Happy Birthday to ME!!

We had all kinds of fun for my birthday this year.  And seeing as it was my 29th (and final) birthday, much celebrating was in order. :)

I wanted to go to dinner and a movie on my actual birthday.  But then news of a monster truck show changed those plans.  Ruston has been so into monster trucks the last few months, so we knew we needed to take him.  Sergeant Smash was there giving people rides.  We didn't go near it. haha

We decided to go that Friday because the pit party was included with your ticket.  I took Ruston down there when we first arrived and he was terrified! He was clinging to my neck and pulling my hair and just barely managed to squeeze out this awkward smile. :)

Danny took him back down a little later and he did better.  He at least sat on one of the wheels.  But as soon as Danny backed up to take a picture, he was ready to be held again. 

How cute are his headphones?!  He wore them the whole time and wouldn't even take them off when we were in the bathroom for a diaper change.

They did some tractor pulls and MY GOSH, those things are loud! Our seats were vibrating.  I can definitely do without that whenever we go back again.

Blurry family picture by the nice old man behind us. :)

Some of the trucks and "tricks" were pretty unimpressive.  I think our standards were too high.  The Barbarian did well and won every single event.  Next time, we're going to have to wait until they are in a bigger arena.... they just couldn't do anything other than a wheelie contest.

Ruston was in a really different mood for the whole thing.  He was pretty much expression-less for the entire show.  He would stare, but never had much of a reaction.  We would ask him if he wanted to leave and he'd say no. he wanted to stay.  We finally got a few smiles at the end and we got one good "oooohhh!"  when one of the trucks almost flipped. :)

Saturday afternoon, we got the new carpet installed and Saturday evening, Danny took me to dinner at Posados. I love that place!  We had one right near our apartment in Mesquite and we'd go all the time.  They have the squeezable butter out on your table and I don't know about you, but that's pretty much all I need for a good meal. haha.  After dinner, we went to see the vow.  It was good, but it wasn't great.  The previews had me pretty excited about it, but the ending left me wanting more.  But I did get to look at Channing Tatum for an hour and half...that kinda made up for it. :)

On Sunday, Aaron, Megan, Danny and I went to a marriage event at my Dad's church in Pflugerville.  Feed Your Faith puts on the event, called Love Worth Fighting For.  It's semi-based on the movie Fireproof.  I really enjoyed it and feel like I got a lot out of it.  Kirk Cameron was the speaker and I was pretty impressed with him.  I never expected the crazy kid from Growing Pains to be giving a lesson on marriage. :)

I had an awesome, fun filled birthday weekend.  Happy 29th to me! :)

From One Extreme to Another

Anybody remember what we were all praying for a few months ago?? RAIN!!  We were literally pleading for it as nearby towns were on fire and lakes were practically empty.  

A couple of weeks ago, that rain made its way to our backyard.  And stayed there for a while. Until it decided to come inside the house!  I woke up super early that morning to find our living room covered in water.  Adam was spending the night, so he helped me try and get it up and block the door so no more could come in.  We looked out the window and this is what we saw!

As the time passed and the rain kept coming, our little towel dam just didn't cut it.  The water started coming in under the window in the breakfast area and up through the carpet in our bedroom.  We ran out of towels, so we moved on to sheets.

The carpet in our bedroom and closet was completely soaked.  When you walked, water came up over your foot and every step made a sloshing sound.

Danny's dad came over when the sun came up and used the shop vac for a couple of hours.  He got about 28 gallons out of the carpet!

We turned the fans on and hoped for the best.  Danny worked on it again about 5 hours later and got another 10 gallons out.  

Although it was fine all day, that night, Ruston's carpet ended up wet.  Once the rain finally stopped, the drains were able to catch up a little and the water started going down.

I had quite the pile of laundry to do!

After a full day with the fans, the carpet and pad were still wet. :/  

We ended up having to pull it all up.  Unfortunately, we don't have flood insurance, so it's not covered.

We got a drainage system from Home Depot and got it installed it in the backyard.  Hopefully we won't ever have this problem again!

Our house has been in shambles, with our furniture, clothes, and random piles all over the living room, dining room, and garage.  We've been sleeping in the guest room.  That bad is quite small for 2 1/2 people! Don't let this cute face fool you... he doesn't sleep on his mattress for long!

We finally got our new carpet in on Saturday.  It's so pretty!  We went with the same carpet, just a shade darker than it was.

 Ruston approves. :)  He sat in his empty room and played for a while.  Can't wait till we have all our furniture put back where it belongs and our house is back in order. :)

As crazy and hectic as this time has been, we are so lucky to have such wonderful family and friends to get us through.  Our families have helped out with moving furniture, cleaning up, fooling with stinky carpet and watching Ruston.  Many of the awesome people I work with pooled together and gave Danny and I a donation to help off set some of our costs.  Thank you all so much!! You are all greatly appreciated. :)

Happy Valentine's Day 2012

PBR Fun!

A couple weeks ago, the PBR came to town.  Benda asked if Ruston and I wanted to go (Danny was in C.S.) and Amy and the kids got to come too.  As usual, when Pops is around, he has no interest in hanging out with me. :)

They chowed down on some cotton candy.

Amy and her kiddos (before McKenzie fell asleep!!)

Adam, Ruston, and I.

The PBR was really fun. Ruston really enjoyed the bull riding and the silly clown.  After the event was over, they had a free "Dirt Dance" down in the arena.  There was a band playing and the kids really wanted to go down there.  They had fun dancing around and playing with the dirt. 

Love her!

All of us down at the Dirt Dance.

I think Ruston's favorite part of the night was throwing the dirt balls at the wall.  And yes, they were dirt... not poo.  I was watching what he picked up like a hawk!! :)

Celebrate Good Times!

We did a lot of celebrating in January!

First up was Miss Kenzie's 4th birthday.  She had a play-doh party!  Ruston had fun with the googly eyes, pipe cleaners, and popsicle sticks.  They were a fun addition to the normal play-doh routine.

Such a pretty birthday girl!

Amy's birthday was in October and when I saw the Groupon for The Melting Pot, I knew I had to get it. She'd mentioned wanting to go there, so it just worked out perfectly.  Three months later we finally got around to it!  It was incredibly fun, but definitely had the potential to be overwhelming.  We didn't know what to do! I felt so out of my element, but really ended up enjoying it.  Amy and I decided to go all out and order up the Four Course Meal.

First up was cheese.  We went with a spinach, artichoke cheese.  Um.... delicious!  They brought us fruit, bread, and chips to dip.

We had some awesome Caesar salads, then out came the main course.  It was so much food! This was definitely an experience.  I loved how you had the variety of not only meats, but sauces...each bite was totally different!

I can't remember what cooking style we had, but it sure was yummy. :)

Last up was dessert.  We went for the "cookies and cream."  Our waitress threw everything in and then set our marshmallow puff on fire! Super cool!  We had fruit, brownies, rice crispy treats, marshmallows, and bites of chocolate and red velvet cake to dip in it.

This was so much fun and I can't wait to go back!  It would be perfect for a girl's night... Let's plan it! :)