Dancing Days

Today was the beginning of DANCE FUSION week at our studio. I was/am so excited to finally take class and actually dance.

Dance Fusion is a dance company out of California. They come every year to give the students... and teachers choreography and to challenge them in their technique. It is awesome opportunity as a teacher because we are there to "supervise" yet we get to take class for FREE!

At 9 am we started Ballet. At 9:05 I was already sweating. NO JOKING! For an hour we did ballet, then another hour of tap, then another hour of jazz, and another hour of turns and jumps. I left early. I figured I needed to save my muscles if I was planning to attend the rest of the week.

It was an extremely humbling experience. Let's just say I could not do anything without falling down or getting dizzy. It is crazy that it has been a year since I have really trained.

BUT!!! I am looking forward to the end of the week because my super sweet husband purchased a massage for me. WHOO HOO!

I will keep you updated on my progress and injury status.

WEEDS!

We have been "those neighbors" for too long! Finally, our great next door neighbor said, "Hey, I am going to Home Depot, do you want me to pick you up some Mulch?" Hint Hint- "PULL YOUR WEEDS!"

Hope you enjoy our hard work!

Some dog updates

John and I have both been gone so much this summer that sometimes we get a little obsessed with our dog. Well, I would never do this....

Sometimes, he (John) stays in the crate after our dog wiggles his way out.

One day after church, we decided to give our 6 month old puppy a chance to show us how good of a dog he really was while we took a desperatley needed nap.

I guess Diesel saw it has a chance to show us how he can make our couch a puppy play land.

Here is a fun video of Diesel helping with trash pickup.

My Father-in-law

John's daddy passed away July 15 2008. John was working a 24 hour shift when he got the call that his dad was not doing well. He came home Tuesday and we then got a call that David had passed away.

My mom was able to get us tickets to Dallas and John's work gave him as much time off as he needed. Today is John's first day back at work.

David had colon cancer for 4 years. He found out when he was 54 and died at 58.


Please pray for John and his grandmother. She is super sweet and misses her son very much.

We had so many family and friends offer their support and their love. John had some friends that he had not seen since med school and college come up to love on him. My Texas family even came. It was amazing.

There are so many parts to the process of dealing with the death of someone close. You need to grieve but you are forced to be responsible at the same time. Packing, flying and making funeral arrangements within 24 hours of finding out is a lot to deal with. John is his only son so a huge burden was placed on him. Thankfully, our families helped out financially and that burden was released immediately. I say that, but I found myself telling everyone how expensive it was! Totally tacky. I am not sure if that was my release from it all and I needed some sympathy, or I was in total shock of how death has turned into a business! So I apologize for my lack of class.

The service was as good as any funeral service could be. It was sad. It was uncomfortable. It was quick.

We flew in Tuesday night, made arrangements Wed morning and afternoon, had the viewing on Thursday night, graveside burial Friday morning, funeral that afternoon, packed up his apartment Saturday and Sunday, and flew out Monday night....AND ONLY THEN- you start to grieve.

John did great- whatever that means. He was not afraid cry but he knew he had to get things accomplished while he was there. It meant a lot to him that people loved his dad and that he heard such great things about him.

You can click here to view some info on the service

http://www.mem.com/Story.aspx?ID=2536152

Life lesson number..... I've lost count!

Happy Independance Day!

(This is not my dog- I would never do this to him.)

So, it has been a while since I have been in school, but that is no excuse for the way that I acted today on the way to taking my husband to work. Here is our conversation:

JOHN: Happy 4th of July Baby!

ME: Yes! Happy day of throwing tea over the ship!

JOHN: No?

ME: Happy no more Civil War!

JOHN: ?

ME: We are separated from the French?...... BRITAIN! YES! I know we signed something and now we are free! Oh, and did you know that there is a treasure map on the back of the document? (that was a joke).

JOHN: You need to go look this stuff up.

When I got home, I did look it up and remembered all the wonderful things I learned in elementary. I blame this airhead mentality on my lack of educating myself daily. I truly have no interest in politics, or what is going on in the world. Well, It's not that I don't have interest, it just stresses me out! My new goal is start reading again! I feel that since I have been dancing and out of college, I rarely pick up a book and if I do, I get just past chapter one. It is pathetic. Unfortunately, I can tell that my brain is fading fast. It is harder for me to remember things and harder for me to think. I can tell that it is even harder for me to communicate sometimes in conversation! Crazy! My goal is to read a little bit everyday. I will let you know what book and how is goes.

Texas Fun

Wow! Being gone for almost three weeks can take a lot out of you...but we had so much fun!

I wish I could put all of the photos up here and I wish I had taken more photos with everyone!


Here are just a few of some some fun family and friends.



Hanging out with some of Johns Church friends from Med school days. What a lot of fun we had. We played Rock Band and I learned a few funny stories of Johns pre-married days.








We spent a day hanging out with John mom and grandparents. His mom is moving closer to them so it will be great to see them more often. We went to ONE of their favorite restaurants. Of course I loved it... it was MEXICAN! Good thing we only stayed one day, the other favorite place is Whataburger!!! (Of course I would have loved to stay longer. It is just a joke!)









We spent a good part of a day hanging out with Johns dad. He has had cancer for four years now. He was in great spirits. It was actually the longest amount of time I have ever spent with him. We also saw Johns other grandma and and Aunt. Please pray for Johns daddy.










This is me and my sweet husband. We were on the way to my Aunts house and we saw a sign that said, "BLUEBELL FACTORY!" Many of you know that Bluebell ice cream is made in Texas and that it is Johns favorite and that it cost $7 a half gallon here in Lexington! So at 10am, we pulled of our route and headed towards the factory. An hour later, we had two t-shirts, a magnet, and four scoops of ice cream for $2....at 10am. It was a very fun detour.







This is Laura and Kristen. I use to live with this family in between cruise ship jobs. They have become a second family. I have many second family's. I blame them, well Kristen, for all the weight I gained during my trip home. She has become a little chef while in college and forced me to eat her delicious home made cakes. (They we honored to wear the Bluebell hats.)









Meet Jason and Marla (and Sadie). This is one of Johns best friends from Med school and Marla is one of my good friends from Jr high and High school dance. They are a huge reason that John and I decided to meet. They drove down to Houston to see us! We hung out on his dads amazing boat and got to spend some time playing Guitar Hero and some other Tetris game. Marla and I went to our 20th anniversary Dance recital together and got to see a lot of familiar faces. Jason is on his way to Iraq in August, so keep him and his beautiful wife in your prayers. No need to worry though- she is a certified, licensed carrier. Bang Bang!

I have more family photos and stories, but that is a small update on travels to Texas.

It is great to be home and back into the routine of things.

Diesel

Our sweet puppy is growing fast. Here are some photos at 6 weeks, 2 months, 4 months, and now 6 months.

6 weeks

8 weeks old

12 weeks old

6 months old

We are BACK!

I got home late last night and I am very busy today cleaning house and unpacking and doing laundry and....PLAYING WITH MY HUGE DOG! I can not believe how much he grew in the three weeks I was away. He is super cute though and still the sweetest he can be.

I have incredible amounts of blogging to do, but for now- just wanted to touch base.

Future blog content:

-Becoming obsessed with Guitar Hero and Rock Band

-TOO MUCH CAKE and Mexican food

-Family
-Goals

Have a nice day!

In Houston

I made it to Houston!   Yea!  It was hard to leave my sweet Diesel, but it was well worth to see my even sweeter husband and mama.  I will be doing tons a travelling, so if I don't blog for a few days, do not fear.  I am sure I will have many stories to tell.  

Tomorrow, I will be heading to a little family reunion.  My aunt just retired from the military and is back from Australia, my grandma is turning 75, and my grandpa had surgery this morning for appendicitis.  So we have many reasons to celebrate. 

Afterwards, I will head back to Houston, then head to Austin to see some good friends.  after that, I will be in Houston on Wednesday to help out with my old dance schools recital!  Hopefully I will make this one on time! :-)

So there you go, my very $$$gas guzzling schedule!  Talk to you soon.  

Thankfulness

"How great is your goodness, which you have
stored up for those who fear you, which you
bestow in the sight of men on those who take
refuge in you. " Psalm 31:9


So lately I have been dishing out on all of my dramas. Via PH and her constant encouragement, I am going to change it all around and be THANKFUL!







Even though I might have locked my self out of the house, I am thankful that we have the money to pay to let me back in.

I am also thankful that my boss at the dance studio was so forgiving about me not showing up to my job. She didn't even think twice about it. In fact, everyone there complete understood and we all laughed it off.

HELLO! Did I mention I found my debit card? I prayed about it and not 5 min later I found it in the wallet I already checked at least 10 times.

I am thankful that my lawn mower is fixable and I do not have to but a new one. I have a great neighbor who said he would come over and fix it today! I had not even mention it to him, he just said he would come over and do it. We have great neighbors. They take care of John and me all the time. Our dogs play together, they let us borrow tools (i.e. mowers), we play cards together- They are just great people. Since we have had Diesel, our relationship with them has grown. I am thankful for the opportunity to be a Christian to them.

I am thankful that while John has been gone, I have been able to sleep at night... and with only one light on in Living room. :-)

God is sovereign and in control of even the littlest things that go on in my life. There is always reason to be thankful.

I couldn't resist.

This picture is too adorable.

Just one of those weeks!

Let's continue with my little show I like to call, "Diana on her own."

Last week, we watched as Diana locked her self out of the house wearing nothing but a tank top and shorts. Her hair, disheveled, her face, swollen from allergies, but through it all, she faced the POP A LOCK man.

We also watched Diana tear her house and car apart to find her poor lost debit card. She looked up, down, left, right...still, no Debit card. Thankfully, as she was just about to call the bank to cancel her card, she opened her wallet and saw the edge of it gleam from another compartment that she must have looked over.

What will happen next? Keep Reading....... Dun dun duuuuuuu!

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Yesterday I decided it would be nice to mow my across the street neighbors yard. They have a huge front yard, but I traded them to edge my yard because I don't do that. I don't mind mowing, but I just don't know how to edge. So I began out on my adventure across the street. Up and down the grass. "Why is my mower spewing grass everywhere?" Just then, Mr. mower decides to stop. GREAT! Now, I have a stopped lawn mower and a half mowed lawn.

HOWEVER, across the street there were some PROFESSIONAL mow men with their fancy riding mowers. So what's a lady to do but say, "Excuse me, can you come look at my mower?" (once again, wearing the best mowing clothes available)

So picture this scene.

MAN: "Well mam, yer mower is broke."

ME: "Um, do I need to buy a new one?"

MAN: "Nope. Just get ya a man to come over and unscrew this, pull this off, grease this, put this back up there, put this back on, and screw this back on and there ya go."

Well, there you go. I just need to find me a man to fix my mower. :-)
So I had to call John and yet again, tell him another thing that had gone wrong. BUT WAIT- there's more!

Today, was my first night of the three dance recitals. There are 4 nights, but I only have girls dancing in 3 of them. Every night is at 7 pm and we are expected to be there by 6pm. Well, on Sunday, today, the recital started at 2pm. I found this out, just as I was about to get in the shower at 5pm.
I feel horrible! My poor girls. :-( The only reason someone called me was to see if I was okay and alive! I did find out later though, that the recitals where planned at 7pm but then later changed. However, that was 5 weeks ago! AHHH!
I can not wait to get to Houston and just put these weeks behind me.

*I forgot to mention that on John's first night gone, we had a huge lighting storm that I thought zapped our computer. So after calling John and telling him all of our memories were fried... I soon realized that it was just the main fuse that went out!
OH THE DRAMA!!!!

I hate folding t-shirts...

But check this out! How cool is this?


How To Fold A T-Shirt In 2 Seconds

My hubby showed me this. I guess that means he wants this job now. :-)

One of those days

Well, today has been one of those days where I have lost my mind.

Drama #1

I decided to mow that lawn today. After mowing the front lawn and before heading to the back, I decided that I would lock the front garage door because I have seen way to many CSI episodes. (I do not watch these types of shows anymore for this very reason.) As soon as I locked the door, I remembered that the keys I brought out of the house no longer had a house key on them. OOPS! My keys, my cell phone and my dog where all inside. Luckily, my friend and across the street neighbor, Hannah , was home.


I had to call POP-A-LOCK because John is Houston and his keys were inside. An hour and half and $55 later, I was allowed into my house. By the way, did I mention that it was very hot outside and I was mowing the lawn- therefore my attire was not appropriate for strange men to come over and unlock my house! (Yes, he even did a double take on the Driver licence- NO JOKE!)

These people are getting paid to break into my house- have you ever thought about that? What did these guys used to do? What kind of resume do they have?


DRAMA #2

NO other way to say this - I have MISPLACED my debit card. Now this is a big deal. An even bigger deal is that I did this same thing last month!

I loath having to retrace steps and second guessing my self. Last time, I called the bank, cancelled the card and found it 10 min later in my back pocket. This time I think I am out of luck. Maybe I should call the bank and wait 10 min?


Overall, this day has been humbling with my Sweet husband. HE has been very patient with me but even I can see how this "drama" is a burden.

So there you go, one of those days.

Late Night

Tonight was the first long night of Recital run throughs. The girls did great! It was a bit chaotic for them being it was maybe the first time to dance with out a mirror, but they did a good job.

What makes me laugh the most is when the parents freak out. The girls are just happy to be there and the parents get so funny. We have multiple meetings through out the months before to explain the tights and shoes and when to be where and yada yada. Yet, It never fails that you get parents that don't really know whats going on. We pass out a lot of notes that some parents never get.

I wonder if I will be one of those parents. If my kids dance, will I be a know it all mom or a crazy mom? What if they do soccer or something? I wonder if I will go crazy over orange slices?

I already freak out over Diesel. Who knows?

We have 6 more days of crazy recital stuff- and then- I AM GOING TO HOUSTON! YEA!