Catching Up

First, let me start with some BIG NEWS.  Summer 2011 will bring Kolby and I the title of uncle and aunt for the 1st time!!  Brad & Remy are expecting a baby, and they had a doctor's visit last week that confirmed that everything is looking great (praise God!).  My heart could explode just thinking about having a teeny baby just up the road that I can hold whenever I want, and likely take home with me when they aren't looking.  Congrats bro & sis--- we're so happy for y'all.  I'll plan to pack up and move in around mid-June.

Next, allow me to brag on my brilliant husband for a moment.  Kolby is the best teacher ever.  For a lot of reasons, actually.  Last week he hosted a poetry reading at a local Barnes & Noble for his creative writing class, and 50+ students and parents came and it was a huge success.  Several of his students came up to me at the end of it just to tell me how much they love him and that he's the best teacher they've ever had.  Kolby has a very natural ability to #1, instill confidence in his students and build them up in a real and meaningful way and #2, get them interested in English and writing in a way that will give them a tremendous advantage in college (he teaches seniors).  I could go on and on, but suffice it to say that I think he's found a perfect niche for himself in teaching, and I'm very proud of his work.

I went to New Orleans for work at the beginning of last week.  I had never been there before (the food was delicious!).  I'd say the highlight of the trip was that I didn't trip and fall on my face during the presentation I gave, and I'd say the lowlight was that I did trip and fall on my face the very next morning, walking from the hotel to where the meetings were.  It didn't help that it was right in front of the 5 co-workers I was walking with, including my boss.  Awesome.  And I fell all the way to the ground--- it wasn't just a little stumble.  I have the bruised knees and scraped elbow to prove it.  My pride actually recovered fairly quickly, on account of how kind everyone was about it, but I can't say the same for my slacks, which were ruined by marks on the knees from where I hit the concrete sidewalk, or my brand new very first pair of nice heels, which got scuffed up in the utterly embarrassing fiasco.  I would have been much more upset about the whole thing, but this was the same day Brad & Remy were having their first OB appointment, and I kept reminding myself that if something had to go perfectly right that day, I'd obviously rather it be that than me being able to successfully walk from point A to point B without humiliating myself.

One of my very best friends got married this past Saturday.  It was a beautiful wedding to be a part of.  Here's the happy couple (Katie & Daniel) at their rehearsal:

And here are some pictures Kolby took of Maya, just for fun.  He is off from school this week and was in charge of raking the yard yesterday.  I got a text from him while I was at work that read, "Guess who decided to pose for a leaf pile photo shoot?" to which I replied, "Chris?" and then laughed out loud to myself.  Chris is our friend that lives in our garage apartment.  I really feel like I hit that one out of the park.  

[Note that I messed with these pictures a lot because I've downloaded several photo editing software trials so I can figure out which one to ask for for Christmas.]

Well that about sums it up here.  Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Halloween

In the spirit of Halloween, we had our Life Group over for pumpkin carving, apple cider, and caramel-chocolate apples.  It was a great night. 

Kolby's pumpkin.  You can probably guess where his design is headed.

Heather reviewing the literature.

This is Chris.  He's our friend that lives in our garage.  And he can carve a mean pumpkin.

We had several prizes.  You can see how enthusiastic Mike is about his lambskin seat belt shoulder pad.

Kolby's finished product.  It's the Rangers claw.  He won a special edition DVD of Harry and the Hendersons. 

On Halloween night, my mom helped me hold down the home front with the trick-or-treaters while my dad and Kolby went to the World Series game.  I discovered that I was completely unable to resist the temptation to guess what the kids' costumes were, and I never guessed right one single time.  One time I guessed a fairy and the girl informed me that she was Tinker Bell.  So the next fairy that came around, I politely asked if she was a fairy or Tinker Bell.  The little 4-year old girl not-so-politely told me that no, she was the queen of the butterfly princesses.  Obviously.

Now we're ready for Thanksgiving!

A Decade

Kolby and I first started dating on October 31, 2000.  Also known as a decade ago.  10 years.

We were 15.

When my mom made me pick up all my leftover childhood stuff at their house before they moved a few months ago, I came across this collage:

The football ticket is from the game where Kolby and I sat on the handrail by the concession stand at halftime and told each other that we liked each other while sharing a bag of peanut M&Ms.  I can still remember so much about that night.  We went to a haunted house with some friends the next day and did some pretty heavy flirting.  I remember so much about that night as well.  Then I remember that we officially started "going out" (I wonder what the kids call it these days?!?!) on October 31-- Halloween.  Unfortunately neither of us can remember a single thing about how we got together that day, we just remember that was our anniversary for Kolby and Emily Part 1.

Kolby and Emily Part 1 didn't last too long.  I like to blame the fact that neither of us could drive at the time, which made for a pretty lame relationship.  Kolby was my first (and only) kiss.  I wasn't his.  I like to hold that over his head on occasion.  Anyway, that relationship ended shortly after the fateful broken ski pole incident on a youth group ski trip circa Christmas break 2000.  If you don't know that story then you are fresh out of luck because I don't have the energy to tell it again, but suffice it to say that the words "I hate you!" were yelled in sincerity by one of us (cough, Kolby) in a heated moment atop a double blue diamond ski run and the other one of us chose not to stand for such treatment, and may have used said event as a great excuse to end a relationship that was already headed south.

I finally got my braces off soon after we got back from skiing and was looking like a total hottie, causing Kolby to totally regret losing such a great catch.  Of course with my frizzy hair and the fact that the CHI was years away from hitting the market, I'm sure I didn't look nearly as good as I thought I did.  But isn't that what 9th grade is all about?

We spent the next several months as friends.  Here is a picture from youth camp in 2001, age 15:

That fall, Kolby asked me to our school's homecoming dance "as friends."
Homecoming 2001--- age 16:

You'll notice butterfly clips were a preferred hair choice for me at that time in my life.  Classy.

 I have a very clear memory of how uncomfortable Kolby was as we were taking this picture, with his hands on my waist and my dad watching.  :)  And yes, we were rather awkward and gangly.

It was later that night that Kolby kissed me on my front porch after he walked me to the door.  Then a few weeks passed with neither of us having the guts to talk about it.

On October 26, 2001 we were hanging out at Kolby's house watching Rush Hour 2 when the conversation finally went down.  It was Kolby and Emily Part 2, and it was official.

We even survived the youth ski trip that year:

It was Valentine's Day 2002 that I told Kolby that I loved him.  He said the same.  We were 16 so I know that sounds crazy, but what can I say?  Maybe it was a different kind of love than we have now, but I can't really say that I think we were crazy for feeling like we loved each other then, given how everything panned out.  Here we are on that night (again with the butterfly clips, sheesh!):

Even though we were the same age, I was a sophomore and Kolby was a junior at that point.  We finished out high school with some great times together:

Some of my favorite high school memories are from homecoming and prom Kolby's senior year (age 17):

We were having such a great time together--- completely happy--- then Kolby had to go off and graduate and kill all of our fun.

We both turned 18 the following summer and we decided to give the whole long-distance thing a go when Kolby left for Wheaton (a thousand miles away!)in late August.  It was miserable, but I was having a great senior year with my friends and Kolby was loving college.  I think I blocked out of my memory a lot of our relationship from that year.  Kolby flew back and surprised me for Valentine's Day, and that's about all I can recall.  I think I also got in trouble from my parents a lot for staying on the phone too late.  We learned a lot about each other and about how to communicate, which is something I'm still grateful for.

It didn't take long for us to realize that it probably didn't make sense for us to keep the long-distance relationship going for 4 whole years, given how hard it was on both of us that first year alone.  If it was "meant to be," it could happen later on in life when it wasn't so difficult.  Unfortunately, we came to this conclusion in May, and we would both be around all summer.  So we made the super mature decision to postpone the breakup until August-- we were in love and why shouldn't we enjoy those last months together?!?

Then came what we affectionately refer to as Snot Fest 2k4.  We were 19, and were breaking up for reasons that had nothing to do with the way we felt about each other. At that point in my life I would not say that I was an emotional person, but I cried so hard the snot just poured out (TMI?).  So did Kolby.  It was a rough evening.

We spent the next 6+ months barely communicating, save one or two phone calls to say hey and a hangout with friends at Christmas break.  I don't really remember how it came about, but I decided to visit Kolby at Wheaton the next spring.  We had each had been on a few dates (Kolby more so than me, also something I like to hold over his head) but nothing stuck.  That weekend visit was the first time we'd spent time together since Snot Fest 2k4, and it was amazing.  We loved each other, but we were still 2 years away from living in the same state again, so we entered this no-man's land where we were in love but not dating.

Flash forward to July 4, 2005.  Kolby had just recovered from the most horrible jaw reconstruction surgery of all time.  We were in my bedroom (at my parents' house) sitting on the floor playing Duck Hunt on my old school Nintendo.  We kissed.  It was our third first kiss.  And so began Kolby and Emily Part 3.

The third time's a charm!

If you had told me when we first got together 10 years ago that we'd be unbelievably happily married and falling asleep every night hand-in-hand in our first house together, I would have called you crazy.  But our story is one of my favorite things about us, and I feel so blessed to be on such a great journey!

[End of sappy, nostalgic, LONG story. Is anyone even still reading?]

World Series Here We Come

As you probably heard, the Rangers made the World Series for the first time ever.  Kolby and I were there.  It was awesome.  Here are some pictures, courtesy of Kolby's iPhone.

Rangers attire, check.  Kolby's playoff beard underway, check.

 The stadium was nuts:

After Vladi hit the double and the Rangers went up 3-1:

Top of the 9th; one out standing between the Rangers and the World Series:

Nefti struck A-Rod out and the Rangers win!:

 Lots of confetti flying through the stadium: 

It was seriously one of the best nights we've ever had together.  I'm so glad we decided to pull the trigger and go, because it was an experience we'll never forget.  And Kolby for sure will never forget it.  He's already watched the game twice on our DVR.

World Series here we come!  We'll be in Wimberly with Kolby's parents for the first home game, but we have tickets to the other two.  I am not even joking when I say that they are currently locked away in our fireproof safe.  Apparently Kolby was worried that our house would eat them (a distinct possibility) or that I would accidentally throw them away as I was cleaning.

Go Rangers!!!

As a total side note, Maya continues to kill opossums in the backyard.  We find them lying dead in the grass, not a hair misplaced, damp from Maya's licking.  I have a suspicion that it is more of a Lennie from Of Mice and Men-type siltation and that their death is accidental, resulting from her playing with them in a less than gentle way. It's sad and grotesque on many levels, particularly the level that requires us throwing opossums over the fence with a pooper scooper.

Catching Up

Here's what's new with us.

If you've been following baseball lately, you can imagine that our October has been largely dominated by watching the Texas Rangers make history in the playoffs.  Kolby asked me in July if we could please start saving for playoff tickets, so we've been attending several games in each series.  Our hope is to see the Rangers make it to the World Series in tomorrow night's game!  Kolby is beside himself with excitement for the Rangers-- finally doing so well after a decade of slipshod management and mediocrity (his words, not mine).  I've been passively watching dozens of games with him this season, trying not to care much, but I finally succumbed to baseball fever.  Asking about pitch counts and having the lineup memorized-- I don't even know who I am anymore.  Go Rangers!

(Confused by Kolby's shirt?  Google "Rangers claw and antlers.")

Our church celebrated its one year anniversary on Sunday, and Kolby and I shared our testimony as part of the celebration service.  We are so thankful to have found such a wonderful church home.  Even though I can't seem to convince our Bible study group that our house usually starts shutting down at 9:30pm and they are infringing upon my precious beauty sleep when they hang out so late :).  I kid... we are happy to have such a great group of new friends.

I spent the first part of this week in New York City on a business trip.  I attended a conference and gave a presentation, which went well despite the fact that I was a solid 25 years younger than the next youngest person there.  My hotel room was on the 45th floor and the elevator ride felt like a wind tunnel.  On my first night there, I walked into my super clean and crisp hotel room with a huge king bed and all I could think about was how I'd rather be in my insanely messy bedroom back home, sharing a queen bed with my 6'3" covers-hogging husband with our sweet dog passed out on the wood floor next to us.  I don't think I'm cut out for business travel.  My hotel room window directly overlooked ground zero next door, which was rather surreal.  I could clearly see the new granite footprints of the twin towers, which will mark the center of the memorial site.  I have a picture on my phone, but not one I can share thanks to Russell never giving back my point & shoot camera after his summer abroad.  Who knows if it even survived.

Maya had a rather wild night while I was gone--- killing three opossums in the backyard.  Don't let this innocent face fool you.  She's from the streets, remember?

Kolby has started back to grad school, with his first packet of poetry due this past Monday.  The work/school combo is keeping him a bit overwhelmed, but with the 15+ hours a week he's been spending watching the Rangers, it's hard to pity him too much.  When he misses a game to catch up on work, that's when I'll start to worry about him!

That's about all that's going on around here.  Aren't you glad you stopped by?  Riveting stuff, right?!?