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...)!

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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!