Katie and Moose Jump the Broom!!!!

I go t a new son in law this weekend. That's right, Katie and Moose got married. We are so happy for both of them and so glad to welcome Ramez as an offical member of our nutty and slightly disfunctional family! It was a lovely wedding and a great weekend. We headed out Friday night and met Katie and Ramez's family for dinner. Jessie and Cameron showed up and we had a lovely dinner. After that we went back to the Antoun's hotel for drinks. Everyone was in a very jovial mood. In attendance were Katie, Jessie, Cameron, Sally, me, Gamil, Nadia, George and Tara (Ramez's brother and sister in law). Their son Eli slept it off in the next room. Moose arrived after the football game. After a few more drinks we went back to Katie's house. Moose and I went straight to his garden. OMG!!!! Moose has a couple of green thumbs! All of his plants were in great shape and his luffas were incredible. I was so upset about how big his luffas were that I could not sleep that night (not really, it takes a lot more than that to make me miss sleep).

We awoke early Saturday morning and started getting ready for the big day. Sally, Jessie and Katie all went out to get mani's and pedi's. Ramez went and hung out with his family and Cameron, Josh and I went piddling. We went to downtown Martindale and then to Lockhart to buy BBQ for lunch. Very cool BBQ place with an awesome pit. the meat was very good. After lunch Whitney, Gran and Chris arrived. Katie and Mooses house was packed! Everyone took turns cycling through the shower while Whitney made arrangements, bouquets and boutenieers. After everyone was sufficiently beautiful, it was off to the church.

The ceremony was so nice. The music was great, the vows were great. Everything was just perfect. Katie and Moose looked so happy and everyone had a good cry (evidently that happens alot in their church as there was a box of Kleenex at the end of every pew). Katie even held my hand during the ceremony and that was very touching (no pun intended) for me. After pictures, we all headed out to the Saltlick. Saltlick is a lovely place in a very lovely place. The ride out was beautiful. Whitney and I really enjoyed just going out there together. Once there we discovered they had installed a very lovely garden between their new wine bar and the resturaunt. The meal was great and the fellowship was better. We really like Ramez's family and their friend's from their church were all very nice. All in all it was a very lovely event. We wish the newly weds all of life's blessings. May God be with them as they now travel their rode together! We love you both!

Sally's Big Day!

Well, I have finally found a good use for Facebook. It can make my wife feel really really good on her birthday. I swear she got 50 Happy Birthday wishes on her Facebook page. It made her feel really good and I was so happy for her. Above everything else, she loves to be remembered. She had a VERY good day. The kids were nice for her and they made her a birthday book. Her friend Beth gave her some of her dad's famous homemade wine (a 2006 vintage no less!) Then she came home to me. We had a lovely meal (leftover shephard pie from Jop's visit the day before) and wine. After dinner she took about 10 calls and then we retired to the couch where she got her annual birthday poem written by yours truly. After the poem she opened her presents from me; flowers, binoculars (for bird watching) and really nice PJs from the store she likes in Houston. Once she opened the binos we went out back to use them. As luck would have it, there were five Roseate Spoonbills on the killer's tank. Add this to our list of cool sightings. Last year, whooping cranes, this year pink spoonbills! All in all it was a lovely day for a lovely woman! I am so lucky to be married to a woman that so many think so highly of! Happy Birthday Sally!!! I am blessed, blessed, blessed to have you in my life. I hope we celebrate 40 or 50 more of these!

Labor Day Weekend

Sally and I started our weekend with a dinner at Toad Hollow on Lake Sommerville. It had been recommended by a few friends so we gave it a try. We won't be going back for two reasons. First the food just wasn't that good and second they are closing. After dinner we rode around in Brenham and looked at houses and the improvements to the football field. Then it was back to the nest. There have been so many hummingbirds at the feeders lately that Sally and I love to sit in the backyard on the swing with a glass of wine and watch the bird wars. Very entertaining. We did this until dark and then went in and watched the last Star Trek movie until Jessie arrived.

Saturday morning I worked in the potager a little while waiting for Katie and Moose to show up. Once they got there they dropped some HUGE news on us. THEY ARE GETTING MARRIED IN TWO WEEKS!!!!! OMG!!!! After talking to their preacher one night the decided to just do it. We are so proud of them and happy for them. I think they are great together and we really love Ramez. They are having a very small ceremony on the 18th in San Marcos. Only parents and sibs. They will have a party later. We really are thrilled. May God richly bless their union. After the big announcement we broke out the champagne and toasted the happy couple. Then Gran showed up. We grilled burgers and just hung out until the afternoon. Later that afternoon we went to the airport and had malts. Awesome! Then it was back to the house for more hummingbird wars. Thank you Moose for all of the awesome pics. While we were watching and photographing the hummers, Jessie and I decided to hang our bat house. I had been putting this off but it turned out to be pretty easy. Jessie worked so hard hanging it (not really, her mother would not let here work on the top of the ladder). Here is a pic of her finishing up the project.

Monday was a work day for Sally so Gran and I hung out. We had a nice time just visiting. I also worked in a little garden time. I got all of the potager beds prepared. I also planted purple cabbage in the center of all of the odd shaped beds. Heather and Jared showed up after lunch. We had a nice visit and went up to Sally's school to see her classroom. After that everyone left and it was just Sally and I again. Another lovely weekend in the country!

My baby's all grown up!

That's right, Whitney is finally a 100% legal adult. Sally and I went to Waco and picked up Gran so we could all go and celebrate Whitney's coming of age in Denton. We had a very lovely visit. We went directly to her work and got to meet her boss and her crew. Very nice people and a very cute shop. Whit had to work late so we went and finished our shopping. When she got off we went to her new house and picked up she and JezziLee. her house was very cute. We went to the Italian place that we like and had a lovely dinner. After that, we went back to her house for a PARTY!!!!! Jessie joined us as we watched Whit open her 21 PRESENTS! All in all it was a great time. Day two found us helping her get the last of her things out of her old house. It was 105 degrees and tons of fun. We got it done though. This is two birthdays in a row that Whitney has had me help her move. I am beginning to think she only wants me for my muscles! We finished off the weekend with a visit to see Aunt Sarah. All in all, another wonderful weekend for the Whites!

I went to Carmine to buy and windmill and I brought home a tractor!

How is that for a title? It is entirely true and it pretty much sums up a goodly portion of what we did this weekend. Sally met a really nice fellow at an estate sale a couple of weeks ago. He told her he was going to get an old windmill and he wanted to sell it. Since this is exactly what Sally wants, we went to see it this Saturday. Turns out, it was not the right one for us. Too expensive, too much work and too many missing and/or damaged parts. He was a nice man though and he had a cute home and a great workshop and he loved to piddle. He is a square and round dancer and he asked Sally and I to join his group. We are definately thinking about it. Anyway, after looking at the windmill we decided to go to the steak house in Carmine. On the way, we passed a mechanic shop that had a little red Farmall Cub outside it. Sally suggested we stop and ask if it was for sell. Well, it was! We went right down the street to talk to the owner. Very interesting man. 6' 8" retired basketball coach that owns a VERY cool antique shop and his very own basketball museum. That's right, he owns his on museum. Anyway, he told us what he wanted for the tractor. I mentioned that we had been in the antique business ourselves and we had some cool things that he should come look at. He took me up on it. He and his wife came buy and agreed to take our giant shelves and a fishing calendar and a little money. Viola! We now own a 1948 Farmall Cub!

How do you top a story like that? Well, at our house you work! Last week, Sally and I removed the carpet that was in the living room. The floors needed refinishing so that's what we did. We stayed up until 1:00 Friday night sanding. Then more sanding Saturday. After all of that sanding we had a HUGE MESS to clean up. That took a while and we were so nasty after doing it. We also found time to make the first set of shutters for the house. They look AWESOME! We also cleaned a huge rug, scraped windows and refinished the porch swing. AND ... we finally settled on a paint color for the inside. Kind of greeny-gold. We are also going to do the white on the beaded board in a muted off white. What weekend! We are so tired and sore today but we are excited. Everything we did this weekend really looked great and it all made the house look great. We are inspired again!

Heather's Wedding

I feel horrible. My daughter got married two weeks ago and I am just now getting around to blogging it. Shows how crazy things have been around the Whitehouse. Oh well, let's talk wedding! IT WAS AWESOME!!!! No mess ups or problems of any sort. It was hot, but hey, it was an outdoor wedding in Texas. I think about 200 showed up. Thanks to all who braved the heat for us. After the ceremony evidently about 80 left as the caterer said they only served around 120. Well, it was definately their loss! The food was awesome and the after party was more awesome. The DJ said that it was the best dancing crowd they had ever seen. The wedding site was beautiful. Here is a run down of some of the highlights by person:

Heather-BEAUTIFUL bride that remained calm cool and collected. DID NOT become a bridezilla. She glowed and truly enjoyed and embraced the entire ceremony. Made me cry before the ceremony by giving me a card and a pic of us playing wedding when she ws about two.

Jared-Consumate groom. No visible stress. Helped with the manual labor of getting the site ready. He had such a good time and he really looked happy to be taking the most sacred vow on earth with my daughter

Whitney-MOST EXCELLENT FLORIST. Whitney did such a great job on all of the arrangements and the decorating of the site. She was pretty in pink and she beamed! Big night for her as well

Chris-What a great ceremony. Reverend Rue rose to the occasion and he helped make the wedding very personal. I am so happy he was able to do the vows.

Rue children-Jessie was the best bride's maid ever. Chris did the wedding. Katie and Moose really chipped in and made things happen. Again, family coming together to make this awesome event happen. I am really glad that I am related to these people!

Sally- She was beautiful! I love her so much and weddings remind me why!

Petters-The entire Petter clan was awesome. They helped with everything from the manual labor to the paying part. The wedding simply would not have been as nice with out their help. The Petter brothers were awesome best men. I really enjoyed watching the whole Petter family work and celebrate together. I am so glad we are kind of related to them now.

Other friends and family-To all of those that helped, Thanks! This was a big event and so many of you did so much to make it happen. Thanks again.

Happy Birthday America!

What an incredible 4th of July weekend we had! First, we did something that I never thought I would do. We picked 5 gallons wild mustang (or Muscadine) grapes for us to use to make wine. This was a lot of fun and we really are excited about trying our hand a wine making. Once we got them home we washed them and removed the stems. Next we mashed them with an old baseball bat. We now have the pulp and juice in our living room going through the fermentation process. Once it gets a white mold on top of it, we are going to take it to Beth Kunkle's dad. He is the local wine maker and his wine is good! We are very excited about learning to become amatuer vinters.

Saturday took us to Houston to celebrate Heather's last birthday as a single woman. She prepared fish tacos for us and a lovely avacado dip. OMG! They were awesome! Sally also made a yummy dessert out of our tatume squash. It was awesome! Heather is quite the cook. She is going to make a good little house wife for Jared! After lunch we all went to Sam's and bought Heather a camera for her birthday. After Sam's we went to see Herb and PK. Herb had recieved a bunch of old pictures from his sister. We really had a good time looking at them with him. Also, Jessica was still there. She had to stay over the night because the flooding was so bad from hurricane Alex. After we left the forum we went by Kim's to get stuff for Heather's wedding. We stayed for a couple of hours. Really had a lovely visit.

For the fourth, Sally and I decided to go to the Round Top parade. This is the oldest continuously celebrated 4th of July celebration in the nation west of the Mississippi. This was the 160th celebration. That means that people have been celebrating in Round Top since 1850. That is incredible to me. People have been getting together in that little town to celebrate our nation's independence since 5 years after Texas became a state. The parade was really fun. Too many pics to post here but we saw the governor, lots of beauty queens, amusing floats and a bunch of kids riding longhorn steers. I got my picture made with Governor Rick Perry! We left Round Top and went to Sonic for Hot Dogs. We also went to HEB and got the stuff to treat my POISON IVY. Evidently I paid a heavy price for the grapes we picked. To finish off the evening we went to Washington on the Brazos (the birthplace of Texas) and watched the HEB sponsored fireworks. The fireworks were good but the music on the radio was terrible. In spite of the music it was a perfect end to an almost perfect day.