Ah Mad Chaos....

Things That We Have Recently Learned:

1) some people you work with will be dirty rotten sharks...there will be no comfort that you are a better person than them when they try and steal employees out from under you, get you in a bad spot with your boss, and lie to confuse you constantly....

2) the best thing to do when dealing with rotten sharks is to consult your wife--who has used her crazy skills for good and not evil, but can guess the moves of the rotten shark and keep you ahead

3) you will triumph as the better person for the job while said shark is transferred to Florida---times like these call for a great celebration dance

4) don't wait until your car starts chugging like a choo-choo to mention to your husband that something maybe...possibly...could be wrong...you need all new tires

5) surprise! your alignment is all out of wack---apparently curb checks are the enemy to blame

6) when your expensive vacuum breaks and happens to be the one thing in the world your handyman husband can't fix--you will go for your warranty....surprise! it's lost....no, it's not in the filing cabinet with all the others, not in the housewares basket and not on the fridge....it is probably long since been recycled

7) you will celebrate that in the meantime you have the old vacuum, now reserved for the office/catroom to vacuum with....and immediately regret vacuuming at all when your whole house begins to smell like cat litter

8) after being married 4 months, you will have been asked at least 30 times what your baby timeline is....*note* people that ask this do not appreciate the two of you laughing and exchanging a look

9) when walking the dogs in your part of 'little mexico' you will marvel at how the whole neighborhood really does smell like fabuloso and tamales

10) the moment you tell your husband 'I don't need your help, I'm perfectly capable of hanging a shelf myself' you will drill your poor thumb--it will bleed and scar

11) anytime your strictly crockpot wife says 'I'll make porkchops' ----object, she will seriously overcook the outside and undercook the middle, while she posses many talents, cooking is not one of them

12) you will slowly learn that you married a survivalist....and he married someone who can't use a knife properly

13) it does not help to have a hide a key for the car when the hide-a-key is in the console

14) it is even less helpful to curse and remind each other of the hide-a-key every time you wait for the locksmith, this will happen about every 2 months

15) people at your husband's work will refer to you guys as the 'wholesome twins' but at your wife's work you're known as 'bonnie and clyde'

School Around the Corner

With school around the corner (we start on the 20th)--we are happy to report that Kaitlin is at least registered for a slew of classes she claims will be great...to most people just reading the names is exhausting...There's Public Admin & the Political Process, US Constitutional Law: Fundamental Rights, The Politics of International Conflict and Research Methods & Political Analysis, along with an online American History Pre-Civil War class she'd been putting off for years...Adam is still in the process of registering, and while he'll be excited to get the semester started too--Kaitlin is extra ready since it's the last for her undergrad! (yes, I believe you can hear the cheers all the way from here) We are also happy to report that the studio Kaitlin has been dancing with for the last two months has asked her to teach three ballet classes a week for the next two months!!! The ballet teachers daughter is staying with her next month to have her baby, and won't have the time to teach all the classes. This is very exciting for Kaitlin, and a plus for us since it means the next two months tuition is free! ;) We're hoping this will be the start of some great opportunities with JoBonds Studio. We also officially have the phone and fax line running for Adam's work, so hopefully there will be less late night office runs....the added benefit ofcourse was Kaitlin being able to finally scan all her millions of pictures onto the computer....

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!

New Years

Another New Years, another day spent filling balloons at Piccolo and working until 4am.


Lame.

At least there's a band.

Christmas!!!!

I was really worried Christmas wouldn't feel like Christmas this year, since my parents and Ryan are in Hawaii for the first time in y-e-a-r-s (they almost always come to our house, wherever that may be) and we couldn't afford to join them since we got married in October. But, it actually turned out to be one of the best Christmases I've had, and definitely one to remember. On Christmas Eve, we went to a candlelight service at a local Methodist Church and came home drinking hot tea and listening to "A Rat Pack Christmas" on Cd. Even though it was just the 2 of us, we still got up at about 8am--too excited to keep sleeping, I guess some things stay the same! We turned on our Christmas music and ule log, and began to open stockings and presents. I have to say, we made out like bandits! Adam got me a framed "Cartoon of St.Anne" by DaVinci and a TomTom, while I got him a massage, some movies and a t-shirt he's been dying to have. I don't really see what's o funny, it has a picture of several animals and reads "Animals Taste Good", he thinks it's the funniest thing....ever. After we finished out present opening and showered, we headed to Corinth to see Cynthia, Mark & the kids (Adam's sister and her family). On the way, we got a chance to call Adam's parents and Granio for a Merry Christmas hello, which was nice.

The house, upon arrival, was a Christmas explosion and a frenzy of Elizabeth and Ethan showing us one gift after another. We gave them their Christmas presents, ate lunch and hung out until about midnight. All in all, a wonderful and very Merry Christmas.

Mazda Funeral

Just to let you know. We officially have 1 car. The Mazda died. DIED. As in, no more, ceased to be, non-existent vehicle. I HATE THAT CAR! For the record, I called it. If anyone cares to remember, I thought we should try and sell it the first 5 breakdowns we had. But now it is dead. It died while Adam was en route to Em's and a cop had to push it into a parking lot.



Nice.

Deck the Halls

Christmas!!!!! How I love you!!! Our house is decorated in wait, we even bought a 6ft fake tree this year instead of our typical Charlie Brown tree I've had since middle school. I've got 'candles' in all the windows, Nutcrackers and The Rat Pack Christmas!!! The only thing that would make my holiday any better would be a white Christmas, but I doubt anything like that will be happening in humid lil Fort Worth!