Just a little update from the Tasty Names Family

Things are going well in the Tasty Names household. In fact, life is good! I included the above picture because I love the Life is Good series of clothing, but also because it reminds me of my life in Marin County. It was during my time there that I started running. Since I left CA, I haven't been running that much. It was a little hard to run on the snow in Iowa, and it's been a challenge to learn the right times of day to get out and run here in Texas so as not to suffer from a heat stroke. In fact, the first time I went for a run down here was about a week or so after we moved in, and I almost did have a heat stroke! I got home and collapsed on the lawn. Chicken Nugget was outside playing and as things started to get fuzzy and far away for me, I told her she needed to go get Dad right away, and make sure he came out with a glass of water. Thankfully, everything was fine.

We've been here long enough to learn the climate, and the relatively cool times of day (relatively). For the past couple of days, I have been going to a lovely, shady park here in town. It has a great walking track and I have been utilizing it! Since it's been such a long while since I've done any kind of good running, I decided just to test the waters. I really surprised myself! After several times around the track, doing some brisk walking and pumping my hand weights, I decided to use my last few times around to see how I'd do running, and I did great! I'm not up to a mile again yet, but I don't think it will take that long. Hopefully soon, I'll be back up to running four miles at a time like I did in CA.

I have to thank Leslie Sansone again for getting me back in some kind of shape so that I had the endurance to try the running thing again.


Just last week, I turned in my application for Region 4! It has taken me several months to take the plunge, because we had some decisions to make about where our family would be in the coming year. As it stands, everything will be the same for now, so we decided it would be best for me to proceed with become a teacher liscensed to teach in the state of Texas. I am nervous, excited, and apprehensive about the whole thing, but am also ready to dive right in and become a teacher!

This summer we'll be taking quite a trip! Buffalo Wings is teaching summer school, so after his session (end of July-early August), we'll have a two to two-and-a-half week vacation! We can NOT wait! Our first stop will be in Texarkana to see Charley and Marianne, and I cannot find enough joyful words to express how I feel about seeing them again! We were at GGBTS together, and they (like so many others) took Chicken Nugget and me in and loved us and what's more - Charley is from Arkansas AND has the same birthday as me! Marianne seems like she is from AR because she does a great AR accent and she is CRAZY!!!! I just cannot wait to see them and their sweet boy Joshua!

The above picture is from Bella Vista, AR. We will see beautiful scenery like this as we travel into the Ozarks to visit my Aunt Nancy. I cannot wait to see that dear lady! She's never seen Banana, and the last time we all saw her, Noodle was about eight or nine weeks old. We are definitely due a visit! And Aunt Nancy is a sweet and gracious host, always happy to have company and treating any visitor like royalty. She's got a great house with a fabulous deck that looks out into her wooded yard. I'm looking forward to some relaxing evenings of good coversation and a glass of good wine out on her deck, as we watch dusk turn to dark over the beautiful mountain trees.

Ah, Iowa!!! Drink in that skyline, folks. Just drink it in. We'll be there before you know it. Oh, you didn't recognize it? Yeah, I almost didn't, either. It's Des Moines! Stops in Iowa will likely include Winterset to see some dear old friends and some covered bridges, Knoxville to see Grandma and Grandpa and more friends, Pella for a walk down memory lane (that's where we got married, on the campus of Central College) and some Dutch letters and some tiptoeing through some tulips, and possibly LeMars and Britt or someplace in the middle to see some more friends.

And then - and then - on to Chicago!!!! We'll have some pizza, hot dogs, see a Cubs game, go to the aquarium, the Sears tower, and who knows what all! It was my suggestion to go on up to Chicago, since we'll be so close, and BW thought that was a great idea. He adores the city, and he is a die-hard Cubs fan. I'd never known anyone who truly lives and dies with a team, but BW really does just that with the Cubs. So we're all very excited about what our summer adventure has to offer us!

In the meantime, we'll be wrapping up school, BW will start summer school, BW and I will celebrate our fourth wedding anniversary on June 14, I'll continue with CWJC and begin with a new ministry team at church, the New Vision Ministry Team. We look forward to seeing some other great friends, Jonathan and Tamara, and going to AnitaMarita's wedding shower! The Woodard family will be coming to Houston to visit us, and we look forward to a fun week of Vacation Bible School during the last week of June - I get to teach the missions class again! I can't wait to give more and more updates as the summer unfolds!

Much love to all of you, and I cannot WAIT to hear about all your summer plans!