Huntsville 2009

December 25th-31st we visited Dad and Teddy in Huntsvegas. Wendy drove down from Charleston and stayed for 4 days, too. We had fun opening presents and, of course, Teddy had made the most fabulous breakfast for us.

We gave Dad a calendar with pictures of us from throughout the year.

Wendy got a Flip camcorder. She liked it - she got to use it lots and lots to post videos to YouTube about our family reunion and fun things around Huntsville. Her boyfriend wrote her back and said "My favorite clip was the school bus farm. How do they grow them so big, bright, and yellow?"

Tennessee Reunion

Saturday after Christmas - that's what Mom (Linda French) said is always the day of the reunion. So, Dec. 26th we drove up to Huntland to meet at Deana's church for the Stewart Reunion. All of Vickie's family were there: Chris, Amber, and Mike - and Emma Jean Stewart came as well. She is witty and spunky as ever, even though she pointed out she and Raymond were the oldest ones there. Papa turned 81 this past May 18th. He's holding up well, too. Thanks for all the hard work Deana. We appreciate you!

Then we had the Christmas gift swap at Papa's house. It was loud and rowdy as ever - and always fun. Notice Nolan's 'blue steel' smile (Zoolander movie reference). Maybe modeling is in his future.

Christmas Day 2009

We spent the morning at home and then left for the airport to go to Huntsville around 2pm. It was a nice relaxing morning. Dave got a new camcorder and I got a new 'big-girl' slr camera. So exciting! Mackenzie got mermaid flippers and a remote-controlled dino and a horse set. Madison got a train set and a mermaid Dora and lots of crafty things. Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve 2009

Brady and Natalie Anderton invited us over to their Christmas Eve breakfast for dinner gathering. We sang carols, ate waffles, bacon, and eggs, had a visit from Santa AND recreated the Nativity scene. How's that for one night? Madison and Ava

Nat and Abe

Sister hugs!

Santa brought pjs for every child there. Then the girls helped re-enact the nativity scene. Somehow, they ended up being barn owls, even though we were in need of shepherds and wisemen. Of course,animal masks AREjust more fun.

Christmastime 2009

December is always a busy month. Lots of parties, shopping, recitals, etc. Here are some of the things we did: Decorating for Christmas with Grandma Cooper and opening her presents. So fun!

Winter Wonderland at Cypress Elementary had Santa come visit! Next, Mackenzie played her piano recital piece at the Lakeline Mall with Ms. Cynthia and all her pupils. Then on December 13th, she played her 2 pieces at the recital. She did a great job and has come a long way since she started a year ago. Madison is in the last picture with all her loot from her school class party.

Speaking of which, it's class party time all around. I got to help out with Mackenzie's class party. Madison's preschool put on a cute program and they all got to wear Christmas pajamas.

December 21st we met the Broughs at Shady Grove and had dinner and then walked to Zilker Park to see the Trail of Lights. Because of the recession they didn't have a corporate sponsor this year and things were scaled down. It was still beautiful though. And they even had more food vendors with better selections.

We made a trip up to Dallas and I got to spend time with Camille and Dean's new twins, Alivia and Zaria. So precious. I miss Camille so much. I'm just glad she's only 3 hours away and we still get to see each other. Dave took our girls to see ICE at the Gaylord Texas Resort. It was a huge layout of ice sculptures from The Grinch. It had all of Who-ville and even had a huge ice slide the girls got to go on. I wish I had pictures to post from ICE, but Dave accidentally deleted them from his phone. Maybe next year!

Thanksgiving 2009

I love Thanksgiving!!! This year Mom, Steve, and Marilyn came down to share it with us. We got some cute snapshots.

Dave fried a turkey in the sort-of empty lot next door. How's that for Southern-style? Sadly, next year we will have to find somewhere else to fry our turkey. We are finally getting neighbors next door (sometime in 2010).

Aahhh, after the big meal...

And of course Thanksgiving would not be complete without decorating gingerbread houses. Notice Dave had to do some construction: the roof came out broken and he did a valiant job fixing it. It took a LOT of icing (and a hairdryer - who knew?).

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Hawaii - when can we go back???

October 6-13th we flew to Kauai, Hawaii and met Wade, Stacy, and the 'boy cousins' for some togetherness and beach time. We stayed at the Point at Poipu timeshares and Wade and Stacy and the boys rented a house next door. It was awesome!!!
We beached...
We saw the 'Grand Canyon of the Pacific'... We hula-ed... Dave and I helicoptered around the island... And we took lots and lots and lots of family pictures... We also had shave ice, saw sea turtles and lots of fish, explored the Sheraton Poipu, went to the local church, saw rainbows, swam in the resort pool, kayaked up river and hiked up to and swam in a waterfall, drove around the island, and thoroughly enjoyed Wade and Stacy and all the cousins playing together. This was truly one of my favorite, all-time vacations. When do we go back???!

Madison's First Dance Class

September 28th, 2009 Madison went to her first dance class (a ballet/tap combo). She was so cute in her little ballet dress. After years of watching Mackenzie go to classes, it's finally Madison's turn!

 

Schlitterbahn - Finally...

Labor Day, September 7th, 2009 After living in Austin for 5 years, we finally decided the girls were old enough to appreciate Schlitterbahn, the Number 1 ranked water park in America. Considering it's only 1 hour from our house you'd think we would have made it before now, but alas, toddlers and waterparks do not mix. It was a very fun day, but both girls were still a bit young to enjoy the big rides. Next time we'll come with another family and trade off doing things with the little ones. It was still a great trip!

 

Pictures of us before entering the massive park. No way was I taking any chances with taking pictures inside that place!

 

Mackenzie's First Day of School 2009

 

August 24th, 2009 Mackenzie ready for her first day of First Grade. So cute, so unbelievable that it's already here. She was happy and totally at ease about starting a new school year. Such an easy kid! Love her!!!

 

 

August trip to Tinkerbell Brandma's

In mid-August 2009 the girls and I took off for my mom's in Camden, Arkansas. On the way we stopped at Camille's in Dallas. She is pregnant with twins (8 months, no less) and she barely looked pregnant with 1 baby, let alone 2. We got to visit for a while then stayed in a hotel nearby. Dave was with us for the weekend but had to go back for work. So the girls and I continued on to mom's the next day.

 

 

We went to a catfish buffet an hour away where you could feed the catfish and other animals. The girls loved it. But Mackenzie especially liked feeding the fish. She wasn't sure about the ponies, goats, and donkeys. Both girls enjoyed throwing the food pellets over the railing. We even saw an albino catfish. Very unusual!

 

 

We had such a fun time, we were all sad when it was time to go back to Austin. We miss you Mom/Tinkerbell Grandma and Grandpa Steve!

Utah Weddings in July

 

Wedding Number 1 - July 11th, 2009 Meri Nielsen marries Shawn in Spanish Fork, Utah. Such a fun, beautiful event. We danced into the night and saw tons of old friends. Meri was beautiful and it was so good spending time with her and Karalee and their family. She even got a wedding day rainbow! The rain was short-lived but the rainbow was truly gorgeous.

 

The following Saturday was Molly Judd's wedding in Bountiful. So beautiful. We got to see all the Cooper families and spend time with cousins, etc. It was a beautiful, sunny day. Congratulations Molly!

 

Of course who could resist the midnight showing of the new Harry Potter movie? Not Suzanne, Adriel, Lexie, Rachel, Josh and me! It was a great rendition of book 6. I ended up seeing it 3 times before it left theaters (and that's saying something since it was almost 3 hours long!)

 

Oh how I miss my book club girls. We met at a cute pizza joint downtown and talked til we closed the place down. Me, Melissa, Noell, Jana, and Lisa Linton were there. We missed Jen Lange, Lindsay Hola, and Shannon Freedman (and Camille, of course, who lived in Texas now, like us). Such a fun night. Love you guys!!!