Introducing - TACO!!

We got Taco yesterday, and we love him to pieces already! He's an 8 week old miniature schnauzer and weighs about 6 pounds right now. He's super cuddly but has a lot of spunk too, which should make him an excellent addition to our little family!

Taco has two brothers who recently joined our extended family - Reggie was adopted my my parents last week, and my sister has Berlioz with her at her apartment in College Station. Once Cody and I met those two, it took us less than a day to decide that we must adopt the final member of their litter! My parents kept Taco for us for a few days last week, and my mom brought him to me yesterday!

Cody is loving Taco too! We've known that we would get a dog eventually, but we've been hesitant to get one since our apartmments have been kind of small. But we decided not to wait any more, so we sold our treadmill to make room for his play pen and crate! So far, he's not a huge fan of being left alone - he cried the ENTIRE three hours we were at church this morning. I called my sister Cyndi for advice, and we researched puppy separation anxiety for a while, eventually deciding that they are just typical puppies and are *hopefully* going to get over it eventually. It's heart breaking to hear his whimperey cries when we leave the room though! He's just too cute to be in that kind of misery!!

Here we are - a happy, dog-owning family! Taco loves other dogs (even though he's kind of scared of the big ones) and can't wait to make more friends, so if you want to set up a doggy play date, let us know!!

Cruising with State Farm

We went on a cruise a couple of weeks ago with Cody's coworkers and their significant others. A huge thank you to Brent & Amberly, who sponsored our way to this super-fun vacation! We had a great time and loved getting away from work & responsibility for a week!

Here we are at the life boat safety drill. I tried hard not to think of Titanic. :)

We went horseback riding in Cozumel, which was really fun. We rode around, saw some Mayan ruins, and then spent the last 15 minutes of our ride GALLOPING! That was really fun and something I didn't think I'd ever get the chance to do, so I'm glad we didn't wuss out. :)

Here we are in Roatan, Honduras. Don't be deceived by my smile - I HATED this hike, which I have dubbed our Honduran Hike from Hell. But I survived, and I guess in retrospect I'm proud that I made it. But next time we're in Honduras, we're just going to go to the beach or something.

In Costa Maya, we spent some time hanging out with Brent & Amberly. They're so much fun, and we're so blessed that Cody works for such a great insurance mentor. :) We go to church together too, so Cody sees a lot of Brent, but they have a lot of fun together and don't seem to mind hanging out six days a week!

The highlight of the cruise for me was the magic show - my first experience with magic was at Lauren's bachelorette shower, and I've been a sucker for live magic tricks ever since. This duo was amazing and pretty funny too. I had my mouth gaping open like that for most of the show!

Okay, the real highlight of the show was watching Cody show his wild side in the Karaoke Superstar competition. Both he and Brent made it to the finals, and they were both wonderful - the two best performers of the night! Cody's coworker Pat took some video of it, but I'm not really sure how to upload it, so suffice to say his performance involved a lot of hair gel, crawling around on the stage, running through the crowd, and ripping open his pearl-snap shirt. It was awesome and I was never prouder to be his wife. :)

T'was the Day Before Christmas (Eve)

I realize that it's lame that the only times I post are when people tag me, but I also feel guilty if I don't do this stuff after I've been tagged. So merry Christmas to Wendi, Elizabeth & Kim, your gift is my post. :)

8 things I did today:
1. Snoozed about 10 times total (but only for about 15 minutes - we use a LOT of alarms!)
2. Folded laundry
3. Did my couch to 5K run
4. Pumped some iron
5. Listened to Christmas music
6. Researched mountain biking trails near Farmersville for Cody
7. Hugged my husband
8. Work... well, not so much yet, but it's coming...

8 favorite restaurants:
1. Moonshine
2. Firebowl
3. Nordstrom Bistro
4. Phil's Ice House
5. Chez Zee
6. Great Harvest Bakery
7. Central Market Cafe-on-the-Run
8. Whole Foods salad bar

8 shows I watch:
1. Gossip Girl
2. 30 Rock
3. The Biggest Loser
4. How I Met Your Mother
5. Grey's Anatomy
6. Private Practice
7. Samantha Who?
8. Scrubs

8 favorite stores (I'll add this too, Wendi!)
1. Nordstrom
2. DSW Shoe Warehouse
3. Banana Republic
4. Target
5. Whole Foods
6. Central Market
7. Barnes & Noble
8. the MAC store

8 things I wish for:
1. to be able to run a 5K without walking!
2. to rock at yoga
3. for my hair to stay naturally blonde... too late!
4. for Cody to get a great State Farm agency location
5. the Toss & Chop! (http://www.silvermk.com/product_detail.cfm?id=1)
6. to get to stay home
7. a house with lots of kitchen counter space!!
8. a couple of cute kids (in a few years!)

8 things I look forward to:
1. Christmas at Poogie Ranch!
2. dinner tonight with Austin friends, plus Weldon
3. Cody opening his presents!
4. baby Jake Lawson!
5. meeting Dishman baby #2 (Colt Jr!) in March
6. the cinnamon roll Christmas tree
7. Lindsey's wedding and all the fun it brings!
8. Cody's duathalon! he's going to kick some butt!!

I politely declined to sit on his knee...

Santa took time out of his busy December schedule to come to State Farm's family Christmas party at Gattiland last Saturday.


This guy is actually a personal Santa-for-hire - you can get him to come to your house on Christmas Eve or day and freak out your kids. I can't imagine how much something like that might cost, but it sounds awesome!!

Tagged by Myra

Here's the rules:

Grab the nearest book.
Open the book to page 56.
Find the fifth sentence.
Post the text of the next two to five sentences in your blog along with these instructions.
Don’t dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST.
Tag five other people to do the same.

Here's my quote from "Beginning in Jesus: 6 Small Group Session on the Life of Christ" by Doug Fields & Brett Eastman:

"The next time you meet, the group will discuss Jesus as a servant, and there's a potential activity that will require some extra work before you meet again."

We did not do this activity, FYI. Footwashing on 15-year-old boys would be kind of awkward... plus we didn't have time. :) Yay, huddles!

I don't think many people read this blog, but I'll tag Briana and Kellie (maybe this will motivate her to post again!!)

Recent Visitors

We've had an unusually high number of visitors to Austin recently!

First, Cyndi came to visit us before she heads to England for the year!

Here's me, Cyndi and Cody making funky faces at Mighty Fine. Check out Cyndi's brand new lipstick from the Mac Store!

And here's Cyndi and I looking more normal.

Then my mom came in to help host Catherine's wedding shower! Not sure how my mom and I didn't get a picture together, though we did spend a lot of time in the kitchen, not looking our cutest.

Here's the shower hostesses with the guest of honor:

And the college friends who came to the shower!
Note: in an unusual oversight, I'm not making the Wildcat symbol. What a shame.


And finally, two of the best roommates ever came to town for the weekend! Susan, Lauren and I had a great time eating, talking, and watching Troop Beverly Hills! It was "fabulous, just fabulous!"
Coming soon: Melanie Jan Knox Larson!

Mmm Mmm Good

This is the most tasty snack I've found in ages.

Purchased at Central Market Westgate, Tom Sturgis Cinnamon Stiks Pretzels: