Dancing Across Texas

ok so maybe we didn't hit ALL of Texas, but come on. Texas is huge :) My work gave us 3 days off during the week for the New Year, so me and Pete decided to Dance Across Texas. The week before, I bought my very first Cowboy boots. I am so proud o finally have some of these. 

 

On December 31, we drove up to New Braunfels, and hit Gruene Hall and saw Charlie Robison live. We didn’t get to dance because it was so crowded we were standing shoulder to shoulder to people. It was a great way to ring in the New Year.  We stayed at the Faust Hotel, which is supposed to be haunted.  We didn’t see any ghosts… and the room was ‘European style’ which pasically means it’s not much bigger than the bed itself, and the bathroom is too small to even CHANGE clothes in it.

 

On Jan 1, Pete, the smart man that he is, decided to Skinny dip in the Guadalupe River (Google Skinny Dipping in the Guadalupe River by Charlie Robison).  It was only 37 degrees OUTside, and that water is normally cold in the summer at 110 degrees outside, so no telling HOW cold it was now.  Then we drove over to Bandera, Texas where we ended up running into a group of people we know from Huntsville.  Such a small world! We went two different bars there, closing down Arkey blues for the night dancing away. Me and the girl I knew made a ‘boyfriend’ with this really old man, and he even dedicated a song to us.  I danced a few times with the old man.  It was great. 

 

On January 2, we drove over to San Antonio and walked the River Walk.  We went to Coyote Ugly about 3-4 PM and were nice and drunk within an hour. I had too many shots and ended up dancing  on the bar with the bartenders.  It was great.  When we finished, me and Pete walked (literally in a circle) around a block messing with people. We would randomly dance in the middle of the street to no music at all,  we struck up random conversations with every person we met and we were great playing along with each other’s stories.  It was so much fun.  

 

On January 3, we ended our trip at Zach’s to celebrate my friend, Brenda’s, birthday.  And then we headed back to Huntsville for the night. Planned to dance at Shenanigans but we were both exhausted so we didn’t go anywhere. The following day, we headed back to my place to get ready for the new year. 

Did I mention about the Fire Hydrant that jumped out into my car in San Antonio??!!  Yea… That happened, too.

 

American Sniper

Wow.  It took me about a week due to a lot of stuff going on, to finish this book. My goal was to finish my 12/31.  I didn’t realize I only had about 10 pages left when I quit reading for the day, so I actually finished on 1/1.  Instead of my last book of the year, I made it my first book of the new year.  So much for reaching my 18 book a year goal. We’ll try again!

 

American Sniper by Chris Kyle is an amazing true story about… well, an American Sniper.  Chris joined the Navy and worked his way up to become a Navy Seal and Sniper during the battle on terror.  I have to say this book is great and I can’t wait to see the movie that came out last week to see if it gives Chris the justice he deserves as an American Hero. 

 

American Sniper talks about his life at home as well as his life as a Seal. For this man, he is better fit as a man to serve our country than the husband his wife needed. I am thankful every day for men and women with the ambition and heart that he had to want to protect USA.  Chris is a Texas Cowboy gone Seal and lived the life of a Navy Seal until the day he was murdered on the homefront.  Ironically, he died from being shot (by a ‘friend’) near Dallas.

 ** update: on Jan 24, 2015, we went to watch the movie and it was every bit as amazing as the book. In fact, it made Chris Kyle look like an even bigger hero and person than in the book he wrote. Great great movie of a Great War hero. When the movie ended, not a single person spoke while leaving the theatre. Very moving. RIP Chris Kyle. 

Re-purposed shirt

I had a sewing machine since I was 22 (9 years if you do the math right). It never ever worked for me. I made up my mind that seeing is not something I can do. A few months ago my mom sat down to show me how, and turns out a major piece was missing, which is why it never worked. Han so, maybe I don't suck at it...

Last week I had a sudden urge to attempt to sew, so I went to my mom's and got hers (which was my grandma's. And ironically, the day I had the urge is the day my grandma would have been 88.  Think she was talking to me.) 

I practiced for a few days and finally attempted on the real deal. This is Pinterest-inspired and turned our awesome! 

I just took a shirt that was too tight and added some fabric to the sides. The camp fabric is actually from my friend's marine BDU's. Which is fitting for the shirt. 

This is a before and after picture. 

Woody Wood Pecker

I love this little girl. She's going be be awesome at charades because she acts everything out ( because she's hard to understand still). 

(Video to come later)

Coleton shot his first deer this year during Thanksgiving with a cross bow. So proud of him!! 

Austynn entered the art show/contest at the fair in October and came in first for her class (1st grade). 

Brynnlei likes to do the dishes... Naked. 

Crispy Ranch Chicken... It's what's for dinner

Tonight’s dinner is definitely inspired by Pinterest.  I found this recipe about a year or two ago and make it every once in a while.  Crispy Ranch Chicken.  Mmm mmm!!!

 It’s really easy to make, even though the ingredients seem a little, odd? 

 What you need:

Boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 oz package of the ranch dressing mix (not ranch dressing sauce!!)
2 cups of rice crispy cereal, crushed
¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
2 egg whites, beaten

 

Mix the rice crispy cereal, ranch mix and parmesan cheese together.  Dip the chicken in the egg whites, then cereal to coat evening.  Bake for about 30-45 minutes in 375 degrees until golden brown. 

 

I served mine with some Pork and Beans and Velveeta Shells and Cheese. 

 

Birthdays are still fun

It's my birthday!!!! 

Spent the day at work. My co-workers remembered my bday all week last week, and we even had cake last Friday. Today, they forgot. And I was not going to remind them either. They remembered 1/2 way through. I got a balloon and Reece's from them. :) my sweet BFF and I went out to lunch and she didn't even tell them it was my birthday, which was great!!! I was a bit worried about that. 

Got flowers from a friend of mine. 3 pink and 1 red to equal my age, 31. Cleverness right there. 

My mom and Austynn got me a HUGE box of nerds, my aunt got mr a bag of hot cocoa, and I bought myself a pretty pretty ring from Jared's, and my sweet SIL got me a sapphire necklace from Kay's. 

Kisses

*** meant to past back in July, when I had a husband and when this moment happened*** 

Who doesn't love kisses? My sweet B let her sister put lipstick on and then she puckered up. 

Following this, she begged to come to my house, just to see my husband. 

I'm sitting on their couch and me and here mom are talking about my two Bo's and little Bo's birthday. She heard the mention of Bo, ran outside and jumped in my car saying "I go your house. I see Boa (she adds a little "a" sound to the end of his name, super adorbs). We finally got her out has when I did leave she threw a fit at my car again. All just to see Bo. I had to promise she can see him this weekend so that I could leave.