Taxes, headaches, and camels - oh my!

Okay, so Texas has a tax-free weekend every year. It's meant to give parents a break on back-to-school shopping for their kids, so all clothes, shoes and school supplies you buy from Friday thru Sunday are tax-free. I had never heard of this before, but apparently the idea is catching on around the country. We took advantage and hit Target - our favorite - and got Jon a few new shirts and me a new pair of jeans. Gotta love Target!

We had a slight change in the weather. The tropical storm Erin brought in some rain and wind and it's set off my sinuses. I had a huge headache all day yesterday and woke up with it still this morning. Jon was stuffy as well, so we weren't very exciting. But we did manage to squeeze in a game of "I Love the 80's" before he went to work. He beat me - but I think he'll readily admit that I gave him a few answers out of pity because I was kicking his butt for most of the game. Note to self: Never feel sorry for your competitors when playing I Love the 80's. I'm ready for a rematch.

And finally - I am so excited for my mom to come visit. Just a little over 2 weeks until she'll be here! I'm really looking forward to someone else seeing where we live. Not just the house, but the neighborhood, and the different roads leading to it. For instance, off the main highway on the road we take to our house, there is a taxidermist and a wild game processing place (the butcher you take the deer you just shot to so he can slice it up for you). So random! Also, on another highway we both take each day, we pass a big farm with rolling green hills, streams, bison, cows and sheep. The other day I was driving home and I saw a CAMEL on the farm!!! an actual camel. Probably one of the things I would least expect to see on a farm, especially on a farm in Texas!!!

Weird.

We did it!

One goal of mine in this house has been to get both cars parked in the garage. Yesterday we put a few boxes of Christmas decorations (and a few more of my boxes) up in the attic and I got to work rearranging what was left while Jon mowed the lawn. Soon it was done!!! I was so happy to have accomplished that little feat - and in 100+ degree weather! Of course it required moving a few of the random objects I had no idea what to do with into the house - still with no idea where to put them. But I guess I'll figure that out with time.








I did tell Jon something I will probably come to regret in the future. I drive through my neighborhood and see the garages that are open and either half-full or completely full of stuff with no room to park both cars. I said that if we ever have too much stuff where we can't fit both cars in the garage, then we have too much crap. We'll see how that goes...



Also, an update on the house. Jon did install the handle on the back door and the ceiling fan in the living room. He also replaced the lightbulbs in the lights that were out in the backyard. He's been doing great with keeping up with the yard work and all of the other joys that homeownership brings with it. We managed to get his computer set up in the office yesterday. We find ourselves having some extra furniture we don't need, and missing a few pieces we really need. So it's been challenging trying to make our current things work for now until we find the things we like. We did come up with one quick fix - we have an end table that doesn't fit in our living room right now, so it made its way to the office. We don't have a coffee table in there, so yesterday I was looking at it and Jon and I flipped it over and screwed off the bottom feet and shelf. And VOILA!!! A perfect-height coffee table is born!!! ahhhh - gotta love it!



The office is on its way to becoming the "Man Cave". Jon's designated room for all of his toys and pictures that I don't care for. And the thing he's most excited about - his deer antlers. And me, being a good wife, hung those the very first thing yesterday. There's a lot of work to be done, but at least the Man Cave is off to a good start.

Cake!!!

Tuesday night we finally remembered to eat our cake. Here is the progression of how it went. I've documented it because it was as amazing as it was on our Wedding Day.

Held up pretty good considering it's been in 4 different freezers and 3 states in one year!


I snuck a swipe of frostin! I'm not a frosting person normally - but this was AMAZING!

Master Cake Cutter!

All dished up and ready to go!

That's the face of a happy Newlywed!

I actually thanked Jon for marrying me so that I could have this cake a year later. I was hoping more chocolate would be in my teeth for this picture.

Two clean plates!! Yes, we had a second piece right afterwards.

One year! We made it!

Well, we made it to a year! We celebrated Saturday night and tried to "surprise" each other. Jon wouldn't tell me where he was taking me to dinner, but I figured it out. Melting Pot!! He did try to confuse me by driving all around Grapevine in order to throw me off - and to kill time. Turns out we were early for our reservations. We had a fabulous meal and a really great time enjoying the chocolate - you can never go wrong with the Melting Pot dessert.

First anniversary is traditionally paper. So of course Jon got me a keyless remote entry system for my car!!!! Makes perfect sense to me! I actually loved it and he was just so happy to get me something completely unexpected. I love that for our first anniversary he got me something completely practical - totally me!!!






There is also a modern take on anniversaries, and the gift for "modern" first anniversaries is a clock. I didn't even know this when I bought Jon his gift - more than 2 1/2 months ago!!! It's a watch he's been wanting for the longest time. I actually wanted to give it to him as a wedding gift, but was too broke. First anniversary ain't too bad! He figured out what his gift was ahead of time, but didn't tell me. I'm just glad he never saw it - hard to hide something for that long in the close quarters we had been living in! And yes - he made me take this series of pictures below...

This is a terrible picture, but we had to take it anyway for posterity's sake. Darn flash!

Here's a picture we took on our actual anniversary. We needed one for the anniversary book Lucille gave us as a wedding gift! Jon brought me these flowers on Friday, and had a card for me every morning for 4 days. I love his cards. The bouquet had lilies and roses just like my bouquet!!! We also re-enacted the "kissy-face" picture from the wedding, but they didn't turn out so well. Maybe I'll get brave and post them.

What a year it's been. I'm not sure we can top it - or that we'd want to!! Such a blessed feeling knowing we were celebrating moving into our first house just as we were celebrating our first year of wedded bliss. So surreal - and we thank God for every second of it.

Although we DID forget to eat the cake.... I can't believe we forgot the cake!!! I made it such a huge priority to have Jon get a cooler and dry ice so we could transport it from Vegas. His parents made plenty of room in their freezer for the thing, and it had even already made its way to our new house! And we forgot it!!! Oh well... we're just prolonging the celebration. :)

Moving right along!!

It's been a busy week!! We closed one week ago today - and time has flown! With the exception of Jon's bike and golf clubs, which are still at Don & Jane's house, everything has been moved! Things are slowly finding their places as I unpack. Jon has been working overtime so has not had much time to do things. But he's made a really good dent in projects. I'm posting pictures of all the things we've done and continue to work on...

Jon hung a new storm door in the back. It still needs a handle, though. And best of all... it's got a doggy door! The dogs took a while to get used to using it, but now they're pros.

Don and Jane graciously hired a company to install a garage door opener for us as an anniversary/welcome home gift. After watching them install it, I'm SO GLAD Jon did not attempt to do this himself.

Jon removed the chandelier from the office and installed this ceiling fan.

And moved the chandelier to the entryway!! It looks fabulous!

We've even started organizing the garage!

Though it's still a work in progress....

Jon's work bench.

And my first order of business.....

BUT I had to be fair....

We did it!!!

We signed the papers and now own the house!!!

So silly, but we can't wait to get the dogs over there to have them run around the backyard. As I said before, it's the little things.

I can't sleep - I've got 2 hours until my alarm is set to go off this morning. I guess I'm a little bit excited, huh? The movers are scheduled to show up this morning, then Jon and I are heading over to hopefully find new bedroom furniture. Then we'll swing back by Don & Jane's, pack up the rest of our stuff, load up the pups and head back home! (I'm sure we'll manage to squeeze in another trip to Lowe's along the way.)

Here's a link to the album. I'll make sure to upload another one when we've gotten our furniture set up and a picture or two hung up. http://picasaweb.google.com/hollyhanes/OldMacGregor

We have a fridge!

ohhh, it's the small things, isn't it? We have a Sears Outlet where all of the damaged/returned merchandise gets sent to. The fridge we found actually was in near-perfect condition. It only had a few minor scratches/dents on the sides where it will be hidden anyway. But it had EVERYTHING we wanted: Sateen finish (yay! no fingerprints!), water in-door, ice maker in-door, perfect height, everything.

Everything's moving right along. There's SO MUCH to do, but I think I've done everything I can do at this point. Got all utilities ready to be hooked up. Movers have confirmed they'll be at the house Friday morning. We have our walk-through at noon tomorrow and closing appointment at 1:00pm. From what we hear, the sellers were able to get the builders to fix every single thing on our list from the inspection - we had only asked for 2 things. And they've also apparently had all the wood blinds professionally cleaned and have patched up and painted over all the nail holes.

We feel so blessed!!! I'm glad I don't have to go back to work until Thursday - although I know I will be wanting a REAL vacation after all this. We know it's worth it.

Now we just have to figure out when to squeeze in a BIG trip to Lowe's. Oh yeah, and did I mention that Jon doesn't have any time off at all? So we've still got to manage to let him sleep all during the days while I'm home fixing things up. We'll make it work somehow...

We are scheduled to have internet up and running by next Wednesday, so unless I can "borrow" an unsecured wireless line somewhere in the neighborhood, I most likely won't be posting again until shortly after that.

Thank you for all your prayers!! They're being well used.

til next time.... !!!

Sunday Goodies

Jon and I went back to Irving Bible Church yesterday. It's been very easy to become complacent on Sundays with Jon now working nights, but we fully realize how important it is for us to not only attend but to become involved in a church. IBC is a bit far from our new house, but we both really like it, so I think it's where we'll wind up. Yesterday we attended the young couples study following the first service and we really enjoyed it. And we met another couple who live in the development next to our new one!! Such encouragement.

After church we went to Tom Thumb (Vons for all our Cali/Nevada friends) and were hungry - which is never good. We overshot it a little bit when we got a big box of mac & cheese, however we also got a container of the yummy tomato basil soup and a sourdough baguette. We're still talking about how good it was.

Jon hit the hay shortly after and I went to browse Lowe's for goodies for the new house. Kind of overwhelming but definitely exciting. We can't wait!!

Less than a week away!

Jon and I close on our new house in less than a week. We're scheduled for Thursday, July 19th with movers scheduled to come first thing Friday morning! So far, so good. Things have been really smooth - we just hope it continues that way!

I'll have off work for a week starting Thursday. Friday after the movers leave, the plan is for Jon and I to rush over to Lowe's to go shopping! We are in need of a refrigerator, washer & dryer, lawnmower, trimmer, doggy door, etc... !!! Very exciting, yet a tad overwhelming.

We're on our way!!!

We're baaaack!

After a long break, I'm officially picking up the blog again. Yes, again. I realize I take long breaks now and then. It really shouldn't be as much of a burden as I sometimes make it to be. I worry about getting the right pics, the good stories, the interesting tid bits. But I've come to realize this is just us.... So here you go.

We've found a house!! Actually, we found two. The first one fell through after the sellers just weren't seeming to be very flexible with repairs after the inspection. It was a tough decision because we loved the house and we couldn't beat the location. The house would have been a lot of work over time, and it would have extended us financially. Probably more than we would have wished as a first home.

BUT - We feel like that was a necessary detour for us to find the one God really had for us. We went and looked back in the area we've been interested in from the beginning. And we found it!! It's an absolutely beautiful 1-story home, 1900 sq ft in a new development. The house itself is just about a year old. The inspection went extremely well and as of right now, we're scheduled to close on July 19th! Thankfully this home needs absolutely NO work on it right away - save for a few coats of paint once we get settled. And it's already got the appliances we wanted to buy anyway!! Hooray!! We've just got to get the fridge, washer & dryer. (Oh yeah, and Jon's TV). We have tons of plans for the future of this home and are just so excited.

We're just looking forward to being settled in by our first anniversary. So far, things are looking good.

Jon and I were able to take a weekend trip to San Antonio over Memorial Weekend. A very much needed getaway and we had a wonderful time staying on the Riverwalk.

But the bigger news over Memorial Weekend was the birth of the newest (and final??) addition to the Dunn family. Tobin Christopher was born on May 27th weighing 9 pounds, 1/2 ounce and 22 inches long. Auntie Holly was able to visit last weekend and I instantly fell in love. I wasn't convinced I'd be able to love another nephew like I love Camden. But now I understand how, like a parent, your heart just grows bigger to make room for all the love you feel. It was amazing to be able to visit and spend good Auntie time with Camden and get some good baby cuddling time with Tobin.




Yesterday I attended the baby shower for Michele, Jon's sister's oldest daughter. Got that? In otherwords, Mine and Jon's niece. She's pregnant with her second child due mid-August. Had a lovely time and got to say hello again to Karyn (Jon's sister), and her two other daughters, Samantha and Christi. Jon and I hope to be able to spend more time with their family soon. There's not too many funnier families we've found.

Jon and I are both doing our best to become more active and lose some of the weight we've gained since moving to Texas, plus the weight we've gained since getting married, etc, etc... We're in a aerobics/step/weight/spin class that we attend twice a week, plus we're walking two other days a week. Slowly noticing changes, so we're trying to become more serious about the diet part.

Dogs are good and funny as ever. They manage to crack us up every day. No less full of their own issues, though. Funny boys.

Sargey Boy

Sarge has been quite the little escape artist lately. He's jumped over baby gates, pulls open baby gates like they're doors, and has learned how to open the door to the laundry room. Sneaky little devil Here are some pics of our favorite Houdini.

These first 5 are from today. Lazy boy was posing for the camera. This was in the span of about 15 mins.






Apparently he got tired of the paparazzi snapping pictures every 5 minutes.


Here is Sarge looking pretty.



Here is Sarge wanting to be a Rottweiler and squeezing into one of Wylee's t-shirts.

Fun With Wylee

You're the One

Quick wrap-up:

How could I forget to write about Emmitt Otter?????? Jon and I finally watched it on New Year's Eve day. How is it possible we've found each other and that we both love this movie?? It was meant to be, as Hanz said during our ceremony. We sent one to Hanz and Family for Christmas, but haven't heard a report back on it. I'll have to make a phone call...

We redeemed our voucher for free Penn and Teller tickets and last night was our show. We had a great time, and who can beat free???? Something different, lots of laugh. Great show.

I do realize I love TV. I watch too much and get easily addicted to new shows and have a slew of shows that I "have to watch". Well, my life just got a little simpler. We finally got a DVR!!!!! Okay, let me rephrase - we finally got a DVR we could get to work!!! Heather actually got me a TiVo last year, but we could never make it work at our place because we don't have a home phone number. Soooo.... since Cox offers one at only $10/month, it was a must to have as the new TV season starts up and I start school at the end of the month. Woohooo!!! Sooooo exciting. Well, for me at least... but I think Jon will love it once he gets to watch all of his games and Discovery shows whenever he wants.

And one final item. Don and Jane gave us a fun puzzle of Las Vegas in our batch of Christmas goodies. We finished it in a couple days - 3 sessions to be exact. Pictures of our progress below. It has led us to purchase 2 more puzzles mostly because they were on sale. I'm not sure we have the time to dedicate to any more right now since our lives were basically put on hold while we were working. Kinda sad.

Apple Cake!

The second try at Nanny's apple cake this year was successful. Enough so that I made two of them! And as good as it is hot right out of the oven, Jon says it's always better the second day after the apples' juices have a chance to sort of permeate through it. I have to agree with him.

Whispering

We've decided to use some of the Dog Whisperer's techniques in trying to get our dogs a little bit more respectful in some areas. Of course Sarge is pretty much the perfect dog except when it comes to OTHER dogs. He can't stand them and it's always a struggle on walks when we encounter other furry friends. Wylee is not exactly the most friendly pup either, but will submit a lot easier than Sarge will. Not to mention the fact that Sarge is 5 times bigger and 3 times stronger (yeah, Wylee's pretty strong :) ).

It's been a little difficult for them - and us. But with plenty of practice and consistency, we're sure we can make it happen for both of them. It basically comes down to them becoming submissive and realizing we are their pack leaders. And it also involves US realizing we are their pack leaders. Not as easy as it sounds, but we're confident we can make it happen!

Here's Sarge looking at us and seeming to say "oh yeah? We'll see who the pack leader is around here!!"

A whole lotta nuthin'

The past few days have been WONDERFUL for Jon and I. I had a 4 day weekend after deciding to take Friday off for what I considered a much-deserved break. Jon had Saturday off, so we've spent the past 3 days just hanging out with nothing to do.

A huge blessing for myself has been that the pain and discomfort I've been experiencing due to indigestion has all but gone away. The only explanation is that it was due to stress at work - and there's been plenty of that for me the past 8 weeks or so. Jon had me start a cycle of Prilosec and I tried my best to stay away from spicy or acidic foods for 2 weeks. I feel 100 times better - I am SO thankful! It's been the perfect medicine this weekend to have a whole lotta nuthin' to do. I have no idea what to expect out of work the next few weeks, but nothing could be as bad as the last 2 in particular.... right????

Friday I accomplished the only goal I had set for myself for the weekend which was to take down all of the Christmas decorations. I was correct in my prediction that I was READY to have all the stuff gone as soon as possible after Christmas. It was enough. I went to the movies and did a ton of laundry. Nothing too exciting, but wonderful to have time to do on a day off.

Saturday Jon woke up and took the dogs for a run. He's gotten into the habit of taking BOTH dogs and assures me that Wylee and his little legs do just fine on the longs treks. Jon's already lost a bit of weight and is happy to see his pants fitting easier. He loses weight so easily, it's sickening. We treated ourselves to a fun lunch at Islands but pretty much did nothing for the rest of the day except continue to clean the house. Texas played that day, and though it wasn't a guaranteed win early on in the game, Texas came through, which allowed Jon to be in a great mood. Our neighbors came over for a visit that night and she helped me work on my admission paperwork for the University of Phoenix. My class will start January 31st! I just need to decide for certain on a major.

Sunday we woke up and watched Harvest online. We have to get out and start looking for another church but it's hard to get motivated. We took yet another day to do as little as possible except for watch a few movies and get In-n-Out as our last meal of 2006. We watched the Times Square celebrations, then switched over for local Strip coverage. We love where we live because it has allowed us to go out the past two years to the sidewalk in front of our unit and watch the fireworks go off from at least 4 of the casinos. Fun stuff. Oh yeah, and I beat Jon at Trivial Pursuit Pop Culture 2... AGAIN. :) He put up a fair fight, though.

Today Jon made a great big breakfast which was such a treat and very very yummy. And a tradition in my house growing up was always the Rose Parade. I'm a little disappointed in the options for coverage where we're at - all the networks just want to plug their shows and constantly show commercials. I miss KTLA!!! Thankfully the Travel Channel showed an extensive pre-show done by KTLA along with the same broadcast and hosts I'm used to seeing. Even though it was the encore broadcast and I still had to put up with commercials... it was better than nothing. Love the Rose Parade. And we took the opportunity of our day off to go to Bed, Bath, and Beyond and use our gift certificates so we could buy our new pots and pans. And man, are we glad we waited! The set Jon wanted offered a free $50 pan with purchase and with our coupons, store credit and gift cards, we were able to buy a few additional items and only paid $1.47!!!!!!! We love it when that happens!!!!

Currently, we are sitting here watching USC beat Michigan in the Rose Bowl. It's the 3rd quarter and I have every confidence in my team. My USC sweatshirt should probably be laid to rest very very soon, so it would be nice for this season to go out with a bang. Then I can treat myself to a new "Rose Bowl Champions" sweatshirt! (And maybe Wylee, too!) :)

Happy New Year!

Today is the first day of 2007 - whew, time has flown!!! We had quite a year! I'm planning on writing a belated family "Year in Review" letter to send out in a couple of weeks - anticipating some news in mid-January that will kick start that letter. But before that, here's a list of just a few things that happened in 2006:

1. February - Jon and Sarge picked up and moved to Las Vegas! Of course, the road trip on the way was half the fun of getting here. 24 hours of driving was not the highlight, but Holly was most excited to stop in Winslow, Arizona on the way!

2. May - We're engaged! Jon asked me to marry him and we promptly set a date to be married in Las Vegas 10 weeks later. Just enough time for everyone to make their plans to come into town. We didn't get too many complaints, though since we had changed our minds and scrapped our original plans to elope ALONE in Antigua.

3. July - We're married! We had the perfect small backyard ceremony. Low in stress, high in fun and friends. We felt so blessed God had brought us each other and had the perfect day to celebrate that.

And PLENTY of other big news along the way, including Jon's college football team (University of Texas) beating Holly's team (USC) in the championship game at the beginning of the year, a few illnesses, a trip to the emergency room for both Jon and Sarge, a lot of fun shows and concerts, and best of all lots of laughs.

What a year 2006 was. We're not sure how we can top it in 2007, but we're sure going to have fun trying!!!

Merry Christmas!

I have a lot of catching up to do! We were both sick last week - Jon stayed home from work and I came home early one day. We've both slowly recovered. Just in time to head to California to celebrate an early Christmas at my sister's place on Saturday. Our family pulls names, so it was fun to see what we all got from whoever had us. Jon got his new razor and Band of Brother DVD set he had wished for from Kevin. I got a fantastic pink candle and Old Navy gift card from Fred- woohoo! Does it get any better? Of course Camden was overwhelmed with all the presents he got from Mimi and Poppy and Auntie Holly and Jon Jon.

Mom and Fred left to head back home and the rest of us headed over to the Irvine Spectrum to get out of the house and try to get Camden to burn some energy. He got to ride the carousel with dad and Auntie Holly and Mom took him on the "big wheel" much to Dad's horror. We made it through safely, and Camden did a great job of making Auntie feel at ease-- especially at the high parts. And I found out today he told Kevin's mom that I was scared and I cried. Funny kid. We came home and said goodnight to Camden and the four of us played one of my gifts to Wendy - Trivial Pursuit 80's edition. Finally the girls were redeemed after their sorry loss to the boys at the last game (I Love the 80's) because we kicked their butts!!! My advice to anyone looking for a rematch: Don't mess with the Winslow gals and their 80's music knowledge. Finally a use for all of that stuff stuck in my head!

We got to sleep in the next day and said our goodbyes and had lunch with Hedder. Jon was thrilled that she gave us a gift card for Bed, Bath and Beyond so he could put it towards a new set of pots and pans that we've been waiting to get. yay! Then we went over to Harvest for the 4:00 Christmas Eve service and really enjoyed being there at a familiar place that felt like home - for me at least. Great to see Hanz and Debbie and their girls... along with everyone else of course! Made the drive safely home and picked up the pups and came home and CRASHED.

I was so excited for Christmas this morning that I woke up and could not fall back asleep, so I woke Jon up--and I've been exhausted all day! We opened presents - he got me a gorgeous "right hand ring" just like the kind I was looking at when I was looking at engagement rings. We need to get it sized and I can't wait to get it on! I made Nanny's apple cake this morning, but it wasn't exactly right because I used whole wheat flour in an effort to be a little more health conscious. Doesn't work and I need to re-make because you can't skimp on things like Nanny's apple cake. :) I'll try again this weekend, though Jon said this batch was just fine. (It wasn't). We love to go see the Belagio's conservatory decorations, so we got dressed and headed down there. It was awe-inspiring as usual, and from there we headed to Lake Las Vegas to see the Christmas decorations. Not much to see there as just about everything was closed, but it was still a great outing. And that's been pretty much our day!! Mostly enjoying the day off.

Last week we received our gifts from Jon's parents, which they asked us to open early so we could enjoy them. We discovered gift cards to Target, Buca di Beppo, AND Bed, Bath, and Beyond - which guarantees we have enough to look for a nice set of pots and pans. Such a blessing and we're looking forward to treating ourselves thanks to them. Along with a huge puzzle of Las Vegas that is guaranteed to begin as soon as the Christmas decorations are put away and we have a little more room. Can't wait!!

I've been putting in a ton of hours at work and Jon had an exciting week last week (great news!!! - hopefully more information on that SOON!) so we're pretty exhausted these days.

We hope everyone had a fun Christmas like we've had. And of course we must remember what Christmas is all about and celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. The greatest gift of ALL. Tons of pictures posted below. Enjoy!

Camden and Kevin on the carousel. Camden was VERY focused.

Sisters!! She's getting a belly finally!!

Soon to be big brother and mommy.


Cute guy at the Bellagio.


That tree was amazing surrounded by TONS of poinsettas.




At Lake Las Vegas.

Looks like a real Italian street!