Sad News

My grandmother passed away in her sleep this afternoon. Please pray especially for my mom as she has been caring for her the last several weeks and is having a hard time with this. I'm headed to Baton Rouge tomorrow for the funeral on Friday.

B-day weekend!

We had the chance to go to a Ranger's game this week with Mike (D's brother). They were playing the Royals whice was D's favorite team growing up so we were cheering for opposing teams. Thankfully the Ranger's won the game the night we were there or I would have never heard the end of it (even though neither team is good this year).

We were up close and personal with Sammy Sosa.

Tonight we are going to a fancy restuarant in Ft. Worth as part of the "restuarant week" festivities. So it's the official start to my b-day weekend and I already told D I was going to milk it for all it was worth :)

Is it Friday Yet?

Beautiful Colorado Wedding

This weekend D and I traveled to Golden, CO to be a part of the wedding of Krista and Dustin. Krista and I worked on the same team at Fidelity until about a year ago when she moved to Denver to work at the Fidelity branch there. We got engaged at the same time and had fun planning our weddings together.

In between wedding activities we took some time to go to Boulder to meet up with my aunt and uncle. We had breakfast with them but then they gave us a map to follow and we visited the Pearl Street Pedestrian Mall and the Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse. This teahouse was a gift from Boulder's sister city, Dushanbe, Tajikistan. Don’t ask me where that is, I’m just proud I remembered the name. I’m not a big tea drinker but we had to order something so I got some mango concoction but believe me – there was no mango in it. It was basically just dirt water but I drank it all to prove that I was a sophisticated tea drinker in Colorado. We dodged the bicyclers to get back to our car and took a driving tour through the University of Colorado. D's main goal was to see the football stadium. Apparently if the Nebraska football team has stepped foot in a stadium then it is a place worth visiting. We then headed to the "Flat Irons" for a quick hike. We hiked uphill for about an hour and barely made it past the bottom line trees.
On Sunday we decided to drive to Breckinridge to enjoy the town a little. As we were getting closer the thermometer in the car kept going down till we were at 58 degrees! It was a little overcast and sprinkling so it was chilly even for Coloradans. We walked around Main Street and picked out our dream house. See below...
Then we ate lunch at the Breckinridge Brewery. And the day wouldn’t be complete without some exercise so we rented a tandem bike (a 2-seater bike) from a local bike shop. The plan was to ride from Breckinridge to Frisco which was about an 18 mile round trip. They told us the trip to Frisco was easy but the ride back to Breckinridge was all uphill. We made it to Frisco only a little bit wet from the rain and only one small argument between us. We stopped in the town to get some rain gear and coffee and finally got geared up for the uphill climb back to Breckinridge. We made it a couple of miles before the bike spoke bent as we were heading up a hill. A seasoned biker stopped and confirmed that the bike was not rideable so we had to call the bike shop and they sent a guy to come pick us up. He told us that they jokingly call the tandem bike – the divorce bike. It was a bit frustrating and tested our communication skills but we passed the test. I wish I had at least gotten a picture of the bike but I’m known for not having my camera at the most inopportune times. We did get half of our money refunded but I was just happy I didn’t have to ride the rest of the way uphill in the rain :)

So there are the highlights. It was a great trip and we hope to go back in the wintertime for some more skiing. But I don't know that I could handle skiing without Stacy going down the greens with me or Rachel letting me borrow her ski gear :)

High School Reminiscing

1. Who was your best friend?
Kari McCall Long. We met when I came to Shady Grove in the 9th grade. And I thought she had the greatest hair. She was also the smartest on in the class but not a nerd. I remember when I used to spend the night at her house she always had to clean the bathroom on Saturday morning. Being the good friend that I was, I didn’t help ☺ Oh, and she made the best chocolate chip cookies.

2. Did you play any sports?
I played volleyball and softball. I pretty much sat on the bench in volleyball till my senior year, then I got to play. We weren’t very good that year. Now softball was another story. We had Shannon Carper as our pitcher and she was good. So thanks to her we were good. By the way, Shady Grove had some kind of policy that allowed everyone to make the team so just because I played didn't mean I was good.

3. What kind of car did you drive?
I didn’t have my own car and I remind Jonathan of that when he complains about his hand me down Honda. My dad would let me drive his little blue pick up every once in a while but not too far because they were pretty protective.

4. It’s Friday night. Where were you?
Probably babysitting for the Simpson’s - our neighbors across the street. They would always order pizza for us and always had a stash of Oreos and Dr. Pepper.

5. Were you a party animal?
No – I was quite possibly the most sheltered girl in the whole world. We thought we were wild and crazy when we used to wrap Kari’s house. Yes, sometimes we were staying there and we still wrapped it.

6. Were you considered a flirt?
See above – I was so shy and scared of boys. I had crushes but there was no way that I could ever get up the nerve to talk to any of them. But now that I look back – I’m not missing anything ☺ Except for maybe Bobby Squashick.

7. Were you in the band, orchestra or choir?
I was in the choir and we thought we were really cool when we got to sing a song other than a religious tune. I think we busted out one day in chapel with “I Love a Rainy Night.” Or it was something about Rain – Mrs. McCall might remember. Anyways, we formed a choir click – Altos Duck – don’t ask me how that came about but we thought we were cool. And I remember choir was right after lunch and some random girl was in choir with us one year and she would sit there in class and floss her teeth. Weird.

8. Were you a nerd?
No, I took Business Math instead of Calculus and that was the deciding factor at our school. The only thing I remember about that class is how to balance a checkbook.

9. Were you ever suspended or expelled?
No. I was such a goody-goody.

10. Can you sing the fight song?
Actually probably anyone could – It’s “When the Saints Go Marching In”. Yes – we were the Shady Grove Saints. I don’t know if it was officially our fight song but we adopted it.

11. Who was your favorite teacher?
Mr. O’Neal. He taught science and was also our senior sponsor. He would get his guitar out in Bible class and play – “Who Shall Separate Us from the Love of God” and other Hebrew type songs.

12. What was your school mascot?
The Saints.

13. Did you go to the Prom?
Yes. But it was called Jr./Sr. Banquet at our school. And the senior’s parents were invited. Junior year I went with Jon Haecker. I borrowed a dress from Rachel and it was white and lacy and really horrible now that I look back on it. Senior year Rachel and I decided we were too cool to go with boys from our own class so we asked some of our friends in the class below us to go with us as friends. I think our favorite song during that time was “Never Gonna Get It” by EnVogue but by "IT" we meant our attention or some other innocent thing.

14. If you could go back, would you?
No. In college I learned how to come out of my shell. But apparently I still was partially in my shell in college because a guy friend from college said talking to me was like talking to a fencepost! I just can’t let that comment go!

15. What do you remember most about graduation?
I got a new dress for graduation and it was a navy blue sleeveless dress with white polka dots and a big belt around the waist – remember the brown and white dress Julia Robert’s wore at the horse derby in Pretty Women?
And I also remember that my Uncle Doug came all the way from California to surprise me. I saw him when I was up on stage and it was such a sweet surprise.

16. Where were you on Senior Skip Day? The whole class went to the Dallas Cowboys victory parade in downtown Dallas after they won the Super Bowl. That must have been the guys idea.

17. Did you have a job your senior year?
I taught gymnastics at the Walnut Hill gym about 5 minutes from our house. My dad actually let me drive there by myself.

18. Where did you go most often for lunch?
I don’t think we were able to leave campus and we didn’t have a cafeteria so we always brought sack lunches. No fun.

19. Have you gained weight since then?
Yeah

20. What did you do after graduation?
Moved with my parents to Baton Rouge the summer after I graduated and then went to Louisiana Tech and then back to Baton Rouge and now back to Dallas. I’ve come full circle.

21. What year did you graduate?
‘93

22. Who was your Senior Prom Date?
Jordan something from the grade below us. But it wasn’t a real date – we just went as friends – remember our parents were invited to the banquet so I’m pretty sure I just drove with my parents.

23. Are you going/did you go to your 10 year reunion? I did go to the 10 year reunion and felt really old. There were only 2 girls in our class that weren’t married – never thought I would be one of them. But it all worked out!

Ok - now it's your turn to do it. It's fun!!!

Update

My grandmother got to go home from the hospital yesterday. Thank you for your prayers.