We had a puppy visitor

His name is Gunner. Daisy and Gunner played ALL of the weekend before Valentine's Day. I was sick, so it was perfect to just stay home and watch puppies play. Gunner is a golden retriever, so half of Daisy's mix. However, Gunner will soon surpass Daisy in weight and height, so we kept telling her to be gentle because he would get her later on! Gunner wasn't still often, but I was able to catch a few precious pics. The middle one says to me, "I didn't do it. It was the other doggie...." What a cutie!

Daisy would pull on his legs, and he would pull on Daisy's ears. It was love at first bark. To watch them play was rather exhausting, but naps were few and far between with these two. They could not get enough of play! Someone needed a nap after all of that play!

We loved having little Gunner over; however, it reminded me of the work a puppy is. Boy are they cute, but boy are those teeth sharp!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Squeeze the one(s) you love today! Happy Valentine's Day!

Christmas morning?

I finally downloaded Christmas pictures and once again I did a terrible job. The best thing I can say is that we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and were too busy playing to take pictures.

Daisy was just as excited as the kids were.
Maeve and Meg made sure Daisy felt the Christmas love :)
Then it was time to open presents!
Mom and I and the cute hat we got her for Christmas. She is precious.
Uncle Paul sure is funny with his HUGE bags of Beggin strips.
Someone was spoiled at Christmas.
And so tired, she had to rest before she could do it all again in Maryland!
And those are all the Christmas pictures I took. That is terrible!

Merry Christmas (in February!)

Sick day

Currently I have no voice. Literally, throughout dinner tonight Kenny kept saying, "what?" each time I spoke. I did have a productive day of catching up on the newest fad-Downton Abbey. Can you say, LOVED IT!!!!

In between naps and petting Daisy, this show kept me company all day. Thanks PBS! It even opened with a telegraph and train which I just taught about -industrial revolution and all. Oh PBS, you keep me in the classroom even when I am absent. Thanks!

So my parents

are really models.

Okay, maybe they aren't runway models even though Mom has got some moves she could use on that runway, BUT we did have a photo shoot for them while they were here for Thanksgiving. They are NEVER photographed together, so I told them that I was planning this, and they had to show up. It totally helps that as the third child I can guilt them by saying things like, "Well, I don't have that many pictures of MY grandparents who have since left this Earth." Yes friends, I used death guilt to get some beautiful pictures of my parents. Sue me.

They have spent 42.5 years laughing together which is a great lesson for all of us!
And Dad has spent 42.5 years talking and telling stories (as he did throughout the photo shoot).
And they have spent 42.5 years supporting each other and standing by each other in tough times and in great times.
And they created and raised 3 beautiful children (if I don't say so myself).
And they never stop having adventures and enjoying life (like Dad is right here!)
Thanks for being great role models to Kenny and me about how to keep this marriage thing rolling and embracing all of life's ups and downs and how to take sweet model-like pictures. We hope we did you proud.Thank you to our friend Kara for taking the pictures!

I've got friends in loooow places...

just kidding, they are all in high places, (well North of us at least), but who doesn't like a little Garth Brooks?

Anyway, while over the break we got to see some GREAT friends.

In VB, we did a little photo shoot with one talented Valerie Horn Demo. Pictures to come if you haven't seen them on Facebook. Let's just say, she captured my every wish in a photo of Kenny and me. Flight suit. Wedding dress. Beach. Amazing 4+ years of adventures together. Then we got to see Mel-Bel who has been a good friend since I was in 9th grade. Both ladies stood up with me at the wedding. Let's just say, they are pretty awesome.

We also got to have a glass of wine with our Whidby friends who should be models because they are such beautiful people. If they weren't so nice, we would dislike them, but darn are they not super sweet people. :)

Off to MD, we got to see some of our fave peeps including the Mumbachs who have some of the prettiest/sweetest kids ever. Kylie and I got to hang out for an entire weekend once while her parents had a trip. We are kind of tight (but let's be honest, she adores Kenny). Natalie, Whit and I, and Kylie and I

I also got to see my bff from first year at UVA, Bri who is getting hitched this summer to a sweet and SUPER tall young gent who is also a teacher. :)

Finally, I got to see Lizzy (and in spirit, Bridgee) who fooled me into going to Tyson's the day after Christmas which was insane. Even though I wanted to kill, I mean hug her when I saw her, I was super glad to get to have a lunch date with a super special Chi O (and not short bus). We missed you Bridgee! (Lizzy and Bridgee with me below).
We are pretty blessed with some pretty, I mean amazing, friends.

What we did over break

We drove from Corpus Christi to Liberty. Then from Liberty we drove to Atlanta. Then from Atlanta we drove to Virginia Beach. The Fosters and Vaughns road trip with Aunt Molly in the back! (We were ready to be in VB!)

We parked it in VB for a bit to hang out with the parents and enjoy some good ol' family hang out. We went to the state park almost every day (even when it rained which Daisy was NOT a fan of). We also did a lot of playing with cousins. I think Maeve and Daisy are BFFs. They snuggled, hiked, licked, rubbed bellies, and were pretty inseperable.

We did take everyone to go to this little aviation museum in VB which had all of these WWII planes. Uncle Kenny, Doc, and Will were in heaven! The rest of us enjoyed seeing the planes, but you just can't match those three and their excitement!

Please note Will's little cowboy boots. Doc shined them up for him, and he LOVED them. More adventures to come!