Granny turns 80!

This past Thursday our Granny turned 80 years old! I have only known her for 7 of those 80 years but I can tell you that it definitely doesn't feel like it's only been that short amount of time. Since day one Granny and at that point in time Pa have made me feel like one of their own. Grandparents they were, whether that meant blood or not and I am so blessed to have been able to experience their love. Jess and I used to get so tickled at Granny and Pa because he would get on her if she said something wrong and they would bicker back and forth like two teenaged lovers. It was hilarious!  Granny still paves the way for hilarious statements at gatherings and she makes turning 80 every bit of fabulous!

Jess' family worked really hard to make sure Granny knew just how awesome her birthday was and it all turned out very nice!

The theme was a baseball one because she absolutely loves baseball and hamburgers were served by a local restaurant out of Longview. Cupcakes then followed for dessert which made it the perfect way to end the ballpark themed menu. Around 65 guests total were there and she enjoyed walking around, greeting them all and posing for pictures with them.

Happy Birthday Granny! I think we can all say you are such a blessing to have in our lives. Thank you for the endless laughs, conversations and for all of the love you have given each and every person that is lucky enough to know you. I hope your day was all that you hoped for.

Love,
E

Christmas Re-cap!

Monday morning came fast for us as I'm sure it did for everyone. I remember waking up that morning in disbelief that it was already time to get ready to say goodbye to Christmas. Like I have said before Christmas is my FAVORITE. I spend a lot of time prepping for it's arrival so you can only imagine how hard it is for me to say goodbye to the wonderful holiday.

After a quick Christmas Eve session at the gym we headed home to have a Christmas Eve breakfast with Jess' parents. It was delicious and a wonderful start to the days festivities!

I spent the rest of the afternoon prepping for Christmas Day, then Jess and I ran a couple of errands then proceeded to gear up for the Christmas Eve dinner we have at his parents house.

Once all the presents were opened and everyone went home to tuck away until Santa's arrival, we packed and got everything ready so we could head out the early the next morning.

Like always I can't ever sleep Christmas Eve and was up at 3:41am just in time to hear the big storm roll in. I laid there for the next 2 hours hoping and praying it would stop so we could get on the road by 6 and luckily it did. We left right on time!

We arrived at my parents house a little before 8am and were ready to start the days activities! 

At my parents house we have a big Christmas Brunch after opening presents complete with mimosas and little Spanish additives. The plan for the rest of the day was to head to the movies but it rained and sleeted so we decided just to stay in and watch movies.

After a long afternoon nap I awoke to start our Christmas dinner. This year we decided to do "finger foods" in hopes of not eating until we absolutely busted! This year like every other year it didn't work. The spread was nice and we enjoyed every last bite. I tried a few new recipes and am glad that I did because now I think they will be added to our "Football Saturday" regiment.

We ended our night with the "Hunger Games" movie. My parents and sister had never seen it so that was a good excuse for me and Jess to get to watch it again since we liked it so much.

Needless to say our families were so blessed this holiday season and we are so fortunate to be able to spend this wonderful time with them both. I hope all of you enjoyed the holiday and were able to see your loved ones. 

I hope y'all enjoy this last week of 2012 and get ready to gear up for 2013! Have a happy Friday tomorrow!

Love,

E

Merry Christmas Eve!

Merry Christmas to your family from ours. I hope this Christmas you all have time to spend with your loved ones and that you cherish every moment.

Love,
E

A little bit of bragging....

This past Tuesday I was lucky enough to witness my mother receive an award for being ranked amongst the Top 250 Hispanic Real Estate Agents in the U.S. and one of the Top 20 Hispanic Real Estate Agents in the Dallas area.

For those of you who don't know me or my family I would like to fill you in on some background. My parents were only 18 when I was born. I am sure that you are thinking "typical" but one thing I can retaliate with is this....yes, my parents were still in High School and yes, they were young. They did struggle in the beginning like all young parents do but it didn't take long for them to get on their feet and get their own place. When I look back at pictures of when I was a baby I was always decked out in pretty dresses, big bows and lacey socks. When I was five my sister was born and the trend carried on with matching outfits, bows and all that jazz. All my life I had everything I could have ever wanted or dreamed of.

My point of all this is that me and my sister never went without. If my parents were struggling I had no idea. Neither one of my parents got to go to college because of my grand entrance into their lives and it wasn't until I was 19 that my mom went and got her Real Estate License. This year marks her fifth year of practicing Real Estate and she achieved a very monumental award in those 5 short years she has been in it.

Make no mistake though, I was born to two people who are hustlers. My parents work so hard and are always on the go working on something. I almost feel inadequate at times because of how hard they work. On top of that they are some of the most intelligent people I have ever met. I almost never make a decision without calling them first. That is not because I am a baby I just know how smart they are and will always give me good advice.

I wanted to share all this with you not just to brag on my mom and my dad but because I am so proud of them. I admire and respect them both so much and am so thankful for all that they have done and continue to do for me.

So if y'all are reading this mom and dad I love you and am so proud of all that y'all have accomplished.

I hope y'all have a wonderful weekend!

Love,
E

Christmas Family Day 2012!

On Friday Jess set out to the deer lease and I headed up North to Ennis. I had to finish some Christmas shopping and our annual Christmas Family Day was on Saturday.

Christmas Family Day is something we do one Saturday in December that involves some sort of activities done together. Myself, Jess, my mom, dad, sister, my adopted brother Cody and his little girl Kinsley are the attendees. This year Jess was out of pocket but this offseason has been a particularly weird one so we made an exception for his absence.

We started the day out with lunch in the Northpark area and then made our way over to the Gaylord Texas for the ICE! exhibit. I for one did not dress prepared for the freezing cold temperatures. I find myself in that situation a lot (i.e. Las Vegas 2006? 2007?) I figured the parka they provide would have kept me warm enough but boy was. I. WRONG! Next year when I drag Jess back I will be sure to wear my own coat underneath the parka and my Uggs!

Waiting in line for ICE!

Kinny loves her Bubba!

After we basically ran through the exhibit since we were all freezing cold, we headed into the Gaylord Lobby to admire all the lights and Christmas trees they had put up.

A specialty shop that had the same name and spelling as my mom's name.

Center of the lobby ceiling.

We loved all the Christmas Trees!

On the bridge by "Texas Station" in the Gaylord.

We left the Gaylord around 7 and went to the Galleria for some ice skating and dinner. Although I would loved to share pictures I didn't get a chance to take any with my camera and my phone camera didn't take that good of pictures.

All in all it was a wonderful day. We missed Jess but next year he will be there! I hope all of you are getting the chance to spend time with your loved ones this holiday season, it's what I love most about this time of year.

I hope y'all's weekends were spectacular!

Love,
E

p.s.
Finish that Christmas shopping! You only have 9 days left ;)

Dear....

Dear God,
Please be with all the lives that were affected today by the mindless school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, CT. Please bring peace and comfort to all of those who are struggling to understand why this happened. Please hold the parents tightly tonight that lost their babies in this sickening act and please hug those babies tightly who made their entrance into your kingdom today. Thank you for your love, protection and grace Dear Lord.

Amen

Emily visits ATX!

Thursday evening I drove half way to Ennis to meet my mom to get my sister from her. My parents had a "date night" Friday night in Ft. Worth so my sister came to stay with me and Jess for the weekend.

Friday we headed to San Marcos to do some shopping at the outlets there. If you haven't been to the outlet mall in San Marcos you are seriously missing out. My favorite stores there are Vera Bradley, Victoria's Secret, Michael Kors and Tory Burch. They have amazing deals and so many store! In my opinion when you are shopping you can NEVER have too many choices ;)

Once we got back from shopping in San Marcos we came home and I made dinner around 6:30. We ate then headed downtown to Zilker Park to see the Christmas Tree.

It was beautiful! The night was a really nice one and we enjoyed taking our time walking around it and taking in all the sparkling lights!

Cute little backdrop to take pictures at the Zilker Park Christmas Tree!

Once we got back to the house we baked Christmas cookies! I tried to make it a day full of Christmas activities and luckily Jess really enjoyed it!

As you can tell from the icing on the cookies we are superb cookie icing-ers. After all the cookies were decorated we enjoyed a few and then headed to bed. Saturday morning we got up and I made breakfast, we then got dressed and headed out for day 2 of shopping. We even fit in a visit to Cabela's and that made it nice to take a break from the avid shopping.

My mom drove in on Saturday night to stay the night with us. Sunday morning we made a quick trip to Target then had brunch/lunch before her and my sister headed back to Ennis. The weekend couldn't have been any more perfect and I was happy that Emily got to come stay with us for a couple of days.

I hope everyone is enjoying the month of December! It will be gone before we know it!

Love,
E