Booked!

It's official... our vacation is booked!  We are going to Jamaica for seven nights in August after JW takes the bar exam and before he starts working to celebrate our 3 year anniversary and this new chapter in our lives. 

After a lot of travel research, which we have learned neither of us is very fond of, JW and I found a great Groupon deal for a resort in Runaway Bay, Jamaica.  It was just what we were looking for.  Groupon purchased, reservation at the hotel confirmed, flights booked, and a new passport with my married name ordered... Whew!  I wasn't sure we were going to get there, but Jamaica here we come!

Doesn't it look heavenly?  We can't wait.

Getting Settled

Ok, fair warning- this is a picture dump post.  I have been taking pictures as we moved in and got settled, but haven't blogged much, so here we go.

 Joey's dad's birthday was during our first weekend in Houston.  They came to see our new place, and we got to go out to dinner to celebrate with the family. We went to Joe's favorite local Italian place close to our house, Antonio's Flying Pizza. 

Macie, Jennifer, and Matthew

Matthew got put in charge of wrapping, and we all especially loved the masculine floral paper. :)

During the tour of our house when we showed Joe our closet we talked about plans to maybe add a lower bar since our closet only had full-length space.  He talked strategy with Joey and offered to come back over the next weekend to help.  These boys don't do anything half-way, so not only did they add a lower bar, they moved the original ones up and planned for room for shoes and belts.  It was pretty great.  Here's a final look before JW spackled and painted, so you can see how they moved the bars and shelves up.

Our closet now fits everything and is very functional.  Thanks, boys!

Momma Hance gave us a hammock as a house-warming gift.  I love it.  It fits perfectly next to our deck underneath our big tree.

Dakota and Harley are enjoying the deck and all the different levels.  We have begun calling the spa "Pride Rock" because we often look out to find one of our dogs perched up there.  They love hunting critters in our new yard and spend a lot of time back there. 

The girls up to their normal antics.

Koda Bear

Our backyard is perfect for entertaining, so we knew we wanted to get a patio set.  We have been researching and pricing them for the last couple months.  Momma Hance is a pharmacist at Kroger and got an email last week saying that Monday this week all Kroger employees would get 50% off all summer items before they were marked down for the public.  We had seen a patio set there at the beginning of the summer that we liked, so we went on the hunt for a store that still had one left.  The store near our house had one on the floor in good condition, so we talked to the manager and put it on hold to come back the next day during the sale to purchase.  Get this... We got a table, six chairs with cushions, the umbrella, and umbrella base all for $250!  Can you believe it?  We saw comparable sets for $1,000...  The lady that rung JW up at the store said we got a steal.  I agree!  And, to top it off, Joe told us that he and Grandma Judy wanted to purchase a patio set for us as a graduation gift for JW.  Happy Graduation to us!  Thanks family!

Last week, Taylor was in town from Lubbock for ten days.  He was here for Father's Day and my birthday, so it was really neat!  After we met for lunch one day, he and my family came over for him to see our house.  After seeing our backyard he asked if JW had climbed our tree yet.  Taylor was dumbfounded he had not, and decided to be the first.

I just love Tay.  I'm ready for him to graduate and move back to Houston too! :)

Ok, and one last highlight for this hodgepodge of a post.  We have enjoyed being able to order Chinese food and have it delivered to our house.  This may not sound monumental to anyone, but we never found a place like this in Waco.  We always wanted to order Chinese food when we came to Sugar Land to visit, and now we can order it anytime we'd like.  No one does Chinese take-out like Houston.  Good stuff!

Moving to Houston- part 2

Our move to Houston happened over a few weeks.  Part 1 was early in May when we took some of our more fragile items and painted a couple of rooms, and that blog post is here.   Over the month of May our guest room filled with boxes until eventually you couldn't walk in there.  I wish I would have gotten a better picture because this one doesn't do it justice, but this cell phone picture is all I've got.

The official move with movers was at the end of the month over Memorial Day weekend.  The day the movers were scheduled to load up our house in Waco I had a huge meeting for work with the president of Baylor that I had state people coming in town for, so I was out of pocket most of the day.  JW was awesome though, and totally owned it!  We stayed up until 2 a.m. the night before until the last box was packed.  Whew! 

I came home to bring JW lunch and the truck was already 3/4th of the way full.  Pretty amazing.

Do you see how big that truck is?  It was the largest one they have without being an 18-wheeler, and by the end it was totally full.  I am so thankful that we were able to hire movers.

It was a big day!  When I got home from work the house was empty.  We finished loading up my car with our personal things and the dogs, and then hit the road- Houston bound!

The dogs spent the day at Quail Creek to avoid us having to keep up with them while the movers were in and out loading.  They enjoyed running around and wrestling in our empty house when they got home.

We spent the night in Sugar Land and then got to our new house on Friday morning to meet the movers.  They spent most of the day unloading.  It was fun to see our new house fill up with our things. 

So, towards the end of the day we hear a loud commotion outside and the movers laughing.  I go out there to find JW trying to capture a bat in a plastic bottle.  So random.  The movers were all freaked out that JW was going to get bitten and get rabies.  It was pretty funny.

Poor little bat.  I'm not sure where they ended up releasing him, but we have since learned that our neighborhood has bats, and we like them because they eat mosquitoes.

JW and me at the end of moving day in front of our new house 

Everything was moved in a little bit after lunch time, so we had a chance to unpack a few things and get our bed made so we could spend our first night in the new house.  My mom even brought over baked potato soup in the crockpot, so we were able to have dinner at home.

Toasting this new chapter with champagne in mugs.  Glasses weren't unpacked yet, but you know my tea mugs were one of the first things unpacked. :)

The dogs love their new house and backyard, but were pretty pooped too after a full day of moving.

Our Last Days in Waco

I wish I would have taken more pictures in these last days, but you know how it goes... We were packing like mad and had a million things going on and wrapping up as we prepared to move.  Here are some I found when cleaning out our camera's memory this week.

Our poor dogs didn't know what was going on as our house filled up with boxes.  One evening I found them both laying in the guest room bath trying to get some peace and quiet away from it all.  I think the transition of moving was exhausting for them too. :)

The Roushs came to Waco one week to help us pack and we all enjoyed a favorite local Waco sandwich shop for lunch.

Then of course, we went to Chuy's, one of our favorites for dinner.  Can't beat that creamy jalapeno dip!

So thankful for my girl friend, Meg!

Aren't they cute?

After dinner, we came home and decided to take family pictures of each other.

Look how well Tegan did for their picture.  Great one, isn't it?

Okay, now see how well ours went...

Tegs thought she could help us whip them into shape.

This is the best one out of the bunch.  Our pups were easily distracted. :)  I blame it on Dakota's puppy energy and lack of an attention span.  Oh well!  We'll get a good one some day.

  

Our time in Waco was filled with growth for us as a married couple and some great memories.  It is the place where we became friends with the Roushs, who will remain one of our most dear couple friends despite them living in Dallas and us in Houston now.  Waco is the city where I had my first job and built relationships with some volunteers that believed in me and the mission of the March of Dimes.  They became friends as we worked hard to grow the presence and awareness of our mission in Waco.  I already miss them terribly and know they will always hold a special place in my heart.  It's the place where JW and I built a relationship as a dating couple while I was in college at Baylor, and then the place where we spent our first years as a married couple.  Waco is the home of the first church JW and I attended as a married couple and a Sunday School class we miss.  Waco is a neat community that we enjoyed very much.  We will always look back fondly on the memories we have there and look forward to going back to visit.

Houston so far

We are here and mostly settled!  I know it's been a long time since my last post, so it may take me a little while to get all caught up, but I am excited to share all that we have had going on.  For now though, here are the highlights.

• We have moved into our house in Houston.  There are still some boxes here and there and a few projects to finish up, but it's starting to feel like home.
• We found our new HEB and went grocery shopping for the first time last week.  I know you must be thinking... how exciting.  But, this was big.  I don't particularly like grocery shopping to begin with and we are HEB fans.  There are a lot of grocery store choices in Houston, but our new HEB is close by and not terribly big and overwhelming.  It's perfect!  And, we have food at the house which is also quite nice after having been in moving transition for the last few weeks.
• We found a dog park about 10-15 minutes from our house and have taken the pups twice so far.  There is never a shortage of dogs there and it has a little pond, so our dogs come home messy and tired.  They love it.
• I started my first day of work in the Houston office Wednesday of last week.  Everyone is very nice.  Look how cute they decorated my office door to make me feel welcome.  It's neat being part of a team.

 

• We tried a new church on Sunday and liked it a lot.  We still have several on our list that we'd like to try, but that was a great start and very encouraging.
• Houston is hot and humid.  We knew this since JW and I both grew up in Sugar Land, but wow.  I don't think I will ever have a good hair day.  And talk about the mosquitoes...  We just purchased tiki torches for the backyard this weekend in attempt to ward off some of the skeeters while we are enjoying our beautiful new backyard in the evenings.
• It has been nice being close to family.  We have gotten to be a part of the little things like dinner just because, baseball games, and soccer games.  Everyone has been so helpful in helping us get moved in as well.
• We went to the movie theatre near our house for the first time last night to see The Avengers. It was good and we are happy to have finally seen it. We feel pretty behind on movies, and have a long list of the ones we'd like to see. 
• We have located and shopped at the Home Goods, Marshall's, and TJ Maxx closest to us. :)  You're not surprised, are you?
• Living off of Westheimer is pretty convenient.  Houston is huge compared to Waco, and I think it will take me awhile to feel like I know where I am and am going.  But, so far the strategy of just driving down Westheimer until you find what you're looking for has been a good one.  It also only takes me 10-20 minutes to get to work.  So, that's been good.
• Although I do feel lost much of the time, I am starting to learn and no longer have to use my gps to get to: work, our parents' houses, HEB, Marshall's, 2 different Home Goods, TJMaxx, and the dog park.  I know this list will continue to grow, but I'd say I've got the most important things covered. :)