A big thank you...

Goes out to Cheryl Landes--the wife of my oldest brother--for being the lone contributor of comments to this blog. Which leaves me to wonder...is she the only one reading these blogs? Thank you Cheryl.

Some more pics from Sandusky

More Sandusky, OH


Even more Sandusky---Work it, Tarah. Show me pouty.

Vacation to Sandusky, OH--LaborDay

Sandusky, OH -- Labor Day 2007

whatcha think?

i took some artsy photos on our trip to Sandusky, OH. tell me if you like black and white or color better for these two pics. oh and i am adding a third picture that i really liked.

by the way

no comments on the 4wheelin pictures below!? come on people. did you even scroll down and see them?! you know she's so darn cute. i guess she just makes you speechless, huh?

Savannah's new favorite toy...

Since Savannah has come along, Abby has had to learn her new role in the family...she is now the fourth in command. She is also a friend. A play toy. A pillow. A rug. A doormat. And a vacuum for all the food that Savannah drops.


Savannah and Abby

Our Mom was awesome

Let me take a minute to just say thank you to our Mom, Betty Landes. She was definitely the coolest mom ever. I have sooooo many great memories about mom from when I was a kid. Some noteworthy ones are being chased around the couch until my legs fell off and I wet my pants from laughing so hard, being held down by her and dad while the remaining food from my bowl of hash and grits was ACTUALLY being rubbed on my belly and Buttons (our dog) licking it off, playing tennis in the street with mom, playing smashball with mom, playing catch with any ball I so desired with mom....you get the idea. Well, today, as I was spending a few minutes in my Bible, I came upon a verse that stirred up a vivid memory of mom for me. In fact, I realized that everytime I read the verse, I can never even make it half way through before I am no longer following along on the page but am, instead, singing it. The memory is of mom putting us to bed each night when we were really young, and the verse is 1John 4:7&8. This verse apparently was formed into a short song somewhere along the way, and mom knew it by heart. So each night she would sing it to us just before we went to sleep:
"Beloved, let us love one another. For love is of God and everyone who loves, has been born of God, and knows God. He who does not love, does not know God, for God is love. So, beloved, let us love one another, first John four seven and eight." Those of you who do not know the tune, just ask one of us three boys (I would guess that Matt and Gabe remember it). Anyways, if she ever forgot to sing it, I would stop her before she left and ask her to sing it to me. What a great memory, and a great way to learn some scripture. She also recited Psalm 23 with us and would pray for us every night...and yes it is true, she also prayed for our future wives outloud with us, even when we were to young to like girls.

Cotton Eyed Joe!

While looking at the slide-show of Cheryl and Gabe's outting for his 35th b-day, I saw a picture of the "Cotton Eyed Joe" t-shirt shop in Gruene. It reminded me of a very fond memory that will always be near and dear to my heart. The story is about one of our first ventures into the "Cotton Eyed Joe's" t-shirt shop. When visiting Mammaw and Pappaw once, Mom took Matt, Gabe, and me over to Gruene. Apparently the t-shirts with the lizards all over them in various compromising positions had recently become popular, and they unwisely decided to set them out for sale that day. Wellll, mom, in her very unique way, had a little "discussion" with the store clerk one day. Mom had decided, rather quickly, that she needed to explain the depth of their error in judgement, and save the clerk from an eternity of remorse about exposing young kids to the crassness of these body posters for debauchery. And...as one of those vulnerable young kids, I was still very much worried about my own coolness. Needless to say, having a mom lay into the young clerk (since the owner of the store was lucky enough to not be present), wasn't doing anything for my image. Matt, Gabe, and I had a little less swagger in our walk as we left the store than when we entered. In fact, we probably didn't walk out at all.....we probably ran. Looking back I'm not so embarrased, however, and I would even pray that I could be so zealous to protect my kid from the "nasty" things of the world. Way to go Mom.

4-Wheelin

4-Wheelin
I think Savannah may be ready for a little 4 wheeler action next time we're at the farm!

More Than Meets The Eye!

Anyone seen "Transformers" the movie yet? Awesome. And definitely worthy of the big screen. Wednesday, Tarah and I had a babysitter for Savannah and were able to go out on the town finally. We had a great dinner at Carrabas Italian restaurant (I recommend the Wulf sauce on chicken breasts), and then we went to a movie. We really wanted to catch "Transformers" in the theater, because we know that our little TV would not do it justice. It has been out for quite a while, so there was only 2 theaters around here that were playing it still. Needless to say, we were not disappointed. It actually did a good job of tying the humans into the storyline, and the graphics were phenomenal. Radical, dude. I was so pumped after the movie and can't wait for a part two, which they leave it with the possibility of a sequel. The DVD may be good, too, for the surround sound possibilities. Now I just need to go back to mom and dad's to look for my old transformers. Maybe Savannah would like playing with them!

Heeee's Baaaaack!

I know, I know, I know, I KNOW! I know it's been a while since the last real blog, but I have all kinds of good excuses. First of all...ummm...I was...uh, well, I just was gonna, no wait...I don't have to justify myself to all of YOU. Oh, never, mind, I just forgot and got lazy (even though I have been quite busy). I am trying something tonight that may help my blogging in the future. I am trying copy the drivers for my camera from my desktop CPU to my laptop, so that the laptop can recognize my camera when I plug it into the USB ports on it. Man, that was quite a techy sounding sentence, huh? Kinda weird that it actually makes sense to most of us now that we've been using computers for a while. Anyways, if I can just pull pictures off my camera straight onto my laptop, then I may blog more frequently. For some reason, I just don't like secluding myself in the bonus room to spend the time on the desktop for blogging. I would much rather be in the living room with the laptop and everyone else. So I'll get on that driver copying thingy right now. oh...and put Savannah to bed real quick too....And entertain our guests--my mother-in-law and granny-in-law. Talk to you soon.