Happy 2011-lots of updates!

Well it certainly has been a little while since I have updated on here! It has been a very eventful past few months with a few ups and downs. We are so blessed to have every one of you in our life and even though we do not see many of those we love enough, we are always thinking of you and praying for you. Texas is great and we really are enjoying it but no place is truly home without family. We trust that this is where we need to be at this time in our life though and we are both working hard to make the best lives that we can for now.

In the meantime there has been a lot going on! Let's see if I can recap our last two months with the most important events that occured!

* November 14th- Sim and his unit returned home! It was so amazing to stand at the Houston Air Station and watch the plane land with our loved ones on it! As you would expect it has been absolutely wonderful having him home! It only took about a week or so for us to settle back into a routine and now it honestly feels like he never left, which is the way I like it.



* December 18th- I graduated with my MBA! There were around 600 people in our graduation ceremony (The College of Business and the College of Education). Not too shabby for a December graduation! There was a big crowd of family and friends in attendance and while we really missed having friends and family there to celebrate with us, Sim made up for being the only one there and when they called my name he yelled so loud, I could hear him all the way up on the platform! I have to thank everyone for being so supportive to me on this long journey over the past 2.5 years. I really could not have done it without you as my cheerleaders and especially Sim who always supported me and helped me to remain motivated.



* Christmas 2010- We broke tradition this year and instead of heading up to VA we drove (yes DROVE) to Nashville Tenessee, to spend the holiday with Joel, Allie and the kids. It was so nice to enjoy a week together of seeing Hendersonville & Nashville, meeting their friends, playing games, cooking, and enjoying my first Zumba experience with Allie! We can't wait to get back up there. Maybe next time in the summer when it's a little warmer though! ;)




* January 2011- This month I am leaving my current position at The University of Texas Medical Branch and moving into a great new opportunity at the same institution. I have been in my current role for over three years and while I am SO excited at the opportunity to advance and use those wonderful degrees I worked so hard for.....I will miss my office, my coworkers and the clients where I have been for the past few years. It has certainly been a learning and growing experience for me to apply for jobs, to finally secure one, and to have to leave my position for a new one. I have been looking for a new opportunity for about a year but it so wonderfully coincided with my graduation that I am just so grateful to be able to officially close one chapter of my life and open another one all at once. It is a wonderful feeling that I truly appreciate.

*Lastly another January event is that we FINALLY leave on our cruise!! We have been counting down to this vacation since we booked it in June and unofficially looking forward to a cruise for years! Next week this time we'll be sailing in the Caribbean and we just can not wait! When our alarm off this morning at 5:45am I reminded Sim that in one week...we won't have an alarm to wake us up!

Missing him

Just missing him a little extra today :( I am SO ready to have him home. There is nothing like having your best friend around and no matter how much you try to keep busy to trick yourself from thinking about it....the quiet moments sneak up on you when you just feel empty inside.

On a positive note, he is now supposed to be coming home one week earlier than we originally anticipated! How is that for a glass half full?

Race for the Cure

This past Saturday I participated in my first Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in Houston. Three friends and I were part of UTMB's team. Last year UTMB's team was ranked #12 out of over 1200 teams in the amount of money that was raised at the event. This year's goal was to raise $25,000 and as of race day we had raised over $16,000. UTMB Race for the Cure Fundraising Page

The event was amazing! There were over 32,000 people there and it was truly inspirational to see that many people gathering together to support such an important cause. Breast Cancer surivors were wearing bright pink shirts that said "Survivor" on them and there were hundreds of them walking around. It's empowering to see woman and men who have fought cancer and won. There are too many people affected by this disease and we can only hope that with more funding, support, and increased knowledge and access to treatment we can one day live in a world without breast cancer!



When I got home from the race on Saturday I decided I had not inflicted enought pain on my body yet so I proceeded to get to work on our yard! 11 bags of mulch later, a LOT of bush pruning, a little planting, and tying back of plants I was done! It's much more fun to do yardwork with an extra set of hands but I'm proud I got this done all on my own! I had to tackle both a hornet and a yellow jacket nest but I won! The orange flowers are looking a little rough because I had just tied them up to a stake to help them grow better. They were getting really top heavy and were touching the ground. Hopefully within a week or two they'll be a little more receptive to their new placement and start filling out a little bit.

 My new mums. They will hopefully bloom a purple pink color!

The whole yard

Lastly here is Charles playing with his favorite toy. I'm not sure what I would do without this little guy around to keep me company!

Here...then gone again

The summer has flown by! I can't say that I'm upset by that because really I'm just ready for the end of November to be here.

The end of July was spent in Chocowinity and Emerald Isle, NC with my family. It was so good to see everyone and most especially all of my favorite kiddos. They are just growing too fast.

The greatest news I received all summer though was that Sim would be able to come home for one week of leave in the beginning of August. It was by far the best week of the summer and of course went by TOO fast.

Below are a million pictures documenting his visit:

The temperature on Sim's first day back in Texas!

We went to a fish fry and cookout at our friend's house, The Ramirez's. Below is Sim with two of his coworkers/bosses, Alfonso & Homar.

Erica & I

Sim & I

Monday we toured the Nolan Ryan Museum in Alvin, Texas (The home town of Nolan Ryan)

Me & Nolan

Sim with his Nolan Ryan signed baseball

Homemade Lasagna dinner (I had so much lasagna leftover it is still in my freezer!)

Sim enjoying being home on his couch!

Astros game Vs. The Mets

Sim enjoying the game

Cooking on his Barbecue

Great Margarita Mix (made in Galveston!)

Our yummy Margaritas!

Sim's HUGE plate of food...think he was hungry?

Pool Day!

Sim enjoying the pool and a beverage

We went to the Wildlife park near our house on Saturday (another very hot day) to feed the animals and had a blast!

Heading out to dinner his last night

We spent some time discussing our plans for our upcoming cruise in January too! We're SO excited to be spending a whole week sailing the Caribbean together. It will be our second honeymoon/grad school & deployment are over celebration! We'll be on the Royal Caribbean Voyager of the Seas and will travel to Mexico, The Cayman Islands and Jamaica. Our first time to all three places- can't wait!

Independence Day!

Happy 4th of July!! Today also marks 9 weeks since Sim left. A milestone of sorts in that this is officially the longest we have ever been apart from each other. Not really a milestone that I was hoping to achieve but this is the way the Lord has directed our lives so...here we are!

 I spent July 4th keeping busy with some good friends and some of the Coast Guard families from Sim's unit. I went on a brunch boat cruise with my friend Sabrina out into Galveston Bay and then spent the evening BBQing and watching fireworks at a fellow Coastie family's house. I also lit off my very first Roman Candle! I grew up terrified of those things... I mean who in their right mind would actually want to hold a firework as it is going off? Oh my goodness! It was the biggest rush! 

The pictures below are from the brunch cruise and of my friend Ashton and her daughter with sparklers.

June just flew by! Which I have to admit I am happy about! I was able to escape home to VA for what I think was the shortest weekend ever but it was SO worth it. I was able to see my beautiful niece Alexandra for the very first time! It was so nice to see family and spend the weekend in scenic Virginia. I think Sim and I have it mixed up coming home every year for Christmas. Virginia is MUCH more beautiful and welcoming in the summertime!! Below are photos from the baptism and the Orioles vs. Met's game in Camden Yards (Alexandra's FIRST baseball game and Met's game!)

The end of June I traveled to my FAVORITE Texas city for a work conference. If you've ever asked me about Texas...you have probably figured out that, while Sim and I are really enjoying our time here, we do miss some of the gorgeous beaches and scenery that we were so lucky to be surrounded by in Florida. Southeast Texas is very flat, very brown, and very humid. Austin, Texas on the other hand is in the "Hill Country" of Texas and is surrounded by lakes, rivers and rolling hills....beautiful! So I was very happy to get a trip out to the Hill Country compliments of UTMB.

We took the opportunity to explore the State Capital building which I had seen from the outside before but never been inside. WOW! Everything truly is bigger in Texas. This building is not only huge but it is built up on a large hill with a maze of offices and hallways underground. I walked the halls observing the names and faces of every Texas Governor since James Pinckney Henerson took office in 1846. What a beautiful historic building!

In the midst of all of this traveling I have been swamped with my summer school. Whoever thought that taking two classes in the nine-week semester was a good idea is crazy! (Oh wait...that was me!) Seriously though I am trying very hard to stay focused on the fact that in 5 more weeks I'll have 6 more credit hours under my belt and only ONE MORE CLASS until I graduate!!