Our New House!

Hey everyone! We bought a house! It's BEAUTIFUL.

I can't wait to move in. We close on October 30th. It's everything we dreamed of. It only took us about a month to find it. We had been searching for homes with bigger lots and big enough home to fit a family in but all we could find were one story homes that covered up most of the lot. So, we found this home that had a smaller lot but sent up in square feet instead of out. It's in a beautiful neighborhood. It's on a hill so we can still see homes behind us but we can also see hills. I love it.

It has four bedrooms and 2 1/2 bathrooms. We're planning on having 2 (maybe 3) children so this will fit us well. It has the most beautiful wood floors. They are hand carved and dark.

Another great thing is that we live less than a mile away from Matt & Sienna. They are the most adorable couple ever and they have 2 beautiful baby boys. They are the sweetest people ever.

It's going to be so amazing living in our own house together. I can't even imagine what it will be like. I just know that I'm extremely excited.

We have a lot of furniture shopping to do! I'll post more pictures once I move in and add my personal style :).

Annual Cubs Game

Did I ever tell you that Karl and I have started a tradition of going to at least 1 Cubs game every year? We've been going ever since we've been together. We believe that their success depends on us....ok...maybe that isn't true but I do feel like the year we don't go we'll cause them to not do as well as they could have. You know how it goes...baseball superstitions.

The first year we were together I bought Karl tickets for his birthday. We sat in the nose bleed section because I wasn't sure where to get them. I know now that the best place to sit is behind the bullpen for the Astro's. This is where you can catch a lot of home runs. It's also fun to stand there while they are having their pre-game batting practice. A LOT of home runs are hit over in this area.

One year Karl caught one and handed it to the little kid next to him. Come to think of it he's done that a few times. He's such a sweetheart. I can't wait to have kids so he can catch one for them too.

Next year we are planning to go to Chicago for our 3 year wedding anniversary to see the Cubs play. I'm SO EXCITED! I can't wait to be with all of the fans and be able to celebrate appropriately. Most of our friends are Astro's fans so it's kind of hard for us to gloat.

We've also decided that once we have kids we'll plan all of our family vacations around the Cub's games. We figured it would be so neat to go to at least one of their games in a different stadium.

I've put some pictures up from the last two years. I can't wait to show you guys the ones from Chicago. Be on the lookout for this next summer.

Anniversary

Karl and I just celebrated our 2 year wedding anniversary in July. We were planning to go to Chicago this year but our plans didn't work out. We WILL go next year though.

Since we weren't able to go I decided to plan a secret date to Mangia. It's a restaurant that has Chicago style pizza. I figured if we couldn't go to Chicago I would bring a little piece of Chicago to us. I sent Karl directions and told him to meet me after work (it was on a Tuesday). Little did I know that he was going to pop the directions into google and find out where we were going (what a stinker). After work we pulled up and Karl had a BEAUTIFUL rose and gladiola arrangement for me. It was so beautiful. I decided to bring my flowers into the restaurant because I didn't want them to get ruined in the car.

We walked in and the hostess asked us what the occasion was. We told her it was our 2 year wedding anniversary and she looked at us like we were crazy and said "Congratulations." I guess you could say that we didn't have typical wedding anniversary celebration but we liked it. For our 1 year anniversary we went to Buffalo Wings & Rings because it's our FAVORITE restaurant. I never like buffalo wings until we found that place. :)

We were seated and we got a medium sized deep dish pizza. It was HUGE. I could have eaten on it for a week. I liked the pizza but the only thing I didn't like about it is that the tomato sauce is on top of the cheese and I like the cheese more than I like the tomato sauce. Overall it was a pretty good pizza. The waiter also asked us what the occasion was and after we told him he said, "Wow, thanks for sharing that with us." It was funny and we had fun :).

Our 7 year dating anniversary is this Wednesday. I can't believe we've been together that long. It's been so much fun. I get to be with my best friend every day. I wouldn't trade that for anything.

Did I tell you that we were getting a house? I'll write my next blog on that. It's BEAUTIFUL! Closing date is October 30th! Less than a month away :)

We went fishing this weekend and I caught my first Red. It was 25"!! It was beautiful. We drove to Port O'Connor on Friday night after we stopped off at our beloved What-A-Burger and put the boat in the water as soon as we got there.

Like all fishing trips, this one had a funny story from the beginning. The boat wouldn't start and the mosquitoes were biting like crazy. After 45 minutes of thinking that a certain valve wasn't working we noticed that the battery was dead. HAHA. My dad hooked up the spare battery and botta bing it started. WOO HOO!

We parked the boat right outside of our condo and went to bed with hopes of getting up early for some good fishing. I set my clock for 6 AM and slept until 7. Whoops. We got up and headed out to the jetties.

Warning: Never go to the jetties if the water is choppy. I know this based on the near death experiences my dad has had. None of which I was there to witness (thankfully).

The water was extremely calm, so we ventured out. We bought frozen shrimp and mullet and dropped about 5 lines between the three of us. Thomas caught a Red and so my dad stopped what he was doing to run over with the net. In the mean time, I was trying to untangle a fishing line and the next thing I knew a line was hitting me in my face. I thought to myself, what the heck is going on? Sure enough, one of the lines my dad set up was going crazy so I picked up the pole, set the hook and reeled it in. It was fighting a lot at first. So much that I thought it was a Skipjack. Those fish fight like crazy and they will cut your line with their sharp teeth. Finally I got it up close to boat and my dad ran over with the net. It was a beautiful 25" Red (the biggest one...shh...I'm not bragging...haha).

I caught a flounder shortly after. It was right at the limit and so we decided to keep it. Those are delicious at any size!

My uncle and Thomas each caught a shark. That was crazy. I wanted to catch one too. I wonder how they fight?? My poor daddy didn't catch a keeper. He usually catches the biggest fish. He deserves it :).

We were only down for a day and a half so we didn't get to fish as long as we usually do. We're still trying to learn Port O'Connor. We usually go to Port Mansfield. That's our favorite place. The only problem is that it takes us 5 hours to get there and it only take 2.5 to 3 hours to get to Port O'Connor.

I can't wait until our next fishing trip but it probably won't be until it starts to get warm again. Some time in March I'm guessing. I'll miss you fishing....see you soon :)

Married 7/7/07

Yep, you guessed it...we we're one of the 7/7/7 couples. We picked the date after a month of dating each other. We started dating on October 7th and we decided to make "7" our lucky number. We were talking on the phone one night.....hold on...this is funny because Karl can't stand to talk on the phone for long periods of time and we use to talk on the phone for 3-4 hours! Ok, back to what I was talking about....we we're talking about how cool it would be if we could get married on 7/7/07. That was back in 2002 so we weren't sure if the day fell on a Saturday. I pulled out my cell to check the date and sure enough (or should I say lucky enough...haha) it fell on a Saturday. We planned our wedding date 5 years before we got married :).

You might be wondering how we met. Well, I started working at HEB in July of 2002 and the manager asked me to stock the break room coke machine my first week of work. Karl stepped up and said he would help me since I was new. We took our time stocking the coke machine and we talked the entire time. We talked about work, school, life, etc. I enjoyed it so much that by the end of my shift I asked him if he wanted to go bowling with me and a couple friends. He accepted and we saw each other again that night.

We became really good friends and we we're almost inseparable as just friends. We had so much in common and we had so much fun together. I knew we had to be more than just friends. I remember sitting on the floor in our den telling my mom that there was no way I could see myself not being friends with Karl for the rest of my life. In October I tried to make sure that Karl knew that I was ready to be his girlfriend. He would write me the sweetest letters telling me that he wanted to be my boyfriend too. One night he came over to watch a movie and we held hands and that night before he left we both leaned in to give each other a kiss goodbye. I asked him to call me when he got home and he did :). Then he asked me to be his girlfriend. I was SOOOOOOOO HAPPY!

We dated for about 4 years and then he asked me to marry him. It was one of the best days of my life. He took me to the Zilker Botanical Gardens and we walked around. I didn't think anything was up because we had done it a few times before. We walked under a staircase and he said, "Wait" and pulled out the box and got on one knee. He told me that I made him very happy and he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. Of course I said yes and I cried. Even after having planned our wedding four years ago I was still very surprised. He walked me through the rest of the garden to the rose area and my whole family and his were waiting for us. It was so amazing. We went to dinner afterwards together and then our parents through an engagement party for us. It was seriously one of the most amazing things that Karl has ever done for me. I'll never forget it.

We we're engaged for almost a year and said our "I do's" on 7/7/07 (pictures above). I absolutely loved our wedding and the best part was now I would be married to my best friend. Even now it makes my heart so excited. The idea of spending the rest of my life with Karl makes me the happiest person in the world.

We went to Hawaii for our honeymoon. It was the most amazing trip I'd ever been on. It was crazy to be married and spending the night with my husband. It was our first time to actually be next to each other over night (thanks to my parents :) ).

We've been through a lot together so far and we are so excited about getting a house and starting a family. I know Karl's going to be a great dad and I can't wait to be a mother.

Well, if you want to know more let me know and if you want to share your story with me please do!!

Fishing Trip

We (Karl, Ashley, Chris, Dad and I) just went fishing a couple weeks ago and it was fun.

Dad hit his limit the first day and the rest of us didn't have that much luck. I only caught 1 keeper the first night. It was a 17" Trout. Karl had 1 16" keeper on Friday as well. We started the day off at the saucer and the went to lunch at the good ol El Jeffe's. Friday night we stopped at the "night spot" and it was soooooo windy. We didn't do too well then.

Saturday moring dad, Karl and I all caught our limits. Then we headed to the Wind Jammer for lunch. We spent the rest of the afternoon drifting to see if everyone else could catch their limit.

We love fishing. Take a look at our photos!

Today is the first day

Hey everyone,



Karl and I decided to start a blog site together due to the cutest blogger profile of our ADORABLE friends Matt and Sienna Jones. Thanks guys!!!



I hope everyone is having a wonderful day!



-The Friedecks