It's offish.

I'm going on a blogging hiatus. Obvs this is not news, seeing as my last post was weeks ago. However, before we address that...

Finally, the semester is over, grades have been posted, and the last few days of work are winding to a close as we prepare to leave Lubbs for the holidays. But the break will be short and sweet; I have to be back in town for student teaching orientation on January 4th. After which begins the whirlwind of my LAST. SEMESTER. Here are a few thoughts and updates for now:

- My heart is continuously breaking with every new story from Newtown. My most sincere prayers and love are extended to every soul affected.

- On a lighter note, I passed my teacher certification exam with flying colors. Insert lifting of biggest weight off my shoulders here.

- I'll begin student teaching at Smith Elementary on January 7th and will finish on April 22nd. And then graduate on May 17th.

- I'll start applying for jobs in Denver, Boulder and Tyler sometime around the middle of the semester. We'll be packing up our things and heading out of Lubbock this summer to, honestly, wherever I can get a job. Fingers and toes crossed that it's in Boulder.

- Rex will start technical mountaineering guide classes this June and will finish in November.

Lastly, I'll be putting the blog world on hold for the semester while I finish my college career. It's been fun, y'all. And I'll be back once life has settled down after the move this summer. Have a beautiful, wonderful, blessed holiday, and a happy new year, and a bright and sunny spring semester, and a fun summer! 

Family and friends

 We were lucky enough to have both my family and Rex's parents visit last weekend and we just had the best time. My parents and his parents got to meet, we got to take them to our favorite restaurants, and we got to catch up over Mom's famous margaritas. It was so great! 

Also, have y'all heard Victory Bells by Josh Abbott Band? He wrote it about Tech and it just gives me goosebumps when I hear it! So proud to be a Red Raider!

Iceland vs. John Adams

Oh, you know. Just editing an eBook on John Adams and rewarding myself every two slides with five minutes of Pinterest browsing. Operant conditioning, we call that in the early childhood world. Yes, it works on twenty year olds.

Sooo... can we talk about how almost every possible beautiful thing is in Iceland? 

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I just want to travel everywhere that's this wondrous. Why don't they have a degree in exploring? Rex and I could easily get a doctorate. And Murph and Bear would be the first pups as college graduates! 

For your peace of mind

Our dishwasher is fixed, our kitchen is cleaned up, and our house is smelling (fairly) normal again. Just so you don't think we're living in an absolute pig sty ... just a partial pig sty. We are in college, after all.

The Stankest Stank.

Alright y'all. Right now, our kitchen is out of commish because our garbage disposal clogged up the pipes and sent dirty nasty stank water back into the dishwasher. (Yes, this has happened before.) And for some reason, even though the issue was put through to a plumber on Monday, a plumber has yet to be seen. And y'all, this kitchen is RANK. Like, nothing we can do about it - even the sink smells bad - make you wanna cry stink. So to take my mind off that, I'm reliving Colorado pictures and listening to this.

Lookin' on the bright side, right? Or is it denial? 

Holiday Weekend

I guess technically it'd be a holiday week, but since I only worked the first half of this week, and the fourth was on Wednesday, it feels like its been a very looong weekend. Which is okay with me! 

We spent the holiday with our best friends, Meagan and Austin, and a handful of other people. You can't tell from the picture, but we got to see the coolest firework show ever out at McKenzie Park. 

Now we're heading to Abilene for Rex's dad's 53rd birthday and Rex's cousin's 1st birthday! We're looking forward to spending time with the fam. I hope you had a great Independence Day! 

Tired Little Pups

One of my favorite things in the world is when the dogs are out and about in the house, running around and causing commotion - and then suddenly I hear a solid flump that means that Murphy's just dropped to the floor, and a heavy, I'm-exhausted-from-all-of-that-playing *sigh* ... it's just so ... I don't know, family-like I guess. Precious and silly and happy.

The Usual...

Watching Louis C.K. stand up and drinking Italian beer while I suffer through hour number 12 spent working on my final project for Language and Literacy Instruction....

oh, the life of a college student.

Also, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to the BEST. MOM. EVER. I really am just the luckiest daughter ever and I'm thankful for you each and every day. Thank you for blessing my life more than I could ever imagine. I hope to one day be half the mother that you have always been to me and my sister. I love you and I can't wait to spend this weekend with you!!

What I Feel Like Doing Today:

Nothing.

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A Few Little Things

- No real word yet on the computer. No diagnostic issues, but now they're running hard drive tests and that's where they think the real problem is.
- We found out that Rex placed 5th out of nine male beginning climbers, and I placed 3rd out of five female beginning climbers in the competition last weekend! I am so proud of him, some of those guys were way good.
- You know how I talked about going through phases? Right now I'm in a black bean phase. Really.
- There are a ton of really cool routes set up at the gym right now, including a lot of really fun beginner routes. So if any of your Lubbock-ites are looking for something fun to do this weekend, head to our favorite place to get a great workout!

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Happy Monday!

R.I.P.

"It looks like your hard drive is corrupted."

Have there ever been sadder, more disheartening words? Needless to say, my computer is in the shop for goodness knows how long. So you may not be hearing from me for a while! Keep my little Mac in your thoughts...poor girl is only three years old...she has so much more life to live...(sniff)...

Anyway, hope you all have a good week or two until I talk to you next! Keep your chin up!

Feet Won't Touch The Ground

We finally took the camera to the rock gym last week, and this is what we've got:

It's funny how anti-climactic they seem. Except for this one, of course:

And we're not even in that. Those are two of the guys that work the gym, and they're both crazy good. Like, tree frog-status, on the reals. 

And there's also this pretty cool one of Rex attempting a dyno (a route with a jump):

But let's be real guys, I'm not that good yet. However, I do have defined triceps now! What what! And we're both getting better every day. We're competing in a competition this weekend and it'll be a blast.

It's basically our new second home! 

Y'all. (Pt. 2)

I know I already told y'all about the dust storm yesterday...but this is just too crazy not to watch! Skip ahead to about 1:15. That's where it gets good! Maybe it's just me, being from East Texas and all, but this is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen! 

Y'all.

It is the downright Apocalypse here in LBK. Who woulda thunk God wanted to started the End of Days in the armpit of the world? I guess it makes sense though, when he rebuilds His Kingdom here on Earth, who the heck is gonna want to live in Lubbock? Seriously y'all, gusts up to 75 MPH, and with all this here plowed land surrounding Lubbock, that top soil was whisked right away into the air and into our lungs in no time flat!


(Am I doin' a good enough job of soundin' like a legit Lubbockian? I'm goin' for the West Texas thing here, folks. Darn tootin'!)

Happy Monday to everyone who's not breathin' in manure and dust! And an even happier Monday to everyone who is!