Wedding Weekend

I should have posted this a long time ago, but here it is! Our good friends, Chad and Meghan, got married almost 2 months ago and we got some really cute pictures from the weekend. Meghan was a beautiful bride as you can tell in the pictures and Chad looked great, too! It was so fun to get to hang out with all of Cody's old college friends all weekend. I love them all!

Mexico!!!

Oh, I wish we were still there. Cody and I went to the Mayan Riviera, Mexico, shortly after his graduation. We had to wait on my summer class to get started and orientation and all that business and then we left. We stayed at El Dorado Royale and it was great! My sister stayed there last year and loved it so we decided to go there too. We had a few minor problems with our room, like the AC going out one night in the middle of the night, getting locked out of our room 3 times in one day, and the shower made a noise that really hurt your ears if you made it even a little hot. We also used some kind of sunscreen that apparently didn't work very well, b/c we both ended up with really funny looking and painful burns on the first day. Most of our bodies were white and then there were these splotches of bright red that looked and felt terrible. I promise we rubbed tons on, but it didn't matter. After a few days our burns felt a little better and we were able to get new sunscreen and got no more burns! Yay us! As I type out all these awful things that happened, it really doesn't seem like it would have been a great trip, but it was! We were not about to let anything ruin our first vacation since our honeymoon 2 years ago! The resort was all-inclusive and had great food and room service, which I love! And Mexico was beautiful and the staff was amazing. We'll go back for sure...with better sunscreen! Here's a few pictures of our trip. I love the ones with the monkeys - even though they pooped on us!





These lizard things were huge!!

Graduation!!

Cody finally graduated!! It was almost 3 months ago, but as I think I've now stated in every blog I've written - I'm no good at this! I wanted to share some pictures with everyone of the best day EVER for both of us. I could not be more proud of my amazing husband! He worked harder than I ever could have...and I'm in school now! We went to Mexico about a week later and I'll share a few of those pictures next blog.



Cody and me at dinner after graduation









Cody's family









Me and Cody right after the ceremony ...I'm so proud!!






Cody with his Vanderbilt / Superman cake






Group 6 - Cody worked with these people from day 1

Life since last summer...

So...we are both terrible at this blogging thing. We keep saying that we need to update, but never seem to have time.

(Cody and I pretending to cross the finish line before we left the house -->)




There's a lot to tell since the last time we updated after the summer. In October, Cody, Christy (my sister), John (her husband), Nathan and Amber (2 of my cousins) and I did the Race for the Cure (a 5k). It was really fun! I've never been a runner and tried really hard, but I still held Christy and Cody up. They both said they didn't care and that that wasn't the point, but it was a struggle. Either way, I was excited to be doing something new and with my family for a great cause - breast cancer. My mom was supposed to come out and watch us run and dad was supposed to be running with us, but mom was sick that weekend. (For those of you who don't know, she had breast cancer for 2 years).
A few weeks later, she passed away after we found out the cancer had spread to her liver. It was short and unexpected and devastating to say the least.
Life has gotten better, but has been very difficult for the past few months. I am so blessed to have Cody with me through this process. He has been the most amazing husband and friend I could ask for and has been there for everything I've needed and even things I didn't know I needed. I could not ask for more. I'm the luckiest girl in the world to have married such a wonderful man.
To everyone who sent cards, flowers, plants and food, you will never know how much that encouragement and love meant to my family and me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.


On top of all of this, Cody is still in school full-time and working full-time and looking for a new job. I am in school part-time and work full-time and we've been trying to go home to be with my dad and sister every other weekend. Our lives are CRAZY!!! But wonderful. Oh...we're also selling our house and building a new one...apparently, everything else in our life just wasn't enough to keep us busy. The pictures of us in front of the massive mound of rocks are really of us standing in our new lot where a house will be in a few months. I can't wait!!!

We've also had many blessings recently. While Mom was still in the hospital, my sister found out she was pregnant! She was able to tell my mother, which I know means the world to her. She's having a little girl and naming her Lauren Isabella after my mom (my mom's first name was also Lauren) and calling her Izzy. She's due July 4th. Cody's sister, Timpy, is also pregnant and due April 1st. She's having a little boy and naming him Ethan. The Lord's blessings never seem to end!
Since we haven't written in so long, I've added a few other random pictures from ICE, which we went to Christmas Day, and one of our dogs playing under the bed. Cute little boys!











































Cody just got back from India a couple of weeks ago, so that will be our next blog entry full of pictures!

Our Summer

Wow...we have a lot to catch up on! Cody hasn't written in a while and also knows he won't be able to until at least May, so I'm going to take a stab at this whole blogging thing. Here goes!
We've had a really busy and fun summer...but now it's over. Cody starts school in 6 days and I start in about 2 weeks. The fun has all been had for a few months. Since it's been so long since we've posted, I thought you should see pictures from our whole summer.
We went to the beach with our friends for Memorial Day, which was very much needed and so wonderful. I had so much fun getting to know all the girls better!
Some where in all this mess Kramer got a bath, which he hates, so we have a picture to commemorate this blessed occasion.
The fake Mickey ears was a "date" Cody took me on. We had to cancel our trip to Disney World this summer when my mom found out she had to start chemo again, so to cheer me up about my mom's diagnosis and not going to Disney, Cody made Disney World come to us! We had fast passes, Mickey shaped pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream, Mickey ears made out of headbands and cardboard, and best of all - a Tree of Life (complete with A Bug's Life showing inside)! It was the sweetest date I've ever been on. I have the best husband you could ask for.
Shortly after this, we celebrated our 1st anniversary! It was a surprise for me. We went to a bed and breakfast and had massages and amazing meals and we also went to a winery! So much fun! He did a great job planning this too! Then we came home and ate our cake, which was surprisingly very good still. Thanks to my sister for wrapping it so well!
In July, we went to visit Josh, Lauren and James Satterfield in Texas. I had never been, so they showed me around and we got to do touristy things. We went to the capital building and saw two of their college campuses and went to eat at The Hula Hut in Austin. We had a great time getting to see them and their sweet little boy!
Then, we took Kramer to the lake. He LOVES to wake board!
Lastly, both of our parents came in town on the same weekend. We had the best time! Cody and his dad, Jim, went on a guided fishing trip that we gave to Jim for his retirement present. They caught 29 fish in just a few hours!! I don't know a whole lot about fishing, but I'm pretty sure that's a lot. It was also my mom's birthday. She turned 26. Crazy, that she's just a year older than me, I know, but ask her. She'll tell you. 26.

So that was our summer. We were really busy trying to cram everything in before school gets started again and we stay at home for a few months straight. Hope you enjoyed my very first blog!!

My Movie

It has been a while since my last posting. I've had numerous people approach me and say "Why haven't you posted lately? I wish you would... it has really changed my life." And by numerous people, I mean Lauren.

First off, I recently saw "The Pursuit of Happyness" with Will Smith. If you haven't seen it, it revolves around his internship at the Dean Witter Stock Brokerage Firm. That got me thinking that if they could put that guy's story on the big screen, they they could do mine too. It could be about my internships at Wal-Mart ISD and would be called "The Pursuit of Mediocrity".

Last weekend was Memorial Day and we went to the beach with six of my best friends from college and their wives. It was good to remember what 4am felt like again and how early 9am rolls around. I have stories to tell on everyone, except for James Satterfield who was never around b/c he was chasing the ladies at the beach after one too many Miami Vices. I also learned a new version of a popular children's church song. You'll have to ask Satty. Chad - invite Whey next time, Adam - you are M. Cat DDS, Joe - something about phone calls and Jennifer on the
roof trying to kayak, Satty - nice underwear, Greg - i am ready to take you in Wii Tennis, Brad - thanks for jeopardizing our deposit

More Taxes
I recently read an article my Dad passed on to me about imposing new taxes on both internet commerce and our internet connections. I understand that the gov't needs to tax as their source of revenue and that just because a state doesn't have, say income taxes, that revenue will be made up for some place else. If states are losing this revenue from the shift of consumers moving to online shopping, then I think a new tax is something to consider. But what will that do to American businesses? Online retailing is a much cheaper form of selling than real-world stores because of inventory, expenses, personnel, etc. This could slow down the growth of businesses and reduce profitability. Additionally, tacking on more taxes to internet connections. The article goes on even farther to mention the potential email tax (which has been discussed for quite some time). Much of the efficiency (a function of GDP) we realize today is because of faster communication. Give people a reason to not send email, and it will effect overall productivity. Email is not the vehicle for taxation.

Trade Deficit, Perpetuities and a Birdie

This has to be one of the fastest years of my life. It seems like yesterday I was in Hawaii with my new bride, scuba diving with turtles and eating pu pu for dinner. Now it is almost a year later and I understand that a perpetuity is not a really bad stomach ache and that portfolio variance is as intuitive as:
My latest final, macroeconomics, was very interesting. I realized that the trade deficit isn't a bad thing after all and that Lauren and I can afford a very nice getaway anniversary trip to Zimbabwe this summer.

I plan to take a nice break though and do a little bit of traveling with Lauren. I'm trying to encourage her to take a crack at golf, but it is too different from the Sims, so I'm probably out of luck. Last weekend I tried out my new clubs with Coop and sank a 45 yard chip for a birdie, so it only makes good sense for me to join the tour.