my goodness my guinness

well hello and sorry for my obvious lack of dedication to our blog. I suppose it’s time to give an update on our lives and what’s been going on in downtown Austin, Texas. I think we’re gonna try this “bullet-style” (and, please, don’t judge my spelling and grammar…I can already tell this is headed in an ungrammatical direction).

Let’s start with TREY!

§ This semester he has decided to tackle 12 hours (with 9 being a full load) while, at the same time, holding down the dorm fort.
§ He works hard/plays hard…and juggles (so nicely , I might add) his school, work, family, and social life.
§ He --and by that I mean we-- are training for the Austin ½ marathon (which is this Sunday). This will be our 4^th week of training (we kind of got a late start), which means Trey had to go from 0 to 10 miles in a rather small period of time…but, he’s handled it like a champ. I tell him all the time, if he wanted to be fast and more serious he definitely has the potential. And he tells me all the time, that he enjoys his relaxed pace and has no desire to take his training to the next level!
§ He has been doing pull-ups. Lots and lots of pull-ups! The bar hangs above our bathroom door and he does not enter without doing a set of 10. Boat-body '09?!?
§ He loves making us bacon and egg breakfast taco’s and does so about 4 times a week. (not-so-boat-body).

as for myself:

§ UT’s first Running class is underway!

§ I’m working at spreading the running fever across UT’s campus in hopes that many catch it.

My students designed this shirt for our class!

we're really pushing this running thing on the campus...does this remind you of a certain 80's rap group?! RUN DMC?

§ I am trying to follow and make sense of this stimulus package and politics in general
§ Researching bills on whitehouse.gov and trying to read through the bias and slant of the media
§ As mentioned, I’ve started training again after taking the majority of 2008 off…and will be doing a series of ½ marathons and possibly a full in 2009.
§ Trying to do pull-ups like trey
§ Taking piper on walks/jogs in hopes to build her endurance and teach her to love people instead of fearing them.
§ Not blogging
§ Attempting to broaden my musical horizons by giving the “indie scene” a go (taking advice from the Smith’s)
§ Working my way into the academic side of my department so that I will be teaching academic as well as activity courses. This is the goal...to teach "KIN 119: Kinesthetic awareness: core body development".

and together:
§ Booking flights for summer travel. We will be flying to New York -- can't wait to see Fredo and Gaby -- for 3 days, then going to Connecticut to take a peek at the life of Ashley Marett, from there flying to Switzerland to celebrate our 5 year guinniversary! We will be in Switzerland for a week with ashley and rob and then will take a driving tour of Italy and France for 4 days. The next week we will be traveling to Atlanta to stand by Banes and MG as they tie the knot!
§ Getting to know our Austin friends who have pretty much become our family.
§ Netflixin it up…thanks to ned and beth. My two personal favorites = Blood Diamond and Chocolat.
§ Dance parties and Karaoke whenever possible--

§ Exploring Austin as frugally as we can
§Helping Richmond perfect his “punting skills”…and by helping I mean playing on the UT practice field while trey catches the “bullets from the sky” (as he calls them)--

• Richmond does things. like, championship bowl game things.
  

inside the bubble

§ Dreaming about spending the summer on the water with the rowe’s--

• Entertaining the idea that, perhaps, our children wouldn’t mind living in the dorms and that maybe we could continue doing exactly what we’re doing right now for the rest of our lives.
• Oh, and I bought a snuggie (one size fits most) and i just can't keep it off our house guests:
  
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  And also, tomorrow Bill Clinton will be on campus speaking and you can guarantee that I will find him. That’s all for now...
  

until next time,

the guinns

for auld lang syne...happy 2009!!!

Happy 2009!! We brought in the new year with some of our new austin friends who we adore! We attended a dinner party and dance at our friends, Paul and Melissa's, house and then, of course, went home to bring in the mountain TZ new year with the one and only - piper guinn!

"Should auld acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind?

Should auld acquaintance be forgot and days of auld lang syne?

For auld lang syne, my dear,

for auld lang syne,

we'll take a cup of kindness yet,

for auld lang syne."

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

it's gonna be a great one!

FOUR CHRISTMASES!

Trey and I are truly blessed to be surrounded with 4 loving families. It was our goal to be able to spend quality time with each family during christmas-week and i believe we accomplished that goal! We treasure the relationships we have with each parent, brother, and sister and are thankful that God has given us so many people to love!

...

Christmas eve with The Guinns!

Christmas morning with The Schwarz's!

Christmas late-morning/early-afternoon with the Davila's!!





christmas late-afternoon/evening in Pleasanton with The Gossett's!

guess who's back? back again? piper's back! tell your friends!!

Over thanksgiving the guinndavivarga's pulled a fast one! we all sat down for our thanksgiving meal and were going around the table to say what we were thankful for. i should have known something was up when coco (trey's mom) had her camera out and was snapping shots of every single moment. Trey, conveniently, was last to share his thoughts. He mentioned a lot of things and then went on to talk about piper. he then pulled out a peice of paper and handed it to me to read. the paper explained that he had re-written the ut pet policy so that pcg could come home!! i lost it, obviously...as did the others. We are all so thankful for this little 4 lbs dog that has brought so much joy to us, the varga's, and bud and coco! Her study abroad at A&M has come to a completion and she is home at last....living large in the ATX!! thank you, trey!.. and thank you UT for bringing home our baby puppy!!!!

oops...i forgot we had a blog!

A lot has happened in the past two months! For starters, the Rowe's had a beautiful baby girl - Ava claire! She was born on October 9th and weighed 7 lbs 12 ounces. Initially, she looked just like greg. As time goes on, she looks more and more like her beautiful mommy!! Greg, Gina, Ava, and Baylor live in round rock (just 20 minutes north of us here in austin). We enjoy getting together with them for dinner and football games! While at Baylor, greg and trey were roommates and gina and i were roommates. We treasure our friendship with them and are so excited to journey with them down the road of parenting! one day, when we jump on the baby-bandwagon, ava and young guinn will be best friends :)

The day after Ava's birth, Trey and I flew to Atlanta to help our best man Banes set up his proposal to Mary Grace!! MG didn't know we were in town until a few hours after banes popped the question! We were waiting with the Kimsey family at their house. Gracie called me to tell me the exciting news on their way to the house and was actually on the phone with me when they pulled up. Guinn and I were inside hiding in her room upstairs. Once they entered the house, Beans called Guinn to "tell him the news" and guinn loudly responded from upstairs with a "NO WAY!" Gracie responded "yes we are!" and then quickly realized that guinn's voice was not only coming from the phone but also from upstairs! We were able to spend the next two days with the richters-to-be and are very much looking forward to their trip to austin at the end of this month. More importantly, we are looking forward to May 30th when they tie the knot!!!!

The week we came home from Atlanta was dedicated to smithtoberfest...a reunion of the Guinn's and lolly. Laura is one of our close high school/Baylor friends. She moved to North Carolina for pharmacy school and we just don't see her often enough. Her time in austin was short so we all stayed up until 4am catching up on life, school, friends, family, and so much more. we also hit up anthro and urban and planned our next reunion in december when the smiths and guinns will all 4 get to reunite!

The weekend after smithtoberfest we were able to celebrate the wedding of Hayley and Justin Schwartz!! Hayley is another Castle Hills/Baylor friend. While at Baylor, Hayley registered for every class I taught and was a perfect student :) We were fortunate to get to know justin during our time in waco and couldn't be happier for both of them! The wedding was beautiful and LOTS of fun! Justin and Hayley live in Dallas and we enjoy getting to see them whenever possible!

The next week, Ryan Willard surprised us with a visit! He stayed for a few days and then actually came back again 2 weeks later. Ryan coordinates admissions at the Vanderbilt Law School. He travels all over the US recruiting and we can count on seeing him once or twice a year during his travels. This summer, we drove to Nashville to visit and experience "nashvegas"...willard style! Ryan is always up for a dance party and when he's in town we spend our time listening to good music and having dance-offs.

Halloween weekend was spent down in Pleasanton/McCoy. We skipped Baylor homecoming to be with the family on opening weekend of deer hunting season. When my grandmother passed away she left the land to my dad, aunt zoe, and uncle ted. We have grown up on this ranch and hold it near to our hearts. My great-grandfather Joe-K (born in 1898) bought this land and it has been in the family ever since. When my Dad closed down the family hardware and furniture business last year he took to tending to the land as his full time job. He's gone back to his cowboy roots..."farmer joe-go" and is loving every minute of it!

After a weekend at the ranch, the Gossett's came to the ATX! This was the first time they had experienced the UT life. Being the hardcore aggie family that they are, i was a bit nervous. But, they fell in love with the campus, our apt, and our little ut life. we walked all over the place, got coffee on campus, went and bought UT apparel for all, and then went to our very first game in royal-memorial stadium - Baylor vs. UT!!! Trey and i were kind of torn on what colors to wear. We decided that since the game was @ ut we would go with that....with pieces of green flair, of course.

The family was fully supportive and even managed to wear burnt orange!! Whether at A&M, Baylor, or UT...they are always rooting for our team!!
The weekend following the Gossett's we celebrated Quinton's birthday at the Madonna concert! Q's always had a little obsession with "madge". While in Africa this past may, her new album had just come out and it was all we listened to. After coming home i would find myself constantly listening to the madge tunes reminiscing and being filled with memories of Kenya!! Trey had a major exam and could not attend the concert so Quinton, Aaron and I went! We were on the floor only a few rows from the front of the stage and right next to the catwalk that she frequented (as seen here)!! it was definitely an experience i won't forget!

pre-concert-- we got there in plenty of time to soak in the closeness of our seats. Here i'm standing somewhat in the outfield of minute-maid park. I was able to introduce myself to Drayton McClane (the owner of the astros) and also was able to thank him for the McClane Student Life Center at Baylor (SLiC).