Cannon Beach, Oregon

This is the second year that Kris and I have gone to Cannon Beach, Oregon, which is a coast town about an hour and a half from Portland. It is so nice to go and get away from the Houston heat. The high when we were there was about 60 degrees! Such a nice change! While there, we visited several wineries, ate yummy food, shopped, visited a waterfall, and had a bonfire on the beach.

This is the waterfall we went to see. The picture really doesn't do it justice. We attempted to hike to the top, but I didn't make it....It is straight up and I am very out of shape.

This is the view from our hotel balcony. This giant rock is called haystack rock and it is actually in the Goonies movie. This is during low tide and there a ton of tide pools around. We enjoyed sleeping with our balcony door open at night. The temperature was just right and it was so soothing to listen to the ocean while we fell asleep.

Kris was nice enough to share this ice-cream cone with the "cow."

This is a picture of some grapes growing on the vine from one of the vineyards we visited.

My now full wine rack...Kris and I both brought an empty suitcase on this trip, so we could bring back any wine that we really loved. We were very lucky that none of the bottles broke on the flight. Between this trip and my girl's trip to Fredericksburg, I was able to fill up the wine rack for the first time! Quite an accomplishment, I know.

Eddie's Birthday

One of our good friends, Eddie, had his birthday on July 2nd. On the actual b-day, we went to Benihana's for dinner. The following day, Jamie and Eddie had a party at their new house. Jennifer made shirts for the girls that said "Happy Birthday". It took Eddie a few seconds to realize we all matched and then actually read what our shirts said. The party was great: good friends, good food, good drinks. Couldn't ask for more!

Kris and I at Benihana's

The girls with the birthday boy!

You can see the shirts a little better here.

Girl's Weekend

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to go away with some of the girls I work with. We went to the Texas Hill Country to go wine tasting. Now, I have to admit, I was a little skeptical...but it turned out to be great! I came home with a case of wine, if that's any indication of how much I enjoyed it. We stayed in a little town called Fredericksburg. It has a ton of little shops and restaurants. We rented a "cottage", which was a 3 bedroom house. There was plenty of room for all of us, and the place was so nice! I really had a great time tasting wine and getting to know many of my coworkers better!

This picture is of Melody, Theresa, and Lesley hiding the closet. The cost of the house was based upon the number of occupants, so we lied about how many people we had there. The old man who owned the house came over to fix the garbage disposal and these three didn't know what to do, so they went and hid in the closet for about 20 minutes! Hey, at least we saved 60 bucks!

Lesley and I at our 10th winery (I think-I lost count after awhile...)

Courtney, Theresa, and Lesley at the first winery of the day. The breakfast of champions!

Things are changing!

Starting in August, many news things will be happening for Kris and I. Kris got accepted into an executive MBA program through University of Houston (one of the top 8 business schools in the nation! I do have to brag a little!). So, he will once again enter the college world as he pursues this new challenge. The program is full-time and he will be working full-time, so he will be busy! His classes met every other weekend, on Fridays and Saturdays, for 9 hours each day. He will be finished with the program in 18 months and it is a 48 hour program. So, as you can see, it is very intensive!

I, on the other hand, am finishing up gradute school (once again!). This time in addition to my M.eD., I will have my mid-management certificate, which will enable me to begin searching for principal jobs. I just finished my last two classes this past Monday. I will do my internship in the Fall, then I'm completely done! Can you picture me, as a principal? Weird to think, but I have been teaching for 7 years now. It seems like I just graduated... I will also begin my new job in August. I am staying at my current school, but the classroom will no longer be my focus. I will work as an academic specialist. My title is "Literacy Coach". Basically, I will be working with teachers in developing language arts lesson plans and helping them deal with struggling learners. I will also head up the dyslexia program.

Most of you have probably heard that Layla passed away a few weeks ago. It was a very hard time for Kris and I and we still miss her lots. The other dogs are sad without her too. Molly has been the saddest of all. She just sits and looks at me with her big brown eyes and whines.

Ironically, Layla's passing is what inspired me to take up this blog. We live so far away from our family and friends and sometimes it is so hard to keep in touch. I thought starting a blog would be a great way to share the things going on in our lives.

I made this video the last day we were with Layla. She and Molly just loved to "sing" together.

Molly and Layla cuddling together.

The three stooges!