Virginia for Labor Day and the NASCAR Race at Richmond

We spent the week of Labor Day in Virginia. We were the guests of Gary and Marie Allen and had a great time! With all the travelling Evan and I have done to Virginia in the last year, Gary and Marie have graciously taken us in and have become like adoptive parents to us. They live in beautiful Williamsburg and thanks to their hospitality, their house really feels like a home away from home. The biggest highlight of the week was finding out definitively that we were going to be moving and when. It was great to be able to share with them in praying over the situation and then celebrating the good news since we had to be far away from home. Thanks again Gary and Marie for hosting us!

Gary is really into cars and is a big fan of NASCAR. The weekend at the end of our stay was the weekend of the race at Richmond. Gary got us all tickets and Evan and I attended our very first NASCAR race. We went to the Friday night race which is known as the Nationwide Series. The "big boys" race on Saturday night as part of the Sprint Cup but the Friday night race is more affordable and less crowded. The great part is that some of the big names race both so the Friday night race is definitely the way to go for people just wanting to check it all out. Gary and I showed up early so that we could walk around the grounds and check out all the booths that were giving away free stuff. That part was just like OU weekend at the Texas state fair minus the rides and concession stands. The race, however, was unlike anything I had ever seen before. We went up to our seats during time trials for the Sprint Cup race and the noise was UNBELIEVABLE. And that was with just one car going around the track at a time! I have been to some very large and very loud football games in my time but this was the loudest noise I had ever heard. I definitely got a rush standing on the walk way at the bottom of the bleachers watching the cars race by at 185 mph. Even if you couldn't see them or hear them, you would feel them race by. Since the race was on September 11th, there was a very nice tribute to those who lost their lives during the attacks in 2001.

Evan arrived just in time for the race to start and Gary got us set up with the appropriate "gear." We each had a headset connected to a scanner so we could listen to the commentary of the race but still protect our ears. At the advice of Gary, we listened to the start and the first couple of laps with out the headsets. The noise was indescribable! While I could have done without all the people around us smoking, I really enjoyed the race. There were no huge crashes but it was a pretty close race. Having the headsets, scanners, and Gary's coaching allowed me to keep up with the race pretty well. If I didn't have anyway of knowing which cars were leading, it would have been boring but the headsets/scanners solved that problem. Thanks again Gary for taking us to the race! Here are some pictures:

Gary and I at the National Guard booth with Dale Jr.'s car

The pace cars leading the pack out of the pit just before the start of the race

Evan and I at the Allen's country club Saturday night

Elizabeth's Birthday Party Weekend

Our niece, Elizabeth, turned 5 at the end of August and we were fortunate to still be in Texas and be able to make it to her party. Friday night, we met up with my parents and sister at this new Brazilian steak house that my Dad had been wanting to take us to. I had never been to one of these places before but based on my Dad's description, it sounded fun. It was DELICIOUS! The food was great and it was fun to watch the waiters (they actually have some special name for them that I can't remember) come around with all the meat and wield these giant knives right in-front of your face to slice you a piece of meat. While we didn't get there until about 8:30 because Evan and I were late getting in from Houston, it was totally worth it. Here are some pictures:

Like a kid in a candy store :)

The next day was Elizabeth's birthday party. The theme was Dogs and Cats. Elizabeth is really into animals of all kinds and has been for some time but I'd say her favorites are dogs and cats. I remember when she had just started talking and she would list all of the dogs in the family...Tombs, Jersey, Rowdy, Toby...it was really cute hearing her trying to pronounce all the names :) She still asks about Jersey and Baxter (our dogs) when we see her. Elizabeth tells everyone that she is an animal rescuer and trainer. I don't watch Dora the Explorer but apparently Diego (her brother) is an animal rescuer and I think this is where she got the idea from.


In the morning when we saw her for breakfast, she talked about how there was going to be a dog show at the party. She got a DVD for Christmas last year about dog training and has been working on training her dog Stache. We were obviously very interested in the possibility of a dog show, especially since Elizabeth tends to be pretty shy. The dog show was definitely the highlight of the party. It was hilarious but it was also great to see Elizabeth coming out of her shell. Page did an awesome job as always with the party. She had dog and cat ears for the kids to wear, dog and cat door hangers for the kids to make, and of course a dog cake with dog and cat cupcakes! It was a great party and we are thankful we were able to be there! Here are some pictures from the party:

The birthday girl

James is one serious cat!

The birthday girl with Aunt Amy and Uncle Evan

Let the Dog Show begin!

Dave trying not to laugh during the Dog Show

Sight Seeing in Houston

At the End of August, Evan's cousin Matt and his wife Rike came to Houston to visit and were able to stay with us for the weekend. It was fun to hang out and catch up with them as well as play Houston tour guide one last time. We drove them around downtown, the museum district, the medical center, etc. Then, we met up with more cousins from Evan's mom's side of the family in Pearland for lunch. It was great to see Judy, Jeff, Marsha, Vic, Matt, and Susie. We had a great time catching up at Judy and Jeff's restaurant, Jake's. I didn't realize it at the time, but it was the last opportunity we had to eat at Jake's for a long time because of our move...thankfully we had one last time to enjoy it! If you are ever in the Pearland area, you really need to check it out. We obviously enjoy the people :) but the food is great too!

Matt and Rike on our tour of Rice University

Me, Susie, Matthew, and Evan at Jake's

Later that afternoon, thanks to my brother Eric, we got a great tour of NASA. While we went on the standard tour, Eric, who works for one of the contractors at NASA, was able to give us some insider info. Our Dad's company has always had contracts out at NASA so I had been on the tour a couple of times before when I was a kid. I was excited for Matt and Rike to see NASA since they had never been but honestly, I probably had just as much, if not more fun than they did! Being older and having my brother as a tour guide helped me get way more out of it then when I was a kid. It was also a cool way to learn more about Eric's job. It was also cool as an older sister to see him in his element experience his passion for NASA. The funniest part was when we were looking at all the full sized units they use for training and Eric starts explaining to me how they often times use this Russian spacecraft called the Soyuz to transport people to and from the space station. I was looking at this thing thinking, "Your kidding, right?" Apparently not. It just looked so primitive. I guess I just hadn't ever thought about the fact that there aren't enough space shuttle missions to transport everyone to and from the space station. The crazy part is that it looks like an over sized metal soccer ball and when it lands, it just lands in the middle of some field in Russia and sometimes the passengers have to wait for hours before anyone comes to get them! Check out this link for more info. Anyway, we had a great time! It was also great to hang out with Eric and Kim one last time before we moved. Thanks again Eric and Kim for joining us and giving us a great tour! Here are some pictures:

UT siblings in front of Saturn V

Eric, Kim, Matt, Rike, Me, and Evan in front of Saturn V

Baby Adalyn

At the end of July, there was also an addition to our small group…Adalyn Reese was born! We were able to visit Adalyn and her parents, Chet and Kristi in the hospital and get this cute picture:



Thanks Chet and Kristi for letting us share in your journey and celebration!

Two Parties in One!

We have really been blessed to be a part of the worship ministry at our church for over a year. Evan served on the technical team running sound, lights, or other multimedia stuff and I served on the praise team. We grew very close to many of the team members and we will really miss them now that we are moving. At the end of July, we were invited to attend a surprise birthday party for the worship pastor. The cover for the party was that it was actually a going away party for one of the families involved in the worship ministry. It all went really well and we successfully surprised Paul (our worship pastor). It also gave all of us a chance to hang out with and say good bye to the Wilson’s who were moving to Denver the following week. We were definitely sad to say goodbye to the Wilsons but it was great to get to hang out with them and everyone else one last time especially since we knew that we would probably be moving soon too (even though at the time we weren't sure). Here are some pictures from the party:

Paul blows out the candles on his cake as Wendy (his wife) looks on


Wendy, Jennifer, Courtney, Debbie, and me


Paul, Aaron, and Evan...they are always up to something...


I wanted a few pictures with Gracie since they were moving....apparently she was too cool for this picture :)


Gracie graciously agreed to pose with me for this picture...she picked the pose

James' Birthday Party

Our nephew James turned two at the end of July and we had a great time at his birthday party in San Antonio. The theme of his party was trains. My sister-in-law Page is incredibly creative and very talented when it comes to implementing her creative ideas. I’d like to think that I am pretty creative, but I often talk myself out of trying stuff because of how complicated it seems or struggle with how to turn my idea into a reality. She really inspires me to think of practical ways to bring my creative ideas to life. She always comes up with the cutest ways to carry out the themes the kids choose for their birthday parties. There were train engineer hats for the party attendees, a craft using train shaped paint stamps for the kids, and of course the cake was a train! I know you may be thinking “Oh, you mean a cake the shape of a locomotive?” No. The cake was actually a bunch of little cakes making up all the cars of the train! My mother-in-law gave Page and I cute cake molds for Christmas a couple of years back and this train mold was one of them. I was impressed with how well it came out. It was SO cute! Here are some pictures:


The birthday boy and his cake with Mom and Dad


Close up of the super cute and yummy cake


Or, you could have a cupcake


Page helps James put together our present to him...a Hot Wheels race track


Aunt Amy and Uncle Evan with the tired Birthday Boy

It was great to be able to spend time with everyone. Every time we see James and Elizabeth, they have grown significantly. It is very interesting to watch James as he interacts with other kids. The phrases we heard most at the party were “my turn” or “mine”. I can attest to the fact that he is getting better with sharing since his party in July. I was over playing with them yesterday and he is doing a better job sharing with Elizabeth. I am really fortunate to be able to be around them and be able to ask Page questions as a way to help build my knowledge for when the time comes for Evan and I and our own kids. Maybe it is just the teacher in me but child development just fascinates me. One of my favorite things about teaching was getting to see my students grow and progress over the course of the school year. While the changes were more subtle with my high school students than with James and Elizabeth, the changes that young kids go through are still very interesting to me.

Once we move, I will really miss getting to see them as regularly as we have been able to in the last three years while we were close by in Houston. I am definitely planning at least two more visits with Page and the kids while I am in San Antonio.

A Day at the Beach

Well, actually it ended up only being a morning at the beach but we did manage to make it to Galveston in July with the dogs for some beach time. We have lived in Houston for over 3 years and had never been to the beach at Galveston. Since hurricane Ike, I really had wanted to get down there and see how Galveston was doing but seeing as it is an hour-and-a-half drive from our house, and how busy we have been lately, we didn’t really have the time to make it down there. This summer, we had quite a bit more free time so I was happy when Evan brought up the idea to go one Saturday and to take the dogs. While we both knew there was a very good possibility that they would both hate it, we were willing to try it. It was A LOT of fun! While Baxter wasn’t crazy about the water, he willingly went in if we were all there and we stayed where it was pretty shallow. Jersey had a blast jumping around and running from the oncoming waves. We were both surprised with how deep she was willing to go. We stayed at the beach for about an hour but it was great and I am really happy we went. Here are some pictures:


Checking out the beach


Baxter was not too sure about the water


Jersey enjoying the ocean


Relaxing at the beach....don't you love our dog blanket?

The parts of Galveston we drove around looked pretty good. It was weird to drive on the part of I-45 that we had seen covered with boats and other debris right after the hurricane on the news. It was also sad to see all the dead trees. Every tree we saw was dead. It was encouraging to see people shopping and sight seeing along The Strand. I am thankful we had one last opportunity to go to Galveston.

A Few Catch Up Posts

While I am in San Antonio for a couple of weeks I am going to do some catching up from the second half of the summer. I just have a bunch of really cute pictures I want to post. The next post about new stuff will be about our house hunting visit to Charleston in about a week or so.