Our New Year's

Well, this is clearly a little late, but I didn't quite get to the post when it happened. For New Years we went down to Del Rio to Lake Amistad to go fishing. Colby and his dad have a tradition that they go each year for their father/son trip, and since he's in school and had such a short break, Pat and I got to go with them!! It was very cold, but relaxing to spend time watching bowl games and movies by night and fishing by day. I loved getting to spend time with Colb over the break, it was great, but we are back to the real world now and he's a few tests into his 2nd semester!

Colby and The World's Greatest Dad posing with our first day's catch-18 keepers, with 2 stripers

Pat's MONSTER white bass! :)Reo with the catch of the trip, this striper was at least 8 lbs.!We're freezing!!After the second day of fishing we caught 25 keepers, and then were just throwing them back! It was fun finding a "honey hole." So, then after watching the bowl games, and it was getting close to midnight, we had been hearing firecrackers all night long and usually around the 4th of July and New Year's the two canyons at the lake have a firework battle, and it's fun to watch them all go back and forth. So Colby and I bundled up and drove down to the boat ramp to watch the show at midnight. Here's the clock verifying it's 2009...
Colby saying, "stop with the pictures the flash is too bright!"And then to celebrate......NOTHING!
Not a single flash in sight! Oh well, it's 2009!

Happy Birthday to my Love!

Today is Colby's birthday!!! Happy 26th! It's crazy how fast time flies, considering we met when we were 21. I love you so much and am so proud of you and all the amazing things you are learning. I know things get tough and you are sick of studying, but you are following exactly what God has planned for you and equipping yourself for ministering to others as a physician. I couldn't be more happy to see you living out God's will for your life. Thank you for all of the joy you bring to my life, I can't imagine spending it with anyone else. You're my favorite! I love you!!

Christmas Card 2008

Christmas 2008

We got to go home to spend Christmas with my family on the 26th. We were so excited to get away, and it really didn't feel like Christmas since we were in Ft. Worth by ourselves and both working on the holiday, however Colby did get to eat at his cousin's on Christmas Day. It was awesome to get to spend time with my family. The kids are all growing and so big now. Both Matthew and Benji are in their teenage years and taller than me! I have to remind them that I used to change their diapers!! The kids got a Wii and a zipline for Christmas, so we had a lot of fun playing the games. My sister and her husband Joe were also there, so it was great to spend time with them since we don't get to see them often enough. We also spent time with my Aunt Marie and Aunt Kack, but we really missed my cousin Lizzie, who is abroad in Ireland as a young adult missionary. We also celebrated my sister's birthday on the 28th! Overall, it was relaxing and perfect to spend time together!

Colby and my brother Benji bowling

Dean with the big catch with his fishing game

Colby and Joe on the links

Me clearly focusing hard to drum with Rock Band
Aunt Marie, Aunt Kack, MomTaking my little bro John Michael for a ride on the go kartColby and I go for a spin!My "little" brother Matthew, 15!Colby going for an upside down zipline rideMy mommy!!We had a sister's lunch! Hope (12) and Emily

Christmas Eve

I worked both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at the hospital. My traditional Christmas Eve with my family is spent going to church, then eating soup or chili and having a birthday cake for baby Jesus. Colby and I did get to go to church before I went into work and I even made the chili. The missing component was our birthday "poppers." Since it's a birthday party, we always have poppers with a crown for everyone and prize, followed by a joke. You saw a picture previously for the SAA Christmas party that had the crowns. Anyhow, since we didn't have the poppers, Colby made me his own version of a crown, it was so sweet and just perfect! Goodness I love him being off of school! The neat thing about working Christmas was that the hospital had toys for all of the kids that were on the floor and for their siblings as well. It was so neat to be able to set up "Santa" for all of them. I love my job!

Here's me and Rocky smelling the goodness

Colby in the crown before churchSarah and I with the toy bags!Me and Kellie delivering cheer at 4 am!

My Birthday Date

I had a great birthday! My friend Danielle made me a chocolate cake at work and it was delicious! I really appreciated her thoughtfulness. We celebrated my birthday on Friday and Colby surprised me with a fun date! He is Officially on Christmas break, so I am thrilled about getting to spend more time with him. He took me to Southlake town square to the Cheesecake Factory for a yummy dinner (herb crusted salmon). Then we started driving toward Grapevine, we turned into the Gaylord Texan resort and I was beside myself. He took me to the beautiful ICE exhibit. It was so fun but really cold. No worries, he had packed my gloves, hat, and coat for me! The room was 9 degrees and they gave everyone parkas to wear. It was a fun birthday and a fun date!

Danielle and I at work with my yummy cake! Thank you!

The Coca-Cola BearsA huge ice house to walk throughColby with the huge ornamentsMy favorite picture- all the sticks are ice, it was beautiful!

The Nativity Scene was the very last room, gorgeous and so detailed- perfect to get us in the spirit of Christmas and the coming of our Lord Jesus

It's a Special Day!!!

Happy birthday Love! Joanna is the big two six today, and yes it is after 11:06 or whenever she says her actual age changes so it's officially official.
Unfortunately I can't treat her to a proper birthday celebration tonight but I have secret plans on Friday! I'm sure she'll post a few pics this weekend... but until then
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOANNA!!!

SAA Christmas Party

We went to the SAA (Student Advocacy Association- the Spouses group with the med school) Christmas party at Dr. Chris and Karen Hull's home. It was a beautiful house and neighborhood and so fun to be with friends. It was so kind of them to open up their home. We had Babe's Chicken, which was fabulous, and enjoyed a fun evening and gift exchange. They even had the same holiday "poppers" that my family uses every year for Christmas Eve. So we enjoyed our crowns and time with friends from school!

Brad & Stephanie, Whitney & Clint, us