Back in Canada!

Well, what a trip! We had an absolute blast in Texas. I would have to guess that we ate Mexican food at least 12 out of the 14 days we were there. Of course, not a single Mexican meal compared to the fabulous Christmas dinner put together by my mom and sister. It's not that I didn't want to help with Christmas dinner, it's just that when my sister is involved in a project, it's best to just step away. My help would greatly hinder her ability to bitch about me not helping later.

Christmas was just fabulous. Gluttonous to the max, as always, but simply wonderful. Santa brought Ryleigh a 3 foot Barbie dollhouse that is in transit between West Texas and Newfoundland. She also got a Barbie convertible and approximately 438 different Barbies. She loves them all. My dad gave Jeramy a football signed by the 1998 Denver Bronco team, yes, the team that won two Super Bowls, yes, that included John Elway. Angels sang as he opened the package. I got a fantastic new coat and Stephen Colbert's book, which I stupidly left at mom's house. Avery got some clothes and some toys, but was mostly happy with the paper on the floor.

It was great to see all the grandparents. I went to work out with my PaPa twice. So awesome to have to struggle to keep up with a 72 year old. He and my Nana took Ryleigh to my cousin's basketball game in Odessa which she completely loved. The day before we left Ryleigh and I went out to the pasture to check the cows with PaPa. I got to teach her about barbed wire and cattle guards. She learned about not stepping in poop and why those thingies are hanging on the cow's ears. Sometimes I stop and think about how incredibly different my kids' raising is from mine. They won't ever have 30 rabbits in their back yard, they will likely never shovel poop out of a steer pen or go hunting for rattle snakes. I guess we could make a big life change at some point and move out west, but it's not likely. When I go home I usually have moments where I think that would be a good idea, so I could be closer to my family and my kids could be raised more like I was. But then I get to about day 10 of being around my family and I start to feel the same way I did when I left for college. Then when we get to the airport to head home and I see the monitors with all the flight destinations for the day I get the urge to not only fly back home, but to keep on flying on to more new places and see more new things with the kids in tow. My kids will have a different raising than I did, but that doesn't mean that it will be lacking in any way. In some opinions, it will actually be for the better.

We also got to see lots of old friends. I've already talked about the good time we had in Houston. In Monahans we got to hang out with Dr. Morgan and family (hehehehe, Jason is a doctor) and with Cari Cutbirth Martinez and her sister-in-law Keri Almanza Cutbirth and Rudy, John, Selena, Renee (funny to stand there and think about that time in high school that she tried to kick my ass, not that she failed as much as I ran away), and a few other folks that we hadn't seen in ages all standing around the barrel of fire out in the desert. That night ended with fried burritos from the gas station...ahhh, West Texas living.

We had a nice Christmas over at my Grandma (Robinson) Friend's house. I love her so dearly and it was so nice to spend an evening with her. John and the boys were also there. He's really doing such a fine job raising that brood. They all three seem to be quite bright, hard working and very well mannered.

On the 28th we drove to Arlington where we hit our favorite Bar-B-Que joint and had dinner with my dear friend Davi. She has an awesome beau these days and looked just radiant...it's quite obvious that life is good for her right now. The second night in Arlington we dined with our old college friend Cory and his GF. We reminisced for two hours about our glory days in college. Always nice to do. Then we headed over to my brother's apartment to hang out. I've never really hung out with my brother since we've both become adults (I know that's a stretch to be calling him that right now, but he's working on it). It was a very nice visit with some great conversation and a visit by a very strange neighbor. I love that kid and God bless him, his creative mind will do some great things in this world.

Our plane landed in St. John's at 4am this morning. By the time we laid down in bed it was closer to 5:30am. We slept in until 1:30pm.

It's about 3 minutes until the New Year here in Newfoundland. Wow, what a ride this year has been. Who knows what 2009 will bring other than a great new president and Kindergarten for Ryleigh. Who knows where we will be this time next year, here, Texas or somewhere new. Who really cares, we love our life and our kids and most important, each other. It just keeps getting better every step of the way. Time to count down...