Why I Otter...

Finally,
after so many visits to the zoo without seeing any otters, we arrived just in time for the otter show! they frolicked, they swam, and in the end,they all caught a fishy for lunch!

we also saw the white tigers, the penguins (and watched them eat lunch), and a menagerie of other wild animals.

Then, we came home to our own menagerie, where Parker finagled his way to stying outside the whole time we were gone...Oops!

Happy 4th of July!

Happy fourth of July to everyone. We have had a good day with family, napping, and last but not least, Olive Garden. What a way to spend a day off in the middle of the week. Now, just two more days of work and we will be off again! Cool, huh?

What did you do for the fourth? Leave a comment!

Our baby

Today we went to buy a collar and leash for Suzy, and discovered that our little baby is now a "medium" sized dog! That's crazy. Does this look like a medium sized dog to you?

Suzy Q

Welcome Suzy to the Horton family. Born December 30th, she is just 8 weeks old and has been at our house for about 2 weeks. she is a handful, but is currently sleeping soundly in her crate. Now, maybe I will have something to blog about!

I'm dreaming of a white Christentine

WOW! Well, I can't think of a good holiday to be "white" but I figure this is somewhere between Christmas and Valentines day, so it is Christentine! Of course, it is more of a "clear" Christentine, since it is mostly ice, not snow, but really, that's just being a little too picky! It is just exciting that I don't have to go to work, and we have winter weather!

We have started our transition at work, but the winter weather is somewhat slowing it down, but at least I am not knee deep in work yet! Mostly just planning a conference for a couple of weeks from now. If you want to go, let me know!

Welcome to 2007!

It's a new year and a new lease on life. Hopefully, your new year has started off well. Ours has been uneventful so far. Other than trying to exercise and putting away all of our Christmas decorations (leaving our house a little empty feeling), we have just been working and resting. It is nice to have all of our big events over and a few weeks to just BE. Our next big adventure is obtaining a dog. I really want one and Matt isn't opposed to it, but we might wait til we have real grass in the backyard...

Do you have any new year's resolutions. Leave us a comment and let us know!

Merry Christmas

I know I said that for all intensive purposes, 2006 is over for me, but not just yet. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas! We only have 3 more festivities to attend!

It is over!

Although 2006 is not officially over, for all intensive purposes, I am done! At the beginning of the year, I told Matt that this would be the year of beginnings and endings, and it proved me right! 2006 will definately be a benchmark year in our lives, so I thought I would catch you up to date, just in case you haven't been paying attention!

1) We got engaged. Never done that before, never will again!
2) We got married. Logically, this comes after getting engaged, but not always. It was a long engagement, but there was much to be done, and it was fun!
3) I finished seminary. Just last week, we took a quick trip to Ft. Worth to attend my graduation ceremony. It was a little anti-climactic, as I finished my courses in June and had to wait til December to graduate. However, it was a fun time.
4) No more apartments. Matt and I built a house (not ourselves, mind you, but still, it was an up-hill battle sometimes). We moved in about a month ago, and still haven't finished unpacking. But Christmas was coming so that took precedence...hopefully, I will get some pictures up soon. Now that we are in, we love our new, little home!
5) Big job changes-I am moving back to the church full time-though the end date at the outreach center is still up in the air and plan on pursuing a more dedicated role in the apartment ministry (meaning I won't have as many secretarial duties). Our Administrator also left this year, now that I think about it, and we are getting a new Asst. Minister. The other secretary is moving to the outreach center, so we just did a flip flot, and will hire a new secretary once all the other moves have happened.
Also, Matt is taking on new responsibilities over the next couple of weeks...i will let him tell you more about that!

As you can see, 2006 was a busy, but great year. We are looking forward to 2007 and a little time to relax, but I'm sure more will come up to keep us busy.

Honeymoon Pics

We're Married

Congratulations to us!

And thank you to everyone who helped with the wedding...you are all awesome and we totally appreciate all the work you put in to make our wedding awesome...here is just a sneak peak for your viewing pleasure...

Hebrews 12:1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

TODAY'S THE DAY

To Andria -
I Love You with all my heart and vow to always Love and Protect you and be the man of God that you deserve!
HAPPY WEDDING DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love -
Matthew

Hebrews 12:1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Photos

Happy looking...

Rain drops keep falling on my head!

No one in Texas will be upset to hear that it has been a rainy weekend this weekend. We now have countertops in the kitchen and bathrooms, and a lot of the house is painted-they just need to cut in around the trim. we are still waiting to hear about our two-toned brick, but soon we should have some news on what they are going to do.

Neta, Jonathan and Matt's mom dropped by the house after church for a sneak peek, and they seemed pleased with everything!

And, we had In-Law/Out-Law Day at Green Acres. All the prospective in-laws came to our Sunday School Class to learn the How-to's of being an Parent-in-law (and we learned he how-two's of being children-in-law). Thanks to our parents for supporting us and coming.

Tomorrow is my office luncheon, and my mom is coming to make all the final payments...the countdown to the wedding is definately on! Matt has an office shower during their afternoon break on the 19th, and Neta is having a bridal luncheon on Saturday...lots of celebrating to be done this week! YIPPIE~

Drum Roll, Please...

and we have a winner. Congratulations to Neta, the winner of our guess the picture contest (and also the recipient of the Most-Frequent-Commenter Award)! If you have been following along, her Grand Prize is the movie Lake House, the movie she leant to Matt and me a couple of weeks ago! What a great prize! Everyone give her a round of applause.

Come back soon for the next round of "Where was that picture taken?"

Movin Right Along

Coming soon to a church near you...

It's our wedding month! We've paid for almost everything, bought almost everything, and comfirmed almost everything...so we are almost ready for the wedding! Just a few details like making sure the florist knows what kind of flowers to use, paying for the food (food is the most important aspect to the wedding for us Baptists!), oh yeah, and buying the marriage liscense.

the house looks awesome, but its been too dark to take pictures. We should have some soon. We have cabinets and shelves in all of our closets, as well as trim. Now if we could get that pesky brick fixed, we'd be good to go!

Now its time for a fun game to remember the past. Who can guess where (and when) this picture was taken. A lot of you were there, so you should remember...leave a comment with your guess and you might get a prize if you win-maybe...

September Showers bring October ...

Well, Andria had another shower. That made me happy because she was starting to stink. Oh my, I bet nobody saw that joke coming! Man, I crack myself up. Thanks to everyone involved!
Love ya - Matt

Up, Up and AWAY!

Just thought you'd want to know that Superman is my future Nephew! - Matt

A Brick of a Different Color

Well, our builder decided to give us two colors of bricks. The top picture is "Town Square" (our color). The bottom is "Palo Duro" (the mystery color). I want one color! We picked out "Town Square." I don't even know what a "Palo" or a "Duro" is and I don't want it on my house! Just Say NO to Palo Duro! Anyway, they're going to rip over half the brick off our house and re-brick it. Just as long as they don't use "Palo Alto" or "Pale Burrow" or "Jimmy Durante." Crazy builders trying to brick my house with Jimmy Durante, what were they thinking? Ha-cha-cha-chaaaaaaaa!
Love You! Matt