Prom!!!

It's hard to believe it was February since I last wrote about the haps in our little world!!! But here we are in August and a lot has happened since then, not the least of which was Hunter's Senior prom! He and Kendall had a great time!! We had fun in the hours before they left for prom, taking pics at Barton Creek Country Club.

He's grown an inch or two since the LAST time he was in a tux, wouldn't ya say?!!! :-)

Hunter is goal oriented!!!

These days Hunter is sharing the Sports page with Lance Armstrong!!! With his 7 goals so far this season he is among the top scorers in Central Texas!! His picture was featured here in the Dripping Springs News-Dispatch a few weeks ago, and then in last Friday's Austin American Statesman!! What's next....Sports Illustrated? You can click on the pics themselves to keep from having to use your reading glasses! And if you want to see his latest goal where he owned this hapless goalie, check out this youtube video!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMOP-65vWOE

Birthday Girl!!

Unbelievably, our "baby" Sierra has turned 14 on August 8th!! It was cool cuz this year it was "08/08/08"!! We had the youth group from Church over for a surprise party with cake and games and stuff and it was sooooo much fun!! Here's a shot of Sierra just as she figured out there was an entire youth group crouching in our kitchen! [the arm in the shot belongs to Caroline Kipp, who in her exuberance, thrust her arm directly in front of my camera at precisely the worst moment possible. I thought it added something to the pic.. :-) ]

We took a vote and everybody voted unanimously that we are ALL glad you were born! Thanks for being a great kid!! We love you!!

Hunter turns 17!!

On Mar. 12, 1991, our lives changed when Deana gave birth to the cutest baby boy in the world. And here we are, 17 years later, and although he's not too cute anymore (just kiddin'!) he is still making us proud and filling our lives with laughs and joy. We all got together to celebrate at Cypress Creek Canopy Tours for a little zip lining and it was a blast!!!
Here's Hunter zipping into his 17th b-day!!

A special morning with Kat...

This morning Deana and I took our niece, Katheryn, out to take her bridal pics. This was not like ANY of our other times with her. Over the years we have taken her shopping, swimming, skating, to eat pizza....all the stuff you do with your nieces....but NEVER have we done this before. I suppose this means that we have to start dealing with the fact that she's growing up! We love her fabulous fiance, Michael, and can't wait for their big wedding this summer!

This beautiful red door brought out the color in her bouquet...and the weather could not have been more perfect for this!

It was a terrifying honor that she asked me to take her bridal pics, given that my only experience in taking pics is at the kids' soccer and basketball games or band concerts! But how can you go wrong with a bride-to-be like THIS one, right?

She's absolutely beautiful and she's going to make a Katalicious bride!

We took all of these in various locations on the campus of St. Edward's University here in Austin. People driving on campus were stopping to watch!

I thought I'd post these eight which I think are my faves...it was hard to narrow it down.

By the way, don't tell Michael these pics are here! He's not allowed to see her in her wedding dress before their wedding day!! So mum's the word!

Bethlehem 2007

What does this picture have to do with Bethlehem, you ask? Everything, actually. Every Christmas Eve my family gets together and each of us reads aloud a section of the Gospels which details the miraculous birth of Jesus Christ. I took a moment to sneak outside and take a picture from outside looking in. Very few things change year after year about this little gathering. The old antiques on the wall....the old red bricks on the house...the modest Charlie Brown Christmas tree...Boston Brown bread....hot chocolate. I could almost recite it word for word. The only thing that NEVER changes is the reality that someone was born for the purpose of dying for me. And He DID it. So if you ask me for my favorite Christmas picture it will look something like this....quiet, humble, modest, unpretentious....just like that night in Bethlehem.

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

This year Deana directed our Teen group in their performance of "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever!" Sierra had a main part and did an absolutely fantastic job!! Hunter rocked his spotlighting skills from up in the balcony! I was proud of all three of 'em!!!

"Hey Hon, do we REALLY need the binoculars?"

The end of the girly car era....

Observe, if you will, a moment of silence with me in memory of the girly car. My 1995 Mazda Protege with 221000 miles on it is no longer with us. That's right....I traded it to a guy on Craigslist for his 2000 BMW 323 coupe! I thought it was a fair trade!!! I love it AND it has A/C! I haven't had that for two years! Suh-weet!!!!

Licensed to thrill!

Just when you thought it was safe to go back out onto the streets, Hunter gets his license!! That's right...he's legal!!! Here he is leaving the DPS office with his license in his pocket! So get inside!! Stay off the streets and sidewalks!

A new parking space....

As part of my summer fitness program I decided to build this extra parking space off of our main driveway because adding Hunter as a driver was going to make parking tricky. Soooo....after pricing plain ol' rocks, which would have taken all of about a weekend to finish, instead I decided to hand make each rock using a mold from Home Depot. This meant the project cost about 1/8 as much, but took 5 times as long and 8X the effort!!! But it's done..... I thought it came out pretty cool!

Mother's Day- Beautiful music together

It isn't the best quality of pictures in the world, but says a thousands things.....it totally typifies what a mother does. She brings out the best in her kids, challenges them to try something outside of their comfort zones, teaches them to work together for a common good, and makes sure they are in church on Sunday!! :-) And when they succeed it makes a beautiful sound! This was a great Mother's Day memory and my girls did an amazing job of playing their flutes!

Graduation!! Woo hoo!

It's hard to believe it's already been almost 4 months since this happened and I haven't updated the blog since then! But this was BIG news! After 6 long years, Deana has done it! That's right....she's now officially graduated with her Bachelor's degree in Psychology!! "Does that mean it's all over and she can start making crazy money from crazy people?", you ask? No! She's off to Grad School now (still at Texas State University) for only about 3 more years of this madness!! But for now.....it's another HUGE milestone outta the way!!! Way to go, Babe!! I'm a proud hubster!!! Obviously Mom and Dad are proud, too!

After the graduation we had an awesome day on Lake Travis where we rented a party boat for our family. There were some emotional (happy!) moments where Deana thanked everyone for helping her and supporting her efforts to get to this point

Now only 3 more years til she's out of Grad School!!! Yesssssss!!!!

Goal!!!

In his final game of the season with Dripping Springs High School yesterday, Hunter (#2 in white) takes on two defenders plus a goalie and proceeds to curve this shot into the back of the net!!!! It was a thing of beauty!! This is a shot from the video I was taking at the time!! Just ask and I'll show it to ya! :-) DSHS ended up winning 1-0, so it was a good thing #2 was in the lineup!

Sweet Sixteen!!!

It's hard to believe the boy has turned 16, but it's happened! Somehow, in the blink of an eye, our "Little Tiger" has grown into a 6-foot grocery anihilating beast. This is him and his buddy Brandon at The County Line having the "Big Daddy" rib platter. Those boys can EAT!!

Brace yourself!!!

Just when you thought Sierra's smile couldn't get any brighter, check her out now! The picture on top was taken while the orthodontist was actually putting them in! Love those stylish shades!! The picture at the bottom was taken outside the orthodontist's office after it was all done. She has done great with them, although her teeth still hurt when she eats. She didn't like my idea to just not eat.

Chopsticks

This is me, starving to death. Moments after this shot was taken, I dropped the chopsticks and grabbed a fork in order to save myself from having to eat this chicken fried rice one grain at a time.

Sumo!

This is the guy that ended up winning the best match of the day. I could have taken him but mom made me eat too healthy as a child. These guys must've started on a Dorito diet very early on to get rolls like these!

I was holding my own until this wimp came along. You can make out the top of my head just underneath his planted left foot.






Some of the guys and I got together for some wrasslin'...Tokyo style. That's me - fourth from the left, looking down.

Speaking of local cuisine...

....fishsticks anyone? And what satifies you better on a hot Texas day than a couple of ice cream cones, chased down by a grilled squid on a stick? MMmmmmm good!! Makes my mouth water just thinking about it! And don't forget to wash it down with an ice cold can of Picari Sweat!!!

Tokyo, Tokyo, it's off to work I go!

Since my arrival in Tokyo last Wednesday, the weather has been absolutely gorgeous. This day trip to see Mt. Fuji was no exception and, even though I couldn't get any closer than this, the view was still beautiful. The road leading up to the top is closed this time of year due to snow and avalanche danger. If I ever get to come back, I'm hiking it. It's not a difficult hike, nor is it terribly high in elevation, and I'm sure the view from the top is spectacular.

On this particular day, a cloud continuously formed at the very top which was a little annoying. I've contacted the Japanese Visitor's Bureau about having that removed.

And of course, no traditional tour of Tokyo is complete without a ride on, you guessed it, an authentic pirate ship! Don't ask me to explain it...I'm just the guy taking pictures. Perhaps I would have enjoyed it more were it not 35 degrees with wind gusts of 45 - 50 mph. A little chilly, and despite not being able figure out the tie between the Mt. Fuji tour and a pirate ship, it was a good time.

Never one to shy away from trying the local cuisine, I couldn't help but try some of this green juice. One of the first things you notice here is the incredible selection of humorous drinks found in the vending machines. This was in the hotel restaurant and was "Assorted leafy vegetable juice". Sounded harmless enough, and I was pleasantly surprised that it tasted like liquified kiwi fruit. Not bad...I've had it several times since.