Merry Christmas!!

Today is Christmas! Has been a wonderfully relaxing day at my mom's house. My mom and my grandmother live in Pioneer, California; which is in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, about an hour from Lake Tahoe. We left home on Friday the 19th and drove here, arriving Sunday evening. When we got here there was lots of snow on the ground, and it has snowed off and on for several days, but at the moment the sun is out and what little snow there was is melting. We were hoping there would be enough to go to the park down the hill and slide. It was a good day, Santa brought Emily a DS, Kayli a new iPod, and Mark & I a new home theater system for our living room. We have had a very nice vacation here with my mom and grandma, I spend most of the year missing my family desperately. We will be leaving here and Saturday and traveling to Sacramento to visit Mark's younger brother, and on Sunday will head home. I wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas, share a couple of pictures, and recap our 2008.



This is my mom and all her grandkids, mine and my sister's kids.




This is my sister, Lacy and I. She is the younger sister by 6 years and 8 days. :)




My mom, my sister, and myself. As you can see my mom had a rough day. In addition to being sick, she had cook a large meal for about 15 guests.



My family and my sister's family.




This is my grandmother, Norma, and all of her great-grandkids.

I don't know if I have mentioned, but being at my mother's house is like being at Ceasar Milan's house (the dog whisper). They have 1 daschund, 4 chihuauas, 2 french bulldogs, and 4 french bulldog puppies. And yes, I can name every single one...Ariel, Nezzy, Sugar, Tootsie, Mica, Lulu, Gus, Bluto, Olive, SweePea, & Wimpy. Now in addition to their 11 dogs, we brought our dog, Lily, and they were babysitting another french bulldog & her puppy- Gianna & baby. So, in all we had 14 dogs for the holidays. I never could get all of them to sit still long enough to get in a picture, I got a few but maybe I will post them some other time.

So now for some key moments of our 2008-
In February we traveled to Florida and went to the Astros Spring training and Walt Disney World. In March Mark and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary, and Kayli broke her nose playing softball which lead to corrective surgery. Also some friends and I celebrated Softball season opening day by getting tattoos- all dressed in softball mom garb :)- I got an Astros logo on my lower back. In May Mark turned 34, and Kayli made the 14U All-star team, as well as making the Drill team again.
In June her softball team won 2nd place at their district tournament and 5th place at the state tournament. On June 21st my great-grandmother, Mama, passed away. She was 94 years old and the head of our family. In July I traveled to California to spend time with my mother and grandmother and mourn with them the loss of Mama.
Later in July Emily had the opportunity to sing with the Woodlands Symphony Orchestra in a concert. In August Mark's father passed away. In September school started- Kayli started 8th grade and Emily 2nd grade. Shortly after- Hurricane Ike hit our area. We suffered minor damage, hole in our roof and our gameroom ceiling (water damage), and were without power for 14 days.
Once recovered from the hurricane, life moved on- though softball had been canceled for the season. Kayli joined a tournament team called the "Her-I-canes" oddly enough, and Emily joined the girl scouts (brownies) as well as a youth theatre arts program called "CYT (christian Youth Theater)". She also auditioned for their winter production, "Narnia" and will be playing the role of a 'woodland creature'. In September Emily turned 8, in November I turned 35, and this month Kayli turned 14. In December Kayli's team played their first tournament and won 3rd place. We took the girls to see the Nutcracker Ballet in Houston, and now...here we are in California.

I look forward to a busy 2009! Merry Christmas to all and a Happy New Year!