Here's a thought...

"You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."
---The late Dr. Adrian Rogers, 1931-2005

Just an update...

So sorry that it's been so long since I've posted on our blog. We enjoyed our trip to Iowa and when we got home, things did not slow down. The weekend after our Iowa trip, we went to Dallas for a "Flannel Christmas Party" with Kristin & Chris. That was a good time and we enjoyed spending time with good friends. The following weekend was Fletcher Christmas. We went to Conroe for the weekend and stayed with my parents. Christmas was at Uncle Craig's house and we spent the entire day there. We missed Paul & Teri and the kids but it was fun to see everyone else. Brian & I got both sets of kids a soft bowling set from babystyle and they really seemed to enjoy it. I'm glad it was such an easy and fun gift! Now I've got a whole year to decide what to get them next Christmas!! Brian got a new Harley t-shirt from Las Vegas and I got 2 new DVD's. The next 2 weeks were Christmas week and New Years week. Both of these weeks Brian had Thursday off and then worked on Friday. It's been weird when he goes back to work after one day off. But the weekend comes quickly and we've enjoyed the freedom to relax at home and have no need for traveling. Christmas day was spent with our friends Chris & Ashley...we enjoyed a HUGE dinner and a raging game of RummiKub!! New Years was also spent with Chris & Ashley...we all wanted to be home-bodies and be lazy. We ate pizza and had yet another game of RummiKub!! We've enjoyed the time together and look forward to the new year! Marsha & the kids are coming over tomorrow for some quality hang out time ;) and my friend Carrie is coming to Austin on Monday!! She's in the middle of a move to Phoenix and decided to make her route go through Austin! I'm excited to spend the evening with her and then the next weekend, we'll be headed to Alamo, TX to have family time with the George side of Brian's family. I'm looking forward to seeing them all! That's all I know for now...just ready for a fresh new year! xoxox

Early Christmas in Iowa

Brian & I went to Iowa December 4-9. We left on Thursday night around 10:15pm and got to Norwalk where his parents live around 12:30pm on Friday afternoon. We drove straight through the night and we were very happy to arrive and get out of the car. Bentley slept the entire trip...she only got out once to go potty. All the other times we let her out, she didn't want anything to do with her food or water and wouldn't go potty. We spent Friday around the house with Craig & Mary and the boys just got ready to go hunting on Saturday morning. They got up early and spent the entire day hunting. Mary, Jenna and I went shopping in the afternoon and when we got home, we all sat around the table and had 3 different soups. Since the boys got 5 deer on Saturday morning, they did not go back out to the same property on Sunday. Brian, Andy (Jenna's husband), and Scott (Craig's friend) sat out in the field on Sunday morning to see if they could get anything else...Scott & Andy both shot another one. That's a total of 7 deer. Sunday afternoon, we had early Christmas with the DeDecker's and thoroughly enjoyed the fellowship. After the family left, Brian & I went to dinner with our friend Lauren. It was great to see her pretty face!! Monday was a pretty leisurely day...Brian sat out in the field in the morning and then had a doctor's appointment in the afternoon. I went to spend the day with Anna and Scarlet and then we got all of our stuff ready to go and headed back to Austin around 10:30pm on Monday night. We were not in much of a hurry so we took it slow and got home on Tuesday afternoon around 5:30pm. Overall, it was a great trip. Bentley LOVED the snow...she ran around in it, jumped in it, rolled in it...she was in heaven!!! Everyone loved her and gave her tons of attention. She made a lot of new friends!!! Check out the pictures!!

Fletcher Thanksgiving 2008

What a great break from life...we had a great holiday with the whole family. We went out to Memaw & Papaw's house on Friday and ate goo-gobs of food and had good fellowship! It was great to see Bailee, Noah, Caleb & Ana...they're growing up so fast!! And then we got to meet sweet little (really little) Owen...Ben & Amy's son! It was a great time...check out the whole family!!!

YAY Bentley!!!

Brian and I have been slowly but surely trying to teach Bentley some manners. We started with "sit" and then "shake" and then "lay down." The first one was pretty easy...we hold out our fist (as if there is a treat in it - I learned this from Paul) and say "sit" and she does it. Then Brian started to teach her to shake and she learned that one pretty quickly. We did those 2 for awhile but then we started thinking that it was time for her to learn to lay down. So after sit and shake, we started moving our hand from left to right as if telling her to lay down and just today, she started doing it. I was so excited the first time she did it this morning that I called Brian squealing! She then did it again tonight for Brian and it was pretty exciting. The next thing to teach her is "stay" and "roll over." She learned awhile ago to ring the bell next to the door when she wants to go outside...she abuses it a little but its a pretty great tool!!! We're such proud parents!!! ;)

I CANNOT believe this is the world I live in...

So, I was driving to work one day and surfing through the stations and stopped on one for some reason...maybe there was a song that I liked and then it ended and the morning show started talking again. Apparently, there is a man that was sentenced life in prison plus 80 years for running a family over in a parking lot. I'm assuming that sentencing someone LIFE in prison PLUS 80 years means that NO ONE wants that person to EVER get out of prison. He will DIE in prison??? Guess what...this man has leukemia and has now received $470,000 worth of treatment to help him live. I find this beyond ironic because he is in prison to do what...live? Die? How is it logical that this country has made it possible to spend $470,000 on a life that is simply over??? That money could have gone to all the families that have children with leukemia and cannot afford the treatment for the child...it could've gone to a charity...it could've gone to a church or a private school for some kind of scholarship for someone who did not commit a horrible crime. I am just baffled that this happens...that money was just wasted on someone who will still die in prison and now we have to pay for him to live in prison...after we've already paid for his cancer treatments. Why does this happen?

NASCAR

Last weekend (November 2-3), Brian and I drove to Dallas/Fort Worth to go to the Nascar race. My friend, Kristin (with a K ;) works for Jim Beam and they happened to be having a party deck for the race. She got us VIP passes which included all race events on Saturday and Sunday, pre-race pit passes for the Nascar race, headsets with radios that followed any driver you wanted to hear, free food and beverages, and we didn't have to walk anywhere...we were delivered everywhere via golfcarts. We sat about 15 feet from the track and the noise was unreal. We were so close that tire shreds were being blown up on us throughout the entire race. Brian had a blast...it was like a dream come true! Unfortunately, Dale Jr. did not win the race but Brian still had fun watching him try. Thanks so much to Kristin & Jim Beam for giving us such an unforgettable experience! On Saturday night, we went out to Fort Worth and spent the evening with Bryce & Trish. We ended up spending the entire time at their house watching Texas Tech beat the hell outta those t-sippers!!! Out of the 12-14 people there, only 2 were stupid enough to root for UT. The rest of us were Aggie fans and all have the same mindset - ANYBODY but Texas!!! Poor little Colt McCoy looked like he was gonna cry...poor baby. Maybe we should get him a t-sip crying towel. Anyways...overall it was a fantastic weekend. We were able to stay at Kristin's house like it was our own private suite. We had a great time and I hope that one day, Brian can enjoy the race like that again...but next time with his daddy!