update in pictures

so obviously I'm not very good at keeping up with this blog. (notice the husband had to fill in for my lack of presence... isn't he great!?!) however, I really really want that to change. So, here's to a new start. We all need those every once in awhile right!?

So here's my attempt to update all 10 of you who read this, and to document this past fall.

September:

Here are the promised pictures from April's wonderful World Race Dinner. She leaves in a just few short days. Would you pray for her? I love her dearly and I'm so excited about what the next 11 months hold for her. Check out her story and follow her on her journey to 11 countries in 11 months!

Yummy food made by April! 

Sorry for the poor quality pictures, it was super dark outside- 

but I loved that we dined by candlelight!

We had a wonderful time with out goofy friend, Eli. 

And it became the game of the night to take a good picture of our sweet friends the Fogles. 

As you can see, Ken had a hard time keeping his eye's open! 

We tried everything: counting, delayed flashes, bug eyes....

and finally a great one! Love you Fogles!

yummy dessert. the dinner was a success and April raised tons for her trip. 

The Lord provided in really cool ways!

 October:
(the month of weddings)

Will was a groomsmen for our good friends James and Angie Schumacher. 

ComChurch friends Josh and Merinda Marion got hitched!

Old ComGroupies Kristen and Andy/Carlos Guerra got married too! 

Sweet Kiva turned 1! I still can't believe how quickly she is growing up!

Amidst all the weddings, Megan and I snuck in some crafty time! We made ruffle wreaths to decorate our doors for the fall. 

our supplies...

it MAY or may not have been late when we decided to do this. 

our finished products!

 November:
This month seemed to whiz by. It was crazy! School really picked up for Will and I and it seemed like we had few spare moments. We were certainly grateful to celebrate our first Thanksgiving together and for the blessings that all the events and things we participated in brought us! 

took a trip to Houston for a painting excursion with Ash, Steph and Mimi for Shannon's birthday. I'll spare you the end result. :)

danced with Talitha at Masterpiece 2010 (isn't Jenn beautiful?)

empty bowls in downtown Bryan.

we threw a World Race Party for April complete with World Race game- thanks to husband. 

December:


December also seemed to fly by. I can't believe we are already almost to the end of the month! Will and I finished the semester- which was crazy, but made us even more thankful for a break!

Rhett and Krista got married! We love you guys!

 We spent Christmas with my parents in Orlando. Will drove the entire way- straight through. It was an experience to say the least.

Will felt pretty accomplished after the 18 hour drive. 

It was a fun trip to get out of town. Our days were filled with pjs, board games, snacking, sleeping in, movies and reading. We even took a day out of our busy schedule to visit Universal Studios- along with the rest of the United States (so my dad said.)


Even though we celebrated Christmas out of state, I just couldn't let this season pass without celebrating it at home- especially since this was our first Christmas together! 


So first things first- we had to get our tree! 

I think we got quite a few looks for this... 

really grateful for a sweet husband this Christmas!

thanks to all those who thought of us for Christmas cards! We loved receiving them!

W.O.W. that was long. and I'm pretty sure I left out tons of things in between. I have lots of thoughts and things I would like to share.... but I'll spare you for now. I'll just wrap up by saying: 

This past fall has been full- filled with friends, life, joy, growing, learning, discovering, new things! I want to just stop here to just soak it all in. I think too many times we rush ahead, plan ahead, run ahead of the moment and we simply... well... miss it. I don't want to move forward without looking back, appreciating all that has happened- so many relationships, so many new things, and revisiting older things. thanks for being apart of this past season- each in your own unique ways. Thanks for joining us on this journey. I'm really grateful... really. 

ketchup

no this is not a post about condiments.

this was my attempt to play off the fact that I haven't posted in a while. So heres some quick ketchup for you.

Will's brother, Ben and his wife, Jordan came into town 2 weekends ago to hang out with the family. It was a really great time to spend with them before Ben deployed for Iraq and Jordan headed back to New York.

It was also Will's dad's birthday. So of course, we had to celebrate with a family golf outing!

happy birthday!

the cute couple

my golf-pro husband (he really is getting good!)

I was probably teasing Ben

isn't he cute?

speaking of birthdays...

I feel as thought I need to do another huge b-day shout out!! (told you this was catch up!)

Noelle!!

such an old picture! back in the day!
The Peters & Agnors at Christmas

Ashley!!

sweet friend!!

beautiful bridesmaids: jenn, ash, april, megan, michelle

Jada!

at Jada's 1st dance recital in May

jada the butterfly- at her 4th birthday party

Chester!

Chester & his hot wife at the wedding... sweet dance moves!

Happy Belated Birthday friends!

Biggest loser started on Tuesday.

so great. so excited. tuesday nights. watch it.

onto other news....

I went garage sale shopping with my wonderful Grandma Smith. she is garage sale queen. I have so much to learn from her. She walked away from the morning with a stash of wonderful treasures. The first sale of the morning, I picked out 2 good books I found and walked to the check out to pay for them. The sweet lady told me they were free because they were "jesus books." saweet.

Later, I found this classic:

do you remember reading this? anyone? I picked it up and laughed out loud. How could I forget about "Tikki tikki tembo-no sa rembo-chari bari ruchi-pip peri pembo"??? When my teacher read this to us, I would say the name aloud as fast as I could with her. So I bought it, (actually dad gave me the quarter) and proceeded to take it home to read to Will.

We laughed at how racist this book is. really. it's a folklore tale about why the Chinese name their kids with short names. how did I miss that as a kid?

and it's got some weird stuff in it that I'm not sure I will ever want me kids to read... like the idea that the mom values the firstborn way more than the second child, and references to evil spirits bewitching tongues and an old man "finding his youth again" in a dream. weird.

anyways, it was worth a good laugh and a glance down memory lane.

at the last stop I found this:

yummy! I've been debating on getting a tea maker or not. you can make tea without one... but its easy with this contraption. its about $20 at target and I bought it for $5, brand new, in the box, complete with card from the wedding! can't beat that!

ok, I've officially made the most random blog post...

tonight: date night with my wonderful husband. we are going to a dinner that my sweet friend, April, is hosting to raise money for her journey on the world race. The food is going to be AWESOME and the fellowship: even better. To find out more about her story and how to support her, here. and for your viewing pleasure:

Pictures from tonight to come...

hope everyone is having a great weekend!