Samantha & Stephen

We spent the week in South Dakota with Stephen's twin brother, his family, and Stephen's mom. The cool weather in South Dakota was a welcome relief from the oppresive heat we've been having in North Texas. We rented a cabin and did all the touristy things. We saw Mount Rushmore, went to the Badlands National Park, drove through Custer State Park, and saw some amazing landscapes. We got to spend time with our nieces ( ages 3,5, and 7) and it was fun to see them enjoy all that we did.

We were supposed to go to Israel in February with our church, but due to COVID, we didn't get to go. We still wanted to go on a trip, we decided on Disney World! We thought it would be fun to go as an adult, neither of us had been since we were younger. We were so excited, we started planning right away! Stephen, the resident "foodie" in the house, got to work on making our dinner reservations, and he chose amazing places! None of the food we had while we were there disappointed us! We also made our park reservations and added a day at Universal to see Harry Potter World. (I'm not a huge Harry Potter fan, but I wanted to see it all!) We started Disney at Magic Kingdom, we ended up in the park for over 12 hours, saw the most amazing fireworks show, and then went to dinner in Cinderella's castle for dinner! It was so so good. Our second day was Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom was definitely our favorite of the two. Hollywood Studios was very busy and the lines were soooo long! The third day was Epcot, we were so tired by that day, our feet were screaming, so we broke the day in half. We went and rode the rides we wanted to, then did half of the countries at Epcot and went back to our hotel and took a nap! We woke up refreshed and ready to go! We conquered the rest of the countries and had an amazing dinner of fish and chips at the cutest British pub! The last day, was Universal. The one thing that we agreed on was how amazingly inventive every part of each park is. The thought and work that goes into each aspect is just amazing. All things Harry Potter at Universal was just amazing! The rides were some of the best we've ridden! We had such a great time, and came home exhausted, but grateful to spend the week together acting like kids again! We bought the cutest onesie for our future child. I loved Winnie the Pooh growing up, so we had to get it! I can't wait for the day we put our sweet baby in this onesie! We also said multiple times how much fun it's going to be to bring our kids back to Disney one day!

Last weekend, we made a quick trip up to Southbend, Indiana. Stephen had some friends being ordained as priests and we were thankful to be able to make the trip up to celebrate and support them. We walked around Friday evening and let me just say, the campus is absolutely beautiful at night. Saturday we woke up and found a Starbucks (Stephen is a major coffee lover, and I'm learning), we then walked all around campus and he showed me around. It was so nice to see students using common areas to eat, study, and just be with each other. The ordination mass was one of my most beautiful services I've been a part of , it was very moving. We were lucky and scored an invite to dinner at the seminary and go to catch up with the new priests and their families. Our trip was super quick, but we made the best of every moment!

Stephen's mom, Virginia, or "Gigi" as she's known to her grandchildren came to town for her birthday! We had a wonderful week with her, ate a lot of really good food, multiple games of Tenzi and Bananagrams (we love playing games),and just spent great quality time together! We took her out for her birthday and then the next afternoon friends of ours threw her a little lunch party, with balloons and cake! To end the week with her, Stephen used his new pizza oven to make homemade pizzas!

It snowed significantly here in North Texas on Valentine's Day! We took a short walk to the lake by us to check it all out and let the pups play in the snow in the backyard, they loved it! We have been very fortunate to have power and water throughout the whole week (most in Texas were not as fortunate ) so we were able to enjoy the pretty scenery the snow brought to our neighborhood.

Growing up my mom and I made sugar cookies at Christmas. They were the best cookies! Everyone loves them and looks forward to them every year. I've been making them on my own for several years now, and find pretty much any excuse to make them. They are chewy, buttery, and just down right delicious! I made some for Stephen to take to work to spread a little cheer this past week. I just love the way the little hearts look covered in joyful sprinkles!

A couple of weekends ago, we decided to take a day trip to East Texas and do some exploring. We had no intentions of getting a puppy anytime soon, we lost our last Schnauzer two Christmases ago and had adjusted to a two dog household. We set eyes on this little guy and his littermates and our hearts melted! We each instantly connected with him and spent half a day trying to decide if we should get him. Spoiler alert, there was no question! His big dog brother, Canton, and his big dog sister, Millie, were both instantly in love and annoyed at the same time. They have all bonded and love playing for hours each day! His cat siblings are warming up to him as well! Schnitzel has been a wonderful addition to our family!