Our Sweet Lil Family Newsletter

Back in December I decided I wanted to create a family newsletter for us.

After some online research, I've found that there are tons of different ways to do so.

I've read that you can have different family members write their own sections and compile it all into one big newsletter.

Since we both have family that live far away, not to mention the fact that mine is pretty freaking huge, I decided that ours would consist of just what we do and what happens in our lives.  We are both very family oriented, so of course our families are a big part of our newsletter lives, as they are on this blog.  Our kids animals are obviously a big part of our lives too, so undoubtedly they will make frequent appearances as well.

As for the layout itself, I found one in Microsoft Word that I thought would be perfect for us and seemed easy enough to use.  I am by no means a 'writer' and won't even pretend to act like I know what I'm doing.  I'll continue to play around with it as I'm sure it'll be something that's ever-changing!

I'm undecided what the frequency of "publication" will be.  I sent the 1st one to friends and family in December and the 2nd one at the beginning of the year.  The 3rd is written and ready to be sent out at the beginning of March.  I'm thinking for now they'll be sent bi-monthly.  We really aren't an exciting group of people, but we've got enough coming up in the next couple of months that there will be plenty to write about.

I've been asked why I've started a blog and a newsletter if most of the content from the newsletter can also be found on the blog.  Our sweet grandparents just aren't as hip to technology as we are and they have no intentions of getting email addresses, or computers for that matter!  So, I'll send theirs via snail mail until they tell me not to.  =)  Aside from that, I keep a printed copy of each one for us to save.  Even in a day and age where technology is a necessity, there's just something about seeing things in print.

Being newlyweds, I think it's going to be so awesome in a few years to be able to look back on our lives and see how everything changes and stays the same for that matter!

Pumpkin Spice Cookies - (Pinterest)

Last night I made a recipe I had found on Pinterest about a week ago.

You take the following two ingredients and mix.

Seriously, that's it!

Ok, and bake it.

But that's it!

The recipe actually came from the Runs For Cookies blog that I follow.

It's pumpkin.

It's awesome.

Annnnnnd they only have like 65 calories!

 Annie enjoyed helping with the dishes.  =) 

4-Wheelin' Fun!

We spent our Sunday afternoon on the 4-wheeler ridin' up and down the Pecos River.

Being out there is seriously our favorite thing to do, hands down!

It's so sad to see what the drought has done to this area, but it was nice to get out and at least do some target practice.

 Graham's BFF, Jamie also rode out there with us. 

    Graham has taught me how to shoot and we've had some of our best talks down there.  

We've made some of our biggest decisions to date on those dirt roads.

Miss Annie didn't get to go with us, but she jumped up on the 4-wheeler just long enough for me to snap this pic.  I love her!

We also found this lil fella running with his buddy.  They both had collars, but wouldn't come to us.  I knew they had to be someone's dogs so I posted this picture on Facebook.  Within minutes, one of my friends had found the owners and let them know that we had found their pooches.  About 30 minutes later, they met us at the river.  I was so relieved that we were able to get them back to the people that loved them.  I would hope that if something happened to our "babies" that we'd be lucky enough to have someone help us out as well.

Basketball 2013 - Ayanna (Texas Y'all Part 2)

Saturday, we all went to Ayanna's basketball tournament games.  I make it a point to go to at least one of her games every season since we live so far away. 

She's #11 and played for the Pink Loboettes.

After her games were over we went to Ohana's to fill our bellies.  It's what we do best!

After we got back to Kel's, Ayanna schooled us in some backyard B-ball.

Then, Ayanna spent some time pestering loving on the pooches before we had to head back home.

 

Texas Y'all

We spent the weekend in God's country. There's just something about being in the great state of Texas that brings me so much happiness.  I don't know if it's being able to see my family, eating at great restaurants, or getting to check out a good concert on any given weekend.  To me, Texas just represents freedom. I've never been anywhere else that has made me feel that way. I'd give anything to live there again. Hell who knows, it may just happen! =)

We spent Friday afternoon at my sister, Kelly's house in Levelland before we headed to Lubbock to do some shopping and more importantly, to eat.



I had bought tickets to see Wade Bowen for Graham at Christmas. We are both HUGE Texas Country music fans. Graham had seen him a few times before, but I hadn't. It was important to me for us to see him together since his song, "Perfect Silence" has been our song pretty much since we met. It was also our first dance song at our wedding back in October.

We met Kelly and her family at Rosa's to eat dinner before we headed to the concert. You just can't go wrong with their beef fajitas and carrot cake. YumFreakingYum!!!

After dinner, Graham and I headed on over to Wild West.  It was finally time to do some drinkin' and dancin'!  Wade Bowen was awesome and I'm so glad we were able to do it together.