My Funny Valentine

What an amazing Valentine's Day!! Jason rented a helium tank and filled over 300 balloons in our home - red, white, and pink. All three of us loved it - we enjoyed them when they were on the ceiling, and again the following morning when they had all fallen to the floor.

Kimber trying to decide which balloon looks the tastiest

Little Flapper Kimber-Girl

The week before Valentine's Day, we all traveled to El Paso for the weekend. We arrived late Friday night, and Tora & Mike had gone to buy all sorts of toys for Jet and Kimber....electric race cars, bowling sets, crawling toys - it was a child's paradise. Jet and Mike stayed up very late on Friday night playing with the electric race track. Breezy was also spending the night at Tora & Mike's so that he could spend as much time with the kids as possible. Of course, while Mike & Jet played electric race-cars, Malori, Mariah, and Breezy all split a bottle of an incredible Cabernet.

The next day, Saturday, everyone baby-sat Jet and Kimber while Jason and Mariah had date-night for an early Valentine's date. We started off the night at the Camino Real, went to the Great American Land & Cattle for an incredible steak & lobster dinner, and then finished listening to a local band while drinking after-dinner coffee at the Mesa Street Grill. It was amazing!

Nostalgia

"Mile upon mile, got no direction...we're all playing the same game....we're all just looking for redemption...just to pray to say the name..."

So, Pat Green is doing a live acoustic set at Gruene Hall on Thursday, February 14th to a sold out crowd...for $20 a ticket. I almost wish I didn't know.

The Firehouse Saloon, Gruene Hall, The Road Goes On Forever And The Party Never Ends, float trips down the Guadalupe, The Rib Hut, Great American Land & Cattle Company, Lake Conroe, Shiner Bock and tacos somewhere near Shiner, Schlitterbahn, the art district & stockyards in downtown Ft Worth, the Aquarium restaurant, Kemah, the Galleria, happy hour, Las Manitas, Star Canyon Winery, Fredericksburg, How Y'all Doin'?, 6th Street, Party on the Plaza, Robert Earl King, David Allen Coe, Jerry Jeff Walker (and every other country music star with three names), the riverwalk, Austin City Limits, The Pershing Inn, The Gristmill, Gasoline Alley, Billy Bob's, barbecue, Kerrville, Ardevinos Desert Crossing....to say that we're nostalgic is an understatement right now.

We've been in deep, snow that is, for several weeks straight. We're smack-dab in the middle of a record year for snowfall in the Salt Lake Cache Valley. Thanksgiving was the last time we saw our bushes - they've been hibernating somewhere under a pile of waist-high snow since the end of November.

Today, I threw on my iPod to bang out a couple of spreadsheets, and it amazed me that I could be engrossed in Excel and a song would bring out a memory, and maybe a tear. I am my father's daughter. Pat Green still makes me think of kayaking down the Guadalupe with Malori when she was at Southwest TX State. Joni Mitchell still makes me think of mom.

Gruene Hall is calling our name.

Vegas, Baby - Will's 21st Birthday

The crazies in the van at Will's 21st. Pictured from lt - Jason, Sonya, Will, Jet, Malori, Mariah, Kimber. Not pictured - Tora, The 2 Mikes, Breezy, Teri, Donovan, Eric, Ryan.
"I love US and A"...

We have our first tooth!! During Will's 21st birthday trip in Las Vegas NV the weekend of Jan 18th, Kimber's first tooth finally broke through her little gum. And yes, Will is finally 21! Jason, Mariah, Jet, and Kimber all flew up for the day to Las Vegas on Saturday. As everyone knows, Vegas is just not a place for kids - I think people even scowl when they see them there. But, seeing how it was Will's one and only 21 yr birthday, we wanted to make a small showing to give him big, fat kisses.

We left on the 8am Saturday morning, arriving in Vegas around 9, and had breakfast with Breezy, Teri, and Sonya. After everyone else arrived, they accommodated Jet and Kimber by going to Circus Circus for a few hours. Jet played all the games, winning several stuffed animals and his Auntie Malori paid for him to ride on the hot-air balloon ferris wheel with Jason while Tora took pictures and Kimber slept on Teri's shoulder. Then, just as quickly as it started, it was time for us to head back to the airport and catch the 6 pm flight back home. Sunday, we all slept in as the rest of the crazy crew was still living it up in Vegas....baby.

2008 Off On The Right Start

Jet is officially potty-trained!! Yeah! When we were in El Paso, we were at the grocery store buying pull-up diapers (the potty-training kind). They were $14.99! It's amazing because we pay and we pay, and sometimes we really don't realize how much we're paying until we stop and really think about it....$14.99...a somewhat decent bottle of wine from Albertsons....$14.99...three pair of underwear from Victoria's Secret...$14.99....dinner for 4 anywhere in El Paso...Well, almost! Anyway - we said "This is it - that is the absolute last $$ we spend on pull-up diapers for that boy", (not to mention the really stinky crap that goes along w/ it that one of us would get the benefit of cleaning). A week and a half later, it's done. It only took two horrible accidents (one in Best Buy), and an extraordinary amount of candy and treats. Our kid is amped-up on sugar, but at least he's pooping in the toilet! He'll then be so proud of his feat that he has to show you, and runs out and sticks his butt straight up in the air for proper cleaning. We are so proud of him!

Kimber Elle just turned 7 months, and she's teething pretty heavily. It is neat to see her completely different personality and preferences - she's chill most of the time right now, and a total extrovert. She loves to be held, is an absolute snuggle-bug, and she smells like mama's milk as she's still nursing. She wants to always be in the same room that everyone else is in, even when she's dead tired. She's got amazingly soft skin, long fingers and eyelashes, and a light olive complexion with brown straight hair and blue eyes. We're all smitten.Isn't it amazing that we have two beautiful children that adore each other so much? As Kimber Elle came into our lives, we were all afraid of jealousy, acting-out, and Jet's overall change with the adjustment of a baby sister. He had us all to himself for 2 1/2 years, so we didn't know what to expect. To our amazement, he has been Kimber's biggest fan and care-giver thus far. Kimber's eyes light up when Jet comes around. She thinks of him as her non-stop 24 hour personal entertainment. He makes her laugh like nobody else can. We hope to see much more of the same in the years to come.

Year In Review 2007

New Year's Resolution: Take more pictures...