Cowgirl Birthday Surprise

I have said for years that I wanted to go dancing for my birthday! Well Sam and my amazing girlfriends made that happen this year! I was so surprised when Sam drove up to a country dance hall, and even more surprised when a group of my friends were standing there waiting for me with a brand new pair of boots and a dress in hand! We had the best night taking dance lessons, riding the mechanical bull, and playing some pool. It was truly a Texas-sized & style birthday!!! Thanks to everyone that was apart of making my 28th birthday a memorable one!

Chris, Mel, Kirk, Kortney, Amber, Mandy, Sam, Diana, Michael

Taking on the bull - let's just say the bull won!

Kortney, Melanie, Mandy, Amber, and Diana
Diana taking on the bull

Me and my amazing husband - after dancing he took me to my next surprise to celebrate our 5th anniversary which was the next day. We enjoyed a night at the Ritz Carlton; we had an amazing time!!!

Kortney showing the bull who's boss!!!
Amber having her turn on the bull
The men - Kirk, Michael, Chris, and Sam

Celebrations

We got to celebrate the Thomas family (my brother & SIL) in May with two big occasions - Mia's 2nd birthday and baby "brothers" family shower!!! We are so blessed by their family and are so lucky to both live in the Dallas area. Mia is such a joy in our lives and we can't wait to meet her baby brother in July!!

Her birthday party was a cowgirl themed party at a little farm! She and all her little friends (not to mention the adults) had a great time petting the animals, riding the hay ride, and eating cupcakes!

Grancy, my mom, made all of the kids stick horses to take with them. Needless to say Mia loved hers!

Singing Happy Birthday and LOVING it!!!

All the pretty horses!

Grancy & Mia feeding the goats

The Ladies

(Mia's grandmas, mom, aunts, and great-aunts)

Richard and Mia

That night, while all the family was still in town, we had a "Little Man" Shower for baby brother. We wanted to have a special time to celebrate his arrival, and to give Richard and Jennifer some blue to mix in with the sea of pink that currently fills their house!

Mia enjoying a brownie (the girl loves her desserts!)

Uncle Sam and Mia playing in the water

(Aunt Mandy & Uncle Sam really should get some toys at their house!)

Baby Season

It has been that time of the year with lots of baby showers!!! I got to be apart of two very special showers for two of my closest long time friends. The first one was for Megan. We have so many memories all the way back to high school and now I have been able to watch her become a mom!!! We threw a shower for her and baby Owen! Baby Owen's room has an Owl theme, so we decided to throw that into the shower! Mr. Owen came early and just had his 2 week birthday! We have seen a lot of pictures and had some Facetime, but we can't wait to meet him in person!!!

The other baby shower was for another long time friend - Jennifer. We go way back and have shared so many memories with each other and our families! We are so excited for Jennifer and Jacob and can't wait to meet Miss Ellie!!!

Both of these friendships are so special to me, and I have been blessed by both of these women and their husbands! The relationships that we have bring us so much joy!! I just wish I lived closer than 3-5 hours so that I could see and hold these babies more often!!!

Spring

Apologies. We are officially the worst bloggers, ever.

Spring in a nutshell -

Sam

Samuel's new job at Fulbright ramped up. The international investigation I was involved in took up all of the hours in a day (and night). I know, everyone is busy these days.... There has been more normalcy since it ended, this month. So good news.
Gardening - Still an old man.
Birthday - Turned 27 years of age. I should be at my physical peak but I feel like I have been declining since the age of 22. Celebration was fun, though. Mando took me and my parents to a vineyard (old man) in Grapevine (the city). It was a fun weekend with friends and family.

Mando

Mandy has been making some pretty incredible food, lately. She's also been quite the crafty woman, as well as helping Sammy boy in the yard. She is turning into her mom (that's a good thing) :)

Random

Play time - Lots of play time with friends and family, when work has not consumed Sam. We got to see Rob, Melis, Reed and Quinci at Reed's bday party! We also just had a lot of Mia and Baby Thomas fun this past weekend. Pics to follow soon.
Here are some spring gardening pics for your viewing pleasure. None of that photoshop nonsense, either (too lazy). Went a little crazy with the tulips this year -

Catching Up

Since I am majorly behind on blogging, I thought I would post a few things from February to get caught up a bit. First off for the month of love is Valentine's Day!! Sam and I had a wonderful day together and ended the day with an amazing meal cooked by my husband: we started out with an apple walnut salad with a homemade cranberry dressing and crab cakes. We then moved to rack of lamb with garlic mashed potatoes and roasted fennel & onions. We finished the meal with smores souffles. Needless to say, we were stuffed by the end of the night!!! I also did a bit of baking to celebrate love:

Also, last month (I think) we threw a baby shower for my good friend Hillary! I think it turned out really cute and she received some great gifts!!! I am so blessed by Hillary in my life and it was so fun to be able to throw a special shower for her and baby girl Calahan.

Last, we also got to celebrate with our good friends, The Hadley's, with a baby reveal party! This was such a fun night and we are so excited to meet Miss Riley Kate!!!

Team Blue & Team Pink

It's a girl!!!!