Merry Christmas!!!

We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!!

Love, Chris , Amy & Allie

"Excuse me but, I think you are in my car!"

Today at lunch I ran to a couple of stores to find one last gift for Chris. I was walking back out to my car and was about 10 feet away when I clicked the unlock button on my key chain. There was a lady walking about 6 feet in front of me and she walked right up to my car opened the door and got in. I was so confused...I thought that was my car? I stopped and looked further down the row of cars. Two spots away and on the other side of a huge truck was another black Honda Accord. I thought to myself, "Maybe I did park that far down." I looked back at the first Honda and noticed that it had the same David McDavid tag on the back bumper as mine did and the same cross hanging from the mirror. About that time the woman who had sat in my car opened the door. I could tell that she was looking around at all of the crap in my seats so I walked up to the car and said, "Excuse me but, I think you are in my car!" She was so apologetic. I guess she had clicked her unlock button about the same time I hit mine and saw the tail lights flash and thought it was hers. Crazy!!! Now I finally have a reason to keep my car junked out...so people know that it is not theirs.

Allie's Latest Victim

Last night I was sitting at the computer and could feel a cord knocking up against my leg. I reached down and pulled up the headphones that came with the computer. I then bent over to look under the computer table to find Allie sitting there with her sweet and innocent face. I looked again at the headphones and noticed something was missing...

I am beginning to think that my dog has an addiction to devices that go in or around ears. I swear it is always something with that dog. R.I.P (Rest in Poop) earphone covers.

Old friends and my first swim meet

Saturday morning I braved the 3 inches of snow to have breakfast with my oldest and dearest friend Ashley. We met at our favorite breakfast spot, Calico County, and had a great time together. It had been almost 2 weeks since we had seen each other which is a long time for us considering we saw each other every day for almost 3 years when we lived together. I forgot to take my camera that morning but, in case you forgot what the gorgeous Ashley looks like here is a picture.

After breakfast I went to my first swim meet. My small group girls are all on the swim team at Amarillo High School so I went to cheer them on. They did so good. I was so impressed with them. My girls are truly amazing.

After the swim meet I met Chris at the mall so we could finish our Christmas shopping. Luckily we finished by 1:30 and were able to come home and enjoy the rest of the afternoon with each other.

Journey

Sunday night my family came to our church to see our Christmas program "Journey." As of Sunday morning they had 5,000 people who had attended the program since it started on Thursday and they were out of tickets for the remaining shows. Luckily, our youth minister had set some tickets aside for us. Two of my small group girls took turns playing Mary. I was so proud of them for having the courage to audition and commit to the event. I swear I learn more from those girls than they do from me.

Chris posing with a goat in the "market place."

Me and Holly (aka Mary)



Holly holding baby Jesus.

It is a good thing it is Friday

I got to work this morning and the receptionist called to tell me that a client was at the front desk to see me. I spin around in my chair and happen to look down at me feet and see this...

I dont know if you can tell or not but those are navy blue trouser socks with my black pants and black shoes. NICE!!! Even though you could barely see the socks because my pants are so long I took them off and went barefoot all day which was fine with me since I hate wearing socks. I guess I should explain that I am not color blind but that when I get dressed in the mornings Chris is still asleep so I just reached in the drawer and pulled out the first pair. I did not even know I had navy socks but apparently I do. Good thing it is Friday cause I think my brain is fried.

So You Think You Know Carols?

Check out this webstite to take a Christmas song quizz and see how you do. This was my score:

You got 84% correct. Not bad. You stand to be the life of any winter holiday party you attend, should caroling break out.

Christmas Survey

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper
2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial, I am allergic to the real ones
3. When do you put up the tree? I try to put it up the weekend before Thanksgiving but this year Chris made me wait until the week after…Scrooge!!
4. When do you take the tree down the tree? After New Years Eve
5. Do you like egg nog? Disgusting!!!
6. Favorite gift received as a child? The 5 ft. tall and 3 ft. deep doll house my dad built me was pretty awesome.
7. Do you have a nativity scene? yes
8. Hardest person to buy for? My parents
9. Easiest person to buy for? Nieces and Nephews
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? mail
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? A really ugly pleather purse from my aunt and uncle
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? A Christmas Story
13. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Only as a white elephant gift
14. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Pumpkin roll
15. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Clear
16. Favorite Christmas song? I like almost all Christmas music except for Feliz Navidad and Little Drummer Boy
17. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Home
18. Can you name all of Santa's reindeers? YES!!! On Dasher, on Dancer, on Prancer and Vixen, On Comet, on Cupid, on Donner, and Blitzen. But do you recall...the most famous reindeer of all...Rudolph...
19. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning
20. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Not enough time to enjoy it.
21. Favorite ornament theme or color? The ceramic ornaments we painted every year as kids
22. Favorite food for Christmas dinner? Ham and broccoli and rice casserole
23. What do you want for Christmas this year? I have a list developing…purse, more place settings of my china, new chi hair straightener
24. Who is most likely to respond to this? Chris
25. Who is least likely to respond to this? My mom

Nutcracker

Saturday night went dinner and to see the Nutcracker with our friends Kale and Joselyn. I had not been to the Nutcracker since high school and Chris had never been. This year they had all new sets built by a guy out of New York and all new costumes also. It was amazing!!! Chris really enjoyed it too which is a good sign that we will be making more trips to hear the Amarillo Symphony and see the Lone Star Ballet. YEAH!!

Dinner with Kale and Joscelyn.

Chris and I.

The Nutcracker ornament Chris bought me!! Isn't he sweet??

Our tree!!

Elfed

I stole this from RyAnn.

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9635417075

YEAH FOR CHRISTMAS!!!

The joys of living in the Texas Panhandle

Anyone who has ever visited the Panhandle of Texas will probably tell you that we have crazy weather. Here is an example...Monday I think our high temperature was like 75. I think we even set a record. Tuesday again it was fairly warm. Wednesday a little cooler and very windy. Thursday very chilly. Friday I looked outside to see this...

I am thankful that my man can bake!!

We had Thanksgiving on Thursday with my family. We had a great time. My parents, brothers and grandma all came over to our house. Even though I spent the whole week cleaning and getting things ready it was worth it to have everyone together for the afternoon. Chris pitched in and learned my late Grandma Vivian's secret to the perfect pie crust.

Yes ladies, ALL of the crust were done totally and completely by my husband!! I was very impressed. I made the fillings. We had so much fun baking together. We made 2 pumpkin pies, a pecan and an apple. We also made green bean casserole and Chris made the mashed potatoes. Anyway, here are some more picture of use getting things ready.

Chris carving the turkey due to my dad's recent fear of cutting objects.

Andrew stealing a pickle.

Busy kitchen.

I always forget to take pictures throughout the day. I really should try to get better at that. I hope everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving.

Why My Dad is No Longer Allowed to Use Power Tools

Sunday night I get a call from my dad. He said "Does Chris want a table saw?" I asked him if he got a new one and that is why he wanted to give his old one to Chris. To which he replied, "No, I almost cut my thumb off yesterday and I don't want to ever use it again." WHAT?? No one even called to tell me that they sat at the emergency room for 3 hours while they stitched my dad up!! He is doing ok but he did cut his thumb pretty bad. Lets just pray that we don't have a an incident like that with Chris once we get the table saw moved over here!!!

I know I owe you 2 more posts to complete my list for the week but, they are not ready yet. 5 out of 7 is not bad.

Allie's New Coat and Fall Photo Shoot

I found a really cute coat for Allie at Dillard's of all places. She loves it. Here are some other pictures of her that I have taken over the last few weeks.

I love my new leopard print coat!!

First hay ride.

Playing in the leaves.

Allie's "Blue Steel" Pose. (If you don't know what I am talking about, watch Zoolander)

Allie's "I am too good for you" pose.

Allie is sick of the paparazzi always following her around!!!

How Allie Almost Met Her Maker

Last week Chris and I decided we would try leaving Allie out of her crate while we were at work. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday all went great. My parents came over Wednesday after work and Chris and I were bragging about how good she had been. She had not chewed on anything, gone to the bathroom anywhere or done anything that would get her in trouble, that is until Wednesday night. Monday and Tuesday nights some one was home after 5 to play with her until bedtime but Wednesday night when we went to church after only being home from work for an hour apparently made her mad. I forgot to take a before repair shot but you can see in this photo where Chris had to cut carpet out of one of the closets to patch the hole she dug while we were gone. She also scratched about 3 inches of paint off of the door way!!! I was in shock when I saw what she had done. Chris busted her and then put her in her crate and said she had to stay there all night. I started crying cause I did not think that was fair that she had to stay in there because we had been gone all day. Chris caved and let her come out to play until bedtime. Needless to say she has been back in her crate everyday since. Poor Allie!!

Chris' Life Changing Committment to God

Chris has been struggling for months with his career decisions and where his professional life was headed. As many of you know we have become very active in the youth group at our church. I have worked in youth ministry before and felt totally comfortable jumping in head first. Chris on the other hand was a different story. The first Wednesday night we were headed to help with Epicenter (Youth Meeting on Wednesday nights) Chris was literally sick to his stomach. He was so nervous about interacting with the kids he was a walking basket case. After that first Wednesday night you could not keep Chris away from those kids if you tried. He loves those kids and they love him. He was become really close with the youth minister, Brad Ingram, and Brad has really helped Chris grow in his walk. A couple of weeks ago Chris went to his small group, where him and Brad meet with several high school boys, and came back home with tears running down his face. He said that he felt like God had him on a leash trying to take him down a certain path and that he had been pulling and fighting to go another direction and he could not fight anymore. He knew that God was calling him to be a ....YOUTH MINISTER!! Every since that moment Chris has been a changed man. He is so at peace with his life and where God is leading him. You can tell that a huge weight has been lifted from his shoulders. He has been meeting with Brad and they are reading through some books together and Chris is taking some Bible classes at the local junior college next semester. Until he feels he is ready he is going to try to stay at his current job but we are fully devoted to the journey the Lord has for our family. I will keep you posted on any changes but be looking for many more entries about our experiences with the youth at our church and be praying for Chris as he embarks on this new chapter of his life.

Date Night at the Balloon Festival

A couple of weeks ago Chris and I got to have a date night!! I am sure for those of you who have kids you are wondering why we don't have date night more often? I guess we do cause we always do things like go to dinner and go to the movies but we don't call those date nights. We reserve this phrase for a planned outing as a couple not just "Hey do you want to go to Chili's?" Does that make sense?? Anyway, we went to dinner at Carino's, which I love, and then we went to Amarillo's annual hot air balloon festival. The festival has only been in existence for a couple of years and this is the first year that it has really been worth going to. We went to the Balloon Glow which is where they fire up all of the balloon's right after the sun sets over the beautiful panhandle horizon. It was a little cold but we had a great time. Here are a few pictures.

My goal for the weekend...

is to get caught up on blogging!!!! UGH!!! I have been so mad at myself because I have so much to blog about but there are so many things that I have not had a chance to blog about that would provide background information to my new blogs!!! Anyway, blogs coming this weekend to a blog near you are:

1. Date Night at the Hot Air Balloon Festival
2. Chris' Life Changing Commitment to God
3. Allie's New Coat (along with about 800 pictures of the worlds cutest dog)
4. Why my dad is not allowed to use power tools anymore
5. Allie almost met her maker today
6. Date Night with 10th grade girls
7. Hallmark Holiday Open House - A Glimpse at my Psychotic Side

Plus many more. If I do not have all of this updated by the weekend you can all feel free to boycott my blog!!!

Halloween

Most people will post really cute pictures of their kids all dressed up for Halloween but not me, I post pictures of my husband!! Chris and his friend, Kale, dressed up as Double Dare contestants. I loved that show. Anyway, I hope everyone had a Happy Halloween.

Oh before I forget again, I wanted to let everyone know that if you want a blog header like mine, Kelly has set up a website for you to place an order. For a very reasonable price she will make your blog look amazing.

Finally

Yes finally I can take a break from work to blog!! I have to admit that I have gotten on 3 times from home to blog about the much anticipate video of Delaney singing and after waiting forever for the video to upload getting kicked off blogger. I just kept getting frustrated so I would not blog at all. I still can't get the video to upload and Chris has not had time to help me figure it out but I don't think I can boycott blogging much longer.

Anywho, Saturday, October 13th, was WTAMU's homecoming. When I was going to school at WT I went to 1 homecoming game and the stands on the home side were not even full. The football team was terrible back then but they have since hired a new coach and totally rebuilt the football program. Last year they were the conference champs and are well on their way to a repeat this year with a 9-0 record so far. Now every game is packed on both sides with WT fans. My brothers are going to WT and Andrew is in the marching band so every WTAMU event is a family affair. The homecoming festivities include a parade which Delaney loved and of course the game. GO BUFFS!!!

Cheerleaders at the parade.

My attempt at taking a picture of my brother, Andrew.

Delaney waiting for the next float.

Delaney's Loot

Herdsmen running Jack, the Buffalo.

The home side was so full we had to sit on the packed visitor side.

The hill was even getting crowded

Delaney and I

Chris pretending he doesn't like Delaney

Daniel trying to be cool

My mom being weird

My dad and Delaney.