T is for TEXAS

I find it very fitting that this letter popped up in the nick of time.  The Blair's just came back from a whirlwind trip to Texas and I can blog aboutr it here.  J, Peyton, and I flew out of St. Louis early thrusday morning for a short summer trip to Texas. Peyton is such a good behaved flyer.....I am alway in awe of how well behaved he is. I would honestly expect nothing else from him at this point. My sister and I were well behaved flyers also (and I'd like to think I still am :) I guess I have never understood how parents can not control their kids on a plane...but that is a different story.

We landed and my beautiful Mama was there to pick us up. First on our agenda was to do the VIP tour at Texas Stadium, home to Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys.  I really didn't think that many people would be there on a thursday, but boy was I wrong. Jerry has found a way to make money year round. Pulling up to the stadium, we were all in awe of how big it is.  Our tour guide, "G", informed us that it is the worlds largest indoor stadium, and if the glass walls are removed, it is the world's largest outdoor stadium. 2 superdomes could fit inside of it.  The screen about centerfield is massive and cost 40 million dollars. It was neat to see Jerry's private bat cave box and what a luxary suite looked like. We also got to go into the Cheerleader and player's locker rooms as well as on the field.  Peyton was very impressed and loved seeing it.

Friday, we met my BFF at Hawaiian Fallas water park in The Colony.  I can not even remember the last time I was at a water park, but we had a blast. Hawaiian Falls is not as big as Wet n Wild of our past or Hurricane Harbor, but it was a decent sized park with a very clean atmosphere.  Peyton has hardly any fears, we first went down a slide that you ride in an inner tube.  BFF went first and I followed.  Upon the plunge, I kept my butt up and for some reason pointed my toes.  I giggled the whole way down....it was so fun.  I loved that you were not dumped into a small pool at the end.  We then did the "Half Pipe", which BFF and I shared the double raft.  Again, we giggled like teenagers.  Peyton loved that one.  The lazy river was not as slow moving as others I had been in and the wave pool was fun.  I always remembered the waved being bigger...guess I was just smaller, J, pointed out.  After lunch, we did a few slides that didn't require tubes.   I chose the twisty turny one thinking it would go slower than the straight down one.....wrong.  They both ended up at the bottom at the same time. However, the twisty one was super fast and made breathing difficult with all the water in your face,..,.the expressions on our face afterwards must have been pricelist. That and the techniques of removing your swimsuit from up your behind once getting up.  Dad made his delicious hamburgers and we ended the night playing "Sequence". If you have never played, it is super fun for all ages.

Saturday, we went shopping for new Ranger gear. I got a new hat, J, a new T shirt, and Peyton wanted Ranger batting gloves.  We had a yummy lunch at Prego Pizza, my favorite.  We went swimming in the back yard until we got ready for the Rangers game that night.  My sister and her husband joined my family and my daddy.  It was a sold out game against the Astros (inner league) play.  I was sad that we didn't get the Nolan Ryan t shirt give away, but we had great seats inbetween home and third base.  The game was uneventful until a 7 run 6th inning that had Peyton jumping up and down and cheering.  The Rangers won 9-3 and Peyton loved his nachos and blue cotton candy.  I though he'd fall asleep after swimming and the game, but he was so wired that he wanted to play sequence when we got home.

Sunday, we went to church and Daddy got to stand up and be recognized this Father's day as a grandpa too!  We had a great meal of ribs, baked beans, homemade mac and cheese, pistachio salad, potato salad, and marinated green beans. The Blairs left for the airport stuffed.  We made it safely home to St. Louis and Peyton was just as good on the plane.  We dropped him off at his mom's, had dinner, and picked up Charlie.  This was the first time I really missed Texas. I would love to live there again. I know with my new family that is not in the cards for now, but maybe someday.  I will always be a Texan at heart!

T is for TEXAS!!!!

Of course....T is for Texas, my home!  Ok, so Missouri is my home now, but Texas will always be where I am from.  There is just something about people from Texas. It just about killed me to get rid of my Texas plates and driver's license.  I only had been living in Missouri for 9 years when I finally changed them after I got married. I bought my 4Runner in 2003 in St. Louis and registered in in Texas, bought a house in 2004, graduated from grad school and started working in 2006, took my dad off my home loan in 2007....and still staye a Texan. 

I love when people tell me I don't sound like a Midwestern..even though I know I do more and more each day.  But put me back in Arkansas or Texas and my southern accent starts to come back out.  Texas is like a whole other country. People are prouf to be from Texas.  We even have a full year in 7th grade devoted to Texas history.....something I'm sure the kids of most any other state can not say.  Texas is massive....you can drive for 10 hours an still be in the same state. 

I hope one day to move back to Texas. J likes Texas so I know that he would be okay with this. For now, I will just settle with visiting the family and friends.  We are taking Peyton there next week. on our to do list:  tour of Texas stadium, a Rangers game, Pat Mackey's hamburgers, swimming, visiting with the Nuara's before they move to Arizona, seeing my BFF, and having some good family bonding!

Pushing through

I realize that I have been rather quiet lately on my blog.  Sometimes I find it hard to write about what is going on in my life, like if I put it to paper, or rather the internet, it is real.  I know I have blogged some about J and me and this thing we call marriage.  I 100% love my husband.  However, we have hit some rough patches in our first year of marriage.  I thought the first year was supposed to be all lovey dovey and lots of sex. 

J and I have a hard time communicating.  This was very evident when we took our compatibility pre marital test. We scored really well in conflict resolution but awful, I mean horrible, in communication.  J and I are very different when we are upset or angry. He would really like to be left alone to cool off for a while and then when he feels like it we will talk. I am the polar opposite. I want to discuss everything right away and fix it or what not.  This just makes him more irritated at me and me more frustrated at him because he is ignoring me. I then feel like I am the only one in the relationship trying to hold it together.  We are your typical newly weds, we are still trying to figure out money, selling my home, where to live, when to have kids, and our work schedules.  I would have thought that living together before marriage would have helped.  I am a control freak and like to know what is going on with mone at all times. J is a "everything will work it self out" kind of person.  Running his own business has been tough. The economy is awful and his customers are being laid off their jobs, so house hold cleaning services are a luxuary that some have had to cut out. 

I feel like I do everything.  I am the primary bread winner right now. I do the grocery shopping, the cooking, the dishes, the laundry. I work and travel during the week and then do part time at Ann Taylor on Friday nights and saturdays.  I know that J works hard and is his own boss, but I get frustrated when I go out of town and that glass I had drank out of is still sitting on the coffee table (I have done this at times to see if he will put it in the dishwasher.) It flat out frustrates me.  I want every now and then to feel taken care of and not the one that does all the planning and makes all the decisions.  I know J hates the fact that I am the primary bread winner, so I try not to bring that up in arguments. He says he feels like a loser most of the time when he needs to come to me for help.  I thought that is what marrige is supposed to be about. 

Apparently I am also "too" emotional and cry all the time.  I call bullshit on that one.  I cry every now and then, sure.  I am a girl. I do have emotions and words can be said to hurt my feelings.  J had been quick to say, we won't make it through our first year. We are just too different.  I push his buttons more than I should and he argues with my point of view out of spite more than he should.  Does it get better?  Are we doomed to fight through it?  I hate airing our dirty laundry but this blog is for writing about me and my true self.  I can be all "perky and my life is fantastically wonderful" on facebook, but this blog is for real and raw emotions.  Having your husband ask "when are you going out of town next" hurts. I am not sure if we could survive if I didn't travel for work. I love him and he loves me...that is why we got married.  Hopefully we will survive the bad and laugh through the good.