Gig'em Aggies and Friends Reunion

Last month was a great month. I had reunions with several old friends and families I worked for. Made me miss my days in College Station!

Arzu and her family came to visit first. It was great to see them I was impressed that Shayan remembered what CD's we use to listen to in our car when he earned RT time. We went and had Chinese food together. Unfortunately I deleted the picture of Arzu, Reza and I.

Next came my good ol' aggie friends. Ben's 30th birthday was last month and his girlfriend Holly tried to have a surprise birthday party for him. They were all in town for Crystal's Wedding the day before. Holly sent out FB invites out to everyone, but two days before the party Ben sent his own invites out to everyone. We all kind of laughed at him. We met up at Goode's BBQ. We had such a fun group of people at A&M when I was there. It was nice to catch up with everyone.

Ashleigh, Katherine, Ben, Jennifer, Nefilinda, Daniel, Jacob, Bryan and his wife.

Gig'em Aggies!!!!!!!

Autism Conference

Texas State Autism Conference was held in Corpus Christie on Oct. 7-9. I presented on Saturday for two sessions. It was a lot of fun! Alona's School sent her and it was nice to have someone to hang out with at night.

I had two Sessions on Saturday. I think the first one went a lot better than the second one. I had lots of people who want to buy copies of my Picture Activity Schedules. I've made about a hundered of them now. I'm just waiting for the Sales tax permit to come so I don't get in trouble.

The room was huge. It seated about 500 people. Don't worry not that many showed up. I had about 40 -50 in each session though. Last year there were several fights amongst attendees that this year they decided not to have make and take sessions. Instead the presenter did a demonstration on how to make each item. That's not nearly as fun and to talk for 90 min on how to make a little book is rather hard. Needless to say we got out early :) I don't think people minded though since it was the last day of the conference. We all wanted to go home. There was not nearly the attendance as there was last year.

One night we went out to eat with a few people from Alona's school. I think I'll just say it was an experience. Teachers can get kind of crazy when they are not at work.

Harry Potter Piano Theme

Family Reunion - DC & Gettysburg, Family Photos

We went and watched the changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown in Arlington. It was the HOTEST day of the summer. I think it got up to 109. I've never sweated so much in my life. My Uncle Don met us there and spent the day with us. He is a marine and had some really intersting stories to tell. Story 1: Arlington National cemetary got started because Robert E. Lee coudn't decide which side to fight on, the North or the South during the Civil War. He decided to join the Confederate, the North got mad. In hopes that he would not return home they buried soliders (who fought for the north) in his front yard. The cemtary grew into what it is today
Story 2: We had lunch at Iwa Jima that after noon. Uncle Don told us that Grandma Clarice, who is also a marine was one of the first to see the photo when it was sent to DC for approval to be printed. She worked in the office that recieved all of the journalist photos when someone in the office opened up the photo and said "Oh this one will be famous." Her and several others gathered around to look at it.

We went and spent part of the day at Gettysburg. My camera battery died for part of it. We saw a short film on Gettysburg and then just drove around the battle field. The kids were getting hungry and tired. It was a really pretty day.

I must admit one of my most favorite parts about the whole reunion was playing games. We got some games of the "Minute to win it" website. They were absolutely hilarious. I'll spare myself the wrath of my siblings and not post any videos of us doing them, but here are a few pictures. Abby and Alaina put on a puppet show for us. I'm not sure what it was about, but they had lots of fun.

And what is a family reunion with out family photos. It's a little hard to get everyone looking at the camera at the same time. We walked down the street from Jason and Dadra's house to have their Relief Society President take the pictures. Her kids were jumping on the trampoline while we took photos. Can you guess which direction the trampoline was. :)

Family Reunion Continued - Antietam

We went to eat lunch at the Pennsylvania Dutch Market. The Amish come and sell food there and they make some pretty good BBQ.

After Lunch some of us drove up to Antietam and visited Burnside Bridge. It was amazing to think about how much history took place in this area and how it shaped our country. Grateful for those who fought for what the believed in.... OUR FREEDOM!

Family Reunion Continued

Thursday Morning dad made us the best egg burritos. He really does make the best I've tasted.

After Breakfast we all loaded up to hike part of the Appalachian trail. It was really pretty and the cousins had fun chasing each other up the trail. They were fun to watch.

Landon having fun.

Grandpa had fun with his grandkids. I love this picture!

We stopped at a monument for a little rest.

Landon, Tanner, Brayden and Abby

You had to walk up a stairs to get to the top of the monument. Brayden and Tanner were kind enough to pose for me on the way down. They loved letting me take pictures of them.

After stopping at the monument some of us continued to hike while others went back with the kids. It was a really beautiful hike and nice to have time to visit.

Family Reunion

Dadra and Jason did a great job planning the reunion.... well other than ordering some really hot weather. :) Those Houstonians, must have brought it with them. We went to an Ag. expo. The grandkids had fun seeing the animals. We even watched pig races and cows being milked.