Mom went home :/

Well, Mom went home yesterday morning.. It was a great weekend. Somehow, I came away with several pictures of puppies that don't even include my own or my parent's yellow lab that she brought.. so apparently we hung out with a lot of dogs all weekend and didn't really realize it.

She got here on Thursday around lunch time so Vaughn (my mother in law) met us at Sonic on her way out of town for the weekend for lunch. She was going to Round Rock to help my sister in law, Sena, move into their new house. I feel like I haven't seen Kanyon's parents in forever.. yet they only live three miles away. And in the country, that's about two minutes. How does that happen?

There was a Men's Walk to Emmaus this weekend (that Kanyon's dad worked) so we didn't see him all weekend either!

But we DID cook a lot, relaxed (well.. Mom did while I was at work), talked a lot, drove a loooot (when you live in the country, everythings far away) to Lubbock and Stanton where the Walk was, and shopped... a little.

Friday for lunch, we went to see Kasha's new puppy, Cotton. They own a cotton gin so I was rooting for that name.

Mom loves Tac, too, so she loved our visit to Kasha's :)

He looks so big in that picture!! (Sorry, iPhone pictures)

Thursday and Friday night we spent at home except for a brief stint at the school's basketball game where we walked in with 7 minutes left on the clock. But Saturday, we went to Mom's favorite store in Brownfield, "Days Gone By" Antique Store. It really is an awesome store. There are so many things in there that I would love to have. A shabby chic designer could go crazy. My favorite part is all the dishes and cookware that are like new but priced so cheap. I got a new Corningware dish for $12. 

We went to Lubbock from there and had lunch with Kaitlin! We talked all about the wedding plans and had lunch at my favorite, Jason's Deli. Is it too much to ask for a good sandwich place in Lamesa that's NOT Subway?! 

We had a great Saturday night and then she had to get up on Sunday morning and help my brother shop for clothes in Abilene since he has a big boy job now. Update on him - he is taking a semester off but still in Abilene. He's going to work full time at a law firm until May, intern for Dry Bones again in Denver May to August, go backpacking through Europe with my dad in late August, and then leave for Patagonia, Chile for a year in October to go through a mountaineering/culture plunge/wilderness medical certification/(are you impressed yet) year-long course. Kid has a tough life, huh? Seriously, I feel bad for him. All that traveling and learning another language. Oh, and did I mention he'll earn 27 hours of college credit by the end of it? Sheesh. My parents are so cruel.

More talk on that later...

Sunday was a pretty busy but awesome day for me. Usually we take Sunday to lounge around and I don't think my body got the memo that no Sunday nap was happening because I was so sleepy all day. My head bobbed several times. Which it hasn't done since I was a college student in class..

After church, we left pretty quickly for Stanton to help clean up the Men's Walk to Emmaus that had just ended. The people that are working the next Walk help clean up for the current one and since I am working the next one (YAY!) Kanyon and I came and helped clean. After closing (which was awesome to hear the excited men's testimonies), I bolted out of there because I had to be back in Lamesa for the jr. high bible study.

It was SO good.

Kasha came and she plans on coming and helping lead and befriending these girls, too. We both were pretty excited with how it went after. Those girls were willing to talk about anything. Several tears were shed, hard questions were talked about it. It was great. I love doing this. Teenagers are so underestimated by adults sometimes. They are always shocking me with their wisdom and desire for talking about REAL stuff like God.

Well, the weather is about to turn drastically.. we have a high of 25 degrees with an 80% chance of snow tomorrow. WOOHOO!

Friday and the happiness that comes with it!

I know everyone does.. but I love Fridays.. it makes me feel good to know that I have put another week of hard work behind me and have a weekend ahead of me.

Something else that has put me in a great mood is that my Mom is here visiting me this weekend!

I love it when she comes! She brought my birthday present with her - a Caphalon non-stick griddle! I'm excited to try it out tonight. We're going to make steaks with some of the outrageous amount of red meat in our house.. 2 deers, a box of steaks, and about 6 lbs of ground beef. Not to mention the breakfast sausage and bacon. Sorry, you probably didn't care about that.

Mom brought our yellow lab from Houston with her (I say "our" because technically she was my Christmas present) and we have had some laughs because Zeb is obviously in love with her.

Zeb and Holly in Houston at Christmas.

He loves to chew on her velvety ears and just lick her face. Holly is not so keen on it but she's been a good sport, haha. He just will not leave her alone. Sometimes he'll sit and just stare at her, haha!

I'm excited about this weekend for several other reasons too - the Men's Walk to Emmaus that is going on in our community (the spiritual retreat that is so important to our community), getting to see my friend Kaitlin this weekend whose wedding I am in in April and her shiny new ring, and the bible study for the junior high girls on Sunday night. I love those girls already.

I was telling Kanyon, though, that I haven't started a bible study with a new group of girls in years and can't figure out where to start?! There's so much that I want to tell them that I can't decide! But that's a lot better than not having anything at all to start with.

A few other things I wanted to show you ..

My beautiful new watch from my brother for Christmas!

I finally went to get a couple links taken out so I could wear it, so it's

like a new present again!

The super cute set of sticky notes my friend Camille got me for my birthday!

And last but CERTAINLY not least.. the KEURIG my parents gots us for our anniversary!

(Really Kanyon has been wanting one for so long and Mom just needed an excuse to get one for us.)

Kanyon was super happy.

A Christmas gift, a birthday gift, and an anniversary gift. January is a great month for me :)

Our Anniversary

Kanyon and I celebrated our FIRST anniversary yesterday!

There's no way that was a whole year ago. Wait, there's no way that was ONLY a year ago! How can it feel both those ways at the same time?

Our wedding was so beautiful and so fun, I wish we could go back and do it all over again. I would do a couple things different but only minor things.. like make sure I packed my makeup in MY bag after getting ready for the wedding so I won't have to call my parents crying because I wouldn't have makeup for our honeymoon. Slightly dramatic, I know, but the emotions of that day came crashing down on me at that point.

Kanyon and I went to San Antonio for our anniversary to stay at a little bed-and-breakfast called the 1908 Ayres Inn. It was perfect. We'd never stayed at a b & b before and wanted to try it out. Plus, they are sometimes nicer AND cheaper than hotels. Gotta love that combo. And we were not disappointed. Just check out the room:

Kanyon's not afraid of the camera.

The living room, parlour and dining room were all so beautiful as well. Just go check out the website if you want to see what it looks like. Our favorite part? They had a TON of DVD's to choose from for free, including lots of new releases. We watched I think about 4 and a half movies on our own flat screen in our bedroom while we were there.

While we were there, we ate out a lot off and on the RiverWalk, relaxed in the room a lot, did a little shopping, went and saw The Fighter (good, but not great), went to Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum (Kanyon's choosing..), and one of our favorite things we did was go on an "African Safari"!

There's a place called Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch a little outside San Antonio where they have African animals on a reserve!

 Thats gotta be a headache.

 Ew. I hate ostriches. They are the creepiest animals.

 They are the coolest animals!

 This picture cracks me up.

It was much cooler than the zoo. But definitely not like a real African safari. Hopefully we'll get to experience that again someday soon!

Another highlight for me.. I got my birthday present from Kanyon! New boots!

They are Anderson Bean, the brand that is Kanyon's favorite, and I've always wanted a pair. By always.. I mean since I started dating a cowboy.. I never would have thought I would ever be excited about a pair of boots when I was say.. 17. Oh, how life changes. Going home to eat more of that thawed wedding cake! Which was extremely good by the way. I was pretty surprised. Made a believer out of me!

Happy Anniversary, Kanyon. No words could express how much joy being married to you brings me.

MLK Day

This year Martin Luther King is more significant to me than it has been in other years to me. And it's all because I am reading this book right now:

If you have not read this book, please do. It is a fictional book set in the 1960's in "Jim Crow" Mississippi about relations between black and white people. I won't give away the plot but it tells the story of three women: a white post-college unmarried girl who is trying to find her place in the town she grew up in after moving back, a black older woman who is alone after her only son died and who is the maid for a white woman, and another black middle aged woman who has ruined her reputation in her town after sassing one too many rude white women. "The Help" refers to what the maids are called.

I have many convictions, but race relations have always been a sensitive subject to me. I have no idea why except the fact that I believe it is Jesus in me who leads me. I can't watch movies that deal with racism very easily because I can't stand to see it. It disgusts me like not many other things. Maybe it is because I grew up in Houston and I had friends of every race growing up, but again I like to think, in fact I know, it is God in me who influences me to feel this way.

Anyway, I'm sorry to be going on a personal rant right now but I just feel the need to recommend this book to any and everyone. Not only is it beautifully written, I appreciate its historical accuracy. I thank God for people like MLK who stood up and fought for their God-given rights. I also thank God that I do not have to live in a time where there is still need for people like him. I'm not saying race relations are perfect now by any means, of course. Racism just rears its ugly head back again after changing its appearance a little.

If you like reading, and even if you don't really, give this book a try.

On another note, I am thankful for two other things today:

The Keurig my co-worker bought for the office!

And these two babies!

Al and Kasha brought home a 6-week-old yellow lab puppy last night!!! They are my favorite!! 

(I hate using too many exclamation marks usually so this should tell you in itself how excited I am about it!!)

Have a good Monday!

Sorry :/

I'm sorry that I've not posted in a while, I've actually started two posts since my last and both times whatever computer I am on did not recognize my memory card. And now as I was about to finally get it done, I realized I didn't have my memory card with me. Gah!

So I will have to use pictures I've already taken. Last weekend, Kanyon and I stayed at home on Friday night eating dinner and watching some more 24. I have to admit, I'm sick of that show.. All the suspense and the ridiculous amount of drama and stress is too much to watch back to back episodes. I'm ready for us to move on to another series! There are still two or three more seasons I believe though :/  We are going to watch Prison Break next and I'm so excited cause I've wanted to watch that for a long time.

Saturday, we had our Welch Stock Show at the school's barn. I love it when we have Welch events because everyone comes out and I get to see everyone at once. Kanyon worked the show and I had to leave a little early to run to Lubbock so I could be fitted for a bridesmaid's dress! My friend Kaitlin got engaged on Christmas Day!

  

The future Mr and Mrs Riojas :)

Their wedding will be in April and I had to rush and get it ordered now so it will be in by late March at least. That night, Kanyon and our friends Megan and Mason met me in Lubbock to go out to eat at a really good steakhouse.

This week has been a good one at work, pretty laid back, and then last night I got to go to Midland and have dinner with my really good friend Heather Lowery.

Her family is from Midland so she was home for a few more days and I met her there to have dinner and she surprised me with a beautiful necklace for my birthday :) I got to see her family for only about 45 minutes and then drove home the hour drive. It was soo good to hang out with her last night.

But I get to see her AGAIN in two days!! Kanyon and I are going to Abilene this weekend to say goodbye to our two of our best friends Jason and Stephen. They are leaving for Kenya on Tuesday for a couple years! I'm so excited for them. We'll probably get to see them every 6 months or so because they'll have to come back that often because of their work visa, thankfully.

We'll be leaving Saturday morning (hopefully even Fri night) to go to Abilene and spend some time with them before they leave and all of our friends who are also coming in to tell them bye. Its been way too long since everyone has gotten all together. I can't wait!

Zebkins

I'm looking forward to, hopefully, another restful weekend before we are gone the next two weekends (both for exciting things though!) and maybe I'll get the house cleaned? Maybe not? I'm thinking probably I'm not.

Also, on Sunday, I am going to begin leading the Jr High girl's bible study on Sunday night for First Baptist, the church I work at! I am so excited about it.

I thought that I'd give an update on Zeb, though. He hasn't been the focus of a post in a while :)

 Zeb with my parent's yellow lab, Holly Belle (actually technically Holly was given to me for Christmas my senior year so I guess they're both mine!)

Zeb is 6 and a half months old and reminds me of that middle stage of Simba in Lion King when he's older but doesn't have his mane yet.. Australian shepherds have mane-ish hair around their face that grows in when they turn one. So he's teenage Simba right now.

He's calmed down a lot already and has impressed us with his ability to not be annoyingly hyper. But he definitely likes to play, though. He has decided that he no longer wants to play fetch, he'd rather Kanyon and I chase him around to take whatever it is we're playing with away from him! So Kanyon and I can be seen running circles around the living room to catch Zeb.

He still goes out with Kanyon everyday and Kanyon loves it. When he turns one, Troy (the cowboy we bought Zeb from) says they can start taking Zeb out with them to work cattle with Zeb's dog daddy Deetz so he can learn from him. But apparently Aussies will amaze you with their innate sense of shepherding that doesn't need to be learned.. I'm excited to see him work!

This is Deetz, Zeb's dad who he will look exactly like in build but like his mom in color:

(Troy on the left with Tac in his lap and Al Crisp on the right... thanks Kasha for the pic ha)

Kanyon told me last night that he started leaving him out in the back of his truck when he goes into town. He'll be in the bank for thirty minutes and Zeb will obediently wait for him in the back of his truck as people walk by! I think that's amazing to already be doing that at such a young age!

Everyone have a great weekend! We have our local stock show going on and Kanyon's on the board so we'll probably be up there all weekend but I'm planning on sleeping innnnn on Saturday.. yay!

My Birthday

My birthday was last Sunday!

Kanyon and my parents and I had decided that we should start celebrating my half-birthday in June instead of my real one on January 2nd since we now have our wedding anniversary in January as well. So Kanyon and I didn't make any plans or anything for that day.

Well.... by about noon I had decided that idea was stupid because I was wishing we were acknowledging my birthday somehow! Not for the gifts or anything but I like having a special night to go out to eat and have some cake!

So I told mom I didn't want to do it anymore and she said she didn't like it either haha! She put a little something in the mail that day and my parents called and wished me Happy Birthday!

Not to say that the calls and texts that I had gotten already didn't count for anything, of course, its just different hearing it from your husband and parents.

That night, I had a Staff Christmas party, though, which was a lot of fun so it didn't feel like we just did nothing on my birthday, after all! I got to hang out with this little cutie who loved sitting in a chair his own size!

We ate good food, great desserts, and I made butterbeer! Its a drink that they drink on Harry Potter (I made the non-alcoholic version). Its basically cream soda, sweetened condensed milk, and butterscotch, a.k.a. pure sugar. It was yuuuuummy. My boss, Chris, is a huge Harry Potter fan, too, so we've been looking forward to it for months.

Then, that night we headed over to Kalith and Vaughn's to spend a while with Kanyon's sister Sena and her husband Daniel and their two babies who were in town for a couple days. And guess what? Vaughn surprised me with a cake and presents!! I don't think she realized how much this meant to me since I had kind of been bummed that day about not doing anything. So we had chocolate cake and I got a beautiful shirt and jewelry and placemats for my kitchen from Vaughn and Kalith. And then I got to cuddle with three-week old Asher. Perfect way to end my birthday.

Daniel volunteered to decorate my cake! :)

Didn't he do a great job?! :)

So even though Kanyon and I didn't celebrate it as far as him and I, and my parents didn't really get a chance to prepare to send me anything, it was still a great birthday! Kanyon and I will celebrate it sometime soon, and Mom and I decided we will celebrate our's together in March when we are in Houston again for the Livestock Show.

And then Monday, the 3rd, my cousins surprised me with these!

 So beautiful!! Have a great week!

New Years Resolutions

I know, I know, everyone is blogging about their New Year's Resolutions but I actually have some this year for the first time!

1. Get much better about remembering and sending birthday cards. I love doing it but there's always ones I forget. Its funny, as I'm typing this, my friend Heather just texted me and said how sorry she was for forgetting to call me on my birthday. I told her she'd probably only have to wait at least a week before I would talk to her. I'm forgiving like that.

Just kidding!

2. Get to work on time every day.

Yes, I know, I'm that person who is late a lot. Not EVERY time, just some of the time. Enough that Kanyon is constantly checking to make sure I know what time it is every five minutes before we go somewhere. This is going to be really hard. But I did it this morning and I was so proud of myself!

.... that's all I got. But I think that these are two attainable but still challenging goals. Wish me luck!

I WILL finish putting up Christmas stuff tonight. I am putting my foot down and NOT watching hours of 24 in a row.

I hope I can stand strong.

 

Christmas Part Two

I just realized that I never did the second part of my Christmas post! Whoopsie.

We left for Round Rock on December 22nd after I got off work at spent the night and morning at Kanyon's sister Sena's house with her husband and two kids. They just had a baby boy named Asher who we were very excited to meet!

Driving for six hours after working that day made us a little tired.. Can you tell?

He is the sweetest little babe to hold! He is cuddly and sleeps all the time. Well except when its the middle of the night according to his mother but that doesn't affect me :) Ha. I should probably take that back.. Karma could get me back.

We went on to Houston on Wednesday, the 23rd, and had a great time. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures except the ones I put on the blog on Christmas Eve already.

That night, we had our annual Family Charades Night with the Rogers and Jones families. Its always a fun and loud and competitive night. I think we have gotten too good for our own good though, because I tried to play a game similar to it a couple weeks ago with some girls and all of them complained that my entries were too hard.. They would have been considered easy at our family night.. What can I say? I'm used to playing with professionals.

Christmas Eve was spent cooking and hanging out with family and friends around the table at my mom's Annual Christmas Eve Party. She decided this year that it would be her last so I'm already a little panicky thinking about what we are going to do on Christmas Eve now?!? We've done this party since before I can remember.. Any suggestions?

Christmas Day was so wonderful. Its my favorite day of the whole year.. I don't even care that I sound so cliche right now, its the truth. I'm a sap for all things Christmas. After we opened gifts and stockings, we ate a big meal of turkey and dressing as a family. Kalum Tuggle, the youth minister at my parent's church and a close family friend, spent the day with us, too. His wife Ashley was in Amarillo with her family but since Kalum is on staff at the church, he had to stay home and work the Christmas Eve service. Bummer if you ask me. But we loved having him with us and I've worn the necklace he picked out and bought himself (!) several times already.

We had plans to go see a movie but what ended up happening was a lot of playing with the dogs, playing on Kanyon's Xbox 360 Kinect that I got him for Christmas (he was s-h-o-c-k-e-d), and taking naps by the fireplace the rest of the day and the next.

We had to leave on Monday since I am a grown up now and had to be back at work Tuesday. Boo. But it was a greeeat Christmas and I am sadly taking down Christmas stuff slowly. Very slowly. As in its all of my kitchen counter because I'm having a hard time figuring out where/how to store it all.

Off to my birthday dinner at Vaughn and Kalith's house! (My b-day was yesterday!)

Happy New Years!

Happy New Years, everyone! The Internet at work has been out off and on all week making it hard to post.

Kanyon and I have had a very lazy New Year's and it's been "glorious", as Kanyon dubbed it :)

We spent a few hours last night at some friend's house eating and hanging out before Kanyon started feeling his sinus medicine wearing off (he's had bad sinus pressure the last few days). So we went home, put on our pajamas, and watched about six hours of season 1 of "24" well past the point I could keep my eyes open! Although we did stop for a happy new years kiss at midnight of course.

This morning, we slept in and all I've seen is this:





That would be "24" again.. We spent the whole day watching it again, only stopping to get more snacks.

We did leave the house for a few hours tonight to grab dinner and go see True Grit in Lamesa. Neither of us were impressed with it at all. Several times during the movie I threw my hands up and said (maybe too loudly) "why did that need to happen?!?

So we consoled ourselves by getting back in our pajamas and back to the last two episodes of season 1, which we're about to finish.

Nothing like an extremely lazy Saturday to get you geared up to take down all your Christmas decorations on Sunday..