Our three seconds of fame...

So I mentioned in my post on Christmas Break Ryan and I got to be in a HEB commercial.  For all of you who are not from Texas, it's a big grocery store chain.  The commercial aired in Texas for the Super Bowl.  Ryan and I were extras in a the dance hall scenes and the picnic scenes.  Those scenes took ALL day to film.  We got there at 7am, started filming at 9, and didn't finish till almost 6pm.  Also, it was freezing that day.  Anyway, here's the link to the commercial! I do not claim to understand the title of the song...you can in fact spell "Texas" without HEB...oh well.

You Can't Spell Texas Without HEB

I'm wearing a purple shirt and Ryan is wearing a leather jacket.  You can catch glimpses of us at 22 seconds, 29 seconds, and 2:08 minutes. Enjoy!

Christmas 2010

Ryan and I had a great break!  We spent almost a month in Austin, and it was a much needed break.  I got to celebrate my mom's birthday, go to their ward Christmas party and another friend's party, see my grandparents and my best friend Jenny all in about four days!

We left for New Jersey to see Ryan's sisters on the 23rd and spent about a week with them.  We had a lot of fun in New Jersey and Pennsylvania and got to see a lot of family.  We did get snowed in on Ryan's birthday, which was the day after Christmas, but other than that, the weather cooperated.  I also got really sick Christmas Eve and stayed sick with a sinus infection the rest of our trip, which was no fun, but I survived.  We went to Philadelphia too and saw Independence Hall, Betsy Ross's house, the Liberty Bell, and ate authentic Philly Cheese-steaks.

The Liberty Bell

Independence Hall and scaffolding

Independence Hall & Washington's chair

Ryan and his niece Lexi

The day after being snowed in by the storm.

We came back to Texas just in time for New Year's Eve, which we spent with the Lanham/Hatch side of my family (step-mom, five step-sisters, little brother and sister, brother-in-law, two nieces).  We ate lunch at IKEA, which, by the way has delicious food! Later we had entirely too much food at my brother-in-law's mom's house, including fondue.  It was so much fun for all of us to be together!  Ryan had never really spent any time with all nine of us together before, so it was a lot of fun. And my nieces are the cutest stinking little girls ever!!!

"How Do You Roll,"a sushi bar, and "Sam Moon," a wonderful, fabulous accessory store, are my latest discoveries in Austin.  I also had my much needed stuffed avocado fix from Trudy's.  Ryan and I also got to be extras in an HEB commercial! I think the commercial will be airing for the super-bowl in Texas.

I already miss Austin and my family.  I do not want to start school on Tuesday, but it is my last semester.  I can do it!  I can't wait for Spring Break when I get to have an epic road trip with Clara, Ryan, and Blanca and go down to Florida to see our family!

Thanksgiving Break

Ryan and I had a wonderful break with our families!  However, it did not start off so well.  Sunday night before school let out, I came down with some nasty stomach virus.  By Tuesday I was still nauseous and was still having joint pain and a fever.  I somehow managed to make it down to Texas and was feeling immensely better by Wednesday.  We got to go down to the movie set my little sister Cassie has been working on all semester.  It was really neat to see where she has been.  We ate lunch on set and it was so good!  Especially because I had only eaten apple sauce, bananas, and toast the past several days.  Cassie has her own trailer where Ryan and I hung out with my mom while Cassie did school on set.  The strangest thing was that as we were walking back out to the parking lot, we saw all these green parakeets perched up on the electrical wires.  I asked Cassie if they escaped from set, but she said there had not been any in the movie.  My mom later told us that one of the wardrobe ladies fed the birds every day, so they continued to come back.  She and Cassie I have decided are kindred spirits, since this is exactly what Cassie would do.

After leaving set, Ryan and I went downtown to visit my sister Alex and my cute little niece!  Belle has gotten so big!  She is walking (and falling) and has this hilarious fake little laugh that she sometimes does.  She loved Ryan and showed him all her treasures and would bring books over to him so he could read them.  We took her down to the park on Town Lake where she likes to eat the playground pebbles.  Her favorite thing right now is the Christmas lights.  She will stand mesmerized on the front porch, for as long as Alex will let her, looking at the glittering lights.  

We went back to Cedar Park and had dinner with my family and went and watched Tangled.  My favorite thing about going to the movies is hearing Cassie giggle and crack up.  It was super cute and the horse in the movie reminded all of us of our dog.  Wednesday, all and all, was a perfect day.

Thanksgiving day, we headed out Johnson City to have dinner with my grandparents and aunt, uncle, and cousins.  Blanca had a blast playing in the huge backyard with my grandparents two dogs and my aunt's boxer.  My granny is the best cook in the world.  My aunt made some delicious pies too.  I was so full!  We watched the longhorn/aggie game.  My dad was happy as the aggies won, and that normally does not happen.  Cassie spent the night in Georgetown at the Campbells.    

Friday we hung out with Cassie, went to IHOP for breakfast, took her home, took my brother to work at the mall and then made the mistake of venturing in.  It was a madhouse.  It was Ryan's fault, he wanted to participate in the "festivities" of Black Friday.  We went with his parents to see the lights on the square in Georgetown and then went and watched Harry Potter again.     

Saturday Cassie and Mom had to go back to set and Travis was working.  Ryan and I went hiking with my dad out at Georgetown Lake.  It was nice to spend some time with just my dad.  Blanca had a blast.  I have never seen her little tail wag so fast for so long.  There were lots of rocks to climb over and tons of things to smell.  Nine miles later, we came back to the car where Blanca promptly fell asleep on the way home.  She was exhausted for the rest of the night.  We had dinner with Ry's parents and then went back to my parents' house to hang out for awhile.  Then we had to say our goodbyes and head back to Georgetown.

Sunday we said more goodbyes to Ryan's parents and got in the car for the eight hour drive back to Fayetteville.  I am already counting the days down to Christmas break!  I love my wonderful family!

It was strange to come home and not have Derek be there.  It was hard, and I am sure it will continue to be hard.  I think what I miss most is Derek and Ryan laughing together.  It was one of the best sounds in the world, hearing those two brothers laugh together.  We went and visited his grave Sunday morning before we left.  We love you Derek, and miss you very much.  

Old Pictures!

I found a bunch of really old, old pictures when I was at my mom's house over the summer.  This first picture is me in Kindergarten and my little brother.  Some of you know this story.  It was Nursery Rhyme Day at school, and we were supposed to dress up like a Mother Goose character.  I thought it would be so cool to be Humpty Dumpty.  So my dad made my egg head and I wore my brother's suit.  I was very proud of my costume, until I got to school.  All the other little girls were dressed up as the Queen of Hearts, etc. and everyone started laughing at my costume.  I did not take off my egg head all day because I was crying, even when Little Bo Beep brought a real lamb to our class.  My mom, in all of her infinite wisdom, took me to the mall after school and let me walk around in my costume.  Of course, all the adults thought it was super cute and I got lots of compliments, making me feel better about life in general.  Kids are so mean!  Ryan hates this story because it makes him so sad.  But come on, look at this picture, is it any wonder all the kids were laughing at me?  It's pretty much hilarious!

 I love this next picture of my brother and I.  This was my favorite night shirt, my dad's soccer jersey from West Point.

And I absolutely love this picture of my gorgeous mom and me as a baby.

I also found my dad's West Point picture.  He still had hair!

This is me sitting in front of the Washington Monument when I was eight. My brother is off to the left.

And this is my gorgeous mommy.  She modeled in Greece and California.

Fall 2010

Okay, I am very, very guilty of never writing on my blog. I realized my last entry was about our new puppy, and now that puppy just had her first birthday on Thursday! For Halloween this year, Ryan was Captain Hook, I was Tinker-belle, and Blanca was Peter Pan. Originally, we had wanted Blanca to be Tinker-belle, but she would eaten her fairy wings.

For Blanca's birthday, we took her to the dog

park on Wednesday and then we went to Petsmart

and Sugar Bear's. She got a new ducky, a squeaky

reindeer toy, a bone, and a happy birthday doggie

cookie from Sugar Bear's. She ate both the cookie

and the bone in record time. She also has already

pulled the squeaker from her duck and ripped a hole in the reindeer.

On another note, can I say that Skype is awesome! Well, when you have a good connection. When Ryan was in Mexico over the summer, we had the worst time with Skype, and ended up having to IM each the whole time....it was awful! But I have recently been talking with my littlest sister Cassie on Skype and we have been having a lot of fun! The whole family eventually ends up in the room and my brother and sister have a lot of fun watching Blanca run around the house. Travis told Blanca to speak over Skype and she barked right in my ear. Cassie was super amused (she's 8 years old), and Travis was very proud of himself (he's 18). It is also nice for my mom because she can actually see Blanca with out dying (she's super, super allergic to Blanca, like anaphylactic kind of reaction). Yesterday, I talked with my other little sister(Delaney, age 9) and brother(Adam, age 6) that live in Florida. They also got to see Blanca for the first time and she showed off her tricks for them and my dad and step-mom. I have decided that I have to utilize Skype more often! Especially because I have two cute little nieces that just turned one! I can not wait for Thanksgiving break so I can see my family!

Our new puppy!

Ryan and I are now the proud parents of a new puppy! We adopted Blanca from a shelter on February 13th. She is an akita/lab mix and probably has some shepard/terrier in her too. We love her to death! Even though she can be a little brat sometimes, she is a sweet puppy and she has been training very well.





Blanca at 16 weeks

Christmas Break!!!

And I'm just now getting around to posting this!!! Three months later...
Ryan and I had a wonderful Christmas vacation! We went back to Austin right after finals finished in early December. When my siblings got out of school a week later, Ryan and I went with my family on an epic adventure to Ouray, CO to go ice climbing!

We had to rent a mini van because there were too many of us to fit in either of our cars. Unfortunately, we were given the ugliest car in the world, the Ford Flex(sorry for anyone who likes this car). The only good thing I can say about this vehicle is that it got decent gas mileage. After packing the car with crampons, ice tools, double boots, snow shoes, and too many fluffy jackets, all six of my family squeezed into the vehicle, and were on our merry way.

24 hours later, we reached beautiful Ouray, CO. Ouray is a 700 person town nestled high up in the San Juan Mountains. It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been too. Ouray is home to the States' only Ice Park(the closest thing like it is in France). Some ingenious ice climbers piped water all along the miles long canyon. At night, water spickets are turned on all along the canyon rim, so that there's fresh ice every morning. I know, it's pretty awesome.

Ouray, CO

My family had gone once before when I was in seventh grade and Cassie was a baby. Dad has been on about seven ice climbing trips, so he's the most experienced out of all of us. Ryan however, had never been.

The first day we were in Ouray, we adjusted to the altitude and went hiking around Ouray and saw Box Canyon Falls.
 The next day, Dad, Travis, Ryan and I all geared up and headed to the Ice Park at 8am. We had an awesome day of ice climbing!!!

Dad, Travis, & Ryan hiking to climbs

Me at the top!

Ry climbing!

The next day, we went snow shoeing and sledding. We were all pretty beat from the day before, so we took it easy. That night, we went swimming at the hot springs.

After a wonderful trip, it was time to head back to Texas. We were in a snow storm all 22 hours on the way home. Ironically enough, the storm got worse when we got to Texas.