Missing My Reese

My little puppy is at boot camp right now... it's so sad without her around!  Reese has been gone for 3 weeks and she stays for another 5...  The house is quieter, cleaner, and I don't have that little bark waiting for me when I get home.  Not to mention that the weather has been BEAUTIFUL and I've wished we was here to go on a walk with me.  So sad!! 

 I was looking through pictures today and missing her terribly.  I figured it would be a perfect time to share our first lake outing with that little ball of excitement!!  

On our way for our first swim in the lake!  Note the pre-boarding-school-beacuse-she-would-run-off-leash...

And she's in!!

Once in the water, she would make a bee-line to my raft.

She knows I'm a softie and would let her lie down with me!

Then it was time for the tennis ball... Please note my pre-boarding school puppy and her amazing sitting skills!

And they're off!!

 Check out Reese's body going in all sorts of directions...I'm amazed she didn't fall over!

She's a happy lake dog. :)

Love, Sara :)

Everybody Wants to Be A Chi Omega...

I went back to College Station today for my first bid day in 3 years.  My little Audra is a new little Chi-O!!!!  Waaahoo!!  Not only did being in College Station totally bring back a flood of memories, but being in front of the Chi O house and waiting for the bus to get arrive, had me missing college and Chi O so much.  

I got to the house to surprise Auds and knew a total of 2 girls... it was the absolute strangest feeling.  That house is where I met my best friends, where I lived, where I served, and where an entire portion of my life was centered for 4 years.  Today, it felt like home, but it felt foreign at the same time.  Most of the time I just felt old!

 Loved the theme this year!  And you HAVE to love the music that is so loud it drowns out all of the rest of the block!

 The bus finally arrived!!

Easily the best picture of the day...This was the second right as Audra saw me.  The only part it doesn't capture is the super excited scream that came with her surprise.  I don't think I've ever seen a surprise reaction that compares to this one!

Cousins, now sisters!

Baby hootie!  So cute!

I was too short to get the rest of the group!!

It was such a fun day and I am SO glad I decided to go.  I loved thinking back over my years at that house I can't wait to see what fun memories Auds makes with her new friends!!

Everybody wants to be a Chi Omega, Everybody knows we're RED HOT! :)

Love, Sara

Father's Day and Brittany's Bundt Cake

Happy Father's Day!  I know, I know... I'm a month late.  But hey... it's my summer break and I tend to lose track of time.  And our Father's Day was WAY too fun to just skip over.  Soooo, here it goes!

The fun thing about this year was that Dad and Papa came to Houston!!  We did dinner at Uncle Don's, so I got to celebrate my real Dad, Grandad, and Houston Dad!  I was in charge of dessert...fabulous, if I do say so myself. :)  The actual recipe came from a bundt cake Brittany and I made, but I switched the pan and made my oh-so-fabulous frosting to top it off.

 

I found this golfing cake idea on Pinterest... I was obviously REALLY excited about it.

And so were the Dads!

 Here's the close-up...so cute!!

 

Our patriarch... would you believe I can't count how many pictures I have with this expression? :)

And now for the cake recipe...

Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake

• 1 box yellow cake mix
• 1 small box instant chocolate pudding
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup oil
• 3/4 cup water
• 4 eggs
• 8 oz. sour cream
• 1 package of chocolate chips

 Heat oven to 350 degrees and grease a bundt cake pan.  Mix pudding, cake mix, and sugar in a medium sized bowl.

Add oil and water and mix.

 Add one egg at a time and beat well after each.

Add sour cream and mix until incorporated.

Stir in chocolate chips. (we only added 1/2 of the bag, but you could add up to the entire bag, depending on how chocolate-y you want your cake)

Pour into grease pan and bake for 45-50 minutes, depending on your oven.

Allow cake to cool slightly, then place it on a plate and dust with powdered sugar.  Enjoy!

Our taste testers waiting for their slice... :)

Hope you had a great Father's Day!!  Check back soon for some more delayed summer fun! :)

Love, Sara

Getting Out of the Heat...

About a week after I was done with school for the summer, Anthony and I decided to get out of the Houston heat and go on a little vacation!  So, we picked the coolest, chilliest, spot we could think of... Scottsdale, Arizona!  I know, I know....Houston to Scottsdale.  Not really that much change in heat, but the change in humidity made all the difference.

We spent most of our week relaxing by the pool, doing a little shopping, watching basketball playoffs, seeing a Top Chef cookoff, and hiking.  Yes, hiking.  I quickly realized being a hiker is NOT for me.  This, however, I didn't really consider hiking... more like side of a cliff rock scaling.  I won't be going again anytime soon! The pictures from that little outing are on Anthony's phone, so I'll share the gorgeous views later, but I here are the few I have from my camera!

Top Chef Cookoff!  So much fun!

Judges table!  We got to try the food, but I don't have a picture. :( We did get to meet two of the contestants, though, and get autographs! Even Anthony had fun!

Dinner

...and dessert! The Sugar Bowl was all sweets and pink EVERYWHERE... my kind of place!

 Anthony's sundae...

and mine!

More summer fun coming soon!!

Love, Sara :)

A Year Ago Today...

A year ago today I was excitedly getting ready for the biggest day of my life.  I was all smiles and couldn't wait to walk down the aisle.  The day went by so smoothly and so quickly, and I can't believe Anthony and I have been married a year!  

I was thinking back over this past year and am blown away by everything that has happened.  Here's a little peak into our first year as Mr. and Mrs. Rhodes... :)

A year a go today I had never paid rent, an electricity bill, gas bill, or phone bill.  I had never lived with a boy, let alone in the same city as Anthony.  I had never followed a blog, or seriously thought about starting one of my own.  I had never heard of TeachersPayTeachers, nor had I ever imagined I would be selling hundreds of products to teachers across the country.  I had never known someone to hit the snooze button on an alarm for over an hour, and let's be honest...I'd never mopped. :)

 Being that Anthony is such a numbers guru, here are our year one statistics. :)

• We started 3 new jobs.
• I moved twice.
• I willingly semi-willingly endured 3 needle encounters.  (If you know anything about my needle phobia, you know this is HUGE)
• I flew on 23 airplanes.
• We ate fajitas more times than I can count.
• Anthony cooked dinner a total of ZERO times. :)
• I flew to Dallas 4 times to see Chuck and have my hair done.
• My car was in the shop 5 times.
• We went on 3 vacations and 2 different countries
• I only got lost in Houston twice! Never mind that I was following a GPS while getting lost...
• Our China was used once.
• I've caught Anthony learning new dance moves from YouTube 3 times... this isn't to say how many times I haven't caught him. :)
• We painted 12 rooms/areas in our house... you don't want to know how many hours that is!
• Christmas was celebrated 4 times
• We only broke 1 dinner plate and 1 bowl.
• I called the vet around 9 times because I was worried about something Reese had done or ate.
• We killed only 5 plants! (...we didn't have that many to begin with!)

This year we bought a house, got the most adorable puppy, and watched more sports than I have watched in my entire life.  We tried calamari and spinach and artichoke dip at every restaurant we went to.  We found a new church, a new neighborhood, and, despite my nervousness and shyness, made new friends.  We ate more meals with the Harrell's than I can count, and Anthony cleaned more dishes than he has in his entire life.  I spent my first holiday away from my immediate family, and still got to wear my birthday tiara.  

This year has been filled with laughter, joy, lots of tears, but most of all, happiness.  It has been by far the most challenging, difficult, change-filled, and rewarding year of my life, and I wouldn't change a second of it.  Today is just one more sweet reminder of how God's plans are so much bigger and so much greater than I could ever have imagined for myself.  Between Anthony, our families, and our friends, there isn't a better word to describe it all, but blessed.  We truly are blessed beyond anything we deserve.  So Happy One-Year Anniversary to us!!  On to year two...

Love, Sara :)

Reese Goes Swimming!

Yes... this is my third post in a row about little Reese.  And yes... I'm totally okay with that.  What can I say?  I'm one proud mama!!  And yes again... I have not been super on top of updating my blog. (Ahem...Rachel)  Between spending time STILL painting and putting together the house, training my little ball of cuteness, work, and life in general, I plum run out of time and energy.  Not to mention I used all of my free photo space from my blog server... I didn't think I took THAT many pictures!

OK, so now on to my REAL reason for this post.  Last weekend for Memorial Day, my friend Brittany came to visit!  Uncle Don was super nice and let us come use his pool.  He's been telling us to bring Reese to swim for a while, so we finally took him up on it.

We packed her up (with Brittany) and headed over to UD's house {UD...Uncle Don...I figured that was a given, but didn't want to confuse some people...Ahem, Rachel :) }

So Reese was NOT wanting to get in the water...

We tried bribing her... but no go.

We FINALLY got her to get in the water!!

 And she even started jumping in!  Check out that form!

She would only jump in if Anthony was standing right there waiting for her. :)

And look at my little fish!  How cute!

 This was an attempt to get her to jump off of the diving board.  Reesers had a different plan.

Great day. Lots of fun. Tired puppy!

Happy summer!!

Love, Sara :)