# 226 - Crazy Memories in the Making

My dad's 66th birthday celebration and the "last supper" at our house here in the city was quite the party.

It's great when you have family and friends who are eager for a good time. From topics of discussion varying from gardening, race car driving and prepping...it can be very interesting. We are a bunch of people who know how to have fun.

Everyone has eaten delicious food for dinner and now it's dessert time!!! I cannot even list everything on the dessert table...Tres Leches, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Pistachio Dessert, Chocolate Cake, Brownies and more. It was incredible.

And this is the power behind good family gatherings...FOOD!

My dad made himself a HEAPING plate of every single dessert. We were worried he'd pop.

My little sister, Robin and my brother, Bubba and myself, all gave dad a nice kiss on the shiny globe for his birthday present. Afterward, it was easier to do a nice spit-shine.

Deputy Dave prepared a wonderful dinner as I was finishing a slideshow for my dad to the song "Freebird." Stefie's boyfriend, Brice, was so awesome with helping to put the finishing touch on the slideshow and adding the music. But, when I put the DVD into our player at the widescreen for the showing, I became blank-minded and couldn't figure out how to turn up the volume. I guess it was a pre-Senior moment. Fortunately, Deputy Dave figured it out in a matter of seconds.

My brother-in-law, Warren, is a professional photographer out of this world, literally. He works for NASA and is one of the first guys to get all the cool space pictures that we sometimes get to see on television. I don't know if our poses can ever compete with the level of excitement he gets from his work with photography of alien things from space. Well, my family can be sort of alien-like, so who knows?

Sweet young ones proving that romance is alive and well in today's society.

All these generations coming together brings tears to my eyes. Everyone delights in each other's company, no matter how young or old.

Stefie's boyfriend Brice invited his family over to join us. I hope we didn't scare them away permanently.

My mushroom top is in full bloom, but it's okay. I earned it. TRES LECHES...Need I say more?

And here I'm standing next to my best-friend Kelly. We've known each other since before we knew how to know each other as infants. Did that make sense? My husband is bending down to add to the smiles. Kelly's parents, Oscar and Earlene were like a second set of parents to me while I was growing up.

Now, for us three kids to take pictures with our dad.

We tell dad that he's sitting too on edge, with body language that is moving AWAY from us three kids. So, he decides to make it all better with a positional change.

Now that we're comfortable with showing our closeness as a family, my brother decides to let our dad take a stroll down memory lane.

Warren is getting pictures that will be MUCH better than what we can capture on our camera that is literally falling apart and had endured super glue.

Paw-Paw gets to have fun with the grand-kids who have taken time away from their serious video gaming to take some glorious photos. All of them make me crack up.

I hope we do sell this house soon, but it has been such fun to be with my family, no matter whose house we decide to gather in. I think my sister will carry most of the burdens of family gatherings for a while at her house as we go through the process of getting moved to the country.

Of course, everyone has been to our land and we're all looking forward to a very different kind of gathering with wide open spaces to enjoy. It will be a different way of being together, that's for sure.

Once we get moved, I think we'll be having lots of catfish-fry events since Deputy Dave and I will be putting in some serious Lake Livingston fishing time. Since everyone in my family loves catfish, this is a really good thing.

I see more yum-yum memories in the making in the near future.