My special "Emmie"

We celebrated Emily's 14th birthday in April with a special dinner at the Olive Garden. Because of this, I didn't get any photos to share. :( So here are some of my favorite photos of her instead.

"Day of beauty" at Aunt Debbie's



She had the best costume in the entire play!







About one month old with Grand Ma & Grand Pa

First beach trip - 16 month old with big sister Amanda

Playing dress-up at Grand Ma & Grand Pa's

Striking a pose in OZ!

Man she has changed over the years, but she is still my little "cutie."

I love you Emmie!

Wide open spaces...

Ok, not exactly wide open but more open than most.....

We purchased 20 acres with our friends Paul & Jen a few weeks ago. I am just now getting the info on the blog.... My bad! :)

We are super excited about it and can't wait to start building our new home. This will be the view from our back porch!

The kids have been busy planning what kind of animals we should get - horses, goats, chickens and a donkey are on the top of the list.

This is where Paul & Jen will build their house.

Our windmill

We spent a few days out there this past week - shredding and having the new road put in.

David & Paul supervising the county's handy work.

....This is going to be such an adventure~

My little baby girl.... NOT

My little baby turned 17 today! Has she changed a lot since last year???

It is so amazing as it seems like yesterday she was born. She will be all grown up and off at college before long.

She got a Pink Dell Mini - Isn't it cute?? Maybe I need one!

Remember to cherish every moment now, as they will be gone before you know it!!!!!

Memorial weekend

We had a great Memorial Weekend. We spent it at Lake Georgetown camping with Eric & Lisa and Markus & Constance. My Mom & Dad were with us for two days and Paul & Jen drove up for a quick visit from San Marcos.

We spent time:

Swimming...

roasting marshmallows....

hanging out by the campfire....

and having fun with friends!!!!!

We were not too busy to remember our Veterans though - Thank you to everyone who has served!!

Land of the Free BECAUSE of the Brave!!!!

Junior Prom

Amanda went to her junior prom on Saturday night. She went with a boy that she has been friends with since kindergarden. They went to dinner at Jardin Corona before the prom and then a group of friends went to eat at IHOP afterwards.

She looked so beautiful!!!!!!

Field Day & Photo Shoot

Allie had field day at school on Friday. Looks like she had a blast playing some good old-fashioned games!

Friday evening David took a few family photos for our friends Markus & Constance. I think they turned great!! What do you think??

How does your garden grow? Part II

It has only been about a month since we planted our garden and it is well on it’s way to becoming a “big, healthy” garden. All of the seeds we planted have grown into nice size plants and most are covered in blooms…. A few even have small veggies, - green tomatoes, radish, squash & bell peppers. Soon it will be harvest time and everything will taste so good because we grew it ourselves.

Emily and Allie have both been working hard on the garden. Allie helping me water and Emily pulling weeds. I hope they both learn how enjoyable and relaxing it can be to care for something and watch it grow.

Check back in a few weeks to see the results of all our hard work.

We didn't go splat!!!!!!!!!!

We headed out for another fun fillws weekend of camping but decided to spice it up a bit this time.... A few of us went skydiving.

The weather did not look like it was going to cooperate Saturday morning as we woke up to rain, but we actually lucked out and were able to skydive after all!!

The weather cleared and the wind died down just in time for our 1 pm check-in at Skydive San Marcos. David, Eric, Jared, Markus & I were all up for the challenge. Felisha, Lisa & all the kids were there cheering us on from the ground.

David was so nervous and really did not want to do it, but he was a real trooper.

We were all a little nervous as we got on our gear and went through instructions with our tandem masters.

The plane was really the scariest part. The anticipation of the door opening and then jumping out really made my stomach a little queasy. But man was it worth it!!! It was amazing! There is really no way to explain how great it was except to say “you’ve got to experience it!”

As it turned out David absolutely LOVED it and wants to do it again soon!!!!

The "gang" right after our jump from 11,500 foot! We all had a blast! Eric, Markus, Me, David & Jared

After the jump we celebrated back at the campground with some great steaks. It was a fun way to celebrate our bravery (or stupidity depending on who you talk to)!

We even had a little visitor that helped himself to some of the leftovers in the trash that night.

Easter 2009

We spent a few days over Easter weekend at Lake Georgetown. The weather was suppose to be rainy and cold but it actually turned out to be nice. We dyed some eggs, sat by the fire and did a little bit of relaxing!

On Easter Sunday we had lunch with my oldest and dearest friend -Tammy Plante (Trent) and her family. Tammy and I have been friends since 8th grade and have a long vivid history together!! :) We usually get to see each other once or twice a year at her aunt's house in Leander. This was the case on Sunday. We had lunch and an egg hunt. It was great fun but also a little sad as it will be the last get-together. Her aunt, Barbara, is moving to Dallas!

How does your garden grow?

Work has been absolutely insane since I came back from vacation!! I took a new role at Dell and I am working a ton of hours trying to ramp. The new role is global and I have a lot of late night, early morning calls with other regions around the world.

There has not been a lot of time for fun, but Allie and I managed to find some time to plant a garden at our new house. We went to Home Depot and found green, yellow & red bell pepper plants, potatoes sets and lot of seeds. Grand Ma & Grand Pa (Betty & Ed) brought us some tomato plants as well.

Allie and I spent one afternoon (between my pager going off & work e-mails) tilling and planting.

We ended up planting the following: Red, Yellow & Green bell peppers, Peas, Yellow & Summer squash, Okra, Radish, Cucumber, Gold potatoes and Strawberries. If we give it lots of attention and care we hope to have a great harvest to share with our friends later this summer.

Hope her thumb is greener than her mother's!