From The Vault: Spring Break 2006

This week is my kids are on Spring Break.  Four years ago, the kids and I spent a few days of our Spring Break visiting my sister, Emily, and her new husband, Allan.  At the time, they lived in Austin.  I love how sweet (and little!) my babies look in this picture.

From The Vault: Cowboy Jack

This is one of my all-time favorite photos of Jack. I had never shared it on my blog before, so tonight I decided to take it out of the vault. This was a day last February when our family went down to Corey's place to do some work - the place where he has very fond memories of time spent with his dad when he was a boy, and the place where he is making many fond memories with his son. I love to see my little boy that has been raised in the city wearing cowboy clothes and working with his daddy. Jack is learning so much from Corey as they spend time together at The Place, and I am thankful that Corey has land to take him (and someday Cooper) to and the desire to teach him how to be a man the way he does. He will be hard working, smart man someday... and a lot of that has to do with his daddy. Thank you for loving my sons and teaching them well, Corey. I am thankful for you, and I love you! And Jack... there is not a cuter cowboy on earth than the one in this photo! I love you too!

From The Vault: Jack's 2nd Birthday Party on 02-02-02

My little boy is turning into a bigger boy in about 24 hours... Jack's birthday is on Thursday, and he will be 10 years old. Double digits! So in honor of that, I have pulled a couple of photos out of the vault to share.

As Jack's second birthday was approaching and I began to plan a party, I realized that the Saturday nearest his birthday was February 2, 2002. I simply could not resist having a birthday party on 02-02-02... and a 2nd birthday party, at that! At the time, he loved trains! We have a McDonald's in town that has a real caboose outside that you can rent for parties, and that was the perfect place to celebrate Jackson turning 2. I remember that day vividly... he seemed so big... but look at these pictures! He was such a little tyke. An adorable little tyke!

What's that? I think I feel a tear welling up in my eye. I truly can not believe that this was 8 years ago today...

~ our family in 2002 ~

~ me and my birthday boy 8 years ago ~

From The Vault: My Siblings

Tonight I am sleepless, and I am looking at some old photos on the computer. Before last December the oldest photos that I had on my computer were from 2005. Thankfully, Corey was able to add some more when we got a new computer at Christmas. There are so many good ones and ones that have good memories attached to them that I have decided that I will randomly share them here as I come across one (or some) that I love.

First up, my siblings.

I have actually been missing them a lot today. I never thought I'd say that 20 years ago. ;) But now, I kind of like them. I really love them, as a matter of fact. As our families have all grown over the last few years, we have less time to actually keep in touch. Many phone calls are interrupted by "hold on"s and "wait just a minute"s and ultimately end in "Sorry, I have to go.", and many of our interactions and get-togethers are met with refereeing and normal parental tasks that seem to keep our conversations to a 3-5 sentence maximum. Don't get me wrong... we would not trade our jobs as parents for anything... and I think that we all would even say that we know that this is the most important time in our families' lives, but still... I miss them.

So tonight when I came across these photos, it made me smile. It kind of put a band-aid on my sad heart that was missing my crazy siblings... that I love like crazy. (That is such a great thing about pictures... they can take you to a different time and place.)

This one was taken in the summer of 2003 at a family reunion for my mom's side of the family. I don't remember how many of us there were, but there were a lot! We all had these matching shirts and wore them to an outdoor production at Palo Duro Canyon (near Amarillo) called Texas. It was a good weekend and a special time spent with my siblings and all of my family.

Emily, Sara, Amy, & Coby

July 2003

Palo Duro Canyon

This one was obviously taken after Emily's graduation. All 3 of my siblings graduated from Baylor, and I am very proud of them. (I was pregnant with Cooper in this photo.)

Sara, Emily, Amy, & Coby

December 2004

Emily's Graduation, Baylor University

And this one was taken when our entire family got to go to California to celebrate Emily & Allan's marriage at their wedding reception near Allan's home. It was very special that we all got to go a trip together! On this day, it was way too cold to get in the ocean, but we just had to go and see it! (Again, I was pregnant with Cooper.)

Coby, Amy, Sara, & Emily

(in birth order)

January 2005

Laguna Beach, California