Bells in Texas

Things have been so crazy the past few weeks. Jess and I have been so very busy that our heads are still spinning.

I spent three days in February taking the Texas Bar Exam (February 24, 25, 26). I spent all of January and all of February studying for it. Jess did not see me much of that time. I am not feeling too confident that I passed, but we will see come May. I totally "misunderestimated" it. I simply ran out of time to study. At least it is over. Jess is glad to have me back.

We bought and moved into our new house. We are still unpacking as I type this. It will probably be a couple weeks before we are totally settled in, but we love the house so far. It is so nice to be in a house again.

I bought a new TV for my "Man Cave". We do not have basements here in Texas, but us guys get a gameroom or a media room (or both). I splurged on a 50" Samsung Plasma. It is awesome. Anything that big is awesome, but this one is a really great TV. It was part of my 30th birthday celebration. I also got a subscription to Netflix. I am really looking forward to enjoying the home theater experience. Jess is even permitting me to decorate the cave myself. We are still negotiating the elk antlers...

So yeah, I am now thirty. Kind of sad, but cool I guess. I do feel older. Or I feel like I should act older. Deep down, I am still 17. Now if I could only get my 17 year-old abs back...

We also bought a new bed for the guest room, so any y'all can come and visit! We bought a new dresser and nightstand for the master bedroom. It is the first time since we have lived together that we finally bought "grown up" bedroom furniture.

Our baby is also growing up quickly, and he is not even born yet. Jess is 22 weeks today and her baby bump is coming along. She is the cutest mommy. I am getting even more excited every day for the heir to arrive. I know July will come soon enough and I will be wishing for more sleep, but I am so excited right now. Soon I will get to help decorate the nursery and I cannot wait. We are still trying to decide on a name. We have a couple that we are thinking of, but we are keeping it a secret until the birth. One of the most exciting recent developments is that the baby has started to kick. Jess feels him quite often. I have only felt it once, but soon I will be able to feel the kicks too. Jess definitely thinks he will be an athlete based on his activity so far. Either way, he will be loved and spoiled. The grandparents have promised that.

We also bought a new car (yeah, we are doing our part to stimulate the economy with the Bell Stimulus Plan). It is a brand new 2009 Mazda6. It is only the 2.5L 4-cyl., but it is definitely "zoom-zoom". It has plenty of get-up and go. Very fun to drive. And it looks sweet.

So besides the house, car, TV and furniture we are also filling the new house with new things. It is fun.

My job is going really great. I have finally found something that is fun and exciting at the same time very fulfilling. It has only been two months so far, but I love it. I get paid to have fun and do what I love, so it has never seemed like work.

Jessica's job is going well, and she is in love with her new house and the baby. Our house is full of love and things are getting better every day. Texas has started to feel more like home for us now and we are looking ahead to the future with lots of excitement. Now that we have more to actually write about, I hope to update the blog more often. I have already skipped over so much in the past almost year that we have been here.

Until next time... Happy trails.

Here are some pictures of Jessica and I and Murphy at the White Rock Dog Park in mid-August. It is a good size dog park in Dallas and it is one of the only dog parks around so there were quite a few dogs there for Murphy to sniff. The separated the different size dogs into two sections. One fenced off section was for dogs like 30 lbs max. The other section was for all dogs.

We also ran into someone who was also from Minnesota. We were walking by and she saw my Gustavus Football t-shirt. She yelled to us and we walked over and spoke with our Minnesota accents without feeling as embarrassed. She explained that she was from Mankato. It is really amazing how small the world is at times.


We all had a great day. We went fairly early in the morning before the temperature got too warm. Next time we could go even earlier because it got warm pretty quick.

It really was a beautiful day. Murphy got to run around with the other dogs, and got muddy by the well.


We then we went down to the water (White Rock Lake) and watched him cool off. There were a couple of Labs there that loved to fetch sticks and tennis balls. Murphy was a bit scared to go out too far. He also was unsure of his footing. The water was not very clear, and the landing was very rough and rocky.


The funniest part was this little pit bull dog thing trying to drag an entire limb off the shore. He was relentless in his efforts. He did not seem to care that it weighed probably 150-200 lbs dry. He was definitely determined to succeed. His ambition was definitely something to admire.



After the fun down at the shore, we went up to walk a bit on the bridge. The bridge spans the whole width of the lake. The span is quite some distance.

Here is a shot of Jessica and Murphy on the Bridge:

Murphy getting some water to drink before we head home.

We are goign to have a BBQ on the Fourth of July to celebrate us selling our house and Jessica is coming back for it. I have not seen Jessica for over a month now. It has been extremely difficult to be separated that long, but the Lord has answered our prayers. I am only weeks away now from moving to Texas for good.

It will be nice for her to get to see the house (and the dishwasher that I installed) one last time. Hopefully many of our friends and family can make it.

Good food, good friends, and plenty of reason to celebrate on this anniversary of our great country's declaration of independence.

The reunion is near. I have exciting news. Jessica and I have accepted an offer on our house in Minnesota. We are so happy that our prayers have been answered. Finally after months of waiting for the housing market to pick up, we were presented with an offer and we accepted. We did not have much bargaining leverage, but the terms were acceptable enough to make it work.

Coincidentally, I had given my formal notice to resign at work the day before. I was going to move to Texas in three weeks, and I still do not have a job yet and we had not sold our house. It was going to be a stressful situation, as you can imagine, with trying to pay a mortgage and rent on just Jessica's salary. But then the Lord answered our prayers and helped a nice young couple find our house and fall in love with it enough to want to buy it.

The inspection still has to pass (which it should). The closing is scheduled for July 28. My last day at Thomson is going to be July 11th. The movers are coming July 14-16 to pack and move all of our things. It is supposed to take up to a week to get the items down to Dallas. I have driven it in 14 hours, I am a bit confused on that one, but I will not worry about it right now.

I am praying that nothing happens to prevent the closing, but it seems like I am on my way to Dallas. I am so excited to be reunited with my wife, Jessica, and my puppy, Murphy!

Jessica and I had to celebrate our 3-year wedding anniversary apart. It was May 21st. It was hard to be apart. I sent Jessica 100 blooms of lillies to her office on our anniversary and then did get to go down to Dallas the next weekend. I did not get a picture of the flowers, but they did not look like they did online. Jessica still loved them and was surprised, so I guess it was the thought that counts?

Here are some pics of the weekend, May 24th, when we got the chance to finally celebrate together:

I have the most beautiful wife! Doesn't she look great for thirty? I am the luckiest


Here I am on the balcony of Jessica's apartment enjoying a margarita out of a coconut. Jessica decorated the apartment to recreate our Hawaiian honeymoon. It was lots of fun.


Jessica and I went out to dinner that night to Mi Cocina. It is one of my favorite Mexican restaraunts in Dallas. There are several in the area. The food is really good. The service is great, the portions are "Texas-sized," and the atmostphere is just really fun.I have been there three times though I think and I always get the same thing. I need to try some other menu items, but the sampler platter I always order is just so good, and I get to try a bunch of different items.

It was also nice because Monday was Memorial Day, so I got to spend an extra long weekend with Jessica and Murphy. It was hard to go back to Minnesota, but I had plans to come down the next weekend, so it would not be long before I was back.

On April 5th, Jessica's parents, Rick and Barb Carlson threw a going away party for Jess and me. It was a great party. Lots of our friends and family were able to make it, and it was nice to be able to see everybody one last time. The beer was flowing and the food was delicious. We even had a taco bar ;) mmmm... tacos.

Cowboy boots and hats were optional. Chaps and spurs were discouraged.

We only got a few pictures in after most people had already left. I guess we were too caught up in the fun to remember until it was too late.

I do not remember who was taking the photos, but they turned out a bit blurry. Must have been the beer?

From left to right: Me (looking like a 15 year-old cowboy), Jessica, and Jessica's brother, Phil

Left to right: Barb Carlson, me, Jess, Rick Carlson