Am I a Stalker?

The cross country team has pasta parties the night before their meets.  This one was held around the corner and across the street.  The boys came home to get a ball to play four square, so I decided to take a couple of pictures.  I didn't want them to see me, so I went into our back yard, and then into the neighbor's back yard, and these are the pictures I got.  Doesn't it look like they are having fun?

First attempt at getting a picture - too many things in the way!

Next attempt- through the trees and the swing set.

Had to try one more time because my boys weren't in the last one.

My children play four square in our driveway.  The way the concrete is cut makes a very nice playing field.  It looks like the neighbor's driveway is the same.

Just Keep Running

The boys are back into cross country, and the season has officially begun.  They had their first meet, and all the boys ran at the same time.  This is a good first meet, because no one has a time for their 5k yet, so all the boys run to race the clock, and each other, to see who will be on varsity and who will be on junior varsity.  There were about five school in attendance.

Eli changing his shorts because he wore someone else's.

Words of encouragement from the coach.

Team cheer.

Runners take your mark...

Caleb

Eli looking a little tired.

Eli cheesing it up for the camera.

The fairy's home.

The girls do not particularly enjoy going to the cross country meets, so they find something to entertain them while the boys are running.  Here they made a fairy home under a tree they thought looked like an umbrella.

The End

At the end of the school year in June, the children said good-bye to their teachers and friends.  We didn't expect to be going back to school here in Austin.

It was a pretty rough afternoon.

Emily on the last day of school.

Claire on the last day of school.

Change

At the beginning of this year, Brett made a career change...

After twelve years of working at Hormel Foods, he decided to make a change to a career where he has a passion.  He will be working in the health care field.

This picture was taken of his ID card on the day he walked in the door.  This was his ID for 12 years.

 On the way out the door, his last day, I pulled his name plate off of the wall.  (A couple of days later, he got an email asking if he knew where it was.)

This is a photo montage of some of his accomplishments.  His boss put it together for him.

The advertising agency he worked with for the Compleats® brand made him a fun tribute.  They all loved that he recently got a motorcycle, so they took the idea and ran with it.

 Notice the similarities?

 This was taken as he was packing up his computer to turn it in. 

Farewell Hormel!

Birthdaying!

We've been birthdaying...

Three's not a Crowd - It's a Blessing!

I was able to go and help my sister when she had her newest...

The new little guy!

Very peachy...

Busy working - signing cards.

Helping make cinamon rolls.

Worn out.

It was a lot of fun.

My Get Away - Part 2

Wednesday morning wasn't so beautiful. We woke up to rain. Brett was kind, and he had booked an hour massage for me that morning. I got showered, and went down to the spa. It was wonderful.

When I got back, we decided to go out. We decided to see the town.

When we left the hotel property, this was one of our first sights (I thought of Eli).

We had to stop and get Brett a jacket, since he didn't bring one, and we walked down the 3rd street promenade, we went to an outdoor farmer's market, and we went to a mall. We stopped for lunch at a little hole in the wall restaurant, and then we went back to our room. We were soaked!

Here we are... notice the water drops on Brett's glasses and my green jacket.

When we got back, we dried off, warmed up, watched some tv, and then we took a nap. After we woke up, we decided to walk out to the pier.

There were some pretty flowers on the way.

We watched another sunset (but it was extremely windy).

The pier is at the end of Route 66

I decided that I didn't want to find out what Zoltar had to tell me.

Beautiful sunset.

a seagull hovering over our heads.

A look back at our hotel (the second one from the left).

a giant ferris wheel.

I thought of Eli again...

This is the day Steve Jobs died, and we almost bought a new computer.

instead, we just took pictures of the apples and the flowers left for a memorial.