Lamb Christmas

This past weekend we went down to Round Top for Christmas with Mom’s side of the family. We always do it early in December since it eliminates the Christmas Day conflicts with other family commitments. For the past couple of years we have had almost everyone show up and always have a great time. We eat, visit, have a White Elephant gift exchange, and play games including the a nice 9 hole round “top” of golf. We forgot the camera so pictures will have to wait until someone else shares and then I can get them posted. The White Elephant is always a fun time and I think that this year was one of the most competitive and scheming White Elephants in a long time. Good gifts always lead to interesting strategies. Heidi and I came away with an electric skillet and a travel wine box, we are excited to put both to good use. Well that is all I have for the Lamb Christmas – until next year.

rollin' down Rodeo with a shotgun

Well maybe not with a shotgun but we did go to the rodeo this past Friday night so yeee Hawwww. The rodeo in Dallas is always interesting just do the fact that it is Dallas and you just don’t see that many people in cowboy gear. If you like people watching then you must attend a good ole rodeo; you will be amazed. I was on the quest to find the best mullet but did not find that until Saturday at lunch and let me tell you friend…what a work of art! Sorry, got a little off track…Rodeo. So Randy Rogers performed after the rodeo because to have a big rodeo you have to have a dance after words. Well nobody really danced but we did enjoy the music. *Sidenote -Randy went to SWT and he actually performed at our fraternity parents weekend back in 1999 so I am COOL.

We really had a good time and I think that I bored Heidi of all the stories about my youth telling her about throwing calves and barrel racing in the front pasture. We were never has fast as the ladies but we sure did have a good time. I think that I could have been a pretty good at Bulldogging but just did not have the desire to jump off a perfectly good horse. Here are some pics so enjoy.

Oh and Wednesday we completely got the opposite direction when we hit up the symphony. We are freaking cultured people.

Shooting for an 8 second ride

Randy Rogers Band

Bliss

Oh and if you are still reading...yes, the title is from Rage Against the Machine lyrics. Dont tell Heidi...

Fishing at the Farm

This past weekend we took a long over do trip down to the farm. We had a great time down there and did not want to come back. This was Lilly's first road trip and she did really well in the car. We had to make an "Honor" stop at Buc-ee's so that Heidi could get her a Dublin Dr. Pepper in Giddings, Tx. (We put "Honor" in front of events that Dad used to like. Buc-ee's was one of his favorite stopping places since they have everything! Margaritas, shrimp enchiladas, singing the "Good Morning to You" song are all "Honor"...we love you POPS!)

Saturday we got up and took a look at all the dozer work that was done at the farm and then fixed a patch of fence down on the back fence. Mike, Nina and Aaron came up for dinner so we did not get into any major projects but did get a chance to do some fishing. I caught me a nice sized 3 lbs bass and then we all went up and enjoyed a great brisket dinner.

Sunday we got up and did some early morning fishing and Heidi caught a large 4 lbs bass!!! I can up with a small pounder but Heidi was the winner of the day. We came back up packed and headed back to Dallas.

It was a great weekend; we look forward to the next trip.



"Honor" stop at Buc-ee's

Lilly and Heidi hanging out by the tank

It is a 4 lbs bass

3 lbs bass

OH OH OH OH Oh, The Right Stuff

Yes, that is correct. We went to see the NKOTB ( better known as NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK) this past Sunday.
One of our wonderful friends, Melissa, gave us 4 tickets to see this throwback to our childhood. Ryan and I went with 2 of our other friends, Kristen and Taylor.
We already had awesome seats, but after we went to go see our friend Melissa, we wound up in a suite!!
There were several thousand screaming fans ( now all middle adged mommies) some of whom were even wearing spandex leggings, oversized T-shirts with wide belts, side ponys with electrick pink scrunchies and I promise, I think I smelled ELECTRIC YOUTH floating down the halls of the AAC.
I think Ryan's favorite part of the evening ( other then dancing with me to I'll BE LOVING YOU FOREVER jr. High style) was the earplugs that Melissa brought down for him! He was a great sport though, even though he was out numbered by about 3000, to 1!
The evening was a blast from the past. They sang all their hits- YOU GOT THE RIGHT STUFF, PLEASE DON'T GO GIRL, and yes HANGIN' TOUGH was the encore.
We had such a great time, it was like, totally awesome!! ( Sorry, I couldn't help myself)

It was a fair day!

This weekend Rachel and Mark (my sister and her husband) came up for the weekend and Heidi and I decided to take them out to the State Fair of Texas. We had a great time and enjoyed plenty of good ole fried foods. We enjoyed a fried Twinkee, fried Oreo, fried Cheesecake, fried Truffle, a Fletchers Corn Dog (official state fair corn dog), sausage on a stick and the now famous...drum roll...Chicken Fried Bacon!!!!! This stuff is freaking amazing! Sorry Marilyn we vote yes! Chicken Fried batter wrapping a super tasty piece of bacon. How can you go wrong!! It was a bit salty but get you a drink and you will get a chance to enjoy heaven like we did.

Here are some pics from the Fair Enjoy



Rachel and Mark standing in awe of the WOW Sham!



Sorry Ralph!


Big Tex, Big Ryan, and Little Bella

Phoenix to Flagstaff

Twice a year I make a trip from Phoenix to Flagstaff to recruit at Northern Arizona State and I finally brought my camera to share with everyone my trip. It is only about a 2 hour trip but you travel from under 2000 ft above sea level to over 8000 ft about sea level. Below are some pictures of the transformation of the landscape from the desert to vast evergreen forests. These pics do not do not do the landscape justice but I still thought that you would enjoy.

Elevation under 2000ft

Under 4000ft

about 6000ft

Evergreet trees! 8000ft

The Who's Tommy

This weekend Heidi got tickets for us to see The Who's Tommy on Saturday night. This is a rock opera that follows The Who's album Tommy. I thought that we were going to see the Who's Tommy (not THE Who's Tommy)as in who is Tommy; a show about finding out who is Tommy. This was not what ths show was about at all so I spent most of the show trying to figure out what was going on. I am not a Who fan but reconized one song "Pinball Wizard" so I got into that song but spent the rest of the time just watching and trying to put everything together.

The show was really good, the acting, singing & dancing were all done really well it just missed something since I had no idea on what show I was watching. Next time I am going to do some reading about a show before we just go and show up.

Lilly Dog

Well now that we have our camera charger we are back to taking pictures so get ready for more updates.

It is almost a common rule that when you get a house you have to get a dog to go with that house. Well the McDows are no different. We got the house and now got the dog! Ladies and Gentlemen I give you Lilly the Dog.

Lilly is a 5 year old Australian Shephard.

She enjoys long walks to the park and

playing with her red toy.

She will get her first taste of farm life here the next couple of weeks. Until next time

What does $700 get you these days?

To the McDow's it is a man to dig a hole in the ground and have it fill up with sewage, a plumbers snake to pull roots, an optical camera to see the city's running sewer line, and the same man to fix the hole he made and tell us that we should not have our bathroom flood again within the next 5 years. Who says the dollar does go as far as it used to.

I raise my glass to everyone who has ever had sewer line problems.

Interfaith Cookout

I know that this is a little late but we were waiting on pictures because I am learning that everything you blog HAS to have a picture.





A couple weeks ago Heidi and I along with about 8 other people from our small group got together to host a cookout for the residents at Interfaith Housing. For those who remember this is the place where we first met and then proceded on to our first date and well you know the rest...we are all married and stuff.





We served a total of about 200 hotdogs and hamburgers the residents of Interfaith. Normally we don't get a chance to interact the families as we we spend most of our time setting up their apartments. Our jobs as volunteers is to do all the "grunt" work that Interfaith needs to stay up and running. The things that I end up doing most are moving couch beds, cleaning stank friedges, and bathrooms and hanging paintings under the direction of the women who get mad because my "eye level" is higher than theirs. Things that Heidi ends up doing most...decorating homes for the new residents and total apartment cleaning preping the apartment for some potential new family.





We really enjoy the work we do their and had a good time serving them. We look forward to doing this again in the spring.

Johnny and Jane Homeowner

Well we have gone off and done it. We officially HOMEOWNERS!!!!

SO, this weekend was crazy!!!
We managed to start our Saturday in Dallas, and ended up that evening in Murphy Texas to see our good friends, Ginny and Neal Williams.
We also got to spend some time with our precious new niece, Audrey. I can't get enough of her! She is so sweet!
Ryan says I can hold her all I want, but not to get any ideas, at least for a little while:)
We do have one big surprise, but I have been sworn to silence until a later date so we will share more later.
Sunday after church we went up to my folks house and went swimming, raided their freezer and watched the Olympics..
As far as training goes, well we thought about it really hard, and then decided to take a nap instead. We will be making up for that this week however. A swim is planned for tonight after we go to our friend's going away party, and I think tomorrow we will ride.

Woo Hoo!!

4 Day Weekend

This Saturday Heidi and I went out with our good friends Scott & Rebecca (they got married 3 months before us). We don’t get to see them as much as we would like since they live almost on the other side of the world. Just so you know the other side of the world is northwest Fort Worth.

We met up at Sundance Square in downtown Fort Worth and had dinner at UNO’s which was pretty good but it is not Angelo’s but they gave it a fair shot. After that we headed over for some comedic relief at a place called 4 Day Weekend. Scott and I went there about 3 years ago when we were in the same Hometeam but I have not been back since my move back to Dallas. 4 Day Weekend is an improve comedy show that typically has 4 comics and a host (kind of like Whose Line is it Anyways), it is located in the heart of Sundance Square. The best parts of the night were when the comics made themselves laugh and watching everyone else try to be composed while he fought to get back into character. The worst part was paying $6 per drink in a ghetto plastic cup!!!!! Our next trip back to Cowtown just might have to include another stop at 4 Day Weekend.

It is just too hot to Tri anything!

This Saturday was meant with great intentions we were going to try to repeat last weeks ride, swim, ride but we found out that if you snooze to long you miss your window to get out and get back before it gets to hot. This resulted in a truly lazy Saturday which we really enjoyed but paid for it on Sunday when we forced ourselves to get up at 7 and do a quick 10 mile ride before we went to church. Both of us can feel our bodies get stronger and we were not as tired this time as we thought we would. Heidi was able to kick up her pace and I have no doubt that she will do really well in the Triathlon. I am still getting better but am not as fast as my lovely bride but I know that I will finish. We continue to enjoy the training and look forward to getting better bikes and competing in more Triathlons.


6 weeks away from the Texas Man!

Aunt Heidi & Uncle Ryan

Yep, we are officially an Aunt and Uncle! Monday, Lacey gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. Mom and baby Audrey are doing great and Pops Aaron is there taking plenty of pictures. Way to go guys!

We're still Tri - ing!

We keep on trucking along and September 14 keeps on getting closer. This past Saturday was a big moment for Team McDow. We had our first combined training session. This means that we made the unwise decision to do train for two events on Saturday morning. We did both the ride and swim distances for the triathlon!

Here was our morning:
9 Mile ride to the pool
500 meter swim
9 Mile ride back home

The whole thing took us about 2.5 hours which was not bad since we to combine the ride and swim together and had some down time transiting from the bike to the gym and dripping dry before we headed back to the bikes to see if we could find a different way back home. There was a big hill on Royal Ln that we were not very excited about climbing again. So after a lap around the parking lot we settled in for the big hill (that we walked up and rode down)

We walked around the lake on Friday night & Sunday night and will stat to add more running this week in order to prepare for the race. We will do a repeat performance this Saturday and hopefully our bodies will hold up.

Just to clarify if you were wondering…this is what we do for fun!

Triathlon Training

As most of you know Heidi and I are competing in the Texas Man Triathlon this September and we have been a little slow to start training but now we are fully dedicated to getting to the finish line. This is the same triathlon that I did last year and Heidi agreed to do it with me if I did it again so guess what…we are doing it.

The race consists of a 500m swim, then a 17 mile bike ride, followed by a 5k. This weekend to celebrate our independence we did the 500m swim and on Saturday we did a 16 mile ride. The swimming is tough just because we are not used to swimming but it is the one event that we are getting better at the fastest. Our goal for this week will be to swim another 500m but with a 300m nonstop swim. Within 2 weeks we should be able to knock out a 500m swim no problem. We did the bike ride 8 out and 8 back with only one break. We are getting stronger on the bike but just need to get used to riding (My body is no longer allowing me to take my bike on any sweet jumps anymore.) The run will be my nemesis much like it was last year but I think that Heidi will do really well; she knocked out a 3 mile run last night. I am still pushing out my first run for another day.

We will keep you posted on our training…both the good and bad. Hope everyone is well.

Pocket Sandwich Theater

Last week Heidi took me out for a surprise. It just so happened to be on the anniversary of our first date so I thought that we were going to go eat pho or bowling or something but she definitely surprised me by taking me to the Pocket Sandwich Theater. We had never been there to the theater so it was a fun experiment. We always talked about getting out and doing different things so this was right up our alley. What is the Sandwich Pocket Theater you might ask???? Well it is this little place tucked away off of Mockingbird and 75 where they have live theater performances and dinner…and since I am a former Thespian Heidi knew that this would be something that I would enjoy. We saw a show called Tom, Dick, and Harry which is a about a couple is trying to adopt a child and Tom’s brother are trying to help make a good impression send the show off on a whirl wind of antics and odd situations. I enjoy the witty, intelligent, pseudo British comedy so this was greatness. Here is the website for the theater so if you want to go just give us a call and we are there.

http://www.pocketsandwich.com/

The Farm

We just got back from the Farm which as you guys all know if my sanctum sanctorum. Such a great weekend; Heidi loves going down there and as you can tell be the photo is not afraid to do a little work. There is something about working with your hands that really make you feel sore but some how really good. We had a fun weekend clearing fence line, fishing (Heidi caught a little bass) and spending time with the family. I love this place and look forward to coming back down there soon.

Well, we finally did it!!!May 3, I became Mrs. McDow.
I can't tell you how excited I was that day. I'm sure my wonderful husband will wax eloquent on the day, but it was more wonderful then I could have imagined.

The day started with me sleeping in, eating a rather non-bridal breakfast of cheezy, eggy, sausagey yummy goodness that my Aunt made. I figured that I had done all the work I could do to be skinny, so why not enjoy the happiest day of my life!!!

I met my girls, Jeca, Cheyenne and Lacey at the church and we ran around that morning, when and had a fantastic, girly lunch and then back to the church to get ready. I had a wonderful time with them prepping to walk down the isle!!!

My friend and makeup artist, Martha Beresford, came and did my hair and makeup and then touched up the rest of my gals.When it came time to walk down the isle I was definatly picture perfect!!!
The ceremony went by so quickly, but what I remember most is when those doors were opened, I saw my best friend and husband to be, up on that stage, looking as handsome as ever and of course goofing off. I will never forget how excited I was to just be there with him.
Even though we were blessed to have a couple hundred friends and family there, it was somehow for a moment, just us, being showered in the Love, peace and presence of the Lord.

I am so blessed beyond measure to have found my best friend, my example of how Christ loved the Church, my husband. He has shown me such an amazing defintion of what love is and I am truly humbled every time I think about this gift that the Lord has put in my life.

I have long followed the story of Ruth in scripture. I learned several things from her..patience, grace, obedience andmost of all faith. Faith that the Lord would provide exactly what she needed. I absoltuely feel I think what she felt when she met her Boaz. I am home..

I Love you Ryan, more then you will ever know. I will try my best every day to honor you, cherish you and laugh with you..Thank you for being a David..a man among men. I see every day, even more and more that you are a man after God's own heart.

"I am my beloved's and he is mine." Song of Soloman

The Honeymoon

We got back from out honeymoon and had an amazing time. We went down to Playa del Carmen on the Yucatan Peninsula where we spend 5 days in paradise. The weather was amazing and we got a chance to really experience in the short time we were there. We don’t have many pictures since we forgot to charge the cameral before we left the states so we went “old school” and had to rely on our memories instead of digital shots. We spent on day lying around on the beach just trying to catch up on the whirl wind of the past couple of days. We wondered into the swim up pool and found two of my favorite things: new friends and tequila! Marcel and his wife Veronica were on vacation from Holland I enjoyed speaking to them in my very basic German that I learned in high school. We forgot to reapply our sunscreen and got fried but I think that is what you are supposed to do when you go to the beach. The next day we went to Chichen Itza and had a good time avoiding the sun and learning about the olden Mayan civilization. I highly recommend the tour but once you do it there is no reason to go back. Our last full day we spent on a snorkeling trip and got to go to the Mayan cenote and then out to a inland bay where the fresh water mixes with salt water and that is a nursery area so we got a chance to see a lot of baby fish before they got growns up enough to get out in the ocean. Minus the sunburn we had a great time are looking forward to going back sometime soon.

Aggie Muster

This Monday Heidi & I went to College Station to participate in Aggie Muster. This is a time honored tradition at Texas A&M that happened on April 21st throughout the world for Aggies. It is usually put together by local Alumni Chapters but I think that you can just do it at your home. The one at College Station was held at Reed Arena and was standing room only. I have only been to Muster once before and it was with my dad who drove up from Plainview to West Texas A&M to honor one of his college buddies. I had no idea what I was going to but was moved by the experience. Heidi had never been to Muster so I spent part of the way heading down there to explain what it was. I knew this night was going to be tough but I had no idea what was in store for me.

What is Aggie Muster? It is a time for Aggies to get together and remember there time at Aggieland and then to remember those Aggie who have passed on during that year. They do this in what is called the “Roll Call for the Absent” which is list of those who have passed away that year. There is a candle lit in honor of that individual and friends and families of the Aggie on the roll will answer “here” in there place since they are not there to answer.

This is such a powerful ceremony and it is what some Aggies call the most important tradition since it is the one tradition that EVERYONE will participate in at some point and that it is done all over the world on the same day. What makes it even more meaningful for me it that it is done to honor those who have passed away that year and that that persons name could be called at multiple Muster ceremonies throughout the world. You see the friends and family who go to Muster can add your name to the list of their local Muster ceremony and honor your life by answering “here” for you. This year we went to honor my dad who passed away on December 22, 2007. He loved his university and this was a very important ceremony for him when he was here. The ceremony is powerful as a spectator but multiply that by 1000 when you participate in it. We were fortunate that Rachel lives in College Station so we were able to have Dad’s name called at Reed Arena on campus. The ceremony was wonderful; the speaker was great in talking about the university and Muster and what it means to be an Aggie. Dad was in the Corps and truly lived out what it meant to be an Aggie. Then they dimmed the lights moved on to the Roll Call which starts out with “Softly call the Muster, let the comrade answer ‘Here’…” and they begin. They call your name followed by your class so they started out with class of 2010 and went down. As each name is called a candle is lit to symbolize that while those Aggies are not present in body, they will forever remain with us in Aggie Spirit. This is a very intimate part of the ceremony and all you hear is someone’s name, class and then “here” from people in the audience and then the reader moves on to the next person on the Roll. Some people had one “here” while others had a number of “here” called out. Some people yelled out “here” and some just worked to get the words out of their mouth. The beauty of this ceremony is that people come form all backgrounds and ways of life for one purpose…to honor those gone before us.They worked down the list and it was very interesting to hear people respond to the names being called but I knew that they were getting close. “…Class of 1975. ‘here’; Ross Turner McDow Jr. Class of 1974; ‘here’…” and as the Roll Call continued I stayed right there remembering. “Here” was the hardest word I ever had to say in my life. “Here” was such a simple work that I use many, many times a day. But on that night it took all that I had to say “here” my mind was flooded with memories, stories, & emotions. I had grieved before about the loss of my dad but it was not until Monday night everything came together. This for some reason was more important to me than the funeral. I knew that I was not the only person who was saying ‘here’ that night for Dad but Mom, Heidi, Rachel, Mark, Charlotte, Bobby, Andy & his wife, the twins: Emily & Christy who were all there said ‘here’. Dad’s old aggie buddies at their own local Muster said “here” that random person who might have recognized his name said “here” all in honor of my dad who could not be there to answer the call to Muster.

The night finished with the Ross Volunteers doing a 21 gun salute and the Aggie band playing Silver Taps and a member of the class of 1958 dismissed us until April 21, 2009. We the lights came on and we all headed back to our cars and back to our lives but for a moment we were all joined together to answer the call of Aggie Muster.

April Showers Brings May...Weddings

What a long weekend! We had two wedding showers this weekend: the couples shower on Saturday and the other shower for Heidi on Sunday (which I somehow got roped into going to). It was a really good time and we enjoyed seeing everybody but it was just very fast paced. My family came in town for the showers and poor Mom had a huge sinus headache but she fought through and made it to all the events. On Friday we went out to dinner at our favorite Pho place and then took the family over to the DMA for the Bluebonnet exhibit. It was fun and Mark could stay there for days but Mom was not feeling well so we left after about 2 hours. Saturday was the couples shower and dinner with the families…great time and great conversation. I don’t know how many of those dinners we will be able to have since we all don’t live close together but this one was really, really good. Bower got engaged that night and we got so caught up with family that we were not able to make it over for the party; oh well there will be more parties. Sunday we took the family to church and back out to Carrollton for the second shower for Heidi. Due to timing Mark ended up going and working as our photo guy. Our original plan was for him to go birding and I was going to blast some bad guys that afternoon but the shower started an hour earlier so we all ended up going to the shower. After the shower my family got on the road and we packed up all our gifts and went back to the house to unpack and get ready for our small group. That is a mouthful of a weekend but it was a great weekend and we have had the showers and since we are not clean we can have the wedding!!!!.

Baton Rouge

There has been a long standing McDow tradition of visiting family on Easter Weekend. Each year we rotate between Texas & Louisiana and this was our year to head to Louisiana. I spent a year living there before I moved back to Dallas and met Heidi and in that year really grew to like the place so this year I wanted to share some of Louisiana with my family. We had a great time and got a chance to take a swamp tour and go to New Orleans and check on the Lower 9th Ward. They demoed most of the house but if you drive around a little you can still find some of the houses that we moved off their slabs. It is not as intense as it was two years ago when I lived there but you can still get a feeling of what it looked like. Spending time with the family is always great and as in true for we had a blast getting to see this side of the family. They all loved Heidi and are looking forward to our wedding!

On a side note; I have the odd affection for alligators and constantly joke about having my own gator pit when I retire at the farm. I will call my gator Mr. Bojangles and we will be best friends; people will write songs about Ryan & Mr. BoJangles (Don’t worry Heidi has already signed off on this!). In sharing what I most enjoyed about Louisiana I invited the family to go on a swamp tour at a place called Alligator Bayou Tour. It is a local tour of the swamps around Baton Rouge and we got a chance to up close and personal with some Gators. It was a lot of fun and I was able to get Heidi used to those gators. We will not have as many as the tour place but we can at least have one…right. I mean this is America; the place where dreams come true.