East End Escapades

Thursday, December 29, 2011

AHS Alumni Soccer Game

Another highlight of being back at home for an entire week was the 2nd annual Alice High School Alumni Soccer Game. The old guys won 4-2.

Alumni team after the game.

Jared and Jordan making a run. Jordan had a hat trick (3 goals.)

Jason nearly taking out the goalie. He had an awesome bicycle kick earlier in the game.

Los tres hermanos de Familia H.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Christmas 2011

With the Hubby's Family

Like every year, we celebrated Christmas Eve at Jason's parents house.

Jared enjoyed our Christmas present to him. Here, Debbie is helping him
decide where to hang it.

Jordan got a bunch of cooking stuff since he'll be starting culinary school
in January.

Finishing opening presents. Good times.

Among other things, I got comfy house shoes. :)

With my Family

Luke was the star of the show this year.

Everyone wanted to play with Luke, including Radar. (Actually, Radar
is just hoping he'll drop a few more Cheerios.)

Luke got shoes for Christmas. He liked them better as a toy than on his feet.

Poor Radar is just exhausted from all the fun.

It's been a great trip. I enjoy each time we get to spend with family. I'll miss loving on Luke Monster, but I'll be glad to be able to sleep in past 6 am everyday. :)

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Our friends have claimed that Jason and I are like an old man and old woman. Or at least that we have old souls. We wear comfortable clothes (Jason loves his old man sweater and you won't see me rocking high heels for the sake of fashion), we garden, we're frugal, we read in public, we're content not talking at meals together, and so forth and so forth and so forth.

Well, I think Jason's Christmas present to me just sealed the deal. I'm officially an old lady. During the past week or so, Jason had been secretly visiting antique stores around town to find me this bad boy:

Yes, a quilt rack.

You remember how excited I was a few months ago when I found a new quilt? Well, I had got it in my head that I really need a nice quilt rack for it. Jason made fun of me. But, he loves me bunches and surprised me with one this morning.

And I love it... in all of its old lady glory. It matches our bedroom furniture. It's a bit wobbly. One of the rungs is warped from all of the quilts it's held over the years. It's perfect.

Now that I think about it... should have buying the quilt in the first place been the official mark to my old lady ways?

You know, Southern Living this month said quilting is the new knitting. Wait, should having a subscription to Southern Living been the mark to my old ladiness? If that was the case, I should have declared this title years ago.

Monday, December 5, 2011

Christmas Bokeh

Our Christmas decorations have been up since the weekend after Thanksgiving. Since we can't put up outdoor lights (because our old house doesn't have outdoor outlets), I like putting up our tree in our reading room so you can see it through the front windows.

A few days ago I finally used my Amazon gift cards from last Christmas to buy myself a new camera lens. I was looking forward to capturing some nice bokeh from the Christmas lights, but couldn't quite figure out how to do it.

So today I read this tutorial and it seemed to really help.

This evening I grabbed my willing (or not-so-willing) model and got to it. On my first attempt, Radar stood about 5 feet from the tree. I got a little bokeh. Too bad my camera focused on the floor to the left of Radar. You would think I wouldn't have a hard time focusing on that huge tongue of his.

On my second try, I moved Radar to about 8 feet from the tree to get a bit more bokeh.

Then I just moved around to play with different angles.

I'm looking forward to experimenting with my new lens over the next few days to see if I can get even better shots.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Family Tree

My grandparents' Christmas gift from Jason and I.

Inspired by a family tree I found on Pinterest/ Etsy, I decided to make my grandparents a family tree for Christmas. I would have ordered the family tree from the artist on Etsy, but I think she was so inundated with orders after being featured on Pinterest that she had to remove her listings.

So since I couldn't order the Etsy tree, I headed to good 'ole Hobby Lobby yesterday to buy supplies. All I needed was a few sheets of scrapbook paper and a nice frame.

While strolling through Hobby Lobby, I totally overheard some girls say, "This is a Pinterest paradise." It's so funny that crafting is cool these days.

Anyways, it was a pretty easy project. My grandparents make the trunk, with their anniversary date in the center. Their kids make the large leaves and the grandkids make the small leaves. And, of course, little Luke has a leaf.

I think it came out pretty cute. Now Jason wants me to make some for our house. Maybe we'll make a little forest of family trees for our walls. :)

Friday, November 25, 2011

Thanksgiving at the Ranch

Similar to last year, we spent Thanksgiving at the Family H ranch. Unlike last year, this year it was dry. Really dry. Like no grass. Just dirt. And dust. And more dirt.

But, despite the dirt and dust, it was still a good time. It was nice to just hang out and relax. And watch all the spoiled deer stuff themselves with corn as we stuffed ourselves with deep fried turkey and dressing.