PawPaw

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/houstonchronicle/obituary.aspx?n=billy-raye-brod&pid=143200969

She’s 13!!!!

Oh my goodness.  I can’t even believe that Justine Marie is already 13 years old :)And you thought EMILY was the meteorologist ;)  J/K.  This is from when Alicia, Justine, Henry and I went to watch Emily in studio back in November.  She’s pointing to Houston for us.

Back to the point of this post.  It’s hard for Henry and I to believe that just two years ago, this was Justine.

She’s truly growing into a mature young lady :)Happy Birthday sweet Justine!  Henry and I love you so much!

Long Time No See

Sorry for my slackerness!  I had promised more details on our trip to San Antonio during the last weekend of April.  We really had a blast.

Friday when we arrived in SA, we went straight to Quarry Golf Club so that Henry could play some golf :)  I had fun riding in the cart next to Henry and watching him play his FAVORITE game! :)

Later that night, we decided to try out another Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives restaurant.  We drove in towards downtown to try out The Cove.  We loved it!  The atmosphere is really fun, lots of families, but still really good HEALTHY food!  We were so glad we tried it out!  We also tried out Red Mango for dessert, which was new to us.  Very delicious though!

The next morning present the ‘Long Time No See’ part of the weekend :).  When I was in Elementary School, I attended the YMCA After School program in the cafeteria of our school.  One of my counselors, Kathy, kept in touch with me long after Elementary school.  We wrote letters to one another, she was great about spending time with me when she could, and even allowed me to be a part of her wedding.  The last we remember seeing one another was her baby shower for her first son.  We lost touch :/

My parents and I were really bummed when we couldn’t find her for Henry and I’s wedding 2 years ago.  Several months ago, I received a Facebook alert on my phone, and it was a friend request from Kathy!!!  I started flipping out and Henry thought something was wrong.  Haha!  I mean, it’s been about 9 or 10 years since we had spoken last.  I was really excited.

Well, she, her husband, and 3 boys are in San Antonio now!  We were able to make arrangements for all of us to get together for brunch that Saturday morning.  We were both really excited to see one another :)After brunch, we joined them all on a trip to Bass Pro Shop and enjoyed watching the boys’ faces light up :)  Sadly, I failed in capturing a picture of their youngest, Caleb, but the above pics are of Brandon and Alex.

It’s nice to be reconnected again!

After brunch, Henry and I went shopping for our first time at La Canterra, and I got some good stuff :) 

It was a fun weekend in San Antonio!

Our New Backyard!

Oh finally!!!  It’s ALL done!!!  Remember the post I made from before that showed the massive Borchard pond in our yard?  If not, look here really quick.  Did you SEE all of that water?!

Ok, so, check out this photo before the landscapers (Turf Plus) came to begin the work, and take note of the trees that are labeled. Notice the trees.  Also, in the bottom left corner there is an oleander plant and a large rock underneath it.

Now, here’s the new backyard!Check out the 4 less trees!  Notice the Oleander is gone :)  There’s also a LOT MORE GRASS!

Now here is a more detailed look at the in process stuff. During:  Lots of shoveling done on Thursday and Friday!  After:

These pictures start to show the drain installation process.  They tied the downspout on our garage into the drain that eventually runs out to the street.  During: After (same as above picture, but it shows the finished product here):  This is along our neighbor’s fence. During:After:

This is the area right next to our garage and just behind our deck where the large rock sits.  During:   This is an extreme difference mostly because of all the new grass!After: This is a look at the ground area underneath our Magnolia tree. During: Some much grass!  After: We hope all the new drainage will prevent this from happening again:  We are so excited about our first MAJOR project completed!