Enjoying the last bits of summer weather...

So I as I have said before--I am VERY excited about fall and for fall weather to be here for good. But since I live in Texas, Summer always hangs around for a long time after it should! So Erin and I decided to take advantage of the end of summer weather and go to the waterpark yesterday!

In January, we had started a list of all the things we want to do around Dallas so we can think of things to do during the weekend! This summer we hit a lot of them: Six Flags, the Dallas Zoo, 6th Floor Museum, just to name a few. Also on our list is Hurricane Harbor. They are open all summer and then weekends through the end of September. Since it was supposed to be in the 90's yesterday we decided to go. And boy did we choose a good time!

We got there around 10:30 yesterday morning and had to take time to get used to the cold water! But by 12:00, we had been on every ride in the park. The longest line we waited in had 2 people in front of us! A couple of rides we even had to get the attendant's attention because no one had been on it in a while! It was a good way to tour the park!! We went and got lunch and then came back and laid out to get our last tans before it gets cool.

It was a very fun day--but as I told Erin yesterday now that we made it to the water park and that day is behind us, I am so ready for fall! And stay tuned for fall adventures including The State Fair, Pumpkin Carving, and Baylor Homecoming! I am very excited about this next season!

Best Friends

Here is a video from last weekend when we stayed inside because of the weather. Erin and Sasha came over to ride out the storm with us! Allie and Sasha were not allowed to play together for the first 4 months that we had them because we were scared of how it might go--but they love each other and manage to play pretty well together! So here's a glimpse of some puppy fun (sorry there's no sound, but camera doesn't have a sound recorder)




Our favorite part is when they play and play and then randomly stop and just lay down and stare at each other, then start playing again!

Happy Saturday!

I am so glad it is finally the weekend! This week was a very long one and I ended up having a late visit on Friday (which I never do!) so I didn't get home from work until 7:30 last night! And I was exhausted from my long week, Allie and I crashed early.

This morning we had our normal weekend ritual of going to the dog park. Allie did really well and even went up to a few new people today--which is a big improvement for her!

We also had a good week and took lots of long walks to make good use of the beautiful weather we have been having here. It has felt so good to go to the park each evening and go on a long walk and Allie has loved getting out after being locked up all day long! I only hope that the beautiful weather stays--I have been longing for fall, so now I will be sad when it gets hot again. But it made me very excited about making pumpkin muffins and I even lit my new Pumpkin and Harvest candle this week while I was home!

I started a new book last night. I absolutely love reading and I can get lost in a good book for hours at a time. So last night I headed to Borders to find a new book to read and I ended up getting Get off your knees and Pray by Sheila Walsh and so far I love it! It seems like it is going to be very good and I'm excited to get into it!

Updated Color

So I decided to redo my blog a little bit. I absolutely love the song that the new header comes from and I was listening to it in the car the other day I realized how much I cherish this thought: God loves me, and He picks up the pieces of my broken heart, but he doesn't just heal me, He lets me dance. I've been through seasons in my life where I cried out for healing--for just a glimpse of His grace and hope. And looking back over the last year I see how far He has brought me--things that probably aren't evident to anyone else, but the changes in my heart and my soul are like night and day. And I bask in the thought knowing that God has brought me here.

Knowing that out of the brokenness in my life He has made me whole. But He didn't just pick up the pieces and leave me to continue healing--He picked me up out of the pit and He lets me dance through this world. To me, it's just a beautiful picture of His grace...

Weekend Craziness

This weekend I am babysitting Simon & Noah 2 boys that I watched when they were much younger (along with their older brother Tyler and sister Liz). So Allie and I are staying over at their house for the weekend. Everything is going pretty well, except someone got hurt--not either of the boys, but my baby did...

They have a cat, Max, who is pretty used to dogs, but Allie is a whole different story. Because Allie may not like other people, but she loves any other animals. If she sees a dog, she is ready to play, so surely a cat is going to respond no differently, right? Last night Max was under the kitchen table and Allie kept running downstairs to look at him and he would hiss and she would bark and I would catch her and take her back upstairs. But one time I didn't get there soon enough and Allie went under the table to see Max and all the sudden I saw his paw come out and heard Allie yelp and run back. I picked her up and she was crying badly. And after a minute I realized she wasn't really opening her left eye. So last night, Allie got scratched in the eye by a cat. Now Allie has played with many other dogs-- one in particular that is 4 times her size (seriously) and has managed not to get hurt more than a little scrape--1 minute with a cat and she can barely see!

Since this happened at around 10:30 last night, I had no idea what to do exactly. So I decided to just go to bed and see how it was this morning. Well, this morning it wasn't any better, so I made an appointment at the vet. Good news is she has no scratches or cuts on her cornea--but she does have an infection in her eye and they think it's staph infection. So Allie is home and will be subjected to eye ointment 3x a day for the next week or so and has to go back to the doctor on Tuesday.

Now the boys and I are off to meet Erin for dinner and a movie at the dollar theater! More adventures from the weekend to come, I'm sure...

This is Adorable and Amazing

My supervisor at work sent me this video--it's the keynote speech at the convocation for Dallas ISD faculty and staff... by a 5th grade student. So cute and he is very inspirational!


http://www.dallasisd.org/keynote.htm

Labor Day...

I have very much enjoyed having today off! I didn't do much. Allie and I spent the morning at the dog park (which as I'm sure you can tell, has become a regular thing for us!). One thing I have done this weekend is spend a lot of time in the kitchen!

Tonight I am going to hang out with some people from my ABF and I decided to make a dessert to take. And I have really been wanting some Chocolate Eclaire Pie which is my mom's specialty. She makes it every Christmas and usually for at least 1 of our birthday's a year and any time she needs a dessert to take somewhere! So I whipped out the recipe and made a Chocolate Eclaire.

Then I was looking at all of my cookbooks and decided I really wanted to try to make a cheesecake from the book my mom gave me for my last birthday. It is a cheesecake book from Junior's which is a famous Cheesecake bakery in New York. I made my first cheesecake from there on Easter--a plain cheesecake with chocolate topping. Today I decided I would try to make the Strawberry Swirl Little Fellas--they just finished cooling and they are so good!

And of course I didn't want Allie to feel left out, so I also made her a treat for Labor Day--Frosty Paws!! I got the original recipe for frosty paws from my sister-in-law Aja who makes them for her sweet puppy Maggie. And they have traveled and are now made not only in my home, but also at Nicki's and Erin's! So it has been an eventful day in the kitchen--but I have loved it! Hope everyone enjoyed a day off!