4 Doors!

It was time. We had to break down. We managed to keep our awesome Mini Cooper as our main "FAMILY CAR" for the first 16 months of Amelia's life. It was a great family car. It took us all over town; to the coast; it hauled tons of plants, trees, and fertilizer on our trips to Rainbow Gardens. It served us well and it will always be remembered as the car we brought Amelia home in. It was my first ever brand new car. I remember when I ordered and built it on line at mini.com. I tracked the building process and I checked on the shipping of the car from Oxford, England. I even was given a "Car Shower" at work by my sweet co-workers. They had car accessory gifts for me to open and they even made a brag book with pictures of me and my Mini. So cute! Yes, lots of great memories in that Mini Cooper.

Meet our new family car....

We got a 2011 Chevy Equinox LTZ. I just love having 4 doors....
By the way, we still have our Mini. I wasn't ready to give up our first family car. ha ha!

Colonial Williamsburg

A couple of months ago we took a trip to Williamsburg, VA. We're really getting the bang for our buck with "under two can fly for free" rule. Amelia has been on a plane many times and she loves to travel, just like Mom and Dad. We went with Granddad and Uncle Daniel and had a great time. 1985 was the last time all three of them had taken a trip there together. All of Dan's family is still in Virginia and it was exciting for me and Amelia to meet them all.

The landscape is absolutely breath-taking! This is near Lake Powell...

Here is Uncle Floyd's (Floyd is Amelia's great-great uncle and brother to Dan's daddy) cottage.
Amelia in Uncle Floyd's front porch.
Uncle Floyd and Amelia
A picture of a picture of Dan's grandparents...
Tree canopies surround their land. Right next door to Uncle Floyd's house is where Dan's cousin, Brian, lives. They had us over for dinner one night and we had a great time visiting with them.
Nice driveway, huh?

After visiting with family, we spent some time in Colonial Williamsburg. It's an old way of life. Very simple. Very peaceful. William & Mary college is tucked right in the middle of all the Colonial backdrop. It was neat to see horse drawn carriages with period costumes and college co-eds jogging on the same dirt road. It was still Fall when we were there. Check out this beautiful tree...
Amelia got into the festive attire...

Nathan and I celebrated our 5th Anniversary on this trip and we had dinner at Christiana Campbells Tavern. A place that George Washington frequented back in the day.

We attended a choir performance the night of our anniversary in this church. An evening of Requiems. Many of the pieces I sang in college.

The Governors Mansion.

Here's what happens when you have too much Colonial fun!

Daniel, can you remember why Nathan and I laughed so hard at this picture???
Great trip!

WICKED!

Jan. 2009- Saw it in New York- AMAZING!!!
Saw it again last year in San Antonio. Just bought tickets for me, my mom, and sister to go. February 17th. Until then, I'll listen to the track on my iPhone. I just bought it yesterday because I'm obsessed with this show! If you haven't seen it, you must! It's soooo good. I wish I could have seen it when Kristin Chenoweth was Glinda. I just love her. Both actresses I've seen play Elphaba were amazing. Can't wait!

My favorite (everybody's fav.) song in the show..."Defying Gravity". It closes the first Act and leaves me with my jaw on the floor. When I grow up, I want to sing on Broadway.

Sea World

We spent New Year's Day with The Hamann's at Sea World. Ever since then, all Joy hears out of Jayla's mouth is "Sea World....Sea Lions....with Lala!" Jayla calls Amelia "Lala" and it's so cute. Amelia returns the cuteness by calling Jayla "Ja-la". They do their best. Such sweet little friends. Jayla has pink eye right now and I'm hoping Amelia doesn't get it. They were holding hands yesterday so chances are, we'll be calling the Dr for some eye drops. I'm keeping a close "eye" on her. Hee Hee.

Amelia checking out the Sea Lions

Thank goodness for Radio Flyer. This wagon is a miracle worker for these two! They love it. Here they are enjoying a box of raisins. Yummy! We can't wait to go back again.

Hello, Blog! I've missed you!

It's been a long time but, at least for today, I'm going to just jump right in with what's going on....
Nothing too terribly exciting...just life. Work is great. Amelia is growing like a weed. She's 17 months now and she's a little (cute) tornado.
This picture was taken before breakfast at the Gunther house. She loves flowers and to put her hands in the dirt. She takes after her daddy and his love to plant things. Speaking of, we have a couple of trees we need to get in the ground.

Last night I went bowling with my MOPS buds. We had a great time. I think we were the rowdiest group there. I'm not one to brag but I must boast about my game! Normally, I'm horrible at bowling but I got strike after strike. You add in a couple of gutter balls and that got me a score of 146. Not too bad for a regular 'ole mom.

Jenn has her own shoes, ball, and bag. Sweet, huh?

Thanks, girls, for a really fun night! You each are a blessing to me!

Congratulations, Brandie

A few weeks ago I was, once again, on our amazing women's retreat with some church friends. We had a wonderful time of spiritual renewal and fellowship. I came home early on Saturday night so we could drive to Port Aransas on Sunday morning for Brandie's wedding. She and Clint were getting married on the beach. So perfect for the two of them. Brandie is an old AOII sorority sister.
Most of their family is here in TX but they live in Maui. Nathan and I are trying to figure out when we can go and visit them!

Here's the happy couple.

Becki, Shannon and I with the beautiful bride....

Amelia and mommy...

We had a great time celebrating the start of their new life together!

What a Stinker!

A few weeks ago my dad came in for a visit. He stayed the night and had a good time playing with Amelia. He hasn't stayed over since Zeta's knee surgery in June so it was a good time for him to baby the baby and the dog all at the same time. Zeta seems to be doing well but every now and then, after a few good runs, she'll start limping again. My dad was so eager to feed Zeta, take her out to potty, brush her coat, and rub her belly. He asked what time he could let her out in the morning. I told him not to worry about it. We normally let her out when we leave the house, around 8am. Well, Dad just couldn't help himself from "mothering" the dog so he let her out around 6am. Pitch dark outside and the perfect time for little critters to be out and about. Well, Zeta got sprayed by a skunk! That's not even the worst of it. He let her back in the house before he realized what had happened. She ran in and started rubbing her face all over the carpet. Nathan and I woke up to a strong and pungent smell of skunk. Nathan opened our bedroom door and walked down the hall and immediately came back to share the news with me. It was horrid! We kicked the pooch out and started spraying air fresheners. Nothing helped. I got dressed and got Amelia dressed and we headed out for our day. I dropped her off to Ms. Kini and explained that they might smell a little skunk smell b/c our dog had just been sprayed. Her teachers kind of giggled and went on about their business. About an hour later Ms. Kini comes up to the Admin office with Amelia in her arms. Amelia is in a new outfit. No shoes. No socks. Hair a little damp and she's squeaky clean. They had to give her a bath at school with V-8 juice because she smelled like SKUNK! Poor baby!

Guess what Amelia was for Halloween?
Now that's inspiration!