Sushi and a game of pool

Thursday night our group of friends from Concordia got together to celebrate the upcoming wedding of Kyle and Kristy! It's been a lot time coming. They got engaged about 18 months ago and this week both of their families and all their friends came into town for the big day. Here we are at Godai Sushi. That is Kristy's future sister in law to her left.

Here's all the girls at dinner. Rachel; me; Bethany; Kristy's best friend, Lisa; KRISTY; Holly; and Kristy's sisters in law- Jamie and Melissa ( I think those are their names).


After dinner we went downtown to the Marriot where the out of town guests were staying. Kyle and Kristy had a dance instructor come to the hotel and teach a few line dances to the family. These Jersey folks were Boot Scoot Boogie-in in no time!

After dinner, Joy needed to go home and go to sleep but I agreed to go get a quick drink since Seger was in town. Brad, Seger and I went to Waldo's for a drink and some pool. Had a great time!

Rockport, Here We Come!

Since Nathan was a child he and his family have vacationed with Sylvia's best friend, Brenda, and her family. They have made it a tradition to spend a few days together in Rockport every July. Brenda has 2 kids...Kevin and Kim....both are around our age. Kevin is married (Tiffany) and has 2 kids. Kim is married, too.

We headed out around lunch time on Monday and as you can see traveling with 6 people takes a lot of stuff. Daniel, Kelsey, Sylvia, Larry, me and Nathan. Here's a picture of Daniel loading up the car.
Before we load ourselves into the car we all take a shot of something yummy before we go for kicks. This year, Crown Royal. Oooohhh....my favorite! I know, not a smart thing to do before getting behind the wheel but you only live once and one little shot doesn't hurt! The driver doesn't get to enjoy this activity like the passengers do but he makes up for it later. :) Here's Sylvia showing us "how it's done".

Here's the gang in route. "What do we do while on road trips" you ask? Well, we sing. Loudly! Some of our favorites are Neil Diamond, John Denver, Kenny Rogers, Barry Manilow and of course, Billy Joel. Kelsey thought we were crazy. She didn't join us but I think she'll come around one of these days....

Larry is in the back you just can't see him. If this were video you'd hear him!!






We stopped for lunch in Floresville at the Maverick Cafe. Mmmm......yummy! If you are ever in Floresville you need to stop in for some Chicken Fried Steak (split it with someone) and a big iced tea. We all were super stuffed.








Here we are at the swimming pool at the condos where we stay in Key Allegro. In this picture is our niece Kelsey, Nathan, Kim, her nephew Nolan and me.

Kelsey turns 10

TEN COOL THINGS ABOUT KELSEY

1. She loves to swim. Lake....pool....river....you name it. It's pretty hard to get her out of the water but then again, what kid wants to be out of the water in summer time?
2. She loves to cook. She's really enjoys helping in the kitchen and truly has a good time following recipes. She's a great little cook.
3. She's a soccer player and loves soccer camp, soccer games & soccer friends.
4. She's a great big sister. She has a little sister and a little brother. I enjoy hearing stories about them.
5. She loves pizza. Again what kid doesn't have pizza as their #1 food. Cool pizza places Kelsey likes...Mr. Gatti's and The Incredible Pizza Place
6. She loves her Nintendo DS.
7. She is very well mannered. Always very polite and on her best behavior.
8. Likes to play Wii with her uncle Nathan and her Dad.
9. She thinks LEGO's are really cool. Me too!
10. She's a blessing to our family!
Happy Birthday, Kelsey! We love you!

Our niece Kelsey turned 10 years old! It's her double digit birthday. We had a little celebration for her at Sylvia's house and had a great time. She and her dad spent the day at the lake. Here's the hot dog cookout we had for her that evening.

Nathan made a huge batch of home made vanilla ice cream. It was so good. Kelsey was pretty impressed that her uncle went to so much trouble for little 'ol her! On a side note....have you priced vanilla bean lately? Holy Cow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!









Here's the proud Pappa!!!

New Sanctuary Tour

Got another opportunity to go and look at the progress of the new church. Take a peek...

Bye-Bye, Peanut!

Nathan and I put up "LOST DOG" signs along Jones Maltsberger Saturday after lunch. We got a call shortly after we had put up the signs and a very worried voice was on the other end of the line asking about the lost dog. A Golden Retriever??? When we told him that the dog we had found wasn't a golden retriever we could hear the wind knocked out of him. He asked us if we could keep his number somewhere in case we heard of a golden retriever turning up. We said "Of course we would"! So, we go along with our day. We played a little Aerosmith Guitar Hero, we ran some errends and watched Independence Day. I'd never seen that movie. It was really good! We decided to go to Nathan's moms to drop off some recipes Nathan stumbled upon while working in the garage. They were recipes from his grandma. On our way to Sylivia's we saw a sign on a telephone pole for a FOUND dog. We pulled over and Nathan got out and saw it was a sign for a Found Golden Retriever- Female. We called them man back who called us earlier and told him about the sign. We asked him if his lost dog was a girl and he said YES! We gave him the information from the posted sign and wished him well, hoping it was his dog!

On our way home I checked my phone for any potential calls from possible Beagle owners. Nothing! Before bed we check on the little lost dog outside. We feed him, play a little while and give him a good tummy rub. We go off to bed and listen to him howl and then we put up with Zeta's whimpering because she can hear little lost boy dog outside. Here's another picture of him.....I think he looks sad. Sunday morning we went to church and left the poor little guy under our car port. Nathan came home and finally got the phone call! The guy asked him if it was a black and white beagle with a red collar. Nathan said yes! The dog's name is PEANUT. The couple came over to pick him up and we guess they were happy. They said "thank you". When Nathan told them that we found him standing in the middle of the street and almost got hit they had no reaction. Only that they were out of town for the weekend and thought for sure he wouldn't get out. They hadn't even gone home yet. They just saw our sign and had a feeling that it might be their dog. Sounds like this happens a lot. Hellllllloooooo.....put a freakin' TAG on your DOG so that people who find your pooch have an easier time finding YOU! Incompetent dog owners get on my nerves!

Where do you live?

Last night, while driving home from 4th of July festivities (Happy Birthday, America!!!), Nathan and I saw a dog walking along side Jones Maltsberger. Shortly after we spotted him he started to take a leisurely stroll-- in the street! Poor Nathan. Since I just can't stand to see dogs playing in the street I begged and pleaded with Nathan to "GO GET THAT DOG!!" We both jumped out of the car and started to follow the dog. He was very shy and would start to come to us but then he would get scared and run away. Nathan chased him for a couple of blocks and really put his safety at risk by chasing the dog across the busy street. I think he was really trying as hard as he was because of my hysterics. I was so afraid this dog was going to get hit right in front of my eyes. You should have seen it. Both directions of traffic (all 4 lanes) were at a halt because of Nathan, his stubborn wife and this dog running in the street. One sweet man joined in on all of the excitement. All of a sudden I looked back and saw my car sitting there running. Lights on. Hazards blinking. Door open. Hmmm, I thought. I better run back those 3 blocks and get my car. Someone's might just steal it. So, here I am. Running back across Jones Maltsberger. (This dog better appreciate all of this!) I get in my car and start driving toward where I think Nathan and the dog are. I'm driving slowly and annoying cars behind me all in one swift act. I finally spot them. I turn on to the not so busy street and step out of the car. I'm squatted down in the street speaking in my sweetest "Come here little doggy" voice and he finally starts to come. He walks right up to me and then around me and jumps right into our car! He made himself at home in the passenger seat which did not amuse Nathan. We got him in the boot of the car and started to check him. Well, at this point we didn't know if it was a he or a she. We looked at the collar and saw one tag. A 2007 rabies tag. No name. No address. No owners name. Dang!! We called the vet's number on the tag and got the number to the Emergency Animal Hospital. We drive there with the hopes that he's chipped. Again, not the case. The sweet little front desk worker keeps saying how cute he is but that they cannot keep him. I know there are lots of strays but how crappy!!! Since we don't know who the momma of this dog is and they aren't open until Monday, looks like we have another dog for the weekend. We're gonna try to contact this Animal Care Center place we heard about. Wish us luck! I'm sure there's a very worried owner missing this dog right now.

Yea for Facebook!

Last night, thanks to Facebook, I met up with some of my sweet SAI sisters from good old college days. Karen, Silvia and Helen and I met up for dinner and drinks at Chili's. We all have reconnected via Facebook. It was so great to see these girls and catch up on life. Silvia is teaching and playing piano all over the place. She finished her masters at UTSA and then finished her doctorate at UT. Helen has 2 beautiful girls and has gone back to finish her degree and she is studying with Dr. Allan again. Helen and I were in Dr. Allan's studio together. Karen is doing great! Still a teacher in NISD and still teaching Yoga around town. She's getting ready to go to Italy and she just got back from Vegas.

Here's Silvia (left) and Karen (right).
Silvia is one of the most sweet natured ladies I know. Not only is she brilliant but she's so extremely talented! I remember hanging out with her many days and having great conversations and laughing a lot!

Karen was the FIRST person I met at UTSA freshman orientation and we were friends instantly! We were both music majors and we were in concert choir and both in madrigals. We sang in many operas together and just sang together a lot, period. We even got to go to Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil together on madrigal tour! What a trip. I need to dig out those pictures and share them with you.

Here's Helen and me. Helen's personality is as cute as her appearance! I would have to describe her as one who truly loves life, loves to live to the fullest, loves people and loves adventure. Her happy "glass is half full" attitude is so contagious. We spent a lot of time together in vocal seminar. Our studio had gosh, I don't know, about 18 people in it and we all would have our weekly private voice lessons and on Wednesdays we would perform for one another and then critique each other.




I had to share the Heartsong cd with these music friends...