Olympic Bound!

This weekend we went ice skating with Justin and Jayna.
Oh my goodness- I haven't laughed so hard in a long time!

Chris had been ice skating in college, and I (Tif) had never been before. I think that we were both terrified of falling, but we didn't hit the ground once; that could have been because we didn't leave the side railing for the first 30 minuets! After a while, though, we were more comfortable and got a little more daring!

Here we are at Crown Center, in front of the Governor’s tree.














and here are Justin and Jayna...



















My spin move...



















Perfect 10! wait- or do they give 5's or 7's? Maybe we need to watch more ice skating...



















Chris will begin his finals this week, so while he was studying I decorated the house. We love all of the garland and lights- it just makes everything feel so cozy!































My favorite Christmas ornament...given to us by Nanny and Papaw- with a little help from Stef! I can't believe that it was '04....















You know that it is Christmas when Beethoven has his Santa hat on...




















and finally- the puppies. They are getting pretty good at this whole picture thing!




















Merry Christmas!

our love,
chris and tif

Thanksgiving!

We hope that everyone had a wonderful and relaxing Thanksgiving!
Here are a few pics from our weekend...

The family at Nanny's house.















Papaw Britten and Papaw Campbell visiting...

















We had so much food that even the puppies were passed out!
This is our cousin Lori's pup, Popeye. He is so cute!
















I think that every time we come home we will be making it a tradition to go to 'Country Pride' to get some enchiladas. Luckily, dad (Nelson) ordered us some frozen and we got to bring them with us to Kansas- along with some Polish sausage!

Here we are with Chris's grandparents, Chris's mom and dad, and Tif's mom and dad- Lynsey is taking the picture!

















Here she is...she is part of the family too!
















The puppies are starting to adapt to the traveling way of life now. They can now eat out of spoons and drink out of water bottles...I know, I know, we are just making them more inclined to think of themselves as human!

What's wrong with picture 2?

Well, the transformation is complete. Chris is finally a Kansan. Tif is married to a "foreigner"! Oh well, I still bleed Texan! But this does mean a huge difference in tuition.

Weekend Home

Last Friday we jumped in the car at 2:30pm and made our way home for the first time in about 4 months! Despite what some might think, the 9 hour drive went by quickly. It was so nice to be able to talk to each other again with out the TV or cell phones getting in the way! We didn't even have the radio on for half of the trip...we had a lot of catching up to do.

This trip home couldn't have come at a better time. Chris just finished his midterms (which he did wonderfully on, by the way) and Tif had some comp time to use up. We decided to come home because it was Chris's dad, Richard's (AKA D2) 60th birthday. It happen that it was also the White Deer Polish Sausage Supper as well- extra bonus!

We arrived in White Deer around midnight, and Teresa (Tif's mom) was waiting up for the grand-dogs. They love their MeMawMaw. Grandpaw was asleep because he had to get up and go to work early Saturday morning, so the puppies were sure to go say goodnight before they went to bed.
We all (us and the dogs) got to sleep in till around 9:00 and then we went out to 'help' at the feed store. Basically, Tif sweeps the floor and scrubs the toilets and Chris gets taken out for a good lunch! We went to Dyers in Pampa, and let me tell you- we can't find any better BBQ in Kansas! We both ate a ton!
Then we went home, and wanted a nap, but instead went to the Arts and Crafts show in town that weekend. After the craft show, we jumped in the shower and hurried to make our surprise visit to Richard's birthday bash at the Amarillo Club.


Tim, Chris's brother is a member at the club and made the reservations for our family. It is on the 31st floor of the Chase Building in Amarillo. We had a wonderful dinner and we even got some use out of those dance classes that we took last spring!

Here are some pics....
















The birthday boy, his lovely wife and one very lucky girl's husband!
















Our table of 13...















Chris's brother, Derek, and his adorable son, Hudson, hitting the dance floor.




















Chris's other brother, Tim, getting down with two of his three beautiful daughters, Morgan and Addy.
















Now we are just waiting to come home again in a couple of weeks for Thanksgiving!

Happy Halloween!

This weekend we had so much fun getting into the 'spirit' of Halloween.

Friday night we and our friends, Justin and Jayna, went to a silent film fest in Grace Cathedral here in town. An organist in the cathedral creates the "soundtrack" for silent horror movies. It was kind of spooky, and it is a really beautiful church, with an organ that is almost comparable to WT's.






















The main film was "The Bells" inspired by Edgar Allan Poe and based on a 19th century French play.




















Pictures of the church....















Saturday afternoon was Rebecca's wedding- one of Tiffany's co-workers at TFI. It was a really sweet ceremony!

The happy bride and groom!
















Us at the reception

















Her beautiful flowers!



















Sunday Chris and I finally got around to carving pumpkins- something that we have said we would do every year, but never had!It was so much fun. We toasted the seeds and had our own little contest. I think Chris won- his pumpkin was hilarious!After the pumpkin carving, we made popcorn balls for his study group and my co-workers. Neither one of us realized how freakn' hot the popcorn was and managed to walk-away with minor 3rd degree burns to our hands!

Chris going in for the kill...
















The best use of our cork screw in a while!
















Can you guess who made the scary vampire eating the little pumpkin, and who made the happy-go-lucky pumpkin???
















The pumpkins in front of our scary twisted tree...


















Have a fun and safe Halloween!

For our West Texas family and friends

Fall here in Topeka is just getting more and more beautiful everyday. You see we actually have trees here, and this form of precipitation falls from the sky to water them, they call it rain here. The trees are turning the most beautiful red, orange and yellows. Fall has got to be our favorite season. Sometimes you just find yourself in awe of the beautiful work of God and how he has put every color imaginable in nature for us to find and stick into a Crayola box...












Just for kicks- here are our babies in their Halloween costumes that Tif made this year....
We find them very fitting.



Have a happy and safe Halloween!
Hope to see you all soon!

Walk in the park...

There are so many beautiful parks here in Topeka. Luckily we happen to live very close to the biggest in town. This weekend, with the puppies in tow, we made our way through it.
Our first stop was the Bark Park, where Callie and Kaikeyi got to make a few friends. They are a little anti-social and basically won't leave our sides, but we are hoping that with time they will get better.

Daddy and Kaikeyi

Callie and Kaikeyi with the hydrant

After the excitement of the Bark Park wore away we ventured into the Rose Garden. It was so beautiful with more roses than I have ever seen...

Hairspray!

Hey guys!
I just wanted to take a minute to write about our fabulous weekend in Kansas City. It is pretty much understood that we will spend at least one night of our weekend with the most awesome couple that we have met while here in Topeka. We met them at a BBQ (I wouldn't call it a BBQ- nothing is as good as it is in Texas) for the new law students- Justin is in Chris's class, and Jayna will be finishing up her BS in May. Justin and Jayna are natives of Kansas (mostly) and showed us around the city Saturday night.
First they took us to one of their favorite cafes- Cafe' Trio. It was marvelous! I don't think that they have anything like it in the Texas Panhandle! I have never felt so sophisticated- everything was perfection! Appropriately it is on Broadway street...

After the wonderful dinner we drove to the Starlight Theatre to see Hairspray which was in town this weekend. It is a must see- hilarious!

A grown-up job!

Yea!!!
Well, okay, I wasn't really looking too hard for a job yet- Chris just finished his first week of school, and I wasn't planning on looking until at least the first of the month, but I went ahead and applied for a position because it was in line with my degree.
I am now employed with TFI Family Services. Kansas has an independent child care system, so my company is contracted by the state to provide child and family welfare services- including mental services. I am very excited because there are many avenues that I could take to grow within the company and they will pay for my Master's degree!
Okay, so the thing that I am most excited about is that I have a SALARY POSITION!!! No more hourly wages! Paid holidays and paid vacation here I come! I also have super-great benefits for around $10.00 a month, life insurance, 401K- wow- I have a real job!
So my official title is 'Care Manager'- don't ask me exactly what I do, because it is a little hazy. I know that I don't deal directly with families and I don't find homes for the children, and I have my own data entry person who enters my cases into the system for me. What ever else there is to do, I think I do that- except filing- there is someone who does that too.

Chris's first day of law school!

Good Morning Everyone!
Today is Chris's first day of law school! He was very excited and a little nervous this morning before he left, but boy did he look good...yeah, he is a hottie!

Training begins today!!

That's right- we are signed up to run a 5k!
We will be participating in The Race Against Breast Cancer, September 16, here in Topeka.
Find out how you can participate at http://www.rabctopeka.org/

Wish us luck, and we will be keeping you up-to-date on how the training is going...

New Home!

Hi everyone!
Here are some pics in our new house- it is slowly coming together.