Star filled nights and cows

I got a little story for ya Ags! (if you aren't an Aggie, this is the proper way to start a story in Aggieland)



So last week Chris and I tried our hand at homemade biscuits and gravy. To say the least, it wasn't the best I ever had. The gravy actually turned out really good, the biscuits on the other hand, well we could have used them as rocks. Okay, maybe they weren't that bad, but that weren't really good either. It had been a rough day for me anyways, so it probably wasn't the best night for me to try something new that is easy to mess up, but we did. So by about 9:00 I was really frustrated and ready to just go to bed. Chris walked in the bedroom, where I was spralled across the bed and asked if I wanted to go out in the country and look at stars. (if you don't know, the ability of being able to see just about every star in the sky on a clear night is one of the things I miss the most about Andrews [except you, mom and dad]) So I got all excited and made a thermos of spice tea and got 2 comforters and 2 body pillows and we loaded up the truck. We drove out on OSR and found a small road we could pull down without many lights. We found a place we could pull into some grass beside a fence without any trees and parked the truck. Chris pulled the tarp out of the truck and started laying it out in the bed of the truck. I was beginning to get the pillows and Spice tea when we heard something. We turned around to the fence and here came about 6 cows headed straight for us. They came to the fence and watched us as we got the bed of the truck all set up for star gazing. Apparently they throughly enjoyed watching us set up the truck because they stood there and watched us the whole time. Then we got everything set up and we curled up under the comforter and looked at the beautiful sky! After a couple of minutes we could hear really loud music coming from somewhere right over the hill where the cows came from (the cows that were still standing there) I'm pretty sure the music was from the movie Grease. So after a few minutes the music stopped and I got the scene from Tommy Boy in my head where Tommy took his new brother cow-tippin' and the farmer comes out with a shotgun after them, in my head. So I began to get a little nervous, not to mention that every time i made a sudden move, like moving my head real quick to look from the sky to the cows, they huffed and moved a little. So I asked Chris if we could go home. I loved the idea of going out, but I couldn't get the farmer with a shotgun out of my head!



Our night turned out to be very interesting! The cows were a funny sight to see!



Other than fun nights with cows, we are doing pretty good. Chris isn't feeling well today so he is headed to the doctor. His job search also continues. We have a friend who has a dentist practice (or whatever you would call that) and she is looking for a receptionist. It would be 30 hours a week and either no Fridays or 1/2 day on Friday, so it would give us stable hours and we would both go to work at the same time and get home at the same time. O how nice that would be!! Then if I got off work early on Friday, which I do from time to time, we would have all weekend OFF!! WOO HOO!! That would be SO nice!!

Our newest adventure in life comes with the title Independent Pampered Chef Consultant! I have just started selling Pampered Chef and I love it! I'm so excited to be doing it. Chris and I make enough money to pay our bills, but we don't really have any left over to have a life on. We really enjoy our friends but more often than not, the things we would like to do with them cost money, so I wanted to do something that would give us some play money. So I am now consultant number 567754! Welcome to the world of every cool kitchen thing you could think of!! I love it! Granted, I can't buy everything yet, but my time will come! So if you ever want anything from Pampered Chef, call me up! Or, better yet, host a show and get GREAT discounts! The adventure of having a home based business has been a fun one! Chris has helped me out a lot with it. We have gotten a filing cabinet (thank you Roy and Mary!) and I have my desk set up to be my office! Its fun and I'm learning a lot! Most of what I have learned is how to cook simple meals that taste wonderful! Chris says his biggest perk of all of this is that I cook more, and I do! I cook almost everyday! I love it!

I think those are our biggest adventures right now. Life has been pretty good lately, a little hard but good for the most part! This weekend we are headed to Ennis to my cousin's wedding! He will be marring the beautiful Amber! We are very excited to have her in our family!

Life

Wow, its been a while since I've written on this thingy! I suppose now is as good of a time as any! Fair warning: I have a lot to say!

I was just on a friend's blog reading her reflections. She and I went to Zimbabwe together last summer and I was reading her reflections on where she is now one year later. She made some interesting points that hit home directly with me too.
She said it best:
"Anyway, is it weird that I still feel so attached to Zimbabwe? I mean, I was only there for two weeks and I can’t pinpoint what about it that captured me. It was a really fun trip, but nothing specifically to inspire this love. The first two weeks after I got back, I had the most vivid dreams about Zim. It was crazy. Now, I’ve been back for over a year, but still those feelings can still be whipped up by simply getting a whiff of the shampoo I used there or a cup of English Breakfast Tea. It seems like about half the people I know who went to a country in Africa see it as just another cool experience, but for myself and a few others, it just seems to have sparked this irrational love. "
I can't say that I had the vivid dreams but I have days when I long to be there with every fiber of my being. I don't know what it is about that place but I pray that God has it in his plan for me to return.

I could go on about my wonderful Zim for quite some time, but I will leave that for later.

As for Chris and I, life seems to continue to through curve balls at us. Some day things will settle down and it won't feel like this (or thats what I like to tell myself) but we are managing to make it. We are in a Bible Study/Small group thing on Wed. nights with a bunch of other newlyweds and one couple who will be married in April. The class is a lot of fun and we really enjoy the people. Last week we were talking about divorce (as a rabbit we were chasing) and we were talking about the current divorce rate vs back in the day and weather it was more culture or what. I believe it is culture to an extent, because back in the day that just wasn't done but I also had another idea. Back in the day people got married a lot younger, my grandmother for example, got married when she was 15. I think that some of the success rate of couples from that time (getting married early) has to do with the fact that when they started off their marriage they didn't have set careers and settled homes. They had to figure it out together and start everything together. They had a lot of hard times and I'm sure all they had at times was each other. Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking waiting and getting married when your life is more stable, but I believe the hardships these couples faced made their marriage stronger. You know the old saying, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." I believe it works here. So with that in mind I find encouragement. Chris and I were talking and it seems like since about 2 weeks before the wedding its been one thing after another. At times it feels like we've been knocked down and are being kicked. But I now see that as our hardships that will make us stronger in the end and one day we will be the cute little old couple who wear fanny packs and hold hands as they walk around the mall (minus the fanny packs).

A month ago my great-grandmother died. She and Pa-Paw were one of those couples. They were old school. Thats how I want to be. I think we have good odds, the genes seem to be passed along. My grandparents (my great-grandmother's daughter and my dad's mom) have been together since they were 14. They celebrated their 50th wedding anniversery my freshman year in college. Then my parents. They have been together since their Jr. year of high school and were married right after high school. When it comes to marriage and how to do it and how to love someone else with all you are, these people are my heroes. My grandfather has had some health issues over the last year or so and my mom told me one day that he was talking to my Nana and she asked if he was going to be okay (or something to that extent) and he said "As long as I have you" Thats what I want. My great-grandmother was a strong woman. She lived without Pa-Paw for several years. She was the founder of the "Tough Old Broad Society" Which my grandmother is currently holding the president position of. G.G. was witty and man could she say some things that make you fall out of your chair. My family sat around the night before her funeral and told stories. I don't think I've ever seen my cousin Jeremy's face to red. She lived a good life. We were blessed to have her. So at the ripe old age of 98 she went home to see Jesus and Pa-Paw.

One thing I see Father teaching me through all of the craziness Chris and I call life together, is that no matter the situation -- anything from not working for a week to go to funerals on the other side of the state to money (which I have found is a huge stress and something Father understands and handles very well)--no matter the situation, He has control. Being newlyweds and still trying to figure out how to work and get back into school and all of that, money is a struggle for us, as it is for many couples I'm sure. One night I was just really stressed about it all and Chris and I were laying in bed and he had just prayed and I had what I like to call a "brilliant idea" in other words, it was one of those things that I could not have come up with on my own so it was definatly Father speaking to me. But I had been trying to figure all of this out for about a week, and if you know me I pack it all inside me and deal with it inside until I have it figured out. Well that generally takes its toll on me and I break. So this night was my breaking point. I had spent a week trying to figure this out and the fact of the matter is that I wasn't going to be able to. I see that now... So as I layed there this "brillant idea" came to me. Father was like 'hey, I have an idea. How about you let me handle it.' WOW! At that point I realized Chris and I weren't going to be able to make it on our own but that we needed his help. Its amazing what happens in life when we just let go and let God. I've seen him do some amazing things lately and I know I will continue to see this. I'm just thankful he is patient enough to stick with us.

"You are blessed when you are at the end of your rope. There is less of you and more room for God and his rule." Matt 5:6 - the Message

Honeymoon!

Its been a while since our honeymoon but I thought I'd post a few pictures. If you have facebook almost all of them are on there. Here I'm only putting a select few. Also Carol has some of our wedding pictures up on her blog! She was our photographer and she did amazing! Her blog is ladyinashoe.blogspot.com if you are interested.

As far as our life goes, we are doing well. Labor Day weekend was a little rough but we are recovering. We also have new Wagner family pictures I will steal off of facebook and post. Our house is coming along, very slowly but surely. Mom told me the other day that when we get our new couches the motivation will probably return. I sure hope so! We do have some parts done. Our kitchen and dinning room look good. We need to hang a few shelves in the dinning room but it looks good even now. Our room is done, messy because we are lazy and don't pick up clothes but done as far as work. Our dryer still is out. We are trying to get our reality company to come fix it but they are being lazy. So we continue to mouch off of friends to borrow their washer and dryers! As bad as it is it does present an opportunity to hang out with good friends we don't normally get a chance to just be with. I do see the positive with this.

Our next adventures will be to Dallas and Andrews. We are headed to Dallas next weekend to pick up our new couches! We are excited to be getting them! Will is planning on going with us. I believe his whole motivation is seeing Roy's 52 inch tv. It will be fun either way. The weekend after that we will be headed to Andrews. We were trying to space our trips out a little better, but my grandmother is having her other knee replaced on the 22nd so we are going to see her before that happens so we can get some mad card playing in! Scuba will be going with us on that trip. Mom is excited to have both of her new sons coming to see her. That will be a fun trip. We will be playing lots of cards and murder I'm sure! It will be good to see my grandparents!

After those two trips we plan to not go so much for a while. I have a retreat I'm going to in October but other than that we don't really have plans to be going anywhere for a while. The begining of next year will be enough I'm sure with the million weddings coming up! We just found out Lee and Luke, some of my good friends from back in Andrews just got engaged! We are SUPER excited for them!!

Well here are the pictures I promised:

Us being silly at the airport with my comics

View from dinner one night...LOVE Mt. Rainer

We got to FEED GIRAFFES!!!!!

Chris taunted the poor guy

Us with the mighty lion!

Shark : Big

Chris : Small

We Loved the otters! They mate for life and take care of their families! And they are cute!

At the top of the Space Needle!

The Sunset that day

The guy who worked the elevator on the way down said it was the best of the season!

Us at dinner! See that big bowl? That was my dinner!!

The beautiful Mt. Rainer! We plan to go back just to camp at Mt. Rainer!! SO Beautiful!!

Mr. & Mrs. Wagner!

So its all over! August 9th finally came and is now long gone! We had a blast getting to see everyone and everyone dancing!! (thank you by the way to everyone who did the Cha Cha with us!!) It was a lot of fun!

Here are some wedding pictures. I stole these from friend's facebook pages so some are blury and far away but you get the picture!

All in all it was a lot of fun! We are glad to finally be in the same home and starting our life together!

The Fellas
The ladies
My dad saying "you know they are all staring at me because they have never seen me in an outfit like this before"

"Who gives this lady"

"Her brothers, Her Mother and I"

Right after the unity sand when my uncle Michael (the pastor) walks up and looks at Chris and goes "your last name is Watson, right?" haha

Mr. & Mrs. Wagner! Me lauging hard as the groomsmen line up to all give Chris a "good game"

the Man of Honor and the Bride

Almost all of the musicians!

Will giving me "Chris's Marbles" that he lost...

Me Kicking my new husband for trying to put icing on me!

FINALLY!!!!!

HE DID IT!!! HE FINALLY DID IT!!! WHOOP!! Cole finally proposed to Lynn!! Mark your calendars Friday Feb 13, 2009 we are having a PARTY!! I'm so excited she is finally going to be my sister! I do have to say I'm about wedding-ed out but I think I've been waiting for this to happen for so long that I'm just too excited about this one! We pick on Cole about this whole thing (we being Kent and I mostly) but I know that he is one awesome guy! He has taken his time with this, eventhough he has known he was going to marry this girl since about a month after they started dating. He waited. He wanted to make sure he could take care of her. He doesn't have everything figured out but they will have fun on their adventure together trying to figure everything out and they could turn out to be the poorest people and be the happiest because of what they have in each other. We are very excited to have Lynn joining our family!!

As for Chris and I, we only have 25 days left!! Its exciting! We got our bed in last weekend and it is amazing! Its kind of sad because I sleep in it by myself every night. Soon that will change! Last night I was picking on Chris because I had to get up to come to work and he doesn't have to work today so he was going to sleep in so I asked if he wanted to have breakfast with me at 7am. He thought about it for a second and said well if you call me. That shocked me, then it hit me, if I call him and he comes over to see me for breakfast, I will go to work and he will go crawl in our bed and sleep! So this morning he came and sat with me while I ate breakfast and I walked out the door, he locked it behind me and went to find that comfy bed! He is a goofball, a very sweet goofball!

This weekend we travel to Brownwood for my family reunion! Growing up this was the best week of the whole summer, of course that was when I got to go for a whole week. My family is a little on the loony side but they are the most wonderful people! This year we will also be celebrating the wedding of my cousin to his beautiful soon to be bride! Our family is growing quite quickly at this rate! In a two year time frame we have added Kevin, Kayla's husband; Eli, Kyle's new little boy; Tammy, Steven's bride-to-be; Chris, marrying me; and Lynn, Cole's future wife! Thats so fun! I love my family! We may be a little off our rockers at times, but we sure do love each other!!

We are getting married next month!!

I was sitting at my desk yesterday morning wondering where the month of June went because its GONE! and it dawned on me...I'm getting married next month!!!! Of course working in an office of almost all men they don't really get giddy about things like that so I kept it to myself until lunch. Then I told Chris (as I bounced around in my seat) and watched his face light up at the realization that it really is next month!

Our lives continue to be madness as this week we are playing "Flip that Duplex". To say the least, my house is not somewhere you would want to be right now. Our new bed will be arriving on Sat. so we have to prepare the house for its arrival. There is also the possiblity that our new table and chairs will be here Friday! Chris laughs at me because I'm really excited that we have a storage unit. We are using it to store my table, chairs, both beds, Chris's recliner and a few other things. Last night we moved my table, chairs, the baseball stuff, camping gear and our decorations into the unit. Things are starting to look different! My little duplex is starting to become ours!

This weekend we will be having our bachlor/bachlorette parties, lingerie shower and tool party. So family will be coming in again. I'm pretty sure I can't get enough of that though. Speaking of family. Last weekend we went up to Dallas to Chris's parents house. It was a nice relaxing weekend! Its so nice to be able to go and do nothing. We basically sat around and talked while we watched movies. We also looked though TONS of pictures trying to find some of Chris growing up. He was such a CUTE little boy!!

After this weeked the next few will be some-what calm. Of course there only are a few left until the wedding so I'm sure they won't be as calm as I am hoping for. Things are definatly coming together! I'm sure as we get our bed and flip the house it will become so much more real! Only 38 days!

52 Days -- 7 weeks -- 1 1/2 months! Which ever one you like better

When Chris and I started spending all of our time together in March of 2007 I seriously thought he just liked my dog a whole lot. I think I might have been wrong. Not that he doesn't absolutely love Rodderick, but I'm pretty sure he had other motives behind coming to play with him. So here we are 52 days until I get to marry the most amazing man ever and I'm pretty sure those 52 days can't go by fast enough!

We have started the fun things like showers and getting all of the things that will be important to have as we start our life together. I laugh because before I would always think that showers were just a way for a couple to get new stuff, because lets face it, everyone loves to have new stuff. But I have recently changed my mind on the motivation behind the new stuff. I have loved, am loving and will continue to love seeing how Chris and I are going from being Chris Wagner and Kim Rogers to Chris and Kim Wagner. One of those ways is being able to go through and take away the things I see as mine and the things I see as his and replace them with things that are ours. People laugh at me when I get so excited because we get new stuff to hang on the living room walls, because if you have ever seen my house, my walls lack in nothing. Every room is fully decked out! But, all of that is stuff I picked out. After this weekend we will bring home all kinds of stuff to put in (soon to be) our home that we picked out together! This whole building our life together is fun. Its an adventure!