Adventures in Austin

This weekend was exciting and fun filled. My cousin Stephen who is a policy anaylist for Tom Craddick - Speaker of the House in Austin- got married this weekend...finally :)
He married a law student named Abby and she is perfect for him. They had the most beautiful wedding (even had a little excitement when a candle caught something on fire...cudos to his brother Phillip that very calmley quenched the flame.)

Stephen will undoubtedly be a Senator in the next ten years...mark my words. So it's only fitting that he marry a beautiful lawyer. Way to go Stephen (Keep him in line Abby :)


It was a semi-formal affair and there were a lot of politicians there that many of you would recognize. So Darren and Kate and I did the best we could. We aren't the "black-tie" poster children but I think our family looked pretty spiffy if I do say so myself :)

The funniest part of the weekend was the night of the wedding. I'm sure you know that UT won the National Championship on Wednesday. Well the UT tower is illuminated in Orange when the Longhorns win...but if it's the Championship it's lit up with a number one also (see picture below). Well, this is the first time in twenty plus years that the UT Tower has had a one on it...great huh? Well, the wedding was on campus at UT less than one block from the tower. There was not a parking space for probably ten blocks and we probably looked really funny walking all that way in high heels and sparkling to the hilt (over zealous longhorns maybe?). So the entire wedding you could hear cars honking and people yelling. It was very funny...but in a "we'll never forget this wedding" kinda way.

Then at the reception there was a moment I was genuinely confused. Turns out that Abby (the bride) is attending UT to get her Law Degree...where do you think she got her undergraduate degree??? How about TEXAS A&M!?!?!?!
So there they were standing on the deck of this country club singing the Texas Aggies Fight Song with a Yell Leader and several Old Aggies there to join in (the entire bridal party were Aggies) with the Austin skyline in the background and the UT tower shining orange. To make it more funny, my Uncle David and a couple of the Groomsmen stood in the back singing "The eyes of Texas" and signing 'hookem' horns'!

The rest of the weekend entailed a whirlwind trip around the captial to get a picture of it...which ended up with me barefoot in the middle of Congress St just to get one picture...turns out it took almost 12 tries to get it!

Congratualtions Steve and Abby...live the life!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

We went to our Yearly Family Broo Ha Ha at Great's house yesterday.
We saw family that we haven't seen in a while and got to meet some new faces.

My cousin Candi is having babies left and right and her newest Christian is only three weeks old. She's a great mom and her kids are sweet and gentle.










My cousin Blair was there with her daughter and her husband Chad. We live relativly close and I really should see her more often than I do. She and her husband are building a log cabin on their land in LaBelle. Her daughter Cici is SO ADORABLE and has beautiful long hair and long legs to match. She be a heartbreaker and I bet her daddy is already beating off the boys :)









This is my Grandmother (on the left) and Aunt Alice. They were doting over Christian and Grandma was on the verge of tears most of the day. She feels so blessed when her kids and grandkids are around her. She calls it her 'silver hair' (the Bible calls silver hair the blessing of a mother).












And this is my very handsome brother Mark...
Who I also don't hang out with enough. Ah...the best laid plans.

My prayer: Lord, I am so blessed. I have the greatest family in the world. I grew up in the most perfectly normal home with little to no chaos. Thank you for my spiritual heritage. Teach me how to pass this feeling on to Kate. She is more blessed than she knows! ~Amen

Kate's FIFTH Painting

This is the painting that Kate painted for Mimi's office (my mother)...

She has an office upstairs with no windows so we left it really bright and airy (sp?).