2010 in review...FINALLY

I have finally gotten around to doing our 2010 highlights...

~In 2010 we experienced record snowfall in Februaury. We saw 12 inches of snow at home, Buttercup loved catching snowballs and chasing her friend Lucy around the yard.
~That spring Drew and I attended Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. We went through plastic surgery, put our budget together and began using cash. We look to be out of debt next summer!

~Drew and I went to crested butte for spring break with Drew's dad and brothers. We enjoyed the week off and the general splendor of the snow covered mountains.

~In June I went with a group from our church to Recife, Brazil for a mission trip. I was a wonderful experience and I got to see a culture wrapped up in the worl cup.

~While I was in Brazil Drew surprised me with some home changes:

He tiled our bathroom floor

He was involved in our neighborhood garage sale and bought some new furniture for our living room, rearranged the room, and had wood floors put in...I was so surprised when I got home.

~We spent 4th of July with Drew's family at Cedar Creek Lake...the fireworks around the lake were beautiful!

~In August we celebrated Drew's 26th brithday. Back in April I turned 24 but I didn't take any pictures.

~We experienced Jerry world with the Lovelace's at the A&M v. Arkansas game

~Drew and I took a day and headed out to the state fair of Texas, we tried lots of different fried food, but my favorite was the fries smores.

~Our annual vacation took us to D.C. We stayed with Jeff (Drew's old roomate) and his wife. I love history so it was a great trip getting to see so much of our nations rich history!

~On Thanksgiving day my sister Elizabeth came home from being in Brazil for 3 months. It was so good to see her, she leaves to go back for a year in April.

~During Christmas break Drew and I began to paint our kitchen...We started with painting the cabinets a cream color, and in January we painted the kitchen (I'll post pictured of that later). And I have one last project in the kitchen before it is completely done.

~At the end of December Drew and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary, we had a delicious dinner at the Grand Luxe.

Texas, Snow?

Until Christmas last year I had never seen actual snow in Texas, yes I have seen the hard ice "snow" that usually hit Texas once a year totalling about 2 inches. But snow, real snow that you can make snow angels in, build a snow man in, and going sledding down that is a new phenomenon. This so called "global warming" has brought about 28 inches of snow since last Christmas, and I love it. I love seeing the brown dead land around me covered in a blanket of sparkeling white, God makes it so beautiful. I have also enjoyed a 6 day weekend this week. School has been cancelled since Tuesday, it had been nice getting to sleep in, relax, and get things done around the house. Although I have been getting cabin fever, I have really enjoyed the little bit of winter that God gave us!

Aggie Basketball

A couple weeks ago we headed out to Aggie land to see a basketball game. I've always enjoyed Aggie sports on any kind and we won! Hopefully our boys can get back on track and get that winning streak back. After the game we decided to have a photo op at the big Aggie ring. I always love going back to College Station!

Christmas present

For Christmas Drew surprised me with this shiny red mixer, I have been wanting one for awhile now. And I have been excited using it...it really does make baking more enjoyable :)

My dad is 50!!

Last week my dad turned 50...I can't believe it! We started the weekend off right, celebrating at medieval times! We had such a good time, her are some pictures to document!

My parents with their best friends Tom and Kathy

My brother is a pretty pretty princess!

We had a good time trying on the medieval hat wear.

My dad is being hugged and comforted for being soooo "old"

The birthday boy being knighted

My family

The whole gang!

Having a good 'ol time!

My sister and I with our knight, sadly he did not win.

My mom and Kathy with our knight

Drew and I...we are getting pretty good at our self portrait.

On Monday night...my dad's actual birthday, I hosted a birthday party for him with all of our family.

Here are the yummy cupcakes I made for his birthday...they were amazing, I will post about them later!

My sister, mom, and Kathy

Singing happy birthday

I hope he made a good wish!

The self portrait!

Such a good time celebrating with friends and family!

Thankful for sisters

On Thanksgiving day, I was probably most thankful for my sister's safe arrival home. She has spent the last 3 months in Brazil as a missionary for YWAM (Youth With a Mission), studying at the Children at Risk school. She has been in some very dangerous areas working with children as young as seven who are addicted to sniffing glue and most of them have AIDS or are HIV positive. She has spent time in gang infested areas and just all around dangerous situations. I am so thankful that God watched over her and brought her safely home. She leaves in April to go back to Brazil for a year so I will be praying again for her safety and the work that God has put her in.

A weekend in D.C.

About a month ago Drew and I took a mini vacation to D.C. We had such a great time. Drew's roommate from college, Jeff and his wife Megan live in Virginia, opened up their home for us to come and visit. We had a great time getting to catch up and see D.C. and Virginia. We flew out of Dallas early Friday morning and got into D.C. around 1pm.

The first place we headed was Arlington National Cemetery. It was such a somber experience seeing all the men and women who have fallen for our freedom.

While at the cemetery we saw the tomb of the unknown soldier and we got to see the changing of the guard. Such an amazing tradition.

Robert E. Lee's house is on the property of the cemetery. It was interesting to learn the history of the home. During the Civil war, Lee left his home and the Union army took over his property and they turned it into a grave site. He moved back home after the war, but he couldn't stay there because it was a grave site. So from then on it has been property of the government and became a cemetery.

After leaving the cemetery we briefly headed over to Iwo Jima. It was freezing cold and there was an out door wedding being held as we saw the monument.

Saturday morning we headed out to D.C. to concur the National Mall. We started with the capitol and ended at the Vietnam Wall.

We took a tour of the capitol, the dome is so beautiful, what looks like carvings of people around the dome is actually a painting. It looked like a carving not a painting. While we were there I kept thinking that the Texas Capitol is 14 feet taller...I'm proud to be a Texan!

We got done with our capitol tour and high tailed it to the opposite side of the mall to the Washington Monument. We got done with our tour at 12:30 and had tickets to go up in the monument at 1. I had shin splints for the rest of the weekend.

So we hurried over to the monument only to wait in line for about half an hour before we could go up, but we enjoyed the rest.

The view of the National Mall from the top of the Washington Monument.

We walked passed the White House after leaving the monument on our way to lunch. We were starving after all that walking.

After lunch we headed back to the Washington Monument area and went to see all the war memorials. We saw the World War II memorial, and walked passed the reflecting pool (unfortunately it was in the process of being drained, so it didn't look that pretty).

We headed over to the Lincoln Memorial...

and then onto the Vietnam Wall.

We finished the day by heading to the D.C. Aggie Club to watch the Aggies Beat the hell outta Kansas...that was a neat experience. We did the War Hymn at half time and all the natives from D.C. were looking at us funny. But you know the saying, "From the outside looking in you can't understand it, and from the inside looking out you can't explain it."

Sunday we had a Virginia day and headed over to Mount Vernon. I can see why George Washington called it home, the property was absolutely beautiful.
Jeff, Megan, Me, and Drew...I think our only picture of the four of us together.

I enjoyed the beautiful fall scenery on the property.

We had such a great time and would definitely love to go back...maybe during the cherry blossom festivals!