Recovering from "Relaxing" Holiday

Hello. I am beat after a weekend of sheer non-stop fun. Here's a recap.

Friday

*Dinner with Kim and Danny- tasty steaks and fabulous company.

Saturday

*Bought the Dyson Ball Vacuum- (BTW it is AMAZING!). Who'd have thought anyone could be so excited over a vacuum?! I am!

*Enjoyed the Hilton Hotel in Rockwall, Texas and did a photo shoot with a bride-to-be- a friend of Candace's. The hotel was so beautiful- one of the prettiest I've seen in a very long time. It had a modern theme which I love!

*Spent the evening at the outdoor area on the water by the hotel with my best friend/husband and sis-in-law, Candace, and her best friend/boyfriend, Chase- what a wonderful time. We had such fun laughing with them! Never EVER a dull moment with those two!!

* Spent the night in a fabulous room... bed at 2:00AM, slept in until 10AM! Refreshing!

Sunday

*Enjoyed a stellar breakfast of freshly prepared omelets, strawberry waffles, potatoes, fruit, sausage... yes, call me a pig. I am exercising now so my metabolism is rushing! (*wink *wink)

*Packed up all our camping gear, (two campers: One we have and then Danny and Kim have a BIG one- 36' with toy hauler, so we kind of cheated when we said we were "camping"). Ken, me, Kim, Danny, Kyle, Candace, Chase, Ashley, Tanner, Palmer and Mattie all rode four wheelers- then we ate hot dogs and camped out. We did night riding which is so fun because it is kind of scary... but I always ride with Ken- instead of my own four wheeler- because I feel so safe with him.

*We are so happy Ashely and Tanner came out, too- my sweet friend and her best friend/husband. They are both excellent story tellers! I said a lot that night, "Go, Chug!" That is what I named their four wheeler, which they said that trip might have been it's last. It was a trooper going in and out of the creeks. Ashley would just yelp, scream and squeal going straight down and into the creeks and up hills. She had us all laughing!

*Sat in comfy reclining outdoor chairs around a campfire and I fell asleep thanks to my Zyrtec! Darn allergies- if I don't take it my entire head stops up and I look a lot like death, so I surrender and take the meds. Woke up surprised because I was going to just "rest my eyes" for a second... uh huh. Ashley said not to worry because I slept with my mouth closed. She said I looked peaceful- whew. So glad I wasn't drooling. :) ...or maybe she was just telling me that...

Monday

*Woke the next morning and left all the camping stuff and headed to Lake Cypress to join our sweet friends KK and Ryan at their lake house. It was the most beautiful lake I've seen in a long while and the neighborhood was gorgeous with giant trees all around like a forest in a children's book. Boat ride and a fab lunch! Little Lucy, their soon-to-be 2 year old, was loving being "up" in the boat- so we all sat in the boat while it was in the slips after the ride. She is so very expressive when she communicates-too precious. I could watch just her for hours. She's fascinating. :)

*Left and went back to camping and rode four wheelers for two hours with Kim and Danny. We saw families of deer and a wild hog! Argh! I am very fearful of those little big guys! This one was quite chubby but still managed to disappear into the woods. They are so sly.

*Packed up everything from camping and hauled it back home for a restful night with my hubby in our big plush bed. Ahhh... relaxing.

How was your weekend? I hope it was a delightful one!

Love to all,

M

Tiny Baby Benjamin

I have a very sweet friend, Kristi Brewer, who recently had a precious little boy named Benjamin. We took some pictures for fun- and for Kristi to use as artwork in Benjamin's room. What a tiny precious fascinating bundle of joy!

Every child born into the world is a new thought of God, an ever-fresh and radiant possibility.

-Kate Douglas Wiggin

One Year and Counting

Our one year anniversary was back on April 24th and what a wonderful occasion this was for us. Ken, with the busy corporation he is growing, has very little time to relax an unwind- especially without his phone/email close by. This trip was such a great refresher for him and myself and a wonderful time for us to spend together!

He got the plane again and we flew back to the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, CO. We've been a little more in savings mode because of our future homes and all the expenses that we will be incurring, so Ken and I agreed to just get a "normal" room for this trip. When we arrived there, the really nice bellman was walking us to our room and when the elevator opened up, he said, "Ok, Mr. and Mrs. Goggans, you have the entire floor to yourself." Then I saw the pretty double doors. My romantic husband had gotten the presidential suite of the entire resort for us to stay in. He always always always surprises me somehow!! It reminded me of the suite in the movie Pretty Woman... minus the street walker part. :)

That night we had dinner reservations, but decided to cancel, ordered in and ate in our dining room! We also did couples massages at their amazing spa, ate wonderful food --like we hadn't eaten in weeks, found our absolute favorite wine- Joh. Jos. Prum Reisling Spatlese, (we have some wine maybe twice a year), enjoyed the sweet weather, did some shopping, and cherished each other and the precious time together. Everywhere we went people were telling us "Happy anniversary!", Mark Meadows, the pilot, (and one of Ken's great friends), had champagne on the plane for us when we took off. Ken's parents sent us some champagne and yummy white chocolate swans with raspberries, we had cards and phone calls- we felt very loved! When we were leaving and the bellman came and was walking with us back to the entry he asked how our first year was because that was supposed to be the hardest. Ken and I looked at each other with a kind of confused look on our faces because we had heard that back before we were married, and we just smiled and told him- "well, we've heard that and forgot about that. For us it was great!" We have enjoyed a fun-packed, growth-filled first year of marriage and we are so excited to see what is next!

Love to all,

M

Our champagne got buckled in for take-off. :)

Our delicious breakfast the second morning... oh-so-good! The air was so clean there.

One of our balconies- where we ate our breakfasts in the mornings. The view was outstanding.

Here are the tiny tobasco's again! I saw these back on a trip to Fredericksburg, TX. I adore these because they are so very tiny. I love minature stuff!!

The view from one of our balconies the afternoon we got there.

The resort has stuff on both sides of the lake at the bottom of the Cheyenne Mountains.

This was the view from our other balcony- it looked more towards the back of the front entry.

When we arrived the hotel had champagne and these beautiful sparkly chocolate covered strawberries for us. The sparkles make them taste that much better!

The second night there Ken and I at the Penrose Room for a very elegant foo-foo dinner. This was my dessert (Ken had one too). We thought it was so neat they put candles on our plates. Dessert before...

Dessert after.

After dinner we grabbed a snapshot by the Maitre d'.

After dinner the second night we sat on the balcony and listened to music and enjoyed the crisp air.

This was the champagne and white chocolate swans Ken's parent's, Kim and Danny, sent us. I started with their heads and then worked my way down. They were delicious!

Great memories! Everyone enjoy the weekend!

The Party

Well, the family decided to go eat Pizza on Palmer's birthday, minus Palmer- for obvious reasons. I tell him he is considered a health hazard for food establishments- and his tail goes down down down. He knows that he just has to go to his room and get on his bed. (500 sq ft, TV on the Nogin channel, windows, food/water... so it's really not that bad...)

So, by the time we got home it was dark and we decided to just have a mini party for him on Kim and Danny's back porch. The three of them played around together, and Mattie was absolutely terrified of the camera. We tried very hard to get them all to sit down together in a row and we were undoubtedly unsuccessful. Here are some pics I managed to snag for that day. Enjoy! :)

He was a good boy. He is very patient with his "momma" and her ideas/camera. He now knows the routine. (Think how our someday kids are going to feel!)

I guess Red was getting wild and crazy in this one... he was having too much fun... or scratching his back... either one. :)

Party favor bags for our guests, Red and Mattie. (Missing from the party was Peanut, Gran-Gran's dog but it was late and he really shouldn't be out past dark. :)

Here is Palmer and sweet Mattie. She just could not figure out what was going on. Deathly afraid of the camera. She probably thought the flash was lightning and was wanting to get cover!

You can tell which little has been in front of a camera... laid back and cool...timid and hiding. She had a full day of playing that day so she was a little on the dirty side. He doesn't prefer a "high-maintenance" foo-foo ladydog. Palmer likes his ladies dirty and playful- it's the country in him- or perhaps the male in him. :)

Something tasted good.

This one made me giggle. They all obviously heard the same noise, but whose ears were correct with where the sound was coming from??? My guess would be Red's since his are about 300% larger!

Love to all,

M

Cinco De Mayo Birthday

Hi! Well, it's our little man's birthday today... yes, he is a cinco de mayo baby! To honor him on his special fifth birthday I want to share some classics of his.
Here are two of our all-time favorite videos of him!

At the time of the video, I had just got a brand new car so we bought him some shoes to wear on the leather, but what a character! He did not know what to do with these shoes and did this funny walk... we laughed until we cried and then laughed some more. Needless to say, we never made him wear the shoes again. We just didn't have the heart to confuse him so. What our little sweetie.
Video #1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZV4xquzh9w

Video #2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alBXonSgOBk

... and of course here are some of my favorite pictures of him.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LITTLE MAN! (a.k.a. Tootie, Pootie, Baby Bear, Buddy, Bubba Gump, Ittty Bitty, Sweet Love, Chewbaca, Baby Orangutan)

Here is the little party man in his top hat back when he was just a couple months old.

He was only two pounds for a long time and half of that was fur!

This was his first grooming appointment return. When I picked him up, he slowly crept around the corner and hung his head. I think he knew they put a bow in his hair and he was so embarrassed! I left it in the whole car ride home just so I could take a picture of it. Luckily dogs are supposed to have no short term memory and I think he had forgotten about it by then. (that is Jag, my brother's dog beside him- they were best buds.)

This was on the way to Grammie and Grandpa's house. He had his city-dog,(he grew up in downtown Dallas) long hair back then. Now that we live in the country he is kept really short because he "collects" everything that he walks by in his hair. I still pull long strands of grass or hay out of his tail and beard all the time.

This one we think he looks so handsome, but a tad on the Mr. Miyagi (karate Kid master) side...

Another fun car ride... he gets really squinty eyes because the wind is blowing so hard at his face. It is hard to see in this pic, but absolutely hilarious!

I love his little teddy bear feet. To me, they are exactly the paw that a little kid might draw.

This is his favorite window to look out. It is a second story window that has a seat and he jumps up there and gazes for lengths of time. In the afternoons the bird dogs across the street get to run around and this drives him bonkers. Sometimes he runs down to me and gruffily barks to let me know they are there and then I will go up with him and he jumps in his window and looks out to show me they are there.

I took this one with my vintage Polaroid camera. He will forever be my favorite model. (look at that hair!)

A blast for sure!

Poor Pinky Slinky... she was treated no better than any of the others. It is a must to take out all toys' stuffing in Palmer's little world.

This was a special day- I snuck Red and Sandy-Foxy (a stray that stuck around for weeks) in the house so they could all play together and what did they do?? Slept.

(you see Valentine , the frog, was losing his stuffing in this one... today he is completely deflated.)

Him and Red pondering dog life...

He had just gone swimming in our pond and was running back to the house. What a fun time!

His signature tooth...

Him in his Christmas sweater. Ken always shakes his head about this one... he says that it embarrasses Palmer, but I think it just embarrasses him! I think Palmer looks very handsome and festive! :)

Tonight we will have a little party for him with his girlfriend, Mattie- a beautiful Westie and best friend Red, the hound dog.
I hope you all get to have a sweet dog in your lives that brings you as much joy as Palmer does in ours!

Enjoy the week!

Mandy

P.S. This is his beautiful girlfriend, Mattie