We arrived in Houston on July 24th, just in time to get ready for Matt Murray's Wedding. Matt and Cody have been friends since high school and Cody was honored to be a groomsman. Being as jet-lagged as we were, Cody and I were able to spend some quality time together between the hours of 3:00am and 7:00am when the rest of the world wakes up. On our first morning there I had, basically, the best idea in the world..."Let's go get in line and be the FIRST PEOPLE AT SHIPLEY'S DONUTS!!" This idea was communicated at around 3:30am; I was awake, Cody was not, but once he heard donuts he was into it. In case you didn't know, Shipley's is kind of a big deal in Houston, the donuts are great the kolaches are better and both of those are best when HOT! To save you all the trouble, the original location is open 24hrs and the hot donuts don't get made until 5:30am...we had an hour in the car waiting on them, but it was totally worth it. We were also able to go run Memorial Park; ironic as that sounds after the donut story...but we had never done it when we lived in Houston. It's a 3mile trail and we were able to bring our sweet Vizsla, Lauren, with us. Matt and Liz had a beautiful wedding weekend and we were so thankful to have been included and able to attend all of the festivities!
We spent the next four days in Austin. Cody, Lauren, about 38bags, and I all crashed into Christina's welcoming home. Cody had to work at the Austin office, but I was able to spend the most amazing quality time with Christina during the day. It's amazing to think that we've been best friends since our junior year in high school. We drove to College Station for our regular dinner at Christophers and lunch at La Bodega. These were places that we frequented while at Texas A&M and it was fun to relive all of those memories. We also tried to eat as much Mexican food and Chickfila as possible and I'm pretty sure we did. There were a few pureBarre classes in there as well so we tried to balance it all out!
Tyler, Texas to see my mom, Katelyn's wedding, and a Grace Girl's Reunion were next on our agenda. This was our 4th annual weekend to get together and I am so, so glad that my friends were flexible and planned it on a weekend that I could attend!! I know how rare it is to still call these women (we're totally old enough to call each other women, weird) some of my closest friends. Most people can't wait to get out of high school, but with friends like these; I could have stayed forever! My cousin, Katelyn, also got married the first weekend that we were there to Tyler Sullins. Their ceremony was an uplifting reminder of what marriage is about and an encouragement to me and to Cody to continue, "fighting the good fight". Beautiful couple! We were able to stay with my mom, Julie, and had such a good time catching up and hearing about all that she's working on and doing. We are really proud of her. (Can kids be proud? We are.) She also took us out to eat all of the Tyler favorites including Don Juans and Shoguns... it's amazing how much you miss food!
West was the direction that we drove from Tyler, towards the town of Hico, Texas. My Dad and Amanda recently moved back to Texas from Colorado and purchased a property close to GrandBoo's ranch. We spent five whole days playing with two dogs, two cats, and two precious little brothers. William and Jackson turn 3 & 4 this month! My dad and Amanda thoughtfully planned their birthday party for a weekend that we could attend and we just had the best time. Snow cones, a bouncy house water slide, and cake...what's not to like?! I'm also a, "velcro daughter" so it's great to have closeness with them. Newt and Lorie, Blake and Amanda Rae were able to come, as well as Doug and Shirley and three of their grandchildren. We had a great time with our family! Cody and I were even able to practice parent for a whole 24hours- we LOVED it. Cody even learned how to give a spanking...he, apparently, was a perfect child and has only just been introduced to Farrar genetics. Good practice, because when we have kids, they will be 1/2 mine! haha! I was able to have so many great conversations with my family and am beyond blessed to have prayer warriors and women of wisdom around me.
We turned the car around and headed back to Houston for some quality time with Ricky (Cody's Dad) on Tuesday, packed on Wednesday, and flew to Chicago on Thursday. Cody's Mom and Dennis drove to meet us last night and we were able to have a wonderful dinner and breakfast with them before heading to the airport today. What a labor of love to deal with the traffic and come all the way from the Milwaukee area to see us!
Our hearts and our tummies are so full! (I had Whataburger no less than 5 times) We're so grateful for the time we had with those that love us and will just draw on those memories as we embark on our journey back "home" to the Far East. We will be in Singapore for 9 days and then we'll be going on a BUCKET LIST TRIP to New Zealand's South Island. We've gone through some trials recently (That's life) and we are excited to have some time where it is just us and where we will be able to pray and listen to the Lord and what His plan for our life is. I think looking up at the mountains and glaciers is a perfect place to do that! We will update during or after that adventure. Thanks for checking up on us. We love you!
Christie & Cody
We spent the next four days in Austin. Cody, Lauren, about 38bags, and I all crashed into Christina's welcoming home. Cody had to work at the Austin office, but I was able to spend the most amazing quality time with Christina during the day. It's amazing to think that we've been best friends since our junior year in high school. We drove to College Station for our regular dinner at Christophers and lunch at La Bodega. These were places that we frequented while at Texas A&M and it was fun to relive all of those memories. We also tried to eat as much Mexican food and Chickfila as possible and I'm pretty sure we did. There were a few pureBarre classes in there as well so we tried to balance it all out!
Tyler, Texas to see my mom, Katelyn's wedding, and a Grace Girl's Reunion were next on our agenda. This was our 4th annual weekend to get together and I am so, so glad that my friends were flexible and planned it on a weekend that I could attend!! I know how rare it is to still call these women (we're totally old enough to call each other women, weird) some of my closest friends. Most people can't wait to get out of high school, but with friends like these; I could have stayed forever! My cousin, Katelyn, also got married the first weekend that we were there to Tyler Sullins. Their ceremony was an uplifting reminder of what marriage is about and an encouragement to me and to Cody to continue, "fighting the good fight". Beautiful couple! We were able to stay with my mom, Julie, and had such a good time catching up and hearing about all that she's working on and doing. We are really proud of her. (Can kids be proud? We are.) She also took us out to eat all of the Tyler favorites including Don Juans and Shoguns... it's amazing how much you miss food!
West was the direction that we drove from Tyler, towards the town of Hico, Texas. My Dad and Amanda recently moved back to Texas from Colorado and purchased a property close to GrandBoo's ranch. We spent five whole days playing with two dogs, two cats, and two precious little brothers. William and Jackson turn 3 & 4 this month! My dad and Amanda thoughtfully planned their birthday party for a weekend that we could attend and we just had the best time. Snow cones, a bouncy house water slide, and cake...what's not to like?! I'm also a, "velcro daughter" so it's great to have closeness with them. Newt and Lorie, Blake and Amanda Rae were able to come, as well as Doug and Shirley and three of their grandchildren. We had a great time with our family! Cody and I were even able to practice parent for a whole 24hours- we LOVED it. Cody even learned how to give a spanking...he, apparently, was a perfect child and has only just been introduced to Farrar genetics. Good practice, because when we have kids, they will be 1/2 mine! haha! I was able to have so many great conversations with my family and am beyond blessed to have prayer warriors and women of wisdom around me.
We turned the car around and headed back to Houston for some quality time with Ricky (Cody's Dad) on Tuesday, packed on Wednesday, and flew to Chicago on Thursday. Cody's Mom and Dennis drove to meet us last night and we were able to have a wonderful dinner and breakfast with them before heading to the airport today. What a labor of love to deal with the traffic and come all the way from the Milwaukee area to see us!
Our hearts and our tummies are so full! (I had Whataburger no less than 5 times) We're so grateful for the time we had with those that love us and will just draw on those memories as we embark on our journey back "home" to the Far East. We will be in Singapore for 9 days and then we'll be going on a BUCKET LIST TRIP to New Zealand's South Island. We've gone through some trials recently (That's life) and we are excited to have some time where it is just us and where we will be able to pray and listen to the Lord and what His plan for our life is. I think looking up at the mountains and glaciers is a perfect place to do that! We will update during or after that adventure. Thanks for checking up on us. We love you!
Christie & Cody
