Family Affair

Ryan & I just got back into town (barely alive) from our wonderful Thanksgiving with the Ebright family. We left Tuesday after work and drove all the way to the middle of Kansas. Even though we were dog tired it didn't matter because we were so excited to see family. It had been since the Forth of July that Ryan & I had been back to his home town. It was such a sweet trip.

On our first full day in Kansas we slept in and caught up with everyone. It's a lot cooler in Kansas then Texas. I had forgotten that when my sister-in-law, Emily, suggested that we walk to the movie rental place to pick up a few flicks for the week. It's been awhile since I had been that cold. :) For dinner we met up with Ryan's grandma at the local Pizza Hut which is always a hot spot, especially when they have buffets.

Harlan, Me, Ryan, Emily, Grandma Ebright and Sally

Love this picture of the girls.

Emily, Grandma Ebright and Sally

Once we had our fill of pizza and caught up with some of the locals, we headed back to the house to break out the Rock Band game. Unfortunately, Ryan forgot to bring the microphone and the piece to hook in the guitar so all we had were the drums. :) It was still fun. I think everyone enjoyed The Beatles songs.

After all The Rock Band excitement we watched the movie Up which I totally cried through the whole thing. You have to see it. It was so well done, and I LOVED the story behind it. Click here to see my very creative friend and her boyfriend's Halloween costume from this movie.

These pictures crack me up. Sally & I always love to take silly pictures of each other. In the one below I was telling Ryan to come over to us to take our picture, and I didn't realize Sally was making that face. Ha!

I just love my sister-in-laws. :)

More fun Thanksgiving posts to come. Right now I need to recover from that heinous car drive home. Mental note, do NOT drive home on a holiday Sunday through rain. Enough said.

Office Babies

Last week about killed me off when two ladies brought their babies to the office. Oh my goodness, they were so cute. This is baby Landon and he was born three weeks ago. My friend Shannon is holding him. Landon got passed around a lot by the ladies.
My coworker, Prabha, is holding Landon and his mommy, Kristen, is standing next to them. She is on maternity leave but came to visit and let us love on her sweet baby. That hoodie is so stinkin' adorable!

Then this little stinker had to show up and melt my heart. My coworker, Esther, is holding Christiana and my good friend Dorothy (the mommy) is standing next to them.

I have been begging Dorothy to bring her little cutie to the office for awhile and she finally gave in. :) I got to get my hands on those chubby cheeks. She is such a good little baby and turning one in January.

I am not going to let anyone else bring their little ones to the office. It's not good for my health. :)

Rockin' Night

Our roomie's husband came in town for the weekend from Dallas. It was the first time we've seen him since he started his MBA. In honor of Jon's visit we finally broke out the Beatles Rock Band. We all went out to dinner at Lupes along with our friends Scott & Bethany. Then afterward came back to our place to get our rock on.

Ryan on guitar, Jon on drums and Scott on vocals.

Katie & Bethany were the back up vocalists.

We decided that it was time for the girls to show up the boys.

We were pretty hardcore (in my pink pants).

Then the Ebrights took a turn together.

Bethany was the rock star of the night. She is due with her first child in three weeks!! Look how cute she is supporting the guitar on her belly.

A little video for your enjoyment. Katie was cracking us all up with her drum skills.

Right after I took this clip of her, her contact popped out of her eye from concentrating so hard and not blinking! I hadn't laughed that hard in a very long time. Don't worry she recovered and came back with avengeance.

Out of Town Friends

On Tuesday Ryan & I had the good fortune of two friends coming in town from Bartlesville for work. Both were coming for separate reasons but on the same day! Hot diggity dog. :)

Some of you will remember Janet. We stayed with her and her husband, Nate, when we sold our house and needed a place to stay before we moved. Janet is my girl. We all went out to the Spicy Pickle for lunch. It's a sandwich, soup and salad place (the pickles really are spicy).

Katie, Janet, Me & Ryan (notice the product placement)

I miss Janet so much! Nate & her need to hurry up and get transferred down here.

Then that night our friend Jordan came into town and we had dinner at a new restaurant that just opened called Genghis Grill. It reminded me a lot of one of our favorite places to eat in Kansas City, Mongolian BBQ.

Me, Ryan, Katie & Jordan

Jordan went to college with Ryan & I and the boys were even in men's glee club together. That cracks me to think about that because we are so into the TV show Glee. I just picture Jordan & Ryan doing the same things (which they kind of did). Not sure what Katie's doing in this picture but Jordan always brings our silly side out.

Normal picture. Jordan, Katie and I all worked in the same group in Bartlesville. That's where I met Katie and we all became good friends.

Ryan and I can never seem to get a normal picture.

I rest my case.

It was so good seeing our friends. I can not go that long again! It's so hard trying to see everybody on a regular basis. I wish it were easier.

Blogger Awards

**It won't let me space out the lines below!! Any suggestions??**

I've recently been given a few awards from three sweet ladies. :) I believe it's a little shout out to say they like visiting the blog, and I just wanted to say thank you!

The first one I received was from my blogger friend, Christa. We share a bond because we both went to schools in different states that were known for their Agriculture and referred to as Aggies.


My friend Leah gave me this next one a little while ago. I met her back in Bartlesville, OK. Her husband works for COP with Ryan & I and now that we've all moved to Houston we only live a few blocks from each other. They have a gorgeous little girl, Perri, that just turned one.

My latest award is from one of my newest blogging buddies, Emily. She is super sweet and blogs about her journey while in college. I remember those days. :)

I am supposed to list 10 interesting things about myself and then pass the award along. I wish I had more direction. Ha! It's hard for me to come up with random things. Hmmm...

1. I am a sugarholic. I can not get enough! Ryan will make me a fabulous dinner and all I can ask him is "What's for dessert?". I really need to over come this. Any advice?

2. I am such a home body. I could stay home all weekend and be totally content. I know some people find this hard to believe. :) But I would say that I'm half extrovert and half introvert. It can be a weird mixture at times.

3. I am terrible when it comes to talking on the phone. When I was in high school the thing was attached to my hip. I think I must have just gotten burned out from the hours I used to spend on it. I much rather met up with people in person. This has created problem since my family and most of my friends don't live in the same state as me.

4. I graduated from Kansas State University with a bachelors in Family Life & Community Service and I haven't done a thing with it. Right out of college I worked as a medical assistant for a dermatologist and when we moved I started working at my husband's company, ConocoPhillips. Random huh? I was attempting to get my second degree as a RN but with all this moving it's just not possible.

5. I would like to have 2 or 3 children. The third one depends on how difficult the first two are. wink wink. Still not sure when Ryan & I will start a family but it's probably on the horizon in the next few years.

6. I don't know if I've mentioned this on here but I collect weird things. The two that come to mind are pens and lip sticks/glosses. I have drawers full of both. I just can't get enough! I will buy them every time I see one that I like. It's so bad that I ordered the new Sharpie Pens on Amazon because I couldn't find them in stores. Even with all my options I still only use one pen and lip gloss most of the time. My favorite lip gloss right now is the Chanel Glossimer, Pagoda.

7. I've been sky diving and on a hot air ballon ride. Both I would totally recommend.

8. I'm terrified of fish. I don’t like to eat them or touch them. I will view them from afar in a tank. But when it comes to snorkeling (especially in shallow waters where I can’t get away very fast) it freaks me out!

9. I love to buy clothes but I am not very good at it. I always second guess myself and then end up always buying the same ol’ same ol’. I need to expand my horizons!

10. I've grown up in a Christian household and accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior from a very young age. I am so grateful to have been raised knowing the Lord when there are so many out there who didn't have that opportunity. I am committed to doing the same for our future kiddo's.

I'm passing this on to:

Victoria - victorialNvirginia

Alison - We've "Ben" Blessed!

Erika - Updates from the Anderson Family

Kelley - The Greening Family

Stephanie - Steph's Blog

Malinda - O'Hara Family

Liz - Joel and Elizabeth

Chasity - All Because of You

Leah - Life As We Know It...

Christa - According to Christa

Show Us Your Pets Friday

When I saw that Kelly's Korner was having Show Us Your Pets Friday, I got so excited. Most of you know how much Ryan & I love our cats, and know that I will jump at the chance to talk about them on here. :)

We got our first baby shortly after we were married. We graduated college, got married, went on a honeymoon, moved to Texas and bought our first pet all within a month and a half. Ryan & I lived in Texas a whole two weeks before we decided we needed a pet. We found KC at one of the local PetSmart or Petco (can't remember). Ryan picked him out, and they've had a bond ever since.

KC is definitely a daddy's boy.I still remember when he was small enough to fit into our Thank You card box. It's so funny what cats will try and fit in!

Before this Ryan had never had an indoor pet. He wasn't too crazy about the idea but as soon as we got KC he never looked back! Ryan decided he would build him a cat tree that was better then what we could buy. It ended up being humongous!! Just for reference Ryan is 6'4. The thing was taller then me. Thankfully we did not take it from our apartment to our first house.

This was KC's first Halloween as a devil. He made such a cute one!

And then came our second baby about 4 or 5 months later. Ryan & I were working a lot and felt like KC was lonely so we got him a buddy. At the time we never considered dogs because we lived in an apartment. We got Yogi from our local vet that had rescued him. I was the one that picked this hunk of love out.

Ornery little Yogs & KC

How can you resist this face?? KC giving Yogi some brotherly love.

There bond has continued to grow over the last three years.

I have never regretted having two cats because they love each other so much. They bring us so much joy that I can over look all the cat hair I am constantly vacuuming. ;) These two have so much personality. I'm sure everyone feels that about their own pets.

New Houston Tradition

This year was my first time to experience the Houston Nutcracker Market in Reliant Center. If you've ever been to a Home & Garden convention, this was much like that. I was in Heaven!

It's a four day market that featured 323 national and international merchants selling gifts for the entire family, including: home décor, gourmet food, garden, clothing, sporting gifts, novelties, accessories and Christmas décor. All proceeds from the market benefit went to the Houston Ballet Foundation. My friend Lindsey & I went together and did a little damage. Next year we are going to come prepared with a list now that we know everything that this market has to offer. This is definitely a new tradition that I am gladly adding to the coming years. :)

In other news, my mums survived! It's a miracle I tell you. Everything I plant usually dies within weeks of me planting it.
We had a nice weekend of shopping and spending time with friends. Even though KSU didn't due so hot against MU. :( There's always next weekend!

Happy Birthday Mark!

Our good friend, Mark, turned thirty last week and we spent this past Saturday celebrating! That is, after the 5 mile heart walk and after Ryan & I watched Kansas State crush KU... We headed over to Brittney's to begin our night. A group of us dined at El Tiempo Cantina downtown, which neither Ryan or I had ever been to. The place was packed so I knew we were in for a treat.

Mark (I30) & Ryan

In true restaurant fashion, everybody sang as loud as we could "Happy Birthday" while Brittney tried to feed Mark dessert. He got off lucky because the waiter wanted Brittney to smash the whole thing in his face!

Our dinner was fabulous, and I'm pretty sure this was the first time I've ever seen Ryan full.

Afterward, Mark, Brittney, Ryan & I said goodbye to the group (didn't get a pic of the group) and headed over to the Improv Comedy Club to see the comedian Jim Norton. Ryan & I had never been there either and loved it! The place was the perfect set up and we had great seats. Jim was a little on the raunchy side but we still had a good laugh. The cute couple, Mark & Brittney.

Me, Ryan, Mark (dirty thirty), and Brittney

Brittney did an amazing job planning out such a fun night and really celebrating Mark's entry into the "thirty" world. :)