Christmas Time is Here!!

Oh Christmas Tree!! Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire!! Hark the Harold Angels Sing!! Joy to the World!! Jingle Bell Rock!! Oh I love Christmas time!!! Christmas is my absolute favorite time of year. I love giving gifts, seeing smiles, everyone being happy, running around like crazy, all the chaos, and my absolute favorite part is the family time :) I love getting together with family and friends and spending this amazing holiday together. Christmas is an amazing day b/c our savior was born!! This is Mike and I's first Christmas together as a married couple and it's been going great so far. We've set up our Christmas lights, we've set up our Christmas tree, and a bunch of good Christmas decorations inside the house. We also have the lovely gingerbread house (previous post) set up. The pics are of our lovely Christmas tree with some presents Santa brought early, our outside lights at night time (and if you look close you can see the Christmas tree lit up inside since I left the front door open), and our stockings by the fireplace. We hope you enjoy!! We sure are :)

Good Times :)

All of these pictures describe the awesome dinner party Mike and I had with Josh, MaryPat, and Juliana!! We had a great italian dinner with some good wine and then came the fun part....we made gingerbread houses!! Mike and I had such a blast!! We decided to make a two story with a loft inside and we decorated the outside with all the candy and icing we had :) Josh and MaryPat on the other hand went in a different direction....they (well mainly Josh) built a space ship haha. It was actually pretty impressive how high it went with just being held up by chocolate. MaryPat did a great job helping Juliana build her little beach house and she was the main decorator and artist with the icing :) In the end, we all had an absolute blast making the house and getting chocolate everywhere!! We then were able to chill out on the couch and catch up on things. Mike and I then headed home so he could study and I could get in bed at a decent hour for my Arrest, Search, and Seizure class today....yay for my intermediate peace officer license!!
On another note, Mike has been making some big decisions with the Marines and I made a big decision with work. Mike officially decided he is not going to re-enlist and his contract is up next year. He's wanting to go to the officer side either in the Marines (yay!) or the Air Force. He's hoping to go to OCS over the summer and then start grad school in the Fall. He's going to be a big graduate in May!! I withdrew my application to Crime Scene due to the sergeant and I not getting along and it wasn't the best time for me to move over there. I would have only had 2 days off during the week and worked 11p-7a. Now I have 3 days off and I work 8:30p-6:30a. It works out much better with Mike's schedule and we can spend more time together. I also have more learning opportunities on patrol and I can go to different units on the department on loan if I feel like trying things out. Oh and there will be a Christmas decorations picture coming soon :)

Thanksgiving

Mike and I went to Jim and Lexi's house for Thanksgiving again this year. As you can see, we all look really full haha. I made my mom's infamous yams for the first time ever and they were a hit! It took a while for my mom to believe me though haha. We had turkey, stuffing (which was delicious), yams, mashed potatoes w/ gravy, salad, and deviled eggs. It was all great! After Mike and I went for a walk, which is a family tradition at my family's Thanksgiving so we can make room for the dessert :)- We walked around the block and definitely made some room haha. We then came back in and ate some amazing pecan pie that Lexi made. There was also some Wii playing and just good ole hanging out with family. When Mike and I got home, Olivine had once again chewed the loveseat cover so we're going to have to get that one fixed again. The pups weren't too happy we left them alone all day :( But we ended up having a great Thanksgiving all together! Yay for being thankful for amazing family and friends!

Weekend in Kingwood

Mike and I went to Kingwood to see my parents, see Kyle (my bigger baby brother who I we hadn't seen in forever), meet his girlfriend Kaci (almost been together for a year!), and go to the Renaissance Festival!! All together it was a super awesome weekend!! The picture over here on the left is of Bronx and Olivine a few minutes after we got home. While we were there, we were always doing something. Mike and I got there late Thursday night and the dogs were psyched. Friday my parents drove us to Polk County so Mike could see my MawMaw's house and the Smith family farm. We then got back and met up with Kyle and Kaci and went to Costco to get some essentials. The dogs on the other hand were at home playing and sleeping all day. Saturday was the big day for the Renaissance Festival, which is displayed below. We were absolutely exhausted when we got back, but we still played with the dogs when we got back :) On Sunday we had a big family dinner and played more and more with the dogs. After each trip to Kingwood, the dogs are always exhausted, which is funny. When they walked through the door, they ran around realizing they were at home and checked every corner then went into the bedroom and passed out....they didn't move for the rest of the night! :)

Renaissance Festival

Hello my lord and my lady! That's what Mike and I kept getting greeted with in every shop we went into at the renaissance festival. We also saw some hilarious and rather revealing costumes, which was really entertaining....we also realized most people there have absolutely no shame haha. We saw a centaur, a few conans, women in nothing but chain mail and a thong, tonz of fairies, and a lot of "kings." In all honesty, most of the women let it all hang out and show and well were not in the best shape....but it was funny. We also got to experience the "Ded Bob Show," which was really funny as well. Mike and Kyle did the bow and arrow challenge and they both hit the bullseye more than once. Kyle and Kaci rode the elephant. I got some gorgeous celtic earrings and Mike got to eat fried alligator!! The food was awesome and so was the atmosphere!! We had a great time!!

Trick or Treat!

Tick or Treat....Give me something good to eat....if you don't....I don't care....I'll pull down your underwear!! Oh the joys of Halloween!! Today was awesome!! Mike carved this amazing pumpkin this afternoon and it looked great!! Mike's parents stopped by and my parents were already here for the weekend. I also had off the weekend since I'm taking a class Mon, Tues, and Wed. We then went to Target and Walmart and my parents took us to dinner at the Hibachi grill :) When we got home it was game time. We had all the decorations ready to go and lit the fabulous pumpkin!! We also got a super scary halloween sounds CD from Walmart and had it playing outside under the bench. We had tonz of Trick or Treaters and almost ran out of candy, but we squeaked by :) A bunch of the kids were scared from the halloween sounds and the dogs barking like crazy which made them run the opposite direction, but they would come back and get their candy...we also had tonz of comments on our costumes and our decorations and Mike's pumpkin was a hit :) While we were at Walmart we also picked up our costumes....I got a witches hat and creepy hands and Mike got a Jason mask. Happy Halloween all!!

Halloween!!

I took this picture today...it was freezing and SUPER windy...as you can see from the picture. Due to all of the rain and not being able to mow the grass and then not having the equipment to put out the graveyard pieces....it took until today to put them out. So I spent a while rigging the nails together so the graveyard pieces would stick in the ground since our grass is so thick and waa-laa...A GRAVEYARD!! A mini one at least haha. There is a witch windsock, a vampire windsock, spooky and beware signs, the graveyard, skulls looking like pirates lining the sidewalk, a pumpkin in the flowerbed, another windsock with a cat in a pumpkin, and last but not least a lit up pumpkin on the bench in the walkway. We still haven't carved our pumpkin...we're going to do that closer to halloween and put that on the bench eventually. Also, the little garden flag is a B (for Bassi) that my awesome mom got Mike and I :) The wind was blowing super hard which is why not everything is clear, but you can get the point. We have a few decorations in the house and we have our halloween candy in the pantry just waiting to be eaten, I mean handed out to Trick or Treaters. I have to work that night, but my fabulous parents are coming up for the weekend so Mike will have some company while handing out candy :)

Cool Pictures

Here are a couple awesome photoshop pictures that one of Mike and I's good friends did. His name is George and he's one of the dispatchers I work with. He definitely has some awesome skills b/c these pictures rock!! I thought they were really cool and I wanted to share them with everyone :) I honestly think the one where the bridesmaids and groomsmen are in black and white and Mike and I are in color...oh we just look soo good haha. The other one of us lovely ladies in color and the manly men in black and white...it's definitely cool looking. Enjoy!!

The First Mow

Here's Mike mowing our lawn for the first time. Wow it looks soo much better!! It took us forever to mow since it rained for a week!! Or at least it seemed like it haha. My parents got us a great lawnmower for a housewarming gift and my dad and Mike went to pick out a weedeater while they were up here :) All of it worked great and the yard looks awesome!!! The dogs are also loving running around in a nicely mowed yard :) Oh and the best part was when Mike went to weedeat and he put on his camis and boots...that was super hot and well awesome ;)

Family at the House

Here are some pics of the family at our new house :) On the left is Jim, Lexi, Rich, and me and Mike...Jan is taking the picture and Bronx and Olivine are roaming around somewhere. On the right are my parents, Dave and Marie on our lovely sofa couch. We had a long day of running errands and fixing up the house. A couple nights later we had some friends over and Mike's brother Matt stopped by for a bbq, which was tonz of fun!! Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures :( Mike got to use his new grill and cook really good hamburgers and my mom and I were in charge of the beans. We're definitely enjoying having everyone over to the new house :)

Closing Day!!

Yeah...isn't this a great picture?? Haha. Mike and I woke up to our phones ringing off the wall and both dogs jumping up on the bed to cuddle. The dog part was entertaining and cute, but all of the phone calls about the check we needed to bring to closing coming an hour and a half before our alarm was set wasn't so great. When we finally got the exact amount it was super exciting though b/c it was a lot less than we thought we were going to have to bring!! When we started to get up, Bronx crawled in my lap and Olivine crawled on Bronx and this is what we ended up with haha.
Mike and I loaded up our cars with boxes and heading down to Burleson to run by Lowe's and then close!! The closing started an hour late, which sucked, but once it was over it felt soo good!! We then got the keys and headed to our new home...to find the electricity off and that the seller's did absolutely NO cleaning before they left so that is our mission for tomorrow...new fridge, clean, and paint! Mike headed to class once we loaded all the boxes inside and I stayed to clean a little and get some stuff organized.
We can't wait to get all settled in and have everyone over!! And of course, we can't wait for all the random drop by visits...I miss those b/c it always happened at our house when I was a kid...it was the neighborhood hang out...mainly b/c we had fruit roll ups and tonz of other food so all the kids would come and raid our pantry haha :) Love you all!!

House Stuff

So the latest on the house is final walk through on Sunday the 30th to check everything out and make sure all is well. We're going to close on Sept 2nd and then Sept 5th we're moving!! We sooo can't wait!! We still have some more to pack, but it's coming along just fine. The moving company we went with last time was absolutely horrible, but this time we're using off duty Fort Worth firefighters so we know they'll be reliable. Well we can't wait for everyone to come see the new house when we're all settled in!!

Adoption Day

Here is a pic of us on Adoption Day at PetsMart :) Bronx and Olivine were distracted due to there being a bunch of other dogs around, but they at least sat there for the picture haha. Oh aren't we just all so adorable.
It's been going pretty well so far with Olivine. She definitely still has her puppy tendencies so we're working on those. She usually messes with her toys, but she attached the blinds last night when i left for work and Mike was in class so that was bad. She also found the disposable cameras from forever ago and chewed on them (they were on the bottom of the entryway table so in reaching distance). Other than that it's all going well with her.

CSSU

So, I'm not the best at updating this thing, but I try. This is a picture of the FWPD patch that I wear so proudly on my uniform sleeves each day at work. The weird red thing in the middle is supposed to be a longhorn...who knew. Well I figured I should put on here that I applied to the Crime Scene Search Unit. I put in my packet last week and waiting to hear when my interview will be. Mike and I have our fingers crossed. Honestly, crime scene's what I've always wanted to do, but I'm definitely going to miss patrol big time!! Patrol is such a great way to get into things and meet all sorts of people. It's also a great place to learn. I've made many many good friends on the department by being on patrol and I'm going to miss not being out there by their side getting into stuff. I'll just be getting there after everything has gone down...dang it. But Mike and I have talked about it and we think this is a good opportunity and well a lot safer. When I found out if I got the position, I'll definitely let you guys know :)

Love Being Home :)

Well the picture on the left is of Bronx (our super loving and adorable black lab) and our new puppy Olivine (name is a rare mineral and she's a rare find...she's a 10 mo old boxer lab rescue puppy and awesome). They love playing together and laying around together :) We knew we wanted another dog when we moved into the house, but we found her a little earlier and fell in love...she's a great puppy and an even better addition to the family.
The picture on the right is of Mike and Bronx before we got Olivine. I was getting ready for bed when I got home from work and looked out from the bathroom and saw this. I just had to take a picture of my two men. Don't they look super comfy :)-

Offer Accepted!!

Yay!! Well the first house Mike and I really liked was out of our price range and after a few back and forths, we decided that it wasn't meant to be so we moved on...which led us to OUR home!! :) It's a beautiful house on a cul-de-sac so we're psyched!! It also has a HUGE backyard so Bronx and maybe a little girlfriend of his could romp around!! We can't wait to close on it so we can have everyone over!!

House Hunting!!

Well Mike and I have officially started house hunting!! I've been looking online forever, but yesterday (7-8-09) we met with our realtor (Mandi from Cumins Realty...who is awesome) and actually went inside a few!! We fell in love with the first one, but it's a bit out of our price range...so of course we kept browsing and had a blast looking in all of them :)
This picture is of Mike in the Living Rm of the first house and the Dining Rm behind him. I put it on here b/c Mike looks super happy and I love it :)

Taryn and Cody's Wedding

Here's Mike, me, the Beautiful Bride Taryn, and Groom with his eyes closed Cody. This was at the reception and we wanted to take our famous picture all together before they headed out in their carriage!! It was a great ceremony and all around good time :)
Oh and Mike and I's wedding pics are uploaded on photobucket.com/mikeanderynwedding. Our honeymoon is coming and it's going to be under photobucket.com/mikeanderynhoneymoon. Go check them out!!

Honeymoon!!

Mike and I went on a 7 Day Carnival Cruise to Key West and The Bahamas (Freeport and Nassau)!! Our ship was the Conquest and it was HUGE!! These pics are of us in Key West sitting in a booth at a restaurant where we at some awesome crab legs!! Mike and I had an absolute blast everywhere we went and even on the ship haha. We went to shows, ate way too much food, went to the casino, laid out, etc!! It was awesome!!

We're Married!!

Yay!! Mike and I are married!! It's sooo exciting!!! The pic on the left is after the wedding when Mike and I had just cleared sight of everyone. The one on the right is in front of a building at the entrance of the Japanese gardens. Other pictures from the wedding are posted at photobucket.com/mikeanderynwedding if you want to check them out!! Thanks to everyone who came!! It was so grea to celebrate this amazing day with you guys!!

Bridal Shower

Here are some pics from my bridal shower the most amazing women ever (mom, Aunt Liz, and Nanny) threw for me :) The top pic is of the most delicious cake I've ever eaten and the bottom pic is of my mom, me, Nanny, and Aunt Liz. There were tonz of people there and it was all around a really great time and I'm soo grateful and blessed that they threw me such an amazing shower!! I love them soo much!!

Been Forever

Well, this picture pretty much describes the past few months haha. Mike and I have been going crazy with all the wedding planning, but it's all falling into place, which is super nice. We started our pre-marriage counseling last week and I got my wisdom teeth out Tuesday and Mike's been taking care of me. Work's been going well for me and Mike started back up with school Tuesday. Bronx has been a little trooper through it all. All and all we can't wait for the wedding and to see everyone!!