Really old friends

Angie and Todd 3 years old

Angie and Todd 41 years old (well, I'm not quite 41 YET).


My LOOOOOONG time friend and cousin Todd was in Big D last week and stopped by for a visit. We have actually known each other longer than this! I have another picture of us when we were babies on top of a dryer, but I could not locate it right this minute. We grew up together LITERALLY, enjoying many family outings, campouts, get togethers, school, seminary, SOME mischief (which often invloved Todd driving VERY fast), and the list goes on. About three days before Greg and I got married, Todd said to Greg "You are a brave man". Greg spent the next 3 years asking me what he meant by this (as if he didn't have it figured out already)! We had a great visit!

Just call me Betty!

We had a really fun Enrichment night a couple of weeks ago on food storage. We had a tasters table with a variety of foods made from food storage items and they were all surprisingly very tasty! My friend Camden made some delicious whole wheat bread and freezer jam to go with it. I LOVE freezer jam and buy it from Bithell Farms in Oregon once a year or so. I missed the last order and ran out of strawberry--mine and the girls favorite kind. I am not so fond of cooking and making things myself, but Camden graciously offered to come to my home and help me make some. She even called to tell me where to get strawberries on sale this week. Well, with Camden's help, I am happy to say that I now have homemade freezer jam and it is awesome! I know it wouldn't look or taste so great without her help! She is truly an awesome friend with many talents and I appreciate her help so much! Camden and her husband were some of the first people we met when we moved to the Dallas area 9 years ago. They are great friends and have a great family! Thanks Camden!

Soccer Season Has Begun!

Susanna

Natalie

Samantha

All three girls play soccer and we had our first games of the season today! They all had great games and Samantha scored the last goal of her game! I don't even know how to play soccer--I just cheer for my kids!

Hot Cycle Man

This is Greg's third year to train and ride in the MS150. It is a 150 mile bike ride from Frisco to Fort Worth, which raises funds to fight MS. This year is particularly exciting because Greg's good friend Rod, who has MS, started a brand new team. The typical new team has only about 12 riders, and Rod's team already has over 30! Greg has been helping Rod put the team together including securing sponsers, recruiting riders, etc. When Greg first got involved in cycling I thought he would do it for a little while then give it up. NOT because I thought he was a quitter, but because anyone who knows Greg knows that he does not need to exercise--ever! He eats Blue Bell every night at 10:00 pm and never gains an ounce! It is so unfair! In our almost 16 years of marriage Greg has never had, or been interested in any sort of exercise program, but he really enjoys cycling and the friends he cycles with. He also has quite a collection of jerseys growing in our closet!
And yes, that is Susanna still in her night gown when Greg got home from his ride this morning!

Mom, Maria and Me

Maria, we are going to miss your family!

More cousin time

Here are a few more photos from our cousin weekend:

Cousin Time

Our cousins the Walters are moving to Utah soon, so we decided to get together this weekend at Mama Leslie's and Pappy Joe's. We were fortunate to have Mama Judy there as well! The cousins had a great time together playing outside. My girls are especially magnets for anything that involves mud and water! They also collected about 20 lizards and had a lizard party--Susanna finally decided that the sunroom at Mama Leslie's was not the right habitat for her lizards and let them go! Thanks so much to Mama Leslie and Grandpappy for hosting our farewell to the cousins!

Texas weather

This is what we woke up to this morning! The hail started about 6:30. These pictures were taken a few hours later--it was melting quickly, but we did get just a little smaller than golf ball size hail!

Daddy daughter dance

Tonight was the annual Daddy daughter dance! The girls were so excited to go with their dad. A very large group of and dads and daughters went together from our ward. They went to dinner first, then on to the dance.

The world of blogs!

I am extremely technologically challenged, so this a VERY big step for me to try to keep up a blog! Greg said he doesn't think I'll post very often (which could be entirely true), so I informed him that he could post too! I am still trying to figure everything out, so we'll see how it goes!