Houston Valor Awards

Trey was honored on October 17, 2009, as a Valor award recipient from the Houston Fire Department for his help in pulling out Captain Darin Unruh from a house fire back on November 3, 2008.

It was very humbling to meet Captain Unruh and his wife at the awards ceremony. I think it’s the first time I saw Trey show any emotions regarding the incident to me. We were trying to find a seat at one of the three tables that were set aside for the recipients for this incident, when we started chatting with Captain Unruh’s wife. She had asked why we were there, if we were from Darin’s station, Station 39. Trey responded “No, I actually was one of the firefighters from Station 34 that helped pull Captain Unruh out of the fire.” She responded “Thank you, Trey, for helping save him.” I looked at Trey and his eyes were very watery as were all of ours. We continued to talk and I was amazed by her strength and faith in God. She said her God was a very large God and took care of them. Captain Unruh is currently working in the records department for the fire department, but hopes to be back in the field soon.

Trey likes to tell everyone that we almost didn’t get to go this amazing event because I had dropped the invitation in the yard. It wasn’t until he mowed the yard and almost ran over it that he discovered that he was being honored.

All of the firefighters, EMS crews, dispatchers, and mechanical workers that were given awards that night were very modest. None would admit that the job they do or the life saving events they were being honored for was anything out of the ordinary. They would just say “I was doing my job.”

Here are some of the photos from the evening:

Fence, Tutu's, Toy Chest, and more....

On Tuesday, October 6, Kennedy and I were walking to the mailbox in the dark when I noticed that part of our fence appeared to be knocked down. We had to call the police department to get a report of the accident to file insurance claims against the person responsible. Well, as luck would have it, the individual actually ran into the fence on Monday, October 5 around 2:45 A.M. was intoxicated and had borrowed someone’s car that had no insurance. The police report claims that the property damaged is on the adjacent property, so we shall see who actually ends up having to fix it, since the individual didn’t have insurance. .
This is just a photo of Trey down in Falfurrias securing the tree he planted and enclosing some metal around one of them so that the cows don’t knock it down
It was Olivia’s 3rd birthday on Saturday, October 11, so we stopped by to drop off a present the following Monday. One of her presents was a motorized vehicle, which both Kennedy and her enjoyed driving back and forth…running into whatever was in their way. They had such a great time. Then it was time for some grapes/pears along with reading books together.
This is a tutu that I had originally purchased to take with me to Indiana, but it didn’t come in on time. Here is the princess prancing around in her tutu and hair flower.






One of my friends at work, Trish Bode, gave Kennedy this furniture because her daughter has out grown it. When I got home from work, Kennedy ran up to me and said “Look at my new box”. Her daddy told her that the toy chest was her new bed so she wanted me to lift the lid and get in it. I can only imagine who else will be placed in the toy chest.


Here are a couple of pictures we took in Indiana....I'll be posting more as I get around to it. Katherine was so kind to give me permission to post these on my blog. Thanks!!

Aquarium

Trey and Kirk went fishing in Corpus so Melanie and I took the girls to the Texas State Aquarium. Kennedy told me she liked it better than the zoo, but I’m sure if we were at the zoo she would say she liked the zoo better than the aquarium. They both sat very attentively at the 10 minute Dolphin show. When we ask Kennedy to show what the dolphins did at the show she will wave with her feet and lean back acting like she has something on her belly (one of the dolphins swam around with a plastic duck on their stomach). We ended up staying at the Holiday Inn in Corpus which was a great place for the kids because it has an indoor ball pit with slides. The girls wore themselves out running and jumping in the balls. The boys didn’t catch as many as they hoped to, but their guide said with the changing currents and the tides being high it was a difficult day to do well. Overall, it was a nice getaway .

Little Cowgirl!

Lately, Kennedy always wants to wear this little cowgirl hat. I know it is because Trey puts one on, but it’s so cute when she asks for her hat and her boots. My sister gave her (from the boys toys) this little Wiggles guitar that plays different tunes. She grabs Trey’s Dukes of Hazards guitar and hands it to either Trey or I and then pass this little hand slapper out so that we all stand together playing our instruments, singing songs, and dancing.

Updates

It is so hard these days to keep up. I know in about another five months I will really be saying that when we have a new little one at the house.

-things that make me smile:
Kennedy singing "Twinkle, Twinkle", "Old MacDonald", saying the nursery rhyme " Hey, Diddle, Diddle"

When she wakes up in the morning she says "Goodmorning, Mommy"

She started going to Ms. Pat's house a couple days a week while Trey and I are either at work or need to tackle chores. Dropping her off hasn't been easy, when she starts to cry and then when you pick her up she starts crying too. I believe today, Wednesday 23 of Sept is the first morning when she went in crying, I laid her down on the couch, and we talked and she quit. I hope that was really the case. It's so hard for me because you want to be with them 24/7 but it is so good for both us for a little seperation. I know she has fun when she is over there. The first day I left her I picked her up from the Lockhart gym because they had gone up there to watch a volleyball game. She was so cute, sitting on the bleachers by Ms. Pat sucking on a blowpop. They watch the animals across the field playing, water plants together,play at the park, and go to McDonald's for an occassional play on the playscape with a happy meal included.




Kenneth and Laura stayed with us on Friday night because we were going to Cabela's on Saturday to meet Joy's family. Kylie climbed all the way up the stairs without us knowing it. From then on everytime Kylie headed for the stairs you could hear Kennedy say " No, Kylie". Here are some pictures of Kylie and Kennedy playing:<

We went and got Kennedy a tennis racket so we could all go play tennis as a family. Trey and I were able to play a little game and have Kennedy chase after the ball. She loved trying to hit the tennis ball. You can see in her face how red she was from running around trying to hit the ball. We had a great time!















Trey and Kennedy built this little castle for Kennedy’s baby Sue to sit in. This is so much better than the things I build with her…this actually looked liked a little castle.

Trey got a great deal on some plants at a Houston's nursery so we finally are planting some around the house and at the Killeen Property. Here is an Oak Tree that him and Kennedy planted together, she's 29 months right now(almost 2 1/2) so it will be interesting to see the growth of this tree 20 years from now when she will be 22.


This is a photo of me after letting Kennedy apply makeup to my face. I don't think we will be letting Kennedy wear makeup this soon...we have a long way to learn about how to apply eyeshadow.