Riding the Polar Express! (some of the posts aren't in the right order!)

Alison with Reed (4) and Lucas (2 1/2) in front of the train


The night before the train ride, Alison and I looked everywhere (well only Old Navy, Target, Kohl's and Wal-mart) for Christmas pajamas and had a difficult time finding some for the boys. And then we could not find slippers! At our last stop, Wal-mart, we found these bear christmas slippers in the women's socks! We were really surprised when the boys actually wore them, but they looked adorable and actually quite a few of the moms commented how cute they were!


When we were walking to the train it "appeared" to be snowing!



The conductor passed out souvenier ornaments to everyone



It was exciting to see Sants coming into our train car!

My last day in Longview (the 9th)

My last day in Longview, Julie and I decided to take Kaylee and Cooper to see Santa in the mall. He was the BEST Santa! The beard was even real. Kaylee was not afraid of him this year(like she was last year). Since we bought a sheet of photos I was allowed to shoot as many photos as I wanted. My parents were at the Mall volunteering at the Angel tree so we were able to see them. AFter the mall, we went to my Mom & Dad's house. My lia sophia manager is Angela who flew down to train my sister, Debbie and I on some of the lia sophia guidelines. We all went to Papacita's mexican restaurant for dinner (along with Julie, Bo and the kids). Julie actually lived with Angela and Donna in Angela's house in Dallas after she graduated from high school.

photos that were supposed to load on the last post

Kaylee with my parents, Rich and Alison's boys, Reed & Lucas with their "grammy"*s* and Julie with Cooper

Cooper Jaeson Conlin is here!

I am in Texas at Julie & Bo's house helping with the new baby. I came on Thursday night and Julie and the baby came home on Fridy afternoon. He is adorable, but I have to be prejudice, right? Kaylee loves her little brother. She will wake up in the middle of the night if she hears him crying because he is getting his diaper changed. Other than that he pretty much does not cry unless he is hungry. I am loving being here and am thankful that Kent has a great job that allows me to come and help. While Julie was in the hospital Kaylee stayed at my Mom & Dad's house. Before coming to Longview I was in Dallas. I flew into the DFW airport and Alison and Reed and Lucas picked me up at the airport and then we picked Rich up from work, had dinner at Salt Grass Steakhouse and then drove outside of Dallas where my Dad and sister, Debbie met us and then drove me to Mom & Dad's.



If you'd like to see more photos of our "mini" cooper check out Julie & Bo's blog. You can connect from mine under "family"

The Antigua Cup

On the 12th and 13th of October, Rob participated in a Pro/Am tournament called the Antigua Cup fashioned after the Ryder Cup. It was Professional and Amateur golfers. Rob was the youngest player in the tournament. All spring and summer there were numerous Pro/Am tournaments to participate in and acquire points depending on how you finished in the tournaments. Rob did not participate in all of them but was able to finish 7th in point status; however, only the top 6 of the Professionals and top 6 of the Amateurs can go to the tournament. Luckily for Rob, the number 1 golfer could not play so Rob was able to take his place. The two teams are each comprised of 12 golfers (6 ams and 6 pros). The competition was between 2 teams whose boundaries were north of I-90 and the other team was south of I-90 both on the eastern side of Washington State. 18 holes were played on the 12th and 36 holes on the 13th. We were only able to go on the 12th; it was at Canyon Lakes golf course in Kennewick, WA. On the day were were there, Rob's partner in match play was Max Reinland, his friend who he has golf with and against since Rob was in high school. Rob and Max tied the other team of 2 men who were alot older than both of them. Rob and Max were actually down 3 holes in the back nine but were able to pull out and tie it on the 18th hole. It was Rob's putt that was the tie. Max is a year older than Rob and has Pro status. He has completed the training and is working for a golf course in Walla Walla. You will see photos of Max in the photos with Rob.