Where have we been...

Happy Labor Day everyone! I must say it is SO nice to have a day off to just relax and get some things done around the house. And now that I am a laborer in the working world, I have a whole new appreciation for this day! And its House Hunters International on HGTV all day so I am a happy camper :) Matt is using the opportunity to catch up on some z's.

We have actually been really busy the past month. A few weeks ago, my friend Laura invited us to her family's river house in Garner. We have been there once before and it's amazing. Her family is so sweet to open it up to us. We went to celebrate Laura and Haley's birthday and we floated the river, played some games, made a great family style meal, sang kareoke, watched the stars, and had inner tube races. We are so blessed with our friends because we are all so easily entertained and just love spending quality time together. Too bad we don't live closer. Then Matt and I went up to Dallas to watch the A's play the Rangers with his family. It was so good seeing Missy, Cliff, and Brady! We also went to a game with Matt's college roommates and its always an adventure with those boys. We can't wait for off-season!! Last night, my wonderful husband stayed at home and fell asleep early while I went for a girls night out with my Woodlands girls. Everytime we get together, it's like no time has passed. We have all been good friends since high school and just keep getting closer. We went to dinner at Macaronni's and then grabbed a bottle of wine and sat outside the Pavillion to listen to the John Mayer concert and catch up. Such a great night.

And finally, today I gave Matt a haircut! My Grandmom taught me how to do it but I struggled at first with her helping me. I was too scared to really cut anything. Matt really wants me to learn because it's not that hard (apparently) and it would save us some money! So I took it on by myself today and it actually went decently! See picture below :)


Matt's haircut!!

My girls night out with the woodlands crew

The whole fam in Dallas to watch the A's.

At the Riverhouse in Garner to celebrate Laura and Haley's birthday!

Pie Night

Every Thursday this summer has meant Pie Night for Matt and I. It started when our friend Chris Rogers was going to MetroLive at our church every Thursday and was right in our area. Through converstation, we all discovered we all wanted to go to House of Pies and planned to meet up on Thursday after the service. Chris is a good friend from A&M and is moving to New York in October for a job. We decided it would be a great tradition to start pie night so we could see him more before he left. And it is a routine we have kept every (well almost every) week this summer. House of Pies is the perfect atmosphere for conversation, coffe, and yes PIE!! I've had chocolate cream, pecan, bayou goo (a house specialty), and dutch apple. Mmmmmm. We probably need to change this into work out wednesday or something but it's been fun! I feel like I always learn something every week from Chris; whether that is something he challenges me to think or how to love people or how to take time and pursue relationships. We have spent so many hours talking, eating, laughing, freezing, and joking with our waitresses. We will really miss him and our pie nights when he leaves!

So I would encourage you to start a tradition to spend some quality time with a friend! Really it's good for the soul to have fellowship and spend intentional time with the people that you have been blessed with. It doesn't have to include pie because let's face it, not even Matt and I can continue eating pie every week!!

the original house of pies where we have spent every thursday

Here the man Chris himself with MY man Matthew :)

eat some chocolate

So I just had to share this little something to let you learn more about the man I get to live with everyday. You could say I was not having the best day today, just getting frustrated, being attacked, and feeling robbed of my joy. I texted Matt to ask him to pray for me and here is the response I get back: "It's probably just a dementor, eat some choclate... love you." In case you missed it, we are both Harry Potter fanatics so this was a great response :) (and of course I knew he would pray!) Dementors are the bad guys in Harry Potter and when you come into contact with them, they take away all your joy and the only way to fix the bad feeling is to eat some chocolate! It definitely made me laugh and got my mind off everything. God sure can use those little things! I notice that when I have some good time with the Lord or really spend time praying, that is when I get attacked. I think Satan fights really hard to keep us from experiencing God, which is why we have to fight that much harder. This is completely impossible with our own strength and why we have to rely on prayer and God's words to fight for us. "The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have DIVINE power to demolish strongholds (things that can rob your joy)... and we take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ" 2 Corinthians 10:4-5. So when I feel attacked, I will look to God's devine power and the saving work of Christ, taking every thought captive and thinking instead of the truth in God's word. And of course eat a piece of chocolate :)

A night alone...

Matt is off to Dallas for the night to see Cliffy play the Rangers and have a night with his old roomies (who he affectionately still refers to as his roomies although he only has one now - me!) Funny story though because they all get to the game only to find Cliff has the night off :( Oh well we are so pumped to go in August for the weekend to watch him play - and see Missy and Brady!! That leaves the night to myself to spend way too long cooking fried rice for one, watch legally blonde, and catch up on some reading - oh my life without the hubby.

I must say, lately I have been so thankful for our church. Houston's First Baptist. It was definitely a process finding one to get plugged into because let's be honest, there is no perfect church. We are all a bunch of imperfect people coming together to worship a perfect God - but that's the beauty of grace and we need to accept that. I love that the Word is taught every Sunday. Greg Matte brings truth no matter how confrontational it is. It's challenging and honest and I am seeing God move. Prayers are being answered, worship is created every Sunday, hearts are changed. Mine has been changed towards the body of church and prayer itself. I love seeing God move through prayer. And Matt and I are involved in a sunday class - Newly wed or close. It's so great to have other couples to get to know - they are great people. And the leadership in the class is so wise and willing to pour into marriages. This church is so passionate about helping grow godly marriages. We are so blessed to be around this ministry. We just started a bible study downtown with some other couples and its a highlight of our week to get together with our new friends. Now, we are praying for a place to serve instead of just being poured into...

Some highlights lately... My mom, dad, a couple of their friends and Jayme and I got to go see WICKED in Houston!!! This has been a dream of mine for literally years. It was an amazing experience - I love musicals :) Matt Warren and Alyssa Harris just tied the knot last weekend. It was a beautiful wedding full of so much love and we could not be happier for them. And they are moving down here only 5 minutes from us! yay. We love our friends.

And lastly, I was rearended this week on the highway while I was stopped in traffic. Then as I changed lanes to pull over, the lady drove next to me, made eye contact with me and then proceeded forward. That did not go over well with my insurance adjuster self so I followed her about a mile on the phone with the cops. The cop came and pulled her over, discovered she did not have a driver's license and then decided to arrest her for a hit and run! Justice was served. I am so sick of people thinking the law does not apply to them so it felt good to do something about it. As for me, my neck hurt a little but I'm fine - Pebbles is fine and just had a little scratch on the bumper. It sounded a lot worse than it actually was!


Jayme and I at Wicked (her wedding is coming up in 2 weeks!! yay)


The girls at Alyssa's wedding


She was such a beautiful bride and dear friend of mine.



I wanted to include this shout out to a few of my besties - at a wedding we had name cards and they had all 3 of our new married last names. We were excited!

Summer

This has been the summer of weddings but Matt and I have enjoyed every one. After Haley's wedding we got to celebrate with my childhood friend Jennifer. Her wedding was so much fun and great to get together with all our old friends. Thankfully her and Jeremy are staying close by so we can have some married hang outs! Our friend Charley Hart married Lauren and it was a blast seeing all our friends and watching them get married. Finally, we had Ryan and Amanda's wedding here in Houston. It was a beautiful ceremony and we're so excited for them to enjoy married life here in Houston. Up next... Alyssa and Matt! Whoop :)

Lately, Matt and I have been seeing a lot of movies and just enjoying hanging out together. Our favorite recent was Knight and Day and Matt's least favorite was Letters to Juliet. I had to give him some Hubby points for even going with me! We just started a bible study with our Newly-wed Sunday school class. It's been great meeting more people in the area that are in the same stage of life as us. We have loved this class and it's been such a blessing to our marriage. We are studying prayer and really learning to depend on God and come to him in prayer for everything everyday. Every Sunday we are encouraged with things to strengthen our marriage. We've learned the role of the wife and of the husband, how to resolve conflict and effective communication... all these things are so important in marriage!

This past weekend we went to Austin with some of our friends. Our friend Erica is an up and coming musician and we got to see her play on Friday night. She is amazing!! Saturday we went to Krause springs and it's one of the top swimming holes in Texas. Don't know what a swimming hole is? See picture below. It's a natural spring filled swimming area with rope swing and cliff jumping included. The next day we went to the Austin Stone and heard a great sermon from Matt Carter on faith. What is faith? It is believing in God's Word. Not working too hard, not hoping you will get everything you ask for, but believing that what God says IS. We played some volleyball with friends and then headed back to the woodlands for my dad's barbeque and the woodlands AMAZING fireworks show. I absolutely love holiday weekends.

Woodlands Girls at Jenn's wedding.

My new favorite picture - Laura and I at Krause Springs in the butterfly garden.

The gang at Krause Springs

With my parents at the Woodlands fireworks show

until next time :)

Life Lately

So it's been a while but we have been busy! We flew out to Cali to hang out with Missy, Cliff and Brady a few weeks ago. MISSY AND CLIFF ARE SO AWESOME!!! :) We had so much fun going to San Fransico, seeing Pier 39, Ghiradeli Square, the Golden Gate Bridge, crooked street, downtown and watching the A's. They were great to open up their home and let us stay with them. The weather was beautiful and definitely a reality check when we landed back in Houston. We got to see our nephew and he is getting so big! Matt and I love being able to play with him and Matt loves changing his diapers!! (Although sometimes he's "in over my head!" haha) We can't wait until they come back in October!!

We went to Dallas for James Brushwood's wedding - they are family friends of Matt's and it was a blast watching Lynn and her friends be the life of the party! It was a beautiful wedding and we were happy to be there. Finally, this past weekend my best friend Haley got married. It was so fun being with her throughout the whole process when she first started talking to her new husband to watching them date to being engaged and now married. They had a beautiful ceremony and we had fun catching up with old friends. The next day we went to Hurricane Harbor in Arlington with a few friends. We had fun but decided we've had our fill of theme parks for the year (unless of course its Disney World). We also got to see my Grandmom and Grandpa up in Dallas and as always they opened their home to us and Grandmom made us some yummy food. Next weekend, my friend that I've known since 4th grade Jennifer's wedding! Can't wait.

Some cool news lately is that my little bro Forrest is going to Africa early in July for a mission trip with the church he's interning for. He will be going to Kenya doing different things like vacation bible school, evangalizing, serving, and helping the communities. We are so excited for him so be praying for God to open doors and protect them while they are over there.

That's about all I have for now. Matt and I are enjoying our day off by watching Harry Potter Marathon on ABC Family :)


Just a random pic of me and my bro accidentally coordinating our clothes for dinner. Aren't we cute??


Missy and me at the A's game... it was FREEZING and I was not expecting it!!

The whole crew out for dinner at Walnut Creek.

Overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge

Me and Brady all decked out in our A's gear.


Matt and Brady in their matching converse.


Me and my college roommates at Haley's wedding... all married now :)

Matt and I and our dear friends The Apel's out on the dance floor at Haley and Kyle's wedding.

the power of tide

Before I can get to the good I must go through a rough spot Matt and I had. So as you all know, we have been SO excited about getting a puppy. Well Bentley finallly came home and he was precious. We had him for the weekend and sadly realized that he was not going to adapt to our lifestyle or apartment. He could not stand being in a crate and had separation anxiety so he wanted to be touching us at all times. He was REALLY loud in the apartment and scared to go to the bathroom downstairs with the noise from the city. So unfortunately, we made the tough decision to give him back to the breeder and she already found him a home on a farm with other dogs and a family. We know he will be much happier but it was hard to let him go. We bonded with the little pup over the weekend and it was very quiet the next week. Good thing we have such a great family that supported us through the whole thing.

This past weekend, Matt and I went on a Newlywed retreat with our bible study at church. We have been plugged into Houston First Baptist and love it. We got a chance to know the leadership better and meet some couples in our area! It's so great to have people our age to hang out with and have fellowship since all our best friends have to be scattered!! So instead of going on and on about ourselves, I figured I would share some things I learned from the retreat because it really moved us.

First, for all you engaged people out there - its very important to talk about expectations you have before going into marriage. We didn't realize how many unspoken expectations we had until they pointed it out. They are silly little things but I think it's important to vocalize them so that resentment does not grow. I feel blessed to be taught about these things now while we are still newlyweds!

It was encouraging to hear how God has worked in the couple that spoke's marriage. It really challenged me to pray with conviction, to live on faith and trust in God alone to provide what we need. I may not know what I need but yet he provides. They shared this story of how the wife was home doing the laundry on mondays like she did every monday. However she went to grab the Tide but they were out. She looked in her wallet and only had a few dollars - they had to live paycheck to paycheck and that was all they had until the next paycheck. In frustration, she called her husband to vent. He encouraged her that everything happens for a reason and maybe she needed to do something else with her time like spend quality time outside with her son. So she gave up on the wash and got her son ready to go play outside. When she opened her door, there was a box of TIDE. It just so happened Tide was doing a promotion and there was a truck delivering a small box of Tide to every doorstep in the neighborhood. This just goes to show that God provides for his people - even in little ways to grab our hearts. I learned to be a lot more prayerful in every decision.

This couple is awesome. You should check out their ministry called Marriage Matters Now. Go to http://www.marriagemattersnow.com/


I pray that he may strangthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being so that CHRST may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullnes of God. Ephesians 3:16-19


yay newly wed retreat!


our wiffle ball team at retreat. (I named us the Batting Butterflies hints the hand motions :))


random: Mom and I at Ima Hogg's Garden when we visited a few weeks ago.