FOUR years of wedded bliss aka He hasn't gotten rid of me yet!

On Cinco de Mayo (May 5th), we celebrated our FOURTH wedding anniversary!!! It seems like it was just yesterday that I was sweating like a pig at my wedding reception.  If you were there, you might recall how our church FORGOT to turn on the air conditioning early in the morning in order to cool the joint down before Miss Hot Natured became Mrs. Sweatier-than-a-stinky Hog.  In any event, we were married, and luckily I didn't melt away. It was a near miss to say the least!!

Here's a few flashbacks to that day...

Throughout our anniversary week, the kitchen table centerpiece grew and grew.  Flowers, our wedding albums, our wedding ceremony program, cards, and more flowers!!  We do love a good celebration around our house!

We decided to make it quite the progressive celebration this year. On the 5th, we enjoyed dinner at Joe T's in the Stockyards. It was a lovely evening, cool(ish) weather, fun conversations and way too much food!

 Saturday, we headed back to the Stockyards for a fun day that included lunch at the Love Shack...

                                                                                a walk by the river...

and watching the cattle run....

We also went to see Tornado Alley at the Omni Theater, which was great!

A few weeks later, we capped our celebration off with a trip to DESTIN, FLORIDA!!!!

The first two nights, we stayed at the MOST WONDERFUL B&B...

                                              Treats waiting in our room...                                 

                                            Room 208...that's where the magic happened!  Ha!

                                                 Breakfast on the beautiful wrap around porch!!

                                                                     Our balcony

                                   The last 3 nights, we moved to a condo in Santa Rosa Beach

                                                                       Music on the lawn...

                                                         Beautiful, wonderful beach time!!!!

Doug Stefflesnood, I love you!!!! I thank God each and every day for allowing me to be your wife!!!

Happy FOURTH, and here's to MANY, MANY, MANY more years together!! xoxoxox

My Mother is 70...and other lies.

My sisters and I have the best Mom in the world!! I feel certain that we are all joining together in our disbelief that she could be a day older than 35, but the calendar told us this year that she had a very significant Birthday!!

 

 On our way to the nursing home to check her in, we decided to take a detour and head for Austin for a Birthday celebration instead!! What a fun, fun, FUN time we had!  There's just aren't many things better in the world than celebrating with the ones we love. Oh, how I love these precious women in my life!!

 We ate good food, got pampered, and even had a photo session with a delightful photographer friend of Leslie's named Ann.

 A trip to Austin is never complete without the world's BEST Coke from Dirty's!!

 Cheers!!

Happy Birthday Mama!! You are one of God's greatest gifts to me, to my sisters and to everyone who knows you!!! PS...I called the nursing home, and told them you won't be checking in for at least 50 more years! :)

Thirty...plus some.

We've been celebrating my 34th Birthday for several days now, which has been great fun.  My actual Birthday was on Wednesday.  We did a little bit of celebrating that night after work.  Doug and I had a great dinner and enjoyed dessert at the Spiral Diner in Ft. Worth on Magnolia, which was great!  This Saturday, we got together with my sweet family for a whole day and eve of fun!  Our fun started with a picnic at Pantego Park...

Chloe Claire (2)

Brock (6)

These little kids are so incredibly precious! I know I might be biased as their aunty, but they really are such sweet kids.  They make every occasion so much fun, and it is one of my sweetest delights in life to be their aunt!

I love that my almost *0 year-old Mother is a Nana (Nanny) who still likes to slide!! She's a hoot!

I guess we Hill girls don't ever lose our zest for playground fun!

Then there's this guy!! What an amazing husband Doug is to me.  He just does whatever he can possibly do to make me smile, laugh and feel completely loved! He did many things this week to make my Birthday special, but loving my family the way he does is one of the finest ways that he shows love to me.

Brock and Chloe both are NUTS about their Uncle Doug!

Back to our day...

After a fun time at the park, we decided to go back home to Mom's house.  Brock has been working hard to learn how to ride his bike.  We worked on it alot in the afternoon, all of us helping him and he finally got it!! I hate that I didn't capture a picture of him actually riding.  We are so incredibly proud of him!!

After a very fun afternoon, Mom cooked a delish meal and she, of course, made her famous chocolate cake...my favorite!!

We had great time together as a family, and then put the kiddos to bed.  Mom was sweet to let us all go to the movies, while she stayed home with the babies.  Allie, Ron, Doug and I went to see "Unknown", which was excellent! Kept us on the edge of our seats the whole time!

Moving on to Sunday...

I knew Doug was sort of up to something this week...texting alot and being a little sneaky. I didn't probe, though, as I figured he was trying to surprise me in some way or another.  After church, we were heading out to lunch...I thought.  He pulled the ol "I need to swing by the house to get something" trick and before I knew it, I was standing in my kitchen with about 25 people!! Some of our sweet 10th graders that we teach in Sunday school approached Doug about having a little party for me. 

So they worked on it together and made a wonderfully fun party for me at our house...complete with lunch and cake and flowers and cards and gifts! It was excellent!

Chloe thought the whole day was pretty excellent too! :)

This was a wonderful Birthday for me, and I'm so thankful for all of the wonderful people in my life who made me feel so very special and loved!

Thanks!!!