Cozumel Adventures in Pics!

For six days and five nights, the husband and I enjoyed a fabulous vacation in Cozumel, Mexico with our friends, the Fants. We enjoyed amazing time of relaxation, tasty treats, delicious drinks, fun pool time and games, sun tanning or burning :), Mexican Bingo or Loteria, snorkeling, coconut tasting, dance parties, iguana sightings, burrito and nacho searching, mariachi listening, hammock laying, and memory making. What an absolute blast! Enjoy pictures from our vacation to Cozumel 2011!

These shoes are ready for vacationing....

Lessons Learned on our Mexican Vacation!

There were many memories made and lessons learned on this vacation.

1. God's amazing love notes are everywhere!
2. The "ball meat" and "meat cakes" are questionable at best
3. One should consider bringing Off on vacation as there are millions of misquotes
4. 30-60% chance of bad weather did not rain on our parade. We enjoyed beautiful Cozumel skies
5. We may reconsider Park N Fly on our next flight
6. I loved our 8:30 and 9:00 Am breakfasts
7. Cozumel waters are absolutely breathtaking
8. Snorkeling and Coconut tasting are perfect afternoon activities
9. Mexican Lottery is extremely different than the American Lottery and is better known as Loteria or Mexican Bingo
10. Drinks before Dinner?
11. I have ridiculous cravings for Nachos, Burritos, and Queso on Mexican Vacations it seems
12. Mr. Incredible was our bartender
13. Mango Tango, Shark Bite, Blue Hawaiian, and Smurf, Hugos, and Mai Tais were pretty delicious drinks.
14. We danced to the Cupid Shuffle, Baby Got Back, and many Flo Rida songs in Mexico
15. Ah Senor Frogs is the place to be on Saturdays... as we were told a billion times. Ha!
16. The Money Bar had the most delicious and gigantic burrito of my life
17. I love having dessert sample trays each and every meal
18. The Husband and I are the tannest we've ever been!
19. The boys spent 40 minutes breaking coconuts with their bare hands. We enjoyed sampling fresh coconut milk.
20. Did someone see a barracuda?
21. We enjoyed a fabulous date night for two on Saturday night with a Lobster and T-Bone Dinner
22. Each night we watched the sun set around 7:30PM
23. The Money Bar was pretty amazing!
24. I won a frisbee in Mexican Bingo and Kristin won a fun DVD!
25. We are so blessed to have such great travel partners

School's Out & "Smiling You" Moments!

Today was bittersweet. Monday was our last day of school for the 2010-2011 school year. The kids stayed until noon and then we were left to clean, pack up, and say our good-byes. This year working in the education field truly changed my life. I had amazing teammates and six very special kiddos. While I have never been so ready for the summer to come, I knew that it would be difficult to say good-bye.... even if it is just for the summer. This year was more challenging than most as it was extremely difficult work, but the payoff of caring for these kids was worth so much more. I gave a small good-bye gift to my teammates to remind us all of the "smiling you" moments in the ELC.

Here's to the loving and caring of students as they all have exceptional gifts to give... to my amazing teammates who go above and beyond to provide an environment filled with success and love for some pretty fabulous kiddos:) Here's to my first year of teaching and for many more to come!

Sunday Funday:)

On Sunday after church, Ray and I enjoyed several fun summer activities including eating delicious yogurt, pool fun, and dining with the Dukes at California Pizza Kitchen. Here are a few pictures from our Sunday Funday:)

Pictures of the Mr. and Mrs.

Sweet Treats from Yogilicious

Pizza Dinner with the Dukes at California Pizza Kitchen

Adam, Stephanie, and baby Jacob

The Zellners with sweet boy Jacob

Mama and son time

Love'n on sweet boy

What a fun Sunday Funday with friends!

Mrs. Long Winded Take Two

TAKE TWO...

Enjoy some updates of our current happenings and other random thoughtless tidbits.

1. I am really loving dresses lately.
2. I love cherry Pepsi. I never thought I'd be a Pepsi fan but it is oh so tasty.
3. Today I applied online to almost every PISD elementary school in the area. I will also apply to McKinney and Frisco ISD elementary schools as well.
4. I am looking forward to teaching ESY Summer School. I may even be teaching a few of our kiddos this summer.
5. I like 80s movies and music.
6. Ray and I are super excited about a Rudy's BBQ being built in Allen off of Stacey. YUM!
7. We are looking forward to having dinner with the Dukes and visiting with baby Jacob. He's such a big boy with such a sweet smile. Love it!
8. I finally bought shorts today for our trip.
9. Monday is my final day of my first year in education. It is bittersweet as I am so excited to enjoy our summer but will truly miss my team and six kiddos.
10. Over the past few weeks, Ray and I have re-watched many old episodes from the Office.
11. In September we will have spent an entire year without cable.
12. This past Friday, Ray's cousin Stephen graduated from Clements High School and will be attending Blinn/A&M for the Fall of 2011.
13. I love our pool days. It is strange how I burn in the McKinney sun but not in Sugar Land sun.
14. Ray's summer Frisbee league begins June 16th in Allen.
15. 4 more days and we're off to the beach.

I guess that's all of the tidbits and random thoughts I have for now. Have a great weekend and more posts to come.

Beach Bound!

Next Wednesday, two of our friends, the husband, and I will be traveling to Cozumel, Mexico for some definite fun in the sun. Obviously I am a bit excited and honestly cannot wait to be sitting at the beach, bathing suit on, drink in hand, and ultimately enjoying a relaxing time on vacation. What can be better than that?!? Monday will be my final day at school before summer break, one day for preparation... then we are off!

Wishing you all a wonderful summer and all the special moments it may bring. Many more pictures are sure to come!

Truths and A New Perspective!

I love that our lives are filled with absolutely imperfect perfection. It definitely gives you a new perspective on life. It is true... in a photographer's world (not that I would ever compare myself to one as I am simply a lover of pictures... lots of them:) it is all about appearing "picture perfect" when in reality the real image may be far from it. I always like to admit while the picture may be "dolled up" the image definitely represents such a wonderful moment in time. That's honestly why I love to blog. I love capturing such amazing moments that I can share with those I love and keep for years to come. But as everyone knows life is not always perfect but I think it is in those imperfect times that we can truly shine. So I decided to make a post about my new perspective and give truths about some perfectly imperfect moments that are not typically shared.


1. I may be the only person who can fall in a two foot pool.
2. I love the smell of doggy kisses all over my face.
3. I rarely ask if it's chocolate.
4. This week our washer sprung a leak and I just knew it was broken. Later I found out it was user error and someone... hint hint... the lady of the house basically overloaded it. oops
5. Our apartment is typically covered in Mattie's dog hair as she constantly sheds. I usually vacuum daily so no one has to see it.
6. I hate that our apartment staircase constantly has bird poop at the entrance and think it looks extremely tacky or trashy for that matter.
7. I tend to argue.
8. I do not like to be overwhelmed.
9. I hate that I am not in control of my career path next year. I know that God is in control but the human side of me still struggles.
10. I love taking pictures of our family of four even though it is next to impossible to get our pups to participate.
11. Praying for patience is good but God providing the instances that one should find patience is difficult.
12. I have become so lazy.
13. I fight for what I want. This can typically be a good thing but at times has brought about conflict.
14. I want to be a mom.
15. I hate that my job next year determines our time line for a house and to officially start our family.

I guess those are just some of the things on my mind right now. I definitely did not write this as a means to sound negative. I just feel that sometimes providing truth about ourselves allows us to find a new perspective on things. I am so thankful and blessed for the husband I have, for our cute family of four, and for the friends and family. God is truly doing amazing things in our life and I couldn't be more excited but know that life is about imperfections as well and what we do with those... and who we are is defined by moments... even the imperfect ones.