birthday

well 4 my b-day i got a drum set and some golf shoes for this year for tjga so yall should come down 2 watch me play some golf love you all


Cody

Happy, Happy, HAPPY Birthday!!

Happy Birthday, Cody!!!!!!!!!!

"Seems like just yesterday..." Isn't that what all parents say when their baby has a birthday? Can't believe ours is turning 12 today!! I used to not understand what people meant when they said, "It goes by so quickly," until I had a child of my own, but now I understand all too well. We are so lucky to have been blessed with the awesome gift God gave us to be this little guy's parents.

Cody, your dad and I are so proud of you and your accomplishments! You are growing up so quickly and into such a fine, christian young man. We are so blessed to have you!! Always remember that we are there for you, along with the rest of your family, and your "angels" are watching over you from heaven.

Hope you have a great day!!! We love you so very, very much!!! Mom and Dad

Spring Break Fun!

It's a shame that Spring Break only rolls around once a year because it's always so much fun! Jeff, Cody and I enjoyed getting to spend some time out of town together during our break this past week. Then Cody and I got to spend some time with my family in the metroplex. Good thing for us Cody is, and always has been, a good traveler!!

We left on Monday to go with Jeff to Austin for a conference. I believe the highlight of this trip was when we ate at Fogo de Chao on Monday night. WOW!! I heard someone say, "This place is a carnivore's dream and a vegetarian's nightmare!!" It's just one of those places you have to experience. They serve 15 different kinds of meats, all from spits that the waiters carry around the restaurant. You have this little card in front of you, and as long as it's on the green side you have guys standing over you with hunks of meat waiting to cut and serve you dinner. If it's on the red side they leave you alone and let you chew!! They also have the most fabulous salad bar I've ever eaten from with all those great cheeses you hear about on the Food Network. Tried them and liked them!!! Ask Cody what was his favorite cut of meat? I think he had 6 or 7 slices of leg of lamb. That was definitely not my favorite by any means, but I tried it. I felt safer with the chicken stuff. I know, not very adventurous, but everything did NOT "taste like chicken." Needless to say, when we left there we were all stuffed. We did however manage to work out for about 45 minutes later that night so we didn't feel so guilty. No telling how many points that meal was!!!!!!

Tuesday Jeff and the other guys played golf in the rain (YUCK!!) while Cody and I went to the UT store and the capitol building. We did actually find a place to eat lunch downtown where we didn't have to pay to park!! It's crazy down there!

Cody leaning on the canon outside the capitol's front door.

Cody standing behind the podium in the House of Representatives conference room. Future speaker of the house....

On Wednesday Cody and I left Austin and headed for Dallas. After saying quite a few little prayers to be sure we took the right exits, and watching the rolling of my child's eyes when I got flustered, we made it to the hotel to meet Aunt Jami, Jaden, Jaxon, Nana, and Pawpaw. The offer was that Nana and Pawpaw would watch the boys while Jami and I shopped until we dropped. So you can bet that no matter how tired we got, we took them up on the offer. I think the boys all had a good time. They swam until they grew gills and didn't have to shop too much with their moms.

We all went to the Scienc Place on Thursday and I think everyone had a good time.

The boys, and the moms, enjoyed the bubbles as well as all the other different places and things there were to explore.

On Friday Nana and Pawpaw took the boys to play miniature golf, but Jami and I were not invited on this outing. So...when in Dallas - SHOP!!! We had to struggle with going to another mall, but we managed anyway! It was fun, but it was also great to come home and see Jeff! Fun times and good memories!

"Just a light dusting..."

That's what Skip McBride said on the 10 o'clock news on Wednesday night. "Not much of an accumulation. Just a light dusting on the grass, but no worries." He went a little too easy on the forcast before the "Christmas blizzard" and then again last week, but... Do they ever fire weatherman for being wrong too often? I guess not, but sometimes they are sure WAY OFF!!! But I'm not complaining because it certainly was beautiful snow with HUGE snowflakes, that fell non-stop for over 12 hours! We stayed in school all day Thursday, even when everyone else was letting their students go home, but hey, we were already there, so might as well use the teaching moments, right? We did wait until 10 a.m to start on Friday. I could definitley get used to that!

This is a picture of our backyard on Friday morning. The other one is a picture of Cody in the backyard before we left for school. He took the ruler out to measure and we had 6 inches where he was squatting. He didn't play out in the snow though this time, it was just way to cold and windy!! Anyway, guess next time they predict snow we'll know not to believe what they say! It melted quickly though, and in a few months we'll all be wishing we had some of this moisture around us. Just helps you remember what a great and powerful God we have and the miraculous things He can do. Not to mention the beauty of it all!

Piggin' Time

I know, I know...And I have absolutely no excuses for letting this go so long. It's kinda like dusting - I know it needs to be done, but it just takes so much effort! Not really though, I guess I just need to get focused!

Anyway, like the title says, it's "Piggin' Time!" Some of you may be asking exactly what that means, so here's the info and a few pics to go along with it:

This is the time of year when Cody (and us) get down and dirty with the Young County Livestock Show. Yes, I did say "us." Although I never dreamed I'd do it, in the past 4 years since Cody has been showing pigs, I've cleaned pins, shoveled poop, "slopped the hogs", and yes, even petted the cute little creatures. Now you have to understand that our pigs are "barn spoiled" so they aren't your everyday, run-of-the-mill pigs. Our pigs don't roll in the mud, often, and they don't sleep outside. They are pampered and have nice soft woodshavings to sleep on, heat lamps to sleep under, and four walls to keep the wind away. So I don't mind so much getting in there and helping out. I've even been known to walk them occassionally. Now this is something Jeff has been doing for years because he did this with Justin and Steven when they were in school, and now he's "enjoying" the experience all over again. Aren't the just the cutest! (I'm talking about my boys, not the pigs!!)

Cody and Dad, sharing a moment.

Anyway, Cody had 2 pigs again this year, Shaker and Blue. Shaker missed making the weight for the county show by 3 pounds, so now she'll be "meat in the freezer. Blue made it in though, got a 6th place ribbon, and made it into the sale. We didn't really sell him though because we're taking him to Fort Worth next week for the BIG show. (They don't really sell their animals. The people bid on the kids to help them get back some of the money they spent on their animals. You'd just have to be there...) So hopefully next week Cody and Blue will put on a good show for the judge and he can make some more money for his college fund. Then Blue will load up on the truck and be "meat" in somebody else's freezer.

Cody at the premium sale on Saturday, but not with one of our pigs.

Thanks Mom and Dad for coming to spend the weekend with us! We enjoyed having Nana and Pawpaw here for support, and someone to go shopping with (mostly me on that one!!) Mom and I actually spent more time in the car Saturday than we did shopping. WOW! Cody is so lucky to have you guys here and so are we. We did miss having Justin, Angela, Sydney, Jeffrey, Jami, Jaden, Jaxon, Joey and Leslye here though, and so did the pigs. They seem to do so much better when they have their fans here. Maybe next year...

So, if you find yourself with nothing to do next Friday...drive on up to Fort Worth, to the Will Rogers Stadium, and come watch a very handsome young man show-off his very clean and well-behaved pig. Who knows, we might even get some shopping in then too!!!

It's All About the Bling...

Since we didn't think that Friday, the day before Halloween, the kids would be hyper enough, the kids as well as the staff decided to dress up. Once again, the first grade teachers had to wear our tiarras, since we are the "princesses" of the elementary school. So here we are, the "Bling Queens"...


Not only did we wear our tiarras, but we were glittery from head to toe, literally!

We had glitter in our hair, on our eyelids, on our lips, on our faces, and on our clothes. Our sashes were glittery as were the words "BLING QUEEN". We had rhinestone words and princess stickers on our shirts and jeans. We had glitter bows on our flip-flops. We even painted our fingernails and toenails with glitter polish! EVERYWHERE we went we left a trail of glitter. By the end of the day I told Jeff that I thought I had "glitter inhalation!" I think that was a little too much bling, even for me. Hopefully next year we can do a little less of the bling. I do have to say thought that we were the best looking adults in the building that day!!

Oh yeah, my kids looked great too!!!!

Hope you and your had a very wonderful and spook-filled Halloween!!

Take me to the Fair!!!

No, we didn't see Oprah, but yes, we did have a funnel cake, and it was so goooooood!!!

We also tried the fried butter, but it's really just a little bit of butter, wrapped in a biscuit and the biscuit is fried. It was ok, but I wouldn't eat it again. Saving my money next time for some cotton candy!

If you haven't guessed by now, we took Cody to the state fair Monday since we didn't have school. There were so many people there, but we had a great time! We got there at 10:00 a.m., didn't leave until after 6:00 p.m. and walked about 7 miles!! (I think we got our activity points for the day. I know this because I wore my pedometer!!)

Here are just a few of the things that went on that day:

Cody checked out the Air Force plane. Cody goofed around on a scooter.

We rode the sky-tram and that was pretty cool!!!

A bird landed on Cody's arm and took his money, then gave it back, then took it again, then gave it back, and so on.... He was actually supposed to take the money and put it in the box, but I guess he thought Cody needed to hang on to it. The bird did finally decide to keep it after about 6 tries. That was neat!

And this bird almost took my head off as he was flying back to the stage. That is almost a little too up close and personal for me! It was an amazing bird though.

We really did have a fun day, and I can't wait until next year to do it all over again! Well, maybe not the fried butter part, but maybe some fried cookie dough instead!!!!