This last month and a half . . . probably more, Jared and I (mostly me) have been going back and forth between the decision for me to stay working at Arthur Murray Ballroom Dance. I just wasn't spending the time I wanted to with Jared. With his work schedule being from about 8am to 5pm and mine from about 5pm to about 1030pm some evenings and morning until afternoon on Saturdays, I just wasn't seeing him. Don't get me wrong - I absolutely LOVE to dance and love teaching, but weighing my time between work and spending time with Jared, well you can guess which side won. SO I am now able to be a better homemaker and make him yummy dinners, and actually spend time with our friends during the evenings as well. We've been trying some new recipes here and there and we've really grown to love crockpot meals :) Just some of the many we love - Potato casserole, Meatloaf and a Chicken Tortilla Soup. Super yummy - in other words, because I'm home more in the evenings, trying out new recipes is a lot more eventful and wonderful.
Here's our potato casserole that we loved:
As a result of no longer working evenings, I have also been able to go out and explore with Jared and experience the wonderful city that we live in. Austin is really beautiful - we've gone on some "hiking" - more like walking trails that have rocks and some water :P there are beautiful trails and usually Saturdays are the best day to go (Jared's not working) and the best time to go is during the mornings, when it's not too hot - which was when I was working and not able to go unless it was after work (when I was tired from dancing all morning).
For those who don't know much about Texas - we're in a drought right now (ok almost all the time we're in a drought), but it's been pretty bad lately, but we've recently been getting a lot of thunderstorms and rain and flooding. There was one night that it was so loud we could barely sleep and my phone went off with these really loud beeps . . .
oh and our ceiling looked like this . . .
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It was a fun eventful day trying to avoid some of the flooding areas, luckily Jared doesn't have to far at all to work and I could stay in for the morning.
Because I haven't been working weird hours, I've also been able to do more in photography, which has been a passion of mine for a while. I absolutely love going back and looking through old photos.
Here is a photo that I took of my nephew that will always be one of my favorites:
Jared has been really patient with me as it's been an up and down transition for me quitting my job - physically and emotionally; not knowing whether to quit and then finally quitting and feeling wonderful was a relief. He's been good about keeping me busy and looking for work. I'm grateful for him and his driven attitude to stay active and busy, both physically and spiritually. On a side note, we've recently gotten involved in our Church ward volleyball team and it's been a blast - social and good exercise all in one. We've also been able to go on walks (most every morning) because I don't work late and we can get up early, which has been tons of fun. We're staying busy, enjoying the little moments and just loving life.
