Friends are a blessing!!

We have some of the best friends in the world! And we have been so very blessed in the past couple of months to meet some great people. (yes, they do exist North of the Mason Dixon Line!) When we rented our house we didn't realize we were getting friends in the package! Our landlord, Vincent, has become a good buddy of ours along with his sweet girlfriend Christina, and his sister Christine and bro-in-law Rob. The whole group came over for cake and ice cream on Tim's birthday and we visited and had a great time.
So here are some fun pics of that event:




And this past weekend we also had our first company! Tim's cousin Kristin, aka 'Strongsome' came up from DC for the weekend. We all had a fantastic time! I didn't get a lot of pictures from her visit but we made dinner together, had Vincent over, worked in the yard, shopped at the outlet mall, and ate a ton!!! I love her so much and it was great to see her! Hopefully her visit opened a floodgate and we are ready for lots of company! So break our door down and come soon!!


Thanks for protecting the new grass seed from those pesky birds, Kristin!!!

Pictures!

An update!

Hello peoples!! Yes, I am finally writing an update! I'm going to get Tim to fix my real blog but for the time being this will have to work.
We've been here for five weeks now and are getting settled in just fine. First off, we love our little house! After I write this post I'm going to put up a bunch of pictures of it. It really has been a perfect fit for us, and it came with friends! Our landlord, Vincent (or Vinny to everyone else) is a doll and he's been so helpful. He's #9 of 13 kids and 11 of them live in this little town! His sister lives next door to us and she and her husband are awesome! In fact, they all came over yesterday to help celebrate Tim's 27th birthday! I made a carrot cake with a recipe from one of my new favorite blogs Pioneer Woman . It turned out really delish! They have a new little baby and he is just precious!! I know we are going to be great friends with them.
And on Saturday we went into the city for the day! It was so much fun!! It was a lot like what I imagined only with more people and more buildings! We walked around Central Park, went to a museum, shopped on 5th Avenue (well, at least I did), ate pizza, and went to a comedy show!! It was great! And our legs are very, very sore. If I lived in the city I would either get really skinny with all the walking around or really fat with all the yummy food available! The show was fantastic! It was an impromptu family-friendly show that made us laugh sooo hard! Highly recommended! We finally got home around 2 and were totally pooped! But it was a great day, so fun!
Tim is loving his job, I think he's really fitting in well (of course!). They recently put him in charge of something, a part of a part of a project. And he's doing a great job with it (again, of course!).
I found a great little part-time job watching a 5 month old baby three days a week. He's a really special little boy who was adopted at birth by this family. The family is fantastic and I'm really excited about it. And I start tomorrow! Hopefully it goes as well as I think it will! I'm not looking forward to waking up early (4:45 :( ) but I'll get over it. I'll post more about it later!
So in a nut shell, this is what we've been up to lately! We really, really miss everyone and I can't wait to have some company!!

Miss you!!

Hey guys! I miss you SOOO much!!!!

(I need those pictures y'all took on our last day of school!) I don't have any pics of Issy!

TAG!

Tag I'm it!

I get to play a fun game of tag


Five fav movies:
1. Pride & Prejudice (the loong one!)
2. Love Actually
3. Robin Hood (the Disney Cartoon)
4. The Rare Breed
5. Charades

Five fav Tv shows:
1. Friends
2. Law and Order
3. American Idol
4. Hogan's Heroes
5. 24


Five places I would like to be:
1. New Zealand
2. Anywhere with family
3. Camping with my family
4. Lying on the beach in Florida
5. Tim's family's ranch

Five fav foods:
1. Pizza
2. Mexican food
3. Italian
4. Ice cream
5. ice cream nachos/ El Gabacho

Five fav songs:
1. Bubbly/ Colbie Caillet
2. Look at your girl "Chris LeDoux"
3. Anything by Brad Paisley
4. Carrie Underwood songs
5. Mr. Policeman!!!


five Things I like to do:
1. Visit NZ with Tim
2. Move back to Texas
3. Run another half and break my old times
4. Travel with Tim all over the place
5. Hang out with friends



Poeple I'm tagging
1. Catherine
2. Susan (do you still blog?)
3. Not really sure about anyone else...
4. Tim!

This is how I feel

This is how I feel. This is how I've felt since yesterday when Tim made the decision that it will be the best thing for him to take a job in NY. Yep, two born-and-raised Texans are heading off to "Yankee-land". He got offered a terrific job up north of NYC in Tarrytown, NY, and we'll be leaving in a little less than two weeks. Its exciting and terrifying at the same time. I'm going to miss everyone here like crazy, especially my favorite family (you know who you are)! Life will go on and I know that the Lord will take care of us and protect and provide for us, but it's kind of hard to accept that right now. I usually love change and look forward to something different, but this one is very different!! So for the next while I'm sure I'll have many days when I feel like the poor little OU boy when Texas slaughtered them a couple of years back. You know we'll be representing our state up there!!
We'll miss you and we love you all and thank goodness for the internet!!

PS and I'll soon have my new website up and running again. Apparently it "broke" and Tim said, "This is why you PAY someone to host your site!" :) Poor Tim. ;)

Time to move!

Hello!!
I'm making use of all the features of my new macbook and am creating a new website!
Here is the link smerkin please check it out and let me know what you think!
**Tim says: only 10 people at a time please, no thanks to Windows XP. (He's hosting it on his PC) :)

My day job

I have the pleasure of assisting in the homeschooling of these three awesome kids and this is a video of them reciting James 1 completely from memory. From left to right: Avery, Wick, and Hill. They've been working on it since we started school in August and they reached our goal to be done by Thanksgiving! It's a little long but listen to each of the verses, they're so full of meaning that I feel like I learn something every time I hear it.

Memories...

Last weekend we spent several days throwing our things in boxes and hauling them across the parking lot to our new apartment. I'll post some pictures soon but it made me think about the first place Tim and I lived in. It's really the coolest story, too! Tim, his mom, and I drove up May '04 up to Arlington to check out UTA and some apartments up here. We found one and decided to move in the weekend before we got married. So in August, my dad and youngest sister and I drove up from Magnolia and Tim and his parents came up from Wimberley. So we had a U-Haul truck, a car, Tim's dad's truck and trailer all full of our stuff! When we got to our new home our parents were not too impressed and the apartment people didn't even have a place ready for us! So Tim and I went to get our marriage license and the parents hung out across the street from the complex. While they were there a couple of cops pulled up so the dads went to talk with them. These two kind men proceeded to tell our dads to not let us move in here and we would really regret it if we did!!! So when we returned our parents strongly advised us to find another place. At 2:00, on Friday afternoon, when we had to return the U-Haul truck by 6:00!! We tried not to freak out and did the only thing we could think of, we prayed. And then went driving around Arlington looking for apartments. And to make this long story a little shorter, we ended up finding an apartment about as close to UTA as you can get, and they let us move in that very afternoon!! It was truly an amazing blessing from God!! We stayed there for a year before moving to a bigger place and Tim and I have so many happy memories from our little first home. And here's a few pictures so you can see our first little home as a married couple.
And I'll post some pics of our current home when I get some decor and pictures hung.

Summer vs. Fall (or cold vs. warm)

So all I’ve heard lately is how much everyone loves fall and they are soo excited about the cold weather. And I’m just going to have to see about that. Sure, the first few weeks are different and exciting but after that, aren’t we just wishing for warmer weather again? Okay, maybe it’s just me but I love summer. I mean I really, really love summer. I love summer clothes, laying out in the pool, my birthday, vacations, the sun, lemonade, fresh fruit/veggies, the sun, long days, and many more things if I had an endless amount of time. Now, on the other hand there are some good things about cooler weather. Lets see…I get to pull out my feather mattress pad (Tim doesn’t let me keep it on year-round) ☺, nice cool evenings to run in, Tim’s hot cocoa, the World Series, holidays, and sweat pants. But there are also many things I do NOT like about cold weather! Always being cold, shorter days, running in cold weather, sweaters that make me look fat, clothes that are more expensive, dry skin, and counting down the days until spring.
All right, Jess, Liz, and several others, I do admit that there are some good things about fall and cool weather, but to be honest, as soon as Christmas is over I’ll be counting down the days until April!

Camping!

Well, a request has been submitted for me to post again so here ya go, Jess! I'm really tired so I hope I don't have any troubles with posting pictures!
Last weekend we went on our 2nd annual camping trip with Tim's sis and bro-in-law. A very good time was had by all. Todd had a blast catching a ton of 2" fish, Mindy and I laid around and got a lot of sun, and Tim got to drive the boat for three days straight. The first night, M&T didn't get there until about 1am so I think we made permanent enemies of our neighbors who got their revenge by leaving their radio on all night and letting their stupid puff dog bark all night! Thankfully they turned it off the following night and somehow managed to shut up their dog. We cooked some great food and enjoyed fantastic weather out at Lake Whitney.
And the best moment for me was when I caught a 15" bass our last morning out there. It was a pretty exciting moment!!
We really had a great time with M&T, they're some of our best friends and we always have a lot of fun with them. Mindy was a real trooper and never got sick even though she's 5mo along and has been sick for about 4 1/2 months.
Other news...
Our apt lease is up at the end of next month so we're trying to decide if we want to move or not. I'm 50/50. I hate moving but some upgrades would be nice! We've never had a washer/dryer in our apt. so that would be nice!
Tim has a fishing championship this week so he'll be in and out a lot. He might get on tv too!
Jobs are going great! The kids are doing fantastically in school and have been very cheerful and positive. The other one is going well and I feel like I'm past the beginning learning stages. I really like all of the people (especially one!) ;) and it's fun to be at a job interacting with people all day.
And now it's time for bed! I hope everyone has a great week and gets to have some fun! :)

Pictures?

Hello again!

SO I haven't written on here in forever so I figured it was about time!
BIG NEWS~~
~I graduated this summer! I am now the proud owner of a BA in History degree (as soon as they send it to me) :).
~Both of Tim's sisters are preggers! And they are BOTH due in February!
~I started back as a homeschool assistant/tutor/etc... and I am also working in the kids' dad's orthodontist office! I really like it and it's nice to have a new challenge - hopefully I won't mess anything up too badly!
~My brother-in-law is going to leave this fall to work as a contractor in Iraq (so please keep him in your prayers!)
And that's all I can think of for right now! I tried posting some pictures but that didn't work so I guess I'll try again later. I promise I have proof that I graduated! :)
Have a great weekend!!

Katie Couric - LOL

CBS Reveals Top 10 Couric Sign-Off Suggestions

by Scott Ott

(2006-09-06) — Americans last night rushed to the aid of debutante CBS News anchor Katie Couric to help her develop a distinctive ’sign off’ for her evening newscast. According to a source at CBS, the network already has 10 “hot candidates” for what journalists consider the most important element of any TV news program.

The multimillionaire media veteran ended her premier show last night by asking the viewer to suggest a sign-off that would rival Walter Cronkite’s immortal phrase “…and that’s the way it is” or Dan Rather’s simple but profound word: “Courage.”

The plea for help from the viewer comes after months of research by the CBS News staff failed to turn up a suitable way to end the show that would “convey the significance of this massive journalistic enterprise,” the unnamed source said.

According to a leaked internal memo, here are the top 10 viewer-suggested Katie Couric sign-offs ranked according to frequency of suggestion:

10. “Well, there’s 22 minutes of your life you can never get back.”
9. “News pH balanced. We report. You admire.”
8. “I hope to see you tomorrow night, because all I see tonight is the TelePromTer.”
7. “I’m Katie Couric, and that’s the way it is at the DNC.”
6. “That’s the news and I mean it. Does anybody want a peanut?”
5. “I’m Katie Couric and this is one sweet gig!”
4. “If you stand up for a few minutes now, you won’t get so many sofa sores.”
3. “Now you know what to think. But you don’t really have to.”
2. “Why read the news online when I get paid millions to do it for you?”
1. “What makes a muskrat guard its musk?”

I love scrapple face. It's got some really great tongue-in-cheek articles. Sometimes you just need a good laugh at the world and they help provide it. Go check them out. http://www.scrappleface.com/?p=2322

Life...and pictures!

So yeah, I haven't written a real post in a while. Sorry to all five of you who regularly check and see if I have. :) Right now I'm taking a break from studying and Sniper, the black cat has decided to be a sweet kitty and stretch out all over my hands as I try to type, I think he's trying to reclaim his "spot" that I kicked him out of.
Finals are next week and it seems like just a few weeks ago that I was writing about the end of the fall semester!
I quit my tanning job (waa-hoo!) and I have been tutoring underpriveledged kids for the last month or so. That's been quite an interesting experience but one that I have greatly enjoyed.
Oh yes, and we let Libby go free in March. It was a sad day for us but a very happy one for her. We made her an awesome little house with a hammock inside but I think that she decided she wanted a real squirrel house and is building a nest. No fear though, a friendly little owl took up residence in Libby's home and actually laid three eggs there!!! Very exciting and quite scary to Tim who discovered her by peeking into the door of the house and seeing a big glowing eye and three little eggs along with a "whoo-hoo" (or whatever sound owls make!). We've seen Libby a couple of times when we visit Tim's family but she hasn't wanted to get near to us. Oh well, we had fun with her and it was a neat experience but I'm glad that she's free to run around and make her little messes outside!
Well, I'm off to do some more reading about the antifederalists' case of the Constitution. It's pretty interesting! Maybe I'll write about how I see that some of their fears might have actually come to pass in our present day. They were afraid that the Constitution would give too much power to a central government and a group of elites. Hmmm.
Anywho, see y'all soon! Drop me a line and let me know what your summer plans are!

You know you're from Texas when...

I love forwards. Yes, that might be odd but I don't care. They're like getting joks all the time! I don't like the "good luck" ones where people give you a guilt trip unless you FORWARD THIS TO 10 PEOPLE WITHIN 10 MINUTES. Anywho, I got this fun one the other day and just thought I would share it with y'all. If you're from Texas you'll probably laugh and understand and if you're not, well, you can just laugh too and wish you knew the joke.
ou know ur from Texas when...

*You can properly pronounce Corsicana, Ennis, Waxahachie, Palestine,
Decatur, Wichita Falls, San Antonio, Mexia, Waco, and Amarillo.

*A tornado warning siren is your signal to go out in the yard and look for a funnel.

*You've ever had to switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day.

*You know that the true value of a parking space is not determined by the distance to the door, but by the availability of shade.

*You think everyone from a bigger city has an accent.

*You measure distance in minutes.

*Little Smokies are something you serve only for special occasions.

*You listen to the weather forecast before picking out an outfit.

*You know cowpies are not made of beef.

*Someone you know has used a football schedule to plan their wedding date.

*You have known someone who has had one belt buckle bigger than your fist.


*You aren't surprised to find movie rental, ammunition, and bait all in the same store.

*A Mercedes Benz is not a status symbol. A Double Cab F-150 is.

*You know everything goes better with Ranch.

*You actually get these jokes and are "fixin' " to send them to your friends.

*You go to the river/lake because you think it is like going to the ocean.

*You go to the gas station and there is a sign in the window that reads,
"No Shoes, No Shirt, No Service!"

*Your family pet is the stray dog with one leg that came limping up to your door.

*You say "Up-air" when you are refering to a place "Over there".

*Finally, you are 100% Texan if you have ever heard this conversation:

"You wanna coke?"
"Yeah."
"What kind?"
"Dr. Pepper."

My candy heart :)

Your Candy Heart Says "Hug Me"

A total sweetheart, you always have a lot of love to give out. Your heart is open to where ever love takes you! Your ideal Valentine's Day date: a surprise romantic evening that you've planned out Your flirting style: lots of listening and talking What turns you off: fighting and conflict Why you're hot: you're fearless about falling in love

What Does Your Candy Heart Say?

SPRING BREAK!

Okay, I'm finally posting a blog (SUSAN!). I know it's been a while so I'll try to say what's been up along with some fun pictures.
I had midterms last week and I think they went really well. I'm trying to make all A's this semester because Tim said he would get me an i-pod Nano if I did. (I feel like I'm in 5th grade but who cares! I want a Nano!!) The second half of the semester is going to be pretty hard though. I have a 12-15 page paper due and Latin is going to get harder because we're going to be doing a lot of translating. Hopefully, it will be do-able. I'll let you know if I get my nano. ;)
After midterms were finished I went for an interview at Handley Middle School and I got a job as a tutor starting on Monday! I'm really excited about it and will hopefully doing that this summer instead of my present job. I think it's going to be really neat and I'm looking forward to the experience as well as the MUCH better pay. :) I'll let you know how it goes but I'm sure I'll enjoy it.
After my interview on Friday (yes, I had a busy day!) we met our friends Chris and Katey at our apartment and we started the drive down to Houston. We stayed until Monday and we had SO much fun and were really busy. Friday night as soon as we got to the Woodlands we ate at a really nice and fun restaurant but I can't remember the name. Then we went to Katey's dad's house, where we were staying for the weekend, and met her parents and talked to them for a while. That night we enjoyed the hot tub for a while and tried to watch a movie but that didn't last. On Saturday we got up around 9 and went ice-skating at the Galleria and then to the rodeo that night. Chris was the only one who had ever gone ice-skating but the rest of us learned quickly and had a blast slipping and sliding around on the ice. There were a few misadventures, I fell once and Tim and Chris raced around and on the final turn Tim slid by me and took out a little kid who was quietly waiting on the side. After a few angry glares from the mother they quickly left and the boy wasn't too hard.
The rodeo was a blast; we ate sausages and funnel cakes and sampled all of the various toffee, candy, and garlic that the stands had to offer. Afterwards we went back to the house and had a really good conversation before calling it a night.
Sunday we went to Galveston and fed seagulls, flew a kite, and ate awesome seafood at Willie Gee’s. That night we grilled burgers and watched part of a movie before the night ended.
Monday morning Tim and I slept in and got everything together to leave. We stopped to eat at the Potato Patch in Houston (the food, once again, was awesome!) where they served fried okra and threw fresh and hot biscuits at us. We had fun on the drive back to Arlington and Fort Worth; so much fun in fact we decided to go watch a movie near their apartment complex. Those plans didn’t pan out because Katey’s bracelet got misplaced but Chris saved the day when he found in under the dishwasher in his apartment. We then watched 24 and finally they brought us home around 10:00 last night.
So our first weekend of spring break was fast and furious but a ton of fun. We got to do things that some of us hadn’t done (ice skate for Katey, Tim, and I and sit through a whole rodeo – Chris and Katey and feed a whole bag of Doritos to some sea gulls and I don’t think any of us had done that!) So here are some pictures to go along with this tremendously long post! Have a great rest of spring break!!

Christmas pictures...finally!

Yes, I know I'm horribly late on posting these but better late than never, eh? We spent a glorious 10 days away from Arlington splitting the time between our families. It was great getting to see my dad at Christmastime. (He works overseas and hadn't been home during Christmas for three years). We took a family picture after Church on Sunday and I never really think about what a big family we have until I see a picture of us altogether! Yeah, I'm #2 of 7 but that doesn't seem like so much compared to my dear friend Susan who is #8 of 14!!!
Today we're having a home morning but Tim needs to work on a webpage he's building and I need to seriously clean our house and get organized. I've been on break far too long!
This week I worked 39 hours at my job. Now, I know most people work a 40 hour work week and I have done the same as well. But most people do not sit at a tanning salon for 11.5 hours and have 9 people come in during the WHOLE day!! Luckily, I didn't do that every day but I was there from Monday thru Saturday at least 4 hours at a time. My paycheck will be pretty nice (I say pretty nice because I get paid about $.10 over minimum wage) but I don't think I'll do it again.

Alrighty, well, enough verbage, enjoy the pictures! (more from the Merkin Christmas later on)

My Weekend!

I had a great weekend with my sweet family and my dear friend Susan (previously mentioned on this blog). Here are a few pictures of me and my older sister, Rebecca and youngest brother, Robert decorating a gingerbread house. isn't he the cutest thing? And yes, I have a 24 year old sister and a 5 year old brother. Same parents. :)

I'M DONE!!!

Hey y'all! I'm done! WAaa-hooo!! I finally finished my last final at 10:30 yesterday morning. It feels soo good to be through but I'll still be a little nervous until I get my grades back.

More news:
I am very sick. Its yucky to be sick but at least I don't have any tests to worry about. My throat is really hurting and I'm very tired. Hopefully I'll get better quickly soo...

I can see my new little niece!!! Yes! Heather had her baby! Yippie! Annabelle Grace was born very early on Dec. 9 and she weighed 7lbs. 12oz. and is 20 in. long. I really want to go see her but I won't if I still have a sore throat, I'll have to wait until after Christmas to meet her. I'll post a picture of the little darling soon. She is sooo beautiful!

Merry Christmas!

The finals week that would never end!

I live in North Texas so whenever it gets really cold and freezes everyone freaks out and shuts everything down. UTA shut down at 1:30 today (Wed) and won't open back up until noon on Thursday. Which is great except I had a final scheduled for 8am Thursday. So that final is going to be moved to Tuesday of next week. And it stinks because I am so ready to be done! Now my last week has to drag on until next Tuesday. Ah well, maybe I'll do a little more review...Yeah right! I'm going down to Magnolia and Houston this weekend to visit my family and some friends. I'll take my binder but I doubt I'll get anything done.
My other three finals went okay. I got an A in Latin but I don't know about Logic or Government. I'm pretty sure I did quite badly on the Logic final but we'll see. Oh well, I'm just ready to be done!

Thanksgiving!!

Todd is on the left and wouldn't smile but Seth did so I posted this anyway.
Bethanie, Stephanie, and Rebecca at Heather's Baby Shower



I finally decided to post some pictures of my Thanksgiving. Hope y'all enjoy!

Daddy's little fatty

Somebody loves her peanuts!!






Here's some updated pictures of Libby. Yes, she eats a lot, she's very healthy. :)

Crunch time

Yes, it is final week so that means a week of junk food (get the title now? Crunch, as in the chocolate bar. har har). Tim and I went to the grocery store and loaded up on piazzas that were only $3 each! That makes for a filling and cheap meal so of course we bought four of them. When we came home we realized that one wasn't properly sealed and being the lazy couple we are decided to go ahead and eat it because hey, it had been frozen! That doesn't matter for pizza tho and it was kinda yucky and we ended up throwing it away. The moral to the story is: buy lots of frozen piazzas so you can pull out another one if one is spoiled!
Anywho, yes, I have four finals this week: Critical Thinking and Gov't on Tuesday, Latin 2 on Wednesday and World Civ. on Thursday. I'm not sure which one I'm most worried about but I would have to go with Latin and World Civ. My Latin teacher is awesome and tries not to make the tests too difficult but there is just sooo much information. My Civ teacher didn't get the be-nice-to-your-students-because-they're-taking-more-than-one-final memo and she makes up for his (Latin prof.) mercy. We have to write two essays, one of the questions she already gave us and the other we can pick out of three she's giving us from the 6 on the review. Also there will be 5 short answers taken from the 156 (!!!!) that were given on the reviews. Oh, and did I mention there's a map portion of ten world-wide locations from about 75 on the review. I think I'm going to cry. It sounds much worse when its written out. Thankfully I made friends with a very generous and smart lady in my class and we are sharing the 6 essays and the ID's. So I'm actually almost done studying for that one. But I really want to do well in those two classes especially because I love Latin and I'm a History major, so I should do well in the Civ class. I'll just never take that teacher again! Bitter feminists don't always make the best teachers.
Okay, I feel better now, back to outlining "the role of the post classic nomadic empires in the development of a great Eurasian sphere." Those nomads! They're always popping up somewhere.
Cherrio and good luck to all of you with finals this week!