Monday, January 31, 2011

Echanted Rock and the Spotted Girl





Sounds like something J.R. Rowlings would be proud of. Our time in Texas is coming to a close this week. Eva and I start off on our "girls only" road trip to Arizona this weekend, but we've managed to pack quite a bit into our time here with Jon's parents.

The weekend following my birthday Eva and I tested our road trip skills with a drive to Houston to see Lindsey, Hallie and Brooke. We started the trip by making our way to Austin for Uncle Sandy's birthday dinner and then drove east. It was an awesome weekend of re-connecting with old friends, and despite the rain, we had a wonderful time. I love that Lindsey's daughter is now the age (4 1/2) when Lindsey and I became friends......it brought back so many memories and I LOVE that our kids get to play together now. I got a chance to see Brooke's new pad in the making and I am so excited to be a guest there someday :) Thank you ladies for being such amazing friends!

The next weekend was a trip to the infamous Enchanted rock, the 2nd largest monolithic piece of granite in the USA.....very cool. We hiked up and around it and could not have ordered better weather for the day. Thank you God for Your beauty!

This past weekend I got to have Jon's mom all to myself since his Dad is teaching a course in New Mexico right now. We drove up to Austin for the day to spend time with family.....a bitter sweet time really. A wonderful time together, but a sad day of good-byes too. There are some pretty serious health issues in the family right now and it's hard to see loved ones suffering. This is the part of life that sucks sometimes.

And you are probably wondering at this point why the spotted girl comment. Eva had her first allergic reaction a few weeks ago...yikes! broke out in a million tiny red spots! I have to honed to two things.....tuna fish or peanut butter. She'd had peanut butter a few times prior with no reaction, but sometimes it takes a few times....will update when we figure it out......so not fun......poor thing!

This week we get to celebrate both Maureen and Ken's birthday along with enjoying the wonderful task of packing our lives again. It's going to be a busy week judging from my list sitting next to me....but again I say, that is life. we will take the good and the bad with grace and thanksgiving.

Friday, January 14, 2011

Birthdays!









Yay for birthdays!! Evalynn and I both got to celebrate our birthdays this month.......and they were fabulous! For Eva's, we started off the day with banana pancakes and a skype chat with her Daddy, followed by a visit to Uncle Max and Aunt Barbara's house for lunch and Penn State football, then back home to Grandma and Grandpa Schein's house for a family birthday celebration filled with aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, TOYS, cupcakes and lots of yummy food. It was an awesome day! I can't believe my little girl is already one.......I now know why parents say that.....it goes too quick!

For me, I got to spend the morning with my lovely little lady and my wonderful father-in-law. We headed to New Braunfels, a sweet community about 25 minutes from Canyon Lake, for tasty German pastries from one of the oldest bakeries in Texas....they did not disappoint! I think I will be making a few more trips there before I leave in February. that evening Jon's parents treated me to dinner in Gruene, another awesome community close to their house, for a wonderful dinner and an evening of dancing at Gruene Hall......a cool, historic dance hall. Not a bad way to start of my last year in my 20's!