Thanksgiving Trip to Red River

We spent Thanksgiving 2011 in Red River, NM with Nanny and Papa.  Claire and I flew to Amarillo while the rest of the family drove the night before and picked us up in the morning.  We did that because Claire is not the most patient car rider (to put it mildly).  This worked out very nicely.  We got in to the cabin on Wednesday and stayed til Sunday.  We went to the tree lighting, got to see Santa, played a lot in the snow, had dance parties with the jukebox, decorated Nanny's "cabinet" for Christmas, played Yahtzee, and just had a great time relaxing with the family.  It was a great trip!

Glamour girl ready for take off to Amarillo

Meanwhile Kaitlin, Scott, Nanny & Papa drove to Amarillo to meet us.  K got to stay in a hotel room with a fireplace!

Love this pic of K watching our plane pull up

Love!

Love again!

Sissys at Welcome to New Mexico sign

Palisades

The log we always stop at

First snow sighting on the drive in

Ski chair at Nanny's "cabinet"

Putting them to work

Downtown Red River

Sweet girls waiting to watch frozen turkey races

Frozen turkey race

So hip

Happy Thanksgiving!  

Love Claire's face here.  She thought it was crazy that Papa had on two hats.

Red River tree lighting

Telling Santa that she wanted a flute for Christmas

New favorite activity - blow drying hair

Ski school for Kaitlin

Snowing really hard!

On her way to the slopes!

Watching sissy take her lesson

What is that duck doing there?!?

Going up the "lift"

Look at her go!

This pic cracks me up.  She just looks so cute!

Claire returned some phone calls in the lodge while sissy skied. 

Sledding with daddy.

We played Yahtzee and mistakenly cheered for Kaitlin when she got a Yahtzee.  This was her reaction.

Blanco River Friends Trip

We had an awesome Labor Day weekend with our college friends this year.  I'm so glad that we make it a priority to keep planning trips with this group, we always have such a good time and it's nice to see all the kiddos together.  We stayed at an AWESOME house outside San Antonio, it was absolutely perfect for this group.  Main house had a huge pool, yard with sandbox and tons of toys for the kids, hot tub, and then all the bedrooms were somewhat removed from each other so no one had to worry about keeping the others up with their crying kid (but all our children were perfect so no need for that!)  It was kind of a bummer with the drought that the portion of the river that runs by the house usually was completely dried up, but what can you do.  We had fun swimming and playing and doing all the other things there were to do around the house.  Looking forward to the trips in the future, but I wouldn't mind going back to this place again!

The next generation

breakfast time

sweet girls

the awesome yard, pool to the left not in pic

i love all the kids faces in this pic

throwing rocks in the "river"

Taylor Swift!

We took Kaitlin to her first concert in October - Taylor Swift! She has loved all her music for about a year now, and when Amanda saw that she was coming to Dallas, she promptly alerted Nanny and I and we got tickets for the four of us to go to the show. We had a blast, Kaitlin was in awe, but I think also a bit overwhelmed by how loud it was and all the screaming, lights, etc. It was at Cowboys Stadium which was fun, and we were right in front of the huge screen so we could see Taylor up close and personal. Kaitlin was so cute, when Taylor first came out she held her hands up making the little heart symbol with her fingers. I think she must have seen that on one of the Taylor Youtube videos she watched, b/c she did it as soon as Taylor came out. It was so cute. Uncle Brandon got her the Taylor Concert DVD for Christmas and she has watched that several times to relive the magic. It was a great first concert, very family friendly.

Going to walk through the fall in pictures.

Crazy/opposite day at preschool

New hats Nanny got in Turkey for a couple of turkeys

Fun at the St. Ann's Carnival, I love that they are old enough to do this stuff together now.

Crazy goggle girls

New short 'do for Katie-Bug

First cavity filled and the resulting frozen face

Fun with mustaches!

How we do dishes at our house. ;-)

Rangers girls!

Cute outfit from Ginger

We love our Apple products!

Biker gang

Daily dress up (Claire's cracks me up, a bit small?)

Trip to Flower Mound Pumpkin patch

Trip to Coppell Pumpkin Patch

Halloween

Celebrating Daddy's Birthday

Southlake Tree Lighting with the Browns

Brain Tumor Walk - big Bryn in the belly!

Such a fun event, they have the Home Depot crafts out there, face painting, bounce houses, balloon animals. We have a great time every year.