Thought you might like to know...

I GOT A JOB!!!

I am going to be an elementary music teacher in Arlington! I just got the offer this morning! Russell and I are so excited! Thank you all for praying. You can now pray for strength to get through the next few weeks. I will start new teacher stuff next week and we are going to move in two weeks. So I will be gone everyday and then packing at night! I am already feeling a little overwhelmed, but I know God is in control!

I am so excited to see what this year brings! I can't wait.

Take me out to the ball game...

I can't believe I am getting two posts up in the same week. I am so impressed with myself! Just wanted to share some pictures of the Rangers game we went to last night. My dad took last week and this week off so he had some spare time. Russell thought a Rangers game was just what he needed. We had a super great night! Thanks for coming up Mom and Dad. It is always great to get to spend time with you. We love you.

-

Russell and Dad talking sports.

It took three takes for mom and I to get the perfect shot. Aren't we adorable.
I have been waiting all summer for someone to be at the game with us to take our picture with the field in the background!
We took this picture so mom could show off her hat.
I love you guys!
Keep praying for the job search. I promise to let everyone know when I get one. Have a great rest of your week.

As promised...Kansas, Alabama, and an anniversary!

I think this has the potential to be my longest post ever. This is really like three posts in one. So if you don't have a lot of time right now, just save me for later. This has a ton of pictures in it. I am so excited to finally get to post them though. My laptop is still not all the way back to normal but I am able to do this on our desktop computer so that has been nice. You may ask why it's taken so long...that's a good question. I guess this is the first chance I have had to sit down and do this long of a post.

-

Anyways, let's get started with all the details. Russell and I have been so busy these past few weeks. Update on the vandalized car is after three weeks of being in the body shop we finally got it out. It was only supposed to be in the body shop for about a week and a half. That didn't happen, but we are just glad to have it back. The first week the car was in the shop Russell and I took my car across state lines for the first time to see my sister in Kansas. She has two of the cutest kids and that is who is in most of these pictures. We had a great time with them. Here is some pictures of that trip.

-

This is Hannah when we were playing outside. There was no water anywhere. I don't know!

Caleb is working on being a great athlete. He can really hit the ball!
Uncle Russell and Caleb doing the typical sports pose! Aren't they super cool.
On our last night there Rebekah, Barry, Russell and I went into downtown KC and had dinner at Houston's and dessert at The Cheesecake Factory! They know how to show us a good time. It is a really neat little area down there. It is called The Plaza and it has all sorts of shops and restaurants, but it is not a mall. I could spend lots of money down there. There was some great shopping to be done. Anyways, this is a picture of me and my sis. I think this might be our best picture to date! Great job sis! Thanks for a great week in Kansas. I love you!
Alright, so that was Kansas. We left Kansas on Friday and Russell drove back to Texas by himself. I rode back with my sister and the kids. They were coming to Texas to spend some time with the grandparents and great-grandparents. They spent Friday night with Russell and I and we met my parents on Saturday and dropped the kids off with them. My sister spent the next week with Russell and I. She got kind of a mini-vacation. She helped me organize my office and scrapbooking stuff! She was awesome! I still love ya sis! Here are a few pictures I captured.
-

It took Hannah about a week to warm up to Uncle Russell but as you can see in these next few pictures he was one of her favorites! These are some of the sweetest pictures!

Hannah was fixing uncle Russell's hair.
Here is the finished product. I wish you could see the necklaces around his neck!
Here is the sweetest picture of them all! I think I might have some competition!
On Saturday before we went to go meet my mom and dad we went to the pool. Caleb was showing me some of his tricks. I thought this one turned out great! This is the "running man" as Caleb called it. Look at that form.
This is at my parents house. They where playing in the pool and when they got done they helped Granny water the plants with their pool water. They had just gotten some crocs and where using them as pool toys.

Caleb watering
Granny helping Hannah
Caleb, Granny and Hannah
This is the only picture I had with both the kids and neither of them are looking at the camera. The sun was really bright.

Well, that ends the time with the kids. Here are a few pictures from Russell's trip to Alabama. For the past three summers Russell and his dad along with a few old men go on a golfing trip. Russell waits for this trip all summer. 5 days of 36 holes of golf. They have so much fun.

Take a look at Russell's awesome form.
Russell, Randy (his dad), and Uncle Bruce. This was Uncle Bruce's first time to go. They had a great time though.


Finally, this is my favorite part of the post because I had no idea this was happening. Russell and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary on July 30th. I can't believe it has been two years. They have really flown by. I think I have the best husband in the world and I am about to give you one of the reasons why. I had gone to Tyler the weekend before our anniversary to hang out with some of his family and my family. We left on Sunday in two separate cars because we finally got his out of the shop. We are driving back to Denton and when we get to Mesquite he pulls into Town East Mall. I am very confused. Russell does not like shopping and especially not malls. He gets out of the car gives me money and says go pick out a nice dress and all the accessories you need to go with it. He told me I had 45 minutes. Confused I say "ok". A little worried that I only have 45 minutes. Who shops that fast? Really? Anyways, about 55 minutes later I found everything I needed. We hop back in the cars and off we go. I follow him into Downtown Dallas. He pulls into the Hyatt Regency Hotel. I am very shocked and surprised. He never plans this kind of stuff ever! So he gets out and we go check in. It's about 4:30 in the afternoon I think. We get our cars parked and everything taken up to the room and he tells me have dinner reservations at 8:30. I couldn't believe he had done all of this. I was very impressed. So we watched TV and I read a book and just relaxed. It was so nice. We get ready for dinner and walk down and I am wondering where we are going. Turns out that Reunion Tower is attached the Hyatt and we were having dinner at the top in the revolving restaurant. It was so nice and the view of downtown Dallas was beautiful. The food was so good. Especially the tiramisu I got for dessert. This was the best surprise! I had mentioned years ago that I wanted to go eat at the revolving restaurant one day and he remembered.

-

I love you honey and thanks for 2 really great years! I look forward to everything the 3rd year has to offer us! I love you!
-
The view from our table. The picture is not very good, I just wanted to give you an idea of how high up we were.

Russell and I at dinner.

They had a waterfall in the lobby of the hotel and one of the nice bell boys took a picture for us.

This is us getting ready to leave the next morning. Again look at how high up we were. It was such a great night.

I think that is it for the longest post ever! I hope it wasn't to boring. If you made it this far thanks for being interested. Keep praying for the job search. I am still looking and hoping to find something real soon. Have a great week!