Wow, I’m a horrible blogger. Lots of things to  update since back in May. If you follow me on facebook, then you’ve probably already seen all of these updates and pictures, but I’m posting them here so I can get back in the swing of blogging.

I’ll start with Derrick’s birthday! He turned the big 31, and we celebrated it with a trip to Fiesta Texas. Yes, he’s a big kid at heart! We had a blast. I think I may have suffered some brain damage from a few of the rides, like the wooden rollercoaster I was “talked into” riding! Derrick’s favorite ride was one of the water rides, and we rode it 4 times. I won’t embarass him and tell you which one, but remember my sentence above about being kids at heart? Ha!

He also finally got his dream car as a bday gift to himself. It’s a 2011 Dodge Challenger, and he’s had his eyes on it for years. It’s a beast of a car, and he has this confidence about him now that makes me love him that much more. I can’t wait until the weather gets cooler, so we can take it for a long drive through hills with the windows and moon roof back.

Moving on to the other big event of the summer, my brother’s deployment. It was a bittersweet goodbye last week for us, and surprisingly we are all doing ok. There is this sense of calm I have surrounding it, and I am confident that he will be just fine. It also helps that he still has access to facebook and is able to call my mom sporadically. I can’t wait to start sending him care packages, and I’m looking forward to writing him letters again. Words can’t describe the feeling I get when I see a letter in the mail from him! And I hope he gets that same feeling when he gets letters from home. If anyone is interested in sending care packages to him or the troops in his squadron, let me know. I’m sure they would greatly appreciate it!

Last but not least, we welcomed our 2nd niece into the world. Viviana Danielle was born on July 28th, and is so beautiful. I could have held her for hours during our visit to see her. We’re really looking forward to spending some time with her and her big sister and big brother soon.