two years, two dogs, and a few pounds later...

Happy 2nd anniversary to me and Nate! Yay! Crazy that it's already been this long...seems like it really wasn't all that long ago. But I guess it has been. Cheers to us! We're 1/25 of our way to our Golden Anniversary.

I've pulled out a couple of pics from that day...and some other more recent ones. 

It's also my 1 year anniversary at work this week, and one 1 year anniversary of bringing Izzy home with us. I remember moving and filling up the car when we were driving down here and thinking "$2.60, are you kidding me!?" I'm pretty glad I'm not making a drive from IA to TX right now...especially moving a bunch of stuff. We did manage to put 30k miles on the car in a year though...

We've been keeping really busy still. No complaining here though, we're getting what we asked for...and what we want. Tonight, for our anniversary, there will be no computer though. We're taking the night off to get some dinner and head to the top of the city for drinks while overlooking the bay. It should be a nice change from sitting on our separate couches staring blankly at the computer screen from 6-midnight.

I got Nate (and me) something pretty fun for our anniversary, so I'll have to "share" it with all of you sometime soon. After he opens it of course. I want to get him another puppy. The breeder just had some pups a couple of days ago...if we had a house and a yard we'd already own one of the girls. It's about time Bean had someone pick on her for once. Ah, someday.

I am SO excited for this weekend. Our friends Val and Rachel are going to be in Austin moving Val down for her new job. Rachel called last night. They stopped just North of Texas, but will be in Austin sometime today. Wish I could go up now and spend a few days with them....dang work. I've also got the Food Bank's Harvest of Hope dinner this Friday, so I can't leave before that. I've really enjoyed volunteering my time towards it, but I can't say that I won't be glad when it's over. :) It's been eating up a lot of my nights too. Hopefully all the design stuff prints well and is a real hit...and helps us raise lots of money! I think it should be a great event.

Also want to say a quick Happy Bday to Grace! And a happy Father's day to my dad and dad-in laws, and all our Grandpas (Papas)!

A classic...Cheers to us! Who doesn't love a man with a mullet and a jean jacket.

Actually getting legally married...before the wedding.

Our huge and awesome wedding party.

My recent favorite picture of Izzy. I'd be pissed if someone was biting my feet too.

Nate at a photo shoot.

Me and Bean Machine.

I finally got a summer haircut! Yay!

Bean getting into trouble. I love this pic though. She's so sad that there's no more tp to pull off. Don't worry, she got the whole tube off the next day while I was at work.

Corvette + Eagle = Texas

somebody get this guy some cake

I know I need to update this...I'm trying to find time, I swear. Just wanted to give a quick "happy birthday" to my Papa Jones (I know, it was yesterday, but I send him a card so don't get too worked up about it). 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAPA! Good chatting with you guys on ichat last night. Send me some cake ok? Love you!

make sure you get a pretzel bun

Saw this billboard on our way to Austin last weekend. Someday I hope to get to work on a project where the creative brief includes the line "It's wiener time!"

ok, you had your fun, now send him back

Happy Memorial Day everyone! Hope you're all enjoying your nice long weekend (if you got one). And a happy graduation to my sister-in-law, Erin! Sorry I couldn't make it back to Iowa with Nate.

I spent some of my vacation weekend going to my first Mexican Catholic wedding. It was really lovely. I wasn't always sure when I was supposed to kneel, or stand, or whatnot, but I just kind of followed everyone else's lead and figured no one was going to get too upset if I looked out of place. The reception was beautiful, of course. Knowing the bride and groom, I expected nothing less. And it really was GORGEOUS. I should have brought my camera...but it didn't match my dress. Ah, I love weddings. It always makes me think of Nate and mine, and how FUN it was...ok, I think it's old wedding picture time. :) Especially since it's almost our anniversary.

Speaking of weddings, I've been busy this weekend with new designs and getting ready to print my good friend Emily's...who's wedding I'll be a part of in October. Yay! I guess I'll see all y'all back in Iowa then, ok. :)

As for now, I'm "patiently" waiting for Nate to get back to town, and fufilling my addiction of Etsy and the Game Show Network. I've done entirely way too much talking to the dogs...and watched about a hundred episodes of The Match Game, so I'm looking forward to finishing up some designs, getting a good dinner, and spending some time with Nate before it's back to work tomorrow.

Thanks for the beautiful pics Tiffany!

A pretty nerdy picture of us at Tournament of Kings during our Vegas honeymoon.

hhhaaaaaappy biiiirthday lil' sis...(hiccup!)

It's happened. I am now OFFICIALLY old. My little sister Emily is, right now, walking to the bar because in seven minutes she turns 21. Very exciting stuff. We wish you a very happy and safe 21st birthday sis! Have fun, don't get sick, and be careful!


Uh, ignore the 20 on the cake...pretend its a 21.

bean bean machine

Just an update. Bean took a trip to the vet today. She didn't love it when she wiggled during a shot and the needle came out the other side of the skin the doctor had a hold of, but she did well none the less. Looks like she might have bronchitis, but the meds are working so far. Hopefully we'll be able to get some sleep tonight. These silly dogs and their vet bills. Geesh. There are just too many dogs in our "yard" all the time. I'm just glad she's feeling better though. It was getting pretty rough on her last night.

a part of his face i've never seen

So it's officially been a year since Nate and I came down here for my interview. Which means it's almost been a year since we moved down here...and two years since we got married! Crazy, I know. Nothing planned for the anniversary yet. We'll drink our "anniversary wine" and probably have a nice dinner, but nothing too out of the ordinary. Maybe we'll take another trip up to San Antonio and check out the new "golliath" roller coaster at Six Flags.

One of our friends is moving down to Austin in the middle of June, and Rachel may be coming down with her. If so, chances are we'll spend some time up there with them...I'm hoping Rachel gets in the mood to move once she's graduated this summer and joins us as Texans.

Yesterday I went out on a girl's day with Courtney and her friend Wendy. They have a membership to the state aquarium, so we took the little ones out for the afternoon. To say that Hazel loves "silly fishes" would be an understatement. This kid LOVES the aquarium. I think you could probably leave her in the underwater dolphin viewing area for the whole day and come back and she'd still be screaming every time one swam by. So funny.

Well Izzy took another trip to the vet last week. She was due for some of her regular shots, but she'd been coughing so we had that checked out too. So far nothing has come back, but now Bean is hacking up a lung every 5 minutes, so chances are she's going to have to go in too. Poor pup.

Other than that not much has been going on. We've started another paint job, and I've been working on wedding invites so we should be keeping busy. Emily and Nick's wedding is quickly approaching and we're about ready to print them! Pretty exciting stuff. Oh, and Nate found some pretty hilarious pictures of himself on yahoo music tonight from the 38th Parallel days. Yes, that's him with the long hair and smooth face. Not kidding.

Nate without a beard...and with some pretty long hair. Yep mom, that's him right there in the front.

Another one from the 38th days. Hahaha.

Our little Beanie getting some rest in between three pillows.

Some birds we saw while at a fishing tournament.

Same bird.

a months worth of events

Well, I said I wouldn't do it...and I did. Nate and I have been so busy in the last few weeks I'm finding it hard to keep up on my blogging. This is about the 4th time I've worked on it, and I'm going to finish! But, seriously I'm going to try to do a better job with it this week. We finished out last painting job and have some time to rest...or at least just sit on our computers all night. 

Not much has changed around here. The international boat show was last weekend. We went and daydreamed about yachts and jet skis...and really nice cars. We also spent the afternoon at a fundraiser for the CC Ballet with one of Nate's boss' and her family. No pics from it, but it was a really good time. It kind of made me miss dancing...

We also just got Mario Kart for the wii which has taken up most of our time that hasn't been spent on the computer. The puppies are still spoiled, and so are we. I finally got a camera! It's exactly the same as the other SLR we have, only the body is black instead of silver. This meant we needed another lens....of course. I don't have any pictures from it to upload right now, but I'm sure we will soon. 

Other than that, we're moving into a bigger apartment in about a month. Woo hoo! We're staying at the same place so it will be an easy move. I'm SO excited about it. It's much bigger and will feel a lot less like an apartment, and more like a home. I think the pups are going to enjoy the extra room for them to run around in too.

Like I did last time, I'll just let the captions get anything I forget. Most of them are from a Hooks game we went to with our friends from Kingsville...who have the CUTEST kids ever. Just in case you missed me saying that in several of my previous entries.

A really pretty picture Nate took and edited of Hazel in the outer seating part of the suite.

Me and baby Caroline. So sweet. She spit up on pretty much every article of clothing I was wearing. :)  Nice shot Nate!

Caroline getting some tummy time.

Seriously, look at this kid. 

Caroline stretching in the suite at the game.

Watching the game and making sure Hazel didn't venture off the end of the stairs.

Mmmmm queso!

More on the face than in the mouth. 

Mom and Dad Seaman

The boys, Reed and Nate outside at the game.

The Disc-go-round we just painted. If it has color on it we painted it...yes, even all the bins the vinyl is in. They're metallic! Woo!

Another shot...record shelves, slat wall, and some brick wall.

Mmmm, more slat wall...and more brick. And about 10,000 CDs. Not kidding.

Me at the boat show. Thanks for the dress mom!

This is Nate's "I own a yacht" pose.

Andrew (lil' bro)...what is this? And why?

We took these car pics for my bro and dad. There ya go guys.

A $140k car that gets 12 miles to the gallon.  Dumb.

I want this.

One of the huge boats.

Tons of people on the marina.

People riding their electric coolers. Not EVEN kidding. It has a steering wheel. Where can I get one of these?

Dad, I bought this for you....you just have to move the family to CC to get it. Oh, and name it "The Ashley"

Downtown CC

Puppy kisses for sis.

Izzy and Bean checking out their new foldable kennel. Awesome for road trips!

no bake dog cake

First things first. Happy 1st birthday Izzy!!! I hope you enjoy the pictures. :)

What a busy couple of weeks!  Nate and I have decided to start up a painting business (we've got some big goals to meet).  So far it's going well.  Well, we're tired, and have been working pretty much every night, but we just finished a huge job so now it's time to celebrate and relax...until the next job starts.  Things are good. :)  We like being busy.  We haven't taken any pictures of the place we painted, but the grand opening is this weekend so we'll get some then.

On the nights that we haven't been painting I've been going to a new bible study.  A couple of weeks ago our neighbor, Mary, invited me to join hers and so far I really enjoy going to it.  It's very in depth, and the small group I've ended up in has a really good group of women. I'm looking forward to getting more involved in it.

A few weeks ago we had a pretty big event in Corpus.  Justin Timberlake was here filming a scene from an upcoming movie in which he plays a Corpus Christi Hooks player.  Pretty exciting stuff.  The company Nate works for has access to one of the suites so Nate and I, and our friend Justin, spent the afternoon watching the game...in the A/C. Ahhh. Good thing we have a pretty awesome zoom lens for the camera.  We also had the Festival of the Arts in town and got some pictures of some really talented chalk street drawings. Very cool.

That's all I have for now. I'll try not to go this long between entries from now on.  I know more has happened in the last couple of weeks...but I guess the photo captions will explain anything else. 

Izzy's peanut butter/cheese/dog food birthday cake.

Yes, we sang to her. Look how excited she is to try it!

I had to blow it out. I don't think dogs can do that...and she was about to burn her nose.

Mmmmm.

A doxie wink for y'all. ;)

Bean also had a birthday this last week. She turned 6 months. So pretty.

We turned our wii into an internet browser. Nate was checking out izzyandthebean.com on our TV. It's a blurry picture, but pretty freaking cool.

Izzy playing "Jedi"...or nun or something.  Cute non the less.

Nate, Justin, and one "Texas sized corn dog."

 

Nate and Justin watching the game in the suite.

Justin Timberlake as a Hook! Awesome.

Oh, of course Izzy had some medical ailment. A really really gross sore on her tummy. We're not exactly sure what it was...but we contacted our favorite vet (Thanks Dad Rippke) and sure enough he was right. It burst...super gross...and she kept it clean until it healed up.

One of the two artists working on the street mural.

It's chalk! Chalk! On the sildwalk. Pretty amazing.