....and where did the Springtime go??

Photo courtesy of lepiaf.geo

It's summer time and it is way too hot! I was born and raised in Texas and I still can't get used to the summers here. I was in Hobby Lobby the other day and walked by their seasonal items, and they already have fall and christmas stuff out! I guess I shouldn't be surprised by that anymore. Even though I think retail stores could wait just a TAD bit longer to put all the fall stuff out, not to mention CHRISTMAS stuff, it just reminded me of the season I get to look forward to. Fall is probably my favorite time of year, so looking at all the wall decor and pumpkins, etc...I could just taste it! But alas, we must get through summer first...

This summer has been great so far. First off, I got a full time position in the same department I've been working in for 5+ years, which I'm very happy and thankful for. I started that June 1. It is helping us out financially, and I'm so thankful for God's goodness and faithfulness throughout all of this. So, I've been adjusting to working full-time and re-prioritizing things at home. Things are getting better though :)

June 12 - 20 was a VERY busy time because all of my family was in town. We had a Noack (my dad's side) family reunion the 14-15 and it was a blast. We had it at Lynn Creek Park over at Joe Pool Lake. It was warm (and crazy crowded!) the first evening, but on 15th there wern't many people there, and it was crazy windy! It made the outdoors bearable but made eating a little bit of a challenge :P It was a fun day of catching up with family, launching balloons all day long with an awesome water balloon launcher my bro-in-law made, and playing games like aggravation (a family favorite!). The rest of the week was a lot of fun hanging out with all my siblings and their families. It's a blast when all 5 of us siblings are toghether and I always cherish those times because it doesn't happen often. Usually only once a year! The next that we'll all be together (hopefully!) will be next summer out in Estes Park, CO!! We're getting a huge cabin and I am very excited about that :)

The rest of June was busy in general -- working, trying to get my work outs in (eek..), and just spending time with the hubs! And here were are and it's July already! I can't believe we're half way through 2009 already. I guess it is true that time goes by faster as you get older...
This week our friends Kendra and Isaac are in town from Estes Park, CO so we're going to get together with them, and then my friend Lauryn is in town from Georgia and I'll be hanging with her this weekend! Then Tim's folks will be in town next week. In a few weeks Tim and I will be heading out on a road trip to Estes Park to visit Kendra and Isaac for a few days. I can not wait to be up there in the mountains!! It's gonna be a blast. Then less than a month after that I'll be flying up to visit my best friend April in North Dakota! She'll have just had her 4th boy and so I'll be helping her out since her husband is deployed with the Air Force. That's going to be really fun as well :)

I'm thankful that I'm having the opportunities this year to visit friends and family across the country. I love to travel and I don't usually get to do it much, and this year alone I've been able to go to Wisconsin to visit my sister, and then go to Colorado and North Dakota! I told Lauryn I need to save money to fly out to Georgia, so I'll have all my close girlfriends covered for the year :) haha...not sure if that'll happen, but one can always hope right?

I hope everyone has a wonderful 4th of July weekend! I'm happy to have tomorrow off and catch up on things at home. Maybe I'll even get a little card making in this weekend... :)

*love*