Matthew, our mowing machine

This is one of my all time favorite pictures of Matthew. I wish I could reach into the picture and hold this ball of energy one more time!

Who would have thought that this picture would be a sign of things to come?

Here is Matthew with Bryon right after Matthew's 1st grade year. It was his first opportunity to "mow" with Bryon's close supervision!
Last year, Matthew started taking over responsibilities with the yard, but this year, it is HIS responsibility! This is not because Bryon is a slave driver, rather, that Matthew adores the work. This makes perfect sense to us, since Matthew is the hardest working kid we know, plus Matthew absolutely loves the exercise and being outdoors. He mows the yard several times a week while Bryon is at work.
One day, Matthew, our budding entrepreneur, saw a terrible looking yard that had a for sale sign in the front yard. Matthew told me later that he had taken down the realtor's email address and had written her, "a very professional email". I was very curious what that email said, so I found it:

Dear Ms. ***,

My name is Matthew Barnhill. I am very good at mowing yards. I live at ***. That is just across the street of the house that you are representing. I am about to be 12 years old in a few months. I mow my yard once or twice a week. Just this last week, I mowed and weed whacked three yards in two days. One of them was mine, one of them was my uncle's, and the last one was a widow's overgrown yard. I also weedwhack with string trimmers, and edge the yard. After that is all done, I blow off the sidewalk with my Stihl Big 5000. As you can see, I am very devoted to my work. I am also very different from a lot of other people in that I enjoy doing it. I went to your website to find your e-mail address, and I happened to see that you are a very experienced relator. It would be an honor to work for you. I work for $15 each time a mow. $10 of it goes to me, while $5 of it goes toward the gas that powers all of my tools. My number is****, and my email address is**** Please contact me to see if you are available tomorrow.

I'm so proud of my hard working son, and look forward to years of pretty lawns! ;)

A memorable night at The Ballpark In Arlington

Bryon and I have had many memorable games at the Ballpark. It was one of our first dates, where we held hands for the first time, and we watched a play off game against the Yankees during a torrential downpour.

Nothing as memorable as this night!!

We had a great ticket package through Bryon's work, and were so excited to take the boys on a rare school night outing. We had heard that the weather was supposed to be bad (tornados in Oklahoma) but had also heard that it was going to be later on that evening. We were hoping for a quick game and hitting the car before any really bad weather hit.

Here we are at the beginning of the game.
Only Hamilton's second night back from being on the DL.
Then, the clouds started looking really funny. The announcer asked that all fans in the upper decks find seats down below due to high winds. Then, all the fans around us started calling family members around the DFW area. Apparently, people were taking shelter all around town. Finally, the game was suspended because of lightening, and we headed to the snack area to wait out the storm. Then, we heard tornado sirens. Employees with walkie talkies instructed all the fans to start heading underground. What we didn't know at this point was that we were going to have to hop the cement barrier and jump onto the field and walk to the bullpen in order to get underground!
Well, the boys thought this was one of the coolest things ever! They were jumping up acting like they were snagging a home run ball while there was a threat of a tornado above us! No fear!


This is the hallway from the players' garage to the field. Didn't expect this tour when we started the evening!
Finally, we were told that we could head back to our seats. You can see where we ran earlier that evening (right by the Snapple sign). After waiting for a while, the announcer told us that more bad weather was expected so we should go back to the snack area. After another drenching, we were told that the game would resume at 11:20 pm! I was ready to call it an evening, but, of course, was overruled by very excited boys!




We love our Baylor Bear, David Murphy!
We ended up getting even better seats, since most fans had the common sense to head home. The players were so sweet and turned around to talk to fans. I finally convinced the boys around 12:50am that we needed to start heading home. We could tell that we were going to lose at this point, and I had patients starting at 8:15! We got home a little before 3am. Yes, a very memorable night in Arlington!

Disney 2011

We had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend spent at Disney World! My aunt lives near WDW, had the weekend reserved at the park, and wanted us to go. After thinking about it for a while, we thought, "Why not?" Mary Beth had only missed one day of school all year (for a Bama game), and it seemed like a fabulous trip. Lauren and I took Matthew and Thomas to Mt. Rushmore a few years ago, and thought it was Mary Beth and James's turn for a mommy/aunt trip.

To make it even more fun, we waited until the morning we left to tell the two we were going. I told my boys several weeks before the trip what our plans were, and they were thrilled for MB and J. I was relieved by their reactions! ;)

The morning we left, we all happened to meet at Starbucks at the same time! ;) Dad asked the kids if he could spend the day with them....going to Disney World! At first, they seemed hesitant to believe their good fortune, but it soon sunk in. Mary Beth kept saying, "So THAT'S why.....you were looking for my suitcase/I wasn't playing soccer today/etc."


These two are thick as thieves. We knew they would have a blast together! Lauren and I were so excited that Mom could come with us as well. Sort of a belated 60th birthday party!




On the Magical Express headed to Saratoga Springs.
Ready for our first day....Magic Kingdom!



Our family loves Uncle Remus. The kids were excited to be in the Laughin Place!
It's a Small World

Lunch at Chef Mickey's





I think this pic is out of order, but here were are hanging out with Aunt Susan and cousin Blair. We had so much fun with these two!
Here is me with my Type A personality, "Come on! No lines at Pirates of the Caribbean!"









After a fun first day at Magic Kingdom, we needed a little pool time!



Day 2: Epcot
Turtle Talk
Lunch at Coral Reef.


The flower festival was going on at Epcot. It was more beautiful than normal.
Princess topiaries everywhere!







Day #3 Animal Kingdom. Mary Beth was a roller coaster maniac and rode Everest twice!






Heading over to the Wilderness Lodge for dinner on a gorgeous night!



We could see Magic Kingdom from our hotel room. We spent our last evening watching the fireworks from our balcony.


Time to go home! What a fun and memorable trip for these two cuties!
A few extras from Animal Kingdom...