Kayaking

You guys already know how much we love White Rock Lake.  My family got to experience it too!

There is a company that lets you rent kayaks, canoes, or stand-up paddle boards for a few hours at a time.

They decided to all try kayaking one evening.

Happy Birthday!

happy birthday, Mom!

you are always such a great example to me of giving service to everyone - especially in your calling

i'm so glad you decided to come visit us and i can't wait til you retire and come live close to me ;)

hope you have the greatest day ever!

thanks for being my mom.

Ham's Orchard

When the family was here, we drove out to Ham's Orchard thinking we would be able to pick peaches. Nope. They don't let you pick them there. BUT, they do have delicious peach (made from their peaches!) and strawberry ice cream (and jalapeno fudge).

  

Black Bean Soup

My awesome cousin, Rachel, just happens to love creating weekly menus and is nice enough to email them out to a few people. Bonus for me, right?

BUT now that we are spending our summer here with most of our kitchen being hundreds of miles from us, dinners have to be super simplified. (Not joking, I think we rotate through maybe 10 simple meals here.) One reason I'm excited to have a full-time job someday is because I will finally get to make some of the meals she has sent me. Meals that include more than 4 or 5 ingredients!

Anyways, she sent out this week's menu and it had this black bean soup recipe on it. Black bean soup is one of those meals that I like. It is super cheap, very filling, and I could (and have) eat it for days in a row.
My lack of any complex ingredients here means I use this go-to, simple version from my mom:

2 cans of black beans (not drained)
1 can chicken broth
1/2 cup (or more depending on how you like it) of salsa [I use medium]
1 can of corn (with or without draining) [or 1 cup of frozen corn]


Heat over the stove. Eat with whichever toppings you want.
Possible toppings: cheese, sour cream, tortilla chips, tomatoes, olives, green onions, cilantro


We think chips, tomatoes, cilantro, and the oxford comma are must-haves. :)
And I would put a picture up, but I literally just ate the last bowl.

A trip to the pool with the family....

Before Anna learned the proper way to drive....

June

The month of June seems to have slipped by - the days slowly, the weekends faster, the month in a flash. It is crazy to think that we are pretty much halfway done with our internship here.


Here is what we loved in June:

* Being surprised by everything when we got here - the unpredictable weather (a hailstorm of golf ball sized hail), how decent our apartment is, how much we love the lake.

*Cigarz pizza. With a Z. Don't let the Z throw you. We were pleasantly surprised with how awesome their pizza is. They only do takeout/delivery. Good thing we only live around the corner from them.

*Bluebell ice cream. We've only purchased this in pint containers because we like ice cream too much (plus the word 'diet' is now in our vocabulary).

* The activities David's work does. Sand volleyball games every week at this outdoor grill with a great view of downtown. Going to the horse races = hilarious. We've both never been and it was  fun experience. The go-kart place had some fun rides - David's favorite was the dragster ride. 

* The Rangers game! Seriously, it is something every week with David's company.

 

Dollar hot dog night? Yes, please....

* The Fort Worth zoo! Seriously, it was really awesome. They have really good habitats for their animals (which they have tons of!), we were quite impressed. It is really walk-able...they put up canopies and have lots of shade to keep you cool, plus some fans blowing mist that sort of cools you down for a second.

*Trying to make our apartment feel like a home, i.e. the case for purchasing a couch for 3 months.

*Mother's group when you don't have a child. Oh yes. You definitely are the one having the most relaxing time.

*The Walking Dead. This is what David loved. Me? Not so much. I loved the story but not how much I jump in surprise/anticipation. David laughs every time.

Pretty much we are loving Dallas. 

White Rock Lake

We've decided that this lake is probably our most favorite thing about living here. Yes, David loves his job and the people there. But, outside of that, this lake makes us LOVE where we live.

We've settled into a basic routine where we go walk/run around the lake each night after dinner. We wait for it to get a little bit cooler outside and it doesn't get dark until about 8:30ish, so we usually end up seeing the start of sunset each night.

 This is the view from the causeway.

 

Our attempt at taking our own picture. A lot harder with a big camera than I thought.

This is right by a great playground they have on the west side.

 They have really done an amazing job with how good the areas/paths around the lake are. 

Like this little balcony area.

 Some of the houses around the edge of the lake are MASSIVE and have tons of land too. 

This one is called Mount Vernon.

 We just thought this was hilarious. 

 The marina.

 David's favorite part of the lake - the bridge on the north side.

 Views from the bridge.

 This is the small bridge on the southeast side. Still pretty.

 \

There are always lots of people walking/jogging/pushing strollers/biking. We have even seen people rollerblading and skateboarding. One night there was a wedding. And lots of people fish. We never saw anyone catch anything until 2 nights ago. Then it was a huge bass.

We didn't take a picture of the boathouse - but they have rowing camps out practicing each morning. Lots of sailboats are usually out on days when it isn't storming. AND they have kayaking and paddle boards -- which I'm going to do one of these mornings if I ever can remember.

White Rock is like 9.33 miles total around the whole thing. It's been fantastic for us because we just do a small section of it each night and that way it takes us a week to do the whole thing. Plus the views are different when you turn around and walk back.

Pretty much, we love white rock.

Dallas Apartment

After much insisting, (ahem, L) here is where we live! It is way, way better than we expected. 

We really were prepared for the worst. And we almost couldn't believe what we got ourselves into when we turned off the freeway into the most ghetto area. Seriously. Panic and fear and anxiety were on the rise. Then we kept driving and it turns out, we're okay. 

Our complex has a gate which is actually closed most of the time (and a minimum income requirement) and it is right on the corner of a couple nice areas. So we like to think we are pretty blessed over here in our little corner of the world. 

Okay. Enough of me blabbering. Here you go!

Believe it or not, this little door (not even a normal-size) is what constitutes as our "hallway"

Our lovely bed room.

Yes, our bed is a souped-up air mattress. And our 'nightstand' is a suitcase.

We pride ourselves on being pretty resourceful around here :)

 

Please ignore the sock on the floor. We didn't have a bin for them yet.

This is one of 2 closets and believe it or not, it is the smaller of the 2.

My favorite part of the apartment! Our last shower curtain was so boring and old. 

I love all the colors in this one!

Laundry

Kitchen/Laundry from the back wall by the door.

Dining room

 Those green chairs are pretty awesome, huh? I'm still trying to think of a way we can bring them home.

Also trying to figure out a way to get thus couch home. Except I really don't think it will happen.

But it is really nice to have something real to sit down on.

The view out our front door.

BUT, if you want to see some amazing views you should see the lake 2 blocks away from our house. It's got a great trail all around that is becoming a great morning tradition.