Christmas 2008

I've been gently reminded that I said I would try to post at least once a week, and it's been a bit more than that. Again.

Some people wish for a white Christmas. We were in Texas - this is what we found in the yard instead. I was taking pictures of him with some of us (we didn't touch him, just got close). When Lauren (my sister) posed, I told her to get closer to it so she patted the piece of wood next to her and made the tongue-click / generic "come here" for animals sound. Suddenly, the armadillo went under that piece of wood. Scary for Lauren, very funny for us. I'd post the picture, but it's on her camera and I don't think she'll give it to me. I did get this one, though...
I just downloaded almost 200 pictures from the new camera we got for Christmas! Thanks, Mom and Dad! (And Lauren & Kevin for the memory card - ours would have only held about 30 pictures on this camera that puts this MEGA in megapixels!)

We were at my grandmother's in Junction (Texas Hill Country) for Christmas.

Here's the roll call: Robbie (Grammy), Great Aunt Ruth, Larry & Kay (Dad & Mom), Lauren & Kevin (sis & her hubby), Joe & I, Aunt Rhonda, Cynthia, Brad, Jennifer, Richard, and Lily (cousins). Lily was the only kid around and she entertained us with her own take on a few Christmas songs. I hadn't seen my Great Aunt Ruth (Grandpa's sister-in-law) in a very long time, but I really enjoy her visits.

I'll post soon about our anniversary trip to Salado! Until then, Merry Christmas from Chili's in Austin!

What's been happening: Family, Hurricane, House

Well, I haven't been any better about blogging. I still haven't finished that book I was supposed to weeks ago, despite reading some almost every day. But if I keep waiting it will be forever until I update.

I do have pictures (especially of the work on the house), but those are on another computer.

Here's how September went:
September 11th-15th: Family and Ike. Joe's parents and sister were staying with us, riding out Hurricane Ike. Though they both lost trees and power, no damage was done to their homes. Emily had power back on Monday, so his parents went there every night to sleep (with an A/C) and finally got power back on the 21st. Since it turned out not to hit us as a category one hurricane as predicted, we only lost limbs (tree limbs). This was the first time Joe's family had seen our house!

September 16th: ComGroup. Our new small group for church started! We're excited about this new year and our new small group that meets every week.

September 19th-21st: Family and Schlitterbahn. Joe and I went to San Antonio to visit Lauren and Kevin (my sister & her hubby). My parents gave us two free tickets to Schlitterbahn at Galveston, but it was closed (due to Hurricane Ike damage), so they accepted them at the original Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels. Kevin had to work, so we planned to just buy one ticket and the three of us go. Saturday morning, while standing around in our swimsuits and making sure we had everything we needed, I realized I hadn't brought the tickets. Not only had we left them at home, but NOT ONCE did it cross our minds to bring them with us. So, we got on craigslist and found someone who wanted $15 a piece for their tickets ($37.99 at the gate) that expired that day. Joe called and offered them $20 for all three and they accepted! (They had won the tickets, not paid for them, so I don't feel bad about getting them for less. Plus the teenage girl who we picked them up from looked like she was wearing only a small towel.) So we had fun at the water park for less than the amount had we just bought one ticket at the gate. We arrived around 11:30 and were all worn out by 5:00. Not too worn out to stop by the outlet malls in San Marcos, however! Joe and I both got some shoes that we really like. And as much as I'd love to hate Victoria's Secret, I really like the outlet there - some of the most comfortable bras for $9.99! Plus sports bras for $3.99 - the crappy WalMart ones cost more than that! Poor Lauren put up with me in there for a very long time. That night, Kevin had to close (he's an assistant manager at Toys R Us), and was stuck with only two people to help him. I crashed at Lauren's place, but Lauren and Joe went up and help clean the store. Close was at 10:00pm and they got home at 2:30am. This is a very common thing for Kevin - he's on salary (no overtime) and works all the time and is given almost no one to help. Since my sister works 7-4, they don't get to spend much time together. You can all pray that the situation drastically changes, or he finds a new job (and time to apply for them!). We were glad for the short amount of time we got to spend with L & K, and they have a really cute apartment down there. We hadn't seen them since July 4th and hadn't seen their place since we helped them move in (mid-March). I wish they still lived in College Station!

September 21st-27th: Family and the House. My mom came down all of last week to work on our house! She got almost all of the flooring done in the living and dining rooms! We also got bathroom fixtures (like a toilet paper holder) put up in one bathroom. My aunt and grandmother (mom's mom) also came over from Conroe for Thursday and Friday. They helped put outlet covers on and redo the connection of the water line to the fridge (another long story). Aunt Sarah and Nanny had not yet seen the house, so that was fun. Friday / Saturday my mom also got doors on our closet and the overhead light / fan working in our bedroom. For a while we've only had lamps and a closet light in there! Hopefully we didn't wear my mom out too much - thank you for working so hard and getting so much done! We love the floors!

September 27th: Joe and the Conflab. Joe periodically gets together with some men from the types of churches he grew up in (non-class Church of Christ) to discuss certain pre-determined topics. They call it a Conflab. To my understanding, a confab is like a conference or discussion, and since many of them are older and somewhat overwieght they mix confab with flab to get Conflab. Anyways, the topic this time was mutual edification. In their context, this means there are not hired ministers / pastors, instead "everyone" (for them, the baptised men or boys) take turns leading things on Sundays / Wednesdays (song leading, preaching, leading prayers, serving communion). They met in Nacogdoches, so Joe drove over there and was gone until after 10:00 Saturday night. If you want to know more about it, ask Joe!

There's a couple of other things we've done, but those are the big ones!

Dresses. My mom brought down my wedding dress, along with some of my sister's and my formals. (I talked about this before, in case you're confused.) The wedding dress zipped up almost halfway, but is not very close to fitting. It certainly won't fit tomorrow night, but that's not a surprise. There was one formal that looks like a bridesmaid dress (I think it actually was, that's why I got such a good price on it back then) that I can wear. (whew!) We've been better about jogging, though not as good as we could be. It's really hard with so many things that you feel like you're supposed to be doing! This is definitely a "there needs to be more hours in the day" time of life.

And something to look forward to:
October 3rd-5th: My good friend / roommate in college, Jennifer, and her family are coming to stay with us this weekend! We don't have plans figured out yet, but I'm looking forward to it. Hopefully our place will be safe enough for her two kids (4 years and less than 2 years old)!

Family Reunion

Time flies - the birds at work are all flying now and hardly ever in the nest (though I caught them there Tuesday).We had our 57th annual Jasper Family reunion the weekend of July 4th-6th. The first few years the reunion was around Thanksgiving or Christmas, but Great-grandpa Jasper's birthday was July 2nd, so his four daughters (my grandmother is the youngest) started getting together every year around the 4th of July. It's a big deal and very important for everyone to make it. With a few people as exceptions, health reasons are pretty much the only thing that keep some people from coming.

my immediate family

I really, really wish I had time to write about a LOT going on lately, and particularly about the reunion, and it's also important to Joe and I to keep a record of things happening, even in the busy times... but I just don't know how to do that. Maybe if I had a tape recorder and record while traveling on the road lately, then I could do podcasts. Oh well. So I'll pick one thing to say about the reunion.

My favorite part about the reunion is the lack of personal space for an entire 3-day weekend. First, we stayed in a cabin with my parents, sister (L), and brother-in-law (K). We were all sharing one bathroom and Joe and I shared a room with Lauren and Kevin while my parents slept in the living room. We ate most meals with the whole big group (almost 50 this year - actually less than normal). Three of the four original sisters had lot of kids and grandkids and great-grandkids, so those three families take turns hosting (including a LOT of cooking). So we're on a three year rotation. The year you host is a lot of work and you don't have near as much time to visit, but it's worthwhile. Anyway, so you eat with everyone. In line and at the tables, it seems like people are often sitting closer than is normally appropriate. If you ask what someone is drinking, they will hand it to you for you to try it (I would say drinking after someone else is a different level of intimacy that you don't share with the majority of people you interact with). (I'm just reminded of how nice blogs are - I'm just going to leave that "with" dangling at the end of the sentence and no one can make me fix it!) Anyway, I love how my space feels so invaded by people who love me for three days every year!

my cousin Laura (who will always be Laurabeth to me) is pregnant!

We have a church camp every year that is similar in a lot of ways (though never as much work while you're there since others cook - but I have to admit, the food's not as good). But there are a few differences...

(1) At church camp there are unfortunately not as many older people (something we're praying changes soon) but there are more little kids.

(2) I'm still a little more awkward at camp. I shouldn't be, but I often find myself wandering around the grounds trying to figure out where people are or what conversations are less weird to interrupt slightly by joining. We have a lot less space everyone is crammed into for the family reunions, so I bet that accounts for the wandering around. I think at both I'm awkward in trying to spend time talking with people I don't often get a chance to talk to and other people who are more shy (if that's the right word) and don't instigate conversation even though they really want to talk with someone (it seems like I can easily spend the majority of the time with this personality type - maybe because I'm more like them in some ways?)

(3) This one is pretty big in my mind - at church camp it seems like people (naturally, not because we're told to or have separate swim times or something like in junior high) divide along gender lines most of the time. For the most part, I think this is good for protecting marriages, but when I'm at the family reunions I really enjoy being able to sit down and talk with some of the guys... I bet a big part of liking that is because I have a lot more in common with some of them in ways of thinking /education-/ work-wise. I guess at a family reunion you already have a set relationship with a cousin you grew up with and don't actually have to worry about starting an inappropriate relationship. So even though it's not a complaint against church camp (in so many ways a real family to me), I do miss the more relaxed / safe man-woman relationships. Maybe as we get closer friends at our church this will change some... maybe not, it's one of the many life-issues I don't understand! (Hmmm... I promise this point made sense in my head, sorry if it doesn't make sense here!)

(4) I get to play some REAL games at the family reunions! I'm sorry friends, but speed scrabble is for people like Joe who got a letter jacket in high school for UIL spelling. Family reunions are full of spades and 42, both games I enjoy. I beat up on a couple of college guys in a game of spades at church camp last year, so I might have to push for that again. All joking aside, I AM really glad Joe gets to play some games he like (disc golf, too) and is good at - we don't get ton of chances for that sort of thing.

Well, I stayed home from Joe's soccer game to nap, so I better go do that. We just came back from Houston, where we attended Joe's 10 year high school reunion. More on that later, but it did amount to staying up too late last night. Also, if I haven't already posted, I'm pretty sure that our closing date on our new home will be July 22nd - just around the corner!

in two weeks time

A lot can happen in less than two weeks. A new batch of baby birds was born outside of my work. Here was them less than two weeks ago:

Here was them yesterday!They hardly fit! Like the baby birds, a lot has happened these last two weeks....

I actually have a GREAT excuse for not blogging very much lately - Joe and I are buying our first home together! I know that brief bit will leave you wanting more, but if I don't catch up on what we've been up to, I never will. So more about the house later.

Two weekends ago my whole family was in town for my sister's good friend's wedding. I don't want to be long-winded here, but I have a funny story about me being impromptu "wedding coordinator." It was actually pretty stressful leading up to it, but probably just because my mom, sister and I were helping with a lot of last-minute stuff. (Note to future brides: even if it's really, really hard to make decisions, give yourself a cut-off date - you don't need to be buying gifts for the bridal party, changing your veil length, or buying material to make bows the day of your wedding.) It was a beautiful wedding, and thanks to a good DJ (and perhaps an open bar) the reception was a lot of fun. A highlight was dancing with my dad (I know we had a father-daughter dance when I was little, but I can't actually remember it).

my sister looking lovely as a bridesmaid (are they called bridesmatrons if they're married?)

Last Wednesday (just over a week ago) we helped pack up our friends Jenny, Drew and Sam. You may remember me blogging about them before - Jenny was the one who got hit by a car while getting her hair cut at the end of last year. Some friends from church hosted a going away party for them on Friday night. I already miss them, and I know many others do, too. Last night at our small group, Danny (their housemate) kept playing with the two little boys who are close to Sam's age - I can tell he really misses them.

Jenny and Drew

Also last Friday a house went on the market in the neighborhood we like. We looked at it that afternoon, and met with our realtor Saturday morning to put an offer on it! I'd love to share more about how that went, but it's a little weird this being a public blog and all... but feel free to email me and I can send you more details. My parents also came down Saturday late morning to see the place. It's big and in a GREAT neighborhood (North Garden Acres in Bryan behind Frittella and the Metro Center), but needs a lot of finishing - the owners stopped on a remodel and need to move. Several people have asked when the housewarming party will be, and I've been telling them I'm not sure when it'll be done, but we'll have lots of painting parties if you're itching to see the place. ;) We plan to close July 21st, but it could be delayed as late as July 31st. We have to be out of our duplex by August 11th, so we plan to move somewhere in that time. I think I've signed my name more times in the last week than in the previous year - we've had meetings for over an hour everyday (except Sunday) since we saw the place a week ago. I'm not really saying all I want to, but I have no time! Basically, so many things have lined up just right with this place - much better than I could have expected - that it really seems like God is making the way for us to live here. Now, what do we do with a house over twice as big as we live in now? We'll see!

Tonight Joe and I will join family coming from my paternal grandmother and her three sisters -
the annual Jasper Family Reunion (where no one actually has the last name of Jasper). I'm looking forward to seeing all the family - it's usually a good time. Of the three weekends remaining before we probably close on the house, we're at the family reunion this weekend, Joe's high school reunion next weekend, and I'll be here the last one, but Joe will be camping with some guys from church. I usually have trouble getting laundry done when we travel on weekends, we'll see how I manage packing up a house! The good news is that we don't have to move in right after closing.

Okay, gotta run. Have a good holiday weekend!

Update on Things to do

This one is dedicated to those of you who write lists and have trouble not thinking of the success of the day as dependent on how many things you checked off.

For that "5 things" blog, I hardly got anything done on that list. I thought that writing that may make some of you feel a little better. Here's the run down:

What are 5 things on your to-do list today (not in any particular order)?
1. Get pictures to upload to blogger or complain about it enough for someone else to figure out my problem.
I actually did this, but it just magically worked one time when I tried it. So no complaining was needed (not that I didn't try).
2. Write and start filming a new video.
This has been difficult. Joe and I have very different visions for what to do, and it's frustrated me so much that I often lose any will to try making one. We did play a game where we made up a bedtime story. First Joe was alone with the camera and recorded the beginning of a story for 1 minute, and when the timer went off he wrote down the last sentence as well as three clues. I read the 3 clues and sentence, and then continued for another minute. I wrote down the last sentence and three clues and we switched. We ended up with 6 segments making up very possibly the worst bedtime story ever (okay, excluding the ones where someone dies - no one died in ours). When watched the whole thing together and cracked up. I don't know if I'll post it - it's really, really, REALLY dumb, but maybe some of you who know us would like to laugh at us. So I'll count this one as done, too.
3. Paint bamboo for our wall.
Totally didn't happen. We have EVERYTHING we need for this project, but it just sits there. I'm going to have a dream tonight where I read a spell and the paint brushes will spring into action and gracefully create a masterpiece, but then I won't know how to stop them and everything in the house will be painted to look like bamboo. (Actually, as you would know if you've had to listen to any of my dreams, that's way to normal and predictable. Oh well.)
4. Finish the laundry.
Pretty much, as long as you don't count folding it - hey, it's clean.
5. Get at least one more verse mostly written for the song I'm working on for Joe. (My days are not usually quite so creative, but today is a holiday, so I've set it aside for some projects.)
I didn't get any of another verse, but I did work more on the music, and I'm having fun with it. In my inexperienced opinion, I think that's the way it works sometimes. Some days I feel like writing the story, some days rewording lyrics is a fun challenge, some days playing with a melody comes more naturally, and some days reading what I've got and setting it aside is just perfect. But I can't wait to finish it and sing it for Joe! He'll love it. It's so hard to keep it a secret! Joe's knows I'm working on it, and he knows the title is "Didn't He Notice?" That makes him nervous, but it's gonna be perfect for him! And he already knows to fake it at first if he doesn't really like it. :)

catching up (again): part two

Happy "tomorrowish"! I'm continuing on the run-down of what we've been up to... this one has pictures!

May 8th - Joe officially turned 28. We got some errand-type things done (including Joe getting a new driver's license picture for the first time in ten years) and then headed to Houston. We spent the evening with some friends from college - Jennifer and James. Jennifer and I were roomies before we both got married, and she had their oldest, Emma, while I was still in school and got to spend a lot of time with them. I was sad that she wouldn't remember me, but despite that she was super-sweet (wanted to sit by me at dinner, told me she loved me). They've also had another kid, Andrew, who is only 10 months old. He was cute. I had a great time catching up. It's so nice to spend time with people you've lived with - there is just a different level of comfort and "making yourself at home" comes easy. Oh! She also remembered that Joe is allergic to cats and dogs (especially cats). I found out that she had steam-cleaned the carpet and couches the day before and kept the cats in the garage since then until after we left!!! People are almost always considerate of Joe's allergies, but I don't think I've never had someone go to THAT much trouble for him... it really meant a lot and I'm glad I got it out of her. :)

May 8th (night) - That night we stayed at a hotel (2.5 stars on Priceline for $35 - nice!). Look, Joe even got his own bed for his birthday! ;)

May 9th - We went to the new outlet mall in the Houston area - it's on our way to Joe's parent's house from CS, so we've been driving by while it was being built and were curious. It was okay - a lot of clothing stores and several athletic (Nike, New Balance, Adidas, etc.) stores. Not so many kitchen or home stores. It is more like a promenade (a mall that is open to the outdoors - NOT a strip center) than any other outlet I've been to, which made it nicer to walk. We took pictures with Buzz and Spidy.
We joined Joe's parents for dinner that night at Johnny Tamale's. We tried to convince Joe's sister (Emily) to come and took this picture to make her sorry she didn't (it's Joe's mom "having a good time").May 10th - We planned a surprise party for Emily - she's never had one before! While she was out looking at houses we got in and decorated. Here are some pictures....

how we decorated
an example of the posters we hung around the room
how we decorated the floor (confetti had been banned... this was Joe's idea)
Emily had to run through this to get in

the birthday "kids"

what happens when you tell Joe not to close his eyes in the next picture

May 11th - Happy Mom's Day! We went (for the first time) to the church Joe's parents recently started going to. It's the same type of church Joe grew up in (non-class church of Christ) and two of the other families Joe grew up with (but hadn't seen as much since their church disbanded) are going there. Then we came back to College Station!

May 12th week... Recovery and back to a busy work week for me! We've got an MD student who is during summer research in our lab and I'm in charge of her (teach her, give her stuff to do), so that just started on the 14th and will go all summer. She's nice, but that means I'm really busy.

catching up (again): part one

Okay, so I haven't had a "real post" in a while, and this time it's not all because I haven't uploaded pictures.

I was in a bit of a funky mood April 22 - 25 and just didn't feel like writing (or thinking, or talking). That passed, but it really only takes me a week away from thinking about blogging to stop making an effort to post. But I'll try to catch up now. Also, you can look forward to a mini-series called "The Mexican Doves."

(note: this was getting way too long, so I've made it two parts... expect the other tomorrowish)

April 18th-20th - Some ladies up in DFW area hosted a ladies retreat for the married ladies and/or mothers in our church. The women who organized it were mostly our parents' ages and were neat to be around. I had two favorite parts: one, seeing women who have been close friends for so long - we're talking 27ish years (longer than I've been alive)! I have hope that I'll have good friends who've known me that long when I get older. Two, having time to just talk with other women and share meals with them! It is fun to hang out when no one is distracted by thinking of things they need to get done - including me, but especially my busy friends with young kids. Its good to talk and work on things together, but this was nice, too. This was the weekend Joe watched his cousin win a basketball championship.

April 20th - Joe's soccer team started the playoffs! We had beat the team before, but were at a disadvantage because we only had 10 players (instead of 11) show up. Here's how it went: With only minutes left in the game we are down 2-1. The playoffs are single-elimination, so the pressure's on. (This would sound more exciting if I knew more about soccer...) We have a corner kick, it goes to one of our guys who took a shot, the ball bounces off a couple of their players and then to Joe, who is standing with only the keeper* between him and the goal. Joe shoots, GOOOOOOOAL! (Wouldn't have this been a bad story if he missed?) Just like that, Joe tied up the game. We ended up scoring one goal in the 10 minute overtime to clench the game. Since he doesn't play forward, it was Joe's only goal this season, and I was very proud of him. :)
*I like calling goalies keepers... it makes it feel more like Quidditch.

April 25th - We got to hang out with the Sewells! I don't write down every time we hang out with friends, but this may interest you more because we tried out the new miniature golf course in Grand Station Entertainment (the former Wolf Pen Bowling / Skating). It was actually really cool! You should wear something that looks fun with black lights if you go. The pictures on the website are accurate - lots of bright colors. I would have been somewhat scared if I went as a kid, and if they just changed the sounds to spooky music, I would have been jumpy even now (I bet it'd be really fun if they do it up for Halloween). That being said, we have a friend who took their 6 year old, and it didn't bother him. So check it out if you like putt-putting in the air conditioning!

April 27th - May 2nd - I was VERY busy at work this week, and had to pretty late several days... not my cup of tea. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday night we had (different) people over, so that was fun. Thursday night I got things ready for Joe's birthday surprise (on Saturday). I've been working on microRNA arrays. One night I left at 7:45 because people were going to be at our place at 8:00; a professor who was also still around told me to tell them I was saving the world one tiny dot at a time. Friday I worked until 6:45, and Joe came up briefly to see what it they looked like. I explained a little bit about what they were and Joe replied with "I don't know why I get paid more than you do" which made me smile. Joe brought us food and we went to VizaGoGo at 7:00 on campus. It's basically a showcase for students who do computer animation / effects, and it was fun. We have a friend in the masters program, so we went last year, too. I think last year actually had some weirder stuff, but also more funny stuff. After than we rushed home and I finished decorating a cake for a baby shower a friend was throwing for her neighbor. I actually didn't take get any pictures of it because I was in such a hurry.

May 3 - Joe's birthday surprise! I hope to do another post about this one (unless he beats me to it).

May 4th - 5th - My sister was in town and spent the night with us! :) Though time was short, it was good to see her and Kevin (her hubby). We saw Made of Honor with them (and her friend Jennifer) on Sunday - it was good (in a predictable way)... not EXACTLY the same as My Best Friend's Wedding.

May 5th - 7th - Joe and I took off of work all week! Woo hoo! We used the time in the first part of the week to relax and catch up on a few projects around the house, as well as watch a couple of the Batman movies.

stay tuned for part two - Joe's birthday and celebration time in Houston!

Happy Birthday, my love!

Sorry for my lack of blogging, I'll make up for it soon.

Today is Joe's birthday! Can you guess how old he is? Here's a hint: this driver's license picture was TEN YEARS AGO!

We've taken off all week from work, and it's been great. Today we're headed to Houston where we'll see some old friends and then stay at a hotel. We'll join up with his parents and sister to celebrate Mother's Day and the two "kids" birthdays (Joe and his sister) this weekend.

Joe's birthday doesn't make me think much about how old he is, but more about how long we've known each other... it's getting closer to 10 years, which seems like a very long time for someone who thinks they are still about 24 (though this year will bring me to 27). Think about it - I met him only about a year after that picture!

We celebrated his birthday last Saturday (which was planned before we knew we could take the week off). One of us will post about it soon.

Joe, I've had a great week vacationing at home with you.... AND I look forward to spending this birthday and many more with you!

Collier Family Reunion - March 22nd

Last Saturday we had a rare Collier family reunion. This is Joe's Dad's Mom's side of the family (I'm not snooty enough to say paternal grandmother). She had 12 brothers and sisters and then named her children after them, so it can get very confusing how everyone is connected (Which Uncle Tom?). We met in Nacogdoches, TX, and enjoyed a yummy potluck meal.

Joe and I had the fun part of the Easter Egg hunt - we hid the plastic eggs! Though I've done this many times, it was Joe's first time and he had fun. I only got action pictures of Peyton, the youngest child that can walk, because the other kids sped around like maniacs.

Joe hid three eggs under a pile of pine cones (yes, East Texas), gently placing each one for maximum coverage. A sweet little girl ran straight for the pile and with one swipe knocked the pine cones in all directions.

We met our newest cuz-nephew (what Joe calls his cousin's sons), Ethan. He's 2.5 months old and TINY! (I have small hands, and it looks huge in the picture!)Peyton was making funny faces at Joe.


Here are all the kids! Can you guess which 7 belong to the same mom and dad?


As has happened at every family reunion since December 28, 2001, I was asked when we were going to give the other kids another kid to play with. This time, the mother of 7 - all three boys in the picture, plus Harley, Allysa, and Peyton - asked me and the mother of Arian and Morgan (twins) about 3 minutes after I arrived. Before I even had to respond, the other mother said in a fairly light-hearted way, "Well, not all of us are as fertile as you are!" That certainly stopped that line of questioning! I had already planned to not bother people who I rarely see / hardly know with that question, but I hadn't thought of how hurtful it would be to someone who desperately wanted to be having a child but couldn't. I'm also glad we're in a family who aren't afraid to call each other out on that sort of thing.

March 12 - 16 World Travelers!

Okay, maybe we're just Southwest Texas Travelers.

Joe got back in town Tuesday and we cooked / ate dinner with some friends. I had to work on Wednesday, and Joe spent a lot of the day cleaning and unpacking. I got off work early and we left for Junction, Texas, around 4:00pm. We went to visit my grandmother who lives just outside of town along the South Llano River (her property is across the river from the South Llano River State Park).

Thursday morning we went to go feed the (three) cats, and found that the night before one had given birth to 4 kittens! They were solid black and cute. Momma cat made the other two cats keep their distance, but seemed friendly enough to us (she certainly enjoyed us petting her). In hopes of maintaining some sort of workout schedule, Joe and I went jogging not long before noon. When we got back to the house, only two kittens were left. Apparently the back porch was too busy to keep the kittens there and Momma cat was moving them. I tried to take a few quick pictures of the last two when Momma cat came back. I then switched to using the video feature on my camera, which explains the bad quality.

Grammy (her real name is Robbie)

Cat drama aside, it was a relaxing visit. We left Saturday afternoon early to meet some family in San Antonio. Lauren (my sister) and Kevin (her husband) moved there from College Station that weekend, and we met them there to help unload the moving truck and cars. They had a ton of help, considering it was an out-of-town move! My parents came down with them from Dallas (Lauren & Kevin had flown in to Dallas Friday from New York... they were closer to being world travelers, I guess) and helped load up and drive the truck to S.A. Two of their friends also helped load and made the C.S. to S.A. drive. Kevin's parents, uncle and cousin came from about an hour away (where the uncle lives) to help unload. I'm sure glad they had so much help - they were moving into the second floor. I was afraid it would be very hot, but the weather was perfect with a light breeze to keep it cool. The apartment complex is very nice and seems to be in an upscale part of town. We got back to College Station very late Saturday night. With the few hours we were actually in S.A., I forgot to take any pictures.

Sunday, Joe's parents came to see his soccer game. They stayed for church and a late dinner, so they spent the night and headed out when we left for work Monday morning. It was a short, but fun visit.

Thank You!

I just realized that I never blogged a thank you to all the family that gave us (or Joe) money instead of gifts for Christmas and our anniversary! Joe has been watching the laptop market for a long time, and he found an excellent deal on a laptop at the beginning of January. Last fall he had also found a deal so that we could open a free Chase banking account (with direct deposit) and get $250 cash (as long as we keep it open for 6 months). Between that money and your gifts, we completely paid for our new Dell (Inspiron 1521) laptop! Here it is:
I've used it to be outside while categorizing what we spent in Quicken, and I can't count how many times Joe's used it when he has time to write and think Sunday mornings. We actually use it more than our desktop, though we don't have wireless internet at home. Thank you so much! It's great!

busy bee in my bonnet

I'm sorry it's been so long since I last blogged! We've been very busy, and I haven't had a chance to download pictures from my camera (I know - my excuse dictionary is stuck on that page).

So, here's a summary of what we've been up to the last two weeks...

Soccer: Joe played on a city league outdoor soccer team (the Scrubs) a couple of years ago, and he's back on it! This time he's leaner and has been running at least weekly or biweekly for months. He's doing great - the last game he did not sub out for the whole game, and that's a LOT of running. As a bonus, the team has several of our friends from church, which means good social time (with other wives or friends) for me during the games.
Chinese / Mandarin: We're taking a Chinese language class together at night through some city education program. (I love that you can be vague and just link to whatever you're talking about in case people really care.) Tonight will be our forth lesson. It's really neat, and there are some easy (no verb conjugation) and hard (tones and writing in characters that have nothing to do with the way the word sounds) parts. There are only 6 people in our class and we have a good teacher, but we've been so busy we haven't put enough in to preparation for the class. We're still learning, and hopefully we'll get some more time to study soon! The main reason we're taking it is that both Joe and I would like to be fluent in the same language. Lots of people ask why Chinese, and the real reason is actually kinda long and complicated for me, so I generally stick with just part of the reason that's easier to explain. If I remember (and have time), I'll blog about why sometime.

DFW: We went to DFW to visit my parents and the Parks last weekend. We got to see more work my parents have done on their place - it's looking really nice and their bathroom will look like a spa when they're done. They generously bought us a very nice 14 piece set of pots and pans! They are so shiny, I'm almost afraid to use them. I'm very excited about the 11 quart pot it comes with... our "big" pot before that was less than half that size, and this one comes with an insert so you can cook pasta and just lift it out (instead of nearly burning yourself with a colander).

The Parks just moved from here in November, and we've seen them a couple of times when they've come back to visit, but it was great to spend some extended time with them. We saw (for the second time) the movie Enchanted at a dollar theater, which was a lot of fun, and then had time to just visit and catch up. My prayer for them, especially Shelley, is that they are blessed with good friends who live close to them.

My sister: My younger (and only) sister lives here in College Station, but her husband just got a big promotion - now he's going to be an Assistant Manager at Toys R Us. The only thing is that they have to move to San Antonio for him to do this - and in just two weeks (half of which they'll be on vacation in New York)! I'm really happy that they recognized Kevin's potential, but I'm very sad that they're moving away. It has been great to live in the same town as my sister for the last almost 5 years, and San Antonio is not that far away. But almost 3 hours isn't the same as 5 minutes away. I'll miss her!

Christmas with the Peebles

We went to Pasadena (a Houston suburb) for Christmas this year. We headed down Monday (Christmas Eve) and stayed with Joe's parents. His dad is recovering from knee replacement surgery and still has to be on a lot of medicine for pain (especially after his physical therapy appointments). He surprised us Christmas Day by walking for the whole family with a cane or walker! It was great - he was able to do it without a limp at all. Hopefully soon he'll be in less pain and be better than before the surgery.

Joe's sister Emily cooked a fabulous meal for us all and we got to watch some HD movies on Rabi's huge television. We highly recommend seeing Stardust - it's a Princess Bride-type movie.

One gift we were excited about giving is a calendar for Joe's mom. We snuck away some pictures earlier this year and I made scrapbook-like pages for every month. Joe finished it off by writing in special memories he has of his mom throughout his life that went along with the pictures. Everything he wrote was very sweet and I know she'll enjoy it all year. (Sorry, my flash makes everyone blink!)

Christmas with the Turpins

We got together with my mom's extended family in Conroe, Texas, on Saturday the 15th. We shared food and did a gift exchange (like white elephant, except something nicer you bought for $12). The highlight was getting to meet my cousin's three-week-old son. It's his first child and he's only the second out of my cousins (7 of us) to have kids.

My parents came back that night and stayed with us. They had to go back to Dallas the next day, but it was really good to see them because we didn't get to see them at Christmas time.

They also brought down a matching curtain (so our window in the living room no longer has a comb-over) and switched the way our refrigerator door opens. It's much more convenient now, but I bet if they had known how hard it would be they would have thought twice before doing it!

Merry Christmas!

You should be able to click on that to open it in a larger format. We're very busy this holiday season, and will be out celebrating Christmas and then our 6 year anniversary this week! Apparently, the traditional gift for the 6th anniversary is candy! How great is that?!?

I haven't been posting as much recently, and probably won't until after New Year's, but I hope you all have a very merry Christmas and a new year full of hope.

Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving break went great! Here's a run down:

Wednesday morning my sister and I went to HEB and bought the rest of what we needed for Thanksgiving dinner, and then got right to cooking and prepping at her place. When Joe got off work at noon, we all grabbed some lunch and then finished up making desserts. Joe and I finished cleaning up and doing laundry at the house and my parents came in from Dallas that night.

Getting food all ready on Thursday went really well, and we actually got ahead of schedule putting things in the oven! Joe was very nice to wake up early and help first thing in the morning. Everyone had some contribution! My mom also put up some curtains she had bought for our living room. Joe's parents and Emily (his sister) and Rabi drove all the way from the other side of Houston (Pasadena / League City) to join us for the meal and then made another trek home. I think they spent more time on the road than in College Station, so that was very nice of them to make that sacrifice to share Thanksgiving with us. Jerrell (did I spell that right?) is a good friend of my sister and her husband who lives in town, and he joined us, too. One person had to sit on an ice chest, but we all sat together and ate. And ate ;). (The six desserts were probably overkill.)

some of us in the living room

PART of the yummy spread

My sister (Lauren) wanted to do Black Friday shopping but her partner in crime the last few years was out of town this year. Mom and I were the new recruits.

Lauren scheming

See that paper and pen? She went through all the ads, wrote down the time each store opened and what she wanted to get from each store (things like a 2 GB SD card (for a camera) for $6.99). From this list, she developed her battle plan. (I guess I can't talk much... I had a list of everything that needed to be cooked including what times each item needed to be prepped, baked and finished.) My mom and I missed her first wave of stores - I think she hit two before we woke up at 4:40, threw on clothes and joined her at #3. By 7:45 we each had $10 mall gift cards, $5 Half Price Books gift cards, and a serious need for sleep (maybe we should have got to bed before 1:30am?).

We went back home and and to sleep for a little while. That afternoon the Aggie game (vs. tu) started at 2:30. So what were we doing? Joe and I watched Enchanted and my mom watched August Rush at the movie theater! Both were very good movies. We got to see the entire last half of the football game, too. Kevin (my sister's husband) works at Toys R Us and had to be there at 4am, so he slept a lot of the afternoon (this is a hard season to work there - especially since he's a supervisor and has to deal with returns and rude customers).

My parents left Saturday before noon, and we spent (almost) the rest of the rainy day watching movies (Ocean's 13 and Hairspray) and episodes from last season of Heroes.

So that was our Thanksgiving! I hope yours went well, too!

Remember Mike?

Yes, he was the headless chicken I once blogged about. I'm not quite that bad yet, but with the Thanksgiving countdown nearing zero, I have my moments. I'm very excited that a lot of family (both sets of parents and sisters, as well as my sister's husband) will be coming. My sister and I will do most of the shopping tomorrow as well as complete some of the prep work and desserts. Last year we did Christmas dinner with my immediate family at our duplex, so I'm not too worried about how it will go this year. My sister's doing a lot more this year (last year she busy with school stuff), which is helpful and more fun!

Speaking of my sister, we celebrated her birthday Friday night and it was a lot of fun! We ate at Roadhouse and then went back to her house for cake (mmm, chocolate). Then we disappeared for a little while, off to the Park's going away party at the bowling alley. A couple of people laughed that Joe brought his bowling ball (with a bag as fancy as the rental shoes), but they weren't laughing long!

Joe got a 226! Not only his best game, but a good 75 points more than the most he usually gets. I'm pretty sure it's been about 3-4 years since we last bowled, but no one could believe that. Joe's the man! Of course, things were also sad because the Parks were moving to Dallas. Honestly, it wasn't that hard for me. At one point we were very close to David and Shelley, but we've naturally drifted apart over the last year (we've had different groups of friends and they have been a lot more busy). Parts of that drifting have been very hard, but I think by Friday night I'd already let go and said goodbye.

Back to Mental Thanksgiving Preparations!

Music & Recent Happenings

I guess I haven't posted what I've been up to recently, so here goes...

November 1st we finished the 12 Week Challenge! Though neither of us saw much of a difference in pounds, we both lost some inches, so that's great.

The weekend of November 3rd we went to Houston to celebrate Joe's Dad's birthday (which was Halloween). It was also exciting because he was starting a new job the Monday after we left! We got to spend some good time with Joe's parents and sister.

The next week we started our new schedule - since the Challenge was over, we needed a workout routine, and decided to add in some time for a few other things (like music and reading) we want to set aside time for. We now are doing our own Book Club. Just the two of us, even though that's a little funny. I got to pick the first book, so we both read a book that was my favorite in high school - Michael Crichton's Sphere. It was a good, quick read. I don't think Joe's picked the next book yet.

Last Friday night we went to a Ross King concert in Bryan. He's a gifted songwriter, and though he leads worship at our church, we rarely get to see him perform. It was great! We had also planned to see Clairmont that night (they were playing later nearby), but Joe started feeling sick to his stomach, so we went home. The next day he still felt nauseous, and had congestion and a fever. I was also all stopped up. We took it pretty easy all weekend, enjoying lots of chicken and dumplings. Joe missed some work the beginning of the week, but I think he's now mostly better.

This Friday is my little sister's 23rd birthday (weird - I feel about 24), so we'll get to celebrate with her. It's also the going away party for some friends of ours, which will be sad.

MOST EXCITING... a week or so ago, Joe finished recording a song he's been working on a while! It's an a cappella version of Ross King's "In Need". Yours truly also makes a cameo in this one. He also started a MySpace page with this song and two others. Check it out: http://myspace.com/joepeebles and add him as a friend if you do MySpace. If you'd like to have an mp3, let us know. And next time you see Joe, be sure to tell him how awesome he is!

Dallas Symphony

Last Saturday we did an obstacle course for the 12 Week Challenge (where I discovered I really suck at jumping hurtles - you should ask to see my bruises). Our team (Joe and I) came in 2nd place! We then headed up to Dallas and spent some good time with my parents.

On Sunday we went to a Halloween-themed performance of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra at the Meyerson. Here's a picture from our seats (yes, they were high up):


At the top you can see a person playing the Fisk Organ (has blue lights on it). It was neat, but because the concert was geared toward children and we were in cheaper seats, we had a lot of disruptive children and disrespectful adults around us. That made it hard to enjoy, but there were a lot of beautiful parts.

Funny Photos on the Road

I just got some pictures from my sister (thanks, Lauren!) from our family reunions this year. (Most of these are a result of me saying "Hey, could I use your camera real quick" or "Can you take a picture of that?") These aren't actually of family, just fun things on the road or while we were there.

First, from the drive from our Jasper Family reunion (my dad's mom's family)... (I was going to link to the blog about it, but I just realized I must not have blogged about it! We have a reunion every year near the fourth of July. It's the families of my grandmother and her three sisters. It's BIG! It was in Leakey, TX this year on the beautiful Frio River.)

First (and my favorite), the sign welcoming you to Hondo, TX:


Next, a sad sight. On the left is a shut-down Wal-Mart. What is that behind there? Oh! A new Wal-Mart Supercenter!


I think they had such a catchy slogan here that it should become a more wide-spread campaign. "Turn around! Don't drown!"