By Grace: Much Overdue Fall Update

Once again, it has been a whirl wind of activity in my world (is whirl wind one word or two?). Let's see, since I last updated you I have:

-Seen the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans
-Gone to a million parties (OK, maybe not a million!)
-Ran a few races
-Visited family in Louisiana and dear friends in Dallas
-Started going to a sign language class

So, details...

I went to Louisiana for Laury's baby shower. How can my baby sister be having a baby? I remember seeing her in the nursery at the hospital on the day she was born! What is the world coming to? Here is a picture of all 3 of us at the shower. We also celebrated Mom's birthday that weekend and watched LSU lose to Georgia (boo!). It's always so nice to go home. I just love my family. Mandy went with me and got to experience all the craziness of my family activities. We are constantly "doing" something...cleaning, celebrating, cheering, playing, reading...it's a never-ending roller coaster at our house. Well, until about 8:00 when we all tucker out and go to sleep watching TV : ).

The day after I got back from Louisiana, I headed to Los Angeles for a work meeting. It was actually a pretty good meeting. I got to meet a lot of people face-to-face that I had only talked to on the phone or emailed with. We went out to dinner at a couple of nice restaurants and went to the Santa Monica Pier one night to watch the sunset over the Pacific Ocean...gorgeous!

The next weekend, Cindy and I hosted a costume party (the day after Halloween). Unfortunately, I left my camera at home, so I'll let you imagine what it was like. If you know my friends here in Houston, you know that it was super fun! I dressed as an Environmentalist. Translation...I found a bag that said "Tree Hugger" for $2.50 and a shirt that said "Plant Flowers" that I bought with a gift certifcate...all about 3 hours before the party. There was a costume contest...we had two men in kilts/barbarian costumes (JB & Jim), a redneck with fake teeth (Dick), Sarah Palin (Jana), a devil with strangely realistic horns (Maradee), some pirates (Laura & Isaac), some farmer-type costumes (Tim & Ashley), WonderWoman (Cindy), Batman (Jeff) and lots of other costumes that I don't remember because I didn't have my camera with me! The night ended with Jeff, Cindy, Shannon, Maradee, and I talking while we snacked on what was left of the food (Cindy REALLY like the dip!)...fun times!

The next weekend, Mom, Dad, and I headed to the northeast for a racing trip. We ran in Rhode Island and Connecticut (states #18 & 19). We saw Plymouth Rock (it's disappointly small) and ate at Mystic Pizza (like the movie!). The races were fun. The one in Rhode Island was sponsored by a community club and they were cooking clam chowder to serve after the race (which started at 11:00). So, the place where we had to go to sign up smelled hideously of onions...not a good smell right before a race! There were only 25'ish people in that race and we were the last people to make it in. Our papparazzi (Mom) was there waiting at the end. The race in Connecticut was in Hartford and it was HILLY!!!! In case you've never noticed, there are no hills in Houston and not too many in all of Louisiana, so we did not do so well on the hills! We went to Mystic Seaport, which has lots of boat stuff, so Daddy was in heaven. We saw the Atlantic Ocean and took pictures (with Mom's camera, so I may never see them). It was a kind of exhausting, but fun trip!

This past weekend, I went up to Dallas to visit my dear friend Cara and her family. I go see them about once a year and it's always so fun. This was the first trip in a while that didn't involve some special event for their family or friends (I've been to engagement parties, wedding receptions, baby showers, all for people I don't know). The kids are adorable. Jacob is 6 and is sooo smart! Joel is just 18 months younger than him. Joel is such a sweet boy! Anna is the baby and she is 2. She has quite a personality and is beautiful! Here are some pictures from the weekend. Anna took the one of the boys!