GO RICE!

Rice won its bowl game last night by a landslide against Western Michigan, and I had to post this as a tribute to my Dad (a major Rice alum) and my husband, a recent Rice alum. As many of you know, Rice is a very prestigious school where only a few thousand even go there and it's considered "the ivy league of the south" so as you can imagine their football program has never been something to talk about because recruiting athletes who can even get in is a challenge. Obviously, something is going right with their program because this year they made it to a bowl and won! Congrats to the Owls and enjoy this video where my Dad is interviewed about Rice's progress this season! :)

Texas Bowl: Pregame with Rice

We're Home!

We just got home last night from a long day of traveling. We left Houston at 9 a.m. CT and got to our house right at 10 p.m. ET. A 12-hr trip total and only about an hour and 15 minutes of stops for gas and food. We did pretty well on our timing and it proved to be a good day to travel. Drew watched the movie he got from Santa, Calliou Holiay Movie, over and over again. It was a life saver! David drove the whole way while I actually stayed awake the entire time as well.
We had a wonderful trip home for the holidays and I will update the blog soon with all of our endeavors but I wanted our family to know we are safe and sound. Today will be a day of resting and getting back to normal, putting the house in order with new toys and new things as well as putting our very minimal Christmas decorations up.

Family Picture - Christmas 2008

Merry Christmas!!! For all of you who check out our blog, here is our official family photo this year. We had our family pictures taken by Jessica Wheeler (Peachtree Photography) and she did such a great job. We can't wait to show you more pictures that she took but here is the family one we are sending out this season. We are only sending them through the mail to those who don't see this regularly so don't think we forgot about any of you this year - we are just saving some time and money. May you all have a wonderful Christmas and New Year!!!

Christmas Letter 2008

Breakfast with Santa and Ward Christmas Party

On Saturday after David's 5K run, we went to David's office party which was Breakfast with Santa. They had real pictures of Santa taken and gave you one printed out with a frame too! They also took several pictures and gave us a CD with them on it so we could print out more and have various poses. We had eggs, sausage, bacon, and pancakes and it was great to meet more people David works with and their families.
Later that night, we attended the ward Christmas party where we had a lot of fun. We really like the people in our ward and feel like we have real friends there! We had a good potluck dinner, the kids decorated sugar cookies, we sang Christmas songs and we saw Santa for the third time that day. The funniest part was that Santa came out and everyone was waiting in line to see him. No one was on his lap yet so Drew just ran straight up to him, sat on his lap, smiled for a picture and hopped off. It was hilarious! He was quite efficient and did all this before anyone felt upset about it.
Drew now talks about how he has seen Santa Claus 4 times already this season!!! :)

7 things...

I've been tagged by my good friend, Hilarie! Here it goes...
7 things I want to do before I die: have more children, see my children grow up, have grandchildren, visit church history sites, take a family history tour/trip, learn how to sew, go to a college football national championship game where Texas wins it all!
7 things I can do: therapy, keep a calendar, make friends, be a peacemaker, listen to others, give affection, and be thrifty!
7 things I can't do: play piano, sew, quilt, sing, run a marathon, give up tv, and lose those last 10 lbs!
7 things that attract me to the opposite sex: humor, athleticism, faith, honesty, intelligence, hard-worker, and integrity.
7 things I say most often: how was work?, Drew, really?, I love you, what do you want for dinner?, potty, and have we decided on a name yet?
7 celebrities that I like: the non-pretentious ones and there aren't many of them, no one I can think of!
7 favorite foods: anything marinara, chips and salsa, steak and mushrooms, chocolate ice cream with nuts and fudge, sushi (cooked), salad with a good ranch dressing, and cheeseburger with fries and a milkshake - mmmmm, I'm hungry!!!

Now I tag 7 people: Melissa T., Laura J., Jaimee K., Shelyse D., Jenise C., Tiffany W., and Louise J.

Jingle Bell 5K Run

David ran in the Peachtree City Jingle Bell 5K Run this morning. It has become a family tradition to run a race around Thanksgiving each year for David and all of his siblings in honor of David's dad who passed away last year from lymphoma. David's dad's birthday is around TG each year so it is a way to commemorate his life and a commitment to exercise, a healthy body and a healthy way of life.
David ran the race which he described as being much more uphill than expected in just under 28 minutes! We are very proud of him and his efforts and I know his Dad would be too. For this race, they tied jingle bells on their shoes and now Drew is wearing them on his own shoes. They also had Santa and Mrs. Claus there, and Drew was able to meet them both. We even had some time during the race to play on the playground while David was running. Beva was so happy she was able to join us in the family activity too!

Last year with Santa...

So, I had to post the Santa Claus picture from last year compared to the one we took this year at Stone Mountain. What a difference, huh? Now, some of you might think this picture is so sad but it literally lasted a second and he calmed down quickly. I, personally, find it too funny. I guess Drew was not traumatized too much because a year later, he is sitting on Santa's lap smiling and telling him a whole list of trains he wanted.