Happy Birthday, Roger!

What better way to celebrate your 60th birthday than with a little Guitar Hero?!?!?!? Roger and Jerry Lynn came over for a birthday dinner, and we thought we'd introduce Roger to the thrill of being a rock star.

This is "Honey," the character I created for myself. Don't make fun - don't we all have some kind of rock star goddess alter ego in our hearts???

Memorial Day 2009

I don't know that it will ever be easy to make it through Memorial Days every year, but at least there are fewer tears now and more of a celebration in gratitude for the sacrifices made on behalf of men and women throughout history for our freedoms, especially our own special hero. We miss Byron so much, but we're so proud of him for his service and sacrifice. My PawPaw, aunt and uncle and some cousins came into town to spend Memorial Day with us. We started the morning together at the cemetery and placed some roses down with Byron.

Then we headed down through downtown Pflugerville where the city had put up these awesome banners down the street with the names of all the Pflugerville Fallen since WWI. Here is Byron's banner:

So, again, on this Memorial Day, I ask you to remember and honor all the lives that have been sacrificed throughout our nation's history so that we could live in this amazing country. God bless the USA!

Texas Run For the Fallen

Last summer there was a huge event called "Run For the Fallen" where participants ran 1 mile for each of the Fallen Heroes from Iraq and Afghanistan. They ran over 4000 miles from California all the way to Washington, DC. This year, other organizers put together smaller versions of this. The Texas Trail of Heroes was organized to honor all of the fallen from Texas, and they were nice enough to run Byron's mile through Pflugerville. My family all got together to participate - running, walking or driving. We were escorted by the Pflugerville Police Department from Byron's Post Office (OK - so it belongs to the United States, but it has Byron's name on it!) all the way to the Fallen Warrior Memorial in Pfluger Park. That was actually a 2-mile run - 1 mile for Byron and the other for Capt Sean Lyerly. I only walked a portion of it, then cheated and got into a car. I was so proud of Colin, Grayson and David - they ran/walked the entire way!

Mom decorated her car!

This is the flag that they posted for Byron at the entrance of the Post Office.

David, running with Lauren (one of the organizers).

Grayson and Colin


My cousin, Emily, and her dog.


Colin and Jenn

Me and David

Mom, with the statue that was made in Byron's image.

My dad showing Shauna Byron's statue. We were so excited to meet Shauna because she ran Byron's mile in Colorado last year on the original cross-country run. She was so sweet and excited to meet us, too!

Mom, Grayson and I

Hey Cupcake!

I'm not quite sure exactly when I fell to the peer pressure of the latest fad - cupcakes. I've never even really liked cake all that much, but these cute little confections have me drooling. So, despite the pouring rain, we just HAD to stop when we saw this cupcake trailer on the side of the road. Now, mind you, I would NEVER stop for other roadside stands - tacos, BBQ - something about them makes me think they can get around the rules of food safety because they can just drive away from the inspectors. But, cute little cupcakes? In a cute little cupcake trailer? I felt confident that I would be getting quality cupcakes - and the line of people in the pouring rain confirmed my suspicions. Yummmm......

Our New Little Friends

We spent the weekend with David's parents at Palmetto State Park in their RV. I literally spent hours upon hours watching the birds and squirrels eat the nuts and grapes we threw out for them. The little squirrels would take the grapes and turn them really quickly in their hands to peel off the skin, then snack on the yummy sweetness. Once we got home, I found out that grapes can send a dog into kidney failure. Holy cow...does it do that to squirrels, too? I love squirrels! It horrifies me to think that a little family of squirrels is probably going to have to go on dialysis because I kept feeding them grapes!