... yeah, it's been a while. The past year has been pretty crazy to say the least but things have finally settled down enough so (hopefully) I'm going to be able to catch up. I think the hardest part about blogging for me lately is the fact that I never seem to take pictures anymore. Either someone else is going to be taking photos or maybe I forget about getting my camera or probably because you can only take so many self portraits, but mostly, it's just because while life is busy, it's been pretty ... well, boring, at least in terms of photo opportunities. But anyway, here's the highlights of last summer (which seems like ages ago).
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| I was able to get off work for a day so we could take a long weekend up to Allen to visit my parents for Memorial Day. We had a lot of fun and were even able to stay for the city's orchestra concert and fireworks display (though driving back home in the middle of the night so I could be at work the next day wasn't quite as fun). |
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| LDAC (Leader Development and Assessment Course) - Danny was gone for another month this summer, this time for LDAC. Unlike last year's training, this four-week course is required for all ROTC cadets in order to train and pass off all the skills they have (supposedly) learned in their time as a cadet. You have to pass all the requirements in order to become an officer, so it's a pretty big deal and Danny spent a lot of time prepping and getting ready for it. It was a hard month, for both of us, especially since they weren't allowed to use phones the entire course, so all we had were letters (well, I sent letters to Danny because unfortunately, we forgot to send him with envelopes and stamps, noted for next time). But luckily, training for him and work for me kept us both busy and the time went by quickly. These photos are a few of the highlights they posted of his company (the only photo he's in other than the group shot is the bottom right one, he's holding the rifle). |
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| While back at home, I kept busy with work and projects and also trying to get out a bit. I had 4th of July off, but it was a Wednesday, right in the middle of week, so I just stayed in town. Some friends from church invited me to go to San Marcos's Summer Fest and fireworks show, so that made it fun and a little easier despite being away from Danny... a little at least. I also tried an idea off pinterest (which, btw, I'm totally addicted to) and made these super easy and cute patriotic cupcakes. They're just a regular box cake mix but dyed with food coloring and layered. So fun! and everyone loved them :) |
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| Later in July, I was also able to get a couple days off for a short trip
to Utah for my grandpa's 80th birthday / family reunion. It went by way too fast and I really wished Danny could've come (he still had a week left at LDAC), but it was really nice to see all my family again, especially some of my cousins and aunts and uncles that I haven't seen in years. Above are a few pictures from Grandpa's birthday lunch at the park, including a photo of the drawing I made him of our family tree. I think it turned out nicely (especially for having finished it during my layover at the airport), and he seemed to like it. |
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| After the park, we went over to Aunt Karen's for more relaxing and playing in her backyard. It was fun to see everyone having a good time. |
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| While in Utah, we also spent a day at Lagoon amusement park. I mostly spent the day with my parent's and Amanda's family. It was a lot of fun seeing the boys so excited about the rides, especially the bumper cars. Seth must have ridden them at least five times and probably would've stayed on them all day if we let him. And I even joined them on a ride or two. |
Well, summer felt super long and went by really fast all at the same time. A bit of the summer was spent trying to get some health issues figured out (side note, insurance and doctors and pretty much the whole health industry are such a
pain to deal with), and the rest of my time was pretty much filled with work. I finished up work at Texas State by the end of August, and I must admit as much I loved working there, I was really ready for a break. My job responsibilites had completely changed that summer as there was a lot of reorganizing and schedule changes and new procedures. They ended up taking the two regular workers from my department and moving them temporarily to another department for the summer. They then moved me up to doing
both of their jobs while they brought in
three new temps that I had to train to do my old job, not including temps that came and left because they couldn't or didn't want to do the work (one only lasted 45 minutes!) Oh, and on top of all that, for part of July, my supervisor was on vacation for two weeks and left me in charge of the department! oh joys. Let's just say, I got to know the job really well, and I was good at it, but perhaps too good, lol. And I've learned that while I
can do higher up the totem pole positions, it doesn't mean I
like it. I'd much rather be at the bottom and do my work the best I can and not have to worry about everyone else's work too. But all in all, it was a good experience and I am grateful for the time I had at the Financial Aid Department, and I really will miss it.
ps. I think I had a bit too much fun with this new photo collage maker I found online (
http://pizap.com/) but I figured it would be a good way to sum up the summer :)
