Summer

This summer hasn't been too eventful for us.  It's hard when parents or friends call and want to hear all about what we've been up to recently, so this is my attempt to remember some of this summers events.

Growing up with a pool in California, summers for me need to involve plenty of water.  For our anniversary my parents got us Sea World/Aquatica (their new water park) tickets and we're loving them.

Our first time we went on a Friday before school got out and we were able to go on every ride and see every show before 5pm.  It was awesome. On our way home Dave and I both shared our favorite part of our first day at Sea World.  I thought it was quite interesting...Dave's was having our gourmet picnic lunch I had prepared sitting in the back of his pick up truck out in the parking lot and mine was watching the Treasure Island ride from the bottom and getting soaked when it came splashing down the track. (I wish they gave discounted tickets to people who don't like roller coasters and would just like to go in and watch others go on rides)

It's a half hour drive and we've got our system down where we get to Aquatica right as it opens, run in and do all the rides that we want to with NO lines and then we're out of there by noon to go home for lunch.  I love leaving right as it's getting hot and crowded.  We don't bring in our phones or cameras, so sadly no pictures.  We're trying to make the most out of our passes.

More Water Activities

Besides hanging out at our pool here at our apartment complex, we really enjoy floating rivers.  Texas has a lot of rivers and most of them are great for floating.  Our favorite is the Comal river.  It's about 25 minutes away and has a fun little man-made chute at the beginning where you get tossed around and splashed pretty good.  Then it runs right alongside Schlitterbahn's (the famous waterpark here). This year they placed a can-ban so there is a lot less drinking and crazy stuff going on, so we try to go often.  Just last weekend we invited some friends to join us and we had a blast.  A friend found this picture online and what fun memories we have out there now!

Dempsey Reunion

Dave's mom is a Dempsey and they usually have their reunions out in a small town in east Texas, about 5 or 6 hours away from us.  There was an earthquake there recently so they decided to relocate this year to Aunt Kay's who lives a half hour away.  We couldn't have been happier, especially since Kay lives in a huge house on top of a huge hill out in the hill country.

We spent the weekend exploring the property, shooting guns, playing lots of ping-pong and swimming. I even saw a tarantula crossing the road.  I was so excited that she had a pool and it was gorgeous, overlooking so much Texas!


She actually has 2 homes on her property, so half the family stayed down in the guest house, and the Dempsey side stayed up on the hill. Most of the adults got rooms, but the rest of us got to set up our mattresses in a big sun room.  It was so much fun to have so many people in one room! Luckily I saved my earplugs from all the gun shooting we did, so I slept great. We hope it's at Aunt Kay's from now on, it was such a fun weekend!

Fresno/Yosemite Visit

I decided to spend my birthday weekend home in Fresno to spend some time with my family.

 Dave loves going dirt biking with Tom Tom at the park.  We got to hang out with my parents and eat at some of my favorite places.







Also, we got to see one of Tia's swim meets and were able to have a couple sleep over's with my nieces and nephew.   Sometimes it's just fun to be a part of their everyday activities, things are a lot more exciting in a big family and with kids around.

Moving to Texas, I've realized that I definitely took growing up an hour away from Yosemite for granted.  I wanted Dave to see it and I sure miss those mountains!  

Because it was Memorial day weekend, it was extremely crowded driving down to Yosemite Valley. We stopped at a lookout point to stretch our legs when I heard my name being yelled.  I couldn't believe it as I turned around and saw Anne (one of my close high school friends who I haven't seen in years) It was so great to see her and meet her new husband!

We stayed at one of our favorite spots, Curry Village.  They're big house tents with beds for 5 with bedding.  We managed to squeeze all 7 of us in there.  We were sure glad that we brought some extra sleeping bags because we almost froze to death!   

Once the sun came up the next morning it was a beautiful day.  

The best way to see the valley is definitely by bike! 




I especially love the fresh crisp air and everywhere you turn there are beautiful trees, wildlife or waterfalls!

If you have not been to Yosemite, it should definitely be on your list of places to visit.  It has such a unique beauty that I haven't found anywhere else.  Dave loved it and is excited to go camp there with our children someday.  What a beautiful world we live on!

Happy (future) Mother's Day

 Mother's Days have always been a little weird for me, since I'm not a mother.  But if my husband wants to serve me breakfast in bed anyways, I won't object.  Sunday morning I woke up to a picture text of this and then shortly Dave walked in with delicious Cinnamon Rolls and chocolate milk.

We had a great morning at church and then enjoyed an afternoon of no meetings.  The other highlight of my day was this delicious dinner that we fixed, my favorite BBQ ribs with loaded mashed potatoes and squash.  Happy Future Mothers Day to me! Oh, and also to my lovely mother and mother-in-law :)

2 Years!

How time flies, Dave and I have now been married for 2 years!  It's been the best 731 days of our lives and we can't wait for many many more years together.  We couldn't be happier.







We celebrated by going to Sea World. Since we went on a school day, there was hardly anybody there.  We were able to see every single show and ride every single ride, it was awesome!  When I asked Dave what his favorite part of the day was, he actually said it was our picnic we had for lunch, sitting in the back of his truck in the parking lot.  My favorite part was watching/standing next to the Journey to Atlantis ride and getting soaked every time one of the cars came splashing down.  (We're both pretty easy to please) We got season passes so I can't wait for the water park to open and for Trick-or-treating in October.  Life is so good!

Crawfish boil

On sunday we got invited to a crawfish boil, I had no idea what that was, but they're our friends, so I accepted. I was pretty hesitant at first, but Dave had mentally prepared me well. Although I could not get that nervous/disgusted look off my face, they weren't too bad.  I just felt like it was too much work for such a little bite of meat.  It was a good experience though and Dave was really proud that I tried it.

Dave has fond childhood memories sticking the heads on his fingertips, so he just couldn't resist.  I was debating trying it until he mentioned it was feeling a little gross cause he had to squish the brains to get his fingers in all the way.  At that point, I was done with dinner.

Texas Wildflowers

I've heard lots of great things about the Texas wildflowers and I finally got to see them.  Last year we were in a horrible drought, so there were none.  This year, Spring showers came in January and February, so by March they were all over the place! Every open field and all along the roads there are fields of blue bonnets and Mexican hats.


We took the back way up to Joshua for conference weekend and we were just in time to see all the wildflowers in full bloom. My favorite were the indian paintbrushes (which I didn't see any in San Antonio, but there were tons up north and they're a beautiful pinkish/red color) It was such a colorful drive.  I wish these flowers were around all year, but Dave said that soon the grass will get way too long and gardeners will come and have to cut them all down.


So we got  pictures with the Blue Bonnets just in time...