Back At The Beck's

Christmas 2011

2011-12-31T11:23:00.001-08:00

Wow, what a wonderful Christmas we had this year! The snow on Christmas morning looked beautiful on Granny & PePaw's wreath and I thought it completely captured the beauty and joy of Christmas. Sure the presents are great, but the best part is speninding time with family and thinking of all the blessings God has given us.

Mom and Dad moved into a new house this year, and I loved their new tree.

Since my birthday is so close to Christmas, there's almost always at least one picture of me opening birthday presents in front of the stockings.

The stockings at Mom & Dad's were also beautiful. Christina has a stocking on the end...we can't wait for her to join our family in May!

I love this picture of Avery and me with MeeMee & PaPa.

Bryan was tickled with one of his new presents!

I loved how Dad stacked all of his presents up in his lap! He must have been a really good boy this year!

Mom got a new bead for her Pandora bracelet...a cute bead of a house since they moved into a new house this year.

Here we are at Granny & PePaw's house on Christmas Eve.

Look at these 2...don't they look great!

And here's Terri with a great picture of Avery & Christina! Granny always loves pictures of us...she sure grows a pretty garden with them!

MeeMee & PaPa's stockings always look beautiful. Even Emma (Rick's sweet puppy) got her own stocking this year. So cute!

When there was still a lot of snow on the ground the day after Christmas, we decided we had to go sledding! It was really fun!

Admittedly, I was not the best sledder. Dad got the record for the longest sled ride!

I think Avery wins the award for best form. The backwards hat really gave him an advantage with his aerodynamics.

Bryan was working on his manuevers before he went to the big hill.

Avery and Bryan invented a new sled/football combo. Bryan (since he looks so much like Tony Romo) was the quarterback and Avery was a wide open receiver on a sled. We won't talk about the completion percentage...although it was actually pretty high.

Here goes Bryan on a world record run. Look how steep that hill was! Yes, that is a small creek down there...Bryan actually skipped across it. It was unbelieveable. None of the rest of us were brave enough to actually try it.

And here he is making the hike back up. I'm actually not sure which scared me more and prevented me from trying this hill...the steepness (and speed) of going down, or the fact that you would have to hike back up that monster hill.

We are looking forward to a wonderful New Year as we embark on 2012.

Adi & Santa

2011-12-18T14:30:00.001-08:00

Yes, we are those people. The people who have a picture of their dog with Santa Claus. So, actually it started out innocent enough. We needed to get out of the house for a while and thought Adi would enjoy walking around the little lake at a park a few miles from home. But, it was a little chilly out and we decided it would be warmer for us if we just took her to Petsmart. How were we to know that Santa would be at Petsmart? So of course we had to get her picture made. She did remarkably well. We won't talk about how much we spent on the pictures and frames.

New Toy

2011-12-18T13:58:00.001-08:00

So, Bryan let me open an early Christmas present...a new camera! I was so excited, and of course I had to try it out at the Cowboys game last weekend vs. the Giants. I wish I could say that my new camera brought the Cowboys good luck, but that was not the case. But we still had a great time and the new camera did not disappoint.
Since it was Christmas they had beautiful lights decorating the trees and the stadium had a unique night-time glow. I don't think we've ever been to a game when it was already dark when we got there.

Let me just say that we sit WAY at the top of the stadium...and yet the new toy zooms in close enough to get pictures this clear of the sideline. You can see Rob and Jason perfectly...down to the long grey mane and the red flag in Garrett's pocket!

Pretty good for an action photo right!

Coin toss to start the game. You can even tell that's Eli Manning even though his number is blocked by #51.

I was pretty proud to get a clear shot of the flame while it was actually shooting during pre-game.

I'm amazed how close I can zoom in from as far back as we sit! You can't even see the little jets on the star with your own eyes from where we sit!

Nice zoom shot of the cheerleaders.

Here's Tony in the huddle...

Nice shot, huh?

I should also mention that the new camera can shoot short videos. I actually got a great video of a touchdown pass. I just need to figure out how to post videos on the blog...

Thanks for my new toy Bryan!

Fall 2011

2011-12-04T18:19:00.001-08:00

Well, it is already December and I have not posted anything since this summer! Oops...my bad. I admit I have procrastinated some on that end, but we've also been really busy. I'll start with a quick pic of Adi on her new living room bed...it took her a while to warm up to it, but now she LOVES her new little bed. Isn't she cute!
Right before school started Bryan and I ran in a local 5K with my friend Melissa from work. Sorry about the red faces...maybe a "before" picture would have looked better. But hey, at least you can see we really did run the 2011 "Melon Dash."

We had a great time at the Texas State Fair. Here I am about to enjoy a delightful Fletcher's Corny dog beside Big Tex. I think we ate almost every fried food the fair was selling this year.

We saw an extremely talented pumpkin carver at the fair.

Here I am about to enjoy a fried banana. It is a little embarassing to me that all of the food pictures are of me...let me assure you that Bryan ate his fair share of fried foods as well. Fried moon pie, fried peanut butter and jelly sandwich, gumbo (okay that wasn't fried but you get my drift...)

And, we caught the pig races at the fair as well. We also saw the Bangles perform a few songs...yes I realize that dates us a little bit as my students would have no idea who the Bangles are. But, we had a great time at the fair!

The Texas Rangers had another big season...made it to the World Series! I've almost come to terms with them losing...almost. I sure do love the Rangers! I went to a couple of games with Susan this year (including on the 10-year anniversary of 9-11). Anyway, Josh Hamilton and one of the Cardinals players flipped the coin at the Cowboys game (ironically against St. Louis) during the World Series. It was a crazy day to be in Arlington!

After the Cowboys beat the Rams, Bryan and I walked over the the Ballpark in Arlington to catch some of the World Series fever. Tickets were of course sold out, but it was still fun to be in the atmosphere for a few minutes before racing home to catch the game on TV.

The Cowboys had a rocky start to the season, but hopefully we are headed in the right direction now.

The fall has also had some hard times. Bryan's grandfather passed away in October. We miss him dearly, but we feel so blessed to have been part of his family.

We got a new roof last week...just in time for the 2+ inches of rain! The drought is certainly not over, but we are thankful for the rain. And, Bryan surprised me with an early Christmas present last weekend. Hopefully my new camera will let me actually take pictures of the action on the field at the Cowboys games and I won't have to take pictures of the action on the jumbo-tron! Ha! Mom, Dad, and Avery visited a few week-ends ago and we had a great visit. We even took them to the new In-N-Out Burgers. I'm not going to post the embarassing picture Bryan took of me there with more food...

Minneapolis

2011-07-24T18:58:00.001-07:00

We had a wonderful trip last weekend to Minneapolis. It was a great reunion with Avery & Christina and Mom & Dad, and we got to meet Christina's family. We also got in a little sight-seeing including a trip to the Mall of America and a Twins game at their new stadium (Target Field). The ballpark was beautiful!

On the way home we realized that we got to attend ballgames in 3 different major league stadiums this summer (the Rangers in Arlington, the Astros in Houston, and the Twins in Minneapolis). Thanks for a great trip Avery...we had a blast!

USA! USA! USA!

2011-07-11T09:52:00.001-07:00

We had a wonderful weekend cheering on the Unites States Davis Cup team in their Quarterfinal match against Spain. The team lost, but we had a great weekend in Austin and got a chance to see some family and friends that we hadn't seen in quite a while.

I love this picture of Mom and Dad overlooking the court. We had great seats!

It was great to see Kim and Rick on Sunday for the last match. Mardy Fish lost in 4 sets but it was a great match and had lots of excitement. Yes, Kim's arm is in a cast, but she took the opportunity to use the cast to provide support for team USA!

Here is a picture of the rest of the group in our seats. Mom and Dad and the Marables. We all wore matching T-shirts for the matches on Friday (Roddick and Fish's singles matches) to show our team spirit.

Here are the teams during opening ceremonies. The had kids hold the flags for all the participating countries around the edge of the court. There were fireworks when they announced our team and during the National Anthem.

The Net-Heads sat in the section below us. We couldn't see all of their antics but they were definitely a sight!

Here are the Bryan brothers during their doubles match on Saturday. They won in 4 sets and provided the only USA victory for the weekend. They put on quite a show!

Here is one of the Bryan brothers signing some autographs after the match.

After the doubles match on Saturday, Roddick practiced and let the audience stick around for a few minutes to watch. Here he is warming up his forehand while Jim Courier (US Davis Cup captain) looks on. Courier wore a suit to all the matches.

Courier took a brief time out during Roddick's practice session to do an interview with Justin Gimmelstob for the Tennis Channel.

We had a great time in Austin! It was too bad the US team lost, but there were some great matches and it was really fun to be part of such an enthusiastic crowd!

Adi's Adventures

2011-06-30T19:18:00.001-07:00

Adi is having a wonderful summer (as are her parents)! The other day we went for a walk at a local park around a lake. Bryan plays softball nearby and I always thought Adi would like walking there so we got up and at 'em the other morning before it got too hot. Adi loved it! She thought every person there needed to pet her, and she especially wanted to go play with the ducks (I didn't let her do either).

We got the house painted inside and out last week. We finally got everything put back together and the house is beautiful! But, Adi was cooped up a lot (as were we) and she didn't get all of her regular naps. The other evening she was so tired she didn't mind when Bryan laid down beside her bed.

But, after the painting, Adi found a toy she had misplaced beside the couch. She has been chewing on this bone all evening!

She even rolled around with it as if to say, "Oh hello lost friend! I am so glad you are back!"

She probably chewed on it for over an hour. Doesn't this pose look comfortable?

Summer Fun

2011-06-15T12:59:00.001-07:00

The summer heat is definitely going to be a challenge. So, we thought we'd get a little wading pool and see if Adi wanted to use it to beat the heat. She ran right to it and did a thorough inspection. But, she didn't really want to get in. Bryan picked her up and put her in it, but she immediately jumped out.

But, when I sat down beside it and put my feet in, she eventually decided it might not be so bad. She never got in it, but she took some big drinks of water out of it! Works for me...it was nice and cool on my feet! I forsee lots of summer afternoons with Adi and I out by the wading pool...cold drink, reading a book, getting some sun! Nice!!!

Vacation!

2011-06-15T12:35:00.001-07:00

After the birthday party in Memphis, we traveled with Bill & Lou (Bryan's aunt and uncle) on a whirlwind tour of New Orleans and south Texas. Our first stop was New Orleans. Of course we had to hit Cafe Du Monde for a snack (and breakfast the next day).

Look at those beignets and cafe au lait! Good stuff!!

The French Quarter is an amazing place. Here is a really cool statue of Joan of Arc.

There was even a jazz band playing outside Cafe du Monde.

I love this picture of a horse-drawn carriage outside St. Louis Cathedral.

And, of course I love this one of my handsome hubby beside the Mississippi River. There were riverboats and tugboats and barges.

Here we are beside the fountain in Jackson Square (just across the street from the St. Louis Cathedral).

When we left New Orleans we traveled to Houston. We took a tour of Nasa and saw an Astro's game at Minute Maid Park (only a couple of years old). Then we went on to San Antonio and the Hill Country. Every time I go to San Antonio or Gruene I remember how much I love it! The riverwalk is so much fun, as are the outlet malls and the Gristmill restaurant.

Happy Birthday!

2011-06-15T12:28:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we traveled to Memphis to celebrate with Bryan's Grandfather. It was his 90th birthday!
We had a wonderful party with family and good friends from their Sunday school class!

Happy Birthday! We love you so much!!!

Weekend Get-Away

2011-05-01T17:46:00.000-07:00

We just got back from a weekend in Oklahoma City! Bryan ran in their marathon this morning, so we turned it into a fun weekend. We left Friday after school, and got a call on our way out of town that some good friends from Abilene were in the Metroplex for a bike race. We got to meet them for a rushed dinner on our way out of town...what a great surprise! Saturday morning we went to the marathon Expo in downtown Oklahoma city. We got to have lunch with a friend of Bryans' who was also in town for the marathon. We took in the art festival in downtown and even caught some free high school baseball at the minor league stadium in Bricktown. It was a beautiful day capped off with a yummy steak dinner at Toby Keith's restaurant. Sunday morning the weather changed for the race! Bryan did a great job on his race despite rain, wind chills in the 30's and even pea sized hail at the finish line! It was fun to support him and cheer for him along the route...but I'd be lying if I said I enjoyed hiking all over downtown in the pouring rain and hail. But, it was still a great weekend, and we needed the rain. Sorry I don't have pictures...I forgot the camera on Saturday and was limited as to how much I could tote in the rain.

Bees!

2011-04-16T14:53:00.001-07:00

We were in the midst of a lazy Saturday when the doorbell rang. The next door neighbor had come over to tell us that there was a beehive in our tree. Sure enough, we walked outside to see this in the tree of our front yard. Let me tell you...those bees are fast builders. Bryan mowed the yard last Saturday and didn't see a thing. Even with all the storms and wind this week they built a big hive in less than a week. We called Terminex to come out and they were here within an hour. But, because they were honeybees, they couldn't kill them. So, we called a beekeeper. He was here within the next hour and put on quite the show even though he was here less than 20 minutes.

He cut off a couple of little branches and put them in a U.S. postal service box. Then, he cut off the hive and used a little broom to brush off the bees into the box. He held the box and gave the bees a few minutes to get in. He said any bees that don't leave with the hive will die within 3 days. He estimated our hive had 3,000 bees!

Then he carried the box and put it in the bed of his truck. Then he sprayed some smoke looking stuff on the branch and on the bees still hovering around. The whole thing took less than 20 minutes, and at $250 a trip, beekeeping can be serious money. But, he did tell us not to ever let a hive just hang out...he said if you see bees they are trying to get into the house. He said he was at a house this morning who had a hive a week or so ago. They let it go and this week saw another one. He told them that in all likelihood there were more hives and they had found a way into the house. Sure enough, he found more hives in their attic! Their house cost a lot more than $250. So, I'm glad we called right away!

Spring has Sprung

2011-04-10T12:46:00.001-07:00

My favorite thing about Spring in Texas...definitely the bluebonnets! There is a little patch of them right outside the building I teach in at TWU. I was so excited to see them pop up a couple of weeks ago. It's fun to see them on the side of the roads, and I always laugh when I see tons of cars pulled off at weird places. That's a sure sign that people have their kids and dogs all decked out in their Sunday clothes to take pictures in the bluebonnets. Bryan planted a beautiful hibiscus in our yard a couple of weeks ago. I think the pink flowers are gorgeous.

Of course, even though the flowers are awesome, Spring is also a sign that wind and allergies will be bad for a few weeks too. We've had both this week at the Beck house. But that's okay...I'll take the warmer weather for sure!

Spring is also a sign that Adi's favorite are also returning. June Bugs! Hunting season for Adi is in full swing. Here is a cute shot of her staring down a June bug that she brought in the house. She is so funny to watch! She picks them up and tosses them in the air. Then, she puts her nose down right beside it to watch it wriggle around. She will let it flip over and crawl a few inches, but as soon as the bug gets a few inches away from her she will pick it up again. She doesn't eat them until they are dead...and by the look on her face I don't think they taste very good.

Spring Break?

2011-03-19T12:49:00.000-07:00

Busy, busy, busy. The Beck's have been going non-stop the past few weeks, but we've had a lot of fun too!

Adi passed the Canine Good Citizen test at the end of February. Her certificate arrived just the other day. We are so proud of her (and us) for how far she has come with good behavior and good manners (at least most of the time!). She has really matured in the past couple of months and we are having so much fun with her.

Adi's test was on a Saturday and the very next day we were up at 4:00 AM for Bryan to run in the Cowtown half marathon in Fort Worth. He did great, and it was a fun day even though we needed a big nap when we got home.

The next weekend (first of March) I traveled to Amarillo to see Avery and my parents. We had a really nice weekend and it was great to see Granny and PePaw too. When I arrived back home we got to have lunch with MeeMee and PaPa as they passed through town. It was fun to see all the family in one weekend!

The first weekend of Spring Break we traveled to Austin for Bryan to play in a soccer tournament. Adi got to go with us and play with Uncle Rick and his new puppy. They had a great time and we can't wait to see them again. We also got to have dinner with Mom's cousins Jim and Karen. It was a great weekend!

Mom and dad were here for a couple of days this week. We did some shopping, had a cookout including s'mores on the fire pit, played cards, and had a great visit.

This morning we were up early for a 5K race in Frisco. When we got home Bryan planted some beautiful flowers in the flower beds. The yard is looking really nice if I do say so myself. It really helps to make it feel like Spring is here!

Looooong Weekend

2011-02-05T16:20:00.000-08:00

This has been the craziest week of weather either of us can recall in the Metroplex in a long time. We were in the 70's most of last week (the last week of Janurary). They were forcasting really cold temperatures this week, but no one thought much about the chance of freezing rain late Monday night/early Tuesday morning. We woke up Tuesday morning to every district in the area calling off school due to the inch of ice on the ground covered with about 1 inch of snow. Then, because the ice couldn't melt (due to daytime temperatures that stayed in the teens) they kept calling school off for more days. Every night we would watch the 6:00 news to see if we were out the following day. Then, Friday morning, we woke up to 6 inches of snow on the ground! So, we have been out of school for 4 days (Tuesday-Friday) and are now enjoying our weekend! The roads have been terrible. We walked to a nearby shopping center a couple of times this week just to get out of the house...and we were glad we weren't driving when we saw all of the spinning cars.

Even Adi is perplexed (as you can see in her photo) as to why we have been home for so long...particularly since we have been home and she is not able to go on many walks. Bryan braved the snow on Friday and took her around the block. Today (Saturday) I took her and tried to stay in his tracks. Finally, this afternoon the temperature got to the low 40's and the big thaw was on. Adi and I walked again this afternoon and pretty much avoided snow altogether if we stayed on the sidewalk.

I love this picture for 2 reasons. 1--she looks confused which fits how she's been feeling this week. 2--this is the best photo I've ever gotten of her up-close without one of us holding her or baiting her with a treat. We've been taking another training class with her and her "sit-stay's" have gotten a lot better. Last week at class the teacher wanted to take a picture of her because of how funny she sits. She put her in a "sit-stay" to get a good picture. Bryan and I both exclaimed "Ohhh" because she was so brilliant to think of that idea to get a good picture. So, of course with all of our free time this week I had to try it myself. Great idea, Maureen! Unfortunately, even Adi had a snow day at her school today due to the bad roads.

In other news, I think the whole Metroplex has cabin fever. Today was the first day most people could get out (after 4 snow days in a row) so the movies and the mall were packed. How do I know...because we of course had to get out in it too! Unfortunately, I think the Super Bowl has really suffered. This is the first time it has ever been here in Dallas, and I'm worried that it will be the last due to the bad weather. Tons of fans have had trouble getting here due to delayed/cancelled flights. And the big parties and outdoor activities have had low attendance due to the roads being so bad and people not wanting to hang out outside in the cold. But, the weather is supposed to be good tomorrow for the actual game, so that will be good.

Sweater

2011-01-25T18:22:00.001-08:00

My mom knitted me the most beautiful sweater for my birthday. Yes, I said KNITTED it! Isn't it gorgeous!
And, of course I had to include a close-up of me with Adi.

Let It Snow

2011-01-09T14:12:00.001-08:00

We awoke this morning to almost an inch of rain during the night. By 11:00 the rain had turned to sleet, and by 11:45 it was snowing! We quickly had a 3-4 inch blanket covering the yard, the sidewalks, and the roads! We are keeping our fingers crossed for a snow day on Monday! But, we had a great time playing in the snow.

Adi loves the snow...running, playing, and especially eating the fluffy white stuff.

Here she is jumping up for a snowball treat!

Daddy's Home

2011-01-09T14:01:00.001-08:00

I think I mentioned before that Adi can hear the garage door open and knows when her Daddy is home. She waits patiently by the back door for him to come in. The other day I took a picture of her waiting because she is so stinking cute!

If you notice, she is wearing her leash. She has been wearing it a lot lately in the house as we work on some training with her. We started a new training class yesterday. And I hate to brag, but she did awesome! This class focusses a lot on loose leash walking. In fact, by the end she will hopefully be able to walk through some cones serpentine style with a completely loose leash...we'll see. In her defense, I think she has a disadvantage since her backside is so far behind her. In our first try her head and shoulders did pretty well but the backside kept bumping the cones!

Happy Holidays

2010-12-29T07:59:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas! We had a wonderful Christmas with family this year. The holiday is always too short, but we packed in as much as we could.
Here is a picture of us in front of Mom & Dad's tree in Amarillo on Christmas Eve.

Here's my mom and dad opening presents that morning before we headed to Plainview to see grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Mom just opened her Nook...and I got one too! I am super excited!

Here is a cute picture of me with Mom and Avery.

Here we are in front of the stockings at MeeMee & PaPa's house. The stockings are a sight to see...all 17 of them that MeeMee made. I should have taken a picture of the stockings all by themselves.

Here is Bryan with one of his favorite gifts...an Auburn sweatshirt. He is looking forward to wearing it when they play for the national championship on January 8th. We had a wonderful trip. The best part was definitely spending time with family and catching up. We have so much to be thankful for and are truly blessed to have such wonderful families. Bryan was able to spend a couple of days in Nashville right before Christmas, and that was wonderful, too.

But, it is always nice to come home and see Adi, too! She was so happy to see me when I picked her up at the kennel, and was even more excited when Bryan came home from practice. I love how her ears perk up and her tail wags when she hears him open the garage door. She knows just what it means and she runs to the door to wait for him to come in...it's too cute!

I am so thankful that we have this week off too. My to-do list is really long, but I'm making progress. Dentist appointments, cleaning & re-organizing, GoodWill donations to deliver. But don't worry...I'm going to sneak in a little after-Christmas shopping as well as the mani-pedi and massage that Bryan gave me for Christmas!

News!!!

2010-12-12T15:57:00.001-08:00

Big News!!! Avery and Christina are engaged! Yep, he popped the question last night. The big blizzard in Minneapolis caused some minor readjustments to the planned date, but made it extra romantic too. Check out the cool cake he had made to look like a ring box. It says "Marry me?" on the corner. Aren't they cute?
In other news, Bryan ran the White Rock Marathon in Dallas last weekend. Yes, that's his 2nd marathon in 5 weeks! His time was about the same as the Abilene race, but he actually felt better about this race. I was very proud of him! Here is a picture of his finisher's medal and his bib. This race is huge! I think there were 7,000 marathoners and 13,000 half-marathoners. You got a different medal depending on your race and a different finisher's T-shirt for each event as well.

And, last weekend Mom & Dad came to visit. They brought us these cool Adirondak chairs for an early Christmas gift. They put them together for us and Mom and I stained them last weekend. This weekend I varnished them. They look pretty good if I do say so myself.

Turkey Trot

2010-11-25T10:36:00.001-08:00

Happy Turkey Day everyone! We've had a wonderful Thanksgiving week with Bryan's dad here to visit from Nashville. The weather has been beautiful (until the cold front came through today). The boys played golf twice, we hit the outlet mall, and we even had 2 opportunities to use our fire pit! Look at this awesome fire! The s'mores were delicious!
Thanksgiving morning we got up early to join 40,000 Turkey Trot participants in downtown Dallas. They had a 5K and an 8 mile race, but Bryan and I opted for the 5K. It may be a little boastful to say it, but I ran the whole 3.1 miles! Bryan was so sweet to run with me the whole way even though I really slowed him down. In case you are wondering, 40,000 people is a lot! It took 10 minutes after the official start before we even got to the starting line! Lots of families walking, strollers, people in costumes, and dogs. It was fun, but you definitely want to be at the front of the race if you are planning to run in any kind of competitive way.

Here we are in front of the big inflatable turkey. Yes, those men beside us have long, blonde wigs sewn into their caps. The boys just headed out to the Cowboys game.

In other news, I finally finished graduate school! Yahoo! I defended my professional paper a couple fo weeks ago, and turned in the final corrections the 2nd week of November! My official graduation is not until December, but it is such a relief to be finished.

Bryan has been doing a lot of traveling. He went to Houston for a science convention 2 weeks ago, and was in San Anotonio last weekend for a soccer convention. Before school soccer practice kicks off (pun intended) the Monday after Thanksgiving and their first games will be over Christmas break. I can't believe soccer season is already here!

Abilene Marathon

2010-11-01T18:49:00.001-07:00

This weekend we traveled to Abilene for Bryan to run in the Marathoning for Miracles marathon. He did awesome! His official time was just under 4 hours 19 minutes.

Here he is approaching the finish line.

And, here he is crossing the line to receive his medal! I was so proud of him. We had a great weekend visiting with our friends Matt and Andi (and their sweet little boy Ryan). And, we even caught ACU's football win on Saturday afternoon.

Sporting Events

2010-10-03T06:36:00.000-07:00

We are a few weeks into the school year, so the Beck's are back into a full array of sporting events. Bryan plays softball and coed soccer, and bowling league was supposed to resume last week. But, apparently the league did not make on our night, so we've declared our team the winner (I'm sure we would have beaten any other teams that would have signed up). We've still been meeting the last couple of weeks as a team for "practice". Wouldn't you know it...we've bowled better than we ever did when it actually counted against another team. Two weeks ago I actually beat Bryan in one game, and last week I bowled a 180 for a game! Yes, I know it will never happen again, but it did once. I have no proof of course because the lights were set in such a way that my camera phone could not capture a good photo of the scoreboard :(

Last Sunday we "competed" in a miniature golf tournament as a fund-raiser for Special Olympics. Our team got 3rd place! We got some nice giftcards and coupons to restaurants...no better prize for the Becks!

And of course, Fall means the Cowboys are playing again. Thank goodness they won last week...it sure would have been grim around our house if they were 0-3 going into the Bye week.

Summer

2010-08-14T12:52:00.000-07:00

Well, summer is rapidly coming to a close, and I have not kept up with the blog like I intended. So, here is a run-down of what has been going on "back at the Beck's".

In mid-June, Bryan ran a half-marathon in Estes Park, Colorado. His dad joined him for the trip, and they had a great time. It was surprisingly cold for June. It was cloudy the whole time, and in the mid-40's. They were glad they had coats! And, it rained on race day! Despite the less-than-perfect weather, Bryan did great at his race. His time was a little over 2 hours, which was great considering the rain, cold, hills, and elevation! He is currently training for a full marathon in October.

While they were on their trip, I was home studying for my Comps tests for grad school. Big fun, huh? But, I did pass all of them! I also did a lot of work on may professional paper...the last obstacle to finishing grad school. I will finish it this fall and graduate in December.

In July, we went to Sedona, Arizona with Bill and Lou (Bryan's aunt and uncle). We had a great trip! On the way out, we stopped at Meteor Crater just outside of Flagstaff. I had never heard of it, but about 50,000 years ago, a huge meteor landed here and made the huge crater. They think it was about 700 feet deep at the time and may have had a lake in it. But due to erosion, now it is only about 550 feet deep. It is over 2.5 miles around the crater! Here I am next to a possible piece of the meteor. It looks small, but it weighs more than a car!

Here is a picture of Bryan beside the crater. You kind of lose perspective on how big it is when you are beside it. but, the Statue of Liberty would fit inside and not rise above the rim. Or, by our estimation from our knowledge of the new Cowboy Stadium, the crater is deeper than Cowboy Stadium is tall.

The NASA astronauts that landed on the moon trained here back in the 60's.

Here we are at the Grand Canyon. No picture of the Grand Canyon does it justice, but here are a few of us beside it. Bill had been growing his beard for a while. Bryan decided he needed one to match for the trip!

Bryan and I do not always dress to match...just a coincidence. These were special Life is Good shirts that they made for Sedona.

By the way, the Grand Canyon is about 8 times deeper than Meteor Crater (and not caused by a meteor at all). It is about 10 miles across as the crow flies, but about 200 miles around the rim.

This one was taken back in Sedona on a patio on the Main Street. Sedona is absolutely beautiful! It was also really nice weather. Who knew Arizona had a monsoon season? It rained a little bit almost every day, and although it would get hot in the afternoon, the mornings and evenings were cool.

Here we are on the patio of a restaurant. Nice view, huh?

We took a little excursion one day to Montezuma's Castle. Way back when (late 1300's) an Indian tribe built this "castle" way up on the side of a cliff. They needed ladders to get up there. It was really cool, although I'm not sure I would want to live way up there.

You can't go to Sedona without hiking at least one of the big rocks. This is Bell Rock.

We did not go all the way up, although there were some people who did! But, it was fun to hike around and see all of the red rocks up close. Here I am by a little "stream" of rainwater than ran down the rock.

Here is a good one of Bill and Lou on Bell Rock. Thanks for a great trip Bill and Lou!

Adi stayed in Amarillo with my Mom and Dad while we were on our trip. I think they had a lot of fun!

We have spent a few days the past week or so working at school. I think we both have our rooms ready. And, we spent a couple of days last week in Austin. Bryan had a work conference there, and I tagged along! It was great to see my Uncle Rick and my MeeMee's Cousins Jim and Karen.

Ladies and Gentlemen...

2010-05-31T16:56:00.001-07:00

...start your engines. Yes, Bryan and I heard those famous sporting words LIVE yesterday at the Indy 500. And yes, it was "ladies" because there were 4 female drivers. Here is a picture of us in front of the track...look how close people sit. We did not sit here, but we think the big crash at the end (where the car flipped over and hit the net) happened right in this part of the track.
I had never been to any kind of car race before, so I learned a lot. The most amazing thing to me was the size of the track. The race is 500 miles, and the track is 2.5 miles long so the race has 200 laps. The amount of "stuff" inside the track was shocking. Do you see that little white building over our shoulders?

Here we are in front of it. It is a big Indy Car museum. You walk under some little tunnels that go under the track to get to the inside of the track. There is all kinds of stuff inside...this museum, lakes, a 9-hole golf course, tons of parking, and tons of grassy areas where people can hang out and watch the race. In fact, the track is so big that I don't think there is a single seat where you can see the whole track.

Here I am on the "bricks" that made the track famous. The whole track was originally brick. Now, there is just a little strip at the start/finish line made of bricks. But, the strip extends outside the actual track and into the big infield so you can take pictures.

Here is some of the infield parking. You can also see the big tower in the distance. I think some of the spotters for the drivers are up there where they can see the whole track. The "pole" is on the other side of it. It is a big pole that shows where all 33 racers are so the drivers can see their standings as they go by...I don't know how they can really have time to see it though.

Here we are in the infield. This is a road inside that they use for other races throughout the year.

This is a picture from our seats. I took this before the race started...it was waaaaaay more crowded when the race started. Down the track we could see the pole where the race starts/finishes.

And here is the view to the right from our seats. We could see the drivers come out of turn 4 on our right and then pass the pole and go into turn 1 on our left.

Here is Bryan, his Dad, and his sister Janet in our seats.

Remember that big tower I took a picture of from a distance? Here is a closer view of it. The strip of bricks are right here, too.

Here is a shot of the cars being taken out to the starting line. They drag them out with these little carts.

Here is a picture of Bryan and his Dad beside one of the pace cars. Notice I said "one" of the pace cars. You can see there are several. Before the race they have a bunch of college girls (some kind of princess court or something) that get to ride them in a parade. Robin Roberts from Good Morning America got to drive the actual pace car this year. She is only the second female to ever get to drive it.

Here is a picture of Will Power (#12 car) going into the pit. Our seats were right in front of the entrance to the pit. On our way into the race, we saw a merchandise trailer with T-shirts for a driver named Will Power. Of course he became our favorite and we cheered for him the whole time! How can you NOT cheer for someone named Will Power? He started right behind Helio in second place (based on qualifying) and stayed at the top for a while. Unfortunately, he drove off with the gasline still attached on his first pit stop and got black-flagged. This means he had to go back to last place. But, he did a good job of catching up and ended up in 9th place. It was fun to cheer for him though, and it made it easier to keep track of how the race worked when you had someone to watch for.

Here are a couple of pictures during the race. You cannot imagine how hard it was to get pictures of the cars when they were actually racing. Actually, I think I got the picture above when they were in the parade lap at the beginning and weren't at full speed yet.

Here, Will Power is about to pass Sarah Fisher. It took me about 12 laps (attempts) to get a picture of his car. They are driving at 220+ miles per hour. The track is 2.5 miles long, and Bryan was timing them on his watch at about 40 seconds a lap. You could hear them coming and as soon as I saw them coming out of turn 4 I would snap the camera to try to get a picture as they passed in front of us.

We had such a great time at the race! It truly is something that every sports fan should see at least one time in their life. This was the 94th running of the race. From 2009-2011 is called the Centennial Era because it will be 100 years since the track was built during this time frame. Dario Franchitti won his 2nd Indy 500 this year. Helio ran out of gas on the last couple of laps and missed his chance to win his 4th total and 2nd set of back-to-back wins.

Although we did a lot of driving on our trip, we had a good time and got to see some awesome parts of America that we had never seen before. The Lake Euphalla area of Oklahoma was beautiful. And, on Saturday night Bryan's Dad showed us around his hometown of Columbus, Indiana. It was such a beautiful town! And...in Missouri we even went to a full-station gas station where an attendant pumped our gas. Neither Bryan or I could remember ever being at one of those!

Wonderful Weekend

2010-05-24T17:24:00.000-07:00

Mom, Dad, Avery, and Christina came to visit this weekend. We had so much fun! On Saturday we toured Cowboy stadium and then went to see the Rangers play the Cubs.
Here we are on the field!

Bryan and I had to get our picture taken on the star!

And, here I am at Keith Brookings locker. He is my favorite defensive player!

Alumni Tournament

2010-05-02T17:52:00.000-07:00

This weekend was the ACU Alumni tennis "tournament". We had such a great time. It was so much fun to talk about old times, catch up with what everyone is doing now, and of course...see everyone's cute babies!
Lacy, Kristin, Andi and I had to get a group photo.

Here is Jason with his sweet daughter Thea, David, Andi and me.

I needed a picture with each sweet baby! Here I am with Andi's sweet little boy, Ryan.

Here is Lacy's adorable daughter, Callie. Of course I waited waaaay to long to take this picture with her. I think it was almost nap time so she wasn't too interested in taking a picture.

And here I am with precious little Thea.

I got a copy of Hutton's new CD...can't wait to listen to that!

Bryan and I had so much fun...we can't wait until next year's tournament. Thanks Hutton for such a great event. And, thank you Matt, Andi, and Ryan for hosting us! We had so much fun!

Memorial

2010-04-13T16:43:00.001-07:00

As many of you know, we lost Bryan's mother on March 31st. We received this beautiful palm from some of Bryan's coworkers at the Memorial Service and decided to plant it in the backyard as a dedication to Rachel.

Rachel always had a green thumb and had such beautiful plants. So, we brought a few home with us to enjoy and remind us of her. We planted this one in a pot and keep it on the front porch. The blue pot has some Hen & Chicks that Rachel had. Aren't they cute!

These are some flowers we already had in the front flowerbed. Our new plants really add more beauty to the front yard.

Here is a close-up of the Hen & Chicks.

The past 14 months have been a difficult time for our family. The past few months have been especially hard. Yet as we look at the beautiful plants, and see Spring bloom, we can still feel Rachel's presence. And we look forward to the day we see her again in Heaven.

Bad Mom

2010-03-21T13:08:00.000-07:00

I've been blogging for almost a year and have all sorts of pictures of Adi. But, we actually have another pet...a bird named Val. Sorry I'm such a bad mom.

Here are a couple of pictures of Val...he's pretty cool too. He will occasionally say (okay...really just immitate us) "Pretty girl." Bryan says he used to making a sound just like the telephone ringing, but then he got a new phone and Val forgot how to make the old sound. That's a little ironic considering that now Val takes off and flies laps around the living room whenever the phone rings...I guess it startles him.

Spring is Here!

2010-03-21T08:36:00.000-07:00

Today was the first full day of Spring, and look what we woke up to! That's right, there was close to 6 inches of snow on the ground this morning.

It took a little time for Adi to adjust to shoulder deep snow in the backyard. But she loves to eat the snow. In fact, she keeps going to the back door as though she has "business" to take care of outside. But when we get out there, all she wants to do is snack on the snow.

Here she is prancing across the backyard when she got her confidence up.

Here is her doghouse and a little table we have in the backyard completely covered in snow. Sorry the picture looks a little blue...it wasn't quite light enough for good pictures.

And here is the table and grill covered in snow. Look at Adi's little pawprints! Aren't they cute!

Trivia Night

2010-03-14T08:53:00.000-07:00

Last night Leah attended Trivia Night! Our friend Jean put together a team for the fundraiser event for the library in Aubrey. And if you notice, our team came in 1st place out of the 12 teams! We had so much fun...even if we didn't know the capital of Fiji.

Curling Rocks

2010-02-28T19:38:00.000-08:00

We had a fun activity for a date night this evening! The Olympics inspired us to try curling! DFW has a curling club and they had an open house where you could go and try it out. They taught us the basics and let us try our hand at throwing a few "rocks".
As he watches his shot, Bryan yells "Hurry" and "Hard" to his sweepers.

Ok, just kidding. He's really just trying to keep his balance using his broom.

You can see our teacher helping us with some technique to the side. The rock weighs 42 pounds, and the sport gets its name from the way to try to spin and "curl" it to go the way you want. Sort of like trying to put topspin on a tennis ball. You are supposed to roll your hand over to make it go the way you want. I didn't worry about the spin so much...I was just trying not to fall down.

Here I am in "launch position". At this point I am supposed to be remembering to get my butt up, keep my sliding foot from going too far back, not put too much weight on the broom or the rock, and push myself forward really hard without falling down. Needless to say, it is tough. Oh, and the sexy bootie is not authentic footware for a curler. They ran out of the actual teflon coated sliders that you wear on your left foot, so they substituted with hospital booties with a strip of duct tape on the bottom. I'm actually glad...we didn't fall near as much as the neighboring groups who had the real sliders.

This was actually a decent throw. But, my right leg should be extended behind me. U.S. Olympic team 2014...here we come!

Belated Valentine's

2010-02-28T08:17:00.000-08:00

These are M&M's with "Leah & Bryan" written on them! How cool! My folks sent them to us for Valentine's day.

And, here is Adi enjoying her Valentine treat from Bryan's folks. It is a Bubble Yum soft chew toy. We've had a couple of close calls with gum (peeling out a whole pack of Big Red from the roof of her mouth when Bill and Lou came to visit) so here is some "gum" she can actually enjoy. She loves it!

Happy New Years...Belated

2010-01-25T18:00:00.000-08:00

Okay, so 2010 began almost a month ago. But, yesterday we were at Northpark Mall and this window display was so cool that I had to take a picture and blog it. I don't even remember what store it was...but how cool. I know it is hard to tell, but 2010 is spelled out in...FORTUNE COOKIES! How clever! And at the bottom of the display were tons more fortune cookies still in the wrappers.
And for some reason I payed even more attention to all of the flower displays because I thought they were so interesting. Most of them were some kind of cactus...I guess because it is winter and all. But, they were mostly spineless. Aren't they cool.

Anyway, I know this is kind of a random post, but I thought it was neat.

Oh, we went to see "The Book of Eli." It definitely deserves an R rating, but it was actually really good. It was unusual and kind of slow at first. But, it had some cool twists, so make sure to pay really close attention if you go see it.

Here We Come

2010-01-10T16:53:00.000-08:00

This is all that needs to be said after the Cowboys play-off game against the Eagles last night! How 'bout them Cowboys! It sure was a great game! And I will even admit that I took these photos from the jumbo-tron after the game.

We didn't have the audio, but we assume this is Jerry Jones saying something nice to Wade Phillips in the locker room...maybe, "we'll have you back next year."

Here was Romo giving the gameball to Wade.

I didn't get a photo of Jason Witten or Keith Brookings (my new favorite)! Here we come Vikings!

Snow Baby

2010-01-10T16:48:00.001-08:00

Okay, I am a little late posting these....
Here is Adi playing in some lingering snow a day or two after Christmas. Some friends watched her while we were traveling, so we missed her "first" day to play in any substantial snow. Jean said it took her a minute to realize it was okay and then she ran all over the place.
She mostly liked to eat the snow. Walks took a little longer since she wanted to stop at each new patch for a couple of bites.

Christmas Card

2009-12-06T09:26:00.000-08:00

My parents came to visit this weekend for some Christmas shopping and hanging out. We had a great time, and they even taught us to play a domino game called 42. I am terrible, but it was fun to learn a new game. My aunt and uncle (Tonya and Rick) were also in town, so we got to have lunch with them on Saturday. It was a really great weekend! Since we had captive photographers, Bryan and Adi and I got decked out in our Christmas outfits for a possible Christmas Card picture.

They say that in the movie or television business you do not want to work with children or animals. Now I understand why. There were many, many outtakes.

She does this move a lot...usually when she wants us to scratch her neck. I promise I'm not pulling hard on her leash...she really is performing her famous neck scratch move.

Even treats proved to be of minimal assistance. Dad, had the magic touch. He proved to be able to hold treats over to the side and appear very interesting while Mom snapped the camera. I told him that since he's retired he could get a part-time job as a pet photographer.

This is our grinch and dog out in the front yard. Due to time constraints and our 4-legged baby, we did not due decorations inside this year. I guess that does make us a little bit "grinch-like".

And, here is a great photo of Mom and I.

1st Birthday

2009-12-02T18:54:00.000-08:00

Today is Adi's first birthday. It was a very big day! It snowed this morning which caused some confusion during her morning potty time outside. Then, I took her for doggie daycare and a spa day while we were at work. She got to play with some new dog friends and then get a bath and her nails clipped! Stephanie (her favorite baby-sitter) even gave her a special bone and a bandana while she was there.
Here she is with her bone and in the next one you can see her bandana.

Here is a birthday picture with Dad and one with Mom.

So Thankful

2009-11-29T07:08:00.001-08:00

Here are some great photos of Thanksgiving with Bryan's family. We spent the holidy in Memphis with his grandparents Dot & Walt. We ate too much food, played games including chicken feet, rummy, pool, and the Wii, and most of all, enjoyed the fellowship time together.

I thought this one of Rachel and her dad (Walt) was too cute.

That Just Happened

2009-11-19T16:31:00.000-08:00

Last night we wrapped up our Fall Bowling League! Check out the trophies!
Ok, so we just grabbed them for a quick photo before they were actually awarded to the real winners of the league! Ha! Our team name was That Just Happened because whatever we did...That Just Happened! It was also 80's night so no, Jean doesn't always dress like that. And no, Bryan and I do not always dress alike. This shirt was actually our team uniform (or costume as some might say) because it actually says "That Just Happened" on it. We had a great time in the league and are looking forward to the next season.

"Please let it be a spare!"

Halloween 2009

2009-11-01T07:06:00.001-08:00

We went to a Halloween party last night! It was really fun and we enjoyed making our costumes. I am a Jack-O-Lantern. Bryan is a "Cereal Killer"! Those are little cereal boxes on his shirt with knives stabbing into them! He is so funny!

Barktoberfest

2009-10-24T13:49:00.000-07:00

Bryan's Mom and Dad are in town visiting for a few days. It was such a beautiful day today that we all piled in the car and attended Barktoberfest in Friso. Adi loved it! She wanted to play with all of the other dogs and look at all of the exhibits. Here, Bryan and Rachel are taking a little break on a bench with Adi.
But, the break didn't last long. Adi was ready to take off for a little jog through the park.

And, here is one of Bryan with both of his parent and Adi. Note Adi looking back as if to say,"Ok, now let's go again!". There is a really cool fountain in the park where a globe spins on a water fountain. You can see a girl standing on it in the background.

We've had a great visit with Tom and Rachel. Yesterday we went to Mellow Mushroom (one of our favorites) for pizza and then visited the Fort Worth Zoo. And of course, we've had a big time spoiling their GrandBassett.

U2

2009-10-18T12:47:00.001-07:00

Last week we got to go the U2 concert at the new Cowboy Stadium! We both love U2 and we had a great time!

This is a picture of their stage I took before the concert. We thought it looked like a giant spider!

And here it is during the show. Look at all the people! The stage would look totally different for each song as they changed the lighting.

Their jumbo-tron was good too. Pictures would go all the way around. Sometimes the screens would pull apart and stretch out almost to the floor. It was a great show!

First Game at the New Stadium

2009-09-27T08:48:00.001-07:00

It's been a really busy week, but I wanted to post pictures and thoughts after the first Cowboys game we attended at the new stadium! I love this picture of us out in front of the entrance! The had the doors open on each end as well as the roof. You can kind of see all of the people on each deck walking around. Those people had "party passes" so they didn't have seats...they just walked around on the big decks on each end.

They had a special "unveiling" of the star right before the game started. During warm-ups they had guys standing around a special carpet that was covering the star. Then, all these girls with balloons came out and made formations around the star. It was kind of cool how the pulled of the carpet in all directions to show the star.

This is the view from our seats to the open door on the end. Look at all of the party pass people! I don't think that most of them could see the field, but they could probably see the huge TV screen.

This is a picture of the big screen. They announced when the stadium was at capacity. I think there were over 101,000 people there! It was amazing how big the screen was and how good the picture was!

We had a great time at the game, but were bummed that the Cowboys lost! But, the stadium is VERY COOL!

Adi & Rick

2009-09-27T08:43:00.001-07:00

Last weekend, Uncle Rick came to visit! Adi LOVES playing with Rick! She went on lots of walks and got very spoiled. She was so sad to see him go...as were her parents.

60th Anniversary

2009-09-13T15:26:00.000-07:00

Happy 60th Anniversary MeeMee and PaPa! On Wednesday my grandparents celebrated 60 years together. The family got together for a dinner to honor them on Saturday night. Thank you for hosting Tonya and for cooking some delicious steaks Dustin.
Here are my grandparents with their 4 children.

And here are the kids on Tonya's beautiful patio. Dolores (my mom), Tonya, Steve, and Rick.

I am so thankful to have such a wonderful family. MeeMee and PaPa, thank you for being such a wonderful example to all of us, and for all of your love and support! We are all truly blessed because of you!

Adi

2009-09-10T18:12:00.001-07:00

In case you are wondering what Adi has been up to lately, here is an extreme close-up! Most evenings we can be found at home with Adi bringing us her favorite toy to play fetch or tug.
Look how big she is!

Of course, sometimes she will take a time out from playing for a belly rub.

In case you are wondering, yes, Bryan is grimacing as he plays tug with Adi. She is strong!

And here she is enjoying a frozen Kong treat full of peanut butter and treats! We figured out that they last a lot longer if you freeze them the night before you give them to her.

Surprise Party

2009-08-17T18:27:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we had a surprise party for Rachel (Bryan's mom) in Nashville. She was diagnosed with colon cancer back in January and has been undergoing chemotherapy. It has been a long road, but she finished the last of the 12 chemotherapy treatments on August 7th. We are so proud of her! She has truly been an inspiration to a lot of people both in terms of her "fight" and in terms of her strong faith.
Here is a great picture of Bryan and Rachel!

We love you Rachel! We're so glad we could celebrate this milestone with you!

Cowboy Stadium

2009-08-08T13:32:00.001-07:00

Well...you knew it was coming. As big of Cowboys fans as we are, you knew we'd find a way to check out the stadium. Today was an Open House at the new Cowboy Stadium so we went to check it out. They were sewing the yardline numbers into the turf so it was cool to see that. Man, 1 Billion dollars will build a really nice stadium.
Here is the view from where we will be sitting.

But, I think the jumbo-tron is big enough for us to see anything we missed on the field.

Jerry World is a really nice place!

First Date

2009-08-08T13:20:00.001-07:00

Last night we had some friends over for dinner. They brought their 2 year old Corgi named Flash. He and Adi had a big time. They ran around and played and tumbled over each other all evening! They would run and play until they were absolutely exhausted and then collapse on the floor to pant. As soon as they could breathe again they were back to chasing and playing. Here they are resting. Note that they both have their tongues out panting. Also note that they both collapse on the floor with legs going any which way.
Here is a shot of them playing. Sorry it's blurry....they were never still enough to get a clear shot!

Adi slept late this morning. I know she was tired from playing all evening!

Advanced Degree

2009-08-05T19:17:00.000-07:00

This picture is a little fuzzy, but hopefully you can tell that Adi is sound asleep between the fence and the shed in the backyard. This is her favorite sleeping spot. We planted some new grass back there recently, but we left a little patch without grass so she could sleep in the nice cool dirt. She even rests her little paws on some leftover bricks. Yesterday I went out to get her and she was sound asleep with her head under the edge of the shed. I whispered her name, but my Sleeping Beauty did not budge. I had time to go back inside, get the camera, come back out, take a quick photo, take the camera back inside, and come back out before I finally made enough noise to wake her up. Doesn't she look sweet!
After Adi graduated from puppy class in May, we decided that she (and her parents) needed a little more training. So, we have been taking intermediate class this summer and tonight was graduation! She was valedictorian! Before you get to excited maybe I should mention that she was valedictorian because she was the only puppy to attend class tonight. But hey, in the mind of the Beck's, she is valedictorian! She has really improved in her behavior lately and has learned a couple of tricks as well as most of the basic commands. She even cooperated much better for her graduation photo.

Since it was Intermediate Class instead of just Puppy Class, she got to wear a red sash along with her cap. I think we dropped a treat here.

Here she is laying spread eagle on the floor (her favorite way to lay down) and smiling up at the camera.

Birthday Boy

2009-08-02T07:27:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Bryan! Here is a photo of the birthday boy in his new MTSU sweatshirt beside his Boston Creme Pie birthday cake! It sure was yummy...thanks Mom!
Here his is opening his new sweatshirt from his mom and dad.

Here he is opening some new headcovers for his golfclubs...he's planning to buy some new clubs to go inside with his birthday money.

We had a really fun weekend. Mom and Dad came to visit and help us celebrate. We ate at Babe's on Friday and went to the FC Dallas soccer game on Saturday. By the way...today Adi is 8 months old!

Lately

2009-07-18T07:16:00.000-07:00

A lot has been going on Back at the Beck's for the past couple of weeks. Bill and Lou (Bryan's Aunt ant Uncle) came to visit from Nashville last week. We had a great time! We went to Six Flags and the Ft. Worth Stockyards. Here is a picture of the cattle drive. And here is a picture of Bryan getting a snow cone. It was so hot that day!

Also, I had a whirlwind trip to Houston this week. I was there for less than 24 hours, but it was still long enough to know that it is HOT in Houston in July! I presented at the state math teachers conference. The presentations went really well and I was a little sad that I couldn't stay for the whole conference. But, I had to get back for grad school.

Okay, I haven't been able to post for a couple of weeks, but here are some random thoughts I've been thinking:

1. The Hangover is hysterical. A little inappropriate, but hysterical.

2. I was so sad for Andy Roddick not winning Wimbledon. It was cool when Federer won the French, but I was a little disappointed in him when he already had a sweatshirt embroidered with XV for his 15th grand slam title before the match even started.

3. If you are not watching the Tour de France, you should be. Go Lance Armstrong! If not...go George Hincappie!

7th Months

2009-07-02T08:40:00.000-07:00

Okay, it's been a while since I posted any pictures of Adi. She is 7 months old today so I thought I'd include a few pictures of what she's been up to this summer. She loves to "help" refill her waterbowl in the yard. She absolutely loves to drink out of the waterhose. In fact, she wags her tail impatiently and stares at the end of the waterhose while she waits for water to come out once you turn it on. She also likes to help Bryan grill outside. Who are we kidding...she likes to watch him in case he drops anything or so she can try to grab the plate if he turns his back for a second. Adi is also getting really good at catching June bugs. It's pretty funny to watch her "hunt". The other day one got in the house and I helped her see it so she could chase it and catch it. She also likes to chew on the egde of the rugs and even try to crawl under them...not so amusing. We're working on it.

Vacation!

2009-06-22T15:25:00.000-07:00

We had a 3-day weekend and asked Leah's Mom and Dad to take us on a little vacation to Dad's favorite fly-fishing spot...The Cimmaron in New Mexico! We took their travel trailor and camped out for a couple of days. We were new to camping and fly-fishing, but it was still a great trip (Thanks Mom and Dad)! We cooked out over a campfire and Bryan had some good luck with his first attempt at fly-fishing. Here are some pictures of our trip.

5 Years

2009-06-13T07:16:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we celebrated our 5 year anniversary! We celebrated by having dinner at the Melting Pot. It is a really cool fondue place and everything was delicious!

We are truly blessed to have each other. We have had so many wonderful things happen to us and fun memories. I thought I'd make a little list of some of the big events and funny things that have happened in our first 5 years of marriage.

1. Move from Tennessee to Texas
2. 2 week, 11 state, 4,000 mile cross-country extravaganza for a vacation around our 1st anniversary. We caravaned with Mom and Dad through Yellowstone National Park, Mount Rushmore, Devel's Tower, and Minneapolis to see Avery.
3. Leah passing out and Bryan reviving her...a hilarious story
4. Buying our 1st house
5. 2 surgeries
6. Attending many Cowboys and Stars games (okay, so we left a Stars playoff game around 1:00 AM during the 4th overtime just before they won)
7. Attending the Hockey All-Star game and seeing the Stanley Cup
8. Graduate School...a continuing saga
9. Home Remodeling projects
10. Adopting Adi

I can't wait to see what our next 5 years will hold!

Week of Work

2009-06-07T16:39:00.000-07:00

This week had been looming on the calendar for some time. The first week of summer and therefore a perfect opportunity to complete all kinds of projects around the house before things got too hectic. You know...things like resealing the tile floors, shampooing the carpets (important now that we are house-training a dog), repainting the shed in the backyard, cleaning out dead bugs and dirt between the windows and the screens. We had affectionately dubbed this week, "The Week of Work."

Well, it's Sunday night and I can officially say that none of those projects have been completed. Not that we didn't do anything...the house really is cleaner than it has been in quite a while, we have a new garage door (okay we didn't do that ourselves but I did write a check to the guy who did the actual work), Bryan and I both went to the dentist and got haircuts, and Adi started intermediate class. She has a fancy new harness to keep her from pulling so much when we walk her on the leash. Harness might not be the best word. There are so many pieces to that thing that it is next to impossible to put on her. You do not even attempt it unless you are willing to have her knaw on your hands and arms and even then it takes about 3 tries. Today I even had to put her in her kennel for a "time out" in the middle. I still didn't get the thing on properly because the collar snapped open the second we got out into the yard...we came right back in the house since I was too tired to have to chase her around the neighborhood if and when she escaped. Needless to say, I'll be asking for help with that when we go back to class this week. I know, I know...you want to see pictures of me putting her in the harness. Maybe next time.

I did however manage to catch some of the French Open this week...I'll admit that I'm not a huge Federer fan but it was pretty cool to see him win the Career Grand Slam. We also got sucked into "I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here". Rather we got sucked into the Speidi drama on the show.

One More Memorial Day Picture

2009-05-27T19:54:00.000-07:00

Here is a great photo of me, Bryan, Avery, and Christina!

Memorial Day Fun

2009-05-27T19:44:00.001-07:00

We had a wonderful time over Memorial Day Weekend! We traveled up to the Panhandle and spent time with Leah's family. Avery and Christina came in from Minneapolis. We had a great time at a BBQ with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Here are a few pictures of us playing a little horseshoe game we all like to play. We also visited Cadilac Ranch, played tennis, went to the movies, and had a lot of laughs!

The Graduate

2009-05-17T19:11:00.001-07:00

Today Adi graduated from Puppy Class! I know you may think it is silly for us to enroll our dog in a class, but we are really thankful that we did it. She had a great time meeting and playing with other dogs and Bryan and I learned a lot about house-training and helping her become more obedient. She really has come a long way. We tried really hard for a nice graduation picture with her little hat, but Adi doesn't like things on her head. After many attempts, this was the best we could do. Katie (our teacher) had to hold it on her head while Bryan held her on his lap and I used one hand to hold the camera and one hand to dangle a treat in Adi's face. On second thought...maybe it wasn't that Adi didn't like the hat...maybe she just found it more interesting to have 3 adults working so hard. Anyway...I'm sorry that the top of Bryan's head got cut off in the picture. You can see over his shoulder that most dogs will sit nicely for their graduation pictures. Maybe we should take that as a sign that we need to sign up for intermediate class in a couple of weeks...hmmmmm....

New Family Member

2009-05-16T08:48:00.000-07:00

On February 28th we added a new family member. That's right, we adopted a puppy! She is a basset hound named Adi (after Adidas). She is almost 6 months old. She loves to shake hands and is pretty good at playing fetch with one of her toys. She has been so much fun for us! Here are a few of our favorite pictures.

A New Endeavor

2009-05-16T08:25:00.000-07:00

Okay...here we go! I've been having so much fun reading friends blogs and keeping up with their activities that I thought I would give it a try myself.