november 2013

November flew by... along with camping and Thanksgiving, here are some of the other highlights:

Private Pat Green concert at an engineering event

Hunger Games Catching Fire midnight premier

I found this picture while going through some old pics, can not believe they were ever this small!

We made it to see Kelly's third and final elementary school musical, My Son Pinocchio Jr.

We met up with Rob, had his been at etiquette class, for fro-yo later that night. What handsome kiddos!

thanksgiving 2013

backyard changes

In August, the Markussens gave us an old patio table that they no longer needed and the idea on how to revamp it. The original table had a glass top and the chairs had reached the end of their lives. We found some chairs that we liked at Target that were a great deal. We ditched the glass and painted the frame of the table to match the chairs. Then we stained pine slats for the new top. All in all it came out really well and now we have matching patio furniture with the YMs. :) (Thanks to Stu, Sarah and Kori for the inspiration.)

In October, Mommy and Daddy needed to make room for the pool, so we took apart and transported the trampoline up to Dallas. It was an interesting task, but Ryan and I got it back together on our own. I am so excited to have it in our yard!

I mentioned this in another post, but we also added some Zoysia grass in the back as we are still having issues keeping grass alive... we'll see how it fares, but it sure was pretty when we put it down.

Then, in November, the Gerbs gave us an old TV stand that they no longer wanted. We repurposed it to add a little out door storage for the deck. I wanted to do a fun color since it was going outside, so we decided on a bright teal. We also finally hung the dart board that Ryan got as a groomsman gift in the Markussen wedding. The deck is really coming together!

campin'

The Brewers, Clays and us took a little camping trip in early November to Eisenhower State Park on Lake Texoma. It was a chilly weekend, but not too cold, really perfect camping weather! We had a great time hiking down to the lake, making s'mores and playing games around the camp fire. Of course, we couldn't miss the Aggie game, so we listened to it on the beach and at the camp site our bad weather radio. (Unfortunately, we wish we hadn't been listening.) But all in all it was a great weekend!

october 2013

October has flown by!! We got back from Mexico on the 2nd day of the month and it is now the last (well technically that was yesterday)... where did all the time go? It's all a blur, but what a fun one! In October 2013 of our lives:

People had some beautiful babies...

(They were all actually August/September babies, but we got the birth announcements in October. #myfridgehasneverlookedsogood).

October = Fall = College Football, so of course we have watched several Fightin' Texas Aggies games. We are 6-2 right now, ranked 12th overall. For the Ole Miss game, the Brewers hosted a fabulous watching party at their place. We broke out the old beer pong table from the guy's college house too! (Whitney and I were losing pretty badly here, so we tried a different approach to the re-rack... it didn't work out so well.)

That weekend we learned that our good friend Cayce needed to have a valve in his heart replaced. He previously had a pig valve, but there were some unexpected issues with it which meant an unplanned surgery. Needless to say, this was scary news that caught us all off guard. Thankfully, the surgery went smoothly and he is at home in Southlake resting and recovering now. His amazing girlfriend, Aimee, and sweet family were with him day and night before, during and after the surgery. It was really special to see the outpouring of love and prayers he received from his friends during this time. We are so blessed by the amazing community we have in Dallas and this was a great reminder of that. We love you Cayce!!

Puppy halloween costumes (courtesy of Mawmaw) and mornings that were too early for them...

Later that week... I discovered a new, delicious beer and we enjoyed some CAH at Capitol Pub.

Thursday night, we got to go to a Beatles cover band concert in the Arboretum thanks to PK. It was a gorgeous fall night, just cool enough to need a blanket and be fine. Sunset by the lake, live music, beer and friends: it was a great night!

The following weekend, we headed to Tyler to see Kathryn Hanson in the Tyler Rose Parade. What a spectacle! I had no idea how much went into these events before the actual parade. It was mind blowing to learn how much time and energy these girls and their families put into the event. The theme of this year's parade was "Raindrops on Roses" so the dresses were all designed around the queen's favorite things: Kathryn was the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. We also got to see Rob's band perform in the parade!! The weekend was a blast, we got to spend time with the Garritys and 2 of the Do-Dahs (my mom's group of girlfriends from college) and their families.

 

We also cat sat Stephanie's kitty, Frodo, that weekend which was new for both Ryan and I: he was very sweet and cuddly, but his food did stink and the litter-box thing is less than desirable. Overall, he was a nice little kitty. As you can see, he was a little skeptical of Ryan.

On the 22nd, we went on a fall date night. First beers (Humpkin Pumpkin and Oktoberfest) at Humperdinks then some delicious drinks and dinner at Cedars Social.

The following weekend, Aimee had a launch party for her dress line on Friday. Stephanie, Michelle, Sophie had a good ol' time.

On Saturday, we laid some sod (yes, again) in our backyard. We are still having really terrible luck with the grass right around our deck. Because (1) we have 150 lbs of puppy running back and forth between the gates 100x a day and (2) we found lots of gross grub wormmies in that area. So, to hopefully alleviate both issues we (1) planted some Texas Aggie Zoysia (this variety was engineered at A&M), which is supposed to be the most traffic tolerant of the grasses and (2) laid down some poison to kill those nasty worm suckers. We will see how it goes, I think the zoysia is really pretty so I hope it takes! Also, you can see we set up the trampoline frame!!!! (Now I just need to get the mat to the repair place so we can get it all set up.)

After a day of sod laying, we cleaned up for two fabulous Halloween parties. We went as Sheldon Cooper and Amy Farrah Fowler from the TV show The Big Bang Theory (oh, it was just.so.bad). First we went up to the Anderson's house in Allen. Thank you for some delicious food and lots of fun, Andersons and Saunders!! Then we headed back down south to a Halloween party at Amy and John's apartment, co-hosted by Aimee, Cayce and Kristen. Per usual, there was lots of dancing, dips, hair flips and broken glasses - it was a blast! Thanks for making our Halloween's wonderful, love you all!!

Finally, we spent a lovely evening in on actual Halloween. Lauren came over and we drank some wine while passing out candy to the neighborhood kiddos. October 2013 - it's been a blast... sad to see you go so soon.