Weddings, Weddings

We have had several weddings to go to this year & a couple of them just so happened to be back-to back weekends this month. Two weeks ago Cody had the privilege of performing the ceremony for Heath & JuliAnne. Cody met Heath when he was a youth pastor & has stayed close with Heath & his family ever since. This was a fun wedding for us, as we were able to see lots of old friends & it gave us a chance to go to Abilene & see family.

Cody with JuliAnne & Heath

Doing the rehearsal thing

We got to see Al & Shannon at the wedding!

Last weekend we went to Houston for one of our YL leader's wedding. It was a great excuse to get a chance to see Hannah & Drew. They live in a great part of Houston & we spent the weekend, talking, eating yummy food, & going to a fun park.

With Hannah & Drew after dinner on Saturday night

Although it has been fun to go to these weddings I am ready to stay home a for a weekend & catch-up on life.

We have also been getting ready for a full semester of Young Life (we had our first club last night), Cody has been coaching some b-ball, & starting FCA at his school. He really started it last semester, but this semester it is really in full swing. He usually has about 50 kids stay after school for FCA & he basically runs it like a Young Life club, making it really fun for all the kidos.

SKI TRIP

After Christmas we took a group of YL kids to Colorado to stay at Crooked Creek & ski winter park. I have to admit that I was kind of dreading ski trip this year. I was not looking forward to being cold & I really, really didn't want to get stuck in Colorado again like we have the last two years. Needless to say at the end of the trip I felt guilty for dreading the trip - it was the best ski trip I have been on thus far. The weather was amazing, all the kids got along great, not one person ended up in the clinic, & all of our kids heard about Jesus every night we were together.

The gym & the hot tub at Crooked Creek

Only about 4-5 hours into our trip we had a huge blow-out on the highway - here is what was left of our tire.

Luke & Jane came down from to hang-out for a night - it was fun having them!

My cabin of girls

Playing a game at club one night. They were supposed to be a human hamburger. The color of their shirts represents what part of the burger they were supposed to be (green shirt = lettuce, purple shirt = onion, etc.) I think there is a guy who is supposed to be the bottom bun, but you can't see him in this picture b/c he is completely smashed.

Cody & I at the slopes - the weather was amazing!

I tried snowboarding this year & I officially hate it. I am most definitely going to stick with skiing from now on.

Thanks to everyone who prayed for our trip. One of the best parts of the trip was that all of our kids got so close to the leaders & to each other. By the end of the trip they were all taking about going to summer camp this summer. Hopefully that will happen as summer camp is an amazing opportunity for kids to meet Christ.

Happy New Year!

Christmas

Christmas this year was so great, I am sad that it is all over. All of my family was together & we now have lots of great pictures & memories to last us until we all meet up again.

We went to my parents house for Christmas & were able to stay for almost a week! We spent the time playing games, cooking & eating, watching Christmas movies, and talking.

Group picture - my family + cousins+ Grandma

Good lookin family!

All the boys frying the turkey & other random things on Christmas

Charlie got a new jacket

1/2 of the group at my fabulous birthday dinner

Eating the yummy artichoke appetizer that Jane made for my Birthday

Bekah & Mom making some Christmas goodies

Christmas was wonderful & I am really looking forward to what 2009 holds for our family.

Next post - Ski Trip pics :)

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

Here is our 2008 Christmas tree - it's small, but it's sweet. The lights are kind of ghetto, but I just used what I could find in the attic & we ran out of lights for the top. I love our Charlie Brown Christmas Tree!

I love collecting Christmas ornaments every year, & love when they have special meaning. It's so fun to unpack the ornaments every year & remember the stories & memories that come with them.

This wedding cake ornament was on one of the presents Cody gave me the night we got engaged - September 16, 2006

I got this ornament of a small wedding chapel Christmas 2006 - in honor our upcoming wedding

For as long as I can remember my mom has given us a precious moment ornament & I love it b/c now my tree is filled with all different kinds of precious moment ornaments. Here is the one she gave Cody & I last Christmas, 2007, our first Christmas as a married couple.

We got married on St. Patricks Day so when I saw this little St. Patricks Day hat, I wanted to get it for our tree this year.

I love the smell of fresh Christmas trees & right now thanks to my mom & grandma our house officially smells of Christmas. Here is the mini Christmas tree, my mom sends us one every year & I love it. I have it in my kitchen.

This year my grandma sent us this fresh door hanging - i love it!

Christmas Club

We had our annual Christmas Club at Young Life & it was a great time. I always look forward to anything Christmas - Christmas parties, Christmas dinners, & of course Christmas Club. We usually play the same games every year but kids don't seem to mind much.

This year my favorite thing about our Christmas club was the skit that all of the leaders did. We acted out the "12 Days of Christmas" while the song was playing. Keith was the pear tree & at the end of every verse the rest of the leaders would jump on him. For example, the second verse of song is, "on the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me 2 turtle doves & a partridge in a pear tree" we would all act like 2 turtle doves & then jump on Keith, as he was the pear tree. Super random, I know, but we had kids laughing.

Cody judging our Mr. Christmas contest

I ended the night by telling the kids the Christmas story out of Luke 2. I mostly talked about the journey of Mary of Joseph & how the same Jesus that was born in a manger in Bethlehem is the same Jesus that we have been talking about all semester. The Jesus that healed the blind, gave people life, & died on the cross is the same Jesus that was born in a barn.

I left them with Luke 2:10-11, "I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. Today in the city of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord." The same message that was told to the shepherds is still great news for us today -a Savior has been born for us.

This is our amazing YL team - they are definitely lights in a dark world.

Top row - Keith (he would not take off the batman mask), Cody, Emily, & Scott
Bottom row - Jake, Katie, & Jenna

Thanksgiving Break

We had a great Thanksgiving this year. We were very ready for a few days off from work & ready to eat & sleep in & that is exactly what we did. We were able to see lots of family & it was good to catch-up with everyone. I realized today that I hardly got any pictures of the cousins :(.

Here are a few pictures from the break:

Mamaw w/ Madison, Sophie, & Zeek

The fam out touring the ranch Kyle works on an hour west of town.

The boys grilling out at the ranch

Beautiful West Texas

Just doing a little target practice

While we were in town ACU had a play-off game & we got to go. ACU was actually really good at football this year & tons of alumni came in town for the game, I was shocked at how many old friends I ran into. Sadly, ACU lost - they will be back next season.