MorePpictures from the Family Weekend!

Bronx and Olivine cuddled up together on the couch the night before we headed down to Kingwood for the awesome family weekend. They're sooo freaking cute! We love them soo much :) And my gorgeous parents and me and my mom together on the bench at Rice before the ceremony. Do we all look alike?? Haha. The other pictures are at my parent's house in Kingwood with everyone hanging out. And all the other ones are of the Beast we just bought haha. It's absolutely massive, but we love it!! It's been great having it so far! Bronx and Olivine can lay out comfortably in the back, which is great because no more whining! We can also fit things in the car and it's protected, which is great. We just bought a filing cabinet the other day and it started drizzling, but since it was protected, no worries! I also feel sooo much safer in there than my tiny focus (which was an amazing car and I would def buy another one). It's also nice having cars get out of the way when they see me coming haha. Love love love family!!
There aren't any pictures, but this weekend we headed to McKinney for Vinny's first birthday party. It was another great weekend spending time with family. We didn't get to stay for very long since I had to work the night before and head back into work that night. The joys of a midnight schedule. The little time we had, it was a blast and we spent it well :)

Great Family Weekend!

Such a great family weekend!! It was an absolute blast!! Mike and I headed down for Brian's commissioning and to pick up our new car Friday morning and left Sunday afternoon. When we got there on Friday, we dropped off the rent car and then picked up the Expedition EL! It was so cool and exciting! That night, Kyle was in town so all the family came over for a big dinner, which was soo much fun spending time with everyone and eating tonz of food :) On Saturday, we all headed out to Rice University for Brian's marine commissioning. Mike wore his deltas and Brian was in his officer dress blues. They both looked awesome!! There was a great guest speaker and it was exciting to see Christina turn Brian's uniform into an official marine officer uniform with the kids. It was also really exciting to see Mike present Brian with his first salute as an officer! Two Bassi brothers, which was awesome! Afterwards, we headed to The Woodlands at Dosey Doe's for the after party. It was so great spending time with everyone and eating great food. The kids were all able to run around and play and all the adults were able to catch up and celebrate. Since Kyle headed out earlier that day, his bedroom at my parent's house was available. We offered for Jim, Lexi, and the kids to stay in his room and then for everyone else to come to the house to continue the celebration and catching up. Brian and Christina ended up staying at the house with the kids since it was a long day, but Joe, Matt, Heather, Jim, Lexi, and the kids all headed out to Kingwood. We had a great time talking and hanging out that night and the next morning we ate a big breakfast my parents made and everyone headed home. All together, this trip was an absolute blast!!

Work & Family July Visit

Well here's a handful of pictures that I chose from an even bigger handful haha. Starting at the top, that's most of the officers I had on my team and worked with on Adam district midnights. Starting in front: Sgt. Luttmer (Lutty Lutt, Central sgt), Josh (my partner), Kaether (new kid and on my new team); Next row: me, Vicki (went to North), Allcon (worthless and dangerous), Wong (sold the Focus to and awesome), Sgt. Young (Central admin sgt); Back row: Oz (loves the park), Hopson (NPO), Dani (BFF!), Olimpo (DWI hound). Al, Rebo, and Ramirez were the only ones missing from the picture. We had a little farewell party at the sector the Thursday night before we all split up. The picture below is some of us in uniform by one of our patrol cars. We're on the new schedule with the new team/zone concept and it sucks. There are too many officers for the area and we all drive around aimlessly fighting for calls and trying to find something. The ball is rolling for getting my teaching certificate so yay! I've got a phone interview and a critical thinking test this month to start. Going to do Generalist EC-6 and Special Ed. Definitely can't wait to get into all of it :)
Below are Bronx, Olivine, and Koda swimming in their new pool in the backyard. Bronx and Olivine will dive in and splash around, but Koda needed some convincing by my dad. Haha. It was definitely hot outside, but with their kool collars and the pool, they were having an absolute blast. While that was going on, Mike took a break from writing his paper and came out to play. He got onto the trampoline and I was able to take some pictures of him in the process of back flipping. It was awesome! And the rents chilling on the back porch.
We all went to the Rangers baseball game Friday night with Mike's company, which was a blast! We ate some good baseball game food and enjoyed the super close game with a Rangers win. At the end, we were able to see an amazing fireworks show that gave my mom and I goosebumps it was so cool :) The traffic wasn't too bad leaving the ballpark and we headed home. Mike and my dad headed straight out to smoke their cigars and drink their martinis on the back porch and my mom and I watched tv inside.
Saturday, I was able to call in and take off work, which was soo exciting! We went to downtown Burleson and then to Lone Oak Winery. It was soo much fun! It was hot outside, but walking around the winery and seeing all the different grapes was so cool! We were also able to get two bottles of wine and a recipe for sangria. We went home and cooked out. Mike was on the grill with the steaks and my mom and I were in charge of the potatoes and the sangria. All of it was sooo good! My mom and I made some cookies for dessert. The rents headed out on Sunday after we loaded up the car with all the furniture for Kyle's new apartment.
Mike and I had dinner with Kristin and Wes Wednesday night at Pappadeaux in Arlington. It was an absolute blast! Wes now lives in Irving since he got his new job, so we can meet up way more often. Here are the most recent updates and we hope everyone enjoys!

Mike's Family Reunion and Updates

It was a great July 4th! Mike and I woke up that afternoon and headed to Whitney to see everyone for Mike's family reunion. When we got out there, we changed over into our bathing suits, drove down to Lake Whitney, and headed out into the boat. Mike went first trying to ski, which he hasn't done in forever, but he made a great effort! It was then followed up by Jim attempting to ski and the succeeding in knee boarding, Lane and Brody knee boarding, and Lexi kicking all of their butts knee boarding. We then headed back to the house and ate some great food and all hung out catching up on everything. Unfortunately, Mike and I had to leave before the fireworks show because I fell asleep in the hammock since I was running on empty and had to head into work later. Mike and I went home and I was able to take a little nap before I got all ready for work. I called my sarge to let him know I was about to leave the house and head in, but he told me to go ahead and stay home because he had enough people and he was in a good mood! I was shocked! I reminded him it was the 4th of July and it's always super busy, but he insisted that I stay home since it was already late. So I got out of my uncomfortable uniform and cuddled up on the couch with Mike! It was the first full 4th of July we had spent together so it was great, but weird haha.
Other than that, Mike's job is going well and he really likes it, he just hates the long drive and traffic. Grad school is going well for him. He's been meeting with his group in on class for their projects and studying for their big test. He's also been reading a bunch and studying for his other class so he can do well on that test. He's also meeting with the national guard recruiter when he can to work on his packet for OCS. I've been painting the white areas of the house since they were a yellow white and it bothered me. The walls and ceilings are called White Truffle and the base boards, crown molding, fireplace, and doors are called Polar Bear. It's been long and annoying, but I'm getting there slowly, but surely. Work's been busy with summer. People of course have more of an attitude and are drinking tonz so there are more fights, which in one I lost the diamond in my work ring! We brought it back to Kohl's and told them what had happened and they did an even exchange! We were shocked it was soo simple, but very grateful. I've order my official transcripts, getting my recommendations, and filling out the application for Region XI so I can get into the teacher program. The more I think about it, the more I think it would be a better profession and decision for my body and mind and of course family life. I absolutely love my job and would recommend it to anyone I think who could handle it.
It was awesome seeing everyone and having a great time!!

Little Birds

Well on our back porch in the corner, we watched two little birds work very hard to build a nest. The tried to build it on the back patio in the roof corner, but it blew down. They then started building it in the corner underneath the back porch on a plant hook. We didn't think it could be done since it was in such an awkward place and well, there's nothing underneath it besides a hook. After a few weeks, poof, there was a mud nest. The mom and dad bird would sleep in it and do their thing. A couple weeks ago, we started to see little eggshells on the ground and we were worried that something had happened to the baby birds. Then one day, we started to see their little heads popping up over the nest. We haven't really heard too many tweets or singing thank goodness, but we do get to see them pop their heads up and sleep on the ledge of the nest when we go outside. The mom sleeps on the ledge next to the nest and the mom and dad bird will hop up on the nest to feed the birds. All around, it's a cute little family on our back porch.

Memorial Day, Kyle's 22nd, and More

Well these pics are a little late, but they're finally on here. During Memorial Day, I took off work Sunday and Monday so Mike and I could head down to Kingwood to spend some time with the family and celebrate Kyle's 22nd birthday. We were going to head down on my days off Tues, Wed, and Thurs, but Mike started his job Wednesday so we had to move the dates up a bit. When we went down on Sunday, we showed up a little late in the afternoon and went to my Aunt Liz's for a crawfish boil. It was soo much fun!! There was swimming, food, drinks, and family time!! We had an absolute blast and hung out outside the whole time until it started raining and we headed in to continue the fun. When we headed home, the guys went outside to hang out with the dogs and smoke their cigars and my mom and I hung out inside. On Monday, my mom and I went back to Aunt Liz's house to swim and tan in the pool, Mike and my dad took the dogs for a walk and a swim in the park by the lake, and Kyle went to work out. That night, the family came over, along with one of Kyle's best friends (Kyle Garza; he's in the Coast Guard so it's been a while since they've been able to hang out!), so it was a lot of fun! We had Sobrett hot dogs (the best hot dogs ever!) with Snuggles hot dog buns and other cook out food. For dessert, we actually kind of skimped. We only had cookies and coconut creme pie, which was weird for us, but still good. Mike and I had to head back Tueday afternoon and got him ready for his first day on the job.
Mike's working at Razor-360 in Addison as an account specialist. He's figuring out all the books for the company as a paid intern and is having a stressful, but good time. The drive isn't all that great, but he's been trying to figure out the hours that are best for traffic. We don't really get to see each other at all on Mondays or Fridays since we have completely opposite schedules, but we try to at least see each other in the driveway as he's pulling in and I'm heading out to work. Today I drove out to meet Mike for lunch, which was a lot of fun, so we're going to try to do it every Wednesday. He had his first day of Graduate school last night and it's going to be a tough semester, but we're praying everything will work out and hopefully not cause too much stress.
Me on the other hand, we're having a department wide sign up at the end of this month. I'm still going to stay on midnights so we can have the day and dinner together on Saturdays and Sundays, but I'm hoping I can at least get at least one weekend day off. If I can't get Sat, Sun, Mon off, I'll go for Sun, Mon, Tues. I'm also looking into getting my teaching certificate if the schedule conflict gets to be too much of a pain. I'll try to get a teaching job in the elementary school level in either Burleson, Crowley, or south Fort Worth. But in the midst of all this stress, belly dancing is an absolute blast with the girls!!!! Oh and poison ivy sucks!! I got it from work so that's been fun.

Jerks in the Business World

Well my mom found out the other day that the Athletic Club she's a manager at is closing on June 30th. The owner of the Kingwood Athletic Club decided back in February that he was going to work on a deal with the Kingwood Christian School to sell them the building, but decided to not tell any of his employees or club members. He signed the papers one night and the next day he decided to tell his employees (giving them 30 days) that he was selling the building and property to the Kingwood Christian School and that the club will be officially closed on June 30th. He also decided that he's not going to give any severance pay or pay them for the vacation time they didn't use. In other words, he's being a bonafide douchebag. Since my mom opens the club during the week, he decided to have her tell the members that the Kingwood Athletic Club (a club most people have been members at for 20 years or more) was closing. Most of the members did not take it to well, which was hard on them and my mom. Also, most of the members there have been members for many years and there are also a lot of elderly people who work out there because it is such a friendly, well kept, easy to get around club. There is one member in particular who is in his 80's and he's blind, Mr. Petricarlo. If they move the equipment around, they make sure they take him to walk through so he doesn't get hurt running into any of it. All together, this has been really hard on my mom and it kills me that she's having to go through this. My mom has put her heart and soul into the Kingwood Athletic Club and into the members as well. This was a great job for her because she truly cared about what she was doing and she enjoyed it. It was also great because it was so flexible with letting her adjust her hours if Kyle and I came home or if her and my dad went somewhere.

Mike and I are going to be heading down to Kingwood Sunday-Tues so we can spend some time with her and my dad. Also, Kyle will be down for his 22nd birthday so we'll be able to celebrate that together as well. Family is the best!