Fun with Java

Barrett had a fun afternoon playing with Java, our chocolate lab mix. Barrett is really enjoying having a dog and can't imagine life without her! Java and Barrett dancing together.
Java LOVES playing with Barrett! He gets right on the ground and wrestles with her.

Kisses from Java. XXXX

What a cute face :-)

She even likes getting hugs.

These two make a great team.

Late Night Bike Ride

I got a call from Tara last evening. She said that Oliver had miraculously gone to sleep early and that she was ready for a bike ride. I was very excited! We both just recently got new bikes and have been talking about going for bike rides together. So this was our first evening of bike riding together. It was great!!! The weather was cool and breezy. We got in a good hour of riding all around the villages of Savannah. We were able to exercise and have sister talk all at the same time. It is so wonderful to have a sister just one street away to enjoy life with. I look forward to our many bike rides ahead!

A Fun Weekend

What a beautiful sunset!

Barrett and I spent part of our Saturday evening going on a bike ride around the neighborhood. I got this new pink bike for Christmas. Since then we have really enjoyed the time and exercise riding around outside. We have so many nice trails and streets to ride bikes here in Savannah.

Camryn (4 years old) and Chandler (6 years old)

It seems to have become a tradition over the past few months that after church and lunch with the family, Chandler and Camryn ride home with us and spent the afternoon with us - Uncle Barrett and Aunt Tanya. Most every Sunday during lunch both the kids sneak their way over to Barrett and I and whisper to us, "Can we come play at your house today?" Of course, how do you say no to 2 such cute and adorable faces? They ride home with us in the back of Uncle Barrett's red jeep. They always look forward to running up to the game room and playing a video game for a while. We took a visit to the ducks at the pond today. The ducks loved having the company of Chandler, Camryn, and Java.

Java enjoyed a walk over to the park. She loved seeing all the other kids and dogs around. She behaved very nicely.

Fun on the tire swing at the playground!

New Bedroom Furniture

We are so excited to have our new bedroom furniture! I always dreamed that one of those Weir's furniture trucks would one day pull up to my house - and my wish came true!!! Earlier this week we ventured out to Weirs, my favorite furniture store (mostly because of their cute country store where you can buy popcorn, candy, and cokes in a glass bottle to enjoy as you browse through the store.) We didn't really expect to make a purchase right away. But we found a wonderful set of outstanding bedroom furniture at the right price and went with it. We are so pleased.

We seem to have a theme throughout the house - brown and green. This furniture fits right in. The room is almost complete...just waiting on the rest of our curtains to come in. We are both so pleased. It is incredible to have a place to just relax. We will be enjoying this for the next 50 years!

A Day With Oliver & Dylan

Dylan (5 years old) and Oliver (6 months old) spent the day with Uncle Barrett & Princess Tanya. Their family just got back this morning after driving all day yesterday and through the night from an exciting vacation to Phoenix, AZ . Tara needed some rest after a long night on the road, so a couple of the boys spent the day with me so she could get some rest - and of course I enjoyed a day with a couple of my adorable nephews.

Oliver has such big, beautiful blue eyes!

Dylan loved swinging on the balcony.

We spent a lot of he day hangin' out on the balcony. The day was just too beautiful to waste indoors.

I had asked Dylan what he wanted to eat. His reply was "potatoes." So I asked him, "What kind of potatoes? Mashed? Baked? French Fries?" "French fries?," he said. "Fries don't come from potatoes." So Dylan and I made our way to the kitchen and had a cooking lesson on how to make french fries from real potatoes. He was amazed! He even wrote out the recipe all by himself to take home so he could make them for his family sometime. Too cute!!!

I loved spending the day with these two little guys!!! They are just too cute. I am one proud aunt!

Money Factory, Joe T's & Stockyard

This morning we woke up early and went on a very interesting field trip. We went to the Fort Worth Bureau of Printing and Engraving - a money factory!!! All they do 24 hours a day is print money. There are only 2 locations in the US that print $ bills - in Fort Worth and in DC. We had just heard this being advertised on the news earlier this week and thought we would try it out. They give free tours M-F, so if you are looking for something free and interesting to do, we would recommend this outing. Unfortunately they don't give away any free samples. I would have loved to get some pictures of what it was like inside, but they were very strict - no cameras, cell phones, nothing. So here is a beautiful picture of Barrett in the parking lot with all 3 layers of barbed wire in the background. It is a very secure place!

After a tiring morning of looking at all that money being printed :-) we made a trip over to my favorite restaurant in Fort Worth - Joe T. Garcia's. Since it was beautiful 70 degree weather outside, we took advantage of eating in their gorgeous outdoor garden area. The food was spectacular and the weather couldn't have been better. I told Barrett it was a dream come true for me. Such a relaxing afternoon!

To finish off the afternoon, we took a walk around the Fort Worth Stockyards. It is definitely a different feel walking around that part of town. It's not everyday you get to see real cowboys and good looking longhorns such as this one. It has been a fun and adventurous afternoon.

Welcome to our new blog! I thought this would be a fun way for us to keep a record of what is going on in our life - like a scrapbook of memories in a way. Feel free to peek in once and a while to see all that is going on in the life of us - Barrett & Tanya. I hope you all enjoy!

Here is a little background about us and our life right now.

We became Mr. & Mrs. Walch on June 3, 2006. It is hard to believe that we are coming up on our 3rd anniversary already. Wow!!! Time flies when you're havin' fun. It has been an incredibly wonderful time together as husband and wife.
We bought our first home last spring in April of 2008. It is a place we are truly blessed and thankful to the Lord to be able to call home. This has been a really neat experience. We live within about 2 blocks of my parents house along with all of my siblings homes. It is a lot of fun to be a 3 minute walk or a 30 second bike ride away. Barrett & I love to spend evenings out on our porch swings reading, riding bikes around the neighborhood, feeding the ducks and fish at the pond, or going to the clubhouse and relaxing in the hot tub. We love it here in Savannah and hope to stay here for a long time!

We added a new addition to our family last summer. She weighs about 50 lbs., has dark brown fur, and her name is Java. She is our fun and very active Chocolate Lab mix that we adopted from the SPCA. Right now she is almost 2 years old. She can be a very sweet little girl but she keeps us plenty busy.
Barrett has had the ability for about the last year to work from home as a Finance Manager. He absolutely loves this! He wakes up in the morning, picks a spot around the house to set up his computer, and gets to work. It has been a wonderful blessing for him to be able to save all the time and cost that it takes to commute all the way to down town Dallas each day. I am surely thankful that he is able to do this - and that he is able to help out so much with the cleaning, laundry, etc. He is awesome!!!
I am currently in my second year of teaching 1st grade. Wow, what a job! These kiddos definitely keep me active and on my toes. I am very thankful though to have a very sweet class this year. It is just hard to believe that only about 2 more months and I will have completed 2 whole years of being a real teacher. My commute to work is a long hour drive each way (if the traffic is good) but Barrett and I are always thankful each day that I have a job to go to. Everyday truly is a gift!