How do you catch up on two years? With a bunch of random pictures from the phone! I feel like we've done this before, and not too long ago....
Without further adieu, July 4, 2014 - June 1, 2016:
You didn't think it was possible that he could get any cuter, but he did.
I planned a conference in San Diego, so a couple colleagues and I went a day early to do some exploring. We saw the seals in La Jolla, and then had ice cream and a delicious dinner afterwards!
The conference itself wasn't too bad either :)
And more of J...
My neighbor had triplet girls: Olivia (Liv - left), Elliot (Ellie - right), and Quinn (not pictured)!
Our small group before Ashley, Daniel, and Ava left for Florida :(
Nelson and I had the BEST time in Taiwan for two weeks! Hopefully I remember everything we did....
SFO has a lot of things to keep children / Nelson occupied while waiting for flights.
We did a lot of eating, and I did surprisingly well! Only one upset tummy the whole trip!
I never brought myself to use one.
Getting your hair done there is really cheap and it's a pretty deluxe service. Needless to say, we did it twice.
All ready for our island tour!
Nelson found a rat, so we thought we'd try to knock it out. Smart Americans.
Eating a dried shrimp - the whole thing.
Sister Pond in Alishan Forest
Our hotel room at Sun Moon Lake
Sun Moon Lake
The flowers in Taiwan do not disappoint.
The town we stayed in on Sun Moon Lake
And these are their garbage trucks
On a boat to the other side of Sun Moon Lake
I forgot the name, but it's a wax apple - super yummy!
Riding a gondola to the Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village
Every time I look at this picture, I'm reminded of how terrible Nelson's haircut was during that trip.
It is what you think it is. Something about fertility. I don't know.
We woke up way before dawn to ride a tiny little bus into Hehuanshan National Forest to see the sun rise. I didn't realize it was going to be so high that the temperatures would be practically freezing. Luckily our bus driver realized I was an idiot and found a blanket in the back and, in front of multiple bus groups, wrapped me up nice and snug.
Pictures just didn't do it justice, but hopefully you get it. It was gorgeous.
Still rockin' that blanket ;)
We had gotten to our hotel the night before when it was dark, so we came back from the sunrise trip to a very pleasant view from our balcony.
We went to a sheep farm! There were other animals, but mostly sheep.
Again, the views!
It was disgusting. I do not recommend it.
Fancy lunch with Uncle Alan and Abu. Check out the tower of (non-sweet) desserts!
A visit to the National Palace Museum
Night markets and fried chicken!
Interested in a hot dog? No, thanks.
Waiting at the infamous Din Tai Fung. These people were pros at making soup dumplings.
Nelson asked for water, and they gave it to him in a bowl... because that's how you drink water?
We waited several hours. For this.
And when you've been living together for a week, you start to become each other.
Taipei 101!
The fruit was so juicy and delicious!
Nelson's dessert. mmmmm
My dinner. MMMMMMM.
Tour of Republic of China Presidential Museum
People were just a little excited about the Tory Burch knock-offs....
In front of Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall
Inside...
Inside the museum part of Chiang-Kai Shek Memorial Hall
Me and my desserts <3
We went to see the cemetery where Nelsons' grandfather is.
This famous singer, Teresa Tan, was buried at the same cemetery. They had a stereo playing her music, too.
We then stopped for a light lunch.
The last one confuses me.
Dried squid, anyone?
More night markets!
You need a cell phone case? No? How about a puppy?
Got my hair did, again.
This was my second sunset of October 31, 2014 - on the flight home :(
But coming home to this group made it better!
These people kept me sane while training: Anne, Vania, and Sarah
And then this happened. Poor Nelson was hit by an uninsured motorist and totaled his beloved Nissan X-Terra.
My Christmas game got strong.
Gig 'em, Nelson!
What the boys did on Thanksgiving Day.
What I did on Thanksgiving day.
How I feel about Lindsay being funny.
HomeAway Christmas Party!
Somehow Nelson totals his car, but I get the new one :)
Some more of these precious girls! Every Wednesday, I go hang out :) Clockwise from top left: Liv, Ellie, Nelson and Quinn, Quinn
This pair love hanging out and watching cartoons together.
Friends came to visit from Houston!
I ran the Houston Marathon on my birthday and qualified for the Boston Marathon with a time of 3:30:50! Boston 2016 - here I come :)
I came back and my boss, Katie, had my desk decorated as a congratulations :)
I went to NYC for another work trip and enjoyed a run in Prospect Park, cupcakes galore, Shake Shack, and snow!
Yup, this means another nephew is coming up!!!
Homemade dumplings (I helped) for Chinese New Year
The October 2015 client conference I was planning was in New Orleans, so Nelson and I did a site planning trip in February. One of the perks of being the planner is getting tours of neat spaces! This was at Mardi Gras World.
Another perk is the welcome amenity the hotel leaves in the room. Of course, Nelson thought it was a great idea to drink the wine, and thus he was out shortly after....
Heavy fog on the Mississippi River before we left!
We remodeled our kitchen and bathrooms! The work done in the three areas was:
- Kitchen
- New counter tops
- Added cabinet above refrigerator
- Added crown molding above cabinets
- New kitchen sink
- New hardware
- New cabinet doors
- New soft-close drawers
- Painted cabinets
- Removed fluorescent light box
- Added recessed lights
- Master Bath
- New counter tops
- Added height to vanity
- New sinks
- New hardware
- Framed mirror
- New cabinet doors
- New soft-close drawer
- Painted cabinets
- Pulled out garden tub / shower
- Installed standing shower
- Pulled out wood floor
- Installed tile floor
- Second Bath
- New vanity
- New counter tops
- New sink
- New hardware
- Framed mirror
- Pulled out wood floor
- Installed tile floor
The whole process took about 6 weeks from start to finish. We moved into the guest bedroom (since all of the master furniture was covered while they worked in the bathroom), but soon had to move into my mom's house when both toilets were pulled out. We couldn't have been more excited to move back in and enjoy the "new" house! We loved everything that we did and chose :)
Kitchen before:
Master vanity before:
Master shower before:
Living arrangements:
Progress pictures:
And the finished product!
When they went to put the range back, it didn't fit.... So the counter top guys had to come back out and cut the Caesarstone in place. The painter was in the middle of painting and freaking out that it was so dusty. But all turned out well and they were able to get the range in!
This is just proof that it wasn't all terrible at my mom's ;)
We were "practicing" for our ultimate frisbee team and Nelson hit me in the neck with the frisbee. When I sent the picture to my mom and Lindsay with the story, Lindsay just had to one-up me.
Amos and a neighbor dog got in a fight. When Lindsay went to break it up, the other dog bit her in the face. Because she was pregnant, she had to go to the minor emergency center to be treated. Ouch!
Hanging out next door on a weekly basis and seeing these precious girls grow! Below are Liv and Nelson and Quinn napping :)
Pictures of him are usually like this:
He's checking out the candy in his mouth.
The moment I realized Nelson had a serious Tupac obsession.
I don't even remember why I wasn't feeling great, but obviously these helped cheer me up! Friends are the best :)
Shopping with this guy....
Vania, Anne, and I ran the Silicon Labs Sunshine 10k! I finished in 47:54:97 and placed first in my age group and 8th in the female division!
Taking pictures of climbing triplets is hard. (Top to bottom: Liv, Ellie, Liv front / Ellie back, Liv front / Ellie back)
Two peas in a pod <3
My work was sponsoring a conference in Munich, Germany, so I had to go. It was a short trip, just under a week, but I tried to make the most of it by walking around and exploring (by myself) as much as possible! I did a bus tour that you could get off and on as you please and ended up hanging out at Olympic Village for a while. I tried to check out the swim center and track arena, but there were parts closed off because of a hard rock concert ("Rockavaria") that hosted popular bands like KISS, Muse, Metallica, Incubus, and Limp Bizkit. It was a very interesting crowd, if you can imagine.
The BEST strawberries I've ever had. I couldn't help but think G would love them :)
My mom took us and Lindsay's family on a weekend trip to JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa. It was a fun weekend of spending a lot of time with family and soaking up the sun - at the kiddie pool.
My company, Mitratech, had a field day consisting of various activities, including a pie eating contest. Without using your hands, you had to eat a chocolate pudding + whipped cream pie. My strategy was to scoop up the broken pie crust from the bottom with my tongue / teeth. It worked out really well because I came in first! I called Nelson to tell him I won and his response was, "That's so gross." But when I called my mom, she said, "Oh, Holly, I'm so proud!" I think we know where I get it from :)
Reading to triplets is just as hard as taking pictures of them! (Left to right: Ellie, Quinn, Liv)
Kaitlyn Kadlecek got married and is now Kaitlyn Bullard! It's hard to imagine the Barney-loving little girl now has a husband.
I got a lot of sun on my face and the masks I bought in Taiwan came in very handy!
Dean Matthew Liggett was born on July 13 at 1:08am weighing a hefty 7 pounds, 9 oz. I say "hefty" because he was four weeks early! I was in San Francisco for work (started crying when Lindsay called to say her water broke), so I missed the whole thing. I was really sad to not be there when he arrived, but mostly that I wasn't there to support Lindsay (and Ben). It turned out to be an extremely traumatic birth. The nurse realized his umbilical cord was coming out when she got to the hospital, which meant it was cutting off his oxygen. She was rushed to have an emergency c-section, which the first doctor they saw (not an OB) performed. He was born blue and not crying (luckily Lindsay was put under) and kept in the NICU for observation, but quickly bounced back and is the most precious and sweet baby boy! God heard so many of our prayers over that time, and he definitely answered them. As soon as I landed a couple days later, my Uber took my straight to the hospital so I could love on my new nephew <3
For Nelson's 29th birthday, I made a seven layer dip, complete with candles, to eat at our small group meeting!
Lindsay sent us this picture of Jackson picking up some new skills now that baby brother is home :)
I had a hard time figuring out which shoes went best with my bridesmaid dress ;) Spoiler alert: I chose the second pair.
360 Overlook when Grace and Timmy came to visit :)
Jackson's new shaving kit from Aunt Holly and Uncle Nelson.
First day of preschool! What a big boy!
Hiking around Vail, CO, for Meagan's wedding! Such gorgeous views and beautiful weather.
And when we got back from Vail, we went straight to a "stay-cation" at Barton Creek Resort & Spa because I had a gift card that was going to expire. Talk about a rough life ;)
Anne and Paul had sweet baby Mackenzie over Labor Day Weekend, so we went to visit her during our next Houston trip!
Angela Mann, a professional triathlete that is friends with a lot of people in Houston, posted on Facebook that she wanted to do a triathlon relay in Chicago and she (bike) and her sister (swim) were looking for their third leg (a runner). Irene, Nelson's cousin, messaged me and asked if I'd be interested. Next thing I knew, I was training for a 5k! Nelson and I had a lot of fun visiting Chicago and watching the professionals throughout the week. And our relay team didn't do too bad - we were the first all female group!
One night, Lindsay and I were texting and I made comment about how Nelson was asleep and sent this picture. She soon sent the next one. Even though we're not connected by a Jack-and-Jill bathroom anymore, we have other ways to stay connected as we go to sleep :)
My conference in New Orleans was a great success! For the final night, we had a second-line parade take the entire group down Bourbon Street to the party, where I had my one and only drink of the entire trip.
Nelson noticed how much Jackson loved to snack on random things, so he started bringing healthy items to Lindsay's for him to try. He took a strong liking to these "almond bars" as he calls them. One day, Lindsay was feeding Dean when he found a new stash Nelson had recently brought over. I think, between me and Nelson, we've watching this video over 100 times <3
A couple days after my New Orleans conference, I headed up to Boston for a couple weeks for two more conferences. There were only two days between them, so it didn't make sense to come back and then turn right around for the second one. Instead, I got one of the best cupcakes at Georgetown Cupcake, saw a little snow (and was definitely not dressed for it), experienced Mike's Pastry for cannolis, and saw Shaq.
When I got back to Austin, after being gone for basically three weeks, I took a day off and hung out with Lindsay and the boys. She needed to do some shopping after dropping Jackson off at preschool, so I went as her personal assistant / nanny. I pushed the stroller, gave my opinions, and held Dean - that is, until this happened:
Aunt life is so rough :)
Fun fact: the week of Halloween, our office played a different Halloween movie in the breakroom each day, and I worked in there while watching "Hocus Pocus" one day. It turns out there are a lot of jokes for adults that went completely over my head as a child.
I bought this cute onsie for Jackson when Lindsay was pregnant with him. It was 6-9 months and, since he was due in February, I thought it would surely fit in the fall. Since he was such a beast of a baby, it did not and was passed down to "little brother" who fit into it perfectly at a young 3 months!
Jackson loved his Dusty Crophopper costume that Lindsay and my mom made, and Dean made the cutest pilot!
Again, shopping with this guy :)
... but you could say the same about me. I wanted my picture so I could show Jackson - sacrifices of being the best aunt.
Lindsay's little turkey <3
We went to Wheeler Ranch for Thanksgiving and drove around the property one day. Jackson and Ben would get out to explore and throw rocks.
You have two kids so you can dress them alike, right?
Jackson's voice is just so cute :)
Nelson and I took a little anniversary trip to Valentin Imperial Maya in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. We spent our days reading by the pool, napping, and eating. It was a rough couple of days. So rough, in fact, that I only got these few pictures haha.
For Christmas, Nelson's sister took me and his mom to see The Nutcracker. I had actually never seen it before and it was really beautiful! The dancing was incredible!
Erin and Adrian got married in early January, and I was a bridesmaid! It was a really fun wedding, but I think my favorite part was catching back up with all of my old crew friends - and their cake topper.
Jackson asked for their picture to be taken.
Happy 29th birthday to me!
Another work trip to NYC and I went to the World Trade Center Memorial. It was an incredible sight. I couldn't help but tear up remembering that day in Coach Segleski's World Geography class freshman year and him telling us what happened. The world really has never been the same.
Nelson and I babysit the boys as often as possible :)
On February 21, 2016, Heaven gained another angel. Grandma passed away peacefully with her loved ones surrounding her. She had moved into assisted living, and then a nursing home, about four years prior. Once such a strong and independent woman, she was becoming increasingly dependent on those around her as her dementia worsened. We knew that she never wanted to be like this, so it was a bittersweet when she joined PawPaw, G, Auntie, Paw Paw Jack, Richard, and many others in Heaven.
It was an extremely emotional month because, on top of Grandma's passing, Lindsay, Ben, and the boys moved to Southlake, Texas. Ben got a great promotion and it was an opportunity for the family that couldn't be passed up. We all understood that, but it didn't make it any easier that we couldn't see them every single week (on a whim, at least). Ben went to Southlake with the moving truck while Lindsay stayed in Austin a couple days, and then I flew with she and the boys to Houston for the funeral and Ben picked us up there. We were quite the crew walking around the airport.
When your nephew says he wants to ride on your shoulders, you let him ride on your shoulders.
Our 2016 client conference is taking place in Miami at the gorgeous Fontainebleau, so Nelson and I went for a couple days of planning. We were set-up in an ocean-view room - and a view of the ocean it was!
Amberlyn Fett had a dream of visiting every beach and making a sand angel. I was able to knock Miami Beach off the list and sent this to her mom <3
Grace is getting married!!! I went to northern San Francisco for a long weekend bachelorette party. We rented a house, pulled all the mattresses into one room, and had a huge sleep over with all the girls. It was a fun girls get away and I look forward to celebrating her, again, in May!
Baby Dean <3
Nobody realized everyone else was giving Dean fruit over the course of a couple days, so his next stool was, well, very loose! I made the mistake of picking him up and not realizing this was leaking out. Lindsay commented that it was worse than anything that had happened to either she or Ben. Thanks a lot, Lindsay.
My sweet friend Beth sent me a good luck token for my running shoe at Boston! Of course I'm always keeping it on my shoe, but I love looking down on it and remembering that amazing race and accomplishment :)
One of my favorite new things is have the photographer at weddings take a picture of me and Nelson! I couldn't pass up this opportunity in front of the floral arch at Stephen and Michelle's wedding.
Why am I so photogenic?
Lindsay sent us an outtake and perfect bluebonnet picture :)
Josh and Mary Catherine got married in Huntsville, and we went to help with the boys.
Mentioned earlier, I qualified for the 2016 Boston Marathon. I stayed in shape by continuing to run with Gilbert's Gazelles, my running group, and had become really close friends with Anne, my "running mom". We were a similar pace and could talk for hours during training runs. About a month before the marathon, she was complaining of a pain in her left leg that got worse and worse. A physical therapist thought she had a femoral stress fracture and advised not running, so we didn't get to race together. We were both very bummed about that, but are thankful for all those hours spent together the many many months before.
Nelson and I rented a little one bedroom apartment and made a mini-vacation out of the trip since he had never been to Boston. We got there late on Saturday, so after Sunday morning's shake-out run on the Charles River, we headed over to the finish line for a photo opp and the exhibit hall with many more photo opps!
I got a ride to the start with a lot of people from my training group on Duke's Buses. It was a charter, so we had a bathroom in the back and we were taken to a separate section of Athlete's Village with all the other private charters. This was the best $50 spent. Not only did we have the bathroom on the bus, our separate section had its own port-a-potties which were much cleaner than those in Athlete's Village (as far as I could "smell" - yuck!). When it was my wave's turn, we made our way towards the Village and had to be scanned by a metal detector. Security dogs, military personnel, and helicopters were everywhere, even throughout the course. It was pretty intense, and makes you sad to think this is what our world has come to.
Boston is a little different than most marathons in that it's a point-to-point (versus out and back) and the first wave starts around 9:30am (versus the crack of dawn). Even though it gave Nelson plenty of time to get to mile 10 on his rental bike, it also gave the sun plenty of time to rise and heat things up. It was a balmy 74 degrees during my start time of 10:30am. Within a couple of miles, I could tell it wasn't ideal and wouldn't be a PR, so I just focused on having fun and enjoying the race. After all, my goal throughout training was to just make sure I had fun. There were water and Gatorade stops at every mile, and I started drinking water and / or Gatorade at every mile. I would also dump cups of water over my head. I've never felt so salty and dry in my life. BUT I looked at the scenery, crowds, posters, and little towns outside of Boston as I ran towards the finish :)
Seeing Nelson at mile 10 was awesome!
Talk to anyone about Boston and they'll want to talk about Heartbreak Hill. It's the well-known section of the race with long inclines about 20 miles in. We had trained specifically for this by ending long runs in hilly neighborhoods and running up Mt. Bonnell in Austin. So in my head, I was expecting a terrible beast. You can imagine my surprise when I hit mile 21 and still felt great! I was tempted to ask people around me, "That was it? That was Heartbreak Hill? We're done?!" But I didn't want to sound pompous - ha! Personally, I thought the rolling hills at the beginning were worse.
Nelson planned to ride his bike back in another 10 miles and see me around the 20 mile marker. I kept an eye out for him, but was afraid I'd missed him until I heard him yelling my name :)
While, no, it wasn't a PR, I am still very happy with my time and overall experience! I had a lot of fun and enjoyed every (well, almost every) minute of it. It felt good to check that off the bucket list.
I signed up to get text alerts for myself, so when we got back to the apartment, in addition to the many texts from family and friends (since I had been without a phone since 5:30am), I had these:
After I was done, we went back to the apartment and I collapsed on the floor. Nelson went to return his bike in Little Italy and returned with some cannolis and cheesecake from Mike's Pastry!
We laid low the rest of the day and had dinner with Anne and her husband, but the next day was full of exploring... and lots of walking out sore legs. We made our way to MIT and over to Harvard, stopping for lunch to eat a lobster sandwich (not roll; sandwich). A little history behind this picture: I'm extremely happy because I dropped the first sandwich they gave me on the table when taking it out of the wrapper, and was lucky they gave me another one for free.
That evening, we went to a Red Sox game. It was FREEZING!
We headed back on Wednesday, enjoying some cannolis on the way!
<3 this guy
I went to Southlake with my mom to celebrate Mother's day and see Lindsay's new house!
The Lindahls were part of a March of Dimes team and invited us to walk with them! It was a (slow and hot) 5k walk - after checking out the playground, of course! (Front to back: Liv, Quinn, Ellie)
We finally did it. We pulled the trigger and sold our house. The Austin market is so hot right now, if we want to be competitive for a nice house, we can't be a contingency. I posted that it was "coming soon" on our neighborhood Facebook page and, before it was deleted 30 minutes later because you're not supposed to advertise, a realtor sent me a message asking for more details. Cheri, our agent, coordinated for them to see it right after she took pictures. They made an offer the next day, we accepted the day following, and we were officially under contract before hitting the market (posting here). With a close date of 4 weeks later, it was time to get moving - literally. My dad did a great job of packing up my grandmother's house so that we could have it deep cleaned before moving in. We're in her house until we figure out where to go next, so stay tuned!
All of our stuff in Grandma's formal dining room:
If this doesn't make you sad....
Grace and Timmy got married this past weekend (Memorial Weekend) and it was such a beautiful ceremony and reception! As a bridesmaid, I was busy all day leading up to the wedding, so Nelson hung out with friends. We had our hair done, ate lunch, took lots of pictures (I know how to be in some memorable ones), and loved on Grace <3
Welp. That seems to be (almost) everything that's happened over the past two years. Pretty much exactly two years, too. And now I can resume as usual :)
