Awesome Weekend!

Good Monday morning to you!! I woke up ready and eager to get to school this morning because it was the start of my last 3 days!! I am beyond excited and so so ready for my summer to officially start. I have absolutely loved this group of kiddos but will love lounging by the pool and working on my summer to do list too!   On a side note, I live in Texas and it is now July (can't believe that). When I woke up this morning to see that it was below 70 degrees, my thoughts about this being a great day and start to a new week were confirmed! Temperatures like this just do not normally occur during a HOT Texas summer.

  This weekend proved to be just as awesome! I am linking up with Sami for this weekends Shenanigans. You can find her blog here.  

  My husbands aunt and uncle came into town on Thursday night and we grilled and relaxed around the house.   Friday night, we went to the Rangers game and watched an awesome win! It was hot but luckily we were in the shade and once the sun went down it wasn't that bad.

(not sure why my face looks so streched...)   Saturday, we slept in a little bit. His aunt & uncle brought their 4 1/2 month old puppy named Shooter. Our lab and Shooter played all morning. My stepmom and little sister were in town for an unexpected visit. I met my stepmom and picked up my little sister to spend the day with her. After a trip to the nail salon, we went back home to an awesome smelling pork shoulder being smoked on the egg. Brooke helped pick a couple veggies from our garden and we hung out at the house and enjoyed everyones company.

Sunday was spent relaxing and catching up on house work. I am so thankful for laid back weekends with family.

Enjoy your week!

 

Goals for the week...

We are enjoying a wonderful weekend with family in town. Recap on our weekend will come tomorrow. Summer school is ending this week... after this morning, I only have 2 more wakeups to get through. I keep reminding myself about the paycheck...!!! I am very thankful for the oppurtunity as well because cuts were made this year and all teachers that wanted a job didn't get one.   Since summer school is coming to a close, I am ready to tackle my summer to do list (I haven't really made one yet as you will see below!). I am starting with small goals for each week and tackling other things on my to do list.   GOAL #1- Spend 10-15 minutes cleaning some part of the house.   GOAL #2- Create a summer school to do list.   GOAL #3- Work out 3-4 times a week (every other day). I want to incorporate cardio and weights but not work out for more than 45 mins. to an hour.   GOAL #4- Complete at least 3 loads of laundry a week.   GOAL #5- Drink more water per day than coke.   I am good at keeping up with goals if I write them down because then I feel some kind of accountability. I will definitely check back in early next week!  

50 random things you may or may not know!

I like reading random facts about the authors behind my favorite blogs. Lori over at a crazy walk on the safe side posted 50 random questions and answers about herself. I am stealing the idea from her!  

1. Do you like blue cheese? No!   2. Have you ever smoked a cigarette? Unfortunately, yes.   3. Do you own a gun? I live in Texas...enough said? (yes, for those that aren't sure)   4. What flavor do you add to your drink at Sonic? My favorite summertime drink is a Cherry Limeade Slush. When I am on one of my health kicks, I get a diet cherry limeade or just a simple Coke Zero.   5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? Not nervous, just annoyed that I have to go at all. I absolutely hate the dentist and that might be the only one that I get a little nervous about.   6. Do you like hot-dogs? Yes, I love hot dogs with ketchup, mustard, and sweet pickly relish! Yum!!
  7. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? I love starting my day with a coke zero even though it is a bad habit that I am in. Some mornings I try and drink a bottle of water.
  8. Can you do push-ups? Sure, but probably not with the best form.
9. What’s your favorite meal? Anything grilled! I could eat a grilled cheeseburger every day. I also love breakfast foods like eggs, bacon, biscuits, strawberry jam, & hashbrowns.   10. What’s your favorite piece of jewelry? I have to go with the obvious and say my wedding rings. A very close second is my Aggie ring. If you know anything about Texas A&M, you know that the Aggie ring is a very special ring!
11. Favorite hobby? Shopping!
12. Do you work with people who idolize you? Umm, not sure.
13. Name a trait that you hate about yourself? I hate that I can't say know. Eventually it catches up to me and I am stressed because of all the things I need/have to do.    14. Middle name? Jean.   15. Name 3 thoughts at this moment: I should not have just eaten that donut that our volunteers brought by, I hope the interviews I am sitting in on this afternoon go well, If I ever have to listen to I've Been Working on the Railroad again I will scream (teaching summer school and it is singing time).   16. Name 3 things you bought yesterday: Strawberries, hamburger buns, marinated chicken. (made a weekly trip to central market, love that place!)   17. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink: Coke zero, water, lemonade.   18. Current worry right now? Nothing, really which is nice.    19. Current hate right now? I am pretty content with life right now and can't really think of anything. If I had to choose it would be my hair... some days it is good and others it is horrible. Today is a horrible day!   20. Favorite place to be? With my family, friends, dogs. Doesn't really matter where as like as I am with good company.     21. How did you bring in New Years? I think we were just at our house... laid back and low key just like I like it. Normally we spend it in Houston with friends but we weren't able to make it down this past New Years.   22. Favorite place to go? Close, Hobby Lobby, the mall, Pappasitos. Far, any beach during summer and any mountain to ski during winter.   23. What is your most recurring dream? Not really sure, I don't remember many of my dreams and if I do, they are all over the place.    24. Introvert or extrovert? I would say an even mix of both.   25. What color shirt are you wearing? Black, purple, gray... It is a leopard printed shirt.   26. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? Not really, I have before and I prefer a very high thread count cotton.   27. Can you whistle? Yes!   (I don't know what happened to 28)   29. Favorite color? I don't really have one favorite but lately I have been into green and coral. 30. Would you be a pirate? Sure... (this is a strange question). I would be a nice pirate though.   31. What songs do you sing in the shower? I don't really sing in the shower. 32. Favorite girl’s name? Makenzi   33. Favorite boy’s name? Hudson, Adis,
  34. Who is your loudest friend? Jennifer or Maria   35. What’s in your pocket right now?  Nothing.   36. Last thing that made you laugh? Something one of my summer school kiddos said. I could/should do a blog post specifically on things they do and say.     37. Bed sheets as a child? No clue!   38. Worst injury you've ever had?  I tripped and fell in 3rd grade and my bottom teeth went through my bottom lip. Few stiches and popsicles later and I was fine.   39. Do you love where you live? Yes!   40. How many TVs are in your house? 4.   41. What is your worst habit? Taking on more than I can handle at a time.   42. How many dogs do you have? Yes, 2! Love them!   43. Does someone have a crush on you? My husband better... (good answer Lori)   44. Do you own slippers? No   45. What is your favorite book? I like to read but do not have a favorite book.   46. What is your favorite candy? Snickers for sure!   47. What is your favorite sports team?  Texas A&M Aggies (football) & Texas Rangers.
  48. What song do you want played at your funeral? No idea!
  49. What were you doing at 12 AM last night? Sleeping.
  50. What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up this morning? Do I really have to get up?!?   Let me know if you do something like this on your blog so I can come check it out!!

Five on Friday

Hello friends!   Happy freaking Friday finally! I am teaching summer school (I know, I am crazy) and getting through these days inside with 14 5-6 year olds is tough. I would much rather be outside enjoying the beautiful days or just lounging around in my pajamas inside watching TV with my dogs. It will totally be worth it though when I get my next 2 months of paychecks!! 7 more wake ups... I can make it... I hope!   On to the purpose of todays post, I am linking up with Natasha from Hello! Happiness for Five on Friday. If you haven't checked out her blog before, you are really missing out. Her and her husband just welcomed their second little lady into their family and she is beautiful!!  

  1) Even though I am teaching summer school and had to wake up way earlier than all the ladies I am about to show below, we had a great time at dinner last night! We went to Cafe Madrid and enjoyed a nice dinner and had a great time catching up. I can't wait for the next time!

(sorry for the bad pic quality, it was taken with an iPhone)   2) My husband loves to grill and actually made his own smoker out of a recycled barrel. It was working but for the amount of stuff he grills/smokes, we decided to purchase a BGE (Big Green Egg). It is a little pricey, but awesome! He is in the process of building a table for it...

3) I posted a while back about the garden that he built for me and the different plants that we planted. The plants were really depressing me because they weren't growing or doing well at all and we put a lot of work into putting the garden together. After talking with my dad, we realized that we were not feeding them... oops! Now, the garden is doing amazing and producing a few veggies to eat. We are expecting lots more in the coming weeks!

4) I am counting down the days left of summer school for more than the reason of being done but also because we are going on a cruise in July! We decided to take a nice vacation this summer because we deserve it haha. We are going on a 7 day cruise to a few places I have never been in the Caribbean. To say I am excited and ready to go is a major understatement!

5) I have a massage today at 3:45 and the minutes are d-r-a-g-g-i-n-g- slower than EVER!!!

Have a great weekend!

 

Who Am I?

I am back from my blogging hiatus to link up with Becky from mrs. to mama. I like participating in link ups so that I can find new blogs to read and meet new people! Becky is hosting a 52 week series of blogging with a purpose.   Topic #1: Who Am I?   This could be answered with depth or simplicity and since I am just getting back into blogging, I went with the simplistic route...    I am a LOVER OF MY FAMILY-  Proud of where I came from and happy with day to day life. I am not perfect but strive to do and be my best at everything I try. I have the best sisters, brother, mom, dad, stepmom, and inlaws!   I am a WIFE- On June 4th, 2011, I took on one of my most desired and exciting roles that I will ever have in my life. Chris and I have been married for a little over 2 years and come Jan. 6th of 2014, we will have been happily together for 10 years. Love him to pieces!!  

  I am a FRIEND- Friends mean the world to me. If we are friends, we are like family. I am loyal and try to lend an ear, shoulder, or hug whenever needed!   I am a TEACHER- I have known since I was in elementary school that teaching was in my future. My sound silly but I absolutely love my job, the people I work with, and the kiddos lives that I hope to touch daily. I could never ever imagine doing anything differnt.   I am a MOM- A fur mom at that! My 2 dogs are my world! Love them like they are my kids.  

  There you have it! I little about me! Have a great Tuesday and let me know if you are participating in this link up so I can check yours out!    

Vegetable Garden

Every since I can remember, my family has had a vegetable garden. I have wanted one of my own since we moved in our house but last year we moved in in May and we were past the planting time frame. 
I went to Home Depot the other day and picked up a couple pots and vegetable plants to start a small garden. I finished planting them and was so proud. My plan was to start off small and grow more and more each year. 

Chris saw how excited I was and said that he would build one a real garden for me. Nice! We have rabbits in our backyard so we needed an above ground garden. Off to Home Depot we went again!

Picking out the wood!

 Got all of the wood cut and making sure it all goes together the way it is suppose to.

 Had to move it to the backyard to finish putting it all together because it was really heavy.

Dogs supervising! 

Mixing the different kinds of dirt together. (This was a pain) 

Garden is in place and half way filled!!  

This is where we learned a lesson the hard way... we had filled the box with all of the dirt and then I thought about our sprinkler system. Our convo went a little something like this...

Me- I wonder where the sprinkler head is.

Chris- Why did you just know think of that?

Me- I don't know but maybe we should turn them on and check...

I did not take any pictures of this part because Chris and I were beyond annoyed that neither of us had thought of this before hand. Needless to say, the sprinkler head was right in the middle of the box and sprayed dirt ALL over the place when it came on. We had had enough for the day, ordered pizza, and went to bed! 

We woke up Sunday morning ready to figure out what we were going to do. We ended up removing all of the dirt, moving the box to a different spot in the yard, filling it again, and then planting the plants. Below is the final product & I love love love it!! 

We are growing green, red, and yellow bell peppers, okra, 2 kinds of jalapenos, cucumbers, and strawberries. I can't wait for them to start growing and producing! I will definitely post an update in a few weeks. 

Meal Plan

I'm back!! I have missed blogging so much lately but just have not been able to find the time to do it. I just got home from the grocery store with lots of new stuff (I have to stop going while I am hungry!!!) and was planning to make dinner. My husband was on our back porch watching baseball when I got home and he asked what was for dinner. I told him enchiladas and he went said how about I grilll... WHA??!! He loves to grill but we worked in the yard yesterday and today and I figured that would be the last thing he wanted to do tonight. So, here I am relaxing and enjoying that I am not making dinner! 
Speaking of dinner, this whole not blogging thing also means that I have not been meal planning for a LONG time. This may sound silly but I get a lot of anxiety when I haven't planned or we don't have what we need for dinner at home. This is my first "real" week back into meal planning and I am so excited (maybe I need to get a life, ha)!
On the menu this week:
Sunday- Grilled pork chops Monday- Chicken Enchiladas Tuesday- Spaghetti w/bow tie pasta Wednesday- Weekly date night to Matt's Thursday- Chicken Enchilada Roll Ups Friday- Saturday- Plans are up in the air. Either way, we will be going out to eat with family! 
If you post your weekly meal plan to your blog, please leave me a comment letting me know! I love to look at other meal plans. I frequently run out of new ideas for dinner. 
& what is a post without pictures... here is a bit of what we have been up to. More to come later this week!