Houses 2, 3, 4, and 5

I don't have a digital photo of our first house. I'm working on getting one, but all of our photos from back then were on film.

These others have set the stage for our lives. Some homes came with big trees, some with tiny lollipop trees. Some came in comfortably established neighborhoods, some were the first-born of the new neighborhoods. Two backed up to cotton fields, three backed up to alley ways, one backs up to a pond, one backed up to a wall of poison ivy! In three of them, I've rocked our children to sleep. Three of them, we built. One of them was, no doubt, temporary. One of them we bought on a whim--on the way to lunch one Saturday afternoon. One of them had a basement. All of them housed our dogs. Two of them were small, two were medium-sized, and one was large. Two faced north, one faced east, and two faced south. In one of them, we put up wallpaper. In one of them, we took down a LOT of wallpaper. In three of them, we painted rooms. In four of them were fireplaces...that were never, EVER, used. In each and every one of them, we had gatherings with friends and family. Each home comes with many stories, hard work, indoor improvement projects, outdoor landscaping work, and a ton of memories.

A Few Recent Pictures

Here are our dear friends Greg and Ewy, and their DARLING little Lucas! Lucas LOVES me, but perhaps loves Grandma a little more! It was such a pleasure seeing them and we feel so fortunate that their family shared their visit with us. I wish we could see them more.

This afternoon I snapped a picture of MY baby sleeping. I know that someday I will look in this bed and see a REALLY big boy. It will be just like seeing him as a tiny newborn bundle in his crib. Then in a blink of an eye, he grew to take up nearly the entire thing! I will miss moments like this--seeing him holding his "D" and sucking his thumb. Such a sweet boy.

ADA Alliance Article

Here is a link to the ADA news article about the Alliance conference.

http://www.ada.org/news/4016.aspx

Arizona

I recently returned from the Alliance of the ADA conference in Tempe, Arizona. What a trip! Just like last year, the members "hooked" me into this organization. What an amazing group of dental spouses. I am inspired by their devotion to each other and the dental community. I didn't take photos of the conference, but hope to "borrow" a few once there are some posted on their website (http://www.allianceada.org/). I did, however, capture some shots of the natural landscape. My cousin Nina was a great host and tour guide, and drove us all the way to the Sedona area. It was great getting to spend some time with her. Thanks Nina!

Spring Break with the Girls...and 2 Little Boys

Such fun! We trekked to San Marcos, TX, to enjoy some rest and relaxation during our Spring Break 2010 week. I can't say that there was much R & R, but we sure managed to have a great time. The new San Marcos Embassy Suites was home base. It was such a nice hotel! The rooms were spacious and comfortable, the lobby was HUGE but inviting with a large fountain and lots of little lounge-y spaces, and the breakfast was a nice start for each morning of our stay. We visited the outlets with a vengeance. We found wineries along the way to Fredericksburg, then spent most of a day meandering through that darling town. A magazine around Christmas time had a heavenly cake on the cover--and it came from RATHER SWEET, a bakery in little old Fredericksburg. Sooo, I had to scope it out. Yes, the goodies were absolutely divine! I even got a t-shirt! Woo hoo! San Antonio is never a disappointment. It would've been better with about 1/4 of the people, but the crowds were expected for Spring Break.

Somewhere in all the fun, we managed to take side tours of playgrounds for the boys to play. We stuck our feet in a yummy, yummy river running through the middle of San Marcos. The water was so clear and cold. I have to hand it to the boys--they did much better than I had expected. Road trips are rough on kiddos, but I love to get out and see the world. Our tummies are full, our credit cards are well-exercised, and the laundry is clean and put away. Spending time together was great. No normally rigid schedules to contend with, nor usual busy-ness of everyday life. Now we jump back in for the last 1/4 of the school year and eagerly anticipate the upcoming summer!

Coach Leach interview with ESPN

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4788146

Here is a link to a lengthy, but telling, interview with Mike Leach. Ironically, it is from ESPN. Maybe this was a consolation prize so he doesn't legally go after them, too. Either way, it is a good interview. It is a crying shame that the regents had it in for Leach when his program was basically the face of the university. I am all for universities focusing on academics, but his program was the catalyst for the huge fan base, the expansion into the national spotlight, the notoriety, and the alumnal (is that a word?) pride. I question the regents' and the administration's wisdom, leadership, and loyalties. It is all such a scam.

Grieving for Tech

The face of Tech football, our quirky pirate coach, has been scammed. Here are some published comments because I don't even feel like coming up with my own words to express my thoughts about all of this. I am so depressed.

1. I will be adopting whatever school Leach ends up at. I encourage everyone else to follow.

2. Hello 3 -- 9 seasons, we missed you.

3. Bust out the All-American Bowl t-shirts...not even that. Maybe the Uncle Joe's Pizza Parlor Bowl shirts...at best.

4. I'm not only stunned, but a bit near teats. This is very upsetting.

5. I'm turning in my guns, and walking away from a program I've loved for forty plus years. Tech wrecked him!

6. Man, if this had happened during the semester I would expect the streets of Lubbock would look like those in Baghdad. It's gonna get ugly in West Texas.

7. It's official. I'm not getting any work done today.

8. Good Lord, we even have Aggies on our side!

9. Back to being a women's basketball school...and they're not even that great.

10. The highwater mark for Tech football will be visible somewhere in the empty stadium expansion.

11. Can Marsha Sharp coach football?

12. Just think, season ticket renewals are coming out in 6 weeks...Maybe they already printed Leach's face on them!

13. Coogs, lock up Sumlin now!

I'm just glad I didn't sign us up for the Alaskan "Cruise with the Coach" this coming summer. Maybe he'll still go! It would be a great trip. Wherever he ends up, sign me up as a fan! Looks like we'll be getting a new slew of t-shirts! Oh, I am so depressed.