~in time for some new traditions~

Good morning friends and family from the plains of Texas where summertime is flying by quickly.  Welcome to this Tuesday, the 21st day of July.  

We have been here for nearly two months and it no longer feels like we are in a strange place where people say "y'all" in every sentence they speak.  Mike and I are used to hearing it now and even though we don't say it often ourselves, I suppose the time will come when we do.  It seems as if we settled in rather quickly into our lives here and for that I'm grateful.  Becoming accustomed to your surroundings helps to make for a smoother transition from one place to another that is so geographically different.  We miss the folks we left behind but know that somehow or another our paths will cross once again.

Life was good in Kansas.
Life was good in Colorado.
Life is still good here in Texas.

Texas would seem a fine place to start making some new traditions for Mike and I.  This year we are going to begin making those memorable traditions with the holidays.  In the two years that we have been married now, we always went home to Kansas to celebrate with our families there for both Thanksgiving and Christmas.  We have never put up a Christmas tree at our own home because it would have only been up for a couple of weeks before we had to go.  This year we plan to remain in Burkburnett for the November and December holidays instead of returning home to Kansas.  Later on in the months that lie ahead we will be shopping for our very first tree to decorate as a couple.  Although we loved going home to south central Kansas each holiday, it's actually going to be nice just to stay home and enjoy time here.

The verdict is still out on what kind of tree we are going to get.  I love the tall and skinny ones while Mike prefers the traditional round and full ones.  I suppose it really doesn't matter which one of us wins out as long as we get a tree up somehow.  This year will be Crosby's first Christmas with us here and our first experience of once again keeping a cat out of a tree.  I smile when I think of all the times that old Oblio the roundhead attempted to scale mine back home in Hutchinson.  

December of 2015, it starts all over once again.

For memories made, whether on the prairies of Kansas, in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, or here along the Red River in Texas, Mike and I give our thanks.

Have a great day everyone out there! 

Mike and I really enjoyed walking through the Hyde Park area of Hutchinson on our return trip home to Reno County, Kansas last Christmas.  In all of the years I lived there, I never had the chance to do this.  

It was a lot of fun last year to spend several days back in Kansas with our families there.  A special treat for me was staying in the same motel as my sister Sherry and her husband Wes.  We caught up on a lot of things during those 5 days.

I will always smile at this photo taken during December of 2013.  This homesick girl was going to get to Kansas no matter what!  10 feet of snow on Monarch Pass would not have stopped me from seeing my family that first Christmas away from them all.  Although we miss our dear friends and family back in Colorado's Rocky Mountains, it will be a real blessing to not have to worry about crossing over the pass any longer.