Friends are Friends Forever...

I'm a couple of weeks late posting this, but I'll regret it if I don't. What a great weekend we had at the Cooper Class of '98 10 Year Reunion! There was such a great turnout, and the whole weekend was filled with laughing at old memories and making new ones. When I was in high school, 10 years seemed SO far away...it's hard to believe it's already come and gone! Things have definitely changed, but I love how familiar everything still feels. It was refreshing to catch up with old friends and see that we can still pick up right where we left off. Here are some "Then and Now" pictures to laugh at...

THEN- This picture was taken at our last CHS football game (Thanksgiving weekend '97) when we lost in the playoffs to Flower Mound Marcus (alma mater of my future-husband,--little did I know!)

NOW- And here we are at the CHS vs. Hereford game 10 years later!


THEN- Typical Friday night with all the girls back in high school...

NOW- Hanging out at Thompson & Brent's on Friday night after the game!

THEN- Our Gang...guys & girls...at a sleepover in high school. Was that allowed?!?

NOW- Our Gang all grown up...

THEN- All dolled up for Winter Formal '98...

NOW- And all dolled up for our 10 year high school reunion dinner...

I was nearly date-less, but Ryan showed up just in the nick of time! I was so happy to see him after a LONG month!

Some things never change...


High school flames...going strong!

How Do You Get Gasoline Out of Car Carpet?

That's the question I've been "Googling" for the past 2 days because yes, I managed to spill a 1/2 gallon of gasoline in the passenger floorboard of my car on Saturday morning. I know...Why did I have a gas can in my front floorboard anyway? Because my sweet brother offered to mow my yard on Saturday, and I told him that I would make sure the lawnmower had gas first. Of course it was empty, so I took the only gas can I could find in the garage, and went to fill it up. Little did I realize (until it tipped over) that the cap was cracked. I can list all of the things that officially DO NOT get gasoline out of car carpet...no matter what Google tells me:

1. Baking soda
2. Coffee grounds
3. Febreeze
4. Shampooing the carpet and shopvac-ing it
5. Shampooing the carpet and shopvac-ing it again
6. Shampooing the carpet and shopvac-ing it one more time...
7. An excessive amount of perfume
8. Leaving all of the windows open for the smell to evaporate
9. Pet enzyme spray (this actually might've helped a little bit)
10. Vinegar
11. Setting a cake pan with vanilla extract in the flooorboard. (This one I'm still trying...and I'm hopeful!)
12. Prayer

I guess I'll do the only thing I can do, which is to take advantage of this "high" I'm on from all of the fumes. WOO HOO!!!!!! If anyone has any other ideas, I'll obviously try anything.

Randomness (Revised)...

I have a good excuse for not blogging this time...my computer has been crashing. But, thanks to my new favorite person "Scott the Computer Guy", he saved all of my pictures and music before my Dell bit the dust. Nothing that important has been going on, so it's not like I've had much to blog about anyway, but here are some random things that have been going on:

1. I was in charge of a really big event at church last week, so work has been SUPER busy, but it's slowing down a bit now. I found myself looking for something to do on Thursday, which was the best feeling in the world!

2. Ryan has been gone for 2 weeks now, and it may be another 2-3 weeks before he comes home. He worked 98 hours last week alone, so the diving industry is definitely buzzing with all of the hurricane damage down in the Gulf. I'm just hoping he's home in time for my 10 year reunion!

3. I've been watching a lot of old movies lately. I go through phases like this, where I get addicted to a certain actor/actress from back in the day. Last time, it was Cary Grant movies, so I watched just about every one ever made. Lately, it's been Doris Day. I wish people still dressed like her. I think I lived in the wrong era!

4. I've officially started Christmas shopping, which is earlier than I think I've ever started before. I found a STEAL on a gift though, and I'm so excited about it!

5. I spent last Friday with my BFF Brittney just shopping around and enjoying girl time. I didn't plan on buying anything, but when I found a great deal on a Coach purse at the outlet, I couldn't resist, and definitely justified it in my mind as to why I "deserved" it. We attempted to see the hot air balloon festival in Plano, but it was pretty much over for the night. I also got to be Quinn's date for dinner, which was great because he is SUPER handsome! I can't believe how much he's talking and how smart he is! Brittney has our lone picture on her camera, so if she'll send it to me, I'll post it. We definitely need to have days like that more often. I treasure them so much! To see ridiculously embarassing pictures of us from back in the day, click here. You won't be disappointed!

6. Jack (my dog) has started biting my jeans at the ankles every time he can tell I'm about to leave. It's kindof funny, but I'm beginning to get annoyed. I don't know how to break him of this! This is also Jack's new favorite way to sleep...backwards on the armrest of our recliner! Isn't he cute?!

And here's Ryan torturing Harley. She's too stupid to know that she doesn't have to stay there.

And here are the 4 of us before a wedding in Abilene a couple of weeks ago...

Sixers

"Sixers" is the name of Ryan's & my new Guitar Hero band in honor of our 6th anniversary. If you read my previous post, you know that Ryan had to leave at 4a.m. Thursday morning for the Gulf, so he's missing our anniversary today. Well, he found out that he was leaving at work on Wednesday, and when I got home after church Wednesday night I found the new Aerosmith version of Guitar Hero on the kitchen island with a "Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad" note from Jack & Harley. I thought it was very sweet of the dogs to go buy us an anniversary present, and seeing as how we completely ignore them while we play Guitar Hero, I was shocked that they chose to get that for us. They're so thoughtful! Anyway, we usually try to somewhat follow the traditional anniversary gift lists for anniversaries, and 6 years is supposed to be candy or iron. We decided that playing "heavy metal" on Guitar Hero counts as "iron", so that's our justification. Ryan truly knows the way to my heart!

We spent last weekend enjoying Fort Worth, which is something we should really do more often since we live here! We went to the Kimbell Art Museum to see the Impressionists exhibit, and I was blown away. I love art museums, but they're not necessarily Ryan's thing. He was totally into it though, and enjoyed it just as much as I did. I'm a huge fan of a lot of the artists whose work was on display--Cezanne, Monet, VanGogh, Pisarro...but I was THRILLED when I saw that the hugest painting on display was Gustave Caillebotte's "Paris Street, Rainy Day"...one of my very favorites! I think I like it because the couple looking across the street not paying attention is probably about to get whacked by that guy's umbrella coming toward them...it just makes me laugh.

After that, we had sandwiches from Baker Bros (YUM) & went to the Botanical Gardens. It was actually not a billion degrees outside that day, so the weather was perfect. I was surprised how much was in bloom this late in the summer, especially with how hot it has been, but it was actually prettier than I had ever seen it! Here are some of my favorite pictures from our day...

You can see the bee's wings!!

The next night, we went to see our friend, Luke, in the musical "Tommy" at Dallas Theater Center. It's all music from The Who, and the cast and the band did a great job, but it was probably the strangest, most confusing show I have ever seen...and REALLY loud. I heard that they were handing out earplugs on the previous nights, but I guess we missed them. Ryan thinks that if they had handed out illegal drugs on the way into the show, he might have understood it better. I might agree. It was fun, nonetheless, and was a nice ending to our weekend of culture. :)

The best part of the weekend was getting to spend it with this guy.

Ryan is definitely my perfect match. As much time as we spend apart, it is great that we enjoy each other so much when we are together. Here's to another 6 years!!

Slowly, But Surely...

...I will attempt to catch up on my blog.

Last weekend, Ryan and I celebrated our anniversary early, just in case he was called to go do Hurricane Gustav damage control...which he definitely was at 4:00 this morning. I was glad that we had thought ahead of the chance he'd be gone, but I'm still going to be bummed to not spend our anniversary on Sunday together. So...I'll wait until our actual anniversary to blog about last weekend (although my new blog header is a sneak peek).

In the meantime, here's pictures from my sweet friend Jenn's baby shower for her little "London" that will be here in October!

Hometown Visit

That title makes me think of the Bachelor and all those shows where you take a guy home that you've been dating for 3 weeks to meet your family. That's not what this post is about though...don't worry!

Last weekend, the dogs and I packed up and went to Abilene for a long weekend, and just like always, it was just what the Dr. ordered. I feel so relaxed when I go back...the pace is just slower and I LOVE that. I got to spend time with two of my lifelong friends, Holly & Thompson, and their sweet kiddos.

Holly, Davis, and London came over on Friday morning, and we had a great time playing with Brad's old Tinker Toys, looking at mom's kaleidoscope collection (which Davis remembed from the last time he was over...smart thing), and playing with my puppies. I'm sure Jack and Harley were thrilled to have Davis around because he didn't tire of playing fetch as quickly as I usually do. This was the first time I had seen London since she was just a couple of weeks old, so I was amazed at how fast she's grown and how much personality she has. I wore lots of Holly's hand-me-downs growing up, and a strawberry outfit was one that I remember, so London wore a super cute strawberry outfit especially for me! (Thanks, Holly!!) Here are some pics from our morning of fun!

I also got to see Thompson's cute house (FINALLY) and catch up with her and Caden, who is also growing like a weed. His shirt said "heartbreaker" and I have to agree. He is too cute for words! I love having friends that are so easy to just hang out with, and Thompson & Holly are both like that for me. Even though we don't see each other enough, we can always pick up right where we left off the last time we saw each other.

A Much Needed Vacation

I haven't fallen off the face of the earth...but I have been to Wyoming and back! I have been looking forward to this vacation since before Ryan and I got married, and we finally went a couple of weeks ago. My mom grew up vacationing at the Grand Tetons near Jackson Hole, WY when she was young, and then she introduced my dad to her favorite place when they got married. Of course, she couldn't wait to take her own kids there, so Brad and I spent a lot of time there growing up. Our family has fallen in love with this place because it is SO relaxing and beautiful. I can't think of a more gorgeous place in the USA...and I really have seen a lot of places! Anyway, my parents, Brad & Kendall, and Ryan & I all packed up and drove, yes drove, 20 hours (over 2 days) to our favorite place in America in hopes of making believers out of Ryan and Kendall. And I think we did. We hiked, climbed (some of us more than others...ahem...Ryan), fly fished, shopped, went whitewater rafting in 40 degree water (little bit chilly), picnicked, went to a chuckwagon dinner & show, played games, went on a breakfast cruise to an island in Jackson Lake, saw lots of wildlife (several moose, elk, 2 bears, and other critters), and altogether had a fabulous trip together. I think I can even say that we all still get along and weren't ready to kill each other by the end of it. I'd call that a success. Here are some of my favorite pictures of the 500 (not kidding) that I took. I got a new camera for an early birthday present before the trip, so get ready...there's lots!

I have to brag on Ryan...this picture was taken at the top of Rendezvous Mountain. He climbed all the way to the top (notice the sheer cliffs in the background). At one point he had to ski on his tennis shoes because there was so much snow! The rest of us rode the ski gondola up, and he climbed "down" to the lodge to meet us for a drink once he had reached the top. Let me just say that Ryan brought a new dimension to our family vacation.

How cute is this moose?!?

My mom caught these prairie dogs in the midst of an all out brawl for a chip from my Dad. These aren't your typical Abilene Prairie Dogs!

This is the picture I'm most proud of. I caught this family of ravens teaching their young how to fly. All the babies wanted to do was eat. This nest was in the tip top of a dead tree REALLY far away, so I was thrilled that the picture turned out so well. National Geographic anyone?!?

The Chapel of the Transfiguration...I think I'd have a hard time paying attention to the sermon with a view like that!

Fly fishing on the Snake River.