Happy Easter!

Andy and I spent Easter in Tarkington this year.  We went to the sunrise service at church, which started at 6:00am.  I haven't gotten up that early since cross country season.  Andy has been up that early thanks to his fishing trips.  But, gee it was really early!

Instagram pic

Good camera pic

I took a nap after church while Andy did some reading.  He volunteered to make a turkey breast for lunch at his aunt's house, so he started grilling it around 10:30.  I made a baby card for a co-worker of mine, and then we got ready to head over to Andy's aunt's house.  We ate a ton of delicious food, shared stories, and watched the kiddos hit the pinata and hunt for eggs. 

Andy's turkey was delicious!

Me, Andy, Jayme, and Spencer

One day we'll have children, and it'll be their Easter
baskets.  But until then, we get to enjoy them! :)

Most importantly we celebrated the Resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ.  Praise God for sending His Son to bear my sins on a cross and rise again conquering Satan and death.  So many good verses to describe today....

"But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him."  Isaiah 53:5-6

"He is not here, but He has risen.  Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, saying that the Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again."  Luke 1:6-7

Maddie's Outdoor Kennel

Maddie Mae, our Brittany Spaniel, turned three at the end of October, and she still stays in a travel kennel in the house whenever we're gone.  It breaks my heart because all she can really do during the day is sleep and turn around.  We were processing our deer meat at Andy's aunt and uncle's house, and they have an outdoor kennel built on wood for their Great Dane.  It was such a great idea!!  Andy had been talking about building one, and after seeing their kennel, he decided it was time to act on it.  It took Andy about three afternoons, 3-4 hours each day, to complete it.  We are extremely happy with it, and I think Andy did an excellent job building it.

We do not plan on using this as a replacement for Maddie; she will still live/stay in the house.  It will give us another option for days that we are going to be away from the house for several hours.  Plus, she can stay in it during the day while we're at work.  At this point, anything will be better than the kennel she is staying in now.

Here are some pics throughout the project...

Bringing the wood home from McCoy's

Maddie wouldn't let Andy work.  She thought that chasing her ball was definitely more important. 

 

Andy built the frame into two parts so that we can move it whenever we decide to move out of this house.

 

Making sure it's level.

 

 

Final board!!

 

All done!!

Maddie seemed to like it too!

 

Shell Houston Open

Two years ago Andy took me to the Shell Houston Open, and I had a great time!  I remember when I was younger, I thought golf was incredibly boring and couldn't understand how anyone could watch it on TV.  Well, little did I know that all I needed to do was learn the rules of the game to enjoy it.  We decided to head back to the Shell Houston Open this year.  My favorites to see were Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson, and we got to see both!!

We left the house around 9:00am and made it to Redstone Golf Course around 10:30.  We watched a few guys at the putting green and driving range, and then we took the long trek to the back of the course to find the guys we wanted to see.  We sat at the tee box of Hole 8 to watch Dustin Johnson, and we sat between the green of Hole 2 and tee box of Hole 3 to watch Phil Mickelson and several other guys.  Some people like to actually follow a certain player, but that's just too much walking for us and typically the crowd is too thick for it to be enjoyable.

They do not allow you to take pictures or videos of any of the players.  You would have to be off at a distance with the player in the background in order to get a picture of them.  We tried to sneak a picture in with the phone hidden behind Andy's arm, but I couldn't get a good shot.  Oh well!

Before we left the house

 

Just watched Phil tee off.
It was a little windy!

Evening Out

Last night, Andy and I decided to have a little "date" night.  Well actually, we were going out because Andy needed a new grip for his driver, but our evening ended up being a nice date. 

We headed to The Woodlands as soon as I got home from my trip to Shiner.  We stopped by Kohl's to look for something that Andy's mom needed but was unsuccessful.  Then we drove to Golfsmith so Andy could pick out a new grip.  Plus, he wanted to show me the new set of clubs that were fitted for him when he was at the Mizuno Demo Day a couple of weekends ago.  There is a JoAnn's right next to the Golfsmith (gee, those builders were brillant for putting a "guys" store and "girls" store right next to each other) so I had to look atvsome of their scrapbooking items since they usually have really good deals.

After a little shopping, we went to Wings 'N More for dinner and then decided to have a few drinks at Andy's favorite place, the Fox and Hound.  To celebrate St. Patty's Day, Andy decided to have a green beer.

In the end, we ended up having a very relaxing date night! :)

Trip to Shiner

Thursday I left for a couple of days to visit my mom and stepdad in Shiner.  I actually made pretty good time driving.  Usually it takes a full three hours and a lot of times a little longer thanks to Houston traffic or I-10 traffic.  I made it in 2 hours and 45 minutes!!  Woohoo!  I know saving 15 minutes doesn't sound like much, but I-10 can get rather boring after a while.

My mom cooked dinner Thursday evening, and we just hung out and talked.  Friday my mom took off of work so we could spend more time together.  We were going to do some shopping in Victoria but decided to hang out around the house instead; we just watched TV and talked some more.  Friday evening we went to the Shiner softball game which we won, 9-5.  I never played softball... ever, not even little league.  So, I don't know all of the rules or details of the game, but it was still enjoyable to watch.  After the game, we ate at Friday's Fried Chicken.  Oh how I love that place!!  Super expensive for a little fast food joint but so delicious!  Growing up, I never thought Friday's was all that great, but since I don't have any of that good German/Czech food where I live, it's a nice treat to eat there when I am in Shiner.

My mom and I at the softball game

Saturday, we headed to Moulton to hang out with Kevin and Blair while they played in a washer tournament benefitting a local Relay for Life team.  The people hosting the tournament also had a silent auction, and they had a football with Johnny Manziel's autograph!!  I really wanted to bid on it, but I knew I wouldn't win it.  Kevin told me that it ended up going for $1500.  Um yeah, I definitely couldn't have bought that.  There were lots of other cool auction items too, but the football was probably the best.  Overall, we had a great time and even got a little sun!!

It was really windy, if you noticed our crazy hair!

 

 

Their shirts said "Cancer...?"
And then the back said "Ain't nobody got time for that!"

 

Blair's face is priceless!!

Such a cute couple!

 

Taking A Hike

Yesterday Andy and I decided to take Maddie for a hike at Huntsville State Park.  It's two-fold for us - we get exercise and Maddie gets exercise.  We packed a little lunch and had a picnic when we arrived at the park.  Andy tracked our hike with his Map My Run app, and we hiked a total of 5.06 miles which is pretty good if you ask me.  Of course, I ended up with a few blisters on my feet.  It doesn't matter what I do, I always end up with a blister.

Ready to go!

So, Maddie always goes crazy when we first start walking.  She pulls on the leash, hops around, and sniffs everything possible.  Needless to say, she was a little tired after mile one.  Thankfully, she realized we were going for a long walk, and she calmed down the rest of the hike.

 

 

Pretty view

 

 

 

And of course, she found a rock to play with!

Whenever we get home from camping or doing anything outside for a lengthy time, Maddie crashes!!  She was completely exhausted after hiking!

Look at that face...

Gettin' Things Done

Andy and I decided to sleep in today for our first day of Spring Break.  We got up around 8:30 and really just piddled around the house for an hour or so.  Then we decided to face the cool (or cold) weather and do some work outside.  Andy needed to clean up his kayak and make some new pieces/parts/adjustments for it.  I needed to plant the flowers we bought for the flower bed.  I am hoping the weather warms up for the rest of the week because I am not a fan of wearing a jacket and pants during Spring Break.  My skin needs some sun!

This afternoon we went into Humble because I needed to return a dress to Old Navy and I was hoping to buy some more clothes/dresses.  It was one of those "fat" days, so I ended up with just a fishing shirt from Academy, but... I may head back tomorrow while Andy is fishing and buy the clothes I really did want. 

Here are the flowers I bought from Lowe's and then planted in the cold weather.

 

Andy working on his kayak...  Hopefully he'll catch some fish for us tomorrow!

Looks good after a bath

Working on the camera mount

 

 

 

All ready to go!

Maddie and Lonestar are always happy pets when we're home all day.  Maddie is usually more tired because she gets to spend a lot of time outside, which is definitely good for us in the evenings.

 

Spring Break is Here!

We have not had a holiday from school since Christmas break.  You have no idea how badly we needed this break from work and from our kiddos.  I just hope the kiddos come back refreshed because EOC testing is right around the corner - eek!

Andy said he was trying to make it home after school in record timing, and I think he succeeded.  At 3:35 he was pulling into the driveway!  I, unfortunately, couldn't leave that quickly so I made it home at 3:45 which is still extremely early for me. 

Our first activity of Spring Break 2013 was to go to the Fishing Show in Houston.  Andy wanted to go last year when he was a newby to kayak fishing, but he didn't have chance.  He found everything he wanted; even though I told him it cost us more to park and get in than it would have if he had just ordered his supplies online.  He informed me that it was for the experience.  Either way we had a great time, and we even got to eat out on our way back home!

Happy couple!

Andy's goodies