Flash Back..

...to LAST YEAR.  We have lived in Texas for ONE YEAR now!  It's hard to believe we've already lived in TX one year.  It's gone by so quickly, and we've had so much fun!  When we first got to D-town we stayed with Paxton's mom for a couple months until we got on our feet and found an apartment.  We enjoyed so much living w/ Ann and Steve.  

Once we moved into our apartment, we and our friends would play sand volleyball every Saturday in the summer.  We went to several Rangers games and sports events, lots of movies, many restaurants, and spent multiple late nights with friends playing games and talking.  Both of us have excelled in our jobs, have learned more about one another, grown in the gospel and grown closer through our trials and good memories.  We spent our first Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, & New Years together in Dallas.   It's amazing how fast time flies when you're with someone you love and having so much fun.  Although, the time may go even faster if my family would come visit me sometime....  :)  

April 2007

Our buddy Mark at graduation!

April 2008

(My hair has gotten so long!)

One year down in Dallas, many more to come!

99 WPM

While bored at work...
99 words

Speed test

Let me know, I'm really interested in what people get! :)

Reminiscing...

i loved this show as a kid. i remember watching it ALL THE TIME! that and Power Rangers, Garfield, Bobby's World, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. and then of course the classic Disney movies, but those are still around. anyone who watched Bobby's world will always wonder what Bobby's mother looks like. they always just showed her legs and feet, and every once in awhile, her torso and neck. i imagined her a blonde. funny how all the shows I watched were kind of boy-ish. but I loved em!
whenever we watched Power Rangers, basically after school almost everyday, we would always fight for who was the pink PR and who was the red PR. once the white PR came out, that was the envied one. haha. once PR was over, we'd all go outside on the tramp and fight off the bad guys. ya know how they all have their badges? well we would make our own of course, and in times of extreme danger we would combine our powers and kill off the bad guys. that was so awesome! :) i still remember the PR theme song, and Paxton teases me about it. for some odd reason, we have the urge to sing the theme song, and i do the little solo guitar part. paxton just laughs. now TMNT is a whole other story. maybe next time i reminisce...

Vacations in Disguise

Vacation 1: Natchitoches, LA (pronounced NAK-uh-tush)

Paxton and I visited his dad and uncle for the weekend.  We got there Friday late night, then Paxton was up by 6am ready to help Jerry work at his new business - a scrap metal yard.  They worked non-stop from 7:30a to 2p!  I thought they would be home sooner than that, so I slept in a little, watched a bit of television, and hung out outside and by the river.  While strolling along the river bank, I heard something moving in the big long grass.  I looked over to where the sound was coming from, and saw a huge, thick alligator tail crawling back into the river!!!  Yikes!  I was actually super excited, not really scared, though I guess I should've been, I just didn't think they would attack me, plus I wasn't expecting alligators to be in that river!!!   I was poking around the grass and water for more animals to come out of there-- nothing came out.  I would hear a lot of movement, but didn't see much else except like 20 geckos.  I at least got a pic of that .. and the river.  We also went out to eat and drove thru the small town of Natchitoches. It was raining, so we couldn't walk.  It's such a pretty tourist town and college town.  For those of you who've seen the classic movie Steel Magnolias would like to go to this town and see the house where they filmed that movie!  We didn't get a chance to go inside, but it is now a Bed & Breakfast house, along with many other houses around the town.  It was really a beautiful town and a very relaxing weekend.  We had lots of fun- Thanks Jerry!  It was like a vacation in disguise!

This is the view from Jerry's porch.  It was so peaceful and beautiful.  I loved it.  

Vacation 2: Austin, TX (pronounced AWE-sten)
This past weekend we visited my uncle, aunt, cousins, and Grandma.  My aunt & uncle live off of Lake Travis in the suburb of Austin called Lago Vista.  It was, again, so peaceful and calm.  I had never been to their home, and I hadn't seen that family for probably 8-10 years!! We walked around a really cool park, and they took us to the Whole Foods Marketplace, which was amazing.  We loved it so much we went there again the next night!!  It was so good to see my family and visit. My cousin's birthday was celebrated this same weekend, so we went to Kobe, a very entertaining Japanese cuisine where they cook your food in front of you on a huge grill, and they cook it with various tricks and cool beats!  It was really fun!!  

 So we said goodbye to the family we'd been visiting and spent Sunday evening together in downtown Austin.  We went to the Congress bridge at sunset where we watched thousands of bats flying out across the river, forming huge black clouds in the sky.  It was amazing that they were continuously splurging out from underneath the Congress bridge.  After about 15 minutes, we walked away while the bats were still flying out!  It was amazing!  

Before visiting the bats, we walked down Congress street to the state Capitol building.  We walked around inside and took a few pictures outside.  It's a HUGE building and very beautiful.

Downtown Austin is a really great place to walk around.  We had a great time, and was yet another vacation in disguise!

What's a trip without a silly picture of Paxton??

Here at Kobe is where we celebrated Jessica's birthday- the birthday girl is the curly-haired one in front. On the far right is my mom's brother, Clay and Lora his wife next to him in the middle.  The three girls are all sisters, my cousins.  On the far left is Jessica's boyfriend, and then of course my grandma, my mom's mother, on the top right.  What a cute family!  Thanks for the fun visit guys!