Happy 4th of July!

After a few days of catching up back home after our trip to Colorado. The whole family headed to Grand Lake for our annual 4th of July trip! I can only remember 1 time in my life we haven't gone to the lake for the 4th.

Tahoe and Indy love to swim!

All the boats tied up to each other and enjoying some time in the water!

Tahoe and Indy in their second 4th of July parade!

Airshow before the fireworks

Just before the fireworks began we celebrated mom and Suzette's birthday!

Happy Birthday Mom and Suzette!

We had a great weekend on the lake!! The fireworks were great and the rain held off until after the show was over!!

Keep scrolling for pics of our trip to Colorado!

"Colorful Colorado"

This year we planned an all family trip to Colorado. The whole gang was there...all 12 of us!!
Brian and I decided that we would leave a day early and drive. It seemed like a great idea at first, and then I started to dread it, but it actually ended up being a lot of fun. We drove out west towards Amarillo, and then headed north through New Mexico and finally Colorado. Colorado is beautiful in the summer, but it was definately different not seeing snow!

Brian eating the GIANT ice cream cone at Dairy Queen!
We add some great adventures during the week. Some of us hiked 5 miles down the Beaver Creek mountain. I really didn't think it would be that hard, but we were sore the next 2 days!!

The Aspen Trees were gorgeous!

I think we all enjoyed white water rafting!! I think some of us were a little nervous, but after learning one of our guides graduated from Baylor, for some reason I think we felt a little more relaxed! We got all geared up with wet suites, booties, splash jackets, helmets, and life jackets. We then headed into the water for our 12 mile trip! We all survived and no one got thrown in!!

One day we went to Glenwood Springs, Colorado and went to an adventure park and toured the caverns. We took the gondola up to the top of the moutain where the park was. We got to ride an Alpine Roller Coster, which was really cool!

While we were in Colorado we celebrated Adam's birthday and a very special Father's Day.

We had a great trip with lots of rest, adventure, laughs, and Guitar Hero!

Summer is here! Part 2

In April, the Broadway show Lion King made a stop in Oklahoma City. If you ever have a chance to see Lion King, I highly recommend it! It was amazing! Half the time I forgot they were real people acting as animals. The costumes were just incredible! We were on first level on the side balcony and we were able to get a close up view of the animals as they made their way on stage! I know its not the best quaility, but I was able to sneak this picture from Brian's phone.

Brian and I at the OSU vs. Baylor baseball game in Stillwater. The weather was the best for baseball, but we stuck it out through the rain and enjoyed the afternoon!

Tahoe patiently waiting our arrival to the lake! He loves going to the lake!

I think I am all caught up on pictures and updates!!

Happy Summer Everyone!

Summer is here!

Summer is finally here for me and I am about 2 months overdue for a blog entry! In the last 2 months we have refinanced our home, cheered on Baylor Men's Basketball team during Big 12 tournament and NIT Championship, watched Baylor baseball in Stillwater and

OKC for tournament, and already been to the lake twice!

Before the Big 12 Championship game

Tim, Lizzie, Cassidy, Adam, me, and Brian

We have also been working on updating our bathroom. We painted the walls, put up a new mirror, light fixture, other accessories and put down new tile. No, we didn't lay the tile ourselves, although it did cross our minds! We watched Brendan one night while we were in the process of painting, so he got to help!! I think he mostly enjoyed banging the stir sticks on the paint bucket!

The finished product, well almost! I am still working on the decorating part, but you can at least see the tile and paint!


More pictures to come....I promise!

Hoppy Spring!

So yesterday I was working in the flower bed trying to clean out all the dead leaves and weeds. I was working under one plant and noticed something move underneath. I kind of backed away, b/c the part I saw looked like it could be a small mouse. I left it alone and waited for it to come out. When it did, the cutest little bunny came out! I went back to the plant and oh yes, there was a second one! After standing by the planting and kind of moving the stuff around it, here came out one more! Three little bunnies that were living in my flower bed! We saw the mother all winter when we left for work, but I never thought there might be bunnies too! Of course I ran in and got my camera to take a few pictures, but when I came out I noticed that one was hopping into the garage. I definately didn't want it to stay in there, what if I ran over it when I left! So after trying to shew it out, I put gloves on and picked it up and moved it back to the flower bed. The poor thing was so scared! I kept looking out the study window all night checking on them. I was afraid I might have messed up their home, but I have found them still there this morning underneath another plant! With the help of Abby and Anna, the bunnies names are Thumper, Bugs Bunny, and Nutmeg. Nutmeg is the name of a bunny Abby just got from the American Girl Store. I hope I didn't just adopt 3 little bunnies!

Spring Forward

Well it has been a whirlwind of a month, but we are finally in the month of March and ready for Spring! We are all doing good though! Dad is healing fast! Mom released his car keys to him last week! She said it felt like she was giving the keys to one of her kids for the first time. But he failed the first test...We told him to call when got to the office and he forgot! If you had no idea he had heart surgery 2 weeks ago, you wouldn't be able to tell. I think the hard thing for him is learning how to take things slow!
Mom and Dad just moved into a rent house over the weekend. The reconstruction on the house is expected to take 4-6 months. They found a wonderful house to rent that is in Oak Tree on the west side. Mom has quickly made it look like home! They are excited to take on this new journey in their life!
Spring Break is just around the corner for me and I am looking forward to the break! We have some house projects we have wanted to get started and I am hoping this is going to be the week for it to happen! Don't worry...I will let you know!

Coming Home!

I just got word from Mom that Dad is coming home! Sorry I haven't updated the blog this weekend. Brian and I have been so busy trying to get our house ready for them to move in. Good thing is, we finally cleaned out rooms and got rid of things that we have been meaning to for a while! God has been so amazing these past several days. Dad has made a lot of progress this weekend. They had him up and walking the day after his surgery and he was quickly back to eating 3 meals a day! He was pretty tired on Saturday, but they say that is normal the 2nd day after surgery. I don't know if I had more emotions before the surgery or more after. I love seeing my dad walk down the hall! You all are so faithful and I appreciate many of you taking time to call and check on us and your prayers have meant so much to our family! Blessings to you all!

God is Faithful!

That's right, God is so faithful! This past Tuesday morning my parents went to workout with their trainer at 6:00am, just like they do 4 days a week. They were 10 minutes into their workout and my dad was never able to catch his breath and broke out in cold sweats. They went home and he got ready for the day and ate breakfast before heading off to work. God was speaking to mom and she knew something wasn't right. She called his doctor and he told her that my dad needed to get to the ER heart hospital immediately, but my dad didn't think anything was too serious. So his doctor called him and told him he needed to go. Thankfully, my dad listened and he headed home to ride with my mom up to the hospital. They ran several tests and things came back ok, until they completed a stress test. We do have family history of heart disease on my dad's side, and because they knew this they knew something wasn't right. They wanted to schedule a angiogram Wednesday morning to look closer into the heart and arteries.
Needless to say, they did not like what they saw. There were 4 arteries that were blocked, including the main one to the heart. They scheduled him for immediate open heart surgery Thursday morning.
Word quickly spread and everyone was calling and letting us know they were praying and trust me...we felt the prayers. I know we could not have made it through with your prayers and God's strength. Dad was okay with the news, he was somewhat not surprised. The funny thing was he wanted to complete some tax returns before he had the surgery! We let him do a few, which kept his mind off things! Throughout the day and evening friends and family poured into the room knowing they were there for us and praying. Adam and Cassidy flew in, my dad's brother drove in from Tulsa, and mom's sister came in with the girls from McKinney!
Thursday morning our family was able to be with dad and share some funny memories! We got him to tell us a few childhood stories that made us laugh! We were able to pray with him before they took him in for surgery.
They updated us every hour and each hour the news was real encouraging. The waiting room was full of friends and family and helped the 3 hours go by fast! After the surgery, the surgeon met with our family and gave us a full report. He basically said that my dad was a ticking time bomb with a lit fuse! God is so good and we know he had his hands throughout the whole process. He is recovering very well and will be in the hospital until Tuesday.
I am sorry this is so long, but I know many of you were praying and I wanted to give you as many details as I could. Your prayers were felt and we felt peace throughout the day.

Tornado Update

Thank you for those who have been praying for our family. It has been an eventful week. We have been out at the house most of the weekend helping get things cleaned up. Adam and Cassidy were also able to come home and we all were at the house yesterday cleaning out rooms, closests, and the attic! When the engineer came out last week he was concerned about the structure of the roof. They will basically pack up most of everything upstairs and store it for us, while they tear our ceilings to get to the raftors, this was why we had to clean out rooms and attic. We are packrats! Adam and I both still had signes we saved from our 16th b-day's! How sad is that?! It was time to let go!

The adjuster finally came to the house this morning. We know our house isn't totaled, but were still a little worried as to what kind of report we would get. We know God has sent the right person out to look at the house. His mom was a graduate of Baylor and his uncle played football for Baylor in the 50's! He has agreed that we need to replace all carpets, hardwood floors and windows! This was an answer to prayer! I know the pictures just don't do it justice and some things you just can't see in pictures. After looking and finding new things this weekend, we all feel had the tornado spent anymore time over our house, the upstairs would be completely gone! Door frames are moved, walls are bulging, and the window in my room is pulled out completely from the wall.

I just wanted to share a few more pictures my mom had taken of the house before the clean up began. The last one is of the master bedroom. It was probably one of the hardest hit. The shiny thing next to the bed is one of the windows! Please continue to pray for my parents as they begin the reconstruction process.

Tornado Pictures- Outside

Front of house, just above front door. The rock and brick covered the front porch!



Backyard, looking towards driveway.

What use to be the hot tub and grill area!

Back of house: master bedroom on the right, family room on the left. Formal living room right in the center and not touched at all!

Can you see the stick jabbed in the roof?

Driving Range- those were huge pine trees that were lined up next to the net.

Next door neighbors house. Clipped back of our house, hit left side of their house, and crossed the street and destroyed that house.


This is the picture that was still standing outside of master bedroom.

Tornado 2009

I just wanted to give everyone an update of our weather here over the last 24 hours.
Yesterday about 2:15 the tornado sirens started going off in the metro area. We took shelter here at school with all 240 kiddos! I couldn't make calls out or receive calls or text messages. I was able to email Brian and at least communicate that way. My brother was able to reach me and he had talked to my parents, so I knew everyone was okay.
My dad was not home, but my mom and Shadow dog were able to get into the shelter and she closed the door as she felt the suction come through. My dad was trying to get home, but they wouldn't let him down the street because there was a gas leak, so he parked the car in another neighborhood and ran to the house. Brian and I were finally able to get in about 6:30.
There were so many signs that showed God was protecting her and the house. My mom has a snow village on the landing upstairs. The window was blown out that faced the front and as she walked around to the front of the house she saw the chapel lying in the front yard in one piece. Another example is she has a picture outside her bedroom that sais, "Be still and know I am God," This picture flew off and was facing straight up against the study doors that had been blown shut.
We think the structure of the house is fine, probably will know more today. Most of the windows downstairs are blown out and two windows upstairs. The backyard is a mangled mess and rock and brick fell off the front of the house.
Overall, both of my parents are in good spirits. They stayed with us last night. They were exhausted! I am trying to work 1/2 a day today and will head out there later this afternoon. I will try to get some pictures and post them a little later today. Thank you for all your prayers!

Tahoe and Golf

When the weather is cold outside and Brian can't get outside to play golf, golf becomes in indoor sport! Tahoe does not like the golf clubs, but he loves to catch the golf balls! On Saturday Brian was putting into a cup in the living room and Tahoe kept getting the ball before it went into the cup! I wish I took a video, b/c it was pretty funny, but hopefully some of these pictures will give you a glimpse into how golf balls disappear in our house!

Wait for it...wait for it...

I got it!

Ice Storm 2009

I feel like the news media with my title, but that is just what it has been, with a little snow in the end! It started freezing rain Monday morning. Parents began to pick up their kids and school officially closed at 1:00. Most of the roads were well treated with salt and sand, until I got into our neighborhood. I very carefully drove down the street and made a very good attempt to pull into the garage! I didn't make it! A neighbor down the street very graciously gave me some of the salt he had left over, but as I was sprinkling it on the driveway, I fell!! At that point, I just decided to park the car at the end of the drive hoping no one would hit it!!

Later that evening when Brian got home we got both cars in the garage and I had just learned there would be no school Tuesday!

Tahoe and I had a very relaxing day at home! We did a little laundry and cleaning, but for the most part we enjoyed being lazy!! It sleeted most of the day, but around 4:00 the snow flurries began. Tahoe and I bundled up and I took him to the front yard to throw his ball. He loves the snow and it is free entertainment to watch him slip and slide to catch the ball!! Here are a few pics from day one.

The temps never reached above freezing, so I learned early in the afternoon we would not have school on Wednesday! Oh no, another free day of being lazy! I am not much for getting out and driving in the ice, so I don't plan on going anywhere! We have already been back outside to throw the ball. As you can see, the sun is shining today and everything is melting away.

This past weekend we headed to Waco for the Baylor vs. Oklahoma State basketball game, but we made a few stops along the way. Friday night I was able to see one of my best friends, Amanda and help her celebrate her 30th birthday! We had a fun girls night and stayed up until 2:00am!! Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures, but I will tell you she is looking great at 30!!

Saturday morning the whole gang picked me up and we headed to Waco to hit our favorite spots. We brought one of our friends with us who bleeds orange and dragged him all around campus giving him all the history we knew! After a stop by the bears, bookstore, and spirit shop, we then headed to our favorite place to eat...Health Camp!! Then it was time to head to the arena! A family friend who works for Baylor was able to get us some great seats! We got to see a great game between two really good teams! After the game we headed over to the new Athletic Facility. The doors were open so we were able to snoop around!
We headed back to Dallas, ate some yummy mexican food, and got to relax and hang out with Adam and Cassidy.
Sunday morning we got up and ate breakfast at the Corner Bakery and then went by where George and Laura Bush are going to live! I almost feel like I am stalking them. Our last semester at Baylor, Amanda, Lauren, and I drove to Crawford to go see his ranch home, last May we toured the White House, and almost 10 years later we find his new home in the Dallas area!
Here are a few pictures from our weekend!

I can't remember the last time Adam and I had our picture taken on Judge Baylor! And from what I understand, it was Cassidy's first time to ever sit with the Judge!

Adam and I sitting on the bench our family donated for the Bear Pit!

It was a great day outside and the campus looked beautiful!

Waiting for the game to start!

Adam, Cassidy, me, Brian, and Tony

The future home of George and Laura Bush.

Happy New Year! I can't believe its already 2009!! We spent New Year's Eve with some of our good friends who were in from Houston. We went to a yummy mexican restaurant called The Iguana. We then came back to our house and played Sequence~ a game we got for Christmas and is a lot of fun! Today Brian and I headed out to the land to join the rest of my family. My brother taught me how to shoot a bow and arrow! I hit the target on my first try!! We are back home relaxing and watching bowl games! I pray each of you have a blessed 2009!

Tahoe didn't make it to midnight!