First Haircut

Hi everyone. I know it's been a while. This past month has been great fun, and busy as always. A.J. moved to Austin (as I mentioned before) and he now resides in a duplex with one of his new co-workers. I think the guitar incident may have had something to do with the fact he didn't want to stay with us long... We're happy to have him here. He's getting to know his new students and enjoying it, though becoming a teacher has him VERY busy, and he's a bit overwhelmed at times (any teachers out there want to holla back?).

This month has been eventful. Jude and I took a trip to Spokane to visit family and go to my ten-year reunion...yes it's true. The reunion was more fun than I expected, and seeing old friends proved to be a generally good experience. Jude and I had lots of fun with my family, though Jude was fed entirely too many m&ms and cheetos (thank you Grandpa). We enjoyed nice weather, and saw some dear friends. The airplane rides were less than wonderful, but we survived. Troy has been working like a crazy person to get the school-year started. We're officially off and running, and things have been good. I am back to teaching dance this year, teaching a Bible class to 8th grade girls, and also getting to have a Bible study in our home with some of the 9th grade girls who were in my Bible class last year. I am glad because I think I would miss them too much if I didn't get to see them.

Veritas, our school, has an official 6-man football team, and has already launched the season with a scrimmage. In true Texas style, the scrimmage was attended by most everyone in the Veritas community, complete with a burger cook-out, t-shirt sales, and 107 degree weather. It was a sweaty-good time.

Last weekend we helped Troy's older sister and her family move out of their house, which is now sold, and we are gearing up for a major garage sale this weekend. Time to clean out the attic...which, by-the-way, isn't as fun as it sounds because it feels like appoximatley 120 degrees in our attic all the time in the summer. So much for energy efficiency.

And, probably most importantly, Jude got his first haircut. By me. While he ate his breakfast. It used to look like this:
well, after Troy styled it. But as you can see, he had a bit of a rat-tail thing going. I don't know why it grew that way, but it did. So I pretty much chopped that off, but I don't have an after picture yet. For now, here are a few other pictures I do have:
Jude playing in the mud a the lake...which is mostly mud due to our current drought.

Jude, Joey and Kate in the hammock in our yard.
A.J. mid-haircut. It was a sad, strange day.

A.J. post-haircut. Mixed feelings to say the least.


The only "funny" face Jude knows how to make.

Jude and Guitars

Well, A.J. (Stevi's brother) has officially moved to Austin, and is currently staying with us. He arrived on Wednesday after three days of driving, and "locking his keys in his car" (translated: putting them in his back pocket until he found them an hour and a half later) only once. He's happy to be here and we're happy to have him. Last night he was playing some nice calm guitar melodies for Jude and me as we were getting Jude ready for bed. Jude ran out to see him, diaperless. I think the music must've been overly relaxing, because Jude stood there and looked at A.J. sitting on the floor, and just let it flow. He peed all over A.J.'s guitar. Sadly, A.J. was starled, shouted "Whoa!", which in turn startled Jude and he started crying. It was pretty traumatic for everyone. I mean, A.J. had never had his guitar peed on before, and Jude was afraid to go near the guitar for a while after that. I think he'll come around though. Thanks for the serenade, A.J.!

Jude loves fireworks

Kentucky....

Hey! We are back in smoldering-hot Austin as of Monday, June 15th. Our time in Kentucky was absolutely precious. Troy took a class on cults and new religious movements. He found it extremely interesting, but thankfully nothing sounded good enough to draw him away from his faith in Christ =). Jude and I spent the week with my friends Susanna, Josie and their two little boys, Wheeler and Jack, respectively. (Jack is 2 mo. younger than Jude.) We got to see many other old friends and were thrilled to attend our old Bible study and our old church. Jude LOVED the Louisville Zoo, we picked Strawberries with our friends, ate lots of good food, and enjoyed reasonable daytime temperatures! Here are some highlights:


Troy, David, Jude and Wheeler before the Bats game.



Jude "helping" Wheeler play.



Getting ready to pick strawberries at Huber's Farm, with some of the coolest people in the whole world!





Jude getting to sit on an old tractor (his true passion in life is tractors)!

Jack and Jude at the strawberry patch...Jude is drinking Jack's water.

picking berries....

Jude got re-acquainted with his old friend, Annabelle. Annabelle is the daughter of some old friends who now live in Kentucky. They liked each other lots!

This is Annabelle's new baby brother, Elijah. He is seven days old in this picture.

Some catching up...

Hey everyone! We have been so busy the past six weeks. Sorry for the lapse in posting! A.J. was here until May 2nd, then Stevi's parents visited for 10 days and just left last week. It's been lots of fun spending time with family. Jude enjoyed getting re-acquainted with his Washington grandparents, and he learned very quickly that Grandpa would give him "emelemels" (M&Ms) WAY to often!

Troy just finished up his school year, so we have three weeks off together before he leaves for a classical learning conference in late June. This weekend we will fly to Kentucky for Troy to take a class, and to see all our dear friends in Louisville!

Here are some pictures from the end of April:
Cuteness.


This is most likely water out of the dog dish...



Hamilton Pool

Hamilton Pool

Hamilton Pool

Eating dirt

A.J.'s getting ready for his first day working at Veritas.

Stevi attempting to climb.

Happy Easter!

We visited the Wildflower Center on Good Friday....

Here are some pics of our Easter celebration! A.J. is currently here in Austin, so we've had a very special weekend....

Jude spots his Easter basket!

Jude's first time in a 3-piece suit!

All the cousins with their new sunglasses! This shot was a challenge.

Troy's Grandma (Mummu) who lives in Oregon was here this weekend. We enjoyed getting to see her. She taught all the girls how to make traditional Finnish Cardamom bread!

Lindsay comes to Austin!!!

Once in a while, worlds collide and God kindly reunites you with an old friend....this was one of those weekends! Lindsay was in Texas for work and came to Austin for a quick visit. Though it was short, we tried to show her as much Texas fun (and sunshine) as we could in less than two days! These photos are yesterday at the beautiful gardens downtown which are now in full bloom. Last night, we had coffee on the dock at my favorite Austin coffee shop, Mozarts, while listening to live music--of course.

Afterward, we were caught in traffic downtown near the infamous 6th street for much longer than I think either one of us would have wanted...though we certainly saw some interesting sights. After being thrilled by cars with hydraulics, motorcycle gangs and some....amazing...outfits, we decided we preferred eating gummy bears at home to the Austin night life!

It's such a blessing to get to spend time with a true friend who loves Jesus with all her heart. It was truly a gift to have some fellowship with my sister in Christ. Thanks for coming, Lindsay!