City with Character

HELLO EVERYBODY!

Why is it so hard sometimes to think of how I should begin a post like this...I guess it should give me an idea of what some of my students will be going through this wednesday for Writing TAKS.

ANYWAY, Things have been going well lately! There is not much to update on, but I will share what I did this past weekend...I had a LOVELY brunch with my good friend Eloise at a joint called "The Egg and I", and that was proceeded by a walk around that area. We went to some quaint little shops and it was really enjoyable. I specifically liked Paper Capers (an AWESOME stationary store) and The Kitchen Dawer (a place that has ALL TYPES of gadgets).

After I hung out with my dear friend, I decided to take lunch to my loving husband who was working all day. On the way to bring lunch to him I drove down a street I had never been and I fell in love...now I know that there are countless amounts of eloquent houses in Tyler but I was really struck by how beauiful these were...

All in all it was a good day, and it made me want to find a neat older house with character to move in to.

And now... I am sad to say, as I mentioned before, that Brady was working all weekend so his stories are somewhat dull.

All I can say now is that we are extremely delighted that Spring Break begins next week. Here are our scheme:

• Go to Allen, Saturday to Tuesday. In allen we will have a few eloquent dinners, some intimate family time, and a lovely show of Phantom of the Opera. (We are all extremely excited except for Brady).
• Possibly go camping/backpacking Wednesday-Thursday. This will only happen if Brady does not get asked to work.
• Friday-Sunday, VEG OUT! Hopefully we will get to take some time and relax and rejuvnate ourselves.

Other than this I have nothing new to add. Hope you all enjoy your week. =D

February Blizzard in TEXAS! Feb. 12, 2010

Well, we here in Texas got an early Valentines Day present from God. He gave us a day off of school and a day of beauty to reflect on all the amazing things that the Lord can do, and this is just a SMALL bit of what he does.

Here are my pictures...not many an totally doesnt do justice to what was outside my apartment Friday morning.

Al l in all its been a good Valentines Day Weekend... Brady and I cooked to celebrate the holiday. I ate a Filet and Brady had a tuna steak...with asparagus and twice baked potatoes...I must say that I did well!

Hope you all had a WONDERFUL Valentines day!

We're BAAAACK!

We'll we never offically left, but I have been BUSY BUSY BUSY with school, so I'm just now getting some time to update!

We have been living a pretty boring life since the holidays. I have been working like a MANIAC, teaching, doing math camp to help the lower students, helping at basketball games, and going to a CRAZY bible study. This has all been very good, but VERY exhausting. I am really enjoying te bible study; I am going with a few other girls from my Young Marrieds Group at Grace Bible. I am very excited about getting to know these girls a little better!

Brady on the other hand, has been sitting on his butt all day! Just kidding he has been working hard taking classes, doing homework, and working up at Trinity Mother Francis. He now is officially working every other weekend there.

The only excitement, is that Brady's father, Tim, got in a motorcycle crash on MLK Day. He hit a dog going 35-40 mph and was sent to the hospital. He had some cracked ribs and some lacerations on/around his eye. He was not able to work for about 2-3 weeks (which was VERY good for him) but finally go his dr. approval to go back to work Monday.

We are SOOO thankful for all our family and friends, that we are here to spend time with them.

Hope everyone is doing well!

No one except God comes before family.

In continuation from what I last wrote...I will repeat that I love this season because it gives me a great chance to spend some quality time with my husband and our families.

One of my FAVORITE Christmas traditions occurred this past weekend. Brady and I drove up to Allen to go to Cheesecake Factory and Christmas Tree shopping with my parents and Will. Brady and I played hide and go seek with Will in the Tree Lot.

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Here is our AMAZING tree that fits perfectly in our apartment.

And our Nativity Scene... I noticed today that it looks like the 3rd wise man is Boogeying because he's so happy to be there for the birth of Christ!

And all my Santas!

After Friday, Brady and I drove to Longview and we went to a Tacky Christmas Sweater Party! The only bad part was that I left our sweaters in Dallas!!! Brady was a little frustrated (with good reason) but we worked things out in the end... Brady enjoyed the fact that he got to see his old school mates!

And so that brings me to the end of all I have to say...this time.

Thanksgiving has come and gone...

But we still need to remind ourselves daily of the amazing things the Lord has given us and everything we are thankful for...

Brady has joined a softball team with our church and in the past month, we have really enjoyed playing/watching the game! Hopefully in the next few years I will find a place where I can join in the sports other than just watching.

Brady and I have also enjoyed spending time with the Young Marrieds group at Grace Community Church. We have done many things so far with these LOVELY people. These are pictures from our Fondu and Fun night.

Here is our First Thanksgiving as a married couple. The Ross clan is gathered in the living room watching some HUSKERS football!

My FAVORITE!!! Brady's cousin's son...Eli...HE IS ADORABLE and a very QUIET child.

To wrap things up: tonight I made Hawiian Pork Tenderloin... it was very yummy and Brady BETTER be thankful!

That is all,

Holiday Season has begun!

Well! We are now in the beginning of November and I am FINALLY having time to send out an update. October flew by in a flash with my school and Brady's classes.

Just a few notes:

• 2nd six weeks I am only failing 2 students...I like to give credit to the fact that I worked my BUTT off and called/emailed parents 74 times this six weeks (which was really only 5). It may be a pain in the butt to sit there and do ALL that work but I could not believe how supportive most of the parents were.
• It looks like Brady might get all A's! He has one class that is making him work VERY hard for it but hopefully in the end it will pay off. (By the way I am SOOO PROUD OF HIM!
• We went to the State Fair with my family in Dallas. I love this family ritual because I love the junk food at the fair and I really love sitting in the cars and dreaming of when I can get rid of my old klunker! The hard thing was that we went to the fair on OU/Texas game day so it was REALLY BUSY and we went to Mary Poppins (excluding Brady and Will because I would NEVER hear the end of it if I dragged them in).
  

Finally, The Holiday Season began with the Halloween Festivities! We started off with going to a halloween party with our Grace Commuinty Chruch Couples and carved our pumpkin. It was too cold for me to wear my regular costume so we were HARDCORE HUSKERS FANS!
We also decided that I am allergic to real pumpkins because when we were carving the pumpkin (which was pretty gross in general) my arm decided to break out and start itching all over. But that didn't stop us!

Then, for ACTUAL halloween, Brady and I went to Lynsie O'Steen's Halloween Party in Dallas.

We had SO much fun and I got to wear the costume that I hand sewed! Brady and I hung out with Jessica and Lynsie most of the night and it was a BLAST!

Now, I am so excited that we are in November because it is getting closer to Thanksgiving and closer to CHRISTMAS!!! (MY FAVORITE!)

We miss everyone that's back in Tyler and we hope to be able to visit again soon!