"Sisters"

So I blogged about our super cute nieces the other day...and now I need to do a shout out to my "sisters". :) Growing up in our house, there were 2 kiddos...me and my little brother Cory. :)
Cory and I loved to fight when we were younger of course......and I am sure that drove my parents quite mad, however, now that we are older, we are best buds! :) I really do love my brother to death...he is a great father and a great husband, and I love watching him with his family. :) We have shared some crazy moments and crazy stories...and when I look back on our memories I can only smile. So I feel very blessed to have grown up with a sibling...and even more blessed that it was him. :)

As you grow up though (even if you thought your household was perfect), I think you still wonder what it would have been like to have had a sibling of the same gender. I am sure Cory wonders what it would have been like to have had a brother to get dirty and silly with. I wonder what it would have been like to have had a sister too. :) Being the selfish kids that I bet we were, I am sure that more than once we both asked our parents to have one more kid to fill that "want". :)

All of that being said...I got SUPER lucky b.c I did get my "sisters" when my brother got married to his wife Jennifer, and when I got married to Chris, and acquired his sister Katie as my "sis" too. :) Even though it was later in life that all happened..I am grateful that I have gotten the chance to have "sisters" to hang out with and do girly things. :) So this is a shout out to Jennifer and Katie for being such awesome sisters...and friends! Thank you both...you have sweetened my life immensely!! :) I love you both lots! :)

My sis Katie... :)

My sis Jennifer..... :)

I do have one other "sister" too... :) I don't want to leave out any love for my best friend of over 20 years...Jennifer. :) She and I grew up together since the 7th grade..and I think she was always like another member of our family, and I loved that! :) We have been together through thick and thin..and all of the adventures that life has brought us from Junior High to present day. What a huge blessing to have a best friend to walk through all of life's precious moments with!! So this is a shout to you too Jenn!!! I love you tons! :)

Anniversary Dates

So I think some of you know that Chris and I have a tradition of celebrating our anniversary every month either on or right around the 5th. We got married on May 5th, 2007 so we have been doing this for about 2 years. :) It was a challenge from our pastor in pre-marital counseling to try and keep this up for as long as we could. So we alternate back and forth each month, and one of us plans a date for right around that "anniversary" day. :) It really has been fun, and it has forced us to think of some creative things to do......just when we think we have run out of any and all ideas. We hope to be able to continue this even when Braden is born....so that we know we have a night for us to go out and just play. :)

You may wonder why I am even writing about these random anniversary dates. But the truth is that it is my turn to plan the June one......and I have no clue what to do. :) Any help is appreciated! :)

This post also makes me think back on some of the fun dates we have had in the past. And, as I am reminiscing, I bet I have some pics from some of these dates too! HA!! :)

Here are a few of my favs that we did...

One time we went down to Gruene, TX for the evening and just hung out, walked around the quaint little town and had dinner at the Gristmill. :)

One month we were in Cabo San Lucas at our timeshare over our "anniversary" date...so we had an amazing dinner on the beach. Gorgeous night with the sunset and the waves...and of course the amazing food. :)

Once we went to the Austin Livestock Show and Rodeo and then saw a Tracy Lawrence concert afterward. :)One spring we headed down to Towne Lake in Austin and went canoeing. We were both so sore in our upper body the next day!! LOL! :)

Once we went to Houston and had dinner at Ninos (AMAZING Italian)....and then stayed in the Hotel ZaZa. That is a hotel we highly recommend. :)

I remember a hot July when we celebrated our "anniversary" date at Six Flags over Texas. Why did we go over July 4th weekend again? Brutally hot! :) I don't even think I have any pics of this crazy time at Six Flags b.c it was just so stinkin hot! :) But we did stay at the Gaylord Texan that weekend...and had a lot of fun there! :)


We got a little crazy once and did a Roller Skating date. Oh yes we did! :) Kickin it to the 80's baby!! :)


Once we had dinner out at the Mandola Winery...beautiful!!

And then last but not least, I remember that we rode the Austin Steam Train through the Hill Country for one of our dates!! We had a fun time and laughed most of the way!! :)


There have been so many fun times with my sweet husband...and I am forever grateful that God blessed me with such a wonderful man!! I never imagined I would get so lucky!! :)

A Shout Out To Our Nieces

I wanted to do a blog post that was a shout out to Chris and I's super cute nieces!! :) We adore them and have had so much fun watching them grow up!! We are also their godparents, and we are loving every minute of that too!! I just thought I needed to post some fun pics to show you how cute they are!! :) We look forward to watching the families grow even further on the Jaetzold and the Bugbee/Koshkin sides. :) And Braden is going to have so much fun with his big cousins! They are going to really show him the ropes!! :)

Loraine "Lainey" Elizabeth......17 months now..

Riley Olivia...5 months old now...

Baby Moon #2

Yes, you did read the title right! HA! We did go on a second little short baby moon over Memorial Day weekend! :) When we were driving down to Andy's graduation, I had a little panic moment when I realized that they were going to cut me off from airline and most car travel outside of Austin around mid July. :( I realized that Memorial Day weekend was the last weekend that I would get to fly somewhere for a trip out of state before the baby (due to all the other weekends already being filled up). I am a nut, I know. :)

So I asked Chris how he would feel about a little last minute trip somewhere over the long holiday weekend. He said no prob at all as long as he did not have to take off any work (b.c he has been traveling so much). So what do you know...the next morning I woke up and there to my surprise was an email in my inbox. It was titled "Last Minute Memorial Day Weeekend Deals". Well you know that I could not help myself! :) I just had to look...and then find a great deal...and then book it! HA!! So we booked our trip to Colorado trip in a matter of about 45 min and it turned out to be such a BLAST!!

Being the crazy budget traveler that I am, I was bound and determined to find some super nice hotels for very low rates. Being that May is shoulder season in Colorado, that did not prove to be too much of a challenge! :) I ended up finding some 5 star hotels at super low rock bottom prices!! We stayed at the Ritz Carlton in Denver on Friday night...and that is where I had my famous people sightings! HA! The LA Lakers basketball team was all there..and I ate breakfast next to Michael Clarke Duncan...best known for The Green Mile! :) Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a "People" addict...so I was loving it! :) Then we stayed at the St Regis in Aspen...which was just soo nice and cozy. And then came back to Denver on Sunday night to stay at the Hotel Teatro that evening. We had such a nice time just driving around CO..and eating at some fun places. We walked the cities and enjoyed the very cool weather. It was once again very relaxing and totally what we needed! :) We are both so very glad that we went on our "last, last, last" trip out of the states before the baby gets here! This really is the last one! HA! :)

A few pics from our adventure... :)

How I love scenic drives.....Beautiful Aspen......

A little rain on Sat night... :)

Capitol shot off 16th Street in Denver...

Snowmass Village-so pretty.......

Pic of the travelers outside Snowmass....

Main gondola in Aspen...heading way up into the clouds.. :)

FUN drive....up through Independence Pass at 12,095 feet! Lots of snow up there!

Driving from Denver to Aspen....

Chris just hanging out by the little creek....More scenic drive.....

The Graduate!

We headed down to College Station on May 14th for my brother in law Andy's Graduation from Vet School!! He took the big leap and now he is officially a doctor!! GO ANDY! :) He is heading off to Athens, GA in just a couple of weeks to spend time at the University of Georgia for a year. :) I am thinking that will be a fun trip when Braden gets a little older!!

We had lots of fun at the graduation as many family and friends were there...and there was lots of excitement on campus for the big event. :) We had dinner at a great place in Bryan called Maddens. The food was awesome..and I know that they did not have great restaurants in downtown Bryan like that when Chris and I were at A&M!! BCS is moving up!! :)
Here are a couple of pics of Andy's big day....