Going Backwards....

Oh, where to begin....the last two weeks, they have been a whirlwind. I am going to start with the most recent and go backwards. We just returned from Port Lavaca. Usually this is to just visit with the Hahn side of Ross' family. This time it was not so laid back and fun. Ross' grandpa Hahn passed away on Sunday. We were 30 minutes from being home from Thanksgiving when we got the call. We unpacked the truck, did 7 loads of laundry, and repacked. Tuesday morning we picked up Ross' sisters from the airport. Kelsey flew in from San Diego and Kristi from Jacksonville. It was good to see them but we wish it was under better circumstances. The viewing and funeral went as to be expected. Lots of tears and hugs. The consensus is that Grandpa Hahn is either fishing or flying right now in Heaven.

The memory that sticks out the most for me of Grandpa Hahn is this.....Ross' Uncle David brought Ross' Grandpa up to Columbus a couple of years ago to go fishing. Ross and his grandpa fished and fished and fished. My dad kept telling me, tell Grandpa Hahn he can come in and take a nap in the cabin and I've never seen anyone enjoy fishing so much, especially at his age. Grandpa Hahn was probably 83 or 84 at this time. The memory that sticks with me is Uncle David, my dad, my mom and myself were standing on the hill looking at them fish. Ross and his Grandpa were in one of those plastic paddle boats that we all love to ride in as kids. You know the kind where you feel like you are peddling a bike. They were facing away from us and I pointed out how the boat was really leaning Ross' way. Now you could take that the wrong way and think that I was making a comment about Ross size. Well I was. It dawned on me when I saw this, how cute it was to see Ross peddling his little Grandpa around the pond. It made me feel like even though it was obvious that Ross was not a kid anymore he still got joy out of simply going fishing with his grandpa. I wonder what the fishing is like in heaven?

Ross is now terribly sick. I'm sure it is due to the lack of sleep and stress.

Thanksgiving we headed to the ranch that Ross' grandma Hahn grew up on in Oakville. There were lots of family, food, and tents. Shelby decided that she would revisit the first week of her life and not sleep very well the first night. We were sleeping on the porch of the house and at 3am we moved into the tent with Ross. At this point she had already been up 5 times. I think she was cold. Needless to say, Sarah, Cooper, Shelby, Grandma Johnson, and myself spent the rest of the nights in the hotel. The guys enjoyed hunting and the girls enjoyed being with the kids.

We were at Oakville from Wednesday thru Sunday and these are the only pictures I took. Shelby decided that she would walk over, plop herself down by her daddy's truck and play in the dirt.

This is good quality dirt. See how easily it moves thru my fingers.

Come on mom, there is room for you down here.

Before we left for Thanksgiving, Grandma Leyendecker, Aunt Kristen, Shelby and I decided to go watch the tree lighting in downtown Katy. The parks department provided the snow. Shelby loved the snow and we couldn't get her away from it. We finally took her over to where they were going to light the tree and she made a mad dash back to the snow. I guess we will have to take her to New Mexico sledding when she gets a little older. Aunt Kristen and I enjoyed that as kids.

Taking Aunt Kristen for a walk in the snow.


Touching snow for the first time. Notice the short sleeves. It was really warm.

Ross and I experienced a first a couple of weeks ago. We went to a Quincenera. For those of you that do not know what this is the fifteenth birthday party for a girl in the Mexican culture. They are very extravagant and often cost more than their weddings. We had a good time and it was an experience to say the least. Out of the 300 or so people there, we and the couple that came with us were the only white people there. The birthday girl is the daughter of one of Ross' contractors. They were extremely nice to us and treated us like we were special. We have to give a shout out to Aunt Sherry for watching Shelby. We really appreciate it.

And back to two weeks ago. Ross took a couple of days off of work and we went to the North Zulch area to see Ross' sister Kelsey and husband Charlie. They were in from San Diego to go to a wedding and stayed over at Charlie's family's ranch for a couple extra days. We had a lot of fun with them riding four wheelers, playing speed scrabble, and watching elmo. Yes we watched elmo over and over again. Thanks to the Stockers for allowing us to come and crash the party.

Uncle Charlie and his motorcycle mama.


Aunt Kelsey, I can do this up and down the stairs stuff all day long. Kelsey is due in April with baby Callie. We can't wait!

Do we look alike?

Shelby loved the four wheelers. Now when our neighbors fire up their motorcycles Shelby starts whining to go along.

Shelby's very first four wheeler ride. It was freezing so we bundled her up.