TEAM USA!!!!

This is what I have spent my waking (non-working) hours doing for the past week and what I plan on doing for the next one too! I am obsessed with the.....



And I can't get enough of this guy:




Seriously...what am I going to do when the Olympics are over????

Planes, Trains and Automobiles...

Well, that is how i feel this last week and a half has been....traveling from one place to another...but it was SO fun to see friends and family for vacation! I left last Wednesday night to fly back to Dallas...spent the night at my parents house and saw some friends. Thursday, Ali, Sarah and I drove to Austin and stayed at my friend Brookie's cute new house! The YaYas were reunited for a couple days at the Texas Coast in Port Aransas staying at Brooke's parents' house with 15 of our friends from high school, college and Austin...let's just say there were a LOT of Aggies in one house together! Here are a couple pictures to sum up the fun we had!




the group at the beach


Kendall, Ali, Amber, me and Brookie at the beach!


Out to dinner for Andrew's birthday...the big 29!


the best game ever...Speed Scrabble!


me and sarah hanging in the shade


why not have dance party while we are waiting for the shrimp to boil (for 3 1/2 hours) :)


limbo??!!!


Games played at the coast 2008: Speed Scrabble, Signs, Spoons, Rummy, Mafia, Volleyball, Paddle Ball...gotta love the competition!


the boys...



the girls...


Typical YaYa picture...never serious...

It was an awesome weekend with old and some new friends...it was then off to Colorado for a week with my parents and brother with 2 of our friends...pictures to come later...I really feel so blessed to be able to have such a fun vacation after a full summer of traveling with the church! I am definitely racking up the advantage miles! :)

Back to Reality!

Well, I am back in Charlotte and have my hands full with packing up my house and moving to my new place in about a week...not much time to box up and move all the stuff I have accumulated in the past 2 years living here!

Brazil was an amazing trip and it was hard transitioning back to everything here and its back to the office on Monday...ugh...only 10 days til my vacation!!!!

Here is the link to all my pictures from Brazil...400+...haven't had time to edit them yet but they are all there!

Brazil Pics

Enjoy and I'll post some pictures of my new place when I get moved in...

I heart Brazil!

I am in Recife, Brazil until July 16th...here are a few pictures to sum up my trip here...which in 2 words (one english/one portuguese): Pure Allegria (Joy/Happiness)



our group at the school we stayed at in Iguaracy!

some of my friends (peter and clovis) at VBS

precious kids right before we left Iguaracy to come back to Recife!

tchau!
Lu

Pitts to the burgh! 2008

So i have been back for a little over a week and it has been CRAZY...had to go to 3 ministry events...dogsit/catsit...find a new place to live when i get back from Brazil...sign a lease at said place...get EVERYTHING ready for Brazil...pack...and of course blog! :) its been a while! one of my sweet friends told me she reads my blog....so this is for my 1 blog reader...lynn! :)



my lovely guy leaders getting ready to go on our cruise ship for dinner!



my work group with our homeowner, ms. griffin and her grandkids...so sweet!



a little reinactment of the prank of a high school boy snatching my pack on the boat!



loved my all girl work group! GIRL POWER!



FOREST HILL GROUP



another crazy work group pic! we really did work! :)



it was freezing in Pittsburgh this year!

It was an awesome trip to Pittsburgh this year...my group of all girls worked on a house of a sweet lady named Ms. Griffin! She had 4 dogs, 2 cats and 3 grandkids that hung out with us all week! Our job was to paint all the trim on her house...her 3 story house, i might add. And that means one scary thing to me....extension ladders...3 of them...24 ft - okay; 32 ft - scary; 45 ft - never will i be on that!

We did get all of the painting done...my girls were champs and scurried up those ladders like it was their job! And drumroll....the highlight of my trip was.....

NOT GETTING LOST DRIVING!!! yes...i had the help of my new best friend - GAR ... (Garmin GPS) best purchase i have made in the last 3 years working at Forest Hill...i am known for getting lost on every trip and by being known...every time my van showed up somewhere, i got lots of high fives from the high school boys for not getting lost on the way there!...it definitely got old!

Alright...next trip is in less than 2 days...to Brazil...i am so excited and can't wait! i'll post some pics when i can...not sure if i can blog when i get there but i will try! :)

i AM from texas...

So, if you know me at all, you know that i cannot turn down a challenge...or a dare...or worse...a dare that someone else pays for...gets me every time! This past weekend, some friends and i went to taste of charlotte downtown. For those of you not from here, it is a weekend festival where a ton of restaurants bring delicious "free samples" of food that you can pay for with coins that you purchase...rip off? yes. Worth it? yes! So, they have to entertain all the hungry people with something...so naturally they had a mechanical bull. I am not a stranger to this particular type of entertainment. 6 words sum up my experience: Progresso, Mexico, junior high mission trips! This is not the first mechanical bull i have ever ridden...we also have these at multiple "dancehalls" in Texas for those of you from NC. So, here's the result of the paid for challenge from my roomie, Cori and photographer Julie.


~this is the face you are supposed to make while doing this!~


~is it crazy that i am proud of this picture?~


~full from delicious food and burning up from the heat~
Nick, Julie and me


This weekend, my little brother comes to visit me and then I leave for my 1st of 2 mission trips this summer...to Pittsburgh with the high school group...will post pictures when i get back!

Its been too long...

I know it has been a while...where has the time gone? i can't believe it is almost June... here are some recent pics of my trip to Dallas and Colorado for Lynn and Thomas' wedding...


I love this little girl...Kennedy!


My best friend and now Mom to Kennedy Wood...so fun!



The newly married Thomas and Lynn Bain at their wedding in Estes Park, Colorado! We had such a great weekend!