Sunday, June 29, 2008

Vacation via cell phone!

As you all know, or should know by now my Karly girl is spending the summer in AZ with my momma! She wasn’t back home a week before they set off for San Diego, California! They are spending over a week there…must be rough!
I thought I would share a few pictures my mom sent from her phone. I guess if I can’t spend their vacation with them I may as well enjoy what I can get! They have been hanging out at the beach every day and went to Sea World yesterday. The pictures aren’t great quality, but you get the idea!


Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Summertime!

Karly is officially out of school and officially brilliant! She was the only 3rd grade student that scored a perfect 100 on English TAKS test (state exams) and she also received a 92 on the Math TAKS. When we first moved here she was in math tutorials (tutoring) for a few weeks because she was struggling for some reason. Her teacher was amazing and offered to stay an extra 30 minutes late on Thursdays so Karly could stay for the tutoring (Chris and I didn’t get out of work in time to be able to pick her up when it let out). Kudos to great teachers everywhere! When you get one that goes above and beyond and truly cares for your child it really can make all the difference! Karly also won several awards for PE, one for being in the 8-mile club, a 1st place ribbon for 3rd grade 50 meter dash, 3rd place for the 75 meter dash and various other ribbons and awards. She was a little upset they forgot to give her the participation ribbon :) If I could only get this child to like sports!

Now she just has a few weeks of free time before she is off to Arizona for the summer!





Thank goodness the dogs are the brother and sister she doesn't have! They
love pool time and are obviously quite patient with her, even when playing dress up! Don't all dogs wear bikinis and skirts?!?!

Friday, June 6, 2008

Monday, the last day of Erica’s visit :(




Last day of sister being here. I am very sad but really trying to stay positive and not think about it. We went to Tyler State Park for some paddleboat fun! We each rented a boat and Miss Karly hopped back and forth. It was so peaceful and gorgeous!
Chris and I got a little toasty and hopped in! Wasn’t quite as pleasant peddling with huge wet clothes :)

Sunburned and wet we headed back to the house to get ready for the trip to the airport. Brian had to give the bow and arrow a try in the backyard and did pretty good.

Dropping my baby sister off at the airport was awful. Luckily Karly was with so I had to somewhat hold it together otherwise it would have gotten even uglier! It was a wonderful and much needed visit. I can’t wait to see her again!

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Erica's Visit...Sunday!


Sunday we got down to business! We checked out Tyler Rose Garden, went shooting, and toured the area a little. Yes, I did say shooting! I shot a gun...ok, so it was only once and I was terrified but I did it! Erica was a natural...of course...is there anything she isn't good at? She hit the target the first time and I believe every time. Brian shot quite the array of guns (and a bow!) and even shot clay pigeons out of the sky...impressive!


Tyler is apparently the Rose Capital of the World. Everything had pretty much bloomed but they were still gorgeous. Lots of little areas to look at and feel different flowers and plants. The girls loved the 'Meditation Garden'...as you can see they tried it out!


Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Day 2 of Erica & Brian's Visit...



Friday we all were pretty tired and moving pretty slow from getting in so late. We picked Karly up from her last day of school and Erica got to check out her classroom and desk. We ran a few errands and showed Erica the big town of Tyler. Meanwhile Bri was back at the house doing a phone interview...poor guy! Picked him up and made the journey into Lindale for lunch, did some grocery shopping and took a nap! Chris got back from fire school that night so we had some wine and played Taboo! Friday was fairly uneventful!




Saturday we got up and got the house and food ready for the BBQ. Neely (cousin's daughter) came over to help make cupcakes. The plastic pools that started out for the puppies were soon taken over by Karly and Neely! Luckily they all share!




That evening some friends and family came over and Erica & Brian got the full feelin the love Texas effect!

Good food and good fun for all!




Monday, June 2, 2008

Erica's Visit!

FINALLY! We finally had a visitor, or actually I should say 2 visitors! Erica and Brian flew into Dallas Thursday night. After some minor delays and almost 6 months of not seeing my sissy the wait was over! It was so great to see her...and Brian too! We did a lot of visiting and some touring around, and more visiting! What a great weekend!