Camping Weekend

This weekend we had a great time camping with our church group at Ray Roberts. Brandon spent some good quality time fishing with his buddies, and I had a good time chatting with the girls. Brandon and I just feel so blessed to have friends that we both get along with so well. Our class at church loves camping, and I've learned to love it too. It's always the best opportunity to get closer to other couples and get to know the ones we didn't know before. And it was so nice to get away for a couple days and be outside. We had such great weather and were so glad to be outside. Here are a few pictures from the weekend...


Our tent


Our philosophy: camping = no showers


Lacie, me, Stephanie, and Melanie

23 DAYS!!!

23 days until I GRADUATE!!! That's unreal. I'm already done with my practicum for the semester, and next week I'll take an exam and turn in a couple projects and then I'm DONE! So I've really spent most of my time job hunting for these past couple weeks. I've had some interviews, so now I'm just waiting to hear and praying for guidance as I get ready to make some big life decisions.

Other than that, Brandon's been sick for most of the week, but luckily he's feeling better. And it's been like 92 degrees the past couple of days. We went over to Chad and Melanie's again yesterday so the boys could work on the boat. We're going camping this weekend, so they're trying to ensure the most optimal fishing situation. Ugh.

I'm soooo looking forward to a fun camping weekend with our class from church. Brandon gets extremely excited about spending the night out in the woods, and I'm just excited about getting away and forgetting everything else going on. We feel so blessed to have made such great friends from our class at church. So we'll leave tomorrow after Brandon gets off work for our fun weekend in the woods. And Bailey is coming along because everyone is bringing their dogs so it can be a big playdate. Hopefully she'll do good. And hopefully it won't rain on us all weekend...

For those of you who like this sort of weirdness, here's Brandon's new favorite website. The funniest part for me is watching Brandon look at it.
Hope everyone has a good weekend!!!

Rolling in Bugs

Brandon and I started noticing that Bailey was behaving very oddly several months ago. It was like she had this irresistible urge to throw her body onto the ground and roll in the grass after smelling it. After thinking she was just weird for several weeks, she kept doing it, more and more frequently. We actually found it quite entertaining, being that it was so random and sudden when we were out for a walk.

Brandon came up with this crazy theory about it being her way of throwing off her scent. Whatever. He always has these theories for things. Then he looked closer. She would collapse onto the spot where a dead bug was down deep in the grass. Gross. So he researched it. Why is my dog freakishly rolling her body into dead bugs?!? Lo and behold, he was right. As Brandon predicted, it is a hunting instinct. As Anabelle the dog blogger explains, they "roll in smelly stuff as a way to inform their fellow pack members of new game or intruders in their territory or they do it to conceal their odor while hunting making it all the better to sneak up on those nasty little squirrels and chipmunks". So there you have it. She's just a good ole hound dog with a superactive smeller. But it really is so odd...



I finally captured this on video for you to enjoy!

Springtime = Happiness

What a great day. I got out of my practicum at 9am because my supervisor had to leave. So I have the whole day to enjoy and do a some job hunting. The porch door is open and I'm looking at my pretty flowers while listening to the birds chirp and making some phone calls...

Here are my pretty "Yay you passed Praxis!!" flowers. I don't know why, but fresh flowers always make a place happier (especially a small apartment in the middle of this big city).

My gorgeous purple tulips
(I'm turning into my mother...these are her favorites)

Also, Brandon took me to pick out some plants for our little porch...

The hanging plants are my very favorites


Yay- it's finally spring time!!!

It's been sooo pretty here. The weather is just absolutely perfect. We take Bailey on walks almost every night now. We were talking last night about how happy life is when it doesn't get dark till late. Brandon and I are both warm-weather people (thank goodness). When those winter months hit, it's like depression around here. So bring on the beautiful summer!!!!!

Here are some of my favorite things about springtime:
1. Leaving the porch door open so we can hear the pretty birds and feel the warm breeze.
2. Three sets of baby ducks at the lake- they don't like Bailey very much though :)
3. Brandon gets home and we still have like three hours of daylight to get outside.
4. No more bulky cardigans and shivering cold times when I didn't dress warm enough. I love putting away the sweaters and scarves.
5. Sleeping with the fan on.
6. New blooms, new life, new beginnings.
7. Eating outside at restaurants where you can just sit and enjoy.
8. Getting rid of my ghastly white skin of winter months.
9. Driving with the windows down, especially when Bailey is with me.
10. Ice cream!!!!!!! (Ok I'll be honest-- that's year 'round, but DEFINITELY more enjoyable when it's warm!)

I PASSED!!!!!!!

So if you've talked to me in the past few months, you know that I've been waiting for this day. I finally found out about my Praxis score, and I passed!!! HALLELUJAH. It was the hardest test I've ever taken in my life, and I was very worried about it. I studied more than I've ever studied for anything. Until March 14, that's really all I did. It was one of those tests that I had to guess on so many that I honestly had no idea how it was going to turn out. Thankfully, I must have made some good guesses. And I am sooo relieved. Until today, it made me sick to even talk about it because of the fear that I might have to retake it.

Now, all I need to do is get a JOB! I've been searching for jobs, and it's getting very overwhelming. But, I know God will take care of me like always. And I need to also realize that I might not just walk right in to my dream job. Times are hard and it's going to be a challenge, but I know everything will turn out.

For today, I'm just so glad to have gotten through the big test. Now, I just have to finish and few classes and finals that I'm not too extremely worried about. It's hard to believe that I'm so close to being done with school forever. 32 DAYS to be exact!!!

On a side note, Brandon and I were very upset at the actions of Tony Almeda last night on 24. After all we've been through, he let us down. I just couldn't even believe it.

Hope everyone is having a good week,
Sara

Easter Bunny

We had a great Easter. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for the Easter Bunny. Bailey caught him this morning. But hopefully he made it around to all the children first. Here's what we walked in the room to find..
(beware: the images you are about to see are graphic)


The culprit.


Guilty as charged.

Church was really good. We made ourselves get up for early service, and it was well worth it. We're loving the way our new preacher brings messages that are so direct and so practical. He always brings a simple message in a fresh new perspective. Today's sermon was very refreshing, about how Easter means new beginnings, and that God is the God of resurrection. Whether it's a bad job, a bad relationship, whatever it is- God can bring life back into something even after death.

In class, we talked about this verse from I Corinthians 15. I love that Paul mentions how this is the first importance, how we should realize that this is what really matters. It's the core of our faith.
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures

After church, we went down to Kemp, TX to have Easter lunch with Brooke's family. They were so sweet to have us, and it was DELICIOUS. There's something about the big yummy homemade meals on holidays that is just so good. We stuffed ourselves. It was a fun afternoon with the Johnsons- doing a little swinging on the back porch, a little talking and catching up, some egg-hunting, lots of eating, and Brandon even got to do some fishing. They have a lot of land with some ponds that Brandon just HAD to check out. So Brandon was pretty excited to catch a few bass. We were very entertained by Brooke's niece Camille who is a talkative and hilarious 2 1/2 year old. And I had a really good time just chatting with Brookie. We're both in that stage where we're about to graduate but don't really know the next step. Oh well. It's all going to work out. I just have to take it a day at a time.


Dressed up with my love


Brooke is the best. Thanks again for having us!

Hope everyone had a great Easter!

Fun in Austin

So this weekend was TSHA- the big Speech Path convention in Austin. So I went to do some job searching and to see all my Speech Path friends from ACU. I love that we can always just pick back up where we left off. We hung out in between all the classes and job searching, and went had a fun night out in Austin. I also got to spend time with my wonderful UTD friends. Here are some pictures...


UTD friends at the Praxis Bowl. Don't know what I'd do without you girls!!!


More UTD friends Molly and Emily. Love yall!


Me with the ACU girls- all about to GRADUATE!!!


Brooke and Briana. Two of the best friends ever.


Oh Brookie.


I love my special friends :)


Kylie is one of my favorite people in the world.

So I rode to Austin with Cortney and Lauren on Thursday, and got to stay with Kim and Philip. Brandon came in town on Friday night, so we made it into a fun little trip. Philip had to do a show, but he got back last night. Brandon got to go golfing with one of his BFFs Justin yesterday morning while I went to the conference for a few hours. Then Kim and I met up with the boys for lunch at a yummy little hole-in-the-wall Mexican food place called Juan in a Million. Clever restaurant name, huh:) Anyways, it was fun. We miss seeing Justin. Then yesterday afternoon we took the dogs to this amazing trail called Walnut Creek. Bailey was in HEAVEN. It was really really fun. Thanks to Kim, we took some good photos and I captured some funny moments on video, so enjoy...


Walnut Creek


Walkin the pups


The competition begins...


Give me that BALL!!!


Baxter playin in the mud- that's a boy for ya.


Cousins!


Proud mommies with our gross pups.


So pooped out!


Bath time!!!

Last night Philip got back and we watched Seven Pounds (which is amazing if you haven't seen it). Today we went to church with them at the Austin Stone. Every time we've been there the sermon is so good. So real and very practical, we really enjoyed it. Then we ate at the County Line near Lake Austin. It was verrrry delicious. And we walked outside on the creek and took some pictures...




Oh I love him.


We had such a good time, and it was nice to get out of Dallas for a few days.
Sorry for the long post- hope you enjoyed the pictures!