I'm 23!

My birthday was this past week. Mark and I celebrated together with dinner and flowers. And, I made Mark drive me all the way to the Cheesecake Factory in Arlington so we could get a cheesecake to celebrate, since we weren’t celebrating with anything big. And, then the next weekend he threw me a surprise birthday party (unfortunately I didn’t have my camera to take pictures). I was completely surprised. He told me that we were going out to celebrate my birthday with Annie and Mark, our friends from. When it came around to that night, I didn’t really want to go because I was tired. I kept trying to convince Mark to reschedule and was not happy when he made me go. Then, when we go to the restaurant in Dallas, a bunch of my friends were there! Luke and Brittany, Jeff, Brian, Lee and Laura, and Cheyenne and Moises were all there!

Locks of Love

January will be my five year mark for being cancer free! It will be a big mark because it means that my Hodgkin’s Disease probably will not relapse! I have wanted to grow my hair out long and donated it since I received a free wig with real hair when I was ill. It was really neat to know that the hair was real and that it had belonged to someone else. I went to my normal hairdresser in Addison and he cut 17 inches to donate! Then he spent 2 hours cutting my hair and styling like Posh Spice. I had picked out the style out of a magazine because it was cute and slightly edgy. He did a great job, and he did it for free! He was the hairdresser that shaved my head for me when I was ill! I love my short hair, but I will have to get used to it too!

Dallas Zoo

Mark decided to take me to the Dallas Zoo. It was really nice to spend some time together. It was a Monday, so it was practically empty and it was beautiful weather. Mark’s favorite were the penguins. We watched March of the Penguins last Spring at his parents' house.

Concert with the Beazleys

We went with the Beazleys to the Daugherty Concert at the American Airlines Center. I had heard about some country artist that were coming for the rodeo and then on the website saw that Daughtery was going to be there. Luke really introduced us to Daughtery on our Spring Break road trip to Colorado last year. So we got Luke and Brittany to go with us. It was fun to spend time with them and the rodeo is always fun. But, the concert wasn't actually that good. First of all there were only about 500 people there. And most of them were down on the dirt by the stage. So not only was the American Airlines Center empty, but the band didn't do any sound checks before they came out. So, the first few songs sounded horrible and a lot of people left. It got better though. I love Daughtery's music so it was still a cool experience.




The coolest part of the whole evening was when a man and his dog came out to entertain. The border collie had a monkey riding on its back and they would go around and herd the sheep. It was really funny.

St. Louis

I went to St. Louis this past weekend for school. Unfortunately, I missed my first Baylor Homecoming, oh well, I will have to make a point to go next year. My professor and 6 students drive to St. Louis for the Youth Specialties conference. The ride there wasn't that bad, because we drove through the night, but the way home was so long because we got stuck in a wind storm. The conference was a wonderful experience, although it was really busy. While I was gone my brother and Laura got engaged! Here is a picture of the beautiful Fall trees in St. Louis...

Pumpkin Carving

Mark and I carved a pumpkin for Halloween. Growing up we carved pumpkins every year, but this was one of only a few times that Mark had carved one. It was fun to come up with what we were going to do. Mark cut the top off and let me clean it out. :) I ended up doing most of the carving because I am a perfectionist and wouldn't let Mark do much :) Here is the finished product...

Feels Like Home

Midlothian is growing on us quite a bit. I love it because there is no traffic! We have a brand new Walmart and a Brookshires. And, we have about 7 fast food places. We often drive 15 minutes to Mansfield on Saturday nights to see a movie and eat at On the Border. We can also go to Waxahachie or Cedar Hill which are both about 10 minutes away to go to Target or do errands. They are building a mall in Cedar Hill right now, but we have to go to Arlington to go to the Mall. It is nice being close to Arlington because Mark’s grandparents live there. Also, we are about 45 minutes from both of our parents which is nice. The only downfall to living in Midlothian is it gets a little bit lonely. We have been going to church at FBC Midlothian, maybe we will join a small group or something there and we can get to know people. However, our schedules are kind of full already. I drive to Waco (about 1 hour and 20 minutes) Tuesday thru Friday and I am there from 10 to 5 everyday. And, Mark drives to SMU five times a week usually. We do try and go on a date every Saturday night and sometimes we meet p with old friends of some of Mark’s new friends.