A Kainer Christmas

We had a great time with family this Christmas. With all the nieces and nephews (we only saw 5 of the 7 this year) there is sure to be a lot of excitement. The first night in Houston, we hung out with the Bivens, and I just love Sean talking about who he's going to shot with his mallow & arrow (looks like a bow and arrow but shoots small marshmallows). I just love how he says his dad is going to love it...

Truth be told, I think the adults enjoyed it just as much (if not more) than the kiddos. We unload, I mean shot, half a bag of marshmallows in their cul-de-sac that evening...

The second night in Houston we hung out with the Kainer girls, and their Bucca bought them a karaoke machine. How lucky are we???? I thought I'd share a little of the entertainment from that evening. This first video is of Katie singing the Chipmunk Christmas song, and it's a little scary how much she sounds like them..

This second video is so adorable of Karly and Patrick's brother, Danny, singing what they coined the Karly song:

That evening we also hung out with on of Patrick's some of Patrick's childhood friends and their spouses. We had a good time hanging out with them and their little ones. Pictures to come very soon... After a short visit in Houston we headed up to Dallas to hang out with my folks. We had a wonderful time up there, and felt very blessed to be able to hang out with both sets of family this Christmas.

THE NEW HOUSE!!!

First of all, we are alive and survived the move. The other house hasn't sold, but we are enjoying our new place.

Finally took a little video of the new house. We moved in on 11/22, so I do have to say that I'm impressed with how quickly everything came together. We couldn't have done it without the help of Karly and my mom and dad. Big kudos for all of their help. Wanted to post the video tour, so those who haven't been able to see it can get a quick tour.

Fightin' Texas Aggies

Hello all,

This is Patrick and it has been way too long since I have blogged. My lovely wife always seems to keep up a little better, but we have both been bad as of late. I would like to share a few thoughts regarding our incredibly awesome journey to Aggieland this past weekend to watch the Aggies beat up on the high powered Oklahoma Sooners. I think it is safe to say that most Aggies did not expect to exit the tall ramps of Kyle Field following an Aggie victory over the top ten ranked Sooners, but the Aggies came through and surprised us.

The evening was crisp and cool, and the crowd was electric. There has been a dull sensation floating over the stands during the last few home games, but this particular game brought a new energy, an energy that I often felt during my days romping around Aggieland earlier this decade and late last decade. We sat with Kim's parents on the "alumni" side of the stadium, second deck, approximately looking over the 20 yard line. The stands are older and tighther than our normal seats which are positioned in the very corner of the upper bleachers of the end zone, which we call, "The Zone". We sat and stood with many great old Ags, who simply love football.

To our suprise, three Sooner lady fans sat adjacent to us. Two were calm, but obviously cheering for their beloved Sooners, while one was wild, quite obnoxious, and simply annoying. I believe there were some non-natural substances flowing through her body, as she boldly provided the first down signal every time her Sooners even moved the ball (first down or not). She performed this action repeatedly and mixed up the letters to the "O" "U" chant that the Sooner Nation screams as their band plays. Yes, there are only two letters, but she consistently said them in the wrong order. Also, and even more noticeable, was the fact that her entire body jived similar as Seinfeld would state, as a "full body dry heave" every time the Sooners would have a better than average play. The dance she performed was one that practice would be necessary to make so very ugly. To add fuel to the fire, she turned around and taunted a swarm of Old Aggies dressed in maroon when the Sooners had a big play. As expected, the great Aggies began polite taunts in her direction, but she was mostly clueless during the actions. Once someone did provide some unkind words towards the Sooner marching band, she was deeply offended and departed the scene for approximately 30 minutes.

The drunken lady of Norman was not the only obnoxious person in our section. A reprentative from our Corps of Cadets decided to take a seat right in front of this lovely gal from Oklahoma. He was loud, spit a little bit as he screamed, exposed almost every vein in the area from his head to his neck, and loudly brought his newly learned traditions to our section. While I love the enthusiasm, some of his actions should be saved for his time in the student section of the great Kyle Field. He was also taunted, but probably did not care.

Despite our adjacent "real woman of genius" football fanatic sitting in our area, the overall game, from the initial safety on the first snap of the game to the 100 yard kickoff return by the pumped up Aggies, was a thrill to witness. Not only did the Aggies defeat the highly ranked Sooners, they did so in convincing fashion.

I am so proud to be an Aggie right now and so proud of the team that takes the field on Saturdays. Hopefully now, they can find the strength and talent to win a few more games and compete in a decent bowl game.

Gig Em Aggies!

Terrible.... but there's a good excuse

There's really no excuse for our lack of blogging,but between Aggie football, buying a new house, and my decision to join Junior League of Austin / Patrick's decision be a Big Brother in the Big Brother/Big Sister program our time has been limited. Yes, you heard right we bought a new house. I didn't want to jinx us, by posting pics, but we're only 2 weeks out from closing...

Contrary to our current house, there is very little needed for us to do to move into this house. However this week I went to the house to meet a couple of painters to get quotes on getting rid of the yellow in the house, and we discovered that the current owners had painted over wallpaper in the kitchen and bathrooms. Ugh! Just a small hiccup, but we've only had to push the big move date back 3 days. So we officially close on 11/15 and move on 11/22. Just in time for the Thanksgiving holiday....

I promise to post pics once the inside of the house has been painted, but wanted to let everyone know that we haven't fallen off the face of the earth!


p.s. If you know of anyone looking for a really cute starter home in Austin, send them our direction. We have a great one for sale! :-)

Life's little reminders...

I haven't posted anything about my seven year battle with an auto immune disease on our blog. But today I received a phone call from a woman that gave me a new perspective along my seven year path that reminded me how important my support system has been along the way.

Just to give a little history for those reading, and to put some context around how I met this woman who called me today. My senior year at Texas A&M my body started to not allow me to do the things a normal 20-year old would expect to do. After a night on the town my ankles would swell to double their size and it would take me days to recover. I also found myself getting more and more tired, and I was that person in college who could still run hard after 3 hours of sleep. I talked to a doctor in College Station, but he was stumped as to what was going on. Upon graduation, I went to visit a doctor in Dallas, who was the first to think that this was an auto-immune disease. She had an idea from the symptoms, but wouldn't tell me what she thought it was because I was about to go empty my bank account in Europe for 8 weeks. She ran some blood tests and the results came back exactly as she had expected, but recommended that I make an appointment with a rhuematologist in Austin.

At this time I was a month and a half from starting my job in Austin, so I picked a rhuematogolist at random that was on my future medical plan and my parents (who I was covered on). The doctor had a 3 month waiting period for new patients, so I went ahead and booked the appointment for 3 months out (not thinking that it was going to be a problem). I moved to Austin and started my job, but I kept feeling worse and worse. All I had the energy to do was go to work and then come home to sleep. By the time I got to the rhuematologist, with my mom at my side, they admitted me to the hospital that same day. While I was in the hospital they confirmed that it was Lupus, but had no idea what that entailed. It was a scary time and my parents made countless trips up and down 35 to help me take care of myself and be with me through the numerous hospital stays. I couldn't have done it without their help, and I am so thankful for the love and support they continue to provide.

As a strong willed person, I wasn't going to let this thing take control, so I sought out a Lupus support group in Austin. The women in this organization were amazing, and provided tips and tricks on how to live your life while managing this disease. I went to all the meetings, and as I started to feel better I felt that it was my turn to be a mentor to those having a tough time. As I started to get things under control and I met Patrick, I started to not go to the meetings as much. However, I still received the e-mail updates from these ladies, so I was able to keep up to date with the group.

I received an e-mail from the group requesting support for a family, who's daughter had a stroke as a result of a Lupus complication with a blood disorder. I immediately felt the need to go help, and that's when I met Arlene Paris. Her daughter Laura, who I had never met, suffered from a stroke and was in a rehab facility in South Austin. Patrick and I headed down there to meet Arlene and talk to Laura who was in a coma when we met her. Arlene lives in Richmond, and basically set up camp here in Austin to take care of her daughter. We visited Arlene and Laura on many occasions, reading to Laura, bringing dinner to the family, but Laura never recovered and passed away three years ago.

Arlene had done a good job (and I had not) about calling me after Laura died to see how I was feeling, but I had lost touch with her. About 2 weeks ago Arlene called, but I never called her back because I had let life get in the way. Today, Arlene called again, but this time I answered. She wanted to just check in to see how I was feeling, and let me and Patrick know how important we were to her. She mentioned how we had acted as her support group, while she was so far away from family and her support group in Richmond, VA. It's calls like this that remind me how much of a difference you can make in one person's life, just by doing something you feel is normal. It really made me step back and have a little reminder to make the time for those relationships because it's those relationships that will get you through the good and the bad times in your journey through life ...

I know that I don't say it enough, but thank you to my parents, friends, and my wonderful husband Patrick for being my constant support system (and reminding me that I can't do everything)

The things you learn as an adult....

In my previous post, I mentioned that I was not allowed to have any sort of sugar cereals. As a child, I would go to my grandparents' house for a couple of weeks, and I would convince them that sugar cereals are allowed. Mom would come to pick me up, and they would then find out the truth. Every summer they seemed to forget that I couldn't have them, so we would stock pile Lucky Charms or Frosted Flakes for my visit.

Last weekend, I went to Dallas to host a baby shower for Breck England and baby J(http://theroyalenglandfamily.blogspot.com/), and what do I find in my parent's pantry? Not one, but THREE boxes of Chocolate Cheerios. I couldn't believe my eyes, and felt that I had been betrayed. Mom just shrugged her shoulders and poured me a gigantic bowl, but I still felt the need to take a picture and to show the evidence.

A weekend with the niece and nephew

Two weekends ago, Patrick and I had our niece (Aly who is 4) and nephew (Eric who is 8) visit us from Phoenix. There were no parents involved, Patrick and I were on our own. We knew that the activities and the pace would be different than we were used to, and we hoped that there wouldn't be any fights over food or bedtime. Aly and Eric did great! (and we did great too...)

Patrick kicked off the weekend with a balanced meal at Subway where Eric conned him into a coke, so when he got to Austin Eric was full of energy! We started off our Saturday with a balanced breakfast of Fruit Loops. (side note: I wasn't allowed sugar cereals as a kid, so I felt that I needed to provide this to Aly and Eric) After showers (including a little hiccup of getting soap in our eyes), we headed to Gattiland where the kids could be kids and so could we... I caught Patrick on a rollercoaster ride with Eric, and Aly was able to score some pink vampire teeth.

After lunch we headed to Toy Story 3 in 3D, which was fantastic. After staying in the cool for long enough, we headed out to Zilker Park to ride the Zephyr mini-train. Inside I was so excited because it's something that I've always wanted to do, but did not want to go on just as an adult. Aly and Eric were a perfect excuse for me to get to ride the train. However, just after boarding the train a very skinny man in a very small g-string walked by. Thankfully the kiddos, didn't notice because I wasn't ready to explain what "that" was.... We ended our evening trying to watch the bats fly out from the Congress bridge, but they decided to stay in. Eric got to see a couple of bats, but it surely didn't meet the expectations that Patrick and I had set up.

All in all it was a great visit, and we're so glad they were able to spend a weekend with us. Hopefully they'll make time to visit soon.

Trip to Forest Hill, LA

About twice a year, we try to make a trip to Forest Hill, LA to visit my aunt and uncle. These trips are always relaxing and filled with going to get plants at the local nursery and great food. Luckily this year, we received (as a joke) an Obama figurine. My dad had already played a joke on his brother (my uncle) by giving him an Obama calendar for Christmas, so we knew this figurine was going to come in very handy for this trip.

We weren't quite sure how we were going to use it, but knew it needed to be packed for this trip. I asked my cousin Sammy where we should put it. We wanted to put it some where it would blend, yet not belong. Lucky for us, my aunt has a case that she keeps nick-nacks from trips, so I casually opened the case and placed Mr. Obama in...

As you can see, he fit right in with the crystal. I acted like I was inspecting the case right before breakfast and asked my uncle if they had picked up a new item on their last trip. His response was that they hadn't, and he asked me what I was looking at. I pointed out their new addition, and they laughed and laughed but didn't take him out.

Patrick and I left to come back to Austin, and my uncle reported back to my dad the nasty trick we had played on them. My uncle then told my dad that they had forgotten about the new addition, and my aunt had the ladies from Calvary Baptist Church (where they have members for years) over for dinner later in the week. One of the ladies, who knew my aunt very well, pointed out Mr. Obama, and asked why he was in there. Knowing very well that they were in no way advocates. My aunt was so embarrassed that she couldn't back track and get her story straight about our joke.

Thanks to Jenny, Luc, and Jack for providing this figurine and hours of entertainment for all of us...

Oh May...

Last year May was exciting and challenging month for us, with my graduation and Patrick's job loss. This year's May did not disappoint....

The second week of May started with a bang. We had gotten home from our volleyball game, Patrick was asleep, and I had just finished my bath. I noticed that the bath water wouldn't drain, and I got a sinking feeling in my stomach. I left the water as is, and closed the door to give Patrick the signal not to use the bathroom. Instead he ran into the door in the middle of the night. The next morning we called the plumber, and it turns out that the previous owners had done a terrible do-it-yourself job on the sewage line. After discussions with the City of Austin, it was deemed that the issue was on our side, and we replaced the tie into the city ( which in our case was also our neighbor's tie in) and about a foot of our sewer line.

After the second week's drama, I know that we weren't prepared for a neighbor to report us for illegal watering of our yard. Thankfully it was just a warning, but to this day we cannot figure out who made the complaint (even with a personal call to the city).

Middle of the second week, I went into the garage to throw something in the trash bin to notice that the washer connection was spewing hot water. Another call to the plumber and we have new hot and cold water connections.

At this point we are joking about the only thing that could go wrong now was the water heater going out. Well, we shouldn't have joked about that. As we were leaving to go visit my aunt and uncle in Louisiana I noticed that there was water leaking out of the side of our house, and I just knew it was the water heater. I called my dad frantic, and asked what we should do. (by the way I have the best dad in the world!) He told us to turn off the water heater and the water to the house, and he would make a trip to Austin to replace it for us. Sure enough dad made his way down to Austin the next day, and he installed a new water heater for us. After he took out the water heater, we noticed that the whole bottom as corroded, so this had probably been going on for a while. We're lucky that we caught it when we did, and that my dad is super handy....

Hopefully next May will be less eventful...

Hawaii Part III: The Big Island

Our last stop on our Hawaiian vacation was to Kona on the Big Island. We stayed with Patrick's Aunt Zola and Uncle Jack. They were wonderful hosts who made sure we had a wonderful stay. Our first order of business on day one was to have a glass of wine and enjoy their amazing view. Check out the video we made for Patrick's mom. We thought it would be a great video to get her to go visit them:

The next morning we woke up and went down town to the market in search of souvenirs. There was a great market next to Jack and Zola's church, and we were able to pick up fresh coffee, macadamia nuts, and other small gifts to bring back home. The second order of business was to get our excursions scheduled, so we found a tourist shop downtown and prepared to negotiate a night time Manta Ray snorkel and a plane tour of Volcano National Park. Since Patrick and I are a little thrifty, we decided that we would sit through an hour long time share presentation. Yes, it saved us about $350. It was both of our first presentations, and we agreed that we would only do it again if we saved at least $300. The folks weren't pushy until the end, where I kept telling the guy that we really didn't see the value in the whole deal. We were just having fun with him, but still got our discounts.

The next morning we woke up and got ready for our airplane tour of the island. We jumped on this plane:

We headed towards Volcano National Park where we flew over active craters and lava flow. Looking back at these pictures, I can't believe how close we got...

The National Park area looked like a completely different planet, so it was a surprise to see Hilo which gets over 300 inches of rain a year. This area is known for its orchid farms and lush climates. It had rained the previous day, and got an incredible sight of these waterfalls.

The airplane tour was the perfect way to get a complete view of the island! In a car, we would have never seen these sights.

The next day we took it easy snorkeling and getting ready for the Manta Ray snorkel that evening. Patrick kept warning me that these animals had a large wing spans, and may be an incredible sight to see. I had no idea what to expect, but it was amazing. Manta Rays are plankton feeders, so the set up these guys had was incredible. They strung a series of pairs pool noodles with dive lights attached in the middle out behind the boat. The lights attract the plankton, which attracts the Manta Rays. I bought a really cheap underwater camera, hoping to capture what we saw. This camera had no zoom, so the picture below is the Manta Ray approaching us, with his mouth open. It was an incredible sight, as these guys made large circles in order to feed on the plankton. This picture doesn't do it justice, but gives you an idea of this incredible sight.

Our trip was now complete, and we were sad to have to get back to the real world. It was an incrdible trip, and we hope to come back soon!

Hawaii Part IIb: Kauai's Napali Coast

Our last full day in Kauai we took a chartered catamaran along the Napali coast, and it was one of the most spectacular views on the trip. We got to see plenty of spinner dolphins, turtles, and a hump back whale. ( I would like to add that I was the one who spotted the hump back whale, and at first no one believed me. That's besides the point. Everyone believed me once they saw the baby's tale pop out of the water).

Here are a couple of photos and video from this part of our trip:

Hawaii Post IIa: Kauai

Sorry for the delayed Hawaii posts, but I'm going to make an attempt to get all caught up here on a Sunday afternoon.

We left off of the tales of the trip to Hawaii with our first stop, Oahu, so here's the catch up for the last 2 islands we visited. Kauai was a second stop of our trip, and everyone had told us the wonders of the islands and the stray chickens that we were going to encounter. The island did not disappoint (tremendous views and lots of stray chickens).

After a lot of research we decided to stay at the Marriott in Lihue, as it was a fine balance between the expensive north side of the island and the dry part of the south shore. For us it was the perfect location. The first afternoon we headed down to Poipu State Beach, which had been named by the Travel Channel as one of the best beaches in the United States. We got there just at the right time, because an endangered Monk Seal was taking a little nap in the middle of the beach. Monk Seal's are protected by the state, and volunteers are called each time a seal comes to lay on the beach. These volunteers rope off the seal so that won't be disturbed by tourists.

The next day we headed north to check out the east shore and north shore. On the east shore the highlight of our trip was at Larsen's beach where we got to see a Monk Seal mother teaching its baby how to swim. We were able to get a little bit of video to share with everyone.

As we made it to the north shore we visited Kilauea Wildlife Refuge, where there was this incredible view

We were officially on the north shore and had heard that there was great snorkeling in the area, but what we didn't realize was how rough the surf was this time of year. We visited many beaches, but there were a few that really stood out to us. The first area that stood out wasn't really a beach, rather a cliff of lava rocks that formed beautiful pools. The area is called Queen's Bath, and the trail head is tucked back in a ritzy neighborhood in Princeville. Patrick wasn't too sure we were going the right direction, since it looked more like a country club than an entrance to lava pools. He let me follow the guide book, and we made it. It was such a beautiful and relaxing viewThe next couple of beaches had some great potential for snorkeling, but we didn't take our snorkel gear out of the Jeep. This was a big mistake because in between Queen's Bath and the Kee beach (last picture), our snorkel gear, hotel towels, extra pair of sandals, and my wind breaker were stolen out of our Jeep. Luckily for us we had all of the cameras with us, so the only thing of value that was taken was the snorkel gear.

Poor Brinkley...

** Warning: there are pictures of Brinkley's procedure below, do not read below if you get weak at the sight of stitches or blood***

Today Brinkley went in for her teeth to be cleaned, but around 9:45 AM the vet called and said she had found 2 minor things. She mentioned that she found a mass on Brinkley's neck, and that we had 2 options: biopsy or take it out while she was already under. We opted to go ahead and take it out. So after going in for something simple, she left with a nice set of stitches that were 3 inches long... She's not able to wear her collar or harness, so walks are out of the question. She's doing well, but pretty out of it this evening (as you can tell from the picture). Her biggest issue is trying to stretch, but hurting herself in the process.

Oahu, by Patrick

Hello friends! Yes, my wife is a MUCH better blogger than me, but I would like to add a few of my own thoughts about our island hopping adventure (specifically Oahu in this post). Hawaii, overall, is simply amazing and each island we visited brought a different level of experience, and I would not change anything if we could (except I would likely avoid American Airlines, if possible). Kim's blog will provide more photographic and video documentation, but I will gladly share a few thoughts.

Waikiki was fun, although I felt like I was in California. We did not have enough time to experience much in Oahu, besides Pearl Harbor and our mandatory Hawaiian luau. Like Kim said, we visited Cheeseburger in Paradise, where we enjoyed great burgers and our first Mai Tais of the trip. At that moment, we discovered how much better pineapple is in Hawaii than Texas. We ventured around a few areas within and adjacent to Waikiki Beach, but did not go to far off that general path.

The primary reason for our visit to Oahu was to experience Pearl Harbor. I am embarrassed by my knowledge of American history, and was especially embarrassed by my knowledge of the Pacific War. I decided that I wanted to visit Pearl Harbor with a decent background about the time before the Day of Infamy and the war in the Pacific that continued for years after the terrible and, might I add, quite unnecessary attack on Pearl Harbor. I read a "War Stories" book by Oliver North that covered many of the most known experiences during the war and some lesser known facts. Everything in the book is based on documents prepared by brave members of our Armed Forces. The experience was quite somber, as everyone described it, but I do believe that my recently learned knowledge of the historical significance of the harbor tremendously helped my overall experience. It still pains me to know what our brave men and women (yes women, maybe not soldiers, but very important figures in the Pacific War) experienced for several years after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. That attack served as a lesson that the U.S. military is one of resilience and unbelievable strategy. In addition to walking on the impressive memorial prepared for the one thousand plus men who lost their lives on the USS Arizona, we also toured a Pacific War submarine, the Bowfin. The Arizona still had oil surfacing and forming a sheen on the water. Kim and I both were sporting our polarized sun glasses and we could see down a little deeper than people without the necessary attire. The wall of names of those who died was chilling and both of us stared in silence as we focused closely on the terrible event that sunk the huge ship. The Bowfin tour was also quite memorable as I did read up on some of the submarine war patrols in my book. Just knowing that Kim's grandfather experienced multiple war patrols makes me even more proud to be part of the family. It takes a special person to work on the war sub, and I know for sure that I could not do it. Overall, the experience was amazing in a somber sort of way, but worth every minute of it.

Kim provided a nice description of our luau and that was a nice break from the more powerful Pearl Harbor experience. The staff really brought out the Hawaiian culture and tradition. The dancers were quite talented and the food was excellent. I would highly recommend this luau to anyone visiting Oahu.

Well, that is it for now. I hope to chime in with a Kauai description soon. Kauai was my favorite island, but the other islands were excellent as well.

Hawaii Part I (Oahu)

Okay... I know we've been terrible about blogging, but we've really had a lot going on. In April we went to Hawaii for 10 days, and I'm going to do my best at giving a series of recaps via a blog post. We left for Hawaii on a Wednesday, and as we try to pull out of Austin the second engine wouldn't fire in our plane. Luckily the pilot brought us back to the gate to let us deplane, instead of waiting on the plane for the technicians to fix it.

We were able to get on an American flight taking us through DFW to Honolulu. We don't typically fly American, rather Continental, so this was going to be a good comparison for us. Patrick lucked out on our DFW to Honolulu leg of the flight to sit next to a recently divorced woman that wanted to use Patrick as a therapist. We were sitting across the aisle from each other, and I could totally tell that he was fake sleeping. To make matters worse, the AV system on the plane wasn't working and neither of us had iPods to keep us busy, just books. The second highlight of our American flight was that they don't serve meals, even on a 9 hour flight. You have to pay $10 for a chicken sandwich... Really? How much money is this really saving, especially when other airlines still serve food. When we got to Honolulu, of course our bags weren't there, so we filed a claim with American and headed to our hotel in Waikiki.

Because of the experience we were in need of some Mai-Tais and headed to Cheeseburger in Paradise for our first one (followed by a couple more) for this trip. After dinner headed to the beach then back to the hotel to find that American still didn't know where our luggage was. I decided it was time to beat the system because we knew (Continental told us) that our luggage was on a United flight out of LAX that had already landed. I called American 4 times, until I got someone that knew what they were doing. Finally we had a confirmed sighting of our bags, and they were on the way to the hotel. I completely passed out after the long day, but Patrick stayed up for the bags to be delivered at midnight. (this made for a 26 hour day for us)

The next morning we woke up and headed out to Pearl Harbor, which I had done as a child. It was even more impactful as an adult. While at Pearl Harbor, we toured the USS Arizona memorial and the Bowfin. The Bowfin was submarine that was like the one my grandfather was on, and it just reminded me how thankful I was for his service during the war. I couldn't imagine spending that much time in a small space, with all men, for a 3 month period of time. I couldn't help but think how much that submarine probably smelled....

That evening we headed to a luau where we ate pork that was cooked all day in a pit. There was a whole ceremony to taking the pig out of the ground, followed by talking the tourists into purchasing cheesy cups to get more alcohol, followed by the dancing.

As you can see from Patrick's picture below, we fell for the tourist trap and bought the cups.

After our quick stay in Oahu, we were off to Kauai. More to come in Part II....

Green Thumb

Last year my dad went through the Master Gardener program in North Texas, and Patrick and I decided to start a little garden of our own. Thanks to a super hot summer the only thing that grew well was jalapenos, but we decided to take another swing at it in the milder fall that we have in central Texas. So, we planted a whole crop of tomatoes and one broccoli plant. The tomatoes flourished, but the broccoli was a little delayed. We decided not to pull it up, but left if through the winter. After all the rain and weather that we had, the broccoli grew into this huge plant, and today I was able to harvest our broccoli. I have to say that I am very proud of our little crop, and plan to plant this again in September.

Phoenix trip

A couple of weekends ago we went to visit the Micheau's in Phoenix, and we had a great time. The trip included Patrick getting stabbed by our niece (let me say that he was warned about this, but did not prepare for the wrath of Alyson: However, while the kids were at school the next day, the adults had a relaxing day hiking in the morning, going to Scottsdale to do a little shopping at H&M, and taking a little joy ride on Eric's kart. We decided that Chris definitely exceeded the kart's weight limit, as he was only able to go about 3 mph, until he hit downhill slope. Not only did he exceed the weight limit, he barely fit in the darn thing. (Disclaimer: If you are reading this, please do not tell Eric that we took his kart out for a little joy ride. We aren't sure how he would take the news) Nothing was broken, but Chris got his fix of trying out his son's new hobby.... That evening Chris cooked some fabulous ribs, and Kimmi and proceeded to finish off 2 bottles of wine followed by a sliver of chocolate cake that we were going to use for cake balls the next day. Not to worry, there was plenty of cake left for Kimmi's cake ball tutorial on Saturday.

Saturday morning we woke up to non other than rain in the desert. We waited for it to pass and took a drive into the mountains to look over Phoenix. We got a great Micheau family while we were up there, but the family picture did not last long because it starting raining once again. Who would have thought that we would have brought El Nino with us from Texas? After this beautiful drive we headed to this dive of a Mexican restaurant for margaritas and Mexican food. The drinks were going down smooth, so I talked Kimmi into a second margarita. Unfortunately half way through the second one, we realized that we shouldn't have ordered number 2. Being the child-less married adult, I got the great idea that we could dumb out the kiddo's lemonade in their kiddie cups, and use that to take out drinks with us. Little did I know that the waiter was watching me, and proceeded to tell Kimmi that we couldn't take our drinks with us. I acted like I didn't hear him, but Kimmi was mortified. So we gulped down the rest of our drinks while still in the restaurant. Not to worry folks, we weren't the ones driving... On the way back to the house, we got to see a little taste of what Alyson will be like as a teenager. I just couldn't help but take some video:

Eric wasn't being very photogenic on our trip, so I didn't get a great shot of him (except for the family picture above). But did get a snap shot of Patrick in Alyson's rock star glasses:

We had a really great time with the Micheau's and look forward to future visits in Phoenix.

The Good Guys Gang (GGG)

This weekend the boys did a great job of creating a Valentines Day weekend scavenger hunt for the girls. It all began when we went to Central Market for breakfast on Saturday. When we arrived, Jordan & Allison "happened" to be there too, soon followed by Brad & Jen and Noah & Jill. We made it just in time for breakfast and were able to visit as we eased into the morning. The boys had timed things a little early, so we all ended up strolling through Central Market and eating all the yummy samples of chocolate.When it was time to leave Central Market we were handed a stack of envelopes that were signed "The Good Guys Gang (GGG)"

Our first clue lead us to Embellish nail salon, where we were pampered with mimosa's, chick flicks, and manicures. The manicures were fully funded (tip included), and the girls ended up buying cute watches and necklaces as an added treat. After this, we were really excited to open the next envelope, but it only had an address. By the address, we could not figure out where we were headed next. The only stores at the intersection we were instructed to contained Half Price Books and Goodwill, and we couldn't fathom that after such wonderful manicures that we would go to either location. We were wrong... The boys led us straight to Goodwill, and we were instructed to pick out a tacky outfit that was under $20. We were told that we needed to wear these outfits to our next location, so we headed straight to the dresses because these could be pulled over what we already had on. Allison picked out a fabulous red and black dress that really took all of us back to our childhoods', and we all confessed that our moms sported similar attire in the 80s. She could hardly walk out of the dressing room with those shoulder pads... Jen picked out a fabulous multi-colored/sequined polyester dress (featured in the picture) with sleeves that would have allowed her to either take off in flight or give a Latin dancer a run for their money. We played fair and changed into our outfits in the parking lot, then proceeded to the next location. The next stop was Trudy's, and boy did we need this stop (despite being clothed in our fabulous attire). We walked in to Trudy's as if nothing was wrong and headed to the bar as instructed. We sat down and casually asked the bar tender if she had an envelope for us, and she looked at us like we were crazy. I mean, really, the way we were dressed did she think we would make this up? Just as our hearts sank, Jill spotted the boys in the upstairs bar where they were all laughing and pointing at us. We went upstairs and had Mexican martini's (still in our while still in our incredibly hot dresses) while Patrick held the remaining envelopes.

After the much needed drinks, we headed out of Trudy's and opened the next envelope, and little did we know that the next stop was in the same shopping center. Without knowing, Jen plugged the address in the GPS and were lead back through the neighborhood into the same shopping center. Only to arrive a Tabu, which is comparable to a Cindi's or a Fredricks of Hollywood. At this moment, the phrases "You've got to be kidding me..." or "They *would* send us in here with all the men the day before Valentines Day" started to erupt from the car. We were still in our ugly dresses and they were asking us to spend $30 to purchase something for ourselves while having our special member of the GGG in mind. Jen and I were angry, and mentioned that the boys would pay for this stop. Little did they know that they don't only carry things for the ladies, and I'll leave it at they both got what they deserved for this stop. Jill surprised all of us when she was checking out and broke out her frequent shopper card. Although we walked in angry (minus the dresses), we all walked out laughing from the experience. We were then lead to the last stop on our tour-de-Valentines which was back at the Watson's where the boys had wine and cheese waiting for us. Jen and I decided to tell Patrick and Brad that we had come in way under budget on our Tabu stop, and at this point both boys were (rightfully) concerned. We presented them with their gifts, and both wore them as eye patches as they proceeded to cook an excellent steak dinner paired with great wine. By the end of the dinner, Jordan had the guitar and was serenading the group with the song "Allison", and Jen ended up showing off her turn table skills. Needless to say it was a wonderful day filled with laughter and fun, and I can say that we are one incredibly lucky group of girls to have such wonderful husbands.

The adventures of Ranger continued....

Many of our family and friends have heard or experienced the adventures of little Ranger, and this weekend we had an experience that adds to the list. After of year of eating pillows, doggie doors, and office chairs where the incident was the fault of the 4 legged creature, we finally had an incident that was completely our fault....

This weekend Patrick's mom Ritsy was in town, so we decided to venture to the Round Rock outlet mall. The outlet mall has a discount pet store, and on this occasion the whole store was 50% off (yippee!). We spent 30 minutes picking out treats and new dog beds for our two dogs and Ritsy's dog, Gracie. We ventured home after the shopping excursion, but was in too much of a hurry to get to the next activity that we didn't immediately give the dogs any of the treats that we bought.

After returning from dinner and the American Voices concert, we went to let the dogs in, and I gave each of the dogs a Greenie. I had bought Greenies for Brinkley in the past, so didn't think much of giving the dogs this treat. Plus the dogs were going nuts over what was in the bag from the pet store. Each dog went to their respective corners or under the bed to enjoy their treat, and Gracie was the first to complete her treat, Brinkley came in a close second, and Ranger (being new to the Greenie) came in dead last. About 5 minutes later, we noticed that Gracie had developed what looked like lar spaghetti-o's all over her body, and we couldn't figure out what was going on. We called the Emergency Vet Clinic, and they told us that these we just hives and to give Gracie a Benadryl. We kept an eye on Gracie, and about 10 minutes later Patrick walked over to Ranger who was hiding under the couch pillow. Patrick noticed that Ranger was developing large bumps around his eyes, and as we kept watching poor Ranger's whole face swell. We gave him a Benadryl, and he didn't even want to be around us (which was out of the norm for him). We felt so bad and stayed up to 2AM with him making sure his breathing wasn't constrained, and thankfully it wasn't. Sunday morning was better, but he's still not back to normal. Here's a couple of shots with how bad his little face looked:

Regular Ranger:

First noticed:

Final Look:

Dancing the night away....

This weekend we had a great time with our friends at Heather and John's wedding, and I just happened to snap video of Jordan and Michael's dance moves. We knew Michael had moves, but had no idea what Jordan had in store for the group:

In another section of the dance floor, David got his hands on a napkin and became Lady GaGa at the end of the evening:

The ladies stood on the sidelines while the boys stole the show, but we managed to get a couple of cute shots:

4 dog night...

This weekend we dog sat Ella and Lexi, and the four dogs had a great time. There were multiple stuffed animals that were held hostage by the dogs and some weren't so lucky. As you can see the duck has seen better days. Saturday night we left the house to go to the TAMU versus Texas women's basketball game, and within being at the game 10 minutes our neighbor called us to tell us the dogs had dug a hole under the fence, and Ranger was running around on the side of the house. Luckily, she was able to push Ranger back through the hole and patch it with a fire log. We decided that it was best to head back to the house to see what the damage was, and we found the hole was largest enough that 3 of the 4 dogs could have squeezed through it and were lucky that only Ranger escaped.

We are sure that the other 3 dogs sent him on a recon mission to see if the coast was clear, and he was caught. We tried to figure out who was the big culprit of digging and found some evidence on Ella's belly. Her belly was covered in mud. I'm not saying she's 100% at fault, but I think she was a large contributor. Judge for yourself... All three other dogs did have mud in between their toes, but Ella was by far the dirtiest from the incident. The dogs had a great time playing together, fighting over toys, and wrestling all over the couches. We were warned that Ella is obsessed with food, and we caught he in the act of steeling food off of the night stand:

Probably one of the funniest things of the weekend that we learned was Lexi's obsession with balls and Ella's lack of coordination and timing. Observe as Lexi tries to catch a second ball with a tennis ball lodged in her mouth, and Ella's missed timing when trying to catch the ball.

The dogs completed their stay with a final game of tug a war and the kong lost the battle.

Being an Aggie in a sea of Burnt Orange

For all those who don't get to experience what it's like to live in Austin, when the Longhorns are playing in the National Championship. Here's the front page of our ABC affiliate's home page:

There's no escape from the sea of orange.... Roll Tide!!!!

Farewell 2009

As we embarked on our first year of marriage, I don't think anything could have prepared either of us for 2009. This year was filled with happiness, sadness, exasperation, relief, joy, and exhaustion. We learned a lot about each other and how blessed we truly are, and just to share what 2009 brought to the Kainers. Here's a recap:

In January, we got another puppy, Ranger. Ranger has taught us patience and that we are not ready for children. Here's a shot of Ranger just after a day at the lake:

February through April, we were busy with the new puppy, and I was finishing up my MBA at St. Edwards. At the beginning of May, I finally graduated from my MBA after 3 years filled with lots of coffee, group projects, and late nights.

After a trip to LA with my good friend Lyra to visit our friend Charis and her family, I returned to Austin and found out a week later that Patrick had lost his job. This job was one that had him traveling at least one day every week in the peak of its business, which was manageable when I was in school. The news was devastating, but I knew that we would rebound just fine. We had a lot planned for the summer, so Patrick took on the duties as a stay at home dog dad paired with my honey-do list. Needless to say that kept him very busy.

In June, we made the trip to Cape Cod, with a side trip to Boston, to see one of my good friends from high school & college get married. One of my best friends that I have known since junior high also joined us out there because her husband was a groomsman. Because of the beautiful backdrop, both couples attempted to take our Christmas card pictures on the beach, but due to a wardrobe malfunction on my part this was the best picture from the beach (too bad we couldn't this one of the four of us):

Early in July my cousin Brylan came to spend half the week with us. This was her first trip on her own to Texas, so as you can imagine we kept her very busy. We did everything from South Congress to the bats on the Congress bridge to a trip down to San Antonio to the Alamo and Natural Bridge caverns. Brylan has the same crazy hair that I do, so I did what any good cousin would do, and sent her home with flat-ironed hair. Yes folks, she's only 12, but looks so old in this final picture:In July my grandfather Paw Paw's health started to decline, and we knew that our time was limited with him. I was very close to him and had spent every summer with him and my grandmother Cille, growing up. There were so many great memories from those summers from learning to drive at 13 while my grandmother was taking her nap to daily trips to the drug store for real Cokes made at the soda fountain. Patrick and I decided that it was time to go be with him in Louisiana, so we packed up everything and headed to Alexandria. As we pulled into the assisted living home he was in, Patrick got a call that he had gotten a job! What a blessing in such a tough time! We arrived to the assisted living home at noon, and we lost Paw Paw at 4PM. Though this was so tough, he lived 94 wonderful years and had the opportunity to impact so many of us. As a positive, Patrick got to experience more of my family heritage as we went to my dad's home town for the funeral and buried my grandfather in southern Arkansas. Here's a picture of him while he was in the S. Pacific during WWII: In August Patrick started his new job, and we decided that it was time to put Ranger in puppy school. Ranger successfully graduated, but that has not stopped his destructive habits. The end of August brought the beginning of football season and the beginning of September brought me a new job at Dell and Patrick an appendectomy. One evening after returning home from work Patrick mentioned that he was having some pains in his upper stomach. Because this had been a recurring issue, I asked that we finish dinner and head to the ER. I knew there was a problem when Patrick didn't eat a bite of his dinner. We headed to the ER at 8PM and at 2AM he was admitted to the hospital. He didn't have emergency surgery, but did have his appendix removed the following afternoon. After just starting his new job, we had no idea what this would entail for us. Patrick was lucky in that his recovery time was much shorter than we expected. Since the surgery, he hasn't had any further stomach pains and are hopeful that this is what had caused all of his previous issues.

October continued to keep us busy with football season, and at the end of October we learned that I would be traveling to Ireland for the majority of November. So we started to prepare for this trip, making sure that we had as much stuff completed before I left. My time in Ireland was a great professional experience, and on the weekend I was able to go see some of the Irish countryside. My good friend Ger invited me to spend a weekend with her in Dublin, and I couldn't have gotten a more in depth tour of the city. We managed to sneak in high tea and had a wonderful time.While I was in Ireland, Patrick managed to stay busy with a trip to Wurstfest and a trip to Houston to see our niece's dance competition. We spent Thanksgiving in College Station for the football game and started to prepare for December.

In December we celebrated our first anniversary in Fredricksburg at the Hoffman Haus, and we were able to visit a couple of wineries on our way into town. We discovered our new favorite winery, Grape Creek vineyards, along our journey and hope to have the opportunity to visit again soon. That Monday, we were able to go to the dedication of the new museum of the Pacific War in Fredrickburg, where my grandfather's submarine mass is displayed in the front lawn. What a wonderful experience to spend time with veterans of WWII. The next weekend we had a mini-staycation in Austin where we stayed at a hotel in town and had a wonderful dinner with friends at Eddie-V's. The next weekend we embarked on our Christmas travels, and we received a new camcorder for Christmas. Below is my first video of the snow and our Christmas preparations in Dallas.

Because of the snow, our trip to Houston was slightly delayed, but we were able to make it in time for the festivities. While I was in Ireland I bought Sean a Munster Rugby jersey and all the girls Irish dancer dolls. As you can tell from the photos they all enjoyed their new toys.

We had a great trip to Houston and had the opportunity to have a long visit with Kimmi (Patrick's sister) and husband Chris who live in Phoenix, along with the Bivens and the Kainers. Despite being busy, we made the time this year to relax and enjoy the holidays.

As we rang in the new year with good friends, the Kainers are looking forward to a less-eventful 2010.