These are a few of my favorite things...Christmas 2013 Ed.

We had an amazing set of Christmases this year! Our first celebration kicked off on Saturday, December 21st with Jay's mom's side of the family. I hosted that one which lucky for me (and them) just means that I provide the home and everyone else does the cooking. We had 15-16 people and this side of the family always does fajitas for Christmas. We usually end up getting together at the end of the holidays and fajitas are amazing after all the rich holiday food. It was still great! I forgot to take pictures but did get this one of Jay and his 'lap dog'. 

That night after all the extended family left, we opened gifts with Jay's parents, brother (Matt) and Matt's girlfriend, Brittney. We had a great time! 

This was the aftermath. Jay asleep and surrounded by boxes and dogs! 

We followed that Christmas up with Christmas at my parents' house on Christmas Eve. This was my favorite Christmas ever thanks to my nephews--very popular and likable guys!! Owen and Will both celebrated their first Christmases this year!! Crazy year for The Swain Family but our hearts are so full of love for these little guys. I had to work on Christmas Eve so Jay and I drove to Brownfield for dinner after I got off work.  My mom cooked an incredible meal and we had a great time playing with Owen while Will slept the whole time (what a downer)! I did a little better with pictures on this one. 

He loves his Aunt Hill!

Uncle Jay is so funny!

Collage that I put on Instagram 

Ladies, ladies give me some space. 

Owen was a complete mess. His Aunt Hill may have gone overboard on the shopping and he had about 15 gifts too many. We opened 3 gifts that I got him and it was a mad house so all of his other stuff from my parents and Joel and Ashley waited for the next day. One thing is for sure--Christmas is more fun with babies!!

On Christmas Day we got up early and drove to Jay's grandfather's house in Crowell with Matt in tow for our last Christmas get-together for the season. Bill and Donna were supposed to meet us there from College Station but Donna got a terrible case of the flu and they couldn't make the trip. Once we got there we discovered that two of Jay's cousins (who were there) also had the flu. Not cool. The total flu count is up to 9 and I'm using positive thinking to stay well. That's what I'm telling myself anyways. Other than the flu, we had a great time with Jay's family. I only got one picture of Jay's grandad in Kenzley's tutu. Pretty cute! :)

I just re-realized that this post was called 'a few of my favorite things' and that I derailed by detailing our Christmas celebrations. Oops! I'll try and work that into my next post! 

Merry Christmas to all! Still counting my blessings! 

ht

Holy Homeland

It's taken me 4 days to come to grips with what happened on the Season 3 Finale of Homeland on Sunday night...and I am farrrrr from recovered. 

If you watch Homeland then read no further because I am about to spoil your life. Dramatic? No. 

Brody (after doing everything that was asked of him to be a marine again) is killed in Iran by public hanging while his baby mama (Carri, of course) watches behind a chain link fence. At first, I didn't  believe it. I kept hitting Jay and screaming "What are we going to do?! Someone help him!!" But since Jay is pretty level headed and objective and knew it wasn't our real life...he just sat idly by. Jay actually texted me on Monday and Tuesday and just said, "Brody is dead." Some life partner I've chosen....

Devstation nation (cue the titanic theme song).  I know, I know...it's my fault for falling in love with a disturbed terrorist but really, what choice did I have? America. You. Should. Be. Ashamed. 

Oh thank goodness! I just woke up and realized that Homeland is just a show on Showtime and this entire post has been jibberish (maybe I'll believe that one day...)!

ht

Let me tell ya 'bout my best friend!

It's no secret that I really really love my pug, Stella. That little pug girl turned 9 a couple of weeks ago and although a truely loving mom would have been on top of her game a little more...here are a few pictures to my favorite girl and a brief story about how we got our start. I got Stella in a trashy little town called Bangs (sorry Bangs residents) when I was twenty and it went something like this. I was "forbidden" (like that actual word was thrown around) to get an animal of any kind by my dad...so...I got online, found a pug puppy, got on the phone, talked to an old lady, got in the car, drove 4 hours to Bangs, went into a smelly house, picked the fattest puppy, found out that her bio pug mom's name was Hillary (totally meant to be), put my cash on the counter ($250), drove home, went to a new year's party, dropped my new puppy a few times, she had a couple of accidents, woke up the next morning, changed my ways and devoted myself to being a good pug mom. The only thing that I didn't really think through was what to do about the fact that I was living in a house that my parents built for me and that I had been 'forbidden' to have a pet...so I came up with master plan that basically revolved around hiding Stella from my parents anytime they came to Lubbock (2-3 times a week). Brilliant! This plan lasted approximately 17 days and then she was discovered. Yikes! Good news was that I bought a pretty cute puppy and not even a dad who had used the word forbidden could be upset. Everyone loved her and has ever since. Look at that face!

We spent a lot of time studying. 

Awesome teeth. 

Living in Denton. One of our many homes. We're on home #8! 

Sitting pretty. 

Tongue out as much as possible. 

Loves her weim sister, Ally. 

Latest family pictures. 

Together forever. 

We've done a lot in these past 9 years. We've moved 8 times, she's had 4 surgeries, I've graduated twice, married once, expanded our family to include a husband, Weimaraner and German short-hair pointer, found a job I love, and through it all she's been my constant. We've had really great times and few sad/scary times but she's been there every step of the way. Unbelievable how much I love that goofy pug. I know her like the back if my hand. 

Cheers to Stella! Here's to as many more great years as we can get!

Obsession & Hawaii Part II

I have a problem. It's taken over my life to the point that nothing else matters...not even recounting our amazing vacation that I've practically forgotten by now. That problem is...HOMELAND. It began so innocently on a Sunday afternoon in my basement...and now has led to obsession.  I'm talking an under the covers in the middle of the night with my iPad and headphones like an adolescent girl obsession. Thankfully, I squeezed the first 31 hours (Seasons 1, 2 and half of 3) into a week long binge and have now come up for air (until my next fix on Sunday). If you're not watching this show, you should be. If you are watching this show then you should be held responsible for my not knowing that it existed. 

Ok, ok...onto Hawaii. The second half. 

Day 4: 10.22.13

We fulfilled Jay's only must-do of the entire trip on day 4. We got up incredibly early and flew from Maui to Oahu to visit the Pearl Harbor War Memorial. We got take an aerial tour of the islands on way! The Pearl Harbor Memorial was an honor to visit. It was reverent and sacred and touching. 

Flag from inside the memorial of the USS Arizona. 

We also got to see a submarine, a battle ship, and a quick tour of Honolulu. To tell you the truth, after the Pearl Harbor tour I was pretty much done. It was hot and humid (my least favorite combination) and our only meal option was an oversized hot dog. I tried to keep a good attitude while Jay and I crawled through every space on the sub and battleship but I guess that all that matters is that Jay enjoyed himself thoroughly.  We got back to Maui a little after 6:00pm, grabbed something to eat at a nearby restaurant and were in bed by 9:00pm. 

Day 5: 10.23.13

This was by far my favorite day of the entire trip! We had planned to rent a car and drive to Lahina to take surfing lessons and then drive around the island; however, after our long day at Pearl Harbor we decided to cancel surfing lessons and have a day free of obligations. We rented a mustang and just drove from beach to beach with no plan other than relaxing. 

Here we go!

 

First stop- Ka'anapili Beach 

Jay's jellyfish sting. Yikes! 

Kapalua Bay

We saw a huge sea turtle here! 

We found an awesome brewery/restaurant and I (the non-beer drinker) found a beer that I liked! 

That night we went to The Plantation House restaurant and had an amazing dinner. It goes without saying that the seafood in Hawaii is out of this world!

Best piña colada of my life. 

Finally captured Jay smiling! 

Day 6: 10.24.13

This was our last full day on the island and we had plans to go scuba diving. We've both been before and really enjoyed it...but this time didn't go so well for me. We started with a lesson in the hotel pool and for some reason I really struggled to allow water in my mask and clear it. I kept sucking it up my nose and then shooting to the surface to get a breath. Strike one. This wasn't the start that I was looking for. Then we got down to the beach and our dive instructor gave me a wet suit with a really tight turtle neck. If you know me at all then you know that I can't stand anything touching my neck and that I get very anxious when it does. Strike two.  Then we had to get all of our gear on (flippers, tanks, goggles, etc.) and walk into the ocean, past the rocks and reef until we were deep enough to descend. This was strike three for me. I was tripping over my flippers and falling under the weight of my tanks and after about 30 feet I declared that I didn't want to scuba dive. Yep, I panicked and bailed. Jay was less than amused and the dive instructor insisted on walking me all the back to shore which was pretty humiliating. I was disappointed that I left Jay to dive by himself and that I missed out but it turned out to be a pretty good choice for me. I rented snorkeling gear and just hung out around the bay for an hour until Jay and the instructor returned. 

After the dive, we went back to the brewery and had lunch and then spent the rest of the day at the pool! Here are a few pictures. 

Relaxing by myself. 

Not my best work but who goes to the beach and doesn't get a 'name in the sand' picture?

That evening we went back to our favorite restaurant--Merriman's. The food was amazing but we really went back because everyone bragged about the beautiful sunset that we missed the first time.  It was absolutely gorgeous and these pictures don't do it justice. 

The bay as you walk up to the resturant. 

Wow.

Cute guy. 

By the fire pit. 

I should mention that I had the best scallops that I've ever eaten and a fresh pineapple bread pudding...I'm sure this meal alone only cost me 3 of the 5 lbs that I gained on the trip. 

Day 7: 10.25.13

Our final morning was spent gorging ourselves on breakfast and then packing. Our pick up was at noon which was perfect timing because the Ritz was hosting a very popular triathlon called Xterra that weekend and the hotel was filling up with bicycles and very athletic bodies. We went from Maui to Honolulu and then flew 8.5 hours from Honolulu directly to Dallas. We landed in Dallas at 5:00am CST and had to sit a couple of hours until our flight to Lubbock at 8:00am. We made it back to Lubbock at 9:10am and couldn't wait to get home to our pups!! We got home and then went straight to bed and slept until 1:00pm. We got up just in time to see Tech end it's undefeated season with a loss to OU and got a surprise visit from my sister-in-law and nephew!! 

So precious!

Not sure so about Stella. 

Never mind, she's a funny pug!

Whew! I'm glad that I finally got the trip recap checked off my list! I'm actually re watching Homeland now...I have to go. I have a serious problem. 

xo- hill

Ha-why-ya

Jay and I just spent a week on the beautiful island of Maui, Hawaii! The title is in honor of my Granddad who pronounced Hawaii as "Ha-why-ya". My dad always responded by saying "Fine. How are you?"--my Granddad did not think this was funny...but he was not known for his sense of humor. :)

Anyways, back to our trip. We always try to do some type of vacay in September or October because Jay's business usually slows down a little bit and it seems to be a good time for me because everyone that I work with takes vacation between June and August. We had originally hoped to go to Costa Rica but we didn't get our passports in order so we decided to visit Hawaii. I'm so glad we did because it was amazing and quickly rose to my #1 vacation spot! 

We stayed at the Ritz-Carlton in Kapalua which is on the northern side of Maui. It's tough to beat the Ritz when it comes to hospitality and quality. Here was the view from the lobby down to the pool. 

I'm going to break the pictures up by each day so that I can keep an accurate account of our trip. A lot of the pictures were posted on Instagram as we went but Hawaii is pretty enough to see these pics more than once!

Day 1: 10.19.13

Our travel began in Lubbock to DFW, DFW to LA and finally to Maui. Tech was playing West Virgina that day and all Jay cared about was being in a spot that allowed him to stream the game from his iPad. It was close to half time when we landed in Dallas so we grabbed a bite to eat at a pizza/wine bar and Jay plugged in. It was pretty entertaining because he was yelling the whole time and had no idea how loud he was. This included a few very loud expletives...so I had to offer a public apology of a couple of times. 

We got to see Tech win right before we took off to LA. Once the game was over and we started looking around we realized that Dick Van Dyke was sitting one row behind us across the aisle. He didn't look too good...very old and he was rocking a TV Land letter jacket. We tried to get a picture of him without being super obvious but it didn't turn out so well. 

We had a long day of travel and finally landed in Maui about 10:00pm HST which is 5 hours behind us in Texas. We were completely exhausted and it was pitch black outside so we just checked in, ordered room service and passed out.

Day 2: 10.20.13

We woke up at 5:00am the next morning due to the lovely time change. Nothing was open yet so we waited for the sun to come up over coffee on our walkout porch. These were our first looks at Hawaii! 

From there we went to breakfast and down to the beach! The beach was only a 3 minute walk from the back of our hotel and we planned on spending the whole morning there but...the tide was up and the waves were pretty high for non-beach dwellers like Jay and myself. Jay's first big wave rolled him and took his new Maui Jim sunglasses with it. My first big wave rolled me and then a second one hit me as soon as I came up for air...I was pretty sure that I was dying so I headed for the shore to play photographer. 

Jay likes to get his guns up no matter where we are! Bye sunglasses!

Thankful that I survived the wipeout!

We spent the remainder of the day by the pool with tasty beverages and then had dinner at an awesome restaurant called Merriman's. 

Day 3: 10.21.13

Day 3 was gloriously spent by the pool. It went something like this...lay in the sun and read, swim to cool off, dry off, order a drink and repeat! I went through 4 books on this trip. More about those later!

This little peach sat by me and asked why I wasn't brown? Haha! Poor white me! I burn and then go right back to being white. 

That evening we went to a traditional Hawaiian luau. The concierge said it was a 'must do' but personally, I wasn't very impressed. The food was supposed to be really good but it was just average and the drinks were bad. The performance was interesting but really long. The best part was at the end when a guy twirled fire. 

We met a great couple from Austrailia and they have us the low down on how things go over there. The amount of time they get off from work is unbelievable! 12 month (6 months paid) maternity leave, 4 weeks of paid time off and 17% higher pay when they are on vacation...what?!?  I can't imagine how they get any work done but they said it works really well. ...And that was the end of Day 3. 

Well, I'm exhausted and have to get a lot of stuff done to start the week back in the real world. I'll end it here tonight and pick up with part 2 tomorrow!

xo- hill