Tyler's End of Year Performance

Tyler has a performance at school last night called, Pop Rocks. It was really cute.

Poor Dylan got teary eyed at the end. They showed a slide show of all the kids when they were younger. Tyler was probably 3 or 4 and he was riding a motorcycle in his. It was so cute, he was so little. While the slide show played the kids were on stage singing "Sweet Child of Mine" and "All-Star." As we were leaving Dylan said, "Man this sucks...I'm gonna be an emotional Dad!" Tyler and Tross are growing up so fast.

Scrapbooking

I started scrapbooking about 7 years ago. I started by making Vicki a scrapbook when Vitross was born. I loved it. I don't feel like I have those creative sparks flying from my brain. I'm more facts, science, and math kind of thinker. When I scrapbook, I feel so creative. I have all kinds of ideas and all I have to do is get them on paper and they are bright and colorful and make people smile.

Over the weekend I got all the scrapbook stuff out so the boys could make Vicki cards, and I decided since I'm moving in a week, I may as well keep it out. I made 2 pages yesterday and am now back at it.

Happy Mother's Day

We spent the day at my Mom's. The boys swam, Dylan babysat, mom worked in the yard, and Vicki and I slept. That seems to be the normal ritual when at my Mom's. Dylan and I had the boys for the the weekend. They wear me out!

Tyler's birthday was Friday. I just can't believe he is 12. He is growing so quick and starting to get that crappy teenager attitude. Thankfully, I'm just the Aunt so the attitude doesn't bother me so bad for now.

I went to a lingerie shower on saturday for a friend of mine that is getting married this summer. They had valet parking. This was not a business, the shower was at a friend of the mother of the bride. I repeat, They had valet parking. It was nice and all but when it was time to leave, another friend and I were waiting for our cars and debating whether or not we should be tipping. It wasn't a long debate because being unware there would be valet parking, I didn't bring cash. I guess I'll have to come more prepared next time...??? Who would have thought???


Dylan had a game sunday and they kicked butt. The final score was 33-0. Dylan scored at least 2 touchdowns (those were the only ones I saw). I get distracted by people watching and conversating with the other Rebels fans. They game was stopped because the score. The other team started to be bad sports at the end so it was probably a good thing. There were a few unwarranted pushes and such. I don't think the other team got the memo that its all just a game!


We watched the Mayweather/De La Hoya fight this weekend at a restaurant called, La Hoya. No relation to the fighter. Dylan and I had watched the 24/7 show on HBO. I'm so not a fam of Mayweather. That kid needs to experience some humility in life. I don't care what you have been through, no one should be that cocky. I was going for Oscar (yes, we are on a first name basis) but oh well, I still like him better and think Mayweather should have lost.



We (when I say We, I mean Me) will start packing up this week since we are moving at the end of the month. I'm ready to get out of the apartment world, but it would be so much better if we had a house to move into. Dylan swears he has a good feeling and the perfect house will turn up just in time. I hope so cause househunting sucks and can be very discouraging. Wish us luck!!! We have to find something by July cause I'm not sure my Mom can handle us for much longer than that!




*Congrats to Jamie and Kirk on their news of expecting on Christmas Day!!! YEAH!

Cypress Valley Canopy Tour

After trying to reformat this stupid thing for 30 minutes, I give up. The pictures and text are kind of messed up but you get the point.

This is a long one but well worth the read.

Two months ago I began planning a trip for about 20 people to go on a Canopy Tour in Austin, about 3 hours away. I booked the hotel, reserved the canopy tour, and basically created a whole itinerary for the weekend.

Friday I went to work like normal because we didn't want to have to take anytime off work. On my lunch break I went to The Bass Pro shop to get a hitch mounted cargo carrier. I borrowed my Mom's car for the trip since there were going to be 6 driving down in one car. I called Dylan because he had my Mom's car for the day, and asked him if he could measure the hitch to find out what size the connector was. It was either a 2" or 1-1/4". He said it was 2". After I bought the 2" carrier, I called him back, just to be doubly sure. I asked him to measure it with a ruler, since he was in the office, he again replied with 2". I was confidant that he knew what he was talking about.

We are to meet everyone at my friends house at 5:30. We decided to order pizza and wait out the traffic. I got home from work, finished packing and asked Dylan to put together the carrier.

Around 5:30 we were ready to go. We just needed to drop off Carmen at the dog sitters and we were on our way. "Put the hitch on just to be sure it fits." As I watched him pick up the carrier and try to fit it in the whole, I immediately realized, "IT DOESN'T FIT." Here I go, "You had 1 simple thing to do today, measure the hitch connection and you couldn't do that???" Needless to say he knew he screwed up big time. We were supposed to be there by now and we still needed to drop off the dog AND we now needed to find an adaptor because we have 6 people riding in a car and the 2 coolers and 6 bags will not fit in that car, unless we get this connector. Dylan drops me off at Wal-mart so I can see if they have an adaptor. He then runs to drop off Carmen. I finish what I needed to do and tell him I'm out front. He pulls up and Carmen is still in the car. I calmly look at him (ok, maybe not so calmly) and ask, "WHY THE HELL IS CARMEN STILL IN THE CAR???" He proceeds to tell me that Anna, the dog sitter is not home. Again, he had such simple tasks this week. I plan a trip for 20 people, and he can't measure a hitch connector or make sure the dog sitter is home???

Finally, around 8pm, we pull up to my friends while everyone is looking at us like we are about to be hung on a cross. Dylan took full blame and let everyone know that it was all his fault. Which it clearly was.

So, with all that over with, we are on the road and our trip starts. For those of you that think I flipped out on Dylan, I just want you to know that I didn't. I was very calm and tried to keep it together. I just kept thinking, there are so many other worse things in life to worry about, so I just let it all go. I really did. I was quite proud of myself.

We get to Austin pretty late so we decide to just hang out for a couple hours then head to bed cause

we have a very exciting and long day ahead of us.

Saturday morning...We got to the Canopy Tour place on time and we were all ready to go. There is a lot to be said for 21 people all being ready and on time ANYWHERE. We split up in groups of 7 and were on our way. We had so much fun. We were connected to zip lines and we learned about ecology and did a challenge, like walking a tight rope and all kinds of stuff. It really is unexplainable. We all just had the best time. The weather turned out perfect. We were there from 10:30 in the morning to 5 in the afternoon.

We were all pretty spent after that but our day wasn't over yet, we had dinner reservations at Salt Licks, it's this famous BBQ restaurant that has a live band and a great atmosphere. After dinner we were all going to head back to the hotel and get ready to go out on the town.

After our long day at the Canopy Tour, huge delicious dinner, and a drink or two, only 10 of us made it out later that night. I hadn't been to Austin in about 7 years so I wasn't missing out for anything. Dylan wimped out and stayed at the hotel but I went out. We called 3 cabs and met up on 6th street.

If you are ever in Austin, the canopy tour really is something you should try and Salt Licks shouldn't be passed up either. All-in-all it was a great weekend. There was no drama, everyone got along and seemed to have just as much fun as Dylan and I.

The family that runs the canopy tour were so nice and the guides were unbelievable. They emailed me on Sunday afternoon and told me they were sending me 2 gift certificates and a t-shirt to thank me for setting up such a large group of great people. Can you believe that! This trip seriously compares to one of the best trips I've ever had, its right up there with skydiving.

Sunday night Dylan had 2 back to back flag football games. They won the first but lost the second. He scored 3 touch downs though. I didn't go this week because the house needed some major tending too, and I may have snuck in a nap here and there.

I took my car into the shop Monday night and on the way back, Dylan and I drove by the old house. It was my first time since the day my Dad moved. It was sad, but it looked just the same so I can just tell myself that someone I know still lives there.

I hope everyone had just as great of a weekend as we did!!!

A few more for your viewing pleasure...

Wicked

I went to Wicked last night with my Vicki, my mom and a few of her friends. The show was great. Loved the costumes and music. The seats weren't all that great but we got the best they had when we bought them in Decemeber. I would love to see it again sitting a little closer, I just don't think you get the same effect when your seats aren't that good. Either way, loved it! Its the story of the good and bad witch from The Wizard of Oz, with a funny twist to it. A must see.

Back to Normal

OOPS...this post was from yesterday (Monday) but I forgot to hit Publish... Guess it was one of those mondays!

Tyler bowling

Dad and Vitross racing

Vicki watching

Dad left this morning. I always hate it when he leaves. Glad he made it home safe though.

Saturday activity's

Tross at his game. He had a bit of a "tude" so he didn't play as much as he had the past couple weeks

Dad and I at the game

Tross after the game

Tross on the way to eat

Dad and Dylan at Jake's

I know what it looks like, but she really isn't sleeping...this time

Tross gave back rubs during lunch. The table next to us gave him $1 for his services.

Dad was in the car behind me, at first I thought that was a different finger.

Vicki did better at the batting cages than I did...much better.

Tyler and Dylan patiently awaiting their turn.

Tyler did really well.

Dylan hitting in the cages

After an hour wait, Tross finally got to ride the kiddie carts. He was too short to ride the regular carts but he rode in a double cart with Vicki. He was too afraid to ride with Dylan.

Tross getting ready to hit the ball.

Vicki racing her go-kart

Dad and Dylan taking out the TV that has been sitting on my living room floor for about 2 months. I have refused to take it down, because I had to bring it up.

Dad made it to town. We all piled in Vicki's car and picked him up. The idea was to have signs when he got off the plane but I figured Vicki would be late (she usually is) so we wouldn't be there in time to meet him inside the terminal and then the signs would be pointless. Well, I was wrong. We were there in plenty of time with no signs, but 4 kids and 3 adults. We waited for him to get off the plane in the baggage area and of course the kids had to run around acting like heathens. Dylan didn't help since he was the official whistle blower and judge on who won. Dad makes it out but after about 10 people get their luggage the baggage turnstile stops. They said that was the end of the baggage and anyone who didn't get theirs would have to fill out a claim form. So Dad started to fill out the form when they said, there was in fact more luggage, but it was jammed so they had to get building maintenance to fix it. We decided the kids running around the airport wasn't such a great idea so we changed the game to Simon Says. After about 30 minutes of Simon Says, the bags finally started coming out. We got his small duffle bag and left. Next time he should just carry on.



I was planning to take a half day today but when I mentioned that to Dad he asked, "why?" Well, because you are in town..hello??? Later I find out that he has lunch plans, dinner plans AND was trying to get a hold of one other person to entertain him in between lunch and dinner. So much for hanging out with HIM! So as he dropped me off at work this morning he asked what time I get off. I told him 4:30 and he said that if he had time he would be back to pick me up. Isn't that sweet. So much for missing that guy!



On a brighter note. The weather is going to be great this weekend!

Vicki and I went to the spa today. She had a gift certificate and invited me. YIPPEE! We had a cream and sugar scrub, hot stone massage, a facial, hair cut and blowdry, pedicures, and make-up touch-up (but they really did the whole thing...Don't know why they called it a "touch-up".) We had a really relaxing time, Vicki fell asleep during her pedicure AND her massage. The pedicure lady asked if I could wake her up because she needed to bend her leg. It was pretty funny.

The only bad part about the whole day was our lunch. It came with the services but they forgot to order it TWICE. We finished our facials and were sitting at a table waiting for the lunch and 30 minutes later we decided we better ask someone. Needless to say, an hour and a half later, our salads arrived and it threw off the rest of our appointments so we were there for an extra hour and a half. After we pampered ourselves from 10am to 5pm, we ate at PF Chang's. We had a really nice sister bonding day.

Dylan works crazy hours. He is out of the house by 6am and doesn't get back till 8 or 9 most nights so we don't see much of each other during the week. He had to work an Hispanic Teaching conference today and then tomorrow I'm going to the spa all day and he has a football game at 3, then the week starts again so our time is VERY limited for the next week. We went on a little date last night to Bob's Steak and Chophouse. We've been wanting to go for a while now. The food was great and the company better. We had a really good time and it was nice to hang out after a long week.

Tross had a game today. He scored 3 touchdowns. I'm not sure how they score the games but it was 4 touchdowns to 1. He was so proud of himself.

HAPPY EASTER

Weather: What is up with the weather? It was 85 degrees last weekend and it snowed today. Seriously, it snowed. They were light flurry's but it still snowed. We live in Texas. This time of year we are supposed to be complaining about how hot it is and how we can't wait for winter already...

Upside: Tross had a football game today and he KICKED BUTT. He scored a touchdown and pulled a flag on defense and this was all in the second half. It was greatness. I think we are the loudest fans there. When he scored the touchdown he ran it from the 30 yard line on the opposite end. We were yelling and cheering. I love kids sports, they just play their little hearts out. I forgot my camera so no pictures today.

DownSide: Tross has always been number 34, which was my basketball number. I mean I wasn't a pro or anything but it felt good that he was my number. Today he was number 7. I asked him why he changed his number after the game and he told me that he was my number for 2 years and he was ready to be himself now. I guess I'm ok with that. But I'm way cooler than Michael Vick, I don't care what he says!

Dylan has his first flag football game tonight. He is so nervous. His team has wristbands with all the plays on them. Most of the guys on his team, at least the ones I know, all played college sports. They held practice at 9am this morning to be sure everyone was ready. The QB told them that he will probably be yelling at them a lot but not to take it personally. This should be interesting.

I can't wait for my weekend burger.

Tyler stayed the night on friday. Dylan and Tyler stayed up late playing video games and then played for most of the morning on saturday. I think Dylan enjoyed it more than Tyler.

We went to a crawfish boil last night. The food was good (I didn't eat the crawfish though...YUCK!). I played my first game of beer pong last night. Only I played with margaritas since I don't drink beer. We lost, but it was close. I think 27 year old beer pong is probably a little different that 20 year old beer pong. Either way, I had fun and no headache today so I'm happy.

The weather is beautiful here. Its been raining everyday since we got back from California. Yesterday was the first dry day. Today its going to be 82 and there isn't a cloud in the sky. I better get off here and enjoy the weather while I can!