Laurie's Retirement Ceremony

My sister, Laurie retired from the Army after 20 years of service last weekend. We drove up to Oklahoma for the ceremony and party. On Thursday, it was 80 degrees in Austin. On Friday, the high in Lawton was 34 and there was freezing sleet. Thankfully the retirement ceremony was moved indoors!

Sitting with Aunt Katie and cousin Sarah

Lil' D was enthralled by the band.

Mommy and daughter, Kellie

Sisters

Aunt Laurie got all the cute kids Army outfits!

Happy Family, ready for a "normal" civilian life

Kitchen Renovations: Part III

When last we left, the kitchen cabinets had been raised and painted white. Installment 3 of the kitchen renovations find the doors on the cabinets! This may sound like a small feat, but 11 doors at 3 coats of paint...per side equals a lot of Dana sweat equity!

Oh, but that's not all. After over a year of having a broken dishwasher and washing all our dishes by hand, we are now the proud owners of a dishwasher that actually washes dishes! Hallelujah!

Stay tuned for lots more kitchen renovation updates...because we are determined to make some serious progress...FAST!

Sweet Berry Farm

Our 2nd Annual visit to Sweet Berry Farm in Marble Falls was on October 26th. We met at 8:30 at Bluebonnet Cafe (unless you were late like the Dertiens) for breakfast before heading to the farm. C was a big helper pushing A's stroller!

Running for the pumpkins!

Lil' D loves playing with G!

Feeding goats. Lil' D is a pro by now!

The corn maze.

Cutting flowers. This year, Lil' D got his own pair of scissors!

Afterwards, we were all exhausted! We had to stop for some food on the way home, and Lil' D adamantly refused to fall asleep until we were 3/4 of the way home. *stubborn toddler!