First Week of School

Well, school has begun again. Actually, it's been a great start! My class is very cooperative and my Love and Logic training is actually working! Yay! I still have a lot to learn, but it is very nice to come home with energy, I'm sure Andrew feels the same way.

Andrew was AWESOME during the first week of school. He made dinner every night. I didn't get home until around 7:30 every night and was exhausted just from getting back into the swing of things, but every time I opened the door something good was cooking. I asked him if this was going to continue, but he very politely responded, "Hell No." We started sharing the responsibility this week. Well, it's only Monday, but we have a plan for the rest of the week.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to a great year. I don't have any pictures of the entire class, but this picture illustrates pretty well what I am feeling at this point in the year. I'm sure it will get easier...

Wedding in Michigan

Andrew and I had another fabulous weekend! We were in Michigan about an hour north of Detroit for Andrew's brother's wedding. Nic and Meghan were married Saturday in the church she grew up in. She was so beautiful Nic cried as he saw her walking down the aisle (not an uncommon occurance for the Peters' boys). The pastor did a great homily that included marital advice from the congregation. I was honored to be asked to sing The Wedding Song (There is Love) during the ceremony. Everything went great. The reception was a blast. It included lots of dancing, a photo booth and amazing Italian food. As far as I'm concerned the day went off without a hitch.

As always it was great to get closer to Andrew's family. I got lots of one on one time with my sister-in-law, Becky. She's always great at listening, being a child therapist and all. As always my father-in-law, Lee continued to crack me up with his craziness that I don't know how to describe and my mother-in-law, Sally was as thoughtful and sweet as she always is. (Okay, I know you are all reading this, but I need everyone to know what a great family I married into, I'm not sucking up, I promise).

Andrew and I made it safely home. Just in time for the first day of school, tomorrow. I'm sure there will be many more blogs to come. I'll try to keep it to funny things my students do instead of how I want to tear my hair out.

Well, we survived our first year of marriage. Even though we felt we were very well prepared because of book studies, "Friday Night Chats" and (what we thought were) great communication skills, there was still a lot to learn.

Our first year was filled with learning opportunities, miscommunications, laughter, tears and a lot of wine. We wouldn't change a thing!

Our one year anniversary was a fabulous time to remember that wonderful day where all of our friends and family came together to celebrate our love. To reminisce we decided to go through our wedding album while eating the top of our wedding cake (which turned out to be yummy) and toasted the memories with champagne. The day was concluded with a couple's massage and a wonderful dinner at Luciano's where we enjoyed a little taste of Italy.

We are looking forward to the next year and what it may bring. With many more years to come and many memories to make.

Adventures in Llano, TX

I guess I write this like you are sitting in front of me and we are having a chat (with tea and an English accent apparently). I just came back from my first soaring contest in Llano, TX. I was not real excited about going, but it turned out to be a very fun experience. The contest started on Monday, but unfortunately for Andrew the weather wasn't great and he didn't get to fly until Wednesday.

On my first day of crewing Andrew landed out (not at the airport). Luckily my good friend Nicole was with me because I didn't have a clue what I was doing and she was there to keep me laughing about it. Another one of the contestants and his wife (John and Vivienne) helped me hook up the trailer to our car so that I could go get Andrew out of the field. All of the people helping us were very concerned that two city girls wouldn't be able to handle this, but we felt confident that we could handle anything that came our way.

Then we met Bryant. As it happened, Andrew landed in a field that had a lock on the gate. We had to get a key before I could get to him. Bryant owns a car lot in Llano and everything about him screams "I'm a Texan, I like to make people feel inferior to me and I don't like planes (especially in my field)." Needless to say he was not the easiest person to deal with. He ended up sending us out to his land with two of the men who work the land. It turned out really well because the two men helped Andrew put the plane in the trailer.

I was in contact with Andrew this whole time and his directions to get me to the field included "turn at the goats." This is what we were dealing with. All in all, it was a great adventure. Something we can laugh about for many years to come.

The rest of the days were calm. There was a lot of waiting in the hot sun, but Andrew landed at the trailer every time after that. I couldn't believe it was so fun, but it turns out that I was able to get to know everyone really well and the soaring community are some of the nicest, most helpful people I have ever met! I will even surprise myself by saying, "I can't wait until next year!"