Thanksgiving

Mat and I had a very busy, very happy Thanksgiving! We spent the first part of our break in College Station with my family. I wish I had a picture of this Thanksgiving. There were about 30 of us at my aunt's house- including 5 small children! It was crazy and tons of fun. We had fun as always playing lots of games, eating lots of food and enjoying catching up. It is hard to get us all together, and I am thankful that we are able to do it as often as we do! Here is a picture of most of us last April:

Last year Mat's family rented a beach house in Galveston, and we had so much fun they decided to do it again! On Friday, Mat and I left College Station to meet up with them in Galveston. We had more great food, played with our precious niece Kadence and had a few more games to enjoy- including a family game of Risk. (I watched but did NOT play!) Grammer, Mat's grandmother, took him out of the game first!

Mat and I had a chance to drive around and check out how Galveston is beginning to recover from Ike. Some parts of the island are recovering and rebuilding, but the devastation of the hurricane is still very evident. Last year we spent an afternoon shopping on the Strand in downtown Galveston. It is a street lined with historic buildings and neat shops- including Mat's favorite, La King- the old fashion soda fountain and candy store. This year, the shops were still there, but they were completely empty. Many of the stores had signs saying things about rebuilding and coming back. We're excited to see the Strand back to what it used to be!

We had a great time with our family and were reminded of all of the things we have to be thankful for!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Happy Birthday Mom! Thank you for being such a supportive mother and friend! I love being able to talk "teacher" with you and share our experiences. I don't know how I would have made it through these first few years of teaching without your support and guidance! I love the time that we get to spend together and the conversations we have. I love the example you have set for me in my marriage and in my relationships with others. Most of all, I love the example you have set for me in my Christian walk. Thank you for all that you do for me and for our family. I love you! Happy Birthday!

Weekend Visitors

Mat's parents came to Austin to visit this weekend, and we had a great time with them! Saturday morning we got up and took them to Fredericksburg. We had a great hamburger and enjoyed lots of shopping! Sue had a great time in the quilt shop and even found a quilt for "Gran's Nursery", and I found something to add to my Christmas decorations. After our shopping excursion, I helped Sue set up a blog so that she could keep her friends and family updated on her grandchildren. Check it out for some cute Halloween pictures of Kadence (our niece)! We ate lots of good food at some of our favorite Austin restaurants and enjoyed some family time.

Happy Halloween

Halloween is a holiday that I think should ALWAYS be on a Saturday because it makes for a very crazy school day! At least this year we don't have to worry about kids that ate too much candy and didn't get enough sleep on the day after Halloween.

I managed to survive the day (with a pretend political rally, show and tell with a student's dog and the typical craziness of Halloween), and then Mat got home. :) One of the first things he said was, "I didn't even eat my lunch today because all I ate was candy!" (He sounded like a 5 year old!) He then proceeded to get a very large glass of Dr. Pepper and head out to do this:

He's like a kid with a new toy!

This is what I'm currently listening to. I'm sure our neighbors love us now!

Pumpkinfest 2008

On Saturday, we had our friends, the Baileys, over to carve pumpkins, roast pumpkin seeds, and eat pumpkin bread. This was the second annual "Pumpkinfest", and we had so much fun! We enjoyed cleaning the goo out of our pumpkins. We even found a plant in one of them:


(Too bad our plant unit at school isn't until the spring!)

We had fun carving our pumpkins and spending time with good friends. Of course, we also enjoyed way too much pumpkin bread and too many pumpkin seeds! (The rest of us waited until our pumpkin seeds were cleaned off and roasted!) :)


Here is the picture of our pumpkins: (My pictures of Katie and Chad's were blurry...)

I love this commercial

It always makes me smile!

What a Weekend!

Mat and I have been blessed throughout our lives with great friends. This weekend some of our good friends from OC, Rob and Sarah Long, came to visit. They came in on Thursday night, so we got to enjoy a long weekend with the Longs. We spent a lot of time catching up, showing them around Austin, and of course eating lots of good food!

We went to IKEA and REI on Friday. Mat spent some time at REI looking at the new toy he wants- an inflatable kayak. (More to come on that later...). Friday night, we "slipped on down to the Oasis"-even though our friends are NOT from low places :-) We enjoyed our dinner and the beautiful sunset. It was an absolutely perfect night for enjoying the outside.

We spent time Saturday downtown (not thinking about all of the people that would be down there for the Texas/Missouri game). We ate lunch at the Hula Hut, and then headed to Lady Bird Lake to rent some kayaks. Mat and I have talked since we moved to Austin about renting kayaks at the lake, and we were so glad to finally spend some time down there. We only spent about an hour on the lake, but we had so much fun. We got some great pictures and enjoyed the beautiful day. As we were leaving, Mat saw a couple in the inflatable kayak he wants, and after talking to them, he is convinced he needs one!
Rob and Sarah got married this summer at the Oklahoma capitol building, so after our kayaking adventure, we decided to show them the Texas capitol building. Saturday night we decided to take it easy and order pizza and enjoy some college football. It was a wonderful weekend that came to an end much too quickly!