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!

Thanksgiving 2008

Thanksgiving for my family has almost always been out of town. The last 5 go like this 1) New Orleans 2) New Orleans 3) Hawaii 4) Italy 5) Italy. When it was announced we'd all be in Amarillo....it was weird. What was neat was that Shannon & Kyle (cousins) came down from Oklahoma City to my parents for the holiday, a special treat. An even better treat, Cyndey and Brandon came over for dinner one night, having come home early from India! I have never been happier to see Cyd! Ryan, Adam and I took Shannon & Kyle out to Palo Duro (I mean really, what else is there to do in Amarillo) for an afternoon and cave-climbed.

Can you tell we're cousins? Haha... On Thanksgiving itself, Adam's parents and brother Jacob came over for dinner and shared in the celebration with the O'Connells and VanHeests--it was really nice to get to be with all different types of family for the holiday. Afterwards was a long treck back to FtWorth and back to the grind. *sigh*

Halloween

I LOOOOVE Halloween! Not as much as I love (obsess?) over Christmas, but Halloween makes a very good second. However, it is by far Adam's favorite holiday. Last year was a blast because we took Nick trick or treating with Pat and Jenn, but this year we stuck to our non-apartment neighborhood and decided to watch scary movies and hand out candy. I even splurged at Walmart for some foam tombstones, cobwebs, and orange lights to decorate with! I set out our creepy pumpkins (I wish I had thought to take a picture) that we carved a couple days ago got our huge bowl of candy and sat to wait....and wait..........and wait. Finally, around 8 we could hear little giggles coming up our walk and opened the door to some vampires, princesses and a little pumpkin, while the screams of "Nightmare on Elm Street" filled the house. *sigh* How I love holiday traditions! Once the children quit making it to the house, we feasted on the leftover candy and watched scary movies until about 3am! Then came the fun part....attempting to sleep....I fear I won't be doing a lot of sleeping for awhile. I am such a baby...I even made Adam find a nightlight for our bedroom.

Honeymoons, You Should Take One

Our honeymoon was a much needed event! I had NO IDEA how exhausting a wedding could be! Flying to San Diego, taking a cruise through Mexico and following it up with 3 days in San Deigo = Wonderful! When we got on the boat, we checked into our room to unpack and take a quick nap...and woke up 6 hours later, just in time for dinner! A cruise was so great, because there was no pressure, lots of things to do, and everything was right at your fingertips! We did a LOT of napping (we're really old at heart) and took great advantage of room service for breakfast!

We even played the Married Game (their version of The Newlywed Game, but for all Married Couples) and WON!! We actually played several games on board, but this was the best--we came home with 3 "24k plastic ships on sticks", and drank our bottle of "Italiano del Cheapo" (awful awful awful champagne we won) on board. We even made friends with another couple about our age that is stationed in Hawaii. The whole thing was wonderful, dancing, nights out with the captain, seadoos, shopping, and all the sunsets and wine you could stand!!!

*sigh* I may very well need to take a yearly honeymoon ;)

THE.BEST.WEDDING....EVER!

Back from everything---and so happy to tell you we really did have just about the perfect wedding! Fairytale from start to finish! There's really too much to say...it was just perfect....exactly what I have always dreamed of! The candles, the garden, the gas lamps and twinkle lights, the fountains, the Victorian Manor, THE DRESS, the cake, the flowers, the hair, the speeches, the ceremony!!! Amazing! I cried as soon as my Dad and I started down the aisle, it was so special. I felt so little, I don't remember the last time I held my Dad's hand, but I did the whole time we prayed after our walk down the aisle (which was to Such Great Heights).

I am so so happy! All the toasts were amazing, but Adam gave a (surprise) toast on love that brought me to tears, he is an incredible man and I am so proud to call him my husband! (can you believe it!!!) I can't think of anything more to say on it without saying everything....but if you want to know, I can easily talk for hours! :)

All for now,
Mrs. Adam Owens (sounds great doesn't it !?!)