The Big 40

My friend Erica's husband Jason turns 40 today! Happy Birthday, Old Timer! I wonder if this means he'll be too old for ice skating and go karts???







Jason I hope you have a Fabulous 40th Birthday!!!

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Also having a birthday today is one of my best friends, Dar. Dar was my room mate when I moved to Arizona to go to school. No matter the time and space between us, we never run out of things to talk about! I miss you Dar and hope you have a super 38th birthday!

Happy Birthday, Averie!

I have plenty of family that I have not blogged about yet. Marty and I both come from large families so we have many many relatives. He has many I've never met and vice-versa. It's especially difficult to get to know each others' families well when the majority of his family lives in Wyoming, the majority of my family lives in Missouri, and we live in South Texas. Unfortunately we don't often make the trip to Wyoming to see his family. Thankfully we are able to keep in touch anyway, often via email. Many family members, although they don't often comment, do read here.





Marty is one of 4 boys. I've blogged most often about his twin brother Mike and his family. They live near here so we see them fairly often. His other two brothers, Andy and Rick, live in Wyoming. Andy and his beautiful wife Courtney have 2 children, Gavin and Averie. Courtney graciously emails photos of the kids pretty often so we can keep up to date with them. Our niece Averie turned 7 years old today! It just doesn't seem possible. The last time we saw her was in 2003 when we were in Wyoming for my father in law's memorial service. Time goes by way too fast and kids grow up so quickly!

These are photos I took the last time we were in Torrington to see Marty's family. Here is our niece Averie with her Uncle Marty.

Heather with her cousins Gavin and Averie.

Uncle Marty with Gavin and Averie.

And this is the most recent photo Courtney sent just a few weeks ago taken after the kids' soccer games. I cannot believe how much they've grown!!!

Averie, I hope you had a wonderful 7th birthday! We love you very much!!!



(It's also Riley's birthday today. Riley is the daughter of my friend Erica. Happy Birthday, Riley!)

And I almost forgot! It's Ryan's birthday too! Happy Birthday Ryan! (for those of you who don't know, Ryan, the school mascot, is a buddy of Heather's and they've been friends since 7th grade).

Coming up...more trips down memory lane! I've been digging in picture boxes trying to find these photos of Gavin and Averie and while I was digging, came across more blog material!!! Stay tuned....

Birthdays

I guess most people start feeling older the more birthdays they've had. You know what makes me feel older than that? Seeing my younger siblings get older and knowing my daughter will graduate high school in less than 2 years.

Today my baby brother turned 26 years old. What???!!! 26??? When did that happen? He was born when I was just 14 years old and I remember so clearly what he looked like as a baby. I even remember what the moon looked like the night he was born. Knowing he's now 26....now THAT makes me feel old...older than my own birthdays make me feel.

Today would also have been Dad's birthday. Sadly Dad's been gone over 9 years now. That doesn't seem possible either. He sure loved sharing his birthday with Levi. So, October 1st, a day once celebrated in our family, has become a little bittersweet, with Dad gone and Levi still struggling to get his life on the right track.

Happy Birthday Marty & Mike!

Tonight we drove over to San Antonio to have dinner at Mike and Debbie's with all the family to celebrate Marty's and Mikes' 38th birthdays. In the past 20 years, since we've all lived in so many different places, Mike estimates they may have celebrated 4 or 5 birthdays together. It's been a blessing having him and his family living close enough for celebrations such as tonight or even just to hang out together.

As is Billie's tradition, the boys each get their own cake:

(Also a tradition, they are always picking on one another)

Happy 38th Birthday, Guys!

We knew Billie and Freddie were up to something but we didn't know what until the candles were lit....and they began roasting marshmallows over the candles!!!

Apparently, Mike's a little slow blowing out his candles!

As the boys know, they're never too old for their Mama to scold!

Cute cousins, Heather and Cheyenne.

Billie with her twins. (Marty will always tell you he's the oldest...by 28 minutes)

I'm so glad we all got to celebrate together!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Marty!!!

Marty is 38 today!!!

Happy Birthday, Marty

(and Mike)!

We love you!!!

Celebrating warm days and birthdays

It was such a beautiful, warm day that when Marty finished the tasks he was working on this morning he came home, washed the bike and we went for a motorcycle ride. I am strictly a fair weather rider and have been waiting for a nice, warm day for a ride. Marty on the other hand has ridden his bike all winter long, except on extreme cold or rainy days. Then he takes my Suburban to work!

It turned out to be the perfect afternoon for a ride. While we were out and about we discovered many who had the same idea we had. There were motorcycles and convertibles with tops down everywhere we went. Meanwhile my family back in Missouri is still covered in ice and very cold. And yes, I rubbed it in how warm we are here...especially to my sister Lacey. :0)

You can just see green starting to peek through the brown here and there.

One of our stops was at Landa Park in New Braunfels. I took my mom here last summer for a day but Marty had never been.

I've never seen a squirrel pose quite like this before. The poor guy was confused. Marty was on one side of the tree and I on the other. He danced around a bit before finally darting straight up the tree.

I was just playing with shutter speeds with the water rushing over the rocks.







We arrived home from our ride in time to celebrate our friend Denise's 35th birthday. Happy Birthday Denise!!!

37??? When Did This Happen?

Today is my 37th birthday. 37 doesn't feel as old as I used to think it was. I'm still trying to figure out how I got here! Just yesterday I was 18 and moving to Arizona to live on my own for the first time. That sureley wasn't almost 20 years ago!





Since my birthday falls on an evening we have church, we decided to go out for dinner for my birthday a day early. We piled in the Suburban along with our friends Jason and Erica and their kiddos and went to Clear Springs for a yummy dinner.





Several of the other patrons gave us strange looks when we began snapping pictures, but hey, that's just what we do! As our pastor likes to say, "Get Over It."

Marty and Me.

Jason and Erica.

Me, Marty, Jason and Erica.

The whole gang, from the left: Cameron, Mathew, me, Marty, Jason, Erica, Riley and Heather.
Thanks guys for helping me celebrate my birthday!!!

Heather told the waitress it was my birthday so we got CHOCOLATE CAKE AND ICE CREAM! YUM!

Me and Erica.

What an awesome friend you are, Erica!

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I was born on my cousin Carmen's 1st Birthday.

Happy Birthday, Carmen!

Visit Carmen over at Mom to the Screaming Masses.

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Mike and Marty, et al

I took Marty to Rudy's for BBQ for his birthday. Mike and Debbie were persuaded to meet us there for Mike's bday too. It's always a barrel of laughs when these two are around!

Mike: "Marty, you're REALLY not going to share those ribs with me?"

Mike: "You did NOT seriously just take a picture of me with a sausage in my mouth!"

Marty: "Mike, these ribs are TO DIE FOR!"

Marty: "Here Mikey, taste this. It's not hot!"

Mike: "Forget the spoon. I'm drinkin' my corn!"

This is me and my sister in law Debbie. She's brand new to the world of blog (just this morning!). You can visit her here. Drop by and leave some love in her comments.

Help!

So, I knew it was just around the corner and I'd better be thinking of something, but Heather informed me yesterday "it's only 59 days until I turn 16! What are we going to do for my birthday party?" I have no idea! That's where you come in. I need some ideas. I'm trying to find something memorable but very inexpensive. Please send ideas to the email link on my side bar or in the comments section below. I really need your help with this one. I'm fresh out of ideas and I've been trying to come up with something for months!