Where did January go?

Well, that's ok. We'll just skip riiiiiiight over it! Nothing important happened anyways... NOT!
Ok, so a LOT of big things happened in January!
We went to the shack for New Year's celebrations with my family. The weekend included duck hunting, fishing, eating, more eating, and relaxing. Really fun! The highlight was probably the awesome fireworks that the boys set off for us each night.

Matt had his knee surgery, which all went as "planned" and he is recovering very well. My wonderful mother came to help me play nurse and she was a HUGE help around here! I dont know how I would have done it those first few days on my own. She cooked, cleaned, ran errands, and helped me around the house. Love you mom!

I've been working hard around the house, mostly painting, but also learning new skills since Matt's been in recovery... I now know how to caulk, use a power drill, use a chop saw, replace quarter-round, do some minor electrical things with light fixtures, and replace air registers. I think after I learn grouting, I'll be set for life.

We traveled around to celebrate my birthday and my brother's birthday! Aaron turned 28 and I, 25. I dont want to talk about it :-) But really, it was a lot of fun to celebrate and see everyone.

The weekend before my birthday, we celebrated Travis' birthday and mine together (like we usually do, since theyre only 4 days apart.) This year, it was on a much bigger scale! Thursday for his birthday, we went to Boston's. Friday, Amanda planned a BIG surprise party for the birthday boy at our house! We had about 30 people here, and it was definitely the most people we have had in the house at one time. It was a lot of fun and a big success.... he was surprised! Amanda did a great job party planning.

Saturday, we woke up and drove to Houston. The original plan was just to go to eat dinner there. After Matt and Amanda started planning the weekend, it turned into many fun things and spending the night there in a nice hotel! We ate at the Grove in downtown, which was FABULOUS, and went to a comedy club afterwords. It was an improv type club and they helped us celebrate our birthdays by singing to us and making signs. We did not know that the Houston marathon was that weekend, so we had a lot of traffic and people to deal with...
Sunday morning we got up early and went to brunch before heading to IKEA, the craziest store on earth. I had never been there, and boy was I overwhelmed. I had no idea it was a warehouse....
On Monday, my actual birthday, when I got to work, my coworkers had decorated my office, and gotten donuts and kolaches to celebrate! They also bought me an orchid plant? I hope I can keep it alive.... My family had a beautiful flower arrangement delivered to the office for me. It was the first time I had anything delivered to the office and I felt so special :-) It was in a Hershey's kiss vase and had a big birthday balloon, so no one could miss it! Surprisingly though, certain people still found a way to make my day miserable. Ahhh, work.
Monday night, we went to eat hibachi at Atami, and saw The King's Speech. Highly recommend it. No wonder its nominated for 3 or something Oscars. We came back home and I was greeted by an incredibly neon-iced cookie cake, with the brightest most beautiful colors!

Well, January is over! It was busy, and very fun. This spring is going to bring a lot of changes for us and we are very excited!

February plans: finish work on the house. Celebrate with my Valentine. Go to the RODEO! Declutter.

bye for now!

Random Holiday Updates

Well, as usual, the holidays are FLYING by! We got our tree all decorated and pretty with our ornaments and lights. And now with presents underneath it, it looks complete! Ive spent a lot of time wrapping and playing elf!
Last weekend we were in Fredericksburg to celebrate Christmas with Matt's family. It was lots of fun! We went to Main Street Friday night to see the lights and eat dinner. Saturday morning, Matt and I got up at 5am to go deer hunting! We drove up to the ranch and parked the truck right at daylight. We then spent the next few hours walking around quietly looking for deer. I am not very good at being quiet for this long, so it was a struggle. I mean, I can sit in a blind and whisper-talk for a few hours, but the walking thing and creeping around? Not so much. BUT! Im very proud to say that I spotted a HUGE buck and showed it to Matt! We did not shoot it, but he did get a doe for meat. So all in all, a success! We went back to Fredericksburg to open presents and eat lots of great holiday food. Sunday was spent going to church... and processing FOUR deer! We had a great system going, an assembly line of all 12 of us, so we got them knocked out really fast. Free lean meat! yay!

Matt's pre-op appointment for his knee surgery was yesterday, so we got more information. It will be January 11th, and it will be outpatient, so no nights in the hospital! I really like the doctor, and he does these all the time, so that put me at ease. My mom is coming up to help out and be with me, so that will be nice :-) thanks mom! Love you!

Matt and I had our little Christmas last night - in the middle of me baking pies and cookies. He got me some REALLY cute TOMS shoes! They are green (favorite color). He did good! He also got me a movie I wanted....
We leave tonight to go to Ft. Worth for the rest of Christmas with my extended family. Im excited for all the food and fun! Wiley can't wait to see all his cousins and grandparents and great-grandparents! (their terms of endearment, not mine....) ;-)
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Well, now that Thanksgiving is over, it means two things: a lot more travelling in the near future for Christmas, and Matt studying day and night for finals. He's had two big project/paper/presentations to work on and he is doing great! Today is the last day of school for him for this semester and I am so. excited.

We went and cut down our tree last week from a local tree farm. It is so cute! It's a little 5 foot tree that smells sooo good. I happened to put it up by myself last week, and let me tell you, bad idea. Matt was out of town, and I just really wanted the tree up. Long story short:  a 2 by 4, a chop saw, and a power drill later, I had a wooden block to put under the tree trunk to make it stand straight in the tree stand. VOILA!

This weekend was catch-up for me.... I just did a lot of chores around the house like raking/bagging leaves, doing dishes, and cleaning the house. Also did some fun Christmas activities like decorating the tree and wrapping all our presents! We had a Christmas/going-away party for our small group last night at our house. Three couples are moving this week, and will no longer be around. :( It's sad as people move, but they are pursuing higher education and/or moving closer to family, or getting great jobs. So it's also very happy :)

Until next time...
(I promise to add pictures sometime!)

aaaaaand, we're back!

wow! Hi! My name is Ashley, and we're back!
Its been a crazy couple of months! A quick recap:
-Matt DOES have to have knee surgery, BOO. Turns out, after a couple MRIs and a few X-rays, he has a torn meniscus and a possibly torn ACL... POSSIBLY? After a few MRIs and Xrays, I do not know how they aren't certain.... but he could wake up from surgery with a new ACL! So I guess we'll see. That is coming up in January.
-Matt got a new job, doing civil still, but at a new company. This is an exciting new opportunity!
-He also went to career fair, and has been interviewing with a few companies for post-grad positions.
-I am still here, at my same job, working and working, and running in the evenings when I can. My typical day is: hit snooze (lots!), hurry and get ready, work work work, come home, run/workout, cook dinner, clean, TV, laundry, bed.
-My favorite show right now is Glee, and Dancing with the Stars was a close second, but now the season is over... just in time for American Idol in January!
-I will be 25 soon... this is scary :-(
-We had lots of visitors in November! My parents and brother came for the A&M vs. OU game, and Matt's parents and brother came for the A&M vs. Nebraska game.... we won BOTH by the way... WHOOP!
-We drove all over the great state of Texas for Thanksgiving! From Bryan, we went up to Ft. Worth for a couple days, then down to the hill country, then back to Bryan. It's the Great Triangle, as I like to call it...
-Christmas is so soon! We decorated our lovely yard on Monday night, and a big thanks to Matt for putting up lights with me! Three of our big trees are wrapped in colorful lights!
-And last but not least.... DRUMROLL.....
I AM GOING TO NEW YORK CITY with my mom in TWO days!!! We are both so excited. We went to NYC at Christmas a few years ago, and just couldn't get enough. So we're going back : ) I cannot wait for the hustle and bustle and shopping and snow (possibly) and people and lights and decor and ice skating and scarves and shows! Oh and Macy's!

Bummer

Matt hurt his knee. Again.
It's the same knee that he tore the ACL in, back in 2007, and had surgery on to fix it. He hurt it the same way he hurt it last time - flag football. A couple of weeks ago, he and I were playing on our city league team (when I say that Im playing, it means Im running around the field with a bunch of boys taking up space and making the opponents think Im awesome). He really IS awesome, and was playing quarterback, tried to cut, and collapsed. He had an MRI done that week and it turns out he has a torn meniscus. So, not as bad as a torn ACL, right? Maybe. We're still not positive about what's going to have to happen... surgery? rest? He meets with an orthopedic doc soon, so we will know more then.  Im just slightly confused, because he was wearing his big metal brace that he got after his ACL surgery during this game, and still tore his meniscus! (I call it the robot brace sometimes, because it looks like he has a bionic knee) So, please pray for his healing knee. We're crossing fingers for no surgery :)

It's Fall!

It is one day away from OCTOBER and I am so excited to put up my fall decor! (where did the time go??) The weather here has been beautiful this week, and its been more depresssing than ever to be in an office all day. Ive been spending as much time outside as I can these past 4 days... mowing, yard work, running, eating outside, etc... I wish it would stay like this! But the harsh reality is, it will be hot again next week. Texas weather, make up your mind :)

Last weekend we went to the beach! It was perfect weather (despite the rain in the early morning hours) and Matt got to go fishing with my brother and the guys. I got to relax on the beach with Wiley and get a tan. It was perfect! Wiley has gotten more used to the waves and actually goes into the surf on his own now and spashes around. He also has a grudge against sea gulls (who can blame him?) and chases them whenever he thinks they're close enough. For a dog who's scared of water, Im pretty proud of him. Now if we can juuuuuust teach him to stand on a surfboard.....  kidding. He also got lots of attention from the beach walkers, and everyone wanted to pet him. I warned them that they might get licked to death. It was a nice break from reality, as Matt was not allowed to do school work ;) It was also a lot less eventful than our June trip, and I left my rings in the condo (see previous post).
Happy Fall Y'all!

Goodbye, old friend

My playmate and one of my best friends, Star, passed away on Tuesday evening. She was our dog, but more than a family dog to all of us. She was like my little sister. My parents often referred to me as her "litter mate", which sounds weird, but as much as I played with her, it was pretty accurate. She was often Aaron's running buddy. She was my mom's companion during the day and after we went off to college. She helped my dad hunt rodents in the yard.

She was the most thoughtful, active, people-oriented, attentive dog I have ever known. She is the whole reason Matt and I got a heeler last year. I truly believe that they are the absolute smartest and most loving dogs. I am somewhat biased though, and I'm sure there are many great breeds of dogs to suit everyone.

Star would herd whatever she could find in our yard. We had homing pigeons the whole time I was growing up, and she would "herd" them as they flew circles around the sky above our yard. She would look so proud, as though it was really her making them stay in a group, fly around, and eventually come back to their coop. (They would have done this anyway, out of instinct, but we didn't tell her that.) She would herd me, Aaron, and my friends, as we ran around the yard, nipping lightly at our heels to get us to move. We lived by the airport, and planes often flew over our yard. She would chase them from the time they entered the sky over our yard until they flew out of sight, prancing around as though she had done her job and gotten that pesky thing to go where she wanted it to. When we swam, she would run laps around the pool barking at us and herding us from one end to the other (although she never got IN the water).  I wont even get into all the cars, squirrels, possums, and mice she herded...

When you cried, she would come check on you. When you were sick, she knew something was wrong. I got her when I was 9. We had some great times; she would even jump on the trampoline with me! I wish we had video of this. One time, I tied her in my wagon, hooked it to the back of my play tractor, and pulled her down the street. I took her rollerblading with me around the neighborhood. She was so patient with me. One time, I had her on a walk, and she pulled out of her collar and took off running. I was so worried, I ran home as fast as I could to get my mom and the car to go find her. When I ran up to our yard, there she was. Laying there, in the front yard. I guess she got tired of walking, and found her own way home. Stinker. :-)

As she got older, she started developing tumors. They weren't cancerous, but just "fatty". No one knew why she had them, and we even had one removed at the vet once. After that, she kept getting more and they kept getting bigger. She really went downhill this year, and I'm so thankful God allowed us to have her as long as He did. She was almost 16.

Star, thanks for being more than we could ever expect in a dog. Wiley has some big paws to fill. We miss you, but we know you're in doggie Heaven, healthy, with all the bacon you could ever eat, and all the cows you could ever herd for the rest of eternity.

Star at her last Christmas