Emily and Kolby

Community Garden

Kolby and I bought a plot at a nearby community garden this year. It's just a few blocks away from our house, about halfway to the library, so we were already walking right by it almost every night. We figured why not take a stab at it. Even though we've basically killed everything we've ever planted at our house. You know us, just a couple of green thumbs.

We went in on this $38 investment with Kassidy and Derek, who happen to also live a few blocks from the garden. We cheated and started off with with small plants rather than seeds. But it paid off because everything is still alive (knock on wood). Most of the plants have grown A LOT since we planted them the first week of April.

We went for a salsa garden theme... lots of tomatoes, tomatillos, jalapenos, a bunch of other peppers, and cilantro. We also planted rosemary, okra, a couple of strawberry plants, and two cantaloupe plants that are absolutely going to take over the whole plot before all is said and done.

We've even had our very first produce (a poblano and some tiny jalapenos):

Last week we decided the poblano was finally ready to be picked. This picture makes me laugh because you can see Kolby's handheld radio laying on the ground. No evening walk is complete without listening to the Rangers game in the background :)

Here's to a summer full of garden-fresh produce like this little beauty!

Catching Up

Well, not much is going on around here but I suppose it's time for an update anyway. I need to warn you that I got bored just writing this, so I advise you to lower any expectations you may have.

Our family survived the 5K race at Baylor:

I had to take a long hiatus from training while I recovered from bronchitis, and I never really got back on track. Apparently an infection of the airways really does a number on your ability to jog for any amount of time without getting completely winded. So I walked with my mom (who was pushing Tucker in a stroller) for about half of it and then jogged half, clocking in at a brisk 14 minutes per mile pace :). Everyone did great though--even beating their goals--and Kolby did the best out of everyone, thanks to his snazzy new running shoes:

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We have some exciting news! Our good friends, Tyler & Erin, are moving back to Texas! They have lived on the other side of the country (ok, only Arkansas) for several years, but they were both accepted into graduate programs at Baylor so they’ll be moving to Waco over the summer. We’re excited to have them so much closer! And Waco is great because my parents live there so we are there quite a bit. Congrats, guys, on your acceptance and big move! Sic ‘em bears!
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Now for a couple of stories.

We had a big storm a couple weeks ago and baseball-sized hail hit Kolby's school. It left his car looking like this:

Our insurance company declared it totalled, so Kolby went hunting for a new car and ended up getting another gray Toyota Corolla. He lives on the edge. It's his first new car, though, so that's a little exciting at least.

Anyone remember this? Well it happened again. We had our Bible study group over at our house the other night and it was thundering, so Maya was freaking out and we couldn't put her outside since it was raining. So I put her back in our bedroom, and to help block out the noise of her pacing all over the wood floors I swung our closet door open so that it served as a second barrier alongside the bedroom door. Well, when we went to open the bedroom door later to let her out, it only opened about half an inch because the closet door had jammed up against it.

It took Kolby and I almost an hour to get the situation resolved. I got my fingers so painfully stuck that I thought Kolby might need to break down the door, then Kolby got his stuck, then at one point we debated waking the neighbors up to to see if their kids' tiny hands could be of any help. Once again, Maya wasn't too phased and pretty much just wanted to go outside afterward to chase bunnies (see her tail wagging?).

Speaking of Maya, it's spring and that means two things for her. One, the sun is warm now so she rediscovered the joy of basking in it. She barely even makes it out the door before collapsing:

And two, she sheds her winter coat. Oh the shedding:

Who killed the Easter bunny?
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I'll wrap up with the latest events in our life
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We celebrated Easter with Kolby's family this year and had such a great time. We had a big family lunch after church on Sunday:

I somehow didn't take pictures of hardly any of the 17 guests, but here are a few of a very special one:

Kyndall is now almost five months old and is so beautiful and fun!

And finally, it's baseball season again! Opening day was last Friday and Kolby has already been to four games. I went with him to three of them-- I'm much better company in April than in August when it's 110 degrees in the stadium. We're excited for the new season and are holding out for another trip to the World Series. Third time is a charm!

He is reson

Happy Easter!

We just got back from helping get our church all set up for the service tomorrow.

I think our pastor's kid captured the message perfectly:

Yes, He is risen (or rather, reson).

Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said.”

Matthew 28: 1-6

Spring Break = Spring Training

We had a GLORIOUS time in Phoenix for Spring Break last week! Eighty degrees, sunny, just Kolby and me, baseball, Mexican food-- this vacation had it all.

We spent 3 nights in the Phoenix area, mainly watching baseball games and going to practice. Then we drove up to Sedona for 2 nights, but it turned into only 24 hours because me recovering from bronchitis plus altitude equaled misery. I've never had altitude sickness before, but it was rough. It was either the altitude or the city of Sedona is my kryptonite. Either way, we high-tailed it down from there and stayed at a luxurious Best Western near the Phoenix airport. But, it scored us an extra day of baseball so we really can't complain.

Here are a bunch of pictures from our trip.

Saving $$ by taking a 6am flight was a much better idea in theory than actuality. But we made it and were happy to be on a plane headed out for vacation just the two of us!

But, the early flight paid off when we made it to the Rangers' Spring Training complex by 10am, ready to watch batting practice. Kolby was in heaven.

I brought a baseball to have players sign. Not sure what I'm going to do with it, but I got a lot of autographs, including Nelson Cruz, Derek Holland, Mike Napoli, Matt Harrison, Joe Nathan, and David Murphy. I was basically an autograph ninja. My biggest accomplishment by far was that I got my baseball signed by Yu Darvish. That means nothing to most (if not all) of you, but he is the Rangers' new star pitcher and is a really big deal because this is his first experience in MLB; he's from Japan and is VERY famous over there. Basically what I'm saying is that y'all should be super impressed that I got his autograph :). He never signs and just happened to do it one of the days we were there and I ended up in the small group of people that made the cut. Ninja.

Kolby got his World Series ticket signed by Derek Holland (who pitched that game) and Mike Napoli (who hit a 3-run homer that game). He was one happy camper.

Going to the practices was the best part, but we also went to three games.

All in all I give Spring Training an A+. We had an absolute blast. I couldn't have cared less about baseball or the Texas Rangers before marrying Kolby, but it has slowly infiltrated my brain over time and now I really enjoy following it. Plus, baseball is our thing that we do together. There are a lot of things that are made even more fun with the company of friends or family, but going to Rangers games is something that we have the most fun when it's just us. Which is a good thing because we watch more baseball than anyone on the planet has ever cared to watch. Ever.

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Now moving on to the limited non-baseball part of the trip...

We went to a botanical garden, where we saw a LOT of cactus (I refuse to use cacti, sorry):

We climbed a big rock (warning: my pale shin in this first picture might blind you):

We admired the millions of saguro cactus that were absolutely everywhere:

Kolby climbed Camelback Mountain:

We drove up to Sedona, which was absolutely beautiful. The red rock formations in Sedona were amazing. I wish I had the chance to take pictures (the flu-like altitude sickness had other plans for me). But, Kolby went on one hike and snapped a few:

And here was my view from the car while I waited for him. Not bad, eh?

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The rest of the time we just relaxed. We were traveling on the cheap, and spring in Phoenix is peak season for hotels so we went with vrbo.com instead. We found this big amazing house in a small and beautiful gated neighborhood just north of Phoenix, and it had a pool house that we rented for $89/night. It was perfect. We just hung out there in the evenings and enjoyed the sunset and warm weather. We watched Airplane! (again) and Kolby laughed out loud through the whole thing (again). I finished books 2 and 3 of The Hunger Games and loved every second of them (I already have my ticket to the movie next week and have seriously never looked forward to a movie more!). Kolby also read a lot-- probably something more sophisticated than young adult novels. We baked cinnamon rolls for breakfast. I took at least one bubble bath a day in the jacuzzi tub. We slept with the windows open. I packed my blowdryer and straightener and never got either out of my suitcase. It was the perfect vacation!!

So, here's to Spring Break, Phoenix, and spring training. We hope to do it all again sometime!!