Merry Christmas from the McKenzies!!!

Merry Christmas to all of our friends and family!! I know that it is a little bit early, but we figured we should post about our Christmas plans before we leave the state of Michigan and have limited internet access. Colin has been at the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic since Wednesday, and will be returning on Sunday!! I have missed him being away like CRAZY and can't wait for him to return!

On Sunday, we will begin our 23 hour journey to Texas by car so that we can take the dogs to see their grandparents in Baytown. :) We will stay overnight in Little Rock, AK, and then drive on down to Baytown the next day. After that long drive, I am sure that we will be ready to be out of the car, but we are excited to see the Rhodes family! We will hopefully also be able to get together with some great friends while we are in Texas. Then, we will travel to Columbus, Georgia for a few days to see the McKenzie parents! Dr. McKenzie is going to be deployed to Afghanistan soon, so we really wanted to be able to see the McKenzie side of the family as well before he leaves! Please keep that side of the family in your prayers as they prepare for his departure.

After visiting Georgia, we will be going back to Texas so that we can go to San Antonio for the Alamo Bowl!! Michigan State is playing Texas Tech at the Alamodome on January 2, and we are excited to be able to spend New Year's Eve on the Riverwalk with our MSU friends! We will be able to share our Texas heritage with all of our friends from Michigan who have never experienced real Mexican food or Texas Barbecue, so we are thrilled to be back in our home state to see family and friends and catch up on eating good food!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone! We hope that you have a wonderful holiday season with your family and friends just as we intend, and we wish you all safe travels!

Our Christmas tree at our house in Michigan

Colin and Mandie at Dr. Sedatole's house for the band department Christmas party

McKenzie Christmas Picture!!

Christmas Time is Here!!

Christmas time is quickly approaching here in Michigan, and with it has come many blessings!! For those of you who do not yet know, I have a JOB!! Starting in January, I will be one of the reference librarians at Michigan State University. Because of the economy, it is only guaranteed through the end of the Spring semester; however, it could turn into something permanent if more funding is found and will give me some great contacts who can help get a foot in the door somewhere else potentially. We are so grateful that we will have some steady income for the coming semester, and are thankful for all of the prayers and well wishes from our friends and family.

In addition to the blessing of a job, we were also excited to experience our first snow ever tonight! It was beautiful and coming down pretty hard; we will probably receive three to four inches before tomorrow morning. The dogs loved playing in their first snow--they were romping around and chasing each other and eating the snow. Beauregard was even jumping about three feet in the air trying to catch the snowflakes in his mouth before they hit the ground! It was hysterical! Our house looks very pretty with all of our Christmas lights and all of the snow on the ground. I told Colin that it looks like the movie "White Christmas" outside, which he has never seen. We will have to remedy that before the season is over!

Colin is finishing up his first semester here at MSU, and is very busy studying for finals and writing papers for the end of the term. Wish him luck as he prepares to ace his classes! I have recently joined the Meridian Community Band, and performed with them at the annual Lansing Christmas tree lighting at an event called Silver Bells in the City. Colin and his friend Paul came to watch me and we got to take some cute pictures with the Christmas decor. We had fun exploring downtown Lansing as it was all decorated for the holidays, which was fun because we hadn't really ventured into downtown before. Now we are just trying to wrap things up here so that we can travel to Texas and Georgia to be with our families during the holidays!

To see an album of our holiday adventures so far, click here.

Fall Greetings!

With the advent of the changing leaves and brisk weather that signals the onset of Fall have come busy times in the life of the McKenzie family! We have been making new friends, going to football games and concerts, and going to job interviews. I went to Homecoming at Baylor in Texas and got to see my family plus all of my friends from college and my aunt and uncle who live in Waco. Even though Baylor lost the game, we are still proud to always be Bears and Baylor Proud! Colin has been keeping busy with school and marching band. It looks like if MSU wins their next two games, we will be at the Alamo Bowl for Christmas, so those of you who are not MSU fans please start rooting so that our Christmas plans can include a taste of home in Texas! We have also been dog sitting for our friend's Cocker Spaniel, Bailey (see picture at the bottom), who is very cute and friendly with our dogs! On the job front, I have been substitute teaching and continuing to search for library jobs, so hopefully something will happen on that front soon. Everyone keeps telling us that it will snow soon, but it has remained just cool and fairly mild, for which we are thankful. Other than that we miss our families and love our friends, and are continuing to make a life here in Michigan!

Mandie and parents at the Homecoming bonfire

Savannah and Charlotte napping on their bed

Beauregard and Bailey taking a nap together

Colin taking a nap with Beauregard

Colin and Mandie at the MSU vs. Notre Dame game in Indiana

Colin and Mandie at the Notre Dame game (again!)

Charlotte giving Mandie a hug in her prissy argyle sweater

Savannah and Beauregard being sleepy dogs

Fall Update!

I know that it has been almost a month since you have heard from us--sorry!! Colin has been keeping busy with coursework, studying for tests, and the Spartan Marching Band with football games on most weekends. We are half-way through the season and looking forward to the holidays when we actually have time to see each other! I attended substitute teacher training last week and should be able to start subbing in a week or two so at least I will be bringing in some income for our family while continuing to hunt for the elusive professional librarian position here. Fall has officially come to town--the leaves on all of the trees are changing and it is absolutely beautiful here!! Continue to keep us in your prayers as we try to build a life here in Michigan!

School has started at MSU

School started last week for Michigan State University, and that means that Colin has been super busy! He spent the entire week before the start of school at marching band rehearsals from eight in the morning until eleven at night, which left me at home being a housewife and dog mom! Luckily, I got a reprieve from being alone and was fortunate enough to be flown to Texas last weekend by the Hooper family so that I could go to Tabitha's baby shower in Pittsburg!! I had a wonderful time visiting with Tabitha and Josh and the Hooper's, even if it was just for a short weekend! Plus it was really nice to be in the great state of Texas for a few days! Now, school has started, and Colin is taking two classes plus helping to teach a conducting class, going to all of the ensemble rehearsals, and marching band, of course! We went to our first Spartan football game on Saturday. MSU played Montana State and totally stomped all over them, but we had field passes that allowed us to be on the sideline and super close to all of the action. It was a lot of fun and we are looking forward to more football games! Now, it is just back to the school routine for Colin while I am still praying for a job! Keep us in your prayers as we get ready for the first snow here in Michigan, which they say should happen in October. :)

Mexican Food in Michigan....

Not that Colin and I were expecting the Mexican food in Michigan to be great. We actually supposed most of it to pretty terrible. However, on the recommendation of some Baylor friends who live in East Lansing we decided to try a restaurant here in town called Cancun. I think we were just a little homesick and craving some jalapenos, so when we walked into the restaurant and saw it's brightly colored booths with Corona flags on the wall, we decided it looked promising and that it sort of reminded us of a restaurant in Waco. Then, we opened the menu. What we found was a guide in the back explaining to us how to pronounce the names of Mexican dishes, such as nachos sounding like na-choz, and we knew that we were far from home. Needless to say, the food did not measure up to our expectations; however, we did get this funny picture of the pronunciation guide/food descriptions from the menu. I guess the only Mexican food we will be eating up here is the food that we make ourselves--luckily Colin is half Mexican and knows how to make some really good enchiladas!!

We are in Michigan!!

Hello! I know that we haven't updated in a little while, but we have been super busy packing and driving and moving into our new home in Michigan! We are officially here and loving the beautiful weather (the 75 degrees here is MUCH nicer than the 107 degrees in Waco when we were loading up our truck). More updates with pics of our new house to come!

We are in Michigan!!

Hello! I know that we haven't updated in a little while, but we have been super busy packing and driving and moving into our new home in Michigan! We are officially here and loving the beautiful weather (the 75 degrees here is MUCH nicer than the 107 degrees in Waco when we were loading up our truck). More updates with pics of our new house to come!

Dogs Graduated from School!

Savannah and Charlotte have been enrolled for the past ten weeks in dog training school at Petsmart. On Monday night, they finally graduated!! They are officially well-behaved dogs (haha!) who know how to sit, stay, lay, watch, come, and leave it! We had fun taking the dogs to school, but are glad that our weekly commitment is over. For some reason, only one picture of Charlotte came out well, so the rest are of Savannah (be sure to check out their cool hats with tassels and doggie diplomas made out of rawhide!):

Charlotte graduating!

Savannah and Colin

Savannah again

Savannah with a lopsided cap!

Weekend in Dallas

Colin and I drove to Denton this weekend to see our friends Cindy and Ron. We went to yummy dinner at a restaurant called Hannah's, and then Colin went home to Waco because he had high school band camp. I stayed and had a sleepover with Cindy, and then the next day we relaxed and went shopping. On Sunday, we went to a get-together with several friends from my Master's program in library science at UNT. It was so fun to get to visit with friends that I never get to see as well as visit with fellow colleagues in my profession who are at the same place in life as me. Then it was home to Waco for packing, packing, and more packing...the big move is in three weeks! AAAHHHH!!!

Free Vera Bradley Tote!

Click here to win a free Vera Bradley tote in the Betsey Pinwheel pattern! Lauren Nicole Gifts is giving one away--to enter the contest, click on the link above and subscribe to her blog! Just though I would pass the word along--she has some super cute stuff!

Astros Game and TMTA

This past week, Colin and I went down to Houston to visit my parents and to work registration at the Texas Music Teachers Association convention. On Wednesday night, we went to Minute Maid Park to watch the Astros take on the Chicago Cubs. The Astros won 2-1 and it was super fun! The highlight of the night was when the Astros marketing guys came up to our section and told my mom that because of her seat, if the Astros hit a grand slam in the next inning, she would win $25,000. Of course, she didn't win, but they did put her up on the big screen with the mascot and made her wave for the camera. She was embarassed, but it was really funny. Then, Colin and I went to work the convention. It was long hours, but lucrative, and we enjoyed seeing friends of ours who also graduated from Baylor who were also working the convention. All in all, it was another fun weekend achieved before we make the big move to Michigan!

Some pics from the Astros game:

Minute Maid Park

Dad and Colin

Mandie and Mom

Mandie and Colin!!

Mom and Dad

San Antonio Anniversary Trip!

Yes, I know that our anniversary isn't until July 12, but as we will be moving the weekend after our anniversary and packing like crazy the weekend of our anniversary, we decided to take a relaxing weekend trip to San Antonio on a more relaxing weekend in the summer in order to celebrate our first anniversary. We got tickets to go see the musical Wicked at the Majestic Theatre in San Antonio on June 4, which I have been dying to see and border line obsessed with for two years now. It was amazing! Everyone should go see it if you get the chance--eveything about it is wonderful! We found a super cheap rate at the Sheraton Gunter hotel right across the street from the theatre and near the Riverwalk, so we got to pretend that we were fancy for a few nights. And, of course, we ate all of the yummy Mexican and seafood that we could since we are moving to Michigan where those kinds of restaurants don't really exist. Our favorite meals were at Casa Rio (where Colin requested that the Mariachi band play a song at our table called "La Paloma", a love song about a dove who returns a message to the lover of a sailor who is lost at sea--how romantic! :) ) and Joe's Crab Shack, where Colin peeled and ate crawfish for the first time and we had a crab feast. We had a super fun weekend just hanging out with each other, which rarely happens during the school year. Hopefully we get to have more times to travel with each other in the future!

Here are some pics from our trip:

The Wicked marquee outside the Majestic Theatre

Mandie with the Wicked poster

Our crab feast and crawfish

Crawfish!

Colin eating yummy crab

Spring Update!

Ok, ok, so I know we haven't updated this in a while....so I will fill you in on what we have been doing! The end of April and beginning of May were pretty busy. Colin had his last concert at Baylor on May 3 with the Concert Band, and his Garcia grandparents came all the way from El Paso to see it! We were very excited to have Papa Richard and Grandma Katy at our home for a few days since we don't get to see them very often because El Paso is a ten hour drive from where we live in Waco. Then, last weekend, we took our dogs to Paws in the Park, a charity event for the Waco Humane Society. There were tons of dogs at the event, and we had lots of fun going on a 2k dog walk and visiting the booths that were set up. Please see the pics below!

Us with the Garcia Grandparents!

Colin with Beauregard, Charlotte and Savannah at Paws in the Park

Mandie with Beauregard, Charlotte and Savannah at Paws in the Park

Charlotte!!!!

April is Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Month

April is recognized by the ASPCA as Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Month. Since Colin and I are obviously animal lovers, we thought we would give a link to a good article about signs of animal cruelty (http://www.aspca.org/fight-animal-cruelty/how-to-recognize-cruelty.html). Colin and I are also participating in Paws in the Park on May 9, an event hosted by the Waco Humane Society to raise money for their organization. For those of you don't know, all of our dogs are rescue dogs, and Beauregard, our Beagle, was adopted from the Waco Humane Society last February, so we are excited to be able to participate in an event to support them. We will be walking our dogs on a 1k dog walk at Indian Springs Park in Waco as well as participating in other fun pet-friendly events. More information about the event can be found at http://wacohumanesociety.ning.com/. We are accepting donations from people who would like to sponsor us on our walk, so if you are interested in helping us support the Waco Humane Society, please let us know!!

Beauregard playing in the Christmas Decorations

Beauregard and Charlotte on the couch with my Dad

Beauregard and Charlotte on the couch with my Dad again

Beauregard looking distiguished in his new bandanna

Savannah!!!!

Spring Break and Big XII Basketball Tournaments

Colin and I spent most of Spring Break (last week) in Oklahoma City at the Men's and Women's Big XII Basketball Tournaments. Colin got to do his band director thing while I got to hang out and be the "band mom" for the kids on the trip. It was so much fun and the Baylor Bears and the Lady Bears both provided excitement for the trip. The men's team way over-performed by not only beating higher seeded Nebraska, but by upsetting both Kansas (the #1 seed team of the tournament) and Texas (who we haven't beat in the past 25 times we have played them) to make it to the championship game against Mizzou! Even though the men lost, that was the furthest they have gone in the tournament since I have been a Baylor fan, so that was really exciting. After the Texas game, we went and visited the Oklahoma City bombing memorial and museum--a sobering and thoughtful experience that everyone who visits Oklahoma City should have. Then, the Lady Bears won all of their games and became the Big XII Tournament Champions. SIC 'EM!!!

On another note, here is cute picture of us with Beauregard--Colin brought him on a walk by the library to visit me yesterday!

Valentine's Day Weekend

This past weekend was a little crazy. For those of you who don't know, our beagle, Beauregard, got really sick last Tuesday night and we had to take him to the emergency vet. It ended up that he had a really bad bacterial infection in his intestines and was having a lot of bleeding, so he had to stay at the vet for a few days. Thursday night, I was finally able to bring him home, but he was still pretty lethargic for a few days (he is now back to 100 percent and being his mischevous beagle self). Meanwhile, Colin was in San Antonio for the Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA) conference, and he did not return to Waco until Saturday. On Saturday, Colin conducted the band at the men's basketball game, where the men FINALLY won a game! YAY!! Then, he came home so that we could celebrate Valentine's Day, where I had made candlelight italian food. It was really nice to be home and to relax together in the evening without a million things to do. :) Colin also got me a BEAUTIFUL ruby and diamond necklace!! (pic attached) Overall, it ended up being a nice weekend, and we are so thankful that Beauregard is back to normal!!

Weekend in H-town!!

We went to Houston this weekend!! On Friday night, we went to the Symphonic Band concert here at Baylor (where my awesome husband was a fabulous conductor of beautiful music) and then made the 3-hour trek down to Houston so that Colin could judge Solo and Ensemble contest in Klein on Saturday. So, he got up at the crack of dawn to go listen to not-so-good high school students play solos all day, and I got some retail therapy with my mom!! The best purchase of the day--a $250 red coat that I can wear in Michigan that I got on sale for $60!!! YAY!! After that, my wonderful parents took us to a yummy dinner at the best seafood restaurant in Houston. Then we drove back to Waco :( so that Colin could play organ at church on Sunday. But I was happy to be able to relax at home, if only for a day, with the family!!

100 things about us....

Have fun guessing which ones I did and which ones Colin did!!!

Rules: Post this on your blog and bold the things you HAVE done!

1. Started your own blog

2. Slept under the stars

3. Played in a band

4. Visited Hawaii

5. Watched a meteor shower

6. Given more than you can afford to charity

7. Been to Disneyland

8. Climbed a mountain

9. Held a praying mantis

10. Sang a solo

11. Owned a dog

12. Visited Paris

13. Watched a lightning storm at sea

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch

15. Adopted a child

16. Had food poisoning

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty

18. Grown your own vegetables

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France

20. Slept in an overnight train

21. Had a pillow fight

22. Hitchhiked

23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill

24. Built a snow fort

25. Held a lamb

26. Gone skinny dipping

27. Run a marathon

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice

29. Seen a total eclipse (solar)

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset

31. Hit a home run

32. Been on a cruise

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors

35. Seen an Amish community

36. Taught yourself a new language

37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person

39. Gone rock climbing

40. Seen Michelangelo’s David

41. Sung karaoke

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt

43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant

44. Visited Africa

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight

46. Been transported in an ambulance

47. Had your portrait painted

48. Gone deep sea fishing

49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling

52. Kissed in the rain

53. Played in the mud

54. Owned a house

55. Been in a movie

56. Visited the Great Wall of China

57. Started a business

58. Taken a martial arts class

59. Visited Russia

60. Served at a soup kitchen

61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies

62. Gone whale watching

63. Got flowers for no reason

64. Been president of an organization

65. Volunteered at Habitat for Humanity

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp

67. Bounced a check

68. Flown in a helicopter

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial

71. Eaten caviar

72. Pieced a quilt

73. Stood in Times Square

74. Toured the Everglades

75. Been fired from a job

76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London

77. Broken a bone

78. Been on a speeding motorcycle

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person

80. Published a book

81. Visited the Vatican

82. Bought a brand new car

83. Walked in Jerusalem

84. Had your picture in the newspaper

85. Read the entire Bible

86. Visited the White House

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating

88. Had chicken pox

89. Saved someone’s life

90. Sat on a jury

91. Met someone famous

92. Joined a book club

93. Lost a loved one

94. Had a baby

95. Seen the Alamo in person

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake

97. Been involved in a lawsuit

98. Owned a cell phone

99. Been stung by a bee

100. Read an entire book in one day

MLK Day Holiday!!

We spent the three day weekend for MLK day watching some awesome basketball games and relaxing. On Saturday, we attended both the men's and women's basketball team as they beat OSU. SIC 'EM! There was also an alumni band event during the double header basketball event that allowed alums to play with the normal Courtside Players band, so we had fun catching up with old friends and reliving our days in band at Baylor. On Sunday, we went on a long walk with the puppies and then just hung out and relaxed at the house. It was so nice to have a whole day to just hang out without work or band!! We went to the Olive Garden for dinner and then went to the mall (below is a pic of us at the mall with a bear. Sic 'Em!!). Yay for something uneventful for a change!!

Busy semester!!

The Spring semester has just started, and it is already busy with library work, basketball games, alumni band events, and 8AM classes (poor colin--he has to teach at 8AM four days a week!!). We are both looking forward to the long weekend due to MLK day so that we can relax and just spend some time together!