Hanky Belle 1996-2010

Today we had to put our family dog Hanky Belle down. She lived with us for 13 wonderful years! She was getting pretty old and dealing with hearing, seeing, and arthritis issues.

My parents found her in the summer for 1996 at their ranch one day. It was actually a funny story, they got to the ranch and heard a whimpering coming from the barn. They thought it was a coyote because neighbors had been spotting them around. So my dad pulled out his pistol getting ready to shoot if so, and they opened the barn doors and out trots this cute little fuzz ball of a puppy!!! They went around to all the neighbors to see if it was anyones dog and it wasn't. Some neighbors said many people have been dumping puppies they didn't want off the side of the roads. So Hanky they think survived off bugs and such until they found her out at the ranch.

When they brought her home of course my sister and I were super excited!!! Hanky became my little baby...I took care of her and got up with her in the middle of the night when she would cry!! Of course during my dramatic teenage years, I would always go outside and play with her and talk to her because she'd make me feel better!!

She's been such a wonderful dog and I love her sooo much. I'm going to miss her terribly but I know she isn't suffering anymore and I should be grateful for that! Its hard but she did live a wonderful life and made my life better by being in it!

Joe's Crab Shack

So for some reason, Kevin has NEVER been to Joe's Crab Shack. He LOVES seafood, especially crab and shrimp. So I have been saying forever that I needed to take him there to try it! I'm not a seafood person, but I knew he would love it so finally we went last night!!

Kevin decided to get one of their steam pots that looked huge. So he said he'd get that and take the left overs to work on Monday. Needless to say that boy was in heaven that he ate EVERY LAST BIT of his pot! He even finished off the rest of my chicken sandwich! Guess he liked it! ;)

Snow in Austin

Well on Tuesday Austin got snow for the first time in a while! Usually we get more of ice or sleet if anything! But snow usually happens more north of here. So it was neat to get it down here for a change!!! Kevin and I made out first snowman together when we got home too!! :)

I cut my hair!!!

So if you know me, I ALWAYS have long hair!! And lately its gotten even longer! It was pretty much at my waist in the back! For the last few month, it has been getting on my nerves. It obviously takes forever to dry and that has been annoying, but its just kind felt blah lately. So for the past two months, I've been saying I'm going to cut it and finally I DID!!!! Kevin really encouraged me to cut it but I was hesitate because every time I cut my hair shorter I HATE it!! And it always seems to take more effort to fix, because I actually have to fix it! But I think I actually like it!! It is going to take some getting use to, but for once I dont hate it!! This is probably the shortest its been since like Sophomore year in High School!!! Crazy!!

Medieval Times!

So this past weekend, we went up to Dallas!! I've been wanting to take Kevin to Medieval Times for a while, so we finally went on Saturday night!! Kevin and I went with his sisters and had a great time!! We were in the green knights section! He ended up being the bad guy! But ohh well, we had a blast!

My Goddaughter, Addison!

Today I am dedicating my blog post to Addison, my goddaughter who turns 2 today!!! I'm excited to be going to her birthday party later today!! But I just wanted to post a few pictures of her and let everyone know how wonderful she is and how thankful I am to be her godmother!

This is literally minutes after she was born at the hospital! I just love that face of hers there! It was very special to be there for her birth! I lived with her mom, Samantha, the summer she found out she was pregnant with Addison. Her husband was playing baseball and I was living with her. We found out she was pregnant and it was special to be there with her during that time!

This was at Addison baptism. She was about 2 months old. About a month before, Samantha asked me to be Addison's godmother and I couldn't have been more honored. Addison was already soo special to me and I was thrilled that she was now my goddaughter and I had an excuse to spoil her!!

It has been amazing to watch Addison grow up over these past couple of years. The older she gets the more she melts my heart! I love when she comes into the office and sees me and gets this huge smile and runs into my arms! At first she called me Ali because it was easier to say, but she's starting to call me Alicean now!

Of course when I got married this last year, I couldn't imagine Addison not being in my wedding. She was only 18 months old at the time, so we didn't know how she would do. But she walked down the aisle with her mom and did a great job!!

Kevin and I enjoy babysitting her or just going over to spend time with her!! I get to spend alot more time with her because I work with her mom and she comes up to the office a bunch. So she's become my buddy. It took her awhile to warm up to Kevin. When we'd both go over to play with her, she only wanted to play with me and was scared of Kevin. I think it hurt his feelings for a while. But in the last few months, she starts talking about him alot and actually lets him play with her when he's over. Too cute.

Addison is growing up soooo fast!! She is one of the smartest little two year olds that I know!! She loves to sing her ABCs, count, and is getting pretty good with colors. Her favorite color is PINK and she also love PUUUURPLE too!! She is for sure a girly girl; she loves her baby dolls, purses, barbie dolls, etc. Her latest favorite thing to say is NOT YET (real short on each word). Its sooo cute. I'll be like, "Addison you want to help me pick up all the toys?" Addison, "NOT YET!" HAHA! She's soo funny too, she just does the funniest, random things!

Anyways, I love her to death and wanted to dedicate my blog to her today on her 2nd BIRTHDAY!! Happy Birthday Addi!!

We've been married 6 MONTHS!!! :)

Well 6 months ago today, WE GOT MARRIED!! It seems both forever ago and like yesterday!!! It was such a magical day! Everything we could have hoped for!!

It was such a great week having all our friends and family here in Austin! We started off things by going to Salt Lick on Thursday evening for all those that were already in town!! It was great showing off some good Texas BBQ, especially to all the Alabama people! On Friday, the guys all went and played golf bright and early in the morning! Alicean and her bridesmaids had a luncheon at the house and had a great time!

After that we all got ready for the rehearsal! For the most part the rehearsal went really well and then we all headed off to our rehearsal dinner, which we believe can NEVER be outdone! We had our rehearsal dinner at the Oasis here in Austin, which overlooks Lake Travis! We had a huge room all to ourselves and fajitas, chips and queso (OF COURSE), drinks, and great dessert!! We even had our own balcony for everyone to watch the sunset! It was GORGEOUS!! Then we had alot of our friends and family give touching speeches that just made us feel soo blessed to have all these people in our lives. It was truely an AMAZING night!

Then of course our wedding day was the best day of our lives! We feel like we soaked it up really well and enjoyed ourselves in the moment! We are so thankful for each other and the last 6 months have been such a blessing! We really can't wait for what God has in store for us in the future!! This is just the beginning!