playing catch up ... as always :P

Life has been really busy the last few months, so it's definitely been a while since I last updated.  Plus, I'm still trying to get a hold of pictures from the holidays, so I tend to keep procrastinating, just waiting until I get all the pictures so I can do it all in one swoop ... but waiting just means it is longer and longer between posts, and more stuff just keeps happening.  So, I'm just gonna go ahead and update with what I have (though I really hate posting without pictures ... it just feels lame, I guess... I'll try to avoid too many of them).  I believe the most recent thing I've posted was about our first anniversary back in August, so I'll start there.

The fall semester of 2011 started in full swing at the end of August, and just as Danny became super busy, I suddenly didn't have as much to do.  Work was pretty slow after school got under way (most people want all the financial aid stuff taken care of before school starts, go figure, haha), and then my temp job ended mid-October, which left me with suddenly *lots* of time on my hands.  When I wasn't job searching, I used the time to catch up on some hobbies and books and movies, make a lot of baked goods and homemade gifts (wait until I post about Christmas), and get the apartment in order - organizing, cleaning, decorating, etc. (it took over a week to finally clean and organize the office closet alone).  Of course, there's still stuff I'd like to do, and stuff that we're still changing, but it is a lot nicer than before, and that gave me something to do.

Danny, on the other hand, had a full schedule with 15 hours including ROTC with heavy time demands, plus institute classes and church calling.  The other classes besides ROTC he took were Spanish 4, English British Lit (he actually had the class with his brother, Nick! cool surprise), History of England, and World Civilization... all of which had lots and lots of reading and essays (this is why I was an arch major).  Then he also joined something with ROTC called Ranger Challenge.  That is basically this competition with other rotc's in the area competing in various army tactics and physical fitness skills (... I think).  Anyway, it meant extra morning workouts and a weekend away in October for the event.  ... he wasn't even really on the team, per say (he didn't compete ... the try-outs were wicked intense), but he helped cheer them on and got all the extra workouts he wanted, plus it give him extra credit points toward his final army listing score...thing (I really need to learn its name) that he gets this summer after LDAC (summer training he has to pass to get into the army).

Add to this that I think Danny had maybe three Saturdays the entire semester with no commitments.  Danny and I definitely logged a lot of hours on the road across the state.  If it wasn't ROTC (weekends away for Ranger Challenge and for Field Training Exercises), it was church service projects (like when Bastrop, a town about an hour east of here, had really bad wildfires and he went to help clean up), and if it wasn't church, then there was family -- in September, there was a new niece, Wynn's (Elena's youngest) baby blessing [2.5 hrs away]; in October, there was another niece, Emily's (Tommy's youngest) birthday party in Houston [3 hrs away] and then helping fix up his parent's old house they're renting in Georgetown [2 hrs away]; and in November, he competed in a 5K Warrior Dash with his brother, David, in Austin [1 hr away] and we spent a week during Thanksgiving with my family in Allen [4 hrs away]; and in December we spent a week in College Station with the Garcia side for Christmas and another week in Allen with the Crookston side for New Years where we spent time with dozens of relatives.  Plus making sure that when we were home, we made time for parties and hanging out with friends too ... and of course the few chores we could squeeze in, lol.  Needless to say, it made for a busy (and often stressful) semester.

SO, that pretty much sums up our fall in a nutshell.  I think both of us had a huge sigh of relief when the semester was over.  Danny pulled off a 3.2 gpa and I also found out that Texas State would hire me back the next year.  While we did a lot of stuff, I think we both plan to try and take it a little easier this year, perhaps step back a bit, recuperate and relax.  I think we could really use it.