Ode to my Canon 40D

My new used camera has arrived. I'm smitten. Surprisingly, so is Kolby. Who would have thought?!? I guess photography can be our new joint hobby.

Here are some pictures that I (or in some cases, Kolby) took this weekend. They aren't anything special, just some pictures from around the house so we could get in some practice with the camera before our trip. Yes, most of them are of Maya. What did you expect? These are all straight out of the camera. Someday I hope to purchase Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and learn how to edit pictures. That'll be awhile though, it's expensive.

Below is a series of pictures Kolby took around the kitchen and of clutter on our kitchen table (sparkling water, almonds, poetry books, chips... the usual!).
Back to Maya Take a guess at what that pile of fluff is. Yep, it's dog hair. Maya was way past due for her spring appointment with the furminator. And finally, a shout out to Maya's best friend (and aunt, I suppose), Muppet.

May

It’s finally May, which means a lot of fun things around here.

Most importantly, it means that Kolby only teaches SAT classes on Monday nights. He talked to his boss several weeks ago about the overscheduling, and they reached an agreement that he’d only work one day a week starting this month. It is such a relief to get to spend tons of time together again. I missed him!

It also means warm weather is becoming the norm again! The temperature has been so nice lately and we’ve enjoyed eating dinner on our back patio every night. We try to think of meals that require the grill because it makes for a fun evening outside together.

Maya has been experiencing some major spring fever these past few weeks. All she wants to do is be in the backyard chasing rabbits, eyeing the birds, or checking out all that’s going on in our neighborhood this time of year. We recently celebrated her birthday, which was fun as always. We gave her a birthday of April 22, since that is the day we brought her home 3 years ago. The pound thought she was 1 or 2, so she’s probably 4 or 5 now. As usual, we met up with some friends at the dog park to celebrate. I think everyone had a great time!

Although this isn’t specific to May, baseball season is in full swing now. If you’re not aware, Kolby LOVES baseball and is a huge Rangers fan. It’s a passion that’s always been there but has really been ramping up in the past few years. He watches or listens to almost every game. And they play 6 games a week! We went to a game a couple weeks ago with my parents and our seats were 9 rows behind home plate. At that proximity, even I can enjoy watching baseball! We had a great time and the Rangers won.
Speaking of Kolby, we were thrown quite a curveball last week when we found out a job opening that he was very hopeful about suddenly closed out of nowhere. It was his dream job and we’re really disappointed that it didn’t work out, but I guess it never hurts to be reminded that we are not in control. It is back to square one on the job front, but we are trusting that God will provide—even if it is not in the way we imagined.

Our summer vacation is now less than a month away and we’re getting really excited about it! I planned on asking for an SLR camera for my birthday/Christmas from my parents this year, and I somehow talked them into letting me get it early so I could use it on our trip. I wanted a Canon 40D, which is a really nice but also really expensive camera, so we turned to eBay and I found one that is a few years old but was in really good shape. It’s now in the mail to me and I can’t wait for it to get here! I guess I’ll have to practice by taking pictures of Maya… I’m sure she’ll be thrilled :)

Back to Baylor

Big news on the family front--- my parents are headed back to Baylor!

This is a really exciting move for my parents. They’ll get to head back to their alma mater and embark on a fun new phase in life. They have been talking for a long time about how they’d love to get back to Baylor at some point, but this was the first time that the timing worked out on Baylor’s end AND my parent’s end.

It’s a perfect position for my dad and it’s so great that it’s at Baylor (my parents dated at Baylor, got engaged at Baylor, got married at the chapel on Baylor’s campus, and my dad was a professor at Baylor for the first couple of years they were married). Oh--- this will be meaningless to anyone who didn’t go to Baylor, but to those who did--- his office will be in Pat Neff Hall! I think that’s the coolest part about the job. Pat Neff is the trademark building at Baylor; it’s in the center of campus and has the bell tower that lights up green when Baylor wins a sports game.

Russell still has two more years at Baylor, but I think he’s probably less worried about running in to mom & dad on campus and more excited about the free meals they’ll provide!

 We had the family over to celebrate the other day and I made this glorious concoction. I wish I could blame the tacky writing on the uneven surface of the Rice Krispie treats. I don’t think I’ll be getting any calls to decorate cakes anytime soon (can you even tell those are bear paws?).

Congratulations, Dad! I’m proud of you!