Wednesday, October 29, 2008
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!!
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!!
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!!
Saturday, October 18, 2008
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!!
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!!
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???
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
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?
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?
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????
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