All's Vanity

Living in Dallas has a way of my vanity rearing it's ugly head occasionally, probably more frequently than I'd like, especially when you have NorthPark or the Allen outlet within 15 minutes from your house.
For instance, take the Coach outlet in Allen. I would love to own a Coach bag. However, they cost anywhere from $150-$300+. That's just not in the cards. Same scenario with clothes, shoes- the list goes on and on. Sometimes, it can be hard for me to be content with what I have, which is retarded because I have been given what I need, more than I need and I should be content.
So, maybe the goal should be to a) be content (obviously!) and b) find a less-expensive purse to like. :)

Fabulous weekend!

We had a great weekend- babysat Parker, had Liz's friends over for a very casual pool shindig, then had some of our good friends and their kiddos over for an evening pool party. Sunday, after church, Mike and I leveled the garden on the side of our house that we hadn't touched since last summer. I truly have a black thumb when it comes to gardening (I wish I had Granddaddy's genes!), but we're going to try it again- I love using fresh herbs when I cook, and I really want some rosemary and basil...Mike actually bought a rosemary plant but said that I couldn't touch it until it was big enough to survive me whacking at it. :)

Mike also spent a long time out in the garage working on the chest of drawers and got tons of saw dust everywhere and all over himself. He made our nightstands a couple of years ago and has been working on the matching chest of drawers for the past 2 years- his project got interrupted by moving and fixing up our current house. The dresser already looks amazing! He does great work!!

Sunday afternoon I talked with a nursing school friend of mine, Anna Brown, who is currently in Vanderbilt's PNP program that I'll be starting in the fall. She gave me some great advice about which books to buy, what to get, what not to get, etc- very valuable info!!
More than anything, she was good to remind me that the program is do-able, even with working- something that I was a little worried about- how to manage it all over the next year.
So, I was very thankful to spend some time chatting with her.

Here's some pictures from the weekend:
Marsh and Parker

Mike and the sawdust in his pockets



Parker got his feet wet!



The Saugiers!

Babysitting/pretending to have a child

Last night we babysat Parker, Ali and Marsh's 7 week-old baby. He is just so cute! It was fun to hold him, feed him, play with him, etc, even if he was a little on the grouchy side.
It's weird- when I was in college, I wanted to get married and have kids and stay home as a stay-at-home-mom. I feel like my perspective has changed a little- and quite honestly, it has surprised me that it has changed because I thought that I'd always have that picture-perfect baby/babies, would be staying at home, especially almost 4 years into marriage.
All this to say, it's nice to babysit babies and get my "baby-fix" while I have at least two more years before we have kids (grad school and actually working as a PNP for a year). With all the people that we know having babies right now, it's easy to get baby fixes right now! :)
I do love being with kids of all ages at work, which is why, I think, that I've been okay with waiting a little longer to have kids- I see them all the time!
I dunno, just not exactly what I had imagined my life to be at this point in time, but I'm excited about the possibilities, just curious what the next two years will be like....

Celebrations!

May was a crazy, busy month for us, as we had 2 graduations, 5 birthdays, 3 Mother's Day events....not to mention finally getting my braces off. Seriously, that was a huge celebration!

So, here's a few pictures from May- below is the Serna Clan at Lane's graduation from Trinity University:

Liz, Lane and myself and Liz's high school graduation.

Pool fun!

One of the perks of owning our house is having a pool, although, recently, Mike might say that it's been a blessing and a curse (our pool pump died last weekend and the pool turned green- currently still recovering and getting the water back to a normal color).
One of our favorite things about having a pool is having people over to hang out. We absolutly love being outside, grilling, lying in the pool, enjoying tasty beverages and good friends.
Here's some pictures from last weekend, when we celebrated Father's Day with Mike's family:



Max in the water
Mike's dad and Kathryn
big brother William and sister Kathryn

Never Say Never

Of all the things I've learnd in life so far, I think that one of the most important is to never say never. I've learned this lesson so many times- for example, I said I'd never be a nurse because they do all the dirty work- I'm a nurse. I said I'd never go out of state to go to college- I went to Samford Univ. in Birmingham, AL. I said I'd never date long-distance again- Mike and I had the majority of our dating long-distance before we got engaged. While working in the ER, I said I'd never become a floor nurse- I am a floor nurse. And, most recently, I said I'd never go back to school- I'm starting grad school at Vanderbilt next semester.
You'd think I'd learn. I think, really, it's God saying, "You can plan all you want to and try to make things work the way that you think they're going to work, but it's really My timing that matters."
I think one of the most important lessons I've learned from the Lord is that He is always sovereign- it doesn't matter what I do, He's always been in control and has known and will always know what will happen- He's never surprised. And that is a great comfort.