Austin Part One

Solomon and I took a trip to Austin to visit friends for a few days and then took a few days to celebrate our five year anniversary. A special thanks to Dylan & Michelle for hosting us and showing us around Austin for 3 days!! Here is a few pictures of our adventures during our time with them in Austin.

Wine tasting and chili cook-off at Becker vineyards -

We took a little trip to the Capitol for a guided tour. Here is my artsy version of the view inside - 

We took a short hike up Mount Bonnell  to see these views -

View of downtown Austin off in the distance - 

These are our wonderful hosts Michelle & Dylan who introduced us to all you can eat BBQ at Salt Lick! - 

Glorious BBQ platter of ribs, brisket, and sausage. Some of the best I've experienced in my life! - 

Once you are done with you BBQ they have a Hammock Garden to relax in!  

After a few days with friends we took a couple of nights to celebrate our five year anniversary by staying on Lady Bird Lake downtown Austin. More on that part of our trip to come!

Family

While Sol & I were in Maryland for my friend Suzy's wedding we got to spend some time with my family. Living over 1,000 miles away makes it hard to visit them and it certainly limits the time we have to be a part of the "little things" that make lifelong memories. Here are a few of the "little things" that happened while we were in MD:

My nephew Stevie graduated from Kindergarten. Yes, that is a BIG deal!

Kasey celebrated her 8th birthday!!

My sister celebrated her 29th birthday... again. (because we all stay 29 forever! right?!) I loved the look on the kids faces as she opened her new Benelli shotgun.

We went fishing with Kasey and Stevie.

 We shot BB guns with the kiddos and played with my sisters new shotgun.

We also went swimming with Kasey and Stevie

I love these kids! Stevie's eyes will melt your heart!

I taught Solomon how to drive the cherry picker while picking these:

Those are just a few of the "little things" that hopefully made BIG memories for us and my family. I am so thankful for the time we do get to spend with them and look forward to our next trip to MD!

Suzy's Wedding Weekend

This past weekend Solomon and I traveled to Maryland to celebrate the marriage of my lifelong friend Suzy to her wonderful fiance Ray. She and Ray married on the same naval base Sol and I exchanged vows on nearly five years ago! Suzy was my Maid of Honor at the time and I was humbled to be asked to be her Matron of Honor and to stand by her side at the altar. It was great to be a part of her special day and I was thankful I made it through my speech with only a few tears! Here are the some of the only pictures I managed to capture since I was busy tending to the bride-to-be most of the day!

Here we are getting our hair and make-up done. She wore one of her future hubby's shirts! So cute!

Solomon, Ray, Suzy, and I after changing dresses and dancing the night away. 

Sol and I went for a walk down the candle lit trail on the beach later in the night.

The Bride and Groom's last dance of the night before heading to FL for their honeymoon!

I am so excited for Ray and Suzy and everything married life has in store for them both. They are made for one another and I pray that God will bless their marriage and draw them near to Him as He draws them near to one another!  I love you both and I am so thankful to call you my dear friends!

Graduation

Here are the pictures I promised from our Graduation May 13th. Solomon graduated with his Master's of Homeland Security in Information Technology as well as his Master's degree in Business Administration. I graduated with a Master's of International Management in Marketing.

 Us with my parents.

Us with our Moms since it was the day before Mother's Day!

Walking across the stage at the U of MD Comcast Center together!

I am so happy to be done with school and looking forward to the next chapter in our lives, whatever that may hold for us!

It's About Time...

    So let's pretend I haven't been neglecting the blog for a almost a year now. I mean, let's face it, no one probably noticed anyway but I'm going to add an excuse here to make myself feel better. I didn't have much time or at least any time that I was willing to sacrifice from other areas of life to spend blogging. There it is, a lame excuse but moving on...
    While I have been absent a lot has changed but the most important change that will help me to have more time for life, family, and friends is that Solomon and I (finally) completed our Master's degrees. One was not enough for my overachieving husband so he has two! He now has a Master's of Homeland Security in Information Technology as well as his MBA. Let's just say I admire him a little. That would be an understatement. I admire and respect him a lot, after all he completed a Master's and an MBA (with honors) in the same amount of time I managed to finish one Master's. :p
    Anyways, we are flying to Maryland this week to go to our graduation in College Park, MD. I will share some photos in my next post. Yes that's right, my next post that I will be making with all my new found time post grad school! Here are a few things I am looking forward to filling my time with:

• Nothing 
• More Jesus 
• Doing anything or absolutely nothing WITH my husband 
• Traveling to see family & family Skype time 
• My friends who I have so terribly neglected (if they will take me back) 
• Friend Skype time (lookout if you haven't heard from me I will be stalking you soon) 
• Workouts to help remove the "grad school 15" 
• Blogging 
• Music
• Reading (for fun) 
• Craft projects (thank you Pinterest) 
• Yard projects 
• Sunning by the pool 

    These are just what I could think of off the top of my head. There will be more and you can read about them here... Well, I will post about them here, it is doubtful many will actually read it. But it will be here none the less! Look out blog world I'm back :)