Friends GTG

May 31, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Not a few days ago, but last week’s weekend, we had a friends GTG at Mark’s house to celebrate all the couples- newlyweds, nearly weds, and those moving.  Adam & Kristen were in town between their move from South Carolina to Tennessee, and she added some pulled pork to the big BBQ pileup we had for dinner.

The two brides compared photos from their big adventures out dress shopping.

As usual, we all ended up outside laughing, telling stories & cracking jokes.

The photography ended shortly after Mark started mixing up concoctions, but the good times kept rolling.

So great to have the whole gang all together for one night!  Every single one of these guys is just awesome & we are so blessed to have such an amazing group of friends.

 

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: My (work) computer really is trying to give me a heart attack, but I will be replacing it ASAP.

Filed Under: friends, Married Life

More of This

May 30, 2011 By 2 Comments

My life needs more of this- playing the pool, happy puppies, hanging out with my mom and cooling off from the crazy summer heat.  Luckily, I’ve already made 2 trips to the pool with the girls this summer- which resulted in lots of jumps, splashes, smiles and laughs.

Mia is apt to jump in the pool any second and doesn’t wait for a formal invite before taking the plunge.  She cracks me up how she sits on the first step and waits for the next splash so she can pounce on it.  We have to invest in several frisbees each pool season- they are great for splashing & a challenge for the dogs to get in the water (they can sink & then slowly float back up if they don’t get paddled on).

Zoe waits every summer for her torpedo to return & cries incessantly for it if she sees it in the toy box.  Summer also brings back the lizards that both dogs love to chase around the yard.

We interrupted mom’s leisurely reading & brought the ruckus as mom will splash with her feet & Mia will leap to catch the splashes.

This scene- over and over and over until you are worn out splashing!

Mia is an avid swimmer too- around and around, still chasing splashes.

Zoe hasn’t been as eager to swim the last few years- I attributed it to getting older & not wanting to deal with the other Tasmanian devil in the pool.  However, we did get her swimming with us last week & I was so happy she was in the pool and chasing after her torpedo.  She tries to catch it when we glide it under the water, grab it & jump out of the pool.  John tries to wrestle it away from her so we can throw some more & she even got all 4 off the floor in the last shot- pretty impressive for a 9.5 year old gal!

The problem with the ‘pedo’ is it sinks if she doesn’t catch it or drops it, so one of us must retrieve it. Mia was doing pretty good about not jumping on Zoe or swimming on top of her.

Love love love!  So glad both gals cooperated and I had my camera nearby to capture this.  I need more of this- love and family and laughter.

 

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Getting more of it today- pool party with friends, family and pups!

Filed Under: family, mia, Zoe

Brigade Baby

May 29, 2011 By 1 Comment

Back in early May, my sister’s drill team had their spring peformace to the theme of Seas the Night.  Although she officially made the team earlier this year, she didn’t do any official dance with the team.  Instead, all the Brigade Babies performed a dance in a surprise costume.

The night was a special night to  honor all the seniors- they started off with introductions including their families and where they were off to college as the girls showed off their formal gowns.  It’s hard to believe my brother is going to be a senior next year & doing many of the landmark things, and my sister will be there in just a few years doing all these special performances.

The show quickly got underway with routine after routine and all manner of costumes and dance styles.

It’s very difficult to capture action in the relative dark of the stage, but I was pretty happy with how these came out and how awesome my camera handled the low light.  Among the many special touches for the senior  ladies for the evening was a boy/girl dance- either with their boyfriend or another guy ( I noticed some poor brothers drug up on stage!).

There were several small group dances or solos, but I really liked the bigger group dances and all the synchronization.

Near the end, the Seniors performed in a very sweet father-daughter dance & then the costumes continued.  I stopped counting how many outfits and memorized dances a few of the lead gals had.

The finale was a hysterical dance my all the moms so they could be reminded how hard it is to be upon the stage and all the work their daughters put into practice and dancing dozens of different sets.

I didn’t get too many pictures of Haley during her actual performance, so I’ll include a few recent bonus photos here.  Not sure what the new dress was for- maybe some end of year party?  And she was at a friend’s house trying on all of her formal gowns- still playing dress up!

 

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Another beautiful day of fishing on the Gulf coast and we are headed home for some R&R.

Filed Under: family, kidz

Misc Houston

May 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I’m going to get a post out today if it kills me!  I had two trips this week (WV and Vegas) and had planned on working on my blog on the plane.  Unfortunately, my laptop had other ideas and I will be in need of a new one shortly.  I’ve got lots of good stuff coming up, but this is the quickest post I could throw together while waiting for hubby to get ready for dinner.  This is the last post in my flight over Houston series I started back in January- can’t believe it’s take me so long to finish.  We flew from northwest Houston past downtown and just east of the city a little, where I caught a glimpse of the port.

And thanks to my zoom lens, beyond the port are all the plants and refineries of Pasadena working on all that oil and gas.

Um, yea this was the guy that kept me from finishing this post last night!  I thought he had 10 more minutes on his movie before we left for dinner, but I was wrong.  He’s pretty darn cute & I haven’t seen him all week, so I won’t hold it against him & we went straight out to dinner for some Tapas and then Dairy Queen!

Heading back to our side of town, we went due west out of the city towards Katy & flew past the brand new mega-hospital, Memorial City. They have been working on this for years & I have been there several times recently to visit people when they were in the hospital.  There are so many buildings and towers that it’s very confusing about where to park & how to find a patient.  There are several smaller “regional” hospitals that have popped up all over the place in the last few years & I’m amazed at all the money in the medical field.

Speaking of other new impressive buildings, this is a new high school around the corner from me.  The high schools here are huge- 4k to 5k kids each & they are filling them as quickly as they can build them in Cy-Fair.

And this beast is also from our school district- it’s a multi-use facility for graduation, plays, sports, and more that was super-$$$ to build and is the target of quite a bit anger that so much money was spent on such a lavish facility.

And that old school is what my brother and sister call home.  It’s the oldest school in the district (I thin) and has undergone major renovations in the last few years.   When built, it was really out in the sticks, but now it’s got 3 other mega-schools within just a few miles.

We did one last flyover of our neighborhood on our way back to the field and I got to check out all the new trees they had planted in January.  I’m so excited they keep making the parks and trails better and nicer- you can never have enough trees!  They are all really growing and blooming now- thankfully they put in sprinklers for them since it’s never going to rain again here!

Last photo from our Discover Flight tour of Houston- it was such a neat thing to check out our world from above & I’d highly recommend grabbing a Groupon if they run the special again.

Part 1- Flying High

Part 2- My Zip Code

Part 3- Busy Corners

Part 4- 610 West Loop

Part 5- The Real Houston

Part 6- Flying by Downtown Houston

Part 7- Bayou City

 

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Survived the week & ready for a long weekend that includes fishing and a pool party!

Filed Under: airplane, houston, Married Life

Mia’s Place

May 25, 2011 By 4 Comments

Oh Mia, Mia, Mia.  I love this dog to pieces!  She’s been such an adventure & such a challenge.  Her personality is 100% happiness all the time.  She’s in constant motion around the house, always with a toy in her mouth and a wagging tail.  She’s my new velcro dog- following me every single step I take and comes anytime I give the  “lets play” whistle.  We are fast approaching her 2nd birthday in early June & I just happen to have time today to write about how much fun she’s brought into our lives.

Despite her (continuing- there will be another post…) terrible twos, she makes me smile dozens of times each day.  In the late afternoons, when she’s all tuckered out (which is pretty rare!), she loves to lay on the stairs in the late afternoon sun.  She can watch me in my room, lest I make a move to go anywhere besides sitting at my computer, she’ll chase me down.  One of her favorite toys is the Nylabone ring that she loves to carry around and rolls on her back batting it in the air.

 

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Did some tourist stuff yesterday in Charleston & snagged some photos of another beautiful capitol building.

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