Having too much fun to take time to blog!

We are in the wonderful busy time of the year called SUMMER!!!!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

I'm still getting up around 6am most days to workout, but heck, the first number isn't a 4, so that's really sleeping in late for me. :)

Over the last few weeks I have been vacationing a lot and scheduling in my classwork in between and all around the fun.

Over the July 4th weekend, we went on our 11th Annual Lakehouse Vacation. We had so very much fun! As my girls have gotten bigger, this has become more and more fun for me. When they were little, it was good, but a beat down as relocating little kids to a lakehouse for a few days with 20 people and not very many bedrooms/bathrooms was hard work! But now... it's just fun!

Here's to 11 years of perfectly normal behavior!!! #maxwelllakehouse #awkwardfamilyphotos

A photo posted by emilymclemore (@faithhopeandart) on Jul 4, 2015 at 5:29pm PDT

Doug and Maddie missed out on the trip as they had other commitments, but the little girls and I played hard!

Then we came home, washed clothes, regrouped, and went to Galveston Island. Our girls had never been to a real beach or the ocean/gulf, so we surprised them with a trip! It was fun!! They knew that we had to be in a city 3 hours away for a wedding on Friday, so we told them that we would just go early and play. On Wednesday morning, we loaded up and headed out. When we got to our destination city and were eating lunch, Doug said what if we just kept on going and went to the beach. The little girls were shocked. Maddie had figured it out the night before as we were packing.

So after lunch, we loaded up and drove another 3 hours to Galveston.  It made for a LONG DAY. But totally worth it.

They LOVED the beach and the waves.

 

I enjoyed running along the seawall and doing handstands on the beach. :)

Galveston! Love. #handstand #healthymama #fitmom

A photo posted by emilymclemore (@faithhopeandart) on Jul 10, 2015 at 7:16am PDT

And if the beach wasn't enough, we played at the condo pool till exhaustion or hunger took over.

From Galveston, we drove back northwest three hours for a wedding. Kylie was the flower girl. The rehearsal was ROUGH! Kylie was not sure about this process. But Saturday dawned and a well-rested, full-tummied kid was ready for the day.

We even had time to visit Texas A&M for Maddie. I hadn't given it much thought..it was just a look see. Then as we were walking around the campus, she got mistaken for a senior on a real visit by a couple of male student workers in the library, and well.. this mom got a little teary!

And then it was time to get ready for the wedding. Kylie went from rambunctious kid to  

DIVA FLOWER GIRL!! She was adorable!!

Look at this girl.

My beautiful flower girl! #flowergirl

A photo posted by emilymclemore (@faithhopeandart) on Jul 11, 2015 at 5:01pm PDT

The reception was in at a vineyard. I couldn't pass up the chance to get some pictures!

We arrived home Sunday afternoon and went every different direction Monday morning.

And this week we even met with the builder for our house!! WOOHOO!! I really can't believe it. After talking about it for 15 years, we are actually getting ready to build a forever house.

Busy times. 

I wouldn't trade these moments for anything.

(Oh yeah.. and how are my classes? Well, I have a week and a half left of this semester, so let's just say I'm going to be busy. But six more hours will be finished! I'll have 18 graduate hours completed in eight months. wow. And only four classes remain. I can do this!)

Anniversaries and Football

Doug and I celebrated our 15th anniversary the day after Christmas.

Yes, we got married on December 26th.

If you already know the story why, skip down...

So, why did we get married the day after Christmas?

Simple... Texas High School Football!

It was the era of Art Briles at Stephenville High School and Doug and I were both teachers there. When we got engaged in June of 1998 and were discussing wedding plans, my dad said that he had missed one state game for me (had to pick me up from the airport after I had been in England for a semester of college..) and he didn't want to miss another.

 So, even though it was JUNE... we went and reserved the church for the Saturday AFTER the state game... the day after Christmas!

Turns out to have been a pretty smart call.

We won state that year.

Doug and I joke that we should have just gotten married at half-time at Cowboy Stadium on the star! Our friends, some family and our students were there!

I'm guessing only in the great state of Texas do people plan weddings around a high school football game... especially when they don't even have a family member in the game!

Anyway...

To commemorate our anniversary, Doug got me a watch. Not just any watch, but a Coach watch to match my purse! He said that since my purse was a reminder of my weight loss journey, the matching watch would be a reminder of our love and life together. 

That's romantic stuff.

I was equally romantic.... I got Doug a garage door opener. Ouch. Good thing he doesn't love me for my romantic gestures! 

(Hey, but I did do a romantic gift last year... remember the wedding dress photo shoot?)

So Friday night we got a babysitter and spent the night in Fort Worth. It's so nice to get a way once in a while!! Here we are at Taverna, a really awesome Italian restaurant in Sundance Square (downtown). It was soo good!

We have aged a bit.. but we are still looking good and enjoy each other's company! Not bad for 15 years!!

Celebrating my 39th and an interesting realization

I turned 39 this past week. It was not earth shattering or anything really all that special. In honor of the day I refused to wash dishes or cook. I should have been more specific as so did my children and that only meant that the day after my birthday I did twice as much cleaning. Lesson learned.

 

As my big gift, Doug wanted me to pick out a new wedding ring. I don't need one really, I have a BEAUTIFUL one. See below. However, he feels (and I agree) that it will remain beautiful much longer if it doesn't live in an art room every day.... there is just something about a diamond ring that attracts paint and clay!

 

Here is my OLD looking hand with my awesome 15 year old ring that has just been cleaned, polished and repaired...

 

And here is my bday present. I have to say, it's really great. I like that I was able to keep with the two tone look. I know the braided center will end up with gunk in it, but James Avery can clean it up!!

And let me just say... my pride forces me to... my hand really isn't that fat! The ring is a size 6 and typically I look like I have long slender fingers. These pictures however make my fingers look like sausages! Oh well!

 

My other part of my birthday gift was a trip to the Texas Rangers game and a night away from the children. While we were away, we did a little shopping. I love this shirt. It SO FITS ME!! (I'm not a television fan!)

 

Here was our view of the game. The Texas Rangers are my favorite team and I'm glad to say that I've seen them play enough times in person that I know they are not always that BORING! But man, if it hadn't been for the fight that almost broke out between a Ranger fan and a Cincinatti Red's fan, there would have been very little excitement to the night! But even a boring game in person is fun to be at!

 

This morning we got up and had a leisurely morning and then worked our way home. On our way home, I had an interesting realization. I have not spent a single night IN MY HOUSE without at least one of my children present in the last ten years. Possibly longer. Wow. Yes, Doug and I have gotten away, but I haven't slept in MY bed without a child in the house in, well, I can't remember. It has been that long.

It's a really good thing we have made opportunities to get away. (Thanks Mom and Dad for keeping the girls!) Kylie says that she is going to be ready to spend the night away from home when she turns 4. Her 4th birthday is August 20th. Any takers? :)

Newlyweds at 70+

Labor Day weekend Doug’s mom Ruth got married. Doug’s dad died almost seven years ago and Ruth had aged dramatically over these years.  However, last spring she met Charlie and started living again.
As Ruth began to plan her “simple” wedding, things escalated as all things wedding seem to do.  By the time we got to the wedding we had all the family, five musicians, a caterer, a photographer and much more.  Since it had become a dress up affair, Lexi and Kylie got to wear fancy dresses.  It was fun to see Lexi wearing the dress that Maddie wore in my sister’s wedding and Kylie was wearing Lexi’s!

So we all celebrated the wedding of Ruth and Charlie.  May they enjoy their twilight years together.
Together they are younger and happier and our girls seem to put the twinkle in their eyes!

It was a good day.