Kelly Times Two

As I was backing out of the driveway tonight, I saw this squirrel pigging out while sitting on a branch of our little pecan tree. I was caught off guard because I have never seen one there. I don't think. I see squirrels all the time in the cedar elm tree and live oak trees in our backyard, but because the pecan tree is still young (for a pecan tree) it doesn't produce pecans yet. I don't know what it was munching on. Someone told us that we'll hate the squirrels when the tree starts bearing pecans. It's been in for five years or so and supposedly we still have several more years to wait. They are supposed to get huge too. I just had to grab my camera and capture this image of this content little squirrel having a grand time in our tree. It really put a smile on my face. Click on the photo to see him more closely. Ignore the dead leaves and flowers in the bed. I neglected to plant pansies this winter for the first time in a while. Next year, I won't skip the pa...

Linda and I were roommates at BYU for one semester before Kelly and I got married. She and I haven't kept in touch very well over the years, but she surprised us with a visit the last few days and we had a ball. She arrived Thursday at lunch time, so I planned a luncheon with two others, Paige and RuthAnn, to welcome Linda. We had a nice light lunch with a deluxe salad, complete with Linda's favorite ingredients. Afterwards, the kids came home from school and Linda got to meet them one at a time, and get acquainted. Our next two days with Linda was so delightful. Lindsey and Christopher enjoyed meeting with my college girlfriend and getting to know her. Both kids adored Linda and could tell she is really nice and why I love being around her. She's really got flair! We did our normal adventures when we have guests pop in to see us for a few days, like heading up to Mount Bonnell, this time to see the view at night. We visited the capital of Texas and here we are laughing ...

What a beautiful, mild December afternoon this was in Austin, just before sunset. Christopher looks very handsome here. It took me forever to pick out clothes for all of us to wear, but since I really liked last year's family photo outfits, I went with the same thing, black long sleeved shirts and jeans, because it still looked fabulous to me and it goes with anything. My friend, Gabby, knew I was frustrated about not getting a decent family Christmas picture taken yet, so she had us meet her at one of her favorite spots and she snapped a few family photos and some individual ones for us. Nice work, once more, Gabby! Sometimes it's best to leave these matters to the professionals, and that she is. Lindsey's got a halo in this picture, she's a little angel. What loving children we've been blessed with. They're always "abounding in good works" and being good examples to people around them, me especially. I'm just amazed at how fortunate, or blessed,...

These two college teams will be playing in the new Dallas Cowboys stadium in the fall. That will be an exciting place to be.

Back in the 1970's when the sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter was on television, I couldn't help but falling for Vinnie Barbarino and his huge dimples and full on smile, schmoozing his high school teacher and classmates. By the time John Travolta was singing/embellishing facts, " Summer lovin, had me a blast. Summer lovin', it happened so fast " in Grease to his gang about Sandra Dee played by Olivia Newton-John, I was completely head over heals for him. Then there was Urban Cowboy , and later a movie where he played an angel, Michael. And so forth. Luckily, I never saw the Pulp Fiction movie, but I have always adored JT, not only for his roles on the big screen, but especially because he's been married to his wife, Kelly Preston, for several years and I admire that in anyone. As I heard the news this weekend that John and Kelly's 16-year-old special needs son, Jett, had suddenly died and had a seizure, hit his head on the bathtub or toilet and couldn't be...

Good evening, boys and girls! Pretend you're one of the Wilkinson quintuplets and sit back and take a look at some of my pictures of what I've been up to the last few weeks. By the way, I did squeeze in a short visit to the Wilkinson's house December. They'll be 18 months old in January and will be old enough to go in the nursery at church on Sundays. What a fun place that's going to be! Okay, here's a picture of me taken one night in December at about 3 or 4 am, as you can see the red blood shot eyes, from lack of sleep, trying to get everything squeezed in that I wanted to do. Like most everyone, I probably didn't come close to all the grand visions of goodness that danced in my head, but did what I could to enjoy the season and Christmas cheer. For some of my relatives, I treated them to new Christmas stockings and had their names embroidered on them, choosing styles that matched their tastes. Valerie loved their stockings. My dad is known as Grandad to...