Time Flies

Carrie requested an update a week ago... sorry it took so long. I've been busy and for some reason I can't remember what the heck I have been up to. 

This past weekend I was in a wedding of one of my friends from high school. She and her now husband have been together since we were all in high school, I think it has actually been 7 years, so I am extremely happy for both of them. I saw sooo many people that I seriously haven't seen or talked to since I graduated from high school. Its pretty cool that they all stayed such good friends, but I just can't imagine going back and living there now. I had a great time in high school and it was fun to retell stories from then (and we DID have some stories, haha) but I was ready to come home by the end of the weekend. I was a LOT out of the loop of things, so I spent a lot of time alone. Either way, I am so happy for Mr. and Mrs. Corey Pierce! Congrats guys!

Other than that I have basically just been going to work and spending time with Alec. And that is where the whole topic of work comes in. I will just be honest.. I am not happy with it right now. I don't know. First jobs are always a learning experience and I know this one is trying to teach me something.... I will just have to sit back and have faith that I am in the right place right now. We'll see how it goes. 

I got to see my mom and dad this weekend. That was GREAT! I haven't seen my dad since the wedding and that is about a month longer than I like to go without seeing either one of them. He is a happy man right now. He decided to get a Harley this weekend. I'm not sure how I feel about that. He is a grown man so it doesn't really matter how I feel, but they just scare me. You don't talk to many people that have a bike that don't have some sort of horror story. Oh well, it is an awesome bike, so I'm happy if he is happy :)

I'm pumped because I have a 4 day work week, so I don't even mind going to work tomorrow, lets just get to Thursday and I'll be fine. We are going out to my parents house in Ballinger and I can't wait. Brandi, Andrew, Allie, Ross, Alec, Molly, and Andy are all going to be out there. Family functions are always fun especially now that our family is growing. 

Anyway, this is short, but there isn't much going on. Hope everyone has a WONDERFUL week and I will be sure to post pictures from the 4th weekend!

"Remember When..."

I would like to start off by saying one thing, I LOVE BEING MARRIED and I absolutely love my life... ( I know you are waiting for the but part to come in) but, I have to tell you what was running through my mind this morning.

My alarm went off at its usual 5:30am and for some reason this morning these were my thoughts, "College was awesome, if I were in college right now, I could a. skip class b. go to class and take a nap afterwards or c. well really, there is no way I would have ever been awake by 5:30 during school." Since Alec gets to sleep in, I don't have any music or televisions on while I get ready for work and I'm not kidding you, I starting think of all of the things I loved about ACU and all of the memories I have from Abilene. I will share them with you now... please enjoy the trip down memory lane with me!

1. My first date with Alec. We went to Lytle Land and Cattle... he picked me up and he was wearing jeans, boots, and a brown jacket... I ate chicken strips and mashed potatos and was wearing a kahki skirt with this orange shirt. (Is it sad I remember that?)

2. Hanging out at Jeff Thigpens house Freshmen year after curfew. How did we get there... thats where #3 comes in.

3. Sneaking out of Nelson Dorm. haha. (Sorry Mom) Oh my gosh, running across the yard had to have been priceless to see.

4. Dollar Burrito days! My mouth just watered and my stomach growled, a bean and cheese burrito sounds sooo good, even at 9:30 in the morning.

5. Friday chapel! There is nothing better than getting hundreds of Christians into a single place and praising God. Never thought I would miss chapel but I do!

6. Class w/ Carrie. We seriously wrote notes every.single.day. Like we didn't talk enough? I actually remember when Carrie wrote me a note that she and Brian had booked their wedding venue and this was before they were engaged. I was shocked, I had no idea they were thinking about getting married.

7. Baseball Games! I could cry thinking about it. There is nothing better than watching the love of your life do something they love. Other girlfriends might have dreaded baseball season, not me, that was my favorite part of the year. I loved spending my Fridays and Saturdays watching ACU baseball.

8. The bean freshmen year. I seriously looked forward to seeing everyone in the bean. I hated the food but that always seemed to be a place we had so much fun doing ridiculous immature things.

9. NAPS! That was the great part about college, go to class and take naps so you could do stuff at night and start all over again the next day :)

10. Curfew freshmen year. Being forced to be in the dorms at a certain time led to some pretty interesting activities. Usually we would just find ways to entertain ourselves, cups, tv, movies, talking, talking, and more talking.

11. Meeting Molly and Andy. I remember the first time we ever hung out. It was the night I found out that I didn't get a bid from the Siggies (I'm not real sure what I was thinking anyway).

12. Molly and I cooking dinner for Alec and Andy when they lived together. That was the best set up ever because the boys would come home from baseball and Molly and I would cook dinner and we'd all get to hang out.

13. Baseball roadtrips with Kara. We went all over the place to see those boys play.

14. Living with Chris and Ashley! That was seriously the hardest thing about leaving Abilene. They are pretty special to Alec and I and I am not real sure what I would do without them. We had many many nights of Rock Band, Buffalo Wild Wings, llaattee nights :), and movies.

15. Living w/ Splitty and Mini.

16. My surprise Birthday party that Chris and Ashley threw for me. I was seriously surprised and that very rarely happens. Seriously. They thought I was mad but really I was just shocked.

17. Living close to my parents. They moved to Ballinger and I LOVED that I could go see them whenever I wanted. They would come over and watch Alec play baseball and we'd get dinner and it was really nice. I miss them a lot!

18. My workout partner! That would be carrie. It always seemed to workout so nicely because when she wouldn't want to work out, I would and vice versa. I need my workout partner to live a little closer.

19. On that note, I miss little ole Gold's Gym. I felt so comfortable there and I liked the people that worked there.

20. Alec coming over after baseball. I seriously looked forward to this everyday. He would always be so dirty but sooo happy to see me. I think of living in Morris and I would hear his truck pull up and run downstairs and get the biggest hug.

21. 2107 Ave. F. I LOVED LIVING THERE!

22. Running around school.

23. Hanging out w/ the baseball guys. All I have to say is there is NEVER a dull moment. NEVER.

Ok, that is all for now. Sorry that was long and I doubt anyone read all of the, but I enjoyed thinking back to all of that. As much as I said I would NEVER go to ACU, God works in amazing ways. I met my husband, my best friends, and got to make some wonderful memories. (cheesy I know) Maybe not everyone leaves feeling that way, but I did.

Alright, it is Thursday (thank goodness), the weekend is soooo close :) Alec and I are going to take Sowards' family portrait tonight in Highland Park with the rest of the family and then we are going to dinner. We are also going to try out the Glass Cactus. Everyone keeps talking about it so I am giving in a going on a work night. This might just be a bad idea. If anyone wants to come, call me.

Have a great Thursday!

Wanted: A new addition to the Sowards Family

When Alec and I first met over 4 years ago one thing I noticed right away was that he LOVED dogs. We got my Dad a black lab not long after Alec and I started dating and Alec couldn't get enough of Harley. The thing that blew my mind was the he has NEVER HAD A DOG! Sad.

For a long time we said that as soon as we got old enough we were going to get a lab. When I think about getting a lab now, I think it would be punishment because they could run for hours and we live in an apartment and don't have a yard. I know how miserable Harley and Maggie would be and I just couldn't do that. So we decided we would wait until we had a house and a yard and then we would get one. However that was before we met Splitty and Mini. They are English Bulldogs and are seriously the coolest dogs I have ever been around. They are the best indoor dog for a couple of reasons: they don't like to be hot or cold, they aren't much for exercise, and did I mention they hate being outside? I bet you are thinking they are probably pretty boring then. So wrong. When I lived with Chris and Ashley that was one of my favorite things about coming home from work. They are so happy to see you (that is any dog) but I don't know, they just have awesome personalities. Not to mention, I love watching Alec play with them. Anyone that spent any time with us in Abilene knows that he LOVED Splitty.

So, the search is on. I am going to find my wonderful husband an English Bulldog. We went and looked last night in Hurst and saw some, but none that we just could not live without. I am so excited. Right now is just a really good time because Alec doesn't start work until September 22, and he is home alone all day. It would be great for him to have some company and also a great time for him to train her.

One more thing, I need some help. We are getting a female and I need some ideas for cute girl names. I told Alec that he gets to pick her out but I want to name her. I like the idea of having a tough looking bulldog with a sweet name. I thought of Ella, he hates it. So, I need some suggestions. He wants something like: Meatie, Jax...I can't think of the other ones he said. So, HELP.

I wanted to show some pictures of what our possible new baby is going to look like:

HOW CUTE ARE THEY! Definitely brings a smile to my face!

Hope everyone has a great Tuesday!

It's Monday already?!

Why is it that the weekend goes by soooo fast!? Mine started out by going to the Roughrider's game. It was just Alec, Chris, and I and we had a great time. I had to wake up early Saturday morning to head to Waco, Texas. One of my friends from high school asked me to be in her wedding and Saturday was her "bachelorette" party. We started out at a spa in Waco and we all got Manicures and Pedicures. They were great, we were there from 10:30 till 3:00pm, so it took a while. After that we were going to grab lunch but by then it was almost time to eat dinner so we headed to her future mother-in-laws house where her lingerie shower was. I hadn't seen a lot of those people in over five years, so it was nice to catch up and see how much has actually changed. I stayed for dinner and to watch Chelsey open gifts and around 10:00pm I headed back to Dallas. I'm not going to lie, it was a strange feeling to go back "home". I mean, that is where I grew up and I loved it there, but I started thinking about it on my way back to Dallas, so much has changed. It was also fun for Chelsey and I to retell some of our stories from High School. Oh my gosh, we were so bad. No bad in the sense that we drank and did horrible things like that, we were just so silly, but we had so much fun, that is for sure! It was nice to take a trip down memory lane, but I sure do love my life now :)

Sunday we went over to Alec's parents house for lunch. We hadn't seen them since they picked us up from the airport from our honeymoon. We also had to take more of our stuff, ahh, we have so much stuff everywhere. We had a good time. AFter that we went over to see Jordan's new apartment and watch some golf. Had the game ended differently I might not of had such a good time, but seeing as how Tiger pulled it off, I had a great time! Alec will seriously tell you this, I don't watch golf unless Tiger is playing. I don't know why, I just love him. I mean I guess it has something to do with how good he is, but honestly if he isn't playing, I don't really care. haha. I told Alec the other day, there are two people I would LOVE to meet. 1. Terrell Owens2. Tiger WoodsIn that order. You don't have to comment on that, I'm entitled to my own opinion and it doesn't hurt you for me to like them. So there.Anyway, after golf, we went to check out Chris's new apartment. It's pretty awesome too. I just like that he and Ashley will be sooo much closer. YAY!

I have to get back to work now. A couple of random thoughts that I have on my mind today:
I want a dog. BAD. I've been looking at English Bulldogs online today.... someday :)
Any suggestions for what to make for dinner??? I'm stumped
I really need to workout
I'm planning a trip to Missouri!
I get to see my parents in less than a month! yesss...

Have a great Monday!

Freaky Friday the 13th

I LOVE FRIDAY'S! The day just seems so much better when you know the weekend is right around the corner. My work has also started this "incentive" program that we do every Friday. It basically evaluates how the Dallas office does and the better we do, the earlier we get to leave on Friday. AWESOME! We left at 3pm today and last Friday :)

We went to BJ's Brewery with Kyle and Jessica last night. For starters, Alec and I shared a pizza there, it was sooo good! Kyle and I grew up going to church together. I'm not even sure I remember how old we were, but for a looonngg time I was the only girl my age in the youth group but I had Kyle and Jason. He married Jessica and they now live in Plano. They are so much fun and it is so nice to have friends so close to us. We had so much fun and are looking forward to hanging out with them more often. 

We are headed out to the Frisco Roughrider's baseball game tonight. If you've never been out there you should definitely go. I like any kind of baseball, but Dr. Pepper Park is a lot of fun. There is nothing better than spending a Friday night at the baseball field :)

I hope everyone has a WONDERFUL Friday night, remember Father's Day is Sunday! This father's day is particularly special to me. So much has changed since last father's day and I just think about everything that happened this past year and thank God for being so amazing. For those that don't know, he found out he had cancer last October. After some surgery and HOURS of prayer he is doing great. I can't imagine my life without that man. He really is one of my best friends and I love him so very much. It really makes you realize how great our God is! HAPPY FATHER'S DAY DAD! I LOVE YOU!

I would like to leave you with a few honeymoon pictures (completely irrelevant to the whole post, but I said I would post them). These are seriously all I have because I forgot my digital camera in the business of the wedding and lets face it, disposable cameras are no good! Enjoy!

This was our FAVORITE place to eat, Maria Marie :)

The view from our front door. I LOVE MEXICO!

The pool, this is from "our spot".

Our balcony... I liked that hammock

The Royal... I want to go back so bad!

Our last day :(

Back in that hammock

Hanging out on the beach... he ended up getting a little more color by the end of the week

(When I say color, I mean DARK red because we laid out for hours our last day and it was cloudy and he fried, literally)

Finally Home

As most of you know my parents moved from my home in Troy to Ballinger about 3 years ago. I love their house in Ballinger, but it just never felt like home to me. So, for the past 3 years I have definitely not been houseless, I just felt homeless. You know how college is, I went from an apartment w/Brandi to a duplex, then to a house w/ Lacey, to a house w/ Chris and Ash, and finally moved in with Alec's parents 3 months before the wedding. Needless to say, my stuff was everywhere!

Well, I can finally say that Alec and I have a "home". We love it. Me loving it has nothing to do with the things in it or the way it looks, more that it is where Alec and I live. I'm not going to lie, he is a great person to live with. He is home this summer studying for the CPA but he helps with dinner and laundry and is a wonderful husband to me:) I love living with him. I have done no decorating yet, but maybe I will have time to do that this summer. Here are a few pictures:

This is the half bath, it really is used more than I thought it would be.

You can't really tell but the closet is HUGE! Definitely a plus!

This is our bathroom

Our front door :)

The kitchen

The Living Room

The last picture is actually our first piece of furniture that we had to buy as a married couple. Alec's dad lived and worked in California and he let us have all of his furniture from his apartment in California. The kitchen really doesn't have much cabinet space, so this helped with some overflow of cups and pitchers and who knows what else.

Chris and Ashley came to visit us this weekend. As usual, we had such a good time. They got here on Thursday and we took them to Gloria's. For those of you who have never been, you should go. It is pretty good. Chris and Ash went w/ Alec to buy the new TV. It is definitely a GREAT addition to the apartment. The weekend ended up going by so fast as usual, but it really was nice to have them here for a little while. We got pretty used to seeing them every single day for quite some time so it felt like old times in Abilene with them here, even if it was only for a weekend. I just wish that they would move to Dallas, along with Carrie and Brian and Seth and Amy. It would be hard to get any work done, but it sure would be great!

Hope everyone is having a great week. Don't start thinking about Friday yet because it isn't even Wednesday.... boo!

Two days in a row...

contuinuing from where I left off from the previous post....

We woke up Monday morning after the wedding and Alec's parents picked us up and took us to the airport to head to Playa Del Carmen, Mexico! They also got us first class seats there and back. This is awesome because it is going to be a LLLOOONNNNGG time before Alec and I go anywhere first class, but it was great! I always wondered what was so great for people to pay more, but now I know. I will tell you what Alec I enjoyed most about it: no lines! they serve you warm nuts and they are sooo good, they give you the earphones to watch the movie (how nice of them not to charge you the $2.00) and you get a full meal. The meals were both really good. On the way there we had sandwiches and on the way back we had tortalini and it was good also. Would we give up eating for a week to afford first class tickets, no, but it was pretty cool and we both enjoyed it a lot :)

We got to Playa Del Carmen and took a bus to our resort, it was called the Gran Porto Real. We were so excited, we had a "Ocean View" jr. suite. We thought that was pretty cool! We were on our honeymoon and we were going to be staring off of the balcony at the ocean.....or so we thought. We got to our room and looked out and saw..........the street. Not a pretty pool or courtyard, definitely not the beach, but the street. If you leaned out over the balcony you could get a gimps of the ocean. Alec and I were kind of bothered by this. They lied! They do that to you on purpose, so for all of you who don't know, there is a difference, you don't want an "ocean view" you want an "ocean FRONT view". So, we actually ended up going across the street to the Royal at Playa Del Carmen and it turned out to work better for us anyway. It was the "couples only" resort and there were a ton of other honeymooners. Our room was awesome, we still weren't looking at the ocean, but we didn't care, we were much happier there.

The week started out with us finding our spot at the pool after breakfast and staying there till mid-afternoon. The weather was beautiful and it was so relaxing. Thursday we went on an Aquadic Expedition. We got on a van at 8:30 in the morning and our tour guides, Oscar and Leo, took us to three really cool places to snorkle. The first was in Akumal and it was really pretty. We swam out to a coral reef and it was so pretty. We saw some cool fish and a snake! (My mom would have died) The second place was a cavern/cave. I will start by saying I don't like to jump into swimming pools in the dark, they freak me out, I'm not sure why? Secondly, I was unaware of this "cave snorkling" but I was not about to be the loser that sat out. It turned out to be one of the coolest things I've ever done. God is amazing. It was beautiful. It was fresh water and it looked man made, that is how beautiful it was. We went into places where no light has ever been, the water was FREEZING, but it was worth every second. They made us lunch and then we went to the last place. It was called a "cenote". It was a beautiful fresh water pond, that is what I would call it. Alec jumped off of the cliff there and we looked at all of the fish, they were everywhere! We had a blast. The next day we got massages, they were great! The rest of the time we spent on the beach, we walked through town, and laid out at the pool. I was literally depressed when it was time to come home. I loved every second of the vacation. I wouldn't have changed a thing, and I hope that someday Alec and I will go back to the same exact resort. It was perfect! Oh, and I know you are wondering about the food, because well, you have to eat. Their food was AMAZING. I'm not just saying that. All of their restaurants were very good, they had an Asian place that had sushi and it was really good, they had a very nice Mexican place, and their main cafeteria called "Spice" had the best breakfast in the world. Oh yeah, one more thing, you could order room service 24hours and that was part of the all inclusive. AWESOME!

So, the wedding and honeymoon are over, and Alec and I are just trying to get settled. I love our apartment but I am so ready to have it in order. I am back at work, its hard to go because I think my body knows that it is summer time and I'm suppose to sleep a lot and get a lot of sun and I'm not really getting either. It doesn't help that Alec is at home. It is actually probably harder for him. He is studying for the CPA and I can't imagine how hard it would be to make myself wake up and study for most of the day. He told me last week that 10% of the people that take it, pass it on the first time. His job right now is just to get as prepared as he can. I know he will do a great job, but yall just remember him in your prayers, its a stressful time for him!

Ok, I'm back to work. It is Thursday, one more day and the weekend will be here!!!

Mr. and Mrs. Alec Sowards

Well, I am married! :) I have to put a smily face after I write that because a smile comes across my face when I type it. It is still weird to be introduced as Alec's wife, but I love it.

I will start with saying, I learned how to post pictures, however, I don't have them yet, so give me a little time and I will post some from the wedding and honeymoon.

The wedding was perfect! The whole weekend was so much fun. It started out Friday morning, my mom, Brandi, Allie, and I all went to favorite spa in Southlake and got massages, they were much needed and felt amazing. Then we had everyone that was in town for the wedding over to the Soward's for a cookout. It was very relaxed and just a good time to catch up with a lot of people I hadn't seen in a long time. Just as the night started to wrap up, I get orders from Alec that I have 45mins. to shower because we were going out. One thing should stand out in your mind right now and that is that I cannot shower and be ready to go anywhere in 45 mins. However, I looked like crap, but did pull this off. around 10:30pm the a stretch hummer limo came and picked everyone up (compliments of one of my favorite people in the world: Mr. Chris Wiman) and we headed to Dallas. I'm not gonna lie, I was tired, but we had sooo much fun. For the most part it was baseball guys, my sisters, Ashley, and Carrie and Brian. I'm so glad we did that, it was a lot of fun. Saturday was the bridal luncheon at Blue Mesa Grill, it was very good and I will be going back. We had a lot of fun and once it was over we didn't have much time to change and get to the rehearsal.

After the rehearsal we went to the rehearsal dinner. All I am going to say about that is it is a night that neither Alec or I will ever forget. We are blessed to have the most amazing friends and family and that night will always be very special to me. Sunday was the wedding. It could not have been better. Alec and I had a blast, seriously. We had so much fun talking, dancing, and hanging out with everyone that was there. I won't lie, I cried a little. The only times were when my dad came in to get me, he was just so handsome! And, I cried right as my dad and I got to Alec. I really can't believe how fast it went. I tried to listen for most of the ceremony but I kept looking at Alec and thinking, this is really happening finally. I can't believe I get to marry my best friend. It's probably one of the best moments of my life. It was just so much fun having everyone that we care so much about in one room. After the wedding we went to the Gaylord Texan and left for our honeymoon the next morning....

to be continued.

(I guess I should work now)

That is a fast verision of the wedding recap. I can't say thank you enough to everyone who was there with us. I just ask that everyone continue Alec and I in your prayers as we begin this journey together :)