TEXAS, Campfires, Morning Hikes, and S'more!

With summer rapidly coming to an end, Wally & I, and some of our wonderful friends, Brad and Tara, thought we would end it with a bang, and go to the outdoor play "Texas" at Palo Duro Canyon for the last weekend production, and camp out afterwards! We had been wanting to do this getaway for a while and were super excited we followed through!

Our journey began about 5 o'clock Friday afternoon, packing all our gear (coolers, tents, pillows, etc...). We had to take Brad & Tara's Suburban because we had so much stuff (for just one night!) After loading up, we were on the road, making a quick stop in Tulia at the El Camino resturant for some delicious Mexican food (we had to practically inhale it though, because, and if you know Tara or I, you may not be too suprised by this, but we were running behind :)

We screeched into the canyon just in time for the show...which, if you haven't been to Palo Duro Canyon, you really need to go...it's beautiful! We were talking on the way, as we arrived, how random it is to be driving (a very boring, flat drive to be honest) and all of the sudden this huge canyon, with gorgeous layers of color, appears out of no where! That must have been a crazy discovery by the settlers of this area, for the scenery to change that drastically, and all of the sudden this giant hole appeared.

Anyway, we watched the musical TEXAS, underneath an awesome stormy sky (luckily no rain though), where God placed lightening strikes, right along with the script and story...it was cool. It made you proud to be a Texan...in fact, we got cracked up at just how proud all Texans seem to be of our great state....the cheers and yells were louder for the Texas flag, than the American flag, at the end of the show, when the horses come running by, with riders carrying the six flags of Texas.

After the show, which was over about 11, we still had to find a camp site, build our tents, and of course get the campfire going so we could enjoy some s'mores. This proved more difficult than it should have been....first of all, we only had one flashlight, and second of all (seen in pictures below) Wally & I had the craziest, most difficult tent ever to set up (we borrowed it, and maybe should have looked at it beforehand, so we could have figured it out a little better) But with Eagle Scout Wally and Mr. Outdoorsman himself, Brad, and Tara & I, we got our campsite up, and enjoyed some mighty good smores before bed (We were laughing about a two man tent taking four people to set up).

Although the ground was a little hard, and we didn't get as much sleep as we usually like, we awoke the next morning about 7 to watch the sunrise over the canyon (one of those sites that proves how wonderful our creator truly is). We enjoyed coffee with the help of a French press, and some good ole breakfast burritos (always better over a campfire....okay and maybe with the help of Brad's handy dandy little Coleman road trip grill)

We cleaned up, packed up, and headed for the finale of our trip, the hike to the lighthouse....unfortunately, we were under time crunch to get back to work so we didn't make it all the way to the lighthouse, but we definately booked it almost 5 miles in less than an hour and a half! (Wally has some awful blisters to prove it too!)

We had a blast on our short "before school starts back" bash...a beautiful canyon, and some great friends to share it with!

Enjoy the pics (some randoms from Shannon and Allison's wedding also included):

Reflections on our first year

Wally and I recently celebrated our 1 year anniversary on June 27th....WOW! We decided we would go to the hill country and have a little time away together to celebrate. We found a wonderful bed and breakfast called the "Walden Plantation" about 13 miles outside of Llano. It was hilarious driving there because it was literally in the middle of nowhere. We took a bunch of country roads about 13 miles outside of Llano (Wally was getting kind of worried the further we went, he was asking me if I was sure this was the right direction haha)...and all of the sudden a beautiful hacienda style plantation appeared, with the Llano river running right behind it. We had a blast during our stay....we went into Fredericksburg on Friday night for some amazing mexican food at Mamacitas and wonderful homeade ice cream for dessert at Clear River. On Saturday morning, after a delicious Belgian waffle breakfast, we went kayaking (thanks to our friends Brad and Tara loaning us their kayak for the weekend) and renting one at the plantation. We swam at the pool, watched the USA World Cup game, and just relaxed. We highly recommend this place for sure! Sunday, our real anniversary day, I woke up early and decided to go grab some coffee and sit out on the porch overlooking the river (a gorgeous view)....as I was sitting, reading my bible, I had one of those moments where you just encounter God's presence and he overwhelms you. It was the coolest thing for Him to open my eyes and reflect on how much He has truly blessed me, and how thankful I am for this past year, the most wonderful year of my life. Its been so cool that God has allowed me to be joined in marriage to my best friend, and how amazing it is that He allows us to represent Christ and the Church and share His gospel as husband and wife. He has been so gracious, and grows, challenges, and sanctifies us daily to become more like Christ in how we love, serve, honor, and respect one another. I think of Phil. 2 when I think about God's design for marriage, and how it's not always the most fun thing, but how we are pushed and challenged to continually look to the needs of others and love God and others before ourselves....Wally has been such a wonderful husband in making me feel so loved each day, encouraging me, and filling each day with joy and adventure! I am truly blessed and thankful God gave me the best husband in the world!

Walden Plantation and Llano River front

Dinner at Mamacita's in Fredericksburg

YUMMY!

Long Time......No Post :)

So, I realized its been since May 5th since I posted something.....so needless to say this might be a long one..... Well, most of you know, but in case you didn't, Wally had to go to "rock camp"....at least thats what I call it. It's a required internship thing for his geology major. He went with UTA to Las Vegas, NM and to a little town about 45 minutes away from Taos, NM. All of you who heard Las Vegas and thought, "HMM Vegas for 33 days.....SWEET!" .....hold that thought, it wasn't that great....Google or talk to someone who has driven through Las Vegas New Mexico....not much going on and not very pretty to put it lightly. He went everyday straight with no weekends off the entire time, studying and measuring and looking at rocks and writing reports at night....can you imagine why he was SSSSOOOO excited to get home and be done?!?!? I was just as excited to get my husband back as well....pretty lonely when you've had your best friend around for a year and rocks take him away for a month.....BLAH!!! As pictures will describe it below, Wally chose to go back to the days of being a single boy in college and didn't shave the entire trip.....he was hairy mountain man and his beard was RED haha! He did shower though, so don't worry :)!

I didn't stay home much and traveled a lot so I didn't have to be by myself....I went with to Florida with my mom for a conference about college sports dietitians and got to stay in Pensacola on the beach.....barely escaped the oily beach thankfully! We got to go to the Naval Air Museum and see the Blue Angels practice....makes you proud to be an American for sure, it was so cool! We also got to drive down the Gulf Breeze National Sea Shore which was beautiful, with blue water on each side and white sandy beaches....we ate some pretty amazing sea food too (and the best key lime pie EVER)!

e traveled back to San Antonio for my cousin Nathan's wedding, then I finally came home for a little while, started summer school (no worries, it was online so my traveling continues)...I got to reunite with some of my good friends from college who were in my Pi Phi pledge class in Dallas and celebrated one of their birthdays and then went to the lake for Memorial Day. Crazy Wedding summer continued with Tripp and Dani's wedding in San Marcos, which I got to ride with my mother and father in law to. We had fun hiking around some beautiful land in Beorne and also got to run to the Outlet Mall :) oh darn right! Since my class was online, and I needed to study for my RD exam, I hung out in Midland for the week and swam a ton with my little nieces and nephews....a blast for sure....they are all little fish! And, I got to meet our new nephew Dawson....Also, our dog Champ is hilarious when he gets together with Tim and Terri's dog Coach....they are only 2 weeks apart and love to play and wrestle (also known as Champ domination). Champ outweighs Coach and so the battle is a little unfair, but they are buds. It was a great time getting to hang out in Midland!

The next weekend, Hilary had invited me to go with her to to my first BoBash (a friend from college's birthday party at the river in Ingram)....check out the video on Facebook....we had a lot of fun!

Unfortunately, the day we got back, I was running a 101 degree fever and my RD exam was scheduled for the next day....and there is a 48 hours cancellation policy, so I had to tough it out and make it from Midland to Amarillo and take my exam anyway....I made a Dr. pit stop and found out that both my ears and throat were infected...yuck! BUT........drum roll please...........I AM AN OFFICIAL REGISTERED DIETITIAN (RD), I PASSED MY EXAM!!!!!!!!!!!!! What a huge burden lifted off my shoulder.....sigh of relief!!

After that, I went home to Farwell to chill and hang out with my mom, dad, and brother, Curt. I went to bootcamp workout, cooked, walked Champ and my parent's dog Nanna (the grouchy old woman), and Kotter (the most energetic dog you will ever meet), went to the movies, and laid out at the pool, and watched the basketball championship....very relaxing and fun time with my fam!

FINALLY....Wally came home!!! We were so glad to see each other....hopefully we'll never have to spend 5 weeks apart again, it was terrible! He wanted to show his teamates and everybody his beard, so I let him keep it for a couple of days, but after that, told him it had to go....He had some separation anxiety, but after a hilarious step by step "going, going, gone" shave, where the beard went to a go-T to a "moles-stache...(molester mustache)" to the Hitler stache, to all gone... and the old Wally was back.

Anyway, sorry for the super long post....hope you enjoyed it and enjoy these pics of all the random things I mentioned above.....hope you are all doing well!!

Love, Micah

With Jenna, Catherine, and Anna in Dallas

Coach and Champ exhausted and then playing tug-of-war

Crashed out on the floor

Champ and my friends Lianna's Labradoodle and then the next door neighbor lab

The new nephew, Dawson, and Joe, Addie, and Annalee

Mom and I in Pensacola, FL with the Blue Angels and then some great seafood

New cousin, Alyson, Nathan, Me, Curt, and Jarrod

The mountain man has returned!

Oh No!!! I have to shave!

The Beard is Going, Going, Gone

Wrapping up the school year....WOOHOO!

So, we're nearing the end of school, with only a couple of finals left....and couldn't be more excited and ready! I wrapped up my dietetic internship FINALLY (the supervised experience you have to do to be eligible to sit for the exam and be a registered dietitian "RD")....now all I have to do is study my booty off and pass my RD exam (everyone can start praying now haha)...and then a final in the two classes I'm taking, sports nutrition and skeletal muscle physiology....Wally has finals in Greek, Organic Chem, & Petrography....but next Monday we will be free, free at last!! Then we will be going our seperate ways for a month, starting the middle of May :( boo! (Needless to say we are not looking forward to this)... Wally will be in Las Vegas, NM with UTA on his field camp trip (Rock camp :), not too exciting but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do right? ...I am going to a sports dietitian conference in Florida and to my cousins wedding....then summer school (yuck!)

Details for the pictures below...Wally (if anybody knows him, this award TOTALLY fits) received the "Red Raider Congeniality" Award at the TECHspys (Texas Tech Athletic Awards Banquet) last night, an award for the most likeable, all around person/athlete at Tech. These awards are voted on by all the athletes from every sports, both men and women, at Tech, so needless to say, I was pretty darn proud of my awesome hubby (I guess everyone else thinks so too lol ;).

We have also been lovin our sweet puppy CHAMP!!! We went to the first vet visit, and he apparently is a giant....he was over 22 pounds at 9 weeks! He cracks us up, but he is really smart too, and catching on to things were teaching him pretty quickly....potty training, sit, walking on a leash, and all that fun stuff. He is super friendly, and he loves meeting new people and doggy friends too! Come visit if you haven't met him yet, you will fall in love (yes he is that cute :)!!!

All dressed up for the TECHspy awards

Wally going on stage at the TECHspys to get his award

Wally's best friend Rob, and yes he is pretty much just part of our family!

Champs favorite chew toy, a small look alike lol!

Cuddleing with Wally (they are both grumpy when they wake up)