On the Frio with the fam...

We had a great time at the Frio with my family this Christmas. Like always, there was a ton of eating, drinking, playing cards & dominoes and singing by the campfire. We lucked out and had great weather too! Here is a link to all the pictures I took and a few of my favorites are posted below. We miss everyone!

Bigger & Better!

Can you tell? I'm working on a method to post bigger photos. I'm such a visual person anyway, I think the bigger the better! Here are some of my favorites from our Christmas ski trip to Jackson Hole. We had never skiied in such deep powder! The snow was up to our waist one day! While we were there the resort had record snowfall- 31" in 24 hours. It made for great skiing until the last day where they couldn't even open the lifts it had snowed so much overnight! We were finally able to go out that afternoon after they worked all morning to avalanche and plow. What a fun trip! We were exhausted after 6 straight days of skiing!

Congratulations Karl!

You made it! After a long, stressful semester you're finally finished and have your Master's degree! I am so proud of you and so happy to see you sitting on the couch right now relaxing, watching basketball. It's been a LONG time since I've seen you do that. You continue to amaze me every day....Hook 'em Horns!



(Thanks for posing in front of the UT Tower lit up in 2008 just for you. Yes, you have a crazy wife who is obsessed with perfect photo opps.)

Happy 30th Birthday Christine!

The first one of our gang to turn the big 3-0! And, we're all still partying like we're 18!

A White Thanksgiving!

I am just now getting to my Thanksgiving pictures and post...get ready for a big share since I took alot of pictures during our visit to see my dad in New Mexico. Taylor, Casey and I flew out to visit my dad and Todd in Los Alamos for a week. It was a perfect trip but we really missed having Karl and Riane there with us! =(

Casey, Dad, & me on the balcony night of Turkey Day

We had a white Thanksgiving which was a first for all of us! We woke up and it was raining a little and then all of a sudden in the late morning it started snowing....and snowing. It turned everything instantly white and we had a blast taking pictures and walking around outside. Dad worked on his famous deep fried turkey (true Southern style) and us girls worked on all the sides for the Thanksgiving feast. It was very cozy eating Thanksgiving dinner and watching the snow fall outside. We all pigged out and munched on all the leftovers the rest of the week- turkey sandwiches with gravy...mmmmm.

Casey, Taylor and me

The feast! Missing Casey in this one but she's taking the pic

The next day Taylor and I decided to go to Taos since I had read online they opened on Thanksgiving day (early for them) and since they had enough snow and were able to make enough snow, they opened a lift and a couple of runs. I was so pumped since Taos is one of our favorite places on the planet to ski and how fun to ski the day after Thanksgiving?! We bundled up and headed out for the hour and half drive. Once we arrived, we quickly got fitted for boots and skis and took off up the mountain. The snow was so soft and fluffy- just the snow I remember loving at Taos. It never lets us down! Taylor was such a trooper skiing along and even tackled some moguls with me for her first time. She was such a good sport even when she fell and tumbled a couple of times. Go Tay!

tay & I riding up lift 1 at Taos

Tay about to ski for the first time in a few years!

Skiing in my windpants from High School since I didn't bring my ski pants to Thanksgiving =)

We spent the week touring around Los Alamos, shopping around Santa Fe plaza and Dad took us on a drive to their local ski hill and some of the National Parks in the area. It was beautiful. One day we lucked out with a perfectly clear ski and the views from my Dad's balcony were stunning.

The view from my dad's balcony. Amazing.

View from the balcony again. You can see the Sangre de Cristo mountains in the background with snow caps.

Overall, I think we gained 10 pounds each after eating such yummy food all week, but it was worth it! It's pretty rare that at least 4 out of 5 of us are all together these days with work and school schedules and it was a treat to all be together. We miss you Dad and hope to see you again soon!