Sunscreen Question

I need help from all the water and sun lovers. I am going to purchase more sunscreen for my trip but can't decide how much to buy and what SPF to get. I am guessing 5 bottles of the spray kind of sunscreen. I don't want to run out and can always take the left overs home. Maybe a SPF 15. Or should I go SPF 30? Hmmmm... so many decisions. Opinions please!

Countdown to St. Thomas!

One week and counting until I am basking in the sun on the beautiful Virgin Island of St. Thomas! I am getting so excited that this typically last minute packer, has already started! I already have my floatie, Crocs, bug spray, swim suites and sunscreen. Any other beach necessities I might need?

Growing Up Is Hard To Do

I would say that I am an official adult. I own my own home, I have been teaching for 6 years, and have a dog and cat that depend on me for food, water and shelter. There have been many "hardships" and growing pains that I have experienced in my short time as an official adult. For example, It was hard learning that I actually had to go to bed early so that I could be an effective teacher. It was also hard moving from Dallas to Fort Worth. Another challenge was building my home and learning how to handle the stress of obtaining a mortgage all by myself.



Of all those trials, the hardest to date has been the loss of one of my best friends from college. He died on Wednesday, and today was his funeral. Brian was an incredible friend. He was so easy going and laid back. There are so many great memories that involve him and my other best friends from school, Terry and Lindsey. We were the little group that was always together. We had so many memories and stories to share as we were driving to the funeral. It really makes me cherish my friends even more now that I have experienced the pain of loosing one.

I love my friends!

I am so blessed to have such fabulous friends! I am surrounded by people who love and care for me at work, church and other areas of my life. I realize that many people do not have the network of Christian friends to lift them up when they are down, or pray for them when they need prayer. I am lucky enough to have amazing Christian friends in all areas of my life. Tonight, some friends from church went out to dinner to celebrate Sara's birthday. Here are a few of our fun pictures!

The girls celebrating Sara's birthday!
Michelle, Me and Audra

The birthday girl and me!

5 birds looking for a new home

About 3 months ago, a bird built a nest on my front porch. This little bird built her home precariously on the small ledge of a column on the front porch. I wish I would have seen her building the nest so that I could have knocked it down before she put so much effort into the nest. Unfortunately, I did not notice it until she had laid her 4 little eggs.
Now, I do not like birds. I know this makes me weird, but they poop on you, and your clean car, fly at you, and are just very unpredictable little creatures. All this being said, I am not a monster and could not bring myself to remove the nest with the eggs still in it.

Let's fast forward a couple of months. The eggs have hatched and momma bird has taught the little ones how to fly. They are taking day trips and returning at night. One night, I needed to go outside after dark to water my flowers. I glanced out the window to see all 5 birds in the small nest. I carefully opened the front door and quickly shut the door so they wouldn't fly in the house. All birds were watching me. Then all of a sudden...... BIRDS WERE FLYING AT ME!!!
That night I decided to give the little ones 2 more weeks and then while they were out I would knock the nest down. Well, today marks 2 weeks. This morning while all the birds were out I knocked their home down and have cleaned up all the nasty bird poop left on the front porch. Although, I am happy they are gone, I still feel somewhat guilty that I destroyed their home.

Hoop Dancing

Tonight I tried a brand new class at my gym called Hoop Dance. I arrive a little early and find 3 women already practicing with pretty silver and red hoops. The instructor was giving individual tips to each. One lady was most likely mid 70's one in her 50's and the other in her 30's. The older two women seemed to have knack for this hooping business. After watching for a few minutes I had a friend encourage me to grab a hoop and try. Now, in my mind I was thinking: "you have got to be kidding me! This is so easy!" That was before I tried. I could not get that silly hoop to stay in place to save my life. But after 60 minutes of practicing I can now tell you my dear friends that I now can hula with the best of them (actually - I was THE WORST!).

It was so much fun having 12 people of all ages hula hooping at the gym. The hour flew by quickly, and there were only minor casualties when my hoop sailed across the gym twice. OOPS! :) I was actually surprised that I could work up a sweat "hooping" and SHOCKED to find that I had bruises on both hips. Oh well, a small price to pay for an hour of pure embarrassing fun!

If I can get better at this hoop dance stuff, I would love to purchase some hula hoops for my kiddos at school and we can hula together at recess! I encourage everyone to go out and buy you a hula hoop and start hula hooping. Happy Hooping!

Happy 4th!

For the 4th of July, I drove out to Abilene to visit my mom. All day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday we spent by the pool swimming and grilling out. My puppy, Copper LOVES going swimming! I couldn't decide which video was cuter, so you can see them both! This was my first attempt to use the new video camera, so the quality isn't that great, BUT you can still see how much my dog loves swimming!