Something funny...

You know that you have a good bra on when someone asks you if you got implants or had surgery!!!! This happened to me yesterday at work by a coworker!

Christmas pics and update coming soon.

Merry Christmas to you all!

Today's the last day at work for me. I'm looking forward to some much needed time off and I won't be on a computer so this is the last post for a while. Not like I've been posting regularly anyway huh?

I've been crazy busy lately but also had a little scare that had me slow down and focus a little more attention on myself than I normally would. (In short - I fainted last weekend and fell flat on my face! Seem to be okay now so no worries - just a beat up face.)

I am happy to say that I managed to get all of my Christmas shopping done in 2 weeks time, got them wrapped and shipped! Did Christmas cards including a letter and family picture, even made some holiday treats to pass out to our neighbors! It's not as much as I normally would give but I feel okay with it with the current circumstances, ha!

On a different note - I've been waiting for the movie Precious to open up in our area and this weekend was it. Drug my husband with me and I'm glad I saw it. I expected to be more emotional during it but came away really shocked - I couldn't cry!

Oh and before I forget, how about my Cowboys? I can't say that I was completely confident going into the game but I loved everything that I saw! Way to go Dallas!!!

Merry Christmas everyone!

35 today - that sounds so warm!

Finally, some relief from the single digit and negative tempatures! I'm excited!

Just got the call that Opal got a room at the PetsHotel for our Christmas trip home. She was on a waiting list and I was so nervous that I would have to try to make other arrangements at the last minute! Whew, that's such a relief for me!

Have a great weekend everyone! We are busy with sports so ours will fly by. Plus, I've received a few Christmas cards in the mail so I've been convicted and will start working on ours today. (Thought I might get away with not doing them but nooooooo! Ha!)

Ice in the toilet!

Someone told Aidan at school yesterday that if you put ice in your toilets we'll get a snow day from school. He did it and it worked - we had a snow day today! I woke up at 5:30, checked the news and saw that every school district in town was closed. Off to sleep I went again!

It's only Tuesday but I needed this day off badly! See, I worked 6 days last week to make up some from Thanksgiving and was a bit tired. I had just told Shelly yesterday that I hadn't even decorated for Christmas yet and didn't know if I would.

Got it done on my snow day though (thanks to that ice in the toilet)!

Now, a quick vacuum and I'm going to make some cookies. I've been wanting to do this for a while also! The wind has been howling outside for most of the day so the snow isn't getting shoveled today but I'm hoping it'll be blown away and I'll luck out tomorrow morning. A girl can hope right?

Thanksgiving recap!

My sister and her family came to visit us! It was fun to have girls in the house for a change, ha! We had a blast - hung out in Denver a bit, went to the zoo, to Helen Hunt Falls, the guys played flag football on Thanksgiving Day while the girls hung out and got the big meal ready, and then went Black Friday shopping at 3:45 a.m!

Yes, the boys have on shorts! Anytime the sun is out and it seems warm - they try this!

Lots of snow at the top of the trail of Helen Hunt Falls.

The boys love to climb. It terrifies me.

Alyssa jumped right in there and climbed a bit too. We all slipped a bit here and there but came away injury free!

The Wood family. Thanks so much for taking the time and money to visit us! Can't wait until we do it again.

Blind Side

If you haven't seen this yet - GO SEE IT!

Beautiful movie, one of my favorites by far. The boys loved it also. It was so much fun to watch the Ravens play this weekend because we could find #74, Michael Oher and in some way it felt like we knew him.

The pit!

Tristan was chosen to play in a tournament this weekend that was like nothing we had ever seen before. The first section was 5v5, the second was 3v3, and then the last section was the pit where you went against 1 other player. The person who scored the most in 90 seconds won. Wow! The video shows how physical it was (we think this is a girl but aren't positive).

Their team finished 3rd overall. They won the first two matches, lost the second two, and won their last. It was a fun and exhausting day!

Basketball is his new passion

Tristan started basketball last week and is playing on two different teams. He absolutely loves it! His first game today wasn't great, 4 points and he fouled out. His second game was unbelievable, 20 points and 9 steals! This video starts with one of his baskets - he's #36 in black.

No more Santa

I kept it up as long as I could. They've heard whispering among their friends that he wasn't real and it's been questioned before which I've always managed to cover up. This time I pretty much blew it all on my own.

Santa came up again after dinner one night and as I was walking through the living room I said, "My mom always made sure I had something from Santa." Why did I say that? Why, why, why?

Tristan starts smiling immediately. I give him a look and head up to my bedroom. He follows me and is giggling which starts me giggling. He asks, "What did you just say mom?" I deny everything but it's too late. He heard me and it confirms what he was thinking anyway, Santa's not really real. Of course he has questions, "How do we do it?" "Do we just listen to their conversation with Santa and then buy everything and put his name on it?" "Do I stay up all night to get it all ready or do I do it ahead of time and then keep it all in the storage closet?" Oh my goodness, he's too smart.

I make him promise to not tell Aidan because we shouldn't ruin the fun for him also. He does and I know his word is good.

Forward another week and Aidan asks me point blank, "Mom, is Santa real?" This doesn't come from Tristan but a few of his soccer friends who were talking about it when his soccer coach figured out that Aidan still believed in Santa so she cut the conversation short. I couldn't look him in the eyes and tell another story so out it came. The truth.

Aidan's reply, "Just keep listening to my list Mom. You do a good job getting the presents!"

It is it!

Went to see MJ's movie last night and it was awesome! I've never seen him perform the way that he did getting ready for that concert. I've also always thought that he was more of a lip syncher but in this movie you get to hear him really singing and he sounded wonderful!! And man could he dance!

If you're curious - it's a good movie to see. You won't be disappointed.

Pics from last night

Aidan is sitting by 2 phantoms. He was invited to trick or treat with a friend and they had a hay ride!

My homeless child! Tristan has the most creative costumes. Last year it was Steve Urkel and this year a hobo! He said his costume was a hit and he got a ton of compliments.

Tristan and his buds that went trick or treating with him!

Happy Halloween from the Brown's!

School pics that I'm finally sharing!

(We are back to school today! WoooooHooooo!!)

Out of sorts

I feel like I can't catch up or get on top of things and this is so unlike me! Josh is in Alaska. (Yes, Alaska. Crazy huh?) Things have been weird here since the boys went back to school from their Fall Break. Their 1st day back to school was marked by a 2 hour delay due to weather. I honestly can't even remember what the deal was with the weather that day to elaborate on, ugh.

Homework to get back into the routine of, soccer practices, basketball practices that we didn't make it to because we really needed to get some orthodontic work done for Tristan, and so on.

Today we woke up to a 2 hour delay that turned into a closure so no school. The storm didn't really hit our area until noon so I made it to work at 10 and stayed for a few hours. Then it was off to cram in all of the errands I needed to get done in case we were snowed in another day. Now we're at home which is messy and gets on my nerves but I don't have the motivation to do anything about it. You know the feeling right?

Plus the boys are stir crazy. They NEED physical activity to burn off their energy and it didn't happen today. Now they are wrestling and fighting all over the place! I am so thankful we have a basement that I can ban them to because that's what's about to happen. NBA started today and the couch is calling my name.

Tristan is 11!

I can't believe it, really I can't. I have an eleven year old child. Wow!

Here's a recap of his birthday party from Saturday:

After pizza we sat down to open presents. There were a lot of cards and he took the time to read every single one aloud. (To an attentive audience.)

Here was the big surprise of the night! He had emailed his Nana that he wanted this remote control dinosaur and she got it for him. The look on his face was priceless!

Look at the high fives in the back! It was a hit amongst them all!

Treasure hunt time! They split into two teams and had to go from clue to clue to find the treasure at the end. It was fun but next time I will create two different set of clues. The second team pretty much just followed the first team along. The clues were cool though, riddles that they had to figure out the location in the house.

Cake time!

Happy Birthday to Tree! Their swords were held high!

Okay, I'm off to get a little more rest. I haven't fully recovered from the sleepover yet!

Palm reading

I never knew that going to get a manicure would mean that they throw in a palm reading also! Here's what happened:

I had an appt to get my hair cut in the mall last week and decided that I had some extra time so I walked down to the nail salon for a mani/pedi. When the lady (she was vietnamese) was doing the massage for the manicure she had my palm facing her and stopped in the middle of the rub to stare at it. She not only was staring at it intensely but then rubbed the center of my palm to look at it even harder. She looks at me but it's not a happy look. All I can say is that it seemed concerned, sad, and worried. I told myself it wasn't anything and just to let it go.

I'm watching the tv they have there on the wall and on to the next hand we go. You will not believe it but it all happens again with the next palm! Followed up with her asking, "You okay? Everything okay?"

I didn't ask her what she saw because I didn't want to know. All I know is that she saw something and it wasn't really good. She had such a sad, concerned look on her face the rest of the time I was there. Weird huh?

The boys and my friends find this story hilarious! That same night I spilled a bowl of ranch dip into my lap at a restaurant and Aidan said, "Maybe that's what she saw on your hands mom." Followed by extreme laughter.

Whew, what a weekend

of nothing!!!! We had an ice storm that hit our area early Saturday morning so we spent most of the weekend at home. Soccer was cancelled which was a bummer because it was going to be the first Saturday that I could have watched both of the boys play. Oh well, it was a mess out. 60 car pile-up on the interstate, lots of other wrecks around town, and a crazy fog that came in sometime while I was in the grocery store!


We did get out Saturday night to watch some basketball games at a local high school but that was it. Tristan had already slipped and hit his elbow in the grocery store parking lot so we were extra careful at the high school but it was straight ice. You should have seen Opal slipping and sliding down our driveway at home, hilarious!!

Here's a cool picture of Tristan that was forwarded to me after last weekend. He was taking a corner kick, you can tell he puts his all into it!!

All my BOYS lost on Sunday!

We made it to the Cowboys game on Sunday because both Tristan and Aidan's teams lost and didn't advance to the playoffs in their tournaments. Here's a picture of Tristan during our walk towards the stadium:

Yep, we wore our jerseys and were heckled on the way into the game (they must not have cared that we had children with us). It was a little uncomfortable but there were alot of Dallas fans there!

Our seats were in the upper level (only about 6 rows from the very top) because that's what was available that I could afford. Here's the field view. It wasn't too bad, I could see everything but couldn't read their names or numbers on the back of their jersey. Josh and Tristan could because they have perfect eyesight!!

This kind of shows how high up it was. I felt sorry for the elderly people trying to make it up those stairs. It was a work out and once you got seated you felt like you might take a skydive. Not kidding.

A picture before the stadium filled up. The attendance was 75,000 something. Only 800 people didn't show up for the game.

The overall experience was fun, I'm really glad that I've done it now. Don't know that I'll ever go to another Bronco game because they aren't my team; I'll happily wait until we can go to a Cowboy home game. The Bronco fans aren't nice and it was uncomfortable at times. I'm not one to rub it into your face if you're losing and I felt like some of the fans did that. Out of the four of us, Tristan and I had the most fun. Aidan got bored and Josh was tired of the man next to him burping hot dog into his face and the three men behind Tristan cursing every Dallas Cowboy player possible.

I've compared my experience with others this week and all I can say is that it's too bad the Bronco fans don't have a better reputation. Seems like this is the way it always is.

Cowboys vs. Broncos

We've never been to an NFL game before but hope to this weekend!!! The Cowboys are coming to town and I got tickets!!!!! Sitting up at the top of the stadium but I don't care - we hope to be there.

Notice I'm hoping??? That's because the boys are each playing in a tournament this weekend and if either one of their teams make it to the finals, that game is scheduled at the same time as the football game. Oh well, if anything - we can make it to the football game at halftime! (Let's just hope I don't get beat up wearing my Cowboys stuff into Invesco Field.)

Swayback

Definition: Excessive inward or downward curvature of the spine, especially in a horse.

No, I don't look like this horse!!!! But after seeing the chiropractor yesterday (who by the way is an extremely nice lady) this is what I've been diagnosed with. In her opinion, it explains my lower back pain and migraines! Too bad it doesn't help me get that bubble butt I wished I had.

The appointment started out with a little chat about my medical history and reasons for visiting. Then I had xrays taken and laid down on a massaging bed to stretch out. We reviewed the xrays which were extremely enlightening! Then I finished with the adjustment which didn't take long and wasn't painful. There were a lot of noises (pop, snap, crack) but I thought it was cool! She's going to come up with a treatment plan for me and I see her again on Friday for another adjustment.

Chiropractor

I'm going for the first time today to see a chiropractor. My lower back has been bothering me for some time, especially after sleeping or sitting on the couch for a bit. I'm anxious to see what kind of shape I'm in and if there is anything that might explain my migraines but I'm also a little nervous. I'll update you all tomorrow and no old jokes!!

Does this make you laugh or is it just me?

A quick explanation: Aidan had two fillings done before we went to dinner. At the restaurant we were laughing and I looked over at Aidan who was laughing but only one side of his face could move. That made me laugh so hard that I was crying and then the look of sheer horror on our waitress' face when she looked at Aidan sent me over the edge. This video was taken about an hour later once we got home so it's not really the same but his face was still funny! (Or I'm silly and it was just the wine, ha!)

1st snow

Come on now!!! Can't we get through September and enjoy Fall? Guess not. Here's to hoping that at least it doesn't start to stick later tonight.

Division Champs!

Nope, not the boys this time! It's my DAD!!!! (He's in the brown.)

Who says that fishing doesn't pay??? This is so cool, we are all very proud.

Swayze

Wow, he passed away yesterday. Like most of you I was introduced to Patrick Swayze in Dirty Dancing. Who didn't want to be Baby?

My mom happened to love him and I think I've seen most of his movies, multiple times.

My favorite one is The Outsiders. I will admit that I didn't actually watch it because of him necessarily - there are so many cuties in there. I loved Matt Dillon and Rob Lowe!

I watched his first season of The Beast this year. I liked the show but it was hard to see him like that. You could tell in each episode that he was losing more weight and looking older. (Tristan thought that he looked like his soccer coach from last year which might have been a back handed compliment.) Anyway, I'm sorry to hear that he's gone but at least he's not suffering. I'll still watch his movies, besides the ones I mentioned above I also like Roadhouse, Ghost, and Point Break.

The ungiven

Aidan told me last week that he wanted to give a girl that he likes some jewelry. (I'm not shocked or against it at all because I remember that in 4th and 5th grades I had boyfriends and was given gifts. I'm just not in a hurry to get to all of this stuff, ya know?)

The boys don't really talk about girls much yet but I did know that Aidan liked someone last year named Christina. After asking a few questions it turns out to be that very same girl. Very impressive that at the age of 9 he has liked someone for that long. We talked about stuffed animals, flowers, or candy as a first gift and that jewelry normally comes once you are definitely girlfriend/boyfriend. He was dead set on jewelry so we made a trip to the store last Friday.

Oh my, the taste that he has in jewelry! He was picking out the most gawdy, ugly, plastic pieces I've ever seen. I finally got him to focus on the little pink boxes for little girls and he picked some earrings. He even paid for them himself!

Yesterday he was going to give them to her at lunch. I was so curious to find out what happened but you know our daily rush got to me after school - I completely forgot to ask.

Then Aidan says, "I couldn't give Christina the earrings today."

I asked, "Why?"

He says, "Can you believe she changed schools?"

"What?" I asked with a completely confused look on my face.

"She changed schools and isn't going there anymore. I asked her friends." Aidan says.

And he's a-okay with it. It didn't break his heart but I do think he would have really liked to have given them to her. Crazy stuff huh? But what a joke this can turn into! I have a feeling in a few years we are going to get quite a few laughs from this! (If it's ok with him of course.)

Our Labor Day

Went up in the mountains to beautiful Estes Park!

It's also the home of the famous Stanley Hotel. (The hotel that drove Jack Nicholson crazy in the Shining!)

Here's a distant picture of the lodge we rented a condo in.

The view from our deck was breathtaking! (Not so much to tear Josh's attention from the computer though, ha!)

Aidan taking a break in one of the bedrooms.

Even went on a hike!

I only fell once and never saw any of the animals they warned us of! We had a great time, hope that you all had a wonderful Labor Day also.

Sssshhhhh!

This is what I've been doing at work all week, click here to see. You can watch your choice of 5 different matches at any time!!! Fantastic!

Hope you all have a wonderful Labor Day weekend! We are getting away for a short family excursion. Check back next week for the recap!

Smoky Mountains

Can you see it? Normally the view is really clear but we have some of the smoke from the CA fire in our air. Scary stuff about the fire, I hope they can get it under control soon. If it's like this here, I can't imagine what it's like there.

The scoop

Went to the doctor a few weeks ago for my physical. Haven't had one in quite some time, long overdue! My cholesterol was the best that it's ever been in my life!!! Everything was normal and I got to discuss my headaches with her. Guess what? I don't have headaches - I have MIGRAINES! She gave me some sample prescriptions to try and so far the two that I've tried WORKED!! Headache gone in 45 minutes. I can't explain to you how awesome this is. I normally will suffer through 24-36 hours of a headache, taking unheard of amounts of advil/tylenol with no improvements. For a while there I thought I might have a brain tumor but nope - migraines. Plus, the validation that I got from her meant the world. She has them also and could completely relate. (Unlike my hubby who luckily has probably never had a headache in his life and started referring to me as the drug addict.)

Fell down the two little steps into the garage on Sunday and my leg still hurts. No bruise thank God but my leg is sore as if I worked out for 6 hours. I didn't (of course) so that's not it. Probably just the way I tensed up when I slipped. I tend to fall down stairs all the time so this isn't anything new. Thought it might be due to the brain tumor but obviously not.

Soccer is draining me. Not because of the hectic schedule, it's Aidan's team. I'm not sure why but his games have really gotten to me. Josh said that you would think that I was the one out there playing. I'm upset when they lose, more so than the boys are. I think it's because we have new players and I really thought things would come easier to us this season. It's not happening though, we are struggling just like last season. They are playing in the highest division of their age group so our schedule is tough, really tough. I've got to get myself under control though or the poor guy will end up quitting like he told me he wanted to on Sunday. Yep, we had a lovely few hours of being really upset with each other. (And Aidan is one of those kids who gets mad at his parents and he doesn't hold back any of his feelings!)

That's the scoop so far!

A favorite picture of mine!

I've had absolutely no time lately to blog. Frustrating, but I haven't forgotten about you all! Here's one of my favorite pictures. I titled it "Nerds" because of the glasses and retainers. Check back for a story soon.

The Cleaner

I'm loving this show so much! I record it (of course, because I'm never at home to watch it during it's normal time). Just watched this week's episode this morning and it choked me up.

Soccer tournament this weekend for both of the boys. It's here in town for a change so things will be a lot easier than usual.

**

Our fridge went out Tuesday. What a way to clean out the darn thing! It's been repaired and new groceries have been stocked but I can't get over that fear of opening the door to find a puddle of water in the bottom pouring out onto my feet. First the a/c, then the fridge, what's next? They come in 3's right?

10 yr old emails

Yesterday was one of Tristan's friend's birthday. His mom asked that the soccer team send him a birthday email message. Here's Tristan's:

Hey Gidi,

I just wanted to tell you Happy Birthday and
you are a great soccer player.

From Tree [Tristan]

Here's Aidan's:

Happy Birthday Gideon!

Hope you have a great day today.

Tell Huddy I said hi.

Aidan

Here's the friend's reply:

Sent: Tuesday, August 18, 2009 8:02:20 AM

Subject: Re: Happy Birthday!

hey thanks tree and little man it means a lot and hudson says hi back

Don't you love the nicknames?

Crushing

Here's something that happened to us this weekend that was a first for us!

Tristan had a pal spend the night on Saturday. It wasn't our idea, the other boy mentioned it after soccer and I was fine with it. His mom was willing to give it a try but had reservations because he has called her in the past from other sleepovers at 2 a.m. wanting to come home. Fair warning right?

We ran errands, went to eat, went to see Imagine That at the movie theater, fun, fun, fun! (The movie was a disappointment though. It wasn't really a kids movie because a lot of it was about business stuff, working and what not.) We get home at 7 and the boys hit the park for an hour. 8 o'clock comes and they are downstairs playing games. Tristan and Aidan are so excited because their friend says he's having fun, blah blah. 9 o'clock and I'm making them a snack when his mom calls and wants to chat with him. After they talk, he hands the phone to me and she says, "I'm going to have to come get him. I just asked him if he felt comfortable staying the night and he's not so sure." I really didn't know what to say other than okay.

Of course, I understand her situation and ours really. I would rather it happen now then at 2 a.m. She gets our address again and says that her husband will be over in a bit to pick him up. I hang up and think about how I'm going to tell Tristan and Aidan who have no idea this is happening.

"Guys, ____'s dad is going to come and get him in a bit so let's start helping him get his things together."

Aidan says, "Why is he leaving now?"

I just shrugged my shoulders (yes, it was the easy way out right at the moment!)

Aidan says, "that sucks!!" I couldn't even correct his language because it did suck and you could see in his face that he was crushed.

In the end, he was picked up at 9:50 p.m. and I explained to the boys what happened. They couldn't understand it at all; they really take a lot of pride in being a good friend and making sure that their company is having fun. Our house is usually the place to be!

My theory is that if his mom wouldn't have called, all would have been fine and we would have made it through the night without a problem. But, one never knows.

It's hard having big ones.

This is a funny story!

This morning on our drive to school, out of nowhere Tristan says, "Mom, yesterday you should have pulled your shirt out."

I was confused because I didn't have my shirt tucked in, it was a v-neck, beige t-shirt. I asked, "What do you mean? It wasn't tucked in."

He says and demonstrates with his hands, "No, pulled it out away from you." He pulls his shirt out away from his chest.

I say, "Why?"

He says, "Because I could see everything. Your whole .... you know!" He demonstrates with his hand cupped over his chest and then points to the nipple area.

I laughed!! I asked him if I embarrassed him? He told me I did! Who would have known that wearing a regular old t-shirt was embarrassing to a 10 yr old?

We have a little code now that he'll pull at his shirt if I'm ever showing too much in public. This is hilarious to me because I'm a pretty modest person. But I will admit, it's tough to have big boobs. Obviously, you can't even wear a t-shirt!

Work, work, work.

I bet you thought I was going to complain about my job huh? Nope, it's actually going pretty well. I'm very thankful for it actually; it's really flexible and hasn't been too busy lately. I've worked less hours in order to be with the boys more with their busy schedules.

The above picture is what it looks like at my house right now everyday around 4 p.m. 4th and 5th grade is no joke! Homework everyday so far. They are both doing really well. The only thing is that they are the only ones from their soccer teams who have started school already so it's affected their social life. Ha! They've had to miss several sleepovers.

1st day of school!

Yes, it's that time again. And it's too soon as far as the boys are concerned. They are not happy about it in the least. Here's a lovely picture though (even with the forced smiles).

State Games

Okay, I got the boys involved in something without much information and it turned out we were way in over our heads! The State Games of America were here in town this weekend with every sport you can imagine. Archery, basketball, soccer, gymnastics, track and field, ice skating. It's like the Olympics but I thought on a much smaller scale. They advertised that anyone could participate so I signed up the boys and thought to myself, "Let's go out, run some races, and bring home some medals." I had no idea that people traveled from all over the U.S. to come and compete - and these are kids who do this all summer long!

The first race was the 100 and you are running against the clock basically. The top 3 times get medals. There were two heats and although Tristan ran his race well we had to wait an hour for the times to come in and see if he placed. Not this time, he didn't make the top 5 by .1 second. He shed some tears over this but it fired him up for his next race with was the 200.

In between Tristan's races, Aidan ran the 400. He fell in the 8-10 yr old bracket and poor guy must have had to race all 10 year olds. He came in dead last and very upset!! He didn't even want to run his 200 next, he wanted to go home. I had no idea this is how it would be. I really wished that I would have asked more questions so that I could have prepared them better.

After lunch we went back to the track to wait for the 200. We got to watch some awesome long jumps from the older boys. It's time for the 200 race and wouldn't you know they only have 6 boys racing so that means that Aidan has to run against Tristan. Again, the poor guy doesn't stand a chance. He does run his race though, he didn't quit. Tristan had some steep competition but will you believe that he came away with the bronze medal?????? Just a kid who came out to run for fun? Unbelievable!!!!!

To see the results from the track and field competitions you can click here. Scroll down until you get to the boys and you'll see his name under 10 and under Boys 200m.

1st place!

Aidan played with some of his friends in a 3v3 tournament at Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Denver on Saturday! They won 1st place!!

Here's the winning team!

Fun day! We even stayed for the Rapids game that evening and saw some of the fireworks show that followed.

Tyler Courier Times - Telegraph

On the last morning of our trip my mom is sitting at the table looking through the paper when you hear her say, "Wellllll, look who's in the paper!" This is my dad bending over working on a part for a boat and the article is pretty big with lots of quotes and stuff from him. He never mentioned it to anybody, which is hilarious because I knew that he had already read the paper and saw it. Ha!

I had to stop and buy one for myself to keep. Since he didn't want to brag - I will.

What a surprise!

I did it, I can't believe I actually pulled it off! (Lots of lying involved though!) I planned a weekend with our family in Texas and the boys had no idea that we were going. Tristan figured it out once I handed him the boarding pass in the security line! I did learn a little about him though - he doesn't like surprises. I should have know since he's such a planner but oh well. It took him until later that evening to finally start enjoying himself.

The view of downtown Dallas from our hotel window! Breathtaking!

The pool that Nana put together herself due to the installation people never showing up or returning any phone calls. She was determined to have this ready for our visit and she did it! She's an amazing woman whom I will always admire. (If that was me, it wouldn't have been done and I would have cried my eyes out!)

The rooftop swimming pool at the hotel. Yes, we did a lot of swimming!

Finally made it to Medieval Times. We had seats on the second row and little Miss Brooke got the flower from our knight! The entire Brown family enjoyed the dinner and show.

My mom and I! (These pictures are not that great because I dropped my camera the first day of the vacation and broke the screen again.)

Aidan and his Nana and Cleve. If he had a choice I think he would leave me in a minute to move in with them. I love it that he loves them so much!

Texas flag outside my parents house. Along with a boat motor of course. What an awesome weekend we had! It's truly a blessing to have such wonderful families.