The Year of Weddings

CONGRATS!!!!
...to my big bro Brian and his new wife Lindsey! We celebrated their wedding day on Memorial Day, and then they were whisked off to Jinja, Uganda (Africa)! They are there to minister to the locals, the missionaries, and the 60 orphans or so in our cousin Danyne and her husband Surj's babies home, Amani Baby Cottage. Brian is also helping run a guesthouse kitchen, and Lin opened a new hair salon! and in other news.....

MORE CONGRATS!!!
...my little bro Aaron has officially invited his girlfriend Rachel to be in the family! He planned a really fun and surprising proposal during this photoshoot below. She had no clue! We are thrilled and look forward to their November wedding.



It's a blessing that these new sisters already felt like family to us! We love them both and look forward to sharing many family/life celebrations with them in the future. Good job bro's...good job. May God be glorified for the many blessings He has given us all!

It's so amazing we all 3 share the same year for our weddings! We joked about it the other day that we'll all have the same anniversary landmarks (all 15th, 16th the same year, etc) and Billy remarked "Yeah our 50th will be a huge blowout!". Then we all realized Brian would be 80 years old!!! So he retracted his former statement and said, "Okay, so our 25th will be a huge blowout".

Mummified

Muchas gracias to Brian (Billy's bro) & Winnie for the new mummy bags! :) We love them!

Now we can officially go camping! and It's a good thing we're not claustrophobic!!! LOL

(okay, so we are both TOTALLY claustrophobic but we won't care when we're freezing out in the wilderness!)

Travel Bugs

For those who read the title above and thought, "travel what?" a Travel Bug is an item attached to a dog tag...usually found in a caching box on a hidden trail in the brush somewhere with a bar code of some kind including special information to determine it's prime target location or destination. :)

To put it to you simply, it's called Geo Caching...and it's quite addicting.

Last month, Billy and I flew out to California for a wonderful post-wedding reception his parents threw for us. While we were there, we had a few days of free time in which we were told we would be "Geo Caching". I was confused a bit, as I had never heard of the term, but once given the explanation, I recalled a certain episode in Amazing Race where the teams in competition had to do this sort of "high tech treasure hunt". Geo Cachers take their hand-held gps devices, plug in certain coordinates to a "treasure box" and then drive to their "treasure hunt". The caches can be found by simply clicking on http://www.geocaching.com/ and entering your zip code, or city...we found that there are THOUSANDS of these little hidden containers all over our city! All you need is a handheld gps unit and you're good to go!

So we made a decision. We are going to try making this a regular hobby (and a new fitness regime). It's so fun to meet the challenge of finding the hidden cache, plus it can really be great excercise! You can decide how rough the terrain, or how difficult the hunt. Here are a few simple suggestions: #1 Wear clothes/shoes you don't mind getting dirty. #2 Take a pen, because if you find the cache, you should write your name and the date you found it on the log book. #3 If you take an item from the box, you should leave an item as well. For instance, in the Cali cache, we took a Travel Bug toy monster truck with a dog tag asking us to take it closer to a "Monster Truck Rally" and we left in return, a bottle of bubbles from our wedding (to sort of celebrate the purpose of our trip) :)

Today, we Geo Cached on a hiking trail nearby, and it took us a while to find the box, as it was hidden under several large pieces of bark. We left the monster truck there (our city is well known for their rally's), and took a new travel bug for Unite for Diabetes (not all caches have travel bugs, so you have to search them out online as each cache should tell it's contents).

We haven't decided where we might leave the new "find" but I'm sure the next hunt will be just as fun and maybe even more challenging!

Beware if you try it for yourself. You just might get hooked like we are.

2 Months already?!

I can't believe we've now been happily (for real) married people for approximately 68 (or 69) days! It's stinkin' FLYING BY! Before you know it, we'll be lugging around a half-dozen babies in an Excursion (or Billy say's a Suburban...cause Excursions are Fords :)) or something....hehe. That'll be fun :)

We have realized something important in this past month: we don't really NEED t.v... see, we haven't paid for the service yet, and honestly, I'm not sure we've missed it. Now, some of you may remind me that after babies, t.v. will be a necessity (baby einstein, sesame street, caillou....or you name it)...or then again, maybe not.

However you choose to look at it, it seems, and I honestly feel, like we have had more quality time than a lot of couples spend together. When I get home, we usually crank up the musica, and either dance in the kitchen (okay, so we just TRY to dance, lol) or laugh at funny stories from the day, or cook together, or clean.....whatever it is, we're not usually glued to a t.v. unable to function without eating on the couch with a t.v. tray of food straddling our laps.

Maybe that will change, but for now, I'm content with our t.v.-lessness :) In other news, we chose to "escape" this past weekend...and our destination of choice was none other than.....DRUMROLL.......


.....Galveston :)

I know, I know, "so what?" right?
Well it was just the relaxing weekend we were desperate for. We needed to just unwind from the tensions at work, and bombarded calendar of events...and just "be" together. We also wanted to be in a place out of reach, where we could make ourselves available to hear from God concerning some major decisions for our family. It was wonderful.

We enjoyed a lovely dinner at Fisherman's Warf where they harbor a real-life pirate's dream of a boat, Elissa. We also spent over 6 hours in Moody Gardens, visiting every single exhibit and nearly every attraction. Mario's filled our stomachs with some very tasty pizza....and on the last day we walked the beach, picking up sea shells and chasing down ice cream trucks for some tasty treats...and then we ended up at a hole in the wall mexican restaurant, Gorditas which ended up being delish! The trip was closed off with a casual stroll down the strand where I introduced Billy to the "real" Dr.Pepper's in glass bottles with PURE CANE sugar, not HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP!

It was a nice gettaway, and just what we needed!

Other than that-we are doing GREAT! We have had several friends see the townhome, and I'm sorry for not posting pictures yet! So if you're in town, just come by and see us, you're all welcome at our place!

PICS FROM A FUN DAY AT KEMAH WITH

MOM, THE BRO & HIS LADY :)

Happy 1 Month!!!

I can't believe a WHOLE MONTH (and 10 days) ago I was blessed to become the new and improved "Mrs "Billy" :)

In honor of this great event the hubby and I went out for a celebratory dinner. When the ladies at work found out we were actually "going out" for this huge milestone, lol, they all teased and questioned whether we would "do this every month"....to which one co-worker excitedly responded for me "she hopes so!".

My mother recently asked if marriage was different than I expected it to be. I thought for a while, and answered truthfully that it was actually better than I thought it would be (and I had pretty high expectations). As my friend Lauren explained it, it's like "having a slumber party with my best friend every night". I know it's God's perfect will for me to be married to Billy, and he brightens my every day!

In this whole uncharted territory called "marriage"

I have a learned a few meaningful things.

For example:

*Don't cry over spilled peppercorns

*It's nice to take time to stop and kiss my husband when I/he get(s) home.

*It's great to laugh not just with but AT each other!

*We make a great team, even if it's in the grocery store, lol

*I can be a very SELFISH person...and it's NOT all about me anymore!

*Boys can be fun to live with :)

*Being right and "winning" will only make him a loser

*Having a devotional and prayer life together keeps every day more "God centered"

*I can't always do/make things "perfect" and he still loves me

*I CAN always try though :)

*When I'm stressed from a hard day, it REALLY works to laugh together! That whole "medicine" thing about laughter is sooooo true!

*When I've thought I can't laugh anymore...I keep laughing!

*It's good to take care of others together...two really are better than one

*It's even better for people to sense God's peace in our home, because that means we are at peace and we really are "as one"

*Marriage means a little more sleep at night

*Our marriage has become our #1 ministry....and that doesn't make it any less effective than a formal ministry

*People really are watching

*and finally....this past month has showed me that marriage to the right man has been TOTALLY WORTH THE WAIT!

Being "creative"

Last night was hilarious. While Billy and my bro Aaron went out to the gun range, I decided to get “creative” for dinner.

I made homemade Italian sausage meatballs and bowtie pasta with a roasted garlic tomatoe sauce…then I ventured out with the baking mix to bake garlic/cheese biscuits (made it up) which turned out pretty good. Fresh spring-mix salad with fresh ranch, and sweet tea of course. My final adventure was an alfredo sauce from scratch, which I’ve done before and it get’s even better over time…BUT as I was cracking pepper into it, the grinder BROKE! Black peppercorns went EVERYWHERE! Our whole white kitchen floor was covered with little black beads, and they were allllll over the stovetop and every single countertop! So I calmly strained the peppercorns out of the alfredo saucepan, and decided instead of crying, I would just leave the kitchen alone, set the table, light some candles, turn up the music and turn OFF the lights!

I had the table totally set~I used our new black and red placemats and napkins, and we each had our pasta bowls, salads, alfredo sauces to dip in, bread and tea. Off to the side was olive oil, red pepper, and balsamic vinegar….and then on the other side was our huge pasta bowl with the pasta and it looked great in there! I lit the new silver taper candles and it felt so fancy!

When Billy got home, he walked in the door, and looked a little confused, but was so impressed J. He came around and pulled my chair out for me like we were in a restaurant, and didn’t question as to why the lights were out. Lol. After he prayed over the meal, he said he needed to wash his hands from shooting guns at the range, so I told him to “go to the bathroom and wash them”….

After a delicious dinner, I said “now, here’s the REAL reason we had candlelight!”…and turned the kitchen light on. He started laughing out loud! Then he looked at me and goes “nope, we’re not touching it tonight”, and turned the lights back off and started Monsters, Inc. for us to watch together.

I love my life.

This is the (Married) Life

So, I rolled over yesterday morning and whispered to my husband a "happy two week anniversary" :) We are having SO MUCH FUN being married!

It's amazing to look back and see God's hand on us the entire week before our wedding...even up to the day-of the wedding I was (surprisingly) relaxed and enjoyed as much of the day as I could possibly take in. I heard so many people come through our receiving line afterward, tell me that they had us in their prayers that week. How cool is that? I was blown away at the support and love we felt from everyone present and also those who gave their wishes from afar. It was a day to remember!!!

After being overwhelmed and blessed that our wedding day came together as smoothly and peacefully as it did, and we were swept off to stay at the Iberostar Grand in the Riviera Maya and treated like royalty! What a beautiful breathtaking place! We had a butler, 24 hour room service and enough tasty food and fresh squeezed juices to keep us smiling for a long time :) They would turn our sheets down every night before we returned from dinner, and draw our baths (sometimes making funny animals on the bed with handtowels like you see on the cruise commercials), or cover the tub with rose petals...it was always a fun suprise!

There was a ceramic scented oil warmer they would light for us every night, and we LOVED the way it smelled our room up! So we ventured out to find one for a keepsake, and the stores on the resort kept telling us they were out at the moment but may get more in soon (to sale). Alberto, our butler informed us on our last day that they had been saying that for months! So he encouraged us to take the one in our room! He said he would take care of it, and put another one in somehow. So we have it! We bought the oils from their store, and it reminds us of Mexico every time we light the candle!

When we came home, we got right to work on our new townhome, and it's really starting to look like people live in it :) We are saving up for a bed of our own, but for now, we're using the one I had before and it will eventually be our guest bed (especially when we have out of town family stay), and we brought my dining table and hopechest over. We also invested in a leather sectional with ottoman, and last night, my handy man of a husband put together our bar stools. We are sooooo enjoying being together and not having to say goodbye anymore-only goodnight!

I hope you are all doing great, and you should give me an update if I haven't talked to you in a while. The past 13 weeks went by so quickly and I know I missed out on some of your life-happenings! Thank you all for your love and kind words and encouragement in the midst of planning such a major event-I really appreciate your friendship!

Much love to you all,

MRS.B!

Tres Dias Mas

Can you blogger people believe I'm getting married in 3 days!!! This past 11 weeks has FLOWN by like you wouldn't believe(well, if you've planned a wedding you would believe)
Updates for you guys and gals:

Billy's stuff is here finally! The truck took 2 weeks to make it over from California, but it's here, and in our townhome garage...

Our new couch is here! We got DUMPED :) It's a taupe futura leather sectional with chaise and ottoman. We LOVE it! So you all have to come over and have a look-see.

Our townhome now houses my wood/wrought iron table I dragged to my moms house when I moved back from Dallas, as well as my hope chest. Poor moms living room looks empty but it's a good excuse to go shopping!

I am slowly (with the incredible help from my friends) but surely moving my stuff over...and you can actually see the carpet in my bedroom at mom's house now. LOL it's been months since I could say that!

and a HUMONGOUS thank you goes out to my wonderful bridesmaids! Because of their awesome willingness to give a workin' girl a hand, this wedding is just about planned and ready to go (all we have left are the programs).

Whew!

Much love to you all, and hope to see you in 3 days when I am officially donned MRS B!!!!!

Our Registry

The wedding plans are coming along! It has been some very productive last 8 weeks! I can't believe I change my name in 26 Days!!! WOOHOOO!

Oh, and I've had a lot of questions about this, so for those who are wondering...we are registered at Macy's, Bed Bath and Beyond and R.E.I. (Billy thought I needed some camping gear too :)

Wedding Site

Hey there fellow bloggers...I made some more updates a few posts down...and Billy also updated our wedding website, so if you're interested...check it out at the knot.com! I don't want to post it up here, with all the crazies on the web these days.. :)



Ciao!

Happy "Valentimes" Day

MORE UPDATES AND NEWS IN THE POST BELOW

NEWS!! We just received a call saying we were approved for the ceremony/reception site we've been hoping for!!! Now we will be able to relax and enjoy this Valentines Day with that out of the way...

T-minus 10 and counting....no...make that 6!

March 3rd UPDATES are in PINK
Feb 20th UPDATES are in BLUE!!
Feb 7th-UPDATES are in RED! Things are just falling into place!! We have felt the peace of God as we plan our wedding, and I'm thankful for all the help we're getting from everyone around us! I can't believe this is countdown WEEK #10

Here's what we've got so far.....
A date: April 12th
A time: 2:00pm Okay this might be earlier now- closer to 11:30 or so... Nope, we're stickin' to our original plan with 2:00pm, so start booking your flights/road trips now!!
A place: Well, we thought we did...keep this in our prayers, as our search continues. Praise God we were able to get ahold of 2 potential locations today!!! We've been calling everywhere for days. It appears that our day is AVAILABLE for our favorite choice! WOOHOO. They just had a wedding that was planned for that day move to the night before! It's kind of funny, but I had actually sent a request for application there a few months before we were even engaged yet (I guess when you know you just know right?! lol). Turns out, they never received it. So today, we should get a final answer back. Thank you Jesus! We are ALMOST COMPLETELY settled now, with our favorite location. There had been some setbacks, but we're feeling more and more comfortable that everything's working out. We paid the deposit today, and we're good to go :)
A minister We actually have 2!
A dress: YAYYYYYYY
A veil: YAYYYY again!
A cake: We're pretty sure, just gotta taste it :) We tasted- we picked- we are happy! and now we've got a grooms cake in the works too ;)
Flowers: Thank God for friends who buy wholesale
Music: I think we've just got one more song to pick...
Decorations: Yeehaw for a fiance' who loves to build things, and good friends in this business ;)
Our colors LOL.I thought I had the colors, but this bridesmaid dress thing has caused a lot of color confusion. When we find the dresses for the girls, our colors will be FINAL. :) We're going with teal green and Ocean blue! Or better yet, Steel Blue in Aqua if we're able to order them.
A ring bearer My favorite little pirate ;)
Some flower girls Two of them to be exact!
My Bridesmaids Nine of those
His Groomsmen Nine of those too
The invitations are picked, and almost printed... Just waiting on a final word on location. They are designed and on the printing presses today!
We have some fantastic photography options We're going with Clark Lara! He's so talented! Already, we are so pleased with our engagment session...can't wait to see what's in store with the Bridals.
We're praying for our videographer friends to be available! We're going with some good friends in the business.
And Billy's on the ball with our honeymoon plans! Yippiee....it will be a great surprise! It's paid for, but still a surprise for me!

...and plenty of other surprises to come!


So I think we're doing pretty good! This is fun! I am thankful for God's peace that gives us the faith to believe that He will work out the crazy details.
And now, when we get back from our honeymoon we've got a TOWNHOME to live in!!!! We were approved yesterday for a beautiful and roomy townhome and couldn't be more thrilled about our place! I can't believe WE have a PLACE?!!
The registries are pretty much done....thank goodness for the internet! We did SOME scanning in store, but with our crazy full time lives, and living in two states, it was much better to go look in store and then add items online.

Hello Fiance'!!!

Once upon a time....
There was a girl named Jamie and a boy named Billy.

Now Billy lived far far away, and didn't have a plane ticket to visit until Valentines Day. But on a Thursday evening, January 24th Jamie walked in to her room to find an array of brand new dresses hanging all over the doorways! She didn't know what they could be for, and asked Billy (on the phone) "What is this?? Did you do this??" (assuming they must be dresses sent from California for her to try on for Valentines Day) The answer came from a voice on her stairway, "You mean the dresses?". It was Billy!! He had made a completely surprise visit to see her!

The dresses were picked out by Billy along with the help of Jamie's mom and future sis in law Lin (who painstakingly tried each one on for her).

She was to pick one dress because Billy had made dinner reservations that night! He let her believe he just decided to come because of cheap flights....but there was much more in store for her that night!

As they walked out of the house together, Billy in his new brown leather sports coat and slacks, and Jamie in her new hand-picked dress, a Lincoln Navigator Limo out front to pick them up!

The limo arrived in the Landry's parking lot (and she knew Billy doesn't love seafood so they must not be eating there!) and they took a stroll along the waterway, much like they had done many times before during Billy visits It was cold, and a little rainy, and Billy knew he had to get them back inside the car. He looked her in the eyes and asked "Do you remember what we were doing the last time we came to this waterway?" "We were dancing", she replied. "Yes, and it's TOO COLD to dance tonight", he said, "but I have another surprise for you!"

"I SOLD THE TRUCK!!!"
(Some may not realize how HUGE this news was... it was the truck that God had asked them to sell before they had the "green light" to move forward into marriage. It had been on the California market for an ENTIRE YEAR but sold on THE DAY Jamie's old house was sold....which meant they could be married, AND they now had a wedding fund!). There were tears and laughter and unbelief all at the same time (from Jamie especially). He went to his knees and as he held up a light blue faberge egg with a white gold and diamond ring he said "Jamie will you be my wife?!" "Yes , of course!!", she said. She bent down, wrapped her arms around his neck and cried. "Don't you want to put the ring on?" he asked...as she had completely overlooked it earlier in her shock.

It looked incredible~ It was everything and more that she could imagine for a ring. He picked it all by himself, and it was beautiful!! The faberge egg looked like something royalty would have....AND it was her favorite color too!

(notice the red nose from the cold AND from crying) Then......after they came in from the cold, the limo driver took them to Kirby's Steakhouse, where a private booth with curtains and a table covered with rose petals awaited them. It was PERFECT. The server snapped some photo's (many with Billy's eyes shut of course, lol) and other great moments of laughter and pure joy!

Almost as soon as they were seated, a live jazz band began to play their "songs", and Jamie asked if this was part of the incredible night's plans?? "No, but that would have been AWESOME" Billy said.

The food was wonderful, and they brought out a triple chocolate cake in the couple's honor.... it tasted like chocolate covered cordial cherries!

As the band played "Home" (Michael Buble), and "Take Me Home Country Road" (John Denver)....they remembered all the moments of "homesick" feelings the past 9 months has brought in their times apart from each other. For now and forever, together is HOME.

And from now on, they will live

~~ Happily ~~ Ever ~~ After ~~

Bye Bye Mayble!

We will miss you......but you have a NEW home now :)

Nana Tea

Each day around 4 o’clock I stop my blurry eyes in the monotonous world of industrial sales for a moment of “tea time”. Today was no different. Today, I sipped a smooth and sugary cup of what our Israeli friends would call “Nana (Mint) Tea” and took a stroll down memory lane...back to my Holy Land adventures with companions Melissa & Danyne (cousins).

My mind drifts back to the many weekends spent in the Old City of Jerusalem with our shopkeeper friends in the low-ceiling hole-in-the-wall shops containing large shallow trays of good smelling seasonings and flaky, gooey pastries...or artifacts and jewelry...or middle-eastern clothing and trinkets. Many of the shopkeepers knew us girls by name, and if not, they assumed we were “BYU” (must have been the modest clothing). Some of our visits included helping them make jewelry, put items neatly on the shelf, count money, you know the USUAL?? It was a time of reckless abandon, an almost unrealistic experience.

This brings me back to the best part: the Nana Tea. As we would come into the shops, they would have us take a seat, and enjoy a fine clear-glass brewing with hot water and fresh mint leaves and about an inch of pure white sugar in the bottom of the glass. This was their “Nana Tea”. It was refreshing and delicious, and the cousins and I would often be found singing out the old Jaci Velasquez song (our version of course)….”Na na na na na na na, Nana Nana tea! Oh ooo oh oooh oooh oh oh”. It took us showing them proof of the original song for them to finally be convinced we didn't completely make it up :)

For me, every cup of mint tea will take me back to the great times we Three Amigos had together. Though it's harder now as Danyne resides in Africa/Melissa in San Antonio, I think we still have many more memories to come!

Mucho fun times

Celebrating our 1st Christmas Together

Billy and I exchanged our array of Christmas gifts in a progressive fashion…


(the hellicopter’s BILLY’s Todd! Lol…) How fun and meaningful every single gift was! We loved every bit of it!
Larry and Suzanne gave us our first Nativity (going in our hope chest-wahoo) and we look forward to many additional pieces added in the future!..and some long johns and Amazing Grace, the movie. We had many thanks to both our families for all the special things they gave us….
Brian’s (his bro) wrapping was AMAZING! (the Aveda tea hit the spot) Brian (my bro), Aaron and Rachel were very thoughtful with their gifts…it touched Billy very much that they would send gifts with me for him. Todd got me the perfect house-boots! Love them!


Mom and Dad got him a special “Texas” gift (Chuy's University of Tex-Mex shirt)....that he wore asap and the Cabellas’s cards were nearly stolen at least 10 times (by his dad, hehe)

I think our favorite gift of all, however, was our

RIGHT HAND RINGS.

We had picked them out together in Sacramento (last trip), but waited to give them for Christmas. We wanted our Right-Hand ring to represent God’s promise to us, as our Left-Hand ring will represent our promise to each other.

We chose a pattern that also symbolized the crossing of our paths!
We know it was by way of a miracle that God chose to take us off our individual paths, and join one another on OUR path…..

It was a wonderful New Years in California! We played in the snow, and Snow-shoed (hard stuff!) on an active volcano (Mt. Lassen)!

Celebrating our 1st New Years Together

We were pooped that night, but managed to get up and keep our tradition of banging pots and pans to ring in the new year!!

Billy said, "so it’s a new year…what do you want to change
for 2008?"

I said, "MY NAME!"

THENNNNNNNNN since he bought me some

official SNOW CLOTHES....

Billy taught me how to ski for the very first time on Mt. Shasta!! It was soooo fun and his patience really paid off! I only fell one time- on a practice-lift- lol- but that’s it! I never fell on the slopes! I was totally surprised at myself, and honestly I think I shocked him too! We had tons of fun, and now, we can go back and ski longer next time!