SATB Tour- Part 6- Dallas/Ft. Worth Texas

After just a day down in Houston, I borrowed my mom's car and drove up to the Dallas/Ft Worth area to visit old friends. First stop was in the Hurst/Euless/Bedford area, where I used to teach. I stayed with NancyJo Wed night, planning to visit Spring Garden Elementary the next day. Well, the crazy weather sorta changed that plan- it froze that night, so school was cancelled! At first I was a big bummed, thinking I had limited time to see everyone, but it actually turned out great, as we were all able to go to lunch that day and really catch up without students in the way!!

Part of the gang hanging out at a great Mexican Restaurant- Miguelito's. Yum!Melissa and her sweet daughter Katherine- Mel and I used to teach 1st grade together

Elizabeth and her cutie pie
Kim B and Ellen- 2 of my old 1st grade teacher teammates
Sherry King (another 1st grade teammate) holding Mal while she slept thru part of lunch. She woke up soon enough- everyone wanted a turn to hold her!
Melissa K, Debbie L and Nancy Jo L- great teachers and better friends!
Debbie, Colette and myself
Debbie gets her turn holding Mal
Kim's daughter Caroline and Sherry's daughter Mallory. She isn't really our Mal's namesake, but she is the only other Mallory I know. She's a sweetie too, so if our M turns out like her, we are in good shape!

The next day up in Ft Worth school resumed, and it was also the night of the College Championship game. You can see who we were cheering for. Unfortunately, that game didn't quite turn out the way we had hoped, but we still had fun hanging out and eating snacks and cheering on the Longhorns.
Nurse Nancy holding Mal
Sherry's girls Mackenzie and Mallory w/ my Mallory
Rodney and Mal watch the game (and also the back of their eyelids)
Passed out after the game, on a UT blanket. We did our best to cheer them on!
Go Horns!

The next day, school was back in session, so I went to visit some past students and friends. Here are a few girls who were once my 1st grade students. They are now in 4th grade- time flies!

Posing with Elyla, another former student. I taught her 3 years ago, and she has a special place in my heart as she had leukemia the year she was in my class, and went thru chemo and radiation. Today I'm happy to say she is doing great and just as sweet as ever!

After visiting Spring Garden, we went over to visit Erin and Josh. Stephanie and her daughter Caton (who is just 4 days younger than Mallory) were in town for the weekend, so we got to all hang out.
Caton and Mal play toys
Amy came over for dinner one night
BFF"s Caton and Mal
Hey there world, what's up??
Parallel Babies- this "pod" was Caton's and it is quite a fun toy (and baby jail!)
Checking out Josh's beard- Daddy doesn't have one of those- it's pretty neat!
At dinner with Erin and Becca

We went to visit some other friends with babies as well and had a little mini playgroup- Meagan and her 3 week old daughter, Hayden and her 8 month old son, Kristin and her 11 month old son and of course myself and 4 month old Mallory. Lots of fun!

I got to have lunch with my college buddy Justin one day as well. Notice how we are standing in front of the sushi restaurant. No, we didn't eat there, just thought it was comical for the picture.
Erin, Mallory and I went to get pedicures one afternoon. It was lovely, and Mallory was a good girl hanging out in my lap watching the fun. I think her toenails have to be just a teeny bit bigger before she can get one too!
Erin held her for a bit and she fell right to sleep!
We visited with Julie and her boys as well. What fun! Here's Julie and Mallory,
and here are her adorable almost 3 year old twins- Hudson and Landon.
Mallory keeping warm in her stroller blanket while we stroll the mall with Julie and her boys
We ate dinner with Ashley,
and Debbie at Deb's house.
Eating lunch with Shannon
Visiting with Tina, my old boss from Paradise Cove Wedding Facility (and seeing all the new improvements being made up there!) You can see that by the end of the week in DFW, Mallory was figuring out the camera thing and knew to look and smile when I pulled out that black box, AGAIN!

It was a great trip to DFW and I LOVED getting to show Mallory of to all my friends up there. We got to see quite a few people, which was just great. If we missed up this trip, we'll make sure to get together next time around!

SATB Tour- Part 5

After our trip to the family cabin, we stopped thru Abilene. We had rented a camper from Dyess, AFB (flash back to pre-Japan!) and had to return it. Our friends Tomio and Amie Brown still are stationed there, and just had a baby boy 3 weeks ago, TJ (Tomio Jr). So of course after returning the camper, we had to make a quick stop to say hi and meet their little cutie! He is so sweet and cute, and made Mallory like a big girl. It's crazy how you get used to holding your own baby, and when you hold another LITTLE one, you forget how squishy and tiny they are at the beginning!

He's cute even when he sleeps
The little guy smiling
The new mommy's with their precious bundles!

After Abilene, on the night of Jan 2nd., we made it to Dallas/Ft. Worth. Brett had to fly back to Japan the next day so we spent the night at our friend Debbie's house. It was the night of the Texas Tech Bowl Game, so we watched that with some friends. Mallory was the hit of the party though, of course.
Debbie, Melissa and Mal
Brett, Debbie and Mal

Brett flew back to Japan the morning of Jan 3rd. Mallory and I stayed behind in the states, to spend a little bit more time with friends and family. We were going to miss him but looked forward to seeing a few more people. Mallory and I had borrowed Brandon's truck, so I drove that back to Austin, and then my mom and Barbara met up 1/2 way between Austin and Houston, to take me back to Houston to spend some time with Nana.
On our first night home, Mom and Mallory had girl time. After I took this picture, we all snuggled up under that blanket and watched the girl-iest show ever, "The Bachelor". Gotta start Mal off right :)
Look- I found my feet!
Sweet, sweet smiley girl
Dontcha just LOVE this face!?!?

My friend from high school (who is actually married to another KHS grad) still lives in Houston, and her son Patrick was born just 10 days before Mallory. She came over one afternoon and we got to catch up, and have our kids meet. Mallory's first boyfriend!
Patrick and Mallory
They are just about the same size, although I think Patrick weighs a bit more.
The 4 of us
Wow- weird! What am I doing over here Mom, and why do you have another baby in your arms?
Looking all cute and casual in a sweater and jeans
Mal and Mommy

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!