Family reunions.

Every year around Christmas time, My mother in laws family all get together to visit and have a big luncheon.  Kids run around and we all tell what the family is up to.  My first ever family meeting...  Claudette, one of the planners called out Jason and he stood up and said what he was up to.  Introduced me as his girlfriend and Claudette stopped him and said, in front of everyone... when are you two going to get married?  ha ha ha.  WE were both mortified.  ha!  

Turns out that we did soon after get engaged... ha!  but it definitely put us on the spot.  :) 

We try to make it and it's always sooo nice to meet up and catch up, even if I can't always remember everyone's names.  

We all met up yesterday at the "farm" in Lufkin and what a great time.  There were about 55 people there.  We had great food, lots and lots of kids, ( I swear they were multiplying before my very eyes)...  and I even got to meet a few that I hadn't had the opportunity to do so before.  

It really is such a special event and those of us that have super small family's, really appreciate.  :)  

There were horses, and tractors.  Food, drinks, the older, the younger and the in between.  They had thrown down a big piece of plastic and created a slip and slide.  Connie was in charge of the baby oil and Clayton was in charge of the water.  What fun that was!  ha! 

Cousins

I think I mentioned last week that my mother in law is the coolest.  She takes Joe for a week every spring and fall... or summer and winter... or or or.  :-)  And this past weekend we had a family reunion of sorts so she offered to keep him for the whole week before.  I missed him like crazy!  BUT... man oh man did he have a GREAT time.  We don't have any pictures from the week but I got some this past weekend.  As well as some FUN stories. 

such as: 

Last saturday, the boys all were playing in the backyard.  They came in and all got bathed and fed.  All of a sudden J, my oldest nephew and Joe came in wearing panti liners on their feet.  Yep...  J found the pantiliners in the bathroom, took the sticky side and stuck them to their feet and proceeded to mop the floor!  OMG!  Can you imagine? 

The went through an entire box or two of popsicles.  They have these holders and Bebe would put the three boys in the pool and they would eat popsicle after popsicle.  :)  Joe always got the fudge ones since J doesn't like them!  HA!

My littlest nephew P-man apparently likes to hug.  And he's a big boy.  :-)  So, Joe would be sitting on the floor playing with something and P-man would come up behind him and just bear hug him.  Joe would look at him like... who ARE you?  :)  ha!  But it did rub off because the boys went to the splash pad near their house and Joe would go up and hug all of the other kids on the splash pad.  ha! 
and now, Joe likes to hug.  ... well ... and belly bump.  But he didn't learn that from his cousins... rather his mommy and daddy.  ha ha ha.

J is a bit more reserved than Joe.  The boys would play together fabulously but when it came to meeting others, Joe would run right up and J would just kind of watch.  Bebe asked if J didn't want to go and talk to the other kids and J said... "nope, Joe's got it covered'.  Ha!  So, I see J being president and Joe being his press secretary! 

They went to the trains, they went to the pool, they played in the playhouse.  They ran through sprinklers, (naked as jay birds), they went to Sam's.  They snuggled, tickled, made good choices.  They watched Bob the Builder and just all in all had a wonderful wonderful time.  I am so so blessed to have such a great family! 

Refilling my well

I can't even begin to tell you how lucky and blessed I am in so many ways.  But one of them is that my mother in law loves to take Joe for a week in lufkin which gives Jason and I some time to "date" again or to do whatever... or basically to just have a week to focus on what we want to do.  :)  It also enables us to miss our little angel (and let me tell you... I canNOT wait til friday when I get to wrap my arms around that  bubba!).  :)  

But this past weekend, it was father's day, as many of you know...  and Jason had a trip planned with his daddy to the island.  He wanted to leave early to get his chores out of the way and then he could enjoy every last second with him.  

He headed out on Thursday morning for the island.  I worked all day, picked up Joe and we biked to the pool.  We had a nice nice evening.  :)  I got the two of us all packed up and we got to bed about 10.  Well he got to bed earlier than I did.  :)  

Friday, I worked all day and it was quieter than a church on mondays.  So, I headed out a bit early, ran past the house and then picked up Joe.  We drove to Lufkin friday night and got in in time to have dinner with Alyce Anne and enjoy a glass of wine.  Joe sang AA songs and entertained all of us.  We headed home and visited for a while.  It was a nice relaxing evening.  

Saturday morning, Joe and I got up... he got a chance to drive the jeep around. 

We are sooo very serious about our jeep driving.  :)

It was about 9:15 am and Joe wanted to go see his Papaw...  it gave me the perfect opportunity to make my exit.  I was driving to Port Aransas to meet up with my parents and it was about a 5.5 hour drive.  

We used to spend every fourth of July in Port Aransas and I hadn't been back since Joe was itty itty bitty.  And we hadn't been back since... just one thing after another and a move to North Texas... 

Oh my goodness... I look at that little guy and can hardly believe he's the one I have now.  :)  

anyway... I digress.  I got to the Aransas Pass and rode the ferry over and as soon as I opened the windows... I could smell the salt air.  Oh my goodness, did it smell good.  A giddy feeling washed over me.  You just don't realize how much you love it til you don't live near it.  

I arrived at Island Moorings and met up with my parents...  we headed to the pool.  Once there... I looked over and there was a gentleman sitting in the corner...  I finally asked...  are you the chef that used to be here?  He said, why yes... yes I am.  

Rick used to cook a blackened Grouper Sandwich and my dad would have eaten it every day for each meal for as long as Rick would cook it.  We chatted for awhile and recalled the last time we were there with a group and finally he suggested he could teach me how to make it.  We already had plans for Saturday night but it was a DATE for sunday night. 

Saturday night we were eating at Lisabella's... one of my favorite restaurants in Port Aransas.  Always fresh fish and their mermaid soup is to die for.  What is in mermaid soup you ask?  well, mermaids and secrets of course.  :-)  

 We had such a nice dinner though.  I had the Macadamia Nut encrusted Hawaiian Sea Bass with a buerre blanc and coconut jasmine rice.  oh my goodness was it yummilicious.  

I got to wear my fun skirt again...  love it!  

Sunday morning, I woke up about 7:30 and had wanted to go for my long run.  On the beach.  With the salt air.  :-)  I made it down to the beach and took off my tennis shoes and ran in the sand along the water line.  It was amazing.  I ran on my toes the whole way...  (the way you are supposed to), never felt hot and just absolutely felt my mind clear and my heart soar.  I wanted it to be my long run and it was.  I ended up doing 5.5 miles.  It got a little long at the end and I felt a wee bit light headed.. but invigorated all the same.  

Until I got back to the boat...  and my tummy started cramping.  :(  I think I overheated a bit.. . it did eventually pass but note to self... when running on the beach for the first time ever...  maybe a 2 mile run would be sufficient.  

One of dad's goals for the weekend was to take the boat out and offshore.  It WAS fathers day...  so this was the plan.  The water was green, the pelicans happy and the breeze was a blowin.  :) 

We got offshore and it was a bit rolly polly..  so we stayed long enough for dad to have a beer on the back of the boat.  :)  Then headed to Lydia Ann Channel to swim and float. 

The water was bath water warm and the current was CRAZY...  so we had to tie a rope to our foot so as to not float away.  :)  

even the pelicans were loving life.  

We boated back in and got cleaned up and ready for Rick to come over for dinner.  What an amazing dinner!  We had the chance to chat about restaurants and food and beverage.  Our favorite recipes and where he came from, etc.  I grilled some corn, had a tomato/basil/olive oil salad and then he taught me how to correctly blacken grouper or any fish really.  

What a wonderful weekend.  Joe was having a great time with his Bebe and Jason was having a great time with his dad.  And I had an outstanding weekend with my parents.  The long drive home on Monday (6 hours) was LONG...  but the weekend was worth it.  :-)  

Mauve.

I was talking about marriage and relationships with some friends of mine last night.  They were celebrating two years together and somehow we got on the topic of relationships.  

 

As most of you know, marriage is not easy.  It takes work.  Some things come easy.  Others are WAY hard.  You are taking two people with completely different backgrounds, baggage, histories and turning them into one.  

When Jason and I were dating, things were relatively easy.  We lived in Clear Lake near the water which both of us love and have flowing through our veins.  this was easy.  The salt water and air fueled me and revived me.  The bay waters beckoned Jason to "come and fish with me".  We would come home from work and set out in the DaM dingy and bring ab ottle of wine and a couple of beers for him and explore the outermost edges of Clear Lake.  It was romantic.  It was whimsical.  

We lived in our cute little house with a *cute* little mortgage with a white picket fence.  We had two cats, one dog and everything we really needed. 

We planned a wedding.  A wonderful wedding with all of the trimmings.  I literally can say that each and every detail was planned by me.  Most of it went just the way I imagined.  We went on a fairy tale honeymoon and I have the memories to prove it.  

 

Exactly a year later we were pregnant with our first child.  I had an easy pregnancy, all things considered.  I loved to complain but mostly for the comic value in it all.  :-) who me?  attention?  nawhhhh.  I was pregnant EVERYwhere... by the way!  Even my EARS were fat!  oh my!

I can literally go on and on and on. 

We have now been married for almost five years.  Together almost six and a half.  The *newness* has worn off.  It's not all quite as romantic...  we live in a different city without that salt air or water... without my family to pick up and babysit at the drop of a hat.  With some friends, new friends, great friends...  but not as many as I had in Houston.  We work together... all day... every day.  

We encountered challenge.  We encountered experiences where we had to *deal* with strife and differences we had in looking at the world.  I had an epiphany.  And it's one that is so stinkin simple.  It's nothing new.  It's nothing I shouldn't have known.  But sometimes, the simple things are the things that elude us so easily, no?  

It's not about his way.  It's not about MY way.  It's about OUR way and God's way.  It doesn't matter how my family dealt with things.  It doesn't matter how his family deals with things.  What does matter is how WE deal with things and how WE get through them.   Less black, less pink... more mauve. 

I love my family.  I love my parents and my sister.  I love his family... his parents and his sister.  But I am now the maternal unit of my own family.  What is in their best interest is what matters.  (sorry mom and dad!)  

Jason and I went from living somewhat separate (yet together all the time) lives  to finally living together.  We are very like minded and we have grown in our relationship with each other and with God.  We have started exercising alone and together.  We get home each night and load Joe up in his bike trailer and go for a bike ride, usually ending at the pool.  It's our together time.  

So, five years now...  and we don't have that "honeymoon" idealism... but the reality is SOOO much better!  

I love you sweetheart!  I am SO glad you are my husband!  

I'll go into all the reasons you are a fabulous father later.  :)