WORST blogger. EVER.

Hello everyone,

So, I started this blog so that everyone who wanted to could keep up with all the goings on in our world. APPARENTLY, you have to continue to post in order for that to be effective. Who knew?

So so so sorry that I haven't been keeping up with this... BUT... if you are interested, I will take this opportunity to bring you up to speed. I am not sure how often I will keep this thing updated from now on since I will be close to most of you, but I will try.

Ok, now on to the good part. Since the last post, there have been TREMENDOUS changes in our life. Thus, I will give you the short version of what could otherwise be an extremely long post. You're welcome :)

Let's start in April, since that's where everything hit chaos status. Prior to April was pretty much the same old same old. The weekend of April 22, we moved out of our apartment in League City and into an apartment in Pearland, which is just about an hour away. Basically, League City would be considered SE of Houston, and Pearland is SW of Houston. We moved here because this is where I was teaching preschool. It made more sense for us to live here, so that instead of both of us commuting to school, only one of us was. We also downsized in apartments. So, lower rent, less gas, happier checkbook. That was all fine and dandy, except 3 days after we moved in, I got called and about a job at Central coaching and teaching. It wasn't an official offer, but basically I was the one they wanted. This would mean that I would move back to Angelo in August, and Mick would still be here doing his rotations. NOT a fun scenario. So, REALLY long story short, we essentially made the decision too, feeling VERY strongly that this was a God thing, we would at least take a step of faith and agree to see where the opportunity led. This decision was NOT made easily, as some of you will know. However, after hours of conversations, prayers, tears, and losing sleep, we felt like the best thing to do would be to just be open and see where God led us. Basically our prayer was that if this is what we were supposed to do, then the doors would be opened, and if not, then they would be closed. In the end, EVERY single door that could have possible been opened, was. The position was changed from the  original opening to fit me perfectly, we found out that Mick could get rotations moved to Angelo, etc. Skipping all the details, I did get the job, and we did decide to go for it. This is good for us in many ways 1) much more steady and reliable income. it ensures that we will have a base income for next year, so that when Mick finishes school we will be able to get a home, and Mick will be able to go for the job he WANTS, rather than just taking one because he has to have income. 2) with the education world being what it is right now, job opportunities like this don't come around very often, and we are lucky to have been offered it 3) It ensures that  we will be able to move back to San Angelo a lot more smoothly 4)basically, its exactly what we had been praying for, it just came a year earlier than we were expecting. It will be the hardest thing we have ever done no doubt, but we have faith that we are in God's will and we have faith in our relationship and commitment to each other, so we are ready to tackle this together!

That all being said, that means its time to move.. AGAIN. Tomorrow, we will move out of our apartment here and into an apartment in Galveston. We are doing this because Mickey's rotations will mostly be in Galveston, so there is no reason for him to drive an hour one way if I am not working in Pearland. Mick is VERY excited about living on the island. He has conned me into getting him a kayak, so between that and a friend of ours who has a boat, lets just say I am sure he will become one with the sea. :)

I finished working at the preschool at the end of June, and Mickey started his first rotation at the begining of July. He has been working in the ER at the UTMB hospital, and has really enjoyed it. Although the 12 hour shifts have been pretty tough, he has seen and gotten to do some really cool stuff! If you would like more details on that, give him a call! His next rotation starts the first week of August and will be General Surgery!

We did get to have some fun in the middle of all this... the last week of June we had a week of vacation :). We got to spend a couple of days in Angelo, then spent a few days in Possum Kingdom, and then took our own roadtrip through the hill country! The first stop was Colorado Bend State Park where we got to hike to Gorman Falls. We stayed the night in Fredericksburg and then went to Enchanted Rock the next day. After climbing Enchanted Rock, we drove to Boerne and stayed the night. The next day, we kayaked the Guadalupe River. We then went to San Antonio for lunch, and of course, to buy the kayak. I was a really great trip and a MUCH needed get away!

Ok, that was still a long post. Just imagine if I had given you the long version! Thank you all so much for your love and support. We make a pretty awesome team, but there is no way we could do it without yall!

Love yall!
M&K

hello world

wow.. i know, its been forever... and for that, i appologize.

for the first time since we moved, we have actually been really busy on the weekends!!! hahah.

so this one might be kinda long... but here we go..

october FLEW by! nothing super exciting has really happened in school or work for either of us. my sweet three year olds are still keeping me on my toes all the time! and i am loving my job more and more every day :) i have the BEST co-teachers and they have started to become great friends! i have decided we could probably write a book of things kids say that you never saw coming... those kids along with two teachers that have a great sense of humor keep my day full of laughs! which is key when working with three year olds, amen? mick is still doing well in school... october for him meant tests, tests, and more tests. one week he had three, the next he had four... thats about how its gone. it has been a challenge, but he is right on track and doing great!! the study group that he has formed has really been key for him and been an effective way to study, so he is thankful for that! this coming thursday we have a big thanksgiving dinner with all of the families at my school! i cant wait for that because mick will finally get to meet the teachers and kiddos i work with... so get ready for posts about that!

and heres why we have been so busy...

weekend 1 - mick and i went to the brazos county fair an rodeo! it was a full PRCA rodeo and we caught it on finals night, so it was a lot of fun :) after the rodeo, we stayed for the eli young band concert they had on the fairgrounds. if you dont know who eli young band is, its just a texas country band that we like a lot. so, it was really fun to get to go to that. it was a little taste of home for us:)

weekend 2- the week of my birthday, mick had a TON of tests. so, the monday before my birthday is when he took me to celebrate. we had dinner at a restaraunt here called Las Brisas, that turned out to be really good. after that we came home and he had a pumpkin waiting for me so we could carve it! i know maybe that seems silly, but i had been begging him to take me to get a pumpkin for a couple weeks and he kept saying no... so the fact that he remembered that and went and got one for my bday was really special to me! we had a lot of fun carving and painting it :) well.. i probably had a lot of fun, and mick just did it to make me happy, but either way.. great bday! that weekend, i headed back to angelo for the weekend and mick stayed here in league city to study. i was pretty bummed to leave him here, but i had a GREAT visit back home! the only down side was it was way to fast. friday- i got off the plane and me and mom immediatly went to get ALLLL my hair chopped off! I got about 10 inches cut off and i am going to donate it to locks of love...which is a company that uses donated hair to make wigs for cancer patients. after that mom took me to academy and bought me some sweet new tennis shoes :) then we went home and met up with the rest of my familia!! i was soooo beyond happy to see them! after that it was off to DUNBAR for dinner with all the family for my bday :) again... soooo happy to see everyone!
after dinner, it was off to the central football game! it was good to be back watchin the bobcats! Saturday i went with mom and dad to check out the new Cross Texas Supply building. i could not be more proud of my parents for doing what they are doing :) if you havent seen it, go check it out!! then we picked up coby and headed to the house. the four of us played around in the yard and just hung out (ps.. it was really great tosee my puppies too!!), then i went to Henrys (score!) to eat lunch with all the matthews for my bday! it was so fun seeing them and catching up :) after lunch it was off to meet joslyn and watch her soccer game. after her game we got to hang out and chat... i miss that girl! then it was off to meet renee to take some pics (which proved to be a dangerous venture... but the two of us always seem to get ourselves in a mess haha), then back to their house to see all the kiddos and clif!! we went to the glenmore fall festival (so fun!) then to eat :) cant even tell you how much we miss the robbins!
then it was off to the engels for a little while... again, miss them like crazy and it was great to catch up! then went to meet nicole and dustin at the ropin fiesta dance and then back to their house!!! it was so good to be hangin out with nic :) sunday was church at GMBC :) then lunch where i got to see some more family, then just hangin out at the house with the fam till it was time to fly back to league city! mom and ash took me to the airport, where lauren happened to be flying on the same flight as me. after saying goodbyes and crying some more (of course) lauren and i were off! on the plane i met a really neat girl who long story short i just might be teaching with in angelo some day! its a small world!! even though i was sad to leave the family.. i COULDNT WAIT to get back to mick! i was so happy to see him when he picked me up from the airport :)

weekend 3 - after a fast and furious week, mick and i took a roadtrip to Nacogdoches to watch ashley play in the regional flag football tourney there! it was a really great trip. the drive there was BEAUTIFUL... that town is absolutely gorgeous in the fall! we had a really great time just getting out of town and seeing a new place. we ate lunch at a place that one of micks friends from school told him about. it was YUMMY. then we were off to the fields!! i was really excited to see ash :) i miss my sister  A LOT and it was fun to hang out with her. they went undefeated and ended up winning regionals!! (thats the way us Dyches girls do it ya know?) on the way home, mick got a phone call from chad inviting him to go to the HOUSTON TEXANS game for free!! not only that, he got to sit right on the 50 yard line! he went to the game on sunday and LOVED it. not only that, but the Texans were playing the Browns, which mean he got to watch Colt McCoy play too! it was a really great opportunity for him :)

this weekend, we went to dinner last night in Texas City (thanks Rainey family)! and tonight we are headed over to Britnie and Ty's (micks cousins- for my family) for a cookout for her bday! it should be a lot of fun and we are looking forward to it!

well, thats the run down... sorry we havent been keeping up lately!!! here are some pictures from the last month!

ps... i have discovered pinterest... expect pics of new projects soon :)

click here to see pumpkin pics :)

click here to see locks of love pics :)

                                                   rodeo time in Brazoria County

                                                          Drew and Stone as "Stitch"

                                                                 My buddy :)

                                                  had to have me some Packsaddle!!

road trip to see Ash!

mom has more pics of my trip home... hopefully she will put them on fb soon ;)

WE LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL!!! see you in a couple weeks for Thanksgiving!!

- M&K

Mickey's Turn-ish!

Alright, I know it's a few days late, but we had a busy weekend and didn't really get the chance to sit down and write. Plus it rained most of Sunday and apparently our internet doesn't like clouds? Anyways, this will be my first chance to post, and since we're halfway (CRAZZZY RIGHT?!!) through the semester, I have quite a bit to talk about.

I'll start with the basics: Classes. I know I've probably been over them countless times by now, but I want to make sure you guys are on the same page when I start ranting/venting/praising one. First the favorites. Clinical Medicine, Physical Diagnosis, Anatomy. Clinical Medicine (Clin Med) to me, is the most applicable to what I'll actually be doing once I get into a clinic, so I soak up everything I can. We basically take the body system by system and cover a majority of the diseases/conditions/symptoms associated with each system. Physical Diagnosis (PD), like the title implies, ties into Clin Med but is much more on the "hands on" side of things. We also have a lab with this class, where I'm learning how to do a complete physical exam on a person (239 items to cover!!) and we've already completed the history portion of it. Our lab instructor (who is also the lecture instructor) is awesome, very much of a mother figure, everyone in our lab LOVES her. Last favorite, Anatomy. Everybody knows we do cadavers, and while it still may gross you out (Kayla included), it's really not as bad as you would think. I've gotten to see some pretty cool things: pacemakers, tumors, etc., and we're doing so much learning while we're in lab that you really never stop to think about the weirdness of it. This past week we got to remove the heart and lungs, this week we start on the abdominal cavity.

Now for the not-so-favorites. Clinical lab methods, while sort of interesting, is mostly confusing, and I question how much I'll ever use it. The same can be said for Health Promotion/Disease Prevention (HPDP). While the instructors are very gung-ho about it, I doubt I'll ever have to use ANY of the stuff we've covered thus far.
Pathophysiology: it's not that I don't like this class, it's just that it's difficult for me to understand and grasp the concepts. I really like the professor, he reminds me a lot of some of the "old school" (Wheeler, Watkins, Noelke, Yarborough) ASU profs I had. The issue is that he teaches the class entirely from between his ears, so lots of times the powerpoints and my book are virtually worthless when it comes to studying. Luckily, I've met with him a couple of times and he's aware of what I'm dealing with in his class and seems to be willing to help.

We've had at least 1 test in each class, and I'm doing as well as anybody thus far. A couple of classes it took actually having a test for me to figure out what I should be focusing on. Thankfully, I still have a strong chance at making excellent grades across the board.
 
Additionally, as part of our Physical Diagnosis lab, we were required to participate in a female breast/pelvic exam, as well as a male genital/prostate exam. Definitely a nerve-racking thought, but once we actually got in the exam rooms (had a classmate as a partner), it was a really neat learning experience. They use standardized patients who have been participating for several years, so it's way more educational than you might think.

Now for a little more exciting stuff
While we're on school, I've gotten the opportunity to get involved in a little bit of extracurricular activities. The main one will be a group called Student Ambassador Society (SAS). SAS is basically a face for the university, acting as a school representative for potential students, alumni, and distinguished guests. It's a good resume builder, and it gives me a chance to possibly bump elbows with some up and ups in the medical profession!!

I think Kayla has already covered it a little bit, but I've managed to work my way into a small study group of students that all live off the Island. We meet every so often, usually before exams, to quiz each other and study together. This study group has also translated into a sort of social group. Last Saturday we got together to watch the OU vs. TX game (embarrassing) at one of the girls' houses, who happens to be an OU alum. We had a good time and actually ended up studying a little bit.

As most of you would expect, I've gotten to do my fair share of fishing since we've been down here. The most exciting up to this point would probably be last Friday. I had walked down behind our apartment complex on a dead end road into a REALLY nice neighborhood. I found access to the lake through a gate to a "community" (there's not any houses inside the gate). It was really windy, so I was trying to keep my back to it or at least across me. I ended up not landing a single fish, but fought with a very LARGE black drum/sheepshead for at least 15 minutes on two different occasions. It was lots of fun, even if I didn't get to touch him. Two things I learned from that fight, 1. ALWAYS be somewhere where you can follow/walk with the fish 2. You WILL lose your fingerprints on your thumb from trying to slow the drag down.
I've also gotten the itch for a kayak (hint, hint!) so that I can get to other places on the lake.

Ok that's enough babbling, I'm gonna try and put some pictures up from school for you guys to see. Love and miss you all, the first time I'll see any of you will be Thanksgiving!

The guys of the class. There's 11 of us! That's 8 more than the last class!!

 All 88 of us for PA week on the steps of Old Red. (Old Red was the original Medical School back in 1891, it's officially known as the Ashbel J Smith Building)

 One of the cruise ships all lit up. I caught this as I was heading home from an evening library study session

 Our monsoon rains from Sunday. It would do this for like 20-30 minutes on and off from 9-3 before it slowed down and rained more consistently the rest of the day

 Some crazy clouds rolling onto the Island from another storm system a couple of weeks ago. I'm on the far west end of the Island in this picture.

 The gator I ran into fishing the lake last week. You can just see his body and most of his tail here, he was probably 4-5 feet!

its October!!

YAY! October is here :) its my favorite month... wonder why ;)

So this week went by crazy fast. I really almost forgot that it was even time to update this thing today! No too much has happened this week... pretty much just school and work... so this blog wont be very exciting. Never-the-less...

first up, micks school. this week mick had two more tests. one on monday and one on wednesday. so, if you are thinking he didnt have time to do anything but study, you would be correct. he litterally gets home from school, relaxes for maybe an hour and we eat... then, hes back to the books till anytime between 10:30 and 12. sounds fun right? however, it at least payed off and he made some good grades on his tests! he did get a bit of a breather after wednesday though, so that has been good!

for the first three days of the week, we were down a teacher in my classroom..... so, even though we did perfectly fine and everything  went well, it took a bit more energy!!most of the week was pretty typical, but on friday we got to have a parade!! this parade was our multicultural parade. so, each class chose a country and we had to make costumes out of paper in the classroom for the kiddos. our class chose brazil.. our costumes looked like the chiquita banana girl! they were SO adorable! we made fruits with glitter and glued them on a big hat for them, then we made arm ruffles out of coffee filters that we painted, and made cut out paper plates painted with glitter and feathers and streamers on them for them to carry. each item was made by the students in class (with our help of course)! one of the other teachers (ms sira) also painted their faces with face paint and glitter. they were sooooo cute!! i wish i could post pictures, but due to some of the school laws i cannot post any pictures of the kids online, so i will have to show you another time. after the parade in the morning the parents brought TONS of food and the rest of the day was pretty much party day! it was a great end to the week except for a four hour training i had to be at this morning. boo.

in other news... our friend hannah and her parents came down on thursday night because she might be going to utmb next year and they came down to tour the school and what not. mick showed them around the island and stuff thursday and then after work i met them all down on the island for dinner! hannahs parents were sooo nice AND bought us dinner! it was great to see a friend and was a fun time!
also, last wednesday i fell victim to the full effect of working at a preschool and got sick. haha. im still sick, but hopefully on the upswing. its just a silly cold or sinus infection type thing... just enough to make me exhausted! but, i have an amazing husband who has cooked and cleaned and taken care of me all week :) hes the best!!!

also, in a church update... we went to the same church again last sunday.. i think we are pretty close to deciding this is where we will stay. we also joined this group called starting point. like i said last week, they dont do sunday school, so they have life groups that meet whenever... but we missed the date for life group sign up... so, starting point was our best option to get involved. basically, starting point is geared towards discovering the story of Christ. so, it mainly targets people who are questioning Christianity or are new Christians and want to learn more. however, it is open to everyone and is a good way to meet people. so, we decided it couldnt hurt to join. we meet every sunday after the service. we LOVED it. it is really cool because our group has a pretty good mix of people who are questioning or new vs. people who have been Christians for a long time. there is one guy in our group who is married to a strong Christian, but has never been a follower himself and is questioning all of it, but is open and wants to learn. there are also two other couples who are brand new to the church scene and this is the first time they have ever been involved with anything in a church. then there is us and a couple of other girls who are actually very active in the church and are doing starting point as a refresher. it is SO cool to be seeing this Bible study from all points of view. first of all, it is always good to go back and talk about the basics and talk about the fundamentals.... but it is also really neat to hear people ask questions about things or make comments about things that we really take for granted as part of the Christian faith. we really feel like this is going to be a neat experience because 1- this will be the first study that we have done together as a couple, even though we have been involved together its always been in seperate groups. 2- we feel like we have a chance to offer some experience from what God has already taught us and hopefully show Christ to the people in our class who dont yet know Him. 3- hearing their questions and comments really makes us go back and look at WHY we believe what we believe and strengthen and inforce what we know to be true about God. weve only had the introductory session and all of this came from it! it is a ten week study, so we are very excited to see what happens!! pray for God to be evident in our lives within this group and for us to be open not only to what God has to teach us, but also that we would be tools for God to reach out to these people!! also pray for everyone in the class that they would be open and soft hearted so that they could hear the voice of God!

that is about all for this week!! we love you and miss you!

ps... i finally got a pay check!! yayyyyy for income!!

-m&k

finally saturday!!

so its been about a week since our last post.... thats my goal, update every weekend. so if you are following, look for updates on saturday or sunday!

this week has gone by REALLY fast! probably because both of us are now busy all day every day ha. Micks school is officially in intense mode. this week he had two tests already... which will pretty  well be routine from now on. the good news -  he has established a study group with three girls who live in the league city area, so no more driving all the way to the island to study for a couple hours! the three girls are all also married, so its kind of a neat deal! sunday night they met at a girl named kristen's apartment, and tuesday night the girls came over to our apartment to study. this seems to be a pretty big benefit and has worked really well for him! his tests went pretty well! he at least now knows a little bit more about the pace and expectations that will be put on him for testing, which is always a good thing to know! 

this week was also my first full week at work! i really do love my new job :) of course there are a few kiddos that  like to test you day  in and day out...but come on, they are three! over all we have really great group of kids! the two girls that i work with are also super sweet and a lot of fun, and with three year olds, there are lots of laughs throughout the day haha. we did have a front come in this week, so between the weather change and working with little ones i did manage to end up getting a little bit sick by the end of the week, but nothing major. one of the little boys birthday is this weekend, so we got to end the week with a birthday celebration! little kid birthdays = cupcakes!! yay!! of course they were spiderman cupcakes too haha :) i wish i could post pictures of them for yall, but we arent allowed to do that... you would fall in love them in a heartbeat too :)

what we learned this week - DONT GO TO A WALK IN CLINIC AFTER 7!! aparently, the only ones that are open after 7 here double as ERs... soooo you get to pay an arm and a leg. like i said, i started getting sick on wednesday.. had a pretty bad soar throat and a fever, so even though i hate going to the doctor (which after this trip i believe my feelings are well founded!), i decided i needed to know if i was really sick and contagious so i didnt go to school and get the kiddos sick. long story short, i tested negative for strep, so the doc said it was just a virus that would have to run its course and i was fine to go to school. annnnnnd then... he proceeds to write me a prescription for ibuprofen and throat lozenges. REALLY????? thanks bud... but uhh... those are common household medicines and i think ill just stick to the ones i have. dumb. then, we go to leave and learn about all the lovely charges. so, i spent two hours in a drs office for a ton of money to accomplish the same thing i could have done on the couch at home. see, my dislike for going to the doctor is not my fault. and yes... i am married to a soon to be pa. ha

in other news, we FINALLY got to hang out with/meet some new friends! friday night we went out to a restaurant with the three other couples from micks study group. mick and i ate before to save money hahaha... welcome to broke world! anyway, we really enjoyed hanging out with them...all of them are extremely nice! there was one couple in particular that likes to do outdoor things and play sports.. SCORE!! all of the couples are also Christians, which is a huge benefit, and none of them have kids yet, so it makes it easy to make plans last minute. hopefully we will get to hang out with them again sometime soon!

thats about it for this week's excitement! we love and miss you all! see you soon!

-m&k

yes, we are alive

hey all :)



so we just now got access to internet in our apartment (thanks mom and dad!).... thus, i can FINALLY keep this thing updated!! so, this will be a very long post... buuuut... it will bring everyone up to speed on whats been going on!

so this past tuesday (sept 14) marked one month since we moved to league city! i am not quite sure if the time has gone fast or slow... but it does seem crazy that its already been that long! we did get our apartment all decorated and set up the way we want it :) we LOVE our apartment... which is such a blessing, and definitely has made the move much easier. mick has gone fishing almost everyday since we have been here..at least 3 to 4 times a week i do believe haha. He has finallly figured out a method that is pretty successful, which only increases the number of times he has been fishing. he is definitely loving that! anyway, here are the things that have happened over the past month...

the last weekend in august, mick and i snuck home for the weekend and surprised our parents!! mick hadnt started school yet, i hadnt started working, and cobys game got moved to friday (they are usually on thursday)... since it would be the only football game we would be able to make of his all year (which makes me sad), we decided to go ahead and come home to see it!!! as soon as we got to town we went over to the matthews house to suprise them!! we got to hang out there for a little while and visit with them... it was so good to see them :). then.. we happened to get into town in time for my indoor soccer teams last game, and joslyn convinced me to go, so i did!! it was fun and really great to see the girls! after that, we headed to fuentes. on the way home, i had emailed a good family friend, julie, and asked her to invite my family out to dinner at 730 at fuentes so that we could get them to the restaurant and still suprise them. she did awesome and it was a complete success!! we got to fuentes first, so we got a table for the two of us and both our families. when mom dad and coby walked in it took them a minute to figure out it was me and not ashley sitting at the table! haha. they were excited to see us and i was thrilled :) christi tommy and dillon came in quickly after that and we had a great dinner! the next day mick and i ran around town and saw some friends and ran some errands. we got to go to lunch with micks family and see them for a little while too :) that evening we went to cobys football game! it was a great game and i was so happy to watch him play. after, we went to chilis with some wonderful family friends and family... it was a great time! after that we got to hang out with my friend joslyn for a while :) the next day we hit the lake (OF COURSE!) with mom dad and coby! ohhh how we miss the lake! after that we got to hang out with our good friends matt and danielle, and then spent the evening with the robbins :) needless to say, AWESOME day! the next day we went to church at GMBC, went to see micks paw paw and his mamaw and papaw, then hit the road! it was such a fun weekend and we had a wonderful time seeing all our friends and family!

the next week, mick started school! so far, he is really liking it! the work load is a bit tough, but as we all know, mick is super smart and handles it well. sometimes i even help him study! haha.... which basically just consists of me holding flash cards... but hey, thats helping right? the classes he is taking are called Clinical Medicine, Gross Anatomy (he dissects real cadavers in here, so it truly is gross), Health Promotion Disease Prevention, Clinical Lab Methods, Physical Diagnosis, Pathophysiology, and labs for some of those classes. sounds like fun huh?? So far he has had to learn how to do an initial interview with a patient... basically all those questions doctors ask you in the beginning of the appointment to get a medical history, hes worked on the hand, wrist, arm, back, and chest on his cadaver. his class has about 88 students in it, only about 10 of them being guys haha. needless to say, hes outnumbered big time. However, there are about 3 of those girls who live closer to where we do and are all married... so we are working on maybe getting them all together to hang out sometime soon! he is learning a lot already... all kinds of new terms. which makes my life just oh so interesting haha. all in all, so far so good!! thank you to everyone who has been praying for him and thinking about him in school!

Labor Day weekend... the matthews came to visit!! tommy, christi, dillon, bradley, and stephanie (bradley's girlfriend for those in my family who may not know who she is) all came to spend the weekend. thats right, 7 people in our apartment! the living room was full of airmatresses, but between them and the guest bedroom it all went pretty smooth! saturday christi, steph, and i went out shopping for a girls day while the boys went to academy and then fished on the lake by our apartment. after buying some groceries (thanks tommy and christi!), we came home and met up with the boys. we got cleaned up and then took them out to the Kemah boardwalk to check out the shops there. it was a lot of fun and they had some really great shops! however, weather seemed to be the theme for our weekend haha. it was EXTREMELY windy! it made it interesing, and it decided to rain a little bit, but it didnt ruin our trip! after that we went to jimmychangas for dinner YUUUUM!! then of course, we had to make it home for the UT game ;) . sunday we had a lazy morning and a big breakfast. we packed some sandwiches, drinks, and snacks, as well as swimsuits and towels and headed to galveston. we went to mickeys school and looked around at the buildings and what not. we also saw the hospital that warren jeffs is currently in, yes, on micks campus haha. then we headed to the beach. we got all unloaded and put the chairs out and the boys started riggin up their fishin gear. steph, christi, and i did not change into our swimsuits... like i said... the weather was weird and it was super windy and a little too chilly to swim. sooo we just stood in the water about shin deep and chit chatted while the boys fished. annnnnd again, weather strikes haha. it starts raining pretty hard... and with the wind blowing, the rain was pelting us! it hurt!! we all start laughing and take off for the car (just like everyone else on the beach). by the time we got inside, we were all SOAKED. i mean, completely wet. after hunting down "the right" (tommy.. cough cough) convenient store to change in, we finally got some dry clothes on and headed out.... we went to Fish Tales for an early dinner, again, really good!! when we got back, christi, dillon, steph, and i went to get some ice cream while tommy did some more fishing and hung out at the apartment. bradley and mickey went to a golf course near by and played some night golf. after taking us to sams for more groceries (thanks again!) the next day, the matthews headed back to angelo, and we headed home!

since then... we have just been hangin out! annnnnnd thennnnn.... all the sudden, God opened up a big door in a place that i never intended on looking for a job! :) the tuesday after labor day, i went and dropped off an application. wednesday i got a call, and thursday i went in for an interview, and immediately was blessed with a second interview! saturday i got the job offer, and i took it! this past week i have spent the whole week doing training and paper work!! monday, i start my first week :) my new job is teaching in a three year old classroom at a preschool in pearland! the class has 24 kids enrolled, even though they are hardly ever all there at once, and there are a total of three teachers in the class. it is about a 45 minute drive for me to get there... buuuut.. it has been SO WORTH IT so far!! the kids are absolutely adorable, i love every single one of them already.. even the tough ones! and the two girls that i work with are both around my age and are super sweet and fun to work with. they took me right in and i have never felt for a second like much of an outsider! it has been an incredible blessing and i am just getting started :) it is so great to finally have something to do during the day and to feel like i have a purpose. YAY GOD!

also, we have visited two different churches here in league city. the first was a baptist church not too far from our apartment. the people were really nice, and the preaching was good... but for whatever reason it just didnt feel completely right. so, we thought we would try some others and see where God led us. this past sunday we went to Clear Creek Community church that happens to be right around the corner from our apartment. WE LOVED IT!! it is very contemporary, which we like. it is a lot like being at home at GMBC! we loved the pastor and everything he had to say. there are a few things about it that are different.... instead of doing life groups on sunday, they have different groups that you can join that meet throughout the week and do different things together. for example, one guy was a part of the "golf group". they meet every saturday, three saturdays out of the month they work on a Bible study, and the fourth one they go play golf together. we really liked the concept.... its a really big church and the purpose behind them was to make the church "smaller" and create relationships on a more personal level. after the service we went to a little meeting called "new 2 creek" where they told us all about the church and their beliefs and goals. we really loved it! the church has three campuses in town.. the one we went to is the main campus, and then the other two are school gyms where the church meets. the reason behind this is that they believe that people who have to travel a long way to get to their church are less likely to be involved regularly. its a foreign concept for angelo ha, buuut... for example say there is an event on a thursday evening and you have to drive 30-40 minutes to get there, you are less likely to attend due to the drive time. thus, their goal is to take the church to the community. thus, there are three options for people to be able to attend church closer to their home. great though right?? anyway, we plan on going there again tomorrow!! 

all in all.... mick and i are doing great! we of course miss our friends and family, and miss san angelo (ESPECIALLY the food!) but we are starting to really settle in and like it here. thank you all sooo much for your prayers and thoughts for both of us... this move has been a challenge, but we are conquering the changes together and enjoying it!

we love all of you and couldnt ask for better people in our lives. see you soon!

here are a couple of pics!
click here to see  apartment pics!!

click here to see kemah pics from moving weekend!

gulf coast date night

best seat in the house... on galveston island

headed to my interview.. success!

beach day!

me and joslyn from our visit home

sunset on galveston island

mick fishing on the beach

our name in the sand :)

WE ARE HERE!!

Hi everyone!

Well we finally got all moved in! Mom and dad came up with us on sunday an with their help as well as chad and emilys we got everything moved in! We absolutely LOVE the apartment. We are right on the water on Clear Lake, and right about the fishin dock (which Mick has already put to good use). We are also right next to the clubhouse and pool, so we are in a perfect location! I will post pictures of the apartment this weekend so everyone can see :)

Our crazy week has gone as follows-
Monday- unload boxes, unload boxes... Oh yea, unload boxes. Thank goodness mom was here to help us organize! With mom and dads help we got almost everything done that morning! After the dosh network guy came and spent 3 stinkin hours setting up the tv, we finally got to go get some lunch. After that we drove out to the island and showed mom and dad where micks school was and checked things out. After all that, chad and emily came over and we all went out to the Kemah boardwalk for moms birthday! The boardwalk was SO FUN! we ate at Landry's, which was AMAZING. Then we walked around and checked everything out. The view was awesome, there were carnival rides everywhere as well as tons of resturauts. I camt't wait to go back to check more things out!

Tuesday- mom and dad left at around 8:30 am. After saying our good-byes and seeing them off, Mick and I got busy unpacking and decorating. Everything is officially decorated!! We also went and bought all our groceries and bathroom decorations for the new bathroom. We are super excited aboutthe way the apartment turned out!

Wedenesday- job hunt day! Mick and I got up early and set out to look for a job. We went to about 10 schools and I went in to turn in resumes and try to meet someone face to face. It was a long and frustrating day as most of the schools
Had closed the positions already and just had't taken them offline yet. However, I did get to trn in my resume at about 4 schools and ended up getting called for
An interview at one of the schools later that afternoon!! I also got an email from santa fe high where i applied for a coaching and teaching job that my application was under review! So, een thou it was a tough day, it turned out well in the end!! After that we went fishing... Where i proceeded to somehow hook the hill behind me while casting. Yes. Needless to say, Mickey wasnt very happy with me haha. Buuuut he got over it and and we went to chad and emilys for dinner and to hang out!

Thursday- back to the job hunt!! We went out to santa fe and another junior high that i applied at for coaching jobs to turn in resumes in person. Later in the afternoon i went to clear creek intermediate, which just so happens to be right across the street, for my interview. This interview was for an aide position in the special education program there. It wemt really well! I feel like they liked me and dont know if it could have gone much beter! They said that the person would be chosen sometime next week, so hopefully by the end of mext week i will be employed!! Haha.

As you can see, its been a crazy week!! We actually have a free day tomorrow, so we arent sure what we are going to do, but we are going to some orientations for micks school on saturday and are going to visit bay area first baptist church on sunday!! I actually got to meet the couple thatteaches the young marrie couples sunday school class there, so we are looking forward to checking it out!!

Here are a few pictures from kemah... Ill upload apartment pics soon!!

We love yall!!!!