Tour de Texas

HOUSTON

I went to Houston to stay with Kristen and then we headed to Kilgore for our 10 Year Rangerette Reunion.  While in Houston, I had lunch and did a lil' shopping with my great friend since elementary, Ginny.  Kristen's parents, Kathy and Dennis, were so kind to take me to dinner and the Rockets game to watch Kristen perform on the dance team (Kristen and the team were awesome!). 

Kristen, Me and Ginger



Performing on the court....Kristen's on the far right. :)



Me and Kristen's mom, Kathy

KILGORE - RANGERETTE REUNION

I'm so glad I went to my ten-year Rangerette reunion.  It's hard to believe it's been that long since I lived in that tiny town in East Texas.  21 of our 35 classmates attended and it was great to catch up with the girls.  Plus, the Revels show was wonderful....the Rangerettes are more talented now than a decade ago!



61st Line of the Rangerettes




My suitemates, Kristen and Jen, aka "The Bahama Mamas"




Kristen and me anxiously awaiting the start of the show!




My lil' sis on the team, Kristy, who came to dinner with Kristen and I after the show.

WEATHERFORD

After time spent in Houston and Kilgore (and it definitely wasn't enough time!!), I traveled to Weatherford to hang with my mom, Lauren an my niece, Briley.  I'm quite obsessed with Briley by the insane amount of photos I take of her...she's soooo cute.  Briley just four months old and was a whopping 14.5 lbs. 



Briley perfers her only attire to be a diaper...or, forget the diaper, naked is even better!  I love her pudgy belly!




While Lauren was at work and my mom ran errands, I watched Briley on my own.  We hung out on the back porch enjoying the gorgeous weather.  Briley's learned to kick up her legs and grab her feet!




Briley's about to start teething and to sooth her gums she's sucks on her hands.




Briley Blue Eyes!





Briley it a total mama's gal.  Isn't she just precious in yellow? 




Sisters at Botanical Gardens in Ft. Worth



Love this photo....such pretty girls!!!

Nana loves her Briley



My mom and me...wish we could spend time together more often.



Aunt Erin LOVES Briley and looks forward to seeing her again in June!

Great Start to March!

SATURDAY

Once again we experienced an unusally warm and sunny weekend in NorCal, so we took full advantage of the weather. Mike's been wanting to visit the USS Hornet Museum, so we spent Saturday afternoon touring 70% of the aircraft carrier. We toured the hanger deck, engine room and the bridge with two Navy veterans who told interesting stories of their days in the service. The USS Hornet is best known for her combat in WWII, her tour in the Cold War, and her Apollo 11 recovery of the astronauts who landed on the moon.

View of San Francisco

SUNDAY

My co-worker told me about a Chihuahua Meet-Up that meets the first Sunday of every month. Meet-Ups are very popular in San Francisco. They bring together folks with similiar interests...there are photography meet-ups, meet-ups for owners of other breeds of dogs, and so on.... Anyhow, my co-worker and I both share a love of Chi's along with another co-worker, so we all met up at the Chi Meet on Sunday. It was one of the cutest things we've ever seen! I estimate there were 50 tiny, but mighty Chi's running all over the place! The Meet-Up featured a raffle to raise funds for displaced Chi's, dog accessories and clothing items for sale, adoptable Chi's needing a loving home, and a vet performing various services. I didn't take too many photos, but the few I did take will give you an idea of the fun.

Can you spot Toby and Bella with their new friends?

After spending a couple of hours at the Meet-Up, we decided to head over to Ocean Beach to continue relishing in the warm weather. The micro-climates in the Bay Area amaze me....it was really warm at the dog park, yet when we headed to the beach a mile away it was super windy and cool. Still an absolutely gorgeous day!

Bella's helping me search for sand dollars.

February Happenings

For whatever reason I haven't been taking as many photos of recent events lately. However, I did take a MILLION photos of our niece, lil' nugget Briley. You can tell by the photos that I never wanted to put her down, which is why I'm holing her in so many. This post features a ton of pictures of Briley from my recent trip home to visit her and the fam for a few days, and it also features a recent day trip to Napa and the famous Chinatown Chinese New Year's Parade. Enjoy!

Trip to Visit Family and Briley


Briley likes to smile, now. Especially when she's laying in her crib where she can move her arms and kick her legs.

The animal preserve near my parents' home houses zebras...random!

Great-granddaddy with his future lil' Gator cheerleader!

Will Briely become another die-hard loving Gator fan in the family? If her Papa has anything to do with it she sure will!

The way Briley prefers to be dressed....naked or with only a diaper on. She's always so happy when she's clothes-free. Check out those rolls developing on her thighs!

Briley's favorite lady in the world...her mom! (Kinda looks like she's giving the bird to the camera, but Briley swears it's not her middle finger).

Her favorite aunt, of course.

So stylish already...I love how's she's got such a big smile on her face!

Briley's not sure how she feels in this poofy dress.

Chipmunk cheeks!

Four generations are in this photo...amazing.

Can you read the shirt? Says, "My auntie loves me."

Beautiful grandmother with her great-granddaughter. I love this photo.

Last picture before heading to the airport. Briley's a girl after my own heart wearing my favorite colors to style....the nautical look!

Day Trip to Napa
We are fortunate to have beautiful wine country close to us, so we take advantage of Napa/Sonoma when we get the opportunity. There are so many wineries to visit it's unbelievable...we'll never visit them all! Mike's co-worker provided us with a list of his favorite wineries, so we visited two of them: Miner Family Vineyards and Paradigm Winery. And, of course, we stopped at our favorite winery, Castello di Amerosa.

This was our first visit to Napa during the winter months and I must say the vines were sticks. However, given that this winter has been unusually warm and severly lacking rain, the wildflowers were in full bloom! I love how they've taken over this vineyard at Paradigm...at least until they'll be mowed down once the vines start blooming.

One of the sheep at Castello di Amerosa. I named her Dolly.

View of the Valley from Miner Family Vineyards.

Chinese New Year's Parade in Chinatown
The Southwest Airlines Chinese New Year's Parade is an annual parade in San Francisco. There's such a large Asian community in SF...particularly in Chinatown. Myself, Mike and Davy decided to catch the parade this year followed by eating a Chinese feast in Chinatown. Other than it being insanely windy and cold that evening, we had a great time!

Davy and me

The crowd is starting to gather...

It was difficult for me to take good photos because it was dark outside. Here's one of the large dragons passing us by.

The Halls trying to stay warm!