Christmas 2010

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~We had a great time visiting with family for Christmas. We went to Maurine and Jim's for Christmas Eve and then to Mike's Mom's for Christmas dinner. Uncle John made manicotti and eggplant lasagna and it was tasty. Then we went to visit the pasture in Oklahoma. Brayden had fun opening up some gifts and shooting us all with his foam bullets.

It's Christmas time~

~~~~~The Christmas lights in town are so pretty. We went on a tour last night and saw these. Someone has started giving carriage rides in the country club. What a fun way to see all the lights and the candy cane wrapped trees that line many of the streets. The Loch Ness monster is from the Morningside addition. You can see Nessy's reflection in the pond.

It's official~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Kara and Joey got their marriage license yesterday. December 31st is the big day with the vows being said after midnight for a wedding date of 1/1/11.

May You Find Him

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May you find Him to be-

the peace for every struggle,

the supply for every need,

the solution for every problem,

the escape for every temptation,

the release for every burden,

the balm for every pain,

the comfort for every sorrow,

the victory for every battle,

the wisdom for every decision,

the strength for every tomorrow

the song for every day. ~Roy Lessin~

As we celebrate this season and the Gift that God has given us, may you find Him.

Thanksgiving weekend

We have had a very busy holiday weekend. It has been so nice to celebrate with family. Children always make every occasion more fun. Friday morning we went to Davidson, Oklahoma with Mike's family for our Decoration Day at the cemetery. Brayden, my great nephew, got to pick some cotton and we ate at the Bomber Inn. They had the best greasy French fried onion cheeseburgers. Mmmmm...

Friday night we helped Kara and Joey babysit, Kinsey, Joey's 8 month old niece. She is so precious~

Saturday we traveled to Southlake and met up with Tim and Rhonda who have been in Waco celebrating Thanksgiving with their kids. Jon and Kelly and the kids came too. We missed seeing Eric's family as they had an early flight out. Angela and Andy hosted us at their house and we had a nice lunch and a few rounds of Scrabble before they had to leave to catch their flight home to California.

Pictured: Caleb sitting at the table. Austin and Addison playing in the leaves. Jon on the trampoline with Abby. Brayden as we waited for our greasy burgers at the Bomber Inn in Frederick. Ryan and Kara posing for me. Kara as she rocked Kinsey to sleep.

Blessed

May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace. Numbers 6:24-26

Celebrating the day with a thankful heart.

Happy Thanksgiving

Check out this Thanksgiving day reminder. Here's hoping that you and yours have a blessed day of great food, family and friends.

~Amore~

We had a great time at Julie and Robert's wedding in San Antonio. The weather was perfect, the setting was so pretty and Julie was beautiful. Kenny made the cheesecakes and Maurine decorated them. The pumpkin cheesecake was my favorite but there was also Chocolate with Ganache and a Turtle Cheesecake. It is so nice to have such talented family!~ The Antique Rose Emporium was a great place for such an intimate event.
My favorite part of the wedding was when we all gathered around the bride and groom and sang, Amore. "When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's amore". It is a family tradition with Robert's family. His family was so nice too. I enjoyed meeting them. It is nice to have them as part of our extended family

Cold weather calls for hot soup~

Market Street was sampling this soup so I bought the ingredients and this is what we had for dinner.

Black Bean Jalapeno Sausage Soup

1 pound Windthorst Jalapeno Sausage, chopped coarsely (I removed the casing first)

1 medium onion, chopped
1 T minced garlic
1/2 cup sweet roasted red pepper, chopped
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes, optional
1 tsp ground cumin
2 T olive oil
2 1/2 to 3 cups of chicken broth
2-15 oz cans black beans, rinsed and drained. (I only used one can)
Salt and pepper to taste

In a large stock pot: Saute onions, garlic, peppers, pepper flakes, cumin and salt in oil for 10 minutes. Add broth. Simmer over medium heat for 15 minutes. Lightly mash beans with potato masher or hand blender to thicken. (I didn't do this)
Enjoy~ Mike said this recipe was a keeper. Very tasty!

Annual Pumpkin Contest

Garry, Gracie and Mickey decorated pumpkins this year for their annual contest. Scottie and Keeley were too busy with their little ones to participate this year. Please take time to vote on your favorite one as the family prize is bragging rights.

Nice Visit

Ryan and Sarah visited with us a few weeks ago. We had a great visit. Ryan has been busy preparing Jared's truck for the SEMA show in Las Vegas and Sarah is busy with law school at SMU, so we were blessed to have them find the time to visit us.

Lazy Fall Day

A few weeks ago, Mike and I went to the lake for the day on a quiet Monday. The weather was b.e.a.u.t.i.f.u.l. ~ I fished for a bit, Mike fished for most of the day. We had a little cookout. I enjoyed reading in the hammock. Some of these pictures are from my view from the hammock. Did you know that bees can swim? I thought the waves made from the bee were pretty neat. And I played with my camera taking pictures in black and white and sepia. It was a long day as we picked up Kara from DFW airport and her midnight flight was delayed until 1 a.m. We got home about 3:30, but Ryan met us for a late dinner at IHOP and we killed some time at WalMart. So it was all good. We enjoyed seeing Ryan two days in a row as he and Sarah had come to visit us the day before. A double treat!

~News Flash~

Kara and Joey are back from their trip to Paris. Joey proposed~ They are planning a small intimate wedding.

Pink Glove Dance for the Cure

Click here to see the Pink Glove video. You can see Joey in the part with the radiology department's dance.

Dallas Cowboy Sunday

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Sunday a group of us from work went to see the Cowboys vs the Titans. It was a lot of fun but it would have been better if the Boys had won. We had a tailgate party. We saw some unusual characters, including this guy whose tatoo was featured in a current sports magazine. The bottom two pictures are the view from my seat...one with the giant sitting in front of me blocking my great view and the second after he left. Really? If you are that tall, why not sit one row back, as we had no one behind us but a concrete wall. Trace Adkins sang the National Anthem. I even won money on the trivia game on the bus. We came home to a fantastic lightening show in the northern sky, but it never rained here!