Rajin' Cajun!!!

And the traveling never ends...

After returning to Austin & work for 2.5 days after Christmas, we were off again, and this time it was to Louisiana with Dad! This was Ryan's 1st trip to Louisiana, and I think he really enjoyed it! It was a whirlwind of a 3 day trip and we never stopped... we saw lots of family and friends and had such a great time. Here's the run down...

The story begins on December 31st...
Wednesday: Got to Lake Charles around 8pm and hung out at Uncle Jim, Aunt Janice & Jeremy's (cousin) house and Harley- the English Bulldog!

(Yup, that's Harley standing on the coffee table... he got yelled at right after I took this picture... hahaha)

Thursday: Dad showed Ryan all around LC, we ate lunch @ Steamboat Bills (catfish and crawfish), then off to Camp Pearl and Kinder. Camp Pearl is a church camp site that is run by close friends of ours, The Barrett's. They were sweet friends to my grandparents (Mooney's). In their (my dad's parents) memory, my dad, uncles and FA (favorite aunt) donated some of those big rocking chairs (from Cracker Barrell) to the camp site to be used outside of the dining hall. Unfortunately, the chairs weren't out then, so I didn't get to see them, however, I took a picture of the plaque. Then, it was off to Kinder where my dad's parents and other family members are buried. We actually had an interesting time walking around the graves and seeing how far back people were born... many in the late 1800's... my dad's grandpaw, Madison, being one of them... 1897! Awesome. After a day of running around, we had dinner in Sulpur @ Cajun Charlies! Nuthin' like fried alligator and frog legs, right!? haha....
(Dad, what pretty frog leg earring you have!)

Friday: We hoped in the truck and headed for Natchitoches, La- the filming site of Steal Magnolias! My parents completed their undergraduate degrees at NSU (Northwestern State Univ.). Dad took us around campus and showed us the special bench he made for he and mom. As you will see in the pictures, all of the other benches have Fleur de li's... but the Mooney bench has hearts... so sweet. Dad has also established (in 2003) the Elizabeth Posey Mooney Endowed Scholarship in honor of my mom. The scholarship is for students majoring in physical or special education. How precious is it that he honors her in so many ways? A lot of people can learn from him. I sure do. After running around @ NSU, dad took us to eat Meat Pies @ Lasyone's! It was in Paula Dean's magazine.... so you know it's good! Dad said when they had "extra" money in college, they would treat themselves to Lasyone's. After stuffing ourselves with dirty rice, meat pies, red beans & rice, we were off to Alexandria to see my mom's parents, the Posey's! We has a great time visiting and the guys watched Texas Tech get smashed by Ole' Miss. We also made a run over to see Aunt Nell... what a sweet lady, born in 1925! Sweet, sweet. Then, it was back to Lake Charles we went. We snacked at home, stuffing ourselves again, and off to bed.

MEAT PIES @ Lasyone's! Yummmmmm.

Saturday: Before our departure, we stopped to see Aunt Vesta... who's about 84 years old. Sorry for the details.... but she recently has a toe removed and couldn't wait for my dad to see it... we just said, "no, no, it's okay..." haha.. wow. She's a funny gal. We also got to see my dad's good buddy Darrell and his wife Karen. He's a great school buddy from LC that dad has kept in touch with. They share the love of Harley's. Finally.... we returned to Austin... and once again, stuff ourselves with Papasittos, and that's the end of the story...

Christmas in Alto, NM

On the 26th, we left Lubbock and headed to NM. Leaving Roswell, heading to my parents cabin in Alto, the temperate dropped about 20 degrees. We awoke to snow and single digit temperatures! Fun, fun times. Thankfully, Ben was able to travel to NM to spent Christmas with us. He's doing great and will continue to recuperate in NM at our parents house for the next couple months. My dad has worked so hard to provide for our family and take care of my mom, and I am so thankful that my parents have such a nice place to retreat to. Mom does wonderfully there and absolutely loves it. To me, it's a very special and private place.

(The girls traveling to NM)

Dad just realizing he got LSU crocs to go with those LSU scrubs! haha..

Christmas in Lubbock...

This year (like the previous 2 years) we went to Lubbock to spend part of Christmas with Ryan's family before heading to NM to see my parents and brother. We have been SO blessed this year, and we have so many things to be thankful for: our health, my wonderful job, Ryan's acceptance into UT, a generous academic scholarship, selling our home in Lubbock the DAY before we moved, our parents who have been so incredibly supportive of us, our pugs, our brothers, the rest of our family, our special friends and so many other things. Christmas is the time for giving, and thankfully we were able to give much more this year- and boy was it fun! It truly is much more fun and rewarding to give than receive. But wow, did we receive some gifts this year! Ryan's family goes ALL OUT and it was a blast! Enjoy a few photos of the Wilcoxen, Johnson, Pena, and Collier (newly married) Christmas 2008~

ooooh Ben!

Ben is doing so well. He has left Lubbock, and is staying in Roswell with my parents as he heals. He has a walker and will probably continue with the walker until February or so. He had 35 staples which were removed by our dad last night. Thank you all so much for the kind words of encouragement and prayers- my family is very grateful. We are so thankful for Ben's progress thus far. I can't wait to see my family at Christmas... I'm so thankful for them.
On a lighter, funnier side... check out Ben's staples! He posted this picture on his Facebook, so I figured I could post it on my blog as well. My dad titled the email as, "Ben's Butt".

Turkey, I mean Chicken time!

Since UT was playing A&M here in Austin, Ryan wanted to stay for the game. It was the Johnson familys turn for Thanksgiving, and we were very excited that Ryan's brother, parents and grandmother came for the feast! We had such a great time and I was so thankful that they came- especially Grandmommy! It was rough not being with my parents and not being able to cook them a meal, but Dad insisted that it was no biggie. I'll make it up to him @ Christmas when we go to Alto. So, about that "Turkey, I mean Chicken time" thing... well, since Ryan's mom hasn't cooked a turkey (she is totally a Great cook- I guess she just never learned how to do a turkey...) a nice lady from Cisco (Where Ryan's parents are from) made great chicken with dressing and gravy and homemade (I think it's disgusting any way it's done- so I didn't look @ it) cranberry sauce. We made all the other sides and stuffed ourselves throughout day. It was a great time! I'd post a picture--- but I am forgetting to break out the camera these days. Whoops!

Benjamin

Last Sunday (Nov. 30th), Ben was snowboarding with friends at Wolfe Creek in Colorado. He was doing some sort of jump, and went off an edge. He landed directly on a lightly snow covered log and broke his acetabulum. The acetabulum is the socket in the hip bone that receive the head of the thigh bone. Ben was airlifted from Wolfe Creek to Lubbock, TX (where he lives). We are extremely thankful that this accident was not any worse than it already was. He could have easily been killed. I was talking with my Aunt Linda, who has been at his side from day one, and she was saying, "ya know, God isn't done with Ben." I reminded her that he has been hit by a car TWICE while on a bicycle. Once when he was 7 and once when he was 14. Ben had surgery Tuesday morning in Lubbock. The surgery lasted about 6-7 hours, and he has been given 7 units of blood (it's typical that a patient can loose a lot of blood during this surgery). Another time, God was in control. The doctor said his break looked like he feel off the top of a building or was in a terrible car accident- and that's scary to hear. He is up and moving around. He cannot put any weight on his hurt leg for 3 months. It's going to be a slow, painful healing process. But if anyone can do it- Ben sure can. He's a tough one. Dad has been able to break away from Roswell twice this week to go see him. Unfortunately, with me being 6 hours away now, it's difficult that I can't just jump in the car and be at his side. I am so thankful Aunt Linda is there with him. I also have a sweet friend that's in medical school and is located at UMC- where Ben is, so she is able to stop by daily. Ben also has a great friend , Ryan, that was with him during the accident and is still with him. We haven't really heard when he will be able to go home... it will probably be several more days at least. We appreciate everyone sweet comments and prayers. I am so thankful to have a brother, especially him.

Wedding in Wimberly, TX

These pictures were taken at the wedding of Ryan's cousin Melissa in Wimberly @ Old Glory Ranch, October 11th 2008.

Ryan's bringing home the bacon..... Sara fries it in the pan!

My sweet UT student with his Leon Maner scholarship check!!! Way to go Ryan! No student loans for us!!!

Yearbook pics!

So, my best friend Jamie turned me onto this HILARIOUS website called yearbookyourself.com.
You find a picture of yourself, upload it to this site and let the fun begin. It shows what you would look like from 1950 all the way to 2000. Check out how hot we are...



Ryan 1976!















Sara 1952

it's a pug life!

Let it be GREEN...

Check out the pugs new hi-tech fieldturf! It was leftover from a workout facility... so Ryan took it and thought he'd see if it would fit and it was perfect! Hilarious! Instant GREEN! No water needed!


To really appreciate it... you HAVE to be reminded of what the pugs were dealing with before... what parent wouldn't want the best for their children?


BEFORE:

























AFTER!!!!
This is just outside the door to the pugs "yard"


























Looking back @ the house/side door.

We don't think the pugs can remember their backyard in Luboock, and that's good thing... b/c Lola already has issues! he he he.




















There's Sydney enjoying her little yard! Our house is on the left and the garage apartment thing is in the back.




















WAY TO GO RYAN!