The Sky Is Orange!

That was the email I got from Dennis the other day. I was checking our local radar today and these images were featured on the weather channel. The first is a satellite image and the second is the orange sky.

Paige: A Study In Self Portraits

Yesterday, Paige asked me if she could use my camera to take some pictures of Gidget. When I uploaded the pics off the camera, this is what I found.

Random Pics From Our Visit From Great Gran and Pop

Cinco Mas!

Hello everyone! I hope that this summer is treating you all as well as possible. We should only have five more of these surf-n-turfs left! I am rounding that last corner now and I can just start to see the home stretch. I know my girls are getting excited, and when I have a chance to think about it I get excited also.

I want to thank you all for the support and prayers for my Uncle and our family over the past week. Thank you very much.

Well the big guy still finds crazy ways to keep me busy over here. I am really looking forward to those 12-14 hour days again. Sounds real nice. Please keep sending me the updates on how everybody is doing and little projects that help me recage every so often. It is nice to hear what normal people in AMERICA are doing. Thank you.

Keep being Red, White, and Blue for me and enjoy a good sporting event.. Not Cricket, or Frisbee golf but either go do or go watch a sporting event like Baseball, golf, or Racing. And while you are there enjoy a good AMERICAN hot dog or snow cone. Yum.

Naptime at the Zoo

It would seem that mid-morning is NOT the ideal time to see the animals in action!

In The Jungle, The Mighty Jungle

Yesterday we went to the Virginia Zoo and, as always, had an amazing time. We were treated to a VERY vocal King of the Jungle. I don't think I'd ever seen an actual lion roar before this.

It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time!

Menu Plan Monday

Breakfast: Whole grain Total and skim milk with a peach

AM Snack: Orange and almonds

Lunch: Cashew butter and jam sandwich and baby carrots

PM Snack: Celery with ranch

Dinner:

Monday - Spaghetti and salad

Tuesday - Black beans and wild rice with broccoli

Wednesday - Lemon chicken, brown rice, and veggies

Thursday - Leftovers

Friday - Red beans and rice and asparagus

Saturday - Grilled chicken, whole wheat cous cous, and carrots

Sunday - Lentils and whole wheat cous cous with Romesco salad

Bedtime Snack: Frozen yogurt with mixed berry sauce

Vacation Bible School

In The Home Stretch - 6 Weeks To Go

Another Surf-N-Turf down and six more to go....

This has been a particularly rough week for my family as we Celebrated the life of my Aunt Maxine. She was a great person who has touched the lives of many and she will be sorely missed. My prayers remain with Uncle Bud and their close family to ease their minds during this time.

With the busy pace going right now this next month should fly by and I will be home before you know it. I am really looking forward to it, and all of those things that we Americans love to do. Thank you for everything you have done for me while I have been downrange and thank you for keeping my family in your prayers.

Keep living your life everyday to the fullest and enjoy everything around you, we ARE truly blessed to have what we have in America.

In Loving Memory

Maxine Weyel, age 64, of Devine, Texas, passed away Sunday, July 12, 2009 in San Antonio, Texas. She was born to the late Victor Kainer and the late Lillie Kunkel Kainer on February 1, 1945 in Kenedy, Texas. Mrs. Weyel married Leonard Weyel, Sr. in 1965. She was retired from Southwestern Bell where she worked for over twenty-eight years. Mrs. Weyel was Catholic by faith and loved spending time with her grandchildren and great grandchildren. She enjoyed sewing, gardening, showing rabbits, stock shows, and loved her cats and dogs. Mrs. Weyel is survived by her loving husband Leonard Sr. of Devine, Texas; daughters Wilda Dominguez and her husband Jose of Devine, Texas and Cathe Skrobarcek and her husband Ray of LaVernia, Texas; sons Leonard Weyel, Jr. of San Antonio, Texas, Weylin Weyel of Devine, Texas, and Wesley Weyel and his wife Andrea of Devine, Texas, and brother Harvey Kainer and his wife Pat of Runge, Texas. She is also survived by eighteen grandchildren and two great grandchildren. Mrs. Weyel was preceded in death by her parents.

Farewell Aunt Maxine. Thank you for your kindness and for welcoming me into your home and family.

Day 1: B

Yesterday was Day 1 of my challenge. I did pretty well. I hit an hour and 15 minute yoga class in the morning. It was heavy on the strength poses and I am feeling it in my shoulders and neck this morning. I did not, unfortunately, start the day with a healthy breakfast. I started the day with my morning Pepsi. Paige went to Chuck E Cheese for a friend's birthday and Summer and I had lunch at the BX on our grocery run. I am giving myself good marks for this one because I did my research before we went and selected one of the healthiest food options in the BX Food Court - Grilled steak Fresco soft tacos from Taco Bell. Eat This Not That rated them an A- and I went with steak because my Mom keeps worrying that I am going to become anemic eating all these vegetables. LOL. Anyway, I had 2 tacos and a small Pepsi. For those of you don't know, I have STRONG anti-artificial sweetener ideas, so I have made peace with the fact that I am going to have to drink regular soda and less of it.

Summer and I had a surprisingly awesome trip to the Commissary. When I let her choose something from the snack aisle, I was happily surprised to see her turning packages over and reading labels! She settled on Whole Grain Fig Newtons and 100 calorie Oreo crisps. Our afternoon was pretty hectic, what with soccer camp and VBS and I succumbed to my 3:00 junk food craving. I had a handful of Lays potato chips. Mmm, such salty goodness. Fortunately, they were borderline stale, so I am going to crush them up and make the girls some chicken nuggets with them. Adios temptation!

After finally getting the girls to all their activities, I had an hour and a half to myself last night! I should have used it to study, but instead I listened to a book on cd and chilled. I am actually giving myself points for that because I needed to relax a bit. My stress level is running a little high with finals and company coming next week on top of all of the girls' activities this week. I wasn't super hungry for dinner, so I had a bowl of organic flax oatmeal with about 10 M&M's stirred in for color. You should try it! It satisfies a chocolate craving with minimal calories and tons of good for you fiber!

I picked the girls up from Vacation Bible School and made it through the bedtime process. I watched a little t.v. and had a surprisingly tasty Lara bar. I am always kind of iffy about any kind of bar. Usually I find the texture unappealing. This one was good, though. It was the cashew cookie flavor - ingredients: cashews and dates. That's it. I got myself into bed at 11, but didn't actually get to sleep until after midnight. I am willing to sacrifice a little sleep for some chatting time with the hub. Once he gets home I am imposing a strict 11:00 bedtime on myself.

All in all I am calling the day a success. I didn't finish the laundry like I wanted to and the house wasn't sparkling clean when I went to bed, but still, a successful day.

Goals For Tuesday
Stick to the gym and healthy eating plan
Eat breakfast
Weigh in - I forgot to do that yesterday.

Menu Plan Monday!

I have recently discovered and fallen in love with OrgJunkie. Check out her site at http://www.orgjunkie.com/. I am going to give this Menu Plan Monday a try. So (drum roll please) here is what's for dinner at Casa de Hargis this week.

Breakfast

Apple slices, Yogurt parfait, and an English muffin

or

Cereal and milk

or

Granola bar, Fruit, and Yogurt

Lunch

Turkey pitas and ants on a log

Snacks

Raspberry smoothies

Raw veggies and dip

Pudding and raisins

Dinner

Lucky for me this is an EASY dinner week. Dinner is included in VBS!

Sat: Grilled chicken, Whole wheat cous cous, and Baby carrots

Sun: Beef stew, Green beans, and Whole grain rolls

Lucky Number Seven

Helllo all! I am sitting here relaxing for a couple of minutes. I just got back from yet another splendid display of surf-n-turf. Tonight everything was so "delicious" I could only take one bite of each. I did finish my salad but the rest was left mostly untouched. No worries, because only seven more weeks left until I can grill my own steak. Looking forward to that. This past week the weather has been real nice. Not too dusty, even though it has been about 115-118 all week, at least I can breathe. I pray everything is going well for all of you back home. We are almost half of the way through with July already and only one more month after that until I can get out of here!

Please pray for My Uncle Bud and Aunt Maxine , they are two great Americans who are being faced with some unfortunate medical issues at this time and are in need of your support.

I hope that the coming weeks are filled with joy and fly by. Thank you all for everything you do and have done. Continue to have a great summer, grab your favorite patio furniture or lawn chair, and sit out with a cold lemonade and enjoy!

Ths D's

Our other babies, Daisy and Diesel enjoying a beautiful day in their backyard.

Diesel, the current man of the house

Our sweet baby girl Daisy

Slippin' and a Slidin'

We broke out the Slip-N-Slide for the first time this year. What a blast!!!!!!

Cheer Camp

OK, I am catching up on posting videos and have had some technical difficulties. I am hoping that this has fixed the problem. This is the girls' routine that they learned at cheer camp.

Just Like Old TImes

The Hargis and Chinnock girls have been friends for just about 5 years now!