Gimme a T for Texas . . . ( cue the music )

Back in the spring we visited my family in Texas. This was such a great trip and we were able to see everyone! I was so thankful that everyone made such a great effort and many traveled several hours just to visit with us : ) What a blessing it was to all be together. While we were there we went to a nice park and took a walk then had a picnic. We also went and visited my Grandma's church. It is so neat all the stuff that they have there! They have a huge gym with a walking area and weights, machines and basketball court. They also had a Foosball and pool table and a cafeteria! I wish I would of got pictures of it there, but didn't. We were lucky enough to run into her pastor there and I was able to meet him, very lovely man. One night we had a total of 13 people spend the night at Grandma's! What a houseful :) We had a terrific feast for dinner and then spent the afternoon playing with the kids inside and outside. It was so nice to all visit together and hear about Jeremy's mission trip to Mexico and bask in the glory of Kelly's beautiful glow : ) (Can't wait to see the new baby. ) We all really enjoyed getting time to visit with Brandon and get to know him better as well. It is so great that my Aunt Bobbie and cousin Kelli live just down the street from my Grandma, so we had lots of wonderful time visiting with them. Unfortunately my Uncle Charles was unable to join us, but I was so happy to have had a wonderful conversation with him by phone. Let me not fail to mention how great it was to have all the first and second cousin's together for Brock and Joel's birthday party. After the party, Larissa and Aaron had us over for a great dinner and looked at some old photos. This was such a great visit. I wish we lived closer and not so many states between us. Thank goodness for Facebook, email, blogs and telephone : ) Hope you enjoy the pictures!


Thank goodness for the new CD player Auntie got Luke for his birthday :) It was great on the plane ride : )


Luke was so excited to be on the plane! I am sure this will be the first trip that he remembers. Here are some pictures of our park exploration : )

Here are some nature shots of the park we visited and Texas Bluebonnets on the freeway.

Playing "go fish"

Luke had SO much FUN with Joshua!

The kids goofing around before story and bed time.

Here are some pictures from the birthday party for Brock and Joel. This place was so neat! They rent out a play area and inside tree house for parties at a local church. Stained glass in the play area.

Aunt Jean getting in on the fun!

I L.O.V.E. this picture, he is so ready for those chocolate cupcakes : )

G.G. with her great grandchildren : )

Grandma, Aunt Jean, Uncle Bruce, all the grandchildren, spouses and great grandchildren

Grandma and all the grandchildren

Luke, Josh and Jake

Me, Aunt Jean and Grandma

Me and Carrie
Me and Larissa

Me and Kelli

Me and Aunt Bobbie

We love you all and will miss your hugs and smiles . . . . . until next time : )

March 09 ~ Celebrating Lucas : )

Luke celebrated his 5th year in March and what a great birthday it was : ) Luke went through a time recently obsessing with Sponge Bob. So, his Uncle Frankie and I made him a Sponge Bob birthday cake. Boy, was that a job! I bought the Wilton cake pan and made about 8 cups of butter cream frosting. So, about 5 hours later we had a beautiful cake to be proud of. I also made some cupcakes, just in case. Jake had a baseball game that day but after his game we went to the pizza parlor to celebrate Luke. We had a great time. I think the kids enjoyed the fact that they were allowed to play all the gumball machines and video games with out us saying no : ) The kids loved the "Billy Bob" teeth they all got and giant glasses that Frank gave Luke. My Mom and Carol really loved the abundant amount of black frosting we used to decorate Sponge Bob ~ Ha Ha Ha~ A great time was had by all!















Luke's celebration continued later on in the month when we went to Scandia with his Uncle Jerry, Auntie Julia and Matt. We had so much fun playing miniture golf, using the batting cages and playing on the waterbugs. : )