First Day of School

This was the first week back at school for Cody. Summer is officially over & we are launching into another school year. I am a little sad that summer is over, but it was a great summer & I am excited about all the things going on this fall.

While Cody spent his first week back at school, I spent the week at Young Life regional meetings in Fort Worth. Our area joined a new region this year, so this was my first time to be with all the folks from the North Central Texas region & they are great. I walked away from the three days I spent with them encouraged and challenged to do all that I can do this year to better our YL ministry so that kids can meet Christ.

So, 2008-2009 school year - here we come!

Cody decked out in his school colors on the first day

End of Summer, Olympics, & Bus Driver Party

I pretty much think my life has revolved around the Olympics for the past 2 weeks. I have no problem coming home at night & watching 4 straight hours of Olympic coverage. There is just something about watching all of these amazing athletes compete to the very best of their ability while representing their country. I have been really emotional during these Olympics & I don't know why. Anyway, after this weekend I will officially have my life back & can stop rushing home after all of my night time meetings or activities to watch the Olympics.

Probably my favorite thing this year has been these girls:

They are amazing!

There have been some nights that I have been forced to take a break from the Olympics, but they have all been good reasons. We have continued to our Bible study with our high school kids every week & have had a great response. We are also doing Young Life & Wyldlife training a couple nights each week & I am so excited about the potential batch of new leaders that we might have coming in. We need leaders so bad, as almost all of our clubs have more kids than we know what to do with.

We also had a Bus Drivers / Good - bye to Arica Party this week. The Bus Drivers is the YMCA team that Cody plays on. The members of the team are mostly from church & the team & all of the teams fans have become some of our good friends. Arica has been such a good friend to me these past couple of years & she is moving away, I am sad, but excited for her. Arica & I have sat through many bus driver games together so in her honor I attempted to make a school bus out of cup cakes, it turned out OK.

Arica & I & my cup-cake school bus.

Here is some of the team (& their coach) with Arica & I at the party

This weekend is our last weekend before life gets crazy. School starts on Monday & with the start of school comes football season for Cody & lots & lots of Young Life craziness for me. We have had such a great summer & we both feel rested & ready to go into the school year. I am excited for another semester of football, Young Life, retreats, and everything else that comes with the fall. I think the hardest part for me will be going back to really only spending time with Cody on the weekends, but that makes those times all the more special.

Want to be in a movie?

For the past couple of weeks they have been filming a movie at the old fraternity house across the street from our house. The movie is called, "Rosayln" & unfortunately will be on DVD only. The plot is fraternity party gone wrong. Anyway, the whole process has been rather entertaining. They usually film from 7pm - 7am. Tonight they need a bunch of extras for a big scene, so if anyone's interested let me know.

Vacation - "All I ever wanted!"

Last weekend we went to Orange Beach, AL for a week & it was such a fun vacation! It was great to be with family & catch-up with everyone, as well as catching-up on some much needed rest. We definitely found a great vacation place & hopefully we can continue going to more places like it. The beach wasn't crowded at all & had lots of room for laying around or playing games. Our condo was overlooking the beach & had an amazing view during all hours of the day.

We have lots of great pictures, here are just a few to show what a great vacation it was.

All the girls attempting to do a jumping picture

All the boys doing the jumping picture

The sign on the store said, "please pull your pants up before entering the store, thanks" I just thought it was really funny so I had Hannah stand under it for a picture.

Cousins, aunt & uncle + Shannon

My Grandma & her 3 kids

My sisters & cousins, Abby & Megan

One my favorite parts of the week - floating!

The fam without Luke & Jane, we missed them SO MUCH!

Bekah & I doing what we pretty much did everyday - read & lay around

Cody & I on our porch

Our trip was so fun & we were definitely not ready to come home. Family vacations with cousins have kept our family really close for many years now & I am so thankful for all the great memories we have made. Thanks everyone for another great vacation, can't wait til next year!