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.

Random Ramblings

Some thoughts have been flitting through my head lately so the most logical thing to do with said thoughts is post them to the internet :)


-I can not figure out why ALL of my shirts are getting these little holes in them. Doesn't seem to matter that I don't dry them in the dryer, where they are from, or what material. I thought it was the washing machine but my mom has a fancy new front loader and she said it's happening to her too. I think the quality of clothes must just be declining. I can't afford to replace all my shirts every 3 washes. This needs to get resolved. Any ideas?

-It rained for about three solid days in Dallas. I love the rain and was kind of sad when it cleared up this afternoon except for the fact that people were suffering from major flooding issues. I was relieved for them. When the tornado sirens went off last night, I had a flashback of a childhood memory. I'm standing in the doorway of my childhood home screaming at my family and neighbors to get out of the middle of the cul-de-sac where they all stand watching the sky looking for any sign of "rotation." I had been running back and forth from the basement to the door ever since the emergency broadcast system had informed us to "seek shelter immediately" trying to convince my family that they were stupid for not heeding the weather man's intense warnings. When that didn't work, I told them they were selfish and obviously didn't care if I ended up an orphan because I was only the one who would be spared when a twister suddenly dropped from the clouds without giving us the warning of lots of cloud rotation.

- I made a really tasty BBQ brisket on Tuesday. Slow cooked it for 10 hours until it fell apart when touched with a fork. Last night, at the convincing of Southern Living Recipes, I attempted to use the left overs and create a new "BBQ Pot Pie Dish" that sounded amazing. It called for a topping of instant mashed potatoes with a little Southern Living added goodness. I followed the recipe EXACTLY and ended up with a big pot of "mashed potatoes" that was the consistency of cream gravy. I started thinking about it and decided that little flakes that look like oatmeal shouldn't really turn into mashed potatoes anyway. Can you even consider that a vegetable? What do they even make the "instant potato flakes" out of? Never again, instant mashed potatoes. I've learned my lesson.

An Overdue Update

I have been seriously neglecting this blog lately and I feel like it’s because we don’t have anything crazy exciting happening in our life right now (i.e. moving to another state, having a baby, other major life changes). I also realize I really enjoy reading other friends blogs when they are just simple updates on the day to day, so here goes my attempt at a “short” update. As you know from previous posts, brevity is not my specialty, but I’ll do my best.

Updates
-William’s soccer team officially qualified for select this fall by sweeping the qualifying tournament with 3 big wins in a row. Due to their success, we’ve had a couple weeks and weekends free of soccer so we’ve been making the rounds to visit family. Last weekend was spent in Tyler with the Spencer/Moharer clans and this weekend we’re westward bound to Amarillo to enjoy some cool nights with the Bectons.

-We have started doing Crossfit workouts in Richardson and, although they kick our tails, it’s the first time the Mister and I have been able to successfully work out together. And by together, I mean that we’re in the same room doing the same workout but not standing anywhere near each other. This is made even better by the fact that our good friends, the Carby’s, are also Crossfit-ers and we get to see them about 4-5 days a week now.

-Half of my hydrangea plants have been officially SCORCHED by the ridiculousness of August in Texas. Should have known they wouldn’t last through the heat getting afternoon sun. We’ve set up a beach umbrella to try and protect the other half from suffering the same fate. It’s kind of working for now.

-William has been approved/accepted to take his “PE” exam in October (professional engineer). He had to turn in a huge packet that summarized all the work he’s done over the past four years for review and he was approved! When he passes, he’ll get to sign his own name on his engineering plans followed by the 2 little letters, P.E., which makes you big time in the engineering world. He will be spending most of his free time studying for the next few months so, please call me to hang out, I’m sure I’ll be bored.

I think I already shot that whole “brief update” I was trying to keep to so I’ll stop here. A thought for today…this is the one time of year I’m so glad I’m not a teacher or student. Going back to school from summer was always the worst. I would send my sympathies to my teacher friends, but I don’t feel that bad for you because almost all of you that I know took about 12 vacations this summer. Happy back to school week!

A Beginning and an End

I'm a few weeks behind on all things blog but I'll try to play catch up a little. A few weeks ago, my younger cousin (who was closest to me in age in the cousin crowd) got married. Her husband was actually her brother's best friend growing up so we've all known "Johnny," (who now like to be referred to as Jon since he's all grown up and an army Doc) since childhood. Holly and Jon began their new life together as "The Hardys" on July 10, 2010.

It was a beautiful and elegant wedding and the whole family got involved in the fun! Holly asked me to be a bridesmaid and sing a little number with one of her good friends Allie. My mom served as the pianist and organist and my dad stepped in the day before as the official videographer. He also served as the only photographer for our family so the few pics I captured must also be credited to Jerry Becton.


My Aunt Lanette with Holly, the beautiful bride.


The Becton/Spencer family


All the men in my life.


The bridal party with Holly.


Allie and I cranking some tunes on the mic.

So now for the end...it's not really an end...just a transition, but one of my closest friends is moving to upstate New York next week and William and I hosted a little going away bash for them at our house lase weekend. Leslie and I knew each other from a distance at Baylor but quickly became close friends after re-uniting in Dallas. Over the past four years, she has become an accountability partner, encourager, and one of the first people I turn to for advice in a crisis. None of these things will change with her moving, we will just have to learn to do it over the phone instead of face-to-face...unless I finally catch up to 2010 and get a webcam and microphone and learn to use skype...but that's another post for another day.

I was a little busy keeping everything moving in the food department on Saturday to take pictures so I borrowed these from Leslie's recent post about the party. Leslie, please don't sue me for copyright infringement. Please notice the "Adios Leslie and Justin" sign...my first attempt at Arts and Crafts in many, many years, as well as my table decor with the flowers in some of my bright glasses from the college years. That was actually a tip from my mom that I was skeptical about but, it turned out well.

Leslie and I share a common love of Dublin Dr. Pepper.


Everyone who was still there at 10pm.



Justin..the other half of the honoree couple with some of the boys.


Some of the guests going through the food line.

Truly, Leslie and Justin are 2 of William and I's best friends and they will be greatly missed in Dallas. I'm still working on the details (aka convincing William) but a trip to New York to visit is already in the works!

Florida Wedding Fun

Over July 4 weekend, William and I headed to Orlando, Florida for the wedding of his best friend Jason. Jason was the best man in our wedding last year and William returned the favor as his best man last weekend in what turned out to be a rainy, multicultural, and amazingly fun 4th of July weekend.

We got there Friday evening and headed straight to the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. Because Jason's mom is from Hong Kong AND that's where he met his British bride, Lindsay, the rehearsal dinner was at an amazing Chinese food restaurant in downtown Orlando. I forgot to take pics that night so you'll just have to trust me that it was great and good times were had by all.

Saturday turned out to be the big adventure. We were supposed to be ready by 1:45pm to meet up with some of Lindsay's friends from London and catch a bus to the wedding (which was scheduled to start at 4pm). Erin Proctor and I were actually on time to meet up with our English friends and we headed to their house to wait for the bus. Since we were getting picked up 2 hours early for the ceremony, Erin and I anticipated a lot of lag time and packed books to read and comfy shoes in our bag to wear up until the wedding...which turned out to be very ironic by the time the day was done.

After waiting at the house for a bus to come by until 2:45, we decided to call our own taxi to the ceremony (which was a 45 minute commute from the house). The taxi we called told us he could be there in 30 minutes to pick us up, which would make our arrival time at the wedding EXACTLY at 4pm IF he actually showed up in 30 minutes. One of the English friends had a rental car and we decided we should probably just drive ourselves but about 2 minutes after we left the driveway, we got a call from the bride letting us know that the wedding planner was sending a car to get us. We turned around and went back to wait for the car. The rest of the story gets quite lengthy and complicated but I'll just say after 2 more attempts at driving ourselves and receiving calls to go back because our taxi was almost there, we were finally picked up around 4:15pm and walked into the country club at 5:09pm. Because it was smaller wedding and all the guests were out of town, and due to 4 accidents on the major freeway that everyone took to get to the wedding, we ended up arriving only about 20 minutes after the other guests and they just held the start time of the wedding until everyone arrived. It was an intense day and we really bonded with our 3 new friends from London through the experience. Here we all are after finally making it to the wedding and witnessing the beautiful ceremony!



I made William pose for a bunch of pics with me because the site of the wedding so beautiful!





Wedding Highlights....

Pics of the beautiful bride and groom and wedding party





Lindsay's amazing grandfather from England. I chatted with this guy as much as possible and he was on the dance floor ALL NIGHT! He kept reminding everyone he was in his 80's and if he was still going, we should be too!



This is the most amazing ice sculpture I've ever seen. They poured drinks through the middle and even served the drinks in frozen ice glasses. Amazing.


We spent the rest of our time in Orlando celebrating with Jason and Lindsay, shopping some amazing outlets and visiting Universal Studios! Here are some photo highlights of the rest of our trip!

Erin and I on the boardwalk at Universal celebrating July 4th!



Will and I at Universal



The new Harry Potter ride...this room was filled with pictures that moved and talked to each other just like in the movie!


The wizarding world of Harry Potter...I'm not a huge fan, but it was pretty cool.

408 Takes Possum Kingdom

A few weekends ago, me and my 3 besties from college hit Possum Kingdom lake for our annual roommate reunion trip. This tradition started about a year after college and we've been keeping it alive every summer since. To clear up any confusion, 408 was our infamous apartment number at "The Place" in Waco. It became known around campus (or at least around our group of friends) for many things including awesome Twister parties, Chi-O pre-event four- course dinners,and having 2 kitchens and 2 front doors... But I digress.

This was our second annual lake weekend and once again, we let our boys tag along. They are great for driving the boat, manning the grill, and making sure our koozies always contained an icy beverage. They also really enjoy hanging out with each other and are great at keeping themselves entertained. This year, that consisted of watching a lot of World Cup and US Open on the TV on the boat.

We were having too much fun to constantly pause for pictures, but we managed to capture a few moments along the way.


We always think it's a good idea to ride 4 deep on the jet ski. Someday we'll figure this out.

A series of pics where the Captain's hats came out....





How the guys spent most of the weekend


Not a good idea to take pics during the boat ride to dinner...a little windy





Watch for the sequel, 408 Takes Vail, coming March 2011.

Showers, Bachelor Parties, and Surprise Weddings

This past weekend was one of the most exciting and unusual I've experienced in quite some time. William headed down to New Braunfels on Friday afternoon for a bachelor party so I kicked off the weekend with a girls night. I had a blast having sushi and ice cream with a few friends, both old and new! I arrived home a few minutes before my parents arrived at the house and then did my best to show them the new landscaping in the dark!

Saturday morning, we had breakfast on the deck in the backyard and then took our time getting ready for all the day's festivities. There were a couple of family functions planned for the weekend that my parents drove in to attend. The first was a wedding shower for my cousin Holly at Brookhaven Country Club. Mom and I enjoyed a fabulous lunch and shower with my cousin and some of her soon-to-be family and friends and then headed to Walburg, Texas where we were supposed to meet up with the other side of the family to celebrate my Uncle Joe's 70^th birthday….or so we thought.

The party was scheduled at a German restaurant and beirgarten (yes, that's how they spelled it). When we arrived, we all headed into a private upstairs room and spent some time mingling and catching up with family and some of Joe's oldest friends. After dinner, Joe and his fiancée Amy had hired a friend of theirs to do some entertainment. He plays the keyboard and sings and has been at some family functions in the past so this did not seem at all strange. After some entertainment, he called Joe up for us to sing Happy Birthday. Joe began his "thank you" speech after the song and then things took an unusual turn.

He asked his 2 sons to stand up with him, then Amy's brother, then my dad and one of Amy's friends. He said they had all meant a lot to him and he asked the musician to play the song they had discussed. Well, the song he played was called "There is Love" and it is mainly about how a man should leave his father and a woman leave her home and the two should become one…so we're all thinking this is a strange song to honor your sons and relatives.

THEN, as the song finishes, he asks a few of Amy's relatives to come up and asks if her son will escort to the front of the room..and the musician begins playing Here Comes the Bride! So our musician stands up with a Bible in hand and becomes the minister. They get married as we're all watching in shock and, of course, the whole room is crying (including Uncle Joe, Amy and the minister).

After everyone finished hugging and congratulating, we all headed out to the beirgarten in the back for some dancing and celebration. It was a great night and a very romantic turn of events.

Now I can check "Attend a birthday party that turns into a surprise wedding," off my "things to do in life" list.