A 'lil bit of Comfort

I totally forgot to blog about this! Three weekends ago we had a weekend getaway, and it was wonderful!! Our friends from our neighborhood/ministry/community/basically like family-type of friends in Austin invited us to join them at  the Haven River Inn in good ol' Comfort, Texas. (It's a tiny town outside of San Antonio) The Haven River Inn is a cute  100 year old bed and breakfast on about 20 acres of land with the Guadalupe River streaming through it. There wasn't an actual "plan" for the weekend except to hangout and relax, and that was fine by us.  The three couples stayed in our own rooms in the big house and the single girls stayed in the cottage, which was perfect for cooking lunch and dinner and late night games.  The Haven served the most delicious breakfast! I want to try to recreate one of the casseroles!

They had these huge wrap around porches with tons of rocking chairs on them. While Violet napped (and I had the baby monitor with me) I sat on this porch and read, rocked...and rolled? But it was a relaxing time to be still, not have to do anything, and be some place peaceful. I looked out to this view:

The weather was cloudy Saturday morning but then cleared up for a beautiful sunny afternoon. Bryson spent most of the afternoon fly fishing with the guys, while I was able to catch up with the girls on the porch or hanging by the river.  This group of friends we have are truly amazing, so caring, loving and welcoming! It was like we had never left. Violet loved playing outside and with the other little girl Abi. They had so much fun together!

It truly was a wonderful relaxing weekend with friends! It made us really miss living in Austin, and especially living in the same neighborhood as these people. They are so inspirational, God-loving, kind and FUN!! We love and miss you guys so much!

I could write so much more about this weekend but I'd rather you experience it for yourself. If you are looking for a getaway I would totally recommend this place!!

Weekend recap

Fun Family and Friends Weekend! My Mother in Law, offered to meet us in Austin to babysit Violet while we went to a wedding this past weekend! So along with my MIL my two sister in laws and their children came too! Though it was a 24 hour visit, it was so good to see them. Since they live 8 hrs away from Houston, any face time with them is good! We went to Phil's icehouse for lunch and of course I ordered the 78704 burger! Here is Cousin Ashtyn loving on "Baby Biolet"


We all took a little siesta and then got ready for the wedding!



The wedding was a mix between high school and college reunion for me. I've known Justin since he was in 6th grade and we went to college together! It was great to see some friends! His older brother and I were good friends in high school through youth group. His cousins and I went to high school together and another cousin is married to my best friends sister. Did you get all that? The wedding venue was beautiful, outside with lots of trees and lights all around. The group of friends at the wedding is differnt from our "normal" group. I wish there was more time to visit with everyone. We'll just have to make another trip to see that side of friends! Anyways Justin and Tara were so cute and so giddy as a new wife and husband usually are on their wedding day!



Sunday we had a nice long morning with the inlaws, watching the kids swim, chatting, and a nice too short visit from the Murphy's. We got back to Houston just in time to go to lunch with my parents and visit with my Aunt Trixie before they took her to the airport!

Whew! What a weekend!

Labor Long Weekend

We had a wonderful weekend in Austin this past weekend! We had not been back to visit since we moved...almost 7 months ago!!! It was so fun and relaxing to catch up with with our friends, We really miss all of you! We did a lot of visiting, playing with Violet and eating! I'm glad we have a a city that feels like home and a big "family" there ready to host us if we ever want to visit again. Being in Austin this weekend brought up a lot of conversation with Bryson and I about where we want to live, what we want our neighborhood/community to be like, friends, family... you know just dreaming together!:)

We'll be in ATX again this weekend for a friends wedding. I'm excited to see other friends we didn't have the chance to see last weekend! I'm a little sad the wedding season is slowing down! please someone else get married or at least invite us! (j/k...but seriously! we'll bring a gift!) But now as the wedding season slows down which is for the first time in 3 years for me, now onto baby showers!

Exciting Times

#1- I borrowed a book from my mom and started it Saturday and have not been able to put it down. Seriously I've forced myself to stay up late to read it. And Monday I woke up and it was rainy and cold...so I ate breakfast and then curled back into bed to read for a few hours! I have about 60 pages left!

#2- Last night my friend/neighbor Kristie came over to watch Indiana Jones. I had bought the DVD in China when I was there in 2006....anyways it ended up being really messed up at the end so we turned it off and were chatting it up. Suddenly we heard a dog barking and a male voice yelling in the distance. Last week on her street there was and "incident" with a pit bull, so I was thinking it was something to do with that. But I said "I'll look out the window" and I peek out the front window and there are two police cars at the corner with the lights flashing. The Kristie pops her head out the front door and all of a sudden 2 cops, a K9 police dog, and a guy in handcuffs are literally walking down my driveway!! Immediately she calls her roommates down the street and I call Bryson. I look out again and the cops have their flashlights looking through my yard and work their way to the back of our house and are looking through the trash cans! Kristie pops her head out one more time as they go down the drive way again and asks if everything is okay and one police replies "yeah just someone was running from us, but we got him". I look at Kristie and say "well I'm spending the night at your house!" I'm so thankful she was here and that nothing happened to us while we were hanging out!

#3- Today was my usual doctor appointment and the "day of decision" Because tomorrow I'll be 42 weeks pregnant we either had to decide induce or c-section. Well no changes in my body and inducing wouldn't really do much, so we decided on a c-section...tomorrow!!! It's unreal to think at this time tomorrow Violet will be here!! I mean its kind of like I felt the day before our wedding, I know in my head what is going to happen tomorrow, but I still can't comprehend it! We are soooo excited but I'm nervous about the actual surgery and recovery part. This may be my last post for a while...

Halloween 2009

We started Halloween a day early with the Murphy's. Now Grace was my roommate for 3 years in college, she always had awesome halloween costumes. But the last two years she has been really really excited about this holiday, "it's my favorite holiday" she says. She made dinner: Mummy dogs, Cheesy ghosts, and Vampire Blood!

For dessert we made Chocolate Spiders:


While our dessert had to "chill" we started on our Pumpkins. Carving Pumpkins is a "common" thing in my family. We normally did it while growing up. My dad taught us how to carve the top out at an angle and to clean the insides really well so it doesn't get moldy. Well as far as Grace can remember this was her FIRST time!! I kid you not! I could not get over it! And check out her pumpkin, it has warts! We both had tool sets and got to work! I forgot that its tough carving a pumkin! I was using a trace set and My hand got a cramp and I seriously was about to just say "i'm finished" haha! After I finally did finish, Bryson said he was proud I actually finished...he knows when anything gets tough or too much detail I'm inclined to stop. :) So I appreciated the compliment.
Check out Grace's FIRST pumpkin!! She did great!! and well I was trying to compare the size of my belly to my pumpkin: Here are our pumpkins! thanks Murphys for a fun night!

HOME!!!

After 2 months of being gone we finally made it back to Austin! We had such a relaxing vacation at the cabin enjoying family and nature. But man, does it feel great to be home! As we walked in our house it seemed more colorful than I remembered and smaller. After saying goodbye to the in laws, we crashed on the couches for 2 hours. We both feel like we have jet lag or something! (I have a cold, so I blame that!:) But it feels so good to be in our home and a city that is familiar.

Austin

In no particular order, here are a few things I like about Austin....

1. Our home! --Gosh, since the day we moved in, it has just felt like home. I think cause my husband and I moved to a new place together, it has felt 'whole'. I love the lighting in the living room in the morning..well all day, you really don't have to turn on any of the lights. I like that it is simple and not too big or too small. Our neighborhood is different from what we are use to. But once we got to know our neighbors, everyone is really nice. I love it! :)

2. Austin Stone Community Church! --If there is one reason the Lord has moved us to Austin, it very well is this church! Through this church God has really been teaching me how to actually live out my faith while living in this city to the people around me. This church is really doing amazing things in the city of Austin, but it's only because of Christ. Through the teachers in our "nearly and newly wed class", God is challenging me to fight for my marriage, that it wasn't designed to make you happy, but to glorify the Lord, marriage is to demonstrate how Christ loved the church!!! We have learned so much in the past 2 months at this church! The message here is so powerful and truthful!! ( If you ever want to check it out, or listen to podcast or find out more check out http://www.austinstone.org/)



3. Friends! -- When we first moved to Austin, it was just kind of strange I think cause we were in the transition of freshly married, new jobs, new city, new everything! But now that we have lived here a little over 3 months, we've adjusted...somewhat! We are 2-3 hours from our parents, and we live about closest 2 blocks, and longest 45 mins to friends! And we've made some new "couple friends" too! Its been hard at times to find time to hangout but once we've found it, it's been very beneficial! I think it is so important to live in community/vulnerability with others.

4. Town Lake and the Greenbelts -- okay town lake or now it's called lady bird lake is awesome. There is an Eastside one that we walk around pretty often. And the green belt feels more like hiking and away from the city. My husband and I both love being outdoors, so its been fun to explore these places together, and take group trips with friends!

5. Food! -- man oh man! there are sooooo many places to try. We have come across so many good restaurants here. (and that fact that clare and james gave us a book called "eat, shop Austin" that gives reviews over restaurants and stores...) We try to only eat out once a week, due to our budget/finances, and because we both really enjoy cooking. But when we do eat out, we REALLY enjoy it too. Some of my recommendations/places we've been to in ATX: Kyoto -(happy hour), Homeslice pizza, Eastside pies, Marekesh cafe, Eastside Cafe, Frank and Angies, Koriente, 888 (triple eight), Hey Cupcake, CoCo's, Suzi's, Juan in a Million, Good Harvest Bakery, Flip Happy, Sandy's.....definitely try these!




6. Being Married -- does that count as things I like about Austin?!! haha! Its harder than I ever thought and better than I ever thought! We are coming up on our 5 month mark!! woohoo!! As a believer, I continue to see over and over again through Bryson/Marriage how Christ loves me. I'm so thankful to the Lord for the covenant of marriage. I honestly dont understand how unbelievers 'do' marriage without the Holy Spirit's guidance and counsel...not that it gets any easier being a believer and being married...but with Christ in your life there is a different element of wholeness, forgiveness, and love.

Well, I could go on and on about ATX, but I'll leave it be! Its beautiful outside today and I dont have to work...so I'm going to spend it outside! :)