Spring is finally here!

So it's been a few weeks since the last post but we've been busy, I promise!

Ben, his parents, his brother, and I flew to San Antonio, Texas on March 10th for cousin Martina's awesome wedding!  We were in beautiful Texas for five days and it was great because the weather was in the 80s and it was cold and rainy back in MD!  I even got sunburn which has never happened in the month of March....well, besides spring break in Florida a few years ago.

We had a wonderful time in TX with the wedding and getting to spend a lot of time with family.  That was my first trip to Texas and we will definitely have to go back so I can see more!  We split our time between San Antonio and Fredericksburg which is where the wedding took place.  Here are some pics from our Texas adventure!

 The beautiful oak tree where Martina and Brent said "I do!"  It's the 3rd largest or oldest (I can't remember which) oak tree in Texas and famous people have played there like Elvis, George Strait and Willie Nelson!

Ben and I did get to do a little sightseeing since it was my first time in TX.  We walked along the Riverwalk in downtown San Antonio and saw the Alamo.  We didn't get to go in because the line was SUPER long but the outside was fun to see!

Since getting back to Maryland, we've been packing up our apartment to move in a few weeks!  We'll be moving to a bigger apartment in the same complex we live in now so not too far to go.  We'll have more room and a balcony which will be nice for Riley.  Once we get settled, I'll make sure to email out our new mailing address!

"Oh what a night...."

Last weekend the Hill/Bowman/Alvarez ladies went to Baltimore and saw the Jersey Boys!!!  For my grandmother's birthday, me, my mom, grandmother, 3 aunts, and 2 cousins went to the show at the Hippodrome Theater.  The only Hill lady we were missing was my little cousin but I don't know if she would have enjoyed it as much as we all did!  We got lunch at the Kona Grill near the Inner Harbor and then walked to the theater.

The show was fantastic!  If you get the chance to see it, you really should.  It's the story of Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons.  The music was awesome and there were many songs that I knew that I didn't know were by them!  I have had "Oh What a Night" stuck in my head since last weekend! 

Not much is going on this coming weekend.  I have to work (yuck) but we are dog-sitting for some friends.  They have a Shiba-Inu puppy named Yoshi and our dogs love to play together.  He'll be hanging out with us while his humans go to Georgia for a wedding.  After this weekend, it's our turn to travel to Texas for Martina's wedding!  Can't wait!  It's going to be so much fun and since I've never been to Texas before, I'm super excited to visit.  I must get some Hard Rock pins while I'm there to add to my collection. 

Enjoy your weekend, hope the weather gets better!

Valentine's Day

I can't believe February is already half-way over!  I still feel like we're in January!  Though, it felt more like April 17th today instead of February 17th....the weather was gorgeous!  When I got of work this afternoon, it was 67 degrees out!  I rode home with the windows and sunroof down with the music up...a great way to end the work day.  It seems like Punxsutawney Phil was right this year!  Here's proof: http://www.groundhog.org/

So Valentine's Day (or Singles-Awareness Day, depending on your love life) was this past Monday.  Ben and I celebrated our first one as a married couple.  On Saturday, we went to Outback Steakhouse and demolished a bunch of delicious food and then rented a movie.  Very chill and relaxing.  Ben brought me 15 red roses (we don't know why it was 15 instead of 12) that are still beautiful and alive today!  They smell sooo good...roses are one of my favorite flowers.  Daffodils are my other and they're about to start popping up with spring coming!  Then on Sunday, we made sugar cookies together and decorated them with icing and sprinkles.  I gave Ben his gift which was a set of Bucky Balls.  If you haven't heard of these yet, visit their website: www.getbuckyballs.com  They're a set of 216 little magnetic balls that are very strong and highly addictive to play with and create things.  We've enjoyed playing with them!  Monday nights dinner consisted of steak, mashed potatoes, and green beans which is a favorite of ours.  And that was our Valentine's Day!

Let it Snow

This past Wednesday, we had a snowstorm!  We got about 8 inches of snow in about 6 hours.  It was really heavy, wet snow that was great for snowballs!  Lots of schools and offices were closed Thursday and I couldn't make it out of our apartment complex for work.  I took a snow day and Ben went in late once the roads were cleared.  Even though it wasn't a lot of snow, the news reports said that the damages/power outages were more than the three blizzards from last year combined!  Some roadways became gridlocked and it took some people over 12 hours to get home!  There were all kinds of stories about people being stuck in their cars or simply just abandoning them and walking home.  My work let us out early Wednesday so I made it home safely and Ben works just a few miles away so he left early too.

Here are some pictures of the snow.

 This tree was leaning quite heavily over our cars.  Thankfully it didn't break as a lot of other branches did.

A picture of one of the fallen branches.

Riley absolutely loves the snow.  

Catching snowballs

She likes to stick her whole head and upper body into the snow and army crawl through it.

Some big news to share!...and no, its not a baby

I have some great news to share and no, we're not having a baby.  That's pretty much everyone's first thought or question when I say I have news.  No baby yet but I have decided to go back to school!  I will be getting my Master's in Elementary Education through the University of Maryland.  My B.S. is in Animal Science but I have been thinking and preparing for this since my senior year of college.  Even though I enjoyed my classes and my major, I have felt God calling me to do something else, and teaching came to me junior year.  I figured since I was close to being done, I should finish my bachelor's degree and then figure out how to transition into teaching. 

Universities and colleges throughout the state of Maryland offer programs for career changers like me.  I applied for the MCERT program through UMD back in November, had an interview at the beginning of January, and found out last week that I had been accepted.  Some of you may be thinking this is the first time you've heard of this and you'd be right.  I didn't tell many people because I figured if I didn't get in, the less people I would have to tell.  But I got in and now can tell the whole world!

The program starts in June and is a 13month, full-time program.  At the end of it I will have my M.Ed in Elementary Education and be eligible for certification in the state of Maryland.  I will take 12 credits this summer and starting with the school year, I will student teach full time for the entire school year while taking 2-3 evening classes.  It's a demanding course but I am very excited and looking forward to it.  God has certainly blessed me with this opportunity and I can't wait to start!