happy birthday coach

today is april 9, which means its coach's birthday! yay he is 3 today!!! we actually just learned his real birthday about a year ago when we moved, we had to request his shot records from the vet his original owner used (we adopted coach when he was about one)--anyway, it had his litter date on it, so we finally found out his actual birthday!!!

we were supposed to have a few friends and their dogs over to grill out tonight, except i managed to get sick on the drive home from lubbock, somewhere between abilene and dallas. grrrrrr! i mean, really? my throat hurts so bad i cant even talk. poor coach, he's missing his birthday party. drew says its okay, he wont be mad if we have to reschedule.

oh well, maybe i can find coach a cake like this one: 

yeah, truthfully i probably wont do that, i may get some cupcakes for our friends at the party-- but we really dont give coach "people food" very often, and i dont know where a doggy bakery is around here (would i really go if i did know of one,????) anyway, i do want to find some party hats though, how cute would that be....... very cute!

so, everyone send your happy thoughts to our precious coach. once i'm over this awful throat/nose/ears situation i'll have the cook-out party rescheduled! happy birthday coach tchoupitoulas!!!

our anniversary day date

happy anniversary to us... i know, i'm late on posting pictures! been out of town, see post below!

anyway, after drew's chaotic month at work, i told him i just wanted to hang out ALL day. it may sound weird to you all, but actually getting some time was really important to me. saturday was a beautiful day, perfect 78degrees and light breeze... we went to the zoo! other than the insane number of children, we had a blast! here are my favorite animal pics: (the white alligator, turtles, and flamingos)

and, here are pics of us... well, entertaining

and here we are, sometimes i forget how much taller drew is (i usually have at least 3 inch heels on, but walking around the zoo in heels, no bueno-- i'm short, it is what it is)

after the zoo, we went and got pedicures (love pedi time, its so relaxing) and then went to a yummy dinner at Bob's Steakhouse, mmmmmm lobster bisque & awesome steak! and then, chocolate/amaretto cheesecake for dessert. a fabulous night! here we are outside of Bob's -- its a bit dark, but the best i could do with my iphone. cheers to us!!!

the lbk

my goodness, its been a while. i'm back!!! i went to lubbock on monday to hang out with daddy post surgery (update: he's doing better, taking it easy, and getting lots of rest, thank you all for your prayers)

oh lbk! people sure do like to rag on lubbock, which is sad, because pretty much everyone who is from there, or went to tech loves going back for a visit. its really a pretty great place if you let it grow on you! yes, its flat & there are dirt storms... but its very friendly, easy to get around, and its got some great restaurants (mmm thai pepper) anyway, while i was in lbk i got to see:
mama and daddy, of course. and alexander, fluffy the cat, and coco bird. coco bit me, so i'm not speaking nicely about coco right now. i'll be over it eventually. stupid bird.

and my dear friend/bridesmaid Monica. miss her!

and, sweet friends Jason and Diana. we sure miss them, diana and i were bridesmaids in each other's weddings. they got new floors in their house, look so great! and--they are so incredibly cool they have a letterpress, they do invitations/stationary/business cards/ect... seriously, just a very talented couple.

and my way adorable nephews, and my bro/sister in law. i hate missing out on all the things the boys are up to, they grow so much between visits, i think they're both going to be taller than me by summer. well, not quite... but soon! here we are with the boys last football season, how cute are they!

and, andrew's parents took me out to a yummy lunch at Gardski's (another lubbock place, which is delicious, its an old house they turned into a restaurant, its got some charm) we had a good time catching up, and talking about our super fun family vacation planned for this summer. i believe there is ping-pong in my future!!!

and, my very old school and very cool friend Michael. he just went to vegas, and now... i want to go to vegas, actually... any vacation sounds good right now! i told michael to start reading the blog, so i found a funny picture of him. dear michael, i'm sorry i put up the picture of you in girls sunglasses. its funny to me, but probably not you.

and, i got to see the oh so very sweet robbie probst

(adam's mom, our goddaughters grammy)

she is just a really great person, i just love getting to see her!

all in all, i had a great time home, got to hang out with daddy, see good friends, have good food, and got to teach my brother how to cook a meal. its his "wooing the ladies" meal, so i'll have to hear how it goes when he flies solo. thats all for now, more wedding pics coming soon! happy thursday!

hoppy easter

lame, i know. its really not that original, but anyway happy easter from the swoffhouse bunnies (the pink one is me)

and today is our anniversary, we celebrated yesterday, but today is the official day. yay for us, 1 year down 100 to go! i'll post about our anniversary date soon!

we woke up this morning, went to church (which was awesome, we absolutely love our preacher... he's so great) and then ran home to prep things for our big easter lunch over at the miller casa. i have to say, it was sad being away from our families for a holiday-- but we did an awesome job making some very yummy easter lunch. on the menu: bayou burboun brisket, green bean bundles, mashed potatoes, chinese coleslaw, mac & cheese, devilled eggs, and a oh so very fabulous red velvet cake! mmmm! jennifer did an incredible job decorating, we ate on her grandmother's beautiful china. it was a wonderful easter dinner, and the table looked so great...

my oh my how blessed are we? good friends, good food, and celebrating a risen Lord... doesnt get much better than this! in honor of easter, i decided to share one of my favorite easter memories with you all.... back when i was in high school, mama got my brother and i baby chicks for easter! they were so darling, they kinda looked like these little cutie-pies!

sadly, they dont stay cute for long... so, the little chicks (i dont even remember their names anymore) went to live on a farm where they had room to roam. how fun is that though, little baby chicks to play with for a couple weeks? high five mom!!!

thats all i've got for you today, i'm off to spend some time with hubby before i head to lbk tomorrow! no wedding pics today, i'll get back on track soon!

1 year anniversary

can you believe its been an entire year? no, me either!
i feel like this year has skipped a few months and i'd like to find out where they went... its been a good year, incredibly busy, a bit chaotic, full of changes, and even a little bit fun. heres a quick recap of the year

-april 3 2009: finish moving into our super adorable rent house (move # 1) friends and family in town for wedding, amazing bridesmaids luncheon and rehearsal dinner
-april 4 2009: wedding day!!!!!!!!!!
-april 5-10 : honeymoon (oh how wonderful mexico was)
-midmay: drew gets job offer for dallas
-two days later: drew moves to dallas, coach and jacq stay to pack up life
-next weekend: fly to dallas to find apt, buy gps for survival, papa swoff gets cancer
-may29: mama and i go to santa fe for weekend, so fun.
did hair for a wedding :)
-june 2: house packed, movers come, jacq and coach move to dallas (move # 2)
car breaks down
-july: adjust to life in dallas, gregory boy goes numb (no diagnosis)
buy new car, welcome buzz lightyear
-sept: jacq turns 21 again (the fourth time)
-oct: drew turns 26
-sept~dec: texas tech football and house hunting, buy house
-oct: speak at phi lamb fall reatreat, such a blessed weekend. miss college.
-oct31: moving day (move # 3) happy halloween
-nov: girls cruise with mama, deeann, and abbye "its not normally like this"
-nov: thanksgiving in ft.worth, Ford joins the family, begin blogging
-dec: christmas in lubbock, new years in dallas with matt/gretch,
peter and olivia
-jan: ford goes to a new mommy and daddy, bye bye ford.
-feb: valentine's day in dallas, start visiting fbc frisco
-mar: join fbc frisco, drew insane busy at work, coach acl injury, papaswoff begins radiation to treat his cancer, gregory boy has spine surgery for spinal stenosis
-mar 18: addison and audrey (our goddaughters) turn 1 year old.
-april 1 2010: jacq gets a super fabulous job! here's the big news people, i'm going back to work, and i'm so excited! i'll be back to doing hair!
-april 3: spend whole entire day together celebrating anniversary,
happy birthday mason!
-april 4: 1 year anniversary & happy easter

phew! thats exhausting! we sat down to dinner tonight and talked about the past year, and then talked about next year. our goal for year 2: to NOT move. :) haha! anyway, i'll be posting again later about our anniversary date and our easter plans, but for now i'll leave you with pics of our wedding rings (all wedding pics are taken by the super fabulous and incredibly talented Brittany Strebeck)

after the wedding, we had my bands all sodered together, i love my ring!

drew's ring is tungsten. (he gets asked a lot)

the menfolk of the wedding

alrightie, i promised you wedding pics this month... i shall deliver. here you have the boys getting ready for the ceremony. i have to admit, they have it was easier as far as getting ready goes, they just rent the suit and throw in some black shoes (we bought them their shirts/ties-pink ties, of course!) and then they show up, dressed and ready to go.... and ...hang out. ??? as you'll see in the next post or so, it was a bit more labor intensive for the girls.

so, here they are, what a charming group of men! andrew has great friends/family! cheers to: james evans, peter loudis, beaux brownlow, gabe hall, bill cohen, tommy tritz, matt holmes, alexander camp, jason swofford, randy swofford, mason swofford, landon swofford, jackson brownlow, and adam probst, who was unable to make it, due to the birth of his gorgeous twin daughters---but we definitely consider still a groomsman!

and the news: i'm thinking i'll keep you dangling a bit longer...... is the suspense killing you yet?

april fools day

last year i was way more in to april fools than this year, probably because we were getting married in a couple days and my mom was stressed to the max with all the set up & final meetings. drew and i originally had planned to get a cheap wedding dress and lay it out in the living room and let coach sleep on it, so when mama got home from school ... she would see Coach totally destroying my dress, and freak out! we picked the better and more mature path and decided not to pull that one on my mother who worked so incredibly hard to throw a gorgeous wedding for us!

speaking of weddings, april is our anniversary month, so i'll be posting wedding pics and telling about fun memories from our wedding day, stay tuned!
to start out the picture fiasco, here is a pic of me and daddy the day i took my bridals (jan before our april wedding) it was freeeeezzzzing cold that day, so daddy tried to keep me warm between shots, isnt he a sweetie! i love this pic, mostly because daddy wears his sunglasses ALL THE TIME, even in dark restaurants and at night. he did that before the song came out, he's so cool. more wedding pictures coming, enjoy!

ps. update on gregory boy (yes, that is his real-legal middle name) he's home and doing well, doing lots of sleeping and resting, his blood sugar is a bit high, but he's going to work really hard to get his diabetes under control. happy thoughts and love to daddy!

andrew and i actually got married a year ago today, well courthouse married. you have to apply for your marriage license 72 hours before your ceremony, so we went on april 1st-- i got a huge kick out of our sorta anniversary being on april fools day. am i weird?

no pranks today, thankfully. i do have big news: but i'll wait and share it tomorrow instead that way you all know its for real and not a joke!

got this in the mail today, what a wonderful world. our sweetie pie nephew "little dude" colored this picture of andrew (red) me (blue) my fabulous sis-in-law lisa (peach) and himself (grey) for us, how cool is it having nephews/nieces??? love it! it says "i love you uncle andrew" --warms my heart! thank you!