Family time

I was just informed by blogger that this is my 101st post! Anyways, July 4th and the following week we spent with Mark's family. The same as every year, his brother, sister-in-law, niece, and nephew came into town from Memphis for a week long visit. They stay at Mark's parents house, which is only about 15 minutes from ours. Mark and I slept at home, but spent the days over there visiting. We had a wonderful time together swimming, playing video games, shopping, eating, and just hanging out! We always really enjoy and treasure our time together!

Ben and Nancy. I took this picture because Ben obviously dressed himself and it is hilarious! Check out the combo - sleeveless shirt, overalls, needless belt, and flip-flops. Gotta love it!

Clay and Emily's dog is so fun to be around! Mark was trying to nap and Chopper (the dog) decided to stake his claim.

Nancy and Chopper after he had a swim in the pool.

Watching the kids swim

Anna going off the board. She has become an excellent swimmer!

Ben hanging out in the shallow end.

Anna's 8th birthday cake

Ben's 5th birthday cake

Ben loves his Uncle Mark. He went upstairs and put on his matching shirt when he saw Mark was wearing his Longhorn shirt.

Adventure Landing

On Saturday night the Young Marrieds class made our 3rd annual trip to Adventure Landing. We decided to do it in June this year instead of August. It was still quite warm, but not too bad. We all started with a round of miniature golf. We split up onto different courses with guys and girls. I don't know what kind of luck I had working for me that night, but I actually got three holes in one! I never do that! Mark said my score was even better than a lot of the guys! Of course, not his though. Although, I'm pretty sure Amy won overall for the girls, because she just kept sinking them in! After that, a few of us went to the go carts. I never seem to end up with the fastest one, but at least I didn't get the slowest one like I did last year! It was a great night of fun and fellowship with our friends!

The group

Alli coaching Sharon on her putt

Justin taking a swing

Mark standing by and taking it all in

Self portrait of Alli and me

The girls: Courtney, Sharon, Amy, Jenn, Paige, and Alli

Video on the beach

Mexico!

We got back from Mexico on Wednesday and I am finally getting around to blogging! I had to narrow our 130 pictures down to less than 30! It's still going to be a long post, folks! We had a GREAT time! We spent most of our time on the beach. We would wake up, go to the breakfast buffet, go to the beach, go to lunch, go to the beach, go to dinner. You get the idea! It was the best vacation I have ever been on and it is so much more special because I got to spend it with Mark. The whole trip was very low-key and very relaxing. The resort was wonderful. If you are thinking vacationing in Mexico, we recommend the Iberostar resorts. They are very family friendly and made for an enjoyable stay. I will let the pictures do the rest of the talking!

Our first ever plane trip together

Hotel lobby and complimentary drink upon arrival

Every day we would come back to a different towel animal/creation on our bed. These were our favorites!

On the beach, finally! This was our first glimpse of the ocean the day that we arrived.

The beach in the evening before dinner

I loved hanging out on the beach. Please ignore the man behind me!

My view every day. You can't beat that!

We did a lot of lounging and reading

Clearly Mark had just played in the ocean and not me because he is dripping wet and I am perfectly dry!

Soaking up the sun

One of the activities you could do on the beach was archery. I got in the yellow first, but Mark's score killed mine!

Mark gets a bull's eye!

Yea! I'm in the yellow!

This was the center courtyard of our building

Front end of the resort by the lobby

Inside the lobby of the resort adjacent to ours

Writing in the sand . . .

We also loved to people watch while we were there. The kids in particular were hilarious. Here were a few quotes from the children around us:

Brother: The show is at 9:30
Sister: But that is past our bedtime
Brother: There's no bedtime here. You do whatever you want.

Little boy standing in the doorway to his room (bird chirping in the background): There's that darn bird again. It woke me up this morning!

Two young girls clicking their drinking cups together on the beach: VACATION!

Spa day

As you might remember, I previously said that Mark gave me a spa package for my birthday. Today I got to use it! Alli and I both had the same package so we went to enjoy it together. We got massages, pedicures, and manicures. That is the life! It was so relaxing and so enjoyable. It am all pampered and ready for our vacation. We leave tomorrow! Thank you, Mark, for such a thoughtful gift and thank you, Alli, for sharing it with me!

Surprise Party

On this coming Sunday, Mark will be turning 30! We will be on vacation, so I threw him a surprise early birthday party. On Monday night, at 6:00, people just started showing up at our house. I thought it would be to hard to try to coordinate him leaving the house and then getting everyone else into the house secretly. The first people to show up with Miranda and her son Ranger. Mark answered the door and was a bit confused. I was like, "Hi! Come on in." I took her on a tour of the house because she hadn't been here before. She was concerned that she had spoiled the surprise but she just happened to be the first one there. Then Paige showed up at our door. When I walked back into the living room, Mark was like, "What's going on?" I finally confessed that it was a surprise party for his birthday. Then a lot more people started showing up. We had pizza and cake and just hang out. Everyone wore black in mourning for the big 3 - 0. It was a really great time just to be together and celebrate Mark! Thank you so much for everyone who came. It meant a lot to Mark to have so many people who wanted to celebrate his birthday. Happy 30th Mark!

Mason is holding "baby Kate"

We had a lighting mishap. The candles blew out when I started walking, and I had to relight them. Atleast I didn't drop the cake!

This was a staged reinactment. He blew them out too quickly the first time!

Take a look at what is on the TV screen. Yes, that is correct. We are watching The Grinch in the middle fo the summer. Mason found the movie among our DVD collection and talked Mark into putting it on for him.

Thank you also to Allison for helping me scheme! I went over to her house Monday morning and baked the cake. The she graciously delivered the cake, drinks, and ordered the pizza! Thanks, Alli!