The holiday travels began with a trip to Weatherford to see the Lepard side of the family. We spent a lovely day with all the family opening presents and visiting. We left Weatherford for a nightmare of a journey to Big Springs. As soon as we pulled out of the drive and realized one of the dogs had attacked a carcass. So the first of multiple stops was to pick up air freshener, brushes, coat cleaner. This pitstop was quickly followed by: a gas stop; a quick check of Shawn’s oil level; a pull-off to let Krysten know that seatbelts are not an option; another pitstop to deal with Tom’s overindulgence in fruitloops and mayonaisse fruit salad. The four hour trip was over six hours after it began. Tis the season….
Tom is crazy about: balls; Trish; waffles; the local park; and dancing. His favorite words are: waffle (or gaffle); Night Night; milk; more; no, no, no; dog; woof woof; juice; ball; and mofo (don’t even ask..if it’s good enough for Governor Perry, it’s good enough for Tom). Here you go, a few of Tom’s favorite things:
The hardest part of 2008 was watching Chris’ dad struggle with cancer. It was difficult to comprehend how quickly his illness progressed. We were fortunate to get to visit him in March and again in August. As soon as Chris got back from England, he flew back and forth from Arizona to spend time with his dad. He was there with his dad, Lisa, and his grandfather on October 2, 2008 when his dad passed away. Tom and I flew out to join the family for the funeral. Although it was obviously a very emotional time, we enjoyed getting to spend time with Great Grandparents Lepard—and Tom got his first proper haircut alongside his dad.
In September, we headed back to England so Tom could visit with his British side of the family. It was a busy two weeks and Tom was a real trooper. He was a star on the journey home and during all our visiting with friends and family. Here are some photos:
After spending some time planning the menu for a birthday brunch, we suddenly remembered that the local bar, Nomads, had a Sunday brunch—and luckily, Tom’s 1st birthday fell on a Sunday.
We were joined by Katie, Dale, Larry, John, Julie, Judd, and Ellie for a Sunday morning drink. This was followed by brunch at Nomads and then birthday cake and champagne at home. Tom was engulfed with attention and pressies. He enjoyed being pulled around the yard in his new red wagon.
