Texas: The awesome state?

In case everyone else in the world is not aware, we Texans believe Texas is better than any other state (all the Texans reading this right now are saying collectively, "Well, it IS."). I'm not sure why we think this way, and it might be hard for some Texans to admit this out loud, but most will display their pride, well, proudly. It's something that is ingrained in us from a young age, to see everyone else as somehow inferior because they are not from Texas. I am not making this up. Yesterday, as I was driving home from my mom's house, I saw this billboard on I-20: "The Texas capital building is 15 feet taller than the United States capital building in Washington, D.C. (smaller, more italicized font below it:) Texas. Our Texas." This reminded me of those really stupid bumper stickers that say "My kid can beat up your honor student." Anyway, apparently we now think we're better than the United States of America as a whole on the basis of our capitol being 15 feet taller. Honestly, sometimes I just don't understand thought processes. But if I was doing a master's thesis on sociology, it would be about Texans and our very large self-esteems about our state.

On a partially-related note, tax-free weekend in Texas is August 15-17. That's where you can save a bunch of money on clothes and the like (8.25% in our area. And did I just explain to everyone what tax-free weekend was as if no one had ever heard of it before? Sorry. I really don't think you live under a rock.), although you'd save even more money if you just stayed home and bought nothing. But that's boring. Anyway, I noticed on this site that Texas was the first of any state to implement a tax-free holiday. Just another example of our awesomeness. But then a bunch of other states had to come in and be better than Texas and make their tax-free holidays as many as 17 days. This includes the District of Columbia (you know, the place with the tiny capitol).

Come on, Texas. Time to step it up a notch.

Back again

Okay, I am finally back from all the traveling I have been doing this summer. Chad stayed here this past week to work while I went to visit various family and friends. First I stopped through Denton to see my friend and former roommate Emily for a short visit, then it was on to mom's house. We drove together the next day (Friday) to Liberty to see Erin's family, and we got to spend a good amount of time there and went to her baby shower on Sunday. Then, it was back to the metroplex where I got to spend a little time with two of my good friends from A&M days, Larry and Brent. And, I saw my grandmother twice this past week as well.

So now you know what I've been up to. And I'm sure the blog will be more interesting once school starts, although I realize the update on the vegetable garden has been riveting. Seriously though, my tomatoes are all green, and it seems they've come to a standstill and won't get bigger and won't get red. Does anybody know what the problem is, and more important, how I can fix it?

Some pictures

Hi. Sorry I have been MIA the past few days. Since we've been back from camp I have gotten a cold which has prevented me from wanting to do anything except lay around the house. My sweet husband has done most of the laundry and putting up the laundry and unpacking. Anyway, here are a few pictures. I didn't take very many this year because I just didn't feel like it. Camp was great though and we had a wonderful time and really enjoyed the kids in our Bible classes. This first one is from in between 3rd and 4th sessions when we went with our friends Vance and Kasey to Porvenir Canyon to do a little climbing. Check out that flexibility. And at the top. Okay, now on to 4th session. Here's Ava deep in thought. Actually she's probably wishing she could go down to the playground and play instead of having to stay with the boring adults so we could have a conversation. Chad showing Elle how to tie her own shoe. Look how enthralled she is. Our garden when we got back. The picture doesn't really show how huge it had gotten. Oh well. Look! Jalapenos! Which is good that I'm growing my own...because isn't that what they're saying now caused all that salmonella?Squash. Um, too bad there wasn't anyone to pick the zucchinis when they were ready. I have already made two loaves of zucchini bread out of one half of the zucchini on the right. I'm sorry about this one. Chad made me take it. Here's what was ready to pick when we got back. The one in the top middle is a cucumber and we picked 3-4 more since this picture was taken.

So I've been trying to do something with all these veggies since we got home, so a lot of my time (when I'm not resting) has been spent cooking something. Today I will make some squash casseroles to freeze, I already told you about the zucchini bread (which I found a great recipe for in a magazine I subscribe to), and I made some pesto (my own concoction) out of a bunch of basic that was ready to harvest. We also have quite a few little green tomatoes on my plants, and one that I picked yesterday.

So, that's our life...camp and the garden. This weekend I'll go with mom to Liberty to hang out with Erin & the fam, and then I'm done traveling for the summer. After that trip I will have exactly 12 days until I am to officially report for duty back at school. Man, time flies.

We're baaaaaack!

Many loads of laundry and a yard that looks like a jungle await, but I just had to get on the blog to let everyone know we are home and had a wonderful time at camp. Our veggies are huge. I will post more later.