Drags at Barona in San Diego!

I cannot tell you how THRILLED I was when my cousin James (Marsha's son) told me that he was going to race his car at the drags at Barona the day after I was getting to town! YES!!!! I hadnt been to the drags in forever (I know how much they consume me if I let it, so for the most part, I have avoided the drag strip here in Houston since I moved here over 7 years ago..wisely so). But to get to spend the day at the strip, hopefully see old buddies I hadnt seen since I crewed on a dragster when I was still in San Diego and see my cousin race? OH HELL YEAH!!! I was stoked!

Was a great day...did end up seeing some buddies from my drag racing days, wished I had seen some others that werent there that day, and best of all got to take TONS of pics of my cousin racing his car!!!

Green light!!
Katie and James ready to rock and roll

And they're off! Not a bad light cousin..... a .08 is not too shabby for your first run of the day

This was a family team...jr dragster class. these kids only have to be EIGHT years old to race...little girl in the green car JUST turned 8 that weekend, this was her first time on the track......brother was in the blue car. Mom and Dad are their pit crew. Cars say "Grandpa's Legacy" on them.....ironically the Grandma of these kids was sitting right behind me in the stands as I took these pics, and told me it was her husband's wish to have his grandkids race..well he had passed on, and she made sure that his wish came true. im telling you, it brought tears to my eyes as she told me how much the kids love it, its truly a family thing for all of them, gives the kids something positive to focus on and keeps them out of trouble. Anyone that thinks that drag racing is "bad"......has never been to the track for true racing, and to see how not just this family, but ALL the racers consider one another their family, and would come together and help one another with whatever necessary. That's what its all about, and to hear this story from this proud Grandma warmed my heart. Oh, and James is only 2 years away from being old enough, should he express an interest (take that to read...time for momma to get him to the track more often!!! hee hee!!!) :)

This cute little guy...i just wanted to eat him up.....SO FREAKIN CUTE!!! Love it!

James and his sister Katie......I LOVE this pic I snapped thru the sunroof of his car before a run....dare say it was my fav pic of the day!

James in his racecar

Me and my sis Breanna

Me and my cousin Katie

Me and Speed Racer....I mean, my cousin James! :)

Onward to San Diego

Once I got to San Diego, I stayed with my sister Breanna and her husband Joe. For anyone reading this thinking wait, her sister lives in Dallas and her name is Berta.....lol...yes that is true, however Breanna is my dad's girlfriend's daughter...and seeing as how she has been a part of my life basically since she was born (hell I remember when her mom was pregnant with her!)...she is my sister, plain and simple. Heck our parents have been together longer now than mine were married, so yeah....sister she is, and I hate having to say step-sister etc....so there ya go. :)

Anyway...I was so excited to get to her place and finally see her house (last time I saw her was when she and Joe got married a few years back and were still renting a place)...she has a SUPER CUTE house and love the way they decorated it and all. Gonna be a great place to raise that baby boy little sis! She is pregnant with their first child and is due in July. YAY! So excited for them!

Although technically, little Zane (their adorable dog) will always be their first baby. I just LOVED him from the moment I laid eyes on him, and he became my buddy super quick!!! How could you not love this little guy?


And while I was there that week, my sis saw the blanket I had made myself and brought on my trip, and decided she wanted one....so we went to the fabric store and got what we needed for me to show her how to make one of her own.....the pic below is Bre with her finished blanket. She tells me that Joe has tried to claim it as his own...Im thinking I need to make him one that is not so PINK to call his own? Love ya Joe! ;)

ROAD TRIP!!!!!

Since I could not make it out to San Diego in October of 2009 for my 20 (yes, you read that right...TWENTY) year high school reunion........I decided (and Freddy agreed, since he got to attend his THIRTY year reunion here in Houston, also in October) to take a road trip out to San Diego and spend a week there, catching up with friends and family. So, off I went.....made it from Houston to Tuscson in ONE day....14 hours on the road with quick breaks for gas/bathroom/water or food...was a long day. But worth it as I got to spend time with great friends!!! Tanya and Mike live in Tucson and were gracious enough to have me stay with them. I spent two nights there so I could spend a solid day with Tanya before going on to San Diego. She and I went to lunch the day after I got there, saw a movie and hit up the local scrapbook store. She was also sweet enough to indulge me and take me on a drive to take photos with my good camera, I was so enthralled with the desert sky especially as it got close to sundown.....forgot how much I truly miss the mountains and the desert and the skyline....so I took full advantage of it! She took me to a little state park up the road from her house called Saguaro State Park and I was in heaven! Took TONS of photos, here are just a few from my time in Tucson....thanks Tanya and Mike for the hospitality!
Tanya and Mike

Tucson scenery.....

Me and Tanya attempting to do a self photo with my big Digital SLR camera...no easy feat! LOL!!!

Christmas Morning 2009

This year, we bought James the DVD of The Polar Express. He fell in LOVE with this movie and I kid you not, watched it every day, sometimes more than once a day for WEEKS! The premise of the movie is the kids that are of the age where they are questioning Santa's existence, ride the Polar Express to the North Pole to meet Santa. And the TRUE believers can hear Santa's sleigh bells, if you dont believe, you cant hear them. James was infatuated with the bell that the main little boy in the story ended up getting from Santa to take back home with him......so luckily, Santa "found out" that James wanted a bell of his very own......

Well guess what? Christmas morning, i was downstairs just in time to hear Santa's sleigh bells up on our roof as he was leaving our house...and I ran up to wake James and Daddy...and told James Santa left him something special downstairs........yup, you guessed it! His very own bell from Santa's sleigh! So this first picture below is of James picking up his bell from Santa near the chimney where Santa left it for him...he was thrilled!!!
Finding his special bell from Santa near the fireplace

Star Wars poster from Santa

and another Star Wars poster from Santa...

Star Wars Legos....are you sensing the trend, that the boy is TOTALLY into Star Wars right now? He ended up with a new comforter for his bed too and a big ole star wars logo for his walls, glow in the dark stars and solar system for the other wall....his room ROCKS now, its awesome!

Loving his pillow pet from Auntie Berta....he falls asleep with this every night!

James and all his loot

The other kid (Bailey) opening up her bone......she pranced around the room with this for a good 5 minutes showing of...swear she prances around like a little horse! LOL!

James suddenly remembering to check the plate to be sure Santa had his cookies, and Mommy read him the note Santa left.....

Christmas Eve 2009

Christmas Eve...lets see, oh yes! We baked special cookies for Santa and James was so excited to leave them out on the special plate for him with some milk...and to write him a note all by himself!!! As you can see from the pictures below (and the note he left for James in return) Santa LOVED them! Great job James!!! :)

Mommy and her boy

Daddy and James

James reading me a story before bed dressed as "Santa"...hee hee

James' note and Santa's special cookies and plate

The note Santa left for James and the few crumbs of cookies he left....

Presents under the tree, and stockings stuffed from Santa's visit after James was fast asleep......

Soooooooo behind on this blog!

Ok wow.....I did not truly realize that the last time I updated this blog was BEFORE CHRISTMAS!!! What the heck? Well now that I am laid up in bed sick with some crazy viral something or other, and have been running fever for over two days now (tapering off some today, hoping it will break completely here soon).....I decided to grab the laptop and sit here and catch this thing up!!! May not be as detailed as I usually do, but here goes......

Its beginning to look a lot......

...like Christmas!!!

Freddy spent the day putting up the outside lights, so now its all done. Pics below....James chose the reindeer this year for the yard...lets hope his fate is better than ole Frosty we had last year...he was taller and did not fare well with the constant wind we get across our yard from the lake...spent more time on his side than upright and burned out the blower motor on him....if this one dies out, we are DONE with inflatables from here on out...we shall see!!! In the meantime....enjoy! :)