Happy Birthday, Dad!

For Dad's 50th birthday, we had a "Day of Dad." We all dressed up like Dad in fake moustaches, cowboy hats, button up shirts and boots. Then we surprised him in our "get ups" and brought him his gift, a scrap booked collage of stories that people close to him had written.

Jeff dressed as Dad

Howdy y'all!

Little Val all dressed up. You should have seen her pink cowgirl boots!

Mom dressed as Dad complete with a grayed moustache

Cowboy Mike

Some people just don't fit the look...

Crystal was not about to put on a moustache!

But finally cavedDad seeing us dressed up

He thought it was hilarious
Dad opening his scrapbook
Browsing through it

Opening his card from Val

The whole gang (minus me with the camera)

Dad's book

Dad loved his birthday surprises. As Mom put it, "It's not often that we really get Dad, but when we do it's good." We definitely got him good! I think it was fun for him and it was definitely fun for the rest of us!

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas, y'all! Our Christmas was wonderful. Good food, good family, good presents...Val fed Santa's reindeer the special reindeer food that she made and picked out jewelry with Grandma to leave for Mrs. Claus on Christmas eve and was up bright and early to see what Santa left for her Christmas morning. Mom made a feast on Christmas day and the boys were obsessed with shooting their new guns afterward which was really cute to watch them so excited. Val banked it from Santa and we played games all day on what he brought her. She was so cute and wanted to wear all her new clothes and hat and gloves all at once. We made great memories and had a wonderful time!

Hey All!

I know I have some mad catching up to do on postings, but in the meanwhile enjoy all of the new stuff I've added to my blog! I've added some people to my bloglist that for the most part are on board with my teachings. Of course, if you read anything that sounds fishy, ask before taking it as face because I haven't gone through everything posted on all of these blogs. Enjoy! Merry Christmas!

State Fair 2009

Valerie after getting the beautiful butterfly painted on her face.

She won those pigs and they didn't leave her sight. She actually fell asleep on the train holding them on the way home!

Snack time. Bring on the fried Oreos!

The cotton candy was as big as Val is.

Mike and Valerie.

Waiting on the train. We waited for one and a half hours I think. Ugh. DART let us down. The good news was there were fireworks going off behind us so we had some sort of entertainment.

Inspecting the cotton candy.
Digging in!

View from the Ferris Wheel

Michael and I went to the State Fair with Jeff's family on the day of the OU vs. UT game. It was crazy crowded but we had a blast. We didn't try the fried butter (none of us were that brave) but we did try the fried Oreos and they were amazing! Crystal said she was going to buy a deep fryer just to make them at home. LOL. I would be there everyday. ;)

Mike and I rode the Ferris Wheel, we watched Jeff and Val ride the Arctic Express, we saw the largest crocodile and alligator in North America, played some fair games and went to the car show. I was worried for Jeff as he rode the Arctic Express; I don't think I would fair as well, but he was just fine. That is, until it went backwards. LOL. His facial expression sure did change but he felt way better than I would have. I'm too old for rides now. I told Crystal if I drive down a steep hill these days, it's enough of a roller coaster ride for my equilibrium. Sad but true! Good thing Val has Jeff for things like this! :)

Southlake Oktoberfest 2009

Southlake Oktoberfest was definitely a fall festival according to the weather. Luckily Michael and I had the help of our sidekicks Crystal (yes, that is a snuggie!), Valerie and Jeff. Oh, and our best saleslady of them all, Tillie. It did bring in new business and although it was a looooong, cooooold weekend I think it was worth it. I'm glad my brother's family could come help and I think Val had fun riding the train, jumping in the jump zone and climbing the rock wall. And she said the lemonade wasn't bad either. ;)

How Could You Not Love This Face?

Poker Face

I would say that most of the time I go through different experiences and really question what God wanted me to learn. This week, however, I got the message loud and clear. I hear you God, OK, now hopefully I've learned my lesson and this difficulty I have won't be such an issue anymore, right? Then why do I have a pit in my stomach even just typing that...ugh. Oh well, I digress...

Remember one of my last posts I shared with you all how I was feeling used and walked on? Well, if you recall, I didn't do anything about it except whine. Obviously I didn't learn much from it, eh? Well, maybe that's why God decided to give me the week that i had last week.

Does anyone else out there have trouble with confrontation? It's not even so much that I have trouble with it, but that I tend to swing way too far one way or the other. It's either I confront you and tell you how horrible you are and we are forever enemies, or (what usually happens) is I decide to let things slide and hope that you will come around and realize your rudeness or selfishness or insert hurtful adjective here. In the business world, that doesn't so much happen. Weird, I know, that's what I thought. You would think that people would have the same morals, ethics and kindness when doing business that they would otherwise have when dealing with their family or friends.

Well, I'm going to give a big thanks to our condo management company, our Chamber of Commerce, a fellow doctor and others (you know who you are) who really pushed me to learn when to say "uncle." I had to stand up to each and every one of you and I didn't get to say that we are forever enemies because I have to work with you whether I like it or not.

Now if I could just work on that poker face and not let them see how hurt and full of emotion I was when discussing with them...