Happy Birthday!

Yea! Luke's a year old now, as of last Saturday 3/7. We had a great birthday! Luke was in a showing off mood most of the day as he showed all the family in town how he could take about 5 steps on his own. Lee's parents and sister came in Friday night and had a great time playing with Luke all morning. Amy's parents arrived in the early afternoon, followed shortly by her sister's family. Luke had a good time playing with his cousins, Jacob and Madeline, before and during the party. When his party got going, Luke had a great time playing with his buddies Hutch and Ethan. Hutch is about 3 weeks older than Luke and Ethan is about 3 months younger than Luke, so they all had a good time. Ethan brought his older sisters, Avery and Hannah, to play also. I think everyone enjoyed the cake, especially Luke. What a fun time we all had with friends and family.

This year has flown by and been a little crazy between school, work, new baby, and now a layoff. We love Luke so much and wouldn't change anything about the last year. Happy Birthday Luke!

Dallas World Aquarium

The Thursday before Luke's birthday, 3/5, we all went to the Dallas World Aquarium downtown for a little birthday treat. We had a great time! Luke had some trouble seeing some of the smaller birds and other animals, but he had a good time with what he did see. He especially liked the river otters that kept swimming by him. The spotted sting rays really got his attention. He found all the colorful fish quite fascinating, and really had fun watching the sharks eat. Luke was able to get up close and personal with the resident jaguar as only a piece of glass separated them while he was talking to him and banging on the glass. The jaguar was pacing back and forth and would roll over right in front of Luke, which was pretty funny. We had a nice lunch at one of the restaurants and just had a nice family day.

Lake Lewisville

Yesterday, we all went out to Lake Lewisville on Jeff and Sarah's boat. Luke had a great time on his first boat ride. He liked to look over the side of the boat and watch the water spray up behind. He looked cute in his little life jacket, but didn't like wearing it much. When he was down below, he had lots of fun playing with Ethan and Ethan's cool matchbox cars. He thought that it was neat to drive the cars over Ethan's forehead. Ethan is Jeff and Sarah's 8 month old boy, by the way. There were 14 of us total, including 6 kids. Our 3, plus Jeff and Sarah's crew of 5, Will and Stacy with their 2 girls, and Courtland and Katrina. We went over to a place called Sneaky Pete's for lunch and then went back to the dock. We all had a great time and the kids were worn out by the time we got back. Thanks Jeff and Sarah for the invite.

Beavers Bend

Last weekend, Jan. 30 - Feb. 1, Amy and I went up to Broken Bow, OK to stay in a cabin for the weekend at Beavers Bend State Resort Park. The cabin had a small kitchen, bed, bathroom, and fireplace. There was a grill and firepit outside. We grilled dinner Friday and roasted hot dogs over a fire on Saturday night. We went hiking through the mountains on Saturday and it was beautiful. It was about 70 degrees and sunny all day. We took a few pictures and had a relaxing weekend away from everything.

Dad Update

My dad is doing great. He's been out of the hospital for about 3 1/2 weeks now and is doing very well. He's getting out and about and walking during the day. He will be out of work for a while, but is recovering well.

Lee

Update from Houston

Good news! The open heart valve replacement surgery my dad had yesterday went well. He stayed in the cardiac ICU overnight, but was moved to the regular cardiac recovery floor this afternoon after they removed his central line, chest tube, and catheter. He is doing well and has been up moving around some on his own. He should be in the hospital about another week. Thanks for all your prayers.

Lee

Happy New Year!

We didn't do anything for New Years because Amy worked New Years Eve. I hope everyone had a great New Years.

By the way, can everyone please pray for my dad over the next few weeks. He is having open heart aortic valve replacement surgery on Tuesday. There aren't any blockages, so there wasn't any crazy emergency situations, but it is a big time surgery.

Thanks
Lee