Bday & Summer fun!

Summertime is here!! And with this Texas heat, you can't miss it as you wish and pray that you had a pool or were BFFs with someone who has a pool! ;)

My birthday was June 1st and it is always a great way to begin my summer! This year the festivities went almost all week, making me feel uber special for my 26th! Wednesday, on my actual bday, Tony and some dear friends helped us celebrate with dinner in Dallas.

With two years in a row, we've almost made Hibachi and Sushi a birthday tradition!
Singing Happy Birthday with fried rice! ;)

And then for another round of Happy Birthday singing... I got to bang on the gong!

And our sweet friends, the Tabors as the fried rice heart's candle was being lit

And I've been training away in this Texas heat and sun for my 3 Day Walk for the Cure! I don't think I ever truly understood how hot it gets here... until I started my training walks! :( And it often ends with a sunburn with great tan lines. ;)

I say that to prelude my wonderful tan lines in the next few pics! ;) Because the Saturday after my birthday we went to Concert in the Gardens to hear the Wonderful Mystery Tour with another pair of sweet friends! It is such a great time... we went last year too. You bring a blanket and picinic basket and just relax enjoying some great music! And after a class in college on the Beatles... I was pretty excited to hear them!

We went with our friends, Jen and Casey for our second year at Concert in the Gardens

See the wonderful burn with those stellar tan lines? HOT

So... That is the beginning to our summer! What are your summer plans? I am planning on a LOT of walking and SPF. ;) We also have a weekend trip to the beach in the plans and a visit from Tony's parents coming up next month!

And... I can't forget to say a very special HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my amazing little sister!! :)

Til next time...
Diamend

Happy Birthday My Love

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DIAMEND!!!

I love you so much and I am so blessed to have you in my life! God has given me the greatest gift in you and I could not picture my life without you in it. I hope you have a great day and you are my "older woman". ;-) I love you baby!

Your Husband

I'm Back!

Alright just as I told you I am blogging again and it has not been three months yet! Woo Hoo, success! I was hoping to have my grades finalized however, they have not yet came in. But it looks like it's gonna be a good semester. However, I am a bit worried about my summer class, Hebrew! It is not just Hebrew, but it is actually TURBO Hebrew. I will take 2 full semesters of Hebrew in 2 months. It is gonna be crazy!

For those of you who do not know it is Diamend's birthday on Wed, June 1st. She will be turning 26! We are going to be getting some type of food with some friends. She is very very excited about her birthday, so if you think about it, call her, text her, FaceBook her, or email her! She is an amazing woman with great friends! Let her know you remember!

One of the things that Diamend and I have coming up is the Concerts in the Garden. Each summer the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra does tribute nights on the weekends. We are going to the "Magical Mystery Tribute" and (my favorite) "Star Wars and Beyond". The first one is clearly the Beatles but the second one is theme songs from major motion pictures like Star Wars. There is also going to be a laser light show! It is gonna be so much fun! We hang out on the lawn with blankets and chairs. We bring our own food picnic style and just relax!

Well that's all for now! Hope you are all having a good summer. Please comment and keep communicating with us!

Tony Bianco

SWBTS Update

Well it seems to be a common theme but you haven't heard from me in a long time! Sad days...so I'm gonna catch you up with all things Southwestern! The first is how Youth Ministry Lab 2011 (YML) finished up. It was amazing! It is a training conference held at the Seminary for Youth Pastors, volunteers, adult leaders, parents and wives. We even train the student leaders in the youth group.It is such a good experience for me, I am able to meet prominent leaders in the Youth Ministry world. Plus, I get to work with Dr. Richard Ross, Dr. Wes Black, and Dr. Johnny Deurouen.These are wise seasoned Youth Ministry professors at my school. Their mentorship is worth all the stress and work! We had over 1,100people on campus for the event and it is the largest event the campus holds! Iam so blessed to be apart of such a life changing conference. I will be doing this again the coming year. But for now I am enjoying not having to do too much work for it!


The semester has finished up officially! Hoo Woo! It was possibly the hardest semester I have had here at SWBTS. My grades have not posted yet, but when they do I will share those with you for accountability purposes. But it was a wild ride there towards the end. In a matter of 3 weeks I had 4 book reviews and 2 research papers to do. It has been a challenge and I know that there is no other explanation for getting all this work done other than through the Lord. He has given me such strength. I also have to thank my amazing wife! She did not only read all these papers but helped me stay awake and work! I love her so much! She is an amazing woman, I could not have done any of this without her.


I have more to say but because I want to blog more than once every 3 months I am going to hold off and force myself to blog later. Till next time!




Tony Bianco

ConGRADulations!

Haha.. get it!? Congratulations Grad!?
Anyway... Tony's sister (my wonderful, one-and-only Sister-in-Love) graduated this weekend with her Bachelors!


We were blessed enough (through the generous help from Tony's parents!) to be able to go home and see her graduate and celebrate with the family.



Alicia Rose graduated from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville from the school of Business with her major in Accounting. We are all so proud of her! And after her internship this summer she is going back to SIUE for her Masters.

Alicia and her boyfriend, Brendon. He is part of the family and we are rooting for him as he goes through pharmaceutical school at SIUE!

The Bianco ladies

So after staying in Edwardsville for the night for graduation, we drove to Springfield on Saturday and started getting ready for the big party! We had a big celebration for her with lots of family and friends. And since we were all together, we got a few family photos! :)

The original Bianco foursome

And the whole gang!

We only had about 48 sweet, short hours in Illinois! :( But we were blessed to be able to spend some Mother's Day time with our sweet mommas before flying back to TX on Sunday afternoon.

I'm so sad I didn't get any photos of my precious momma, sister and nephew! But I soaked up all my time with them (a few short hours) and loved every minute of it! And I wish I had taken just one photo of my lil guy.. he is getting so big!! I'll have to update you soon! :)

So after a short but fun weekend in Illinois - Happy Graduation sis! and Happy Mother's day to both our momma's and my sister! ;)

We love you!!

~Diamend

Easter Fun!

We hope everyone had a wonderful, celebratory Easter!!

This year, Tony and I decided to be kids again and have some fun! :) So we painted Easter Eggs! It was so much fun and so sweet to have some precious time together on a night to have fun, chat and paint eggs.

Tony surprised me with the idea a few weeks ago when he picked up this fun egg coloring kit. (Best $1 we've spent in a while) It had 12 different colors!

Here was the set up... Notice my cute little Easter decoration? ;)

Me and Tony with a couple of our favorites

And here are our favorites!!!

Tony's favorite creations:

(The STL egg has TX Rangers on the opposite side... And yes, that is homestarrunner on the left)

Diamend's favorite creations:

(I have three animals: Duck... yes, that is supposed to be a duck, Pig, & Bunny)

And some of each of the traditionally decorated eggs:

Easter Sunday after church we went to our friends (from church), the Tabor's, for Easter dinner! It was great food and fun! You can't go wrong with my deviled eggs, and Tabor's rootbeer glazed ham! And like every holiday gathering, we played Scene it on the Xbox... so fun!


Tony is busy busy with his last week of classes and finals for the semester! He'll update you soon with how the year/spring has gone... but after this semester, we only have ONE MORE YEAR til graduation!! :)


Blessings,
Diamend

Momma visits

Last week my sweet momma came to visit! You cannot even imagine my excitement for my mom to get to come stay with us for almost a week! It was such a special time and no visit is ever long enough! :(

I picked her up last Thursday from the airport and we immediately to the Hawaiin Nail Bar in Dallas for pedicures. This was special, not just because my momma was with me, but because this is my LAST pedicure until the 3Day Walk! (I have to roughin up my feet for 60 miles!)

We ate lots of great food all week! Railhead BBQ, Kincaids Burgers, Tin Cup specialty sandwich shop.... While Tony was in class Friday, we got our shop on! It has become a tradition to go to Ross whenever my mom is in town. Saturday we lathered up on our SPF and went to the Fort Worth Zoo. The weather was perfect! B-E-A-UTIFUL - probably why it was soo packed!

We even got to catch two new movies! Hop was very cute and funny! You should definitely check it out by Easter time! And Soul Surfer was an awesome movie! It is based on a true story of a girl surfer who loses her arm in a shark attack. Great story of God's providence in our lives. (Plus Carrie Underwood is in it! ;)

I also attempted to teach my mom how to crochet! ;) And we got material for me to crochet homeade scratch pads for washing dishes! (So easy and resourceful!)

After one last lunch together on Tuesday, it was time to take her back to the airport. :( Our visits are too too short, but so special! Every time we say goodbye I tear up a little - I'm such a momma's girl! Can't wait for our next visit!