Easter Weekend

This might be the last post for a while so enjoy(and yes I know that we just started putting stuff back up here after a long break)

This past Easter weekend I witnessed something in Temple that I haven't seen in a long time and never this far into Spring in Texas. We had a pretty good little snow storm. AND it stuck to the ground. I have never seen it snow as hard as it did that night. My guess is that we got some where between 4 and 6 inches of snow.

It started off as just a little snow....

And then it grew into a lot of snow.

It really wasn't even snow flakes that were falling. Instead it seemed like it was actually chunks of snow that were coming down. And it just kept coming.

I went out to get something for dinner and on my way back I was thinking that I would try to make a little snowman. I was thinking something in the 1 to 1.5 foot tall range. Well as I was pulling up to the house I see that some of our neighbors are make a pretty good sized snowman and I took that as a bit of a challenge. So I went out and I started to make my own snowman. This would be the first snowman that I have ever made by the way.

After I made him I started looking around for the accessories that you need to complete a snowman. I actually had some charcoal for the eyes. I found a hat that I deemed appropriate. I couldn't find any carrots for the nose though. However, I used a little Aggie ingenuity and found a suitable replacement...an orange can of OFF.

Not bad for my first snowman!

AH-64 Apache

This Christmas Laura gave me one of the coolest gifts ever. For quite some time now I have wanted to take a ride in an Apache. I don't really know how or why this started but it has now become a goal of mine. Anyway, one of Laura's classmates in nursing school just happens to be married to and Apache pilot. Her present to me was that when he got back from Iraq hes was going to take us out to Fort Hood and show us around the Apache hangar. This was awesome. It made it even better because I had no idea about it unlike the surprise party she threw for me in college(thanks Walt). Anyway, she told me that she had a surprise for me and one morning over the Christmas break we just started driving into Belton. I had absolutely no idea where we were going. We pull up in front of this house. She tells me that this is Susan's house and she askes me if I remember what her husband does. It didn't take me too long to figure out that he was the Apache pilot. Anyway, we headed out to Fort Hood and got to look at the Apaches.

Flying the Apache would have to be like playing the ultimate video game. There are some many screens and buttons and switchs that I don't think I would ever figure them all out. The guy showing me around said that you have to know what each button and switch does by the feel of it so that you can use it at night without having to turn a light on and let the enemy see where you are.

And now a picture of me and my Apache. Hopefully next time I am this close to one it is as I am getting ready to go for a flight. By the way, there are some better pictures of this but they are actual photos and therefore not on the computer. And lets be honest, it took me four months to get the digital pictures on the website-can you image how long it will take me to put up pictures that I have to scan!

Moving

It is almost official that we have sold the house. The planned closing date is April 26th. We put the house on the market hoping it would sell and we would move after Thomas' school year was over. We should know by now not to make plans like that, God likes to laugh. So all of our stuff (Thomas likes to insert a different word there) is going into storage until we know which of the dozens of school districts around Dallas we are moving to. It's been a great house and I can't believe three years have almost past.


This means that the computer will be packed up and posts will cease for a little while (Yes, we know it has been awhile for these posts too). So we are catching up on the posts from the past 4 months. They are in no particular order and Thomas has a couple to add once I'm done.

Happy Birthday, Graham!

Graham Dieckert celebrated his first birthday more times than Michele and Grady have moved. It was fun for everyone. He didn't know that he was only 11 months when he had his celebrations in Temple/Belton but he knew that he liked opening presents.

Yes, that is a Panera bag holding his presents. For all he knows, it says Graham.

I'm not sure who was more excited about the tambourine, Graham or Michele

Hornets at the AAC

Over the holidays, Gatesville played at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. They didn't play the Mavericks, they played Glen Rose and had a great time.

What I Like About Texas...

As you guys know, I have been driving back and forth from Temple to Dallas spending my days off work getting the house ready to sell, enjoying time with Thomas and now packing. I can tell you things about I-35 that I never really wanted to know. I do know that I love Texas (the good, the bad and the ugly) and a couple things I really like are:

Texas Bluebonnets

They bloom at the first sign of spring, then before we know it are gone and the heat of the summer begins. I love springtime in Texas, whether it is 3 weeks or a month and a half.

The other thing I like about Texas are the farm roads that let you bypass the major highways and traffic. For my treks to College Station it was Hwy 14 through Mexia, my new road is:

You pick it up in Italy (after trying some rattlesnake jerky) and meet back up with ol' 35 in Elm Mott just north of Waco. It's a great little curvy, hilly farm road.

I have been planning this post for a couple weeks and have a couple of amendments that I discovered while trying to talk to Michele on my latest trip to Temple.

1. They don't call it a FARM Road for nothing, passing tractors and farm implements that take up the entire road (on a 90 degree curve in the road) can be thrilling.
2. The cell phone companies would go under if they didn't have I-35 completely covered with service, I don't think they are too concerned about the citizens of Irene, pop 200ish.

So that's a couple things I like about Texas.

Craft Project

This is a project I have been planning since I got my Pampered Chef can opener 3 years ago. I made these for Angela for Christmas (the 4 in the middle) and was very pleased with how they turned out. They are just cans, ribbons and some glue.