It's Been A While

Ok so I've been having a hard time remembering to post lately. It doesn't feel like much has been going on until last week. I finally made it home to Texas. I got in Friday night, hung out for a little bit and on Saturday we went to Possum Kingdom for our first Shackelford family reunion. My great grandparents were Shackelford, and they had something like eight kids. Only a couple of them are still alive, but we got most of the family together. It was good to see everyone. I wished we could have stayed longer, but of course with the kids and other commitments, we couldn't stay long. I got pedicures with Stephanie and Jessica Sunday afternoon. Jessica is pregnant and Stephanie is getting married this summer so we had a lot to talk about. Melissa and David had a cookout on Sunday night so that we could have people over and watch the game. It was so much fun to see everyone. Lauren Lindsey Bishop, Jessica and Chris, Stephanie, Laura and Travis and Reese all came over to watch the Cowboys lose to the Giants. Reese and Chloe were hilarious together, especially because Reese kept taking off her clothes. Monday I shopped and then met Brooke for dinner at Blue Mesa. That's one of my favorite traditions when I go home now.

Tuesday afternoon I went out to Abilene and stopped by first to see Jimmy Ellison. KC and Andrea treated me to Chili's. It's silly I know to want to go somewhere like Chili's for dinner, but it was the first time I've had it since I moved from Abilene last summer. Wednesday morning I met Stephen, Rachael, Daniel, Hannah and the twins for breakfast at La Popular. It was good to see them and catch up. I can't believe how big the twins are and that Stephen and Rachael will have a baby soon. We're all adults! I got my hair but with Caroline then met Susan and Wendy K for lunch at Harold's. So many good things in one sentence! Susan and I almost let Keaton fall out of his highchair while Wendy took Casen to the bathroom, but we saved him at the last minute. After lunch I stopped by HR. Then Wendy Jones and I walked around campus. It feels like a lot has changed on campus since I left. We saw Anthony Williams and he gave me a special discount for the day :). Stephen, Rachael and Daniel saved me a spot to hear Donald Miller speak. Donald Miller's lecture was funny and poignant at the same time. Scott and I got some Taco Bueno and then I headed back to DFW. I was just about to go to bed when my friend John called so I made one more trip to Mansfield. I flew out of DFW at 5:45 a.m. so my poor dad got up at 4 a.m. to take me to the airport. Thank goodness for online check in so we could sleep in a little more.

My flight got into 12:45 p.m., and Adriane flew in at 1:30 p.m. My gate was right by hers so I made a sign while I waited and held it up as she got off the plane. We hugged, I cried, people stared. After dropping off our luggage and taking a quick shower we went to Giants Stadium for the U2 concert. We had great seats, but Josh and Jason ended up in the pit really close to the stage. We were a little jealous, but our feet were incredibly thankful to have seats after we both had traveled all day. Of course the show was amazing as always. What was even more amazing was that about 10 minutes before the show the stadium was still half empty, but as soon as the show started, it was packed full. It was a record breaking attendance at the show. Coming off the train from the show we ran into Jason, Mary and Jacek. We all met Josh at Gray's Papaya for a late night snack. Jacek and Josh went with us to Times Square before we all went home. We got back to the apartment around 3 a.m. so Friday we slept in. Friday we went to Riverside Park, Central Park, Columbia and then my small group. On Saturday we slept in again and then went to Chelsea Market, Chinatown, Queens (to go to a party at Faye's), some Redeemer reception thing, shopping with Karen and Faye and then dinner at Two Boots. We were going to go to the Staten Island Ferry, but it started raining Saturday night and rained Sunday morning too. So unfortunately Adriane didn't get to see that much, but that just means that she has to come back.

Now I'm just trying to get back into a routine. Tonight I set up the Wii that Adriane brought for me, and pretty much immediately ended up hitting Maggie with a remote. Poor thing. She spent the rest of the time hiding in my room. I tried apologizing. Now she's trying to keep me warm while I blog. So here are pictures. The U2 pictures aren't that great because we didn't take real cameras...(Adriane I won't place any blame here.)

Brent and Zane keeping busy in the car on the way to Possum Kingdom. Zane is starting to look more and more like Brent.

A sweet moment between brothers.

Livvy who is now 6 years old.

My great Aunt Lucille and my great Uncle Ray with the (I think) third generation. Their great grandchildren and her brothers' and sisters' great grandchildren.

Second generation (grandchildren).

First generation (children).

Livvy driving the golf cart. Kimmi was a brave woman.

Livvy and Zane holding their birthday presents.

And that would be the last of the pictures I took in Texas. I'm not sure why I didn't take any pictures after that. But here comes U2!

On the train on the way to U2.


Here we are waiting for the concert to start. The boys emailed us pictures to brag, so this was our response.

During the show...



On the way home from the show. Very tired.

At Times Square.

With Jacek.

Maggie sandwiched between mine and Adriane's beds.

Adriane eating an orange butter cookie from Amy's Bread.