around here...

1. my favorite trees in denton...these are just down the street from us. i would love to know what kind they are because gosh, they are beautiful. 

2. gideon and his best friend bessie. some of us hang out with our best friends. some of us eat them. 

3. our backyard oasis: we've been spending a lot of time back here, reading, grading, and drinking tea while gideon sniffs and digs and trots around. or just lolls in the grass and tries to get us to rub his belly.

4. our little guy! he's 12.6 pounds this week! 

the semester's definitely in full swing and i stay pretty overwhelmed, at least this week and last week (and next week, by the way things are looking). but i'm hoping to do a post soon about why i love thrifting with maybe some little projects i've been doing (and i mean little--no time for anything big unfortunately!). does anyone else love to spray paint like i do?? 

Meet Gideon!

Meet Gideon. He likes to cuddle a lot, and doesn't squirm if you pick him up and hold him. He loves to have his belly rubbed. His ears are slightly oversized and floppy; his brown eyes are big and serious. He's a cross between a lab and a catahoula leopard dog, so his coat is white and dappled brown. Sometimes he gets the hiccups. He doesn't bark, but he growls at utility men and cowers at the exterminator. When he poops in the house, he is polite enough to do it in the bathroom. He used to live at the Denton animal shelter, but now he lives on Ponder Street with humans. He prefers to lie on rugs, not the hardwoods. Sometimes he tries to chew Chelsea's slipper, but most of the time he is good about chewing only his toys. Once, he puked on the rug. He has a little cough, but he takes medicine for it. In the backyard, he likes to trot around and chew the pecans that fall from the tree. He doesn't quite get the hang of fetch, but his efforts are promising. Once, in the backyard, he tried to stand on his hind legs where the ground slanted downhill, and he did an accidental back flip. If you scold him, he pouts. He also has a very strict sleep schedule and needs to nap about eight times per day. If you give him a milkbone treat, he will try to bury it in his bed. He goes by Gideon, Giddy, Giddy Little, Little G, Big G, and Giddy Guy. He answers to none of those. 

if you want to see beautiful,

just look at the pictures i'm going to completely photo-bomb in this post. i spent the most amazing and quick weekend with my family in landrum, south carolina, celebrating kate and justin's wedding---congratulations, mr. and mrs. schultz! or should i say felicidades, the language of your costa rican honeymoon ;) 

a few things: 

1. when i got home yesterday, mark asked if it made me sad how much bigger kyler has gotten since we last saw him. i said well, kind of, except he still says funny dumb things, so it's not like he's matured into adulthood since june. for example: what kind of kid starts saying a word incorrectly, that he used to say correctly?! kyler now says "nuse" instead of "use." as in, "alaina, i'm nusing that crayon." or "chels is gonna nuse that ball and you nuse that one." so funny! i also loved his combination of "settle down" and "chill out," which becomes the rather handy: "chill down." he is also prone to make very sudden, important announcements, such as: "kool-aid makes my mouth soggy." but he might also sit on the couch and cry because his last airplane broke (styrofoam airplanes can only crash so many times). 

2. landrum is a beautiful little town. it's right in the middle of the blue ridge, so you'll all of a sudden be driving along this windy little road trying not to crash off the side and hoping your transmission can make it up one more hill, and you'll just come around a corner and right there stretching out beside you are blue peaks, mist, clouds beneath you, and the first tinges of autumn in the trees. absolutely breathtaking. 

3. my extended family is amazing. they are such great conversationalists. i laughed a lot, got to eat some of josh's culinary creations which are basically the anti-calorie, given the amount of heavy whipping cream he used, and i got to hold a few sweet marshall babies ;)

4. i missed my husband a lot and i came home to quite a few surprises, but i'll save those for another post! here are some photos from the weekend. i kind of did a bad job getting photos of people (or even the bride), but i was just too busy socializing during the wedding and reception to remember to take photos. i'll collaborate with marissa for a later post because i know she got some good ones. enjoy! 

the road our house was on

in the backyard

also in the backyard: portrait of a boy with airplane

the next few days...

i fly out tomorrow, heading to landrum, sc, for my cousin kate's wedding! she is the soon-to-be mrs. justin schultz and i am so excited to be able to go. i love weddings and all things related. it's hard being so far away from family because i have to miss out on things like wedding showers and birthday parties and graduation get-togethers. not to mention first days of kindergarten and middle school, and flag football games. as much as i love our life in denton, we do not plan for texas to be our permanent home and hope on the other side of these next few years, maybe just maybe, to make it back to the east coast. i try really hard to be content where God has us and to dwell in this time of our life, but sometimes it is just tough not to be sad and feel like i'm missing out on a lot. all that to say, these 48 hours of impending family time feel like such a gift, and on top of that to see my sweet cousin marry her best friend, well, that's a lot for one happy heart to handle! i just wish mark were able to go this time, but unfortunately this country has not yet moved toward universal airfare. (can we make that a priority, obama?) 

since i don't have photos of kate's wedding (yet!), i'll post some of ours to ring in wedding spirit... 

my bouquet with my nana's ring wrapped into it 

this picture has always made me laugh. i can't remember what he said to me, but he probably asked for my food. 

i think it was alaina who had the beautiful idea to string up daisies with the lights 

photo credits: josh beacham

so we meet again, october

october is such a beautiful word, is it not? i like to say it: happy october, happy october. we spent a lovely rainy weekend with our windows open and candles burning, writing and trying to get a headstart on the week's reading. it rained all day on saturday: all day. such a rare thing for texas.

yesterday began worship diversity month at our church, which i got to experience last october, as well. basically the band leads worship in a vastly different style each week of october, such as gospel, traditional/liturgical, etc. yesterday in addition to the regular band, there was a choir, a brass section, and a full strings section. amazing. i wish i could somehow encompass that entire experience and put it in this blog. let's just say it's a good thing i wasn't wearing any mascara.

for today, i've got my first pot roast in the crockpot, along with carrots and potatoes of course...can't go wrong with a crockpot right?? denton friends, if you don't know what you're eating for dinner tonight, come join us. i'm serious---we will have way more than two people can eat.

dear friends Tim & Catherine who came out for Mark's game...just in time to see the second half get canceled 

that sky! 

the grocery list for saturday night

the aforementioned 'snack dinner'...my FAVORITE 

i taught mark how to make my curry chicken salad. he requests this on a weekly basis, so now he can fend for himself when he wants it! 

curry chicken salad with grapes (usually red) and cashews

birds, hearts

i might have developed a garland problem. there's just something about them. they look so...festive, and colorful and---interactive, or something---that i can't seem to stop making them.

i made the heart garland over our bed from paint chips that i grabbed at walmart. last weekend when we had friends over, i think it was catherine who commented that she was surprised at how bright and girly our bedroom is---surprised that mark doesn't mind, that is. well, to be honest, i'm surprised too, but so far he hasn't vetoed anything. not even the hearts. i guess he's just saving up to choose a really big battle? 

after i made the hearts, which he wasn't exactly thrilled with, he said, "why didn't you do birds or something?" which just seemed ingenious to me and i wished i'd thought of it, so i immediately made a bird garland from leftover scrapbook paper. that one is in our living room. i might have to cool it on the garlands for a while... 

(sorry about the blurry iphone pics. i really should buy some new batteries for our camera.)

also, a happy housewarming and move-in day to adam and anna! congratulations on buying your first home together! maybe i'll send you a housewarming garland. 

surprises

when i was driving home from babysitting today, mark texted me and said he had a little surprise for me. i love surprises...it doesn't matter what it is, it just makes any day more exciting. he could say he had a surprise and then bring me a glass of ice water and i would still be thrilled. 

when i got home and opened my computer, i found this: 

never mind the weird grammar...sometimes we baby-talk to each other. it's weird. 

and this is what i found...

THE NEW MUMFORD ALBUM!! 

we are big mumford & sons fans. and this album is awesome.