Happy Birthday Dad!

Thanksgiving in New Mexico

Joey in Angel Fire

What a great Thanksgiving! We got to go play with our neighbors at their cabin in Angel Fire. Of course if we see any yard sales on the way there....

We drove through West Texas and saw cotton....

Once we got to Angel Fire the weather was perfect...

My neighbor and good friend Michele and I came early with the three boys, the daddies and daughters came out a couple of days later.


We met up with a third Bryker Woods family and took a group hike.

We'd like to think there were bears around....
Old New Mexico barn.

Things I should have posted....#1.

OK, so going back in time, before the election, before Halloween, before the heartbreaking UT loss to Tech in the final second of the game from hell.... there was a simpler time. A time when a mother could take her baby boy to a football game. A time when the mama could buy two tickets from Craig's List for a song, and a time when the next door neighbor loaned her phone, with camera!, because I forgot to grab mine on the way out of the house. Enjoy the documentation of a fun game.

My favorite memories were walking into the same gate at the same time as the Longhorn Band (Show Band of the Southwest!)

Joey getting to see the opening video and the band and players take the field thanks to a very lovely lady in the fantastic season ticket seats who picked him up and let him stand on her chair.

Finding out our seats were on the top row of the upper deck and Joey having to go to the bathroom once each quarter, down all the stairs, then back up. On our fourth trip back up, a lady on the aisle about 20 rows below us said, "I thought you left a while ago, oh my, you are a good mom!"

Getting Joey an overpriced hook 'em foam hand because he loved it.

Watching the team win. Enjoying the band and alumni band on the field at the same time.

But, most memorable was the black cricket plague. As night settled in, sitting under the huge flood lights, we became a landing pad for hundreds of the biggest blackest crickets. They crawled on our bodies, they got in Joey's cap. He thought they were cockroaches and screamed every time they got within sight. So, that was the only downside, and his fear of cockroaches/crickets persisted for several weeks.

Still thrilled

I am so excited about the future of our country.

Maker Faire

Children's Tent Sculpture

Art car with synchronized Larry the singing fishes on the side,
and singing Lobsters on hood and trunk.Emma tries a loom.

Beautiful art robots

Making beads from paper

Our second year at Maker Faire... perfect Austin crisp Fall day. Fun things to look at. Kids having a ball. Mom sneezing non-stop from the dust (the only downside). But all-in-all another wonderful creative weekend.

24 Hour Art Road Trip

I have several things to post about... Maker Faire, Seeing the cousins a couple weeks ago in Ft. Worth... but I'm going to post the freshest photos today and deal with the older stuff later.

I took off yesterday evening at 6pm with my two Art Girl Buddies, Robbin and Connie. We fed our families then hit the road. Landed at Casa Kennemer and visited with Mom and Dad (thank you!) on Monday night. Woke up this morning after sleeping in, went for big ol' breakfast at Paris Coffee Shop. Then it was off to the Kimball for the Impressionist show.

The show was a delicious treat for my eyes. So much beauty and light and dreamy beauty. We were back on duty with our families by 4pm today. Perfect!

First the Fair... then the Family...

Nothing like a scary clown.

Pre-Fletcher's Corny Dog

Joey's stocking! Another ribbon to add to the Competitive Quilting Award Box

Who would have thought Barack would be at the Fair?

Had a fun weekend, we drove up to see the Kennemers in Fort Worth and ended up seeing a bunch of them, Aunts, Gramma and Grandad, sister Julie and kids, cousin Lance, Great Gramma Lu. You get the Fair photos today and the family photos next.

UT Torchlight Parade

Last night was one of those spur of the moment outings. I wanted to see the Torchlight Parade which is a tradition before the UT/OU game at the Cotton Bowl. It's a way to cheer and see the band outside the football stadium. Emma had volleyball practice, so after picking her up at 8 (when the parade is scheduled to start) , and dropping her off at home, I grabbed the only willing child to run over to the drag.

Max and I pretty much figured we missed it all as we drove down the drag. We opened the windows to try to hear the band around somewhere. As I got onto campus, we saw a crowd of orange at the Littlefield fountain, and I noticed it was the football team milling around. Max was about to jump out of the car window, but I convinced him to stay put until we got parked. We ran back to the fountain, just as the team started their walk up to the tower and the cheering crowd.

I cursed myself for not bringing A) a camera! B)A piece of paper of any sort! C) A sharpie! or D) any article of burnt orange clothing for me or Max.

Having gotten there thirty minutes late, we seemed to be the only people walking alongside the team, everyone else was at the tower. I pointed out Mack Brown to Max and Max went to shake his hand. Mack was very kind and chatted with his loyal fan. Then Max started randomly high-fiving guys walking near him. Then I saw Colt McCoy and Max scurried over to shake his hand. Colt threw an arm around Max's shoulders, asked his name, told Max his shirt was cool (tie dye from the beach!) and was in general very chatty with my kid. Max bounced around to a few other guys. Then we were at the tower and the team ran up to the crowd. It was really cool.

At the rally, I let Max head off through the throng to stand by himself at the front of the pack. A long while later he came back to me. The rally was fun. The cheerleader who was leading us at first was not bright... top ten percent? I think not..... But things really got going when Mack Brown led the crowd, the band played, the fans cheered, and finally Mad Dog Madden, UT's strength coach got the team yelling and the crowd crazy.

As the players walked back through the crowd toward Littlefield fountain after the rally, Max and I mingled with all the young guys. They were hitting on girls, and we were so mad to have left camera and pen and paper at home. So many opportunities to get autographs. Max shook more hands, and some of the players saw him a couple of times and would shout "Max!". I guess that's the upside of wearing something other than burnt orange. Max said he would never wash his hand again after all the high fives.

Then I had the brainstorm of the night. The architecture school was just down the street, and I knew there were Sharpies inside. So we ran over. I hoisted Max up to a closed window and he yelled at the dreadlocked boy inside...Sharpie!... can I use your pen!... My mom was in architecture school! The guy opened the window and passed down an orange Sharpie and a big scrap of Cresent board. We ran back to the rally aftermath and Max got 13 autographs. It was mostly the freshmen and sophomore players who stuck around (picking up girls).

Max would walk up to some guys chatting up some cute girls, and I'd almost cringe that the players would crush him. He would ask for an autograph, then the girls would say..."oh! how cute" and then the players were glad to sign.

As we were leaving Max thought it was the best day or the second best day of his life.

And he is already planning next year.

Recent Trip to Fort Worth

It's been a while, but we recently drove to FW for a quick visit. On the way up, stopped at Health Camp and met their most famous customer. He is sort of the Ambassador of Hamburgers. He is in his 90's, eats a hamburger a day, and loves to meet people. When you eat there (on the circle in Waco) his framed photos are by the drink machine.


On our way back, we stopped by the water gardens, and Joey was determined to have me take 20 photos of him "meditating". I've got tons! He took it very seriously.