Our Yearly Getaway

Marte and I try to get away for a few days each year. Sometimes we go to Coaching School and sometimes we go to FCA Coach's camp. This year we got a full scholarship to FCA Coach's Camp so our decision was quite easy which one to go to.

This year it was at the Horseshoe Bay resort in Marble Falls, TX. WOW. What a beautiful place, a place we (or most other coaches for that matter) would never get a chance to visit without such an event. We are always so thankful for the ministry of FCA and their hand in the next generation of leaders of our society.

The theme was "Unleash the Power" and it was all about building up leaders. We always leave ANY FCA event refreshed, encouraged, and excited about the ministry of being a coach.

On our way down to Marble Falls we stopped in Hico to eat lunch at a small mexican restaurant recommended by a friend. The name of the restaurant was "Jersey Lilly's" which is SO odd since our endearing nickname for our dog was Jersey Lilly. It was sort of her middle name that we used often. She got out of our fence several weeks ago and although our phone number was on her collar we haven't seen her since. :( We all miss her and Bryson is old enough to ask a lot of questions. He says he misses her often, it's been hard.

Anyway, the restaurant was very good and we moved on down the road to our next Food Network Stop. :) The BlueBonnet Cafe where they are famous for their pies (and a lot of other things). We had a slice of pie a la mode and went to check into our resort getaway.

As soon as we pulled into the resort the deer were EVERYwhere! I have several other pictures, probably better pictures, on my other camera but these are from Marte's trusty phone. They aren't afraid of humans really and just walk wherever they please since they probably sense they are protected on the resort.
We stayed at the hotel portion of the resort but there were condos and houses and all sorts of various housing options. The hotel was landscaped like no place I've ever been. Again, not a place a coaching family usually ends up on vacation. :)
They had a putt putt golf course that was a scaled down version of the real golf course. It had real grass, sand traps and all sorts of curves, twists, and hills. Let me just add here that the score was tied after we finished the 18th hole and after the tie breaker repeat of hole 1, I beat Marte by one stroke. :)
The next day, during our free time we played a full round of golf with some friends. The score sheet on this round was full of smiley faces and completion check marks next to my name. They are much nicer to look at then the number I probably finished with so I chose to just draw a smiley face rather than take ownership to a number. :) Marte is pretty good though and so was the couple we played with so it was a lot of fun.

Aside from golf we had an amazing time with coaching friends we only get to see once a year or so. It's like time never passes with coaching friends though, we may only see each other once or twice a year but we all share a similar bond that nobody else can understand. We made some new friends and listened to a great speaker that really challenged us (Jon Randles) and were entertained by a new band - or new to us (Branch) that I will be looking up on itunes very soon.

Awesome, awesome weekend. Thank you FCA and especially the Dallas area FCA for paying our way!

Fishing and flags

The boys have been asking to go fishing for a while. We have all the stuff, all we needed was the patience and God's protection from the hooks and Brock's impulsive grabbing. :) Nobody was hurt - except maybe one stubborn snapping turtle that wouldn't let Marte get the hook out of his mouth. That's a whole different story...

Bryson caught three turtles! One was a huge, stubborn, mean turtle. He bit Marte as he was trying to release him!

We also brought some poppers to let the boys play with explosives - I guess they need that every once in a while. :)
Then we went back to our friends house for burgers and hot dogs in the rain topped off with a kid decorated american flag fruit pizza to celebrate our Independence Day!

Back to the shooting range

All the rain has brought cooler temperatures so although we haven't been to the pool too much in the last week or two, we've done a few other things that we normally wouldn't bother in the 100 degree temps. There is a 3D archery range in the town south of ours that Marte has a membership to so we decided to head down there for a few hours and let all the boys play. It's a really cool place, hard to explain but it's similar to a golf course except each hole has mock hunting situations from various types of stands. All sorts of animals and situations. Bryson is really starting to take his time with aiming and he's hitting the targets a lot more and from further distances these days. It doesn't hurt that our yard is actually big enough to let him practice in the back yard now. :)





This is a view from up in the stand. Marte shot from up here and then took the boys down closer to the targets to let them have their turns. You can barely see but there are two bears, and elk and a mule deer (I think) on this hole. This is the one Bryson was asking to get to the whole time we were there.

the iphone is helping my blogging

Most posts are born from a picture. At least one. My point and shoot camera isn't working and my "big camera" is like having another kid to babysit sometimes so it doesn't always make it out of the closet. :)

BUT...with the iphone entering our house AND always in my husbands pocket (or on his ear) :) we always have a camera on hand. I'm still figuring out how to take decent pictures with the thing but at least we're doing a better job documenting our life through pictures these days. See Marte? I need one so I don't have to borrow yours all the time.

This is at the park by our old house. They tore the old one down in March and promised us a new one by June. So with all those nice, cool, days behind us - on July 1st it opened! :) It is very new and very exciting. We stayed and played for a while and experimented with all the new stuff.

Giggle, Giggle Quack

This morning we went to Dallas Children's Theater to see Giggle, Giggle Quack with a large group from school/church. There was a pretty good turnout and Bryson got to see several friends he hasn't seen in a while. The show was really cute and both boys want to go back to another show in future.

Rainy days...

So....

with baseball camp and some summer baseball games that Marte has been working we haven't a dinner together, other than a few in the pressbox with him, in a while. We decided to grill out. We knew a storm was coming (and we don't have a covered back patio) but really thought we'd be done with the grill before the rains came - we thought we'd be enjoying a nice peaceful dinner watching the storm out the big back window that our kitchen has....

Just after Marte put the chicken on the grill it started pouring! :) We felt like the silliest people in the world trying to grill out just before a storm. Haha...sometimes things work for you and sometimes they don't but we had to at least try. He flipped the meat and brought them in with the aid of an umbrella.
Then just before we went to bed we went to check on the boys and tuck them in. This is what we found. Precious! Bryson crawled into bed with his sleeping brother and passed out himself!

Fritz Petting Zoo

Last week (I think?) we ventured out to see what the Fritz Petting Zoo was about. We heard about it through some friends, heard that it was free and decided it was worth at least checking out.
It was a cute little park type place that just happened to have live animals and a few workers to make sure everyone was safe. It was neat, worth the adventure but probably not worth driving back over there for a repeat visit. :)


Brock's favorite was this sleeping goat. :)

Happy Father's Day 2010

For Father's day this year we took an afternoon train ride to the stockyards and back. It dropped us off down there long enough to eat, cool off in the air conditioning, do a little shopping, see a second gun fight (see below), and have an ice cream cone. Marte's parent's rode with us on the way down and Miste, Troy and Kash met us down there for the ride home. Beans volunteered to take the air conditioned car back to their house since it needed to be driven back anyway. :)
A few cowboys hijacked our train on the way there with guns and horses. They had a shoot out right outside our train window. Fun stuff! The boys had a great time.






We are still sharpening those cooperation skills in our children. :)

Oh that's better. There's a smile for the camera. Bryson is trying on Dad's new hat he got while we were down there.
The temperature inside the train was 99 degrees! If it was moving the breeze felt good and it wasn't so bad. When it was stopped however, the drips started moving down our legs and backs. :)
Awesome day! Happy Father's Day Marte!

Recent events...

There are a lot of smiles going on around here. These boys are absolutely precious and this age is so much fun! Brock wants to bake something in the kitchen with me every! single! day! :) I'm trying my best to embrace this with the best attitude possible as I know he may not always want to help me and so far we're having fun. He's only broken one favorite glass bowl with flour and baking powder all over my floor, but honestly, his momma should have had some plastic bowls for occasions such as these so I'll take the blame.

After all, Brock learned long ago he has a smile that can cure a lot....

Another exciting thing is Bryson lost his first tooth! It's been wiggly for a few days/weeks and it got to the point this morning where we couldn't even tell where it was still attached! His adult tooth has already started to come in behind it and it's enormous! Wow! He has lots of space between his teeth which the dentist told us is a good sign, but I don't see how teeth THAT big are all going to fit in THAT mouth. :)

...and this is a sign he left for the tooth fairy. He tried to draw an arrow I guess to point to his room instead of Brocks (in case she get's lost upstairs!). The "tooth fairy" went upstairs to deliver the goods and found this sign taped to the wall. HAHA! She HAD to go back downstairs to get the camera so she could remember this precious-ness forever.