RIP Monty, Hello Tori

We got a new car!!!

Her name is Tori.

She is a maroon '04 Ford Taurus. Don't hate. Tori is quite good-looking.

We are very excited about Tori because she was inexpensive and a great deal! Tori only has 45,000 miles and she only cost us $4,000! What a great find! We got paid $367 for Casey's old car (RIP Monty the Montero). So, in all, this only ended up costing us $3,693 (when you include that we paid an extra $60 for another micro-chipped key). It's crazy that we a got a new car for only $500 more dollars than fixing Casey's car would have been. We were quoted around $3,200 to get a new engine in his car.

What a blessing!!!

I have to admit, when Casey called and told me that his car died on the highway and was going to cost that much to fix... I felt doomed. And I had a bad attitude about it. I was genuinely mad. I wasn't disappointed, I was mad. That's not really okay. Or I don't think it should be my attitude.

Now I feel blessed though, and I hope to try to remember this the next time we have car problems OR something else like this happens.

To remember Monty by...

Here's Tori!
She's Aggie Maroon=)

I love that she is so clean on the inside! It feels rare to get a used car with absolutely NO inside blemishes!

Tomorrow's Friday everyone! Yay!!!

The Bodies Exhibit

I was asked to give a review over the Bodies Exhibit I went to with my mom on MLK day.

I realllly liked it, but I like science-type of stuff and so does my mom.

Yes, there are dead bodies there with their skin ripped off so you can see their muscles, organs, bones, and nerves. Yes, there are some dead bodies there with their skin still ON. Yes, there are males and females.

We saw real bodies, with real eyeballs, with real brains showing in their heads. Every part of the specimen IS real. NONE of it is plastic. It was awesome. The bodies look exactly like they do on the billboards and on the website. If you think what you see there is cool, then you will like going to the exhibit. If you think it is gross and may pass out, then its probably not for you. I go weak when I think about needles, but not persevered bodies. And.... there's no blood.

There was a 'health' part where it had real lungs - one with lots of smoke inhalation and a healthy one. There was even a box to drop your cigarettes into and be done forever! Haha.

Also, there was a baby section. That part was kind of sad, but still very interesting. There was a sign that made a point to say that none of those babies were aborted. They all died of natural causes. They were intact. It was tasteful. They had babies at different stages - all the way down to 6 weeks in the womb. You would be surprised at how much they are formed at that tiny stage. Such a case for pro-life, I thought.

It was $22 for an adult. We paid the extra $5 for the audio, but I don't think you need it. I personally prefer to read the stuff most of the time instead of listen. It just depends on what type of learner you are.

Hope this helps you figure out if you'd like to go! They'll be in Dallas until April!

TGIF!

I don't know about y'all, but I was VERY ready for the weekend to get here! And now it is finally here, and I am finally home! Today was an early release day (at noon), but I did not get to leave until 6pm because of UIL events that I coached! My goodness! I've never stayed so late on a Friday before!

Oh well, it's Friday, and I'm going on a date! We're off to Pancho's and Lefty's in Casey's mom's little red convertible - the weather is good for it=) Thanks Beverly!

Tomorrow is going to be a lazy day, hopefully! I'm ready to relax after this loooong week! However, I bet we have to do some car shoppin' since we are currently in a predicament with Casey's.... We're gonna have to sell his for parts and won't get much money for it. Sad day. =(

Okay, well happy weekend everybody!

When it Rains it Pours!

So, around 8:30 this morning I got a text from Casey that his car died on the highway on his way to DTS! He was in the far left lane going around 65 mph, and he was able to coast across all of the lanes of traffic and exit! That was a blessing, at least. I would hate for him to get stuck on the highway and possibly hit! His dad came to his rescue, but Casey's car wouldn't start back up, so they called a tow truck and Casey's mom came to pick up Casey's dad and Casey was able to drive his dad's car to school and later work.

So, my day went on, and it wasn't a bad one. But then, it started to hail hard around 4:45 and my car was out in the parking lot! I was scared it was going to be all ding-ed up, but it was fine. Then, I talked to Casey around 5:30 this afternoon. He had some terrible news. The timer belt on his car broke, causing valves on the engine to bend and break off! (I think I'm relaying this correctly, but I'm sure I don't have all the technical stuff down, haha). The point is, he needs a new ENGINE! Seriously?! It will cost over $3,000! SOOO, since his car is already kind of a piece, has over 100,000 miles, and is 8 years old, we're not going to pay that much money on that car. We're just going to get a new one. When I say new, I really mean new to us. Casey loves Dave Ramsey, and well, Dave Ramsey is pretty much against new cars. I won't go off on that right now, but I will say that my car was bought brand new and I have never had a problem with it - minus a couple verrry minor things.

Anyway, so I stayed really late after work, and didn't leave til around 6pm. I was only a few yards from my school when... BAM!!! I blew out my tire! Or at least I thought I blew it out! It was loud and I could see a black strip of what I thought was part of my tire swinging around in my passenger side mirror. I pulled off to the side and called Casey. Obviously he didn't answer because he never does on Wednesday nights because of the youth service. I texted him and said "emergency" because it was dark outside and people were passing me and not helping me. What's scarier? Being there in the dark without anyone stopping to help? Or actually having someone--a stranger--stop and help? Eventually a nice man, from Puerto Rico I later found out, stopped to help. I called several friends and told them where I was just to be safe. Casey also called back and I told him I had a man changing my tire. He was so busy I don't think he worried at all, lol. To my surprise, he called me back like 30 minutes later to see if I was safe. I could've already been off in the ditch by then, but anyway....

My tire didn't blow out. I ran over a bungie-type cord that truckers or just anybody uses to tie things down with. The big metal hook thing stuck into my car and the black cord was swinging around and that's what I saw in my mirror. It was leaking air so fast I could hear it LOUDLY. It sounded like air coming out of a balloon - it was that loud. I tried to drive to Walmart, but it went allll the way flat and I was afraid I was going to ruin the rim.

So, the nice man changed my tire. It took him a really long time though. He asked me how many flats I'd  had because my donut tire was pretty worn out as well! Haha! I told him I've had that car since I was 16 and have probably had about 10 flats. :) One of my lug nuts was busted and he couldn't get it off for a while. He eventually did, and I had to drive home on only 4! My goodness. I went slowly.

So, I'm home now, and I'm safe. But I AM WORN OUT. My mom is coming over soon to bring me Chick-fil-a and watch Criminal Minds with me. I think I'll go to bed kind of early after that....

When it rains it pours!!!!!

Doggone Time for a Doggy Update!

Well, Ginni beat me to this post, but I'm still going to do it for my journaling purposes!

A few weeks ago Casey and I got the itch to go to a dog park! We decided to ask Charlie & Ginni to come as well and we were glad they said yes because they'd never been to one before! The one we went to was kind of muddy and stuff, but it was still fun! Lucy and Madison got to know each other and then had a little  fun with some other doggies!

Here's a few pictures of our fun at the Mockingbird Point Dog Park at White Rock Lake!

Hope everyone has a fantastic week!!

MLK

Happy MLK Day!

I have the day off today and I could not be more excited!=) I got up early this morning and went to Chiloso with Casey for some breakfast tacos! Now I'm getting ready to hit the gym with my mom and Lauren for a 24 Lift class! It is an hour-long weightlifting class, but it's also a total body workout! I'm pretty excited at how well I've been doing with my working out 'resolution'! My goal is to work out 7x's a month - which is pretty reachable, of course, but I needed something reachable so I wouldn't get too discouraged and quit. It's so hard to make time for it when I'm in TAKS-testing season...tutoring starts next week - blah!! This will be my 4th time to work out this month and it's the 18th. Not too shabby and it sure beats not working out at all!

After working out I'm going to see the Bodies Exhibit at the West End MarketPlace with my mom! Pretty cool if you like that sort of thing - which I do!=) You should check it out - it's only here until April.

After that I've got some down time before we go to the Stars game with the youth group! Fun times!

Oh, and a shout out to good ole Martin Luther King Jr - thanks for sharing your dream with us and making the US a better place!=)

Blessings Amendment*

I had to make an amendment on my blog post below because I left out one of the most important blessings of 2009! Check out the last one on the list! It was so encouraging - if you haven't read about it yet, go here to read my post from August 23, 2009 called The Power of Prayer.

Our Blessings in 2009

A few weeks ago I was reading on Paul McDill's blog about how his family has a tradition around Christmastime where they 'count their blessings'. They go to Blue Mesa as a family and talk about all the things God has done for them that year. Well, I commented on his blog that I was going to make that one of our traditions and I did! While Casey and I were in Austin, waiting to be seated at Chuy's, we went to the car and wrote down all of our blessings from 2009. We have been blessed with so much just in one year! I wish we had written down everything in 2007 and 2008 as well. I know there would've been a ton of things! My plan is to keep our lists and eventually put them into a scrapbook of sorts. That way, in 10, 15, or 20 years our family can look through and see all of God's blessings and provision in our lives. He is so good. How dare us only think of it one time a year. I could probably make a weekly list of blessings. Anyway, here are just a few favorites from 2009!

2009 Coats Family Blessings:

Adopting Lucy from the animal shelter

Free boating this summer on my mom’s boat

Raises at work

Our friendship with Charlie & Ginni Rickerson

Good health for both of us

Relationships with my principal and asst. principal being so much better this school year

Our trip to San Francisco

Being able to do some inexpensive house renovations with help of friends, Steven English, Charlie Rickerson, & Andy Rickerson

No serious car trouble this year

Record-breaking Momentum attendance

Casey’s free ski trip from the church

Cheap scrapbooking desk from Natalie

Lauren’s pokeno nights with girlfriends!

Sold Maddie for the price we paid for her and found her a good home

Kristin Clickner was able to get pregnant again

My mom built a new house for herself in Rockwall

Scott & Erin got married

We have been married for 2 years

Free Stars and Symphony tickets and discounted Mavs tickets from friends or DTS

Casey’s team won the Tin Cup

312 kids at disciple now and many came to know Christ

178 kids at youth camp and several came to know Christ

Lauren learned how to water ski

The Micah Johnson Memorial Tournament was successful in raising money for the youth group

Lauren’s friendship with Lauren Smith was renewed and strengthened

Children and parents at the high school mission trip were saved!

Two of my students (twin girls) from last year started coming to c|Life with their mom & step-dad. The girls both got saved and baptized at our church!!! One of the biggest blessings of the year!

Wow! I told you we were blessed in 2009!
I would love to hear a few of your blessings as well! Feel free to leave them in a comment! =)

Austin Anniversary Trip: Day 4

Our fourth and final day of our 2-year anniversary trip to Austin was pretty short. We slept in, checked out of the hotel around noon, and went to Texadelphia for lunch. I've never before had a Philly Cheesesteak, and I gotta say, I'm not too big of a fan. Casey loves them though.

Anyway, after that we went to Peter Pan's Putt-Putt Course! It's been in business in Austin for 50 years. It's odd and eclectic and that's party of why it is fun! :) After our 2 rounds of putt-putt, we were off to the Round Rock Outlet Malls. We spent a few hours there and each got 2 pair of shoes - good deals on all 4! When we were done with our shopping we headed back to Rockwall to see our sweet animals, Lucy & Ella.

I got a hole-in-one on the first hole!! Ha ha!

Back home to my sweet puppy!!

Thank you so much to all of our friends and family for your support and love over the past 2 years. We are very thankful for you all.

Austin Anniversary Trip: Day 3

The 3rd day of our trip to Austin was New Year's Eve. It started and ended with good food! Haha! We slept in a little that morning and then headed to Kerbey Lane for breakfast! I was STARVING by the time we got there and then when we left I was so full I was about to pop. We both had pancakes, bacon, and eggs. Delicious. We didn't end up eating lunch that day because of that stuff though - we were the bad kind of full. The miserable kind of full. You know the feeling?

After lunch we went back to the hotel and I took a nap (due to the fullness) and Casey watched TV while I did that. We basically slept 'til it was time to get ready for dinner. :) We went to Chuy's (our fav). It was packed, as usual, but worth the wait. After dinner we went to Mozart's to play some cards and drink some coffee. I LOVE Mozart's. It's gotta be the coolest coffee house ever. It's on a dock on the lake and there are places to sit indoor and outdoor on the lake. It was one of the places we went the night that Casey proposed.

After many hands of playing Speed at Mozart's, we went 6th Street for New Year's Eve. First we walked around and watched all of the crazy people in the street. It was a mad house. We then took a 30-minute carriage ride around downtown Austin - down Congress and around the Capitol. It was cold, but so pretty and fun! It was my first ever horse and carriage ride. A great New Year's Eve/2 Year Anniversary thing to do. :) After the carriage ride we walked a little ways down 6th Street to watch the ball drop (they had a real ball dropping - not just watching the one in New York on TV, haha). People were acting crazy, but it was still fun. We rang in the new year and then headed back to the hotel to sleep (we don't often stay up that late)!

Some of the best breakfast ever!

Chuy's is probably our favorite restaurant to eat at together - We LOVE the jalapeno ranch!!

This is where Mozart's Coffee House is located

Inside the Driskill Hotel

Our view of the capitol from our ride

Getting ready for New Year's Eve!

 

He looks so excited here and I like it :

Well, there's only 1 day left to our trip and it's coming soon! :)

Austin Anniversary Trip: Day 2

Day 2 of our trip we slept in late - which was very nice after all of the holiday stuff! After getting ready, we went to Freebirds for lunch (one of our all-time favorites), and then we were on our way to the state capitol for a tour! I haven't been inside since I was a little girl and Casey hasn't been in years either. He said he never went inside in all the years he lived in Austin for college. Surprising to me! So we had a nice little tour of the capitol where we saw the Texas House of Representatives and the Texas Senate Chambers.

After that we went to the Harry Ransom Center to see one of the only, original, and complete Gutenberg Bibles, the first photograph ever taken, and the Edgar Allan Poe exhibit. It was very interesting and we stayed 'til it closed!

After that we used the movie gift card my mom got us for our anniversary and went to see Sherlock Holmes! It was very good! Casey liked it because it was "artsy." I liked the plot. :)

After the movie we went to famous Amy's Ice cream - it was very good! I would explain it as the Freebirds of ice cream - the people working there are eclectic...and they throw the ice cream around as they are making it for you. :) It was good.

Here are some pictures from our 2nd day in Austin!

The beautiful dome inside of the capitol!

One of the chambers inside of the capitol

Now at the Ransom Center....

While I was there I was just thinking about how much we owe this guy! I mean, without him, we might not even have the Bible in English! Way to invent the printing press Johannes Gutenberg!! :)

It's funny that this is the first picture - you can't even really see anything. They had a drawing beside it so you can see what it use to look like. It's a picture of the backyard from someone's terrace.

I loved this part of the museum! I love Edgar Allan Poe! I read his stuff in high school a lot, and really enjoyed it (even though he's so morbid)!

Casey throwing up the horns in front of the UT tower - this was just a few steps away from our hotel!

I like the coloring on this one:)

Me with the capitol building in the background - that building on the right is our hotel:)

The menu at Amy's Ice cream! Some of them were very funny!

The beautiful capitol at night! :)

Well, that's it for day 2 of our anniversary trip!

Hope you all are having a marvelous Monday!! :)