Scary Austin Zoo

Fridays have turned into Sam and Logan's play days!

Today was perfect for a zoo day.

Only problem is the Austin zoo- not so perfect.

I have been here before, I know what to expect, I warned Tracey, so she is prepared.

It will be a great day with the boys!

Favorite picture of the day:

self portrait on the train .

Sam and Logan both LOVE trains. They SHOULD, as both of their grandpas are BIG train people

This is Logan thinking, Sam you do realize you are touching my puppy!?

This is the most random train ride you could ever take. It does wind through beautiful hill country and it is a very long ride so those are the positives.

Along the way, you can be entertained by UFO's, pirate ships, animal heads, and weird wood cut outs.

All in the spirit of Keep Austin Weird

From the moment that I met Tracey, I said , Im going to like this girl. After one year, there are many things that I have learned about her to confirm those first thoughts.

Heres one that has been such a bonus: her photography but really??? Now all of my pictures dont compare to hers so I have to go on her blog and steal all of hers.

The one above was one of my favorites of hers for the day.

Sam loved the goats. He all but would shove his hand down their throats with food.

Logan had a much different approach. He would put the food in the trough and yell, "Come here white horse" He wanted nothing to do with touching them. He kept a safe distance.

He didnt care whether they were horses or really goats.

Besides the goats, the boys were not much interested in the animals. They played with rocks and sticks on the paths.

Can't say too much about the Austin zoo but I will say that it was a great day out for the 4 of us.

Meditating

Sometimes you just need to go to that place...

even if it is at McDonald's.

VHS Winter Formal

Jordan was a last minute entry on going to this school dance. All the other girls decided to go and so that changed her mind. This was a formal dance at the Oasis for VHS. These 5 girls went together and Jordan had fun.

This wasnt too exciting for me as she goes to a dance every other weekend. She always has fun and she needs those breaks with the heavy load that she carries.

Megan, Sierra, Patusha, Jordan, & Cassie:

An avid reader, a volley ball player, a SAT pro, one that tries to do it all, and a synchronized swimmer.

That is a mix of girls!

Jackson's First Buck

Jackson's first buck - shot during the last weekend of the hunting season. We are now looking forward to spring turkey season.

(the we must mean Tom, Uncle Chris and Jackson-as Tom was the one to write this post)

Las Vegas

My sisters Christmas gift to me:

Surprise trip to Vegas!

I had not seen my sister in almost 6 months and it was just such an extra bonus to get away from the usual schedule and have 5 days to myself.

My room was fabulous. We were at the Palazo. I could have thought of many people that should have been sharing this suite with me.

Nice dinners out

Mirage breakfast buffet

and of course Vegas shopping!

I had a 16 mile run scheduled and this one was certainly the highlight of this marathon. I felt like I was running the marathon that day. So much excitement around and a personal trainer to take care of me. This run goes down as one of my all time favorites. I had a blast. My sister even got in about 10 miles .

This was an incredible 5 days.

Time with my sister, time to myself, eating, shopping, running, getting my hair done by Kelly Cardenas.

It was so great. I really got time to relax and recharge the batteries.

I really think my husband should look into shipping me off once a year like that because I come home recharged and ready to go.

Thank you so much Char!

Larson!

His 2nd Grade Yearbook Photo

New Years Eve 2011

Yearly tradition: New Years Eve in San Antonio.

We decided to go to Sea World because they were celebrating New Years at an earlier hour and then we could go and have a dinner outside of the park.

The kids thought this was a special day because we allowed them to play arcade games. We usually do not do that. They love playing the games. Thats just what they need, more stuffed animals.

It was a beautiful day and we really enjoyed the day together.

The 9:00 New Years Eve countdown and fireworks. We loved that the kids got to see fireworks. The boys never make it to midnight. We got to go to dinner and then the view from our hotel room was crazy. From a 180 view, you could look anywhere in the sky and see amazing fireworks for 45 minutes. I have never seen as many displays as this. It was like the Epcot show.

Exactly midnight!

Happy 2012!

Good morning!

Oh no! January 1st. Logan's first time out.

Our new years day was filled with swimming, eating, movies, and so much fun being together!

Back to Austin to start the new year.

Winter Dance

Jordan and Gemma

Gemma and some friends got to come to our tri-stake winter dance in Kyle, Texas. I love that these girls have been able to remain such good friends despite the 2 hour separation.

This was such a cool venue for this dance. It's called Texas Old Town. It is used as a wedding venue. The outside grounds were beautiful. The cool thing about this night was that the girls were having a great night and the big girls were too. Jenn and I went and had a long dinner together and got to catch up before picking the girls up.