Baxter's Pinapple

Tonight Bradley and I were throwing away a pinapple that we bought and never ended up eating. But, when Bradley went to throw it in the compost pile, Baxter thought it was a toy. His other favorite toy is an empty plastic milk jug. He's such a fun dog!

Happy Birthday Ember!

For my birthday this year, Bradley took me to Nacogdoches, which is where I went to school. It was a blast showing Bradley where I lived and took classes. We stayed at a quaint little cabin about 15 minutes from campus. It was only about 300 square feet, but it was the perfect getaway from the busy city life. In the mornings we cooked breakfast and sat in the rocking chairs on the front porch.


This is the view from the front porch. The cabin was on 46 acres of land. To the left of us was a small creek. In the evening we sat out on the porch and listened to all the critters that lived by the creek. Saturday night we went down the road to an interpretive trail that is maintained by the university. It's an amazing place in the middle of the woods that you can walk around and enjoy nature. The only problem was that 2 minutes into our walk I spotted a 6 foot long black snake crossing the path. That did it! I was done. Sorry Bradley!


On Saturday we spent the day walking on campus. This is a statue of Stephen F. Austin in the center of campus. I spent a lot of time here hanging out with friends in between classes. I just loved being on campus again. I had a wonderful time taking a trip down memory lane. Thanks for the great getaway Bradley!

Sleeping Beauty

A few weeks ago we babysat our nephews, Charlie and Jake. One minute we were watching Monsters, Inc...the next, we looked over, and Charlie was completely zonked out. Aren't they so precious?

New York City!

In June Ember went to NYC with her mom, sister and friend Pam to visit Pam's daughter Kristen and their friend Kelly. Ember and her mom were typical tourists and purchased a 48 hour pass on a Greyline Tour Bus which took them all over the city. They were able to see Times Square, the Statue of Liberty, Broadway, Wall Street, Chinatown, Little Italy, Central Park, Harlem, Brooklyn and so much more. They were able to eat at several fancy New York eateries as well as some authentic New York deli's, although no one was brave enough to try out a hot dog from a street vendor. This is a beautiful view of the city lights from across the harbor in Brooklyn.


We took a cruise of the harbor and up the Hudson River. The boat took us close enough to the Statue of Liberty to get this awesome shot.


Here I am at the "Top of the Rock" which is Rockefeller Center. Here you had beautiful views of the city, which some say are just as beautiful as going to the top of the Empire State Building. Central Park is behind me. 850 acres of park in the middle of blocks and blocks of cityscape.


We ate dinner at a restaurant called Serendipity. Afterwards Kristen and I shared this HUGE hot fudge sundae. Yes, we ate the WHOLE thing!!


Can I work here??


In Times Square with Kristen and Angy


Angy and Ember in Kristen's (small) NYC kitchen.

We went out to dinner and afterwards caught a Les Miserables show. It was wonderful!

Sunday Drive

About a year ago Bradley bought a 1984 Honda motorcycle. He LOVES to drive it around, and every once in a while can convince me to go along. I'm becoming more and more brave on it. Today we went to Grand Prairie to visit Tara's parents. It was about a 25 minute drive. That's the furthest we've gone on the motorcycle so far. Charlene snapped this picture of us as we arrived.

Camping Trip with Sunday School

The first weekend of June we battled the rising heat, and more importantly, severe storms, and went camping with our Sunday School Class. This is the second trip that we have taken with them. There were a total of 12 people that went just an hour West of Fort Worth to Mineral Wells State Park. The thunder and lightening threatened us all evening, but thankfully the rain held off until 10:30 pm. We had a blast, though. We played games, ate great food and just enjoyed the fellowship. We were impressed with our friends Matt and Cassie that made a lamp with a light bulb, extension cord and a bucket. Looks like a Wilkie creation!

Surprise!

Bradley's brother, Ashley, flew to Fort Worth this year to surprise Bradley for his birthday. We crammed in as much activity as we could when Ashley was here. They repaired the fence (so Baxter could run around freely), we went to a gun show, saw a movie and ate a ton of food. Ashley we miss you!

Talladega Nights

Those of you that know us well, know that we LOVE Nascar! This year we packed up the car with Ember's parents and drove to Alabama for the Talladega race. We sat on the 2nd row and had a BLAST!

Grassmick Birthday

Our friends, Melissa and Jonathan, had a birthday party for their kids in Dallas this year. We were thrilled to be there. It was the Saturday before Easter, so we all went outside to hunt Easter Eggs too!! At one point we went outside to play with Emma and Johnny. We played hide and go seek, although, Johnny wasn't so great at hiding. When you called out, "Where's Johnny?" he'd yell back, "I'm over here!". We laughed and laughed.

The Newest Wilkie

In February we adopted a new member of the family, Baxter. He showed up on our doorstep, literally. He is a blue heeler and akeeta mix breed and is about 2 years old. He is one of the sweetest dogs. He gets along with Chewy and if you let him will crawl up into your lap for a belly rub...which is sometimes complicated since he's a 45 pound dog!