Wow where has the time gone?

Hey y'all! It's been an awesome summer so far~SO GOOD!!! We did make it up to Colorado...I'll do a post on that trip alone with pics later on....and had a super vaca away from the real world. It was beautiful, warmer than I thought it would be, and we discovered doing a vaca for cheap, and actually relaxing instead of beating the roads every day and trying to fit in all kinds of sights to see. Instead we really enjoyed just piling into the car and driving all over mountains and finding neat cabins, rivers, streams, lakes, animals, snow, etc... The views in Colorado have always made my heart go pitter patter...literally sometimes because of the altitude! We did venture out one day and found the coolest, most dream like thing I've never thought you could find in Colorado....THE GREAT SAND DUNES....have you ever? Well if not you've gotta put that on your for sure to see before you die list. The amazing landscaping all coming together as one is really just dream like and amazing. I kept thinking okay God really does have a sense of humor, or was just having so much fun experimenting with this part to see what it would be like to have snow capped mountains, desert sand dunes, and wet lands all crashing into each other....okay well I 'll write more about that later also in another post!

We had a really fun Fourth of July...which if anyone knows me well then you know this is my all time favorite holiday!!! I have great memories of my childhood having fireworks on the lake down in Kingsland with everyone in the area coming to our little area to enjoy. I think it was the crowds of people that I really liked the most along with the picnics and watermelon! This year we celebrated at my brother-in-laws lake house with my parents, mother-in-law, and once it grew dark around 30 people showed up with their own fireworks. We were already enjoying all the fireworks that people were shooting off of their docks...probably 50-100 different shows all going off at the same time (you could tell the doctors and lawyers cause their firework shows could rival a small towns grand finale)...well then when all the friends showed up with their own fireworks then we got to experience the fireworks right above our heads! We topped it off with my dad, mom, and Marv playing some bluegrass on their mandolin, bass, and guitar. It was so fun to sing along and celebrate this great country with our family.

After that I have continued to study for my exams and as of two days ago have finished all five courses and test YIPPEE!...now I hope to take the final state exam by the end of August. We have spent the majority of July having our nephew and niece come and stay with us, helping Amy unpack and get moved into their apartment in Austin, and helping Michelle have a garage sale, pack, and paint her home to get ready for market so that she can move to Austin as well.

The other big news in the Jolly household is that we have decided to homeschool!!! We are so excited and are busy trying to pick out the best curriculum and move some rooms around so that we can have a space for everyone and a space for our classroom. I will post later on the details of our decision. Please pray for me as I try to get everything ready to get started.

I hope each of your summer days have been filled with fun, family, and great memories.