Catchup: March & April 2012

March: 

• Visit from the Stabeno family for Birdie's volleyball tournament. She was my little flower girl (or Junior Bridesmaid, really) 2 1/2 yrs ago...

...and now, look at her!

Me with all the Stabeno kiddos at the volleyball tournament. Brought back memories from when my sisters played. Love these crazy little kids!

• We {successfully} hosted our first Bible study in our home! We were blessed to stumble upon a couple down the street that were starting a Bible study with couples in the area from the same church we have been going to! We finally jumped into the rotation and hosted dinner & Bible study for nearly 20 people. I took on the daunting task of making manicotti. It was definitely a success, but a lot of hard work. We love that God hand-picked every one of these couples to be in our lives right now and are so fortunate to be a part of this incredible group.

I will call this "Manicotti Madness" but mmmmmm delicious!

April: 

{Truth be told, the first 3 things all actually happened over the span of 4 days!!!}

• Darrin & I took a mini vacation to San Antonio and went to Six Flags, La Hacienda, the Quarry golf course, and the Cheesecake Factory. We had so much fun reliving the memories in our old stomping grounds!

• Bridal shower for my sweet San Antonio friend, Sammy.

Me & the Bride

Beth, Sammy, & Me - Beth is Sammy's maid of honor and I have truly enjoyed getting to know her over the last few months.

• We hosted the entire Lampley clan at our new home for Easter. They went to our church with us for a special Easter service (and the choir and Pastor did a phenomenal job) then we all came back for Easter lunch that I made!!! I felt so blessed to be able to share my home with my family who has shared so much with me. Thank you all for coming! 

The entire Lampley gang!

All because two people fell in love. <3

Sweet Sisters

Hubby & Me! He was so sweet to wear his pink shirt for me. ;)

 The rest of the month was filled with date nights to the Rockets game, enjoying God's beautiful creation, picking up Chrissy's WEDDING DRESS!, weekends with our Houston friends (both new & old), craft projects (just Jamie, obviously) and a 90th birthday lunch for Darrin's Mimi!

Even a weed can be beautiful

Can you guess what my craft project was??

Sneek peak!! I will post a blog for this later 

Halftime entertainment (Baby Crawl) at the Rockets game. We actually know the green family and little Colten won!!!

Whew! I think May needs it's own post.

Catchup: January & February 2012

*Sorry for the massive delay in completing my catchup posts. I couldn't find my camera cord for the longest time, and once I did I had made myself too busy again! ;)*

2012 ~ The beginning of a new adventure in a{nother} new city!

January:

• (This was technically December) Martha & Eric came to visit. We all went to watch the Aggies win the Meineke Car Care Bowl and they stayed to ring in the New Year with us (even though we all rang the new year in through the backs of our eyelids, hehe!)

• Darrin started as an Industrial Outside Salesman with Crawford's new Industrial branch! I am so incredibly proud of what he has accomplished in such a short time and so blessed to call him my soulmate and partner in crime for life!

• Surprise birthday dinner for Perch & Reece!

• Wedding dress shopping for Chrissy & an afternoon at the Bridal Show!!!! This was especially fun because we got to share it with our sweet friends the Gallihers too. Kelly and Chrissy got engaged the same day and will both be getting married in a few short months. (Obviously, I won't post pics. The dress is the big secret!!!!) Wedding stuff is so much fun! :)

February:

• The craziest painting extravaganza ever!! Aunt Tess & Uncle Tommy came to town and helped us paint 4 rooms in our house!! Perch came too and he & Darrin put in a chair rail in our dining room. Talk about a transformation!!! They even inspired me to tackle one other crazy painting project I had my heart set on. This one's so good it's getting it's own post so you can see the "before and after"s. Stay tuned, it's great I promise!!! 

• Nate & Hannah's wedding!

Me & my handsome groom at rehearsal dinner

The real Bride & Groom! Mr. & MRS. Greig!!

Again, I missed out on getting ANY pictures at the wedding because we were too busy dancing and having fun. Check out Maleigh Canon's Blog for the official, and BEAUTIFUL, pictures! If you look closely you might just catch us cuttin' loose and dancin' the night away! Here's one of me & my love compliments of Canon Creek Photography:

Catchup: December 2011

This was an interesting month for us. I got a job offer in Houston, but had to be there December 1st to start working. Darrin wasn't done in San Antonio until the week of Christmas, so we got to have a long distance marriage for 3 weeks. Ugh! 

December's highlights:

• I started my new new job in downtown Houston

• We bought our first house (without even seeing it in person first!!!) After a horrific closing day that did not end with us getting house keys, confusion was cleared up and I picked up the keys the next day, without my hubby.

• Moving weekend which started with Darrin winning a new gas grill at the SA Crawford Christmas party!!! He did get to see the house on moving day, but he didn't get to stay in it yet. :(

• Chrissy's graduation from A&M {early}!!! Congratulations Kiki, you are incredible!!!! We also got to celebrate Gram's 80th birthday!

• Darrin officially moved to Houston! YAYYYYYYY!!!

• Christmas in Dallas with the Bartons. Thank you Allison for hosting a wonderful week for us and making an otherwise hectic holiday a very special celebration for all of us. We all got to be there as Brandon led his first Christmas Eve service and he even let us all sing with him!

Warms my heart!! (Allison has all the great group shots!)

With our little Christmas Princess!

• Quick stop in Hillsboro on our way to Bryan to meet Camille's littlest angel & see the whole Cole gang!!

• Christmas in Bryan with the Lampleys. CHRISSY & JUSTIN GOT ENGAGED!!!!

Merry Christmas!!! 

The whole gang! 

The first thing she did was reach for the ring! hehe :) Congrats to the future Paynes!!!

What a year 2011 was!!!

Catchup: November 2011

November:

• Martha & Eric came to visit us in SA! (for the first time since moving us - our fault not theirs, we were always gone!!!)

• Nate & Hannah's couples shower

It's a picture of cake balls because we were too busy hosting and having fun to take any during the shower. AND I made over 100 of these bad boys for the shower!!!! They were very tasty if I do say so myself... :)

• Layne starred as "Sandy" in the Rudder High School Grease musical...and she totally ROCKED it!! & I got to go to the football game with my Daddy!

"You're the one that I want...OO OO OO!" 

• Thanksgiving with the Lampleys & A&M vs tu football

Whoop!

We didn't get any pics at Thanksgiving dinner, but we did get this group shot that night after we all hung Christmas lights on the house!!!

• And the big decision to move to Houston so Darrin could take a job as an Outside Salesman with Crawford's new Industrial Branch!!! I'm so proud of him!!! This meant my last day at Tesoro after only 4 short months, but my coworkers were so sweet. They threw me a surprise going away party!

Sammy, Jenna & Danitza - miss you girls!!!

Tasty & adorable cupcakes!

• Our 2nd Anniversary!!! My amazing hubby came home with roses for me and we went out for a nice dinner. I am so blessed to have him in my life!!!

• Play day at the Air Force Base with my grandparents before I moved to start my new Houston job. My Champa is retired Air Force and took me to see the replicas of the planes, they were awesome!

Catchup: September & October 2011

September:

• El Campo weekend to meet this little guy

And see this big guy again!

• Sister date to Tricia & Siddiq's wedding. We all worked with Tricia at different times at TAMU Petroleum Engineering, and Kaitlyn is currently working with Siddiq at PETE.

• Princess Avaree's SECOND{!!!!} birthday!

This was one VERY excited little birthday princess!!

 October:

• Engagement party for "Mama Lisa"

• Cousin Bond's senior night...he's got a full scholarship to college next year!!

(Plus I got to see both grandparents in the same night & celebrate my Daddy's birthday a little early!!) 

• Soney & Chris' wedding weekend (a VERY busy one!!!)

Beautiful sunset ceremony at the golf course!!!

{Allison's photo} Love this man!!

AND I got to go shopping with this little cutie-patootie!

AND Paige turned two!

AND we went to the pumpkin patch with a certain little someone!

(Being two sure looks like a lot of fun, doesn't it??)

• Mimi's 80th Birthday weekend

Lampley family photo!

Mimi and her girls, take 81309572435943265147213. You should see these girls try to stop giggling and playing long enough to take a picture!