Geocamping

Camping is always fun.  What’s not to love?  Trying to fall asleep with all sorts of weird noises,  hiking, cooking food on a grill, and not showering.  We joined some fellow geocachers to camp and do a little bit of geocaching in an event called Safe From the City.  We met some of the Houston geocachers, and just relaxed and enjoyed the great outdoors.  

After Christmas Sales

Didn’t get what you wanted for Christmas?  Hit the after Christmas sales.  Corrie and John hit the stores with her mom and grandmother on Friday and Saturday and found some great deals.  Corrie’s mom found a cute hat, and convinced grandma to try some on too, as you can see in the picture.  

John spent his gift-card from JC Penney’s and was able to exchange some items that didn’t quite fit at the gap.  New khaki pants, a few new shirts, and some new belts.  All in all he was pretty proud of his finds.  Corrie found Fossil watches on sale 50% off, a Christmas t-shirt on sale, and lots of Christmas decorations to put away for next year.  Corrie found some cute nativity scenes, ornaments, and wall decorations all for half off.  She is so excited about them that we may even put them up for a few weeks and then store them for next year.  

Merry Christmas

We spent Christmas day with Corrie’s family in Victoria, Texas at her grandparents house.  It was a wonderful time with family filled with good company and conversation.  We put together another calendar for Corrie’s mom’s side of the family, which was as big a hit with them as it was for John’s family.  I guess we know what we’ll be giving as gifts for years to come.  

Decking the Halls

Christmas happened early in Liberty, Texas with John’s family.  We all got together and ate Corrie’s lasagna, and Meredith’s shrimp scampi, and loads of traditional family cookies and cakes.  John’s cousins Tyler and Alex passed out presents and we enjoyed the look on everyones faces when they opened their gifts.  We were really excited about the gift we gave everyone this year, a family calendar.  Corrie put together a calendar with her macbook and ordered a copy for everyone.  We think we’ve started a new family tradition.  Click here to see photos from todays holiday gathering. 

Christmas Decorating 08

Tonight we had fun decorating Christmas cookies.  Every year we try to get some sugar cookie mix and clear off the counter to roll and cut sugar cookies.  This year it was so much easier to do with more counter space at our new home.  We enjoyed cutting out gingerbread man, and Christmas trees and decorating them with colored icing.  We get white icing and make little icing bags out of ziploc baggies and draw our random designs on the cookies.  Click here to see photos.  

Santa and Selah

Tonight we took Selah to go get her picture taken with Santa Claus.  Every Monday in December was St. Nick’s pet pic’s night, and we decided we had to take her.  We didn’t want to miss the opportunity, so we strapped her leash on and took her to the mall to see Santa.  We were a bit worried because the last time we took her to see Santa back when we lived in Corpus Christi (yes we’ve taken her before), she growled at him.  Happy Howlidays! 

Lisa came to visit!

This weekend we had a fun time visiting with a longtime friend.  On Friday we picked her up at the airport, went out to dinner.  On Saturday Lisa and Corrie went went Christmas shopping, Lisa built her first build a bear, and bought $100 worth of organic soap!  Later that night we went out and ate sushi and went and saw Twilight.  Sunday we cooked a Thanksgiving like lunch with turkey loaf, mashed potatoes and stuffing.  All in all it was fun hanging out with her once again.   Click here to see photos.

Light Snow

Houston received some snow flurries today!  Snow in Texas is rare, so whenever we get the slightest little bit, we go crazy.  Click here to see photos

Corrie's Faculty Christmas Party

Fajitas, teachers, and lots of lemonade!  It’s wonderful to get together with fellow workers and just talk and enjoy each others company.  I love my job and the teachers I work with, they are so much fun!  Too bad we can’t have these get little parties more often

1000th Day Anniversary

Today we’ve been married for 1000 days.  John somehow remembered, or figured it out, and brought home this wonderful treat.  Cookie cakes are my favorite!  He’s a keeper!  

In addition he also bought Corrie a little present, the remainder of the books in the Twilight series.  John, you’re the best! 

Twilight

While visiting with Abby and Will this weekend Abby let Corrie borrow a book, Twilight.  She’s hooked.  Every spare moment from after school to bedtime have been totally absorbed with reading.  Obsession is probably a better way to describe it. 

Surgery and Houseguest

John’s father is having surgery tomorrow to remove cancer from his lungs and diaphragm.  James Portier was diagnosed with Mesothelioma in September.  Bonnie, John’s mother will be staying with us so she is closer to the hospital.  Please keep her and James in your prayers.   

Oscar our cat has been trying to do his part in providing comfort.  

Christmas card photo shoot

Every year we try and take a Christmas card photo, and usually we take it with a tripod a timer, and we run to pose before the camera snaps the photo.  Well this year we had some help.  Our friends Abby and Will also wanted to take a Christmas photo, so Corrie offered her services, and so we went to the park and traded off with the camera.  We so thrilled with the results.  Thanks Abby and Will!  

Evening with the Clymer's

Our friends Katherine and Tim are back in Houston!  We are so excited to have them so close!  To welcome them back we had them over for dinner.  Corrie cooked enchiladas, and Kat and Tim brought over the chips.  Good times.  

Furniture Shopping

We went after work to go furniture shopping and look at tables.  Here’s the one we found, and loved at Star Furniture.  It reminded us of TBarM and how we used to sit on benches and eat family style.  

An evening with the Maeger's

We had a fun evening tonight with the Maeger’s.  We went to P.F. Chang’s and had a delicious meal, then walked over to The Cheesecake Factory and had a piece of dessert. It’s always a blessing to get to hang out with friends.  

Here are a few pictures from the evening. 

QVE Fall Program

Our kids our so cute! Tonight was their fall program.  Our Kindergarten, Second grade, and fourth grade performed some adorable songs. 

Our kindergarten students wore little turkey hats, and danced to a turkey song.

Fun Times on Ustream

We enjoyed watching The Reyes broadcast themselves on Ustream tonight.  Maybe the Portiers will broadcast in the future.  Hmmm...Until then, we’ll watch others as they broadcast their lives.  

Johns Favorite Things

I was tagged by Abby to list John’s favorite things.

Here are a few of my electrifying husband's favorite things in no particular order:

1. Geocaching. John loves to use million dollar satellites to find small Tupperware containers in the woods.  It’s a really interesting hobby that I like to do with him occasionally.  Check it out at www.geocaching.com

2. Gadgets. If there is a gadget out there that sounds cool, John wants it.  Right now he continues to beg for an ipod touch, but it’s not in the budget for now.  I think he really wants an iphone, but since our phone contracts don’t run out until November of 2009, he has settled for wanting the ipod touch.  

3. Our cat Oscar. John loves cats.  When we first got married we only had our dog Selah, but he continued to beg for a cat until 6 weeks into our married life I finally gave in.  We went to Petsmart and adopted a cat from the Gulf Coast Humane Society.  Now we have our 19 pound bundle of joy.  

4. Academics. John loves learning new things.  Right now he’s in grad school for his masters in education administration.  He doesn’t love spending long hours on his grad school projects, or taking the gut wrenching midterms, but he does love to learn.  It’s that passion for learning that inspired him to become a graduate student, and further his education.  I’m so proud of him.  

5. Shane and Shane.  I would have to call it a man crush.  My husband has adored Shane and Shane since long before we were dating.  He loves their music and the lyrics and how they bring his heart to a place of worship whenever he hears them.   

6. Harry Potter. Johns not a big reader, but he reads for pleasure sometimes during the summer when he feels inspired.  For several summers now John has devoted himself to re-reading the Harry Potter books to get him ready for the upcoming book.  Now that the series has come to a close he’s a little sad, but he can’t wait for he upcoming movies.   

7. Politics. If there is a political candidate out there doing something of worth, or something of disgust, John probably knows about it.  We watched all the debates between Obama and McCain, and he took great pleasure in hacking the debate.  Read about it on his blog. 

8. Blogging and Listening to Podcasts. John can take any random event that is of interest and turn it into an item of blog discussion.  If he sees a commercial on TV that disgust him, it becomes a blog post.  If a football coach says some weird comment, also a blog post.  You never know what might show up on his blogs.  (hence the reason I started my own)  He also loves listening to Podcast on his computer.  He listens to various Podcast like Dave Ramsey, Grey’s Anatomy fan podcast, geocaching podcasts, etc.  Someday I’m sure he inspires to have his own podcasts where he can discuss his thoughts with everyone.  

9. Sports. Doesn’t matter what sport it is, John probably wants to watch it on TV, or go to a sports chat board and talk about it.  His favorite is college football.  He is a member of texags.com and loves talking about the latest aggie football moments.  I try and limit him on how many football games he can watch on weekends, but he is really considerate and doesn’t glue himself to the TV to watch all the games.  He does stay glued to sportscenter though to catch the highlights.  

1. Eating Out.  We both love going out to eat.  We like eating of course, but we also like the people watching aspect and the no cooking for me aspect.  Lately we’ve been trying to get better with our spending habits, sticking to a tighter budget, so we only eat out about once a week now.  I know this is still a lot for some people, but for us, it’s a lot less than what we used to.                                                                                                   
2. God, and family.  Jesus, Others, Yourself (JOY)  I’m so blessed to have such a Godly husband who takes care of me.  

I think I’d like to tag Katherine, because I think she’s one of the few who read my blog.  

Mom's new dog

This past week my mom adopted a new dog from the animal shelter.  I met her in Victoria for the weekend and had the opportunity to meet her new little dog.  My mother named her Poppie.  Click here to see a few pictures from the weekend.  

Why Selah Hates Halloween

After a few years of collecting costumes for our dog, I finally decided to take the photos and compile them together into one place.  

Click here to check them out.  Enjoy 

500 views!!

Today we hit 500 on the hit counter on our website.  Thanks to all those who visit and attempt to keep up with the latest on our life. 

Selah's new outfits

Recovering the chair

Johns parents are staying at our house and they are our first official house guests!  Bonnie, John’s mom, recovered our chaise lounge for us this weekend!  Yeah!  

Our darling little kitty, Oscar, decided to use our chair as a scratching post, so the old fabric was all shredded.  This red with stripes is the new fabric for the chair.  We are so excited because it adds a whole new pallet to our living room.  Now we need to work on the curtains!  I’m hoping to learn how to sew those with my mother in law. 

We have power restored and a guest room!!!

On Wednesday night we finally got power restored to our area. We worked inside to get the tape and cardboard off the windows, and worked outside to get the debris out of the yard.  Our pool took on a lot of leaves and debris so I had to dive into the pool to scoop out the leaves before we could run the filter again and Selah joined me.  

Since we have our power back, we are going to take in John’s parents who don’t have power back in their area yet.  To get our house ready for guest I went out and bought a bed today!  Also went and bought a bedspread, and new sheets for the bed!  Yeah!  

So thankful

Most of Houston is without power and we just happened to have friends who were fortunate to get their power back early.  Jennifer Green and Pepe Barrera were nice enough to let us stay at their house on their floor!  Thanks guys, we had a blast!  

We enjoyed playing rock band, playing mario, and watching movies.  It was nice to have the luxuries of power, feeling cool, and not being in the dark.  

Just to recap, over the past month, John and I have stayed at almost the entire staff of Rosa Parks Elementary homes.  God truly has blessed us!  

The Aftermath

Well we survived the storm.  I sat in front of the TV for as long as the power stayed on, and I watched as land flooded with water on the TV.  When the power finally went off here, I went to bed, sort of.  The wind was so strong, it felt like it was going to blow the roof off or blow a tree through a window.  The only room in our house without windows is a small bathroom, so rather than sleep in there, I slept in our closet.  I dragged, John, the dog and the cat into the closet where we were hot, but we were safe.  

We had some damage to our awning of our patio.  The roof couldn’t survive all that wind, so it just took it off.  Here is one view of the damage.  We also had some damage to our fence, but then again who didn’t have damage to their fence.  

The next night we stayed in our powerless house, where we tossed and turned on sticky sheets.  I couldn’t sleep with it being so hot, so I went and laid on the tile, where the floor was cool.  Now I know how the dog feels.  = ) 

Hurricane Prep

We had today off to get our home ready for hurricane Ike.  Yikes!  We did the only thing a new homeowner can do.  We used the boxes we had our things packed in to protect the windows.  John cut the boxes to fit into the windows, and I moved anything I could from outside into the house.  Selah did her part too, by getting things from the pool into the house.  

Power finally!

So finally we have power at our new house!!  We are slowly putting away boxes of stuff, and not sweating while doing it!  

No Power, so fun!

We didn’t know, but apparently in Missouri City you need to have a permit to the electricity turned on.  So moving weekend, we have the power turned off at our old house, and there’s no electricity hooked up yet at the new house.  We were refugee’s at a friends house for a week!  Thanks so much Kristin and Christiana!  

We are officially homeowners!

After school today we went to the title company, and signed our life away.  We are now homeowners to a lovely house.  Eventually we will get the boxes unpacked and be all settled in, and have a house warming party.  We will let you know.  

First days of school

We started school!  My first week went well, we learned about lab safety, 16 times.  I’ve went from teaching two classes to teaching 16 classes once a week for 45 minutes.  More updates to follow. 

Everything changes

Things never stay the same.  God is constantly changing us and moving us from our comfort zones.  As a teacher I’m constantly learning to be flexible.  My first year teaching I taught at 7th grade science, and 8th grade math in Corpus Christi ISD.  This was such a tough year, teaching two different grades, and teaching middle school students in general was such a challenge.  My second year teaching I taught 5th grade math and science in Missouri City which was another tough year, but not as hard as the first year.  I liked having the younger grades over middle school.    

This year is going to be my third year as a teacher and I was told at the end of the year that I was going to be teaching 4th grade math and science for this school year.  Well things have since changed, and now I’m going to be the science lab teacher, teaching 2nd - 5th graders once a week.  I’m still not quite sure what this new job will involve, but I’m ready for anything.  I love teaching and getting my students excited about learning, yet I’m still scared, because I’ve never done a job like this before.  I’m meditating on this verse from Philippians whenever I feel nervous.  

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” 

Camping Brazos Bend State Park

On Thursday we set out for our first family camping trip.  We decided to go local and camp at Brazos Bend State Park, in Needville, TX, only about 45 minutes away from home.  

On our first night there our tent was raided by a raccoon who decided to steal our dog food, (which we didn’t even realize was in the tent!) while we were out on a short hike.  I guess since they had already gotten into the tent once, they realized they could do it again because when we went to bed, there was no sleeping going on. Poor Selah, our dog, paced the tent all night long trying to protect us.  All night we heard the scurry of little paws outside our tent, and at one point looked out the screen window and saw a raccoon with our tent zippers in his paws trying to get in.  

Well we took our lack of sleep and fear of being invaded again as a sign we needed a change.  The park also offered screened shelters, and we said yes please!  Our next two nights were much more peaceful staying in a shelter where we could lock up our things and didn’t involve raccoons trying to invade our personal space, at least not while we slept.  

We had more raccoon fun the next night after John finished cooking dinner and we were sitting down to eat and a raccoon came wandering up, trying to get some dinner as well.  I never realized how persistent raccoons could be, and how little they fear humans.  He kept coming back, even though we chased him away with a broom many, many times.  Eventually we chased him away to another campsite and then he bothered them for the rest of the night.  

Overall the trip was so much fun, despite the raccoon encounters.  Brazos Bend offered so many trails on which we saw armadillos, alligators, and tons of birds.  We thought maybe this could become an annual trip, going every summer before we start back to school.  Neither of us come from camping families, so this trip was a huge accomplishment, showing us we really could do this again.

The trip also provided us with some much needed quiet time.  It’s amazing how the lack of computers, cell phones, and television really help you to focus on what’s important. 

Sweaty John Mayer Concert

We bought tickets for this concert back in April.  It didn’t seem like it would ever really happen because it was so far away back then, or at least that’s the way it seemed when school was winding to a close and the unending summer was on the horizon.  Well the concert came and went it was fun and entertaining.  The best part about it is that we went with our friends Will and Abby, who we love hanging out with by the way.  It has been a blessing to have them nearby.  

We sat on the lawn seats, battled the rude security guards, and coughed as one of our neighbors tried to “secretly” smoke pot, and then laughed as he danced and swayed to the music.  It definitely made us realize how sinful we all are, and how much we need a savior.  

Do we have a house yet?

The journey continues for us in our adventures in house hunting.  Last week we found a house we really loved, so we made an offer, and they accepted.  We are now further in the process than we’ve been before, and the house we want offer on is now listed as “Option Pending,” on the Houston real estate website.  Option Pending basically means we have a ten day period to pursue the house and to get an inspection.  Now we need to secure the whole mortgage thing, and pray that closing procedures go as planned, and nothing is wrong with the house.  

Closing date is set for August 30th, which is a month from today!  We thought about waiting to look for a house until HGTV was in town and we could be on one of their shows like “Property Virgins” or “My First Home,” but they weren’t going to be in the Houston area for a while.  ; )  We’ve been watching HGTV too much this summer, but its been very informative, and we got a lot of great ideas for the house.  We’ll keep you posted as this chapter in our life unfolds.

Day at the Circus

The circus is such a fun place.  There are so many people to watch and interesting smells to take in.  I made the mistake of not eating breakfast before going to the circus, so the smell of cotton candy and popcorn made me feel like I was starving.  John went to the concession stand and brought back these drippy, greasy, soggy nachos.  Well when your hungry, it makes food taste so much better than it sometimes really is because i ate up the nachos like they were a gourmet meal.  

We watched elephants twirl, tigers roar, dogs dance, and acrobats fly.  Click here to see pictures of the day.  

Hooks Game with Corrie's Parents

We love going to minor league baseball games.  It’s not that expensive to go to games, and we have gotten to experience the game with many of our friends over the years.  Tonight we had the opportunity to take Corrie’s parents to a Corpus Christi Hooks baseball game.  They’ve never actually been to a Hooks game, so that was even more special.

Tonight was dollar dog night, which means you get hotdogs and soda for a dollar each.  Usually we would only eat two hotdogs for dinner at most, but there is just something about dollar dog night and being at a baseball game that makes us feel like we should eat at least three hotdogs, and drink two sodas each.  

The Hooks won the game, which is always good.  Click here to see photos from the game.  

Day of Geocaching with Jon and Joy

We set our early on Saturday morning to head to Port Aransas for some geocaching fun.  John had so much fun getting to hang out with another geocacher, because usually he has to go out by himself or with Selah and Corrie.  Todays group included John, Corrie, Jon, and Joy.  Jon is the friend who introduced John to geocaching last June.  

The days plans included caching in Port Aransas, Aransas Pass and Portland.  Lunch was at Robert’s Point Park near the ferry with some other geocachers who were hosting the “Port Aransas Beach Bash, 2008.”  John was excited to see quite a few Houston geocachers that had made the trip down to south Texas.  

After a long day of roaming around looking for caches it was nice to relax at a Corpus Christi Hooks baseball game.  We sat in the outfield in the rocking-chair seats and watched the Hooks beat the Frisco Rough Riders.  Fun times. 

Going to these minor league games makes me miss living in CC.  We know in Houston we have the Astros, but going to an Astros game is so much more work than going to a Hooks game.  The drive is not an easy one, you have to fight Houston traffic to and from the game, which scares Corrie to death.  But for now, the Houston area is where God seems to want us.  

Family Time on Lake Conroe

John’s mom, Aunt Meredith, and cousins Alex and Tyler came out to play on the lake near the end of our house sitting experience.  We had so much fun with them.  John got to show off his master grilling skills that he acquired this summer by cooking both lunch and dinner for the family.  Tyler had a blast riding the wave runner with John, trying to convince him to go as fast as possible.  With Corrie, Tyler got to experience falling off the wave runner, twice.  It made for quite a story to tell when they got back, and they were so proud.  

John spent a lot of time inside working on grad school with his mom and aunt.  They are all enrolled in Lamar University academic partnership working on their masters. Currently they are taking a technology in education class, and John is a little bit more tech savvy than they are so he was doing his best to try and help them set up their blogs and wiki spaces that were required by the class.  While they were all inside, Corrie played in the pool with Alex and Tyler.  

Click here to see photos from the day.  

Hanging out with the boys on Lake Conroe

Some of John’s friends came up for the weekend to hang out and play on the lake.  We took turns riding the wave-runner, and fulfilling our need for speed.  Since it was the 4th of July weekend, the lake was pretty crowded which means lots more waves, and a bumpier ride.  The boys thrived on the extra wakes and speeded their way over them flying through the air and sometimes flying off the wave-runner.  Corrie is a bit more timid on the wave-runner, only hitting speeds of 25 to 30 miles per hour, while the guys all seemed to enjoy hitting speeds of 43 miles per hour.  

It’s such a joy getting to hang out with these guys.  They’ve always been such good friends to John and so genuine to me.  We look forward to the days ahead when our families can hang out and enjoy fun filled days much like this one.  

Click here to see photos.  

Celebrating our freedom at Lake Conroe

We were blessed to have our friends Will and Abby come out to the lake house we are house sitting and celebrate the 4th of July with us.  We had a wonderful day of lounging by the pool, cooking on the grill, riding the wave-runner, and watching the fireworks.  

The boys cooked fajitas on the grill, and Abby made spanish rice.  We ate dinner outside while watching the sunset, and enjoyed some good conversation.  There were fireworks all over the lake horizon throughout the night.  John and Will shot off some fireworks while Abby and I tried to stay as far away as possible and out of the path of fire.

Click here to see photos.  

It's a rough life, but someone has to do it.

I’m loving my summer of recharging and getting reconnected with some good books. Some of the authors I’ve been reading include Karen Kingsbury, Beverly Lewis, and Francine Rivers.  I don’t know why I’m so drawn to the inspirational books, but I just am.  I think the stories inspire me, and teach me lessons about faith.  So far to date, this summer I’ve been to the library 3 times and have read 7 books, I think.  I’m trying to keep track of all the books I read this summer so that when I go back to school I can share with my students.  I hope that it may foster a few of them into a love of reading.  That’s my plan anyway.  If you have any good books that you’d like to suggest, feel free to leave a comment and let me know.  

We’re still here house sitting on Lake Conroe, and have been enjoying our time immensely.  Last night when we got home from a dinner out at Chili’s we went and sat in the lounge chairs that overlook the lake.  Mister, the cat we are watching, joined us as well.  Across the lake we noticed a big white tent, and with the help of binoculars we discovered that there was a wedding going on.  We had nothing to do, so we watched the ceremony.  I felt like we were spying, but then we thought since they were getting married outdoors, and on a public lake, we weren’t doing something anything anyone else wouldn’t do in our position.  John and I were married at the CC Botanical Gardens, so there were tourist in the background of our wedding!  

Lazy days at Lake Conroe

We arrived in Conroe on Monday afternoon.  We thought we’d get more time with Karin to learn the ropes of the house, but she had a change of plans, and left only four or five ours after we arrived.  Later on Monday evening we dropped Karin off at the airport, and now it’s just us and the cat.  

So far Corrie has finished one book, and has cooked two dinners.  We are quite proud.  

Kubo's, Hank's ice cream and a BMW convertible

This evening we had the joy of sharing dinner with Abby and Will.  We met them for dinner over in Rice Village at a little Japanese restaurant called Kubo’s.  It was delicious.  We like going out for sushi when we are with them because most of our friends aren’t into sushi.  I guess it’s something about the raw fish?  I just like the sushi rolls, the edamame and the miso soup.  I try and stay away from the raw items, but there are a few that I find rather tasty.  Also, sushi is one of those foods that you can go out to eat and not feel as guilty as if we had something really unhealthy.  

After our sushi dinner we went to Hanks Ice cream which was just down the road.  I’ve heard of this place before, but never had I actually been close enough to actually go.  All I can say is this place has amazing ice cream!  I had banana pudding ice cream and I will definitely be going back for more soon.  

From Hanks, we left the parking lot as passengers in Will and Abby’s BMW convertible.  Before leaving I had to go and grab my hat from the car so I wouldn’t have my hair flying all over the place. Will was brave enough to let John drive for a little bit.  When he offered to let me drive after John, I declined.  I could just picture me driving that fast car, and then hitting something and ruining a perfectly good friendship!  No thanks, I’m content being a passenger.  We enjoyed riding along the finer spots in Houston with them. Thanks guys!

visit to Corpus Christi and Victoria

After spending most of the weekend with my grandparents, John and I made our way down to Corpus Christi to spend some time with my family.   We headed down after a big family dinner/lunch on Sunday afternoon.  I drove our car, and John drove my moms because she wasn’t feeling so well, having gotten sick to her stomach the night before.  

We didn’t do a lot while at my parents house.  I guess that is what summer is about. We slept in, laid out by the pool, and watched movies.  Lazy days of summer.  =) 

On Tuesday night we had dinner with our friends Jon and Joy Mottsinger.  Joy is a fabulous cook, and we always enjoy eating dinner at their home.  I must say that friends are so fun to hang out with, especially once you realize that sometimes they are hard to come by.   Since we have moved to the Houston area, it has become much harder to make new friends.    It’s just going to take some time I guess.  =) 

Wednesday morning we headed off to Victoria, leaving our little dog Selah with my parents for a few weeks.  =(  

I cried a little bit having to leave her.  Is that bad?  I know she’s in good hands, my mom takes her on lots of walks and lets her swim in the pool, but I sure do miss that little dog when she’s not around.  

My grandparents live in Victoria, which is along the way back to Houston.  We stopped for a few days visit, enjoying my grandparents company.  While visiting, I got my haircut.  It’s my new summer cut, take a look.  I like having my haircut shorter in the summer because it’s easier to take care of, and when its blistering hot outside, my hair doesn’t feel like as heavy and hot.

Hanging out by the pool

I love the simple joys of summertime.   Being a teacher makes my summers so sweet.  And since John and I are both teachers, it is even sweeter because we get to spend our summer days doing a lot of nothing.  Today we spent our morning entertaining our dog by throwing tennis balls into the pool so she could dive after them.  

In between rounds of throwing tennis balls, and diving rings for the dog, I read a few chapters in my book, and I laid in the floating boat that we bought from Walmart.  Fun times!  

Only down side to todays fun times by 

the pool, John didn’t remember to put on 

sunscreen before going out, so he’s a little 

burned.  Ouch.  

Random family photo booth fun

In between celebrating my cousin Megan’s birthday and Father’s Day this weekend we had a little bit of fun taking photos on the Macbook, photobooth application.  I promise Apple does not pay me to advertise for them, but the more I use my Macbook, the more I love it.  

I think my cousin Kelsey was the most fascinated with photobooth.  My mom is really cute about doing her vogue poses too. 

Happy Father's Day

For Father’s Day I actually thought about it ahead of time and created a card for the dads and grandpa’s in my life.  I created it on the Macbook, and then ordered them to be sent to the house.  I actually really like creating cards with the iphoto software.  It’s so easy and the projects turn out so well.  This summer I’m going to try to create a handful of cards for upcoming holidays so that I have them on hand, and can actually be punctual with my greeting cards.  

Here’s what the father’s day card looked like.