Rosie's new friend "Flower." May 30, 2009

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A family in the ward needed someone to take care of their bunny for awhile, so we offered to keep him for a bit. His name is Flower. I think he looks like he might be a mix between a guinea pig and a rabbit, but Ashley Dyce said that the breed is actually called a Lion's Head rabbit (hence the furry mane around its head.) What ever he is, he makes me laugh when I look at him! Not sure what Rosie thinks about another bunny being around here, but we'll keep them in separate cages to make sure they have time to get to know one another.

Summer garden. May 23, 2009

I love this picture of Austin! He was so excited to actually see corn grow and to be able to eat it for dinner. The stalks were a bit short, so the ears were a little small, but we had fun watching them grow and form ears. I think we left them on the stalk to long, because a couple of the ears were a bit mushy.
Look at that bounty!I didn't get to spend to much time in the garden this spring, but we did get a lot of tomatoes and we had some green beans and cucumbers. My crook-neck squash looked awesome, but a lot of the fruit shriveled away before they got big enough to eat. Can't wait to plant in the fall...it's actually cool enough to enjoy going out and planting and even weeding!

Senior Prom. May 23, 2009

Yeah! Cory and Rachel finally went out on a date. Every year they have both gone to every function you can think of...with someone else. It was nice to see them together this time, especially for something as special as Prom. They looked so cute together! Rachel's dress was beautiful and looked great on her,and Cory's tux matched her dress perfectly, and he looked very handsome.

This photo is the "Mormon group" of friends.

And here we have a group photo of everyone. They planned everything together from where to meet, what to eat, and senior t-shirts.

Here is a brief outline of how the evening went.
It started off by everyone going to Justin Benvegnu's house for pictures, then they took the "party bus" to a little restaurant that was really fancy...oops...forgot the name. After dinner they went to Prom, which was held at the Berry center. The theme for prom this year was "A night in Paris." After prom the group then attended Senior SNAP. That lasted until 5:30 a.m. Then after arriving home that Sunday morning the teenagers either went home and went to church, or went home and went to bed. Cory actually went to church! Then later that afternoon part of the group meet at Lindsey's house so they could all caravan, and drive to Kathryn Tear's lake house somewhere around Austin. Cory and his friends stayed at the lake house for two days (with adult supervision) and returned home Wednesday night. It sounds like they had a really awesome graduation celebration!

Senior Prom "Waller". May 16, 2009

May has been an expensive month for us and Cory. Two proms, which means two tux rentals! We spend more money on Cory's tux than both Lindsie and Ashlie's prom dresses...and that would include the shoes and earrings too! But it's not always how much you spend, but how great you look...right? Well, I think this tan tux looks awesome on Cory.

Just 30 minutes west of Houston is the town of Waller. And Cory was asked by Shae'la Stautmeister to attend her High School Prom (they know each other through church). Shae'la is very tall...as you can see in the photos...and was happy to have a tall date to the prom. She's a very nice girl, and they look cute together.

Cory and Shae'la meet at a friends house in Waller and they took some fun pictures of them together and their friends. After pictures the whole group went to a very nice Italian restaurant called, Buca di Beppo. After they ate they attended Prom.

After prom was over Cory and Shae'la went to her house to watch a movie. By early morning, Shae'las parents made her and Cory a big breakfast, and then they attended church (sacrament meeting) at the Waller Ward. After church Cory came home and took a shower and went to bed...he slept till about five that evening. From the details I got it sounded like he had a really great time.

Senior pictures @ Lonestar campus. May 9, 2009

I had a fun time taking Cory's Senior pictures, but I'm not so sure Cory had a much fun as I did. It was pretty hot outside to be standing around in a suit or Letterman jacket. We went over to the Lonestar Cy-Fair College campus and took most of the pictures, a few others we took at the entrance of a subdivision nearby. I think the pictures turned out great! What a handsome young man! When my Mom saw the pictures she said that Cory looks a lot like MY Dad...that was a bit surprising! With all the photos I took we had a hard time deciding which picture to use for his Senior announcement. My favorite is the photo of him in his Letterman jacket by the fountain...he looks likes he's contemplating his future. Cory liked the photo above, so that's what we used for his graduation announcements. I did get to use the photo I liked by making an edible copy and putting it on his graduation cake!








Pick out your favorite photo!

Mother's Day. May 10, 2009

Another greats Mother's Day! Chuck didn't have any meetings scheduled this morning, since it was Mother's Day, so he was home to help Cory and Austin make me a special breakfast in bed. I had gotten up and taken a shower so that I would be ready for church on time, but the boys insisted I get back in bed to eat my breakfast!

Look at that beautiful tray with a cloth napkin and a flower. It was very yummy...Austin insisted that I needed him to help me eat all my bacon, and Cory too!

After church Cory and Austin put together some of my favorite snacks to munch on, Milano cookies, raspberry/chocolate bar and of course some Pepsi One to drink.
To top it all off I got to talk on the phone to both of my girls (both on a mission) and that was awesome! We were suppose to call Lindsie at 3:30pm our time and she would be waiting by the phone at her ward building. So just before 3:30pm we started calling...and the phone would ring... and then make a clicking noise...and not connect the call. We thought maybe Lindsie's companion might of gone over her time, so we tried back every 5 minutes or so. Then a few times we would call and the phone would just ring and ring...it was crazy. We were worried that Lindsie might of been locked out of the building and could hear the phone ringing...but couldn't get inside to answer the phone! It was now after 4pm and we still couldn't get any connection. Finally at 4:30pm OUR phone rang...and it was LINDSIE! She said that the phone wasn't ringing on her end, so she went and used the Bishops phone in his office. Oh, my...we told her to make sure to tell him what she did so that we could pay for the huge bill we were sure to get. So we talked for about 40 minutes and it was so good to hear her voice. We asked her about fall classes and finding a place for her to live for Fall semester and she told us how things were going in the mission. She talked to all of us on the speaker phone, Cory and Austin mostly listened, but asked a few questions now and then. After we hung up with Lindsie is was just a short time before we were scheduled to call Ashlie, we were instructed to call her at 6pm. So a few minutes before 6pm we called Ash...and didn't have any problem getting through to her,hurray for the USA! It was so good to hear Ashlie's voice, even though she has only been gone 3 months. She sounded a little home sick, so we tried to keep the questions general and we told her about our chat with Lindsie. Ashlie told us about her companion and about how great her mission President and his wife were. We had Ashlie on speaker phone too. It was sad when we had to say goodbye, but it was such a great day it was hard to be sad for long. I'm so glad that the girls are doing so well on their mission, and they seem to be genuinely happy serving the Lord. I'm a very lucky Mom to have 4 great kids, and husband too, I can't imagine my life without them!

Happy Mother's Day to me!
Oh, can't forget...Happy Mother's Day to you too, Mom. I'm glad you liked the
flowers Mel and I sent you.

Braces off! April 30, 2009

Had to take one last picture of Cory with his braces on right before he headed to the Orthodontist to finally get them taken off....how long has it been? Cory thinks he had them put on after 8Th grade...I'll have to look that up...but it has been a couple of years. I was beginning to think he was going off to college with them on!