Goodbye 20s!

It's official. My sweet husband turned 30 this month. We had a fabulous celebratory weekend full of fun, friends, and family. On Friday evening, I somehow managed a surprise party with some of our favorite people. I reserved the second floor of Snuffer's so we could all hang out and take part in their amazing cheese fries. Seriously, they're the best you will ever have. I learned that it's hard enough to plan a surprise party for a close friend, but it's nearly impossible for your husband. I mean, I live with the guy, carpool with the guy, and work with him -- it was almost impossible. Luckily, he had no idea and we had a fabulous time. Here are a few pictures from the memorable evening.


The One-and-Only Torti, Heather and Gwen


Jackson and John


Cooper and his adorable aunt, Ann


Catherine, Matt and Pam


A Matt-Bobby-Matt Sandwich




Happy Birthday, My Sweet Love!


The next day, we slept in and lounged around for the entire day. You just can't rush into your 30s, you know... For dinner, we went to Matt's favorite restaurant, Fogo de Chao. It's a Brazillian Churiscarra, which I'm pretty sure is directly translated as "Men in funny gaucho pants entice you to stuff as much red meat in your stomach as possible." It was absolutely delicious.


Notice the meat spinning in the background?

Afterwards, we walked over to Addison's Oktoberfest and went through all of the amazing craft booths. To celebrate Matty's big day, we decided to go sky diving.

Just kidding! Matt likes airplanes way too much to ever jump out of one unnecessarily. We walked... excuse me, waddled around the fair until we worked off enough of our meal to actually bend at the waist again and went home.

The next day we went to Grapefest, which was a blast, and then over to my parents' house for a lovely birthday celebration. Matt got lots of Tribe gear, iTunes gift certificates, and workout stuff, so he is a happy, happy 30-year-old. Stay tuned for the fourth and final weekend of birth month!

The Southwest Airlines Baby Wave

Let me start out by saying no, it's not us.

In the past year, an incredible amount of people we know at Southwest Airlines have had babies: Catherine & Philip, Erin & Steven, Erin & Will, Hedy & Evan, Laura & Jonathan, John & Kim... And trust me, that's not even the beginning. Any day now, we're looking forward to the arrival of Baby Hunter. Our friends Caroline and Gil are expecting their first bundle of joy on Matt's birthday -- this Saturday!

Here are some pictures of my beautiful friend:







We went to our last girl's lunch before Hunter's arrival, and Catherine was kind enough to join us. She brought sweet little Cooper-man, who was due on the same exact day last year. I apologize for these blurry pictures, but Coop was too fast for my camera! He's just raring to go -- good luck when he starts walking, Cat!







What a little sweetheart! Now we all can't wait to meet you're little one, Caroline!

30 Years of Awesome

Can it be that my sweet little hubby is turning 30 this month? Are we really married? With an apartment of our own? Making our own plans? Taking trips? Cooking dinner? Doing laundry? Cleaning out our fridge? Discussing adult things like insurance, retirement plans, and compound interest? Wow. So much has changed for the both of us in the last two years, but it has been the most amazing time in my life. Thank you, Lord, for this blessing I call Matt!

To celebrate this momentous occasion, I've decided that Matt will have "Birthmonth" instead of just one "Birthday." Why not have 30 days to celebrate 30 years? Each day we try to do something that Matt likes to do, or eat where Matt likes to eat, but we do something really special each weekend.

For the first weekend of birth month, we had Matt's good friend Dominic fly up from Houston and stay with us. We haven't seen him since the wedding, so it was great to have him stay with us for the Labor Day holiday. He was our first house guest! See? I told you we're getting old and responsible!

On Saturday evening, Dom, Russ, my hubby and I went to see Matt's favorite 80s cover band, The M80s. They're a hilarious group that pretend like they're from England, but they really just tour three places in North Texas. They have some pretty incredible outfits and dance moves from the days of yore.




Guitar playing behind the head? You just can't find this caliber of entertainment everywhere!




One guess on which awesome 80s song they were playing here!

After the super-fun concert on Saturday night, we got a chance to spend time with a few of my favorite ladies! We are so mature that we decided to go shopping at a grocery store as a quality way to spend time together. Well, it wasn't just any grocery store... We hung out in Central Market for a few hours!




Matt tried coconut milk for the very first time. As cute as this picture is, he really wasn't a fan.


It was right in the middle of the hatch chile festival, so everything smelled delicious! Matt has decided that we need to get one of these awesome gas-rotisserie-basket-turney things.


Yay for good friends.

To continue the first Matt weekend, we decided to do what Matt loves most: watching airplanes. He is so very spoiled. Here are some pictures we took from the lookout point at DFW.















Annnnnnnnnddddd... Even though we thought our weekend fun was over, we got a last-minute call from Miss Lauren. We jumped at the chance to meet her new little boy, Elijah. Isn't he a looker?







Whew! What an awesome weekend!

Ode to Catherine

So today was my friend Catherine's last day at Southwest Airlines. She took an early buy-out package that our Company offered that was just perfect for her and her family. I am so blessed to have worked with her for as long as I did. Even though over 30,000 people work for SWA, I know it's going to be lonely, lonely, lonely without her in this building!

Anyway, Catherine, here are just a few reasons why you are such an amazing person and we will always be friends...

You always keep me straight when I'm out of line.


You help me catch muffin theives! (Although I think you and I both know who did this all along!)


You help me turn my boss' office into a gym whenever I ask, thus completing the most epic office prank of the entire century.


You're always concerned about my floatation.


You're always up for an adventure.


You make a phenomenal back-up dancer.


You aren't afraid to climb into the wheel well of a 737 for sake of a good picture!


You know how to hug without hurting a sunburn.


You appreciate a nice hotel bathroom.


You love chocolate as much as I do!


You and Gwen introduced me to a certain husband of mine.


You were an amazing bridesmaid, and I was so blessed to share my special day with you!


You are a fabulous mommy. Really, one of the best, and you are always looking out for what's right for your family.


And I can think of no better reason to leave Southwest than this little guy!


Congratulations on your "retirement." All of your SWA friends miss you dearly, but we'll have our monthly lunch dates for sure. I love you, Cat!