Movie Night

I love to make forts and Dave's mentioned a few times recently that we should make one sometime. Last weekend we were both a little sick with a headcold so we decided to stay in for a movie night.  He ran down the street to get a RedBox and I surprised him with this...  We had a fun movie night with lots of snacks.  I had to drag David out of it when it was finally time to take it down, he loved it!

We are so blessed!!!

So over the 4th of July weekend, we took Cari Sue and Sean to float the river.  Usually, everybody has a beer in their hand, so we decided to be cool too and go get Sonic drinks.  Dave and I were sharing a tube and right after we went through the chute a police officer pulled us out of the river and asked me if it was my cup.  I had heard they were having a no-refusal weekend, so I assumed it was about alcohol and I proudly responded yes, but that there was no alcohol in it because I don't drink alcohol.  Well, jokes on me...it had nothing to do with alcohol.  Apparently, there's a law in New Braunfels; no styrofoam.  We had no idea, not even the slightest.  We tried to explain that to the officer, but he was stern and said no exceptions this weekend.  So the mean officer wrote us up a ticket.  Dave insisted he bought the cup so he should be the one written up, so he went over with the officer.  It was probably better that Dave went, because I had so many insults running through my mind to use on that officer that wouldn't have helped the situation, but would've made me feel better.  He said that he didn't know the price, city violations were anywhere from $1-$500 and that we'd find out in a few days when our ticket was processed. 
    So the next week I was at Girl's Camp and I called Dave and asked him to check on that ticket.  The officer had mentioned that we could go into the courthouse and challenge the ticket, so we had agreed that if it was $30 or more, it would be worth the gas money and time to go challenge.  He got online and all I hear is silence, and then him repeatedly saying, "No, this can't be right, this just can't be right!"  Any guesses on how much?  $419!!! For a $1 Sonic drink!!!
     We went and challenged it.  We appeared on our court date and finally got in to talk with a prosecutor.  She offered to drop it $100, I wanted to laugh, like I'd accept that!  After explaining that this ticket is almost how much we pay in rent each month and how there was no warning given and we would've happily thrown out our $1 cup if there had been signs posted.  So she dropped it down to what she said the lowest was for the holiday weekend + the court fees which added up to $198.  I still wouldn't accept that and we told her we just didn't have the funds to pay that, so she offered us community service hours.  So $419 turned into 16 hours of community service hours.  That I accepted.
     I called around to a few places, it had to be non-profit and non-religious.  Every company insisted they interview Dave and he'd have to complete an orientation before they could promise any hours.  I would try to explain that he wasn't a criminal, we just had a Sonic cup on the river, but I don't think they believed me.  Dave decided he'd just do the orientation and go down to the soup kitchen and spend 4 Saturday mornings there.  After lots of research I called the Boy Scouts and got some wonderful news, they were non-profit and non-religious.  Every Wednesday with our youth group, Dave works with a scout troop.  So I found a way to count the hours he was already doing every week towards his community service.  Our home teacher is the scout master and he signed off the forms for us.  We sent it in last week and when I called today, they told me that the case was closed and we're cleared.  New Braunfels didn't get a dime out of us.  So many prayers and so much time spent worrying about how we were going to be able to pay that, what a blessing!!!

Halloween Crafts

Recently, some friends have shown me Pinterest and I've decided I'm going to attempt to do more crafts.  It's especially nice for the holidays because I never seem to find decorations I like that aren't super expensive.  So now I can make all my own decorations for much cheaper, and they're much cuter.

 Our first craft...my pumpkin and Dave's Frankenstein, colorful and fun.  We put fake candles in them at night and they look great.

Turns out that an empty jar is more expensive than a jar that comes with food in it, so we decided to sacrifice the pickles. (They don't look as appetizing in a salsa jar)  We'll have to get them out with a fork now, but the jar was the perfect shape for my pumpkin so I think it was worth it. 

Domestic Development

My mom worked really hard on our wedding decor.  She and some friends sewed us some very nice table cloths because we just couldn't find any with the bright red, orange and yellow colors that I wanted.  We hate just throwing things away, so my mom came up with the idea of making a quilt with them.  I had never actually done a quilt on my own before, so I was excited about having a nice quilt, but not necessarily the making of it.  But I figured it would be a great skill to develop so I agreed to it.  We found a great pattern with similar colors that we really liked and I got myself my very own sewing machine and got to work.  Luckily I have a great friend at church who is an expert quilter and showed me lots of helpful pointers.

It still took me quite a while, it stresses me out just thinking back and trying to estimate how many hours. It was pretty advanced so I made a lot of mistakes and had to sew a few squares over and over again until I got them right.  With some help from my mom this past weekend we got the front all finished and took it over to a quilter lady to get it all finished up and looking nice.  She did it just in time for me to take it back to Texas with me, and the very last step was just finishing up the edging.  That also took a very long time, but I could finally see light at the end of the tunnel so it wasn't so bad. 

Finishing up the last edging corner and I couldn't be more excited.  I finished the whole second half during a movie night (poor Dave had to watch an action movie with the bright overhead lights on while I finished)  This is the back, which shows the beautiful and intricate flower/leaf pattern, it's beautiful!

And finally, the front, which I think is absolutely beautiful!  We added in the purple fabric to add some contrast, but the rest were all the table cloths from our reception. I loved the colors because they remind me of the sunset.   The pattern was called Tequila Sunrise, but Dave likes to say that the colors represent the sun setting on our single lives.

I'm so happy to finally be done with this project and to have a beautiful blanket to snuggle up in, especially now that we're starting to see signs of Fall.  Now, on to my next project...

Dream Job

One of my favorite movies has always been Miss Congeniality.  I've always wanted to be a spy, I love finding out secrets, including exactly what I'm getting for Christmas and my birthday and who has who for any Secret Santa gifts.  The day I saw Miss Congeniality I discovered my dream job, I would love to be just like Sandra Bullock in that movie.

When we moved here to San Antonio I applied to all sorts of Linguist jobs, including the FBI, just for fun.  I heard that it takes years to get hired, but I just did it to say that I tried.  Well, surprisingly enough, over a year later, I got a call from the FBI asking me to come in and test for a Linguist position. Who would've thought!

  The test was 5 hours, I thought I was going to die and almost thought about leaving half way through because it was tough! Luckily I brought plenty of snacks. All of the listening clips were of mumbled Spanish slang with loud sirens and street noises in the background.  In that moment I really wished I were one of the three native Spanish speakers testing in the room with me. 

Security was pretty intense there, no cameras or cell phones, but I managed to snap this picture on my way out of the parking lot.  It'll take another few months before I even get my test results back from DC headquareters and then years after that to get hired.  So for now, I'm proud to say that say that at least I got an interview at the FBI.  I feel so accomplished.

Surprise Fresno Visit

I love to surprise my family and I've been wanting to go home for a while to see everybody.  It's tough being so far away from all my siblings and missing out on watching them grow up and being apart of all their activities.  I've surprised my dad before (hiding in the back of his truck when he came out from work) and my little sister Emily on her birthday, see video below...

It was hard to leave Dave, but I was really aching to see everybody, including my nieces and nephews.  My brother Tom was my accomplice.  We came in and surprised Emily first...

 Just kidding.  Emily actually wanted to re-enact the whole thing because the first video came in a little fuzzy.  In the real video Emily didn't even notice it was me in the same room with her for a few seconds.  And we missed my dad's reaction.  Of course, within seconds each asked me, "Is Dave here too?" 

Emily agreed to help me surprise Mom and Tia coming home from Back to School night. So I went and jumped in Tia's bed and told Emily to tell them that she had done something really special to their room. (I knew that would alarm my mama and she'd come right in ready to see the damage)  Here's the video...

It was such a great visit.  Since it was a midweek surprise, nothing special was planned, but I loved just being a part of the everyday activities.  Some of the highlights were running errands with my mom, having lunch with my dad, shopping with Carrie, exercising with Tom, walking Emily to the bus stop and Tia's waterpolo game.

My favorite was spending time with my older sister and her adorable little family. 

 We had a fun sleepover and I loved walking Kaylin to school, playing at the park, snack time, telling stories, going to the library and the animal game. 

 I love meeting my dad for lunch.  Good thing he has a big office!  Then, the trip wouldn't be complete without a girls night.

I feel so refreshed!  Everyone missed Dave, but I tried to keep him in the loop by sending him picture messages all week of everything I was doing.  I was sad to leave, but excited to get back to Dave and real life. And, I had such a wonderful surprise waiting for me when I got home....

My favorite.....RIBS!