Anniversary Numero Dos!

We celebrated 2 years last Monday, August 16. It seems like, in so many wonderful ways, we have been married much longer than that, and in so many equally wonderful ways, it seems like just the beginning. What a blast we had celebrating, though. Trey planned our trip to a bed and breakfast in Mineola, TX. We stayed at the Munzesheimer B&B (yes, it's a mouthful). Mineola is a quaint little town about 30 minutes from Canton. We left after work Thursday night and came back home after breakfast Saturday morning. We did a lot of napping, eating, and walking around the cute town of Mineola. We also enjoyed seeing The Prince of Persia at the longest running theater in Texas, Select Theater. Here are some pics from our trip!

We ate lunch at the East TX Hamburger Company. Those were some good burgers! This pic is of a very hungry Trey Holmes.

Walking around town, we happened upon this old caboose:

(he's SO handsome!!!)

We ate dinner at a place called Kitchens. Pretty delcious, and a very relaxing experience. Here is a snapshot of Trey at dinner:

Friday night we went to Select Theater for the movie. It's not the best picture, but it works:

Here are some pictures of our room. We stayed in an old barn converted into a nice guest bedroom. It was called the Tack Room.

The breakfasts each morning were delicious. Here are our pics at breakfast Saturday morning:

And here is Trey making friends with the cat...surprise, surprise :)

And last but not least, here are the Holmes outside our room before heading home. Thanks for the wonderful trip, Trey. I love you more than you will ever know!!!

After a brief hiatus...

The month of July was kind of a "wash" at the Holmes home. My family visited at the very beginning, then Trey was off to youth camp that next week. He came back, then I flew off to GA for a week and a half, and while I was gone Trey left for Colorado for a week. On July 31 I picked Trey up at the airport at 10PM, and that was the last of the travelling for now!!

The month of August hasn't been any slower for us. We've already celebrated Trey's 32nd birthday and our 2 year anniversary. We still have my 27th birthday and Lee's 31st birthday to go. It's been nonstop! But we are having so much fun. I have pictures from our anniversary trip, so I will load those soon. We are also squeezing in wonderful time with the Lewis family/ I can't get over how great it is to live near them. Thursday morning we all trekked out to Terrell to watch Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Yesterday I went with Lee and the kids to our waterpark, then last night we all went to Chili's for a delicious and fun meal. Marilee and Burke spent the night last night, so they're passed out in our guest bedroom (or Marilee's bedroom, as she like to consider it). Basically, we are having a lot of fun!

More stories and pics to follow!

Summertime!

Well, for the first part of this summer, it didn't really feel like summer. I was working a new job, settling in to life in Canton, and missing my friends and family greatly! The things started to get a little interesting. First, the Jones and Churchwards came and visited one Saturday. The next weekend, Bessie Ann came to stay with me all weekend! And finally, the big finale (drum roll, please): my entire Jones family came for a few days to Canton! And when I say entire, I do mean entire. Grey and Buzz even made the 12 hour road trip :)

I can't even express how much this time filled my heart with joy. I had such a great time celebrating my dad's 60th birthday and the 4th of July.

 

 Mom, Gretch, and I conquered to antique malls and Canton's First Monday.

We found the best lemonade this side of the Mississippi.

Jason conquered the wild, wild west....and so did mom and Gretch!

Overall, it was a wonderful family time. I love my family so much and am blessed that we all had this time together. Next stop, the Pitt family reunion in Atlanta near the end of July!

Trey is busy this summer, too. He's had many youth events already, including a Ranger's game, a trip to Splash Kingdom, a day of visiting the nursing homes, a night of fishing, and now youth camp. In a few weeks he also gets to take one youth to Colorado for a camp. So cool! Trey preached Sunday night this week and did a fabulous job. I am impressed with this man of God that I have the privilege of calling my husband!

A Friend of the Heart

This past weekend had the potential to be a very sad and lonely time for me. You see, Trey, Lee, and the kids all flew to Odessa from Friday to Tuesday (today) for a family reunion. I did have the option of going, but Trey and I decided it would be best to save the money on my ticket and for me to work - he is a slave driver. Just kidding! I made that decision :)

I was actually contemplating going vs. staying when an idea came to mind. I texted Bessie Ann to see if she could come hang this weekend. When she said "YES," my mind was made up. So this past Friday, after the others left for the airport, I made dinner at home and waited for Bessie Ann to get here. She arrived around 7:15, and from there the rest is history. I just love those friends whose heart's cry echos your own. I think our jaws should be tired from all the talking and catching up we did. We spent Friday night eating and talking late into the night. Saturday was spent around the house. We slept in, spent time with the Lord, watched movies, read books, ate good food. One of my highlights from this weekend was the time we spent in prayer on Saturday. We entered into some kind of time warp as we got on our faces before the Lord and brought our requests to Him. Those are the times that change you. Powerful and worshipful.

Sunday morning we went hiking around Lee's house. Watch out if you see Bess and I out on the frontier - we are armed and dangerous! As a matter of fact, we almost thought we'd have to use the guns when about 40 cattle started running toward us at full speed. Thankfully, they turned around when they got about 20 yards away. Sunday afternoon was a time for naps and part of a terrible movie (*I do not recommed "I Now Pronouce You Church and Larry"). Sunday evening was pizza, fishing, and laughter. Well, the whole weekend was filled with laughter. But it was so great! Below are some pics of our time fishing...

The 2.3 pound bass we caught!

I love Bessie Ann. She is one of those special friends that will be a friend for life. Actually, I'm really blessed overall with great friends - Natalie, Kat, Rachel, Jenny. And then I have such wonderful family - Gretchen, Lee, my mom, my mom-in-love. Thank You, Lord, for great friends! 

Once Upon a Thursday

I know I've already written a post about my days off, but I just truly love Thursdays so, so much. On Thursday of this week, I got to watch the Dubs all day. Marilee went with her mom to work. Trey was home, but he kept himself busy with his many little projects. I snapped some pics of the day, so here ya go:

 The first couple pics are of the boys hanging our hammock. Burke enjoyed toting around those chains.

The snotty-nosed Burke Warren pulling a very heavy chain.

"Aunt Kara, I don't have time to stop and smile for a picture!"

And finally, after playing so hard, the boy stops to rest!

 

Trey loves working on "man stuff" on his days off. He changes the oil in our vehicles, explores the land around us, fishes, and builds things for me or Lee. One project he recently had was building some shelving for our utility closet. I wish I had a before and after picture so you could see the absolute chaos that was our utility closet. But I don't, so at least you can see the after. He worked all day building these shelves from scratch, and I must say, I am very impressed and very pleased!

Fishing, Greek Yogurt, 24-hour Wal-Mart

This Memorial Day weekend has been a blast so far. Friday night Trey and I ate dinner with our pastor and his wife at their lake house. It was a nice getaway for the evening, and they are such a wise and incredible couple. We sat around in their screened in porch, sipped lemonade, grilled hamburgers, talked, and laughed. After dinner, Paula and I sat on the dock for a couple hours while Trey and Gary trolled around the lake and fished. Saturday, we fished again, this time at Lee's place. We took the mule out to a pond located in the potato fields, and we rowed around for a couple hours and fished. Other than a lovely sunburn on my legs, Trey caught two very large bass. I had a couple bites, but didn't bring anything in. One time, I was reeling in my bait and had it a few feet from the boat when something jumped out of the water, grabbed my bait, and apparently bit it off the line. We're not sure what that thing was, but it freaked us out just a little. Shortly after that display of the great outdoors, our boat hit something hard and stopped in the middle of the pond. In that pond in the middle of nowhere, your imagination can wander a little, and I was sure some monster mixed between a crocodile, snake, and fish was going to attack us any moment. But lo and behold, it turns out there was a tree stump below the water that stopped us, and the thing that stole my bait never reemerged.

In other news, I bought Trey some Greek honey yogurt at our local Farmer's Marktet. Then I tried it, and it was...both delicious and disgusting at the same time. I don't really know how to describe it in any other way than that. It gave me a slight gag reflex, but I also continued to take small bites of it. In some weird way, I liked the taste but hated it, too. Hm...weird.

For the last two Sundays, I've taken my 4-year old niece to Wal-Mart with me to grocery shop. Yesterday, we camped out at the greeting cards and listened to the Disney cards that play songs when you open them. She is my favorite shopping buddy. She sits in that cart and chats with me while we walk the aisles. She is always hungry when we arrive at Wal-Mart. I'm going to fight the urge to always buy her a little snack, but yesterday I did buy her some popcorn chicken since I had to buy her Uncle Trey some chicken tenders. She busied herself yesterday by stacking all the canned goods and other items in the cart. Anytime I would turn the cart and they'd fall over, she'd say "Aunt Kara! You knocked it over!!" and start all over again. I love it. Marilee is fascinated with the fact that Wal-Mart is opened 24 hours a day. Here is what she told her mom Lee yesterday (taken from Lee's facebook status): "Marilee told me this morning she thinks heaven is a big rainbow. When I asked her what else she thought was there she asked if heaven had a fair. I told her it might and she said it would probably be open 24 hours like Wal-Mart." Hilarious! When we got home, Marilee helped me make buttermilk brownies and homemade ice cream. She mainly helped lick the bowls clean, as you can see below...