All things marriage related

This blog is dedicated to both sets of my grandparents who have successfully made it to 50 years of marriage this year. I actually started writing this blog last week and realized today I hadn't finished it yet so it will be a conglomoration of several events from the past week.

I wish I could have gone to my Watten grandparents' anniversary party earlier this year. I had to work the day of the party and wasn't able to catch a flight home in time but I really wish I could've made it. In fact, I actually had to work the same day as my Bonneau grandparents' anniversary, but because it was a 2-day event, I was able to make it for the second day. It was a blast to be with my family... we played games, roasted smores and watched movies outside, watched football, passed Ella around and did I mention the decorations? My mom and aunts are pretty talented in that area. Most of my pictures are of the decorations...and Ella.

I always love the times when we all watch the Cowboy game together. Everyone's personalities really shine...especially when the Cowboys are playing terrible, which was the case during this particular game (Cowboys vs. Rams). My favorite excuse for the Cowboys' embarrasing performance came from Granny Bonneau. Her response to Tony Romo being benched for a pinky finger injury: "That's why you don't go to Mexico with your girlfriend. He probably caught a disease."

Touche Granny Bonneau.

The next day Trey and I were sitting in the car waiting for mom and we were listening to the radio. When the song ended the dj said, "Thank you for listening to 106.1 KISS FM. Unless of course you're a Dallas Cowboy... in that case we need to talk." Trey and I thought that was pretty funny. But hey! That's all old news right? The Cowboys actually WON today! It was deja vu for me. We listened to the game on the radio on the way home from ACU homecoming and as the end of the came approached, so did the bad reception...and I'm not talking about catching footballs. Static started inching its way slowly into our broadcast until we thought we might not be able to even hear the end of the game. Luckily the static held off long enough for the Cowboy defense to hold their ground. If it hadn't, I might have cried.

Speaking of crying, I just went to Walgreens to pick up my birth control and the pharmacist just about brought me to tears. I drove up to the window and told him I was picking up my prescription and when he brought it back he said he noticed I had a Walgreens prescription savings club card (which is basically a discount card they give to those of us who have minimal insurance that does not cover prescription medication). He told me the current birth control to which I am prescribed is one of the more expensive brands and that I could easily get my doctor to switch me to a more reasonably priced prescription.

Now if only I could afford a doctor's appointment.

Of course, neither of my doctors ever mentioned this to me so I kinda just assumed I was doomed to pay that amount since both birth controls I've ever been on have been about the same price.

On the other hand, switching birth control is no walk in the park. Now whether or not I'll make the switch, I don't know. We sure could use the extra cash, but I'm not sure I want to deal with the extra attitude/depression phase I dealt with during my first round of birth control. Still, the gesture was incredibly kind and I was grateful that he stepped out of his way to make sure I knew there were other options out there.

That may have been more than you all wanted to know but I just thought the Walgreens pharmacist deserved a shout out for his genuine concern for my financial well being. People who are nice make me want to cry... I don't know why but hooray for nice people.

In other news we went to ACU homecoming this weekend (as mentioned before) and had such a great time catching up with friends and family. I was able to go at the last minute under the condition that I would work this coming Saturday so that means I will be working 6 days this week! Luckily we have a little Halloween party planned with our friends Wednesday night so perhaps that will help break up the week for me. Then my family is coming in for the UT/Texas Tech game on Saturday. Lubbock is going to be the place to be this weekend. I'm actually pretty excited about the next few weeks. We've got Halloween, the game this weekend, my birthday, fun holiday things going on at work, Thanksgiving in Virginia...its going to be December before I know it! Our time in Lubbock is quickly coming to an end. I would get all sentimental now, but I have plenty of time for that later and who has time to read 6 more paragraphs right now anyway.

Enjoy these pictures from the anniversary party...

This was at the entrance to their house...is says "And they lived happily ever after" and all the pumpkins are spray painted with gold glitter.

These were our place settings...everything was done in gold.

This was all so much more beautiful in real life...

This was a part of the tall display in the previous picture.

Granddad's cake

Granny and Granddad at their sweetheart table.

Our matching shirts.

The ladies have always been big fans of Preston.

Ella. I really hope my kid is as cute as she is.

And these next few pictures are of Ella...

Ok last one...for now.

There were many many more pictures from the anniversary party...all of which I put on Facebook but will not be putting on my blog. It takes forever to upload pictures onto here.

Here are a few from Homecoming. Cameron's roommate is the second string quarterback and ended up leading the Wildcats to a victory on Saturday since the first string quarterback pulled a tendon in his hand. ACU football is really good this year so it was pretty fun to go to the game.

The theme for Homecoming was "Elvis". This was GSP's float, which won first place. They had a live band a guy on top of the float actually singing the songs.

And the rest of these pictures are of Ella. Because she was adorable in her little ACU cheer outfit.

I didn't get any of her laughing BUT I did capture her cute chunky legs. I think she has figured out the concept of a camera and isn't so sure she likes the idea of us documenting her every move.

Boston and pumpkins

Ok here's a quick update on what we've been up to lately...

Preston went to Boston and had a blast...which is evident in the 4 pictures he took. I would've taken about 50, but I'm not afraid of a pink camera. I told him to write about it but he said there wasn't much to write. This trip was actual a class credit for him but he said it felt more like a vacation than a class trip because they didn't have as much financial seminars as the last trip he went on. Sounds like a great class to me!

This is Preston's food. He was testing the flash. So I guess that means he really took only 3 pictures in Boston.

Preston and his financial friends eating dinner.

These are all bowling lanes at the closing party of the convention. Preston said it was pretty cool...they had three different floors of entertainment.

Preston in front of Fenway Park...and a cop car.

And on Sunday we went to the Apple Orchard again with Chase and Taryn for their Pumpkin Festival. It was pretty cool and misty outside so it really felt like Fall...finally!

I had Preston pick the baby apples so I could make baby caramel apples later! (I'm a prima donna and didn't want to reach into the wet trees to pick any since I was already cold). :)

Aren't they cute? Right off the tree.

Chase and Preston juggling apples.

Pumpkins!

It's beginning to feel a lot like Fall! It got cooler this week in Lubbock but the temperature is supposed to rise again by the end of the week. I hope it drops again soon. I'd like to bust out the winter clothes for good.

XM Radio...now I get it.

So we've been pretty busy lately what with Preston and myself being out of town on and off for the last couple weeks. Preston had his personal finance convention in Atlanta and now he's at another one in Boston. We both went to Dallas last weekend for the Cowboy game and this weekend I went to Abilene for some friends of mine (Preston is still in Boston). I made Preston take my camera, even though it's pink, because he only got pictures on his phone from Atlanta and they weren't so clear. Not that he'll actually use my pink camera. We'll see.

On my way home from Abilene to Lubbock today (not my home for very long!) I decided to leave in the middle of the Cowboy game so I would have something to do since I was driving alone (something I am not used to since I've been married). I started out listening to a local Abilene station affiliated with the Dallas Cowboys network, but lo and behold...as soon as we got to the 4th quarter with 5 minutes left...the reception began to fade. I frantically searched other stations and found one AM station broadcasting the game that I believe was News Radio 1080...so you can imagine how fuzzy it was. It was so bad that at first it sounded like the announcers were broadcasting in the very center of the Texas Stadium crowd... I quickly realized that this was static I was hearing...not over-ecstatic supportive fans. I eventually decided I was just going to have to flip back and forth between the two stations in order to figure out what was going on in the game. It helped particularly when an announcer would get excited and start to yell. That way I could hear words like "...30! 20! 10! TOUCHDOWN!!!" Except it was hard to tell who, exactly, had made a touchdown. As soon as I decided I was going to call my parents and make them set the phone by the tv, I was pretty sure I may have heard the game was over. And then I flipped stations again just in case only to hear "and so the Cowboys take a win at 31-22..." clear as a whistle. Don't know where THAT station was 5 minutes ago.

Did I mention it was raining so hard I couldn't see but 5 feet in front of me? I might as well have been driving through fog. I stared at 2 red lights to the right and in front of me for about 10 minutes trying to figure out what the heck they were only to discover as I became slightly closer that it was a car's rear end lights. Looked like a stop light/2 motorcycles/a UFO for a while there.

Here's a few pictures from the Dallas Cowboy game...

I decided to wear Trey's Troy Aikman jersey because I was going to buy a jersey but I couldn't decide what player I wanted so I figured Aikman was pretty neutral since he's just a commentator. Well when we got to my Granny's house to meet before the game, Berkeley saw that the jersey was signed and asked who had signed it. I told her Troy Aikman had signed it of course and Reese said, "Who's that?"

Our Christmas present to Jeff and Malena last year was Cowboy tickets!

Cameron and Spencer...all grown up.

This is Skyler and Hunt...so sweet.

And then we went to see Ella at Todd and Julie's house. I was desperate to see her because I hadn't seen her since she was newborn. If you ask me, she's a vision into the future of what our children will look like. I can only hope. :)

She loves Preston.

And in other news...our dear friends Chris Lee and Amanda Steffins got ENGAGED last week and I am REALLY excited! Amanda went to Oxford with me and was my best friend while we were there. Chris was in Lubbock doing med school last year and was like our only friend so we became really close to him too. I have finally gotten to a point where I am not shocked when my friends get engaged...but I get so excited that I feel like I'm getting married again. I love it.

On the other hand, when we were in Dallas last week I went to see my pregnant friend Brittany...now that is still weird. I mean there are lots of people my age who have kids but they aren't my friends. It might take me a little longer to get used to my friends having tummies with babies in them. Maybe if I have one I'll get used to it...pretty sure Preston won't be too keen on testing that theory for a while.