long overdue - finishing out 2013

I guess it's official...we fail at blogging.  We haven't put up an update since this summer!  

To be fair, a lot has happened that has kept us busy.  And, now that Rebekah's walking, we just don't seem to have a chance to sit down at the computer anymore (and when we do, she instantly walks up and says, "my turn!").  

But, nevertheless, we've been remiss with keeping up with our announcements.  Consider this our "catch up post" to help us close out 2014...

Summer

We very much enjoyed our trip to California for my graduation.  We loved going back to Yosemite and Napa Valley and seeing several of our friends.  Rebekah was a real trooper on the trip - all that time in the car driving out there, and she still was full of smiles.

 

Yosemite was beautiful.  We were only able to spend a few hours there, but it was well worth it, even if it was unseasonably chilly.  

 

My parents (aka. Granny and Pappy) joined us on the trip.  Her dad kept telling everyone that he saw, "My daughter's getting a Ph.D.!"  I found it a bit embarrassing, but it's great to know that he is proud.  We enjoyed all of the time we got to spend with them.

After we returned to Texas, we wished we were in California - it was soooo hot!  We took Rebekah to the local splash park on numerous occasions.  She enjoyed it for the fun - we enjoyed it to cool ourselves off.

Can you believe how big she's getting?  And look at that blond hair!

 

A huge (meaning really, really, really, really, really, really large!) classic car show came to town over the summer, so Rebekah and I took Nathan there to check things out.  We spent several hours - there were literally hundreds of cars.  I got a bad sunburn, but Rebekah just turned golden.  One more way she's just like her daddy.

6th Anniversary

We celebrated our 6th anniversary twice!  The 6th anniversary is traditionally the iron anniversary, so we had both been on the lookout for "iron" gift ideas since early summer.  Nathan found an absolute winner - a wine glass chandelier!

He bought it right when it found it, but had to give it to me early in order to make sure it worked before his ability to return it expired.  So, we had our first anniversary celebration in July.  I went out shopping while Nathan installed my surprise - I loved it!  Then, we all went out to eat to celebrate the day.

We celebrated on our actual anniversary as well by taking a family selfie. :)

We had a cast iron dinner of chili, cornbread, and pazookie to complete our "iron" celebration.  And I gave Nathan a few things, one of which was the book As Iron Sharpens Iron by Howard and William Hendricks.

Nathan had picked up some wine called "Irony" to add to the celebration, but ironically we couldn't drink it.  Why?  We found out just a few days before our anniversary that we were expecting another child.  So, we put the Irony back into the pantry and enjoyed some wine glasses full of RC Cola instead.

Note: We unfortunately lost that pregnancy at 11 weeks in early October.    


We continued our anniversary celebration with a trip to Oklahoma City.  We dropped Rebekah off with Nathan's parents and spent a day on the town. :)  We first stopped by Pops, an awesome gas station on Route 66 featuring every kind of soda you could imagine.  I got a caramel butterscotch root beer, and Nathan got a chocolate soda.

We ate a delicious lunch at Hideaway Pizza - fried mushrooms, salad, and the most delicious meat-lovers pizza ever!

We spent the rest of the day on our "Christmas List" date, where we walk around the mall talking about what kinds of things we are interested in.  After the date, each of us writes the other's Christmas list based off of the ideas we got.  It's great because by the time Christmas rolls around, we don't remember anything that we mentioned liking, so everything is still a surprise.  Nathan loved this blue t-shirt...guess what he ended up getting for Christmas several months later!

Speaking of Dates...

We've struggled to keep up with regular dates, but we have had a few creative ones!  One night, we had a "blackout date". :)  We turned off all things electronic - laptop, television, lights...even the kitchen appliances!  We pretended we were having a blackout!  We lit all the candles that we owned and played board games while we had some great conversation.

For another date, I bought a groupon for ice skating, and Nathan reluctantly went along with it.

Halloween Happenings

We love the month of October for all of the festive fall events that go on.  A plant nursery opened up just up the road from us and hosted a fall festival for children.  Even though it was a frigid, rainy day, we took Rebekah to enjoy decorating a pumpkin and planting her own pansy.  She loved walking around among the plants and pumpkins, and as long as no strangers looked at her, she was all smiles.

Rebekah and Nathan both dressed up for Halloween.  Nathan made a minion costume (from Despicable Me) to wear to work.  He's wearing my pajama top and overalls, and he made the eyepiece out of his underwear.  Classy. :)

Rebekah loves bumblebees, so me and my mom made Rebekah a bumblebee costume.

We took her to a pumpkin patch to pick out her very own pumpkin.  She wanted to pick up everything she saw, but fortunately they were a bit too heavy for her.

We got Rebekah involved with the pumpkin carving this year.  She didn't want to actually touch the pumpkin, but she did help Dad remove the seeds with a spoon.

This year's pumpkin decoration...Mickey and Minnie!  As always, Nathan did a great job with the design.

The Holidays

We spent Thanksgiving in Omaha, Nebraska with my family.  It was amazing - we spent most of our time in a one-bedroom apartment - my sister, our brother-in-law, my parents, grandmother, and us - all 8 of us in a one-bedroom apartment....and nobody got hurt!

my sister Elizabeth, her husband Ande, and my parents Dolly and Wayne

We brought my sister back to Texas with us for a week-long visit.  While she was here, we enlisted her photography skills...isn't this one cute!

and this one of Rebekah and her "best friend" Dora...

and this other cute one of Rebekah!  Let's face it - we know who the star of the family is! :)

Unfortunately my sister's stay was cut a bit short by the crazy ice storm that pelted Dallas at the beginning of December.  We got 6 inches of solid ice!  We were stuck at home for a good 4 days (thankfully, I had done some grocery shopping in advance).  During that time, Rebekah enjoyed sledding (or "boating" according to her) down the driveway.

My birthday celebrations were also disrupted by the ice.  We had planned on going to a concert a church the day before and then going out to eat after church on the day of.  Nathan was going to make me a big birthday dinner and cake that night.  Instead, the concert got canceled, church got canceled, and we couldn't even get down our driveway to go out to eat (I doubt any restaurants were open anyway). 

Nathan then gave me one of the most thoughtful birthday presents ever.  Since he knows how important birthdays are to me, he bundled up, put on his huge overnight hiking backpack, and actually hiked across the ice to the grocery store several blocks (and across a major road) away!  He returned with all the ingredients for dinner stuffed in that backpack, including a half gallon of ice cream.  He then made me a delicious dinner of chicken fried chicken, fried okra, salad, and sweet potato biscuits.  For dessert, we had a warm, fudge-filled cake and ice cream.

During the weeks leading to Christmas, Rebekah and I enjoyed our time together, shopping for Daddy's presents and decorating the house. She learned to watercolor for the first time...

...and she also took up cooking!  While I prepare the meal, she enjoys "cooking" with her bowl of cornmeal alongside me.  It's one of her new favorite hobbies.

On Nathan's birthday, I took him to see the new Hobbit movie in the theater and then we enjoyed a fun dinner at one of our favorite places, Cowboy Chicken.  When we got home, he opened presents after blowing out the candles on a Mississippi Mud Cake.

The next morning, we celebrated Christmas morning at our house.  It was important to me that we have Christmas at home, but we were going to be traveling over the holidays.  So, on December 21, we woke up to presents under the tree! 

Rebekah was pretty funny - she was more excited about the raisins that she found in her stocking than any other gift that she got.  She didn't even want to open presents...she just wanted to eat raisins!

After our Christmas morning at home, we headed to Nathan's parents' house in Oklahoma to celebrate Nathan's birthday with his family.  One of their traditions is to decorate the Christmas tree on his birthday.  Rebekah got to put on the candy canes...she took that job very seriously.

On Christmas Eve, we headed to Kansas to visit my family for Christmas. 

Nathan and I have been very intentional about trying to figure out how to make Christmas less about presents and more about Jesus.  I'm sure I'll do a more detailed post about that some other time (maybe next Christmas), but one way we changed things up this year is by having a birthday party for Jesus.  Instead of the focus being Santa and the gifts he left, we talked to Rebekah about Jesus and how we would be celebrating his birthday.  She loves, loves, loves birthdays and birthday parties, so she was very excited.  On Christmas morning, when she walked into the living room, she found the room filled with birthday balloons!

Haha...she loved the balloons so much that it actually took until 7:30pm to finish opening the presents...she just wasn't interested (which, I guess, is exactly what we wanted!).

After our Christmas dinner, instead of just grabbing dessert and going to sit on the sofa, we all sat down at the table to continue the birthday festivities.  We had made birthday cookies for Jesus, put candles in the pies, and wore party hats!

After singing Happy Birthday to Jesus and blowing out the candles, we enjoyed our desserts.

Somebody really enjoyed hers!

We ended up celebrating Christmas two more times - once at Nathan's grandmother's house and again at Nathan's parents house.  By the end of our trip, Rebekah got pretty good at opening presents.

One Last Thing

This is just too cute not to share.  Rebekah got her first haircut over the holidays!  Here's the before picture...

Aaaaand, here's the "look what my mom just did to me!" picture...

In my defense, the phone rang right as I took the first cut, and she moved her head.  Fortunately, Granny was there to fix it.

And the beautiful after photo!

So that's pretty much it.  That's what we've been up to in the past six months.  In many ways, it's been a very difficult time period, with the loss of a baby, some financial difficulty, and lots of stuff not working out as planned.  But in many more ways, it's been so, so blessed.  We're thankful for all that God has done in, for, and through us, and we look forward to seeing what He's got in store in 2014.  No matter what, we'll keep walking with Him!

The End :)

december dating

We've been doing a good job of keeping up with dates, even if we haven't done the best job of writing about them.  For instance, in November we both kept a record of of all the moments where we "turned each other on," for lack of a better phrase.  This stemmed from an Everybody Loves Raymond episode where Raymond frustratingly asks for directions to "the mood."  We recorded those moments when we were in the mood for an entire week and then shared with one another on our date night.  There were lots of fun surprises, and it was a great way to encourage and compliment one another.  We both got some ideas for the future. :)

December is always a challenge when it comes to dating because of all of our holiday travels and celebrations.  We have to be super creative to make time for one another in the midst of the busyness.  Inspired by this post on the Dating Divas website, I created a "dating Advent calendar" for Nathan.

I got a bunch of gift tags and wrote a number on each (1-25, for each day before Christmas).  Nathan enjoyed waking up on December 1 and seeing them covering the fireplace.

On the back of each gift tag was either a date for that evening, something I was going to do for Nathan, or something I love about him. 

Here are some pictures from just a few of our "dates."


December 1 - Put on your Santa hat...we're decorating the tree tonight!

We put the tree in our bedroom so that Miss Rebekah wouldn't get into it.  We had a lot of fun pulling out all of the ornaments and getting into the Christmas spirit.

Day 2: I hear the Denton Square is awfully pretty this time of year.  Let's go check it out!

Denton, Texas has an awesome looking courthouse.  We enjoyed walking around, looking at the lights, and then checking out a local bookstore.

Day 7: Everybody Loves Raymond marathon with as many cookies as we can eat...

We watched a marathon of every Christmas episode while cookies baked in the oven.  Of course, Nathan had to be sure and eat some dough as well, just like one of the characters in the show.

Day 8: Happy Birthday to meeeeee!!!!!! :)  Let's drive around and look at Christmas lights this evening.  You pick the route.

On my birthday, we did more than just look at Christmas lights.  Nathan gave me a full day of special events.  He joined me upstairs for some scrapbooking, and we ate some delicious cupcakes.  I hadn't had chocolate in months, so it was a real treat.

For dinner, we went to a place called Prairie House.  We've passed by the restaurant numerous times on our way to and from Oklahoma, and I've always wanted to go.  It was absolutely delicious - definitely a place we'll be frequenting in the future!

After dinner and our Christmas light tour, we got home, put Rebekah to bed, and then Nathan brought out my "birthday cake."  Actually, he made me a delicious caramel pecan pie cheesecake.

Look....the candles spell out 31!  Not that that's how old I am or anything...

He surprised me with a movie and a book - both of which I'd been wanting for a while.  He also gave me movie tickets so that I can plan a date for us in the future.

Day 11: Don't make your lunch today - we're delivering you a hot one!

Rebekah and I brought Nathan soup served in bread bowls.  As always, Rebekah was the talk of the office, even if she was covered in crumbs.

Day 20: It's your birthday!  Let's celebrate with a picnic and slumber party in the living room.

When Nathan got home from work, I had sleeping bags laid out on the living room floor and a full picnic of paninis and sweet potato fries waiting.  We watched a "Nathan movie" while we ate (it had aliens and stuff...definitely not something I would have picked!).  Nathan enjoyed a birthday dessert of cookies and cream fudge in the shape of his age along with a cookie dough sundae.  We ended up not sleeping all night in the living room, but it was fun to pretend while we watched the movie.