23 Weeks

This past weekend, we had a wedding to attend, which of course meant dressing in something other than maternity jeans or yoga pants. I haven't really purchased any "maternity dresses" so far as I've been able to make some of my looser fitting/shift style dresses work with the growing belly. I had thought about what I was going to wear in advance, but Saturday morning I got out the dress I thought would be perfect (empire waist, winter-y black dress) and decided to try it on.

I was able to get it on and with William's help, it even zipped!! I thought I'd found the perfect attire for the evening until I went upstairs to take it off. It was a little tight in the top but after about 5 minutes of trying to get the side zipper undone myself, I had to call in reinforcements. It took William about 10 minutes to get me out of the dress, and at some point during that fun I decided I would not be putting that dress on again. I went back to a tried and true loose fitting shift that I had worn to another wedding a few weeks earlier- luckily it still fit but I think we are nearing it's limit for maternity wear as it keeps getting shorter and shorter in the front :)

So, since I was all dressed up, I decided to actually take a "belly" picture to send to my parents. Here I am at 23 weeks.

Nursery Lust

Since I have officially known that baby Spencer is of the male persuasion for a week now, I have of course come across some baby boy items that I'm dying to have for him and his nursery. You've seen my nursery inspiration from the previous post- I'm obsessed with the "vintage farm/modern design" of this room and am thinking I want to go with that theme.

These are a few of my favorite things...


This crib... doesn't it look just like the one in my dream nursery...AND, plus of all pluses- it's from Walmart and SUPER reasonably priced. That never happens to me. I usually fall in love with something that's a ridiculous designer name brand and I could never afford (and even if I could afford it, I could never justify spending that kind of money on that thing, whatever that thing is).



I found this on pinterest but it's from an etsy store. I love the blue and orange AND the owls are not only super in style right now, but a nod to my days as a Chi Omega (often referred to as "hooters") at Baylor. Side note- I went to Baylor homecoming last weekend and I'm always surprised at how much I miss those days. Nostalgia was everywhere...



This obviously will not fit my little guy this Thanksgiving but I think it's awesome and I really need to find it for next year. How cute are the tail feathers in the back?? For your favorite little turkey :)


My parents brought me an old dresser to re-do for the baby's room. I'd like to make it look kind of like this...now I just have to figure out how to do that exactly. If you have any tips- send them my way.

Also, if you get the urge to go ahead and buy me any of these things, that'd be nice too. I'm trying to wait until after Christmas to start going nuts on my nursery/baby prep. We'll see how that works out.

It's A...

BOY!!!!!!!!It's official!! It's a boy!!

Noonday

I follow quite a few friend's blogs and really enjoy keeping up with what everyone is doing. A few months ago, I was exploring my friend Renee's blog and discovered Noonday Collections. She is a Noonday Ambassador and basically it's an organization that works with women in third world countries to create unique jewelry, home goods and accessories. The women who make the goods actually receive the proceeds when you buy things so it's a win-win for everyone.

Last week, I entered a giveaway on Renee's blog for a $50 Noonday Collections gift card and I WON!! I just placed my order and am super excited to get my trellis cuff and cubist cuff (in silver)! You should definitely check out Noonday here http://www.reneedubose.noondaycollection.com/ambassador-reneedubose.html and while you're at it, go read Renee's blog http://theduboseframe.blogspot.com/! She's super fashionable and stylish and writes great blogs!!

Thanks Renee for my fun new accessories!!

Blog Resuscitation

My blog has been more than just abandoned lately, I think it has been in a coma. I’m going to try and bring it back to life over the next few days but it’s going to take something big…

Something bigger than pics of my poor little Huck back in the cone and on kennel confinement after surgery number 2 to remove the screws and pins he had put in during surgery number one…

Something bigger than anecdotes about the hail storm that killed my beautiful yard…

Something bigger than my first ever FALL porch decorations or preparations for Baylor homecoming and a Kvasnicka baby shower…

But what could top all of that?
This is what…


An official announcement on an internet forum that there’s a baby Spencer expected to arrive March 27, 2012.

Tune in Thursday when we find out if we’ll need pink or blue soccer balls to start training for World Cup 2030.

Oh Huck!

Well, it’s been more than a month since I’ve updated this little blog site of ours so I doubt that anyone is still reading this…but in case you are, here’s the latest breaking news in the Spencer fam.

Our sweet little puppy Huck (see previous blog post) has had quite the weekend. On Sunday, we loaded up Berkley and Huck to head to our favorite little creek for some swimming and retrieving. Our two little pups really enjoy hanging their heads out the window while we’re driving and since we were only going a few blocks, we rolled down the windows (half-way) and let their ears fly. Just as we were heading through a four-way stop, we hear a thud and I see the blur of Huck’s body in the side mirror falling out of the car.

We quickly pulled over and our little man was standing in the intersection on three legs whimpering. William grabbed him and we headed back home. Since it was Sunday, we gave him some pain relievers and let him sleep it off hoping he just had a little bruised foot or something. Monday morning, we woke up and found that he was still not putting any weight on his back right leg so I called to take him into the vet to get the situation assessed.

After a long day of pain killers and xrays, we found out that Huck had broken his femur right at the hip joint- a pretty bad place for a pup to get a break. We were referred to a veterinary surgical center where they told us Huck would have to have surgery and get a screw and pins put in his leg and then go through a pretty extensive 6 week recovery process. He went in for surgery early this morning and everything went according to plan. We will get to bring him home tomorrow if everything stays on course. His leg will be in a sling for at least 2-3 weeks and he’ll have to wear a very stylish cone. We are also going to have to try and keep him “still” which is kind of a task for a 4 month old puppy!

I didn’t really realize how much I loved this little pup until yesterday when I was watching him go through so much pain. I can’t imagine how bad I’m going to be if my kids ever get hurt! I will keep this blog updated on his progress over the next few weeks but we are confident he’s going to be back to his normal puppy mischief in a matter weeks!

New News

I’ve been a bad blogger…again…and let my updates slip, but this time it’s not due to lack of subject matter, but more lack of time! Things have been busy around the Spencer house these past few weeks.

A couple weekends ago, William and I took advantage of one of our last soccer-free weekends and headed to Tyler. We talked my mom and dad into coming in from Amarillo to go with us so they could come out and take a look at our lake lot. If everything goes as planned, we will hopefully start taking some steps towards building a house out there in the next several months. There’s still a lot to do (clearing land, dredging the shore line, getting house plans drawn up) before we can take that step so our timeline is very uncertain right now but we had a great weekend getting to see ALL of both of our families.

The biggest news to come out of that weekend though was that we got to bring home our new PUPPY, a german short-haired pointer which we named Huck (short for Huckleberry). He’s quite the active little guy but also a major snuggler. Enjoy the pictures of his cuteness below…









Also, in a very unplanned random series of events, I got a new car! William and I got an offer from someone to buy my car which made us start looking around and we found a really good deal on a Toyota Sequoia. I’ve been missing the convenience of an SUV lately so I was pretty excited to make the trade…plus we actually made money of the deal and reduced my mileage significantly! I don’t have pics but it’s a white sequoia, you’ve all seen one.

In very random, non-personal news, I just learned that schools in the north don’t have names (like I went to LaMesa Elementary, Ash Sixth Grade, Coronado Seventh Grade, Estacado Eighth Grade, and Plainview High School) but are just numbered PS 167, PS 243 etc. It stands for Public School and then they are all numbered…how impersonal! No wonder some northerners seem colder than people in the south. They are conditioned that way from school age on!

Things I Love…About America and other stuff

1.iPhone game apps that involve words…the tried and true “Words with Friends” and my new obsession “Hanging with Friends.” Please find me on both under the username TamiSpencer. I will dominate you (unless you are Chelsea Griffin, in which case I blame my losses on the fact that somehow I always get an unlucky draw against you and end up with ALL vowels or NO vowels. Who do you know at Zynga that is letting this happen over and over and over again?)

2.The way my knockout roses look after I take the time to prune all 547 bushes. (sidenote- I HATE the pruning process. This time, my legs took quite a beating from the thorny rose bushes…and the entire 2 hours I spent pruning the song line “Every rose has its thorn” was on replay in my head. Torture times 20).

3.DATE NIGHTS on a WEEKDAY!! Last night, hubs and I met up with our friends Drew and Laura to do a little dinner and a dollar movie. BONUS—ON TUESDAY THE DOLLAR MOVIE COSTS 75 CENTS! SERIOUSLY, you can go to a movie, in a theatre (with air conditioning) for 75 CENTS!! We saw Source Code. It was better than expected. I’m loving some Soccer-Free* July already. (**soccer free July has already broken the rules and scheduled a joint practice on Thursday evening. He just can’t stop people.)

4.Nordstroms Anniversary Sale. My bro’s awesome wife (shout out Kimberly K.) has a friend who’s a personal shopper, therefore allowing me to tag along with her on a special “members only VIP pre-sale.” Probably won’t buy anything this month as we have the upcoming vaca and I’ve been a little Groupon happy lately so my shopping budget has dwindled, but it’s still an awesome sale (and I really love being involved in anything that labels me a VIP).

5.WEEKENDS AT THE LAKE with super fun family members! We celebrated the 4th with some of William’s fam at Lake Cypress Springs. There was some jet skiing, boating, fireworks, children ages 4-40 fishing, one smashed hand, lots of great food and some refreshing summer drinks, and LOTS of girl talk with some awesome sister-in-laws. (pics coming soon.)

Travel Tips

I have always traveled quite a bit for work and have usually been our company’s “travel agency of choice” arranging flights, hotels, cars and anything else that needed to be done to make sure we made it to 4 meetings in 4 separate states in the span of 52 hours. What I have learned is that, given an unlimited budget, you can make almost anything possible (i.e. picking someone up in a tiny town on a private jet with dinner catered in-flight so they will agree to attend a meeting with you in Washington D.C. and be home in time for their grandkids pop warner game). BUT, when it comes to personal travel (which I LOVE way more than work travel), we usually cannot afford the luxury of private jets and 5 star hotels, so I have found some handy resources that help me to find the best deals available out there in the travel world and I thought I would share a few of those for anyone trying to book a summer getaway!
1. Subscribe to the weekly emails from Travelzoo.com. Travelzoo will send you their “Top 20 Deals for Travelzoo VIP” each week. They scour the travel world to see who is offering the best deals on flights, hotels, vacation packages and even entertainment (Broadway shows, dinner deals, even a few spa packages) and send you an email of the 20 best deals across the board for the week. This is especially helpful if you’re not looking for a specific location or date to travel but know you want to go to a “beach destination” and have a window of time that works for it.
2. Use Kayak.com to search multiple travel sites for flight deals at one time. Type in your destinations and travel dates and Kayak simultaneously searches expedia, Travelocity, Priceline, and airline sites to find you the best prices. It cuts out a lot of time and hassle of going to multiple websites and comparing. Once you find the airline that’s offering the best deal, I always recommend going to the airline website and price checking. Sometimes the airlines offer a little better deal when you book directly with them. It can also save you some hassle to book directly when it comes to seat selections, and changes or cancellation you have to make, and online check-in.
3. If you travel regularly on someone else’s dime (i.e. your company), make sure you are taking advantage of travel rewards that you can cash in on personal travel later! For example, we usually fly American (because my boss is a rewards member), so why not earn miles on all my business flights I can cash in for a trip! I also do this with Marriott hotels, Southwest Airlines and even Expedia (on Expedia, I can earn points for any trip I book, whether it’s for me or not—this can really add up!) These rewards programs also usually offer bonus incentives which can amount to free car rentals, resort credits (can you say free massage!) and even free nights. Make sure you go to your rewards program website and REGISTER for ALL their bonus incentives. It’s a great surprise when a couple thousand extra rewards points show up on your statement.
4. If you’re traveling to the west coast, check out Virgin America for the best flight deals. Not only do they often offer direct flights to the west coast (from DFW) for as little as $79, they also have free entertainment on board (televisions with satellite TV in-flight on every seat) and it will be the best flight experience you’ve ever had.
5. If you’re traveling with a small group (4 couples or your whole family), it is sometimes cheaper to rent a nice house than individual hotel rooms. Check out vrbo.com (vacation rentals by owner) for some great steals on NICE houses. (Word of caution- remember these are private homes so you’re trading in some amenities like restaurants on site and room service. Make sure you have access to a vehicle or book within walking distance of an area that offers lots of dining choices).
6. I am a little lustful in my desire for luxury travel. I’m not going to lie, I really like NICE hotels, but when traveling for pleasure, these places are usually out of my price range. I’ve found two really great resources that offer discounts on some high-end hotels. Sometimes these are way too high, even at a discount, but every once in awhile you can score big on a great deal. My favorite is Jettsetter.com (a part of the online shopping auction gilt.com). It’s an “invitation only/member” travel site so here’s your personal invitation from me to check it out http://www.jetsetter.com/invite/tspencer09
The other one I love is Snique Away. They also offer daily specials to really awesome places (most recently I found a great deal to the Lake Austin Spa, wish I could go). Here’s a link to that one as well http://www.sniqueaway.com/invite/TamiSpe
These are my best online resources and we’ve found some great deals through these sites. Hopefully you’ll find this useful in planning your next family getaway!!

Waco, Texas

My good friend and fave blogger Lauren Cowling just posted the lyrics to a song she was challenged to write about Waco. While I found it hilarious, it also made me a little sad because it's so true, I never go to Waco anymore. I'm getting old and I no longer have friends in undergrad or an apartment floor to sleep on when I go down for a game. I'm also petitioning her to add the line "I married an Aggie and it seemed to lengthen the road, I never go to Waco anymore."

For your enjoyment, the original song by Lauren N. Cowling,
"I Never Go to Waco Anymore"

I never go to Waco anymore.
So hard to make my way south,
All the good times I’ve ever known happened in the 254.
I never go to Waco anymore.

Just past Hillsboro, way before Austin
Waco sits on 35 like a jewel in the desert.
It’s so much more than just Baylor,
The tales of the Brazos soothe a man’s soul.

I never go to Waco anymore.
So hard to make my way south,
All the good times I’ve ever known happened in the 254.
I never go to Waco anymore.

Dr. Pepper, David Koresh, Waco is love.
Waco is looooooooooooove.
Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Cameron Park Zoo, Waco is love.
Waco is loooooooooooooooove.

Sitting on 35 like a star in the night,
She’s not big, but she’s bright.

I never go to Waco anymore.
So hard to make my way south,
All the good times I’ve ever known happened in the 254.
I never go to Waco anymore.

(check out more of LC's comedy as well as the best Bachelorette recaps of all time at www.lcblogs.com)

Trying New Things

I can’t decide if I’m one of those people who loves trying new things or who enjoys the comforts of the tried and true. There are instances where I find myself lying on both sides of this line but I’d say for the most part, I fall somewhere in the middle. I like just enough variety to keep things interesting, but also some familiar routines that keep things comfortable. As you know from my previous few posts, lately I’ve been changing up my diet and exercise routine but I don’t want my blog to become only about that, so I thought I’d share a few random facts before explaining my new found love of spaghetti squash and how I kicked some booty in my workout today.

New venture number one- I joined a book club. At this point, I only know one of the girls who is in the book club and we haven’t actually met to discuss a book yet, but I have read and finished the first assigned book and we are meeting next week to discuss. I’ve always wanted to be in a book club (yes, I’m a huge nerd who used to get grounded for sneaking a flashlight to bed so I read under the covers after hours) so I’m pretty pumped that there a few girls my age out there who share this interest. Maybe I’ll start adding book reviews to my blogging genre. (To satisfy your curiosity, we read Best Enemies as our first book. It was a little cheesy but held my interest and is an appropriate summer beach read, but I wouldn’t call it a “good book.”)

New venture number 2- I’m officially a non-organic herb farmer. I’ve had my little herb garden for about a year and in the past month, my parsley has been ATTACKED by these crazy, colorful caterpillar worm things (I found out they are called Black Swallowtail Caterpillars). They are kind of cool looking


but they are eating all my parsley and, who would want to eat something that had been climbed around on by THAT! I’m trying to decide if I should off them with some pesticides, or let them have at my parsley crop since they will eventually turn into these beauties

New venture 3- Paleo cooking/eating. I’ve already elaborated on this a lot so I’ll just share some new found knowledge and appreciation for spaghetti squash. Pasta is probably in my top 2 favorite foods and the idea of never having it again isn’t really something that sits well with me. I’d heard about the amazing spaghetti squash and how it simulates the strands of spaghetti but I have to admit I was skeptical. Last night I tried it out with my 8.6 lb mega-squash I found at sprouts and I have to say it was pretty tasty. See below for inspirations and instructions on how to create your own “healthy/paleo/spaghetti” below.

This is an 8lb Spaghetti Squash

Cut it in half using the BIGGEST knife available and scoop out all the seeds/center
(this stuff)

Half or quarter it (depending on the size) and place it rind up on a baking sheet


Cook at 375 degrees for 30-45 minutes (again, mine was huge so I went about 45-50 minutes). Pull it out and use a fork to scoop out the "noodles" from inside the squash. Your squash noodles will look like this

Top with your favorite sauce and you've got a great veggie sub for traditional noodles.


New outlooks on an old venture- I’ve been doing crossfit for almost a year now, but I’m just starting to really get into and see the benefit in motivating myself to continue to get better and push harder in the workouts. I’m trying to push myself to use heavier weights instead of staying with what’s comfortable, try and finish faster instead of being ok with being in the back of the pack and really go as hard as I can go in each workout. Today, I felt pretty cruddy going into the workout, but I actually pushed myself hard and felt good about the results. I finished the workout in 8:48, a very respectable time among the females. In case you want to do it yourself and see how you measure up against me, here’s what we did. (Feel free to post a comment about how it took you 10-12 minutes to complete this same workout. If you did it faster, keep it to yourself as I don’t need that kind of negativity for all the internet world to see).
3 rounds of the following:
10 Deadlift (105lbs)
15 Ring Dips
20 Box Jumps
30 meter suicide run (3 cones, run to each, touch the line and back each time)

Verdict Is In

After much debate (and a few days of postponement), the Spencers officially began a regimen involving a mix of Paleo/Advocare/Crossfit that we are calling our “24 Day Challenge.” Advocare actually has a weight loss challenge that is called the 24 day challenge where you stick to a diet similar to Paleo (for at least the first 10 days) and use products to achieve some increased weight loss results over that time period. We decided to use the products recommended for the traditional 24 Day Challenge and maintain a Paleo diet the whole time. I’m challenging myself to also attend Crossfit at least 5 days a week throughout the challenge.

We started this up last Wednesday which officially makes today Day 6. I have worked out 4 of the past 6 days and we’ve been pretty good about sticking with the diet. Last week, I didn’t really do a lot of meal planning so a lot of our food was kind of hodge-podge of whatever we had that sort of fit the diet thrown together into some semblance of a meal. This week, I sat down with my favorite recipe app (epicurious anyone?) and searched for some awesome meals to plan for the week. I went to Sprouts yesterday and stocked up on TONS of fresh produce as well as some snacks for William, who had gotten kind of cranky last week when deprived of his normal daily snacks of cheese and crackers and chips and salsa.

Last night, I made a meal that was so good I didn’t even notice I was “dieting.” I thought I’d share the recipe for other friends who browse the blog and might be looking for something yummy and either “Paleo” or just on the healthy side.

Grilled Salmon with Mango Salsa

Ingredients:
1 Large Salmon filet
2 mango’s (peeled, pitted and diced)
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro (I used a little more)
¼ cup chopped red onion (used about half of a large red onion)
Juice of one fresh lime
1 serrano chili (seeded, and minced)
1 tsp grated lime peel
2 cloves of garlic (finely chopped or minced)
2 tablespoons olive oil

Prepare the grill and heat to medium-high. Meanwhile, combine the first 7 ingredients in a bowl. Mix in 1 ½ tablespoons of the olive oil. Season your salmon with salt and pepper or your favorite herb combo and brush with remaining ½ tablespoon of olive oil. Grill until done, ( I like to put salmon in a foil pouch to keep it from sticking to the grill and I grill about 10-12 minutes). Top with the salsa and serve!

I heated up a can of black beans mixed with a can of chopped green chiles to serve with this (Black beans are not technically paleo, but I was ok with that). It was a delicious meal and quick and easy to prepare.

Tonight, I’m trying a “Paleo Spaghetti” that uses spaghetti squash in place of the noodles. If it turns out well, I’ll post the recipe tomorrow.

To Paleo or not to Paleo?

About a year ago, William and I jumped off the deep end of the exercise pool and joined our local Crossfit gym (shout out Crossfit Richardson!) Although it’s been one of the most challenging things I’ve ever done, I’ve actually gotten to a place that I ENJOY working out and look forward to going to the gym almost every day. This is in large part to the amazing community that the gym offers. Regardless of my class time, I always have a work out buddy that helps motivate me through whatever insanity is the WOD AND I’ve even made friends that I spend time with socially!

I’m not sure exactly how Crossfit started but I know it began with a guy in California and has spread across the country like wildfire with franchise gyms everywhere (even a few overseas)! There are 11 locations in the Dallas area alone, but there’s definitely something special about Crossfit Richardson (www.crossfitrichardson.com). One of the funniest things I’ve noticed is that Crossfit has its own language and it takes some time to figure out what anyone is talking about. For example, a WOD (pronounced like “wad of paper”) stands for Workout Of the Day. Everyone does this workout, in some cases modified for different skill levels, and almost all WOD’s are timed and your name and time posted on a board in the gym.

Paleo is the nutrition philosophy most commonly endorsed by Crossfit. Basically, paleo is a form of eating where you “eat like a traditional hunter/gatherer would have eaten.” This means proteins, fruits, vegetables and anything that grows naturally. I’m not an expert on the diet by any means but I’ve gone back and forth on whether or not this is something that is realistic for me to implement in my life. I do love meat and fish, which are both part of the diet, and I love fruit and vegetables and discovering new ways to prepare them. The thing that would be the hardest for me would be to not eat dairy or bread/grain products. I LOVE cheese and I think most people would agree it makes everything better (including vegetables). I also love bread and think it would be hard to live without pizza and sandwiches (2 of my favorite foods).

To figure out if the Paleo diet really makes you feel and look as great as everyone claims it does, I’m going to implement my own little experiment starting next week (Monday, June 13). Monday-Friday, I will cook and eat Paleo. Saturday and Sunday, I’ll go back to no rules dining!! I’m mainly posting this to the internet to give myself a little accountability and to document the effects in the way I feel, my performance and energy during the day and my workouts, and if I lose any weight or see a difference in body composition. I may even post a few “Paleo friendly” recipes if I come across anything life changing.

So, here’s to a new challenge and one more week to indulge in chips and queso on a Wednesday and sandwiches for lunch!

Wednesday Morning Funnies

This conversation went down last night after we watched an episode of our FAVORITE show, Friday Night Lights, in bed. William promptly turned off the tv and rolled over to go to sleep. I decided it was a good time to tell William a really interesting story about something we had just seen…

Me: That girl that was the reporter, her name is Emily Jones and she’s from Plainview! She was in high school with my brother and now she’s a fox sports reporter.
Will: I’m trying to go to sleep. Why would you think it was important to tell me that right now?
Me: Because, you’re my best friend. And best friends pillow talk!
Will: That’s what girl best friends do. Guy best friends tell each other to shut up.
Me: I LOVE YOU (laughing)!
Will: SHUT UP!

And that is a glimpse into the beauty that we call marriage. Love my husband so much.

My Own Prince William

I’m a little late on this post, but I can’t let the “Royal Wedding” go by without remembering that growing up, I used to think about the fact that Prince William and I (or “Wills” as he was called back then) were very close in age…and maybe, just maybe…if we happened to run into each other in the English countryside, he would decide that he would like to make me his princess. Well, THAT William did not ask me to marry him, but another William DID! And these are the reasons I’m glad that I’m married to my prince William instead of that other one-

-He has a full head of hair. I’m not that attracted to balding men and by all predictors, he will have his hair for a long, long time.
-He wears his wedding ring ALWAYS. Even when he’s at the gym, or the lake, or hunting. He is taken and doesn’t mind wearing a symbol to ward off all the other “princess hopefuls”
-I really don't look that great in hats and it seems that royals always have to wear them. I've never tried a diamond tiara...but I'm guessing that would make my hair do strange things also.
-He doesn’t require that I curtsy to his grandmother. I never really liked to curtsy all that much.
-He let me get married in a protestant church in South Texas where I was allowed to wear a strapless dress. Although lace sleeves are lovely, I always wanted to get married in strapless.
-He didn’t make me wait 8 years for a proposal. We knew we were in love after about 18 months so he went ahead and popped the question.
-He lets me split holidays equally between our families instead of having to hop around from one palace with his boring royal relatives to another.
-He doesn’t attract paparazzi everywhere we go, which is good because I go a lot of places wearing workout clothes with a head full of day-old curls which I’ve somehow tied up on the back of my head. Not really magazine ready most of the time.
-He doesn’t have 18 different names or titles. And when I married him, I didn’t have learn to remember a bunch of different names and titles for myself either. This is also a plus in the vows- I would have never been able to remember “I take you William Arthur Louis Earl Spencer”
-I didn’t have the added pressure of over 2 billion people watching me get married on live television. I’m not sure I could have even remembered “I take you William” with that stress.

The only thing that I do “covet” a little bit about marriage to “Wills” is the AMAZING music they had in the ceremony. I would have loved to have a full choir (including a group of young male sopranos) and the most amazing pipe organ in the world to play some majestic sounds as I walked down the aisle, but I had a pretty amazing organist and guitar/vocalist at my wedding too so I guess I’m still happy with my choice(shout out Jenni Lynn and Jared Billups!) All things considered, I definitely think I got the better end of the deal here marrying William Spencer and he tells me that the Spencer’s have some British royals in the family tree so here’s hoping that someday we get that call.

Diving Back In

You don’t have to look far to see that this is my first post in almost 7 months. It would take about 900 words and a lot of excuses to explain my absence in the blog world, and, let’s face it, would be about as exciting to read as CNN is to watch when broadcasting a general session of the House during a break. So, with the acknowledgement of my long absence in the blog world, I will dive back in with a new post that may or not be any more exciting for you than the aforementioned hypothetical post on the “absence explanation.”

One week ago, William and I celebrated our second year as Mr. and Mrs. Spencer. This started off with a little romantic weekend getaway to OKC with 16 of our favorite 11 year olds and their parents. We celebrated by watching these little nuggets play some soccer and then sharing in some amazing “group buffet dining” excursions. I would say this trip was as good, if not better, than the year one cruise celebration.

We returned to Dallas just in time to celebrate our actual anniversary on Monday night with a little dinner in Uptown. Thanks to restaurant.com, we got a pretty good deal on a sweet meal at Palomino in the Crescent building. We indulged in a bottle of wine, cheese platter, salads, scallops, steak, and of course as much bread as they were willing to bring us. After all, it was our anniversary.

It wouldn’t be an anniversary blog post without including a top ten of my favorite things about “Year 2” for the Spencers. Enjoy.

10. The many times he randomly came home with a bouquet of flowers. It always makes my heart “swell” a little.

9. Surprising the hubs by taking a day off from work to finish spreading the 1,000 lbs of mulch he had dumped in our driveway the day before. His surprise and joy when he came home to find me covered in dirt, sweat and blisters verified for me that my husband receives love through my acts of manual labor.

8. On our trip to Orlando last summer for a friend’s wedding, neither one of us had to pretend we were too cool or too old to wait in a 3 hour line to be among the first to experience the new Harry Potter World at Universal Studios.

7. Discovering the magic of the television series “Friday Night Lights” together and analyzing the incredible marriage of Coach Eric and Tami Taylor and all the ways we are just like them. Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can’t Lose.

6. William’s first brush with spontaneity, he suggested we meet half-way between Dallas and San Antonio during my month-long work trip. It was super sweet and he told me he just “really wanted to see me.”

5. Celebrating William’s 28th birthday with a back-yard “drive in” movie and some of our closest friends. It was a perfect night complete movie theatre popcorn, candy and Karate Kid.

4. Working together to lay-out our new backyard landscaping and then spending every night for several months watering all our new, vulnerable plants. It seemed pretty laborious at the time but I enjoyed spending time together and the end result of our beautiful backyard perfect for hosting impromptu get-togethers.

3. Relaxing weekends spent together where we had zero plans and no agenda. These sometimes occurred at home, sometimes at the lake or the farm, but always resulted in amazing times of conversations and growth in both of our marriage and our walk with the Lord.

2. Continuing a tradition dating back to long before we were married. Sunday night pizza night!! -Proof that sometimes it’s the little things in life that God uses to bring you the most joy.

1. Waking up every day to my best friend and the love of my life and knowing that God has blessed me with a man who brings me joy and challenges me to grow closer to Him.
In his anniversary card to me, he wrote maybe the sweetest line that’s ever been written and the new prayer for our marriage, “ I look forward to forever, but pray that I never overlook today.”

Here’s to year three- may we continue to look forward to our future without ever overlooking the blessings of today.