New York City!

Last Tuesday night we flew to NYC to spend Thanksgiving with my mom, brother, sister-in-law, nephew, niece and a good friend of my moms. We had a blast! We got in late Tuesday, so just went out for a little while with Drew and Shelly.

Wednesday we had a fun filled day! We went to Regis and Kelly Wednesday morning which was a blast. That is mine and Steve's favorite daytime show, so we were very excited! We also got a chance to go see Wintuk at Madison Square Gardens. It's the new winter Cirque Du Soliel show and it was AWESOME! After that we headed to the Empire State Building.

By the end of the day most everyone was exhausted, but Drew, Shelly, Steve and I decided to keep going in the city that never sleeps and managed to have a fantastic night on the town!

November = Busy Time of Year

We have had a very busy week and a half!

Let's back up to celebrating Steph's birthday. We went over to Steve parents house to celebrate and eat delicious enchiladas, watch Steph open her gifts and blow out her candles. We had a good time celebrating with her!

Last Thursday we had our Thanksgiving dinner with Steve's family. Mrs. Mota cooked another delicious meal and we enjoyed spending time with the family. We are very thankful to have each and every one of them in our lives. We will be in New York this week for Thanksgiving, so it was very important to us to spend time with both sides of the family and share our appreciation and thankfulness this time of year.

Friday my mom came in town and her, Steve and I took a super quick trip to Houston to go to a wedding. Lindsey (the bride) and I grew up together and were best of friends when we were little girls. It was wonderful seeing her so happy. We had a good time, but had to get up super early to make it back for a memorial for Dee.

For those of you that don't know, Dee (my step dad that passed away in January) was a donor. Around Thanksgiving every year, the hospital has a reception to thank all of the donors over the last year. Dee's donations helped 72 different people live a better life. It's pretty amazing that even after death he is able to touch other peoples lives! It was a sad occasion, but very uplifting listening to the recipients tell their stories. There was one fireman (around my age) who was in a house fighting a fire. The second story collapsed on him causing 80% of his body to be burned. He lost a leg and an arm, but is only alive today because of the skin donors (like Dee). If he had not had these donations of skin, he would've died. Dee lives on in heaven and the shell of his body is living on in other people. It's pretty miraculous, they call it the Circle of Life.

We are off to New York for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade this week. Be looking for us on Regis and Kelly Wednesday morning and in Harold Square during the parade. We can't wait! We'll share pictures as soon as we get back!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE! =)

Sylvan TV Shoot

I spent all of last week in Vancouver casting and shooting our Sylvan TV spot for Q1. It was absolutely beautiful there! The leaves were all changing colors and falling from the trees. The leaves there are HUGE (see pic below of leaf the size of my head). It was cold and on occassion rainy. I went with 3 of my clients, my 2 art directors, my writer and my producer. I do have to say it was very strange being in another country when the election took place. I voted before I left, but the television coverage just wasn't the same in Canada. They kept switching back and forth to the hockey game that night (which I have NO interest in haha). Our team had a good time together, but I definitely found myself homesick and ready to come home to Stephen and my pups. Luckily, Stephen wrote me a little note for each day I was gone so that it would help make time go by a little quicker. It was really sweet!

We shot at two different locations, a Sylvan center of course and then we shot at a beautiful home that was a horse ranch, it was absolutely breath taking out there. We did manage to get in a few good times. Howard (my writer), decided to do open mic night at a comedy club while we were there, so we got in some good laughs. We got to do a little shopping (we all tried on fun hats) on Granville Island which was fun. This was the view from my hotel room, so it was at least a nice view while talking to Stephen on the phone every night.

I couldn't wait to come home, so Sunday didn't come soon enough. Once I finally got home from an extra long work week my sweet hubby had flowers waiting in the house that he cleaned, with a fresh cut yard and an extra organized garage (I think I have Steve and his dad to thank for the garage)! I couldn't be more thankful to have such an amazing husband!

Luckily, Stephen and I had saved some extra vacation days, so we took Monday and Tuesday off to spend some time together. It was a great relaxing couple of days, and I am so happy to be home! =)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

We had a great Halloween weekend! We started the weekend off with trick-or-treaters from the neighborhood. We enjoyed seeing all of the costumes and giving out candy. We also spent some time with our neighbors. It started with chatting across the cul-de-sac while passing out candy and ended in a fun Halloween celebration on Landon Lane. Good times!

Sunday, Steve and I got some things done around the house and then had Stephen's parents over for dinner. We enjoyed some Mexican food and got some time to catch up before I headed to Vancouver. It was a great weekend!

Visit to San Angelo

Stephen and I took a quick flight (much better than driving) to San Angelo this last weekend to visit Drew, Shelly and the kids. Dad and Sheri also made it down so it was a wonderful weekend to catch up with everyone. I think we managed to get in just about everything possible (as you can see by all the pics) in the two days we were there. We BBQ'd, watched football, decorated pumpkins, had the kids model their Halloween costumes (Riley's a Knight and Kaylin's a princess), had water balloon fights (see videos for a glimpse of the fun), went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse, went riding around in the jeeps and went trap shooting (yes, I actually shot a gun!). We had a great time! The kiddos are going to look great this Halloween, and we are so glad that we got to share in the festivities a little early this year. Thanks for a fabulous weekend guys, yall are great hosts! =)Love yall!

Catching Up

Last Thursday we were able to meet up with some girlfriends at another going away party for one of my co-workers. I am officially the last of the 7 Dwarfs from last years Halloween party (sad). Anyway it was great catching up with Dawn and Amanda!

Another Busy Weekend

Well come to find out, I'm not the only person that thinks of Steve as the "best man"! Last weekend Stephen's long time friend Michael Diaz asked Stephen to stand by him as his best man in his wedding. It was a nice ceremony and we had a good time at the reception.

Sunday my mom and grandma came in to celebrate mom's birthday! =) We took her to dinner and then we all went to see The Color Purple which was fabulous! Good times all around.

OU/TX and Family BBQ Weekend

Well, it's taken a little while to get over the football beating of a weekend we just had. Between OU, A&M and the Cowboys, it just wasn't the best weekend for watching football in our home. =) We did have a great time though. We had a surprise visit from Kristina, which was so much fun! It's become somewhat of a tradition that we have friends from Oklahoma in town to watch the OU/TX game every year, so it was awesome that we didn't break that tradition this year! Regardless of the score, we managed to have a good time catching up!

Saturday Steve's parents had all of the family over for some delicious BBQ! We hung out on the back porch in the beautiful weather listening to music and just catching up. We also brought out Chinese Checkers for a little fun. It was a wonderful relaxing evening. Unfortunately I forgot the camera, so we don't have any pics to capture all of the fun we had that night.

Luckily, Steve and I had a long weekend, so we got an extra day to relax and bum around the house.

Busy Lately

Stephen and I have been super busy this last week. We've both been pretty consumed with work (which is good, job security right). Stephen has also been busy with his MBA program. Poor guy, I don't know how he does it! He spent the last few days working on a paper for class while preparing for an important presentation at work. He's somehow managed to be successful at both! Makes me proud! ;) I spent the last few days traveling for work. I flew from Dallas to North Carolina, then to Chicago and finally back to Dallas. Needless to say, we're both pretty tired and ready for a relaxing weekend. It's good to be back home and neither one of us can wait to get a good night sleep!

Fun Fall Weekend

You can't bring in the Fall without an Oktoberfest! We went to Oktoberfest in downtown McKinney this year with Steve's family. It was a good time, but since the lines for food were so long, we opted for Snookies burgers instead of the traditional German food. We did make time for our Fall photo opps with the hay. Good times!

Sunday Steve and I took our little brother (with Big Brothers Big Sisters) Jonathan to the FC Dallas game. He loves soccer, so he had a great time! There were fun obstacle courses and games set up before the games for the kids and of course he had to get his wig so his hair would like the best player from the team. haha, he was cute. What an amazing feeling to be able to share some good times with someone who needs a little light in their life. Steve and I couldn't be more proud to be that light. He is such a neat kid!