The Martens Crew: August 2009

It has been a whirlwind around here lately! Here are some of the recent events:

Some of you may know that we have had an offer on a short-sale house in Prosper, TX for a while. Several months in fact. Well, a couple weekends ago we were starting to feel like it was just taking too long and we were starting to feel like we might rather have something brand new instead. Well, a spec home came on the market in Prosper, and while we LOVED the home, it just wasn't in exactly the right location. So, we decided to sign on the dotted line and build instead! The house will be in Willowridge (our favorite neighborhood in Prosper that is right off Preston Rd. and the Dallas North Tollway). We are SUPER excited about the lot we ended up getting- it is a corner lot on a semi-cul-de sac and almost 1/3 of an acre. The house is a 4 bedroom, 3.5 bath with a game room, media room and 3 car garage. All bedrooms are down, with the media, game and 1 full bath up. We are also getting wood floors in the hallways, entry, dining and living- yea! We are so excited about the house and can't wait for it to be ready at Christmastime! Here are some pics we took at the spec house that shows what our house will look almost like:

Kitchen

Living room

One side of the house

The other side of the house

Our lot

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My girlfriend Staci and I had a girls night out a week or two back. It was Staci's anniversary and her hubby, Heath, was out of town, so I was excited to be able to celebrate with her instead! Kurt was a sweet Daddy and enjoyed having a night with Sienna to himself. Staci and I hit up Benihana's. I hadn't been since early college and I forgot how much I liked it- yummy!

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Kurt and I have been planning a trip down to Austin for a few months. It was to be our first trip away from Sienna. Kurt's sweet cousin, Gina, and her hubby, Jacques, have a condo close to Lake Travis and they were kind enough to lend it to us for the weekend! We loved hanging out at the Beach Club, eating lunch there, ordering some beverages and just relaxing! We drove into Austin one night too and ate dinner at one of our fav places (Moonshine) and then walked down to Esther's Follies for the 10pm show. We also had a few friends out to the pool to join us one afternoon. Unfortunately, our trip was cut short when we got the sad news that Kurt's Grandma Martens had passed away. She had been battling cancer for a few months and the news was expected, but tough all the same. The pics below are from our Austin weekend.

Me with my good friend from college, Jess, and Julie, one of our best friends from Austin.

The gang hanging out at the Beach Club.

Kurt and I waiting for the Esther's Follies show to start up.

Kurt lounging at the Beach Club- that's Lake Travis in the background- check out how low it is!

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We traveled to Indiana last week for Kurt's Grandma's funeral. It was a sad occasion to have to travel for, but the service was very personal and special. There was some sense of celebration since Grandma was now free of the cancer and gone to be with Grandpa in Heaven. We feel very blessed that Grandma was able to travel down earlier this summer right after her diagnosis and spend some quality time with all of us and see Sienna for the first and only time.

We had a lot of good times hanging out with the rest of the Martens family- they're a laugh a minute as any of you who know Murro can probably guess! We also got to visit with Grandma Clary, Darla's Mom, and she really enjoyed holding and playing with Sienna! It was Sienna's first plane ride and we weren't sure exactly how she would do but she was a perfect angel and impressed us all with her behavior on the whole trip! I was one proud mama! We had to leave Stella behind at the kennel since we are now traveling with a whole lot more STUFF now that we have Sienna- but she was in the Princess Suite- so no worries! Hah!