Half way through 2013 already???

Man this year has just flown by!

Its hard to believe that we were still waiting on the movers to bring our stuff this time last year...sitting on the floor watching movies on our laptops and sleeping on an air mattress!

Texas has been good to us so far, we just signed another year lease and it has me thinking..man where has 2013 gone??

James birthday was a blast...sad that Adam had to miss it. He was in California for NTC (40 military school) It was an Angry Birds themed party..of course!

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For Valentines day I got Adam tickets to see the Dropkick Murphys in Austin...yea I know, best wife ever!! He was so exctied! It was in March for their St Pattys tour so it made it all the more awesome!! We headed up with some friends and ate dinner at Stubbs, the venue they were to play at that eveing. We were seated at a very obscure table at the top of a staircase, I remember all of us talking about how cool it would be if we got to meet them and we'd even put some CDs in my purse ..you know just in case!!

Well as we are enjoying our meals, up from the lower level walks the Lead singer of  the DKM Ken Casey!! Adam went into shock I believe...he stuck his hand out and Ken shook his hand!! I knew that Adam wouldnt ask Ken to take a picture with him so I said "Ken, I know Adam isnt gonna ask...but I know he would love a picture with you" He said sure and the got a great shot together! We have agreed that may have been the best day of Adams life! 

We were able to move to the front area near the stage. Towards the end of the show they called all the ladies on stage who wanted to go up...I had a moment of hesitation, but then I realized it was a once and a lifetime opportunity and so I went for it!!

Security helped me on stage where and sang and danced for about 5 more songs!! During one of the songs Ken was shuffling through all of us and he looked at me and said "hey , I know you!" It was awesome!

After the concert was over I walked up to Ken and asked him to sign the Cds I had in my purse...he did and then he told me "Tell your husband he is a very lucky guy!"

That was literally one of the best nights of our lives!

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We are from Arizona...where there is a casino ever 20 miles! We love to play poker, but Texas only has one casino and its about 6hrs from our house! Living in Ga for the past 4 and a half year was rough too...they only had one casino and it was on the river and you had to sail out to the ocean before you could play anything, that wasnt much fun either.
Last time we lived in Texas we discovered a Casino on the border of Texas and Oklahoma called WinStar. 

The Win Star Casino is the 2nd largest casino in the world! Its amazing and we new we should make a trip up there for a family vacation...and by family vacation I mean James and I go site seeing and hang in the hot tub at the Hotel while Adam goes to the Casino! 

The architecture alone makes this Casino amazing. The outside is composed of different places in the world. From Paris to Rome and many more!!

 

We also visited a local park that was awesome!! This park was made of the most amazingly crafted wood. It was so cute..I felt like we were is a gingerbread village! We also went to Frank Buck Zoo and James enjoyed feeding the giraffe!

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Another place we really enjoy is Dana Peak. Its a park located off of Still Hose Hollow Lake in Harker Heights Texas.
We have tried to take up fishing (haven't caught one yet!) and we have gone on a camping trip out there. Its a great get away!

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Our most recent adventure was to go to the Inner Space Cavern in Austin Texas!

This place was amazing and had a great story! 

They were building the highway about and drilled down only to find the drill hitting an air pocket. They drilled in 5 other places before finally drilling a hole large enough to send a man down to investigate. I imagine his amazement went he turned shown his light in the amazing place!!

Really makes you wonder what else is under us we dont know about!!

 

 

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4th of July was so great! We had a BBQ with great friends before heading home to watch fireworks at our house. This year we promised James that we would watch them on our roof!! He was so EXCITED!! Many of our neighbors set off HUGE fireworks...so we were literally surrounded by them! I felt like we were in the Marry Poppins scene when they were on the roof "Step-in time"

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We always knew we would get a second dog once Murphy was older. He is such a people dog but we arent home enough to give him attention all the time. He really needed a buddy and so we thought it was time. I wanted to wait till December because we would have had Murphy for 2yrs at that point, but some friends our had a dog who was having puppies and thought the breed was so awesome (half pit bull half cocker spaniel) I just couldnt pass it up!
So welcome Froning
 (named after Rich Froning, 2 time Crossfit games champ)

He is awesome and we could be happier

Mayhugh Highlights of 2012

 

So with everything going on this year, keeping up with a blog has been harder then ever.

What I thought would be fun would be to update everyone

with all the fun stuff we did this year!!

 

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James birthday is Jan 26th so lets start there!!

Adam always does such an awesome job making sure James has the best birthday party.

This years theme was The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Happy 5th birthday James!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Adam and I went to our second military ball. They are such a fun way to enjoy some of the perks of being a military family. You feel so honored to be there. Its a romantic and wonderful feeling to be able to be apart of it. I love to dress up like a princess and be treated like royalty!!

 

 

 

 

In March we went to visit one of my favorite friend Amy in Atlanta Ga. Her family is so wonderful the kids had a blast playing together and Amy watched James so that Adam and I could got o our first Dropkick Murphys show together!

 

 

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April is Autism Awareness month. Its a special time to wear blue and spred the word about Autism.

 

 

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Adam was promoted to SGT! I am so proud of him. I wasn't able to pin him like I wanted to because he was promoted while at WLC (an Army school) When he got home I surprised him and had our favorite restaurant decorate our table and have a Black and Tan ready and waiting!

 

 

 

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In May Adam was asked to participate in a 21 Gun salute to the fallen for Memorial Day. It was such an honor to be there with him, and again one of the many perks of a military family.

 

7 men fire 3 rounds totaling 21 shots.

 



 

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Adam and I took James to a sailing event for Autism in Downtown Savannah! It was awesome, everyone there was so helpful and really knew how to treat autistic children and the various sensitivities they have. James wasn't scared at all, he loved sailing!

 

 

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We went to Jekyll Island Ga this year for the first time. I really wish we had gone the whole time we lived in Ga. Its such an awesome place...almost untouched by modern culture. Its very private and a great get away. We went twice this year, once alone and again when Adams parents came out to visit.

 

There is a lot of history and mystery surrounding Jekyll island. It was fun to tap into our inner conspiracy theorist and eat in the Grand Dinning Room at the Jekyll Island Hotel.

 



 

We also visited Butterducks Winery in Savannah. It was our first time at a winery and I loved it.

 

James enjoyed a tasting of Gatorade!! LOL!!

 



 

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Another wonderful blessing of being a military family is the opportunity to go on Marriage retreats. They are 3 day getaway for families to get to spend some time together. The adults go to Christian based marriage seminar while the kids go to an awesome play area. after you are free to go wherever you want to, so depending on where the marriage retreat is being held that can lead to a pretty fun vacation! This year we went to Atlanta! We stayed in an awesome hotel and we were able to go to the ALT Zoo. James really loves pandas so it was wonderful that he go to see them...but that did lead to him pretending to be one for the remainder of the trip!

 

 

 

 

 

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Another fun thing that we began doing this year was going to Sand Gnats games....I wish we had been going the whole time we were there cause its pretty fun!

 

 

James was picked out of the crowd cause of his hair, they interviewed him during the 7th inning. He won everyone in our group free hair cuts from Sports Clips!!

 

 

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The biggest event of 2012 was moving. It was harder than we thought, we had really built a life in Ga. We love and miss everyone but are enjoying our new home living in Texas. We are closer to our friends and family in AZ and now we will be able to be apart of their life more.

 

Its a blessing that the Army packs everything up for you and moves you...but I really think they need to ease up on the amount of packing paper they use!!!

 



 

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Since we moved to Texas we have been everywhere!! We are really enjoying exploring and we have found some spots that we are gonna enjoy for many years to come. We live down the road from a dirt race track, Waco is beautiful and so far has the best Zoo we have every been to, Glen rose is home to the Creation Museum, Dinosaur land and Dinosaur Valley State Park. Dinosaur Vally was an amazing place where you can walk in the tracks of Dinosaurs! We are gonna have many adventures to come!!

 

James playing at The Cameron Park Zoo

 

 

 James and Adam at Dinosaur World

 

 James and Adam at the Creation Evidence Museum

 

James at the Cameron Park Zoo

 

James swiming in the Puluxy River at Dinosaur Valley State Park

 

 Fossilized Dinosaur Footprints at Dinosaur Valley State Park.

 

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Our Halloween and Christmas were so much fun. We loved decorating, having parties and spending time with our Texas friends as well as a visit from Adam parents and Nephew Alex.

 

Halloween

 

Christmas

 

 

 We will ring in the new year tonight, and my only prayer is that we find a balance in of areas of life and learn to not sweat the small stuff GOD IS ALWAYS IN CONTROL!!