Spring Break

We travelled out to west Texas for spring break. We camped at the Davis Mountains State Park and drove all over the area the next few days. Christa and Greerson went with the Boy Scouts to Guadalupe peak and hiked. Daryl stayed at the campsite and went to Fort Davis, Marfa and Alpine. The next day we all got in the truck and headed to New Mexico to Carlsbad Caverns. Christa and Greerson went on the lower cave tour and Daryl stayed with the Fossil Patrol from Troop 377 and did the regular walk in tour. When we emerged from the cave the boys thought it was foggy outside. It actually was a dust storm. Everyone finally figured out why I left New Mexico for the shelter of some trees in central Texas. The next day we went swimming at Balmorhea. Greerson thought that was really cool. He is taking scuba lessons and he wants us to let him certify at Balmorhea. He really liked all of the fish in the spring there. After swimming we hosted all of the Boy Scouts for hamburgers at our campsite then headed up to the McDonald Observatory for a star party. It was really cool they had an outdoor amphitheatre in the round and the guide stood in the center and had a green laser pointer and could point to the star he was talking about. We saw the space shuttle and the space station. It was the last night that the space shuttle was in space. It was really cool. Then we went around and looked at some nebulas and stuff through various telescopes. It was a great way to end our excursion to the Davis mountains. We stopped in Ozona for Mexican food on the way home. It was really good. We left at 9:30am and got home about 7:00 pm.

We attended a Star party at the McDonald Observatory

This is the new visitors center at Carlsbad Caverns

Picture of the mouth of the cave

Looking out across the valley at Fort Davis

Fort Davis

Welcome to Alpine this was the most colorful thing in town

Our campsite

The welcoming committee. . . .we had to wait about five minutes to get them out of the way

Marshall Joesph Shultz

Stephen and Shanda welcomed Marshall Joesph Shultz into the world February 12 about lunch time he was 7lbs 8oz and was 19 inches long.

We went down to meet him Saturday afternoon. Shanda was up and around like normal and Marshall didn't make a sound unlike many of the other babies in the area. Brenna was asleep when we arrived. She had quite a day and missed her nap time. She was really cute and watching Elmo calmed her down and she was back to her cheerful cute self. Brenna went to dinner with us and then we headed for home arriving about midnight.

Back To School

Well, it is time to start the spring semester already. Greerson went back for a short week and came home sick on Friday. We had to prepare dinner for the leaders of our churches youth group revival weekend called Impact. We prepared chicken spaghetti and lasagne as the main dishes and prepared sides and desserts as well. It was a lot of work! We cooked and assembled most of it Thursday night then Friday was spent cooking and serving. Poor Greerson hat to sit at home because he was sick. We checked in on him frequently, but he slept most of the day. The youth had a great time. They did an activity based on the Amazing Race Friday evening. The leaders sat around eating dessert and we got to listen to the riddles and see if we could figure them out. Collectively we were able to figure them out, so they were deemed acceptable. We actually got out lucky. We were finished four hours into the event. It was a two night lock-in type event (except they stay at several houses) with general assemblies at the church and smaller groups Bible studies in the houses. It was a great success, but like I said we were done early. It culminated with Sunday morning worship and the guest band performed and our Pastor preached a sermon in line with the theme of the weekend. It's hard to believe that Greerson will be a youth next year. I have a feeling we will be more involved in the future. Christa has to work on King day, but Greerson and I will probably take down the Christmas tree. We have been too busy to take it down (frankly I don't know where we are going to put it, the camper is in the garage and the canoe is hanging over the attic access), I guess it will go in a closet for a couple of weeks until we need the camper again. We are planning to be out with the Boy Scouts next weekend and the adults are going to cook a hog in a pit. Check back next week for photos of this exciting event!

Happy New Year!!!!

We left Houston and stopped in at home for a few hours to sleep and then got up and headed north to Tulsa for New Years. It was a pleasant trip, Greerson watched the thirds season of The Lucy Show most of the trip. We got there about five pm and checked into the hotel and made it to Steve and Carol's about six to discover we were the first ones there. Bob and Sheryl were about thirty minutes behind us. David and Rox made it and we have brisket for dinner and sat around talking until just after midnight. It actually was kind of anticlimatic, but we enjoyed each others company. New Years day we decided to take the kids ice skating in downtown Tulsa. It was a lot of fun. The kids really seemed to enjoy it. There was a heated tent for the adults and we enjoyed that since it had gotten cold overnight. We watched a dance team (Sheryl argued that they were a theatre troupe) sing and dance for a little bit then headed back to the warm house. We enjoyed Mexican Train and Catch Phrase while we were there. The time really flew by and it was time to leave. We had a nice drive home. The traffic was a little heavy, but not too bad. Greerson is out of school until January 11, so he has been enjoying playing with his friends this week. We have been playing the Wii every night. The favorite games would be "curling", "Figure skating" and "cart racing". We have a good time.

A view of downtown Dallas on the way to Tulsa

Steve leading the conversation

Steve has Sheryl, Regan and Christa's attention

David and Rox prepared for Mexican Train

The BOK Center in downtown Tulsa

Greerson and Rachel share a funnel cake

Regan and Rachel warm up after ice skating

Rachel, Greerson and Regan on the ice

This video showcases Greerson and his cousins ice skating. Caleb is actually very good at it!

The Texas Bowl 2010

One of the few Baylor touchdowns at the Texas Bowl 2010!

This is the Illinois band from the end zone they just looked like they were marching in a straight line, but on the screen you can see they are able to spell.

The Cheerleaders watch the game in anticipation of a touchdown

The Scouts wait to unfurl the flag

The Baylor Golden Wave Band perform at half time

Sic'em Bears!!!!!!

waiting in the tunnel to go onto the field

It's almost time

Chas and Greerson wait in backstage to go into the tunnel and onto the field

The Scouts at the Methodist Practice Facility preparing for their presentation at the game

Greerson is ready to go to the game

Christmas 2010

We got up early and had chocolate croissants then rushed around preparing for the crowd to arrive. Actually Greerson got us up about two hours earlier to check out the tree downstairs and found a semiautomatic air rifle and a handgun. Then we took a nap and ate the croissants. Dinner was prepared about noon and we had about thirty people there to eat. After lunch we did the chinese Christmas game where you draw a number and get or steal a present. It was a lot of fun. Christa's uncle opened two snuggies then got a big roll of aluminum foil that was taped up. after about ten minutes of unwrapping the foil he found a big sucker and a box of aluminum foil. Unfortunately he had to keep the foil and didn't get either one of the snuggies. Daryl got a flashlight and Christa ended up with one of the snuggies with Texas A&M on it and Greerson got salt and pepper shakers that look like shotgun shells. We had our traditional game of Mexican Train and Sheryl and Daryl tied in last place. It was decided that Sunday morning we would play again. The result of that game was Sheryl first place (now she can return to Missouri after vowing not to leave until she won) and Daryl second place. It was a lot of fun. We have been eating ham for two days now so I think we may head back to Waco to change our diet a little. Brenna has been talking to us a lot this Christmas (she is 18 months), it was a joy to watch her open her presents and find a new toy. Greerson and Tyler took over the theatre and have been watching movies. We took family photos by the fireplace as you can see.

Mimi and Grandpa Woody

Greerson and Tyler

Daryl, Christa, Shanda and Stephen

The Christmas tree

Santa Came

Greerson couldn't wait to get downstairs to see if Santa came. When he got down there he found a semiautomatic BB gun. He was excited to say the least.