Fourth Anniversary

On March 29 Rustin and I celebrated our fourth anniversary! I can't believe it's been four years since this -

Sadly the only anniversary we've been together for was our first one. Rustin has been traveling during all the others. What's ironic about this year is he's not even traveling for work right now. He just randomly got asked to go to a client in Chicago that week only. It doesn't bother us too much though - we just celebrate the weekend after. And since he was in Chicago that week, I went to Wichita Falls!

We couldn't decide what we wanted to do this year. Since we have Avery, we didn't really want to go out of town. We threw around a lot of ideas and decided to go wine tasting in Grapevine. I've been wanting to do it for a while, and since we aren't going to make it to Napa anytime soon, we thought we might as well do the next best thing :)

The weather was beautiful, and we had a lot of fun going to the different wineries and walking around downtown Grapevine. For anyone who's interested in going, our favorite one was Cross Timbers. They are the only ones who served food and they gave us a *huge* tray of cheese and crackers. And they were super nice and had the best wine.



Since our wedding we have moved to Colorado, moved back to Texas, bought a house, and had a baby! Can't wait to see what else the future has in store for us!

Valentine's Day

Rustin took me to eat at III Forks for dinner for Valentine's Day. I've wanted to go there for years. When we were in college this guy took Andrea on a date there and she came back telling me how awesome it was, so I've always wanted to try it. We went the week before Valentine's because they were doing a free wine tasting and we wanted to avoid the crowds. (Does that make us old??) Rustin also had a coupon for free dessert so we enjoyed some key lime pie with our steak :) It was really good, but for our 1st anniversary we went to Fearings and we both agree that place is still the best!

We usually don't really exchange gifts but Rustin snuck out in the morning and got me a Starbucks drink (my fave!) and these pretty flowers! I definitely needed the Starbucks because Avery woke up for the day at 5:40 am! 

I guess Avery couldn't sleep later because she was excited for her first Valentine's Day. She got cards from her grandparents and great grandparents. She also had a cute outfit Andrea gave her. Here are a few pictures-

My mom was here that week, and we had a lot of fun! I never want her to leave. I felt like I didn't have any good pictures of Avery and I since I dyed my hair so I made my mom do a "photo shoot" of us. (I know - I'm a dork.) Our neighborhood has a cool walking trail and a little pier, so that's where we went to get a few pictures.

Speaking of my hair, I'm going to Wichita Falls next week and have a hair appointment. I'm still torn on whether or not to keep it dark. I like it better highlighted but get tired of the upkeep. But I have seriously found tons of gray hairs recently, so it looks like I'm going to have to color it no matter what! Either way I'm looking forward to going there... I haven't been since Christmas.

Babymoon!

If you know me at all, you know that I LOVE the beach! So of course I wanted to go this summer. Usually we would go to Mexico, but I'm a little scared to go down there right now - especially being pregnant. So we decided it was a perfect opportunity for Rustin to finally see the beach that I grew up going to every year - Panama City, Florida! My dad's side of the family lives there, so we've gone there to visit nearly every summer that I can remember. My parents came along as well. We missed Colby...sort of. I didn't really miss getting splashed the entire trip.

The adventures started at the airport with my dad getting "randomly" screened, which provided us with laughs for hours! I guess terror suspects are dressing like cowboys nowadays?

 

Then my mom got sick on the plane. Traveling with parents is definitely a unique experience :)

We finally made it to my grandma's house and enjoyed a nice dinner, and then got ready for three days of constant beaching! The first stop was Mexico Beach, which is my favorite. We like going there better than Panama City Beach because it is much less crowded. It's always reminded me of a "Jimmy Buffet" town. We went to Toucans for lunch (which is my favorite restaurant there), and enjoyed a nice meal by the beach.

Then we spent the rest of the day at the beach with my mom (my dad could only handle one beach day)...but not without some pictures first -

 Then Rustin and I stayed at the Driftwood Inn that night. Every year when we come to Mexico Beach I talk about how I want to stay there sometime. I even used to say that that's where I wanted to stay for my honeymoon. It definitely lived up to my expecations! It is just a quaint inn right on the beach. Here are a few views from around the property -

In the main lobby they had a great dane that would put his paws on the desk whenever someone walked in. It was sort of scary at first to be greeted by such a huge dog! They also had a parrot-

That night we drove to Port St. Joe and had dinner at a small pizza place. The electricity went out, but luckily each table had candles!

The next day we went to St. Andrews, which is a State Park and a great place to snorkel. This is the one day my dad could handle the beach.

We saw a few fish while snorkeling, and Rustin caught a starfish! He threw it back of course. We also saw several dolphins swimming not too far from shore.
That night we went to a small oyster bar right on the water. They shucked your oysters right in front of you! I wish I had a picture of the whole group, but it was my parents, my grandma, Uncle Ed, and Aunt Holly and Uncle Greg. I didn't have time to wash my hair beforehand, so don't judge! (And yes, the oysters were cooked.)

 Then it was the last day :( Since traffic was so bad going to St. Andrews (which is toward PCB) we decided it would be much more peaceful to go to Mexico Beach again.

I wish I had some pictures from our last night there, but we had a very nice dinner at my grandma's house with all the family. They also surprised me with a "shower." They were going to do gifts, but realized since I was flying I wouldn't be able to get them home so everyone chipped in and gave us some money and a very sweet card! Anyway I am still recovering from post-vacation depression! I wish we were still there!

To Blog or Not to Blog...

I have been debating whether or not to start a blog for a while now, but finally decided to go for it! I've always loved writing. I used to write stories in elementary school (for fun) and have the teacher read them to the class. I wrote for my college newspaper, and did a short stint post-college as a writer for Prestonwood. Since then I've just done sporadic journaling, but have missed really writing. And with the new baby on the way, I thought this would be a great way to keep everyone up to date! So here is what has been going on...

I just finished up the school year teaching 4th grade. I guess you could say I'm on summer break, but it's going to be a LONG one because I'm not going back next year! I've always felt my calling is to be a stay at home mom, and I am incredibly blessed to be able to do that.

Rustin is doing great! He is still working for the same company, but is not traveling to Kansas every week anymore (thank the Lord!). He was gone Mondays-Thursdays for over a year, which was not fun for me. Also, his parents and brother recently moved to Waco from Seattle, so we are glad to have them closer!

We still have our obese cat, Carrie, and we recently inherited (or should I say re-inherited) a dog - Baloo. I'm not really used to being around dogs, so I was a little nervous with him since he's an Akita/Husky mix and over 65 pounds. But he is so laid back and gentle - I really couldn't have asked for a better dog. I would say him and Carrie are "frenemies." Here are a few pictures of the crew:

And of course our newest little one (or little one on the way)... I am now 27 weeks pregnant. We found out at week 18 that we were having a girl and I cried a little (which is a lot for me since I don't cry in front of people). I would have been happy either way, but growing up I was always with my great grandmother, grandmother and mom. Even though my great grandmother passed, my mom, grandma and I still hang out and are all very close, and I wanted a daughter of my own to add to our group. But I would love to have a boy one day too. Rustin can teach him football and my dad can teach him the basics of rodeoing :) Here is a sonogram picture from week 18:

Check back for more updates!