Happy Holidays 2012!

Below is our annual holiday card wishing you a safe and relaxing holiday with friends and family, and a wonderful 2013!

The password for this video is '2012'.

Homecoming 2012

Alli and Zach had Homecoming this past Saturday night. They had a great time... Alli went with a group of friends to eat and come back to our house for a fire in the firepit, smores, music and a fun night of hanging out with friends.

Zach and Torie looked terrific all dressed up and enjoyed dinner out, fun at a nearby games/bowling/laser tag place, and time back at our house.

Unlike when Steve and I grew up, not many of the kids go to the dance at the school. They say it's not very fun at all. Too bad, ours was a blast!

Bottom left corner is when Zach asked Torie to Homecoming. He had tealight candles in the letters H and C and a question mark, and gave her flowers. It's becoming tradition here to come up with a special way of asking a girl to Homecoming and Prom. Also tradition here are the mums shown in the upper right corner below. These are made from ribbons and special trinkets and the boy makes one for the girl and vice versa. We hadn't done this before so it was a first for us! Torie didn't want hers really big... some girls have them with ribbons all the way down to the floor and wider than their body! Girls hang theirs around their necks and boys have a garter they wear on their arm. They wear them on the Friday of the Homecoming football game.

Alli braided her hair, pulled it to the side and curled the ends. Looked so pretty!

Alli and her closest friends!

Alli's Letter Jacket!

Alli got her letter jacket today for academic achievement. She is SOOO excited! She will also have saddle shoe patches to put on one sleeve for each year of being a Highstepper.
So proud!

Highsteppers Yankee Doodle Kick Routine

TWHS vs Katy, 9-15-12.

Katy team tromped us but the girls still had fun :)  Katy is ranked in the top 20 in the NATION and have guys as big as 6'3" 300 lbs. Unbelievable! The Highstepper routine is below, password 'HS1213'.

Highsteppers - Olympic Fanfare Kick Routine

TWHS vs Hightower, 9-7-12First routine of the year... I zoomed in on Alli so you can spot her and she is in the front row the entire routine. She was nervous to be in the front row for the first time, but was really excited about it!

The password is 'HS1213'.

East Coast, Summer 2012

We spent a wonderful summer holiday with our friends, the Colemans, visiting Boston, New York City, and Cape Cod!

Here is a link to pictures:
https://picasaweb.google.com/ajrsrr/EastCoast2012?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCOOW0vvf7vn A0wE&feat=directlink

Below is some video we took of...

• the 9/11 Memorial in New York City;
• our whale watching tour near Provincetown, Cape Cod; and
• our birthday celebration for 2012!

The password for this video is '2012'.

Highstepper Competition, San Marcos, TX, Feb 18, 2012

Alli tried out and made two out of three competition routines (kick and open categories)... being only a freshman, she was thrilled! In fact, she was actually the first alternate for the routine she didn't make (Prop) so she was really happy. Here is video from their first competition. The team was pleased but felt they can do better at the competitions coming up this weekend and next. We think they did GREAT!!

Kick Routine

Open Routine

Prop Routine (Alli didn't perform)