Summer Weekend Five: The 4th

This weekend was especially long because of the July 4th Holiday.  And, no surprise, I loved it!  It started off on Friday with a half day off, so after working from home that morning, I got to join our BSB moms for a birthday lunch.  Normally it's just a mom thing, but Allison and Diane were in town from Houston and making a surprise appearance, so I got to come so I could visit and meet Miss Madeleine!  

Madeleine is 8 Months old, and she is just precious.  It was a bit surreal to see a lifelong friend as a mom.  Allison's such a natural and super laid back, and I loved catching up with her.  I got to spend some quality time with Little M and get my baby fix. :-)   I realized later that I had that sweet baby smell on my shoulder.  Love it.

{I recently explained to Adam that holding a baby does not make me want one.  In fact the best part is being able to give them back.  However, usually being around a dog makes me want one.  So maybe we can go with a dog first.  Ha.}

Friday night, SMoo and I went to In-N-Out Burgers up in Allen.  We went early because we figured the line would be so long, but we were in and out (ha) in less than an hour.  I'd never been before, and it was really yummy!  I was really surprised at how inexpensive everything was and how they only had three choices on the menu.  After a trip to HomeGoods, we looked up the "secret menu" options online that you just have to know to ask for.  Pretty cool.

Now, don't let this photo fool you.  We didn't just head to the lake on Saturday and hop right on the jet skis.  Nope!  In fact, this was the first time we'd gotten any toys out this summer.  Everyone's been so busy that we haven't really had a chance to visit GBC until now.  

We got one jet ski out after charging the battery (you have to do that after they've been up all winter...and summer), and promptly got stuck when we turned it off to look at something in the water.  A nice (local...you can only imagine the colorful personalities!) group of people on a pontoon boat were nearby, so they towed us back to the house.  It took a while, but we made it back, and we were so glad they were willing to help!  Lesson learned: when you take out a toy for the first time, it's best to have a phone and a rope with you!

Here's Adam winning major favorite (almost) son-in-law points: he played games with Sheri.  This is one of her absolute favorite things, and if it was a love language, I'm certain she would have it.  Mom generally beats me at most things, so I don't like to play.  {I'm a great sport/daughter/competitor.  Not.}  BUT I did play the next night with them.   

After that, we all went to see Larry Crowne, and it was really cute.  The guy working the counter repeated several times, "Well, I've already clocked out, but I guess I'll stay and help my co-workers."  Oh Gun Barrel City.  Your professionalism astounds me.  

Sunday, I got to see Lyndsy!  It's been April since we've been able to catch up, and it was such a treat.  I can't wait for her to be back in Dallas from Austin when her internship is up so we can hang out again.  

Here we are finally out on the jet-skis after Adam and Dad worked most of the afternoon on locating batteries (they had to go to three places), and then installing them.  Again with Adam earning some points here...

While they were working on that, I was able to help mom with some computer things.  She is super-savvy when it comes to the computer (she has a Mac, y'all...and she knows how to use it).  But she usually saves up about several questions that she has for me or Troy and catches us when we have time.  I always like helping her figure stuff out and showing her shortcuts and whatnot.  She's a good little student.  :-)

We watched Fireworks Sunday night, and it was quite a show all across the lake.  Dad took this photo of us with our feet hanging off into the lake.  I love it.  

I still had two more days off (for realz), and we did a lot of wedding errands.  More on that later...

Summer Weekend Three: Father's Day Weekend & some recipes

As I mentioned before, we celebrated Father's Day with my Dad earlier in the week.  He and my mom left for New York City to take 200 kids there for a mission trip.  (There were also 30 other adults, but still...  That's a lot of kids!)  This weekend, I made two recipes from a cook book my Aunt Laura put together for me as a graduation gift.  It has lots of recipes from family and friends all in one place.  I love it!  I thought I'd share the recipes, so they're mixed in with this post.

Friday night, I made Lemon Roasted Chicken for dinner for me & AMP.  This is the third time I've made it, and I finally figured out the secret: use a small cooking dish, not a 9 x 13 pan!  It's not hard, but it does require a bit of chopping and you just need to be near the oven since you keep adding things.  (It's not one of those things you can just pop in and walk away!)

Lemon Roasted Chicken

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs. new potatoes, cut in cubes

3 T butter, cut into small pieces

Salt & Pepper 

2 lbs.  chicken tenderloins

1 lb. asparagus, trimmed and cut into 2 in. pieces

1 lemon (you can cut into wedges, or you can do thin round slices like I did, above)

6 sprigs of Thyme (I always forget to buy this at the store, and it tastes fine without it!)

• Preheat oven to 475 degrees.  Place potatoes and half of butter in a casserole dish & season w/ salt and pepper.  Do not cover.  Roast in oven, tossing once, until potatoes are golden, 20-25 minutes.
• Place chicken on top of potatoes and season with salt & pepper.  Roast until chicken begins to brown, about 15 mins.
• Scatter asparagus, lemon, remaining butter and Thyme around chicken. 
• Continue roasting until asparagus is tender & chicken is opaque throughout, 5-15 mins.
• Serve chicken, veggies and lemon drizzled with pan juices.  
• Serves 4-6

Saturday, we hung out at my parents' pool with Mark, Laura and Anna a bit.  Their pool has gotten more use this summer than in the 10 years we've lived in that house, combined.  It's a popular place to be!  It was a fun day to relax and hang out.  We are appreciating the Flagg Family's donation of pool floats to the house, most definitely.  :-)

We went on a date to Carrabba's that night, too.  Yum!  I felt all gross from being outside, so I took my time getting ready.  Adam came and knocked on my door and asked what I was doing.  He said, "Um, are you ok in there?  What'cha doin...it's been 50 minutes?!"  I laughed and informed him that really that wasn't very long for a girl going on a date to get ready!  :-)  I needed to feel girly, ok??

Sunday I sang at church.  This is one of my absolute favorite things to do.  Mark, Laura, Anna, Papa and Jonita came, and it was a treat to get to have them there.

Then Laura hosted Father's Day lunch for us, grilling steak and chicken kabobs.  Anna made fruit salad and I made Nanny's peach cobbler (recipe below).  

{Mark and Papa get new clothes for Father's Day}

I spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out with them while they watched the PGA Tournament.  I just did some wedding-idea browsing on the computer.  It was so nice to be around family and just hang out.  Have I mentioned that we love having the Flaggs back in D-town?  We do.

Here's the peach cobbler recipe.  Nanny won first place with this recipe in the "Mrs. Lubbock" contest.  We are so proud.  :-)

Shirley's Peach Cobbler

1/4 lb. margarine

1 c flour

3/4 cup sugar and 1/2 cup sugar 

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

3/4 c milk

2 cans sliced peaches (29 oz size)

Cinnamon

• Melt margarine in 9 x 13 pan.  
• In a large bowl, mix 3/4 c sugar, flower, baking powder & milk.  Pour mixture over butter.  
• Spoon both cans of peaches over the mixture.  Save the peach juice.
• POur half to one can of juice over everything in the pan until mixture is covered.
• Sprinkle additional 1/2 cup sugar over mixture
• Sprinkle cinnamon over the top.
• Cook at 375 degrees uncovered for 45 minutes to 1 hour.  Best served with Blue Bell Vanilla!

Dad's Day

{200 kids in NYC}

Dear Dad,

We talked on the phone last night and celebrated earlier in the week.  Although I didn't get to spend Father's Day with you, I am gladly sharing you with 200 other kids as you are with them on a mission trip to New York City this week. 

I heard all about your day, from church at the Brooklyn Tabernacle, to a concert in the park, and things in between.  I could hear in your voice and in your stories that you were really excited to be a part of this week.  I'm proud of you for going. 

In the last couple of years, you've come alongside Mom and helped in 86:12 (our church youth choir).  You jumped right in, making new freinds of all ages.  I can hear in your voice that you are excited to be there, more than willing to help navigate this city that is like your second home at times. 

You have always told me and Troy to never give up on our dreams.  I don't know all of your dreams, but I do know that you are very good at helping people and giving wise advice, and this is part of what makes you tick.  I hope that you find ways to get to do this more often, because I know it brings you great joy. 

So to you, Dad, this Father's Day week.  Here's to finding joy in doing things that you love, with people you love.  Thanks for showing us how it's done.

I Love you,

Shay

Memorial Day Weekend

This past weekend was another glorious one because of my half-day Friday, followed by a weekend full of friends and hanging out.  When I came back to the office Tuesday morning, it felt like I'd been gone a good long while--which was a nice feeling, indeed. 

Friday was hangin' with Claire, followed by Saturday at my parent's pool.  We totally house-crashed while they were gone.  Adam, Claire, her sister Grace, Joey & Amanda and our new friends Rich and Megan came over in the afternoon to hang out.  I have no photos of this fun day, because my camera was acting all ridiculous.  Bummer. 

The guys played catch in the pool while the girls sat around the edge witht their feet in.  Typical girls.  Typical boys.  We cooked out burgers with Amanda and Joey that night. 

{Amanda, Me & Megan}

Sunday, I went to church at Valley Ranch, which was quite a treat to sit with Amanda and Megan (and their hubbies, of course.)  Amanda and Megan became friends in Waco, and now Rich and Megan are in Dallas because he's the new youth pastor at Valley Ranch.  This is fun for two reasons: 1) new friends and 2) another reason for Amanda to come to Dallas!

{Joy, Me & Katelyn}

Sunday night, I got to catch up with more church friends.  Katelyn and I became friends my senior year of high school when she moved here as a freshman.  I feel like I'm just part of their family.  They are always sweet to include me and invite me over when all the kids are home. 

Since Adam and I both had Monday off, we were originally going to fix up my bike that Troy brought home from the lake & go for a ride, but after Adam cleaned it up and WD-40'd it, we realized that it was a bit small.  I guess when you ride a bike from Middle School, it's safe to assume that you've grown out of it as a 24-year-old. 

After a Chinese food dinner, we headed over to a nearby park, where the Dallas Symphony Orchestra was playing a Memorial Day outdoor concert.  It was really fun to see all the families and dogs out on the lawn.  It made me feel quite patriotic and cultured, all at the same time.  It also made me so grateful for our freedom--something I often take for granted.  They finished off the concert with a fireworks show.  I'd say it was a great weekend!

 

Happy Day to you, Mom!

Happy Mother's Day, Mom.  To the Mom who, as Troy said, "Can always make things work."  Seriously, you have a way of figuring out all sorts of solutions to things.

Mom, you...

• are a great hostess
• are great at making things feel homey and put-together all at the same time
• love us unconditionally.  I'm sure we make it hard sometimes.  :-)
• are great at balancing a zillion projects at once
• are a wonderful example of what it means to be a great wife, mom, sister and daughter.
• are LOVED!

Excited to celebrate you tonight.

Love,

Shay 

Easter People

"We are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song." 

Pope John Paul II

This was a weekend full of fun things, a great way to celebrate being Easter people.  Adam's parents drove in Friday morning and I lucked out with a half-day off from work.  {You may remember how I love half-days.}  First, we visited the Flight Museum at Love Field.  Adam would love to re-do our wedding already and have our reception in the hangar there, ha.

On our way back, we stopped for Sprinkles Cupcakes and each picked one out for dessert: Red Velvet, Carrot Cake, Cinnamon Sugar Praline and a Black & White  cupcake.  Adam's parents brought down Iowa chops and we grilled out.  It was de-lic-ious.  I thought it was a fair trade: Iowa Chops versus a little taste of Dallas.  Works for me! 

Saturday, Adam's Mom and I shopped for a mother of the groom dress at Northpark Mall.  It was fun to hang out with just her!  We looked into a rehearsal dinner option, too, and made it to four department stores in just a few hours.  

That night, our parents met for the first time.  {Kind of a big deal.}  We ate at the Grand Lux Cafe at the Galleria and it was a good evening, and everyone got along swimmingly.  :-)

 {Mike, Noreen, Adam, Me, Mom & Dad}

I asked everyone to take a pic at dinner because I felt like this was rather monumental.  Adam's brother refers to me as "the picture girl," because I take so many photos.  There are worse things, I suppose.  :-)  

{The girls: Noreen, SMoo, Mom, Me, Anna, Laura & Jonita}

Sunday morning, Adam & his parents came with us to our church.  I think it's a smidge bigger than what they're used to.  Ha.  They were troopers, for sure.  A lot of our close family friends came up and introduced themselves, so while it was probably a bit overwhelming to meet so many people, at least they know that Adam is well loved here in Texas!

We had lunch at our house with the Flaggs and Papa & Jonita.  Troy and Austin flew in for the weekend, so it was really nice to have the fam together.  SMoo joined us as well, since her fam is in Arkansas, but really she just fit right in.  And I guess it wouldn't be an Easter celebration without her!

It was a great weekend with my Easter people.  

Lucky Day

It looks like today just might be my lucky day!  We were a bit delayed this morning when I pulled up and couldn't get into my building because of four firetrucks blocking the way.  The "fire" was apparently in the building across the street.  It made for an eventful morning!  I walked into the office and found this kind note on my desk--just a little "Thank you," but it went a l-o-n-g way.  (And you can never go wrong with chocolate!)  I remembered to wear green today, which is quite remarkable, and I have a porkchop dinner to look forward to tonight with somebody special.  :-)  I am a lucky girl.

This Irish blessing always makes me think of Nanny, who wrote it in her beautiful calligraphy handwriting.  I've always loved it...

An Old Irish Blessing

May the road rise up to meet you.

May the wind always be at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face,

and rains fall soft upon your fields.

And until we meet again,

May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

And here's one more Irish-something, just for grins...

From St. Patrick's Breastplate

Christ be with me
Christ before me
Christ behind me
Christ in me
Christ beneath me
Christ above me
Christ on my right
Christ on my left
Christ where I lie
Christ where I sit
Christ where I arise
Christ in the heart of every man
who thinks of me
Christ in the mouth of every man
who speaks of me
Christ in every eye that sees me
Christ in every ear that hears me
Salvation is of the Lord.


Happy St. Patrick's Day!

How We Didn't Celebrate V-Day

Here's the story of Valentine's Day 2011...

Originally AMP and I weren't going to really celebrate Valentine's Day. When we saw a commercial for it a few weeks ago, we looked at each other and laughed, and said simlutaneously, "Let's just not do this holiday."

We'd just finished celebrating his birthday, and before that we celebrated Christmas at the Symphony, with my family, and even before that, Christmas with his family in Iowa. Not to mention my birthday was in November as well. Needless to say, we've done our fair share of celebrating in the last four months.

So here I am, thinking that Adam and I are just going to hang out like we usually do (which typically involves running, cooking, working on a project, or running errands--just being together), and I get this text:

So I know something might be up. And as I walk out to my car after work, I see these on my windshield:

{I have to say that Adam continually impresses me with his use of markers and construction paper. This is not his first creation for me.}

So now I'm thinking, "Well, shoot. This is totally against the 'Not Celebrating Valentine's' thing, but I'm liking it. A lot." So I head home, where Adam's waiting in his car, and I walk up to this:

At this point, I have zero words. Zero.

{Please note the use of construction paper again}

Next I learn that he's brought all these groceries, and he's going to teach me how to make his famous lasagna. He's made it for me once before, but I wasn't around to see him put it all together. I'd been wanting to learn, and it was a lot of fun. It takes a while to make and a while to bake, but we just jammed out to music, and it gave me an opportunity to get my words back. {Seriously, I couldn't complete a sentence for about an hour! I really just wasn't expecting this.}

Somewhere in between all the cooking, I see a bag on the mantle. I ask if I should open it now or later. "Now," he says. So I open it, and it's a 3 x 3 square box with a jewelry store name on it. Inside is a beautiful silver bracelet with an engraved heart! {It says, "My Shay Bear." Indeed.}

I wore it the rest of the evening and again today. Every time I look at it I just smile. :-)

We sat down to a delicious dinner of lasagna, garlic & Parmesan bread and salad. Yum.

AMP was quite proud--as he should be! I ended up with two dozen roses, dinner, a bracelet and a stuffed animal that the jewelry store threw in that says, "I'm Ape for you." It made us laugh. We're not really sure what that means...

I'm all for not celebrating more often! Suffice it to say that I felt incredibly special. Since I thought we weren't celebrating, I got Adam a humongous card (literally two feet tall) that was pretty funny. At least I bought a card! :-)

My alarm went off at 4:50 a.m this morning to get Downtown for a Kickoff Breakfast, and after my very exciting day, I was in bed before 10 last night! I'm still smiling from yesterday and probably will be for a good long while.

And that's the story of how we didn't celebrate Valentine's Day in 2011.

A December to Remember

As if posting eight times in seven days isn't a dead giveaway, I've had all but one day off from work, which I worked in my jammies.  This time has been amazing.  {And if I could blog for a living, I totally would.}  I've spent lots of time sleeping, some of it running, a lot with the roomdog, and hanging out with friends I don't get to see all the time, catching Adam when he's not working, and cleaning out and organizing a lot.

Can you say g-l-o-r-i-o-u-s?!  

Besides hanging out with Claire, recently I've celebrated Mom's Birthday, Cheered on the Hogs & the Bears with Smoo, Recapped our Family Trip to Mexico, said goodbye to the most loved dog--Skip, Covered Christmas Eve with the whole fam, then Christmas Day, and relived our date to hear Mannheim Steamroller at the Meyerson Symphony Hall.  

I spent some of my Christmas money on Blog-it Boards from MCP Actions, which is why a lot of my posts now have photos that look like this...

And this...

{These were pics I found on my phone from our first few hours in Iowa.  How much fun can YOU have in an airport in Iowa?  The camo is from when we stopped at The Great Outdoors with Adam's brother to get some shotgun shells for hunting the next day.}

I also found a new FREE app for my iPhone called Instagram that has several different filters and borders that can give you the look of the photos above.

The MCP Actions let you choose several different layouts depending on the number of openings and the arrangement of them.  You can add color boxes and text as well.  I'm loving it!  If you have Photoshop, you can try a sample blog-it board for free.  It's just one, and it got me hooked.

It's been a full two weeks away from work in real life and on this blog, and I am so thankful for every minute.  Hope you've had a wonderful break as well, and Happy Monday, my friends!

A Christmas Date

Dear AMP, thanks for stretching my Christmas out as long as possible.  Giving me your Christmas gift in Iowa let me anticipate our Christmas date, which I loved.  {The anticipation and the date!}  After a long run, I think we clean up pretty well!  Dinner at Spaghetti Warehouse was delicious.  And then we got to the Meyerson Symphony Center downtown feeling oh-so-cultured.  We settled into our wonderful seats and the performance began.

I think my eyes were as wide as saucers the entire time, 

my smile even bigger.    

Mannheim Steamroller was amazing...nothing compares to live music, especially in the symphony hall.  I think half of the time I was thinking how cool it was to be there, and the other half was wondering how I found a guy that makes me feel so special (all the time!).

Christmas Day

Christmas morning is always just the four of us.  We open stockings and then gifts.  This year, Troy and I got Mom and Dad Baylor t-shirts since they were headed to the bowl game later that week in Houston.  (We don't need to talk about the outcome of that...)

Then, I decided this was the year for coupons.  I gave Mom 3 games of Words With Friends, 2 Sleepovers and a Mom & Daughter lunch date anywhere she chooses.  Yes, I'm 24 and I still give homemade gifts.  :-)

For Dad, I gave him 6 coupons labeled "Mile 20, 21, 22" and "Mile 24, 25, 26."  Apparently I can't count, and Dad was really confused!  But when I explained that I was going to run the last six miles of his marathon next week, he got really excited!  I'd promised to run at least three, but I've been working with Adam to run more than that.  So that's the plan for next weekend...I'll be sure to start at Mile 21 so I don't end up running SEVEN miles!

Our other tradition is that Dad and I cook breakfast on Christmas morning.  We have many a photo in the kitchen together growing up.  We had a late breakfast and I stayed in my jammies as long as possible!

Troy was there too, just not as "in" to all the photos.  One of his gifts was this license plate guitar and a Texas flag, since he's so far from home.  Funny how Texas roots get stronger sometimes when you go away...

After breakfast, we went to see True Grit.  It was a lot of blood, guns, guts and gore.  I think I kept waiting for a love story, and there just wasn't one.  I spent some quality time on Facebook during the movie, haha.  But that's another one of our traditions to see a movie on Christmas Day!

Papa and Jonita and Adam came over for a steak dinner later Christmas Day.  They played games, and I made brownies.  It was fun to all be together again!  Games aren't really my thing (or Dad's, either), so I was more than thrilled to bake.  

The Flaggs came over after they spent time with Mark's side of the family, and we sat around laughing and talking and playing on Dad's new iPad.  It was a fun, relaxing and joyful day!

Christmas Eve

We got to celebrate Christmas Eve at my Aunt & Uncle's new house.  They just moved back after 14 years in Houston, and we are l-o-v-i-n-g having them so close.  We went to the Christmas Eve service at Stonebriar Community Church and all crammed into Troy's Yukon.  It was cozy, to say the least.  The service is a neat one because they tell the Christmas Story and mix in Christmas Carols along the way.  It's casual and lasts about an hour, so it was just perfect for us.

Then we came home to have dinner, played a Christmas trivia game and the opened gifts and hung out.  It's moments like this where I have to sit back and just be so grateful for my precious family.

(And don't get confused...Austin's pants are as red as the bag he's opening.  He thought he'd surprise us all with a Christmas outfit.  Well done.)

Woo Pigs & Sic'em Bears??

I know, I know.  What is this talk about calling the Hogs?

Ever since I went home to Fayetteville in August of 2009 with Smoo, I fell in love with this beautiful college town.  It was such a fun girls' weekend, and we ate lots of good food, watched a lot of Gilmore Girls, ate more food, saw movies and shopped.  Seriously glorious after a summer for this new graduate with no job.  {A much needed respite.}

So now, I cheer for the Hogs whenever possible.

On December 19 (which now feels rather like an eternity ago), my dad was able to get tickets in his company's box at the American Airlines center.  I asked Smoo to come with, and we had a blast cheering on the Hogs.  (Plus they were playing A&M...who are we kidding?  Any chance to cheer against them, I take.)

Not to worry, we changed out of our Razorback gear and into our Baylor shirts just in time for them to play Gonzaga, much to the amusement of others in the box.  We ran into lots of Baylor friends, and it was so much fun.  (That's our friend Ashley in the pic up there).

It was an all-day affair, but a great way to start of Christmas Break.  I loved catching up with Smoo.

Nevermind that both our teams lost that day.  We just won't mention that part...

Christmas Magic

Traditions. 
Everyone's got 'em. 
This year, I got a peak into someone else's family traditions,
and it was so much fun. 

Adam's parents have this tree outside in their yard strung with big, bright blinking white lights.  You can see it from the road when you pull in, and from their kitchen windows where I danced at the fist sign of snow.

This photo doesn't really do it justice, but I'm telling you, I thought it was magical.

I'm pretty sure that was because it reminded me of this book that we always pull out around Christmastime, The Biggest, Most Beautiful Christmas Tree.  This "neighborhood" lives in this huge tree in the forest, and the children are afraid Santa will for get them because he won't be able to find them deep in the woods. 

Aunt Mimsy (who reminds me so much of my Great Aunt Jenny) scrounges up all sorts of decorations for the tree so that Santa will be sure not to miss this bunch, and everyone works together to make the Biggest, Most Beautiful Christmas Tree.

See the resemblance?  Maybe it's just me.  But that's ok.

We love to pull out our Christmas books and read them by the fire every year.  It's so fun to flip through them and remember Mom and Dad reading them to us.

Another part of Christmas that I love is singing Silent Night.  I have this memory of sitting in Nanny & Papa's kitchen and learning the words to that song.  I'm pretty sure we harmonized at the kitchen table, and again...it was magical.

At some point, I began my career as an event planner and directed The Christmas Story.  Papa would read it to us in his deep, bass voice, and the four cousins would act it out.  I was Mary, Austin was Joseph, Anna was the Angel, and Troy had a costume change between the shepherd and the wise men.  Unfortunately, I was pretty bossy and probably overreacted at some point before we actually got up there (Great for the Christmas cheer, huh?).  But we're all friends now, and I think they've forgiven me.

Every year, Christmas is a little bit different for us, but it's things like these traditions that keep it ever-so-slightly the same.  And of course the best tradition of all is celebrating Christ's birth. 

Do you have a favorite tradition?

A Blizzard in Iowa {and not one from Dairy Queen}

Merry Christmas from Iowa! 

We just got back from celebrating Christmas a bit early with Adam's fam.  It was so much fun.

  I'm a big fan of celebrating throughout the whole month of December! 

After flying into Des Moines, we got out to their house, and I got the grand tour before a four-wheel ride.  It was still about 45 degrees then (read: warm), and we rode around in the ditches and the neighbors' land.  I got to drive just a bit, but I'm no expert on this four-wheel driving business.  I'm still trying to get the hang of a clutch.  Ha.

Meet Sadie.  In the back is Shelby the beagle.  Let's just say I'm in love with both of them. 

(I have another photo with Shelby but it got deleted, and I'm going to have to find it later.)  These girls rule the roost, and they are so much fun.  Adam loves his dogs, and I see why--they love him!  They were so excited to see him home. 

{AMP's brother & Sadie}

They love belly rubs and eating people food and curling up by the fire.  Saturday morning I heard a little scratch on my bedroom door.  I was already awake, so I cracked it open.  The girls were waiting just outside, and they were a bit confused to see me there, since it was Adam's old room.  Shelby hopped up on my bed to say good morning anyway.  What a way to start the day!

Speaking of starting the day off right, it snowed!  This was their first snow of the season, and it was beautiful.  They have big windows in their family room and kitchen that look out over rolling hills, and I got to see the snow start and cover the ground.  Exciting stuff for this Texas girl!  (Pretty sure I was hopping around and dancing at the window watching the flakes, much to their amusement!)

Adam took me on a tour of life around town, and I got to see his school and church.

This isn't the entire school, but some of it.  I loved seeing where Adam grew up!

Isn't it picturesque?  I thought so!

The snow just kept falling, so we went out to play. 

The dogs loved it, and they were totally worn out by the end of the day. 

Here's Paul Bunyon Adam out with the ax. 

Chopping wood is also a foreign concept to me.  (Ok, let's face it--it all fascinates this city girl!)

We celebrated Christmas Eve on Saturday night, and had delicious wild rice soup and then grilled pork roast.  They even grill in the winter up there.  Who knew?! 

Here I am, just a little overwhelmed by my pile of presents.  I had just as many as the boys, and couldn't quite believe it.  They went out of their way to make me feel welcome and included in Christmas festivities!

I learned that the Paulsons don't just wrap up gift cards.  Noooo.  They put them in big boxes and put things in them to throw you off.  This was my box from Adam, and there was a plastic lid in there, so that when I shook it, it made noise.  Envelope #1 had a photo of Adam dressed up for prom (that was a clue that we're getting dressed up to go somewhere).  It says "Keep Looking" under that, so I did.  There was another envelope, and inside that was an invitation to dinner and the Transiberian Orchestra at the Symphony for Christmas.  So excited!

After presents, the Blizzard started coming in.  Oh man.  I've never heard wind like that in my life.  The windows rattled and the wind whistled.  I was a little bit scared, but no one else seemed bothered too much by it.  Adam even went out in it!  (That's him with Shelby up there.  Nope, not a burglar!)

They've got bunnies in their garage from an FFA competition his brother had a long time ago.  Bunnies aren't supposed to live that long, but in a garage out of the wind with people feeding you, who wouldn't want to stick around, right? 

Sunday afternoon, we drove about an hour to Iowa City, and  I got a tour de Adam and saw his college campus and the fire house where he was a volunteer fire fighter in college.  Then we went to a party with friends from his church there.  (This was the same church where my favorite teacher/mentor from high school went while she and her husband worked there in Iowa, so I loved having that connection to some people there.  Small world!)  All his friends were so glad to see him and kept telling me how great Adam is. 

Duh!  :-) 

We laugh a lot.

At one point, my face hurt from smiling and laughing so much.

I'd say it was a good weekend, -2 degree weather and all!