The Golden Arches

Growing up, I remember consuming countless happy meals, cheeseburgers, quarter pounders and breakfast items from Plainview’s own McDonald’s. I loved Macky D’s (as my Dad referred to it). I loved the miniature ice cream cones, the milkshakes, the playground, and even consumed a few McRib sandwiches with my Granmommy and Grandaddy (“them’s good eats,” they would say.)

Somewhere around sophomore year at Baylor, I realized that my friends did not eat McDonald’s and thought you were kind of disgusting if you did. I also watched the film Supersize Me and feared becoming fat and developing heart problems if I continued to enjoy my quarter pounders and fries.

Last night, William surprised me by saying he was craving some McDonald’s. He asked me if I wanted to go. I took a minute to debate if this was some cruel test to see if his wife had an overweight, unhealthy craving inside that was just waiting for the right moment to bust out and ruin the physical attraction that he once had towards me, but then I realized that my husband isn’t much into testing me, so I said “Heck Yes! I want some McDonald’s!” And with that, I welcomed the golden arches and all its comfort and glory back into my life.

Will You Marry Me?

You might think that the pictures above are from a season finale of “The Bachelor,” but they are in fact some lovely snapshots from the night my amazing husband, William, proposed. Most people who read this blog know the story well, but just in case you missed it, I’ll give you the brief version. It all started with a hidden clue in my office on a Friday morning that began a scavenger hunt sending me in search of a “lost puppy.” Considering I had been begging for a dog for months, and that William loved to surprise me w/ creative mystery dates, this was not a dead giveaway for me. My journey eventually led me to a spa in East Texas near his family’s ranch where I was pampered with four hours of wonderful treatments. My final clue led me to his ranch house where I found a scene that was beyond romantic waiting for me and the perfect man with the perfect ring and the sweetest proposal I’ve ever heard waiting at the end of it all.

Why am I taking this journey down memory lane? Well, as much as I fought it this season, I was sucked into another “Bachelorette” series and watched week after week as slimy wanna be superstars fooled the girl and men like I’ve never met in the real world gushed about a semi-attractive girl and her amazingly perfect feet. In the end, Jillian, the Bachelorette, had three men with rings ready to get down on one knee for her. Fortunately, she didn’t let Bachelor number one make it to the proposal. He got as far as confessing he loved her before she cut him off and told him she was in love with another man.


Bachelor number two really got me. He had been kicked off the show the previous week but loved rejection so much that he came back and proposed as well. His proposal really got me…he said, “I think you are someone I could spend the rest of my life with.” I’m pretty sure that if William had used those words, I would have told him to go think about it and come back when he knew that I was THE person he WANTED to spend the rest of his life with. Not just someone who he thought might work out.

Bachelor number three actually got the “yes” and is now engaged to Jillian. In the “After the Rose” Episode, they actually said they are planning to get married within the next year or so. She’s going to move in with him in Chicago and see how it works for a while and then they’ll go ahead and get married.

So what is my point in all this? I feel like ABC and the “Bachelor/Bachelorette” reality series has really devalued the proposal. Since when does “Will you marry me?” mean, actually let’s keep dating and see if we’re really right for each other and, if at some point we decide we are, we’ll go ahead and get married. I can remember at least 10 proposals that have occurred on the series and only one has resulted in an actual marriage. Most have ended in break-ups and one actually ended in a nationally televised confession from a bachelor that basically said, “Ummm, when I said Melissa, I actually meant Molly…oops, let’s not get married and I’m going to need that ring back.”

When William asked me to marry him, he told me he loved me, I was THE ONE for him, and he was ready to spend the rest of his life as my husband. That’s a marriage proposal. Listen and learn all you future Bachelors and Bachelorettes. If you’re not ready to set a date, DON’T PROPOSE. Thanks

How Sweet It Is

Celebrity Tubing :)

We all four fit on the Jet Ski


The guys trying to be as cool as we are

Floating!

My neighbor, who is around 58-60 years old, told me last week that she and her three college roommates were headed to float the river for their annual "roommate reunion." I only hope that Georgina, Annette, Kathleen and I can keep pace with this tradition well into our later years. This past weekend, we had our 3^rd official reunion weekend and this time, we let the boys join in on our fun.

The four of us, with our significant others in tow, headed out to Possum Kingdom lake to spend a little time yachting on the "How Sweet It Is," skiing, wakeboarding, tubing, eating fattening foods, and just having a good time in general. I was particularly excited to see that all the guys seemed to have as much fun together as we did. I know it's rare to group together four guys who don't know each other that well and for them all to click and really get along and I feel so blessed that we all picked such awesome guys to marry/someday marry (shout out Kathleen and Alex). We even had trouble convincing them to stop having "guy time" and come hang out with us!

Every time I get together with this group of friends, I'm reminded how lucky I am to have been able to walk beside each of them through the ups and downs of college and I'm excited to continue to see our friendships grow and deepen over the many years ahead.

Next up: Group Ski Trip??

 

Decking and Decorating

This past weekend was the Spencer/Becton family deck building project. William has been wanting to build a deck in our backyard since we bought our house and this weekend, the months of planning finally culminated into a build project! My mom and dad came down from Amarillo with a trailer full or tools ( and some furniture for us!) and we devoted the entire weekend to building, eating and decorating.

William really started the project the weekend before last, digging post holes and setting posts in the concrete for our foundation. Friday afternoon, the actual deck construction began and the guys worked non-stop from about 6am to midnight Saturday and Sunday to get the project near completion. It was a brutal weekend to be working outside and I think they went through about 45 bottles of water and another 30 bottles of Gatorade in 3 days! The hard work paid off though and we now have an awesome deck to host some backyard parties! William has a few more hard days work ahead of him building the benches for our fire pit area and finishing out the top of the arbor but there is definitely an end in site!

My mom and I concentrated on food prep and did some indoor decorating and tweaks when we weren’t helping with the work outside (Yes, I really did put in some manual labor hours outside but not nearly as many as the guys!)

Overall, it was a fun weekend with family filled with hard work and fulfilling results. Shout outs to Matt, Kim, and Russell who put in some long hours this weekend helping out and to Justin who helped prevent William and/or my death with some hazardous heavy post setting last week.

Can’t wait to have everyone over to enjoy some backyard entertaining soon! Before and after pics will be posted asap.

Word of Caution

Unless you are looking for a reason to go jump off a bridge, you should probably avoid the movie "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas." William and I watched this Sunday night and I'm still trying to recover from the absolute heartwrenching depression that it inflicted. It's a movie about the holocaust and concentration camps (should have been the first clue) but the thing that made it so awful is there is no "redeeming quality" or moral. Justice is the main theme and it comes about in a most disturbing way.

Now you're probably going to want to see it out of curiosity, but don't say we didn't warn you.

God Bless America--Please!

I’m not one of those people who started a blog to rant about politics, government or religion (though I will not hold back or apologize for my religious convictions and might share some every now and then.) I really want this to be more of a lighthearted account of some of the funny musings that come along with learning to live with a boy, but, in light of the coming holiday and some recent news, I need a little rant.

For the first time in my lifetime, I’m actually scared of the direction our government and politics is headed. Though old “Slick Willy” had his moral indiscretions, I was not terrified by his policies and I didn’t suspect that he might be leading us into the Biblical “end times.” I was proud of the way GW Bush stood up and fought back against the 9/11 attacks and helped suppress Sadam Houssein’s rein of terror over his people. Those were controversial and tough decisions, but I saw the need and understood the reasoning behind them.

I do not understand why our Nation’s leaders think it’s a good idea to keep sending our national deficit further and further down the toilet to give more money to large corporations. I grew up in West Texas, a farming community, and learned a few things from the farmers who dominated our small town economy. First of all, you know there will be years your crops are destroyed by a hail storm. You should save for these times and, after you mope for a (very) short time, pick yourself up, plow your field, and plant and prepare for the next harvest. Second, you can’t live on insurance money alone. If you’ve tried your hand at cotton over and over again and still haven’t seen a profitable harvest, you might need to sell the farm and make an attempt at selling insurance, or maybe become a politician, seems like anyone can do that these days.

I do not think that government should own any of our country’s major corporations. I do not think that government should control anyone’s salaries (except for those who work directly for them.) I do not think that my choices in healthcare procedures should be determined by our legislature. I don’t trust the government to decide how many pre-natal tests and sonograms I should have done and who I should trust to do them when the time comes for us to start a family.

All that being said, my hope lies in this: I believe in the sovereignty of an Almighty God. I believe that the people in power are not there by accident but were selected to serve a purpose in these times and will, in the end, bring glory to God through whatever means HE has laid out. I am trying to constantly be aware of these truths and be reminded that our God has a plan for us and we know the ending is finding our home in heaven.

So, this weekend I will celebrate my freedom as an American. I will celebrate that God allowed me to be born and live in a country where I am free to worship Him publicly and privately and free to openly express my concerns about our leadership without fear of repercussions. BUT, more importantly, I will celebrate my freedom in Christ and the knowledge that no matter what this life brings, I am but a visitor passing through this world and my citizenship lies in heaven.

So, I’ve officially ranted about politics and religion. I promise I’ll take a break from that for awhile ;)