Weekend Getaway...

We had been planning for over a month to spend the weekend of Sept. 12th in Amarillo. Of course I was excited... to see my parents, visit with friends... you know the usual! Shane was excited because his annual company golf tournament was that Saturday morning, and this year he wanted to Win! We had already purchased our plane tickets to leave Friday, the 12th at 1:00 and would arrive in Amarillo around 3:30... My dad flew into Houston at the beginning of the week to stay with us for a couple of days and he had a flight to go back Friday evening at 7:00. Well all of our plans got turned upside down Wednesday evening when Hurricane Ike was getting closer to land and was headed right for us (Houston), they had already cancelled all weekend flights on Wednesday afternoon, so after my dad spent over an hour and a half on the phone with SWA to switch our tickets he got them moved to an 11:00 flight on Thursday morning, thank goodness!Our flight went fine, except the airport was extremely hectic from all the people trying to evacuate :( We arrived in Amarillo around 2:30 and already started making weekend plans! Some of our best friends Ricky and Erica were in town for Colby's funeral on Wednesday and spending time with them was our first priority. We were able to spend Thursday and Friday night with them and many other people that were over at Ricky's dads house. I miss them so much already! It was just like the old times getting to catch up and playing with their boys, Trae and Drake... man have I missed those boys :) Ricky's mom, sister and her daughter had also come into town for Colby's funeral so we got to see them which is always nice. Her daughter Laila is so adorable and she just cuddled right up to Shane from the time we got there on Thursday night... pretty sweet since Amber (Ricky's sister) said that Laila does Not like guys.. I wasn't too shocked though, my hubby does have a way with kids!.. yes, he is going to be an Amazing daddy someday :) One story I have to tell, which I find it to be pretty incredible... Well to start Ricky's dads house is on a cul-de-sac. About 5 years ago they poured some concrete and put in some green poles where it would be more noticeable that you couldn't enter the main street from there. I guess when the concrete was still wet, Colby wrote his name in it... Colby Salcido... and what no one had ever noticed until now is that at the top right corner of the o (of Salcido) he had also written 08. Wow what meaning those numbers have now, we just wonder what 08 could have possibly meant to Colby 5 years ago.Shane was up bright and early, (left the house around 6 a.m. early) along with my dad on Saturday morning. They both played in the golf tournament all morning and most of the afternoon. My mom and I had a pretty lazy day just hanging out at the house (we had both gotten up, showered, hair and makeup done, I just hadn't gotten dressed!) which is always so enjoyable! I sure do miss those days :) Except we had a couple unexpected visitors... I was sitting in the living room watching T.V. and my mom was in the laundry room when someone rang the door bell, which usually never happens! So of course since I was still in pajamas I yelled to her that someone was here and had just rung the bell. She comes in there saying that she wasn't expecting anyone and didn't know who it could be... She opens the door and I hear some excited screaming going on... yes, my mom along with two of her favorite girls that she had in her class(es) last year, Alyssa and Danielle!! It was so sweet, well not the screaming, I wasn't sure what was going on or who could possibly be at the door... but these girls love my mom, I mean they absolutely adore her and they have both touched her heart. Last year Danielle lost her dad to cancer and since we have personally been through a losing battle with cancer with Britt, my mom and Danielle really connected during this time! Plus, these are great girls, very fun and outgoing, could have a great time in class and still get their work done.. always a good thing :) These girls even text my mom... yes text as in text messaging, I think they are pretty close! haha. So during the middle of our visit with the girls, Shane and my dad got home... and the inevitable was unveiled! Yes, Shane's team Won the golf tournament!!! I don't think I have ever seen him so happy after a round of golf :) It was very exciting and I was so proud of him. After some more visiting, the girls left and I finally decided to get dressed! Shane and I then left my parents house and headed out to his cousin Hank’s house for a cookout. I just adore his wife Kristen, we have become very close over the past year and we really enjoy spending time with them! We are definitely looking forward to living close and our kids growing up together when we finally get to move back to Amarillo in the next couple of years :) Shane’s aunt Cathy and uncle Ronnie also got to come over (Hank’s parents!) We love getting together with them with them and try to make it a point to visit every time we are in town. Hank grilled some wings (yum!) for an appetizer and steaks (they were So good!!) for dinner… while Kristen made some delicious fried potatoes and we also had salad. There was so much good food and of course I ate way too much! We had a great time visiting and I finally got to look at all of Hank and Kristen’s wedding pictures… yes finally! What a whole year and a half after the wedding, they were married 3 days after Shane and I so we didn’t get to go to the wedding :( but the pictures were beautiful!

We were originally suppose to be leaving Amarillo on Sunday, the 14th but along with the rest of the weekend flights it was cancelled. So we had to put our tickets on hold since the airlines weren’t sure when they would be reopen and actually flying to Houston. Yay, I was so excited to get to stay longer :) And lucky for our checkbook Shane is able to work at the shop in Amarillo! Since I have nothing to do during the days (I’m basically on vacation when I visit Amarillo!) I get up in the mornings and take my mom to school and then pick her back up around 3 or so. Over the next week we were able to see many more friends and family then we would have if we were there only for the weekend… On Sunday we went over to have dinner at one of Shane's oldest high school friends house, Jesse and girlfriend Stefanie made dinner for us.. Chicked and some potatoes, it was delicious! We got to visit and cach up a little which was great. After we left there we went over to some of best friends Tifanie and Fabian’s. We are very close to them and have been for quite some time… we have even acclaimed the joy of Auntie and Uncle to their 2 beautiful daughters Braylen and Ashton! We spend lots of our time at their house on our trips home! While getting to visit and catch over several days during the week I was able to help Tif build a resume and also find some jobs to apply for since she is looking again… I know it will be so hard for her to go back to working full time after staying home as a full time mommy the past 2.. almost 3 years but if she can find a good job then I know she will enjoy it! Plus, this way they will be able to join us on our trip to Vegas for my birthday in February 2010 :) The more the merrier! We luckily got to see Hank and Kristen again, dinner and a movie (one of my fav’s) she made homemade stew and cornbread and it was so delicious!! I am not one for vegetables but I loved it so much I even got the recipe.. I think I am going to make it sometime next week. For the movie.. we watched First Sunday and it was hilarious.. I could definitely watch it again! One night after Shane and my parents got off work, we had dinner at Johnny Carino’s, where we saw Shane’s cousin Davya. She does work there but she was off this night, just up there doing homework and eating, lucky for us!! After dinner Shane and I went over to visit with his dads parents, which was well over due.. His papa was so overjoyed to see us he cried.. and this man does NOT ever show his feeling much less his tears (but as his papa told us his pain medication is messing with his nerves.) After a warm welcomed hello we had a nice, long visit which we enjoyed very much and wish we could do more often. Wednesday night we went out to eat at Sakura, probably my favorite restaurant of all time with one of my best friends Lacey and her son Brek! While we were waiting on them to arrive, Shane called Hank to confirm their plans to go to the river on Saturday morning and… … … Hank told Shane that they are expecting!!!! Yay! They have been trying for a little while… and they found out that day that her blood work came back positive.. oh man, we are so excited for them, I just can’t wait to travel through this wonderful journey with them! I know they both will be great parents :) They said it was hard not to tell us the night before (we were even talking about babies and trying and what not) but they didn’t want to jinx it and I totally understand. Not to mention that Shane proposed this night 3 years ago.. September 17th! We really with that Justin could have joined us for dinner but he has to make a living for his family somehow… we had a great dinner and afterwards we all piled in Lacey’s car and went to Toys R Us to try Halloween costumes on Brek!! I’m sure your not suppose to actually try ‘em on your child, but we did :) I definitely miss them living right across the walkway at the apartment from us… many fun times together.. and it’s so sweet how much Brek misses his CoCo and Shane, he was so little back then! Later that night back over to Tif and Fabians! Tif and I got to take her brother Zack’s Corvette (way fun) to get a movie, which we were suppose to watch that night.. witch we did but Shane was falling asleep so the nice guy that Fabian is, he turned back on the PS2 golf game for him and Shane to finish playing and set it up on half the T.V. screen. Our movie was on the other half which would have been fine, except it was a wide screen version so it was like in the middle of the half of the T.V. haha it was horrible… and Shane says that I always get my way! Thursday night we ate pizza for dinner with my mom since my dad left that morning droved to Odessa, worked, ate dinner with my cousin and her family and then drove until he was tired on his way to Houston to drop off some of a worker who recently moved to Houston’s furniture. After dinner we went over to visit Shane’s mom and grandma… which was great, we always have lots of laughs! Friday night we had dinner with my mom at Jorge’s (best Mexican food!) Met with my aunt Amy and uncle Kyle to get my dads trailer that my uncle was borrowing for Shane and Hank to take to the river the next morning.. I guess we were so worn out from all of the hustle and bustle from the week and weekend before that we just had a lazy night after dinner and stayed at my parents house… which I loved because we got to spend some more time with my mom!! When you’re an only child, I don’t think you ever get enough of this :) I guess all kids but especially an only!

On Saturday morning Shane left around 9:30 and went to get Hank and off they went to enjoy a day riding at the river! I had lunch with my mom, my pepa (moms dad), my aunt Kassi and uncle Cody and their 2 girls.. we had a great time.. and my cousins and I took lots of pictures! Loving the camera must run in the family.. :) Kristen and I had plans for an early afternoon movie, but between her being down with the flu and the guys getting back from the river earlier than we expected we skipped and made a rain check for our next trip! So my mom and I went to the mall for awhile and I got the cutest Texas Longhorn sweatpants and of course a pink Texas shirt to match, they are so adorable and very comfy!! We had plans for dinner with some of our best friends Shawn and Tasha, yes they came into town to see us! Aren’t we special!?! We decided on Napoli’s and my parents ended up joining :) We had such a great time.. the food was so good as always, but the service was definitely not up to par that night.. we were out on the patio which was very loud from the bachelorette party right behind us. After dinner we said goodbye to my parents and all 4 of us road together.. first, we went to see Colby’s crash site. Which was so horribly sad and I’m glad they went with us because I would’ve been way more hysterical if they weren’t (I hate to cry or get emotional in front of people.) After that we went by Meghan’s house which she is renting from Shawn and Tasha! They have done so much work to that house and it’s a total transformation from when they use to live there.. I can’t believe how long ago that was already… We have had some good times at that old house! But it looks great and of course Meghan had it fixed up so cute :) I was a little disappointed because she wasn’t home, she was at the fair that night. We left there and drove by some of Shane and Shawn’s old houses… I was driving, Tasha was sitting up front with the guys in the back; by the first house that Shane use to live at (which we had driven by a couple night before… reminiscing) Tasha thought (yes she didn’t actually) she saw a man standing in the neighbors yard staring at us… well of course I was stopped where we could look! Well, she screamed and then I SCREAMED… OMG she scared me So Bad!!! I guess those people just like to decorate a month early for Halloween. We drove by a couple more old houses… and then headed over to Tifanie and Fabians, yes again! We had so much fun.. we played guitar hero, had homemade fraps (my fav!—a cold cappuccino made with ice cream), sang sing star!!! Plus Meghan and her boyfriend stopped by for a few minutes.. so at least I got to see her!! And of course we just laughed and visited.. we had such a great time that we didn’t leave until Sunday morning at 4 a.m. Don’t those late, late nights with the best of friends make for some of the best memories! I miss all of you so much already.. Our phone calls are definitely not the same but they are much better than nothing!

Our last day in Amarillo :( We got up around 10:30, got ready and made plans to go eat with Shane’s brother Joe, his wife Jennifer and there kids. On the way to the restaurant their car decided to go break down… so we didn’t get to them which we were really looking forward to.. but we will next time for sure! Next time we definitely won’t wait to the last day, that’s our own fault! I know, shame on us… So we went over to my aunt Amy and uncle Kyle’s house for my cousin Tyler’s 16th birthday get together!!! I can’t believe it, he is old enough to drive.. he was our baby :( There we had barbeque and visited for awhile… The boys played videogames.. can you believe that?! We left there a little after 4:30 to get to the airport by 5 and our plane left a 6:20, only 20 minutes late.. not too bad! We made it home safe and sound, not too much damage in our area, thankfully.. and no damage to our house! We were definitely some of the lucky ones :)

This week has been pretty boring.. I have been sick most of the week and am finally starting to feel a little bit better. No school because of the damage and flooding, but I found out this afternoon that we will finally go back on Monday, the 29th. Yet they did say that some classes may have to attend on the weekends or on holidays to finish out the fall semester :( hopefully that won’t be my class! Wish me luck… Tomorrow is the guys poker night so I will most likely be hanging out with Amy, which is always a blast! Hope all of you have a great weekend.. and I apologize for this post be so extremely long, but I couldn’t leave anything out!