Party Animals

We went to the extreme this year for New Years!!!
Oh wait....no we didn't.....I'm too old for that!

Actually, Julie's been asleep since 9:00pm and I was busy watching tv.....I had no idea it was midnight until I started getting the text messages!

We rock!! haha - I love my life:)

I wish everyone a Happy and Safe New Year. May God bless you and yours.

Merry Christmas

These last few weeks have been so crazy - with traveling, work, Christmas, etc.

The weekend before Christmas I actually had to work 1/2 a day on Saturday. That's not my idea of a good start to a weekend. But, due to the short weeks, it was all hands on deck to get everything done.
Julie was off all week last week which....made me jealous but that's neither here nor there. Saturday after I got off work Julie and I high tailed it to Arlington. Julie's parents had an extra ticket to the Cowboys game Saturday night and asked if I wanted to go......but of course I did.....Even though the Cowboys really didn't show up - and lost a heart breaking game we had a great time. There were 6 of us there....Mike, Jon, his friend Colby, Julie' uncle Ken, here cousin Grant, and myself. It was so frappin' cold though!! I froze my rear off. but, after the loss - they had the farewell to Texas Stadium celebration which was...interesting. They had a lot of the former greats (Emmitt, Irvin, Staubach, etc), there were fireworks, cheerleaders....and frost bite. haha.

Sunday we went to church, ate lunch and I was back on the road back to Abilene....did I mention Julie was off all week last week?? Yeah, Jason wasn't. I had to be back at work at 7:00am Monday morning for 3 days of crunch time. I was at work for about an hour then had to jump in the "short bus" and head to San Angelo.....what a great day. We completed all the work on this HUGE project I've been working on for 6 months. It was cold and windy but definitely worth every hour I was there.
Tuesday I was in sweetwater for another job - getting dusty and dirty again.....and Wednesday was a bit more relaxed. I was actually in Abilene all day which is unusual.
After work Wednesday I was back on the road headed back to Arlington for Christmas with the Walkers. I had an awesome time. We exchanged gifts, every one did WAY too much......ate a lot (shocker), fell asleep on the couch, and got ready for Christmas with the other Walkers (Julie's uncle, aunt, 3 cousins, and Grandma Frosty. We did a gift card exchange where everyone sat in a circle and Julie read a story. every time the word right was said, you passed your envelope right, and left you passed it left. It was funny. I ended up with a gift card to Cabela's!!!!! YIPPEE - I love that place......(in fact last time I was there with Mike - we lost each other for an hour)
Friday was fun - Jon, Mike, and I went to the shooting range. Another favorite place of mine. Shot about 100 rounds and decided it was time for lunch. We went to On The Border....had an interesting waitress.....then headed home.

After being home for a bit Jon and I left to go to Cabela's - which turned into shopping for a long time and not buying anything - that's annoying especially since I had a gift card - but oh well.
We then went to Cavendar's - since I live in po dunk I needed me some cowboy boots....well - that didn't work out so well for me either!! I was down to 2 pairs and I couldn't decide. After about 30 minutes going back and forth - I decided to take pictures and as my fashion coordinator wife which ones she liked.....interesting fact....she actually picked the pair that I liked....that's unusual:) I had a great time hanging out with Jon - we never really get the chance to hang out and hopefully we'll get to hang out more often in the future.
Saturday morning the four of us headed home to welcome my parents to Abilene.
They got in around 1:00 - we went to Jason's Deli (btw - there is no discount for having the name Jason - whodathunk). Julie and I came home while Jeff, Hayley, and my parents ran errands. Julie napped and I was back at Cavendar's to get my new boots.....crud - I was stuck on 2 pair here in Abilene and actually had to get a worker there finalize my purchase - which I did get the same ones Julie and I liked.

Saturday was Christmas with my parents, and Jeff and Hayley....once again - everyone did WAY TOO MUCH!!! but, we had a great time!! Saturday night we went to chilis for dinner....came home and went to bed.

Sunday - neither Julie or I felt great - I've had this bronchitis lingering for 2 weeks and it's driving me nuts. So I got up.....ate breakfast with everyone at Cracker Barrell and my parents hit the road back to Boerne.

What a whirlwind......here it is Monday.....and back at work we all go! BUMMER!!!

I love this time of year. It's all about family and friend's getting together to celebrate the birth of Christ.

God truly has blessed Julie and I in more ways than we could ever count and I continually thank Him for my family. Our families love and support us unconditionally and they have no idea how grateful I am for that.

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and had time to reflect on why we are here.

not cool

So things with work have been extremely busy lately. Which is a great thing.
I've been doing a lot of driving, which is boring but it's a part of the job.
We finally landed a big job i've been working on since July which makes me happy. It also means that I have work to do to make sure it gets done correctly and in a timely manner. Last Friday (the 5th) I was in San Angelo kind of over-seeing the project and how it was going.
I WAS THERE ALL DAY! I had an appointment in Abilene at 10:30 that morning to get a new contract signed (hallelujah - also one I worked on for 3-4 months) then high tailed it to San Angelo. I got to Angelo around 1:00pm and did not leave until 6:30. Got back to the branch at 8 and headed home at 8:30...yes....that's PM....yes that's 8:30PM on a Friday. Can you say I work too much! But it's ok because the job will be done by Christmas:)
Last weekend was lazy.....we had the floors removed Saturday but other than that we did not do much of anything - I love weekends like that!

This past week was a bit.....interesting....well....different....well it flat out stunk. Monday I was here at the house with the bookshelp guy - helping him get the bookshelf up and running. Tuesday I was back in San Angelo with my boss, for a few meetings and getting some totes picked up......It was drizzly and cold and heck!!! Wednesday, I was with my boss in Sweetwater for more meetings (by Wednesday I felt like crap.) By the time Wednesday night rolled around I couldn't do much of anything. I felt so bad Thursday morning I actually went to the Dr. I had a 102 fever, body ache, sinus pressure every where, head ache, coughing, sneezing, wheezing, and all the goods. Found out I had bronchitis - awesomeness. Needless to say I didn't work Thursday.......went back to bed at 10:30 am and woke up at 4:30 pm - talked to Julie for a bit, went back to bed - slept on and off until dinner......ate dinner and went back to sleep at 9:00pm until the next morning.
Friday I was so sore - from sleeping WAY too much that I decided to go to work. I'm not a very good patient....but i get really bored....really fast.....So I actually worked all day friday and got home about 5:30 - ate dinner and was back in bed by 8:30pm.

I feel better today - still coughing a lot with a lot of congestion but at least I can kind of breathe!!!!!

I had an Awesome time

Well...Thanksgiving has come and gone - which is a bummer. I love Thanksgiving. Great time with family and LOTS....and LOTS of food. That's how we roll in our family. We make enough to feed a small army (as my dad always says) This year was no exception. We had the usual....
Fried Turkey
Dressing
Gravy
Vegetable
CasserolePapa's corn (the best stuff ever)
mashed potatos
Creme Pie
Pumpkin Pie
Dirt Cake
All of the food was absolutely amazing - good enough to each 3 times in the 2 days we were in Boerne.
Julie and I got to Boerne Thursday around 11:30. Which, we said hello and howdy, and got down to business - eating. After lunch we hung our for a while then got ready to go to Austin.

My dad last week won 4 tickets to the UT vs A&M game which started at 7:00 that night.So Jeff, my mom and dad, and I booked it to Austin, go there around 5:30 to go to the pre-game party State Farm had set up for us. It was awesome - we walked into the tent while the cheerleaders were doing some cheer.....lalalalala.
While we went to the game - Julie and Hayley went to see a movie - I don't know what it's called but it's the one with Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon......the only part in the movie I know from the commercials is where the baby throws up on Reese and Vince says - I'm going to vomit - i thought that was hilarious because I have this feeling that's how it's going to be if I see baby vomit.
Back to Austin....we had a blast!!!! That stadium is absolutely amazing! I havent' been there since Senior year of college - before they did all the renovations. The Jumbotron is enormous -pretty much takes up my entire neighborhood - and the game was obviously great for me.Here are some pics from the game:

Blury but totally Awesome

Da Boys
Jumbotron

Close up of Jumbotron

McCoy

Chiles

Stadium from our seats

Pre-Game warm ups

We got back around 12 that night and were starving - so we heated up left overs before we all went to bed (Julie went to bed about 9:00pm - yeah she's old;)

Friday was fun - Julie and Hayley decided to get up at the butt crack of before dawn to hit up the shops - they left the house around 5:30 am - yes - i said am - talk about die hards.....they didn't get back until after noon. That's a lot of shopping.

The rest of the day we pretty much hung out. Ate some more - Julie napped and we all watched tv. That afternoon Jeff, Dad, and I went out to shoot some pistols. My dad wants to get a hand gun and so he was shooting ours to see what he likes.....Jeff has a Glock 9mm and .45cal (both compact - and I have the full size Glock 9mm. So we went through about 10 rounds and had some fun shooting some stuff! I love shooting - it's awesome.

That night we went to Boerne on the Square. It's where they close down main street to traffic and open up all the shops until about 10 or so. That was fun.....i mean....that was ok.....i mean.....i was tired of walking - we'll put it that way.

I saw half my graduating class which was cool - julie bought some stuff....we went in 1 store that smelt like a nursing home gone bad but all in all they had some cool stuff to look at.

We took Champ and Boomer...Jeff and Hayley took Patton - Abby had surgery on Tuesday so she didn't get to join in the festivities. Patton was a little skeptical of Champ....for some reason....but it was entertaining to say the least.

So Saturday morning we woke up early and hit the road about 8:00 am. Champ and Boomer were pooped

Any who - it was a great Thanksgiving - we had a blast - now it's back to the grind of work - boooooooorrrrrrrriiiiiiiinnnnnnng.

I hope everyone had a great and safe Thanksgiving. We truly do have a lot to be Thankful for!