more family

Ohio is so pretty in the fall. I love the changing of the leaves.

Lara has her military crawl down!

Abby, on the other hand, isn't quite as mobile.

Little Sierra is sleeping soundly - in her favorite position - arms out!

Sierra - I'm an Aunt!

Grandpa Mike & Sierra

Aunt Beth and Sierra

Momma Katie and Sierra

Daddy Brian and Sierra

I'm an Aunt!!! Sierra is about 7 weeks old in these photos... simply adorable!

Babies! & Family

Grandpa and Abby
Grandma and Abby

Melissa and one of her girls, Lara. Abby and Lara are twins.
Kristy, Noland and Aunt Kay
I went to see family in Ohio in October. These are some cute photos of my relatives :)

HOT Fair & Rodeo

The cowboys' ride on the horses and bulls is really fast paced, so we didn't get any good photos of your main rodeo events. But we did get some fun photos.... see below.
There was a huge "city" in the fair grounds. The painting/background was about 80 feet wide.
There is an event called "Mutton Bustin' " which small kids, around ages 4-6, ride on sheep. The kids are placed on the back of the sheep and they hold on as long as they can. The sheep are released and basically run toward the other sheep in the arena. Meanwhile, the kid is holding on, or really - the kid is sliding off the sheep, sometimes sideways! It was cute and the kids were all really excited.

We live in the region fondly referred to as the Heart of Texas. Every year in October Waco hosts the Heart of Texas Fair and Rodeo. This year I went to my very first rodeo!! It was really exciting and fun. Shawn and I went with some of my co-workers, one of whom used to ride in the rodeo so he was able to show us the ropes and explain everything. It was really cool!

Duncan & his rubber duckie

Duncan loves his rubber duckie toy... he wanted to take it everywhere, even outside one day and we thought it was hilarious, so we let him. Shortly after these photos... the duckie was decapitated... by Duchess :( Needless to say, the duckie had a quiet death. (Because it couldn't squeek anymore.... hehehe)

more Dallas World Aquarium

Dallas World Aquarium

Shawn went to the Dallas World Aquarium with some of his co-workers. The photos looked really neat - I'm sure I could twist Shawn's arm to make him go back sometime with me :)

BIG bugs...

You know what they say.... Everything is BIGGER in Texas and that seems to be true. Take a look at the BBBBIIIGGGG bug (we think it is a beetle of some sort) that was outside our door. It's a good thing it didn't carry off Duncan or Duchess! The small insect in the photo is a cricket.

Shawn's Birthday

I think Shawn was most excited about the following birthday present..... a griddle. Now he can make 4 grilled cheese sandwiches at one time!! How exciting :)

Behind the Scenes at the Zoo

The bison were kind of scary to feed... we left that up to Shawn.
Julie the giraffe was really excited to get some treats, mostly pieces of fruit. A giraffe's tongue is about 12 inches long!!!


Bethany came to visit and Shawn gave us the behind the scenes tour of the Cameron Park Zoo. We were able to see some of the animals not on exhibit and feed some of the hoof stock too!

Embroidered Sweater

Here are a couple photos of a plain black cardigan sweater that I embroidered with colored floss. I was bored and wanted to spice up this sweater that I didn't really wear. I'm happy with how it turned out, but I need to find a way for the floss to not get caught on things and snag.

Bathroom Organizer

I made a bathroom wall-hanging organizer. It is the same material as our shower curtain. It is really handy and I think the bias tape on the pockets gives it a finishing touch.

Ridiculously HUGE dog crate!

We were looking for a larger dog crate for Duchess, found one on craigslist, and it ended up a bit larger than we imagined..... ok, it is much larger than we thought. Obviously our sense of dimension is poor, really, really poor. But, it is large enough for Duchess :)

Doggies

Photos of us with Duncan (bulldog) and Duchess (boxer). We are so happy to have them back!! But we know they miss Mom & Dad Styrcula, Nikki and Devon :(

I love IKEA!

I love IKEA! Much to Shawn's delight.. just kidding... we spent a crazy 4 hours at Ikea that is about an hour away.... entirely too much time, I admit. But we walked away with some great purchases - this nifty hallway organizer (it is only about 8" deep and fits perfectly in the narrow hallway!) and some fabric that I made into a shower curtain for the hall bathroom!

Cameron Park Zoo

We spent a couple hours touring Cameron Park Zoo, where Shawn works, and here are a few photos. The zoo is really nice and the community is really proud of it. Their exhibits flow from one into another with natural barriers keeping the animals in their own exhibits and away from the public. It is a pretty neat design.

Welcome to Waco!

Not exactly the same landscape as St. Thomas! This is the view from our apartment - we look out to see a levy and a dam containing Lake Waco. We can't see the water from our apartment, just a pretty, grassy hill and at night there are lights all along the dam. But, down the road there is access to a walk/bike trail that run along the dam and round the lake.

Bye-Bye-Bye St. Thomas!

Bye-Bye-Bye Cool Signs Crew: Mecca, Rusty, Xtal, me, Jill

You will be missed, but... you'll always have a place to stay in Waco, TX!

12 suitcases, plus carry-ons - The truck was stuffed!