8 years

Nathan and I are celebrating 8 years of marriage! I can't believe we survived the 7 year itch :) Completely kidding. For me, this past year has been the best. We've had a lot of challenges along the way; but we are strong, committed and closer than ever. Nathan, you truly are my best friend. Thank you for your sense of humor. I love the laughter in our home. I love you. Thank you for being the man you are and loving me unconditionally. You are an amazing daddy and I thank God DAILY that He decided we were meant to be together. Love!

05.25.2001

Three Oh!

3-0. I can't think of a better way to enter the 30's than with an amazing girls weekend! This past weekend Rachel and I both celebrated our 30th bdays together. It was so fun to share this with her. We've shared so many major life events together-- and this is another amazing one to add to the collection. There were 16 girls-- Rachel's Baylor friends, my church friends and BU friends.
We started off meeting at the Crescent Hotel in downtown Dallas. The Crescent is gorgeous! WOW!! I'd really, really like to stay there again. After meeting up with the girls, I headed to the spa and got a collagen facial. AHH! Kristi and I had lunch in our robes; it was heaven. This was my first time away from Carson overnight, so I truly appreciated every moment.
After the spa we all hung out in the rooms and got ready to go out. It was fun catching up with everyone. Several friends drove from out of town (Houston, Waco) so it was especially wonderful to catch up with those girls. Then we headed to dinner at Palomino. AMAZING! I have never been disappointed with a meal at Palomino. This was no exception..but even more special because I found a meal that I could actually eat that wouldn't upset Carson's tummy. I might have licked the bowl :) If you ever want to make my life, just take me back to Palomino please.
After our killer dinner we headed to the lobby of the hotel and Rachel and I opened gifts. We racked in! Rachel blew me away with a scrapbook she made of "30 reasons why we love Melissa." She had all of the girls send in stories, memories and statements about our friendship over the years. It is something that I will treasure forever. This means SO much to me! If I am having a bad day, I know where to go for a pick-me-up. Undeserving.
We headed back to the room and hung out and caught up and laughed in bed. This was my first night of uninterrupted sleep in 8 1/2 months...heaven!!
The next morning, we had breakfast in the room and then headed to the pool. It was the perfect day to bag some rays. We brought our trashy magazines and I have to say this was a personal highlight. I love laying out. I don't ever get to do it anymore, especially without kids. Nice to get a little sun to start off the summer. We headed home after that. It was the fastest 24 hours of my life. I can't believe it's over :( Thank you girls for giving me one of the best weekends of my life. I adore you all! Who turns 30 next? I am ready for another fiesta! PS-- Rachel is quite a trooper. She drove all the way from Austin 38 weeks pregnant. She had Elijah at 37 weeks! She was having contractions the whole weekend. I am so glad she was able to get in one last hurrah before her next baby boy arrives.

The birthday girls

Rachel reading her bday card from me. I also listed 30 reasons I love Rachel. We had some great laughs.

Sassy girls: Jaime, Erin & Ebes

Ahh, the dinner from heaven. Capellini pomodoro with chicken. More please!

Mel & Ebes. For some reason I was posing like the other HS prom girls :)

My Fellowship church friends: Monica, Britnie, Kati & Kristi

Natalie came all the way from Houston!

Mel & cute prego Erin

Mel with 2 more pregos: Nicole & Rachel

The whole crew

Brigitte, Mel & Sally

Showing off my gift from Ebes. She gave me pink salt and a tiny portable salt shaker so I will now have salt on hand at all times. Too funny!

The scrapbook-- one of the most precious gifts I've ever received

Reading scrapbook poolside while Natalie laughs b/c I am hiding from the camera

--

My actual birthday is May 29th. Nathan surprised me with a bday/8 year anniversary combo gift-- a vacation to Key West. AHH! Somebody pinch me!!

The results are in

This past Friday, Nathan competed in the Chick-fil-idol finals! After three nights of singing, they asked 12 finalists to come back and compete for the prestigious honor of being D/FW's best undiscovered talent :)
Nathan's first song was absolutely amazing! He sang Chris Tomlin's version of Amazing Grace a capella. That is a brave song to tackle, especially a capella. It was so quiet, you could hear a pin drop...it was really cool to see people react to him. So, after the 12 finalists sang, the judges narrowed the group down to the top 5. They eliminated the contestants just like they do on idol. They drug it out forever and grouped up the singers into 3 different groups based on talent.
Nathan made the top 5! Woo-hoo!!!!

The top 5 had to sing AGAIN (not sure why they didn't just pick a winner after one song). There was a panel of judges from Wachovia bank and a member of Fox4 news as well. Nathan's second song was "I'll be"- this was the song he sang the first week. He did a great job! I have to say...Amazing Grace was just a more powerful choice. All of the finalists were SO talented. We were blown away by the level of talent. We think he placed 4th. Come to find out, the top 3 singers are all from a church choir and sing professionally....so we think he did pretty darn great! No professional singing here...just a hardworking daddy of two!
We are SO proud of you, Nathan! I just love that he had the guts to get up and do this.
Finally, shame on Chick-fil-a....all he got was a t-shirt!!! We were hoping for some free food, but the memories are enough (sigh). HA!! I wish you all could have been there to hear him sing. He is and always will be my idol for sure!

Nathan singing Amazing Grace

Alex getting some love from the famous cow

Of course Alex ran into his arms again while he was singing....it was so precious!