It's all good . . .

Misc March Adventures

March has been an adventure, filled with fun, crazy, and all the stuff. Derek had a spring choir concert, and as usual, they were amazing! They were performing pieces they were going to perform for the District UIL competition, and not all of the choirs performed, so it wasn't as long as usual ;).

As for me, I am worn out.  I finished up my long term sub job, teaching my last week along with their new classroom teacher.  It was so sad, and so great, and then of course, I scheduled bunch more sub jobs for the past couple weeks (there were teachers that were very happy that I was available again), and I am exhausted. It probably doesn't help that I come home and still work another couple hours each day drawing and bidding cabinets for my brother-in-law's business. Fifty hours a week working is quite exhausting - especially as a mom. I usually would crash for 30 minutes or so when I got home, before I could even think about moving or making dinner.

But life is definitely not all work.  There is my monthly book club, which is one of the highlights of my month - every time.  I love these amazing ladies and getting together with them, eating, laughing, and talking - sometimes about book ;).

Arthur started swimming lessons at Emler Swim school way back in September, and he absolutely loves his Monday afternoon lessons.  And he is getting so much better every week!

One of my callings (volunteer positions) at church is in charge of the girls' primary activities.  Twice a month we meet with the girls ages 7-11 and do activities - art, science, spiritual things, etc. Last week, we had a special field trip to visit the San Antonio Temple, and it was so amazing!  The girls all dressed up in their Sunday best and were so excited to be there.  We walked around and looked at all the beautiful windows and architecture, but just as we were starting to walk around the temple, one of the sweet temple workers, dressed in white, asked us if we wanted to go inside.  

The girls were speechless with excitement and awe as we walked into the waiting room area - the part they were allowed to go in.  Soon after they sat down, the temple Matron came and spoke to us all for about twenty minutes, which was amazing.  Not only did she tell them stories and teach them about the temple, but she answered their questions.  It was amazing! The girls truly loved every minute of it, and I think it will be something that stays with them.

Arthur had a fun adventure at school on Friday - it was the Apex obstacle course day.  I was subbing that day, and so I didn't get to see Arthur go through the obstacles, but a friend of mine sent me pictures.  So fun! Ha had a blast and did all six laps on the eight obstacles.

It truly is so much fun to have our little guy (who is getting all grown up himself), who still loves to cuddle and play, and read books.  He makes life an adventure at our house.

One of the really fun things that happened recently, was on Friday night when Kevin and I got to attend a special dinner for all the volunteers for the Valero Open PGA golf tournament.  It was a gorgeous night, the food was yummy, and getting to eat out on the course was so cool.  It is at TPC San Antonio, which was pristine and gorgeous.  It was the perfect way to finish out the month of March.

March Fun

March started out crazy busy, but wonderful.  Kevin and I were able to attend the San Antonio Temple, which is always a wonderful experience. I still feel like I could pinch myself to think about how close we actually are to the temple. 

The first week of March was also a spirit week at school, and one of the days was "Heritage Day," where you were supposed to wear something that represents your culture.  One of my students dressed up in her beautiful Mexican dress, and I wore my German dirndl.  I have some German roots, and since I didn't have any Scottish or British clothes, and so it was perfect. And I love any excuse to wear it. It is so pretty!

I also started working on my Lego Friends apartment - with Arthur's urging.  He also wanted to help me with it, which was fine, but I almost felt like it was a competition between which of us could grab the next piece faster - ha ha! Arthur really wanted to build it all on his own, and so I had to lay some ground rules so I could have fun too.

During my birthday weekend, Kevin had a last minute visit from one of his best friends, Glenn. He came on Thursday and the two of them had the best time hanging out and catching up. On Saturday night, we took him out to get some good Texas BBQ.  We tried a new place, Blanco BBQ, and it was so good. But the company was even better, and Kevin and I were so grateful that we got to have Glenn with us for the weekend.

We also had spring break this past week.  We didn't go anywhere or really do anything, because Derek had Pioneer Trek the last part of the week, and I have been so busy teaching that I had to squeeze a ton of doctor's appointments in during the week. It was a pretty lame, but since I had just gone a cruise, I guess I couldn't complain. I just felt a little bad for Arthur, but because he got to watch plenty of TV and play video games, he was just fine. At my mammogram appointment, they gave out roses to the patients, which I thought was super sweet. 

One very fun thing that I did get to do during spring break though, was to meet up with my sister, Wendy for a birthday lunch since both of our birthdays are in March. We met up halfway between Austin and San Antonio, and had lunch at the cutest little cafe in the small town of Blanco. I love that she and I live close enough to each other so that we can get together often.

We also celebrated Pi Day with some pie. I was teaching, and since I didn't have the time to bake a pie from scratch, like I usually do, I ran to the grocery store and bought a pumpkin pie (the kids' choice) and went to Kneaders to get a slice of cherry pie for Kevin and lemon pie for me.  Unfortunately, before I could pick up my order, they ran out of lemon pie, and so they gave me two pieces of caramel cheesecake, which turned out to be pretty awesome.  So, I may have been the only one in the family not to eat pie, but hey, cheesecake - yum!

And then, last night, we had a special combined science night for activity days. We did four different experiments, one of them being making Oobleck, which the kids thought was the coolest thing ever. They loved taking turns playing with it, although it ended up being pretty messy.  All the kids loved the activity though, especially Arthur. It was definitely another fun adventure.

The Freezing Trek Adventure

Spring break just happened to be when our Stake at church decided to do the youth pioneer trek reenactment - probably because they wanted to avoid triple digit temps that the summer would bring. Little did they know, that there would be a crazy two day cold snap right in the middle of Trek.  It turned out to be a harder thing than the kids or the leaders could have anticipated, but Derek stuck through the hard, and was so grateful that he did.  But here is his story in his own words.

Ok, so let me just say I was blown away by how the leaders in charge of trek managed to find away to keep it going. From the moment I started out with my trek family I was in it all the way. While it took some time to get started due to the fact we had some trouble assembling our wagons. But once we got moving, we stayed moving. Well, most of the time at least. There were some moments where had to stop at certain points because of water buckets falling off of the wagon and for the leaders to decide which way we should go.

I got a little annoyed at certain period of time where they had us going through a trail that was covered by a bunch of manure. It was then as we seemed to pass through an area we had been through before that I realized we were going in loops instead of hiking a full on trail. Afterwards we made it to the place where we were camping. We cooked our dinner, got set up for the night, and went to sleep. Well most of us did. I had trouble falling asleep, so when the cold wind hit in the early morning, I felt it from the start.

The wind made it very cold going forward for the next day, It was pretty difficult to stay warm with the winds blowing so hard and cold. However, in the middle of the day it started to get warmer, which felt much better. And that's when It happened.  Just like my sister when she was on her trek, I had a wagon run over my foot. Ouch. It did not make the rest of the day easy. I guess you could say that I was not a very happy camper. For almost the whole time till I went to bed I was wanting to go home. I got over it quickly enough to go to the dance that was held that night. And eat the pancakes they had. I even got to help taste test them.

But after the last day began and breakfast was served, so many unexpected things happened that my mind was completely blown.  Instead of walking that day, the leaders had tons of fun activities for all the youth to do to celebrate making it through trek. There was archery, rifle shooting, rope making, branding, old fashioned pioneer games, and s'mores. Lots of S'mores. I had so much fun that I can even bring myself to say that trek was an amazing experience - cold, squished food and all.

It was on the last day that I also received letters that my Mom and Dad wrote to me for when I finished trek. It was also then that I said one of the longest prayers in my entire life. Both of these helped give me the strength and courage to be the first to stand up and bear my testimony at the testimony meeting they had to close out trek.

All in all, Trek helped me come closer to my Savior than I have ever been able to come before. I know understand Ether 12:27 for what was said when the Lord said "I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.”  I now know I am strong enough to make it through anything. So come at me world. Derek Brown is ready for you.

44 Years Young

I love my birthday, and although I had too much going on to throw myself a party this year, I still managed to have fun celebrating.  The first part of my birthday celebration was on Friday, when I brought donuts in for my "birthday treat" to share with my fourth graders. We finished the day with donuts and them singing my happy birthday. (It was also my last day alone with them, as their new teacher will be starting the Monday after spring break and we will be co-teaching for the week. Luckily the celebration helped me keep from crying.)

On Saturday morning, after my High Fitness workout and while I was waiting for Kevin to "go on a walk" with me, a group of my friends showed up at the door to kidnap me and take me to breakfast.  It was such a fabulous surprise! (And I guess they had warned Kevin to have me "ready," but me all sweaty in workout clothes was not what I would have thought of as ready - ha ha! I took a lightning fast shower and got changed, and then we met up with some more ladies and had the best breakfast.  So fun, and I felt incredibly blessed to have these wonderful friends here in Texas.

Sunday was my actual birthday, and I was gifted with perfect weather.  It was in the 60's-70's all day, which is my favorite.

It was so beautiful out, and since we don't have church until 10:30am, I decided to take a walk up to the temple. I listened to my scriptures and enjoyed the weather and the spirit, and felt like it was the perfect way to begin my 44th year.

After church, we did presents, and my favorite gift was the giant Friends Lego set of the apartments.  It is the perfect addition to my collection and Arthur can't wait to "help" me build it.

Later, we went to dinner at my friend Sharon's house.  She knew I hated having to cook on my birthday, and because it was a Sunday and I couldn't go out to a restaurant, she made us dinner.  We had such a great time talking and laughing and eating.  And when it was time for cake, Kevin pulled out another present for me - a Tuxedo cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory. Yum! And Sharon's adorable granddaughter helped me blow out the candles. So fun! 

After cake, we played Five Crowns, and they all destroyed me. I guess being 44 didn't bring me any extra luck - ha ha! In spite of losing, it was the perfect way to finish off my birthday fun and celebration. I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful family and fabulous friends.

Girls' Cruise Adventure Part 2: Playing in Mexico

Our cruise left Galveston on Thursday evening, and then we spent all of Friday at sea, waking up on Saturday morning in Cozumel, Mexico. We were so excited to be out and adventuring, and so as soon as we were able, we left the ship and headed out.

The ten of us had rented cabanas side by side on the beach and they were perfect.  I wish we had been able to spend way more time there, because it was my favorite part of the trip. The view, the ocean, the soft sand, the company, and the yummy food.  Perfection, and definitely my idea of a vacation.

The cabanas were on a private beach and were so cute, with fun little touches and character.

They even had snorkel gear for us to use, and just steps from the cabana was a beautiful area to snorkel. So much fun! Lily especially loved it.  I enjoyed snorkeling once I fixed my mask so that it wasn't filling with salt water and drowning me - that part was not fun, especially because the water had a very high salt content. Once I got that fixed, I had a great time.

But like I said, my favorite part was just relaxing at the cabana. We even had a visitor - a big old lizard that decided to hang out right in front of us, which was pretty cool. Especially because I was safe up on our cabana - ha ha!

After a while, it was time for our swimming with dolphins adventure. We were so excited, and truly had no idea what stood in store for us.

Karen, Erica, Janalee, Myself, Brandi, Angela, and Lily all did the "Royal Dolphin Swim," which was pretty amazing. First, we each got a turn to pet and play with the dolphins.  Lily loved it!

I think it was my favorite thing ever.  Dolphins have always been my favorite animal, and as you can see by my cheesy smile, I was pretty darn happy.

I mean, I got to be up close and personal and pet and hold the dolphin!!

And I may have been so distracted that I mistook the instructions and instead of giving the dolphin a high five, I may have grabbed onto his flippers, which totally almost pulled me off the platform.  Ha ha! I did eventually get it right on the second try.

The coolest and scariest part of the whole experience was getting to swim with the dolphins.  There were two different swimming adventures, but for both of them, we had to swim way out into the water, and then the dolphins would come up behind us and we would grab on and go for a wild ride.

The second swim was insane! You swam way out, put yourself in the water like superman, with your hands out front and legs behind you and straight, and each of the dolphins put their nose to your foot and they pushed you up out of the water!!  It was crazy! Lily was in heaven!

My friends and I weren't quite as sure about it. One of them screamed bloody murder the whole time, another one yelled and screamed too, and as for me, it was just the craziest experience and I had no idea how to react - terror one second, joy the next. It was highly entertaining to see each other experience it. And then the dolphins dropped you and face plant in the water.  Nice.

After we were finished with the dolphin swim, we actually got to have a manatees encounter, which was really cool.  I guess it was included in our royal swim, although we didn't get any pictures of it. They were huge and slow, and a tad too friendly, but it was really cool.  After that, we had to rush back to our cabana to gather our things and meet the taxi.  We did manage to stop and get a few awesome pictures on the way back though.

There wasn't time to do much shopping when we got back to the port, but I managed to get some good Mexican vanilla, as well as a super cute cover-up to wear with my swimsuit. It was such a wonderful Mexico adventure, but I was only sad that we had to leave and get back on the ship.  It was definitely my favorite part of the trip.

Girls' Cruise Adventure Part 1: Let the Fun Begin!

A few months ago, my friend, Lana, came up with the idea for a huge ladies trip as part of her fortieth birthday celebration - a three day, four night cruise to Mexico. So, I have truthfully never wanted to go on a cruise.  The thought of one both repulsed me and terrified me, and so I had never even contemplated it.  But a very short cruise with a bunch of my new friends, and to a country I had never been to, intrigued me.  I decided to go, especially because it was only $179 per person. And then Kevin gave me the idea of taking Lily with me, and so I gave it to her as one of her Christmas gifts.

Well, last weekend, it was finally the time for our adventure.  A group of eight of us carpooled to Galveston, with me as the driver. We had so much fun on the drive, especially as we bonded over me having to off-road for a bit to avoid a huge traffic jam, and two different defensive driving maneuvers I had to complete on the freeway when random things were in my lane (sometimes blown into the lane at the last second). Luckily, the Lord was watching out for us, and we made it safely. And then there was the crazy hour long line and boarding process.  Wow.

We eventually made it onto the ship, met at our muster station to learn about evacuation procedures, and got to unload our things at our little state room. It was a cute little room on the first floor and the lowest floor you could go on the ship. We dropped off our things and headed upstairs to get some food, as we were starving.

When we made it back upstairs, we managed to find most of the forty ladies in our group, all with matching cruise shirts. Most of them I didn't know, but luckily there were about ten of us from our ward, and so I met new people, it was an awesome chance to get to know these new friends of mine even better.

When we got back up to the main deck, it was just in time for us to depart, and it started a party with dancing and fun. Lily loves to dance, and so she left us behind to find herself a place where she could spread out and do her thing.  She has no fear or inhibitions, and danced her socks off - and got quite the workout - ha ha!

We were on a Carnival Cruise and were on the Carnival Breeze ship. It was a fun ship, and I guess it was on the smaller side as cruise ships go.  I guess that Carnival is known for being more of a party ship, and although it was fun and had some cool things, it wasn't the best. But hey, that was part of the reason it was so cheap ;).

One of my favorite things about being on the ship, was watching the sun set and looking out at the ocean.

Every evening, we had dinner and since our whole group was connected, even though we had seating assignments at dinner, after the first night, we were able to move around to different places in our group. I did love spending time with my core group of ladies though.  Dinners were a bit of an adventure, as that tended to be when the rocking of the ship was worse, or maybe we just noticed it more.  And because it was a Carnival cruise, the food was hit or miss, and so I followed my sister's advice and ordered multiples of different things, like two appetizers, multiple desserts, and even more than one main dish.  Ha ha!

It was a fun first day and a great start to off our Mexico cruise adventure!

Finishing February

February flew by, between working full time teaching, working remotely for Premier Woodworking, and just normal life stuff, things were a bit on the way to crazy side.  But there were still fun things in all the crazy. One of my favorite things was that Arthur got to be an official school greeter for a week. We would get to school before the doors would open, he would grab his badge, and then claim his spot to wave at everyone as they came in.  It was seriously the cutest.

Last Saturday, Derek, Lily and I went to see the Reagan High School production of "The Sound of Music," which was phenomenal. (And yes, even though I was sad for Derek that he wasn't in the show this year, part of me was so grateful that I didn't have to fit rehearsals and all the show week stuff into my already overloaded schedule.)

One of the most wonderful things has been the absolutely perfect weather we have been having.  February in Texas is pretty fabulous.  On Sunday afternoon, we took advantage of the weather to go and play "Throw, Throw Burrito," a new game we got but were warned not to play it inside.  Well, I am glad we followed the advice, because it was definitely a free for all of throwing the burritos and chasing each other around - ha ha! It was a blast!

And so, yes, although it has been an incredibly busy and exhausting month for me personally, I am so glad we were able to squeeze in some fun into the end of February.

The House That Keeps on Giving

Oh, this fixer-upper of a house. This house that seems to have problem after problem, and every time we go to make what is supposed to be a simple repair, it uncovers a much bigger issue.  For example, when Kevin went to switch out our shower heads and handles, he discovered so many issues, that what should have taken a day or less, has been a weeks long process, and countless trips to the hardware store and many Amazon orders.  He might be almost done with it, but we shall see - ha ha.

And then there was our "simple" patio extension, which turned out to not be so simple because the original patio was not anchored, and so they had to break up the entire thing and start from scratch.  Oh well - ha ha!

Speaking of our patio extension, it has been so fantastic to see it come together, and it is the first step in what is going to be our yard renovation.  I can't wait to see how it all comes together in the next year or so when all my plant dreams have become a reality.
But as for now, the patio is fantastic. And Arthur was super excited to carve his initials into it.

We also had them fill in the weird piece of grass/rocks with cement, which has eliminated a huge tripping hazard.

And then, there is our roof.  We knew from the start that the roof needed replacing, but the previous owner's insurance refused to replace it, and so we were stuck. Well, a month or so ago we had a massive windstorm and I found a bunch of shingles in the yard, and so I called our insurance. Soon, we were getting a new roof, another important and necessary thing, but also one that although it still cost us quite a bit out of pocket, we were so blessed to have our insurance cover most of it. 

Arthur was totally fascinated watching them work, and he asked me if the men would die if they fell. Definitely not the safest of occupations, that is for sure.  But hey, now we have a new roof. We still have a few more small projects to do inside the house, some small touch ups and things, and then I am ready to work on the yard before it gets too hot to plant.  Here's to the next adventure in the saga of the Brown house remodel.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Valentine's is a fun little holiday, and for me it means yummy candy, homemade Valentines, and traditions with our kids.  At church, one of my callings is one of the Primary Girl's Activity leaders, and for our pre-Valentine's Day activity, we made Valentine cards and decorated sugar cookies.  The cookies were baked by my partner, Delainey, and they were so yummy,  almost didn't she - ha ha!  And some of my adorable girls gave me their cards.

On Friday night, Kevin and I hosted a couples party at our house as a fun Valentine date night.  We had 12 couples there, we ate delicious food, played the "Newly Wed Game," told our stories of how we each got together, and we laughed A LOT. Oh, how I have missed having parties like this!  I had one planned for April of 2020, which obviously didn't happen because of Covid, and it felt good to be having fun with a great group of couples again.

On Valentine's Day, I was teaching, and my sweet fourth graders completely spoiled me.  I wish I had taken a picture of all my loot - ha ha!  I was blown away and I love those kids already, even after only two weeks of teaching them. For our family Valentine's celebration, instead of our traditional heart shaped pancakes, Kevin made heart shaped ravioli with sausage and eggs - a German dish that we all love.  And I had chocolate hearts for all the kids - Reeses for Derek, caramel for Lily, and solid chocolate for Arthur :). 

I love my special Valentines!! And I loved spending the holiday together as a family.

For dessert, we had a red velvet cake Kevin and I found at Costco - it was from Junior's, the place we got amazing cheesecake at in NYC. So yummy! It was the perfect way to end a wonderful celebration.

So Busy . . .

Over the years, I have worked at small jobs on the side to bring in a little extra money - things like my photography business.  As my kids got older, I started adding to that, and expanding my business.  And then, a few years ago, I started substitute teaching part time, which I loved, but I didn't want to do it more than a couple times a week.  I love getting to work, but I was grateful for the freedom to do it whenever I wanted to do it.

Well back in November, the principal at Arthur's school asked me if I would do a long term sub position in the fourth grade starting in February.  At first I was a little nervous about working full time and still balance all the other things I need to do as a mom, but part of me was so excited to get to teach full time again - especially in fourth grade, which is where I started when I was a teacher before Lily was born.

So here I am, finishing my second week with my class.  Am I exhausted? Yes. Is it hard work? Yes. Do I miss the freedom to do many of the things I also like to do? Or having the time or energy to take care of the house like I need to or finish the projects I still have? Yes.  That said, I truly love it, I feel completely at home, and I already love those kids and feel so attached to them.  What a blessing, and I will enjoy it while it lasts for another month or two.  Even I come home and curl up in my chair exhausted each day, it is worth it.

I don't spend much time in the chair though, because most nights I am still cooking dinner for the family, and then after dinner, I sit down at my work computer, and I work for a few hours designing and doing bids for Premier Woodworking, the cabinetry business that my bother-in-law Stuart started.  It is hard work, but I am glad that I am not only able to help them out by working remotely for them, but it is helping out our family as well. And yes, I am tired, but it's all good. And hey, sometimes a friend brings you a random delicious cookie, just because, and it is just what you need to get through the night.

Sometimes it is tricky trying to balance everything, but as all the repair bills have been stacking up from all the craziness that has been our house, having both this and my teaching job, has been a true answer to prayers. Both of these opportunities came at the perfect time and are truly a blessing. So I am working way more than I would prefer, but it is worth it. I am so grateful for these two jobs, and although I look forward to the time when I am not working 50 hours a week, it is the blessing we need right now.