Oliver's 2nd Birthday: Little Red Wagons

Oliver is Emmy's brother from another mother. People usually think they twins. In all actuality, they are cousins. This year Ollie turned two, and we were so happy to attend his Little Red Wagon party.

Ollie's mother, April, went above and beyond with the decorations.  They had the party at a  little park near their house, and she actually moved her dining room table to the park for the party.  It looked fabulous, and I admire her attention to detail, but I was in awe!  I love parties, but usually my laziness wins out on the details like this.  In mathematics it would look like this:
My laziness > My Awesomeness/Mad Mom Skills

Enjoy the photos, and Happy 2nd Birthday Ollie Bear!  We love you!

Chip and Alyssa Tie the Knot

Chip (or Maurice as his friends never call him) and Alyssa got married at a picturesque ranch in the Conroe area.  The ceremony took place under a huge tree growing near the banks of the lake.  Behind the couple rolling hills loomed in the background.  It was amazing.

Several months ago, Alyssa contacted me and asked if Emmarie would like to be the flower girl at the wedding.  We of course agreed, but I cautioned her that Emmy would not even be 2 1/2.  I wouldn't be able to guarantee that she would "perform" well.  Alyssa just laughed and said that whatever she did would be cute.

Fast forward to the wedding day.  Everything was beautiful, and we got to see so many of our Hart Hall friends.  It was an awesomely amazing day of fun and laughter.  At the reception we all crowded the dance floor swaying to the music and singing at the top of our lungs when crowd favorites came on.

Chip and Alyssa- if your married life is half as fun as your wedding, you two will be happily married for the rest of your lives.  Congratulations to you both!

We Honor the Twelve

Aggie Bonfire Memorial Day

One of my Aggie coworkers told me a story today.  He told me about his experience on 11-18-1999.

My coworker was in the Fighting Texas Aggie Band.  They were scheduled to work the night of the collapse.  Apparently some of the underclassmen were being "coaxed" into working on Bonfire to the point of their grades and sleep schedule suffering.  I know it is hard to believe that an upperclassmen would ever try to "coax" underclassmen into doing anything that they didn't want to do.

Well, the guy in charge (of the band) told the BQs that they didn't have to go work that night.  They should stay in and sleep/catch up on homework.

As my coworker recounted his experience and how one man's decision may have saved an entire unit from being there when it fell, I was reminded with how close we all come to disaster on a daily basis.

Simple choices and actions such as taking the time to hold a door open for someone could be the moment's delay that you need to see that car coming too fast to see the stop sign.

I guess today while I am remembering our twelve dear Aggies that passed away on that fateful day in '99, I am also thankful for all of the little choices made that saved the lives of so many more.  While we are peacefully remembering the fallen, let us also be thankful to a great God and his perfect plan that we don't always understand.




Photo Source

Disney World 2013: The Long Trek Home

We left our hotel and headed strait to the airport to drop off Dad.  He had reserved a place on a van with a transportation company, but he did not get back in time to ride with them.  We got him to the airport in time for his flight back.






Some of the scenery we saw on our way back home.



We made it to Mississippi before we stopped for the night.  We wanted to go down to the beach the next morning before getting back on the road.  Emmy LOVES the beach, so it seemed mean to be that close and not take her.

We played on the beach for about 30 minutes.  The water was pretty cold, but it was such a beautiful day!





















We had only been on the road for about two hours when we saw a sign for Krystal Burger.  We immediately took the exit for some Krystal goodness!





They passed the Emmy taste test!



Then we kept driving...and I started to feel like this about our drive home.



We finally made it back to Texas, and we stopped to see these two!




After hanging out for a while and then getting dinner, we got back on the road (without Mom).  Dad picked Mom up and took her to go see GiGi.

It was around 1:30 when we pulled into EC, and we were very happy to be home. 

Not so happy to unpack the suburban...but that's the breaks when you get to go on an amazingly fabulous vacation! :)