Surprise Party and Live Oak

My new friends in Austin were amazing and threw a wonderful surprise party for me. They made a huge effort -- it was awesome. We were supposed to be going to see Twilight, Breaking Dawn, and they surprised me before the movie with a huge Twilight themed surprise party, complete with vampire coffin desserts, vampire teeth, and cutouts of my face transformed to look like a vampire.

My friend Lynette from Flower Mound was visiting that weekend and was surprised too.

All the girls with their fangs.

Matthew had a big 5th grade 3 day, 2 night retreat with his new school at Live Oak. Kirk went to chaperone the second night and took pictures. Looks like they had a great time. I can't believe how grown up Matthew is!

Appreciation circle.

Matthew and his friend Pete.

Writing in his journal in his bunk after showering.

All the boys ran away trying not to hear a Justin Bieber song at the dance. Some girls were trying to drag him out to the dance floor. I have a son old enough to go to boy-girl dances?

Matthew in the congo line.

Waiting for the limbo pole.

Limbo!

Halloween Parties

Another big Halloween came and went -- this one was our first in Austin. We kicked it all off with an adult Halloween party where we dressed as Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love. More pictures of the event are on my Facebook page.

The boys had a great time with tick or treats

Matthew and friends

Palmer and friends

Kirk with Will (a dragon Bakugan) and Ben (Batman)

The start of the neighborhood parade

More parade

Palmer and friend at the ward trunk or treat

Matthew and friends at the trunk or treat

Some in the ward went all out. Check out this set up

Will and friend at the trunk or treat

More Will and friends

How cute is my little Batman?

Will's preschool Halloween party

Ole Miss and Labor Day

Labor Day weekend began with Kirk and Palmer traveling to Oxford, Mississippi with Wade and Drew Allen and meeting the Manions and Devin Bird to watch BYU play Ole Miss. The boys spent the afternoon at the famous Ole Miss "Grove" soaking up the southern hospitality before cheering on the Cougars to a last minute one point victory.

While Kirk and Palmer went to Mississippi, I spent a few days in Dallas visiting friends. On Labor Day we had a chance to boat with Kirk's sister's family and the Birds. The boys and their cousins had a great time together over the weekend. It's great to have Taralee and her family closer in the McKinney/Frisco area. Too bad we are now three hours away! It's better than three days away though!

Will and his cousin Jonah

This picture doesn't do it justice. The water was really, really rough. Taralee refused to miss the chance to waterski and got right up.

Devin and Austin and Kirk and Ben. Lot's of captains and co-captains on this boat.

Taralee, me, and Lynette sharing the "princess" seat.

Seth, Matthew, Palmer, and Zach.

These pictures do not do justice how ROUGH the water was. Perfect for tubing boys.

A packed house.

Ben turned 2.

The birthday boy and cousins. Lots of boys (and one girl cousin).

Flower Mound Farewell Pig Roast

After living in Flower Mound and the Dallas area for nearly 12 years, were are selling our home and relocating to Austin. A few years ago we were involved in a memorable pig roasting event that resulted in the pig exploding -- literally. So, when our good friends Devin and Lynette Bird offered to organize a going away bash, there was really no other way to go out than with another pig roast.

Our good friend Forrest got the last (exploding) pig from a guy in rural Texas that had a horse living in his house with him. This time around, we called on Forrest again who -- after his first two pig guys couldn't come through -- "knew a guy with a thick backwoods accent from rural Oklahoma who could surely arrange the hook-up". How many former California surf dudes have three Texas/Oklahoma pig guy hook-ups? Seriously?

Not wanting to miss out on the adventure, Kirk, Forrest, Devin, Shawn, and Travis set off to Oklahoma to see about acquiring the feral hog. Forrest's Oklahoma connection took them down the road to get the wild beast from "grandpa" -- who greeted them with a loaded rifle in one hand (complete with a rope strap), a beer in the other, a ZZ-Top beard, and just the right hat. After the dispatching the 140 lb even-toed ungulate with a well placed shot right between the eyes, "grandpa" hauled the boar out of the cage and left the city boys to the, ahem, "prep work." The Oklahoma boys mocked the blow torch hair burning for a while, but then ultimately conceded those city boys might be on to something. After "spike" was fully field dressed and packed in a cooler of apple juice, the boys went back to see the live 3-yr old male bobcat living in Forrest's friend's house. No kidding. His last pig guy had a horse living in his house, this guy had a live bobcat living with him -- complete with an outdoor cage area connected to the house with a doggy door so that the bobcat could come and go in the house as he wanted. Apparently the bobcat wakes the guy up every morning by jumping onto the bed with him.

After responding to questions at the local Chipotle about the animal legs sticking out of the 55 gallon cooler in the back of Lynette's SUV, the fearless pig warriors dropped the pork to be at Rob Pico's house around midnight for an extended smoking. Rob took over the project from there and checked on progress every hour through the night to ensure a proper cooking -- thanks Rob!!

Roughly 16 hours later a number of friends gathered at Lake Grapevine and braved the smoldering hot Texas heat to enjoy the fruits of Rob's labors. When Devin added a keg of rootbeer the set-up was complete! All in all, it could not have been a better event. We have some of the greatest friends in the world -- you guys are the best!

The first four pictures below include "spike" the pig, complete with apple in his mouth just prior to being served.

The kids enjoyed the "keg" a little too much. We caught a few drinking straight from the tap.

Lauren took the opportunity to gather a few rocks for her landscaping.

The kids (and some of the adults) enjoyed a dip in the lake to beat the heat.

Landon Cluff isn't quite sure what to think of the beast. Devin seems to be getting along just fine with him.

Dallin and Justin each got a leg -- and a little sauce.

Will loved the rootbeer.

At the end of the day, there was not much left of Spike.