We cannot introduce our 2010 without closing out our 2009.  On December 19, 2009 our first grandson, Martin Frizzell was born in Bogota Colombia.  He arrived in time to see one of the (very few) exciting Cowboys wins of the season.  His dad hopes that is indicative that he will grow up to play for the 'Boys, date a Cowboy cheerleader or at least be a fan.

 
December 2009 The end of 09 was wild and crazy, not only did we get a new grandson, we lost a coach, sold one house, bought another and survived a blizzard in the panhandle.

We drove north for Christmas and experienced (note we did not say enjoyed) a white Christmas.  We were reminded of one of the reasons we love living down south.

Casey, Lori, Katy and I were having lunch in Bastrop when we heard the news about Coach Leach.  Katy came to stay for a few days and with a promise "not to tell Mama" we let her stay up and watch the New Year fireworks.

   
2010  has been an amazing, frustrating and incredibly busy year at our house. Some of it was self-inflicted, some was poor planning (according to Micky) and a lot of it was just how the ball bounced.
   
January Colby, Micky and I traveled to San Antonio for the Red Raider bowl game.  We ended up watching it at Dick's on the Riverwalk since we had never bought tickets and we were still dealing with our anger and frustration over the coaching debacle at Tech.

We moved to our new two-story house where we discovered Pippen was unable to traverse the stairs.  Her legs were long enough to make it up the steps but when she tried to come down - she was too "short coupled" (Mick's explanation). She has learned to stay downstairs unless there is someone willing and able to give her a ride.

Bethany would graduate in May but due to scheduling and plans we celebrated during her semester break. We cruised out of Galveston on a cold wet Saturday and finally saw the sun in Cozumel on Tuesday.  We enjoyed the time, if not the weather and watched Bethany turn 23 as her dad educated her on 401k's, employee benefits and taxes. 

   
February We headed to Bogota to meet and greet the new grandson and see their new house. We got to attend Nati's 3rd birthday party at her school and watch Martin get his first haircut.  We still marvel at delivery by McDonald's.  We came home with a resolve to work on our Spanish.  Sad to say the resolve dissolved.
The weather was atrocious across the area, but extremely bad in the panhandle where our folks were housebound repeatedly by ice and snow.  All together now - Al Gore lied!

 

   
March We made our annual trek to Vegas for the NCAA tournament.  The games were exciting and Vegas is still a great town (when the sun goes down).  George and Tamara were driving from Canada to Palm Springs and they came through Vegas for one night and we got to meet their kids (dogs) Sam and Annabelle.  They are partial to spoiled white dogs just like we are.
   
April In April my parents, sister, brother and his wife met Micky and I in Thackerville.  Joni found an awesome fish fry place just north of there and we all fell in love with green tomato relish.

Jim (Mick's brother) retired (again) and he and his wife moved back to their home in Tahoka. He is working on his 3rd retirement - don't know what it is about him and government work - but he has retired from the feds, the state and is now working for the city. 

Micky had a Saturday meeting in Lufkin which is east of here. I rode with him and we went through a national forest and saw a part of Texas I had never seen.  It was amazing to realize it was less than two hours from our house.

We made a trek to the panhandle Easter weekend and got to see all of the folks.  And we got to meet the new man in Paulette's life - her dog. He was a tiny ball of fluff that was too cute for his own good.  Micky came up with the name Raider and it stuck. 

   
May Katy turned two and our baby girl graduated from college. Yeah Bethany, a four year degree in four years. We had a big group in Corpus for the graduation and met Michael, a very important young man in Bethany's life.  Katy was not impressed with her first trip to the beach, the waves kept chasing her. 

The end of May we traveled to Florida. We stopped by Panama City to meet Riley and  Ralph and visited with nieces and their families. We traveled on to the Orlando area.  We swam in the Atlantic Ocean and spent some time on the beaches on the Gulf side.   We did not see any tar on the beaches but we did make a stop at Al Capone's dinner theater one night.

   
June In June Marvin and Linda came down to pick up a very large fountain that our previous owners had left in the yard.  Marvin was absolutely thrilled to have a very heavy huge landscape sculpture to haul home, unload and set up.   Linda fancied us up with a gorgeous door decor, we are like white trash with class now.

We began to enjoy the luxury of a sprinkler system and decided to go the next step - and we bought a riding mower.  Micky's first thought was "the grandkids would love it."  Our 2nd thought was - "Oh *&@*- it won't fit through the gate." 

   
July We made another trip to the panhandle for Julie's 85th birthday and my parent's 64th anniversary.   We snuck over to Tulia and forced ourselves to eat chili rellenos from heaven.  We visited with Uncle Brad at the hospital, it would be the last time we got to see him.

Our friend Sharon had a cookout for us and it was great to see some of our friends again.   Raider was a busy puppy.  His favorite pastime was running from Paulette when she called him.

   
August This month put my countdown to retirement under the 2 1/2 year mark.   And yes - there was celebrating.

Jamie finally got his dream job - teaching history.  Natalie transferred to the school where Jamie is teaching (Yes she is 3 and in school - which is normal in Colombia.)CRP sign-up kept Micky traveling for training and meetings and staying late at the office trying to keep up. 

   
September Yee haw!!! My folks got their land back into CRP.  We celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary and Katy came for the weekend.  She was very independent "I do it myself" and then suddenly, "I need help, I need help, I need help." 

Voni and Gary stopped by on their way home from a doctors visit in Houston. We did the traditional jalapeno poppers and fajitas.  They are always a good excuse to cook  (and eat) :-)

Uncle Brad passed away, he was the last of the Seaton brothers.

We faced the football season with a wariness and (on my part) a lack of enthusiasm. It took me a lot of years to buy into the Leach system but I had learned to enjoy the unique presence of Red Raider football.  I was prepared for and expecting to be disappointed - and ho hum. 

We took a cruise with James and Mendy.  We had gorgeous weather and a great time.  We tried "Windex" in Progresso and spent a day at the beach in Cozumel.  We laughed, we visited and we tore up the dance floor. 
   
October Micky continued to travel with the new CRP program with trips to Amarillo, Lubbock, San Angelo, Waco, Austin and many other places. Too bad he doesn't earn air miles in the government vehicle.

 We made another trip to Thackerville and met my folks and Marvin, Linda and Colby.  We planned to eat some green tomato relish - however we had a little oops and ended up having to "settle" for fried pies.   I know they weren't as good as Granny Wood's pies - but we didn't leave a crumb.

And Bethany got a job!!!  She said it wasn't the job of her dreams - but she is gaining experience and was quickly addicted to that regular paycheck.

   
November We met Bethany at the Centex Hangar Dance the weekend following Veteran's Day.  As Bethany said, "this might be the coolest thing we've ever done."  People were dressed in clothes from the 40's, the Sentimental Journey Orchestra played and swing dance was king.  Dance contest, seamed stockings and military uniforms - WOW.  Bethany got the autograph of the sailor in the famous D-Day photograph where he kissed the girl in Times Square. This is a link to one performance of the evening.  Bing Crosby

I finished my shopping for the South American crew.  All four have birthdays between October and January plus Christmas.  Since no package can weigh more than 4.8 pounds (or they charge a huge import tax) shopping, packing and shipping can get creative.

Over the Thanksgiving holiday we went to Hawaii.  We tried to convince my parents to make the trip with us but they had no interest in an 8 hour plane ride.  We spent one whole day at the amazing Peal Harbor Memorial. We drove around the island, bought lunch at the shrimp trucks, watched a surfing competition and enjoyed many sunrises and sunsets.   Our friends from Canada met us there for part of the week - making it 4 Novembers in a row :-)

   
December Jamie turned 40 and his son turned 1 - do the math - know how old Jamie will be when Martin graduates!!!!  He worked very hard keeping his birthday a secret from his students, but somehow they all knew . . . . hmmmm.  Seems Nati announced it on the school bus. She was very proud her dad was getting old.

We met Bethany the weekend before Christmas in Austin at Casey and Lori's.  We ate steaks and homemade apple pie.  We had a video call with Jamie and his crew and got to sing Happy Birthday to Martin. 

The weekend of Christmas we will be in the panhandle with our parents and we are not hoping for a white Christmas. 

Mick's aunt Jerinne and Katy plan to spend the last few days of 2010 with us as we welcome 2011 and wonder  . . . can the Pirate really be a Turtle?  (If you don't understand this - you are not a Tech fan).

   
2011 We are planning on 2011 being a slower paced, more relaxing and way less expensive year.   However,  Jamie and Luchi and their kiddos will be here for the month of July.  Also my parents will celebrate their 65th anniversary on August 1st. 
   
  We will be going back to Vegas in March - just can't seem to break that habit.  Marv and Linda will meet us there - their first trip to Sin City.  In November we are going to cruise with George and Tamara, our friends  from Canada, to celebrate my monumental birthday and honestly - going to do it just because we can and to make it 5 Novembers in a row. 
   
  Our folks are aging but they continue to do so gracefully and with a sense of humor. Hopefully setting an example for us.  Our kiddos allow us to run and play - AND if they roll their eyes, they are kind enough to do so where we can't see it.
   
  We are truly blessed with health, home and happiness.  But our greatest blessings are our wonderful family and amazing friends. We wish each of you a wonderful holiday season and a memorable 2011.

 

W

   

 
 

Jamie, Luchi, Nati and Martin
An A&M  pajama party!!

Bethany and Michael
 

Casey, Lori and Katy
Christmas 2010

 

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