More Texas Fun!

My dad recently purchased a four-wheeler, so we went driving around my parents' land. They live on about 6 acres, with lots of trees (or bushes, whatever you want to call them!) and a pond in the back, so makes for some good exploring. We look like country kids!

Reunion Pictures

(if you look closely, you can see the perm in these pictures. It was much curlier than usual in Texas because of the humidity)

On Saturday, we attended our family reunion. Every summer, my mom's family gets together in Bryson, TX. It is so fun--there are some really amazing people on her side of the family. Here are some of the girls in my family: (from left to right) Mom, me, Aunt Maggie, Vanessa, Mamaw, my cousin Britney (who is having a baby in October!) and Aunt Pat.

Nessa, Britney, and me

My little family: Mamaw Chrissy (Dad's mom), Mom, Nessa, Dad, me and Jason

(Josh wasn't able to go, because he had a production of "Beauty and the Beast." More on that later)

Me and the husband

Mamaw Ellen and Vanessa

Dad and his mom (Mamaw Chrissy)

So sad

Daisy, Oscar and I are very sad tonight. We found out by reading his blog that our pug friend Gizmo has cancer. I know some of you may think I'm crazy, but I can't stop thinking about poor Moe and his momma. Needless to say, Daisy and Oscar are getting more hugs, kisses and playtime tonight.

More vacation pictures!

Blogger finally decided to work again. Yippee, more pictures!

I wish that I could say we built this sandcastle...but we didn't. We did try building one but were extremely unsuccessful. We found this on the beach the morning we went to see the sunrise.

The pugs on the beach. Daisy had a great time sprinting down the sand, but I think Oscar felt it was a little too close to the water. He HATES water!

The lighthouse we visited. I don't know whether or not you can see us in the picture, but we are right at the bottom in front of the entrance. If we had been smart, we would have stood in front of the white part so we could be seen.

I really love lighthouses, but this is the first one I have actually gone into. I don't know what I expected, but inside it was actually a little scary and claustrophobia-inducing. Luckily it wasn't too terribly tall (as far as lighthouses go). It had many windy, wrought iron, narrow steps to the top, then had a wooden ladder you had to climb up to the very top. You could actually go outside the top and walk around, which was very scary to me. Not only was it narrow, but it was pretty windy. But we did have a great view of the island and bridge across the bay. And the walk down the narrow, windy stairs was even scarier. I wonder if lighthouse keepers ever fell down the stairs and were injured? All that said, even with my love for lighthouses, I will definitely have to think about it next time before I walk up.

Well, we have a few new things to show-and-tell around our house, but silly me left the camera cord in Texas. Hopefully it will come in the mail soon and I can share with you all!

South Padre Island!

Here are some vacation pictures for your enjoyment! We spent part of last week on South Padre Island with my family and had a great time!

Monday, we spent most of the day relaxing on the beach. Tuesday, we spent the morning at the beach again and the afternoon shopping and resting. That evening we drove to Brownsville for dinner at Texas Roadhouse. Wednesday morning we woke up early to see the sunrise (we barely made it!). Later that morning, Nessa and Josh took surfing lessons (very cool!) while Dad spent the morning fishing. Wednesday afternoon, Jason and I took a short tour of a lighthouse across the bay from South Padre. Wednesday night, I had a date with my sweet hubby, and then we all spent time on the beach together in the evening, playing in the water and hunting for shells.

Thursday it was time to go home, so we got back in the car and headed back to Wichita Falls. Luckily, we made far fewer stops so made it home faster than our trip there.

Chilling on the beach (don't you love my dad's hat?!)

Vanessa relaxing under the umbrella

Enjoying the beautiful sunrise

Getting ready to surf!

Jason and I decided not to surf because we aren't good swimmers and we were afraid it would be too deep. Once we arrived at the park where surfing lessons were held, we discovered it was very shallow. Oh well, maybe next time. Nessa and Josh did a great job!
Daisy and Oscar enjoying the condo. They did really well on the trip with very little barking, and they did not destroy anything. They are such good little travelers!

Jason was having serious Starbucks withdrawal, so when we were in Brownsville and saw a brand new Starbucks, we HAD to stop!

I have more pictures to post, but Blogger is not cooperating. More to come!

We're Baaack!

Well, we have returned to Denver after spending the last week in Texas! We traveled to South Padre Island with my family for a couple days to visit the ocean and lay around on the beach. We had a good time! We were also able to go to a family reunion while we were there, which is always fun. I have LOTS of pictures and will post them as I can throughout the week. Daisy and Oscar went well and did GREAT traveling and also in the beach condo. They are wonderful puppies! Hope all of you are doing well. Guess I better go unpack and get ready for another exciting work week!

Thanks for all of your nice comments about our fence! We are enjoying it, and the pugs are even getting the hang of pottying in the yard (took them a few days).

The highlight of my weekend (other than the fence) was getting a perm! I have never had a perm in my entire life, so I was scared to death. But it turned out good and is super easy to fix. It is a nice low-maintenance, summer do. I wish my hair were naturally wavy, but this will have to do. Maybe I will add a picture someday!

A New Fence!

Look what we got this weekend!!

Jason's dad was nice enough to come all the way from Seattle just to help us build a fence! We are so thankful that he was generous enough to help us out, because we would not have been able to do it by ourselves!

Now Daisy and Oscar have a place to play and potty, and we have a place to hang out and have some privacy. Plus, since the porch is on the east side of our house, it is really nice in the evenings.

My Wonderful Husband

These are the flowers Jason sent me on our anniversary!

On the morning of our anniversary, Jason stuck a card and empty vase in my car, and wrote "You might need this today." Sure enough, flowers were delivered to me at work right after lunch! They were so beautiful and colorful! He is definitely a keeper!

Puggie Party

I was reading a blog the other day where the writer likened his life to a hamster running on a hamster wheel, out of control but unable to stop. That is exactly how I am feeling right now! I feel like things are constantly getting thrown at us one after another. How do you people with kids do it?

Here are some pictures of the pug birthday party we went to last week. We had a good time, but it was pretty warm and Oscar was out of control. I think one of the other pugs ticked him off, because he was mad and mean most of the party. I am starting to think we can't take him anywhere. Any suggestions on fixing this problem? He isn't always aggressive like that, but mostly it seems when food is involved. He is so sweet at home, and we really do try to socialize him as much as possible. The joys of adopting a pound puppy (it is worth it, though).

Duddits, the birthday boy (he is actually a Texan!)

Trinity, Duddit's sister

She is the tiniest, cutest little pug! They also have a brother, Nemo, who is a black pug

Daisy and Sadie

Sadie's tongue is constantly hanging out of her mouth, which is pretty cute!

It's a Zoo!

I took the day off work last Friday and spent the day celebrating our anniversary with Jason! We took advantage of the day off and went to the Denver Zoo! It was pretty crowded, but we still enjoyed our time there.

One of our favorite things there were the baby bear cubs. Aren't they cute?

My other favorite thing was the polar bear exhibit. There were two brother polar bears who were playing with each other and having lots of fun!

We got a nice close-up of the penguins. They were so cute!

The lion exhibit is very cool. It has been remodeled recently and you get to see the big cats very close up (with glass in between, of course!).

All in all, we had a very fun time and enjoyed our visit to the zoo!