Summer Fun!

We have been having a great time the past few weeks enjoying lots of activities to keep up cool! My cousins Krista & Anna were both here from MN last week, which was lots of fun.
Besides swimming, we also went to a Ranger's game. Even though the White Sox won, it was still a fun night! Last Saturday, we took my cousin Anna to Hurricane Harbor for the day! It was an absolute blast! We went on nearly every ride, though I chose to photograph instead of ride the Mega Wedgie! I love this picture of Dave & Anna with their mouths wide open just as they went over the (very steep) edge!

San Antonio

My mom & I took a quick trip to San Antonio this week! I went to the TX Choral Director's Convention, and my mom relaxed in the hotel & met me for meals. :) We both agreed that the best part of the trip was our "detour" to the Round Rock outlets! One of my students was in the Texas All-State Elementary Choir, which performed at the convention.

While in San Antonio, we were also able to have dinner with my dear friend from Minnesota, Sara, who just moved to Texas. Sara & I were born 2 days apart, and our moms were high school friends...so we all go back a long way! She & I hadn't seen each other since my wedding, so we had a wonderful time catching up! Now that we're both Texans, we hope to see each other more often!

Gazebo Party

On Saturday night, we had our family over for our first gazebo party. However, since it was 101 degrees yesterday afternoon, we ate inside and then had dessert in the gazebo once it was a little cooler. (Side note: the high for tomorrow is 108!)

In honor of my mom's birthday and the gazebo FINALLY being done, we "had" to get two cakes from Sweet Memories. We thought the gazebo cake was appropriate, due to our many interactions with the City of Ft. Worth. :)

Visit to Minnesota

As has become one of my summer traditions, I spent a wonderful week in Minnesota spending time with my grandma, my sister, and many friends! My week included many trips to Caribou Coffee (yes, I went every single morning, and my favorite drink is still the "Mint Condition")...and many games of Scrabble!


I had a wonderful time with my Grandma Dolores. She loves pictures as much as I do, so we spent a lot of time looking through old scrapbooks. I truly love my grandma so much and feel so blessed that I was able to spend so much time with her this past week.

Other highlights of the week included...

...a trip to Covenant Pines (the camp that I attended as a student and later worked as a lifeguard & counselor) on Wednesday. Being at camp always brings back so many wonderful memories. Some of our friends, Nick, Katie, and Andrea, are working there this summer, so it was wonderful to see them! We spent the day going to chapel, helping with the canteen, hanging out with our friends, and enjoying the gorgeous weather.....as much as I love Texas, I do miss the pine trees, lakes, and cool weather of Minnesota (but not the mosquitoes!--both Emmy & I had terrible bug bites after our day at camp!). ;)



...seeing lots of family! Emily & I had dinner with our cousins Krista, Seth, & Heather...plus, I also spent time with my aunt Gail and cousin Anna! (Anna & Krista are both coming to Texas this week, too!)

...visiting Emily at Regis, where she is doing her marketing internship (and running the Hair Extension Hotline!--ha!).

...breakfast with Summer, a friend from Redeemer (the church where we attended in Minnesota). She is also an elementary music teacher, so we had a great time talking about our classrooms.

...a fun day hanging out with Audra & Israel--we walked around Lake Calhoun and also read a few books! :)

...coffee with my sweet high school friends Aili, Gloria, and Audra--we had so much fun catching up!


....my friend Meg's wedding! She and Jake were married on Saturday, and I am so glad I was able to go to her beautiful wedding!

Kodaly Conquered!

I have spent the last 3 weeks in all-day class at UNT taking my Level III Kodaly certification. Kodaly is a method of teaching music based on the philosophy of Zoltan Kodaly, a Hungarian musician, composer, and teacher.

My day was divided into conducting, musicianship (solfege), pedagogy, & folk music courses. Our conducting & solfege teacher was Lenci Igo, a Hungarian music professor who comes to America each summer to teach in Kodaly programs around the country. Trust me: there is nothing quite like 4 hours of solfege class each morning with a true Hungarian--yikes! I have learned so much as both a musician & teacher through my three summers of Kodaly courses, and it is somewhat bittersweet to think that I am now done with all my Kodaly certification. Now, the next step is to see the Kodaly program in action at its birthplace--Hungary!

This is a picture of the Level III class along with Lenci at our final concert.

This is the Level III group with our American instructors at our banquet on Thurday.

Mamma Mia!

Jenny & I went to see Mamma Mia on opening night! We went to see it on stage at Fair Park 2 summers ago, so we were really excited as soon as we found out a movie version was coming out this summer!

I had never gone to a midnight opening night show before, and, even though we didn't dress up in ABBA style (much to my sister's dismay!), we still had a fabulous time! The movie is so fun, and everyone in the theater sang along with all the songs--though Jenny & I may have sung louder than the others!! ;)

Swim Party

After church on Sunday we went swimming at my parent's pool with some of our friends from Keystone! We had so much fun swimming & hanging out together!


The boys loved this inner-tube and kept wanting rides on "the donut." :)

I think this is such a sweet picture--I loved swimming with Aiden & Jimmy...that is, when we could get Jimmy to get in the water! He'd much rather run around the pool deck trying to "catch" the beach balls! ;)

~Alan & Stephanie, Tiffany & Audrey, Corrie & Mark, Jenny, Joel, & Caden~

~Caleb, Todd, Dave, & Sandi~