The results of my fresh picked strawberries

(it's a pie....the filling kind of ran once I cut into it, but man oh man is it good!)

A weekend away with a purpose

This past weekend, Dave and I traveled to Austin to visit his college roommate, who just happened to have a new girlfriend he wanted us to meet. Josh is a very special and important friend to Dave and I. He has always been loyal and self-sacrificing, and for me personally, he gave me lots of good advice when I started being interested in Dave during college. He shared with me about Dave's loyalty, a quality that Josh also has in abundance. We had an excellent time. It was the perfect combination of fun and relaxation. We stayed at his parents beautiful home in Georgetown, and it really did feel like a vacation. And, most importantly, we both fell in love with Katie, the new significant other. From an outsiders perspective, she is everything Josh could ever want, and then some! I could tell from the beginning that we were going to like her, and she proved me right all weekend long. I have to admit, they are both pretty witty in the humor department, and kept me laughing the whole weekend. We are both so excited that they have found each other and can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for them. Next time, it's a weekend of fun in Dallas!!!

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the weekend.

Josh and Katie at the beautiful breakfast spread the his mother made for us on Saturday.

Saturday afternoon we went to a farm a few towns away and picked strawberries. We made it a battle of the sexes, with the girls prevailing in the category of "perfect strawberry" and the boys prevailing in all the ridiculous categories they made up along the way (for example: Strawberry that most looks like the state of Nevada). We had so much fun, and it gave me and Katie a chance for some girl talk!

That night, Katie and I took on the task of washing and prepping all the strawberries for ice cream, which didn't turn out very well, but was fun to make none the less.

And our Saturday night ended with Josh's dad's famous Mango Margaritas!

Happy Anniversary!

This past week Dave and I celebrated our third anniversary. As cliche as this sounds, I can't believe it's been three years. I know we have many many more left, and that makes me both excited and anxious (for all of you who are aware of my "future anxieites". It's not as bad as it sounds...promise). We had a wonderful day! Dave played hookie from school (for the second time this week...see prior post) and we both slept in and I made pancakes for breakfast. The only non-anniversary part of our day included the plumber coming to put the toilet back in place from our couple weeks of hard plumbing, but after that we were free to spend the day as we choose. We started at the gym knowing we would need it for our annual anniversary dinner trip to The Melting Pot later that night. After the gym, we went out to buy our joint anniversary gift...a new digital camera! We were so excited to finally be able to upgrade our camera. My dad bought us a great little camera for our wedding, but we were ready for something a little more advanced. We picked the Cannon Power Shot! It's a great camera (Janice, I highly recommend it) and because we "worked the system" at Target, we got it for a great deal. After camera shopping, we went downtown to see the King Tut exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Art! I was so excited and thrilled to get to see this exhibit. I remember specifically sitting in Mr. Anderson's sixth grade social studies class and seeing the film strip of King Tutankahmen and the unearthing of his tomb. I was completely awed and amazed by the whole thing. I remember thinking to myself that one day I wanted to go dig in the dirt and find something big myself. I really think that if I had gone to a bigger college, I would have majored in archaelogy or anthropology. Anyway, the exhibit has been here for a while and we have been wanting to go for a while too, but, did I mention how expensive it was!!!! So..thanks to a generous anniversary check from Mom and Pop Norvell, we were finally able to go. I was awed by everyting. I kept thinking the whole time that all these artifacts were older than JESUS (King Tut reigned around 1320 BC). If it comes to your city you must see it. There was a big sign talking about how this was the last time the exhibit would tour because many of the artifacts have been deemed too fragile to travel. The last time it toured was in the 1970s, so that kind of gives you a perspective about how fragile it is. So....needless to say, I was thrilled and extatic to get to go. So after the museum, we came home to rest and went out for fondue that evening. It was cold and rainy...added a very romantic element to our dinner out.

Three years of marriage!


At the resturant

Dave and his clean plates :>)

And the obligatory self taken portrait.

Thanks to everyone who sent gifts and called with their well wishes. We felt very loved and blessed and thankful for our supportive family in our marriage.

facing my fear

So today the cavity was filled. I have to say, pain wise, the entire experience was a breeze. I barely felt anything, including the initial shot. A few times I did feel the drill, but it wasn't pain as much as an extremely cold discomfort. Turns out that I am resistant to Novocaine....they had to shoot me 5 times in order for the medicine to spread and for my lip to become numb. Actually, I think that is why I felt the drill a few times. They shot me twice and then started to drill. When I felt it, they stopped and shot me again. I felt it again, and they shot me a fourth time. This time they waited for it to spread. After a few minutes I still didn't feel any more numb, so they shot me again (for the 5th time). After the first two shots I didn't feel the needle at all cause I was numb in that area, just not numb all the way through my jaw. So, the fifth shot finally started to numb my lip. They finished the drilling, I took a deep breath, and was done within 5 minutes. With all the shots and waiting for the medicine, the whole thing took a hour and a half. Even now, as I am home, my jaw continues to get more numb. I think if initially I had waited for the state of numbness I feel now, the whole thing would have been alot easier. Because I kept feeling the drill, and all of the stating and stopping, I started to get really panicky and stressed out. If we could have waited the hour for all the Novocaine to seep through to the point I feel numb now, it would have been a breeze. Well, as least I will know this for next time (and I'm pretty sure there will be a next time).
Dave came and literally held my hand the whole time. They let him come in the room with me and he was so comforting. He wins the husband of the year award for putting up with his whimp wife.

What's wrong with this picture

I'll give you a hint. One of the items in this picture used to belong in the space depicted below.

any guesses?

Happenings

Right now I have a team of plumbers at my house. They have succeeded in removing the master bathroom toilet from it's happy home and stuck a camera down the pipe to discover why, for a solid month, our toilet clogs if you put anything other than water down it. Low and behold, a tree decided our pipes would be a nice place to grow their roots. And not just two or three roots....millions of tiny roots. I think it is safe to say that I am going to be surrounded by plumbers crack for most of my morning.



In other news, my latest trip to the dentist was not as successful as my last one. Remember how I escaped with no shot in my gums? Well, on the 9th of this month, I have to face my fear and let them drill, complete with the shot. When they told me I had a cavity at the dentist, the technician looked at me and said "we can try it without the shot, but I am pretty sure you will want it for this one." I told her I would take her word for it, and scheduled the follow up appointment. I knew that it was coming eventually. Why, oh why, did I not have any cavities as a kid,through braces and all that junk going on in the young adult mouth, and now, when I am a grown adult, I have cavities! I take better care of my teeth now then I did as a kid! Well, I asked the dentist this. She said that just like our bones grow and change as we get older, so do our teeth. Not only are the teeth themselves older, but they change. So, she said that my already deeper than average pits have become even deeper as I grew, so my likelihood for cavities had actually increased. Needless to say, I checked how much sealants for adults cost before I left. I am making Dave take the day off so he can baby me when I am done. How on earth am I ever going to birth a child if I can't handle the dentist? thankfully, that isn't in the plan for a couple more years.

This weekend I had my bi-annual break down over school. Every semester there comes a point where I look at all that I have ahead of me and think to myself "there just aren't enough hours in the day". I thought, this being my last semester, that I could avoid this day long tear fest, but alas, Saturday it came in full force. What makes this even more funny...Thursday on my drive home from class I called Dave and said "I think I'm gonna have a melt-down soon." He knew exactly what I was talking about. After Jazzercise on Saturday morning, I nursed my tears on the couch with a long nap and some Cheetoo therapy. Monday morning, the outlook is still long, but I have a renewed sense of motivation to just GET IT DONE!

And now some good news.....I AM GOING TO BE SPENDING EASTER IN CALIFORNIA! That's right, my glorious husband let me spend some of our tax return on a ticket to visit to my sister in LA! While I will only be there for a long weekend, it will be wonderful to see her and visit with her. Sarah and I were never super close friends in our childhood, but as we have grown older, our mutual respect for one another has blossomed into a great friendship. I am excited to see how she is and to get away for a weekend. Who knows, maybe I will finally get to meet dear little Henry if his mother is up to it??