Love & Laughter...

As I had mentioned in a previous post Eric & I had the opportunity to to escape Tulsa last weekend & make the short drive up to Branson, Missouri. We attended a one day marriage confrence on Saturday called The Love & Laughter Getaway. I want to emphasize the Laughter part because that is what we spent most of our time doing! The day was broke up with sessions from 3 different people. Dr. Gary Smalley, a relationship expert, Pastor Ted Cunningham from the Woodland Hills church in Branson, & a wonderfully funny comedian, Paul Harris, who has a show in Branson & is a member of Woodland Hills himself. Since the main point of the weekend was how important it is to laugh & to create memories, Paul Harris really had the most stage time infront of us. Which was no problem for us because we have not laughed so hard in a long time!! It was nice to see a comedian whos jokes were appropriate & still some of the funniest I have ever heard! Since the seminar was only one day long I can't say that I learned a ton of information...but I was more reminded of how important it is to not be so serious all the time & to find ways to laugh & make memories because that is how we want our kids to remember us. That we were able to laugh with each other & laugh with our kids...and those are the memories they will truly cherish! We are wanting to go back next year & are definitely wanting to invest in more marriage confrences because it doesn't matter how great your marriage, there is always room to make improvement or try something new!! And it is always nice to be reminded what God intended marriage to be.



Outside the confrence we spents some time touring Branson...which was a ghost town!! We arrived Friday night and by that time my prego body was starving so in an effort to start the weekend out on a good note, my husband tried to quickly feed me! We ate what was suppose to be a quick meal at the hotel...one waiter for 10 plus tables equals not so quick! But with my mood much better after a meal, we decided we would strike out and "explore" Branson. The Ghost town! We made it down to the landing thinking that maybe the shops would still be open but we were later informed that they had closed at 7:30!!! So we topped off the evening by sharing a McFlurry at Micky D's!! Saturday we woke up and attended the confrence then went out to lunch at Shorty Smalls with some other couples from our church that were attending as well! Lots of fun! After the confrence wrapped up around three, we headed into Branson. Most of the shows & attractions were closed for winter but we of course hit up some of the places that were still open...the Outlet Mall, the Landing & the Titanic exhibit...which we didn't go into but we did see the ice sculpture contest outside it!! We finished off the night by eating again with our friends at Olive Garden! We had a nice long dinner with lots of good conversation & lots of laughing!! Sunday morning we woke up and ate at IHop & then headed back to Tulsa! We had a great time but are very much missing our King size bed we had at the Cheteau!



Our hotel...the Chateau on the Lake.


The view from our hotel room.


The Lobby at the Chateau.

One of the ice sculptures that had not melted by the time we got there!

2009 Wrap up!

This year has been full of changes for Eric & me! I will have to say not all bad ones though! I think this has really been a year of learning for us! We have learned a lot about other people, this world, and ourselves! I have seen God work tremendously in our marriage and bring us closer then we have been in the last 9 1/2 years together! So, I just wanted to take some time to recap a little of what has happened since my last post!

Many of you may not know this but shortly before Thanksgiving Eric's mom was diagnosed with Breast Cancer. Her outlook on this situation has made me pray everyday that if this were ever to happen to me that I could have even an ounce of the positivity & courage that she has! She is probably one of the strongest women I know & Eric and I thank God for her daily! She has had many test run & so far everything has come back to negative, meaning the cancer has not spread to more serious areas!

On a different note...Christmas was a little different for us this year as well! Starting with the fact that it snowed!!! Something I have always wished for but when it actually happened was a little irritated by!! As you may or may not know, my parents moved into a new house this year. It is their dream house...the last one they will live in...its on the lake in the area they are orginally from. In years past we have always spent Christmas eve at my grandparents house since we lived in Dallas and had to travel there. This was the first year we did not do that! So this year we planned to have a nice Christmas eve of opening presents, eating & going to church. Instead a blizzard moved in and we hurried through presents, church got canceled & ate pizza from the local gas station (did I mention how small the town is that they live in!). We rushed through presents so my older sister & her family could travel back to their house before the roads got bad! That did not happen! The highway to their house got shut down & in the process of turning around to head back to my parents house they got stuck on the side of the highway! So my mom & I sat at home and waited while my Dad, Eric, Leandra & her boyfriend Chris struck out to pull them out & many others while they were at it! The weather then delayed our Christmas morning plans of going to my grandparents which further delayed us getting to Eric's parents house!

However, we did end up getting to Dallas in a timely manner since they had virtually no snow! Christmas ended up being great but it went by way to fast!! Before we knew it we were driving back to Tulsa where we found tons of snow! Which is still on the ground today!!

We ended 2009 on a boring note this year! No fun parties for us! We were back in Texas because I threw Casey a baby shower & my family threw me a small family shower that weekend! The week leading up to New Year's I had a stomach virus & Eric got in an accident on his way to Kansas. His car had to be pulled out of a ditch & is now at the repair place for who knows how long. We were suppose to celebrate my sisters birthday on New Year's day but she & my mom came down with the stomach bug as well...so they spent their time in their room & Eric and I bypassed the germy main floor at my parents house by taking the elevator from our room where we watched a lot of TV on the third floor the the gameroom on the bottom floor where we played a lot of Wii, to keep ourselves entertained!

We are hoping for a better start to 2010! My mom & my grandparents are coming up this weekend to put together the nursery! I will post pictures when it is all done! Monday is my 25th birthday! Yikes!! Eric's mom has surgery on Monday as well, in Houston. Then will be spending some time at a condo in Galvaston recovering. Next weekend Eric & I are headed to Branson for the weekend to do a one day marriage seminar and spend some last time as a couple before we become a family of three! We have a couple more baby showers to help get us prepared for our little girls arrival, which is a short 2 months away! I hope to keep you all posted as these things happen but as you can tell I am not very good at keeping this up-to-date! I leave you with some pictures...

For those of you who don't know that is suppose to be a lake out there! It was snowing so hard you couldn't see it.

Christmas Day...this is what the other picture is suppose to look like!

Christmas Eve!
What we came home to after Christmas!