Christmas Fun

We went to the Christmas Party at church last Friday (12/19). They asked people to make gingerbread houses as part of the decorations. As you see there were many different shapes and sizes. Santa showed up (you might recognize him).
And my sister, Jenni, came into town for Christmas - always something fun to do!
Merry Christmas to all!!

Christmas Fun

Weekend happenings...

Tracy came home this weekend and cooked for us. Friday night she made fried mushrooms (my favorite) with horseradish sauce - YUM!!! The entree was stuffed tomatoes - with a cheese mixture - and tilapia (not sure I'm spelling that correctly) over asparagus with hollandaise - SOOOOO GOOD!!!
Saturday she made homemade mac & cheese - the best I've ever had - sorry Mom!
And tonight she made a concoction that I'm not sure what all was in it but it was very good!! It was kind of like chili but had rice and mushrooms in it! And it was perfect for the "cold" weather we're having!! It got into the 30's last night!
We didn't eat low fat this week end but we sure ate good!!
The other pictures are of Ransom - I bought the boys sweatshirts this weekend and the shirts came with a little AM/FM radio. Ransom's was in the shape of a guitar - no need to say more!!
Love to all!!

Our Weekend...

Ryan's Football

Ryan played football this year for the 7th grade - B team at Mayde Creek Junior High. Grandma, Ransom and I were able to catch his last game this past Tuesday (11/4). You can pick him out of the crowd either by the number 29 on his jersey or the long white socks he wore - he's the only one on his team with his legs completely covered.
The pic of him playing in the game - he's in the center, a little to the left - you can see the score board. Unfortunately, Mayde Creek was not the winning team this night. But, I think for the most part, Ryan enjoyed playing football this season.
All of the pictures of Ryan practicing on the field were taken with my camera on it's highest zoom (we weren't allowed any closer)- that's why they tend to be blurry.

Ryan & Football

Empty Nesters FHE

Check out the "Empty Nesters" blog found under "BLOGS OF FAMILY & FRIENDS" in the column to the right. You can see what we do for fun!!

Family Reunion

Dan's family (on his Mom's side) has a family reunion every October. It's held at Brazos Bend State Park and we have a really good time visiting with everyone - aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. Unfortunately it seems to be one of the few times each year we get to see the extended family but we're thankful to the Hovaters for getting us all together!
We usually conclude the gathering with a walk around the lake. We're always in search of alligators and this year we were not disappointed. We saw a big one, up close, but not too close. The park ranger thought he was 10 ft long!
Thanks to everyone for helping us make more good memories!!

Hovater Family Reunion

Amy's 16th Birthday Party

Believe it or not, Amy turned 16 this month. She had a party that she had been planning for months and I mean months!! As you can see in the pictures it was a costume/birthday party - pretty cool idea! Her mom had a couple of REALLY nice friends come and help set up and clean up - Linda & Lacy. The turn out was great and everyone seemed to have a good time. Happy 16th, Amy!!

Amy's Birthday Party

Phoenix Trip

My sister, Jenni, came up with this great idea - the "girls" in the family would meet in Phoenix and participate in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. Our Aunt Lin and her two daughters (and families) live in the Phoenix area so it was a great excuse to visit them or should I say invade their homes.
Jenni came up with the name for our group - The BooBees and helped in designing a t-shirt for all of us to wear. (My brother's company GENEROUSLY paid for our shirts - Thank You, Jon!!)
It was great to get away and spend time together as a family. We walked in honor of our mother who is a 2 time survivor and in memory of our Grandma Wood and our Aunt Phyl. Most of the BooBee pictures will be added to the BooBee Blog as soon as I receive all of them. But I have included a picture of Jenni, Mom and me at the beginning of the race, below. (You can find the link to the BooBee Blog on the right side of this blog, under "BooBees" - funny thing about that!)
We arrived in Phoenix to a "Team BooBee" welcome from our cousin Erin, Aunt Lin and Erin's son Aiden. We then met up with more of the team and spent 2 days enjoying the gorgeous weather they ordered just for us!! There are a few pictures of Aunt Lin's baby, Gracie Mae, the yellow lab - she was a hoot to watch in the pool. There's a picture of a cactus that started here in Houston at my parent's house. My Dad sent a few pieces thru the mail to my Aunt Lin and the silly thing grew like crazy. She in turn gave a few pieces to her daughter Leanne and it's growing great in her yard too!
Jenni thought a BooBee cake was in order then decided we should surprise Amy and turn it into a birthday cake. (Amy turned 16 yesterday.) I'm not sure everyone appreciated the "art" but the cake was yummy!
We finished the weekend walking "for the Cure" - it was just so nice to spend time with family doing something so worthwhile!!
Thanks to all of our family in Arizona - we truly appreciate your hospitality!!

Girls Trip to Phoenix

Busy times...

We've had a few busy weeks or so. Family came to visit - which we always love!! First Michelle and baby Kylee, then Jay & Penny (sorry no pictures), then the following weekend Jenni & Brian came. My brother Jon, with help from Donny and my other nephew Josh, made a giant ant farm that hangs on the wall in Jon's game room. Ransom started gymnastics. Amy went to Homecoming and Donny had his 13th birthday. And the next post will be about our Girls Trip to Phoenix!!! Have I forgotten anything???

Visits from Family & other stuff...

Surviving Hurricane Ike

So, can I tell you how blessed we are? Hurricane Ike came through early Saturday morning, September 13th. We lost our power which means we also lost our water. But we had no downed trees, no damage to our home or vehicles, and we came out safe and sound. You will see in the pictures what it looked like in our yard and some of our neighbors. I've shown "After Ike" pictures then "After Clean-Up" pictures of our yard so you can see the difference. If I hadn't you probably wouldn't have been able to tell we had a hurricane come by. The neighbors are another story. In the one picture you'll see the neighbors had 2 trees fall on their house - one fell over at the roots, the other just broke in the middle. I think that was the most amazing thing to see, to me. There are a couple of pictures of trees just broken in the middle like they were no more than a match stick. The final pictures show how blessed we were - one of the very small pile of debris that was in our yard and the other a much larger pile in front of our neighbors.
It took 1 week to get water restored. When we first got it I was excited because I knew we needed power to run the water pump so I thought our power was about to be turned on. Come to find out a neighbor knew how the system worked so he took his tractor down to the water system and hooked it up to the pump and started pumping water to our homes. When the water company found out, they rented a generator and took over the duties. We finally had our power restored this past Saturday, September 27th (2 weeks). It's amazing what a thrill that was!! But we had so many people willing to help us out (let us shower at their homes, sleep at others, use generators, etc) that it was not the hardship it could have been.
Did I tell you how blessed we are?

Hurricane Ike

August/September

We celebrated Dan's birthday. Only have one picture to share -sorry. Then one evening we arrived at our house after being at Grandma and Grandpa's most of the day. I looked down and noticed Ryan was walking around the house in filthy socks. I asked him to take them off, so the dirt wouldn't be all over the carpet and floor, only to find that his feet weren't in much better shape!! Then we had to show how we prepared for Hurricane Ike - Dan cut the grass then he and I took turns going to the store for items we felt we needed for the storm. My purchases are on the right side of the picture - Dan's are on the left. What can I say????

Dan's Birthday & Ike Preparations

Our Week End

Our week end started Friday morning when we attended Kyle & Danielle's marriage in the Houston Temple. Then it was on to a yummy groom's luncheon and then their reception at 6:00 pm. Danielle was beautiful in her elegant dress. Kyle and Danielle looked absolutely stunning together.

Then Saturday Dan, Ransom and I went to see Tracy in Austin. (Ryan went on a water skiing adventure with the YM/YW from church! He had a great time except for biting his tongue after doing a full back flip off the tube he was riding! Always a good story!!) Tracy's apartment is very cute. She shares a room with another student from TCA (Texas Culinary Academy) and there are 2 other girls in the other bedroom in the apartment. She started school today and we're waiting for the review!
We'll keep you updated!!

Tracy's New Apartment

Kyle & Danielle's Wedding

July Birthdays

We had a couple of July birthday celebrations - the first was at our house with the Barber side of the family. Everyone seemed to have a good time and it's always great just to sit and visit with everyone. It seems like such a rare thing so it's special when we finally get to do that.
Then the Hammond side of the family had a get together at Grandma's (GiGi's) house. Caitlin turned 2 on July 7th. GiGi bought her her very own cake which she ate using the "2" candle as a utensil. Tracy's birthday was on the 27th which was the actual day we were at Grandma's celebrating.
After cake Tracy tried to take Cait to the pool using her new pool toy. She really wanted nothing to do with it or the pool. We did manage to get a very hesitant "cheese" out of her before she was off running through the yard with the dogs.
Happy Birthday to all of our family who had birthdays in July:
Caitlin, Josslyn, Douglas, Grandad, Jodi, Danielle, Tracy, Joel and Brian - did I forget anyone?
Sorry we didn't get to celebrate with everyone!
Love to all!

July Birthdays

Owls in our yard and on our car!!!

Summer Fun

The first picture is of the "boys" leaving for camp. I only wish I had thought to take a picture when they returned home!! I'm pretty sure the dirt was inches thick!
Then it was off to PA & NY. We had a great visit with Grandma and Grandpa at the cabin. Jay & Penny and their whole family were there. Kylee Jo is an absolute doll!! It was great to see everyone!
Deana, Tracy and the kids spent some time at Penny's brother's house in NY - Norman & Tammy's. They had a lot of fun playing in the pond with their cousins!!
Then Tracy and I had a wonderful visit with Marina & Tim Curtin and family. They took us to see Niagara Falls from the US side. (You will note that objects may appear larger than they actually are as we were using "night shot" on our camera - not the Falls, just the people.)
The last day we were in NY, we took flowers to Grandma Wood's grave and met Lori Major and her family at John & Mary's. Lori & Sara were in for an extended weekend. After that Marina & Tim took me to dinner on Lake Erie. We saw the windmills there as well as had a yummy fish fry!!
We had a really nice trip and would like to thank everyone who contributed to it!
We love you all!!

Summer Fun 2008

April, May, June 2008

The second set of pictures below are from a trip we took to Utah & Wyoming. We left the day before Ransom's birthday then spent his birthday going to the BYU Life Science Museum and driving to Wyoming to see baby Kylee's blessing. Of course, we spent some time caching with Uncle Brian and having lots of fun with Aunt Jenni and all of Aunt Penny and Uncle Jays's family. We also went to the dinasaur museum and met Megan and Jocelyn for lunch at Chucky Cheese! It was a GREAT trip! Thanks to everyone who let us stay at their houses! We love you!!
On April 28th I was called to Jury Duty and chosen to be on the panel. It was 4 days of driving downtown. It took anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour to get there in the morning and an hour and 15 minutes to an hour and a half to get home. Needless to say it made me thankful that I don't work downtown. The whole thing was an interesting experience and ended well for the defendant. The pictures were taken when I was sitting in traffic one day - note the "Juror" badge.
There is a picture of a redheaded woodpecker - you can't see him well but he's in the center of the picture. It just struck me funny because he's sitting on the wrong end of a very dead branch and continued to peck at the wood until it disintegrated. He was in a tree across the street from our house.
Then there are football pictures. Ryan played flag football for the Y again. He really enjoys it and has an excellent coach. Both Ryan and Ransom are looking forward to playing flag football later this year.
The boys (Ryan, Ransom & Dan) will be going to scout camp the last week of June. Then on the 2nd of July, Tracy, Ryan, Ransom & I will be going to my parent's cabin in PA. Tracy and I will be there for a week. The boys will stay the month with Grandma and Grandpa. Dan has enrolled in the SHSU masters program so he won't be able to go to PA - he'll be studying and taking care of the girls (our dogs) while we're gone. So it's going to be a busy summer!! Hope it's a GREAT one for all of you! (I know, the boys need a hair cut - they both will be getting a brush cut for camp!)

Jury Duty & Football

Utah - Wyoming Trip - April 2008

Ransom in March

So Ransom and I went on a walk with the girls (our dogs) and he decided to pick "sticky grass". I don't know what it's really called but it is very sticky and he had it stuck to his clothes. Then he decided to make a "salad belt" and after that a heart.
At Pack Meeting on the 27th Ransom received his Arrow of Light award and several other awards he and his scout leaders had been working on. We're proud of how much Ransom has accomplished in the scouting program! April he'll be moving from the Weblos to the 11 year old scouts - that's right, his birthday is coming up and he'll be 11!!

Ransom's Arrow of Light

Ryan was baptized on Palm Sunday 3/16/08

We are so proud of Ryan - he made the decision to be baptized!! He was baptized and confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on Palm Sunday. He asked his cousin Marc to baptize him and his Uncle Dan to confirm him. How blessed we were that some of our long distance family were able to attend!! And to top it off, Uncle Jeff sang "In the Hollow of His Hand" - beautiful!! Then on Easter Sunday Ryan received the priesthood! He asked his first Primary teacher, Brother Dellinger, to confer the priesthood on him. We were priviledged to have the sacrament passed to us, by Ryan, on March 30, 2008. What a handsome Deacon we have!!

Ryan's Baptism