Lost Pines Resort

A few weeks ago my parents and I went to the Lost Pines Resort outside of
Austin.  There were so many fun things to do, but my mom and I just explored, went for a LONG hike, and went shopping while my dad had meetings.  It seems like it would be a great place for families during the summer.  At the resort they have bikes, archery, frisbee golf, a water slide, lazy river, horseback riding, golfing, campfires, hundreds of trails for hiking, and a lot more!  Here are a few pictures from our hike.

Family Ski Trip

For Christmas this year my family took a ski trip to Copper Mountain, Colorado.  Unfortunately, Shane was in the middle of finals so he couldn't go, but we're already planning the next ski trip where hopefully he can attend.  We had a great time skiing and being together.  It was also our families first big vacation with my niece Emma, so we enjoyed lots of her cute giggles.  We skied for three days straight, and were exhausted every night and went to bed about 8pm.  Driving from Denver to Copper Mountain was a little stressful as the roads were icy and it was snowing heavily, but driving back proved to be a much better experience.  Luckily, we had tons of snow and beautiful weather while we were there, which made for great skiing conditions. 

 My brother and I enjoying the snow!

 My parents who ski better than I do!

Can you tell we were really cold?

My sister, mom and I accidentally went on this black diamond run...it was an adventure, that I don't wish to go on again.

Emma LOVED sledding and laughed the whole time.

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving together at Shane's parents in Odessa this year.  It was a welcome break from our busy semesters, and we were so thankful to relax and take it easy most of the break.  There was a lot of eating (wonderful food), and catching up to do, which left little time for pictures, so those are limited.  We enjoyed a delicious family meal on Thanksgiving with Shane's parents, and grandparents.  Followed by the big game Thursday night, which ended quite nicely!  Friday, Shane and I ventured out to do some Black Friday shopping (not at 4am, though my sweet fiance offered to), apart from a CVS raid and some ammunition we were slightly disappointed.  We also all went to the shooting range Friday afternoon to test out a few new guns.  Though cold, we had a great time.  Saturday, Mark tested out his new charcoal grill and made the best and only back strap I have ever eaten, mouth watering.  After cooking out we enjoyed sitting around their new fire pit and visiting.  All in all it was a great Thanksgiving break in Odessa, we truly have so much to be thankful for, and we are excited for Christmas break to begin! 

Branch Weekend

We have been waiting about three years for this past weekend, and it finally came!  It was branch weekend at West Point!  A lot of our future would be revealed this weekend, and we were both excited and nervous to see what branch Shane would get.  Whitney flew to New York on Friday and got to spend the weekend with Shane.  We had a great weekend, filled with cold weather, pretty fall colors, apple orchards, Army football, tailgating, a winery, and don't forget Branch night!  We'll let the pictures do most of the talking.

  A beautiful, but very cold and windy morning for a parade at West Point.

It was fun to see Shane in his full dress uniform, and watch my first West Point parade.

Trying to stay warm at the Air Force vs. Army football game.  I had on 2 pair of socks, tights, 3 shirts, 2 pair of gloves and my nice wool coat.  Brrrr!

We visited an apple orchard in Warwick, NY.  It was beautiful, and so fun to walk through rows and rows of apple trees.  You were also allowed to eat as many as you wanted while you were there, delicious and nothing like the regular grocery store apples.

We also did a wine tasting at a local winery near Warwick.

All of our fun weekend festivities lead up to branch night.... 

We sat in an auditorium filled with anxious Firsties waiting to open their envelopes for what seemed like hours.

It was finally time to open them, and  the winner was....

Engineers branch detailing Infantry!!!!!

God is so good to us, and we are excited to see what else he has in store for our lives in the coming months!

Welcome to our blog!

We are joining the blog world to update all of our family and friends on what is going on in our lives.  We hope you'll enjoy reading and catching up!  Here are some of the highlights I can think of right now.

We're getting MARRIED!  June 4, 2011, so please mark your calendars if you haven't already!  We have a wedding website with more details, so I won't bore you with those.  Stay tuned, more details to come.

Shane will be graduating from West Point May 21, 2011.  He got his class ring in August, which was a great start to his final year at West Point.  Branch night is the first part of November and we will find out what branch he will join in the Army.  Also since everyone is curious, Post night will be in early February, which is when we find out where we will be living starting next summer! 

Whitney will be graduating from A&M with her masters a week before Shane in May 2011.  Right now she works in Athletics at A&M, and enjoys spending a lot of time with her family who also live in College Station.  Wedding dress shopping is also taking up a lot of her time.

This year has already flown by and we are excited to see what the rest of the year holds.  Check back for more updates as we live our daily lives!