very random pictures

Pancake face.

A visit to Kyle

On the way home from San Marcos we stopped in Kyle to visit Scott's aunt & uncle... and all the cousins who dropped in too. As soon as we got everyone's names figured out, then another batch of cousins would arrive. Do you know how many Albert, Clayton and Allens there are in that family?! Geesh!
Scott's aunt lives with her son for constant health care. She & her husband
have both had their fair share of sickness this past couple of years.
However, Scott & I both felt that this was the BEST visit
we've ever had with the both of them.
That's saying alot since Scott has known them his whole life.
It was a great visit...
these pictures are posted especially for Scott's mom.
Patty & Clayton said they were pretty sure you remembered
what they looked like, but they'd pose for a picture anyway. :)

fall colors on the river

Another nice day outside.
This is in San Marcos at the River Pub.

lunch in San Marcos

Scott, Madison & I went to San Marcos for lunch yesterday to visit with my aunt, uncle & cousins. We met at the San Marcos River Pub. The colors on the trees were beautiful! We enjoyed outdoor seating & watching the kayakers (is that the right way to say it?) on the River behind us.

Tim will be graduating from Texas State University in a couple of weeks!

Yay Tim! Cousins... old & young. Bet you can't tell which is the old one? :)

We are quite the crew! Even without the boys! Jared was working & Dillon was at a football game, otherwise they wouldn't have

fit at our table! It's a myth that the trees don't change colors in Texas.

This year we have quite the display of leaf colors - they say it's

because the summer/fall was so dry.

I am happy to see the colors.... it reminds me of Iowa.

we love Rudy's

Many of you who have come to visit know that Rudy's is our family's favorite Austin-area restaurant. I guess avid readers of our blog probably know it too... Here's some highlights from last night's outing to Rudy's: Madison & I patiently wait for our order.

I thought Madison was doing a funny face too. Oh wait... she was! heehee

You'll never guess where Jared just bopped Dillon.

Scott loves it when I take his picture in public places.

court update

Jared had his "First Appearace" yesterday with the County Court at Law Judge #2.

Praise! He qualified for a court-appointed attorney.
Praise! He is eligible for a pre-trial intervention program (basically probation).
Praise! If Jared does not get into trouble with the law for 6 months his charges will be DISMISSED.
Prayer! Jared needs to make wise choices to avoid facing 1 year in jail and/or $4000 fine.

another post for my sister-in-law & her family

I just spent some time surfing our church's website, looking for some snipet of the worship music. Specifically looking for last night's worship experience. Yes.... Emily sang again! I didn't know she was going to be on stage otherwise I'd have brought my camera since I've been given a directive from Laura. I'm sorry. :( I shall be ready for the month of December when she'll be back on stage singing with Aaron Ivey (lead singer from SPUR58).

But let me describe it to you.... she was WONDERFUL! Emily got to sing with the long-time worship pastor, Andy Melvin. He gave her a few opportunities to really be heard. One particular song she sang solo. Scott & I just marveled at how confident she is and how beautiful her voice is. It's sooooo good to see & hear her praising God which is exactly where her heart is.

Something so cool about the Austin Stone worship: a tone-deaf, 'can't-carry-a-tune-in-a-bucket' type of person like me can sing at the top of their lungs (everyone is singing this loud!) & know that it is a joyful noise to God. THIS is why I love that place. Of course the preaching is fabulous... but the music.... (sigh)hmmmmm... it's good. Really Good. Thank you Emily! Keep using your gift!

beautiful fall weather

The weather is progressively getting colder & more fall-like. The trees are such pretty yellow & light greens with a few reds. Many trees here are called 'live oaks' will keep their green leaves year-round, but the others turn colors & drop leaves like up north.

Daytime temps are still hanging out at 70 degrees but the nights get down to 50's & 40's. Here is the end of our street last Thursday when I was leaving for work. There was a fog-cloud hanging over the new playground equipment next to the swim pool. It was real pretty.

Daytripping

Scott's weekend assignment from work... go to Waco and 'pop in' on the crew who is working there. Waco is about an hour north of us, so we decided to make it a daytrip with Dillon & Madison (Jared had to work).

We started out the trip at 11:30 from Round Rock. We stopped at the Burger King on our way out of town which was an extra special treat for 2 reasons:

#1) There aren't very many Burger Kings in our area, so the likelihood of stopping at one is pretty rare when we're looking for fast food.

#2) We haven't gotten fast food (or any restaurant food) in ages! We have been trying to save money and let's face it... I can' think of a better way to spend $5.50 than a burger, fries & medium drink.

We listened to music all the way to Waco which is always fun. We had to compromise a few times between Scott's 80's music, Madison's Christmas music, and Dillon's rap-crap. But all-in-all we sang most of the way there.

We turned onto the road where the work crew was supposed to be. All of the sudden Madison & Dillon scream "FIRE!" and point out their window. I can't see anything, and from their excitement I'm thinking there should be some heavy black smoke but all I see is trees & fields && some sort of factory. Then suddenly there appeared a ball-ish flame in the air at tree level. Oh! It's a methane smokestack thingy that burns off gas! Ah Ha! Neat. So we took a picture.

After driving up & down the road looking for the work crew we gave up on the surprise visit idea & simply called the guys to find out where they were. Lo & behold they said they're at the factory building where the fire was coming from! HA! BUT that' no oridinary factory.... it's a chicken processing plant. Ewww.... what will we see? Will it be stinky? Are there going to be dead chickens laying around the backside? We're soon going to find out.

We approached the guard shack to get onto the grounds of this plant. OMG. Seriously we looked like Chevy Chase & his family from one of the 'Vacation' movies.... picture this: a family in a suburban pulling up to a Chicken Procesing Plant on a Saturday, Scott is wearing a white tank top with the sleeves ripped off, there are Burger King wrappers all over the inside of the truck, and Dillon has his camera ready to take pictures of anything gross we see. I'm busting a gut laughing.

The guy doesn't come out & doesn't come out. So all of us look through the guard house window only to see the guard standing in the bathroom SHAVING HIS HEAD?! He sees us & comes running out the door dressed in an inside-out athletic t-shirt, bits of hair all over his shoulders and a security badge pinned to his inside-out shirt that looks like he got in his happy meal. Did I mention that his shirt was inside-out? I absolutely turned my head out the passenger-side window because I was laughing so hard.

Needless to say we got through security & Scott checked on his crew. We didn't get any pictures because, well honestly, there wasn't much to take pictures of. The grossest thing was the high-pressure water hose on the work truck was covered in chicken fat. Ewwww.... Madison & I decided to commentate on our situation when one of Scott's employees surprised us by opening the Suburban door. Take a look:

We concluded our daytrip to Waco by visiting the Dr Pepper Museum. Did you know that Dr Pepper is made in Waco?

The museum was a bit anti-climactic. It cost $16 for all of us and there was no guided tour. No audio narration to direct us where to walk. It was simply 3 floors of Dr Pepper memoriabilia & early bottling machines with plaques to read along the way. However there was a mechanical wax dude who pretended like he was the originator of Dr Pepper... although his story was interesting, I found myself intrigued more by the wax veins in his hands & the realistic way his hair folicles looked on his balding head. Truthfully, I can't remember much of waht he said at all.

The soda fountain shop at the end of the tour offered HOT Dr Pepper. Madison & I thought we'd try it out. But they were sold out (what?!) so we bought fountain Dr Peppers. Not free. Bought. See what I mean about anti-climactic. Oh well.

The road trip home involved more singing. We stopped in a small town called Salado (pronounced: Saa-laid-o) and went to a place that maked their own beef jerky. We bought Jerky & Summer Sausage. Yum.

Here's something interesting we saw on the way home:The picture is a little blurry because Dillon took it out his window while we were going 70mph, but if you look closely this is a small herd of cows. They are black with one large white stripe around their middles. Madison & I nicknamed them: Panda Cows.

Happy half birthday to me!

Today is my half birthday! Yay!

so i was bored....

I guess this is one way to fill a lonely evening... to play with the web cam!

can't get enough of the outdoors!

Today's temp was 70 degrees & we couldn't stand being in the house any longer! We found this great trail not too far from our house so we went on a hike (if you could call it that since the trail was completely paved & had park benches or picnic tables every 25 yeards). The trees are changing to a light green or yellow. They actually do loose their leaves, so it felt more 'fall-like' than I had remembered.

Dillon's friend came along too.... it's Carli, she's the girl Dillon took to Homecoming. She spent the afternoon with us & seems like a great girl (she even enjoyed my 'yellow' meal, see next post). She's a soccer player, so Dillon brought the soccer ball along. 'Mr. Rugby' only had to jump the barbed-wire fence twice to retrieve the ball he kicked too hard. :)

random weekend pics

I think I posted once before how the meals I cook tend to be color-coded.... not intentionally, of course. Tonight was 'yellow' night: Cheesy potatoes & ham, Corn, Pears, and biscuits. We're thinking of making it a challenge for me to cook a week's worth of colored meals, like tomorrow could be green, Tuesday is blue, etc. Any suggestions on blue night??

I found these t-shirts on sale at CVS for $2.50. Who could pass up such a cheap shirt? So I bought one for Scott. Ummm... the only size larger than a medium was a 3XL. I tried washing it in hot water to get it to shrink, but I didn't have much luck. Doesn't he look like a little kid?

this is what you call INFRASTRUCTURE!

We were sitting at a stop light today & this was the view.

beautiful day for a drive

We decided to go driving & exploring near Lago Vista while Madison was preparing for her choir & dance performances. The roads started getting twisty & turney as we headed up the side of the hills. Off in the distance is Lake Travis; it's part of the Lower Colorado River.
Look how blue the sky is! We were so high I felt like we could reach up & touch the sky!

This is where we decided we'd build our next house. Love the view!

Right over there is where the deck should go....

Dillon joined us for the trip.

same girl, same day

Yes, this is Madison on performance day. She first performed in a dance recital where the girls had to dress 'wacky'. She danced to the song "Lime in the Coconut" which was really cute. Who knew Madison could dance?!
This is Madison & her friend getting ready for a Regional Choir performance. She looked so pretty! The formal dress she had to wear here was a vast difference from what she wore just hours earlier at the dance performance!

my Veteran's Day

Isn't it amazing how one day off from work will rejuvenate & restore! I had Tuesday off because it was Veteran's Day. Now, don't get me wrong, I completely appreciate all the folks who have served in the military & sacrificed their time and sometimes their lives.... it's just that this year I paid my own tribute by cleaning my house. More specifically; the kitchen, living room & 2 bathrooms. Oh, and I paid a few bills.
I actually woke up earlier than normal because I was so anxious to get started getting the house put in order. Now that's tellin' ya something.

I got up & started a crockpot of chili right away. Yum! We shared it at supper time with the next door neighbors, Yvonne & little Dominick. We have such fun neighbors & Dominick is so entertaining now that he's talking so much (he's 1-1/2 yrs old).

The only times I left the house was to take Dillon & Madison to school (I miss doing that everyday!), doctor's appt @ 11:00, go to the pet store for get dog food, stop at CVS to fill a prescription, and then back to pick Madison up at 4:30.

We enjoyed a light rain in the morning, but it cleared up & I was able to open the windows & doors to enjoy the upper 70's temps. I started the day in jeans & longs sleeve and eventually ended up in a tank & shorts. I LOVE THIS WEATHER!!!

So all-in-all my bathroom is sparkley & I have taken a bath everynight! Plus I found a book I started to read a few weeks ago - which I have now resumed reading. Oh, and the water bill is paid & mailed. Good deal.

this year's school pictures

Madison is a freshmanDillon is a sophmore

Jared is a senior.

This is his yearbook photo, senior portraits have yet to be taken.... stay tuned!

silly news

Sad News: Please join me in remembering a great icon of the entertainment community. The Pillsbury Doughboy died yesterday of a yeast infection and trauma complications from repeated pokes in the belly. He was 71.

Doughboy was buried in a lightly greased coffin. Dozens of celebrities turned out to pay their respects, including Mrs. Butterworth, Hungry Jack, the California Raisins, Betty Crocker, the Hostess Twinkies, and Captain Crunch. The grave site was piled high with flours. Aunt Jemima delivered the eulogy and lovingly described Doughboy as a man who never knew how much he was kneaded.

Doughboy rose quickly in show business, but his later life was filled with turnovers. He was not considered a very smart cookie, wasting much of his dough on half- baked schemes. Despite being a little flaky at times, he still was a crusty old man and was considered a positive roll model for millions. Doughboy is survived by his wife Play Dough, three children: John Dough, Jane Dough and Dosey Dough, plus they had one in the oven. He is also survived by his elderly father, Pop Tart. The funeral was held at 3:50 for about 20 minutes.

If this made you smile for even a brief second, please rise to the occasion and share that smile with someone else who may be having a crumby day and kneads a lift .