Brad's 1st post - Day on the Ranch

God wants me to become a rancher. His creation is awesome and I definitely haven't spent enough time enjoying it. Rach is much better with words but I wanted to share how awesome Texas is with everyone. I'm sure everyone knew how awesome it was once they saw the tarantula that crawled on our back porch. I spent the day subduing and enjoying Texas with my buddy David on his ranch. This is Abby, David and (his wife) Katherin's black lab. She is so calm. I think she slept in the truck the whole way there. I'm sure Rach will now use this picture to convince me how bad we need a dog. Still allergic. Maybe Evan's allergist can help.

We fed the cows from the hopper on this truck. Those cows heard us coming and took off running. I'll be honest, not the cutest animal out and definitly not the smartest but holy cow, I wanted a steak when we were done. I was thinking Ribeye the entire time. (I just realized I used "holy cow" in talking about cows...BRAD=NERD)

I already have the John Deere t-shirt now I just need to buy one of these then I'm official. Getting out on this hog was fun and I'm sure Larry (Rach's dad who has a similar tractor) will be impressed. I'm pretty sure I'm a farm accident waiting to happen but we had a good time. This isn't very long but its my first time so i'm sure the next time I post will be longer. Adios

Here you go Mom and Sarah.

Only time for a quick post tonight. Mom and Aunt Vic came for a visit a few weeks ago, and we had an absolute BLAST!! It was so relaxing having them here and being with family. Us ladies spent some great time decorating our house. They taught me that "it doesn't have to match, it has to go." This is my new favorite line. I used it with Sarah this past weekend. Anyways, Mom and Aunt Vicky we LOVED you being here! Thanks for coming and helping us make our house more cozy! Come back anytime! Here are our new decorations!

For these, I crawled all over our neighbors' yards to take pictures. We felt so creative with these!

We love this hutch! Our front room isn't completely empty anymore!
New fun decorations for the red kitchen!
This is my favorite new chair!

All for now. Next update...Easter in Lafayette!!

Are you stinking kidding me?!?!?!

A tarantula. Kid you not.



Try to tell me this isn't the creepiest thing ever!! We looked out our back door today and this is what we found. I almost fainted. Literally.




I think I'll be checking our sheets for the next 50 years of our life for this nasty thing. I think it may be coming back for revenge after Brad tossed it over the fence though. AAAAHHH. That was our day. Updates soon with Mom and Aunt Vicky's visit. We had such an awesome time!

Ellen came to play!!

This past week El came to hang out with us! We love visitors so much! I think it was the first time in a long while that El and I could just hang out and not worry about any other commitments. We were able to relax and just have some girl time!

We took El all over Austin. We introduced her to Hula Hut, which is my favorite place in Austin. Monday we went down to Driftwood to one of the vineyards. Then we headed out to Mount Bonnell which is always fun. We then rounded out that day with a trip to the Oasis. It was a BEAUTIFUL sunset!

Tuesday we hit up the outlets, which clearly is always a good choice. Then we played some Rock Band and we (as in El and myself) beat Enter Sandman by Metallica on our 2nd attempt! WOOOO! That night we met up some friends from the Stone for some Mighty Fine burgers. I had never had Mighty Fine before, and I couldn't even tell you the last time I had eaten a burger, it was delicious!! That night we spent some time just catching up and chatting.

The last day Brad made us pancakes, and then we headed to the airport! Thanks El for visiting! We loved having you!

Bradison Bean is on the way!!

Last week the ladies hosted a baby shower for our dear friend Amy. We had such a great time and it was so much fun to be part of! Baby Girl Bean should be here sometime in April (if I have my way it will be April 17th afternoon, so I can win the game!) and we're all pretty excited! Below are some pictures from the fun day!

New Kitchen Color!

While Brad has been job hunting I've been putting him to work here at home. We have been wanting to paint the kitchen, and we had picked out some paint, so he was kind enough to finish that for me over the last week. I love it. It's bold (red) and different that I ever would have guessed that I would like, but it turns out we both love it! Here are some after pictures!

Coming soon.. Baby Bean Baby Shower pictures and El's visit! Hope you have a fantastic week!

Oh Changes...

So, I have not forgotten that we have a blog...just been a busy little bee lately. However, these pictures below are a bit priceless from some fun time with the Mullins and Aaron's parents a couple weeks ago. We introduced them to Rock Band, and it was both amazingly entertaining and awsome all at the same time! Truly, we love thsi game!

I give you this video because Shauna and I have suffered through Brad and Aaron playing this song for weeks, and never passing it. FINALLY, they were sucessful with no fails! It truly was a day of victory!


On to some news in Allison Land. We've had some changes lately. For those of you who have not heard, Brad has lost his job at Samsung. Though, initaially this was incredibly scary and discouraging we have really come to a peace about the whole situation. We feel that our Lord is so much bigger than losing a job, and He has proven His faithfulness every step of the way of our lives, so we're trusting that this is a part of His plan.
It's hard to watch Brad lose his job after knowing how hard he worked at Samsung, but one thing that has been awesome for me is to watch him lean on God in such a tough situation. He is peaceful and patient, even in the moments when I am frustrated for him. It's been amazing. Not to mention, we get to eat dinner together EVERY NIGHT which is a first for our marriage. So, though it's sad, and he really misses his coworkers, and he is without a job, we're so blessed and thankful for that.
As for what's next, we're still unclear. Thankfully, my job is going really well right now. One huge blessing is that since I've been on day shift I truly look forward to going to work. I really miss my night shift friends, but I enjoy the work more during the day. It's a great thing since some overtime may be in the future. See how God answers prayers?! For Brad in the job department he has started applying this week and we're just praying that we'll be granted some discernment and guidance over where we're headed. At this time, we feel like we are meant to be here in Austin, but praying over that. We'll just see what happens.
As for other news, Nearly/Newly starts up this week and we are PUMPED!! We have some new leader couples and they seem just awesome, we're so excited to get to know the new couples in our group and the others we'll be leading with. Valentine's Day was great..Brad brought chocolate covered strawberries that he made to me and my coworkers on Saturday and then we had an A-M-A-Z-I-N-G steak dinner with the Mullins that night. It was a fantastic day! Anyways..that's about all I have for now. I realized it had been almost a month since I had updated and felt it was time. Hope you all have had a fantastic week!