Turkey & T-shirts...

I spent this Thanksgiving with Brad and his family... the "future in-laws". :o) They live in Boerne which is where Brad went to high school. It is about 2 hours Southwest of Austin. After spending Wednesday night cooking and then Thursday morning finishing the food and packing up the car, we hit the road, but we weren't alone...

His parents live off a country road and have some land which means Cheyenne has accompanied us there a couple of times. However, this would be the first time out there with both dogs. We laughed a lot during the drive at Samson and Cheyenne. Cheyenne has always been a window dog- she LOVES the wind in her face and smelling the world. Even though we would have both windows open in the back, they never seemed to master the concept of having their own window- they "shared".

Once we were on the highway and the wind was too strong, they settled in for their naps. Every now and then, one of them would pop their heads in the front, stand on the center console and check on us. After they would check for any dangers ahead and lick one or both of our faces, they usually returned to their respective naps. At one point, Samson was standing on the console when Brad had to unexpectedly hit the breaks. We aren't sure if he was startled or couldn't get up (or both) but he ended up staying on the console for a long time, leaning against Brad. It was REALLY funny.

Once we arrived at the Becker house, the dogs jumped out and explored the land. In the past Cheyenne has been known to chase off deer so there are lots of things to smell! We were also greeted by Irina, Brad's 5 year old niece.

After playing in the leaves, I went inside and helped in the kitchen. Once Brad's brother, Doug and his wife, Gina had arrived we sat down and stuffed our faces! Over lunch we officially announced our wedding date!!! No... I am not saying it here just yet. :o) More details on that to come! We had a nice lunch and then retired to the living room- we had a full day of football ahead!!

My two favorite NFL teams are the Saints and the Cowboys. They just so happened to be playing each other that day!! I couldn't decide who to cheer for, so I figured I would split up the game. The first half of the game, I wore a Cowboys t-shirt and rooted for them! Since Brad doesn't like the Cowboys, he chose to be on the Saints side the entire game. ANYTHING to support ANY team playing against the Cowboys!

First Half...

Second Half...

The dogs LOVE football...

As soon as we watched the Cowboys lose (luckily I was cheering for the Saints for the second half!), we switched over to watch the big Texas rivalry... UT vs. Texas A&M. Now you all know where my loyalty stands with this game!!! However, both Brad and his brother went to Texas Tech and their dad went to Iowa State. So, this made for some fun banter during the game! Of course, I had switched to my UT shirt so Brad had to wear his Tech shirt. Not to be left out, Brad's father, Larry went and changed too...

The game was was a letdown for the Longhorns (24 - 17) and ended their not-so-great season on an even more depressing note.... this loss meant no Bowl game for the Horns since 1997. Ugh. It is being called a "rebuilding year"... we will see!!One funny note... at the beginning of the game, I pretended to "call" the game and I said the score would be 24 - 17 with the Longhorns winning. Strangely, I hda the score right- just the wrong team winning!

Regardless of the final scores, we had a great day as a family and I felt warmly welcomed into my first Becker Thanksgiving!

Animal House...

That's my house... an Animal House. The other night Brad was playing with both dogs at the same time. It is no easy feat to entertain two active and large dogs but he held his own. If he can multi-task like this with kids, we should be in good shape.

The toy that Brad is using with Cheyenne is her favorite. It is a stuffed chicken from Target and she loves it. She may or may not realize this but it is actually her 4th chicken... she kills them all so I quietly replace them.

"Give me my chicken!!!"

It was so funny, I had to take some video. You will want sound though- between Cheyenne talking and Brad's sound effects, it is hilarious. Please excuse me though, I absolutely couldn't contain my laughter. (If you are seeing this blog via email, you will have to actually go to my blog to be able to watch the videos. http://amy-cita.blogspot.com) They are all very short.

Watch the upper left hand side of the screen too... poor Samson REALLY wanted to play!

 Cover your face Brad!!!

Kissy face...

Last one... listen to Brad at the end.

Sunset Capital...

For those of from Austin or if you have spent any time in Austin, you have likely heard of The Oasis. If you haven't, it is a restaurant that his built on the side of a hill overlooking Lake Travis. It is known for its spectacular sunsets... in fact, they call themselves the "Sunset Capital of Texas".

Lucky for me, my office isn't very far from The Oasis. Although we don't have a lakeside view, we still get some awesome sunsets from our office view. The pictures don't do it justice, but I have snapped a few over a few nights just so you can see. This is what I see when I look out my window...

Even during the day, the view isn't bad!

The entrance to my cube is there on the right.

For your viewing pleasure, a video of a sunset. So pretty... (If you are seeing this blog via email, you will have to actually go to my blog to be able to watch the videos. http://amy-cita.blogspot.com)

You would think...

By the looks of my living room this morning, you would think I have kids...

Of course, I DO have kids... they just have 4 legs and are furry. In fact, as I write this, ALL four of them are in bed with me...

Right side of the bed...

Left side of the bed... (yes, Samson is asleep with his nose on my knee.)

 Apparently, Samson is newest reader of my blog...

Samson

As I mentioned earlier, Brad adopted a dog last week! Other things happened the next day so haven't had a chance to blog about the new family member... meet Samson. We went through a couple of different names. We had even decided on one and gotten his nametag engraved with it. Then we met him and somehow it just didn't work. Samson was our second choice but somehow it fit him so much better.

He was being fostered by a family Boerne that specialized in Labs. Brad's brother offered to pick him up since they live in Boerne. Then he and his daughter, Irina, met us in New Braunfels Friday night after work.

He is 7 months old and very sweet. He makes us laugh constantly because he is very clumsy and definitely a puppy. He is a bundle of energy and loves to be with people. 

He REALLY wants to be a lap dog too. In fact, he has this funny thing he does... he likes to sit on everyone. And when I say everyone, I mean us, Cheyenne and the cats! Brad and I have watched him try to sit on Cheyenne and we laugh so hard we are crying. Keep in mind- at 7 months old he is over 40 pounds which is what Cheyenne weighs fully grown. Having him sit on you is not easy!!

He and Cheyenne have gotten along from their very first meeting. They run together and LOVE to wrestle. In fact, he wears her out! By the end of the day, Cheyenne is very tired and sometimes a little grumpy. 

Brad and the dogs play hard together! They wrestle on the floor and play with toys. Now they have started playing tug-of-war together. 

He still has a lot of learning to do. He wants to eat everything (including my shoes and the contents of my trash can). We are still working on crate training and haven't had any accidents. We are still trying to keep him from chasing the cats. Gypsy and Zoe hiss and swat at him, so he will get the message soon enough. 

For the time being he is living with me. Brad works close enough to my place that he can go over at lunch and let Samson out. Eventually, Brad will get a doggie door at his place and then Samson will have fun in his big back yard. So that means when Brad and I are married, we will have two dogs and two cats! What a full house!!

The Amazing Race... Cutting Room Floor

I have a couple of random pictures and funny stories that didn't quite make the original post about Brad's proposal. So, I decided to share them in their own post!

First of all, here are all of the names of the flowers lined up. These were given to me along with the flower named and the first letters spelled "MARRY ME"...

Several funny things happened at the airport stop. First, remember the pretty pink sign they were holding? 

Well, apparently Brad had given them a simple, cardboard sign to use. However, Lily and her sister just didn't feel like it was nice enough. In fact, they said they would have felt like a homeless person holding it!! So, they took it upon themselves to make one of their own. 

When Lily handed me the flowers, she apologized. She had just gotten them from Brad that morning but something had happened to them. They were dead... really dead. We laughed about it!

Finally, Kasi happened to see an item on the baggage carousel that was unclaimed. She thought it was so funny, she needed a picture of it. Rush was in his stroller and all I heard from Kasi was "watch my kid!!!". Then she ran off to take a picture...

Speaking of Kasi, I thought I would also share the "supplemental clues" that Brad had given her, in case I "got stuck". They were really cute...

"SUPPLEMENTAL CLUE #1: We also considered holding our wedding here on the dock." (The Quarries)

"SUPPLEMENTAL CLUE #2: Where we had a very late dinner/breakfast."(Kerbey Lane Cafe)

"SUPPLEMENTAL CLUE #3: You wanted me to sit next to you, but I ended up sitting somewhere else." (Laura's House- I said he could next to me during the movie, but he chose to sit all the way across the room from me!)

"SUPPLEMENTAL CLUE #4: It was under the interstate." (Inner Space Caverns- we found out on our tour that a portion of it runs under I-35.)

"SUPPLEMENTAL CLUE #5: We wanted to go somewhere else but decided to be social. We spent several hours talking." (Chipotle)

"SUPPLEMENTAL CLUE #6: I held a sign for you there." (The Airport)

"SUPPLEMENTAL CLUE #7: You didn't stay awake through the whole outing. But no one was able to see you." (Zilker Hillside Theater- I ended up falling asleep for the entire 2nd act of "Annie"! But I sat in my lawn chair in a way that no one knew but Brad!)

These last two pictures are just because Rush is so darn cute. He was such a great baby while we carted him all over town.