The Year of Firsts!

This year has been very exciting for Kris and me.  We have experienced a lot of new challenges that have brought us even closer.  This year we moved away from our security belt into uncharted territory.  We bought our first new house and learned how much fun it is to move! We created our own yard from dirt.  Laid sod for the first (and hopefully last) time. Kris and I both started new jobs, in new towns, not knowing anything or anyone.   We bought our first "new" vehicle as a married couple!  Kris got to see parts of the US that he has never seen. We went to the beach together for the first time! We also got to experience a lot of sporting events for the first time.  For example, court side seats to the Spurs, Play-off game of the Spurs, the men's Final Four, and the Colts vs. the Texans. We have taken steps that I think everyone thought we would never do.  Along with the good and the fun, always come the sad and the hard.  I lost my first grandparent this year.  I feel blessed that I had all four of my grandparents for 25 years of my life. Not many people can say that, but things will always be different now.  Kris and I have made this house our home, and we look forward to the many memories we will have, as well as the rest of the firsts that are yet to come.  Happy New Year!

Texas Weather Lives On!

As I informed everyone about the cold weather we were having, Texas proves me wrong!  Today it got into the 80's.  It was warm enough that I should have worn shorts!  Come on, this is December!!  It did allow me to work outside some today!  Now, you can guess what the high is tomorrow.....56!  Crazy!

Snow?!?

Believe it or not...earlier this week, we had a cold front blow through that resulted in a lot of sleet and I think a little bit of snow!  Several times throughout the night, it sounded like it was hailing, but it was only the wind and sleet!  Bode was outside when it really started coming down.  I had to run out at pick him up.  Nothing bothers him.  He still wasn't ready to come inside!  The following day, all of the rooftops were white!  It was nice.  I don't know how often we get that, but we enjoyed it!!  

It is Cold!!

We have finally had some cold weather down here!  Last night on the news they even said to expect a cold winter and with the moisture in the air...we have a small chance of snow at some point this winter!  It doesn't snow here much.  The people that I work with said it snows here like once every 8 years.  That sounds similar to how often it floods too!   Since we didn't have a very wet summer, we are expecting a wet one next year! 

Kris's winter season has begun.  The first 2 nights were busy!  I am sure he is hoping that was the rush of a new event.  Everyone here is talking about Schlitterbahn's Christmas event.  Kris said the ice skating rink is booked for the night in the first hour!  I think it sounds like fun!  I am glad Kris likes the cold weather, since he is out in it now!  

We had our first Thanksgiving in our house.  It was nice.  I cooked a small meal and then we watched football for the rest of the day!   Now we have moved on to the Christmas season.  I love it.  Our trees are decorated in of course red and black!  Kris put up the lights on the house!  This is our first time to have lights on a house!  I am shocked that people down here only put up icicle lights.  We put up icicle and lights on our roof.  We still want to do more decorating, but that will come with time.  We are enjoying our time right now, and look forward to seeing everyone for Christmas!!

Fall Break!

It has been a while since I have posted anything.  We have been kind of busy the past month!  Needless to say...football has been majority of what we watch during the week.  The past 3 weeks has been lots of fun, while Tech was doing so good.  We won't mention the slaughter from last night!!  It was fun while it lasted!  But...it is not over yet.  Now Kris and I have become A & M and OSU fans!  If they both win....the doors are open again for us!  We usually have some Tech clothing on when we are out, whether it is Kris's hat or my shirt, we get comments.  The Texas fans are actually nice down here!  Now, I'm not sure how  work will go tomorrow, considering I am now the only Tech fan!  I will stand strong!!  

This next week, as you know, is Thanksgiving.  This will be our first Thanksgiving in our new town.  Kris has been on their "slow time" for the past 6-7 weeks.  We have been home for 2 of those weekends!  Kris got to experience a trip to Hershey, PA for work.  It sounded like a lot of fun to me.  They went into New York City for part of a day, and toured a lot of Hershey majority of the time!  He says he wants to take me there some day.  No arguing from me!  He was there for a week, which was forever for the dogs and me!  (He took some great pictures, which I'll share when we get them on our computer, which is new because our other one got a bad virus.  We are now Mac fans!) Kris's work opens officially on Friday for the Christmas season.  We drove by the other night and looked at the lights.  Kris got to walk through it a few times and said it should be cool.  They have over a million lights and some of them dance, to of course my favorite....Trans Siberian Orchestra.  I can't wait to try ice skating!  We will see if as I have aged, if my balance and coordination has aged too!  

Friday was Kris's birthday.  I actually got up early and cooked a real breakfast for him.  I was still full at lunch!  He ended up working a little late, so we had Chick-fil-la for his birthday supper!  He now enjoying himself at a golf course with some guys he works with.  

We bought a new tree for our house last week.  I began decorating last Sunday after my grandparents left.  We had a really nice visit with them...I'm glad it was cold enough for you Gran!!  My Granny has wanted to come see our new house, but with the humidity, she wanted to actually enjoy it, so opted to come when it cooled down.  Luckily for her, a cold front moved through the night before and it was the coldest weekend we have had so far!  Anyway, as I decorated our 7 1/2 foot slim-line tree....we noticed that it looked small/short in our house.  Kris has always wanted a big tree, and now we have a living room that can handle a taller tree.  So, we bought a 9 foot tree.  That tree it freaking tall!  I can't reach the top section when I am standing on the step stool!  Kris had to fluff and apply the top!  We are going to shop for more decorations today!  I'm sure I'll have to use the ladder to decorate it!  Now if you were wondering, we kept our other tree up and even put our 3 foot tree on the bar!  We will have 3 trees in our living area!  I love Christmas!!!!  Next....decorating the outside!! 

Port Aransas

Last Friday, Kris and I went to Port Aransas for a few days! This was our first "vacation" in...well, since we have been married! We had a really great time. We stayed at Port Royal and had a view of the gulf and pools. We look forward to returning sometime! Here are some pictures that we liked.

The view from our room.

Our room is on the top in the middle of the picture.

This was at the entrance to the Condos.

Look at that nice black truck! Good thing those birds aren't flying towards it!

This was some HUGE boat!

A view toward the ferry landing from the marina.

I thought this was a cool entrance to a store in Corpus Christi.

Go Colts!!

A couple of weekends ago, Kris and I got to go to the Colts vs. Texans game. This was the first trip in Kris's new truck! One of Kris's co-workers and his son went with us. I have been a Peyton Manning fan for a few years now, so you can guess what team we were all going for! I must say...I am glad we stayed in until the end, because if you watched it, you know that the Colts came back with 3 touchdowns in the last 2 minutes to win! It was really a great experience. Neither one of us had been to an NFL game! We can thank Schlitterbahn for the connections!!

Skiing Pics!

Here are some pictures of us skiing while we were at the lake. We have been a little bit busy, so it has been a while!

First Weekend Off!

Well, summer season has ended for Kris, and we hit the road! We went to the lake for the weekend and met my parents there. We finally got to ride our Sea-Doo. We had a really nice time and weren't ready to come back to work! Here are some pictures that we took. I will post some of us skiing in a few days.

These four pictures are of Hell's Gate.

These pictures are of the sunset one night.

S-IKE!!!

Ok, so yesterday I didn't think that we would receive any rain from Ike. Well, during the third quarter of the Tech game I looked up and it was a down pour! It has rained and drizzled off and on ever since. The news said it was "moisture" from Ike that joined with the cold front that is passing through! (Unfortunately it will only bring our temperatures down to the upper 80's. That does beat the upper 90's and 100's that we have still been experiencing!) I don't think we got a lot of rain, but every little bit counts!!

On to a different story. Friday, the director of security invited Kris and me over for supper. He cooked a wonderful meal that I ate, then asked what it was. It was deer! It was very good! I was impressed at how easy it was to cook also! Now if I could only just get deer meat placed in my refrigerator, because I won't shoot it!!!

Lucked Out!

Well, I am sure yall are concerned about Hurricane Ike coming up the Gulf. We were too earlier last week because all of the local news predicting it to head towards Corpus Christi, and then once it reached New Braunfels, turn north. All week our news channels were predicting a lot of rain for us. At one time they said possibly 20 inches! Then, as you know, Ike changed directions! We have only received wind gusts, close to 30 mph! We have not received any rain, and now that we are on the west side of the hurricane, probably will not get any. We have received a lot of evacuees. My work opened its doors to a few people from nursing homes in the path of danger. I met a lady yesterday that lives in Galveston and she was very worried about her house, but she and her family got out! I am sure her house is not good right now. Schlitterbahn has a park at Galveston, which they expect to have a lot of damage. I just wanted to update everyone and let yall know we are not in any danger, nor are we getting any weather changes like expected. I heard Lubbock has received a lot of rain! Send some our way please!!!

Two more weeks!

Well, the season is finally wrapping up for Kris. After today, he will have two more weekends and he will have a break for a few weeks. I know he is ready for a break. I must say, it sounds like the season went smoothly, for his first season. Starting the weekend after Thanksgiving, they will open up again for the Christmas holidays. No, there won't be water rides, as many people have asked me. But they will have an ice skating rink, sledding and a bunch of other "winter" events. We have been told that it really doesn't snow down here much, which will be an adjustment for us! Luckily we can enjoy fake snow for a while! It sounds like a lot of fun....yall should come down and see!!!

See it to Believe it!!

Last night, Kris's department at Schlitterbahn had the opportunity to ride the sky coaster. I had to go, because I never thought Kris would do it!! Not only did he do it, but he rode it twice! The managers had to go first. They went up 180 feet in the air, and then came flying down!! They say you can reach up to 80 mph while swinging...I believe it! It was nice to see the kids that work for him have fun! Everyone had a great time and it was topped off with Dippin Dots and Slushies!

The 3 Managers getting ready to go first!

Them taking the walk up to the lift.

At this point, they are no longer on the ground and ready for lift off! Sorry it is dark!

There is no turning back now...they are the small round spot at the top, 180 feet above the ground!

Now Kris is flying!

This picture is dark, but in the background (below them) is the Master Blaster!

All smiles, no vomit!!

Round 2!

This the quick backward lift up the Sky Coaster. Kris said he could see all of New Braunfels at the top!

Hello Dolly!

I know it has been a while since Hurricane Dolly was here, but I finally got the pictures on the computer! These pictures are of Dolly moving into the New Braunfels area. We ended up getting a very much need 3-6 inches!! I can say our first hurricane experience was a good one!

Hello Again!

Well, things at the Armes' house has been busy. Today is the last day that the park is open till 8. Then they are open till 6 for a week, then only weekends for about a month. I am sure Kris is ready for a break! But I must say, his first season as gone smoothly! I can't believe how fast this summer has gone by, or that we have been gone from Lubbock for almost 6 months!!
My parents came down a couple of weeks ago. It was nice to see them, since we haven't seen them since they moved us down here! We are looking forward to going to the lake, now that there will be a break between summer season and Christmas season! I bet our Seadoo needs a bath!!
Our friends Dustin and Alisha came down last week. We had a nice visit with them, and got to try out some new restaurants that are pretty good!!
My work is going good. The other OTR that I work with also graduated from Texas Tech. Starting in September, we have to COTA's that will start and they have a son that plays for UT. We are planning on decorating our gym in Tech stuff before they start. My Paw-Paw has given me a lot of his leather work done in Tech, that we will put up all over the gym! I just hope Tech is what they should be this year...and beats UT!!! Well, I hope everyone has a great rest of the summer!

House Pics!

Our new Red Oak!

Our living room!

I love our entry!

My KITCHEN!! I love it too!!

Our bedroom! Yes, that bench is so Bode can get up on our bed! Our bed comes up to my belly button!

Our bathroom. The tub is great!

Our front guest bedroom!

Our back guest bedroom!

Okay, I finally have time to put our pictures on here. These are some pictures of the inside of our house. There is still decorating to be done and of course furniture to be bought! But it will work for now!!

Quick Note!

I hope everyone in doing well. Kris is wrapping up his last month of open season! He will then get to take it easy for a couple of weeks, then its back to preparing for the Christmas season and next summer! Not to brag about my husband, but he has been a really big hit at Schlitterbahn. The kids think he is the coolest boss, and the "upper" people are amazed at how well he can manage! He is gifted with that skill. Schlitterbahn has a volleyball tournament during the summer. Kris plays on the Foods team (each department has their own team). I think it is funny that the kids are shocked at how high Kris can jump for his age!!! I knew he would be the perfect person for the job!

I have decided to take a full time position at the nursing home I am at now. I love it! It is huge and even as an Alzheimer's unit, which I love working with! I will finish out my contract with my traveling company, then start full time October 6th. (If any of you therapists want to travel, I highly recommend Jackson Therapy Partners!) It as been more than a week since I have filled up with gas!! It is amazing how long your tank can last if you are just working a couple of miles from home! Well, keep a look out...I have been requested to post pictures of the inside of our house, so as I clean today, I will take pictures and try to post them tomorrow!

Rain pictures!

Raining off of our porch! Our flowers love it!

Cool view of the sky in the background, along with our backyard.

RAIN!!!

Our ground cover was needing rain! Hopefully it will spread now!


The outcome of a great shower and freshly mowed grass!!


The front of our house after the showers!

We had several months of zero rain, which was shocking to me! We moved from Lubbock to the area I thought got lots of rain and what do you know!?!? Lubbock started getting lots of rain! As you can see, we have added some plants to our front and backyard. Ken did a lot of digging and it was in perfect time, because for like the next week we had showers almost everyday! Great job Ken! Now, we have hit a dry spell again, but I enjoyed the rain while it lasted!!