Redundant?

The Texas Pledge

Texans have a reputation that undoubtedly precedes us everywhere we go. "Everything is bigger and better in Texas," is what we brag. We pride ourselves in being the second largest state - second only to Alaska, which doesn't really count, right? It is the only state where the state flag is flown as high as the United States flag. And it's the only state where you'll see the shape of the state tattooed on arms, painted on the side of buildings, and made into chip bowls. People who come to Texas always comment on this, along with the Texas bragging that accompanies.

For such a prideful state, we sure do have a sucky pledge though:

"Honor the Texas flag; I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible."

Seriously, Texans? Couldn't we have come up with something a little more original?

My Favorite New* Ornament

*New = bought after Christmas on clearance last year, but the 1st time on my tree.

Reduction Destruction

In case any of you are interested, my good friends Dustin & Heidi joined Andy & I in creating a blog where you can follow all of our deals. The blog is called Reduction Destruction and we're using it to share the money saving techniques that we have incorporated into our every day lives that help us save more, give more, and spend less. We'll be posting deals and tips especially for those in the Lubbock area, but you'll still learn a lot even if you're not from here.

Please add us to your Google reader, follow our blog, and leave us comments and emails with your ideas or deals!

Am I the Only One?

Am I the only one who thinks that the words "family", "fun", and "bath" shouldn't be used in the same sentence? Much less in the name of a business?

Finds

Andy and I have begun to make a habit out of thiftstore shopping, garage selling, and frequenting local estate sales. Here are a few of our favorite finds...

A new pair of boots, just my size, for $6 at Goodwill:


A beautiful painting at an estate sale, $10. It needs a frame, but I don't have a clue what kind of a frame. Any ideas?


Pearl snap shirts for my husband, around $5 each. When we find these in his size, we snatch them up because you never know when you'll find them. We actually found more than are in this picture - he was in pearl snap heaven!!!

Uninspired

I suppose I've been uninspired with blogging lately. Or perhaps I've just been entirely too busy to post. I'm going to try and start some updating again soon!

I just started a new position in the Fraud department at the bank, so maybe I'll have some interesting thoughts to share on that...

3 Years

“Marriage is not mainly about staying in love. It’s about covenant keeping. And the main reason it is about covenant keeping is that God designed the relationship between a husband and his wife to represent the relationship between Christ and the church. This is the deepest meaning of marriage. And that is why ultimately the roles of headship and submission are so important. If our marriages are going to tell the truth about Christ and his church, we cannot be indifferent to the meaning of headship and submission. And let it not go without saying that God’s purpose for the church—and for the Christian wife who represents it—is her everlasting holy joy. Christ died for them to bring that about. "

- John Piper -

Seeing as how our anniversary was on August 26th, this is almost 2 months late. But, nevertheless, I have to mention that we had a blast on our anniversary trip to Couples Sans Souci in Negril, Jamaica. And I love my husband! What a sweet picture of Christ and his bride, the Church.

The Charlie Goodnight Show

Last month, the Ranching Heritage Center here in Lubbock had their annual fundraiser. For the fundraiser they had a dinner provided by Cagle's steakhouse, along with a presentation of our dear friend Andy Wilkinson's production on Charlie Goodnight. My Andy has long been a fan on Wilkinson's Charlie Goodnight album that was produced in the 90's, so it was quite an honor for him to be a part of this show that hasn't been done in 10 years.

Here are a few pics from the fun evening!

Be still my heart!

This is my niece. I'm very worried that when I have kids they won't be even a fraction as cute as she is.

Seriously, look how cute she is...

The Bob Dylan Show

This past weekend we went to see The Bob Dylan Show right here in Lubbock, TX. If you know Andy even just a little bit, you'll know what a Bob Dylan fanatic he is. I (somewhat) jokingly say that he knows more about Bob Dylan than he does about me.

This show was the 3rd time we've seen Dylan live, and this time we took Andy's little sister Anna with us. Being the Bob Dylan fanatic that he is, Andy managed to get us excellent center stage 4th row seats. And being the little sneak that I am, I managed to smuggle my camera into the arena and snag a few shots during the concert.

Contrary to popular opinion in Lubbock, we loved Dylan! The show was opened by a fantastic hillbilly band called The Wiyos, followed by good 'ole Willie Nelson, then followed by a too long (in our opinion) set of John Mellencamp, and ended with a smokin' set of Bob Dylan.

Sadly enough, Lubbockites couldn't stand Dylan and left in droves during his set. I suppose this isn't particularly surprising, honestly...

For any of you who care, Andy provided me with the set list for the evening:

1. Maggie's Farm
2. Lay, Lady, Lay
3. Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again
4. The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
5. Honest With Me
6. Blind Willie McTell
7. High Water
8. Workingman's Blues #2
9. Highway 61 Revisited
10. Love Sick
11. Thunder on the Mountain
12. Not Fade Away
13. Like a Rolling Stone
14. All Along the Watchtower

Like Uncle, Like Nephew

Isn't it just mind boggling how the most bizarre things are hereditary? For example...
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________

Take 1:

Take 2:

Take 3:

And finally, take 4 (after a very shrill "Aaaannndrewwww, COOPERATE!!!):
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Take 1:

Take 2:
Take 3:
And finally, take 4 (after bribing him that I'd race him to the park if he'd smile normal):

New Mexico Wildflowers

During our friendcation, there were so many wildflowers that were breathtaking I thought they deserved their own post. God is so creative!

And just because they were precious, here's some birdies:

Riudoso Friendcation

July proved me a terrible blogger. However, my pictures proved me a very fun person. We did lots of fun things in July, so many that I just didn't have time to post about much. One of my favorites was a "friendcation" we took with our favorite new friends Dustin and Heidi. We randomly decided to take a vacation on Monday and were gone on Friday.

And in one weekend we: visited and sledded down the hills of the White Sands National Park, took our picture with the world's largest pistachio, lost miserably to Andy at Monopoly, went hiking in the forests of Ruidoso, wasted two dollars at the penny slots, saw our first horse race, took tons and tons of pictures, and stopped by the UFO Museum in Roswell. Needless to say, we had a fast, furious, and fabulous weekend!