2009: The highlights

2009 was a great year. A lot of big things happend in our life...so here are the highlights!

Back in February we moved into our first home

Drew's sister Kristi got married in March

I graduated Cum Laude in May...Whoop!

In May Drew's sister had a little girl Ashlyn...
we are a proud Aunt and Uncle!

We went on a cruise for mine and my sister's graduation in July

Drew had business in Puerto Rico in August...

I decided to go and lay on the beach while he worked

I was a bridesmaid in my cousin Natalie's wedding in August

August 17, Drew turned 25...unfortunately I have no pictures because he was out of town on business for his birthday!

Our good friends Devin and Nikki got married and August...
it is complete the whole gang is married now!

In December Drew and I took our first trip to NYC...we both loved it!

On December 29th Drew and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary by having a party at our house. It was an anniversary/ birthday party.

We had a wonderful year in 2009...we did a lot of traveling (Mexico, Peurto Rico, Boston, and New York). I think we will calm the traveling down next year. We celebrated lots of weddings with family and friends, and the birth of our niece. We are truly blessed and we look forward to what the new year brings!

Anniversary/ Birthday party

Last night Drew and I hosted a anniversary/ birthday party at our house for our anniversary and our good friend Kathy's birthday (which were on the same day). It was a great time of fellowship all of my family got together to have dinner and hang out. When I was growing up we would go to Houston and have a big family Christmas the day after Christmas. All my aunts and uncles would come over and my grandpa would fly in from Michigan. We would have an appetizer potluck. So that is what we did last night. I will post the recipes of what I made last night later. It was so nice to be with family and friends for our anniversary. It was a night of pictures...I started it and the rest of the family followed.

A night of celebration for Kathy's birthday and our 3 year anniversary.

The boys were a little goofy as you can see.

Drew and I got a picture infront of our pretty tree.

Then we got a picture of the whole family: Drew and I,

my sister Elizabeth, my brother James, and my mom and dad.

The three girls; mom, sister, and me!

My sister and I...I got the short genes!

My dad's family (part of it at least).

Grandpa, Uncle Geoff, Aunt Cindy, Uncle Mike, and my dad.

There's the boys- minus my uncle Scott

My mom and my Grandma

Drew and I with my uncle Geoff and aunt Ilma

My dad and grandpa.

I wish I had gotten my brother in this picture

to have 3 generations of James Weston McMain.

My cousin Elizabeth and Morgan Tom and Kathy's daughter.

Aunt Cindy and Kathy

The younger boys intensely playing Mario Kart.

being goofy...they really are a bunch of kids!

Anniversary

Three years ago today I married my best friend, the love of my life. These past three years (plus three of dating) with you have been such a privilege and an honor. I am so blessed to be called your wife. You truly are a blessing I am so thankful for you. You are caring, sweet, loving, and I love how handy you are. You have such a wonderful ability to create and make things. You see the infinite possiblities and the good in everything. I love you so much and cannot wait for the many more years to come!

New York New York

Drew and I spent the weekend before Christmas in NYC. It was a very exciting trip for both of us because we had never been there before. We were both very thankful that we were able to make it to New York. A big blizzard had hit the east coast starting in the DC and Philly area...all airports were closed in that area. Our flight was delayed about 30 minute which worried me a little because the blizzard was supposed to hit New York on the Saturday that we arrived. We were very fortunate that as soon as we landed in New York the snow then started...it waited for us to get to New York so we could be welcomed by flurries of snow flakes.


We spent Saturday evening exploring New York City. We stayed in Times Square so everything was with in walking distance. We walked to the Empire State Building and walked around the lobby, we then headed to Macy's (the worlds largest department store) it was like sardines (so crowded), we then walked to Rockefeller Center and saw the ice skaters and of course the tree, we finally headed back an looked around in Times Square in awe of all the bright lights.


Sunday was spent admiring the 16 inches of snow we had gotten the day before. We walked over to Central Park and the snow had brought out the little kid in all of us. The hills in central park were covered in sleders young and old. We spent the afternoon at the American Museum of Natural History (where night at the museum was filmed) I was so dissapointed nothing came to life. It was a very cool museum, Drew liked the dinasours best as you will see by our pictures. We walked back to the park playing as we went and got ready for out fun evening we had planned. That night Drew took me out to a really nice dinner and then we headed to Radio City Music Hall to see the Rocketts and their Christmas Spectacular...it was a wonderful night!


On Monday before we left we went back through Central Park to go ice skating, but unfortunately we could not justify spending the money that Donald Trump (who owns the rink) wanted us to spend just to go ice skating. So we walked around the beautiful park some more and walked into the Plaza Hotel (where home alone 2 was filmed) and wow it is beautiful! We had a really awesome time in New York but after being gone for 2 weeks we were ready to go home. Next time we go to New York we will definitely see the Statue of Liberty and go check out the Brooklyn Bridge...and possibly go ice skating (maybe we will save up for that.)


I hope you enjoy looking through our many many pictures...sorry about all the self portraits!

The Blind Side

This last weekend Drew and I were in Boston and while we were there we went and saw The Blind Side. Hands down it was one of the best movies I have seen in a while. I don't know what it is about football movies but they are always inspirational and heartwarming. It was one of those movies that when I left I felt good and happy. I wanted to help someone. Most movies now-a-days leave you feeling kind of slimy/filthy or scared. There are very few wholesome movies that come out today and this was definitely one of the good ones. I definitely recommend this one if you are looking for a good movie that is clean. It is based on a true story that happend recently (within the last 7 years). I really want to read the book that the movie is based on. Ok so the summary,


It is a movie about a low, low income black boy who really has no home or place to stay. He gets accepted in to a private Christian school based on his size and possible athletic potential. On a cold night he is stopped by Leigh Anne (Sandra Bullock) and asked to stay at her family's house. As the movie goes on you see the relationship develop between Michael (Quinton Aaron) and Leigh Ann. It is amazing an story on how people's lives are changed by the people they meet. Sandra Bullocks performance in this movie was in my opinion one of her best performances!

Funny Email

So a friend of mine sent me this email and I thought I would share it with you, it is very funny. Enjoy!



A woman writes to the IT Technical support Guy

Dear Tech Support,
Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and I noticed a distinct slowdown in the overall system performance, particularly in the flower and jewelry applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.
In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5, and then installed undesirable programs such as NEWS 5.0, MONEY 3.0 and CRICKET 4.1., Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and Housecleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system.
Please note that I have tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail. What can I do?
Signed,




Reply
DEAR Madam, First, keep in mind, Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while Husband 1.0 is an operating system. Please enter command: I thought you loved me. Html and try to download Tears 6.2 and do not forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update. If that application works as designed, Husband1.0should then automatically run the applications Jewelry 2.0 and Flowers 3.5.. However, remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Silence 2.5 or Beer 6.1. Please note that Beer 6.1 is a very bad program that will download the Snoring Loudly Beta Whatever you do, DO NOT under any circumstances install Mother-In-Law 1.0 (it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources.
In addition, please do not attempt to reinstall the Boyfriend 5.0 program. These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband 1.0. In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly. You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance. We recommend: Cooking 3.0 and Good Looks 7.7.
Good Luck Madam!

Doggie Elfs

So while Drew and I are in Boston my parents are watching Buttercup. This is what happens when we aren't home.

If I could speak for Buttercup, I think she would be saying,

"please get this thing off me, I'll be a good girl and sit!"

She looks so happy doesn't she?

Here's Buttercup and Lucy together. Lucy Santa will be so happy with you.

Buttercup what happend to your hat? Santa will be very dissappointed.

Only good little Elfs get to make toys and chew on toys!

Christmas time is here

Drew and I decorated our house for Christmas this year and I am so excited because this is our first house and first Christmas here. Drew was super excited to put up lights, he actually couldn't wait until the Friday after Thanksgiving. It was so cute he was like a little kid. He got up on the roof and put the lights up, he was anxious for the sun to set so we could actually see the lights (he had to wait a while because the lights went up around noon!) So here is our house all dressed up for Christmas!

Let it snow, let it snow

So this morning as I was leaving for work the North Dallas area was covered in snow! I was shocked considering that last week it had been close to 70 degrees. Welcome to Texas! Where we can't make up our mind when in comes to the weather. I seriously think that the weather men here throw darts at a bored to predict/ guess what the weather will be like. My wonderful husband knows me so well that he took pictures of our house covered in snow this morning. He did it before I called and asked him to! So I thought I would show off my husbands mad photography skills :)

Weekly menu

Monday: Cheesy beef potato with peas and carrots

Tuesday: Easy cheesy chicken bake with cresent rolls

Wednesday: Spaghetti with garlic bread

Thursday: Meat loaf with mashed potatoes

Friday: Left overs

Saturday:
Breakfast: pancakes and bacon
Lunch: sandwiches
Dinner: Canyon Creek Christian Academy state championship game...GO COUGARS!

Sunday: not sure yet...

Last Sunday I made this amazing spaghetti with an app I downloaded from Drew's IPhone allrecipes.com . It was really good...kind of sweet and I used whole wheat pasta to make it a little better :/

here is the recipe...I will definitely make this one again.

Spaghetti with tomato sauce and ground beef
1 Ib. ground beef
1 onion minced
2 cups fresh sliced mushrooms
1/4 cup olive oil
2 (6 oz) cans tomato paste
1 (46 fl oz) can tomato juice
1 (16 oz) can crushed tomatoes
1 cup burgundy wine
1 1/2 Tbs. dried oragano
1 Tbs. dried basil
2 Tbs. dried parsley
1 Tbs. minced garlic
2 Tbs. Garlic salt
1/2 cup white sugar
2 Ibs. spaghetti

Cook beef...beef, mushrooms, olive oil, and red wine are simmered all afternoon with tomatoes, garlic, oragano, basil, parsley, and sugar. Serve this sauce with pasta and grated parmesan cheese.

Ready in 3 hrs. 45 min
Serves 16...for Drew and I and left overs I would half the recipe.

Cook book give away

My pledge trainer from my Phi Lamb days is giving away a family cook book. In trying to win I have to blog about her post to give me a better chance to win! I love to cook and family recipes are always the best. I hope to win a new cook book from the Links, http://thelinkhome.blogspot.com/

I hope you all are having a wonderful start to the Christmas season...I know Drew and I have really enjoyed decorating our first home for our first Christmas here. I will post pictures soon of our house all lit up!

We give Thanks

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.

Psalm 118:1

Drew and I have so much to be thankful for this year. Back in February God blessed us with our first home, which we decorated today for Christmas. In may I graduated with a degree in Education from Texas A&M. And this December Drew and I will be married for 3 years. We are blessed with a sweet puppy named Buttercup and wonderful family and friends. We have a loving God who sent his Son to die for us so that we would have eternal life with him. We live in a wonderful FREE country with AMAZING men and women who put their lives on the line everyday to defend us. There is so much to be thankful for. We are truly, truly blessed.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. ~ A. Lincoln, 1863

NEW MOON

Ok so I am a little bit Twilight obsessed and I saw the movie opening night at midnight. I know I am crazy. Not only did I see the movie at midnight but I also got there early to watch Twilight in the theater at 9 pm. It was nice to see both movies back to back and see how much better new moon is than twilight. For new moon they got a new director and I think that they really worked on the acting and building up the characters. I highly recommend the movie it was awesome and incase you are wondering I switched teams. Team Jacob all the way...he looks so much better than Edward. To me Rob Pattinson (Edward) is not the perfect actor for the job, not that I could say who should be...In the book I was team Edward I loved him in the books, but in the movie so far Jacob is so much better. They really played his character well and developed his and Bella's relationship. While we were there opening night we all dressed up and got some fun pictures before hand. I was Rosalie, Elizabeth was Alice, Natalie was Edward in the sunlight, and my couin Miranda was pregnant Bella.

Liz, Miranda, and Me. Miranda's shirt says

"Edward is the Daddy."

Me and Natalie, you can't really see it,

but she put rinstones all over her face.


Rosalie and Alice (sisters)

P.S. I did just go and see it on Tuesday night with my mom because it was so awesome...who knows when it gets to the dollar theater I may go and see it again :)...totally worth it!

Weekly Menu

Sunday: Lunch, Hamburgers with my parents
Dinner, Drew's brother's 15th birthday (all his favorite cookin')

Monday: Dinner and a movie with Megan

Tuesday: Dinner and a movie with my mom (New Moon!!)

Wednesday: BBQ chicken pizza

Thursday: LOTS of Thanksgiving dinner

Friday: Thanksgiving leftovers (Turkey Shepherds pie, stuffing, and cranberry salad)

Saturday: Leftovers

Sunday: Leftovers

Gathering with Friends

It has been a little while since my last post and these pictures that I am about to post are about a month old...but I thought I would post a tribute to some of our great friends.

Back in October we went to a baby shower for our good friends Aaron and Melissa Lovelace. It was a great time of fellowship we got to see a lot of our friends from College Station. It was a good thing the shower was the week it was because 5 days later little Andrew surprised us all early. He wanted to be like his daddy and have the same birthday!

Here we are the whole College Station gang.

From left to right: Chris and Krystal, Me and Drew, Aaron and Melissa,

Michael and Christine, and Jonathan and Anna.

We all were in the Newly Wed Young Married class together at Church!

The cute cute cake

Us with the expecting couple

At the end of October we got together with some more of our friends from church in College Station. It was really nice to get to see them. The Cheshires just moved into their new home near Ft. Worth and so we went to see their new home for their open house party. It was great to see them it has been about a year since we saw them last. Our friends the Davis' were also there and it had been at least a year and a half since we have seen them last. It was so nice to get together with old friends.

From left to right: Joy and Kasey Cheshire, The Gardners, Jim and Sarah Davis

Most recently Drew and I went to a wedding shower for my old roomate. So excited that she is getting married, she is the last one of the 4 of us who lived in the Pintail house to get married! YAY Amanda! It was such a great time to catch up with these girls I miss them so much...We need to get together on a more regular basis (I am ok with having a Monday night dinner :) I can't wait until her wedding in January it is going to be such a blast!

The roomies together again (minus 1)

Amanda (the bride to be), Lindsey, and me

Helpful website

Today I was looking around on the internet looking for some affordable christmas ideas and I came across this site...

http://christmas.organizedhome.com/

I thought I would share it with you because it has a lot of helpful tips on staying organized for the holidays and Christmas season. It also has a lot of ideas for inexpensive home made gifts. I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and Christmas season! Hope this helps :)

Weekly Menu

Monday: Grilled chicken and mashed potatoes

Tuesday: Dinner with my family at Joes Crab Shack

Wednesday: BBQ Chicken pizza and salad

Thursday: Pinenut sun dried tomato crusted salmon and broccoli

Friday: Natalie and Zach's 21st birthday party

Sataurday: In Aggieland watching the Ags BTHO the Baylor Bears

Sunday: up in the air...

Pumpkin Extravaganza

This is a little dated, but on the Thursday before halloween Drew and I had a pumpkin extravaganza date night. We had such a wonderful time hanging out. It was a night all about the gourd. For dinner I had made butternut squash ravioli it was really tasty. Then we brought our pumkins in and turned on Young Frankenstein (you cannot have a pumpkin date night and not watch a halloween movie). I think this was Drew's first time carving a pumpkin because he had a few questions on what to do...but he quickly got the hang of it. We really had fun carving pumpkins, Drew was creative and I used an outline (I'm a perfectionist). After carving pumpkins we desplayed them on our pourch for all the world to see. We spent the rest of the night watching Young Frankenstein, making pumpkin chocolate chip cookies www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/george-duran/pumpkin-chocolate-chip-cookies-recipe/index.html and raosting pumpkin seeds. It was such a fun pumpkin filled night! Lots of pictures :)

Drew getting ready to carve his pumpkin

I'm ready too

Yucky pumpkin guts!

Working hard on my pumpkin

He's carving away

The finished products

On the pourch

Drew went traditional, I went aggie...Saw 'em off Ags!

Drew making yummy cookies

The finished product (The recipe is at the beginning of the blog)

Roasted pumpkin seeds!