Mentors

I have been very blessed through the years to have many wonderful mentors in my life. These people have helped guide me in all kinds of areas such as school, work, relationships and riding. Without these people, there is no doubt in my mind that I would not be who I am today.

I think whether we are directly concious of it or not, we all have mentors in each of the different areas of our life -- people we aspire to be like, who we look up to and admire. These people can be parents, teachers, friends or even people we have never met.

I am very thankful for each and every one of my mentors -- particularly those who take the time out of their life to help me become the best person I can be. They have been enormous influences in my life, and I only hope that I can one day impact someone's life in the same way they have impacted mine.

No Hour Wasted...

As Winston Churchill said, "No hour of life is wasted that is spent in the saddle."
And after getting back on Ken today for the first time after 2 1/2 months of being stuck on the ground I can honestly say I couldn't agree more!

It wasn't quite an hour, and all we did was walk, but it felt fantastic to be doing something besides just leading him around like a dog.

He was such a good boy today and I can't wait to see how we progress as a pair over the course of the next few months!

West Texas Oasis

Since making the decision many months ago to take the bulk of our landscaping budget during our home construction and apply it strictly to the front yard, we have been talking about all the big plans we have for the back.

We envisioned a very "resort" feel -- complete with pergolas, an outdoor fireplace and a jacuzzi. A few other extras such as an outdoor tv and (of course) a grill were included in our vision too.

We began really laying it all out a couple of weeks ago and finally got our entire design on paper yesterday morning. A quick trip to Lowes for some wooden stakes and string to map it out in the actual backyard was next on the agenda, and a "quick trip" to the local hot tob store pretty much sealed the fate of our backyard renovation budget over the next few months.

A trip to the store led to a trip to the Home Show down at the Civic Center (who knew?) which, in turn, led to the purchase of a shiny new Jacuzzi J-345 Hot Tub with a roasted chestnut shell and opal interior. It hold 5-6 adults and comes complete with its own waterfall and light show.
(Mountains Not Included)

To say we are excited about our fun (albeit impulsive) new purchase would be an understatement. And I argue that it wasn't TRULY impulsive, as we already had a hot tub worked into our design plan and had plans to purchase one within the next few months anyway.

At any rate, the purchase of the hot tub did nothing if not expediate the design process and move us quickly along from "planning" to "implementing" and by noon today Rob has already secured an electrical contractor to handle the installation of all the necessary hot tob electrical wiring and we have a pergola contractor coming to the house this evening to give us an estimate on turning our plan on paper into a reality.

I have to say the only downfall of living in a new home is the lack of fun projects to do. Everything is already done! But I have a feeling this backyard renovation is going to cure our DIY itch for, at least, the remainder of this year.

Here are a few of the ideas we plan to implement:

It's hard to believe that by the middle of May our backyard will no longer be just a blank slate. We are SO looking forward to entertaining out in the yard many, many times over the warm summer and fall months!

Worst.Blogger.Ever.

Really?? Has it REALLY been 3 months since I took the time to sit down and blog?

Wow. I can't believe it! And to be honest, the past 3 months haven't even been that crazy. I have no excuse.

Let's see...

Of course we made it through the holidays and had a wonderful Thanksgiving and Christmas as our first year as a married couple and in our new home. There was something special about recieving a phone call from my sister at 6:30am Christmas morning telling us to hurry and up and come over for Santa.

So we bundled up (flannel pajamas and all) and headed over. Of course, we weren't quite fast enough (maybe I shouldn't have taken the time to make coffee?) and ended up getting a second phone call about halfway through our walk around the block. "ARE YOU COMING??"

It was so fun being able to wake up that morning and walk through the quiet, snow-filled neighborhood around the corner to my parents' house. A truly magical Christmas morning!

The New Year took off in a whirlwind (Did I say we hadn't been busy? Maybe I lied...) beginning with a trip to Salt Lake City the first week of January for the Send Out Cards Recruiting Mastery Event.

It was awesome getting to see the home office, see all of our SOC family and experience a new state and, yes, some more snow. We had a really fantastic time!

Rob decided to come with me on the trip at the last minute... which resulted in yet another hurried move of the horses. This time, to Premier Park Equestrian Center just down the street. It has been wonderful to be once again imersed into the Dressage atmosphere, and we are absolutely loving calling that place our barn "home"

Things were rolling along great for about a day and a half after Salt Lake when I recieved a frantic phone call from Patty telling me Ken had been kicked in the head and I needed to get out there right away.

Looking back, I really wish I had taken a picture, but to be honest I was too shaken up and too worried about the outcome to do anything like that at the time. My horse had a dent in his head. Right between his eyes a big, giant dent. His nose was bleeding and it was horrible to look at.

THANKFULLY, it ended up appearing much worse than it really was and we were able to take him down to Dr. Brock in Lamesa where he underwent facial reconstruction surgery (yes, that's what it said on the bill) and we have breezed through recovery with just minor complications since then.
To be honest, as horrible as it was, I have appreciated this bonding time Kenney and I have had. Hours and hours of hand walking, hundreds of treats and a lot of quality grooming time has been shared between the two of us over the past 6 weeks and we still have 2 weeks to go until we can begin riding him again. We have become the best of friends.

The last week of January we took a trip to Niagara Falls for our anniversary.

Insane pretty well describes the premise of that trip. Why would someone who hates the cold plan a trip to Canada in the middle of January?? Yep, insane is pretty much the only answer I can come up with. Well, that and the fact that a romantic trip to Niagara is one of the items on our pre-kid bucket list. So I guess there lies the true reason for the trip.

Despite the cold, snowy conditions we really did have a wonderful time exploring Canada together. We walked arm in arm around the area (more for warmth and to stay dry under the umbrella than for romantic effect) and saw all the sites including taking a trip to the underground tunnels behind the Falls.

We took a taxi up to a little town called Niagara on the Lake and sampled Ice Wine which was really delicious, ate at a little English-type pub called Corks and explored all of the little shops.

Our last night we had dinner at the hotel restaurant overlooking the Falls, enjoyed a beautiful fireworks show and exchanged our anniversary gifts -- Rob gave me the 2nd band to my ring, and I gave him an engraved watch. It says "Play Full Out" -- something he promised we would always do together in his wedding vows.

February has slowed down a bit... we have both been busy with work and squeezed in a wonderful home-cooked Valentines Day dinner. It was actually warm enough to grill outside with the back door open and we had filets, shrimp and home-made chocolate covered strawberries.

The evenings are beginning to get a little warmer and we've had Tim and Ashlea and Brian and Kristi both over for dinner and s'mores on our new fire pit in the last couple of weeks. It's definitely making me look forward to summer :)

So there you have it -- 3 months and you're all caught up. And HOPEFULLY it does not take me 3 MORE months to update this thing!

Just Being Married

Ever since the A&M Game on October 8th, we have been enjoying the routine that comes with just being married. I've mentioned this before, but I feel like this is the first time we've really been able to settle into married life since our wedding back in January.

Of course, we're still both staying very busy! Rob gets up and goes to work around 6am just about every Monday - Friday. Every once in a while he'll be back home by 3 or 4 but it's usually just about dinner time before he gets here.

I divide my time between working, taking care of the animals and all the typical house stuff. I am definitely very blessed to have a husband who works so hard for us!

I've been giving riding lessons to Paige since this past May, and a couple of months ago also began giving lessons to another little girl here in the neighborhood. I really enjoy it, and it helps to off set the cost of the horses, which is nice too :)

Halloween weekend around here was CRAZY! We had over 400 trick-or-treaters over the course of two evenings and gave out close to 1000 pieces of candy. It was nuts.

That is one of the reasons we moved to the neighborhood though.... and we are already looking forward to the fun Christmas celebrations coming up in December :)

I also started participating in our neighborhood Bible Study -- we meet once a week and I've really been enjoying it! It's been a great way to meet some of the other ladies in the neighborhood, which one of the other reasons why we moved here!

Things with SendOutCards are beginning to fall into a routine too. We recently implemented a system for meeting new contacts each day, which has been awesome so far. I see a lot of growth for our team over the next 6-12 months!

I'll do some more detailed posts about what's been going on over the past month later, but for now this short update will have to do. Nothing too terribly exciting has been going on, which is really really nice for a change :)

Classics for a Reason

All my life I have loved to read. I still remember finishing my first "chapter book" while driving to our lake house when I was 8 years old. It was the first book in The Babysitters Club series, and my parents' couldn't believe I had finished it so fast.

It was, as they say, all over after that -- I begged my Mom to take me to Barnes And Noble like most kids begged to go to Toys R Us. When I was grounded, it was from reading instead of from TV... usually because I would rather have my nose stuck in a book than to be doing my chores.

When I got to High School English though, that changed -- for some reason I hated every book we had to read. I loathed English class, and getting through the pages of the books we were assigned was worse than a trip to the dentist.

For the longest time, I simply held the opinion that I did not like classic literature unless it was authored by Jane Austen or Charles Dickens. It was a simple explanation, considering those were the only two classic authors whose books I had ever enjoyed.

They were also the only two classic authors whose books I had read prior to 10th grade English.

Over the past couple of years though, I have come to a more reasonable explanation for my apparent hatred for classic literature. The conclusion is that I don't hate it at all. I simply hated the way it was presented to me.

There is no better way to kill one's imagination than to be forced to hold a red pen while you read so you can underline and mark every piece of imagery, alliteration, oxymoron, paradox or syntax. I don't want to write a summary at the end of each chapter or check out 8 books from the Tech library so I can write a 12 page research paper on the author. I want to get lost in the story.

When I read a book, I like to become completely lost in the characters. For me, a good book is one that will transport me to the time and place in which it is written and leave me feeling like I've had the opportunity to live in a completely different life by the time I close the last page.

It's impossible to feel that way when you are required to stop every 2-3 sentences to make an analyzation!

So, over the past several years I have re-read almost every book we read in high school. It was a great surprise to me (especially at first) to learn that I have loved every single one of them! To Kill a Mocking Bird has to be one of my favorites... The Scarlett Letter and Ethan Frome are close seconds. Right now, I am reading Wuthering Heights and can hardly stand to put it down.

There are only two books that come to mind from my high school days which I cannot bring myself to read -- those are Moby Dick and Portrait of a Lady. I particularly loathed those two novels. I loathed them to the depths of my soul. In fact, I loathed Moby Dick so much that I wrote a speech about it for speech class and Mrs. Boyle made me read it to her in a closet in order to not illy influence the younger students in the class who had not read it yet. Oops.

I will re-read each of those books one day. And, I am certain, I will love them both. But I know one thing for sure... I will get new copies of each so that I do not have to look at all that darn red ink!

Those two books aside though, I have found that I absolutely LOVE classic literature! I love it so much that I have even bought a few books that we didn't read in high school -- last month I read The Count of Monte Cristo. I've also recently finished Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility. I cannot wait to re-read A Christmas Carol this December.

Even more strange than that... I love to analyze the books too. But here's the kicker -- I like to analyze them AFTER I read them! Finishing up The Count of Monte Cristo led me to a 2 hour google session learning all about the life of Alexandre Dumas... how in addition to being a novelist he was also a playwright, and that his father was also an author -- I was also amazed to discover the parallels between the lives of Edward Dantes and Alexandre Dumas, so similar in some ways and yet in others so different.

It has been refreshing over these past few years to discover that not only do I NOT hate classic literature, but I also don't hate studying it on a deeper level. I enjoy learning (I always have) and it bothered me to think that I disliked learning about one of my favorite subjects: books.

So, I will continue to read classic literature for the rest of my life. I have made it a personal goal to read every classic novel I can find and to take what I learn from each and use it in some way to improve my life.

I love classic literature. I love the stories, the people, the relationships and the lifestyles that are portrayed in its pages. I love the glimpse it gives into our history. I love just about everything about it.

I guess they really are called Classics for a reason :)

Home to stay :)

Well I think we are finally done with the marathon of busyness that has been our life for the past year. I was thinking about it, and our life has literally not been in a routine since last November when we left for Florida to go on the 21TEN cruise -- I have to say, it feels good to be home to stay for a while :)

As busy as the past year has been though -- the past 2 weekends had to have been two of the most fun.

On September 30th we woke up at 5:30am and jumped in the car to head to Houston for Trayce and Ger's wedding. It was a long drive, but Rob and I really enjoyed the 18 hours (yes, that's right.. EIGHTEEN) we had to spend together in the car just talking and hanging out. I think I might have actually ran out of things to say by the time we got home!

We pulled into the hotel around 3 and took a quick power nap before meeting everyone at the church for rehearsal. When that was done we had the BBQ rehearsal dinner then went out with the wedding party later that night.

The wedding was at 2:00 on Saturday -- so after waking up and getting ready we met Danielle and Tucker for lunch before heading to the church to help Trayce get ready for the big day! The wedding was beautiful and the reception was SO much fun. We had a blast hanging out with everyone then got back in the car and headed back to Lubbock the next morning.

The Thursday after the wedding our friends Britt and Lance flew in from Austin to spend a few days with us for the Tech/A&M game. It was so much fun having not only them in town, but so many other people, too! At one point on Friday night I think I counted at least 16 friends gathered around our table at Mesquites... it's so much fun when everyone comes to visit for Tech games :)

We went out each night and tailgated the whole day of the game -- I definitely wouldn't want to live the college lifestyles EVERY weekend anymore, but once or twice a year when we have all of friends around, it's fun to relive the "good ol' days"!

As fun as the past two weekends have been, I'm so excited to get into a routine for the next several months. We are officially home to stay until January 1st when we head out to Park City, Utah for a few days of snowboarding before attending the SOC Recruiting Mastery event that next weekend in Salt Lake. Then in March, we will hopefully be flying out to Hawaii for a few days courtesy of SOC on the 2012 Incentive Trip! We are currently qualified, but definitely need to keep our heads in the game to make sure we STAY qualified over the next few months!

If I think our days from now through January will be boring though, then I obviously must not be thinking straight. We have several more big Tech games coming up where I know we'll be hanging out and cooking with family and friends, the Vintage Adult Halloween Ball, and two nights of giving out candy to trick-or-treaters here in the neighborhood. Before we know it, we'll all be gathered around the table watching the 'Boys play on Thanksgiving, then celebrating Christmas soon after that.

It's crazy how the time flies and how life is always so busy. We are SO blessed though -- because 99% of the things we do are so much fun, and we are always making memories. If you ask me, that's really what life is all about :)