Happy Birthday Darren!

On June 2, Darren had a birthday. . .anyone wanna guess how old he is?

To celebrate his big day I got him one of the most delicious and beautiful cakes ever from Nothing Bundt Cakes (just love that place).  This one was White Chocolate Raspberry, and I decorated it with some silk flowers - stunning isn't it. 

We'd offer you a slice if we could :)

Campout

Just wanted to publish this adorable picture of Harrison and Ryder from the campout they went on with their dad this past weekend.  The last 2 Stake Father & Sons Campout have been rained out.  Last year they all drove home in the middle of the night when a huge thunderstorm hit them.  I'm told that Ryder slept through it all.  This year though the weather was FANTASTIC!!!  Sunny, clear and 80 degrees.  The night didn't get too chilly either.  They had lots of fun playing football and participating in a service project to clear the campground of its overgrown brushy areas.

They cooked on the camp stove (campfires were prohibited due to high fire danger - if you haven't seen in the news lately there are huge fires burning thousands of acres near Fort Worth).  Dinner was Dinty More Beef Stew with S'mores for dessert.

All in all it was a great trip for them - if you don't mind the creepy crawlies that were there in abundance.

A mass of daddy long legs hanging out in the restrooms.

There were also milledpedes everywhere - this one was resting. 
I suppose it is quite tiring making 1000 legs move all day long!

Guys and Gals

Here are a couple more photos from our recent family photo shoot.  It was almost November and still an absolutely gorgeous day.  I LOVE Texas :)

Thanks For Not Raining On Our Parade!

Melanie and her volleyball friends

Homecoming Day is always a wonderful time in Prosper.  And yesterday was no exception.  We had a blast with all of the festivities.  Not to mention the kids are always happy to get out of school early!! Gotta love small town Texas where the whole community comes home to participate in the celebration.

First here are the kids' mums and garters.  A Texas tradition that I think is totally cool and fun to get into. By the way, the ones my kids are wearing are very modest in size (well Nicole's is pretty dang big - but there are definitely bigger mums out there - worn mostly by the senior high school girls).

Nicole started off the day with a 6:00 am pep rally at the high school.  Our Homecoming football game was the high school game of the week here in Texas, so the news teams were there to cover the excitement.  Then the kiddos all headed off to school for a half day of "learning" before they were released for the parade.  This years theme was "Wild About Our Eagles" thus all the zebra print and safari themed floats. The 3 younger kids were on floats:

Melanie on one of the 8th grade volleyball jeeps

The tail end of Harrison's float.  It went by too fast :)

Ryder on his pirate float pre-parade

Pirate float cool parrot

Full view of pirate float

Now this meant that Darren and I watched the parade by ourselves (Nicole had to stay at the school so she didn't get all worn out before her 4:30 volleyball match).  Thunderstorms were predicted for the day, and it had been sprinkling off and on, so we decided to take an umbrella just in case.  Well, it didn't rain, but Darren had the great idea of opening up the umbrella and turning it upside down to catch all the candy that was being thrown at us from the floats.  The kids on the float thought it was super fun to try and make a basket, so we ended up with quite a bit of candy!!

After the parade we headed back over to the high school for the pep rally followed by Nicole's first district volleyball match against Farmersville (which they won).  Then home for pizza dinner and a break. Nicole headed back over to the high school in the evening for the football game (DON'T ASK about details of the actual football game - this year we will have to revel more in the festivities of the day - and who selected that we play ARGYLE of all teams for Homecoming?)

What a super fun day.  And the whole time Kenny Chesney was visiting our neighboring town of Celina which he featured in one of his recent music videos.  He really should have used his time more wisely and spent the day in Prosper!

Proof Dads ARE Cool!!!

I saw this the other day, and let's just say something about it rang true :)  What do you think?

Cub Scout Twilight Camp - Part 2

The theme for this year's Twilight Camp was a fun one - C.S.I. which stands for "Cub Scout Investigations."  Each walking den (we were walking den 19) made a camp flag to carry with them throughout the week.  Here's a picture of our boys making their flag.  The big swirly stencil is of a fingerprint.

Here's what it looked like when it was all done.

Speaking of fingerprints, the boys had a station run by a real C.S.I. from Collin County.  She taught us all about fingerprints and crime scenes.  The boys got to dust for their own prints.

They also had a woodworking class

Leather class

They built campfires and made chili (nothing like a hot bowl of chili when it's 100 degrees outside :)

And played lots and lots of games!!

Other memorable moments included a win for best Swap'em for Harrison on Monday (out of 350 scouts), and I won for best Swap'em for leaders on Wednesday (out of 50 leaders).  This is my Twilight Hat with my swaps.  Harrison's swap is the little evidence vial with the "bloody swab"  inside.  My swaps are the "Wanted by CSI" character trading cards.

Harrison also had a blast on the Friday night overnighter.  Darren came up to camp and helped him set up a tent and they slept outside.  I'm informed that at night it only cooled down to 85 degrees - sounds comfortable huh?!?!

It was a fun year at Twilight Camp.  Next year I get to do it again with Ryder since he will be old enough to attend with his Wolf Pack.  I can't wait?

Puppy Love

Well, the day has finally come - the Romneys have a puppy.  My kids have tried every means of persuasion to get me to get them a dog - but to no avail.  Nicole even went so far as to compose a phenomenal letter on why we should get one.  To see that letter click here.  That was 5 years ago, and I have held firm in my position - dogs are too much trouble!!


So what changed you may ask. . .  This is how it all went down.


Yesterday Nicole, Melanie and I had a "girls day out."  You know, shopping, dining, enjoying. . .  Well, at the end of our day we made a stop at the fabric store, because I needed some fabric to make some skirts. The fabric cutting lines were very long, so I sent the girls next door to PetLand to spend some time. When I walked over to pick them up, we were watching all the puppies, and this one little puppy was sooooooo adorable and had the most wonderful temperament.  We asked the sales lady what breed she was and were told she was "Havanese."  Not ever having heard of this dog before, I whipped out my trusty iPhone and Googled it.  I found this information about the Bichon Havanese.  The dog actually sounded too good to be true - smart, friendly, lovable, non shedding, hypoallergenic, calm, quiet, clever, small.  We were also told that with a "puppy cut" they only need to be groomed about 4-5 times per year.  We were allowed to play with the little puppy in a partitioned off meet and greet area and she was delightfully sweet and playful.  When we picked her up she would snuggle right up to your neck and fall asleep.  Nicole and Melanie played it smart and never asked if we could get her - they let the puppy do all the work - they could see I was hooked.


Now, I knew that I couldn't just show up at home with a puppy without consulting Darren.  We have been in agreement about  the no puppy thing for years.  So I sent him a text about her describing how perfect she is with the following picture attached -

I know, right.  A.DOR.A.BLE.  I may be a bit biased, but what's not to love about that sweet face!! What was poor Darren to do?  Being the loving husband and father he is he said, "I wouldn't say no, but the kids are going to have to do all the work taking care of it."  What Nicole, Melanie and I heard was, "Go for it - bring that puppy home ASAP."

So, that's just what we did, and so far (knock on wood) she has been delightfully sweet and easy.  She can barely muster up enough energy to chase her tail one time around, then she has to take a long nap. She slept all night quietly in her kennel.  We may just cancel our Direct TV, because all we do is sit around and watch her sleep (and chase her tail one time around).  Life is good, and so far she has been no trouble at all. 

Oh, and we named her Blossom - after the red Powerpuff girl.  She is a little puff ball with big eyes.

6Romneys + 2Muffetts = Fort Worth Stockyards Fun!

We recently took a trip to the Fort Worth Stockyards to find our inner cowboy. Grandpa and Grandma Muffett were in town from Oregon, and we wanted to give them a taste of Texas history.  Not really knowing exactly what to expect, we rode into town on our old pony "GMC," and boy did we have a great time!  When we first arrived we had a chance to watch the "Fort Worth Herd" mosey through town.  They make this walk twice daily and seemed rather bored with it.  The cowboys riding with them (there were more than you can see from the picture) were definitely on the alert and making sure to keep everyone out of possible harms way.

Harrison and Ryder got some free souvenir FW sheriff badges from the Visitors Center.  You know how they like to keep the peace and all.

Next we visited the Stockyards Museum - "free" with a mandatory $2 donation per person.  While inside we found this cool tub the cowboys used to bathe in once or twice a year.

I'd definitely spend the extra dime for my bath!!

Then we took a look at what's left of the old Stockyards.  It's almost incomprehensible how much livestock used to pass through there!

Looks like Grandpa enjoyed the view from above a lot more than Ryder!

Next we took the kids to the Cowtown Maze.  For $5 per kid they get lost inside (I mean really lost) for about 15-20 minutes, or however long it takes them to find the letters in the word MAZE, punch their card and get out. They win a fabulous prize such as Chinese finger cuffs when they're done.  The parents get to stand on a platform overlooking the maze and shout out instructions to their increasingly frustrated offspring.  Boy was it fun!

Then Nicole and Ryder rode the mechanical bull. 

Nicole had lots of fun!

Ryder maybe not so much. . . but he held on.

Of course grandma found herself in a bit of a pickle -

Melanie met a special cowboy friend -

And Darren met a celebrity.

All in all it was a wonderful day, even though we never had that order of deep fried pickles like we had planned. I'll never forget Harrison and Ryder getting to ride Big Jake, the most patient longhorn in all of Texas.

We're fixin' to go back soon - y'all come and join us y'hear!