3 years! Wow!

First of all, I am so sorry to all our loyal followers (wink, wink) - we've definitely neglected this blog!! I randomly clicked on this link via my Facebook page, and realized it wasn't even active anymore! How terrible! Josh & I are about to embark on a new chapter in our lives, and I want to document it all. Hence, this blog post...

On Sunday, we leave for Jamaica to celebrate our 3-year wedding anniversary. I cannot for the life of me, believe it had been 3 years. Some days I feel like we've been married for 100 years, and some days it feels like yesterday. Either way, it definitely doesn't feel like 3 years.

I think back to 3 years ago, and how excited and happy I was to marry my bestfriend, how in love we were, and how willing we were to take on the world! I don't think I could've imagined how much MORE I could love Josh, and how much MORE happy we could possibly be. Its crazy to think about it.

Anyways, I wanted to post one of my favorite marriage poems. It was read at our wedding 3 years ago, and I think its a great reminder of how precious a marriage really is. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

The Art of Marriage

Happiness in marriage is not something that just happens.

A good marriage must be created.

In the art of marriage the little things are the big things.

It is never being too hold to hold hands.

It is remembering to say "I love you" at least once a day.

It is never going to sleep angry.

It is at no time taking the other for granted;

the courtship should not end with the honeymoon,

it should continue through all the years.

It is having a mutual sense of values and common objectives.

It is standing together facing the world.

It is forming a circle of love that gathers in the whole family.

It is doing things for each other, not in the attitude

of duty or sacrifice, but in the spirit of joy.

It is speaking words of appreciation

and demonstrating gratitude in thoughtful ways.

It is not looking for perfection in each other.

It is cultivating flexibility, patience,

understanding and a sense of humor.

It is having the capacity to forgive and forget.

It is giving each other an atmosphere in which each can grow.

It is finding room for the things of the spirit.

It is a common search for the good and the beautiful.

It is establishing a relationship in which the independence is equal,

dependence is mutual and the obligation is reciprocal.

It is not only marrying the right partner, it is being the right partner.

It is discovering what marriage can be, at its best.

by Wilferd Arlan Peterson

What a month!!

So we're coming to the end of July 2010. We bought a new car (after a wreck, sad), celebrated Kate's 26th with a great house party, celebrated our 2nd anniversary with a great trip to Fredericksburg, & booked our next vacation. Oh, we also went to the Dallas Lady Gaga concert on the 23rd. Geeze, all in one month!

Fredericksburg was a huge success with us discovering a great little getaway only a few hours away. We enjoyed wine tasting at 5 different vineyards & discovered some delicious Texas wine. And, we had a great time walking around downtown Fredericksburg, window shopping, & tasting all the great food their restaurants had to offer. Seriously, every meal we had was excellent. We definitely want to visit more often. Even just to get away from the Dallas hustle & bustle, & enjoy a slower pace.

Our next vacay will be in Mexico, at Secrets Maroma Beach near Playa del Carmen. It's adult-only & supposed to be awesome. We'll let you know. We'll be going at the end of August & both of us can't wait!

I'd like to end by saying I love my wife, Kate, more & more every day. What a great 2 years it's been & I can't wait to continue this great adventure! Thanks for everything you do for our family, hun! I love you!

--Josh

Coming up on year 2

Quick recap since the last blog. The Murano (Pearl) is doing great & we love it.

We're both really, really looking forward to this weekend. We're gonna work a half day tomorrow then go to Austin. We'll stay the night at Kate's folks', leave the kids (dogs) with the grandparents, & head to Fredericksburg for a weekend of relaxing, wine, food, & shopping. It's a much needed getaway weekend. We hope to visit some interesting vineyards & drink some good Texas wine. Oh & BTW, it's all to celebrate our 2nd anniversary of our fabulous marriage. I'm also looking forward to driving Pearl more. Kate drives her on a daily basis so I don't see her in action that much. It will be fun to take her on the road trip, & we'll be driving cautiously the entire way.

--Josh

The Decision

LeBron is about to announce his decision on ESPN on where he's gonna sign his next contract with. My insider prediction: he stays in Cleveland. You heard it hear first. Take it to the bank. Call me after the show.

--Josh

New Car Wednesday

So, after multiple test drives, financial applications, emails & phone calls from too many dealers, & negotiating, it looks like we're about to buy a new Nissan Murano from Courtesy Nissan. I think we're getting a good deal......if they in fact follow through with the deal I just talked to them about over the phone. It will be nice for Kate to have a car of her own again, & this car has everything she wants & needs. So, once she gets home we'll go up to finish the deal. Keep your fingers crossed for us & say a prayer. I've had enough of car dealers for about the next 3-5 years (until I get my Chevy truck!).

God has blessed us. We're very fortunate to be in a position to be doing what we're doing & living the life we're living.

--Josh

Car sizing-up

Today we're gonna go check out some cars but I wouldn't call it car shopping. Today is more like car sizing-up. We're tall people & we're also thinking ahead to a future family, so we're considering SUV's that we've never been in before. Therefore, we need to see how we fit in the various models & then decide which one we wanna go after. WE ARE NOT BUYING A CAR TODAY. But we will in the near future. I also think we'll finance through a bank, & hopefully get a better rate & take a little of the hassle out of buying a car. Today we will look at:

Nissan Murano
GMC Acadia
Ford Edge
GMC Terrain


We know what the Altima is like so no need to test drive that (if we decide to stick with a car). Going to dealerships & dealing with those lying vultures sucks, so wish us luck!

--Josh

the "slow down process"

Wow - we are officially terrible bloggers. I feel like I've failed my blogging family because I made a promise to blog more. UGH! Life has just been really crazy lately...actually, when I say "life" I mean work. Work is busy. I got in a car accident yesterday afternoon (not a big deal, no one was hurt), but it really got me thinking about LIFE and how I've really failed to enjoy it lately. A job is only a source of income, not a LIFE and I really need to remember that.

These past couple months have been so crazy! We went on our vacation to the Dominican - it was amazing! Josh says Jamaica is better, I'm not quite sure still. I mean, they were both awesome trips, but I'm wondering if Jamaica was "better" because we were on our honeymoon and everything was so blissful. My solution: go to Jamaica again so we can compare. :)

After we returned from the DR we completely re-did our front flower beds - dug out all the current shrubs, tilled, soiled, planted, mulched, etc - it was a HUGE job, but the house looks much better now. Our alley neighbor, Cheryl, says holly bushes age a house more than anything else...well, we still have our holly bushes b/c those suckers are STUCK, but we took out everything else. We planted more monkey grass, azaleas and sweet broom. Looking back, I wish we would've included more colors and more flowers, but I think the perennials will grow more and more and really look great. Since we didn't put any flowers in the beds, I decided to add a small planter around our front tree, mainly for annuals and it looks great!! It really helps our house stand-out and look beautiful. I'm hoping to replant every season to really personalize the house.

We watched several of my sister's softball games, at OSU and Baylor, both series were great - mainly because we got to see my family and especially my sister!! I've really missed her since she's been going to college in Iowa.

We celebrated a wonderful Mother's Day with Josh's mom and family at Joe T Garcia's in downtown Fort Worth. That was such a great dinner. Then we spent time with my mom, on her way back from the Big 12 tournament, Josh made his famous burgers and we just caught up. Overall, Mother's Day was a huge success.

Then, we spent 4 days with my sister on her way back home from Iowa. The big news this season is my sister will not be returning to ISU. When my sister first presented this option I was pretty upset with her - why would you transfer before your senior year? You've spent 3 years with these girls, why not 1 more? Its your senior year! Turns out my sister was much more miserable than anyone would ever have thought. "The grass isn't always greener on the other side"...unless the grass you're sitting on is DEAD...then anything is better. Ultimately I agreed with her, and she's now a member of the UTSA softball team - GO ROADRUNNERS! :)

We recently spent the weekend in Austin, celebrating Father's Day. It's been a long time since we've been with my family on these type of holidays, it was SO nice, especially since my sister was there. I met-up with one of my best friends from high school, Lauren, at a precious wine house in Austin. It was so great seeing her, and spending some quality time. We went out to the lake on Saturday - ate some yummy BBQ, relaxed, got some sun, drank some beer - overall it was a great day! On Sunday, we took my dad to lunch at Iguana Grill on Lake Travis, the site of our rehearsal dinner. The view, food and conversation was so great - I really miss my family and wish we could see each other more often. Overall the weekend was a total success - I got to see my beautiful family and my beautiful best friend!!

Yesterday, I got in my car accident. I left work early for a doctors appointment, was heading north on Preston Rd (in the far left lane) and was approaching McCallum Rd. About 50 ft from the intersection, a car heading south turned left directly in front of me and I t-boned her. THANK GOD no one was hurt, just our cars. The girl later apologized, saying "she thought she saw a left arrow". I was just upset because I love my car so much. Today, I'm pretty sore and tight in the neck/back areas. My car is at the repair shop, waiting for insurance to sort out, and I'm driving some crappy VW (no offense F-I-L). After the wreck, I called my doctor to let them know I wouldn't make it and then informed me that "we don't have an appointment on the books for you today". Wow - I'm.Moving.Too.Fast.Bottom line.

Like I said before, work and life can sometimes stress you out, but it shouldn't take a car wreck for you to SLOWWW DOWNNNN. That's my goal for the rest of the year - enjoy life, celebrate little accomplishment, love my husband too much and SLOW DOWN!

Thanks everyone for reading, I'm so sorry for ignoring you for so long. As part of the "slow down process", I vow to blog and reflect on life more.

Love you,

Kate

Josh & I in the Dominican Republic - defeinitely recommend it!

Josh's 29th b-day party!

ISU games vs. OSU

ISU games vs. Baylor

My sister came to visit us!

My bestfriend, Lauren, and I

Father's Day lunch at Iguana Grill