Bruno

Between all of us in the Neely family, there are four birds; Brendon has Gracie, the dove, Austin and Shawna have Tego, the parakeet, and we have Dory and Bruno. Gracie, Tego, and Dory love to take baths. We can put out a dish of warm water and they will jump right in, fluff their feathers, roll around in the water, and have a great time. However, we've never been able to get Bruno to do this......and tonight we found out why:

Bruno is a shower bird!

PEEPS!

Here's the Peeps story:

A couple of years ago, Wes and I were visiting Austin and Shawna in College Station. As we were chatting about anything and everything, our conversation turned to "liked" and "disliked" foods. Come to find out, Wes and Shawna like a lot of the same kinds of foods. So, Wes was just sure that Shawna would love the Peeps marshmallow treats. You know, those nasty yellow marshmallow chicks and bunnies that come out every Easter? Those things are some of Wes' very favorites.

After our meal, we hunted around several stores until we found the Peeps. Shawna took one bite and decided very quickly that those were not for her! Wes couldn't believe it! They enjoyed so many of the same tastes....but evidently not Peeps!

But Shawna has not let Wes down! Now, at EVERY holiday, Wes gets at least one package of Peeps. At Easter it's the chicks or bunnies......4th of July - firework Peeps......Christmas - tree Peeps! There are Peeps for every holiday now.

So, Shawna is teaching the tradition to Ashlynn, who gave her Granddaddy some Christmas tree Peeps for Christmas....and guess what? She loves them! I see many Peeps in their future!

Family

Wes and I have been blessed with such a great family! We have the two greatest sons in the world......one of the most precious daughter-in-laws on this earth.........and the best granddaughter in the world.

Christmas Time

Isn't Christmas fun? It's just a blast being with family....laughing and making great memories. Ashlynn made it particularly fun for us as she opened every one of her presents and exclaimed with a "wow" or "oooooh" even if she didn't even have a clue yet what she had! It's so much fun having a little one in the house!

ICE!

While on Christmas vacation, Brendon and I visited ICE! at the Gaylord Texan. This year, they featured, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas", one of our all time favorite Christmas movies - right up there with "Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown!".

After standing in a LONG line (thank goodness we purchased our tickets online or our wait would have been much longer), we entered into a tented area where the temperature was 9 degrees! It was so fascinating to see the sculptures made out of ice which looked just like the cartooned movie!
It was very cool - and I don't mean just the temperature!

Christmas Eve

Our church always has a candlelight Christmas Eve service. It's a very special time where our church family gets together and thanks God for sending His Son to earth. It's a perfect way to start Christmas Day.

We had a wonderful surprise this Christmas Eve. It snowed all day! What a treat from heaven! It was beautiful. It made driving to church that evening a little "exciting" since "us Texans" don't know how to drive in the snow......but what a joy to watch the snow fall and cover everything with a beautiful white....just like Jesus covers all our sins and makes us clean and "white as snow".

Jesus paid it all

All to Him, I owe

Sin had left a crimson stain

He washed it white as snow