Singapore Trip!

When Blake, Camille and Pierce moved to Singapore almost 3 years ago, Keith and I did not know if we would ever make it halfway around the world to see them so for years we lived vicariously through the rest of his family who have been able to visit them multiple times. Camille is great about updating her blog almost daily so we are able to keep up with them virtually. But seeing them in person is always so much better so when we had the opportunity last month to visit them, we jumped at the chance to fly thousands of miles to Asia. Well, it took a little convincing Keith that the 15+ hour flight wouldn't be "that bad" but once the tickets were confirmed, there was no backing out.

Camille has already blogged about our trip so just click on the link below to see tons of photos!
http://dentonnews.blogspot.com/2011/03/rest-period-is-over-pics-of-uncle-keith.html
http://dentonnews.blogspot.com/2011/03/tours-around-singapore-with-k-e.html
http://dentonnews.blogspot.com/2011/03/chinatown-and-night-life-with-k-e.html
http://dentonnews.blogspot.com/2011/03/universal-studios-day-3-with-k-and-e.html
http://dentonnews.blogspot.com/2011/03/last-days-with-k-and-e.html

I do have quite a story to tell of our adventures in getting to Singapore. I guess I fly with a black cloud over my head because I seem to encounter endless problems when traveling! It all started on our flight from Dallas to Houston on Thursday night where that flight was 2.5 hours late getting in. So after landing at almost midnight, Julie picked us up at the airport and we slept for a few hours at her house and left very early the next morning to head back to the Houston airport to catch our flight to San Francisco. On the way to the airport, we find out that our flight to San Francisco has been cancelled and Continental had booked us on another flight to Chicago that left 40 minutes earlier than our original flight. I like to consider myself a well-seasoned traveler BUT the Continental check-in at IAH is AWFUL. They no longer have agents standing behind desks (I guess they're trying to save money) so instead, 3 agents share the responsibility of 20+ self-service kiosks. We tried scanning our passports and entering our info into the computer 3 different times but the airline had us still booked on 2 flights (one to San Fran and the other to Chicago) since the computer didn't recognize our original flight was cancelled. What a mess! Finally after standing at the same kiosk for over 30 minutes, we found an agent willing to help override the system. Frantic, we quickly got to security which was the longest line I had ever seen at an airport. There was another couple in front of us in line on our same flight to Chicago that left the gate in 20 minutes so all 4 of us cut in front of hundreds of passengers to get to the front of the line. Of course I got delayed in security after going through the new body scanners...the walkie talkies weren't working so I had to wait for what seemed like forever for the security guard to give me the ok to grab my bags and go. Tennis shoes in hand, Keith and I literally sprinted to our gate only to find out they had just closed the doors and the plane was taking off without us. Luckily there were about 10 other people in the same boat so it wasn't too disheartening. We were booked on a later flight out to Chicago and still made our connection to Hong Kong. I've never been on a 15 hour flight before but I wish they would make the seats a little more comfortable! When we sat down on the plane and started to get situated, Keith found out that his volume button on the headphone jack didn't work so he was out of luck. Thankfully the lady in front of us had 3 seats to herself so we used her headphone jack the entire flight for Keith to be able to watch all the movies. We survived the longest flight of our lives and finally landed in Hong Kong for a short layover. We just had to get off the plane, go through security TWICE and then get right back on the same plane. After boarding on time, we sat on the runway for almost FIVE hours. How in the world could a plane we just spent over 15 hours on have mechanical problems on such a short layover? The pilot kept coming over the PA saying that in another 15-20 minutes he would have updates for us but hours and hours of hearing the same thing, we all figured we would be stuck in Hong Kong overnight. At one point the pilot said the airport was sending buses to the plane to get all the passengers so we could sit in the terminal until the new parts we were waiting on were delivered and installed. Surprise, surprise, but the buses never came. I found 4 open seats and took a really long nap while Keith stayed up and watched a movie and a few hours of tv shows the plane was playing for us. Just to prove how small this world really is, there was a young American couple with their 2 year old daughter sitting behind us on the flight from Hong Kong to Singapore and she asked me when we first sat down if by chance I went to Texas A&M. I smiled and said yes and then she asked if I was a Kappa and I said yes again and come to find out she was a Kappa with me at A&M, just one year older than me. She looked really different from college which is why I didn't recognize her right from the beginning. She and her husband actually live in Singapore, know Blake and Camille and even go to their church. Crazy! So once we finally made it to Singapore and through customs, we had Blake waiting for us! He had called the airline numerous times to find out exactly what time we would land but he kept getting different answers to he drove up to the airport at midnight and slept in his car until 5:30 am when we finally emerged from the plane. Poor guy. It was quite a trek to get to Singapore but a 24+ hour flight we will never forget...

Sentosa Beach

That's a casino and small amphitheater behind us!

Chinatown

Fountain of Wealth...we'll see if it works!

We had the absolute BEST time with the Singapore Denton's! Thank you for sharing your city and home with us. We loved being to see you all for an entire week (and we got Pierce all to ourselves!!). We miss you already.

Happy Anniversary!

Wow, has it already been THREE years?! I won't get all romantic and mushy because that would embarrass my hubby, but I will say that I love you so much and am thankful to have you in my life as my best friend and husband. Here's to many, many, many more!

Day 1 - the start of our lives together as a married couple. It still feels like yesterday...

First Anniversary: To celebrate our 1st Anniversary, Keith and I spent the weekend taking care of Kayli, my lab, as she had emergency surgery to remove a plastic squeaker from a stuffed dog toy she had ingested 4 months prior. We had no idea she had eaten the plastic piece until she got really sick and wouldn't eat her food. If you know Kayli, you know when she doesn't eat, something is definitely wrong. Needless to say, we spent way too much money on her at the vet and that was our happy anniversary. Notice the bandage wrapped all around Kayli's tummy. Poor thing! She is no longer allowed to have stuffed animals with squeakers in them because we don't want this to happen again. :)

We did end up delaying our celebration until the following week where we stayed at the Joule Hotel in downtown Dallas for our staycation! 

Wedding cake 1 year later and it was so good!

Second Anniversary: We spent the night at the Omni Mandalay in Las Colinas, just to get out of Richardson for the night, and had the best time complete with a special 3 course dinner, Dom Perigon champagne and a tray of desserts prepared by the chef to our hotel suite. We had the opportunity to go on a gondola ride on the canal but the weather turned bad and we had to cancel...we still have a gift certificate to go when we have the chance!

Breakfast from the chef - we didn't even make a dent in this!

Third Anniversary: No extravagant plans this year, just going to dinner tonight to enjoy an evening with my hubby of three years. I love you!!

Lights On, Lights Off

Ok, back to the renovations on our house. Yes these were done a few years ago, but definitely worth documenting just to see how far our little house has come in 3 short years! As we were moving through the house and painting all the walls, I began to develop a hate relationship with all of our light switches and wall plugs. For some reason, the dingy cream colored face plates and outlets were driving me crazy and didn't go with my theme of refreshing the whole house. Luckily they are fairly inexpensive to replace but take safety gloves, turning off the power in each room and tedious man-hours. Hal showed us the way for the first few outlets and then Keith finished the rest. Every single face plate and outlet has been changed in our house to crisp white and they look beautiful. We only had a few instances where Keith killed the power to the house but with the flip of a breaker, we were back in business.

Oh and not to mention that I had Keith change out ALL of the AC vents as well. The old ones had either been painted over or were really old and dirty. Here is Hal working on the face plates and Keith installing the new AC vent covers. Since our house was built in 1961, we have 2 vents in each room; one near the baseboards and the other near the ceiling. This meant LOTS of trips to Home Depot and Lowe's.

Since we were updating almost every inch of our house, why stop with the light switches and vents...we added faux wood blinds to each bedroom as well. (You can see Keith's feet on the ladder in the photo above as he is getting ready to install the blinds in one of the guest bedrooms....soon to be nursery) We all spent many late nights working on the house and are so very thankful to not only have great company but family to show us the right way to update the house. Once we got the hang of things, we tackled many, many tasks by ourselves! My mom and step-dad aren't the most "handy" people in the world so we grew up calling a plumber if the sink was clogged or hiring a painter/contractor to fix something. I have no idea where I got some of my handiness because my dad didn't even own a hammer at his house! He was great at tinkering with tractors and lawn equipment, but beyond that, he liked to outsource his projects! To this day, my mom and day are both pretty impressed at some of the things Keith and I have done to the house without the help of a professional. I guess we're just cheap. Ha ha ha!

It is always hard to get a picture of Keith in action because for some reason, he hates having his picture taken. (I think it is a trait all the Denton kids share!) Hence why in most of the photos he isn't looking at the camera...

In-Laws are the GREATEST!

Fortunately I am blessed with wonderful in-laws. Both Keith's dad/stepmom and his mom are too kind to us and I am so thankful they are in the same city. Since my parents are hours away, it is nice to know I have other parents to rely on as well! I am a lucky girl.

Keith's dad is quite the handyman and we call him for any and all things related to our house. The first night I stayed at our house (November 2007), the hot water heater wasn't working and I took the coldest shower of my life. The very next morning I called Hal and he came over after work and all he had to do was adjust the knob on the heater and hello, hot water! Everyone has helped us with hauling appliances, watching our dogs, fixing all sorts of problems at our house and are they always willing to come on over and help us out when we're working on home projects.

My dad had given us a late Christmas present this year...a NEW dishwasher that we ordered in January but didn't have a chance to pick up until after my dad's funeral. Well, that is where Hal and Janet came into play. They picked up the dishwasher for us while Keith and I were in Oregon and were going to try to install it but came across a few problems so they waited until we returned so Keith and Hal could tackle it together. The old dishwasher was stuck behind the tile because when we added travertine floors to our kitchen (I'll talk about that in another post), they had to build up a subfloor and then set the tile. Therefore, the dishwasher was "stuck" behind 3 inches of subfloor + tile and wouldn't budge. Luckily when the previous homeowners put in the countertops, they were never secured to the cabinets so Keith and Hal spent almost 3 hours one night getting the old dishwasher out and the new one installed. With a lot of elbow grease and manpower, they got everything installed and in working order! I am so thankful to have a brand new dishwasher and so thankful to my dad who bought it for us.

Keith having to pull up the countertop to get the new dishwasher installed!

THANK YOU!!



Home Depot and a Baby Crib

Keith and I were watching "How I Met Your Mother" (fantastic TV show) a few months ago and the entire episode was based around what one of the characters last said to his father before he passed away. We watched this episode a few weeks before my dad died so it didn't really have an effect on me until after he passed away. The main character couldn't remember what he last said to his dad and the whole episode was spent trying to figure it out. I actually remember the very last conversation and the last thing I said to my dad...I said "I love you!". I was driving home from work on a Friday night and stopped off at Home Depot to buy some paint stripper as Keith and I were in the process of sanding and stripping a baby crib one of my good friends gave us. (Thank you Candice!) Driving home, I was chatting to my dad about his upcoming tennis tournament the next day and we were talking through his strengths and weaknesses on the court and how excited he was to play in the match the next day! Then we talked about the baby crib and how much of an effort it was to strip layers of paint off an ornate piece of furniture - we spent so many hours on that thing, I hate to count them all up. So, off I headed inside Home Depot and told my dad I had to run and that I loved him. That was the last time I got to talk to him. I mentioned in an earlier post that he did leave me a message on Saturday morning so I was able to hear his voice just one more time. The whole next day (Saturday), Keith and I spent from 9 am until 7 pm in the garage sanding and stripping away at the crib. It wasn't until 7 pm that I found out my dad had passed away because my phone was in our bedroom the entire day and I never once thought to check it for messages or missed calls...When I finally checked my phone, I had 18 missed calls and almost a dozen messages. The rest of the day and days to follow are all a blur...

This is the crib dissembled and I had just started to scrape off the paint from one of the pieces.

It truly was a labor of love and thankfully it is all finished. We didn't actually finish the entire process (multiple coats of stain and a lot of patience) until early February BUT it is all done now and looks beautiful. I think it will be a long time before I try a project like this again!

This is a sneak peak at the nursery + the finished crib...the room still has a LONG way to go... :)

Snow Days are a blessing!

After being in Oregon for a very emotional week (way back in late January), going to work that next week seemed almost impossible and an insurmountable task. Monday was really tough at the office but we were blessed with FOUR straight snow days. I was able to work from home Tuesday through Friday and enjoy being in sweatpants with no make-up! It was glorious and if I cried each day, I didn't have to worry about what I looked like since no one would see me. Of course I had to take lots of photos and videos of the dogs playing in the snow. The weird situation with this snow storm was that the snow quickly turned into ice and didn't leave the metroplex for over a week. Not to mention that all this occured Super Bowl week which made it a nightmare for all fans in town for the festivities.

Cason wanting to play fetch with a frozen pillow!

Our "babies"...they are 7 and almost 8 years old now! Kayli actually shares the same birthday as my dad.



On Eagles' Wings

And He will raise you up on eagles' wings,
bear you on the breath of dawn,
make you to shine like the sun,
and hold you in the palm of His hand.

This hymn is a favorite of mine (and my entire family) and it is always played throughout the year at church services and always at my family funerals. My sister and I thought it was very fitting to have it sung at the end of my dad's funeral on January 27, which would have been his 60th birthday. I've been putting off this blog for nearly 2 months partly because I didn't have time and partly because I hadn't felt like writing anything. I'm crying right now as I write this...my whole world has been turned upside down when I found out my father passed away from a sudden heart attack while playing in a tennis tournament on Saturday, January 22. I had talked to him the night before and he was really excited because he and his teammate were the #1 seed going against the #2 seed. Tennis was a huge part of my dad's life for the last several years and I barely remember a conversation where he wasn't talking about it! He even left me a voicemail the Saturday morning of his death to say hello and he was hoping I was feeling better as I had been sick for a few weeks. I can still play that message to hear my dad's voice which I will treasure for a long time to come. The Wednesday before he passed, Keith and I found out that our little baby is a GIRL. I immediately called my dad to tell him the news and he was "over the moon excited" for us. Little did I know that 3 days later, he would be gone. It makes me terribly sad that my dad will never get to meet his first grandchild but I am comforted by the fact that he knew it was going to be a little girl and also comforted that I now forever have an angel looking over me.

I still can't believe that I am not even 30 years old and have lost my dad. Life just doesn't seem fair right now. I can't thank all of my family and friends for the tremendous outpouring of love and support everyone has shown my sister and I over the last 6 weeks. I am truly blessed with wonderful people in my life. The prayers, cards, flowers, emails, phone calls, visits, meals, etc. have helped so much and are a constant reminder than I am not in this alone.

My dad's obituary:

Bruce Raguet Burrow of Springfield, Oregon died on January 22, 2011 of a heart attack. He was born January 27, 1951, in Dallas, Texas, to Mr. & Mrs. William F. Burrow, Sr.

He earned a B.A. in French Literature and a B.S. in Political Science, from Chapman University. Upon graduation of Chapman University, he was an assistant coach of the men’s soccer team in which he lettered all four years of college. In the late 1970’s, he was a stockbroker for Blyth Eastman and Dillon and also for Paine Webber. Later, as an independent oil and gas producer, he founded B&G Energy in 1981 where he moved to Midland, TX. In the winter of 1990, he moved to Oregon and spent the remaining 20 years of his life expanding his oil and gas company as well as acquiring gold mining rights in southern Oregon and Montana.   

Bruce’s family is rich in Texas history and played a role in the early years of Texas Republic. His great-great grandfather, Robert Irion, was Sam Houston's Secretary of State and Ambassador to England and France for the Republic of Texas. His great-great grandmother, Anna Raguet, designed the Republic's official seal which is still used today by the State of Texas. His grandfather, Joe A. Worsham, founded Worsham, Forsthye & Wooldrige. His father, William F. Burrow Sr., was a prominent trial attorney in Dallas for over 50 years.

Survivors include two daughters, Elysse Burrow Denton of Richardson, Texas, and Harriet Anna Burrow of Fort Worth, Texas; a sister, Nancy Parrish of Austin, Texas; and two brothers, Christopher Burrow, M.D. of Del Mar, California, and Gerard Burrow, M.D. of New Haven.

Bruce was laid to rest in Springfield, Oregon on January 27, his 60^th birthday, where he was surrounded by friends and family. Memorial contributions may be made to: Chapman University Athletic Department, Semester at Sea or the American Heart Association.

We decided to have a memorial reception at my house two weeks after my dad's funeral in Oregon so that family and friends who lived in Texas would be able to stop by and rejoice and celebrate my dad's life and legacy. Keith made a fantastic slideshow of photos from my dad's life and I wanted to post a few on today's blog. He was the cutest little kid!! 



Sweet and innocent little "Brucie"!





Dad as a sophomore in high school





Soccer coach at Chapman University





The Burrow brothers...they are fantastic skiers!!





Aren't we so cute?!





I love this photo...





Crater Lake, OR - 1990





Dad exploring the Benton Mine in southern Oregon





Mediterranean Cruise - 1997





Aggie graduation - 2004





Dancing to "You Look Wonderful Tonight" - it was our father/daughter dance at my wedding in 2008



I am so thankful I was able to spend a week with my dad in August last year as well as a long weekend with him in late October in San Antonio. Cherised memories that I will carry with me forever.



The last picture taken of my dad and me - San Antonio - October 2010

 I love you dad and you will be very deeply missed!!