My computer decided to fail me, and while I probably could have figured out a way to stay caught up here, I thought a) it would take a really long time to blog from my phone, and b) what's a blog without pictures??
The good news is, I now not only have a new computer, but two busy months worth of stories, pictures, and updates! The only problem is deciding where to begin.
Since my last post, Justin and I have been blessed with some amazing experiences and opportunities. I'll try to hit most of the highlights...
Our First Anniversary
On August 1, Justin and I celebrated our first anniversary. It has truly been a blessing being married to Justin. I have learned so much from him and have absolutely loved getting to know him better every day of this past year. He is loving, encouraging, forgiving, and so much fun to be around. It is an incredible blessing to have him as my companion!
To celebrate our anniversary, Justin and I took a much anticipated trip to Fredericksburg, TX. We shopped, ate, and enjoyed being away from school and work to spend time together.
While we were there, we visited the Wildflower Farm, which included a "butterfly haus" and free wine tasting. (They sure love their wine in Fredericksburg!)
We also discovered a candy store that sold amazing fudge and some of the best chocolate covered strawberries I have ever tasted!
On our anniversary, Justin and I went to Becker Vineyards. It was beautiful and we definitely learned a lot!
Before we left town, we headed out to Enchanted Rock. If you've never been, you should check it out!
We loved our time in Fredericksburg and were sad to see our trip end. It was the perfect way to spend our first anniversary!
We had dropped our puppy off with my parents on our way down to Fredericksburg. When we came back through to pick him up on our way home, my sweet little nieces were there for a visit!
It was fun seeing them interact with little Beau... They are getting so big!
I'm not sure which Beau enjoyed more: playing with the girls or eating the treat we brought him! Both were pretty cute. :)
When we got home, Justin and I decided to treat ourselves to one more thing... the Dallas World Aquarium! The 100+ degree weather seemed to have given everyone else the same idea, but we had a great time in spite of the crowds. It is a very neat place!
A Visit from Justin's Parents
That same day, Justin's parents came into town from Michigan! We hadn't seen them since Christmas, so it was nice to be able to see them for a week! We got to take them to the Dallas Arboretum and they were able to make it to two of Justin's races. I really enjoyed having people go with me to watch!
Justin's dad brought his bike with him, so he, Justin, and Justin's younger brother, Jacob, got to go ride together. Needless to say, there were a lot of bikes in my living room that week. :)
Justin had a great time getting to ride with them.
We are so thankful that they made the trip down. We wish we could see them more often!
Some Big News
Last Friday, Justin was hired by Dallas ISD to teach high school English at Skyline High School! This is something we have been praying for for a long time, and we are so thankful that he has this opportunity. Working at the bike shop has been good for Justin in so many ways and we are very thankful for the opportunities he has had there, and we are excited about the new opportunities that will come with this new job. School started on Monday but we are still waiting on some paperwork to come through before Justin can start. He is ready to begin, so we are praying that the process will hurry along so that he can meet his students!
The Latest Race
One of the most obvious perks that comes with this new job is that Justin and I now have weekends off together! We celebrated our first weekend off with a bike race. You may have heard of the "Hotter than Hell Hundred" in Wichita Falls. Cyclists come from all over the country to compete in this hundred mile road race, and thousands - yes, thousands - of people come out to ride in the rally. Since the hotels had all been booked long before we found out he could go to this race, Justin and I left the house just after 3am on Saturday morning to drive to Wichita Falls for the insanity. Let there be no doubt that I love him.
The race started around 6:30am and lasted about 4 hours. Justin was stoked for this race and we expected he would do pretty well in it. This was true for the first 80 miles or so.
Throughout the race, there are three "feed zones"where supporters are allowed to hand off water bottles and other various types of nutrition to the riders as they come by. My job for this race was to travel to each of the feed zones and hand Justin a fresh water bottle. Next time I think I'll hand this job off to someone else. It seems easy enough, but when you give someone with absolutely no sense of direction a poorly labeled map with no directions through an area full of closed roads (due to the various cycling routes through the town) and that person's cell phone which has her GPS on it dies, it is unlikely that she will make it to every one of those feed zones. (Sorry, love.)
Despite this, Justin was doing remarkably well during the race, until a pot hole popped his front tire and forced him to pull off to the side of the road to wait for the wheel truck. Justin probably still would have been fine if it hadn't been for the rider with his head down who crashed into him.
I always worry about Justin crashing while he's riding his bike, but I didn't realize that standing near the bike could be such a hazard! Unfortunately, this little accident bent the back wheel and left Justin with some bruised ribs and a very sore leg. By the time everyone had been cleaned up and Justin had new wheels on his bike, the group was far ahead of them. The official who had seen the crash told him not to panic and let him draft off of the truck to catch back up to the group. When they came through the final feed zone (which I did make it to!), Justin was going so fast trying to catch the group that he missed his water bottle, meaning that he only had about a half bottle of water for the second half of the race. Not ideal.
Impressively enough, Justin did manage to catch the group and finished with them, but wasn't able to pull out a win this time. It was just one of those races you have to laugh at and recognize that even so, it could have been much worse. (I walked by one guy with a broken collar bone and another with a bike that looked like it had been broken in half. Eek!) I am thankful that Justin wasn't more seriously injured and that he can laugh at his unfortunate circumstances!
If you've stuck with me this long, I'm pretty impressed. :) I'll try to stay caught up with posting on here now that I have a working computer. Hope everyone has a good week!
