Fall is here!

I have ALWAYS loved Fall.  In Elementary school, I can remember those assignments where you used construction paper to create and represent your favorite holiday.  All of the kids chose Summer, and then there was mine... FALL!  It's because my birthday is in November, and I hate hot weather, so Fall is kind of perfect for me!!  So here's what we've been up to:

 

A couple of weekends ago, we decided at the last minute to go to a Texas State game.  It was Homecoming, so Mark really wanted to go and my mom's friend had 2 extra tickets that we used.  We were there with my parents and my Aunt Terry, Uncle Donnie, and our cousin Taylor.  She is so much fun!

 

This week is Halloween and we decided to go with costumes that the kids would like.  We chose Mario and Princess Peach.

 

We went to a Halloween party at my older sister's house and my cousins were there that I haven't seen in a really long time.  It was lots of fun!

Today we babysat Colton and Ainsley while Rachel got her hair cut.  Colton told us that the house was under attack by evil man spiders, so he would protect us.  He set up at the back door.  It was very cute!

 

Since I am Ainsley's personal stylist who just paints her nails and braids her hair whenever she wants, I painted pumpkins on her nails for Halloween.  She loved them so much

 

 

We leave for New York on November 18 (the day after my birthday!) so I will update after that!!

Summer 2012

A lot has happened since April when we went on the cruise and I last updated (most of it has to do with Alaina)!  Here's a breakdown:

 

End of April

 

Alaina went to prom!

 

 

May

 

Alaina's last Spring Show as a Dobie Lariaette

 

Then, for our 2nd anniversary, Mark took me horseback riding.  I had never done it before and always wanted to.  It's not something I see myself ever doing again, but we did have a good time.

 

 

June

 

Alaina graduated High School

 

 

We were luck enough to spend lots of time with her over the summer before she left for college.  We had lots of fun!

 

July

 

We went camping with Mark's family, just like we do every year.  We had a great time!

 

 

We got Mark an iPhone

 

He loves it.  I found him on the sofa like this about a week after we got it!

We went with Berna to Aransas Pass to visit Lori and Tim in their new house.  Tim got a boat so we went out on it while we were there

 

 

They have lots of trees in their backyard, and Mark likes climbing trees

 

 

Ainsley slept over and we had a blast!  Mark wanted to teach her how to do things like dishes.

 

 

But all she really wanted to do was paint our nails, including Mark's

It was so funny seeing him with her.  He has this very firm parenting plan in which you "never give in to the kid.  They need to know you're the boss."  But when she wanted something and he said no, she would put her hands on her hips and look up at him with these sad eyes and he would give in immediately!  He enjoyed her being here, but did not understand why she wanted to the things she was doing.  She wanted to listen to music constantly and just dance.  He just didn't get it!  It was very cute.

 

 

August

 

My mom and Kirt both have birthdays at the beginning of August so we had the family over to our house to celebrate.  My sister, my grandma, and Mark and I pitched in and got them a Dyson vacuum cleaner that they've been wanting

 

 

We moved Alaina into her dorm in San Marcos.  It was fun, but sad leaving her there!

 

Mark got a new job at Baker Hughes!  He is working in Trade Compliance, which is similar to what he was doing before, but now he has to drive about an hour to work and then another hour home.  He has only been there for 2 weeks but is liking it so far.

 

Ainsley won a gold medal and we made her take a picture just like Gabby Douglas!  It was adorable.

 

And then this picture was too cute not to post.  She put on this princess dress and I told her to take a picture.  She immediately struck this pose.  She is such a diva!!

 

September

 

That leads us to now.  We just got home from San Marcos where we went to Alaina's "Meet the Strutters" event.  Basically they just introduced each girl (103 of them) and said where they were from.  There was a silent auction and Mark got a cute little Bobcat bobblehead.  They were also selling trading cards with each of the Strutters.  It took us awhile but we finally found Alaina's.  It was lots of fun!

 

 

This is her trading card

 

We are going back to San Marcos next weekend for their first home game against Texas Tech.  It will be the first game that Alaina is dancing in and we're very excited!!



Cayman Islands and Jamaica :)

So on Thursday, April 19, we docked in the Cayman Islands.  It was very pretty!  But we had to take a tender boat from the ship to the shore.  It was scary!!



We went snorkeling while we were there.  It is not as easy as it looks.  It takes a while to get used to, but it was so much fun!!



On Friday, we were in Cozumel.  It was very pretty, and we got to kiss a dolphin (the MAIN thing I wanted to do) so I was very excited!!

Then we had one more day at sea, and then we came home, to Texas... it was very sad...

Here we are at our last dinner on the ship.  We ran out of sea-sick patches, so Mark wasn't feeling too well lol

Here are the pictures that we paid for!!

We look forward to our next Carnival Cruise, which will probably be after we have kids and they are much older, but we will wait until then!!

Carnival Magic April 2012!!

Last Sunday, we left out of Galveston on the Carnival Magic.  It was amazing!  We had so much fun!!  So here are lots of pictures!!

This is when we're still in Galveston:

The Lido Deck

I laughed at Mark and his patch, but as it turns out, I needed one!

Dinner the first night!

Day 2 was a day at sea, so we sat at the back pool all day:

Monday night was a formal night

On Wednesday, we finally made it to Jamaica!!  The water was the prettiest shade of blue!

But now it's late, so I'll post about the Cayman Islands and Cozumel tomorrow :)