Labor Day Weekend

One of the things I love about the place I work is that we have a great holiday schedule. I had a four day weekend- Friday through Monday. It was a really glorious thing! Friday and Saturday I spent the days doing normal weekend stuff: laundry, grocery shopping, watching tv, and running errands while Joey worked on homework. Then, on Sunday we drove to Shay's family's lake house to spend the next two days with her and Adam. It was a lot of fun!

We did a little bit of this

and got to watch beautiful sunsets like this.

Shay and Adam grilled yummy dinners for us, we drank Sangria, watched movies, went people-watching at the local Walmart, and went jet skiing on the lake. Riding jet skis is a good work out, at least the way we do it! I came back beat each time and am still a little sore. It was a relaxing, refreshing, fantastic weekend with great friends. Thanks Shay and Adam for a great Labor Day weekend!

Mail for Harley

So, last week when I checked the mail I found a manilla envelope addressed to Harley Hance; cc: Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Hance. Clearly I was intrigued. When I got in the house and opened it up this is what we found- the movie Eight Below from Mamma Hance. She visited us last month and we were talking about the movie and how we had never seen it but wanted too since the main characters resembled our Harley girl. Thank you, Carol! We are excited to all cuddle up and watch it... whenever Joey gets a break in this rediculous school work we are all getting adjsuted to having dominate our evenings once again.

Here is a picture of us with Carol at the zoo when she came to visit. We had a lot of fun with her. We love Mamma Hance! :)

Pittman Weekend

Last weekend we got to visit Emily and Brittan who just got married in May and live in Houston. Emily and I have been friends since we were 3 years old and have a lot of great memories together. Me, Joey, and Harley got to be their first house-guests in their new apartment. It was a lot of fun! Saturday Emily woke up and made us grandma's famous french toast. It was delicious and did taste just like I remember Emily's grandmother making it.

Then we decided to go shopping and see the area where Em and Brit live. I had a gift card to Home Goods (the home accessories version of Marshalls) and we don't have one in Waco, so that was our first stop. The one we went to actually was a Marshalls and a Home Goods all in one.... dangerous! :) We actually found a lot of great treasures to check off the list of things we wanted for around the house. So then we went to Cafe Express for lunch- another one of my favorites that we don't have in Waco. It was yummy! On the way back to the apartment for the boys to watch the Little League World Series game, we passed a pet store boutique. Joey and I immediately asked Brittan if we could stop. You see, we have been looking for a baby blue collar for Harley that would match her eyes and not make her look like a boy for months now. You would think such a task would not be too terribly difficult, but you would not believe the lack of options we have found... Well, lo and behold, we found some great options at the pet store near the Pittman's apartment and came home with a cute new colar for Harley. When we got back, we decided to record the game and take Harley to a fenced in area for dogs in the park by Em and Brit's apartment. Brit was so excited! Lots of their neighbors have dogs and Brittan really wants one, but Em is still warming up to the idea. Harley ran around for about 3 minutes
and then decided it was way too hot to be outside running around, so she found a water bowl that had been left out there and tried to take a swim in it.

That wasn't doing the trick for her, so she made herself comfortable in the mud... of course! She was a mess, but quite entertaining! I hope this didn't totally make Emily's mind up not to get a dog. :)

We hosed her off and went back to watch the game and get ready for dinner. We ate at Carrabas and then met some of the Pittman's Sunday School friends at The Tasting Room- a fun wine bar with live music. It was such a fun weekend and we loved making the first of many memories with the Pittman's.

Picture Frame Wall

So, I told you about a project I was starting- a Picture Frame Feature Wall for the big white wall in our bedroom. I have been collecting frames from my favorite store- Marshalls for the last couple weeks and just got it up on the wall. It was fun going through some of our pictures and I really like the way it fills the space. Here's a look at our finished product for now. I think I will continue to add to it, but it's a good start.

The Hance Revolving Door

The weekend before Joey started classes up again we got to see lots of family. My brother, Taylor, transfered from John Brown University in Arkansas to Texas Tech University this year. Turns out, you drive right through Waco on the way from Sugar Land to Lubbock, so my family stayed with us Thursday night to break up the drive and squeeze in a visit on their way to move Taylor in. I made dinner for us and then we played the Wii game, Just Dance. I was a little skeptical at first as to how fun this game would be. But after watching Claire and Taylor mirror the little wii dancer's moves on the screen to the Spice Girls song, Wannabe, I nearly peed my pants I was laughing so hard! There are some pictures I took posted below, but they just do not do the shimmy Taylor was rocking justice. There are many things I love about spending time with Taylor, but seeing him dance has become a new favorite. I just didn't realize my skinny-white-boy brother had moves! In fact, he may not be the next Michael Jackson, but that is what made this game so fun! We knew Hunter could dance from his debut as the brother with moves at our wedding, but I have to say Taylor definitely has the entertainment factor going for him too. Mom, Claire, Hunter, Joey, and me all had turns too. Dad stayed on the sidelines cheering us on and acting as the announcer. I beat Taylor once, but other than that I think he dominated every song. It was pretty impressive! :)

Look at Hunter's faces!

Mom even let Harley chew on her bone in her lap!

Well, they headed out on towards Lubbock Friday morning and Friday night Joey's dad, Angie, Matthew, Macie and Jennifer came to visit for the weekend. How big is our place you may be wondering? Three bedrooms and two baths. It was cozy, and we were so glad they came to visit. Saturday we went to the Waco Zoo and the Dr. Pepper Museum. Then we shopped around town to find everyone Baylor t-shirts. Jennifer is starting her first year as a 7th grade teacher and coach in Montgomery and wanted to support her sister-in-law's alma mater for College Day some time. She gets to wear college t-shirts one day every week- pretty sweet gig I think! We also picked up some movie candy while we were out and went out to dinner. There weren't any movies in the theater that we wanted to see, so we decided to rent one and watch it at home and eat our candy. Only when we got home and all set up to watch our movie we couldn't find the candy anywhere. After much discussion and finger-pointing it was decided that we left the candy at the store after Angie paid for it, so the boys went out to get us more. They saved the day and we all snuggled up to watch our movie in the living room. Harley was too excited that Angie and Macie were down on on the ground on a blow-up mattress where she could reach them, so she had a hard time leaving them alone. Overall, Harley and the Hances got along great! There was talk that they needed a dog... so, we'll see! :)

Joey and I love having guests and really enjoyed getting to see our families. It was a fun-filled weekend and we are grateful to be blessed with such great family.

Wedding Memories

Joey and I have said several times in the last year that we would love to do our wedding again. Not the planning and leading up to it- just the party. We had such an amazing time and made so many great memories getting married and celebrating with all of our closest friends and family. I mean how often do you have all those people that you love in the same room? It was such a cool thing! We are so grateful for all of the people that love and support us. We feel very blessed as we look back on that day and remember all the people that gave of time and resources to make our day special. So, as promised here are some pictures from our wedding a year ago! Sorry this post took me so long to get up... all our wedding pictures are on my computer that has been out of commission for a bit. It is back up and running though, so let's reminisce!
Photographs by Edward Charles Photography