Hello Myko!

Our First House

Today we became homeowners! We are super excited about our new house. It's not too far from where we live now, but we are definitely "moving up!" 

We both took the day off to take care of last minute details, bank trips, and sign all of our documents. We started off the day by shooting a video of our current apartment in all of its glory. It was a great way to finish off our time in this apartment. We shared funny stories and realized how blessed we were in our first home, as we move on to this new house.

Then, we had lunch at Chick-Fil-A, ran a million errands and went to the title company to sign the very, very large stack of paper work. I even asked the lady in charge of our paper work if I could take a picture for my scrapbook. She laughed, and as you can see, we had to sign a lot of papers! I told Mark that it was kind of crazy that we had to sign more papers for this, than when we got married! What are we getting ourselves into?? :)

Since our closing was at 2:00, and the sellers couldn't close until 4:00 (grrrr, but okay) we had some time to kill, so we turned on the water at the house, ran a few errands, and since were were STILL waiting, we went to Dairy Queen and waited patiently with our ice cream cones for the title company to call. Mark and I played thumb war, and I said, "If I win, then the phone will ring..." Well, I kid you not, I won, and the phone rang! We were off! We picked up the keys and headed to our new house!

We decided to order a pizza when we got there and eat on the living room floor. While we were waiting for the pizza, we decided to check out some of the projects ahead of us. Mark tried to clean off the back patio with a garden hose, I checked out some of the appliances, and we really just marveled in the fact that this all really just happened. 

When the pizza arrived (don't worry, I got a photo of our first visitor) we were so excited to have our first meal in our first home! Right when we sat down, we noticed that the agents for the sellers were there to take the sign out of the yard. Since we didn't have a picture in front of the house yet, we asked them to take it. They were so excited because they just celebrated with the sellers, and they said it was really emotional. They said that what helped the couple to feel "okay" with selling was knowing that we were so excited. They raised their kids in that home, so it was hard to say goodbye. They said that the lady told them at the title company  how I took a picture of the paperwork, and how excited we were, and that gave them a peace about us taking the house. So all around, we feel like God really blessed this house, this purchase: everything.

We still have some time before we move in, and Mark is a little bummed about it. He seemed to sulk a little coming up the stairs to the apartment, but I know that it will be worth the wait! We are so blessed to be homeowners! 

One of my favorite DFW holidays!

It's not on any calendar, but about once a year it snows in this part of Texas, and it sure feels like a full fledged holiday. I love seeing everything covered in white and listening to weather men frantically interrupt commercials with "Winter storm warnings" and the like. (They've learned not to break into real shows.)

Even though I'm normally pretty diligent while working at home, today I couldn't help but take longer than usual breaks to stare out at the white goodness. I guess that's the benefit of not worrying about commuting in this weather.

If you live in a different part of the metroplex that missed out on the snow, (we here mesquite and sunnyvale got no snow, only rain) pictures will have to do. :)




(This post also ends the long famed Mark absense from the blog!)

Amarillo by Mornin'

Well, since Mark has officially "abandoned" our blog (ha ha) I will update the world on what has been happening in the McSpadden household. Well, we are working, working, working, and in the meantime, we are looking for a house. My aunt is helping us look for a place, and we are really excited about extending our space a bit! More news on that in the coming weeks.

This past weekend, Mark and I got to take a pleasant, yet strenuous drive to Amarillo, Texas for the wedding of one of our favorite friends: Katherine. It got off to a slow start, as we were supposed to leave Friday night, and I caught the "crud" (from one of my germ-filled sixth graders, I'm sure!). So, by Sat. morning, I was feeling much better... that's right- Amarillo by morning!

Let me just say, a 6 hour car ride is such an amazing way to spend quality time talking with your spouse. I am really serious on this... no exaggerating or sarcasm! We really got to talk it up, it was great!

The wedding was beautiful, the flowers, the cake, all of it was lovely. However, in all my listening to George Strait's song, and hearing people talk about "A" town, I have never heard how awful this place smells. Mark and I were immediately surprised by the pungent aroma of the nearby dairy farms. Wouldn't you know that a dairy farm or 2 were placed right by our hotel! We screamed, "hurry up, get in the hotel room, so the smell will go away!" But, nope. That smell followed us back to room 120. Wonderful. Luckily, I was still halfway recovering from "the crud" so my nostrils were lucky to be somewhat on vacation.

Anyhow, we loved getting to be a part of Katherine and Billy's special day (she was also one of the Aggies on the trip we took to Thailand, back in 2004), and we even got to grow in our marriage by spending over 12 hours in the car! It may have been smelly in Amarillo, but coming home to a rekindled marriage smells pretty nice to me! :) Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Parks!

* On a side note- the picture on the right, below with the bride (Katherine), the groom (Billy), Mark, and I, has a lady in it. She was a relative of Katherine's, who jumped in the picture. Funny, huh? We thought it was hilarious and didn't have the heart to bump her from our photo!

All these babies....a blog blessing and mild rant... all in one

There must be something in the water. It seems like ever woman I know is pregnant... yep, preggars! It reminds me of a time about 3 and a 1/2 years ago when I would say, "Mark, all my friends are getting married!" I remember how much God has shown me that our patience in waiting to get get married has paid off, and I have to believe that he prepared me during that time for later on in my life when I would feel left out again... like I was the "only one" not experiencing something special. The truth is that "right now" is our something special. We are getting to spend quality time alone together, growing our marriage. 

Don't get me wrong- we aren't trying to have a baby... I mean for crying out loud- I am still trying to convince Mark of the benefits of having a dog! If that has taken 2 and a 1/2 years for him to cave on getting a dog, how old will we be when babies are in the picture? I know that women in the Bible were having babies until they were 50, but really?  Again, God has shown me how much patience is rewarded, so I trust that in God's timing, Mark and I will be blessed with.... a DOG... and then baby... who knows. 

Anyway, I am not saying I want us to join the baby train, I am just surrounded by these amazing women that are getting the opportunity to start a family with their amazing hubbies. I just pray that one day I will have the chance to share that opportunity with my husband. To see a little Mark... typing on his little MacBook.... well... it is just a precious thought. Honestly, I am just so excited about my friends and their husbands and the joy that they are experiencing that I can't stand it. I couldn't be happier for them. Bring on those babies... not a "McBaby" yet, but one day... hopefully....

This blog is dedicated to all my baby-filled friends: Crystal, Mandy, Somer, Kelly, Allison, Rachel (who just had her baby) and  the many others that I have forgotten (and some who probably haven't announced it, yet!)

3rd Annual Cookie Decorating Party

This was year 3 of the cookie party that our good friends, Crystal and Keenan hold every year in December. Basically we eat a great, Mexican feast, we each get about 10 cookies to decorate (Crystal spent 3 hours baking them!) and we a have a contest. Our favorite cookies to decorate are always the "Decorate Your Spouse" cookie. We also decided to add the "Unique Christmas Sweater" contest to the mix.

Every year, it's a toss up to see who decorated the best spouse cookie. Unfortunately, I was a little more eager to eat my cookies, rather than decorate, so my spouse cookie of Mark ended up looking a bit like "Cartman" from South Park. Mark really redeemed himself this year, though. He stepped up his "cookie decorating game" a lot.

I guess I redeemed my lack of cookie decor. skills by wearing a sweater that looked like a blanket. I won for the ugliest sweater. :) The best part was that it only cost me $3. What a bargain! Mark won for most creative Christmas sweater. He had to improvise since he didn't have a Christmas sweater to wear. :)

We look forward to this party every year, and we can't wait until we get to show off our cookie skills again next year!

Girls Trip to NYC

I was blessed to spend the weekend in the Big Apple with my good friends, Kimberly and Meaghan. No boys allowed! We had a great time shopping, eating, seeing Wicked (awesome!), and more shopping. My favorite parts were going to the top of the Empire State Building, seeing the wonderfully lit tree in Rockefeller Center, eating pizza in Times Square, and seeing Wicked. It was definitely NOT relaxing, as I came home with sore arms (from lifting all of those shopping bags), and sore legs (I bet we walked about 20 miles!). 

Our flight was delayed on Sunday b/c of the weather. We were supposed to be home around 2pm on Sunday, but we made it in around 11pm.... grrr!!! But, we were just thankful to be home. :)

I missed my sweet hubby, and I hope to get a chance to go back with him one day. I would love to go to the 24 hour Apple Store with him (his dream) and take a carriage ride in Central Park. I loved NYC--- go there!