and Monday, Kanyon and I got to do.. nothing! It was fantastic. That's all I have to say about that.

Tuesday was normal.. Wednesday, we celebrated Kanyon and Uncle Dan's birthday at church and Thursday I went to a seminar yesterday in Lubbock for church administrators where I heard interesting comments about the government taking over TV .. Good thing Kanyon and I have all the CSI's and all the King of Queens already recorded.

Walk

I plan on doing a longer and more detailed post later today when I get back to work, but just wanted to give yall a heads up that Kanyon (and I, but in the background) and our family and friends are working a Walk to Emmaus here this weekend and it started last night. So please be praying for the pilgrims that they will really experience God's love this weekend. And Kanyon is giving his talk at 1:45 today so also send a little prayer for him!

If you have no idea what a Walk is, I'll explain this weekend or first thing next week!

Article

Regardless of your views on the building of an Islamic Community Center (not mosque) in downtown NYC two blocks from Ground Zero, I think that this is a really good article about the latest that is going on regarding it..

Islamic Community Center, CNN.

As far as what that group of Christians are doing in Florida to commemorate 9/11, I think they are going about it all the wrong way.. What do you think?

I can't believe I'm posting about political views, but I feel this is an issue that tests me as a Christian.

Honestly, I'm very surprised that no reporters have even mentioned the fact that there will be prayer rooms for Christians and Jews as well in this community center. But actually, I'm not surprised at all.

thursday

Its Thursday and I can't wait for it to be Friday.

Tomorrow, we are going to the first Dawson HS football game of the season. Everyone in Welch is busy all through out the summer but we all will come back together for football of course! This will be the first game since 2001 that a Brown boy is not playing. Weird.

Then Saturday, Al, Kasha, Kanyon and I are all going to Lubbock to celebrate Al and Kanyon's birthdays and I'm pumped!

Sunday is already my favorite day of the week but this Sunday will be even better knowing I get to sleep in the next morning... oh to be in college again when I could just "accidentally" sleep through my morning classes and call it a day.

Thoughts today:

1. Does anyone else think that Zeb is in an awkward gangly teenager stage?

 I think his ears and his body alternate growing. One week his ears grow, the next his body.

And why do dogs always have green eyes in pictures??

Is that why my other dog (that lives at my parent's) will run and hide when a camera is pointed at her? She can't stand the thought of someone seeing a picture of her like that?

She also won't eat in front of anyone. And she has developed hypochondria. Ok, she has issues. But I love her.


2. I just printed 234 pictures off Snapfish and they charged me $13 for shipping. Obviously, someone is pocketing about 80% of that because that is ridiculous.

3. Why did I print 234 pictures? Because I got to thinking the other day.. When our kids ask us later on what our house looked like when we moved in, what the first year of marriage was like, how ridiculous did we dress in 2010, etc ... I'm probably not going to go "Oh, just look at my Facebook. Its all on there."

So I am making a photo album. Does anyone even do that anymore?

4. Speaking of photo albums.. I made an Israel photo album from our trip 2 years ago. Finally!

5. Sometimes, like today, I'll randomly text Kanyon "Hey - I love you" (gag, I know) and he responds with "Ditto."

........... I don't know how I feel about that.

6. Kanyon is going to be 24 in less than two weeks and I will still be 22. I kind of look forward to those 4 months where I am dating/now married to a much older guy. 22 and 23 is not near as exciting. But 24? That's a real man.

7. All of Kanyon's siblings and his parents (and my parents for that matter!) will be in Houston this weekend for Micah's 1st birthday.. I am very sad we aren't going. We just couldn't swing it since we have something very taxing every weekend for the next 3 weeks. Why can't someone invent a teleportation machine? Or at least let Muggles apparate!

8. Kanyon's and my parents are in the San Juan Islands and yesterday they kayaked next to Orcas while Kanyon and I wait for electricity to come back to our house and wondered what we ever would do without satellite TV. That .. is .. sad.

9. Two good things that came from the storm: I made smores by candlelight in the kitchen. We got about 2/10s of an inch of MUCH needed rain on Kanyon's land!

Happy Thursday!