Seven Years

Tomorrow (December 29) will be our 7 year wedding anniversary! I can't believe it has been that long! Time has passed so quickly, and we have been blessed more that I could ever imagine! Happy Anniversary, Sam! I love you, and I can't wait to spend many more years with you!

Happy Birthday Jesus!

We had such a special Christmas Day! Here are a few pictures from our day!

Carter woke up extra early, and when he came out of his room he found the new train table that Santa left him! He was so busy playing with it, he didn't even notice the other presents in the living room!

Santa also brought Carter a new yellow bike!
Ally had lots of necklaces in her stocking!

Carter LOVED the big truck that Uncle Bubba got him for Christmas. I don't know who has enjoyed playing with it more...the 3 year old or the 27 year-old!

We had a lot of fun playing outside, and Kaylie and Aunt Rebecca even came over for a little bit to play with us!

We got a Nintendo Wii for Christmas, and we have all enjoyed playing it at the end of the day. Our favorite games are bowling and tennis, although Justin and Sam had fun boxing, too! It was such a special day, filled with lots of yummy food, new toys, family and many, many more blessings!

Chirstmas Eve

I am a little late getting pictures of Christmas on here because we have been busy having so much fun! We had a great Christmas Eve day, even though we missed Daddy while he was at a meeting. He got back just in time for us to get to church, which was fun with the kids. I am sad that we didn't get a family picture of us all dressed up. As soon as we got home, everyone changed before I had a chance to get a picture!

Surprise!

I was totally surprised when my wonderful husband set up a birthday dinner at my favorite College Station restaurant in my honor! I loved seeing everyone, and felt humbled that they were all there to celebrate my 30th birthday with me! What a fantastic way to spend the last day of my twenties! Thank you to all of my friends who were there, my parents (who babysat), and my husband for giving me such a special, thoughtful gift! I love each of you!

NYC Day #4 & #5

Day #4: Monday:

One of my dreams has always been to stand outside at the Today Show, which is strange because I didn't even start watching it until I had Carter and stopped teaching. Anyway, I convinced Sam and my Mom to go with me at 6:15 am. Once we got there, I was totally shocked that there wasn't anyone there, and excited that we would be on the front row! However, my dreams were shattered when we rounded the corner and saw the line. We finally got in, made our way to the 2nd row on the far side, but never had our chance to be on t.v.. Tom Cruise was there that day, but we didn't see him (he came outside after we left), but we did get to see Scarlett Johannson and Samuel L. Jackson! We had to leave about 8:45 am so we could walk back to the hotel to catch the cab to the Bronx Zoo. I know they came back out after we left, and I am pretty sure they were right in front of where we were. It just means that we will have to do it again, especially since we didn't have a sign with us and didn't stand in the right place! Although a little disappointing, I am still glad that we did it! Thanks to Mom and Sam for going with me!

My Dad was invited to visit the Bronx Zoo for a behind the scenes tour, so we joined him from 10am-2:00pm that day. The zoo was amazing...250 acres! We saw lots neat animals that I have never seen anywhere else, but the coolest thing was that we saw a female gorilla in surgery in the zoo hospital. Not only did she have vets working on her, she had two famous human doctors there, too! It was just like a human having surgery, only she was a gorilla! The tour was very informative, and although I was getting to the point of exhaustion by this point, I am really glad that we had the opportunity to go!

When we made it back to Manhattan, we did some more shopping, and then Sam and I decided to take a carriage ride through Central Park.

We met everyone back at the hotel after the carriage ride, only to find out that my Dad wanted us to go eat dinner at The Bull and The Bear restaurant. It was, by far, the best meal we had on the whole trip and worth every penny! I could get used to eating like that every day, although I would also have to invest in a personal trainer!

We were all pretty worn out after dinner, so everyone decided to go back to the hotel and pack. My Dad had an early meeting the next morning, and we had a flight to catch.

Here are some more random pictures from the trip.

Day #5: Tuesday

Our experience checking in at the airport was just that...an experience. Needless to say, there were no massages this time, as we were barely at the gate in time to board our flight to DFW! Once we got there, we found out that the flight to College Station was cancelled, and there was not another one until the next day. After checking out rent cars for Mom and Justin (there weren't any), they got to come to the house and spend more time with us! Carter's school had their program that night, which they attended, then caught a ride home with my in-laws.

It was a great trip, and I am thankful to everyone for making it so special for me (Mom, Dad, Sam, Justin, Chris & Peggy). I loved getting to spend time with my family, and I can't wait to go again (hint, hint)!

NYC Day #3

Sunday: The day started early for an 8 mile run through Central Park with my Dad. I can't say that the run itself was fun, but the scenery and the opportunity to spend time with my Dad was nice. We got back to the hotel around 8:30 am, just in time for me to have a cold shower (did I mention that our room rarely had hot water?) and get dressed to eat breakfast at Tavern on the Green. I had several friends recommend this restaurant, and I must say, it lived up to it's expectations! I will admit that my food wasn't very good, especially for the price we paid, but the atmosphere definitely lived up to all the hype! I was just sad that we didn't see any famous people.

After brunch, we decided to walk through Central Park and make our way back for some more shopping! Central Park was beautiful, and much bigger than I expected! For those of you who haven't been, there is an ice skating rink, a small zoo, several baseball fields, etc.

If you can't tell, I am just a big kid at heart, so we had to stop at the Disney Store. I think it was three levels, filled to the brim with Disney happiness! I couldn't resist getting Ally her very first princess costume while we were there!

We had tickets to the Christmas Spectacular featuring The Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall at 2:00 pm. After standing in line outside the theater for almost an hour, the show finally started and it did not disappoint! It was amazing, and all the dancers made everything look so easy! Mental note: enroll Ally in dance a.s.a.p.! I'm sad to say that I can't really remember what we did after the show: I think we just walked around some more with the other millions of people, then headed back to the hotel for a quick nap. There was a Smith & Wollensky's close to the hotel, so we decided to splurge and eat dinner there. It was good, although I do not recommend the cheesecake...very disappointing!!!
Sam and Justin headed to The Bull and the Bear bar inside the Woldorf-Astoria, while my the rest of us went for a walk...to see the tree (again). We also stopped at Saks to see the dancing snowflakes.
I met Sam and Justin at the bar for a drink, then it was off to bed to rest up for the Today show the next morning!

NYC Day #2

The adventure begins!

We woke up early, and decided to find Rockefeller Center (this time we knew which way to go). Along the way, we ran into the window display at Saks Fifth Avenue. My mom wanted to stop and admire, and after a few complaints, we got in "line" (in other words, there were just a few people there), to look. They were really neat, and I'm glad we stopped when we did because every other time we walked by them, there was a very long (as in, 50-100 people waiting)!

We kept walking and I noticed there was an American Doll store. I had heard of the store, and of course, I had read the books when I was younger, so we decided to go in and check it out! It was CRAZY! There were a million different types of dolls, matching outfits for dolls and owners, a place to eat with doll chairs on the table, any type of accessory you could imagine, and even a place where you could get your doll's hair done! I LOVED it, and I could only imagine how all the little girls that were there felt! It is on the list of things to do with Ally!
We finally got out of the doll store and made our way to Rockefeller Center and the tree! It was beautiful, but a lot smaller that I had imagined. We walked around for a bit, and I mentally made notes that the next time we were there I would go ice skating, since the line was kinda long! Ha!
Next, we stopped off at the NBC store, where I met Matt Lauer!
Next stop: red bus for a tour of the city. It was great, especially since we got to see everything and get a little history at the same time. There was a point on the tour where I looked out the window and saw a small group of Santas. For some reason, I thought it was really cool (there were about 10 of them) and I pointed them out to Sam. Little did I know what awaited us around the corner, at the Post Office!
This wasn't even half of them because the were coming from all directions! There were literally thousands of them...a sight I will never forget!

We got off at Times Square, ate a very expensive T.G.I.Fridays lunch, hit some of the cool stores (Hershey and M&Ms, to name a few), and finally walked back to the hotel to warm up and get ready for Broadway. To end the day, we saw "Chicago" on Broadway, saw the tree at night, then went to bed. It was an awesome day!

More to come tomorrow...