Happy 1st Birthday, Jane!!

Time!! Where does it go? And so quickly! It seems like only yesterday that Jeremy and Annie were calling to tell us that they were headed to the hospital ready to meet little Annie Jane Phillips. And last weekend, we celebrated her first year of life! Wow! It doesn't seem possible.

Jeremy, Annie and Jane were able to fly to Houston last Friday so that all of Jane's Texas relatives could see her mark her one year birthday. We were sorry that Jordan, Ashley and Leighton couldn't be with us, but Jordan was in a classmate's wedding in Austin and Toby had to go to school that weekend in Abilene. So, Jennifer, Taylor, Presley, PawPaw and BeBe made a fast trip to Houston for the big celebration.

We celebrated with Annie's family and a few close friends on Sunday afternoon. We enjoyed a wonderful birthday dinner prepared by Mimi Carpenter along with yummy cupcakes made by Jeremy and Mimi (Annie had been feeling under the weather the day before). Jane loved opening presents, pulling out goodies from bags and boxes. Kids learn really fast when it comes to birthdays! Now she is all prepared for her second Christmas!

We had found a musical card with a Winnie the Pooh song and gave it to her along with her present. It was the best entertainment of the evening---she was fascinated with it and she would rock and wiggle with the music. We could have given her the card and nothing else and she would have been happy!

On Monday we enjoyed a day at the local park and then a trip to the Houston Zoo. By the time we were ready to leave Jeremy wasn't feeling too well himself! Luckily, we all escaped the bug. On the way home we stopped in College Station to visit Aggieland and eat at Freebirds!

NEWS FLASH!!!!
By Jane's next birthday she will have a little brother or sister to contend with! Yes, Jeremy and Annie are expecting a baby in May. They find out if it's a boy or girl on November 28. Stayed tuned!!

A Visit With Leighton

We made a trip to Abilene recently to visit with Leighton Grace. We met Jordan and Ashley for church at Southern Hills (what beautiful singing that morning) and then had lunch from Sharon's Barbeque. It was delicious, especially a jalapeno corn dish that they make. Yum!

It had been a while since we had last seen Leighton and she is changing fast! Ashley is so good to keep us updated through phone messages and videos so we knew that she is making a lot of changes. We were amazed though when we saw how much bigger she is in person!. She is like this little chunk of muscle! She is solid and active. She loves her bed and enjoys going from one end to the other! We spent the afternoon visiting with Jordan and Ashley and playing with Leighton and Lacey (the dog!). It was a quick trip and we plan to go back soon. Time changes everything, so quickly, and it reminds us of the old saying we once had in our nursery : Cleaning and scrubbing can wait til tomorrow, for babies grow up much to our sorrow. So quiet down cobwebs, dust go to sleep. I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep!

Summer Trip To Denver

With summer almost over, according to the calendar at least, we felt it was time to make a trip to a cooler climate. Jennifer had never seen Jeremy and Annie’s home in Denver so we decided to take Taylor, Presley and Jennifer with us. Toby was going to summer school in Abilene so he was not able to go with us. We usually drive it in one long day so we were a little concerned about how they would make it. But, they were troopers and did really well. As soon as we got into Colorado, the clouds darkened and it started raining and the temperatures dropped. Oh happy day! Arriving Friday evening, we caught up on visiting, playing with Jane and then planned out our stay.

Taylor wanted to see the Air Force Academy so Saturday morning we headed over to Colorado Springs. If you have never been to the Academy you should go. One of the most well known features there is the Cadet Chapel, Colorado’s most popular man-made attraction. It rises 150 feet into the sky and features 17 spires and is made of steel, aluminum and glass. We enjoyed a tour of the Goldwater Visitor’s Center and looked at several other plane exhibits.

Later we drove through the Garden of the Gods and then over to Manitou Springs where the Pikes Peak Cog Railway starts. Since we planned on driving up Mt. Evans later in the week and because of the time involved in taking the 3.5 hour round-trip to the top, we opted out and went down to Old Colorado City and took in some of the sights and shopping.

Sunday we enjoyed church services and lunch in Littleton. Taylor and Presley enjoyed some crafts with Annie that afternoon and later we went to the REI store in Denver. This is their flagship store and is housed in the restored 1901 Denver Tramway Station. We missed out on the rock climbing wall which closed early. Later we drove around Denver to see the Colorado Judicial Center that Jeremy’s firm designed, looked at the famous Blue Bear and other sculptures around the Convention Center and then made a stop at Wash Park for picture taking.

Monday we left early and drove west to Mt. Evans. This is the highest paved road in the United States and takes you from an elevation of 8,700 feet at Idaho Springs to 14,240 feet and through 3 life zones at the summit. We dropped Jeremy off at Echo Lake so he could get in an 8 mile run to the top of Evans. He is doing some high elevation training in preparation for running the Pikes Peak Half-Marathon in late August. On the way up we stopped to see the bristlecone pines, some of the oldest trees in the world. Some of these trees were alive during the time of Christ, 2,000 years ago. Poor Taylor suffered a little from altitude sickness but began to feel better as we descended. On the way back we stopped for some trout fishing and later for pizza at Beau Jo’s in Idaho Springs.

It was a short, but fun filled trip. It was good to see the Colorado bunch. Jane is growing and changing quickly, crawling and standing. Thanks for having us and for all you planned for us to do.