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...

A lesson on humility

I woke up with on January 19^th, everything about me felt normal, except that any noise made me dizzy.  Hearing a loud noise made me feel like I was spinning and about to pass out for about few seconds, and then I’d snap out of it.  If there were a few noises in a row (like someone talking to me) it would make me dizzy to the point I’d start sweating, my head would start hurting and I would have to sit down.  It's been slowly going away and the duration of it has gotten shorter and shorter, but it's been 2 and a half months!  For the first month I stayed home in my silent apartment all day and I’d forget that anything was wrong until my phone rang or I went to use anything that made a noise (opening the fridge or microwave) The worst was when Dave came home… slamming the door closed, dropping his bag, or talking to me (it all seemed so extreme & loud at the time)… I was miserable.  I had no desire to talk or eat anything crunchy, because hearing myself in my head brought those symptoms. Dave and I just whispered, I had to remind him often, but he did it. I am blessed, with my job I can just work from home in the quiet.  I discovered an online service area, so Dave would text me a project and I could take care of any issues online rather than calling in.  I didn't go to church or even out in public because I couldn’t stand people talking to me and it’s just way too loud everywhere.  After a few weeks I started going outside again with my trusty earplugs and did ok.  I tried to avoid people or I would have to read lips, not really know what people were saying to me half the time, so that was fun. So I am still alive, I'm just flying under the radar for a while.  

My dad had asked some of his ENT buddies and they weren’t sure, but he told me it was something that would probably just go away in a few months.  The pride in me thought that nothing could bring me down for that long, and surely it would go away in a week or so.  But, it didn't.  I finally accepted that and went to a doctor who suspected a bad inner ear infection.  After a week with no improvement I went to an ENT specialist who discovered hearing loss at certain frequencies, gave me vallium and diagnosed me with Menneire's disease.  That involves permanent hearing loss and possibly not being able to fly, plus these random sudden dizziness spells so that was a little scary and unexpected.  The next week I went to a different specialist for a 2^nd opinion and my hearing was back. We had fasted for it to be a misdiagnosis, and our prayers were answered.  The other ENT thought it might be from some kind of fistula (trauma or over exhaustion). He offered me some steriod drops, but could not diagnose anything.  It was definitely a humbling experience for me, having no control over the situation. It was one of those times when I honestly felt that the Savior was the only one who knew how I was feeling.  All I’m praying for now is that it’s nothing permanent and that it never happens again.  I'm writing this on my blog because I don't really like to talk about it, so hopefully this answers anybody's questions.

Dave found this commercial and I could not believe how perfect it was for me. (Only when I watch this can I think about this experience and smile) What I would give to live in a world like that.  I'll be completely honest, for a split second the thought did cross my mind to consider getting this car!

Disney Movies

Neither Dave or I have very many movies.  We recently discovered CD Exchange here in San Antonio that has tons of used movies (I just can't justify spending $20+ on a movie, unless I know we're gonna watch it often)  So with that in mind we decided that we would only buy movies that we would watch with our future kiddos, and CD exchange has a whole separate section for family movies.  We've found some great classics like Surf's Up and Finding Nemo for $6 each.

Our most recent shipment

We also found a great promo code and recently became members of the Disney Movie Club.  Including taxes and shipping, we're getting 9 of our favorite new Disney movies for about $7.50 a movie.  And I just saw that they have a rewards program with it, so we'll be able to use the points from those 9 movies and we qualify for a free one.  I love getting great deals on things and I love getting things for free even more!  Family movie nights in our home are gonna be awesome!