Finally.... A break from the heat!

We have been thrilled for the cooler weather blowing in! With the cooler weather came an exciting change for Richard. As you know, when Richard joined The Promotion Network (TPN) with a finance role, his plan was to change gears into a marketing position! We are happy to share that he has been offered a new role in the company. With this new role Richard will continue to work on the Bank of America account but in the marketing space. This is a wonderful change and an area Richard has wanted to explore for some time. God heard our prayers and we are extremely thankful! 


Grand Canyon - 3rd Anniversary
Wow...three years ago we said, "I do"! Since then time has flown.... we've completed two years of apartment ministry... both experienced changes in our careers (and hair!)... added a second dog... added over 30 new states to our list and moved to our third apartment! It's safe to say, we have been busy and enjoyed every minute of it. To celebrate our third anniversary we had a wonderful dinner at Ocean Prime and then journeyed to the Grand Canyon (our 34th state to visit together)! I'd like to point out that this was a camping trip - although Richard would beg to differ. We stayed in KOA "Kampsites" along the way... cabins with NO bathrooms attached. Richard says their "K" in "Kampsites" confirms that it is not true camping! The dogs seemed to love the adventure.

Dinner @ The Big Texan in Amarillo, Texas! As seen on Man vs. Food - famous for the 72 ounce steak (if eaten in under an hour, it is free)! We did not participate...ha!

Grand Canyon

3 Year Anniversary - Grand Canyon!

A petrified log at the KOA campsite...exciting, I know.... 

Exhausted from the road trip!

Dallas Cowboys Game
My job (Capital One) invited our nonprofit partners to attend a Dallas Cowboys Game in the Capital One suite! The suite was amazing.... definitely over the top! The best part.... all the food you could imagine AND we took some home in a doggie bag. A great job perk! :) Richard was in heaven.

Anne Visits Dallas
Anne came to Dallas for the weekend! We saw "The Help" at Studio Movie Grill (great movie), went to see Glenn Beck at a church in Forth Worth with my parents, went swimming and played golf at Top Golf! Fun weekend!

Studio Movie Grill seeing "The Help"

CARES Updates
We are settled into our temporary apartment in The Corners in The Village and still serving as The Cliffs CARES Team. As you know, The Bluffs is being torn down, so we lost about 2/3 of our residents. We are still pretty sad, but still keep in touch with a handful! This month we were also called in to help another property in The Village that lost their CARES Team overnight due to a family emergency. It was a pretty neat experience for us to experience a new property, new residents and volunteers - a true blessing when we were starting to feel repetition in our ministry and the strain of uncertainty with our temporary apartment.


Not a month goes by without a story about our resident Sonny. We treated her to an Indian restaurant for her 70th birthday. The funny thing.... we celebrated her 70th birthday last year too! haha Oh, Sonny.... :) Sonny shared personal stories from her past, horrible memories that no one should ever have to go through. We learned a lot about her culture and customs and especially the way women were treated in India while she was growing up and during her marriage. This treatment even followed her into the US when she moved here with her husband and young daughter (while having to leave her second daughter behind for 7 years). Today Sonny is divorced and self-sufficient, yet still struggles on a daily basis. Our relationship with Sonny has developed over the past two years. It's relationships such as this one that encourage us to continue to be a CARES Team on days we are ready to walk away.

Celebrating Sonny's 70th Birthday for the 2nd year in a row.... :)

Cooking for a CARES Breakfast!

Other fun happenings!
Celebrations and milestones!

Bren's pool party in her and Will's new home!!

Crystal and Ben visiting from California!!!!
We miss them both so much!

We have the cutest nephew and niece! Beth sent us these pictures of the kids starting daycare and soccer.
From what we hear, Jude is quite popular at daycare. 

My co-worker's girlfriend just moved to the SMU campus for a job.  So, of course, we had to have a "back to college" party on the SMU campus! We did a scavenger hunt - this is Richard jumping the fence to get inside of the stadium.
 We won! :)

Kristi is pregnant!!! During an alpha gam dinner, Kristi announced her pregnancy in the cutest way! When the waitress brought the bread, it was wrapped in a napkin that said "Kristi has a bun in the oven"! We are so happy for her and Ben!

Oh yes, back to the 80's! My boss had an 80's party at the NYLO for her 40th birthday.

July Summer Fun!

Jessa's 25th Birthday
My 25th birthday was a week-long blast! I celebrated with family, friends, co-workers and Richard. My sweet husband surprised me with flowers, took me purse shopping and then to a nice dinner at Jasper's! :) I can't believe I'm officially in my mid-20's...so excited for what the future has in store!

Birthday Lunch with Grammy at La Madeleine!

Cheese!!!!

Pedis at the Hawaiian Nail Spa!

Dinner, Drinks and Pedis for my 25th! Little Miss Jordyn joined the fun! :)

Birthday Happy Hour with a few of my co-workers!

Family Birthday Lunch!

Flowers from my sweet co-worker, Kristen!

Birthday lunch - Mom and Grandma!

Birthday lunch!

Margaritas with Mindy and Evan!

Mindy + Evan = Engagement Party
We are so happy that our college friends Mindy and Evan are getting married! The engagement party was so much fun and we know the planning process and big day will be one big party!

Mindy's Bridal Party (minus Vanessa)

A few of Evan's groomsmen

Yep, we lost the newlywed game. Ha!

Capital One Math Corps Pilot Program
One of my events this month was a Math Corps Pilot Program with 30 fourth graders in the Communities in Schools Dallas Program. I LOVE this age! We spent 3 weeks with these kids learning financial literacy and life skills from top level executives. The best part was eating like a 4th grader...burgers, chicken fingers and pizza...yum! I was sad to see these kids go, but hope to have made a positive impact in their lives.

Capital One Math Corps Pilot

This was one of my favorite kids, he cracked me up!

CARES Updates
In July we hosted an ice cream party and hot dog night! This was our first month serving only the Cliffs residents. As always, we had some of our favorite regulars in attendance. On a deeper note, we had the opportunity to assist a lady with MS in our property (she had to move to a different apartment this month). This was an eye-opening experience...and she was such a blessing to get to know! We also had the opportunity to babysit twins and a toddler for another CARES Team in need... we survived!

Babysitting twins!!

Playing with Caleb Baker while babysitting for another CARES Team
(the same ones we dog-sat for a few weeks ago)!

Chatting with Sonny during a CARES event.

Food and Fun

Sushi @ Shensei with my co-workers!

Richard received free Yogurt Land coupons during the premiere of Harry Potter...
at least something good came from him going to the midnight showing!

Feeding the ducks at the park in The Village!

Hi ho, hi ho... It's off to Portland, Seattle and Vancouver we go!!

Portland, Oregon

We stayed at the coolest hotel ever, The Kennedy School Hotel. We swam in the salt water pool located in the old teacher's lounge, stayed in Miss Dobie's classroom, watched "Water for Elephants" on a couch in the old auditorium and enjoyed dinner, drinks and a few games of pool! We also walked around the neighborhood and fell in love with the unique homes.

We stayed in Mrs. Dobie's Room at the Kennedy School in Portland, OR!

We loved walking around in the neighborhood - the flowers were gorgeous!

The original Voodoo Donuts in Portland, OR.

Union Station in Portland, OR.

Remember when the worst thing you could imagine was being kept after class? My, how things have changed! At Kennedy School, you'll never want to leave. Here you can have a pint in a classroom, enjoy an aged whiskey and a cigar in detention, take a dip in the pool in the teacher's lounge, enjoy a movie in the old auditorium.... The possibilities here are endless. 

In March '10, the Kennedy School was named the #1 Quirkiest Hotel in the U.S. by TripAdvisor.com -- an A+ for us!

Since its 1915 opening, this historic elementary school has been a beloved fixture of its Northeast Portland neighborhood. McMenamins renovated the once-abandoned scholastic gem and turned it into Portland's most unique hotel. Here you'll find 35 comfy guestrooms fashioned from former classrooms (complete with original chalkboards and cloakrooms, private baths and telephones), a restaurant, multiple small bars, a movie theater, soaking pool, gift shop and a brewery (just wait until the principal hears about this!). Extensive original artwork and historical photographs cover the walls, ceilings, doorways and hallways.

In the morning we went to check out Voodoo Doughnuts (a Portland staple), but after a few minutes in the LONNNG line, they ran out of doughnuts! We also walked the Broadway Bridge in Portland before boarding the Amtrak to head to Seattle. The weather was in the 70's and sunny... perfect day!

Seattle, Washington


What a great place for food lovers! We stayed at the Hyatt Downtown...which was in a wonderful location. We were just a short walk from all the tourist hot spots and tons of food!  On the first night we headed down to Pike's Public Market (an awesome strip of shops and sights located where they toss the fish around in the mornings and afternoons).  Also located within Pike's is the original Starbucks location.  Of course the line was out of the door.  Just a short walk from the original Starbucks is the famous (of infamous . . .) "gum wall". The entire wall is covered in gum from tourists who have visited.  Naturally, Richard contributed (it was pretty gross . . .).

Original Starbucks in Seattle!

Pike's Place Market in Seattle!

Richard adding gum to the gum wall in Seattle.

That night we ate at Ivar's Acres of Clams right on the harbor (next to Ye Olde Curiosity Shop).  We had some great seafood and a nice view.

Dinner at Ivars

The next day was very full! Richard woke up early and jogged to Elliott Bay Park (great views of the ocean).  Then we hit the gym and the steam room & sauna.  Then we did the underground tour of Pioneer Square (where the "old" Seattle used to be before it burned to the ground and they built on top of it).  Afterwards we checked out Elliott's Oyster House (with a great patio on the pier).  We ordered a dozen raw oysters, and ate them all (Jessa was . . . iffy about them but she ate her 6).  After that we went to zig zag cafe for some creative drinks and then on to The Pink Door for a great dinner on a great patio.

Elliott's Oyster House

View from our hotel room in Seattle.

Space Needle in Seattle.

Seattle

Vancouver, Canada

Our experience in Vancouver had a rocky start but quickly turned into a fun, exciting and active trip! We stayed at the Sheraton Hotel and Spa in Downtown Vancouver - a great hotel with an amazing view of the city. We toured historic Gastown, then ventured into China Town (which we do not recommend). China Town was filled with crazy people, dark alleys and suspicious activity... thanks for the recommendation Trip Advisor! I couldn't help but look down every dark alley....Richard kept telling me to look away and not make eye contact! lol We ended our night at the Pour House Restaurant in Gastown. Not only was the food great and the venue unique, we had a live performer singing Frank Sinatra songs (Richard's favorite)! 

Gastown in Vancouver - Steam Clock

Dinner at the Pourhouse in Vancouver, Canada

Scary Chinatown in Vancouver, Canada

The following day was packed with fun and adventure. Richard kicked off the morning with a 6 mile run around Stanley park, then we worked out / swam at our hotel. One of my favorite parts of trip was experiencing a Thai Massage from Smile Thai. The massage was a mixture of a Swedish massage with yoga - it was wonderful and much needed. This was definitely a new experience and I would recommend it to anyone! 

Smile Thai Massage

Following our massage, we took a bus to the Capilano Suspension Bridge (longest suspension bridge in the world). It was SO scary and shook like crazy. 

Cliffwalk

Suspension Bridge - so scary!

Suspension Bridge 

We also rented bikes and biked around Stanley park. The views were absolutely gorgeous! 

Biking in Stanley Park

Biking in Stanley Park

We rounded out the day by grabbing fresh sushi in Northern Vancouver at Octopus Garden. Yum! Following dinner, we attended Bard on the Beach to see "As You Like It" (a Shakespeare play). What a cool performance. The theater was open and the background was the water and mountains. We really enjoyed the Shakespeare production! 

Octopus Garden - For dessert, "octopus" gummies!

Bard on the Beach

Another trip down. We loved every minute of it (minus Vancouver's China Town...ha!)!