January 09: Super busy! San Antonio and Austin Bridal Extravaganza were a big success. Almost 1,000 brides attended in San Antonio And 1,500 in Austin! Jonathon goes to Arizona with his mom for his birthday to see UT play in the Fiesta Bowl. Joanthon turns 25!
February 09: First weekend was Super Bowl Sunday and we had a party at our little apartment. I was sick the entire weekend so nothing got done to prepare for the party. Jonathon had been hunting all weekend with his dad with no phone service so he arrived home to a sick wife which also meant a dirty apartment and no food or drinks for the party that night. He totally rocked that day and got everything done just in time. I finally started feeling better in the 4th quarter and was able to join everybody.
The next weekend was the Cupid Bowl (Katie and Romeo's party on the weekend between the Super Bowl and Valentine's Day.) It was so fun! Everyone was asked to come with a halftime performance. I was very impressed how creative some people were.
I know this is horrible but I can't remember what we did Valentine's Day.
My very sweet friend Evonne married Brannon Kroll on Feb. 28th. The wedding was at the chapel at the Incarnate Word. The last time I was there it was for our own wedding. I still think it's the most beautiful church I've ever seen. Their reception was at the Dominion Country Club. It was a beautiful wedding and so fun. I was super excited about them getting married because it brought Evonne back to San Antonio after having lived in Houston since we graduated from A&M.
March 09: Gran Gran's brithday month. We had such a great time celebrating Gran Gran's birthday. We went to dinner at Perico's where they made her wear a sombrero as we sang Happy Birthday. We had birthday cake at her apartment when we got home and sang Happy Birthday again. As many times as I have sang Happy Birthday, this one had to be the funniest. Right in the middle of signing Gran Gran blows out her candles and we all looked arouund at eachother and just started dying laughing. Who blows out their candles in the middle of the song??? It's weird to think it was the last year we would celebrate with her there. I know March 11th will always be a day to celebrate her life but it'll never be the same.
Anthony Pedrotti's wedding was this month. There were a lot of people we went to high school with at the reception. It was fun catching up with everyone. Side-note... Jonathon ripped his pants doing a knee-slide on the dance floor.
The last weekend in March we went to The Ranchito with Molly, Andrew, Homer, Shelia, Terry, Brandon, Alicia and some other friends. We had a blast! It was nice to get away for a weekend and just enjoy hanging out with our friends. I hope we can go back again every year.
April 09: The first weekend in April was Whitney & Alexis' brithday. Jonathon and I roadtripped it to Dallas to suprise Whitney. I had told her I wasn't going to be able to make it for her birthday after having had car problems. We got there late Friday It was the first time I had been to see Whitney, Erin and Dee Dee's house. It was super cute and I LOVED being back together with them. We ate and ate and ate thanks to Pat and Patrice. We also had a dance party in the kitchen to Dee's ipod. I love my friends!
April 12th was mom's 50th birthday!!! :) We had so much fun at Oak Hills Country Club celebrating her 50th and Grandmother and Grandaddy's anniversary. I love when the Patrellos and Walters are in town. We laughed so much that night!
Me, Ty and Jonathon went to San Antonio A&M Club's Aggie Muster. I hadn't been to muster since I was a student. My eyes started to well up with tears as they began the Roll Call of all of the Aggies who had passed away this past year. I was so glad we went. It once again reminded me how lucky I am to be apart of such a unique and wonderful university.
"We gather today, Aggies all, to recall our past, to strengthen our ties, to honor those who have passed before us....We come today to affirm our commitment, our love for this place and all that it represents." Jack M. Rains, Muster Speaker 1984
In April we also started house hunting! :)
May 09: Found a house I loved and found out on my birthday that it went under contract that morning. I was so sad. So we continued searching for our first house...
The Beach to Bay Marathon was May 16th. It was the first race Jonathon and I had actually trained for. It was so awesome! I couldn't remember the last time I had made a personal goal like that and stuck with it. I was in track when I was younger and was always a decent runner but I liked the short distances much better. While training for this race, I started to really love running. I completed my four miles in the hot Corpus Christi sun and enjoyed a beer and pizza as soon as it was over. :) We hope to train for the San Antonio Rock & Roll Marathon next year.
My Brookie graduated from high shool on the 30th. So weird... She's always been my baby sister and it was hard to believe she would be going to college in the fall. Mom cried like a baby at the ceremony. I am just so proud of her.
Still house hunting...
June 09: Met the girls at Whitney's lake house. A summer tradition for us.
We ran another race, this time in San Antonio with Andrew and Molly soon to be Woodchick. I loved our team shirts which were homemade tie-dyed with our team name "Holli-Wood Hashers"
WE FOUND A HOUSE but wouldn't close on it until June 30th ! :) FINALLY!
Our lease was up on the apartment and we couldn't move into the house until the beginning of July so we were officially homeless so Dad and Kelly were going to be in Port A. the last weekend of June and invited us to join them. Dad rented a golf cart and we had a blast off-roading and driving up and down the beach.
July09: We picked up our keys to the house on July 1st so the enitre 4th of July weekend was spent painting and moving. I am so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family. We removed wallpaper from 3 rooms and painted the entire front part of the house, the master bedroom and bathroom and the guest bathroom.
The end of July Whitney and Kasey came to San Antonio and were our first house guests. Emory Quinn was opening for Pat Green at Floore's Country Store so we went to the concert. We were late so we totally missed seeing the boys play :( It was fun to see Pat Green again though. Being at his concerts always takes me back to college.
July was an interesting month. Gran Gran was in and out of hospital fighting cancer she had been diagnosed with just weeks before.
August 09: Stephen and Rachel were in town the first weekend of August to help move Gran Gran into a downstairs apartment. We really enjoyed hanging out with them all weekend.
The very next weekend Gran Gran went home to be with her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. They are guessing that the cancer came on in March of this year. It was pancreatic cancer, a very hard cancer to beat mostly because many people have few symptoms and it spreads extremly quickly. She fought as hard as she could and her sense of humor never left her. She had Jonathon and I laughing with her until she couldn't talk very much. She loved her family and was so proud of her grandchildren. It is weird not having her sit with us at Jonathon's football games. She wouldn't ever miss one. She always had candy and a drink for me and as inappropriate as some of them were I will miss her comments about the other teams' coaches, players and parents. "Look at that fat rascal" was always a favorite. Jonathon could never do anything wrong in her eyes. He was her pot of gold. :) We miss her so much.
Following Gran Gran's rosary and funeral, Brookie was moving off to College Station. Talk about an emotional week. I went with Mom and Rodney to move her into her first apartment. Mom had a tough first week but I think she's doing better. It helped that Brooke was coming home the next weekend for our housewarming party. Because the last month had been so crazy being at the hospital several nights a week, not much had been done around the house but we didn't want to put off having the party because school was about to start back up which meant football season was too. Thank goodness I had Jonathon's mom, Paige, Chelsea and Brooke there because otherwise I wouldn't have been ready. They cleaned, did laundry, swept, mopped, hung things on our walls and finally helped us to make it look like we hadn't just moved in. The party was fun, lots of friends and family came to celebrate with us. It was nice to be able to have space for company.
The last weekend in August was Ashley and Blake's wedding in Arlington. Rodney was watching Dillon and Scarlet that weekend so Monica could study for her teaching test and Jonathon had a Brandeis football game so mom and me made it a girls weekend. We talked the entire way up there. At one point mom said her throat hurt from talking. :) It was nice to spend time with just me and her. It seems like that never happens. I accidently typed in the directions to the church in my phone instead of the hotel where we were going to get ready at before the wedding. It didn't hit us until I texted Chelsea saying we just saw them walking into the church and how pretty everyone looked. She texted me back... "why are you over here?" I looked at the map and realized we were in Arlington and the hotel we were staying at was in Fort Worth. We cut it extremely close on time but made it to the church right before Ashley walked down the aisle. She looked absolutley beautiful and the wedding was gorgeous!
September 09: Jonathon's back at school and football started. He is trying to put more hours in at Brandeis now that he knows all of his responsibilites at Stinson. He really wants to move up to the high school after this year and he says he's loving it and learning a lot. I was super busy in September because it was bridal show season!
October 09: So now we're all caught up and here we are in the first week of Ocotober. Today is a beautiful day in the mid- 80's. We are going to the MacArthur vs. Smithson Valley football game. So excited that for the 4th time this football season I will be eating a frito pie, pickle, sour punch and a Dr. Pepper for dinner. :)
