Tuesday, July 22, 2008

If you know me long enough a name you should know is Waltonia. Who knows what Waltonia is? I see about 3 hands being raised. Well, for a very small amount of info you can go to the website but you wont learn the deep meaning of that name unless you know me or my family. Waltonia is a place near Kerville, Tx along the Guadalupe River that my family has gone to every year since before I was even born. A place that I have gone to every summer of my life except one.

The pictures may not be beautiful and the accommodations are not luxurious for sure, but I love it. Every summer for a week (or however long each person can make it that year) my entire dad's side of the family meets up here coming from many cities in Texas and outside including the states of New York and Ohio. I remember as a kid trying to decide whether I thought Waltonia or Disney World was more fun. We stay in cabins, swim in the river and eat. I can even give you a run through of what every day is like if you want!

I wake up whenever I want. I eat breakfast and hang around lazily with the family. This time could also be spent reading or visiting other family cabins. Before lunch some or all of us drive into town to get groceries at Walmart for that night's dinner and whatever else we need. Sometimes this drive into town leads to more exciting visits that leads to exciting small town-hill country-Texas purchases. Then we come back to the cabin and prepare for an afternoon at the river.

The biggest question of the day is do we swim in the deep section or float down to the low-water crossing to build up the dam, look at dirty fish and go exploring on "the other side." We swim till we get hungry and then head back to the cabin to get ready for dinner. Breakfast and lunch each family unit is on their own, but dinner each night is eaten together with the entire Meredith clan, potluck style.

After dinner we play outside some, either playing a game of horseshoes, ping pong (on the most lopsided table ever), swingball or croquet. After it gets dark us late-nighters gather together for games! These games consist of some type of dominoes, poker, or pit (the loudest game ever). Then we head to our respective cabins for a nights rest and wake up to do it all over again the next day. Each year we try to make some kind of outing to see something in the hill country. Last year it was the Caverns of Sonora, other years have been Sea World, miniature Stonehenge and this year it might be Enchanted Rock! See pictures below to get the full effect.

Feeding of the goats on the property

Looking for dirty fish at the low-water crossing

The family unit at the deep river after a swim!


Beautiful river

Playing games at night. Check out my hat. That was a town purchase!

Traditional sign picture on the drive out.

Why am I writing this now? Well Saturday we all head down to Waltonia for the week and I have been thinking about it for a while now. I am so excited. I am ready for a week of relaxing, having fun with the family, eating and swimming. I love to swim! This place has such amazing memories and really has been a huge part of my life growing up. So don't forget the name Waltonia!

Monday, July 21, 2008

I thought this video was pretty powerful about voting. I posted the verse lyrics below since it is kinda hard to understand. Sorry if some of the words or images offend you but they are what is really going on.

My problem is all of the issues are important to me but no one person stands for them all. I guess I have to decide what is most important. That's tough!

This is only the verses, I think the chorus is pretty easy to understand.

It could be me up there in stage lights.
It could be me on the TV in you living room.
It could be me jet setting with my band
all across the world.
Appearing live in concert one night only,
tickets sold out.

There I am giving candid disclosure to press in interview.
There I go on my way through the crowd up to the podium.
On behalf of our fans we’d like to accept this award.
Smile for the camera boys, gold record in hand.

All of our lives in waiting.
All of our lives traded for their roses and applause.
All of our lives dedicated to
shoving it right back in their fucking face.

Stop! Take some time to think.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

My Mom sent me this video that I think was sent to her by my aunt. We just thought it was so cute and funny! What a fun idea! Makes me want to travel.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

I went home to Houston for an extended weekend, meaning Thursday till Tuesday, and had a wonderful time. A lot happened and most would be boring to my readers so here are some of the highlights.

1. On the way to Houston I got to spend the night with my grandparents which is always an adventure!

2. I had a wonderful, uplifting evening with my friend Jeremy and we got to see some of the exciting sights in the Woodlands. This consisted of yummy food, a musical fountain and ginormous houses that we half coveted half criticized.

3. Saw Wall-E!!!! And I loved it! So cute and funny and also has a great message about the earth and getting fat! :)

4. SURPRISE PARTY!!! This was the real reason for the weekend trip and it was a total success. It was in celebration of my parent's 30th Anniversary and they had NO CLUE! It was so fun. We got all their friends together and some yummy food and played a game to see who knew my parents and our family the best.

5. Went to my home church. It always brings such mixed feelings but it is fun to see some people I have known forever and to meet some new ones too!

6. Hung out with my brother and sister-in-law and their dog Lucy. Yea!

7. Wrote a paper. Blah! Why do I procrastinate?

8. Got chased by the bug man! No really! A lovely thing that comes along with the humidity in Houston is mosquitoes. What does the city do to take care of it? They have people drive around the neighborhoods and spray bug poison! It is probably human poison too though so we try to avoid it. But my parents and I went for a walk one night and we heard the humming of the truck coming closer and closer and then we saw him turn the corner to face us. We went back the other way and I actually saw my parents run! We made it back to the house just in time. Whew! I could not stop laughing. It was like a corny horror movie.

Those are the highlights. I had a great time. Now I have a week and a half till my next adventure to Fort Worth to see the BFF's and then on to Kerville to hang out on the river for a week with the fam. Cant wait! In the week and a half I have to read a book, write another paper and MOVE, all that on top of working, cleaning houses and trying to make use of my YMCA membership. What am I doing sitting here blogging? I gotta go!

Above: The culprits of the surprise party!

Below: The family + Lucy! See my parents awesome shirts?!?!

Monday, July 7, 2008

This weekend some of our mission team took a little trip together for the 4th of July. Wes' grandparents have a farm east of Dallas so we went out there for a quite, peaceful fun time with each other. Most of the weekend consisted of eating great food, playing lots of games, spending time with Wes' family and just relaxing together. Highlights included a firework show, the guys catching fish that we ate, seeing the Grants (Chilean missionaries) at church, and making homemade ice cream that actually turned out awesome! Here are some pictures to document!

Here the guys are cleaning the fish the caught.

Chad teaching Sara to shoot. I shot once but that is whole different blog.

Cutest girl in the world, Sadie Grace, who loved to give kisses. Seriously, I am not a huge fan of kids and I loved her!

Will the ice cream work? We don't know!

Yea! It worked! And we were really excited!

Me at the little pond. It was so peaceful.

Happy 4th of July everyone!

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

The house is ours and we are super excited. Today Olivia and I went and got key copies made and then did a thorough walk through of the place to see what needed to be done. It needs some cleaning and some yard work but nothing we cant handle. We have a month to get it ready so that should be plenty of time. The place is not without its quarks but we love it. See some of the pictures below! Notice the pretty wood floors, white trim and tan textured walls!

Welcome to our house! Please come in!

This is our living room with beautiful windows!

Can you tell we are excited?!?!
This is the dining room looking into the living room!

I love the kitchen. See how the cabinets, counters and floor match! Also notice the washer and dryer...in the kitchen! :)

The back door and backyard. There is a great little place for a garden. Yea! Thanks for visiting. Cant wait to have you over for real.

Two things to think of:

1. What is a good name for the house? Any cool house has a cool name and this is a cool house!

2. Anyone looking for an opportunity to put their truck to use? I have already had one offer. I do not know the moving date yet but I will be sure to let you know. Thanks!