Poop

Friday night I mowed the lawn while Darren was at work and when I came in to cool off, because it’s a zillion degrees outside, Coco immediately jumped in my lap because of course, I had completely neglected her for all of an hour and she was about to have a fit! Anyway, as soon as she jumped in my lap, I gagged so badly and my eyes started watering. She stunk! Pure and simple, she was a funky little dog. Now, I had to wonder to myself what she had gotten into because she is an inside dog. Yes, we allow her to play outside as long as she wants but we have no mud, no trash, no other animals or sewage for her to play with/in. And that’s exactly what she smelled like. I thought to myself, maybe she got a hold of cat poop. We are constantly shoo-ing off stray neighborhood cats. But she didn’t have anything all over her. Her face was clean, I was even brave enough to smell her breath and she hadn’t been eating any of it. Thank goodness because I honestly would have thrown up on the both of us, had that gone the other way. So, like any good mom, I turned her around and checked her butt. And honestly, I threw up in my mouth a little because staring me right in the face was the biggest “dingleberry” I have ever seen in my entire life. “Dingleberry” is an extreme under statement. Seriously! She literally had a terd hanging from her butt. So, I grab her and we run outside because, obviously, she hasn’t “finished”. Wrong! Oh she had finished. It was just some sort of cruel and unusual punishment. She apparently went potty, and a big glob got stuck in her fur and she ran around outside long enough for it to dry just enough to become completely glued to her hair. Seriously! You think it’s disgusting?? Be the one that has to get it un-stuck! So, I tried baby wipes, a wash cloth soaked in HOT water, paper towels, and nothing my friends, nothing would get rid of the poop from Hell. So, I did the only thing I knew to do, I went upstairs and ran the warmest bath I thought that she could handle. Filled that tub up with soap, and stuck her in it! I stuck her little heine under that running water, hoping some of that water pressure would work its magic. And it did, somewhat. I got an old washcloth, slathered it in soap, poured soap all over her and went to scrubbing! It took some work, and a lot of grunting and shivering on Coco’s part, but we got her all cleaned up and poopy free. I wanted to make sure that this situation didn’t happen again, so I got out some scissors, and trimmed all the hair around her butt. Let me tell you, I have never in my life, seen any animal so still. She clenched that butt and didn’t move a muscle until I was completely done and told her that she could go! She ran across the hall, into the guest bedroom (where I get ready in the morning), and she got up on the bed and layed down (you think we’ve done this a time or two), and she let me blow dry her. When we got done, she took off and ran around the house and rolled on the floor and then played outside until dad got home. I told him the story and he laughed as hard as he could, in between “oh, that’s nasty” and “I’m glad I wasn’t home”. When he saw her walking across the room he said “Morgan, I don’t think you got it all”, and I looked at him like I was going to stab him and said “that’s not funny”. He said, “I’m being serious”. He grabbed her up and turned her around and it was just her butthole. I know that sounds graphic, but you can see it across the room! I trimmed that hair so close, we now have a bald butted dog on our hands. But my friends, I can assure you, we won’t be having any more poop situations on our heines! PS: The tub has been scrubbed and cloroxed twice, so we are back in business! You might think I am insane for posting this, but this is a blog about my life. Our life. And however insane, hectic, wonderful, charming or disgusting it is - this is it!

Bankin'

Darren normally does my banking for me, on Saturday while I'm making breakfast or starting laundry or one of those really "fun" things I do around this joint on the weekend. Since Coco is pretty much glued to her dad whenever he is home, he normally takes her with him. The first time that he took her to the bank, I told him to make sure that they gave her a dog biscuit. He looked at me like I had three heads and said "Are you kidding". I said "No babe. I don't know how they do it back in Center but here in Houston, kids get a sucker and dogs get a biscuit at the bank, just make sure Coco gets hers". He gave me another funny look, and they headed out the door. When they got back, I asked if she got her biscuit, and he said that the teller had seen Coco and sent her biscuit through the tube. He said that he gave Coco the biscuit and she just layed it on the seat. As he was driving off, he said that she layed down and ate it. This is how it works EVERY single time she goes to the bank with him. The only difference is now she KNOWS she's going to get a biscuit. So, I had to go to the bank today and since I know how much my baby loves going to the bank, I stopped at the house first to pick her up so she could go with me. She jumped right in the car and away we went, her licking the door and window the whole way, which strangely enough, is also part of her trip to the bank routine. When we got there, she stood up on the door and pressed her little face to the window until I rolled it down, to get the tube. She stretched as far out of the window as she could to "help" me get the tube. I got it, put my stuff in it and sent it on its way. The SECOND that it got back, she started wiggling and shaking and crying. She looked at me and looked back at the tube, and just about had a conniption fit. I reached for the tube and as I brought it back into the car, she was all over me. I twisted the top off, and I couldn't get my hand in the tube for her trying to get her head in there! I finally pulled her back and got her into the passenger seat. I got my deposit slip out and her biscuit, and she was back in my lap before I could get the tube back its place. I got her back into the passenger seat and then I gave her the biscuit and she just looked at it! Seriously! After that whole show! I made her lay down and I broke the biscuit in half and gave it back to her, and she went to town. She's not high maintenance, is she?? When we got home, I put the car in park and opened the door and she bolted! She ran up to the door and turned around and stared at me, like "hurry up, mom". She has such an attitude sometimes! I had to go back out to my car with a wet one and wipe down my seat, to get all of the slobber off. Once she dug into that biscuit, she licked every little crumb off the entire seat! My baby loves to go bankin'!

The Day Zero Project

You know how we make resolutions every New Year? And then don't keep them? You know how we say "I want to learn to ____" one day or "I want to travel to _____" or even "Let's go eat at ____", and then keep putting it off - because you can? Hopefully, that will end today. For me, at least! A friend of mine stumbled across this "101 in 1001" list thing in bloggy land, known as the Day Zero Project and we have decided to give it a whirl! What is it, you ask?

The Day Zero Project

The Mission: To complete 101 preset tasks in the period of 1,001 days.

The Criteria: Tasks must be specific (i.e. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable, or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (i.e. represent some amount of effort on your part). The list itself, is harder than you think. 101 things that you want/need to finish in 2.75 years, is tough to come up with! I worked for almost 2 weeks coming up with a list of things I wanted to do or things I wanted to try. The idea is to give yourself more than a year because those just seem to fly by; or make it more real than something we do out of tradition, like "get in shape" that we all promise at New Years. Some of these are bigger than others. Some require a lot of willpower, while some require just time management. Some of these are goals of the masses (this is where we see "workout" come into play), and some of them are important just to me. Either way, I put a lot of thought into this list and am going to try my damndest to cross off every one of these! So, without further ado, here is my list:

Love 1. Identify both mine and Darren’s “love language” and utilize them in our marriage. 2. Dress up and go on a nice/fancy dinner with my husband twice a year. (0/6) 3. Spend an entire day in bed with Darren. 4. Make a cute apron and cook a special dinner for Darren, in nothing but it and high heels. 5. Make a great lunch and have a picnic with my husband. 6. Kiss Darren at the top of a Ferris Wheel. 7. Dedicate one day a year “Darren Day” and do everything he wants to do, eat, see etc. (with no exceptions). (0/3) Me 8. Write a letter to my future child. 9. Put something in my Hope Chest every month. (0/33) 10. Reach $15,000 in Pampered Chef career sales. 11. Get my concealed handgun license. 12. Inspire 3 people to start their own 101 in 1001 lists. (0/3) 13. Read 25 books of the Time Top 100 Novel List. (0/25) 14. Turn the TV & computer off all day, one day a week, for 2 months. (0/8) 15. Become a gallon blood donor. 16. Drink the recommended number of ounces of water everyday, for a month. (0/30) 17. Take 15 minutes for myself, every single day. 18. Learn to accept compliments, period. 19. Read the Bible, cover to cover. 20. Eliminate all soft drinks from my diet for the entire 1001 days. 21. Find a church that Darren and I both enjoy going to. 22. Post a blog at least twice a week. (0/286) 23. Wash my hair in the rain. 24. Legally change my name on my social security card. 25. Go to the beach and be more concerned with having a good time than with how I look in a bathing suit. Appearance 26. Build a better “work wardrobe” so that I have enough business outfits for an entire months with no repeats. 27. Lose 50 pounds and keep it off! (0/50) 28. Order personalized Nikes. 29. Develop a workout routine and stick to it! 30. Put on my new Nikes and get into the “groove” of my new workout routine at least 3 days a week for 2 months. (0/24) 31. Complete Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred; preferably, without dying. Home Life 32. Teach Coco to walk on a leash. 33. Take Coco to a dog park. 34. Find and frame our marriage license. 35. Buy a fireproof safe for all of our important documents. 36. Clean my closet and get it organized! 37. Keep my closet organized indefinitely! 38. Put the clothes away as soon as I get done folding them, instead of leaving them in the basket, every time I do laundry for two months (0/16) 39. Start recycling at home! 40. Create a cleaning schedule and stick to it for two consecutive months. 41. De-clutter my house so that cleaning for company no longer involves shoving anything in closets. 42. (Finally) finish the kitchen cabinets. 43. Replace the kitchen countertops. 44. Purchase a new refrigerator. 45. Turn our formal living room into a home office. 46. Purchase new living room furniture. 47. Install new flooring in the home office, den and dining rooms. 48. Find/Make a window treatment for the den. 49. Landscape the front yard. 50. Organize & paint my laundry/storage room. 51. Paint and decorate the ½ bathroom and the guest bathroom. In the Kitchen 52. Try a new recipe at least once a month. (0/33) 53. Learn to make pasta from scratch. 54. Learn how to make Beef Wellington. 55. Use every “gadget” in my kitchen at least once. 56. Cook one completely locavore holiday meal. 57. Learn how to make my own preserves. 58. Learn how to can/jar. 59. Make something homemade, package it as gifts and hand deliver to friends before Thanksgiving. Family & Friends 60. Expand our family. 61. Take my mom on a spa day, just because. 62. Take a girls trip with my mom and sisters. 63. Spend some “girl time” with a friend each month. 64. Host a game night for friends. 65. Take a trip at least once a year to visit family we haven’t seen in a while. (0/3) Thoughtfulness 66. Give a bottle of wine to a couple in love. 67. Send one package out to a friend or family member, every other month, for no reason. (0/17) 68. Pay for the person behind me in line, at least 5 times. (0/5) 69. Donate/give away anything that I have not worn in the last year. 70. Donate or sell all of my old books that I never plan on reading again. Responsibility 71. Clean out my car and keep it that way for at least a month (trash and dust free). 72. Fill my car up with has before the low fuel light comes on, for two months. (0/6) 73. Put $25 per paycheck in savings and leave it there! Travel & Entertainment 74. Host a grown up dinner party. 75. Host a holiday cookie swap. 76. Go to a beach where you can actually see through the water. 77. Attend a civil war re-enactment. 78. Take a hot air balloon ride. 79. Visit New Orleans. 80. Go deep sea fishing. 81. Play in the snow. 82. Spend an evening at a Jazz Café. 83. Spend an evening at a Piano Bar. 84. Spend an evening at a Blues Club. 85. Go on a winery tour. 86. Watch 125 movies off the IMDB’s Top 250 movie list. (0/125) 87. Go to the drive in movie with my husband. 88. Go horseback riding. 89. See the Trans Siberian Orchestra in concert. 90. Visit 26 Texas towns/cities starting with each letter of the alphabet (with the exception of x, then just visit a town/city with an x in the name). (0/26) 91. Get in the car with no idea where we are going and spend the whole weekend discovering new places. Expanding My Horizons 92. Learn to use my sewing machine. 93. Then make at least one thing for my house, instead of paying someone else to do it. 94. Take a cooking class. 95. Eat at 10 new restaurants we’ve never been to. (0/10) 96. Finish the cookbook I started. 97. When finished, have it bound. Accountability 98. Put $5 in savings for every task that I complete. 99. Put $10 in savings for every task that I don’t complete. 100. Blog about this experience. 101. Celebrate the end of 1,001 days with a GIRLS NIGHT OUT! Some of these items, I have tried to put realistic expectations on "keep it up for two months", "everyday for a month", etc. I'm hoping that if I can keep those things up that long, they will become habits or part of my daily/weekly routines and I will continue to incorporate those in my life! Some of these are going to be easier than others. Some of them require help or support from my friends and family and some are just going to take shear will or stubbornness. Both of which, I have! Start Date: Monday, August 24th 2009

Finish Date: Monday, May 21st 2012

Wish me luck - this could get crazy!

Favorite Ingredient Friday - Salad Edition (Spinach & Strawberry Salad)

I made this salad for the first time last Easter. It was the first holiday dinner that I ever hosted, and it (thankfully) was a huge success. This salad was fresh and delicious and comes together so quickly, it was a nice reprieve from all of the other dishes that took so long to prepare.

Strawberry & Spinach Salad

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
• 1 tablespoon poppy seeds
• ¼ cup white sugar
• ½ cup olive oil
• ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
• ¼ teaspoon paprika
• ¼ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon minced onion
• 10 ounces fresh spinach - rinsed, dried and torn into bite-size pieces
• 1 quart strawberries - cleaned, hulled and sliced
• ¼ cup almonds, blanched and slivered

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the sesame seeds, poppy seeds, sugar, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, paprika, Worcestershire sauce and onion.
2. Cover, and chill for one hour.
3. In a large bowl, combine the spinach, strawberries and almonds.
4. Pour dressing over salad, and toss.
5. Serve immediately.

When I made this recipe the first time, I accidentally used the raspberry wine vinegar that I had bought to use in another dish, and didn't realize it until I had already done it. It was delicious! So, just use whatever vinegar that you have on hand.

I also left out the almonds, because I forgot them at the store! No one knew any different.

I always use an egg slicer to slice strawberries. They come out completely uniform, and its so much quicker than slicing them all by hand! If you wanted to make this salad when strawberries aren't in season, you could make it with mandarin oranges.

Needless to say, it's quick and easy and very versatile and is sure to be a crowd pleaser!

Enjoy!

There's a New Fish In Town

Apparently, not even non-plush toys are safe in our house. Seriously -its like Coco is on a mission to single handedly destroy everything that we give her! You know these mean little kids at school, or on the playground that you can tell are deliberately trying to tear stuff up - we have that kid. She is so sweet, when it comes to everything except her toys! Last night, I was on the couch using the laptop to work on some Pampered Chef stuff, when Coco rang the bell to go outside. I get up and let her out and come back into the living room, to see this:

This used to be a hot pink canvas bone.

She managed to rip the canvas apart and completely shred it. Then she got the inner casing busted open and started tearing the fuzz out of it! She managed to strow those little strings all over the living room.

It took me about half an hour to get all of those damn little strings! I finally got everything cleaned up and let her back in, and went to throw all of her mess away. When I came back to the living room, this is what I saw:

So sweet, isn't she? It makes it really hard to be mad at her, for long!

So, I made a trip to the pet store (yes, the practically know us by name in there), and picked something else up for her.

There were so many cute toys, but practically all of them are filled with something. Since those don't seem to fare well in our house, I picked up the only thing that I could find that might have a fighting chance:

Howdy folks, there's a new fish in town! He has a tennis ball body and his fin is just canvas, and not stuffed with anything.

Is this not the saddest little face? It's almost like he knows something about his destiny!

I'd Like To Buy The World A Coke

We pulled out of our driveway on Friday and I quickly began singing "East bound and down, loaded up and trucking...". I feel that song and "On The Road Again" should be the theme songs to our life! Sometimes, I feel like I have wheels on my butt - we are on the road so much! Last Friday morning we headed to Center for a Pampered Chef party that I was the consultant for, a 1st Birthday party and a small gathering for Darren's birthday (he just hit the big 2-8)! Because Darren is addicted to any and every bookstore, we had to stop in Nacogdoches at Hastings so he could go in for "just a bit" which clearly means 1 hour. Because that's the least amount of time Darren can possibly be in a bookstore. It's some kind of man law thing. Coco and I stayed in the car and waited for dad.

She was getting hot (even though I had the a/c on so high that I was covered with a blanket) and thirsty and I couldn't go inside to get her some water because there was no way I was leaving her in the car.

So, I offered her the only thing that I had.

Coca Cola!

I was trying to get her attention! Her little eyes were glued to the door, waiting for Darren!

I tilted that cup up and she was a little hesitant at first, but then she tasted it and must have been in Heaven!

She practically stuck her whole head in that cup, trying to get as much as she possibly could! Needless to say, she thought it was delicious. She drank over half of that cup and spilled plenty on my blanket and on her little paws. And in true fat kid fashion, wiggled and grunted when I tried to wipe her down with a baby wipe to get all the coke off her before we both turned into sticky messes.

If I knew that a little bit of that icy cold refreshment would bring so much joy to everyone else, I'd Like to Buy The World a Coke!

Poor, Poor Piggy!

Pork doesn't last long around this house - no matter what form it comes in!

I know this because this is Piggy's current (and final) state:

Her arms and legs have been busted open and all of the fuzz was pulled out, and her head has been ripped off and is still MIA.

Poor, poor Piggy!

Fuzz!

Well, just to let everyone know - Coco is fine and completely back to normal. What had her under the weather you ask? Fuzz! That's what we call "stuffing" in our house. Apparently, in her boredom she took torturing Piggy a bit further and ripped her head open, and ate the "stuffing". Darren went to get Coco from her crate one morning, and she was standing up, pressed against the door. Upon closer inspection, he realized that she was shaking and covered in poop. And so was her blanket. And toys. And the entire inside of her box! Darren wrapped her in an old towel and took her outside where she "exploded" again. He gave her a bath and cleaned out her box and washed her toys and blanket. When he was cleaning out her box, he realized that poop was filled with "fuzz". Apparently, piggy was paying her back, from the after life. All that fuzz certainly didn't agree with her. For the next three days, she continued to get sick from both ends. She layed around on a towel most of the time, unless she needed to get sick and thankfully, we made it outside, everytime! I called the vet and made an appointment, but I don't know if it was her fear of the Dr. or if all of that fuzz finally ran its course, but the morning of her appointment, she woke up completely fine. She ate and played and ran and snuggled with us - just like she normally does. I went ahead and cancelled her appointment but because I thought she might be faking, we kept an eagle eye on her the rest of the day and on into the next day. And to our relief, she was back to normal. And just so you know, Piggy's head is missing! We never found it in Coco's crate, and we never found it outside. We have made a conscious decision not to buy anymore plush toys for her because they don't stay plush long around this house!

Favorite Ingredient Friday - Appetizers & Snacks Edition (Cheesy Bacon Dip)

Cheesy Bacon Dip

I can't tell you that this is healthy, but I can tell you that it's delicious!!

Ingredients:

• 1 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened
• ½ cup mayonnaise
• 1 garlic clove, pressed
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 6 slices bacon, crisply cooked, drained and crumbled
• 1 large tomato, seeded and diced, divided
• ½ cup sliced green onions with tops, divided
• Cocktail bread slices or crackers (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. In medium bowl, combine cream cheese, mayonnaise and garlic; whisk until smooth.
3. Add cheddar cheese, bacon, half of the tomato and half of the green onions to cream cheese mixture; mix well.
4. Spoon into 8 x8 casserole dish.
5. Bake 15-20 minutes or until heated through.
6. Top with remaining tomato and green onions.

Serve with cocktail bread slices or crackers, if desired.

Enjoy!

Show Us Your Life - Wedding Receptions & Honeymoons

Our reception was at the Knights of Columbus (KC) Hall in Hempstead, TX. When we walked in the DJ announced everyone in our wedding party.

We all walked in to "Let's Get It Started" by the Black Eyed Peas

Here is my mother, with our ringer bearer (my nephew Matthew) and our flower girl Kennedy. Don't they look precious?

We were excited, can't you tell?

As our bridal party was walking in, the DJ had them line up behind the head table, so they were all "waiting" for us to arrive.

Then, everyone clapped and cheered and then we had a prayer. I had the DJ play "Be Our Guest" from Beauty & The Beast, when they announced that it was time to eat!

This was our entry/sign in table. How do you like that arrangement? I loved it! My mom made it. The vase is filled with lentils and beans. The basket to the right, was filled with our wedding favors.

We gave our little individual bottles of Vermont Maple Syrup. It's seriously, the best syrup I have ever had in my life!

This is how the bridal party tables were decorated. I don't have pictures of the head table or the guest tables! :(

We had a fruit and cheese display, for everyone to snack on before the bridal party arrived. The pineapples were covered with chocolate covered strawberries. We also had dried apricots, pears, plums and a whole array of cheese and crackers. This was all that was left when we arrived. We don't have any pictures of it "before".

We had a wonderful fall feast for dinner. We had white and wheat dinner rolls, green beans, sausage and rice stuffing, roast beef with brown gravy and mushrooms, roasted stuffed pork loin, abd baked apples that were stuffed with cinnamon and cloves.

From the bite or two that I was able to eat, it was delicious! We got a lot of compliments on the food! We served beer, some kind of punch, spiced cider, tea, water and sodas.

This was our wedding cake. It resembled my bridal shower invitations. It was a spice cake, covered in fondant. It didn't turn out quite like I had wanted it to, but it was delicious.

People still talk about that cake :)

Cutting the cake! The DJ played "How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You"

We don't drink champagne, so we were going to toast with cider but we forgot to put a bottle back to make sure we had enough and ran out before we cut the cake and did the twisty arm drink thing! We did it with the punch instead :) Darren said "Morgan, I think we were just supposed to take a sip", but I said "Darren, that was some good stuff". :)

Darren's mother made his groom's cake. Its not "professional" but it meant a lot to both her to be able to make it, and him to have had her make it, so I think it was perfect. It was his two favorite kinds of cake - the large sheet cake was chocolate and the tractor was red velvet. When we cut this cake, the DJ played "She Thinks My Tractors Sexy".

Our toasting flutes. They were beautiful, but you can't tell because our genius photographer didn't take pictures of the whole flute. I paid all that money to have them HAND beaded with brown and gold beads, and you don't even get to see them!

You can see a little bit of the beading on the serving pieces.

For our first dance, we danced to "You Already Know My Love" by John Anderson. That was Darren's request :)

Halfway through the reception I had them play "Stay All Night, Stay A Little Longer" by Bob Wills.

Throwing the bouquet. The DJ and I faked them out the first time, this is the second time around!

During the bouquet toss, I had the DJ play "Here's To Findin' a Good Man" by Danielle Peck.

There was some pushing and shoving, so after flying through the air and sliding across the dance floor, my little sister caught the bouquet right before it hit the ground!

She was ok, and everyone thought it was hilarious!

They played the Mission Impossible theme song, when he went for the garter :)

Cole, my little sisters boyfriend caught the garter. They sat my sister down in a chair and then the DJ blindfolded him, then put a sack over his head and told him that he had to get that garter on her, right above the knee.

Then, they gave him the garter and switched Meredith out for Darren! It was so hard for everyone not to laugh and give it away!

When he got it up past the knee, they took of the sack and blindfold and everyone died laughing! It was so funny! He kept saying "I thought those legs were awfully hairy, I got a little scared".

Then they shared a dance! I would like to happily announce that they are now engaged and are going to be married in October of this year! :)

This is my nephew, Matt. He was 2½ at the time, and highly obsessed with guitars. He did so well during the wedding that they let him bring his guitar to the reception. Most of the time, like this picture, he was on stage with the DJ. He also jumped off stage, slid across the dance floor and ran around all over the place playing that thing! It was SO CUTE. Needless to say, he had a blast and we all got a kick out of watching him!

We had a wonderful reception and the DJ was amazing! They brought a whole box of props, we did the limbo; we had a conga line and maracas; we did the chicken dance and Darren wore this huge chicken hat; we did the YMCA complete with fireman, construction worker and police hats, and indian headdresses. It was so much fun! Unfortunately, I can't find the pictures of all of that right now.

For the last song, we played "Turn Out The Lights, The Parties Over" by Willie Nelson.

We didn't get to do our big exit, with bubbles because it came a torential storm when the reception started and so many people left after we cut the cake and did the toasts. We hated it, but completely understood and just wanted our guests safe!

Darren and I were starving when we left the reception so we drove through McDonald's after we left. Everyone came to the window to tell us Congratulations! We couldn't get any close parking at our hotel, so he pulled up as close as he could and I ran in my dress, through the rain to the room. Then he parked the car, grabbed our bag and did the same. When he got to the room, I realized that he grabbed the wrong bag so he had to run back out to the car to get the right bag and run back!

We went to the Texas Hill Country for a few days, for our honeymoon.

This is what our whole drive was like. Beautiful and serene!

This is the little private cottage that we stayed at, at Meyer House Bed & Breakfast in Comfort, TX.

This is the sitting room, when you first walk in. There was a huge bouquet of roses on the dresser and a bucket of chilled sparkling cider, a silver tray of the biggest chocolate covered strawberries I have ever seen, and chocolate chip cookies.

The bedroom with an old timey fireplace and a view of the creek.

This was the bathroom. There was a cooler full of cold Dr Pepper when we arrived :)

This is the porch, off the back of the cottage.

This is the back of the cottage.

This is was we saw every morning when we woke up. It should have been sweet and fun to watch except Darren was pacing back and forth and kept muttering "I wish I had my gun, I wish I had my gun"!

This is the creek that ran behind the cottage.

Isn't he handsome?

Me, playing in the creek. We went and got lunch and came down by the creek (the day before we left) and had a picnic. It was gorgeous outside, and it was about 75 degrees out.

After we finished lunch, we went back to our cottage to get cleaned up and were going to run and get some more of those strawberries before we left to go home the next morning. When we came out of our cottage 2 hours later, it was 36 degrees!! Needless to say, about 2 days after we left, I had the flu!

We got up on Thanksgiving morning and drove 7 hours to Center, TX to have Thanksgiving with the Fountain Family. We stayed there until Sunday and then headed back home! We had a wonderful time going through some Texas wineries, and enjoying the shops in Fredericksburg. It was quiet and peaceful and a wonderful way to spend our first few days as husband and wife.