The House of Torment

 Friday night, Taylor invited three friends over for pizza...

~ Emily, Taylor, Lauren, Kaylee, & Nikki ~

~ Emily & Taylor ~



Then, Dave & I took them to The House of Torment haunted house...

~ Taylor, Emily, Nikki, & Kaylee ~

They loved it!

Beautiful Heartbreak

Beautiful.  Inspirational.  Heartbreaking.  Heartwarming.  Tearjerker.

Way Back Wednesday!

~ Halloween 2003 ~

Hilarious

Click here if you want a good laugh.  I think Dave could do this, don't you? 

Camping at Lake Bastrop

On Friday afternoon, we left to go camping for a couple of nights at Lake Bastrop South Shore with some of our favorite peeps, the Groppe's.  We went last year and had so much fun we decided we needed to go back.  I think we've started a tradition.  :)  And, like last year, we took lots of pictures...

~The Groppe's & The Matheny's~

 Dave got stuck in the mud and muck at the bottom of the lake.  Notice his shoes...

It was hard work to get unstuck.

Muddy Buddies...

~Katelyn & Lauren~

~Katelyn, Lauren, Taylor, Maggie, & Carter~

~Carter, Zack, Katelyn, Gary, Taylor, Dave, & Lauren~

~Laurie~

~Taylor & Zack~

It was fun!  We can't wait to go back!

Combative Pistol Class

~Dave, Tom Givens, & Halli~

Last weekend Dave & I went to a Combative Pistol Class taught by Tom Givens from Range Master.  We both felt like we learned a lot and are excited to take his Combative Pistol II class in the spring.  I really felt like I improved a lot over the course of the weekend.  I was drawing faster, shooting faster and better under pressure.  You can read more about it here if you like.  

Way Back Wednesday!

~ Lauren...October 2003 ~

Game Day

 Tuesdays are game day for Carter...

We love Tuesdays! 

Lauren's Awesome Drawing

Like her sister, Lauren loves to draw and is getting to be pretty darn good...

...if I do say so myself!  I like to think that they get that from me?  :)

Outlaw 100 & Scrapbooking

The kids were out of school yesterday so I took advantage of the three day weekend and headed to my parents "winter home" with my friend, Laurie, to scrapbook.   We've been trying to go every month while they are in Wyoming for the summer.  It works out perfectly and we get so much done!  This was our last hurrah until next summer as my parents will be back in Texas soon.  We left Friday morning and got back Monday afternoon.  It was so much fun!  On Saturday morning, we took a break from scrappin' and did the Outlaw 100 ride.  We've done it the past two years.  We biked 40 miles again this year.  It was tough as the last 20 miles we had MAJOR head wind.  It was awful but we did it...barely!  :)  

Laurie & I before the race...

They have pit stops every ten miles.  At the first pit stop, we ran into our biking buddy, Kim...

~Laurie, Kim, & Halli~

and the second stop we saw our other biking buddy, Sandy...

~Halli, Laurie, & Sandy~

There's a group of us that bike every Wednesday and Friday.  Kim & Sandy are part of that group so it was fun to see them at the event.  It took us about 3 1/2 hours to finish and we burned just over 2,000 calories.  It was a tough ride due to the wind.  After wards, we headed back to my parents casa to scrap.  It was a fun weekend!

Thirty something...

Yesterday, I turned 38 years old.  It was a great day.  The weather was beautiful, I got to sleep in, my friend Lynne brought me flowers...

Aren't they beautiful!  Thank you Lynne!  They're my favorite colors and I loved seeing you today. 

I received this...

...in the mail from my good friend Donna.  I love it!  It's perfect.  You really didn't need to do that.  Thank you so much!  I miss you.

 I feel so lucky to have such wonderful friends.

I had a very relaxing day and a fun evening...we went to dinner at Chuy's and then to the Miranda Lambert concert with some of our favorite people...

~ Gary, Laurie, Halli, & Dave ~

It was a blast!  Thank you so much for making my birthday special.  You're the best and we are so grateful to have you in our lives.  We couldn't ask for better friends.  Y'all rock!

We thought the concert was fantastic and the company even better! 

Randy Rogers and Justin Moore opened for her...

 and Miranda  put on a great show!

 Even though it was late when we got home, the kids were still up so we opened presents...

 Lauren wrote me a poem...

Taylor drew me a picture...

And Dave got me a Kindle... 

 Yippee!  :)

Taylor made me a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting (my favorite)...

It was goooooooood. 

The kids didn't think I could only leave one candle burning but I proved them wrong...

Yep, just one boyfriend for me...and he's a keeper!  ;)   Thanks Dave for everything you do for me and our family.  I love you!