Enchanted Valley proudly presents the graduating Class of 2010

"Graduation is a time of completion, of finishing, of an ending; however, it is also a time of celebration of achievement and a beginning for the new graduate."
-- Catherine Pulsifer

Dillon Ashbaugh – son of Jeff & Gloria on Wallach. Dillon was the third generation of his family to attend and graduate from Cy-Fair High School. He began his freshman year marching in the Bobcat Band and playing ice hockey for the club team. His remaining years were spent being active in FFA and auto tech. While in FFA, Dillon raised swines. After the first year, he made the live auction his remaining two years. His junior year, he placed 29th out of 150 and his senior year he placed 23rd out of 200 swines. During the two year program of auto tech, he placed both at regionals and state levels of competition. He also participated in an internship program at Lone Star Chevrolet. Dillon's true enjoyment has been his volunteer work. He has been a volunteer fireman at Station 4 since he turned 16. His future plans will begin this summer where he will attend Lone Star College's EMT program. In the fall, he will continue his journey to become a firefighter, also through the Lone Star College system. Once he completes his firefighter training, he will decide to either become a paramedic or pursue nursing. His ending goals are to become a firefighter and be an ER medical technician.  We are very proud of him and can't wait to see which life goal he will decide to fulfill. We love you, Mom, Dad and Lexi (Love those men in uniforms!!)

Jonathan Barco – son of Jorge & Yngre Barco on Pleasant Grove.

Jordan Grein – son of Darrell & Laura Grein on Blossomheath (EVE), graduated from Cy-Fair High School. Jordan was awarded outstanding achievement in Algebra his freshman year and won first place for small engines at the Auto Mechanics competition his senior year. Jordan also just graduated from the Cy-Fair Volunteer Fireman certification class in June. He plans to attend Lone Star College in the fall and his plans are to be a firefighter. (We love our firefighters!). Congratulations from Mom, Dad, Joshua and Jennifer. We are so proud of you!!!

Brandon Johnson – son of David and Cheryl Johnson on Rolling Valley. Brandon graduated from Cy-Fair High school. While at Cy-Fair, Brandon was very involved in the FFA program. He started his own landscaping company, Texas Red Services, and plans to specialize in irrigation. We love you, Mom, Dad, Amber and Amanda!

Andrew Kim – son of John and Tae Kim on Kurtel.

Katie Kubacak – daughter of David & Susan Kubacak on Pine Bough. Katie graduated from Cy-Fair High School. During the four years Katie attended Cy-Fair she was in numerous clubs and activities. Her love was soccer. She received a 4 year scholarship to East Texas Baptist University in Marshal for soccer. She plans to major in Education and become a teacher. We are really proud of you and your accomplishments. Love, Mom, Dad, Danny and Nathan.

Nathan Kubacak – son of David & Susan Kubacak on Pine Bough. Nathan graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy. Right now he is going into Special Forces. At the moment he is not sure exactly where he will be stationed. We are extremely proud of you in this great accomplishment and love you very much, Mom, Dad, Danny and Katie. Anchors Aweigh!! Thanks for all you have done and will continue to do for our country - EV

Taylor Spradley – son of Ada Spradley.

Jacob Tyler White – son of Greg & Jennie White on Honeycomb. Jake plans to attend the Texas Bible Institute in Columbus, Texas this fall. Lots of love is sent from mom, dad, Brandy (Michael), Danielle and nephew Ethan and most especially your parents, aunts, uncles and cousins. (We think the entire family is rather proud of you!!!)

Enchanted Valley is extremely proud of all our graduates.
You are our future!

Atta Girl!

Congratulations to Mattison Taylor Tips, granddaughter of Gene and Jewel Tips. Mattison graduated on June 10th in San Antonio from O’Connor High School. She is the daughter of Carl Tips, Cy-Fair High School class of ’89 (BFND!!!).

July 4th Fun Day

The 4th of July parade went very well. Couldn’t have been a prettier day after all the bad weather everyone had been experiencing!

Afterwards, everyone gathered at the pool for swimming, face painting, bingo and great food.

July 4th BingoJuly 4th BingoJuly 4th Swimming

Check out our Photo Gallery ! !

Special thanks are sent to Linda Bagley, Cathy Bagley, Bill Gibson and Gene & Jewel Tipps for all of their hard work in making this yearly event a big success!

Yumm

If you have tried a restaurant and want to give it “2 Thumbs Up!” send it in and tell us about it. This was sent in by a resident that thought this place was worth mentioning.

Cafe Bella is located on Eldridge & Cypress North Houston.

They have not been open long but have the best Italian food you will ever find.  Subs, pizza, pasta, lasagna and anything else you might be looking for.  It’s a great little Mom and Pop restaurant and right in our area. Give them a try!

School Starts!

Depending on who you are, this could be good news or this could be bad news. School starts on August 23rd. Are you ready?

New student registration begins August 10, 12, 17 & 18. Hamilton Junior High Tiger Express is August 14th. Millsap Elementary will post classes on the 18th after 3:00 p.m. Meet the Teacher will be August 20th (A-L 9-9:45/ M-Z 10-10:45).

For more information regarding your specific school, please go to www.cfisd.net. (Sorry, but at the time of this printing, the Bobcats had not listed any specific names for grades or last names).

Thank You

Dear EV Residents:
Brandon Johnson and his family would like to thank everyone for the prayers, love and support given during his hospitalization. We feel so fortunate to be part of this wonderful community. 

Thank you to everyone who donated blood and for all other donations that were given. The time and hard work given for the car wash and all the others fundraisers is greatly appreciated. Thank you to ALL our neighbors on Rolling Valley.

A special thanks to Marjorie and Richard Brinegar for everything you have done.  Also, to Jamie Miller and family for putting on a special benefit honoring Brandon.  We can't thank you enough!! 

We are so happy to say that Brandon is out of the hospital and recovering very well at home. He will continue doing physical therapy as an outpatient. 
---The Johnson Family

Plant Tip of the Month

(courtesy of Houston Plants & Garden World)

There are a number of watering methods that have proven to be effective in the home garden.  Deep watering is one of them.  Deep Watering has proven over time to save water, reduce maintenance, and still promote lush and vigorous growth throughout your garden or landscape.  It's basically very simple - you irrigate less often, say once every 1 to 2 weeks, although each time you irrigate more deeply. For example, you have flowers or vegetables that have been in the ground for at least a month. When the plants have started to put out new "top" growth (new leaves or buds), you know they've acclimated to their environment. Wait to start a deep watering program until your plantings start to show new growth. Even then you'll want to slowly introduce them to this system.

Cooler, shady areas will need much less water. Take a few minutes to till or loosen the top one-inch of soil in the plant bed. Be careful around newer plantings, as some of the roots will be nearer the surface and will be fragile. Deep watering will encourage the roots to go deep, looking for food and water, which is exactly what we want them to do. Loosening the top one inch of the soil will allow the water to penetrate and not run off. There's no need to be too fussy about tilling at this point, all the "hard" work was done when you prepared the bed for planting and will carry you through the entire growing season.

A good mulch will help in retaining moisture and will protect roots from temperature extremes. Also, as an added benefit, mulch will help keep weeds down to a minimum. Start watering at a point in your yard that you can work your way back to. Slowly work your way around your garden, making sure to thoroughly water each individual plant, and any open or unplanted area around them. In a typical 10' x 3' bed, you may spend 5 minutes watering, then slowly work your way around the rest of your garden. Now you're done for about a week, depending upon the weather.

As you condition your plants to a deep watering system you will slowly stretch the length of time between watering. Your goal is to drive the water deep into the ground, and thoroughly saturate the soil to about 12 to 14 inches in depth. This will create a reservoir of moisture below the roots. As the upper part of the bed dries out the roots will naturally seek the water that's stored below them. This encourages a deeper root system which is healthier, and that is better able to tolerate low water conditions.

When you first start a deep watering program, you'll want to keep an eye on younger plants, and plants in hot areas of the garden. If you notice plants starting to wilt, water them deeply again. Over time you will find that watering twice, or even once a month will be all an established plant needs, depending upon specific species or variety of plant.

You can off-set this tendency by planting annuals in cooler areas of your garden or using taller plants to shade surrounding areas. In essence you're creating a small micro-climate to protect more sensitive plantings. Additionally, annuals generally need about 1 inch of water per week. As with most gardening activities, you may need to adjust this process to suit your particular growing conditions.