NASCAR Race

Well, it's that time of year again folks - the fall race at Texas Motor Speedway! This is my favorite race because it's later in the day so it's cool and the race finishes under the lights since it falls on the same weekend as the time-change. We went early and tailgated with Brandy, Bryon, Floyd and Janet at their camper at the track before we headed down to the track for the race. For anyone that doesn't know us well, Dale Earnhardt Jr. is our favorite driver and he has had a lot going on this year. Note the 'Ride to Remember' logo under his picture on the trailer- he's changing teams and numbers from 8 to 88. So, for those of you that look for the red 8 sticker on my white suburban, it's gone and been replaced with a black 'Jr Nation' sticker instead.
And even though Jimmie Johnson won in the end- it was a great race and down to the wire with Jimmie and Matt Kennseth trading out the lead the last 15 laps. NASCAR is totally exciting and you should experience a race in person at lease once!

Burleson Weekend

We were up in Burleson last weekend visiting Jeff's family and to watch the race. On Saturday night mom, dad, Cody, Julie, Louis, Tara, and the Raymond Crew went to the infamous Babe's Chicken for some fine family dining. This is one of those places where you fast for the day because you know it going to be so good and that you need all the room you can save. After dinner some of the group took a carriage ride with Josh the horse around the Old Town Burleson area.
We left Babe's and bounced over to Peyton's Sweet 16 birthday party. Peyton and his mom Paula have been long time friends of Jeff's family and are just great people. Peyton is on the drumline in the Burleson High band with Zach, note the lovely picture they posed for. =)He had an awesome driver's license cake, karaoke, and yes- that is Jeff and Zach competing against each other at Guitar Hero. Young at heart right? It was great, and I was glad we were there to crash it.

Our Super Reader

Madalyn is doing a great job with reading, and was tested at the highest level she could be for second grade. I took this picture recently at Borders where she was tearing through a 'Wayside' book. It's a trilogy of books containing short stories about a crazy school. She loves them, and since I read them as a kid it's even more fun. Julie and Maddy really participated in the reading program at the Austin Public Libraries over the summer and it's certainly paying off!

Halloween 2007

Halloween was a big day for us. We started with Trick-or-Treating at my office in the Frost Tower downtown. There were a lot of kids there, and the Raymonds used it as a warm up for the evening. After we left the office, we went by my godparent's house in Onion Creek. They loaded us down with even more candy and cookies made from scratch from Aunt Dianne. =) It was a fun excuse to stop by and see them and their super cool house! From there we headed to the Buda Park where they were having a carnival and met up with our friends and half of the people I went to school with. Sometimes living in the town you grew up in is weird. After about an hour at the we went good old fashioned door to door trick or treating in a nearby neighborhood. This was the highlilght of the night because it looked like the scene from ET- there were kids everywhere and no cars driving down the street. Beck and Madalyn were in full force though, and we had to keep asking them to slow down for Ella, I mean Wonder Woman. All in all, it was a great experience with family and friends so you couldn't really go wrong!
And a special thanks to my mom for making Madalyn's costume some time back, but continually adding to it everytime she wears it. The hoops were greatness!
Pics are of the whole crew, our team of Superheroes, Addison the Bee, sweet Bristol, Madalyn as Belle with Ella, Mason the Pumpkin, and Beck playing with a skeleton - go figure.

Halloween at School

Madalyn wanted to dress up for school, but I didn't want to let here wear the Belle dress and she couldn't wear the wings. So we went for the dance outfit from the spring Recital. Mrs. Ortega told me that there were feathers everywhere in the class. Whoops. =)

We Can Be Heroes!

That was the theme of the 20th Anniversary of the AIDS Services of Austin walk that was held last Sunday. Beck, Madalyn, and I participated in the 5k walk around downtown to support the organization in their annual fundraising event. ASA is one of my audit clients at work and after one year working with them I was absolutley blown away by what they do, and how well they do it. Until I started working at ML&R I never realized that in Austin we are truly blessed by the number and quality of individuals serving in non-profit organizations. Arts based, youth-centered, homeless, help with higher education - you name it, it's here. Several of my clients are working at non-profits in their retirement, others doing it to make and difference and ASA is definitely one of them. Being around it all of the time definitely makes you want to be a better person, so this was our step in the right direction. I had a difficult conversation with Madalyn about AIDS, cancer, and other things that I never would have talked to her about without this opportunity.
On a lighter note, her highlight was getting to see someone walk a cat and they both loved the huge cake at the end of the race. Downtown Austin was already being decorated for Christmas, so they liked that a lot. In the picture with Madalyn you can see the Capitol in the background.

Cody's Race at Thunderhill Raceway

After a long nap, Beck and I ventured out to the race track in Kyle to watch Cody race in the Grandstock class. It was our first time to see him race ever, shame on us, since he started racing himself this season. He's been the crew chief on our cousin's Bryon's car for two season and decided to get in the drivers seat himself this year. Beck really liked watching him, but liked getting to take a lap in the car with him after the race more. Cody even went side by side with another drivers so Beck could give him a 'high 5' out of the window at about 40 miles an hour. Now, we're gearing up for the NASCAR race in Ft. Worth on Nov. 4 which is always a highlight of the year.