A Visit to Nana Perkins'

On Saturday the 29th Dan and I traveled to Decatur with his parents (Max & Caroline) to see Nana (Dan's Grandmother - Max's Mom). What a pretty day! Not only did I get to meet Dan's Nana but I also got to meet his cousins and their families. Everyone was so nice :)















On top of having a nice day with family we also got to play with the dogs.











Reese and AJ LOVED playing with "Uncle" Orvis in the fields, between the hay bales, and just about anywhere else there little legs would carry them.






You can tell from all of the lolling tongues that all three boys were having a blast!

Update on school

I completed my finals last Friday and grades will be posted by the 17th of December. Dr. Kinard let me know via email that I got an A for the semester in ECE 5318 Advanced Early Childhood Development! Woo-Hoo! I'm just waiting to see if I maintained my A in CI 5330 Multicultural Teaching & Learning. When I turned in my last two assignments I already had a strong A going in the class so I'm pretty sure that I'll have a 4.0 for this semester.


I've registered for my final semester of coursework for Spring 2008. I have one class to take and then I'll be student teaching in the Fall of 2008. Technically speaking I will have completed the graduate program in May but I won't actually complete my Certification until after my semester of student teaching.


It has been such a long journey and I am so grateful to have such supportative family and friends. Thanks you guys.

Christmas is Upon Us!

Dan and I attended a retirement party for a co-worker of his last week. We were having such a good time that we didn't make it back up to Round Rock in time for my school holiday party.

In the photo above we have the 'flash ON' photo - harsh lighting to say the least and next we have the 'flash OFF' photo - nice and fuzzy.

The photos have that fun Christmas light haze. This morning on 'Good Morning America' I learned that changing the ISO setting on my digital camera will help crisp up the photos without losing the soft light from the Christmas lights. I haven't had a chance to try this new technique out yet but I'm going to see if it really works.

Note to self...

Okay, today when I got home I made a discovery... It is not a good idea to leave bags of flour and sugar on the counter...as you can see it looked like our boys had a good time while we were at work today!

I'm sure it looked like a bad episode of "I Love Lucy"... There I was vacuuming my little heart out, not realizing that the bag was full and that I was effectively spraying a fine powdery mess out of the back of the machine. Yikes! I hope I didn't ruin my vacuum.

I think the cats must have hid in the bedroom all day not wanting to get mixed up with the crime scene because there were no little feline paw prints among the mess...all canine...I could totally be on CSI! Ha Ha.

The Great Pumpkin

Today Dan and I took Reese and AJ with us for a visit to Red Barn's Pumpkin Festival. We met John, Darby and Eli there mid-morning and then traveled to South Austin for lunch after we had visited all that there was to see at the pumpkin festival. I think Eli really enjoyed all of the people watching, game playing and animal petting that he got to do. I know I enjoyed watching him. Reese and AJ just enjoyed getting out of the house for the weekend :)

Isn't Eli just beautiful perched atop the pile of pumpkins!

Ah, there was a bit of a delay in getting this page posted. Our laptop has been on the fritz and I haven't been able to upload photos from it. I finally have broken down and I'm using the desktop in the guestroom.

Belated Ironman Wisconson Post

Good Morning swimmers! This photo is my favorite shot of the morning. Dan and Steve had just gotten to the edge of the water.

Unfortunately I didn't capture any great bike shots so you'll have to visit Dan's blog to see the professional photos for those photos. I did, however, get some shots of the Perkins Twins while they ran on State Street.

Iron babies hanging out! Alex and Will were such little troopers :) Here we are taking a lunch break while Dan and Steve continued to run, and run, and run.

Mr. Steve Perkins (second place...again? What, was it 6 minutes out of the chute? Well, at least you're bridging the gap.)

Iron Babies at the end of a long day! I'm not sure how they were asleep at this point with how loud everything was at the finish line!

Ah, I finally got my Danno back at the end of a very long day.

I had a fun day running all over Madison, Wisconsin and I was glad to call it a night.

Great Green Goddess!

When I got home from school (work) tonight before going to school (school) for the evening I spent some time in the backyard with Reese and AJ. Check out the beautiful green spider that I spied on a leaf of my Morning Glory vine. The leaf is well over 5 inches across! Makes for a big spider wouldn't you say?

The spider has amazing barbs covering all eight legs! I'm hoping I can identify the specimen by searching online.

Welcome to the world Connor Reed!

Welcome to the world Connor Reed! Congratulations to Becca & Grant! Connor arrived at 2:32 am on Sunday, September 16th 2007 weighing a whopping 8lb5oz and measuring 20 inches!



Look at this proud daddy!

While I'm not actually Connor's Aunt Lisa I certainly felt like a proud aunt cradling little Connor in my arms. He is absolutely beautiful!

Even Dan got in on the snuggle time :) Connor looks so little in Dan's big arms!
Connor's nails are sharp and he scratched his beautiful little face! Becca and Grant put the softest little socks over his hands to prevent additional scratches. You can't tell from the photos but Connor has quite the little head of hair!

School Bells are Ringing.

My first week back to school was exhausting! I'm enrolled in two graduate courses this semester and my course work started the same week as school so I have been extra tired this week. I miss my old team but I'm excited about my new team and what the school year has in store for our class! I won't be posting photos of my students but I wish I could. We have a great group so far.



My sister Missy and her baby arrived yesterday for a visit and we are having such a great time playing with baby Madison. I can't get over how quickly she is growing. Dan and I are dog sitting cousin Boone for the weekend and I'm feeling highly outnumbered by the four legged fuzz balls as there are three dogs and two cats in the house. I do have to say that I'm very pleased so far, all five animals are getting along so I'm not having to close anyone off for safety.



Ironman Wisconsin is this next weekend and Dan is very excited about race day. I'll be spectating and cheering Dan on along side Caroline (Momma Perk) & Laura (Sister Perk) ~ (Sure, I will cheer Steve on as well but not as loudly as I'll cheer for Dan! ;) heehee) and of course the twins (Alex & Will) will be there too. I'm excited about the trip and our four legged kids are excited about spending the weekend with Oma & Opa. Personally, I think Abby & Silas are afraid that we've acquired a third dog and they aren't too happy about it! No worries, cousin Boone goes home tomorrow.



Not much else is going on besides getting back into the swing of my studies, work at school, and of course being newly weds :) Can you believe we've been married SEVEN weeks at this point!

The Dunraven Inn

On Wednesday of our week in Colorado we all took a break from cooking and had a lovely dinner at The Dunraven Inn.

Dan and I were both "fat & happy" for the short ride back to the cabin for the evening.

Shauna called it an early night since she had to be on the trail by 3:30am. Hikers need to summit Long's Peak and begin their descent before the mid-morning storms rolled in. Otherwise the hikers risk being exposed to the lightning "strike zone." That sounds pretty nasty to me! Waking so early and hiking so far made for a very long day for Shauna, and even with as exhausted as she was upon returning we all knew she was glad to have accomplished her goal. WooHoo Shauna!

Look carefully at this photo to see the hummingbird's wings fully extended. I've never seen so many hummingbirds in my life! Dan took several photos at Charlie Eagle Plume's on Thursday but I haven't downloaded those photos yet. We took some video as well but haven't had a chance to preview those images either! So much catching up to do!

More Candid Shots

I picked up the photos from four more of the disposable cameras this afternoon. I like being able to get the images on CD so I can share the pictures so easily!

Now THAT'S CUTE!

My Girls! I attended Southwest Texas State University (now Texas State) with Becky (left), Elizabeth (center), and Jennifer (right). Madison (center, left) is Elizabeth's little girl. Look at that gorgeous red hair!

Is someone sitting to take this picture or is this the handiwork of one or our very short photographers? Julie, Vivian, & Emma Grace had a blast running around taking photos...at least the developed film would indicate so!

Awww, happy couples! Models to live by :)

I am so pleased with how the wedding cake turned out! The wedding cake was much prettier than I imagined. Speaking of which...I had a piece after lunch today...YUM! Michelle Hyzak made both the wedding cake and the groom's cake. (Hyzak Cake Designs 512-423-8770)

Nature Shots

I love how vibrant the colors are in this photo. I'm hoping the colors pop as much for you as they do for me.

When I took the photo of this stalk of pretty purple flowers I didn't notice the colony of ants swarming the top of the stalk.

Isn't it neat how pretty daisies pop up wherever they like in Roosevelt National Park.

This fallen tree is full of swirls and whirls that I find fascinating.

This little guy was not afraid of people near the waterfalls. A couple taking a photo in front of the waterfall were actually trying to shoo the chipmunk away. Fortunately he came back so I could get a photo of him. It became clear that this rock was his place to "people-watch" from.

What a long day!

On Wednesday Steve was in charge of the babies so Laura, Shauna, her uncle David, and I hiked for 6.4 miles and spent a fantastic day taking in the beauty. There was such an eclectic mix of people on the trail. Some people looked like they were prepared to spend a month "roughing it" in the wilds of the mountains while others looked as though they got lost on their way to the mall.

Here is an aerial shot of yesterday's Bear Lake. Pretty neat to see it from so high up. The brown pine trees dotting the landscape have a sad story...pine beetles are killing trees throughout the forest and so far rangers and tree specialists don't know how to stop the prolific bugs. Dan and I had noticed patches of dead trees on our drive to Estes but assumed there had been a fire in that area. Now we know...

I love the way the mountains reflect off the still pool of water in this shot.

This is at Lake Haiyaha. We all were blown away with the serene beauty of this lake.

Estes Park, Colorado

Look who went camping! What a fun day out and about with Will and Alex! Shauna, Matt, Laura, and I went for a 2.4 round trip hike in the Roosevelt National Park. The boys were full of happy, excited noises! Lots of chattering occurred between the twosome of as they reached for tree branches and scanned the skyline for things to look at. Matt "took one for the team" and carried Duck all the way UP and most of the way down. Shauna "power-walked" Will (Duck) the rest of the way down because he was getting fussy and needed to get out of the carrier and move about on his own.

What an incredible view! I believe this is Bear Lake. The water was teeming with life and covered with lily pads and blooms.

Another shot along the way.

I snapped so many more shots but wouldn't have space to post them all!

There were so many little lakes and streams to stop at and enjoy. I could have spent the entire day just listening to the water.

Catching Up

Hello All! I figured it was time to catch up on some posts! We haven't gotten our professional photos back from the wedding photographer yet. We should have them within the next two weeks.

Here is a photo from the Bride's room prior to the ceremony. Pictured left to right are: Becca, Vivian, Lisa (ME!), Caroline, Courtney, and Emma Grace.



After the ceremony we had the opportunity to take a photo with our pastor Dr. Fred Morgan. Dan and I really love the words he chose for our wedding. I look forward to receiving the audio recording from the wedding. At our church Sunday services are recorded for the homebound and our wedding service was recorded as well so we will have an extra special memory captured to listen to for many years to come.

Mom captured a great photo of her girls, minus me, while the photographer was busy taking photos of the Perkins family. Pictured are Julie, Wendy, Missy, Michelle, and Erin. This photo goes on the wall :)

Dan made arrangements for us to stay at the historic Driskell hotel in downtown Austin on our wedding night. What a great surprise! The room was beautiful and the hallways were full of Austin memorabilia.