Gary's 60th and a Fantastic Cake!

Friday after Thanksgiving (the 26th) my precious Father-in-Law turned 60! What a fabulous chance to celebrate! I have known Gary now for almost 11 years. He has always been a big supporter of Ben and I in our relationship and in choices we have made. He is a great example of a father, husband, and friend.

There are a few things Gary is known for LOVING.....Mexico, specifically Cancun, the sun, beer, and K-State football. I don't think there is a better vacation spot on the planet than the Royal Resorts in Cancun and there isn't a player, coach, trainer, or fan of football that has not been affected by K-State football or Bill Snyder somehow. So, it was only fitting that for his 60th, the K-State football team was in town playing North Texas. It was meant to be. There was nothing Gary wanted more for his birthday than to go to the K-State game with his family. None of the rest of us even had any K-State attire but, when we arrived at the Harrison's there was enough Power Cat purple gear to outfit all 6 of us. We got to the game 3 hours early and tailgated with all the other die-hard K-State fans and grilled brats and just waited for the game to start (which they won!) For some reason, I didn't have my camera so these are the only pics of the game...from my iphone....it was very cold.

Then Sunday night, we had Harrison family dinner to celebrate Gary! The hit of the night was Mendy's AMAZING cake! She made this cake and the icing from scratch and free handed the Power Cat on top. She truly is GIFTED. It is incredible.

Kinley loved licking the icing and blowing out the candles...which we did several times.

Just for kicks, here is a video!.... taken from the iphone so not the best quality.

Happy Birthday Gary aka Gar-Meister aka hbiggary50 aka Pops! We love you!

Howe Family Thanksgiving

Howe family Thanksgiving this year was this much fun!

We spent the day and night at Honey & Boss's house and 17 of the Howe side (plus 3 kiddos) could make the day. It gets harder every year as our family continues to grow to get everyone together but, we had a good showing. My mom did a fantastic job of making her house inviting and beautiful. I wish I had taken pics of the tables and place settings because they were so cute. The food was delicious and way too much. But, the company topped it all!

Kinley, Aubrey, and Luke could all play so well together this year...but, we really missed Winlon and baby Speight. Kinley's red wagon was the hit of the day and they climbed in and out, opened and shut the doors, pushed and pulled each other all day long. Every once in a while they would stop to climb some stairs, swing outside in the freezing cold, or throw some pool balls around the pool table...but, overall, the wagon was number one.

The boys had some good times reading and watching sports....this pic was for real. What a bunch of handsome boys!?!

We missed Sean, Camila, Winlon, Speight, Lois and Jack who were all in Atlanta with that sweet newborn angel! But, we did Skype them for literally hours all day and just kept the computer on. We all talked to them and we ate at their dinner table. It is incredible what modern technology allows.

As always when we get together....we took a lot of family pics.

The Hardens

Minus sweet Jessica who was sick. We missed her so much!

The Knowles

David, Kristi, Aubrey & baby knowles due in April!

The Howes

Minus Matt who was at the A&M game watching the Aggies beat up on the Longhorns...Whoop!

We could NOT get a good Harrison family pic....Kinley was not into participating.

The Siblings

Minus Lois and we were all with Helen who was missing Phil, Cary & Chris who were all in Lubbock.

Grandkids and Great-grandkids

We tried to get a good kid pic and that didn't work...so we tried a kid and momma pic...which was also not so successful....but, SO much fun!

We ended the night with a fabulous pj party and, of course, some more wagon time.

Hope everyone else had a fabulous Thanksgiving!

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.

Psalm 100:4

Turkey Shirt

i am aware that I steal every creative idea that I have from my best friends at Lullaby Lubbock. there should be an addict class for people like me. i am not creative on my own but, i can copy someone else and create someone else's vision any day. but, i have to say that i am so, so thankful for creative friends who also love to match and totally support copying each other. so, with that in mind, i made kinley a turkey shirt for thanksgiving. i just used material i already had at home and a white shirt we already had. it was so fun, super easy, and she looked adorable in it.

a little turkey shirt

for this little turkey!

I sure am thankful for her too!

Happy Turkey Day!

More pics from Howe Family Thanksgiving soon!

This is the day the LORD has made, let us Rejoice and be Glad in it.

Psalm 118:24

Girl's Trip

The lack of posts this week has been due to some rampant sickness at our house. A bad stomach bug on top of colds has kept us all a little out of the loop. But, it all started AFTER, thankfully, our really fun girls trip that we went on this weekend. We have gone on family girl's trip all throughout my life with my mom, aunt jan, momma gay, and amy. We have not done one in several years due to college, weddings, and such but, it was so fun to get to do one this year. The most fun thing about weddings and growing family is that there are more girls to go each time! brooke got to come, the new katie grant, and kinley! (we really missed olivia though) So, on friday night all 8 of us packed into aunt jan's tahoe and drove south of austin for a one night girls trip. the car was crowded but fun and we wouldn't have it any other way. amy, katie and brooke named themselves the "back seat club" which I in the middle seat with Kinley could not be a part of.

We got to the hotel late and kinley was wired when we got there and didnt got to bed until late but, she was so much fun and slept all night long.

Saturday morning we went over to my mom and aunt jan's cousin Susan's house. She has a beautiful home in Austin and 2 gorgeous kiddos Sadie, 4. and Zach, 1. It was so nice seeing Susan. It has been a while and it was great to get to spend some time with her and her kids and looking at old pics of them when they were kids.

Susan had the coolest sunroom/playroom for her kids and kinley was pretty much in heaven from the start. she did NOT want to stop playing to take a picture, which Sadie and Zach were fantastic at!

After Susan's we went to the Round Rock Outlet Malls for a five hour shopping spree. No pics from this but, lots of Christmas shopping done for everyone. Then it was back in the car for the ride home. It was a long but fun 24 hours. Kinley did fantastic in the whole time. She didn't even fall asleep in the car until the last 10 minutes of the ride home. Sweet sleepy baby!

We can't wait for more Girl's Trip's in the future!