goin to the chapel.

Earlier this summer Kyle and I attended the wedding of one of my very best friends. I had the privilege of being a bridesmaid in Meredith's wedding and got to spend the whole weekend celebrating Meredith and Charlie. 

We started the weekend with bridal party pedicures. We were missing two of the bridesmaids for our pedicure party but we had a fabulous time! 

I didn't get any pictures of the rehearsal or rehearsal dinner but it was a fun night! We dined on delicious Texas style BBQ and heard loads of stories about the happy couple.  

Wedding day fun started with a breakfast that Charlie's aunts hosted. Unfortunately I got lost and arrived late so was a little frazzled when I finally got there, thus no photos. 

After breakfast, the ladies headed to the salon to have our hair done... 

then it was off to the wedding venue for makeup.

I had the most fun getting to spend the weekend with Meredith's bridal party! I had met all of the girls before and loved getting to know each of them better. These are some of my favorite bridal party pictures that Meredith sent me. Meredith was a gorgeous bride!

This collage makes me laugh a little bit. Meredith is such a glowing bride, Sara looks incredible in her yellow dress... and then we have the pregnant bridesmaid. But goodness knows I love those two girls!

My parents and handsome husband were also at the wedding. 

In addition to celebrating Charlie and Meredith, we had some quality time with my cousin, Allison, her husband and their baby girl. Kyle and I stayed at their house over the weekend and had so much fun! My parents met up with us the morning after the wedding so we could all have brunch before driving home. 

My dad brushed up on his baby girl skills and Anderson seemed to approve! She was a big fan of playing piano on his iPad which makes me very proud. She'll be a concert pianist in no time!

Kyle also got in some baby girl practice with sweet Anderson. I think this picture proves that he was doing a good job!

And just one more photo of the little cutie when we went out to breakfast. I am hoping that Anderson and Annabelle will be very close friends as they grow up.

Happy two and a half months of marriage to Meredith and Charlie! Kyle and I were so thrilled to be able to be in Dallas and celebrate such a truly wonderful couple!

weekend away.

I am just a few hours away from hopping on a plane and heading to DC to visit this pretty lady...

This picture is old but it is from one of my favorite sister weekends ever, our weekend trip to NYC.

Our weekend includes all of our favorite things. We will be eating Mexican food, shopping, seeing a movie that neither of our husbands would have any interest in seeing, going to loads of tasty restaurants and we even have tickets to see Wicked (BIG thanks to my brother-in-law for that!!). I have had my plane tickets since May and am about to burst with excitement that it is finally time for the trip.

I promise to be back soon with pictures and stories from the trip and hopefully I'll find some time to get a pregnancy update done today.

Until then, I'm off to pack my bags and sit on the couch, counting down the minutes until time to head to the airport.

spring break 2011.

Our week in Texas for spring break was wonderful. It was pure fun and happiness from beginning to end. 

I never pulled out my camera during the week. We were so busy running around town and soaking up time  with the people we love, the camera was the last thing on my mind. I'll do my best at a short and sweet, almost picture-less recap of our time in Texas. 

• We celebrated Kyle's 25th birthday...twice. The first celebration was at the beginning of the week while his younger brother was still in town on his spring break. Celebration part 2 was on Kyle's actual birthday and we at at a delicious pizza place downtown. 
• My mom and I did some shopping. We did more browsing than purchasing but it was such good time with my sweet momma. 
• We ate loads of delicious foods during the week. Between TWO cakes from Julie's, fajitas from Pappasito's and a plethora of other yummy meals, our tummies left Texas very happy!
• Two of my very best friends came to my house for dinner and one of them even spent the night. It was SO good to have some time with my girlfriends. I don't get enough of that lately and I think it was good for all of us!
• I was able to go with my mom to her ladies' church group meeting and luncheon. They meet once a month and I love when I am in town for their meetings. The speaker was wonderful and I always love getting to spend time with my mom and her friends. 
• Tucker had a great time taking full advantage of couch privileges at my parent's house. 

• I took full advantage of sleeping late as often as possible.
• I enjoyed a girl's lunch at Lopez and was able to spend some time chatting with some fabulous mommas and babies. 
• We finished off the week with a dinner party at Troy and Ivy's house. The guests included the Sturgeons and Baethges. I cannot say enough about what a great time we had!! It was one of the highlights of our week! We laughed until we cried and loved getting to spend time with three wonderful couples. We'll host the next party if they'll all just make their way to Georgia!
• We stopped to visit my grandparents on our way back to Georgia. It was a very quick visit but we were glad to see them. And of course, Grammy sent us back with loads of treats. 

That's three boxes of homemade chocolate chip cookies and one of Grammy's peanut butter fudge. 

That's the short version of our week at home. It was relaxing and we're already anxious to go back! Summer will be here very soon and we're hoping there are long trips home and weekends at the lake in our future. In the meantime, we are enjoying our time back in Atlanta where the temperature is currently 42... a far cry from what we experienced in Texas last week!

party in the atl.

Let me start by saying that we will be ignoring the fact that this trip took place over a month ago and this post has been in my 'drafts' folder for about that long. Let's pretend I have not put it off for that long and that I am on top of everything in my life. Deal? Deal. On with the recap...

We spent Valentine's weekend with two of our favorite friends. Troy and Ivy made the trip out to Atlanta and we had the best time! 

They arrived Friday night and we spent the evening catching up and enjoying a delicious dinner at one of our favorite local restaurants. 

Tucker was thrilled to have people sleeping on the pull-out couch. He seems to think that bed is just for him.

Saturday was filled with sight-seeing, beginning with lunch at The Varsity...

After filling our tummies with hot dogs, we headed downtown to World of Coca-Cola for a tour. This was the first time for all of us to go. The tour was great! We learned about the bottling process, saw some Coca-Cola art and even did some taste-testing.

We even convinced the boys to take a group picture with the Coca-Cola polar bear. This thing was so creepy but I'm pretty sure this is my favorite picture of the weekend!

If you are ever in Italy, I highly recommend that you do not order Beverly at a restaurant. Not the greatest beverage to come out of the Coca-Cola franchise. 

Next on our list was the Georgia Aquarium. Ivy used some fabulous grad school connections and was able to get us a free backstage tour of the aquarium. We were able to see so many hidden areas and learned a lot about the aquarium.

Looking out over the beluga whale tank

We thought it would be fun to make dinner together and prepared quite the feast after our fun day. I didn't get a picture of the whole set-up, but here is my plate filled with deliciousness. The boys grilled steaks while the ladies made twice-baked potatoes and asparagus. 

And we followed dinner with a few rounds of Buzz Words, boys vs. girls style. I'll let the score card speak for itself...

Sunday was a wonderful, lazy day at the apartment. 

Ivy and I had some homework to do (while snacking on a failed attempt at homemade queso) and the boys spent some time talking about math or science or maybe computers. I can't remember... Ivy and I were too engrossed with the queso to really pay attention. 

Kyle had an intramural basketball game Sunday night so we all headed over to campus to cheer him on. Ivy is the greatest intramural-watching buddy ever. We kept ourselves entertained with coffee and court-side manicures.  

After the game we got dressed up and went on a Valentine's double date at a great restaurant in our neighborhood.

And as if their presence wasn't enough, they brought me a set of these adorable Valentine's coffee mugs that I had been tempted to buy! So thoughtful and sweet.

Troy made a great toast before dinner one night "to friends who are more like family" and it perfectly sums up how much we love these two. Sounds cheesy, but it is completely true. I am so thankful that Troy and Kyle have remained such wonderful friends over the years. I am also thankful that not only do he and I get along great, but he married a girl that I absolutely love spending time with. I can't tell you all how many conversations we had that weekend about trips we hope to take together in the future and things we want to do as our two families grow. What is even more fun that talking about those hypotheticals is that I know they'll all come true. I see many years ahead for the Krueger-Ruths duo!

change of plans.

Earlier this week, Kyle and I made plans to drive back to Georgia on Wednesday. 

That turned into Thursday. Which turned into Saturday. And then Friday. 

I made reservations to have our last family (his and mine) dinner  on our last night (Thursday).

Until Kyle got a Friday afternoon dentist appointment and our plans went back to Saturday. 

So dinner changed to Friday at 7. And this morning, changed again to Friday at 6. 

I am a girl who likes a plan and ours have changed back and forth so many times that I've almost forgotten what day it is today. Tomorrow is the day, though. There is a chance of snow for Sunday in Atlanta and we want no part of driving in that!

Think of us tomorrow while you are all enjoying lazy, relaxing Saturdays. By the time you all wake up we hope to be in Louisiana and a few hours into our twelve hour trip. We're also expecting rain while we pass through a few states so hopefully that won't slow us down too much.

On that note, I think I'm done talking about leaving. We've been in Texas since December 13... almost a month! Let's just say that tomorrow is probably not going to be pretty for me. 

Off to load a month's worth of clothes and toiletries, plus all of our Christmas presents into the car. This will almost certainly be an interesting endeavor!

road rules.

I have never been a huge fan of long car trips. When Kyle and I drove my car to Atlanta to move me in, I swore that the next time I made the drive between Texas and Atlanta it would be to move back to Texas. 

Little did I know that we would find a 50 pound furry friend in Atlanta and bringing him into our family would been LOTS of drives to Texas. Since adopting Tucker in January we have made that long drive many times. I still wouldn't say that I love spending 12-13 hours in the car, but we've learned how to make the experience enjoyable for everyone. 

In case you and your loved ones will be traveling via automobile this holiday season, here are the Krueger's tips to a tolerable happy car trip!

• Pack a big variety of snacks. We try to avoid picking up lots of fast food on the way (for money, time and because fast food doesn't really fill you up with car trip energy) so we pack lots of treats. We also make sure to have a variety of sweet and salty things to satisfy any craving. For this trip we're taking grapes, homemade cookies, sandwiches (two each), chex mix, mixed nuts, Pringles, fun size Twix bars (these are for times when the drive is really getting long!) and some drinks. 
• Wear comfy clothing. My goal is to be dressed in something as close to pajamas as possible. 
• Bring a pillow because if you're like me, you will fall asleep. It's nice to have something fluffy to snuggle. (it will also keep you warm when your husband tries to freeze you out)
• Bathroom breaks are NO JOKE in our family. We try hard to have them line up with when we need gas...two birds, one stone! We have these bad boys down to a science. It's important that these stops are fast because they help us with the ultimate goal (more on that later) Here's how it works for us:

1. Kyle starts pumping gas while I put Tucker on his leash.

2. I pass Tucker off to Kyle. While I go into the fine gas station restroom, Kyle takes Tucker to potty and fills up his portable bowl with water. 

3. When I return from the restroom, I let Tucker finish getting a drink and I finish pumping the gas. This is when Kyle gets a chance to visit the luxurious facilities. 

4. As soon as I see Kyle coming out of the building, Tucker's water bowl is emptied and I load him back into the car. 

5. We hit the road again!

We must look hysterical during all of this. We know the routine without saying a word to each other and move as quickly as possible. We are roadtrip robots.

• I have two words for you: Mad Libs. That's right, the fun word games you played in the fourth grade are perfect for those moments when the car ride seems like it just won't end. My dad bought us a slew of Mad Libs books before that first car trip and they have come in very handy. Kyle always rolls his eyes when I pull them out of the glove box but they have us laughing within five minutes of starting. 
• The driver has control over the music and thermostat. They may relinquish control if they are feeling generous, but the driver is the boss. Period.
• Know what music perks you up. I know that when Kyle starts looking a little too sleepy, it's time for us to listen to the Phantom of the Opera soundtrack. I then yell at Kyle until he starts to sing... wakes him right up! My music of choice is the Wicked soundtrack. If that fails, I turn to my boy Ursher. Yep... some good ol' club music is always a success.
• Dramamine. The Simar girls have always been prone to car sickness so I take Dramamine before every trip.

The most important thing to remember if you are traveling in the car with Kyle and me is the ultimate goal:

GET TO TEXAS FASTER THAN THE GARMIN SAYS YOU WILL

Y'all, this is NO JOKE with us. When we first get into the car and set our destination on the Garmin, we make note of what time it thinks we will arrive home. We spend the next 12 hours trying as hard as we possibly can to beat.that.time.

You should hear us when we get back in the car after a restroom/gas stop. We complain that we wasted too much time because we (I) decided to buy a fountain drink or cheer because OHMYGOSH we didn't lose any minutes! We take incredible pride in beating the Garmin. It's pathetic, but it passes the time and hey, it's good to have goals, right?? On one trip back to Georgia, the power cord for the Garmin went missing. We were miserable, not because we didn't have a map to guide our way... because we had lost our game. How were we going to beat the Garmin when we couldn't turn the Garmin on?? And don't even get us started on the two times we got stuck in traffic at the end of our trip... once in Beaumont and another time on the outskirts of Houston. It was killer to watch the minutes tick away and see the Garmin beat us.... shameful!

In all honesty, the drive to Texas is usually pretty fun. We are always so excited to go home and filled with energy and anxiousness to be with family, we're like kids on Christmas morning! The drive back to Georgia, however, is usually a little less fun. That end of the trip also typically involves one of us crying until at least the Texas state line (I'll let you decide which one)

Here's to safe travels and twelve hours of glorious togetherness for the three of us! 

thursday night thoughts.

Happy Thursday evening, dear readers!

I haven't updated lately because not a whole lot has been happening in our little world. Kyle has been busy with school and prepping for finals and I've been playing Santa Claus-choosing gifts, buying gifts, wrapping gifts-and taking care of the little puppy dog. And we've been packing like mad people all day long because...

WE'RE GOING TO TEXAS TOMORROW!!

Let's rewind a bit though. Before today hit and we went into mega-packing, mega-studying mode, we had a very exciting day with Tucker. If you've been keeping track, you may recall that Tucker's stitches were schedule to be removed on December 15. All went well yesterday and we are happy to report that Tucker is now free from his plastic cone and his itchy stitches. 

I haven't taken any better pictures of him yet so this one from my phone will have to do for now. We're a little too busy for a photo shoot!

Yes, the seatbelt hooks through his harness. When we let him roam free there is only one place he wants to be... sitting in the lap of the driver. We know it seems silly but he weighs 50 pounds and the driver's seat is just not the safest place for him to be!

We also got the results back from his biopsy. We were hoping that they would give us a really clear indication as to why all of this happened, but we didn't really gain much information at all. We are now giving him an eye drop each night as a precaution. This will help prevent glaucoma (which could have caused everything to begin with) and will also help shrink the size of his pupil. The ophthalmologist seems to think that the large size of his pupil (along with a slew of other things) may have made it easy for his lens to move out of place. I know, very confusing! We just started the drops yesterday and have already seen a difference in pupil size. He'll have his eye pressure checked again by his ophthalmologist in January and based on those results we'll decide if we need to adjust the dosage for his drops.

His surgery site looks incredible! He has healed really well and looks great. His spirits are back to what they used to be and I know he is so much more comfortable now than he has been for the last two weeks. There are still moments when I look at him and feel so, so sad for everything that he has gone through, but I think I'll always feel that way to some degree. For now though, we are beyond thankful that he is home and seems to be doing wonderfully. We've been giving him oodles of hugs over the last few days and can't stop talking about how great he looks.

Now for a few little randoms to wrap things up:

• Kyle took his first final this morning and thinks that it went really well. He is finishing up a take-home final right now and will put this semester behind him after he turns it in tomorrow!
• It has been FREEZING cold here. Literally, freezing. We had snow on Sunday and ice last night. We are very out of our element in this chilly weather. 
• I am officially registered for classes for next semester! I will be taking 9 hours and am bursting with excitement. I cannot wait to get started!
• Last week I finished reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.... ohmygosh it was amazing! I am about 200 pages into the second book and am loving it as well. 
• I am forcing Kyle to read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo on the drive home tomorrow. I hope he loves it.
• I think that I have somehow managed to pack for three weeks in Texas. This is an accomplishment because I have no idea what I will be doing every day of this trip. It is also an enormous challenge because the temperatures are likely to range from 40 degrees to 95. 
• This is the result of today's packing: 

Y'all, that isn't even all of it. See the red duffle... it is filled with shoes (not all mine) and the small rolling suitcase has Christmas presents in it. I still have one more small black suitcase with a random assortment of things that I decided I absolutely must have while we're in Texas. Fitting all of this and Tucker's kennel in the car will prove to be a challenge.

I have managed to ramble on about nothing for long enough, congratulations if you made it to the end of this post! I am off to finish up the last bit of laundry, dishes and packing before calling it a night!

swEll Paso

Friday after Thanksgiving we headed back to the airport with my parents and took off for El Paso. Jason's parents wanted to host a post-wedding party for Jenn and Jason in their hometown. 

I just about fell over laughing at Jenn's proper El Paso welcome at the airport...

She found that little gem of a sombrero in the Schwartzes costume box. HILARIOUS!

Jason wanted to show us some of the El Paso sights so our first stop was the famous Lucchesse boot store. We wasted no time in getting some gorgeous Lucchese boots on our feet!

My new boots!

There were so many amazing, intricate designs on the boots. And there were LOTS of boots...

Kyle wasn't interested in any boots (or shopping in general) so he guarded my Sonic drink and my boots while I helped the rest of the fam. Such a trooper!

 And before we had even been in town for two hours, the Simar four had brand new Lucchese boots to take home. We don't waste any time!

Jason took us on a little driving tour of town after our boot shopping extravaganza. We drove to a great lookout where we could see the Texas/Mexico border. If I'm remembering correctly (which I am probably not) the two parallel lines of white lights mark the border. 

 Jason's parents had us all over for dinner on Friday night. I didn't take any pictures but we had a fantastic time getting enjoying some AMAZING El Paso cuisine and getting to know Jason's family. 

We continued our tour on Saturday and headed to Las Cruces in New Mexico. 

Mom outside the book store in the town square.

What trip to the book store would be complete without digging up some family history?? Jason found a picture of his great great grandfather, Adolf Schwartz, in this book. Great Great Grandfather Schwartz founded The Popular in El Paso. 

Las Cruces was the place to be on Saturday... we ran into some friends after our visit to the book store.

The real reason we headed to Las Cruces was so that we could eat lunch at the famous La Posta de Mesilla restaurant. If you ever find yourself wandering around Las Cruces and craving delicious queso and fajitas... I highly recommend La Posta!

After lunch it was time to head back to El Paso and get ready for the main event... Jennifer and Jason's party!

The party was at the Schwartzes country club and included delicious food, beautiful decorations and a FANTASTIC mariachi band!

It's not an El Paso party unless there is a mariachi band...

and of course the guests of honor enjoyed a lovely serenade.

The Simar + Schwartz gang

On Sunday we had brunch with Jason's parents, brother and grandparents at Ardovino's Desert Crossing in New Mexico. 

I am so happy that we were able to make the trip to El Paso! It made for a jam-packed and exhausting few days of travel but it was more than worth it. We've heard so much about Jason's hometown and loved having him show us around. His parents were fabulous hosts and we had a wonderful time spending the weekend with the family.