Walk Like an Egyptian....

The theme of VBS this year was "Joseph- from Prison to Palace". I signed up this year with my friend Jill (actually she signed me up and hoped I would agree to be her partner:) to run the jewelry booth for the kiddos. I must say- it was a lot of fun - but a lot of work! watching/entertaining kids for 3 hrs a night after working all day is a CHALLENGE. Those kids were bouncing off the walls. By the time the 5th graders got there- Jill and I agreed to just let them do whatever. They were bigger than us anyway! The little ones are always very cute though- as seen here by Bethany and Cade "walking like Egyptian's".


Jill and I went all out with our costumes- blue makeup and bad wigs and all. I lucked out (being blessed with dark hair) that I didn't actually need a wig. We ordered two- but the company only sent us one. Thank goodness. Jill drew the short straw and had to wear that BAD wig for three nights in a row. YUCK!


Caleb, Andrea, Ashling and Cade came to TX to visit some friends last week. WE met up with them at one of our fav mexican restraunts Mamacitas. Ashling may just be my favorite little girl. I love listening to her talk. She has so many stories all full of imaginative detail and events. Cade has grown so much in the last few months and has a big toothy (well, two teeth) grin. He sat on my lap and ate fresh homemade tortillas (a major plus of living in TX) till his heart's content. It was a great evening with friends and we can't wait to see them again this winter.

Two weeks ago I went out to Lake Medina with a few friends from our Young Married's class to celebrate Marshall and Erin's last weekend in town. Marshall just graduated from Dental School here and he and Erin are moving to Tyler, TX. We sure will miss them!

A few of our friends had boats and a bunch of us piled in and spent the ENTIRE day playing out on the water. It was absolutely perfect. It's very rare that all of us get together and just play for an entire day. Life usually just gets in the way. I tried my hand at water skiing (failed) and wakeboarding (also failed- but not as badly as skiing). I was SOOOOOOOO SORE the following four days! I discovered muscles that have lain dormant for the last 26 years. Ouch!

Byron also tried his hand at Wakeboarding this last weekend with a few of his friends and group of Young Life kids. two days later...he can barely move. Talk about whiplash! But- I'm excited he got out and enjoyed the sun for a few hours and tried something new. His appetite for adventure has all but left his body after one year of residency and I'm thrilled to see signs of it's return!

We headed to Cheescake Factory last friday night for a birthday dinner for Courtney. Little Ava did an amazing job of entertaining herself for the entire 3 hrs we ate and talked. You can see- only her 'Aunt Beth' will let her play like she really wants. Look at that face!

Nothing new on the house front lately. Still searching for the perfect home....

Quick updates

Hello from Blogland...it's been a LONG while since I've updated. There's nothing much to report. Things have been fairly quite in our neck of the woods. Byron and I are still on the hunt for the "perfect" house. this process is getting old. Sigh. I know things will work out in God's time- but man...I"m ready to move things along. We have found a few that we like- but each has a major negative going against it. Nice yard- but TINY kitchen. Or- nice neighborhood- but too much $. And a few we like- have gone under contract before we could even drive by to check it out! But, we did see one we liked earlier this week and we have a few more to look at on saturday that have passed the drive by test. We'll see how flexible the prices are!


Fourth of July was spent out in the Texas hill country with Johnny and Genevieve. It was a perfect day with lots of sun, kiddo's laughing and playin in the pool and good times with friends and ' adopted' family.

Last weekend Byron was on Fri-Sun call- but he did manage to wake up for some fun with Courtney, Patrick, Dustin, and Beth! Check out his mad skills! We had a great time being silly and making fools of ourselves with good friends!

I'm working VBS this year with Jill OBryant- and we spent last Wed evening raiding the church closet for supplies. Check out the royal scepter! Also- Two of the pregnant girls in our young marrieds class showing up in the same outfit. Melanie had baby Sam yesterday coming in at 9 lbs and 15 ounces! yikes! Julie (my old running buddy) is due at the end of August.

I don't know if I'm mentioned it before-but virtually everyone in our class (25 couples or so) is either pregnant or trying. There something in the water out here, and we are not drinking it!). Don't get me wrong- I'm feeling the itch- but reality kicks in just in time.

I also played in a co-ed indoor tourney on Sunday at the local college. We took 2nd place. I am still hobbling around after a day of volleyball and we were in the intermediate pool! THe advanced pool was amazing to watch! I wish I took some video. some of those players had to be pros.

1 year and counting

Byron surprised me with these anniversary flowers:) Aren't they beautiful!?!

Byron and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary a week ago! I keep teasing Byron saying " the real anniversary is actually 1 year of Residency". It's by FAR the harder of the two things. Not to say we haven't learned a few lessons about living together this year- but compared to residency- marriage has been a delight!

In the last year we've:

* Driven across the country dragging a trailer behind us
* Celebrated our first Christmas together
* endured a few family losses together (:()
* Given each other 100's of pep talks to "Stick it out". Oh wait- that's mainly me...not a "We" item
* Started house hunting
*Took a financial planning course at church
*Found an amazing church family
* adopted our first pet:)
* attended an Aggie Game
and much much more.


I'm so thankful for Byron. He is an amazing man. He is the most honest, hardworking man I know, and he inspires me to be better. He is my best friend and I'm excited to see what life has in store for us!

Byron was post call on our anniversary and needed some peace and quiet to catch some zzzz's. I went to my friend Wenrui's house (she's the new PhD student in our lab) to learn to make chinese dumplings. I took her to the store to buy all our ingredients (mentally- this was a must for me. I've been surprised too many times by the contents of dumplings:)

Like most things worth eating- they take a long time to make, but are delicious afterwards! Byron however voted for Cheeseburgers for our anniversary dinner instead of my precious dumplings.









Yesterday- Byron was on call (are you getting the theme here?) for my birthday but the night before he set up my present. He bought a new blue ray streaming device that can stream netflix stuff strait onto the tv from the internet. I'm not sure how it works- or how he set it up- but I"m sure glad I have such a handy- electronically savvy man around! Something about wire splitters, what?

Anyway- I've been begging for better cable ever since we moved here. But- we've been trying to save all our extra pennies for a new house. Seriously- we have the 8 dollar cable with 10 channels. 7 of which are in spanish. Yuck. But with NETFLIX...I can watch shows, movies etc etc at the press of a button. It'll come in handy on those long nights when Byron is Q2 call for weeks in a row.

Honestly - his schedule doesn't bother me in the spring or summer because I have lots of stuff going on in the evenings (softball, volleyball, church, etc etc). But in the winter....I get bored at night. Nothing is going on and it gets dark early. I read a lot- but even that gets a little hum drum after a few hours. I'm looking forward to catching up on some LOST and other choice selections! Thanks for my present B! I have a feeling you're gonna enjoy it's benefits as much as me!

NCAA Division Three World Series

This weekend I attended my little brother's baseball tournament. It's the last hurrah for the Yocum family's baseball streak. I don't know what Dad is going to do with himself next year!?! Baseball/softball/t-ball/ coach pitch you name it... flowed through the Yocum family veins for the last 20 years. It's the end of an era. Sigh.

Anyway- Jake's team (Shennandoah University Hornets) won the regional tournament last weekend and we quickly found out they'd be traveling to Appleton for the 2nd consecutive year to the World Series. Now...last year- Jake graciously (uh hem) missed out on his first game to attend his big sister's wedding. But- I figured...since this is his senior year and he missed such a big event for me...I owed it to him to show up. Dad and I flew into Greenbay, WI for the tournament and had a blast hanging out and shootin' the breeze until the games all started.

The first night- they lost to Illinois Weslyn 7-5 and the 2nd day they lost to John's Hopkin's. Jake pitched the second game for the first 5 innings and didn't give up a single run! He did an amazing job pitching and I'll admit I was beaming with pride for my little bro! It's been a LONG time since I've seen him play baseball- and I'll admit- it's much more interesting to watch now than it used to be! He's so tall (I'm not really sure where that comes from ...we're all chinese), but he's a great athlete. It was a serious bummer they lost the 2nd game. But- I'm glad he played his absolute best, and went out with a bang!


Dad took me to a steak dinner for my birthday and we grilled our own steaks over an open fire and visited the whole time. We had a great time together watching Jake play and catching up. I don't get to see my family that often- but I love the little snipits of family time when I get the chance.

Our hotel was amazing as well- you can sort of see the pool in this photo. Seriously awesome water slide. Everything is indoor since I'm sure it's miserable here in the winter. Our weekend was perfect weather however- and a welcome change from the San Antonio Heat.

Our new piglet....

Guinea piglet that is.

He is super cute and is only 4 weeks old. After returning from vacation my desire for a new pet could not be ignored any longer. Byron has this thing about animals living indoors with us, so no dogs or cats for us for a while. I routinely feed the stray kitty outside (and continue to do so), but I wanted something more! Monday - I looked on craigslist and sure enough someone was selling guinea piglets:)

He is a little afraid of us right now- but he'll grow accustomed eventually (once he learns that we are the ones who feed him!). I bought him a cage as well (off of craigslist! gotta love it!), and he seems to like like the larger space. He loves spinach and grass. He'll sometimes plop down in his water bowl and just sit there like he's taking a bath.

Anyway- after one year of marriage....we have moved up to the guinea pig stage of life. Next up.....kids. Just kidding. Maybe a dog first?

Vacation Vacation

Last week Byron and I headed back east for a whole week! It makes my heart happy to see all our friends and family and catch up on life. Byron was on call Friday before we left- so he came home- and jumped in Becky's car headed for the airport. He was so excited to get on that plane- but the eventually the weariness took over. He was a pittiful sight to see navigating through the Atlanta airport.

On a side note: Becky is one of my good friends here- that I see 2-3 times a week. We go to movies, play softball together, have bible study and she lives pretty close to us. Anyway- driving us to the airport- was the first time she had met Byron....ever! Now isn't that just sad!?!? It took almost a year for them to meet!

Anyway- we arrived in WS and headed strait to the house for some quick dinner and catching up before heading to bed. Poor Byron could barely keep his eyes open. He slept till 11:30 the next day!

Sunday evening we had a party out at the Branch Ranch with all our friends from Southfork. It was wonderful to see everyone and catch up on what's been happening back east. Nathan is so big now and he was precious playing with Leslie's bunny! I love to hear him laugh outloud! Ashling was pretty darn cute too. She kept relaying the plotline of My Little Pony to Byron while fishing by the lake. Needless to say- Byron wasn't too interested- but I thought it was sweet. Wyatt was out in full force and Luke couldn't be torn away from his fishing post. The weather was absolutely perfect and I'm glad most of our friends could make it. Kiera missed out due to a sick little boy- o the things mother's do:)

Jennie spent the night with us on Monday night and took the whole day off on Tuesday to hang out. We stayed up till 2 am talking and catching up and slept in late the next day! We had lunch at downtown Thai- one of our old favorites, and then headed back to her place for some R & R. It was like dejavu of one year ago as roomates. We curled up on the couch and watched some good old fashioned Reality TV! Then Dave and Kiera picked me up for dinner at Kimono and Byron eventually made an appearance. He's in the phase now-where he is perpetually late for EVERYTHING. I mean- everything. It doens't matter so much on vacation- but this is something we'll have to work on:)


Candance and Bradshaw met us for dinner as well and we laughed and laughed...until we were almost kicked out. Well- not really- we were just being loud. We then headed to Brian and Katie's while Byron and Brian began round 1 of Halo while Katie and I visited and played with Nathan. I love this pic of Tyler doing the "I Love you " sign which is actually the "Ok" sign. So cute!



My parents came in from MD on Wed and my dad headed strait for the lake. Which couldn't have come at a better time since Emily, Leslie and I were rounding the corner of the field from our suicide run Emily was leading. That girl can go for hours! I was relieved to have an excuse to stop! Dad to save the day! All the pics of the boys fishing are on Byron's phone so I'll have to post those later. I always regret not taking more pictures on vacation.

Thursday we went to BLUE ROSE POTTERY and spent a few hours in that warehouse. I Love that store. It's like a timewarp. I never thought I'd be so excited about dishes- but you'd have to go there to understand:) The shipment should arrive anytime and I'll be sure to post some pics. (I'm sure you're soooo interested right?!?!)

Friday and Saturday were relaxing days and I was even able to attend Kiera's baby shower! I can't wait to meet their 2nd baby boy on the next visit back home. Candance and I caught up on many things while watching Kiera open gifts. I also had a chance to catch up with Dr. Kuhn over some good ol fashioned NC BBQ (non of that Texas crap!). The company's research is being taken in a new direction that will hopefully end up in it being sold! Horray! I'll keep you posted on how that turns out.

We headed back on Sunday and hung out with our Texas family. All in all- it was a great vacation! We can't wait to do it again!


Also- we put an offer in on a house- but the owners don't seem to motivated to sell. So...onward we go with the house-hunt. It was exciting to place an offer though. I couldn't sleep that whole night thinking about all the things I was going to do to fix up that house. I'm gonna have to break that habit if we end up looking at more than one house! I'll keep you all posted on that front.

Easter festivities

This post was intended for a few weeks ago- but better late than never. I'm so bad about getting my pics uploaded!


As most of you know by now...weekend days off are a rare treat for our family. Byron actually had easter Sunday off this year! I've been working weekends too in efforts to build up some time in case I need to take weekdays off for house hunting stuff. I bought tickets for the new movie Clash of the Titans online. Byron has been dying to see it- and I knew it would be sold out. So- I pre-emted the attack and tried to be prepared since date nights are vritually non-existent anyway.

We headed to the theatre and were actually on time for once in our lives. But- the theatre was PACKED. I mean- Line wrapping around the theatre packed. Byron in his infinite wisdom suggested we ask for our money back- or tickets to the next show. He spent a few minutes waring down the teenage boy at the counter and finally got us some tickets for the 3-D version- WITH a full refund of our old tickets. Go Byron. I would have let the negotiation fall after about 2 minutes of him saying no.

To add icing to the cake- we spent Easter sunday together with family as well. Grandma Branch cooked a big meal and invited the family over. Byron and I hid easter eggs stuffed with money in the back yard for hte Adam's kids (Who are not so little by the way). This was not a "Play Nice" easter egg hunt. Full out sprints. body checks, knocking of baskets and plundering the spoils are all fair game for this crowd. Biscuit- the ever rambunctious yellow lab- also gets to play! Bo - found a few treats in the tree for his easter treat! (It's amazing- that dog can actually climb trees!)




We finished up the easter evening having burgers with our friends, sharing stories, and trying to entertain little Ava. All in all- a great weekend.