Fast forward

Hello blog world. I realize our last post was in June so let me catch you up with the highlights:

July -

Courtney was busy photographing weddings, newborn babies, and families.

I was working hard at the airport and working towards my pilots license.

Aspen learned some new tricks and learned to swim. Our little puppy reached 20 lbs

We were fortunate enough to have several of our friends come to visit before they set out on mission trips to Africa, Peru, and China.

To end out the month we finished our bathroom renovation and painted our bedroom.

August-

We finally finished our backyard overhaul, and just in time to host a baby shower for my Sister Laurie and our niece (almost here) Skylar! This picture is in the middle of all the backyard work!

For Courtney, the wedding season continued, and Courtney and her best friend refinished some old furniture and decorated her office. I helped on their projects by doing the "man jobs", but lots of my free time was spent flying. I flew several solo trips and logged a bunch of hours.

Aspen reached the 30 lb mark and has continued to bring us lots of joy.

September -

We spent a great weekend at Lake LBJ with Courtney's parents!

Courtney finished out her Summer wedding season and we look forward to her winter season as she post processes the last few weddings.

I've been busy flying or taking ground school almost everyday to get ready for my check ride on the 30th.

Aspen , our 5 and a half month old puppy reached a whopping 37.4 lbs, and is healthy as an ox

The last few months were busy but wonderful and I do not know how to close out a blog post so "here's to you kid"

- The Griffins

Here is a photo collage Courtney made of our weekend at the lake.

Aspen Chaco

We had a fantastic anniversary weekend, but I am so busy with work that I don't have time right now to do a full post about our weekend. But I can sum it up with this:

Meet ASPEN!! Our new 7 week old boxer puppy! She is so cute and cuddly and very fun!! I wanted to name a puppy Chaco (which ties into Jimmy's anniversary gift to me), but she looks too feminine to be Chaco, so she is Aspen Chaco, but we'll just call her Aspen! :)

Life Is Good

See? My mug told me so this morning! This is me working, and freaking out about allllll the work I have to do. So, friends, you will hear from me after our anniversary this weekend when I am all caught up with photography and have just partied like a rock star with the best husband-of-361 days so far-EVER!! (4 days until our anniversary!!) But life really is good--and my goal in life is not to please people, but God-so the freaking out stops here.

"I am the One who helps you, declares the Lord; your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel." -Isaiah 41:14

"And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." -Colossians 4:17

KLG

Do you ever watch Kathie Lee and Hoda on Today?

As I sit in front of my computer and edit photos, I usually listen to music or get so into my work that I tune everything out and realize I've been sitting in silence for 2 hours-BUT from 10-11 I am watching the fourth hour of Today with Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb-woman. I love it!

KLG wrote a children's book called "The Legend of Messy M'Cheany" and came to Houston for a book signing on Saturday. My mom called me last week to tell me about it and asked if I wanted to go. Of COURSE I said YES!

I liked KLG from having watched her on "Today" every morning, but after hearing her speak and getting to talk with her--I LOVE her!! I did not know she is a Christian and gives God ALL the glory for her success. She was quoting Scriptures that she knew by heart and was SUCH an encouragement to listen to. During the Q&A I brazenly asked 2 questions: 1) What is your favorite Chardonnay? (She told me it was Gaia & Rey's Gaja Chardonnay) and 2) Do you find it difficult to be so open about your faith on television? To which she talked about how she told the producers her condition to coming back to TV was that she had permission to talk openly and quote Scripture as she felt led. She said she has talked with the crew of the Today show (including Hoda!!) about Jesus! How awesome!!

Because we bought our tickets so early, we were 2nd in line to meet KLG! We had a nice chat with her as she signed all of our books and even told my mom to come feel how comfy her pants were that she plugged on the show! (The second pic is KLG telling mom to feel her pants!) hahah!

Thanks for the invite, Mom! :) Which celeb should we try to meet next?

P.S. 6 DAYS UNTIL OUR FIRST ANNIVERSARY!!!

No More Funky Town!

Last post was way too depressing. I was in a funk. Part of me wants to delete it--but then I may forget the Lord's grace and redemption when I go back and read this (I hope I actually do that one day...)

We are happy and all is good on the Griffin frontier! I am grateful for the encouragement of my sweet husband. He always knows how to cheer me up and point me to the Lord when I need it most! It is JUNE!!!! HOORAY!!! This is the month we were married in almost one year ago!!! T-minus 11 days until our 1st ANNIVERSARY!!! :)

We are in the middle of totally renovating our bathroom--new tile shower, floor, tub surround--everything! Pictures to come! I've been so busy editing photos for the Strasburg Model Search that I haven't had much time for anything else!! Check out my new photography blog!!!! I did, however, manage to go for a walk this morning with my friend Elise and her 5 month old son Mac, which I desperately needed.

And just because I can't bear the thought of having 2 posts in a row without pictures--here are some pictures from Easter and Aggie Muster!! (I know, I'm way behind...and these are not in my usual collages)

Aggie Muster with the Griffins!

Jimmy and I made Easter baskets for each other, Lisa and her boyfriend Jerry since they stayed with us for Easter! :)

My mom gave everyone bunny ears in our baskets this year!! Isn't my husband handsome?

We spent the day at the Kemah Boardwalk with Jimmy's sister Laurie, BIL (brother in law) Patrick, and our cute cute niece Leila! (and McKinney baby #2 who is on the way) and Lisa and Jerry!! I had not been to the boardwalk in years! It was really fun!

The best part was the train ride!! Jimmy and Lisa photo-bombed this pic of the McKinneys!! :)

Lisa and Jerry took us out for dessert at the Melting Pot!! We stuffed our bocas and it was delicious!!

Stream of Consciousness 2

I realized that when I write for me, not to impress the both of you readers, that this blog can be much more than pictures and craft projects and still be ok. So I am selfishly writing this "stream of consciousness" post for me. This is me being vulnerable so that when I look back and read this in a few years I remember LIFE-like it really was, not just the peaches and rainbows facade that is so easy to portray with the blog.

So much has been on my heart lately. I am so grateful to be back in Houston with both mine and Jimmy's families, and to own a house--what a blessing! And especially that the Lord has blessed my photography business exponentially since moving back. I can't thank Him enough for that. Know that I am grateful for His favor.

But I miss Dallas. Not so much for the city--although it was nice to have a change for a little while. I miss the "us" factor. It was just the two of us, figuring out this crazy life on our own and with the Lord. The sinful, selfish part of me misses not having to "share" Jimmy. We are still "just us" here--as in, we don't have bambinos yet and aren't planning to any time soon--but we have responsibilities to our house, Jimmy has commitments to his basketball league, and now he's coaching a team, we are both committed to our church, etc. etc. Our evenings are filled with much more than just relaxing time with the two of us. I knew this was a necessity, and I'm sure just about everyone reading this is gagging that we had the luxury of spending all our time together-but I guess I was hoping/expecting that "honeymoon phase" of life, not just marriage, to last a little longer.

We knew we wanted to take on the effort that comes with owning a home so that we can open up our home to friends in need. We want our guest room(s) to be more than a place people stay for just one night-but a refuge; a place of peace. I just lost sight of that for a minute--and writing this post helped me remember that.

I'm done complaining. I am so grateful for the hard work we have put into this house as a team, and the REALLY hard work that Jimmy has done by himself!! I literally cannot think of the words to express my gratitude for my husband- he amazes me. My hope is that when I go back to read this in a few months, or even years--that I remember how full of love and gratitude my heart is at this moment. Which reminds me-our bathroom "mini-reno" has turned into a full blown renovation thanks to a little friend called MOLD!! aye-aye-aye...

That's another post all together! Coming soon.

But alas--if you would like some REAL perspective on life-take a minute to read the blog of some friends at our church in College Station who just got back from serving God for 10 months in Haiti--with their entire family! It will rock. your. world.

Letter to my Mac

Dear Computer,

We have spent countless hours together since I decided to make photography my full time job. I feel like we have gotten to be best buds. A few months ago I noticed you were working pretty hard, so I took a load off your back with a terabyte of external memory.

Everyone told me since your name was Mac, that you would last twice as long as my old friend PC, but I guess you have just gotten tired of spending so much time with me in the last 2 years.

That being said, if you make it through this next week of 6 photoshoots to edit and 4 MORE to be taken, I will take you to the doctors at the Apple Store to fix any booboo's you may have.

Godspeed dear friend, Godspeed.

Courtney

Happy 1st Birthday Sammy!!

Happy 1st Birthday Samantha!!! Your aunt and uncle love you SO much! We wish we could be in Minnesota for your birthday today, but know that we are missing you and thinking of you here in Texas!

Africa & the Zoo!!

Look at me actually keeping up with the blog!! :)

On Friday, one of my best friends, Emily, came into town to visit us before she goes on a month-long trip to Africa. She is traveling to Ethiopia with The Mocha Club- an awesome organization that you can support for the price of 2 mochas a month (hence the name). I am so proud of her for following God to the ends of the earth to share the gospel and encourage women in need. Anywhoo--we had an AH-MA-ZING weekend!! Friday night we all played Settlers of Catan with Jimmy's brother Josh, and Saturday . . . (drumroll please) we went to the ZOO!!!!

I have been dying to go to the zoo for over a year!! Unfortunately, I thwarted Jimmy's plan to surprise me with a much-anticipated trip to the zoo for our anniversary (less than a month away!), but it was the perfect weekend for the zoo!! We loved the giraffes, the elephants, and especially the new baby monkey! The best part was spending the day with some of the 2 most amazing people in the world! After the zoo, we had a picnic lunch at the park, Jimmy played golf with the boys while Em and I went to the new Sienna pool. Maybe we utilized "adult swim" to go down the slides while the kids watched from the side. Maybe... ;) And to top the day off, a bunch of our friends came over to grill hamburgers and hang out on our patio. It was probably one of my favorite, most relaxing, fun days of all time!! I give it a 10! :)

Here are some pics from our trip to the zoo! And yes--Jimmy and I each carried our Camelbaks with us the whole day! We Griffins do not take hydration lightly! :) And lastly, the picture on the bottom right of me and Jimmy as monkeys-probably one of my fave pics of us EVER!

Mother's Day!!

Happy belated Mother's Day!! Yesterday, we hosted both of our families ( really only part of Jimmy's family-we missed you McKinneys, Minnesota Griffins, and Lisa) for a Mother's Day lunch at our house after church!! It was 9 people in all and definitely a day to remember! We finally got to use ALL of our wedding china and serving pieces!! Whoop!

The idea for the luncheon came to me when I found these party circles for free from The TomKat Studio's blog. I merged them with their cupcake circles from the Royal Wedding and changed the colors to match our color scheme for the day (pink & silver/grey). Once I saw those cupcake circles, the ideas just kept coming!! Also, notice how the new image I chose matches the damask pattern on the tablecloth! (I take joy in little detials!) I found inspiration for some of the decor online, and some I came up with myself!! I wish I had spent more time preparing and less time planning. Anyone have suggestions on how to be more of a Mary and less of a Martha when entertaining? I definitely need some!! You can see the beautiful china cabinet that was my great-grandma's in the pics below!! :) I got the letters for the banners from Ruffled Blog here, and the idea for the topiaries from Two Twenty One blog here. I found the pots for the topiaries from Goodwill for $2 each and spray painted them to go with our theme. Can't beat that!! Also--I made those Martha Stewart tissue paper pom-poms I've been seeing everywhere!! I have been looking for an excuse to make those for ages!

A HUGGGEE shoutout to my husband-the best mister in the world!! I couldn't have put together this day without him (or my sister Mere for that matter). Thanks for going to the store twice for me to pick up last minute ingredients--once at 11:30 pm! We served Southwestern Salad, fruit salad, chicken and pork tamales, chili, queso, guacamole, chips-etc, and homemade cutout sugar cookies! It was a lot of work, but definitely worth it!

And after all of the hard work to make our mothers feel special, I didn't even get a pic of us with them!! (kicking self!)

Mom and Mrs.G, I hope you both felt blessed and honored at your Mother's Day lunch!! Our lives are blessed tremendously by you both! Thank you for being such great examples for me. Love you both! :)

P.S. A very HAPPY birthday wish to John Griffin-winner of "best-brother-in-law-in-Minnesota!" :) We hope you had a fantastic day!

HOME SWEET HOME!!

What's that? You forgot we had a blog?!?

Don't worry...so did I! Not really, but you probably thought I forgot about it. We have been super busy fixing up our house and working! Jimmy has also been learning to fly, playing in a bball league, and coaching high school competitive basketball! I have pretty much just been busy working and promoting my photography business.

So last time we checked in we were living with Jimmy's parents, but finally after SO MUCH hard work and waiting and paperwork, we closed on our house!! Home ownership is harder than we had expected, but so worth it!! :)

Here is a little photo virtual tour of our house. It still needs a lot of work--the walls still don't have paint on them. We are in the process of mini-renovating our master bathroom, and the backyard--that is a whole post all on its own. I will try to be better about posting house updates as we make changes, but for now-here is our home!!

IT'S BEEN A WHILE...

Q: What does a blog post covering the past 3 months of newly married life look like?

A: A LOT OF PICTURES!!!

DECEMBER

Remember our homemade Christmas gifts that blew up my twitter? Well, here are just a few of all the frames we made.

And as promised, here are pictures from our first married Christmas!! These are just the tip of the iceberg. We love our nieces Sara, Leila, and Samantha!

JANUARY

There aren't too many photos to document January. We've been living with Jimmy's parents in Sugar Land while we wait for our house to close. The original closing date was January 26th and keeps being pushed back. I have been waiting to show everyone a picture of the house until we actually own it, so be looking out for that (hopefully) very soon!! The highlight of living at the Griffins, by far, is getting to hang out with and form relationships with my 2 younger brothers-in-law. They are so funny, and crazy, and goofy-but they have the biggest hearts. It has been a blessing to witness how the Griffins do life.

Here are some pics of the freeze though...

FEBRUARY

To start the month off right, I gave Jimmy and Josh haircuts! It was the first time I had ever cut Jimmy's (or anyone's) hair. I would say it was a success because neither one of them is bald! Here is Jimmy's haircut: before, during, and after!

On Friday, Jimmy and I went down to Surfside to have a relaxing Valentine's date. Despite not having water or heat when we first arrived, we had a great time filled with the finest cuisine... ;)

We had a very laid back Valentine's Day, since technically our gift to each other is a house AND a hot water heater which we will need as soon as we move in. Jimmy was so sweet and got me flowers in a wine decanter (which we needed, smart man), and a card while I got him IBC Cream Soda (in lieu of flowers) and a card. It was the first time I could look for cards in the "HUSBAND" section!! That was fun!! I think I lingered in the Target card aisle a little longer than necessary just to soak in all the husband-ness I could. :)

Confessions of a Slogger

So, I am a slogger.

A slacking blogger.

I confess.

And I apologize.

I have found the thing about blogging is that when I have the time to blog, I don't have exciting things to blog about. When exciting things are happening in my life, I don't have the time to blog about them.

We made the move from Dallas to Houston a few weeks ago. It was sad to leave all of the friends we have made in the last few months, but we knew we were being obedient. We are in the process of buying a house. Our FIRST house!! And it is awesome. My head is swarming with talk of real estate, mortgages, and decorating. Oh the decorating. This is the moment where I wish Nate Berkus and I were besties.  The process of buying this house is stressful, and has had many bumps in the road--but someday soon it will all be worth it.  Jimmy is loving his new job, and I am working hard to get my photography business up and running in Houston.

Our first married Christmas was INCREDIBLE!!! We had so much fun creating our own traditions and experiencing the different ways our families do holidays. One of my favorite things was setting up an outdoor movie theater at the Griffins house. We used Jimmy's projector to watch Iron Man2, sat on blankets, drank hot chocolate, and even lined the path with "aisle lights" aka Christmas lights.

In between Christmas and New Years, before Jimmy started his new job, we went to the ranch for the first time since our wedding. We visited with my grandparents and went deer hunting. We both shot a deer. I shot a spike and Jimmy shot an 8 point buck! We rang in 2011 with our friend Michael, watching fireworks on a bridge in Kerrville--anticlimactic and awesome.

Anecdote: I left the rifle bullet shell in my coat pocket after Jimmy shot his deer so I could keep it in our antique printers tray that holds memorable trinkets. A few days later I flew to Dallas with my mom to pack up our apartment and grabbed my coat, thinking it would be colder in Dallas. Well...TSA doesn't care that I shot a deer, and we had quite the airport scare. I was afraid I'd be taken in by HPD or something, but that didn't happen. I just left with a reminder to clean out my pockets after the next time I go hunting.

I have pictures from Christmas, hunting, and everything that's happened in the last month and a half, but not now...