Hello World,

Its been a while so let me begin by catching up!

Jack has a new love for licking lpton tea bottles.

I went to Dallas for a Bachelor party with my great Austin friends, Lubbock friends, brother and sister!

Natalie and I got Married!! April 25th, 2009

We had Jones Soda at our Wedding!

Natalie’s good friend Jeff was able to make it!

Picture on a Bike!

Love the way she smiles!

JUMP!

Weeeeee!

Pretty!

Rohan’s shoes match mine!

Austin Friends!

The get away!

Disney World!

The EARS!

In moving to Austin I DESTROYED my new father-in-laws neighbors mail box. Good way to make the first impression I say! It was the U hauls fault I say.

We moved into our new home here in Austin! Natalie has a better decorative eye than I!

We rescued a cat that we found in our front yard after a rain. We call him Widget!

Thanks to everyone that made it to our wedding. It was a great day and Natalie and I are on our way to a new life!

Cheers!

Corby

My friend Aldo was murdered last night. He was going to a friend’s house, and evidently the house was being robbed. As the burglars were fleeing the scene, he was shot and bled to death in the driveway.

I worked with Aldo at Hobby Lobby for almost two years.  He was one of the sweetest, hardest working guys I know. It’s never easy to hear hard news like this, but it’s even worse when it comes out of nowhere and when it’s a young guy with so much potential.

Please keep the Cervantes family in your prayers, as well as Aldo’s friends. I know he’ll be greatly missed.

I think I’m more excited about the people I get to see at my wedding than I am about the wedding itself!

Tuesday, April 21st:

Enter Jeff McNabb (best platonic friend/Man of Honor) just in from Missouri, by way of Minnesota.  He’s had a full travel-card the past few weeks.
Also, Tiffany and Rohan (Best Woman/Future SIL & Ring Bearer/Future Nephew) come to spend the night! Archer stays calmly in his crate and does not jump on/knock over Mr. Bear… I’m speaking in faith.
(To Do: Hang fabric. Box up stuff that needs to go to wedding.)

Wednesday, April 22nd:
Corby (Best [Only] Romantic Friend/Future Husband, duh) arrives! As well as the majority of his family, including Casey (Best Man) and Kelly (Future SIL) and Donna and Kelly (Future MIL and FIL).
(To Do: Hang more fabric. Continue boxing.)

Thursday, April 23rd:
Meagan and Jeff Smith roll into town (Matron of Honor and hubs)!
I feel like someone else important gets here on Thursday, but gosh if I can remember who…
(To Do: Pack up Wedding U-Haul.  Transport some stuff out to site.)

Friday, April 24th:
Amanda and Silas Clark make their appearance! (Super-cousin and brand new mini-Clark)
(To Do: Get everything else out to site. Hang fabric on last wall, once planes and helicopters are removed. Decorate, decorate, decorate. Set up ceremony site and reception area.  Have rehearsal. Eat rehearsal dinner. Do a happy dance or two.)

Saturday, April 25th:
Wedding Day! All systems are go!

In addition to all the wonderful people we have coming from out of town, there are also many from Lubbock who we’re excited to see, too! Dane and Shababe (Best Man and Best Photographer of Honor), Alyssa (Maid of Honor, my sister), Jon Wootten (Mr. SoundMan), Mr. Jordan Gray (Video-yeah-grapher), Pam McCaul (Wedding Coordinator Extrordinaire) and my family of wedding-putter-together-ers: my Grandad (Engineer of Everything), my mom (Creative Mastermind/Chief Executive Officer), and my dad (Cheif Financial Officer/Brains and Brawn).

Also, so many of our good friends are coming from across Texas and further, and it means so much that you all would take the time out of your busy lives to come join us in celebrating our new lives together! We truly have the best friends and most wonderful family, and in only 9 days, we all get to come together and have a blast!

(Looking back on this post, I should have shown more self-control with the parentheses, yes?)

That hurts.

Look at how relaxed I was.
Fully present in the moment.
Basking in it.
Soaking in it.
I was not saturated in stress.

My shoes and dress were comfortable enough for dancing. My beauty radiated out of me; it was not applied to me.

I got to spend quality time with my family and friends.
I was myself, not a show.
In fact, I was my fullest expression of myself.

I do not remember whether the invitations were letterpress or whether the flowers at the ceremony were the same ones at the reception.

The wedding favors or the fanciness of the food did not make memories.
The sincerity did.
The connection did.
The time together did.

It did not matter whether every last detail conformed to the signature colors.
Instead of saying, “What a beautiful bouquet,” the guests said, “What a beautiful love.”

(from Offbeat Bride)

Please be praying for my friend Analee’s family, the Joiners.  Her two cousins Travis and Rachel were murdered in College Station a couple of days ago by Rachel’s boyfriend. I can’t imagine the heartache and confusion that the families are facing.  Three lives have been lost–two were taken senselessly, and one was lost when the killer chose to pull the trigger. Pray for peace and understanding, as well as for comfort.

I think it’s so great when a day can be simultaneously really productive and really relaxing.

The past few weeks have been absolutely non-stop.  Donna and I worked so hard getting the 48 House ready to sell, and as Corby and Casey can attest, it looks amazing! It’s so much cleaner and brighter than it was.  Hopefully, all our work will pay off and the house will sell in good time and for a good price! If it does take a while to sell, though, I get to enjoy living here for the next month and a half. Win-win situation!

Anyway, today Donna, Corby and Casey all headed back to their respective homes. It was strange having the house be so empty after almost three weeks of hammering, painting and cleaning, but it was nice to just sit back and look at the results of all our labor.  So, I spent this afternoon and evening doing some little things that needed to be done and relaxing.  I got two loads of laundry done, cleaned out all my cabinets in the living room, packed up all my non-fiction books (alphabetically, of course), and organized a lot of the gifts from my bridal shower.  While I was doing this, I got to enjoy Extreme Makeover Home Edition and a couple of episodes of Law & Order.  Then, while I was waiting on my laundry to finish, I did a crossword puzzle and cooked dinner.  At the end of the night I felt accomplished and refreshed!

I’m taking some pictures of the house tomorrow to send to the realtor, so I’ll stick ‘em up here, as well.

Hello ladies and gents,

I’d just like to post a quick note to recognize some of the blogs I read on a daily (sometimes more than daily) basis.  Some of these are well-known, some are just random people I stumbled across, some are just plain neat.  These aren’t really blogs to put in the blogroll, since they’re not friends or family, but they’re still great. Anyway, I figured if I enjoyed reading these blogs so much, some of you might, too.

DaMomma
This is the blog of Elizabeth, aka DaMomma.  She chronicles the day to day adventures and misadventures of her family, which includes Cute Husband and their daughters (Mary, Karenna and Eden–soon to make her debut into this world).  She’s also the author of a book called Motherhood is Not for Wimps, which I’ve been trying to get my hands on for a while.  Regardless of whether or not you have kiddos of your own, Elizabeth’s writing is inspiring and entertaining.  Her witty “vinaigrettes” have given me countless LOL moments, literally.

Super Kawaii Mama
I stumbled onto this blog late one night, watching 1940s-style hair tutorials on YouTube. This super-stylish mama focuses on vintage fashion with an international flair.  I love her confidence and her ability to rock bold styles that I’d never be brave enough to try! Also, watch her YouTube videos for some fun style tips as well as an amazing Austrailian accent.

Electrolicious  and Offbeat Bride
Both of these blogs belong to Ariel Meadow Stallings: web-community maven, author, writer, and person of all-around awesomeness. Electrolicious is her personal blog.  I try to not feel like a stalker when I read it. The other blog is the home of the Offbeat Bride Tribe (found at www.offbeatbride.ning.com) which showcases people’s unique, amazing weddings that don’t fit the culture’s cookie-cutter definition of what a wedding should be.  This site has given me so much inspiration and encouragement with wedding planning, and I know I’ll continue to be a part of the community even after the wedding day is done.

Neatorama
I love this blog. Seriously. I check it before I check my email.  If you hear me stating some cool, random fact, chances are I’ve read it on Neatorama.  This blog links to some of the most interesting, informative articles as well as to some of the best online games.  Its subject matter is endless.  If you like neat stuff that may or may not have any real-world application, this is the site for you.

I’m sure I could think of many more blogs to list if I had the time, but this gives you a good idea of how I spend my online life.  On Feb. 29th, I’ll be giving up Perez Hilton and TMZ for lent, so it’s nice to know I’ll have some entertaining, informative blogs to take the place of celebrity drivel.

“We will seek you first, Lord.
You will hear our voices
Early in the morning and late in the night.

We will sing your praises,
Giving you the glory,
Offering our lives to you, a holy sacrifice.

May our praises rise as incense,
Oh Lord, to you.
May our worship be a fragrance,
Oh Lord, to you.”

I think the part that really gets me is the “Early in the morning and late in the night” part.  I’m confronted with a lot of things that really get me down, usually late at night when I drag myself back to the 48 House.  The way things have turned out are nothing like how I imagined they would be this time last year.  I feel like, in certain areas, I’m not surrounded by the kind of people I should be. But they’re areas of my life that I can’t change and can’t escape, at least for a few more months.  I’ve had to really re-evaluate the aspects of my life and my faith that are important to me.  It’s amazing how social worship is, and how hard it is to be surrounded by people who don’t share that.  But even “late in the night” I know I can raise my thoughts and prayers and worship to Him, even if I’m the only one doing so.  It’s lonely, but I’m not alone.

On December 13th 2008, a day that will go down in history, is the day that Natalie Graduated from Texas Tech University. The only reason I am blogging about this now is because I just now was able to pull the pictures off my dad’s camera. LOL

I am so proud of her and its amazing to see what she has accomplished. So sit back and enjoy the pictures of this great day!

As she was walking in…..

Standing in the see of people….

The BIG MOMENT!!!!

After standing with her crazy awesome but very tall shoes all day Natalie decided to sit down.

And finally I look pretty to… j/k

One last thing. Just because I like fire trucks, here is a picture of a fire truck from back home in Fort Davis.

Have a Merry Christmas Everyone!

Corby