Sunday, December 7, 2008

Christmas cookies and Sugar Plum fairies

My 13-year old cousin, Cassandra, has moved to the Austin area to live with her father recently. Her mother is French, and Cassandra and her older brother, Christopher, have grown up primarily a few hours outside of Paris. We're so excited to get to spend time with Cassandra, and Grayson and I have been trying to do lots of things with her. I brought her to my house Saturday for hours of fun holiday baking! We made lots of Christmas cookies, as well as lots of messes! For some reason, every year I have this magnificent vision of how my delicious confections will turn out. Usually, I am incredibly disappointed with my total lack of talent in decorating sugar cookies. Good thing that ugly cookies still taste yummy!

Later that evening we brought Cassandra with us and David's parents to our annual Nutcracker evening. We went for a nice dinner downtown at Louie's 106 (some of the best steak I've ever had!) and then to the ballet. This was a gift to Cassandra from her mother back in France who used to enjoy the Nutcracker when she lived in the US. Cassandra had a great time!

David's parents, Roger and Jerry Lynn

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Freedom Journey


In December of 2006, just 2 years after Byron died in Iraq, we decided to take a "Freedom Journey." We spent 3weeks on a road trip through the eastern US - from Austin east to Savannah, then all the way north to New England, and back a little inland to Texas. We traveled over 6000 miles in an effort to see our beautiful country and understand what Byron sacrificed his life for. We drove scenic routes, through small towns and big cities, stopping at places that held history in shaping our nation. We stopped at Veteran's Memorials, National Cemeteries, historical monuments and some of the most beautiful places in America. In each place, we left a "Freedom Rock," a smooth stone that had Byron's name and KIA date on one side, and said "Freedom Isn't Free" on the other. It was our way of taking Byron with us and leaving a bit of him in each special place. This experience was so healing for us, and truly one of the most memorable and special events of our entire lives. Here are our favorite pictures from the Freedom Journey.