New Landscaping!!

On Good Friday, Jeff and I worked our tails off on the house b/c

1. We needed to get it looking better
2. Who knows if we'll need to put it on the market or not in the near future
   

We put new wallpaper on the 2 bar walls (no pics--sorry) b/c I'd painted over the circus stripe wallpaper when we moved in 2 years ago. That took all morning, but it looks great and now we get to paint it as an accent wall (it's paintable wallpaper)!

We re-did our front flowerbeds. Nothing fancy, just re-doing it b/c the azaleas I'd planted last year apparently don't grow well in full sun. Who knew? Not the black-thumbed gardener who's typing this, that's for sure! ANYWAY...we moved things around and bought a few new things, and FINALLY did something with the ugly part otherwise known as the sidewalk to the front door. It's amazing what a few bags of rocks and some plants can do! A cheap and easy fix--and a perfect place to put the cooler for our dinner party on Saturday night!

Karie's Wedding

Two weeks after we got married, so did another girl I work with--Karie. Karie and Gary (apparently the 2009 thing to do is get married to someone you rhyme with--Steph/Jeff--Karie/Gary...) got married at Houston Oaks in Hockley, and we had a great time!

Mr. and Mrs. West

Now Introducing.......The Dickens!!!!!!

Well, the time has flown by, but we've now been married a whole 2 weeks! Our wedding was so much fun, and we were so grateful that so many friends and family came to help us celebrate! And now we're back into our normal routine again--thank goodness! Jeff went back to school the Monday after we got married (his spring break was the week before we got married and mine was the week after), and we took MANY naps that week to recuperate! We loved getting to be together the entire week though!

The day after we got married, we took a little drive (does that surprise anyone??) to Canyon Lake Dam and walked around for a bit before heading back to Katy. Here are our first official Mr. and Mrs. Dickens pictures after the wedding.

Then...we got to spend the whole week together in honeymoon bliss!!! The bluebonnets were gorgeous in a few spots near Jeff's exit off I-45, so we stopped to take pictures one afternoon on our way into town (which is why we're not dressed so cute and instead are in t-shirts/jeans--oh well!)

Then we decided to get "crafty"--well, as good as we could get anyway!

And lastly in our week, we headed to Cuero to pack up all the wedding gifts that we were so fortunate to receive. We also were picking up our dining room table that was my grandmother's so we decided to just U-Haul it all back to Katy--the best idea ever because now nothing is at mom and dad's or in storage--yippeee!!!

And...to commemorate the big event, here comes the U-Haul:

We are so lucky to have found each other (with some help!!) and start this amazing journey! Please keep us in your prayers as we are both job hunting and hoping to live under the same roof soon!

We're Legal!!! .....Well Almost!

Jeff and I went to get our marriage license this past Friday in Conroe. It was the easiest place to meet since he had school at Sam Houston and I was teaching all day in Katy. We made it with plenty of time to spare, and Jeff was such a good sport seeing as how I wanted to document this special occasion (AKA--I will want to scrapbook it later---to those of you who aren't scrapbook addicts, that's what this means!).

So....here's our new friend Elizabeth, who did say that it would be okay in the world if there were more cheesy people like us (but she only said it after I apologized for being such a cheesy scrapbooker).

And, then here's the cutest couple ever--and yes, I am in my school t-shirt. We couldn't cover all the bases that day!

Chip Goes to School!

Jeff and I are boarding/training Chip for the week before/after our wedding. Makes sense since we have so many little things on the brain! Those of you who have met Chip know that he is a very lovable puppy (and I use puppy lightly as he's about 75 pounds and 2 years old as of this past Saturday!).

Well, Chip walks right on in to Bed, Bath, and Biscuits (how cute is that name??), and makes himself at home! He is also the sneaky crotch sniffer. Just when you think he's going to do something else, he goes for the kill! And stays there! He just can't seem to get it through his thick skull that it's not appropriate! He apparently tried this as Jeff was trying to call me for some information, and when he told the trainer that was something we wanted them to work on, all the office ladies just burst out laughing since they, too, had been attacked!

So for now, we're pooch-less. We'll miss the big lug and we already can't wait to see him in 2 weeks. We will need a prayer though because the day we pick him up from training is the day that we go home to Cuero to pack up wedding gifts--and "Ruth the Temptress" will be there. So, we will be saying a prayer to the Patron Saint of Dog Obedience (thank you Ada Potato!) and will be on our way!

Here's a picture of Chip in April of 2007--such a precious ball of fur! He's still precious....but now he's just a shedding, crotch-sniffing, happiest lug of a mix breed we could ask for!

It Just Makes You Wonder...

Just a few thoughts for you to ponder....(and it's shorter than my normal posts for these)

1. Why does the woman next to me near a clothing rack (who has a larger fat roll than me) ask for a size small? Is the "denim mini from Charming Charlie's" for her 4 year old standing beside her? I ask you to think about it.

2. Why does the counter chick at Wells Fargo ask me if I have an account there when I ask her a question about name change status IMMEDIATELY after I have deposited a check? I ask you to think about it?

3. Why is the only thing I want to eat right now a DQ blizzard--mint oreo??? Is it possibly b/c that is the one thing I swore off between Christmas and the wedding? (Don't worry--all other ice cream is okay!). Yeah--you don't have to ponder that one if you know me!

Happy, Happy Birthday Jeffery!

This weekend we celebrated our last wedding shower in Orange. While we were there, we also got to celebrate Jeff's 35th birthday, which was Saturday! On Friday night, his parents, sister, niece, and I went to Larry's Cajun Market to eat/dance. The Grateful Geezers were playing there (they're from Houston I think), and they were great--too long of a break, but good other than that!

After chowing down on some great seafood, they got a "suggestion" from Jeff's niece Maddy that it was his b-day and since he unknowingly walked up on her "suggestion", he was asked to name a song he'd like played. So...after the band called Jeff up and sang him "Happy Birthday", they called up his wife (they got it wrong and thought we'd been married 2 weeks, which in fact, we were GOING to be married in 2 weeks), and to celebrate our marriage they played our favorite song, "Let's Get It On"--by Marvin Gaye!

We had so much fun dancing and celebrating Jeff's birthday!

Happy birthday babe! I love you!