Schaefer's, Johnsons & Future Moore's do ATX!

Amanda & David, and Mason & Beth (Lucy & Ace the Jack Russells also came to play with Lola & Sydney) made a trip to Austin to visit this past weekend. Oh and what a weekend it was! SXSW (South By Southwest--- basically a music & film festival that brings some of God's strangest creatures to ATX) was going on... so it was an eventful weekend to say the least.


Friday night:
Our clan of 6 headed to Guero's (yum yum- a Great Mexican food place) for dinner... after a wonderful, fun dinner, we returned to our house to drop off our car and call a cab. Omar is the best cab driver in all of Austin! Our awesome cabbie dropped us off downtown--- we met up with Jamie & Erin (my 6th & Trinity friends!) and just had a fun night on 6th street. In the hour that it took us to finally find a cab to take us (Mason, Beth, Ryan & I) home, we experienced the following: we walked probably a mile, we laughed, we yelled @ each other, Beth & I thought we were going to get mugged, Ryan & Mason wanted to walk home along side I-35, Beth & I got yelled @ by the bell boy @ a hotel for trying to waive down a cab in front of the hotel, and when we FINALLY got into a cab it died so we had to wait again for another cab, then..... our cab finally showed up! It wasn't Omar. Can somebody say "child molester" or "murderer"? Wow, it was a scary ride home in the nasty Mexican blanket backseat lined cab. Ewww.





Saturday:
I LOVE the weekends and sleeping in! We finally rounded the boys up and headed to Einstein Bagel! My FAVORITE place of all time! After a very late "breakfast" we headed home to shower. David & Amanda met up with us @ the house... then the girls were off to shop! The boys stayed home and took care of 2 Jack Asses.... I mean Jack Russells..... and two Pugs. After a quick shopping experience, we girls headed to Pluckers for a snack.... Fried Pickles, Chips & Queso and Loaded Fries!
We had dinner reservations @ PF Changs for Beth's 25th Birthday!!! Wow, great choice Sara! =) It was AWESOME! They have a special right now where 2 can eat for $40... it includes: 1 appitizer, 2 soups, 2 entrees & 2 MINI desserts! We girls thought that the dessert size was perfect... however Mason said, "This is enough to piss me off!" Oooooh, Mason! After dinner, the Schaefer's went back to stay with family, and the rest of us picked up a couple movies and played Mad Gab! Great times! The Girls (Sara & Beth) won of course!




Sunday:
The Schaefer's headed home to Lubbock.
We took Mason & Beth to Juan in a Million for the "Don Juan" experience. Basically the best meal you will ever get for $3.60. It's potatoes, egg, cheese and bacon.... served with fresh tortillas, chips & GREAT salsa!!! After almost dominating his plate... Mason was short a tortilla... so, in FULL Mexican accent, he turned to Ryan with all seriousness and said, "You think we need more, Tortillas, No?" (Just think of a super Mexican saying "tortillas") HILARIOUS. We (Beth, Ryan & I) died laughing as Mason denied that he ever said it that way!



Well, and that's how it goes when Moore's, Schaefer's & Johnson's do ATX!

Oh Austin...

I got this email from a co-worker... pretty funny!

YOU KNOW YOU LIVE IN AUSTIN IF ...

1) Your co-worker tells you he/she has 8 body piercings, but none are

visible.

2) You make around $100,000/year and still can't afford a house.

3) You never bother looking at the Capital Metro schedule because you

know the Capital Metro drivers have never seen it.

4) You've been to more than one baby shower that has two mothers and

a sperm donor.

5) You have a very strong opinion about where your coffee beans are

grown and can taste the difference between Sumatran and Ethiopian.

6) A really great parking space can move you to tears.

7) You know that anyone wearing pants in November is just visiting from

Ohio.

8) Your child's 3rd grade teacher has two pierced ears, a nose ring

and, after your child tells you all of that, you still need to ask

if the teacher is Mr. Sunshine or Ms. Sunshine.

9) You are thinking of taking an continuing education evening class but

you can't decide among yoga, aromatherapy, conversational Mandarin

or a course on building your own web site.

10) A man walks down Guadalupe (the drag) in full leather regalia

complete with a speedo under chaps ...You don't notice.

11) You think any guy with a George Clooney haircut must be

visiting from the midwest.

12) You know that any woman with a George Clooney haircut is a

local.

13) You keep a list of companies to boycott in your wallet.

14) Your hairdresser is straight, your plumber is gay, the woman

who delivers your mail is straight and your Mary Kay Lady is a

guy in drag.

15) You occasionally see a guy on a unicycle whiz by you in traffic

and you think to yourself, "Oh yeah, it's that guy again..."

16) You start to worry when you don't see the cross-dressing,

bearded guy in-a-tutu-and-bikini-top-who-has-made-a-statement-

with-his-grocery-cart-and-cardboard-box-art/shelter on your way

to work in the morning.

17) You make dinner plans around who's got the best margaritas.

18) You have a tough time deciding on one of Austin's seven 24-hour

eating options (IHOP, Denny's, Katz', Kerbey, Stars, Magnolia

Cafe or TaCa.)

19) You complain about their prices but still shop at Central Market

for the scene.

20) You know the exact locations of three towing yards.

21) Your summer shoes are your Birks and your winter shoes are your

Birks w/ socks.

22) Your entire wardrobe consists of: a black tank top, a GAP white

T-shirt, second-hand Levi's, second-hand cut-off Levi's, overalls,

Longhorns sweats, anything polyester from the 70's, a bikini,

Teva's, Birkenstocks, and running shoes.

23) Dressing up to go out for a woman means throwing a tank top on

over the sports bra you've had on all day b/c it's SO DAMN HOT.

24) You often find yourself wondering why magazine editors insist

that swimsuit season starts on Memorial Day when it's really the

end of February -or at the latest, the beginning of March.

25) You consider chips, salsa, Kerby Queso, and a Shiner Bock a well

balanced meal.

26) You find yourself making beaded necklaces to give away as

Christmas gifts.

27) 100 degrees for three straight months isn't unreasonable, 110

degrees is and 90 degrees anywhere between May and September

seems a little chilly.

28) When you go out, you make sure you've grabbed your water bottle

before checking to see if you've got your wallet and keys.

29) You don't mind parking a mile away as long as it's in the shade.

30) You'd rather ride your bike than get in a car without air

conditioning. At least on your bike, you're guaranteed a breeze

regardless of traffic.

31) You see more Texas flags flying than American flags.

32) Cubicles are no longer referred to as work spaces but way out

funky left brain meditation depositories.

33) The food at the company holiday party is all vegan, organic, soy

free, wheat free, dairy free.

FRED IS DEAD!!!

After completing 6 months of chemo in December, my cousin, Jennifer finally had a scan today to see if there was any new growth, or even cancer @ all, and they found......................
NOTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She's cancer FREE!


Praise the Lord! We are SO very thankful! We cannot thank our friends and people we don't even know for their kind words and many prayers over these last 9 months. Please continue to pray for clear scans.
Thank you,
Sara


(fyi: If you don't know what I'm talking about... last June, my cousin Jen (Fanelli) Blann was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer @ the age of 35. She completed 6 months of chemotherapy in Dec.)

Roswell

So, this past weekend I got to head to NM to see the parental units! Yay! I absolutely HATE leaving and I cry every time! It's like I'm back @ college or something. Blah!

Anyways, I had been begging my handicapped brother to meet me in Roswell- well, drove up to the house with dad- and poof... there Ben's truck was, sitting in the driveway! Thanks for coming bubba! Also, a big congrats to Ben- he was able to start walking again when we were in Roswell! He's doing great! Thanks for all the prayers!

Well, I flew in late Thursday night. Friday morning I met with Roswell Lumber (R.L.) since dad has unleashed me to demolish their kitchen and start from scratch. How fun is it to spend other people's money?! hehehe. Well, it obviously wasn't for my benefit... but I LOVE trying to get my dad a "good deal" although I don't know if he even cares... anyways, I've been begging him to let me "design" their kitchen- so, FINALLY it's happening (with the help of R.L.). Anyways, I finalized the plans on the layout, granite, cabinets, appliances, etc..... Can wait to see the final project!

To go along with of demolition of the Mooney home... dad decided to FINALLY give mom a well deserved NEW master bathroom! YAY! It's super awesome... and is being designed by a REAL designer. It's going to be AWESOME. Hopefully when I go home next in May- both the kitchen and the master bath will be unrecognizable!

This was the first time in a while that I didn't really get to see my friends. Well, I take that back... I got to see Marci & Aspen @ Burrito Express! Aspen (5 months) decided it would be funny to proceed to barf on the table and floor... then thought it was so funny when Sara began her uncontrollable gagging! Wow- don't know if I can handle a kid. I am weak. I admit it. =)

Well, I guess that's all for now...

The Doc runs a marathon...

Dad ran his 19th marathon @ the age of 54!!! He ran the Austin Marathon on February 15th! We were very proud of him! Way to go Pappy!

(I made Dad a sign that I was going to hold @ the finish
line until Ben and Ryan made fun of me...
so I decided to put in on the dash)

Apparently if you wear a garbage bag it will keep your body heat in... I definitely made fun of his for this though. =)

I don't know if you can see it in the picture... but under Dad's number it says, "LIP".

Almost done...

Lola loves Ben...

You may think they're wacky, you might even think they're tacky...

A look back at some baby pictures of Lola and Sydney... ohhh how they've grown.

Lola will be 5 years old in April (35 years old in dog years of course), and there's no nice way to put it, she's a B. Lo is a cranky little girl, she LOVES ben- absolutely loves him, everything is on her terms (kinda like me sadly)--- she eats when she wants, cuddles when she wants, she likes to lay around, doesn't like to be cold, if you spank her she growls or tries to bite you, she loves to dress up and gets very angry when you take the clothes off, she hates people touching her feet and needs @ least 2 people trimming her nails, she toots constantly, drags her butt on the carpet, she's a funny, funny pug, she has a sweet heart, she's loves visitors and anyone who gives her attention, she loves sitting in laps of visiting friends/family, she's a one-of-a-kind pug. We love her.



Sydney will be having her 3rd birthday at the end of this month (21 in dog years). Syd is a sweet, sweet dog, always ready to play, always a snuggler, she'll let you hold her like a baby, she'll follow you around the house, she's terrified of the vacuum cleaner, she loves animal planet- NO lie- she truly watches animals on tv, she steals Lola's food and snacks- mainly b/c Lo doesn't stand up for herself, she loves running freely at the park, she humps Lo, she's obedient to us and a bully to Lo, she's a happy pug, she's never developed a real bark, she's a kind soul, I think there's a real person in there sometimes.

pugs, not drugs!

Just a Saturday morning walking the pugs in
Downtown Austin...

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..