Daniel Got Married!!!

Alright....so I only blogged once this summer.  I was extremely BUSY, but also had a TON of fun!  I guess I will try to recap the highlights because they are truly once in a lifetime events :)
One of the biggest highlights was going to Mexico for my little brothers wedding!  It was truly the most perfect, beautiful, sweet wedding I've ever been to. 
I am so happy for my brother. I know that he married his soulmate :) she has put up with him for the last 7 years after all :) andddddd, they were high school sweet hearts. How cute is that?!
We all had the best time in Riviera Maya, Mexico. It was so amazing to be on vacation with my family and friends. And if you haven't ever been on an all-inclusive vacation, GO! It really is the best way to vacation. 
Here are a few pics...there's no way I could capture how beautiful it really was, but hopefully this will give you an idea!

The sweet couple at the rehearsal dinner.

Me and my newest sister!

The handsome Zamora men :)

my beautiful besties!

during the ceremony

Those crazy Aggies...

My parents and their girls

Enjoying their perfect reception!

It truly was amazing and I am so proud of my little brother for becoming such an amzaing man!  I am so glad that I got to be there to see him get married.  And we even had a little unplanned celebration the night before that made for some excellent memories ;)

Memorial Day

Last week on Memorial Day I had the honor of going out to the National Cemetery here in Dallas.  I went with Aaron's dad, his two brothers and sister and Mawmaw. 
It literally took my breath away to see how many graves there were out there.  And then to think that this is just one of many cemeterys for the men and women who served our country....it was overwhelming. 
We went out there to see some family members who have served.  First, we made our way to Pawpaw's grave.  He passed away before I started dating Aaron, but I know I would have loved him if I had known him.  It was a very touching moment for me to finally "meet" him.  Aaron has told me so many stories about him...I know he was a special person.
Then we headed over and found Mawmaw's brother, Uncle Ray.  He just passed away last year, so this was everyones first time to visit his grave.  I did get to meet him, and he was a very kind man.   
It is so beautiful and peaceful out there.  I am so glad that Greg invited me to go.  I couldn't imagine a better way to honor those who have fought for our freedom, and I will be forever thankful to them all.

Pawpaw

WANTED

The week before school was out, we dedicated to the great state of Texas :)
We teach about all the symbols of Texas (bluebonnet, mockingbird, armadillo, pecan tree, etc).  At the end of the week, we of course have to sneak in a bit about Cowboys and Cowgirls.  I always enjoy this unit because the kids are so excited to be learning all of these facts about where they live.  And they get very into the whole cowboy thing :)
That week, on Tuesday, we had a Western day where all the kids and staff got to dress western to celebrate our principals birthday.  I took advantage of this and took their pictures with a bandana tied around their face to look like a bandit.  They all loved it of course.  So on Friday, we read a book about someone that was "wanted" (don't remember the title).  Afterwards, we discussed why someone back in the day would be WANTED.  We then talked about what a reward meant.  Then, they got to go fill out their wanted poster with their name, age, why they were wanted and what the reward for helping to catch them was. 
It was such a cute activity and thier ideas really made me laugh.  Some offered a reward or as low as $5 and others as long as $58723948875982984-20389072934838.  I wish I could have helped catch them!
Anyways, I found a cute idea to display them on the wonderful website that is TeachersPayTeachers.  Here is a pic of one of the finished WANTED posters :)

It says Wanted for: picking bluebonnets and the Reward is $300.

Seriously, how cute is that?!  I had them make "angry" faces for their pics :)
Anywho, I can't wait to do this unit again next year and see what my future kids come up with!

Softball

For the last two months or so, Aaron has been playing men's league softball on Tuesday nights with Becca's husband Garet.
We have both enjoyed going out there.  Aaron gets to play softball and be a competitive boy and I get to visit with my bff and her two precious boys.  It really has become one of my favorite nights of the week. 
Last week they had their final games.  It started at 8 with a semifinal.  They were losing by quite a few runs and time was running out.  Becca and I weren't too upset as that meant that we would get to go home and get to bed soon.  Of course, the boys had other plans.  They made a big comeback in their last inning at bat and ended up winning!  So then, they got to play at 9 in the championship.  Becca and her boys had to go home as they were getting tired.  I was left alone to cheer our men on. 
Again, things did not look good for them going into the final inning, but they somehow pulled it out and won.  Garet even scored the winning run :)
Here is a pic of the championship team!

While I will miss getting to watch Aaron play and be a stud, I will mostly miss hanging out and visiting with Becca....I have sooooo enjoyed her being here in Dallas and getting to hang out.  Now we will just have to come up with other reasons to get together.  But I will REALLY miss seeing this cute little face and hearing about all of his adventures :)

Love my Carson buddy!

Worry Wart

They say the first step to recovery is admittance.
I will admit, I am a worry wart.
Wow, I feel better already :)

I have always been a worrier.  But I love that the sermon at church yesterday felt like it was directed straight to me.  Funny how God does that. 
Lately I have been stressed about lots of things.  Personal, professional, important, silly.  Just worrying. 
We had a guest preacher at church yesterday.  He came in to lead a revival that the senior adults are having.  His name is Dr. Jimmy Draper.  He has more degrees than my whole family combined, I think.  He is an old school pastor who just gives it to you straight.  Exactly what I needed :)
His main point was - Live for today. 
You can't change the past.  You can't control the future.  Just live today.  That's all we are promised. 
I can rest assured that God is in control and is going to take care of me.  So I don't need to worry about it. 
Plain and simple. 

Good 'ol Days

A few weekends ago I went to Abilene for a 7 on 7 soccer tournament.  Every year the HSU girls team has this tournament as a fundraiser and a chance for the girls to play soccer.  That evening after the tournament is over, they have their ring ceremony.  Because of course, they win conference every year and get rings :)
Anyways, this year there was an alumni team in the tournament and Becca and I decided to go play.  I am sad to admit that we were the oldest girls there.  Luckily, we had enough alumni to do 5 minute rotations!  I never got too tired, but got to play enough to make the trip worth it.  We won our first game, tied the second and lost our last 2 by one goal each.  Not too bad for a bunch of out of shape girls! 
I had such a good time seeing so many of the girls I used to play with and catching up with them.  It's crazy, but most of us live in the Metroplex, yet we have to drive to Abilene to see each other.  Oh well, it was a good time.  And I even scored a goal in one of our games! 
Here is a pic of the alumni team - appropriately named Too Legit To Quit - and a pic of all of the current players with the alumni. 

Other than getting to play soccer and seeing old friends, I was so excited to eat and see some family!  As crazy as it might sound, I miss Abilene sometimes.  I was really looking forward to eating at some of the places we used to eat at all the time.  While we weren't able to make it to all of them, we did have Little Panda (chinese food) for lunch after the tournament and La Popular for breakfast burritos on Sunday morning.  We also had dinner with my aunt and uncle and cousins who took such good care of us all in college.  I was a happy girl :)
And of course, I got to spend the weekend with my bestie and her family.  Thats where I met her and her parents.  Such good memories!  We also got to introduce my favorite little boy, Carson, to some of our favorite things! 
Here's until our next trip to Good 'ol Abilene :)

Almost Famous

On Saturday, we headed out to the beautiful town of Azle, Texas. 
My brother came in town for a golf tournament and asked Aaron and Jonny to play with him.  When I agreed to come and watch, I was unaware that tee off time was at 8:00.  I decided to go anyway, even though it meant waking up at 5:30 to be there in time. 
We had a great time and the guys played really good!  They shot a 57, 15 under.  Unfortunately, that was only good enough for 4th place.  They probably should have won, but I think some people can't keep score accurately.  Oh well.  It was a good time and that is the most important thing.
It was a very well run tournament.  They had a "Vegas Hole" on a par three.  You paid $5 to get in and whoever won split the pot with the tournament.  Aaron teed off and it was going way left, but it hit the cart path and bounced all the way back onto the green and rolled about 10 feet away.  They ladies measured it and told us he was the closest one so far :)  He ended up losing to someone who hit it 8 feet away.
On one of the par 5s they let you tee off from the ladies tee if you paid $5 again.  The only stipulation was that everyone on the team had to pose for a picture in ladies skirts!  The guys were all really good sports and even said "I feel like a piece of meat"!  It was pretty funny.  I am so glad I brought my camera with me :)  Here are a few pics.

The Team

 Daniel and me :)

 Good sports....showing off their legs

 Daniel wanted to hit the ball in the skirt too

About bringing the camera with me....I just wanted to get some good pics of the guys playing golf, but I had a funny conversation when I went to the clubhouse to get some food.  When the guys were making the turn, I ran in to get some snacks for us and as I was going back to my cart, one of the ladies working the tournament ran up to me and asked if I was taking pictures.  I told her yes, but just of my group.  She then said, "well, yeah, but is there someone famous in your group?"  I almost started laughing but told her no, it was just my brother and husband and their friends.  She said, oh okay, I just wanted to make sure we weren't missing someone that we should be catering to. 
It was really pretty funny.  I guess we did kind of stick out...it was a tournment to raise money for the Azle High School Football booster club and we didn't know anyone in the tournament.  I guess my nice camera threw them off and they didn't know what to think.  When I came back and told the guys about it, they all got mad and said I should have said yes there was someone famous in our group.  I guess I missed my chance to be famous :)