2011 In Review

I've been a bad blogger this year. Or maybe, we're just that boring that we have nothing to share! And I've been so "over it" at work that I haven't even written many Admin notes. Here's hoping 2012 is more exciting! That said, here's a run down on 2011 in our household...


January


I did the Jiggle Butt 5K run with my friend Brenda, my sister Carrie, and one of Carrie's friends!


My dear college roomie, Misty, had a baby! This is my "crew" from college.. Kristen, Jen, Misty, and me at her baby shower. It was so good to see them! And no, we didn't plan to all wear purple. Weird.


February


We got iced in. Not much snow, but there was ice everywhere! Plus, our heat went out so it was coooold


This is my mom's childhood dresser that I salvaged from my grandmother's house. The corner was chipped off so Josh glued a big square chunk of wood on it and I spent several hours sanding it down to match. Now that it's painted, it looks great! This is the work in progress pic, obviously


March


We went to Fredricksburg for our 6 year anniversary/Josh's 30th birthday! Probably our favorite thing we did was watch the WWII reenactment. Basically it was just a bunch of guns being fired. It was fantastic!


Greek night with my seester! Opa!!


We made Pastitsio (delicious) and baklava from scratch and then had dolmas, tiropita, and spanokopita as well. It was a very yummy meal...

April


My cousins are in town!!! Yay!!! We had a square dance down at the Levitt in Arlington. Here's my dad dancing with Abigail.


I love them so much and I miss them like crazy. They're serving the Lord overseas right now. - Angela, Michael, and Nathan, Abigail, and Josiah


Josh and I competed in the Warrior Dash... what an awesome race that is! We "trained" by doing P90x for the months before hand and it definitely helped. I definitely want to do this race again and highly recommend it. VERY well organized.


May


Josiah and a puppy in Glen Rose :)


Fruzin Day Camp - We played dramatic Frisbee


My poor baby, Chuckie. Sadly about a month later, he was finally put down. We'd had him since I was in jr high and he was OLD. Best dog ever.



Josh joined his high school's alumni team this Spring. They played in Cowboy stadium! It was so fun to watch him out there, even if it was Jerry's house.


June


I helped host a vintage themed baby shower for my dear friend Susan. This is me, Susan, Paige, and Brenda. We all wore aprons and pearls!


In June, we decided it was time to downsize the vehicle(s) and we put the motorcycle up for sale. (We ended up trading it in August when we bought the Wrangler)


July


A very weird brotherly moment between Nathan and Josiah


Lots of time spent swimming with the kids. Gosh, I miss them!


Abigail and Nathan. This was July 4th... they left a few days later


August

These are all from our trip to Red River, NM.

We have a pic of my family in front of this water wheel from 15+ years ago. It was fun to see it again!


Daddy was so proud that his little girl drove the 4-wheel drive trails!


Josh and I in front of the water wheel


My little buddy, eating peanuts off my knee. Chipmunks are so adorable! But even more fun than feeding them?? CHIPMUNK FISHING!!!

I should try to upload a video of this. It might take forever, but it's so funny. We were in tears from laughing.


Josh and I in front of an old mine. We also have pics of my family in front of this mine from many many years ago! I need to find those pics and scan them so I have them digitally!


Old Red River Pass


Many years ago when my family was vacationing in RR (I was probably 10-12 yrs old)with some friends, we were out on the four wheel drive trails and saw this random cable coming down the mountain. We climbed it and found the coolest old steam engine at the top of the mountain! So, this time, we decided to see if it was still there. The old roads were completely covered over and closed so we had to hike for a good long ways to get there. Finally we found the spot and saw the same cable! We climbed up (which is much harder to do at 30 years old 29 years old than it was at 12) and low and behold, the engine was still there. It was really cool...


Here's the clan of campers for the week. Me and Josh, Randy and Debbie, Annette, David, (two others who showed up just for the day) my mom and dad, and Becky and Wayne. I've known all these people my entire life so it was fun to spend some time with them! We had 2 Scouts and 2 Jeeps for the trails. So many memories!


September


Labor Day weekend - Because of the horrible drought in Texas, the lake levels were ridiculously low. In one of the local lakes, a small island had formed just offshore so we decided it'd be fun to canoe/kayak out there and play a game of softball on it! So we did! And it was fantastic! This is my dad helping the girls across (it was super windy and I guess they were scared to paddle themselves!) Anyway, he said the mud was thigh high. He was laughing and grossed out the entire way across.



We had a great time playing! Shortly into the game, I got my leg smashed by a grounder and had to sit the rest of the game out so I spent my time taking pictures. (it's hard to play when you have a huge knot on your leg and can't bend your foot!! It was like that for several days, then was bruised for about 2 weeks and then was sore for a good month or so... not fun!)


Mid-September brought Winfield and wild rains. You never know what it'll be like in Winfield. Sometimes it's hot and sunny, sometimes it's freezing cold, and sometimes (like this year) it's freezing cold and rainy. It was honestly miserable. Probably one of my least favorite years there... On Friday night a blasted monsoon came through. It was MISERABLE. Our tent ended up flooding and the lightning was downright frightening. I hate lighting storms when I'm in a tent!! I hate lightning anyway unless I am in the safety of my home. It's scary.

Anyway, early Saturday morning we got tired of being soaking wet and worrying that we were going to die by lightning, so we threw on clothes and waded through the "river" to our car. We were soaked. And cold. And hungry. And I felt sick. (nerves). We went to Walmart and wandered around for awhile then went to McDonalds to eat while we waited out the storm.

We spent much of Saturday cleaning up and attempting to dry things out. Luckily the sun came out for a few minutes and mostly dried stuff up. That said, another big storm was expected soon so we opted to tear down camp while it was not raining and then sleep in the back of our Commander that night. It worked out perfectly! Plus, I felt much safer when all that crazy lightning started again shortly thereafter.

All in all, it was a really sucky, cold, miserable weekend. That said, Winfield weather is different every year and even when it's bad, the music is awesome so we still had a decent time! Hoping that next year is better!


The weekend after Winfield, we went to the Jackson's for a big birthday party. It was cowboy themed, hence Josh's hat!


October


I got to go to my very first post season game with my friend Dixie! Despite the rain, it was fun!


Yay for good friends and good games!


This was taken after the Rangers won the ALCS. Josh, Carrie, my dad and I all rode our bikes down to the Ballpark and tried to sneak in after the game was over. Dad and Carrie didn't get in, but Josh and I did! I felt kinda bad about it later, but it's not like we saw the game or anything! Anyway, these are some photos I snapped while they were on the field doing their interviews. This is Nolan Ryan (left) and Josh Hamilton (right)

Sneaky us...


These are my college gals again - Misty, Jen, Kris, and me. Jennifer got married in November and this is a photo of all of us from her lingerie shower! So much fun. These three are some of the very best, most treasured friends I will ever have. It's been so wonderful reconnecting with them and spending more time together. Love them forever!


November


Josh had another alumni football game! They beat the socks off the other guys! This is his parents and us


On the field for the coin toss. Josh is on the left in the field (#18)


Jennifer got married! She was a simply stunning bride!


For Thanksgiving this year, my aunt Charlene and cousin Dinah and her family came down. I love spending time with her! Anyway, we had a kickball game down the street from my brother's house. Isabelle wasn't going fast enough for Josh so he just picked her up and finished rounding the bases with her!

December


OOooh boy, December is a blur!! My father in law had back surgery on the 23rd and we've spent much of our time attending to him and my mother-in-law. They're getting back into action though so things are good! This is him right before he went into surgery :)


I GOT A PETITE LAP GIRAFFE!!!!!

My seester and I are weird. We talk in Russian accents to each other. She calls me Boris, I call her Natasha. It's just the way we are. Anyway, we've been obsessed with the DirecTV petite lap giraffes from the commercials and always joke about getting one. Well, before Christmas, she accidentally texted me asking if I wanted a particular thing for Christmas (she meant to text Josh). She caught her error and immediately joked about it saying "um, i meant would Josh like that. Or what do you want. Do you want a porcupine?" I texted back and said I already had that item anyway, but I'd love a porcupine or a petite lap giraffe.

She was with my parents and said that they looked up and there on the shelf was my giraffe. It was meant to be! I have named him Vasili, which means "king". Fitting, eh? I love him!


New Years Eve was spent in the ER with father-in-law. He was having major nerve pain and needed some attention. Thankfully he's doing much better now! But I had to include it because it rounded off 2011 for us!

Overall, 2011 was a challenging year and I'm glad to move on and get a fresh start. Here's hoping 2012 is a wonderful year full of blessings and joy. And if it's not, I'm ok with that. I know that my hope is in the Lord and regardless of what the new year brings, He will never leave me or forsake me so BRING IT ON! As Romans 8:31(b) says, "If God is for us, who can ever be against us?"

Let's roll!