what a wonderful surprise

we awoke to beautiful flakes falling from the sky this morning. my girls got ready and did their chores in record time so they could play in the snow. jack-jack ran around the backyard screaming with delight (not sure if it was the snow or the early morning outside play time).

thanksgiving

we had a great thanksgiving week at the pmf ranch shooting guns, roasting marshmallows, fishing, playing on the varmint's roost, hitting golf balls, eating yummy food, riding scooters and tractors and hanging with family. the only thing that could have made it better is if the aggies beat the horns. at this point, i kind of consider a 10 point loss to texas (no. 3 in the nation) a win. call me crazy. anyhoo...here are some pics...

the kids on varmints roost

all my kiddos like to ride the mower! sometimes, grandpa mac lets them drive.

jack-jack loves him some bacon!

thanks granny, grandpa mac, leanne and rex for a great time!

jackson vs. the baby gate

on the run

i took my kiddos on my morning run since they were out of school today and these are a few of the things we saw...

nutria!! (aka river rats)

and some beautiful trees! see holly, the leaves do turn in texas!!

mud run 2009

this is one of the grossest, funnest, hardest runs i've ever done. 6.2 miles with about 10 extra pounds of water and mud then add 16 obstacles to go through. thanks cori for running it with me!

one incredible halloween

confidence issues

mackenzie came home upset from school last week because her hair was not perfect looking in her school pictures. i explained to her that everyone has had imperfect school pictures and that i don't think i ever had a good school pic. i also told her that if her hair was just perfect she would probably look like a nun. reese then chimed in, "oh great...so you are saying i look like a nun?!"

goofy pics from the week

thanks shane!

mama said there'd be days like this...

for reagan's wedding video

annual aggie game

this past weekend we took the kiddos to our annual aggie game as a family. as an added bonus, shane, reagan and braxton rode with us. here are some pics...

cute boys!

mr. personality

i have been trying to get a video of jackson saying his name. he usually wiggles so much that he is hard to follow, but this time he stayed fairly still. enjoy!

catching up from the pig flu

beautiful "blue hole"

well, alot has happened over the past few weeks. we went to laity lodge family camp again this year with several families from the church. we had such a great time together and i ran into one of my dear old friends from camp, so that was a special bonus. the bummer was mackenz started getting the flu that weekend. we left for fort worth on sunday and she barely moved the entire 6 hour car ride home. that night at 10pm i took her to the emergency room with 105 temp. i could feel the symptoms creeping into my body and my temp rose to 105 on monday...good times!

reese being goofy

jackson and his buddy on a backhoe loader

family canoe trip

colin riding the zip line into the freezing water

also, the girls had their first soccer games on saturday. i guess mackenzie was feeling better because she scored 3 goals. reese, as always, didn't really care what the score was.

yesterday, reese started spewing and running a temp. so...here we go with round 2. jackson and colin have been in the clear so far...

culinary and bathing skills

i've been meaning to post that mackenzie has really been embracing her desire to cook lately. she has made us some yummy wraps, smoothies and lady bug desserts (pictured below).

the next picture is an example of what happens to jackson when he takes a shower with reese.

gifted and talented

reese overheard me talking to a friend about another girl in the second grade who was in the gifted and talented class at school. reese replied, "what? they don't think i am gifted and talented? have they seen this..."

i love reese's attitude! and the girl does have some moves!!!

family vacation

every year we have a family vacation with just the 5 of us. usually, we go to the beach because that is my favorite place to go. this year, colin wanted to plan a trip to the mountains. i told him if he planned it all, i would go wherever he wanted. he chose south dakota. it was a fantastic vacation packed with lots of fun from morning until night (colin's vacation itenerary is like none other). in the evenings we had a fire every night because it plummeted into the 40s! i'll have to admit, it was a nice change from the 3 digit temps we returned to in texas.

the highlights of the trip included ....

hiking

mount rushmore

horseback riding thru the black hills

touring the wildhorse sanctuary where hundreds of wild mustangs roam free

swimming in the chilly cascade falls

we also saw some wild buffalo up close

and wild burro

our time in south dakota ended with a drive thru the badlands

i couldn't leave south dakota without getting a pic of my little mountain man in a coonskin hat

backyard pirates

my girls were watching jack for me while i cleaned up the kitchen. i looked outside and had to take a pic. they were playing pirates. aaaaarrrrgggg!

july update

i just realized that it has been over a month since i have blogged. explanation: the summer is busy-time for our family. we have gone camping, taken a trip to mexico for missions and done several home improvement projects in the month of july.

here are a couple of pics from our camping trip with our houston buddies.

we had a great time! it is always so relaxing and fun when we get together with these old friends.

____________

we just recently returned from a week long mission trip to dr. arroyo, mexico. there were 23 of us from our church that went down into the villages of mexico and played games, sang songs, acted out Bible stories, did crafts and attempted to share the love of Jesus with the mexican people. while we were doing all of these things, my life changed in the process. it was my priveledge to witness several things on this trip...true worship...a servant attitude...thankfulness...people of different cultures communicating and loving each other (sometimes without words)...hospitality in the midst of poverty...what it means to be needy...and generosity.
as far as reflections go...the thing that has been slapping me in the face is that, as americans...we are fat. we indulge in every food, drink, clothing item, toy or latest fad. then three months later we are over it and ready to dispose of it, moving on to the next latest and greatest "thing." we deny ourselves almost nothing, using the excuse "we deserve it." i am not preaching...i am talking about myself!
seeing the joy on the faces of the mexican women after making their home-made necklaces really impacted me. the villages had so little material possessions and basic, home-grown meals, but were so happy and thankful for what they had.

the following pictures fall short of capturing the life-changing experiences of the trip, but give you a glimpse of what we saw.

these kids were wonderful! they really impressed me by embracing the culture, trying new things, learning spanish phrases and making new amigos.

this is the village of pompeya. a very poor, but beautiful place.

this is a dust storm in pompeya. the families had not washed clothes in almost two months because the dust storms were so bad that the clothes would immediately get dirty on the line.

i love this pic! this is bryan and jackson outside the market in matahuala.

the sunsets in dr. arroyo were gorgeous and a perfect daily reminder of God's faithfulness!

daddy's helper

we are working on a home improvement project in our house and jackson cannot seem to stay out of the room. he is fascinated with watching his daddy work. here he is putting on his safety glasses. there is nothing like a man in safety glasses to make a girls heart flutter.

not too shabby

the recession has inspired me to see if i can grow my own veggies. my first experiment...bell peppers!

here is the result.

yeah me!