Just some random cute pictures

Leaving our favorite place..Central Market. He played hard on the playground and then we did some serious shopping for all his favorite fruits.
I just had to snap a few....the kid is so funny. If you knew his personality you would laugh at these too
Look at that finger pointing at me....he was sassying me in the check out line today. I couldn't understand him, but I was familiar with the tone....It was his daddy's and it usually means we have been shopping a little too long
My friend Melissa took this one at one of our swim days this summer. Of course my kid was always the one naked in the pool, but I figured, it's his pool so who cares. We didn't have any floating tootsie roll incidents, so I guess no one was offended :-)

on a lighter note...

Travis is so ticked about us having to pay $25 for our checked baggage EACH WAY when we go to Wyoming in October. Needless to say we will be bringing only one bag, all three of us sharing and I will be packing only 1 pair of shoes. What has this world come to??!!

Concentration Camps and sticking to what I know

I sure have turned this blog into a platform for my conservative views.....here's another, spurred by an e-mail from my brother.

I know the following to be true, now whether or not the idea came from General Dwight Eisenhower I don't know. When Travis and I were in Germany last year we spent a day at one of the larger former concentration camps, Dachau, which is just outside of Munich. It was the most informative, saddest, en lighting and hardest day on our trip, especially leaving through the gate that most Jews and Christians a like entered through that had words in German "WORK MAKES YOU FREE" on the gate. These people were told that if they worked hard enough they could one day be free again, yet just a lie to give them a glimpse of hope. There are posted pictures all through the memorial site of what it looked like when the American troops liberated Dachau in April 1945. Those pictures were disturbing and vivid. I can still see them in my mind, especially those taken of the gas chamber filled to the top of skeletal bodies. I remember one of the captions under the picture noting that the American Army made people from the town of Dachau walk through the camp those first few days, just so they could see what exactly had been going on right under their noses. If you ever make it over to Germany or Poland, make seeing a Concentration Camp the utmost priority!!!

The following is from the e-mail I got -

It is a matter of history that when Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, General Dwight Eisenhower, found the victims of the death camps, he ordered all possible photographs to be taken, and for the German people from surrounding villages to be ushered through the camps and even made to bury the dead.

He did this because he said in words to this affect 'Get it all on record now - get the films - get the witnesses - because somewhere down the track of history some one will get up and say that "this never happened" All that is necessary, for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing'

The picture above is of the cremation room. This was actually the 2nd one they built because they couldn't keep up with all the dead. They cremated the bodies for 2 reasons: 1) they were running out of pits for mass graves and 2) towards the end of the war they were trying to hid evidence. The photos and guide also described that they used the rafters above to hang the prisoners before they were cremated. They were marched into this room...naked (didn't want to waste the clothing on the dead) and hung from the rafter only a few feet from where they would be cremated.
The iron gate is left open, but this is the entrance into Dachau. The very same entrance that all prisoners were brought through, some who never were able to see the other side of again. The words on top of the gate read "Arbeit lässt Sie befreien" which means "Work makes you free"

Plaque outside the Memorial

Plaque just inside the gate honoring the American Army

This got me to thinking. There are very few pictures out there of the mass graves that were found from Sadam Hussein's mass execution of his own people. Hmm...

Going back even further in time.....Too bad their weren't any films or photos of the accounts from the Bible and who Jesus is and what He did. Only the eye-witnesses and their accounts. Guess that is why John 20:29 says - Then Jesus told him (Thomas, one of the disciples) "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." God wants you to believe in him and trust Him WITHOUT experiences that prove Him. I'm not trying to compare believing in Christ to believing in a government and the decisions they make. Just the opposite. Believing is Christ is eternal salvation; believing in a government is depending upon another sinner, it's hard enough depending upon myself...another sinner.

How about I stick to what I know and that is my little guy. Here are some pics so I don't leave you with a somber mood for the day ;-)

JT at 3 weeks of age
JT 11 months old....wow, how they change!

Why is he always in just a diaper

Well because he's a little fire ball...literally. That kid is hot all the time, so he sleeps in just a diaper (it's Texas folks, only gets to a low of maybe 75 at night) and during the day, I figure if we are just hanging at the house, why dirty up an outfit. He's usually out back splashing in the pool or finding a mud hole to dig in.....boys!

I'm saving the earth by not using extra water. I figure it's my way to counter-act what the left wingers say my husband is doing to destroy the earth. He's a Petroleum Geologist, he rapes and pillages the earth for a living. :-)

How was your weekend

I think this was one of the best weekends Travis and I have had in a long time. We were social butterflies! It's been quite a few years since we've had a booked schedule of non-stop fun and let me tell ya, we aren't as young as we used to be. Wow! Hey, zip it! Yes, I feel every bit of my "late" 20's today. I think it's because of they way I spent my early 20's. I have convinced myself that God only gives you so much energy to expel in a lifetime and hours to burn not refreshing your body with sleep. Travis and I used up our quota about 6 years ago. :-) I think a lot of being tired has to do with a 10 month old that doesn't sleep through the night yet, but even still Travis and I didn't make wise choices when we were younger.

OK so what is my point? Here is a overview of our weekend fun!

I read somewhere that small kids exposed to music makes them smarter, so of course I ate that hook, line and sinker and JT is now a 2nd generation Horned Frog. We are taking a mommy-n-me music class at TCU and let me tell ya, that kid LOVES IT! I'm sure most of you know that my kid loves to dance and now that he's walking it's even more fun for him. This class is great and JT loves every minute of it. Definitely worth the $! So that is how we spent our Friday morning.

After class we headed over to the TCU bookstore so I could crown him an official Frog with a TCU t-shirt. TCU has this great new bookstore that I could spend hours in. It's actually a Barnes and Noble downstairs with the school bookstore upstairs. Great layout with a cute little kids section and best of all it has a Starbucks. Well no wonder I feel at home :-). So at the bookstore, I was sipping on my chai tea latte, chattin on the phone to one of my friends when I turn around and noticed that my little blue eyed angel has walked off. What is great about an early walker is that he can't get too far because he's too slow at this point. I like that he prefers to walk now because I can catch him, but when that boy decides to crawl, he flat out hauls butt and I have to be on my toes. So back to my story, I turn around and notice that he has walked off so I follow the trail of goldfish (he doesn't know how to hide is trail yet either) and around the clothes rack are three cute little blondie's (I say little because they look like there in middle school...the older I get, the younger they look) holding my baby and giggling. Yes my son managed to pick up not one, but three college freshman girls on his first day of school. Nice!

The girls thought he was just so cute. They said he came walking around the clothes rack to them, looked up, smiled and then put his arms out for them to pick him up. WHAT?! My kid never wants other people to pick him up! But I do have to say that the girls were cute....well he must be like his daddy, he's got great taste in women..wink, wink ;-)

Friday night we went over to our friends Ben & Brenda's. They have a little sugarbear (aka Benjamin) that is 2 weeks younger that Jackson. The mommy's didn't hang out though, I dropped daddy and JT off and Brenda and I headed for sushi...ahh, SUSHI...and some wine. I don't think I have laughed that hard in a while. Brenda has such a dry sense of humor and her stories are hilarious! I think I'm friends with her because you never know what she's going to say, but usually it's a giggle or two. When we went back over to their house we discovered two daddy's playing golf on the WII and babysitting their boys in true daddy style. Benjamin was stuck in the pak-n-play and my kid was wondering the house like a hobo. So funny!

On Saturday we went boating and water-skiing with a friend of Travis's from work and his wife, Derrek and Georgeanne. Derrek grew up in Ft Worth and is so Texan, but not in a white trash way. Hospitality all the way and he will talk your ear off. Travis and I always get a chuckle out of Derrek. We were out on the water and I decided to get JT a little wet to cool him off (don't worry grandma, he had his life jacket on the whole time!) So I was dangling off the side of the boat holding onto my kid bobbing in the water when the gears in my head started moving. I was thinking..."this water sure is murky, man you can't even see past 6 inches in the water. So different that the lakes I'm used to in WY, they are COLD and you can see up to about 12 feet down. Since Lake Worth is only about 17 feet deep at most I bet there are a ton of fish just right below you and you can't even see them. I wonder if they bite? Speaking of things that bite, didn't I hear a few years ago that they spotted a 12ft gator in Lake Lewisville"...so I pull JT back into the boat and turn to ask Derrek. Are there gators in this lake? WRONG thing to ask....here was his response...

Derrek: Well, sure there are. But they're up by the north end. Gators are native to the Trinity River system, but I've been on this lake all my life and have never seen one.
Crissy: Are you kidding me? Do you think it's safe to ski and swim? (mind you there are boats all around us pulling tubers and skiers)
Derrek: Yah, well I'm pretty sure. I mean I've never seen any, but I do know that they are up by the north end of the lake.
Crissy: So I could easily be attacked by a gator while skiing?
Derrek: Well, probably not out here in the middle where it's deep (mind you the "deep" parts of Lake Worth are only 17ft) maybe if you got closer to the shore. I've waded out about 20ft from shore before running a trot line and haven't seen anything, so you should be good. You know down in Houston and lakes around there, there's gators. People just grow up swimming with em.

The part I was finding funny was that he kept leading to this "chance." Like he was 80% sure I would be safe from a gator attack, but he was going to leave that 20% chance out there, just for liability sake. You'd have to have a conversation with Derrek. It wasn't like he was trying to scare me, he was just reporting the facts. He's also a huge wildlife buff and knows the name of just about every species of turtle and fish out there. Hearing some of the names of those turtles that were making the bubbles under water made you not want to get in either.

So having known all of this, I decided...What the heck, everybody else is skiing..have been for years and to date there hasn't been one reported gator attack...so I got on a life jacket and jumped in with some skis. I have to admit that while I was waiting for the slack in the rope to tighten up, I was looking all around to make sure I couldn't see any unusual movement coming my way. I wish he would have lied to me and said "oh, no gators don't live in these lakes...it gets too cold".

Having been out on a lake again, Travis and I decided that we really do miss boating. When Travis and I first got married we had a boat and we loved the great outdoors of Wyoming. But finishing college and having toys don't mix well in a bank account. We got home on Saturday night and have been thinking about buying a boat again. JT loves the outdoors, the boating season is pretty much year round in Texas and with so many lakes right in and around Ft Worth, it's not like we would have to drive very far to go spend a few hours boating or fishing. Hmm, we are still thinking we might just get one.

We did almost get caught in a horrible hail/rain storm. We checked the radar (on the blackberry - love modern technology) just in time to see a whole bunch of red headed right for Lake Worth, so we packed up and headed for the boat ramp. As we were racing across the water, JT was smiling so big! He's going to be just like his daddy....very adventurous in the great outdoors.

Derrek and Georgeann came over for BBQ (Dickey's take out....mmmmm) on Saturday night and brought their little guy Austin (Austin is 12 weeks old and stayed with Derrek's parents while we were out on the boat. Oh how I miss that! It was awesome over the 4th when we had grandparents every 4 miles that were dying to watch JT!) I got out JT's bouncer for Austin and had a few memories come rushing back. I can't believe just how fast they grow.

Sunday we went to church. I love going to church, by the way. I learn something new every Sunday. In our sunday school class we are starting in the book of 1 Timothy. As I was reading it I came across a lot of things about about false teachings. They were helpful in my quest to find truth against the meditations of Yoga. I'll post more on that later, but I found an awesome verse: 1 Timothy 1:15 - Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. 16But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life. He is so patient and so graceful!

So today is Monday! Travis went Dove hunting this morning and we are going to a BBQ later where they plan to bbq all the Doves that were shot this morning...I love when guys go out hunting with a positive attitude. If you have ever seen a Dove you would know that it is going to take about 75 of them to feed the crowd they are planning on feeding. I could eat about 4 on my own. Hope they have some kind of back up plan :-) You know, just in case.

One more note...JT has been cutting all FOUR top front teeth that past fews weeks. Dang that sucks! The 2 on the left side are in and the other 2 are very close. I guess it's good to get them all done at once.

Here's some pictures from the past week. Jackson will be 11 months on Wed, can you believe it?! Yesterday he started to walk a little quicker and had a smile on his face as to say "hey, I can move faster! Oh this is so fun!" I have a feeling that when we are in Wyoming in October he will be a full fledged sprinter. Travis will be flying with us this time, so I won't have to worry about losing him in security again at DIA. That's right folks, don't send in all your nominations for Mother-of-the-Year at once, we wouldn't want to overwhelm em :-)



Burgers-n-Bock at Central Market. JT didn't have a burger, he was all about the BEST tortillas that Central Market makes fresh everyday. He eats like 3 of them. Burgers-n-Bock is so much fun. They have live music, good food and most of all Shiner Bock. I think Travis's mom and dad would consider living in Ft Worth if they went to just one Burgers-n-Bock. Sandy loves Central Market and Mike is all about the Shiner Bock, but who wouldn't be? :-)
My little walker! This was at the Nature and Science Museum last Monday. A little pricey, don't think we'll be doing that a whole lot, but JT had fun in there Hands On Learning Center - basically a huge room with bigger toys.
Driving the truck. This little guy was trying to play with JT
It was just like it looks....JT was not having this little dude grab the steering wheel. The little boys mommy thought my boy was being nice, but I knew better. That look says.."back off dude, I'm driving!"
This is so cute, but for some reason when I see it I just start humming the tune..."YMCA" That's so bad!
Hanging with his friend Weston at the Museum
Caught this coming around the corner
Almost all the way in
Ha, Ha! Look at me mommy!
Cruising on our new BFF...he loves this toy. It's another loaner toy (I'm all about toy sharing) He likes riding on it and pushing it around.
Riding along on our walk down the street
Now pushing to check the front walk and daddy's rock garden
Reading my Dog book first thing in the morning
Having a ton of fun boating....daddy you should buy me one of these
He climbed into the bouncer the next morning after Austin was here.
Hmmm, this thing is bouncy
I think he has definitely outgrown the bouncy seat.

All time favorite song

Totally random, but I think this may be my all time favorite song. The bonus is that I found a video on You Tube with Kenney Chesney performing it live....it's pretty good.....

dog! dog!

He speaks! Well just a few words, but dog was officially added last night to the list. We went over to Casen's house last night to drop off another baby necessity. Casen's mommy & daddy have the cutest beagle, Sutton. She is little, friendly (unlike our beagle/sheltie mix) and so very gentle with little people. JT was loving her! He was chasing her around the house (as fast as his two little feet would let him) and kept point at her going....dog....dog. I have to say that Chris and Kari Freeland had to point it out to us that he was saying "dog", sometimes I think Travis and I are so oblivious.

He usually babbles a lot so when he was saying "dog" we just figured it was more babble. Then when we got home and started reading bedtime stories we realized that he really was saying dog and he really knew it was one. How, because we don't call Copper "dog"? REVELATION! Jackson has this obsession right now with a dog book we got him and in it is pictures of real dogs and phrases that say...good dog, bad dog, neat dog, sloppy dog...basically pictures and the word dog over and over. Duh! He learned it from the book! It just shocked Travis and I at how early babies learn things. Even at 10 months he has learned what a dog is, how to say it and even recognizes one when he sees it. I think it is such a bonus that Jackson LOVES to read books. In the morning that is the first thing he wants to do after I get him out of the crib...walks over the bookshelf and starts flipping through his books....usually his dog book. :-)