Austin

Peter and I traveled to Austin this weekend for his brother Kelly’s wedding. We both took Friday off. I love Friday’s, especially when Peter is off too! We woke up around 8 and decided we needed to exercise. There is a park near our apartment with several walking trails. I was especially excited about seeing all of the dogs. It was overcast outside and so it was our run was very pleasant. We ran by the man-made mini lakes and basically were in the backyards of many of the park neighbors. We ran a good 2 miles. It felt so good! Then we went back to the apartment. Peter cooked us a hearty breakfast consisting of bacon, eggs and toast. I made some coffee. It was delicious! There is something about working out and then drinking coffee! It is so relaxing. A quick story about the eggs Peter made. I guess he was trying to be creative or something, but he decide to put cinnamon and garlic salt and pepper in the eggs. I smelt the aroma immediately and was not impressed. Hahaha. It stunk! We joked about it and I still ate it! We did some packing, showered, and were off to Austin by 11:30am. The drive is so easy from Dallas to Austin. I don’t know why we don’t go more often. We stayed with Matthew and Laura and Baby C. We didn’t get to see them much, but when we did, it was such a sweet time. We got to their house and quickly changed clothes. We didn’t want to be in the Austin traffic! So, went to the hotel where the majority of the Abrigg family was staying. It’s always good to see the nieces and nephews. They love their Uncle Peter! This particular trip, Henslee, our niece to a liking to me! She is 2 and a half! I was very excited that she wanted to be with her aunt Molly. Henslee is expecting a sister in early August! I am pumped about this!
The whole gang traveled over to Kelly’s house where we were to have dinner with Audrey’s family. We had some incredible pizza and wine. I held Audrey’s 4 month old nephew most of the time.  I know I know….I’m a sucker for holding babies!
We were beat around 9:30 so we decided to head back to Laura and Matthew’s. I fell asleep on the couch watching Friends. They woke up around 12 just in time to hit the hay!
Saturday morning was also a very relaxing morning for Peter and I. We woke up at 8 again and decided to exercise AGAIN! Who are we? We went into downtown Austin and ran a trail around Town Lake. It was beautiful and packed with other exercisers. hahah.
We ate some Einstein’s bagels afterward. Something happened to my knee during out exercise. I guess I am having issues again, but it was terribly painful to walk down stairs. Weird. I took some Advil and we were on our way. We found some of Peter’s family at the Children’s Museum of Austin while were downtown. We were of course to cool to pay to get it in. So, we walked around downtown. Around 1ish we headed to the outlet malls in Round Rock. I got a skirt for 15 dollars and Peter got some pants for 20. We were proud. Boy was I tired! But, no rest for the weary! We quickly showered back at the house and got ready for the wedding. The wedding was at Mayfield Gardens (see pictures). It was beautiful. There were several peacocks everywhere who decided to talk to us the whole time! It was crazy! Audrey was beautiful and Kelly was crying. It was the most precious sight ever! We met some very interesting Austinites. ;) Most of them were pretty drunk which made the evening even more interesting. I myself had to much wine, which made me just want to lay my head on the table and to go sleep. Of course there are no pictures on my camera of Peter and I together, so I will ask Peter’s dad for some. I know he took several.  Here are a few more from the wedding.
Sunday morning we got up early again and met Peter’s family for brunch at 10. We went to Z Tejas on 6th street in Austin. What a great restaurant. Around noon we headed back to Dallas. Overall, we had a great trip! It’s always good to get away. We finished off the weekend with church and dinner with Rachel, Craig, Natasha, Thomas, Dave and his new girlfriend of which I cannot remember her name! SHOOOT!. I love my friends.

I had the pleasure of spending the day at the hospital for the birth of Quinn Davis Poe!! He was born at 2:52pm and weighed 7lbs 15oz and was 19 inches long! He is beautiful! See pics below! Brittney did an incredible job!!! Babies, babies and more babies!!! AHHHH!!!!


Quinn Davis Poe! He opened his eyes for me!! So pretty. This picture does nont do him justice!

PEACOCKS!!! They were so loud, but so pretty!!!!

Gaige and Henslee and Ashlee....before the wedding

Audrey and Kelly.....

Audrey and Kellyl and some of the wedding party. The girl's dress on the far right was my favorite!

My hottt husband! Isn't he sweet!


I'm a dork....thanks Leigh Ann for letting me borrow your dress. It's at the cleaners before I hand it back over! boobhoooo. Henslee told me I was wearing a pretty bra.

Give away boxes and recipe with Audrey and Kelly's pic on the front.

Peter climbing a tree trying to get the lights down. Seems about right that he was climbing a tree. :)

Peter with Peyton's security blanket, or pig for that matter.

Me in mid sentence.....dork again. Peter says it looks like I'm sneezing. By the way, I passed the questions at the allergist today. I'm getting tested for allergies some time in the next few weeks. I guess that means I'm getting stuck. WOOHOO!

I don't really to many exciting things to share as of late.

Friday night we had Rachel and Craig over for dinner. I served pot roast, mashed potatoes, cream cheese corn, green beans and sister schubert dinner rolls. (side note: if you have never tried sister schubert, you should. she is amazing. you can find her in the frozen foods section usually by the waffles and such.)
We had strawberry shortcake for dinner. I was going to cook the real homeade shortcake, but ran out of time and energy, so angel food cake did the trick. Good thing it was fat-free huh. :)

Saturday Peter took a 4 hour nap and I was at church from 3-8:30. What a powerful sermon. I tell you, I've been on my knees daily. The Lord is teaching me alot how to intercede for people through prayer. He has taught me how to really hurt over my sin! Needless to say, my heart broke for myself and others alot this weekend.

Sunday afternoon Peter and I went to the Southlake Town Center to meet his sister and her family. I can't go there anymore. There are too many stores that I would lik to buy things in. Ughghg...so, I shopped vicariously through Ashlee picking out stuff for her soon to be 2 girls. ;) Her little girl Henslee and I played alot while mom shopped. Henslee is going to have a baby sister soon. Her name is going to be Layla Grace Owene Hickman. Beautiful I think.

Hopefully today Peter and I will finish our taxes. That will be exciting! :) Right. But, of course it will be exciting when we get our refund checks!!!

Friday we head to Peter's brother's wedding in Austin! It will be a fun time with family. We get to stay with Laura and Matthew although we probably won't see them much! That will stink.

I went and visited my friend Christine today at the hospital. You can read her blog at christinepinson.blogspot.com.
You can click on her mom's blog from her page to read a more recent update.
She has had alot of unfortunate health issues as of late. She is 20 weeks along with her second child. She has been pretty sick most of the time, and in and out of the hospital 3 different times. When she is home, she has a home health nurse. She has a pic line that she inserts phinergran and other nausea medicine. When she starts vomiting she can't stop which leads to a long hospital stay to keep her fed and hydrated for the baby's sake. It has a very strong heartbeat right now.
Regardless, she is in alot of pain and is just very sick. Pray that the rest of the pregnancy is effortless. My heart hurts for her.
We had a good time chit chatting....I love Christine.

Well, I have nothing else ot importance to say. See you next week.

This Weekend

Peter and I decided it would be fun to go to the Ft. Worth Zoo this past weekend followed by a trip to Joe T. Garcia's for a late lunch/early dinner!
The zoo was packed! We had to park on the grass, which might have been the culprit for my horrible allergy attack I would have IN the zoo later on! We paid our normal 11 dollars a piece and were on our marry way.
The first thing we saw was this......

The sweet little monkey's. I couldn't get very good pictures but here some that I did get!




I don't know if you can tell but.....this baby is nursing on it's momma's very saggy breast. It was pretty funny watching! I guess he kept biting it's momma and she would pop him on the head! It was hilarious! I couldn't get a good picture of the father, but he was H U G E!!!!!!! It almost scared me.


Here's the best picture I could get of the dad....take a gander!!!


Peter staring at the huge gorilla!! He was pretty enthrolled!


Here we are enjoying the day!! I hate asking people to take pictures for us, so we just did it ourselves!


This monkey had a colorful bottom! How weird is that!!?!??


Elephants....


Lions!


TIGERS!!

BEARS...I mean sleeping bears...oh my!

Peter...enjoying his pickle...meanwhile I'm sneezing my HEAD OFF!!!!!!!


We saw several other animals, but of course I won't bore you with ALL of them! We left and headed to Walgreens so that I could take these.....

Benadryl Allergy Strips!!!

THey didn't kick in as quickly as I would have liked...so I decided to take 2, even though I knew it would knock me out quicker than you can imagine. I enjoyed my Joe T's and quickly started fading. We got in the car about 4:30ish and I was OUT like a light. Peter had to wake me up when we got back to Lewisville. I staggered up the stairs and got straight into bed. I woke up at 8 because my phone was ringing, and then quickly fell back asleep until 8 Sunday morning! This is the 3rd time that this has happened in a few months so yesterday I decided to call the allergist! I am going to fight!!! So, on March 27th, I will hopefully be tested and be given some sort of weekly shot!

Sunday morning we experienced this after church!

Peter and I shared these pancakes. On the menu they were called "A Short Stack," but in person, Holy Cow!!!!! I think everyone needs to stop by Ham N' Eggs on 3040 in Lewisville. The biscuits are actually the size of my head! Some of the boys at the table were spouting off probable bra sizes that the biscuits could have fit in....funny.

So, that was our weekend. I'm on Spring Break right now from subbing. I'm also looking for a more permanent job, so if anyone has any ideas feel free to send them my way!!

Glad this week is over....

Well, I had an extremely busy week!!! It was an extremely emotionally, physically, spiritually and mentally tiring week! I can say that for sure! Last weekend I led worship with Michael at all 6 services. That in itself can wear one out! Then Monday, I had a horrible allergy attack. So, my day was spent full of Benadryl. That evening I went to the first of 4 days of tryouts at church. I was there 4 and half hours that night. Tuesday, I substitute taught and then had tryouts that evening from 5 until 10:30pm. Peter was asleep both Monday and Tuesday night when I got home. Wednesday morning Peter left for Houston for a conference. I could barely look at him because I knew I wouldn't see him again until Saturday evening. I cried. I know I know...pathetic, but it was our first time apart. I was sad all stinking day long! Wednesday I subbed again and then had auditions for 2 hours. Not so bad. I went home at around 8 and decided to start packing for my trip to Abilene. I went to bed around 10. Well, I tried to go to bed....I sat trying to sleep for several hours, but thanks to my neighbors it was impossible. I have no idea what they were doing, but I called security. Thankfully around 1:30am it stopped. I had to get up at 7 in order get my stuff together and be at church around 8:30am. I left church at 1 and drove straight to Abilene. Here's what I did in Abilene.......


Chopped my hair off. 5.5 inches to be exact. :) I didn't get a before and after picture although I should have.


My hair in December. It was pretty long!!!



Brittney Poe and Baby Quinn's baby shower. I actually look pregnant myself bending over like that. I'm not. Hhaha..




Thompson, Sarah, Brittney and me with my sassy new cut. :) This is my mom's dining room. She worked her hiney off getting the house cleaned for the shower.



A new tradition that we started. We have an old tradition with each one of our weddings, and now we're starting a new one with pregnant tummies. :) The pregnant one of course stands in front.



Our hard work. This is a plaque that Sarah purchased for Brittney. We used it as our theme. We did kind of an antique them. We used black, white and blues. We used toile napkins but you can't see them. I didn't really take a picture of the whole table. I got really artsy fartsy with my camera I guess.



And this is Audrey....my soon to be sister-in-law. She is marrying Peter's brother Kelly on March 24th in Austin. We had a surprise brunch this morning over at Peter's Aunt and Uncle's house. It was a garden theme. They have an incredible backyard with lots of plants. So, on their registry, there were lots of plants. :) I opted for Fiesta Ware. It seemed to be the safest.

I'm glad the week is over. I'm nursing Peter back to health right now. He's running a fever and has a sore throat. Not very exciting after being away from him for almost a week. I made tortilla soup tonight and now we are watching Babel...so far a really cool movie. We watched "The Great Raid" earlier today. It was cool too......
Peter HAS to get well, because we have tickets to see Justin Timberlake in concert tomorrow night. Don't judge us. :)

Date Night....

Peter and I decided to go on a "date night" on Friday night. We hadn't been on one of those in a while. We always seem to be hanging out with other people on the weekends. Which is great too! We went to Cantina Laredo for some good Margaritas and chips and hot sauce...oh and not to forget the guacamole. After that we went to Pet Land to visit the puppies. :) I just needed to get a puppy fix even though they weren't very cute. We were hoping for a lab or something of the sort, but no such luck. Instead, we picked these two to love on.
Here's my flowers still in bloom from Valentine's Day.
This is called a Shi-poo? Beats me, but she was really really sweet. I think it was a she? I can't remember...."It" was very upset when we had to put her up. She gave us a pretty sad face.

I'm not afraid to give a puppy a kiss!




This dog bit on me several times. At one point I was standing on the bench trying to get away from it. SHe still found my ankles!
Peter playing with the MEAN Wheatland Terrior.


All in all it was a good date night. We came back home and watched some episodes of Grey's Anatomy. We've been through the 1st and 2nd season this month. Peter finished up the second season this weekend. He said he would watch the 3rd when it came out. :) We have to return the 2nd to our friends from small group. If Peter knew I was telling everyone he watched Grey's he'd probably be embarrassed. HHhaha

I had an extremely busy weekend. I sang all 6 services. Usually we leave after each one, but we had an amazing weekend of Celebration and Communion which caused the worship team to stay the whole time at all 6 services. Made for a tiring weekend. Peter worked on Saturday and then came to church during the 5 with my sister and her boyfriend Daniel. We went to Parma Italian Restaurant for dinner! It was yummy! I was asleep by 10 something on Saturday night as well! :) I'm getting old. Then I made Snickerdoodles yesterday afternoon and took a nap. Peter went to the movies by himself last night. He's confident like that. I was at church otherwise I would have gone with him. Then I tried to watch the Grammy's but the 2 Benadryl Allergy pills I took wouldn't let me. Peter had to literally drag me to the bathroom from the couch to change clothes and brush my teeth. He laughed at me because I was drunk on meds.

So, it's Monday and No I'm not subbing! I subbed everyday last week. I was proud of myself. I had every intention of subbing today but was still drunk on meds...still kind of am at noon. hhaah, maybe I should just take 1 next time. But, I will be subbing Tuesday and Wednesday and a half day on Thursday. I'm headed to Abilene to get my haircut and to host a shower for my sweet friend Brittney and Baby Quinn. :) Peter will also be leaving town on Wednesday returning on Friday night. So, I won't see him basically all week. Tonight and tomorrow night we have worship team auditions from 5-9. It'll but a crazy week. It will also be the first time PEter and I will be away from each other. Everyone always makes a big deal about that. But, I think I can handle it, considering I'll be at my parents. I'm sure I'll have a few dogs to keep me company.
When I return on Saturday evening, Peter's whole family will be in town. So, the rest of the weekend will be spent showering Audrey, our soon to be sister-in-law. She's marrying Peter's brother at the end of March.
Then, next Monday night, PEter and I are going to see Justin Timberlake. Don't judge! :) We have nose bleed seats, but it'll be fun to watch him in action bringing Sexy Back. :)

Okay, well this is too long. So, bye for now.
Happy Monday!

Pictures

If you are bored today and want to see our "pre-ceremony" pics...they are up on Mallory's new website. For those of you who were at the wedding, her website has changed. Sorry. :) The rest are not finished. Enjoy these! :)

Directions:
www.mallorykriegerphotography.com
Click on the High-Speed flash picture...that's the picture on the left out of the 3 pictures on the home page. Then click on Clients at the bottom of the screen. After that, type in Abriggpreceremony as is. First letter has to be capitalized.

I realized that I have bags under my eyes while looking at these pics. Probably because I didn't sleep the night before huh. :)

Well, back to school I go. I'm on my lunch break right now. Too many breaks in one day I'll say. :)

And, by the way, 8,000 women in my life are pregnant! It's hilarious.

Let me just count:
Macy
Cassy
Brianna
Brittney
Laura
Andrea..not Schultz..another Andrea
Heidi
Andrea..Whiteside
Laura DeSpain
Julie...we'll count her twice since she's having twin girls! :)

I can't remember anymore...but isn't that enough! :)

OH yea, weddings too....I have 3 4 weddings in the next 4 months. I started the getting married bit...although some were engaged before me..and still are..we decided to break the trend of a long engagment. :) hahaha....

I am going to take pics of Peter at his soccer game tonight so ya'll can see him in action...

Bye for now! :)
Oh and, I hate the new google sign in! Did you see the pics in the last post with all the mumbo jumbo! Ticks me off! :)

"Sparks" were flying on Valentine's Day!!!!

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It started off with a beautiful candlelight dinner at our apartment with Thomas, Natasha, Rachel and Craig. I went to the Dollar Store and bought some decorations and we ordered in Parma Italian Restaurant! YUM!


href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg72zMtUBCY5v-nTrVkK1MgY0ERZcV4bRaGzBfdbiG8SknrxcLhVvKQd7ilNCUFGgFqe3CSXR-yZ8H3EvebMZyFUOoaPbToDFz-LSQCDDZ8cy_DHmtl-f2TbtSktkXsbpMavWTtew/s1600-h/Valentine's+Day+002.jpg">Peter got me these beautiful flowers for Valentine's Day. Little did I know that he hates the small of Star-Gazer Lilies. Bu...aren't they beautiful?!??!!


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We framed funny pictures of the boys and sat them in front of their plate. That was Natasha's idea. This whole thing was supposed to be a surprise.

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THen........the unthinkable happened. Peter's gift for Valentine's Day was an awesome pear/apple/cranberry crisp. Might I mention it took forever for me to cut up the apples and pears. I even cut my fingers twice! They are still tender today. Anyways, that's neither here nor there. Ummm...anyways, well, as you can see from the before pics, our "dining room" is quite small. So, of course I was sitting opposite of the oven. So, sweet Peter kept checking on it after an hour and 15 minutes of cooking. It still wasn't brown on top. Well, sweet Peter decided it would be a good idea to put it on broil without telling me. And, well, he forgot about it. And, well, as you can see, it caught on fire. I didn't get pics of that, unfortunately. But here is the dessert sitting on the back porch.


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Here is Rachel bundled up because well, we had to open both the front and back doors to make the smoke alarm stop sounding. The whole apartment was full of smoke. :)



You can actually see the smoke in this picture. Natasha and Craig are warming up by the stove. :)


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Sweet Peter took the crazy burnt crips off the top. Thomas was having him a little snack. :)


Thomas and Nut being cute.


Craig and Rach being cute. :)

Well.......it seems as if Peter and I didn't get a picture with each other for Valentine's Day. We were too busy..

I hope all of oyou had a wonderful Valentine's Day! :)

Wolf Creek and a much needed Vacash!

I'm exhausted!!! Me taking a nap on the picnic bench.
I'm not very fashionable...but I'm warm! Peter on the other hand!
Our ski buddies and new friends Kara and Steve Shanks.
Paul and Kelly's heads. More pictures of them to come.
On the way to the slopes

Well, we had a great time in the mountains! Spending 2 days driving there and back in the car was a beating but we made some great friends! We went with several couples young and old from Denton Bible. It was definitely a "skier's trip" meaning all ski, NO SLEEP! Literally, I have NEVER been so tired at the end of the day. I had a little bout of altitude sickness the whole time I was there. But, it didn't stop me from skiing 3 days in a row! we were the first on the mountain and the last to leave everyday! Hilarious... As you can see, I was all about being warm. Thankfully, it wasn't too chilly at all! The sun was out the majority of the time that we were there. Yesterday when we left...at 5 am...6 am Texas time, there was a huge snow storm goin on! We lost a little time. I woke up long enough to go to the bathroom behind a post office with a rabbit watching near by. TMI for everyone I know! :)
Here's a few pics from the trip. The "cool" pics were taken by another couple on the trip. I'll post some of those next week! I was caught "in action" several times jumping or falling. Take your pic!!

Ashley, we had your husband over for dinner tonight. We missed you! I cooked him a healthy dinner of salmon, asparagus, corn on the cob, rice and salad. :) I was sad not to see you guys!

I subbed for an art class today. Needless to say, I was so stinking bored! I was glad to get out though this morning.

I've realized today that I am over-commited in my "bible-studies." Thankfully, I have time to do them all...I'm just nervous I'm not going to get alot out of some of them due to the intensity of others. I'm in the process of going throug the 12 Steps to Recovery right now and it is the most intense of them all. I also started a Beth Moore study with my young married small group girls. We split up during small group time. Then, I'm studying a book for the worship team. Thankfully, the times we meet are spread out. Its the aforementioned book above. It's pretty intense. I just finished the Carolyn Mahaney book and now I started The Power of a Praying Wife. I bought it for $4 at Mardel's. Needless to say, I'm praying that I can take it all in....

I'm ready for another vacash. :)

2 things! :)

Well, we finally got a new truck last night. After 3 weeks of looking for a used, beat up one in our price range, we bought a new one last night. It's a black, 2007, Toyota Tundra. They just came out YESTERDAY. It was basically the LAST thing we were going to do, but we figured it was best to pay of my car so that we would only have one car payment. We're thankful, but we were very scared!!! It took us 6.5 hours at the dealership last night. I picked up Peter from work at 3:30pm, and off we went. That was probably the largest thing I have ever been involved in buying...or financing for that matter. It sure would have been nice to have been car payment, but I know that the Lord honored this decision.

So, anyways, after we got home, I was so tired, I feel asleep on the couch and woke up at 10 something and crawled in bed. I didn't get up until 9.

Today will be spent getting Peter and I ready for our ski trip. We leave at 5 in the morning!! I'm so excited to get away and hit the slopes! It will be so good for us! Now....spending 2 out of the 5 days in the car...ummm...not so much fun, but it'll hopefully be worth it!!

I'll for sure post pics of Peter's truck and our trip when we return!!

Until then, peace out.