We just returned from the Texas High School Coaches Association Coaching School in San Antonio. This was my first time to get to go to coaching school with Zac and it was fun. We arrived in San Antonio on Sunday after lunch and left Wednesday morning, very early. The hotel we stayed in, The Menger, is the "oldest hotel west of the Mississippi" (it has had visitors such as Teddy Roosevelt, Babe Ruth, Robert E. Lee, etc) and also happens to be haunted. It is literally right next door to the Alamo, and is even built kindof funny because "nothing can cast a shadow on the Alamo." It was a great location, but since it was so old, it was kinda odd. It is hard to explain, you would just have to see it. In case you are wondering...I DID see a ghost. I would not have included this, but Zac is making sure everyone knows I saw one, so I thought I might as well put it on here. We were walking up to the room and I turned a corner, and standing in the middle of the hall was about a six foot dark figure. It seemed to freeze, and then walk straight into the left wall. I ran to the side of the right wall to see if there was a door there, and there wasn't. It was not near as exciting as I thought it would be...in fact, I was outright disappointed after it happened. What do I do with this experience? I mean I will never know who or why I saw it...it is weird! It was very anti-climatic and I am kinda like woop-de-doo, I saw a ghost, big deal! The funny thing is that I was not even into the whole "this hotel is haunted hype" like everyone else was (ah-hem, Zac!) and I am the one who saw a ghost. Whatever. If you want to read more about the ghosts of the Menger, click HERE. Below is a picture of Michelle and Mandi sitting with a "ghost" (we were joking around) in the hotel lobby... Then a group shot (minus Jaime and Courtney,so here's a pic of them in their matching bernuda shorts).
Enough about the hotel...the trip was alot of fun. There is also a THSC Wives Association, so we all joined that and went to a few of their events. We took a "power cooking" class which was actually really helpful and entertaining. Now I just need to put what I learned to use, haha! There was also a small showroom with all different types of vendors, and in the afternoons they had bingo, which was a blast! I have never played bingo as an adult, but it was neat, and the best part was that we all won at least one thing, some of us won twice! I won a $20 gift card to a restaurant. :)
Besides the guys doing their convention stuff, and us doing our girly activities, we had lots of time to just have fun. Zac got to play golf with some of his friends from Burnet. We both got to go to a McMurry reception that was held on the Riverwalk. It was really neat. There is a new Alumni Relations Director and his speech made us super proud to be McM Alum! (Did you know that the presidents of Burger King, America and the BlackBerry Corporation both graduated from McMurry?) I also had time to do a little shopping and see a movie with Meagan and Mandi. We went to see Mamma Mia!, which I highly recommend. It was very fun and cheesy. :) At night we all went out together and had lots of fun at the various bars on the Riverwalk. Did I mention the great Mexican food in San Antonio? haha, it was a great time! I didn't want to come home! Here are a few more pics from the weekend...
"A happy family is but an earlier heaven."-- John Bowring
Braegan, Ellen with Nati, Aunt Sarah, Gabe holding Claire, Uncle Chuck, David, Ariel, Amy and Gian
Tuesday, July 15th, our family "officially" added three new members! They have been in our family for over a year, but last week the State of Texas, and Dallas County made it final! :) My Aunt Sarah and Uncle Chuck now have 5 kids, 2 son-in-laws, and 2 grandkids, which is nuts if you think that just 5 short years ago, they were a family of four! I have the deepest respect and upmost admiration for Chuck and Sarah for bringing these three kids into our family, and I think we are all blessed. I was able to go help them celebrate the adoption and be with them on that magical day. It truly was just that...magical! There is something truly miraculous about adoption, and as a Christian, I believe that God planned and brought them into our lives, and us into theirs for a purpose, just as much as he does when a woman is impregnated. I am not trying to get too deep or anything, I have just discovered over the past year what an AMAZING process adoption is. I have not known much personally about adoption until recently, and now I know about local and foreign adoption, all thanks to the people pictured above. A message to them...I am proud of you, I am grateful for you, and I will be here whenever needed.
"By choice, we have become a family, first in our hearts, and finally in breath and being. Great expectations are good; great experiences are better." --Richard Fischer
Here is a video of my freshmen cheerleaders on our first night of camp. I know that was like "so six weeks ago", but I never posted anything about camp, so better late than never...right? This was our evening evaluation, where we had to take one cheer and one chant that we learned that day and put our own twist on it. (Hence the tumbling, stunts, etc) It would look better if I had been directly in front of them, because they are in a triangle, and their tumbling had a neat pattern that you can't really see from where I am standing. Oh well, just use your imagination. Here it is anyways...
PS-They won a little award for this evaluation. :) Don't they have alot of spirit?? PS#2-Didn't their coach pick cute camp-wear for them? teehee...I think so!
Chances are, you probably just read the title of this blog post and thought "what the heck is Julia talking about?" Well, my friends, do read on, and you will find out. :) In the last week, I have watched three movies that all (completely unplanned and coincidentally) had Morgan Freeman in them. Don;t worry, I will try very hard not to give too much about the movies away! The first one was Wanted. I have a very similar opinion about the movie as Zac did, so please click HERE to find out what we thought about Wanted. I will say it was my least favorite of the three. The next movie I saw, which I rented (Thank you, whoever invented Red Box!) was Bucket List. This movie had Jack Nickelson, and you guessed it...Morgan Freeman. My husband teased me for choosing it, "let me save you a dollar and two hours and tell you what is gonna happen...they both are gonna die." This movie was so much more than that. I really truly did like it. And if you don't like movies for a good heart-warming message, maybe you would like it because they visit amazing places, which that alone makes the movie worth watching. This was my second favorite of the three, which means that my favorite was...brrrrrrr (my tongue is rolling, like I am doing a drumroll) brrrrrr...The Dark Knight! This is what going to the movie is all about to me. This kind of film, where you are amazed and dazzled and so caught up in it. It was a two and half hour movie, but I honestly did not want it to end. I know some critics complained it was too long, but I don't think it should have been a second shorter. I will say that I did have a swirl of emotions seing Heath Ledger up on the big screen, but as the movie went on, it did go away a little bit. He was brilliant in it, as was everyone else. I highly reccomend you going to see this movie on the big screen. It was phenomenal!
Okay, so now you know I was just trying to be clever when I came up with that title. I had no clue that Morgan Freeman was going to be in either Wanted or The Dark Knight, so I just thought it was kind of funny that I kept "running into him" this week. Have a wonderful weekend, and go see a movie!! If you have not seen Hancock, it is another one I highly reccommend. Click HERE for my review. :)
If you know me, it would be impossible for you to not know that I have a new person in my life! My cousin Ellen and her hubby Braegan adopted a little boy from Ethiopia in May, and Nati and I made an instant bond. :) Ellen and Breagan agreed to let me keep him overnight, so this Wednesday, Breagan brought Nati to our house, and last night, we met them in Dallas (half way between our homes) for dinner, and to give him back. I had an amazing time with him, and can not believe how much personality one human can possess! Wednesday... Shortly after Nati arrived, it was dinner time. Zac grilled chicken, and I made macaroni, and Nati went back and forth helping both of us! He can stir with the best of 'em, haha! He ate more than Zac and I combined (which amazed both of us!) and so for dessert he wanted a banana. He ate two of them, and they weren't even the miniature ones...they were the big ones! After dinner, we took him and Molly to a nearby lake to feed some fish. We took a bag of goldfish (which was confusing, and I do not recommend taking "fish" to feed "fish" because no one ever knows which "fish" you are actually referring to!) We all had a blast, and if you watch the videos below, you can see that Nati did NOT like the ducks! Probably the best part of the night was riding home from the lake. Nati asked us to turn on some music, and the song that happened to be playing was don't just stand there "Bust A Move!" Nati danced for us, and even started repeating the women singing oo-oh-ah, oo-oh-ah. Very hilarious!
Thursday
Nati slept in bed with Zac and Molly and me. It was a tight squeeze, but I loved waking up next to him sleeping so sweetly with his hands folded together by his face. When we got up, after some strawberry banana yogurt and a banana, we headed over to a friends house. My friend Michelle has two boys, Camden is five and Nolan is two. We swam a bit, played in the backyard and jumped on their trampoline. After working up quite an appetite we went to a local New York style Pizza place that serves pizza by the slice. I usually just eat one piece since they are so huge (think food court sized pizza!), but Nati the eating champ gobbled his down, telling me "Good Julia!" in between bites. When he was finished with his slice he said "more hungry Julia" so I got him another slice, sure he couldn't finish that whole piece too, but sure enough he did! It was amazing to witness! :) After that we came home for naptime. I thought I would get some school work done when he laid down for nap, but I laid down with him, and I think I probably feel asleep before he did! He is a very energetic kid, so he had worn me out. It was nice to take a nap, and again, wake up next to a little angel. After we were both awake, we had a little snack, wtced YouTube videos, (Nati liked the video of Christian the Lion) and played with Molly, and then before we knew it, it was time to meet Mommy, Daddy, Claire, Aunt Amy, and Juncle John (Nati says Juncle instead of uncle...it is presh!) for dinner in Dallas. When Nati realized I was packing up his bag to go home he started crying. I am glad he had so much fun! I cant wait to have him spend the night again, and I cant wait to be close enough to my neices to have them spend the night too!
Here is a picture of Claire at dinner...She was being so cute. She is a happy girl! When she is older, she will get to have slumber parties with us too! :)
This post isn't meant to be entertaining, but more so informative. If you are already super familiar with blogspot, you can probably just save your eyes and skip this post. If not, here are a few pointers you might wanna check out: My actual blogposts are on the left side, and then there are some cool sidebars on the right: 1. Slide shows-If you click on the little box, you can get to my Picasa, which will show you the pictures larger, and sometimes I might (if I'm not lazy) put captions or comments about the photos. I think I will organize them by month, unless I find something I like better. 2. Videos I Like-These come from You Tube channels that I like. Three of them are mine, and one is my cousin Ellen's. If any of you (my close friends and family) have a You Tube channel that I might want to add to my blog, let me know. These videos are always changing, and sometimes just refreshing the page or scrolling down and then back up brings new videos. 3. My Favorite Blogs-These are blogs that I check on a regular basis that y'all might be interested in checking out too. I love how it shows when they were last updated. I think that is about it, and I know it wasn't that complicated, but just wanted to give y'all the scoop. :) Aren't I considerate? I hope you are enjoying it!
WARNING: This is a very long post, but like my cousin Ellen said on her blog "no one is making you read this." For those of you who like to make fun of me, I am sure this post will give you lots of ammo...enjoy!
Back in May, when I was in Houston, Liz and Andy let me join them for a date night. They had tickets to see The Wedding Singer (the Broadway Across America performance). I went to dinner with them and then when we got to the theater, just as I was about to pay $40 for a ticket, a women stopped me and told me that she had an extra and gave it to me for free. It was amazing. I wish I had asked for her name and number to send her a thank-you letter. Her act of kindness will not be soon forgotten. Anyways, as appreciative as I was that night, and still am, this blog is not about her. So...the show was great. I am a big huge dork, but when I get so excited or overwhelmed, I get a lump in my throat, and tear up. When the first song started and the curtains came up and I saw all the props...this happened to me. (It also happened this first day of cheer camp last month, when all the NCA-staffers came out to blaring music with stunts and tumbling and jumps. I was trying not to let any of my girls see how pumped I was, haha. Again, this blog is not about why I cry at exciting times. This blog is baout how after the show that night, I told Zac that I would love to go to shows all the time like Liz and Andy do. I appreciated the "culture" and the talen level of these people is phenomenal. Fast forward a few weeks later to my birthday, and guess what I got??? Tickets for two to three different shows in the Dallas Summer Musical series. First, Zac and I went and saw Stomp. He actually enjoyed it alot and even laughed out loud at some parts! Not to get sidetracked again, but did you see my skirt? Liz brought that back to me from her trip to Europe. It is a little too small now to wear the normal was (on my waist or hips) so I had the brilliant thought "I will just make it one of those high-waisted skirts that are in style these days!" I asked Zac if it looked okay and he said I looked great. I gave it a look in the mirror and thought it was fine, but when I got to the theater, I got SOOO self conscious. Then, when we asked someone to take our pic after the show, and I looked at it, I realized that this was a look that was not meant for me, and I will never try to pull it off again. Haha, look at the difference in Zac and I where our shirts meet our skirt/pants. Kinda comical, huh? He would die if he knew that I was sharing this, but when we got home and pulled into the garage, on our way walking in, Zac saw some dirt on the ground and started moving his foot over it, making a scratching sound. I grabbed an empty recycle container and started hitting it. I thought we were going to stop after a few seconds, but we probably did it for two or three minutes. It was hilarious. Can you imagine me and Zac in the garage in dressy clothes bainging around making beats? It was hilarious. I was laughing so hard my tummy hurt. I like to be cheesy all the time, but Zac usually doesn't, so his spontenaity surprised me. Okay, back on track Jules! So the next show I went to was Hairspray with Ramsi. I saw this musical on Broadway in New York, so I was a little apprehensive about if I would be able to enjoy the traveling show, but I WAS! Ramsi had never been to a musical before, so I also enjoyed seing her enjoy it. The last show Zac gave me tickets to was High School Musical. I took Stacy to see this one. I had not seen the movie, and really didn't know much about it, so it was fun to go and be totally surprised. Stacy and I met at this cute little restaraunt right by Fair Park (where the shows are) and then walked to the show. It was an amazing evening. Of the three, I think I liked High School Musical the least, but the company and the dinner made up for it. ;)
So we already covered the fact that I LOVE musicals. And if you know me, you know I was obsessed with Legally Blonde when it came out the summer between my senior year of high school and freshman year of college. (Kenji bought me the DVD the day it came out...thanks!) I still love it. I cant pass it if its on TV, even though I own it. (Sidenote: I think this is also when I started my love for Reese Witherspoon.) Well, as if someone was reading my mind...they made a musical of Legally Blonde! It is amazing. I mean, I have not seen it in person, but I have heard some of the songs, and I watched the show on MTV where they were casting a new Elle Woods. Yeah, the girl I wanted to win it did. The season finale was tonight, and it was magical! :) Congratulations Bailey! Anyways, I am just super excited about this musical and hope I get to see it one day. I noticed that it is traveling to Austin and Houston. Maybe Santa will read my blog and get me tickets for Christmas...haha, that would be, like, so, like, Awesome!!! If you want to hear the song I named this post after, click on THIS!
Dear Santa, here are the dates and locations of the shows in Texas. I promise I will be a very good girl the rest of this year! :) In case Santa doesn't read my blog...anyone interested in going with me? 02/03/09 – 02/08/09 Austin, TX: Bass Concert Hall 02/10/09 – 02/22/09 Houston, TX: Hobby Center for the Performing Arts
Grocery Shopping? I love that feeling I get when I have not gone grocery shopping in a long time and I get to the store and get so excited about cooking and having food in the house. This probably sounds so dorky, but we have been so busy and out of town so much that we have not bought food since May. (Okay, so we're bad about eating out, but not anymore!) Anyways, last night we were at Wal-Mart and I was so happy the whole time. I felt like a kid in a candy store, except I was an adult in a Wal-Mart. Wow...that makes me look so pathetic! The excitement carries on for a few days. I was happy while I was putting the groceries away, I was happy when I woke up this morning and had to pack my lunch for school and had good stuff to put in it. (a homemade sandwich with really good deli cheese, a pudding, cheese-its, and fruit snacks...yum!) Long story short...if it has been a really long time, I LIKE to grocery shop.
So I have been with blog.com since September 2007, but I have had so many frustrations with it, I decided to swith to blogspot.com! Hopefully yall will still tune in, and hopefully the fact this is more user-friendly will mean that I will post more often. :) Thanks for being my friends. Keep the comments coming, as that is my favorite part of blogging...getting feedback! Love ya!
My old blog can still be found at http://juliasthoughts.blog.com/ Feel free to look back, or if you are just tuning in, get a look at where it all started.
