New Haircut

Cody was testing the settings on our camera when he snapped these pictures of me in the backyard, so I thought I would post them for all of you to show off my new haircut! Oh my gosh bangs! Also, I am wearing my new favorite earrings (thanks Keri!).

A break from the norm

We try not to get too political on our blog... but after watching Barrack Obama's speech I just couldn't not post it. Even if you aren't an Obama supporter I would recommend watching it. I think no matter what political party you come from you can get something out of this speech. It's very inspirational and it reminded me of how lucky we all are to live in this country.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

The Dog/Frog Blog

The reasonable side of my brain is telling me that people don't want to see anything more about our dogs.... but the "crazy dog person" inside of me is telling me that everyone would love to watch two puppies chase a frog around the yard. Right?

Well, since I have nothing else to blog about, the "crazy dog person" inside of me wins. So here are my two puppies chasing a frog in our backyard. As you'll see in the video its not much of a "yard", it's more like a natural habitat. Putting down some grass and flowers is a project for next spring, but until then it will look like the forest floor.

So... for your viewing pleasure.... I present our two dogs chasing a frog:

They finally chased it all the way to the fence where the frog made its escape.

You might be wondering (probably not), "What happened to the FUN Cody and Madelyn?... the ones who always were going out and having fun... all I see now are dogs", well... we're still here, but now our weekends are spent looking for appliances, and our big exciting news is the new refrigerator we bought. I never thought I would be so excited about an appliance. Not only is it super sleek, but it was a bargain which makes it even more appealing! What happened to me? The teenage version of me would slap the appliance buying, dog posting, home owning, NPR listening, working in a cubicle me across the face.

(but seriously... that's one good lookin' appliance)

We have a busy weekend ahead of us... so I promise that the next post will not contain animals or appliances.... it may even contain actual people.

Goings on....

I feel like I owe our small audience of family and friends an update on what's been going on at our house.... and here's the truth.... nothing.


Before vacation we kept telling ourselves the reason we weren't "getting out of the house more" was because of our upcoming trip and the unbearable heat. But now that we're back, and it's actually cooler outside, we've realized we've just gotten lazy. So, we've both made a pledge to get out and enjoy Austin a lot more, so anyway, there should be some more exciting blogs coming up.


Last week we got 4 free tickets to the Round Rock Express game at the Dell Diamond.... the Round Rock Express are the local AAA baseball team that are part of the Houston Astros. I was wondering how they came up with the name "Express" (as in, a train) until I was at the game and realized the ballpark was next to a train track that came through every hour or so. Way to turn lemons into lemonade! Annoying train at your new ballpark? Make it a part of the team! Anyway, we took our super cool neighbors to the game and had a great time! It happened to be dollar hot dog and drink night.... I had three hot dogs (don't judge me)!

Other then baseball games we've been going to Project Runway parties at our friend Jessica's house and watching the Olympics. Sugar was spayed this week, which was sad, but she actually seemed completely fine the next day.... which was good to hear. In other "Sugar news", she is now 5 months old and has gained 20 pounds since we've brought her home. Seems like a normal amount of weight, until you see these pictures! Attack of the giant dog!

(the first week we got her)

(a picture from a couple weeks ago... she's even bigger now!)

In other "dog news" our friend Tobi got a new Basset Hound puppy... her name is Clementine. If you are interested in some more pictures click here.

Vacation's all I ever wanted. Vacation, had to get away.

So we both just got back from our week long vacation in sunny Ventura California. Our week of hanging out at the beach, laughing with the family, eating good food, and sleeping in has come to an abrupt stop. We're both back at work. Back to being adults..... Boooooo. I could tell you every move of our vacation... all the things we did, and the things we ate, etc., but since the majority of people who read this blog were with us, we'll just let the pictures (and small descriptions) do the story telling. If you want all 129 pictures you can click here. If you click any of the other pictures you will also be taken to the album.

We landed at LAX and since we had a few hours before we needed to be in Ventura we all decided we had time for one "LA" type thing.... so we all went to Hollywood Blvd.

That night we went out to a nice adult dinner since we were "kid free" for the next few hours. We had some delicious steaks with a view of the ocean. This was also the beginning of our week without ingesting any healthy at all.... hooray for vacation!

This was the view from the restaurant... with a view like this even McDonald's would taste amazing!

Of course we spent an entire day at the beach. It was a blast... there were nice enough waves for some excellent boogie boarding, Madelyn's fam bought some "beach gear" so we had an awesome canopy and beach chairs (thanks Fowleses!). We had a great time.... which was evident by all the kelp we pulled out of our suits when we got back to the hotel.

Madelyn, Jacob, Lacy and Elly hanging out under the canopy at the beach. Lilly playing with some kelp in the background.

A close up of Elly napping under the canopy at the beach.

Walking around Ventura Harbor. Doesn't this place just look horrible? (sarcasm)

Everyone loves the cut-outs.... always funny, always cheesy, always a "tourist" spotter.

You know how I know the Dallas Cowboys are going to have a good season? Because I was at training camp! Turns out the Dallas Cowboys were having training camp like 4 miles from our hotel! As soon as I found out I hopped in the car and watched them practice. It's a good thing I always have appropriate Cowboys gear with me. What would I have done if I left my t-shirt and hat?!? It was so bizarre.... I didn't know they would be there. I think it's an omen, especially since I was at training camp last year and they ended up having a great season. I could create a whole separate blog about this... but since nobody cares, here are two of a TON of pictures.

Here is Terrel Owens, Patrick Crayton, and Marion Barber....

And my favorite player Jason Witten... What am I? Like 12 years old?!? I really wanted him to sign something, but they were only letting kids get autographs...lame.

On Thursday we headed up to Santa Barbara to check things out. We took the kids to the aquarium, rented a six person bicycle which people kept uncomfortably calling a sexcycle...

Here is Madelyn on the pier in Santa Barbara.

Emma, Lily, Madelyn and Dan getting to pet the sharks at the Ty Warner aquarium... which is owned by the creator of Beanie Babies, Ty Warner (NOT Time Warner...)

Lily and Dan watching the octopus.

I think the best part of the aquarium for the kids was not the fish, or the cool displays.... I think they liked this little puppet theater the best.

That night Madelyn and I wanted to check out the Ventura County Fair and since going by ourselves seemed like a lame option we took Lily with us. When we mentioned we might be going Lily (who is 6) wanted to convince us to take her.... she stood up from her chair, put her hands on her hips and said "can I please come?..... I'm really energetic!" How could we resist?

I think the best part of the fair was Lily choosing to sit in cars that already had children instead of a car by herself. You'll notice that all the other cars are empty... she chose the car AND the row that already had two other kids in it. She is so awesome.

This ride was the biggest mistake of my life. I love a good roller coaster, but this little kid ride was a motion sickness machine. And since Lily could control the spinning I just shut my eyes and hoped it would be over soon. I was sick all night after this ride.... good thing it was the last one.

Madelyn got a great picture. Lily is "energetically" making the car spin. I am holding on like a baby with my eyes shut.

Here's another ride where Lily decided to choose the car that already had a kid sitting in it. This also showcases Lily's amazing ability to hit a "model pose" on que. Hilarious.

A gift to Madelyn's parents for providing food and hotel for this awesome vacation was a family picture. I took the opportunity to take my own pictures. All of these are connected to our Picasa album... so please take anything you want.

Brandon and Elly trying to keep warm and keep composure in between pictures. All the kids did super well considering that we were on the beach, it was cold, and they had to sit still for 30 seconds or more.

Madelyn looking like a hot babe.

Lacy actually took this picture of Elly, but it looked so good I had to post it.

Madelyn looking like an even hotter babe.

The beach was cold so the family all huddled up to keep warm..... well, everyone but me and Brandon.

Here is "hot babe" shot number 3. Is it possible for Madelyn to be any prettier?

Elly playing in the sand.

Tim and Jacob. I think this picture looks like the kind that is already in a frame when you buy it.

The back of all the grand-kids sitting on a log getting their picture taken by a professional. They are cute even from the back!

Madelyn and her dad trying to keep warm.... someone needs to frame this one.

Lacy and Elly.

We had an awesome vacation, and we wanted to thank Kathryn and Robert for making such a fun vacation possible, Lacy for arranging all the activities and the photographer, and Jessica for watching our dogs while we were gone. We had such a great time....

My trip just got better....

So we're in sunny California... and what do I see when I get online tonight?

This

So awesome! It put the biggest smile on our faces! Jessica rocks our house.... literally. This is for Jessica.... cause she's the best around.

An update and more dogs.

We're really sorry about the lack of blog posts lately... we've been getting ready for our trip next week to Ventura California! So, there will plenty of blogs coming your way. Since we're going for a week I don't think we'll be posting much.... so here are some more pictures of our dogs and their friend Bluebonnet. While we're gone our awesome and amazing friend Jessica is staying at our house and taking care of our animals. She's totally making it possible for us to take this trip... so, if you want to throw her a "thank you" I'm sure she'll appreciate it. Jessica is about to become a home owner and a dog owner within 24 hours!

A couple of weeks ago we went to a nearby dog park that had an agility course.... Sugar and Rocky loved the tunnel.

Sugar is not very lady like, she likes to get muddy, she likes to be dirty, and her white fur doesn't hide anything. Here she is lying in a puddle of muddy water.... she got a bath when she got home.

Rocky is such a good dog! Look at him wait patiently for his treat!

Sugar can now stand over Bluebonnet and also enjoys jumping over her. We even caught Sugar "riding" Bluebonnet at one point.

During the puppy rumble it is very difficult to get a picture.... this is the best I could do.

Rocky is biting Sugar's leg, Sugar is about to bite Bluebonnet's back, and Bluebonnet is trying to run away.

Since Bluebonnet is a Bassett Hound she has ears that our dogs can't resist. Here's Rocky chowin' down....

And here's Sugar trying to get her some of those ears...

And then here's Bluebonnet.... I wonder why her ears are so wet?

Stay tuned, we'll post all about our awesome beach vacation in a week!