The Freakin' Weekends (Part II)

“For whatever we lose (like a you or a me), It's always our self we find in the sea.”  ~e.e. cummings

In case you missed Part I, click here.

Next up, we have a weekend on the water.  A couple of weekends ago The Boy from Texas and I headed to New Mexico for some fun in the sun and time on the lake with the familia.  We kicked things off at the local restaurant where Aunt and Uncle Evil Kineval, Aunt Delta Dawn, my parents, The Boy from Texas, and I shut the place down (and then some) and my stomach was sore the next day from laughing.  It was complete chaos.  CHAOS.  It was also TBFT's first time to meet the aunts, and fortunately the crazy didn't scare him off!

Saturday was spent on the water.  In addition to the Aunts, Cousin Whitney, her husband, her dad and her father in law came along as well.  After two new boats broke down on us, my dad ended up bringing us the ol' 1974 model Chrysler, which pulled us all over the lake on skis and inner tubes and ran like a dream.  She's a classic!  Aunt Evil Kineval made two kinds of breakfast burritos both mornings and for dinner on Saturday a hugs spread of queso and tamales and grilled chicken and birthday cake.  It was some good eating, let me tell ya!  The Aunts both approved of the Boy from Texas after being impressed by how much he could eat.  Yep.  That's what matters in my family.

He's cute.

The newlyweds.

Cousin Whitney riding shotgun.

The Boy from Texas and the Aunts

Fun ladies!

 Oh, and I crossed going camping off my bucket list, thanks to Aunt and Uncle Evil Kineval letting The Boy from Texas and I crash their camper.  One more down!

And then I missed my flight back to College Station.  I guess that with as much flying as this little long distance relationship is making us do, it was bound to happen sometime.  Good news was I got an extra night hanging out with the Boy.  Bad news was I got to pay the change fee on a plane ticket.  Ouch. 

And lastly, I'll recap the past weekend when Loud Oklahoma Girl and I headed to Arkansas for our friend Chicken Plucker's wedding.  Now you guys know I've been to a wedding or two in my time.  I am going to deem Chicken Plucker's ceremony the one that is the most like what I want one day.  It was simple---a few vases with wheat and roses, some wheat tied in a bow taped to the end of a pew, one bridesmaid and one groomsman, a preacher, a couple readings, and that was that.  Forget all the other crap.  I loved it.  I'm also working on hiring her to be my wedding planner, but right now she's having a little PTSD after planning her own, so I'm hoping she'll be more on board with this idea in time.

The rest of the weekend was pretty low key, a lot of hanging out and talking with LOKG--we're good at that.  Church on Sunday. A fantasy football draft party.  We also did some running--and nearly dying of heat strokes.  And we spent some time with this sweet girl.  Meet Miss ABJ, who is LOKG's niece.  Aunt Tiff claims her too.

Me and LOKG

Post-run picture with the baby

At the football party

One more post-run sweaty mess of a picture

Playing a Little Catch Up

“Life is about moving, it’s about change. And when things stop doing that they’re dead.”  ~Twyla Tharp

My life has been a total and complete whirlwind over the last couple of weeks.  I've been updating  you via my daily photographs, but I wanted to share some of the awesome things that have been going on in more detail!

A Surprise Party



College Roomie got me.  She got me good.  She threw me my first ever real surprise party.  (She threw me one or two more in college, but she always let me in on the secret and I just acted surprised.  We were cool like that.)  But this time she and McCain picked me up to go to dinner at Casa de Benevidez, this Mexican food place in town that College Roomie raves about.  No, seriously, she's even blogged about their sopapilla burger.  Anyway, we walk in and I see one of my friends from law school and her husband.  I think to myself, "Wow, what a coincidence."  Then I glance around and see someone who looks like my friend Miss Texico.  I looked back and realized it was Miss Texico and Pharmer Girl.  At this point, being the genius I am, I still don't get it, and say, "This is amazing, I know everyone here!"  And then it snapped.  College Roomie had gathered up 15 of my friends for a surprise going away party.  It was perfect!  (You can read her recap of the events here.)

The Cowboy Rides Away Tour

George Strait.  Final concert tour.  Cousin Whitney, Aunt Evil Kineval, Aunt Delta Dawn, and three of their best friends.  Honestly, words don't do this event justice.  We seriously had the best time.  George was amazing, as you would expect.  He played for over two hours and still left out a ton of his great songs.  College Roomie figured out that if he played just all of his number ones (mind you, that is just the #1s and would leave out songs like Amarillo By Morning) he would have had to play for like 36 hours or something insane!  Listening to the 1.5 hours that he did play (which included lots of his old hits, was the perfect way to spend a Saturday!)

Me and the aunts.

The whole group.

Me and Cousin Whitney waiting for the action to begin.

This lucky $#&@& has the best job in America...she gets to stand behind
George every single night and listen to him sing.

George and Martina singing "Jackson"

Where the Cowboy Rides Away.

A Bridal Brunch

College Roomie is seriously one of the classiest people I know.  She's a total Audrey Hepburn.  So when she had a bridal brunch, I knew that it would be amazing.  And it was.  My favorite part was when her Aunt Jewel was explaining to one of the groom's friends how the family tree worked.  When she got to me, she said, "That's Tiffany.  She's, well, she's just my niece."  (Mind you, we're not blood related, but I love the fact that I've been adopted into the fold!)

The hostess saw me poking at this and came over
to tell me that they were real and I could eat them.  Oops!

Donut kabobs!

Conception Quiche....the single girls stayed away from these!

Me and Aunt Jewel

College Roomie and the mamas.

The Bridesmaids (minus one who lives in Phoenix)

Can't wait for the wedding day!

Road Trip!!

One of the things that I have been most excited about my move was the fact that College Roomie offered to road trip with me to Texas when I went down for the first time.  I was seriously beyond excited about this event!  We used to road trip back and forth to OSU all the time, so we totally got to re-visit those memories.  We stopped in Amarillo for lunch with Sister Lisa (College Roomie's little sis) and The Boy from Texas.  And then we continued on for another 8.5 hours in the car where we ate ice cream, analyzed life, discussed every relationship that you can imagine, listened to old school cds (yes, that's right, cds, not iPods), and generally had a blast.  There is nothing like 13 hours in a car with your best friend!  The road trip ended when we arrived in Texas and I got to see my new house!

  

Show Lamb Sale

Next up was my family's annual show lamb sale.  You've read about those sales before here and here.  This year was our best sale yet.  Even with all of the work and stress and dirt, I have to say that these are usually three of my favorite days of the year.  Getting to visit with old friends and look at lambs.....you really can't beat it!



WILW # 27

"Some of the most beautiful diamonds are the last to be discovered. Never fear. Your time will come."  ~Anon.

Time for another edition of What I'm Loving Wednesday!

Today I'm Loving...

1.  Y'all remember my friend Yoga Master?  Well, (along with just about everyone else I know), she got married this summer.  And her wedding was so darn fantastic, that it was featured on a blog.  Check it out here.

2.  While I was at Relay for Life last weekend, we had a little suprise birthday party for Aunt Delta Dawn.  While the girls went to pick up the cake, Cousin Kevin had to stall Aunt Delta Dawn.  This turned into an ordeal when the cake came out and said, "Happy Birthday, Stacy" (my cousin's name who ordered it) instead of "Happy Birthday, Aunt Delta Dawn."  No problem, they took it back, lumped some icing on, and wrote her name.  This picture does not do it justice.  It was hilarious.

So while we were dealing with the cake situation, Cousin Kevin had some major stalling to do.  Apparently he was full of lies.  He took her on a tour of the golf course, kept saying, "Let's go down that street, I've never seen this part of Raton before", insisted they check out some random church parking lot, got gas even though she had 3/4 of a tank, went into the gas station and hid in the bathroom for a while...I'm concerned how smooth he is with this.  Anyway...it all worked out and we had a great suprise for her!

I was in charge of fun decorations for her to wear. :)

3.  This little saying, which is oh-so-true!

4.  I'm lake-bound this weekend with my dad, uncle and Cousin Whitney.  The summer is almost over and it's our first trip.  We've got lost time to make up for.  Let the water skiing commence!

Father/Daughter Ski Weekend 2011

5.  The fact that my prom date from 11 years ago distinctly remembers my mother warning him multiple times about how dangerous the railroad tracks were that we would cross on our way to and from the prom.  Really, Mom?  Two things:  (1) That was your biggest concern on prom night (I think we can all see what a good kid I was!) and (2) it was concerning enough to mention multiple times? 

6.  This article about what maters most when raising your kids.  I obviously don't have to worry about the kid thing yet, but what she says about wanting only two things for her kids:  (1) that they are kind and giving and (2) that they love Jesus with their whole hearts....well I think it applies pretty darn well to what I want for myself.

7.  We are t-minus 3 days until the opening ceremonies of the London Olympics.  Go America (and especially Michael Phelps!)

8.  This photo from Relay for Life.  That's me on the right.  Uncle Black Belt is on the left.  Think this pose might be genetic?

9.  I'm loving the phone call I got from Blonde OK Girl on Sunday.  She reported that she was out at Hard Rock and this guy kept looking at her and came over to say hello.  She said hi back and went on with her business.  Only later did her friend's husband point out that said guy was....wait for it....Adrian Peterson.  That's right, my friend got hit on by AP and blew him off.  I told her we are going to make flashcards of any famous football players she might meet in Oklahoma.  For crying out loud....I have failed as a football fan a best friend.

10.  And last, but not least, my boy Brandon Weeden has officially signed with the Browns.  Coach A says that I am not permitted to be a Browns fan just becuase of Weeden, but I am allowed to be a Weeden fan and cheer for any team that he's on.  So....I'm a Weeden fan, which makes me a Browns fan today!

Quotes from Easter Weekend 2012

"When you look at your life, the greatest happinesses are family happinesses." ~Joyce Brothers

I had a great Easter weekend at home with the fam. Little Brother's wedding shower was on Saturday (blog on that coming soon!) so we got to see lots of family and friends over the weekend, which was awesome. I thought I'd share some of my favorite quotes from the events....Little Cowboy: "Tiff, I forgive you for shooting me in the face, you can come out of time out now."
(This occurred during our nerf gun wars with the new dart shooting guns that Aunt Tiff bought for the weekend.....he was on one end of my parents' giant leather couch and I was on the other. He popped up and I, not realizing that he was so short that the only part of him that would be above the couch was his face, fired the gun and shot him....right in the eye. Cue the screaming and crying from him, inappropriate laughing from me, and time out for Aunt Tiff. Luckily I was forgiven and the shooting games continued.)
(After the wedding shower...at which Little Cowboy arm wrestled all of the women in attendance--including one who is recovering from open heart surgery!)
Aunt Tiff: "Little Cowboy, did you arm wrestle with Opie's mom today?"
Little Cowboy: "No. I only arm wrestled with the young ladies."

Little Cowboy: "Tiff, what does a lawyer do?"
Aunt Tiff: "I fight with people every day."
My Mom: "She means fight with her words, not with her fists."
Little Cowboy: "I bet if she just popped them once she could stop all that fighting."


Little Cowboy's grandma (at lunch): "Little Cowboy, you're supposed to be eating, not talking right now."
Little Cowboy: "Listen Mimi, I haven't seen my family in a long time. This is more important."


Random family friend (to Little Cowboy): "Is Tiff an adult?"
Little Cowboy: "No. She's just a little person. Not an adult."


Dr. Kyra (she's a family friend making her first blog appearance!): "Traveling with my husband is like doing pennance."
Me: "One woman's pennance is another woman's good time!"
Dr. Kyra: "Just for me saying that, you watch me end up in jail or the wheelchair in Vegas."


Wedding Date (to Little Cowboy): "Hi, I'm Wedding Date, nice to meet you."
Little Cowboy: "I'm Eli (which is his real name). But I like to be called Eli....Manning."


Little Cowboy (to my mom): "You'll never guess what happened at the barn. That big guy got a bloody nose because Tiff hit him right in the face." (BFF came over to visit and look at lambs on Sunday morning early and ended up with a horrible bloody nose from all the dust....Little Cowboy was facinated by all the blood and convinced that I had hit him!)


Lastly, if you guys are not my facebook friends, you've missed a completely insane and inappropriate conversation about Little Brother's upcoming Vegas wedding between my family. Uncle Buddy summed it up as he walked out of the house to go home on Sunday.
Uncle Buddy: "See you guys in Vegas. GET. READY."