Super Bowl...and gardening?

Last Sunday was the Super Bowl. Paul and I hosted a party for his friends from medical school. Paul is lucky enough to have found a great group of guys to go through medical school with. They all fit together well with their different views on medicine and personalities. I think in the end they will all benefit from each others diversity.

To prepare for the party, Paul and I had to clean up and tame the jungle that had become our back yard. Luckily the weather went from in the 20s to in the 60s just in time. We had a lot of fun pulling weeds and planting flowers. Dasher was a big help too. He loved that we were all 'digging' up the yard and he didn't get yelled at this time.

planting tulips (my favorite)

So glad I have him to do all the heavy lifting.

With the yard all fixed up we were ready for the big party. It was kind of weird planning for a party where you didn't really have a team to root for. Paul was pretty bummed watching two other teams play in the Cowboy's stadium. I was just grateful that his friend Michael agreed to grill burgers for dinner. They were delicious and one less thing I had to worry about. Julian even brought some guacamole over for everyone to enjoy. We had tons of good food; healthy food too. When you are having a party for future doctors food becomes more than just something to eat. I don't know of anyone else who had a debate on how real of a threat e-coli is at their Super Bowl party. In addition to the burgers and guacamole, we had fresh fruit, queso, barbecue smokies, and cookies. The boys are so sweet. I get so many compliments on my simple cookies made from the recipe on the back of the chocolate chip bag.

Our spread. Paul even bought me football themed flowers for being willing to host his friends.
Not that it was hard. I love having his friends over they are great.

We all had a great time and I am happy to say this time I was not the only girl. My friend from summer camp, and funnily enough Paul's friend from high school, Mary Beth, came over just before half time. Also, Paul's friend Jose brought his wife, Sylvia over as well. I enjoyed visiting with them both as the boys discussed all things football and medicine. Dasher also enjoyed the company. He got so much love from everyone. He is slowly calming down when we have visitors now.

Ice Skating!!

This past weekend Paul took me ice skating for the first time ever! I know what you are thinking "Ice skating in Houston? Is that even possible?". And, yes amaziningly enought they have an outdoor ice skating rink in downtown Houston. It was really warm  day January (mid to low 50s) on Saturday when we went. It was also misty and rainy so excuse my hair in the pictures. Nevertheless, I had a lot of fun and ice skating was easier and harder than I thought it would be. I have new appreciation for all olympic skaters, but I can proudly say that I was able to skate fairly quickly arond the rink and I never fell down once.

The zamboni

I am so grateful to Paul for taking the time to hang out with me and do special events even though he is extrememly busy with school. He has always told me that while school is extremely important to him (and doing well in school is too) it will always come second to our family just like one day his career will be second to our family as well. He is a great guy and I couldn't be luckier.

New Year's Resolutions

Paul and I drove back to Houston from Tyler on New Year's Eve. We got home early evening and we ordered in and watched the ball drop from the comfort of our home. It was nice to be home after our long break, and as a bonus our neighborhood and surrounding neighborhoods shot off fireworks and we got to enjoy the show. (Fireworks are probably one of my favorite things to watch in the world).

I never make New Year's resolutions, but this coming year there are a few things that I would like to become better at.

1. Become more organized
     --I used to think I was a very organized person, but lately I have not been as put together as I would have liked and as a result have been more stressed out. I hope to remedy that this year.

2. Cook more meals at home
     -- I love to cook and hope to become more adventurous and try new recipes.

3. Find new ways to save money
     -- Paul and I have started using a new computer program that helps us create and stick to a budget. I really like finding a sale and saving money. It feels good to get a good deal.

4. Get more involved in our church and our community

5. Finish our Honeymoon scrapbook and hopefully our wedding scrapbook.

6. Read more books

7. Become more active

8. Make better use of my time
    -- This includes being more punctual

9. Create Therapy materials

10. Finish my Hobby Lobby Cake decorating classes

I am sure there are many more things I should and will be working on, but this is all I could think of right now.

I hope everyone had a blessed 2010 and will enjoy an even more blessed 2011.

Christmas in Tyler

On our way home from Christmas in Minco we went the long way and stopped in Tyler for a few nights to exchange presents with Paul's parent's, brother and sisters. On our way to Tyler we also stopped in Ada to visit Paul's grandparents (again I forgot to take a picture). We only got to stay for a few hours, but were lucky enough to catch Paul's Aunt Molly when she was at his grandparent's house. I always enjoy visiting with family and was glad we had time to stop by during the holidays.

When we got to Tyler we visited for a few minutes and then at Megan's request Paul and I opened our gifts and his family opened our gifts we had gotten for them. I am so grateful to Paul's cousin Staci for giving me the great idea of making necklace holders for Paul's little sisters. I think they turned out pretty well and the girls seemed to love them.

We got Paul's mom one of the crosses my mom had discovered.
It is called intarsia (sp?). The whole cross is cut out of one solid piece of wood and represents Jesus and his 12 deciples.
They are really quite beautiful.
We got my mom one as well and my grandmother.

Another round of Phase 10 Twist.

I think after a week and a half away from home Dasher was ready to go.
I think he would have driven himself if he could see over the wheel and/or had thumbs to grip the wheel.

When we got home he burrowed himself under the blanket and went to sleep.

Stitch by Stitch with Grandma K

During Black Friday I managed to score a sewing machine for a great price. I took home economic classes in high school and we did have a lesson on sewing. I managed to make a skirt; however, it is a lot harder than I remember to sew. I have problems with the bobbin. So, I enrolled my sister-in-law and I in a sewing 101 class with my Grandma. My sister-in-law had mentioned last Thanksgiving that she had gotten a sewing machine some time ago for her birthday and had never used it. We started off just making 'straight' stitches across scraps of fabric, but then we got creative and made little pouches. I am very greatful that I have a healthy, active grandma who can teach me invaluable skills like sewing.

Grandma K winding teaching Kourtney to wind a bobbin.

Kourtney practicing and Grandma K teaching me where the bobbin goes.

I must have forgotten to take pictures of our finished projects. Before leaving Minco though I did manage to raid my grandma's scrap closet and got some great scraps for future projects that I will post about.

Just a Small Town Christmas

This year we spent Christmas in Minco with my family. There are many things I love about Christmas, but mostly I just love watching people open presents. I am not a huge fan of getting presents myself; they always make me feel a little awkward. And, it is true that selecting presents for people stresses me out a little, because I want it to be perfect, but when you do get that perfect gift for someone it is a gift in itself to watch them open it.

Before we left for Minco we had a few days at home to prepare. I decided to try and make some Christmas candy. I love cooking and baking and really think that the value of something home cooked/made is lost in today's society. I knew I could never top my grandma's peanut brittle or fudge so I didn't even attempt them (even though she didn't make fudge this year). I decided to make peppermint bark and toffee bark. I hadn't heard of either of these two candies until this year. They are actually fairly simple to make as well. I also made a batch of sugar cookies. This is something I have been doing for years, and while I don't like sugar cookies almost everyone else in my family does.



What is going on?




Yum, Peppermint Bark




spreading toffee



melting chips




Toffee Bark




Icing cookies




Yum! Christmas cookies.

 The drive from here to Minco is about 7 1/2 to 8 hours so we decided to make a pit stop in Dallas to see my best friend, Beth. I was so grateful our schedules worked out to where we could hang out even if it was just for one evening. As a bonus we also got to spend sometime with our friend Dave who also lives in Dallas. It was a great evening just chatting with friends. I love having friends where we can just hang out and not have to do an activity. We also got to take Beth to the airport before heading on north to OK.

We arrived in Minco on the 23rd and it felt good to be home; although, my home was very different. My mom had done some major remodeling (with the help of my oldest brother, younger brother and grandparents) and the house looked great. There was so much more comfortable room for all the games and late night hanging out we like to do. That evening my mom and I delivered the last supper crosses that she ordered randomly from a guy that lived just across the interstate from me. They are beautiful.

We opened presents on Christmas Eve which has become a new tradition for us as we have gotten older. It was interesting to see which presents were still a surprise and find out who ruined the surprise for others. Most of the time Steven ruined the surprises. I can say though that I was pleasantly surprised by all my gifts.

Nick with his money pouch from us



Dad, Steven, Mark, and Brett opening presents



Steven so excited about his presents

It's Cowboy time!

Not a great picture of me, but my mom convinced me that Scentsy was a waste of money...then precedes to give it to me as a present...turns out the waste of money story was to trick me into not buying it before Christmas.

Steven showed off his basketball skills by landing a piece of wrapping paper in my mom's glasses.

Fishing gear

It's not Christmas unless you get a Dallas Cowboy gift...right Paul?

Peppermint milkshakes on Christmas Eve.

Playing Phase 10 Twist (Paul's gift)

Then the day after Christmas my oldest brother, sister-in-law, nephew and neice came down for 3 days. I just love hanging out with my brothers now that we are older. They are too funny. My brothers Brett and Nick biked 70 miles from Weatherford to Minco on mountain bikes. They said they would never do it again, but enjoyed the experience. We found out about this adventure when Brett called Paul at 9:00 am to tell him all about their crazy idea. My mom was not pleased, yet also not surprised. My family is also huge game players and we had a lot of fun playing games almost everynight. We also got to see my friend Kendra for a few minutes while in the OKC area (I forgot to take a picture though :( ).

Dominoes with Grandma K

Mark won Farkle
(I started taking a picture of the person who won the game with the game box a few years ago on New Years Eve)

My mom won Trivial Pursuit...but Nick said it was a joint effort

Me and Princess Addelynn



Tyler opening presents



Tinkerbell...every Tinkerbell gift she opened she kissed.

Why open presents when I can eat skittles?

So excited about a Wii game



I got the last word



We start game playing early in this family.

Paul and My Christmas celebration

Paul and I will be traveling for most of our Christmas vacation. So, we decided to celebrate Christmas just the two of us a bit early. We exchanged gifts this past Saturday morning. It was fun waking up excited to see what we had picked out for each other; even though I knew most of my presents, because I had given very specific hints. Still Paul was able to surprise me and I think I even surprised him on a few. Below I have posted pictures of a few of our favorites.

I am so not a morning person.

He is

Have to include little Dasher...although he did not know what was going on.

It took him a while to understand that
 even though he got yelled at for 2 weeks to not rip open presents that now it was ok.

He got a flying penguin ball...
that was destroyed in less than an hour...
good thing all his toys come from the dollar section at Target.

good fake surprise reaction...he was with me when I bought it on black friday sale.

My iHome for the bathroom...
I even told Paul where to get this one on super sale at...
I would have been very disapointed if I hadn't gotten it.

Surprise...now instead of losing him to Med School I can lose him to video games.
(can you tell Dasher loved all the wrapping paper)

My big surprise was a clock for my room. It says:
Speech Therapy
Making a difference one word at a time.

After we opened our presents and went out shopping to exchange a few things and enjoy a nice dinner, we came home and constructed a ginger bread house. We were a little nervous because Paul's cousin, Staci, had told us that when she and her husband tried to construct the exact same gingerbread house it fell apart. In the beginning it wasn't going well, so we had to use mini candy canes for extra support for the roof and that seemed to do the trick. It may not look the best, but it is still standing and we had fun making it.

preparing the icing

so far so good

Oh no Paul...what happened!?!

Looking good....for now

Ta Da!

Finished product...and to my amazement it was still standing the next morning.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and has safe travels if they are traveling.