Luck O the Irish

An Irish Prayer:

May God give you...

For every storm, a rainbow,

For every tear, a smile,

For every care, a promise,

And a blessing in each trial.

For every problem life sends,

A faithful friend to share,

For every sigh, a sweet song,

And an answer for each prayer.

Checking out her lucky tummy full of celebratory green peas!

There's our dimpled girl!!!

An American Holiday

The 4th of July has become one of Adam and my favorite holidays, next of course to Christmas and Halloween. (We are very big on the Christmas decorations and love love love dressing up for Halloween!)We were so excited to be back together again after the 2 weeks and 6 hours apart, that Adam surprised me with a romantic weekend trip to Santa Fe, one of our favorite cities!

It was a wonderful, sweet surprise and we had a fabulous time. We stayed at a hotel down the street from the square, and ate at our favorite and most amazing restaurant ever, Cafe Pasquals. YUM!

We spent the weekend walking around looking at art, eating from street vendors, and socializing our dogs. We brought both Dutchess and Kitri, and they were incredibly popular! We spent about 20min one day talking with an older couple there with three of their five shelties! One of which was so old, and with such terrible arthritis that he was being pushed around in a "doggie carriage!"

We also stopped by one of our favorite grocery stores that we miss here in Amarillo, Whole Foods. On our way back to the hotel we saw a Thrift Store with a vintage bike out front. Most of you know, we've been searching for bikes for us for some time. Of course we HAD to stop! I know, I know, we're dorks. Most people come back from Santa Fe with some turquoise or art, we come back with groceries and a bicycle! That's right, we bought her! A 1974 Free Spirit bike that I impulsively named Charmaine, and now no one will give me a 'do-over.' (pictures coming soon!!) :) We made it back to Amarillo the evening of the 4th in time to buy some fireworks and head over to Cydney & Brandon's to shoot some off and celebrate with our friend-family!

We had a wonderful weekend, and a great holiday!

Happy 4th of July to all of you!!!

Fathers Day

Fathers Day weekend this year is a little different then those of the past. While I'm celebrating with my Dad, who is off in New England with my younger brother, I am lucky to have almost all my family here in Hawaii to celebrate with our patriarch, my Pappy. A weekend of cousins giggling in the distant bedroom, uncles cooking in the kitchen and grandparents beaming with the luck of having almost all of us here at once for the first time in years.

Jade & I were together often when we were younger, trips to my great-grandmother's in Pennsylvania, the first trip to Disneyland when we were toddlers, and many summers at my grandparent's on Oahu. The older we've gotten, the less we've seen each other, and it had been 5 years since we'd last gotten together. It didn't take long to start laughing and joking again, and was fun to include "baby" Sarah this time. Weekends like this make me incredibly grateful to have such a wonderful family, and strengthen my desire to have children, because I know how lucky our kids will be to come into a family like this.

A Young Thanksgiving 2009

Thanksgiving is normally a holiday my family travels for. Not to visit family, usually, but to get away from it all. In high school, it was typically Italy we went to, later when I was in college it was New Orleans, or somewhere else across the US. Last year, we were in Amarillo and had a great time. We had a full house-my cousin and her husband came down from Oklahoma, and Adam's parents and oldest brother joined us too. This year, with the O'Connells in DC, we were invited to join Shannon and Kyle once again for Thanksgiving, this time at their place in Oklahoma City. We were all a little nervous since it was four 20-somethings with no Thanksgiving experience making everything. We soon discovered our apprehension was unfounded---Shannon did an amazing job with all the food, just look at that turkey!!!

I was very proud, because this year I attempted to make a pumpkin cheesecake, my first ever. It turned out to be fabulous!!! I think I found a new Owens tradition!

The weekend was so much fun, Adam and Kyle conquered a puzzle and braved Black Friday for a new one (yes, really), we had hobo dinners in their backyard firepit, and even went out to find their very first real Christmas Tree. We also discovered the magic that is Ghirardelli peppermint chocolate coffee! Meg was a doll the whole time. I couldn't believe how much bigger she had gotten in the last 3 months! She just quietly sits and observes, taking everything in.

Of all the pictures I caught this weekend, this one was definitely my favorite....

We had a wonderful time, and it lasted just long enough. On the drive away, I immediately popped in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's Christmas Album, and began dreaming up our plans to hang Christmas lights and put out all our Holiday decorations. I LOVE this time of year!

Our Holidays

We had a unique holiday season this year---for the first time ever, we were in Amarillo with Kaitlin's family for Thanksgiving. Normally an out of town affair, we were glad to have the chance to spend some time with the O'Connells in Amarillo, and Kaitlin's cousin Shannon and her husband Kyle even made the trip! Adam's parents and oldest brother Jacob were invited to the O'Connell's for dinner as well, making it a giant family affair. It was also a chance to see our best friends Cydney and Brandon, who just came back from a 5 week trip to India. We were glad to be able to give them hugs and hear all their stories. But, since we had taken so much time off this summer, and in October for the wedding, we had to make it a whirlwind trip, and were only there for 3 days. It was just enough time to eat too much, talk a lot, and have Ryan lead a tour of the Palo Duro Caves.



Christmas was a first for us too---our first official married Christmas was also the first without our parents. The O'Connells were off to Hawaii to visit Kaitlin's grandparents for the holidays, and the Owens were in Amarillo to celebrate at home. Adam's sister and her family live an hour away from us, and they invited us to share in the holiday with them. We went the distance to make this Christmas special, and played each others Santa as well making each other save all our gifts that came in the mail. We spent Christmas morning drinking coffee and listening to a Rat Pack Christmas! We had worried Christmas would be less then spectacular since it was a deviation from our norm, but it was quite romantic and very relaxing. Just before noon, we headed over to Cynthia and Mark's to spend the day with them, our niece and nephew Elizabeth & Ethan, and Mark's parents. Needless to say, Santa Claus had made quite an impression on the kids, and the living room! We spent the day learning all the cool tricks the kids new toys could do, and talking with everyone. Even though we live so close, we seem to be lucky if we see each other once a month--a whole day together was really nice. Mark made quite the feast, though we did have to find an Albertons to make an emergency Diet Coke run for Kaitlin (you're shocked, I'm sure).

The weekend before New Years, we were lucky enough to have our friends Cydney and Brandon stay for a couple days before they headed on to party in Austin on the 31st. It looks like it may be quite some time before we're back in Amarillo-which means quite some time before seeing all our closest friends, so it was a great surprise when we learned they'd be coming through. New Years Eve is one of the biggest holidays in the restaurant business--so Kaitlin had to work from 2pm until about 2am. Adam was off to our friends Derek and Cara's New Years Eve Party while Kaitlin was busy running the restaurant and ringing in the New Year with her co-workers and patrons. She did make it in time for one round of 'hellos' before the party was official done! Work work work seems to be our motto for the break, and always on opposite schedules it seems-so the first was a welcomed day off to spend together doing our favorite thing---absolutely nothing!