tagged

Thanks Emily.
Third folder third picture.


This is our engagement picture that we sent out with our announcements. My sister in-law took our pictures for us. She's a great and amazing photographer!!!! Located in the Austin area, check her out. Here is her photog blog. Her website is kristendukephotography.com.
Any of you that know Taylor and Diane Goggins will recognize them on her website.

Pre-Thanksgiving fun

The Tuesday before thanksgiving Russ was out of school really early and I didn't have class. We were planning to do a few things to get ready for our trip to Washington, but our plans were changed when I was asked to take one of my cub scouts out for the day to give his grandma a break. Cameron is a nice kid and a real talker if you get him started on Pokemon ( a subject which I hardly know anything about). Because of certain learning disabilities he can try one's patiences. But in all, he is a real sweet boy.

I had to think of something fun to do. Cameron would be completely happy just coming over and playing his Nintendo DS ( no clue what DS means) the whole time. But I would not be happy with that! It would be completely lame. With no kids of my own, I really didn't have anything at the house to entertain him with besides board games. And he really isn't the board game type. So instead, I got my neighbor Misty and her kids (who had the whole week off for Thanksgiving BTW!!!) and we went to the dog park. I don't know about the rest of them, but I had fun.

The first picture is Marriah trying to get Athena to jump over the jumping thingy. The next is Athena showing of her agility! haha.



For a while we were the only ones at the park which is sad because I think it would have been more fun for the kids with the 50 other dogs running around like there was the last time I went. But not to fear!! I had thought ahead and brought Crochet! My family used to play this all the time when I was a child and I loved it. Russell set us up a really crazy course.






















Here are a couple other shots from the day. The kids in the Car and Misty and Marriah on the dog tunnel.

I'm Liking It

It's just cute.
The Way I Am by Ingrid Michaelson

Here is the Music Video just so you can listen to the song. Ignore the video... i'm not sure i love it.



Thank You Margot

Russell's time off

Every couple of weeks there comes a day that I absolutely love!! This day is the Saturday after Russell's tests. This day is amazing because Russell has no excuse not to hang out with me. This day is free of time limits. This day is a day when Russell does not have the excuse of "I have to study". This day is one in which normal goings on are not acceptable. And that is why this day, post test Saturday, is my favorite day.

Our post test Saturday activity this time around was a nice pleasant bike ride. We headed down to the missions trail. Besides the Alamo, there are actually 4 other cool missions in San Antonio: Mission Concepcion, Mission San Jose, Mission San Jaun, and Mission Espada. These missions are spaced out a few miles apart near the San Antonio River. The missions trail is paved path which follows along this river. It's not really "beautiful" too look at. Some might argue that it's quite ugly. But the trail does have a few pleasing sections. Plus, it's away from the road. Overall its a nice ride.
The trail starts at Mission Concepcion and ends in 8.3 miles down at Mission Espada. Russell and I were feeling pretty good when we took off on our ride. When we got to Mission Espada, neither one of us was ready to turn around and head back home. So we kept going another 4 miles. We ended up on this nice "country" road. Country in that it was long, straight, surrounded by big fields, horses, kids riding four-wheelers, and very few passing cars. It was nice to feel away from the city.... even if we really weren't.

Once we turned around, we realized why the ride out had been so pleasant and easy. It was actually a very windy day. We eventually made it back after fighting the wind the whole 12 miles, but we were dead. Our legs were fatigued and our patooties a little saddle sore. Luckily, neither one of us experienced sore muscles the next day. Unfortunately, the seats at church were a little harder the usual.

We both slept very well that night.


posing in front of Mission Concepcion after the ride

Weekend in Utah

I'm not the best at making sure I take pictures of things. I missed a lot over the weekend while we were in Utah. But here are some of what I did get!
Tom and Mary's reception was fun. They didn't have a line, which was nice. But it meant I had to be quite the social butterfly to talk to everyone I knew. It's not particularly something I'm good at. But I did it, and I'm glad I did. I have so many cousins and relatives in Utah, one weekend and one evening really isn't enough. But I am grateful I was able to see everyone. The evening started out very formal. Mary's family are not members of our church, so they were not able to attend the temple ceremony. So we Tom and Mary had a big formal ring ceremony with bridal procession and everything!! Sorry, there are no good pictures of my dress below.
























This picture is kinda funny since Tom has an extra head coming out of his chest.


















Russ preparing the car with plastic wrap.









My windshield art work :). Wait a second. How did those get in there!!!


























After the luncheon in the afternoon, Russ and I were waiting around for my parents so we could leave. We found a bench at the Law Building to wait on, but the beautiful leaves all around were much more appealing. So we played in them instead of sitting and waiting. We entertained ourselves for a half hour with the camera and the leaves.

We had a couple pictures like this. With a quick toss on ten and then a quick lean in for the flash. Yes I know, very posed.














This one is cool cuz it looks like we're in the middle of a fireball!





























I often get a little dramatic.







































I went to a Halloween bridal shower Friday night. So I went to DI and got this grrreat! costume. Mostly just the hat was great, but i liked it. Rachel thinks she is still a child and went trick or treating with her friends. These pictures were taken at about 11, I think, after we were both back from our festivities.

Rach looks AWESOME!






































The vampire has bitten the fair cowbride and smiles with delight as the sweet blood trails down her pale face. All because two people fell in love......



















Rach loves everything pumpkin, so I brought here my family's pumpkin cake recipe. We made it for breakfast Saturday morning. It was very satisfying with a glob of freshly whipped whip cream. mmmmm the joys of fall.

Started another blog

I started another blog today. Not for me, but for a friend. She's been saying for forever that she wanted to, so I finally got one going for her today. Check it out! tayloranddiane.blogspot.com

I will blame this on Rachel

Dearest wonderfulest greatest Rach,

if I fail my tests on Monday, I find comfort in knowing it really truly is not my fault! It is all yours. Maybe if you had offered a disclaimer like "may cause addiction" to your text message last week, it wouldn't be your fault. But you didn't. So you have no way to get out of this one. Thank you for such a wonderful suggestion on how to pass my already hard to come by time. While I should be studying for my two tests, and researching for my presentation in a couple of weeks, as well as sewing the hem and a zipper into my dress for my brothers wedding in two weeks, I have not done any of this. Instead, I have wasted away the hours thoroughly enjoying myself. Yesterday I had the excuse of "just get through it so you can focus on school". I don't have such a great excuse today. I thank you for this glorious addiction, but must reiterate again how much you are to blame.

Thanks,
Kim


ps. Jane Eyre rules!!! Not only is it an amazing book, but now there is an amazing movie of it too. If you have a day with no other plans, watch this movie. And be sure to get the 2006 version cuz the old A&E version just doesn't quite do it right.