SATB Tour- Part 4- Brownwood, TX for NYE

It's a good thing I don't make my living by blog writing...we'd be broke b/c I'm so behind. I', still writing about 2009! I have high hopes I'll get caught up soon... :)

I'll continue on about our trip to the states....after our trip to Austin, most of Brett's family went up to the family cabin, located just outside Brownwood, TX. They have some land up there where the guys deer hunt; the girls play cards, cook and play with the babies; and everyone jsut drinks beer, hangs out and has a great time. This year we all went up there for New Year's. Since there are now so many kiddos in the family, several of us stayed in the cabin (thank goodness it has been expanded) and we also had 2 campers. We all had beds and had a great time!

Barbara's parents live in Blanket, just around the corner from the cabin. We stopped by the say hello and let them meet Mallory.
Mallory says "she looks like a nice Grandma!"
Bo and Cheyanne spend some time hanging out at the lake.
Mal and Daddy went fishing
Bo and Cheyanne had fun playing on the banks
Mommy and Mal hung out in the 4 wheeler while the boys went fishing.
Mallory and Porter having a deep conversation about life as babies.
Mal enjoys the jumparoo
The baby girls swinging by the fire. I think they had the 2 best seats out there!
Barbara and Rachel having some girl talk
The Daddy's watch over their little girls
Swinging by the fire
Daddy and Mallory enjoy the fire
The baby girls- Mallory 4 mo and Bella 3 mo
The baby girls and baby Porter too (6 mo). Doesn't it look like they are conspiring against him? I can almost hear the girls whispering "why isn't he wearing pink"?
The Krause boys- Garner, Porter and Kadon- such sweet brothers!
Tera and Bella
Baby Row!
Auntie Rachel, Mal and Mommy and Shad's Rachel all enjoying the fire
Our little family- can you tell it was just a BIT cold outside on New Year's Eve?
Adrian, Jason and Shad contemplate life.
Rachel and Brandon
Mallory didn't quite make it to midnight, but she was snuggled safe in Daddy's hands.
Josh and Shad jam on the guitars
Brett, Brandon and Adrian
Here comes the champagne! it's midnight! Welcome 2010!!!

A good time was had by all and it was hard to say good-bye to everyone on Jan 1st, but we all had (and have) high hopes the 2010 is going to be a great year!

SATB Tour- Part 3- Austin, TX

Our next stop on our "Tour of America" was Austin. We packed up from Uncle Craig's house, drove 2 hours to the Atlanta airport and flew from Atlanta to Houston, then Houston to Austin. Barbara picked us up, and our first Texas request was a stop at Taco Cabana for tortillas and queso. We made it to her house, unloaded and enjoyed the cheap mexican food goodness.

We then spent the next few days celebrating Christmas with Brett's various (and many) family members. As the pictures show, we had a great time.

Mallory the morningof her first Christmas.Mallory meeting couin Bella, who is about 1 month younger. They had on the same little pants, although it wasn't planned.
This getting spoiled thing is fun!
Have you ever seen a cuter little booty?
Our family of 3 at the big Cochran family Christmas party.
The entire clan. Told you there were a lot of them! I'm still impressed that we could manage to get this many people, and kids and babies, in a picture and have all of us looking forward and smiling!

Hanging out under the tree.
All the grandkids -Kadon, Porter, Dylan, Samantha, Logan, Mallory, Bo, Bella, Garner and Cheyanne.
Mama B with all her grandkids- seeing as how a few of us live out of Texas now, it was pretty special to ALL be in town at the same time!
Mallory with her new Cabbage Patch doll.
Christmas wore her out (but doesn't she look like a sleeping angel in her little Christmas dress?)
Aunt Rachel with Mal
"The Shad's" play with Mal
Shad rocks out on his guitar later in the night. Notice how just a few of the kids are still up for this late night event, and notice that one of them is our Mallory. She is a party girl!
Cheyanne had a fun time playing with her baby cousinLooking just adorable under the Christmas tree.

We had a great time in Austin with Brett's side of the family, but luckily, we didn't have to end it yet. On Dec 29th, the 3 of us drove up to Abilene to get a camper to take down to the cabin in Brownwood, where most of the family spent New Year's. The cabin, although it has been added on to recently, still isn't quite big enough for all of us, so we had 2 campers as well. Stay tuned...pics from New Year 2009-2010 at the cabin are up next...

Score one for the International Date Line!

So, as you all know, it is Super Bowl Sunday in America. Well, here in Japan we are 15 hours ahead (of Central Standard Time). That means it is Super Bowl MONDAY here. That would suck except...

1. I don't really care about pro football personally

2. Everyone except "essential personnel" (drs, firemen, cops...) get the day off

While it is weird to be drinking OJ and eating a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch instead of beer and chips, I'm totally ok with the 3 day weekend!

So, go....whoever you want...I don't really care, and thanks for the bonus holiday!!!

SATB Tour- Part 2- Atlanta, GA

After a week in Seattle, the 3 of us boarded yet another plane and flew to Atlanta, Georgia. My immediate family lives in Houston, but this year we spent the holidays in Georgia to get to see all the family. My uncle (my mom's brother) lives in Athens, about 2 hours from Atlanta. So, my grandparents (mom's parents) flew down from Virginia, mom flew over from Houston, my cousin flew in from San Francisco, and of course Brett, Mallory and I rounded out the crowd. We had a GREAT time just hanging out, playing cards, decorating for and celebrating the holidays and just spending some good quality time together.

The 4 generations of girls- Nonna (my mom's mom), Nana (my mom), me (the new mom) and Mallory!
Isn't that the cutest little reindeer butt you've ever seen?
The whole family: Uncle Craig, me, Mallory, Brett, Mom, Poppy, Nonna and Ross.
The grandparents with 2 of their grandkids and their one and only grandchild!
Ross and his cousin-once-removed (and no, those aren't all his beers on the table).
Nana and her little Santa's helper
The girls at a fun little bar in Athens (and Mallory's first bar trip- she already looks like she's eyeing that beer).
Hanging out on the sunporch on a Hello Kitty blanket (a bit of Japan in America :)
Helping Nana open Christmas presents
"flying" with Daddy
opening our Christmas loot
Poppy and a few of his favorite people
reading the paper with "Bobby"
Hanging out with my "bobby"
Brett and Craig "star" the tree together

Hanging lights on the tree
Craig and Mary Beth open their Harry and David gift box- that one was opened early so we could all enjoy the treats inside!
Poppy, Nonna and their great-granddaughter
my 3 favorite girls- my grandma, my mom and my daughter
"talking" to Poppy
having a conversation with her great grandparents
Nonna and Mallory

You can see that we had a great time as a family. I was so excited that little Miss Mallory was able to meet her great grandparents and spend the holidays with them. I know she won't remember it, but we have lots of pictures of the event and the great times we spent together. It was a great time, and went by too fast as usual. After spending 5 great days in Georgia with my side of the family, we were off again...this time to Austin (via a quick layover in Houston) to spend some time with Brett's side of the family...