Nice Long Weekend

This weekend was pretty lazy and uneventful for the most part but it was much needed!  First off, my sister Amy came to Houston for work last week which was a huge treat!  Her and I work for the same company, just different cities so she was finally in the Houston office doing some auditing :)  Wednesday night we celebrated her birthday at Pappasitos with Jerrod, Carter, Laura, Amy and I.  I didn't take any pics but hopefully she will post some soon on her blog!  Then Amy and I got to have some girl time and we talked till almost midnight!  Then I met her for lunch on Thursday so it was nice being able to see her!  I really wish we lived closer, that's for sure.

I had off Thursday-Sunday which was awesome.  I did lots of baking/cooking this weekend!  Jerrod's dad stayed the night with us on Thursday so I cooked a big dinner, then on Friday I made a little day trip to College Station to see Cooper, Kyleigh and Lauren!  It was so much fun to play with the kids, they are growing up so fast!  Lauren, thanks for letting me come over and play :)  I had fun talking with you and playing with the kiddos!!!  The rest of the weekend Jerrod and I were house sitting and just spending time together :)  We also watched lots of basketball for March Madness of course!  My bracket is destroyed though... who picked VCU or Butler for the final four?!?!  lol anyway, here are some pics from my trip to College Station :)

Cooper in his "fedex truck" haha  He's so cute!

He likes to mow the grass just like daddy!

Precious niece Kyleigh, she's the best baby ever!

Kyleigh with her aunt Amanda

Cooper and I - he knows me by "Amanda's red car" LOL

Have a great week!  Give God the GLORY!!!!

Sheridan & Wes are ENGAGED!!!

Our good friend Wes proposed to Sheridan on March 5th in San Antonio at his parent's ranch.  Wes and I thought it would be fun to throw a surprise engagement party for Sheridan when they got back to Houston.  She was so surprised!!!  It was so much fun to have all of their closest Houston friends there and we could not be more excited for them!  We love hanging out with them because they just have fun together.  They have an undeniable love and are truly best friends :)  Jerrod plays basketball with Wes on a weekly basis, and Sheridan was one of the first girls I met when I moved to Houston and we became immediate friends.  We love them separately, but even more as a couple.  We are sad because we will not be able to make the wedding, I think it'll be in September and we will be in South Africa by then.... but we're hoping to skype it :)  Here are some pictures from the surprise engagement party!

All the food...

All the girls who helped.... Thank You!!!

Waiting for their arrival...

Surprise!!!

Wes and Sheridan sharing the story of how he popped the question...

The soon to be Whitney's!!!

We are so excited for your life together!  We know God has ordained this and yall are so special to us.  We love yall :)  Happy engagement!

Houston Rodeo 2011

It's that time again in Houston, RODEO time!!!  I love it!  I love everything about the rodeo.  I love the ferris wheel, turkey legs, chicken fried bacon, funnel cakes, fried oreos, country music, muttin bustin, bullriding, etc. :)  I was able to go to the kickoff BBQ this year, and 3 performances!  Here are some pictures from all the rodeo adventures...

Girls night to see Clay Walker!  He'll always be one of my favs!  This is me, Lauren, Ana, and April.

Lauren :) I'm going to miss this girl when I'm gone!!!

Clay Walker!!! :)

Then another night I took my good friend from A&M Brooke, and my brother Carter and his wife Laura to see Keith Urban.  He is definitely a new fav that's for sure, it was a great show!

Carter and Laura :)

B-Rooke!!!

Then, Jerrod and I had a date night at the rodeo to see Lady Antebellum!  They were awesome and let me just say, Jerrod and I ate just about everything in sight.  This is me with my huge turkey leg :)

Love this man!

 Lady Antebellum

 Beautiful harmonies...

I'm kind of sad we wont be here next year for the Houston Rodeo, but we made great memories this year!!!

Trip to Pleasanton!

I've been so bad about blogging lately, but I've had some computer issues.  I backed up my computer last week so we're good now if it crashes.  We really need to get a new one before we leave, but for now we're praying this one holds out until then! :)  I went to Pleasanton the last weekend of February to see family, but also to meet Miss Brynn Channing Schorsch.  My good friend from Pleasanton had her in February so Jodie, Alexi, and myself paid Holly, Bruce, and Brynn a visit.  I must say she is ADORABLE and Holly and Bruce are in heaven :)  They are so cute with her, and it's awesome to see Holly in the mommy role now.  I can't believe it but I'm so happy for them.  Brynn is precious so I'll post some pictures below... we had a great visit!

Here is Brynn Channing :)

Holly is such a great mommy already!

Friends since childhood :) Alexi, Jodie, me, Holly, and Brynn

I was able to see my mom...

 And my sister...

And my nephew Layton!

He wanted to "drive" my car before I left :)  Such a cutie!

I'll be going to Pleasanton for the first week of April to babysit Layton for 7 days while Amy and Clifton go on a cruise with Daniel and Lauren.  I am so excited and I'm sure I'll have tons of pictures to post after that week :)

Valentine's Day!!

I know this should've been posted a while ago, but it's been a little busy in the Carpenter life :)  Jerrod has always made Valentine's really special for us, even though its not my favorite holiday.  He is awesome about spoiling me and showing his love to me on any random day of the year anyway.  But we thought it would be fun to have dinner where he proposed at Michelangelo's.  It's definitely our favorite Italian restaurant in Houston.  It has a great ambiance, live piano player, live tree growing through the center of it, great food,  and also has a special meaning to us :)  We did this on Sunday night instead of Monday because Jerrod left for the 8th grade DC trip early Monday morning till Friday night.  Needless to say he was exhausted after that trip!!  And we like celebrating the night before because you don't have to order off of the prefix menu and its less crowded :)  Here are some pics from our fun night out!

Starbucks encounter today...

Today I went to Starbucks to work on my bible study homework for a few hours.  I'm in the live, Beth Moore study on James that she is currently writing.  It's at my church on Tuesday nights.... luckily she goes to our church so we are always her guenia pigs for her studies.  She's great on video, but it's even better live :)  I just love her insight and love for God's word.  Anyway, I'm sitting there with my bible open, notes scattered everywhere, and my hot grande mocha writing away when this man comes up to me and begins talking to me.  He asked me what I was working on and I told him it was a bible study on James.  He said, "oh well if it was on Jesus I could tell you anything you wanted to know, I could answer all your questions."  I said wow, really?! ( kinda laughing inside...wondering where this conversation is heading).  Then he tells me his cousin is Jesus, his aunt is Mary, he has the same last name as them, he's from Bethlehem, and he's from their royal family.  He says he knows more about Jesus than anyone else on the earth!  Wow, what confidence this man has! lol  He tells me how we aren't children of God, we are children of Adam and Abraham who God created.  He asked me if I believed in God or Jesus....and I said both.  He said well that's impossible, you have to choose, you can't believe in both.  I explained how I believe Jesus Christ came on this earth to die for our sins, but yes there is only one God, etc.  He goes on and on about how knowledgeable he is in the Bible, and how he can study something in 5 minutes and get more out of it than if I studied it for 10 years.  I wanted to share this for one because I thought it was funny, but two because God really showed me how we should always be ready to share our faith.  I'll be honest, when I was put on the spot like that my arm pits kind of started sweating! lol  It made me realize how important it is to know what you're talking about, and be ready to defend it when someone else is contradicting it.  His word is our TRUTH.  That's all we can go by, live by, and study.  I love how no matter how much we study, we always get a fresh word, something different, and begin to truly LOVE His word.  God can use anything, or anyone, no matter what you know or don't know... but just be prepared to give an answer to those who ask. :)

Go get a Starbucks drink to warm you up on this "snow day"...even though there is no snow in Houston!

Houston Half Marathon!

On Sunday I ran the Houston Half Marathon and boy was it brutal!  It rained, then poured, then rained some more, the ENTIRE race :(  Definitely the most miserable race I've done....BUT it was awesome because I had several friends run in it, and I saw about 10 different friends along the course cheering me on :)  So that made it fun and worth it.  It definitely wasn't my personal record time, but I'll blame that on the weather conditions.  I'm still deciding if I'll do another one before we move in July.  Maybe the Kenyans can teach me how it's done while we are there, lol.  I'd like to do another full marathon, but it takes over your life for about 4 months, and I'm not sure if I'm ready for that right now....I'll keep ya posted.  I need to add that Amy, Layton and my mom came in town and stayed with us from Thursday to Sunday and we had so much fun but I didn't take one single pic :(  We went to the zoo, shopping, restaurants, Jerrod's basketball game, the marathon, etc.  It was so much fun and I really appreciate them making the drive with a one and a half year old!!!  Here are some pics from race day!!

Sarah, me, and Brad at the starting line....

Blurry, but the only action shot :)  This was around mile 12.5!

So glad it's over!!! lol

My biggest fan!

And my other biggest fan!!

Happy trails...