10 year anniversary (Waco, TX)

Ten years. It's been a decade since we each said, "I do." Like the song says, "First comes love. Then comes marriage. Then comes baby in a baby carriage." And plenty of babies we had (four kids, if you didn't already know) so it wasn't possible to do anything "big" to celebrate our 10 year anniversary. We decided on a quick weekend getaway to Waco to do all things Magnolia (Magnolia Table, Magnolia Market, Silos Baking Company). But even a short trip without the kids was difficult because we are forever busy. We had to call in the reinforcements... but I'll get to that later.

Tyson's First Communion

First communioners. (Is that a word?)

Keenan!

(photo by Anh Vien)

Solo trip (Washington, D.C.)

My long time friend (John) who I've known since the second grade (30+ years) was getting promoted to Lieutenant Colonel at The Pentagon so I wanted to be there when that happened. The initial plan was to take everyone and make it into a family vacation. But airfare to DC was pricey... multiply that by six... ouch. Plan B, road trip to DC. But during the planning phase, there were reports of snow storms across that region and I thought, I don't want to get stranded in the middle of nowhere, let alone drive through that. Plan C, I'll fly but only take the boys. But ticket prices never decreased and actually went up. Plan D, I'll go solo.