Munoz-Hale Bridal Shower

Katherine's sister Kandace and her Granny Rita hosted a bridal shower for Katherine and Devin at Granny's lake house in Eastland, Texas on Saturday, June 4th. Rita cooked up a storm of delicious mouth watering Mexican food. The weather could not have been more perfect as we ate dinner outside and enjoyed the scenery around the lake. The Hills brought their Jet Ski so some were able to go out on the lake. It was a great day celebrating the upcoming wedding with family and friends.

 

Father like Son

If we had a yard like this one there would be no need to go on vacation!

Devin with Kassie and Tucker

Paula and Mark Hale

Kandace, Katherine, and Kassie

Tucker

Kassie and Devin living it up on the water!

Six Flags

We took Grandpa with us to Six Flags when Harland Clarke had a Friends and Family day!
We had a great time and upgraded to season passes so that we could keep going back!

St. PaTtY's dAy CeLeBraTiOn!

So in celebration of St. Patricks day and because Jeremy is Black Irish, we prepared an Irish feast fit for any leprechaun. I made Cornbeef and Cabbage for the first time in my life. I also made a pistachio dessert. Amber made Irish Soda Bread. And Amber and Jeremy made some Stuffed Cabbage Rolls together. We had grandpa and grandma over for dinner. I made it a point to have Henry explain to them in Spanish that this was Irish food and why we were eating it, then waited patiently to see their expressions as they tasted it. I was tickled pink as grandpa ate everything and then announced that it was delicious. I am not sure that grandma felt the same way but she ate most of it. Jeremy said that I did a good job on the cornbeef and that it reminded him of his mothers. He thinks we should make it at least once a month. Henry liked it too but of course we were just missing rice. While we were cleaning up I pointed out that there was some rice that was leftover from making the cabbage rolls and Henry was in heaven. He made a plate to eat later in the evening. Henry loves his rice! It was quite fun and a learning experience. I am glad that we did it and that we did it together.

One cRaZy hAt!

Ok so it was crazy hat day at work as part of another FUN week. I bought this hat near downtown last Saturday when we were out with Devin and Katherine shopping for wedding stuff. It was only 4.25. I took it to work and some friends said I needed to dress it up a bit so we went to our supply closet and added some crazy things. It was really heavy. To win they said that I had to wear it all day but after they judged it I took it off. Still I wore it for about 5 hours! I won a 20.00 gift card to HEB, our local grocery store. Was it worth it, you ask? Absolutely! Outrageously fun!

CHURCH NEWS

The is a copy of an article by the Church News. Our stake did this great service project and I drug Amber out of her bed to go help out. Little did we know that we would have our pictures taken and I bad one at that. Oh well. It was fun and felt good to be a part of something that will benefit others in our community.

Texas: 'Giving Thanks by Giving Back'

By Michael Harold Paulos
Church News Contributor

Published: Thursday, Dec. 9, 2010

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS

Photo by Jennifer Boster, Photo by Jennifer Boster

The theme for San Antonio Texas West Stake First Annual Service Fair was 'Giving Thanks by Giving Back.'

Using the holiday theme "Giving Thanks by Giving Back," members of the San Antonio Texas West Stake hosted an interfaith service fair to benefit underprivileged residents of the San Antonio community.

Photo by Jennifer Boster

Members from the Helotes ward posing in front of a banner sent to troops in Afghanistan.

Photo by Jennifer Boster

Volunteers of all ages helped shop for clothing for underprivileged recipients from a nearby elementary school.

Stake leaders provided a venue to hold the Fair and invited wards within the stake to voluntarily conduct service projects related to the theme. Participating wards hosted booths that provided service opportunities at the stake center on Saturday morning, Nov. 20. This included drives to collect clothing, food, school supplies and quilts, the latter of which were donated to the local Ronald McDonald House. Church leaders also invited philanthropic community groups to participate including the San Antonio Food Bank and the Christian Senior Services. The latter organization runs the Meals on Wheels program for homebound seniors.

Photo by Jennifer Boster

Members from the Helotes ward posing in front of a banner sent to troops in Afghanistan.

Photo by Jennifer Boster

Volunteers help sort donations during the clothing drive.

In the weeks leading up to the service fair, stake leaders coordinated efforts with a local elementary school to identify struggling families in the area willing to receive donations. School representatives were very excited about the opportunity and touched by the "compassionate thoughtfulness" of Church members. Teachers and counselors quickly identified 53 children who would most benefit from the donated items.

Photo by Jennifer Boster

Sister Munoz and her daughter Sister Hutchings help with the food drive.

Photo by Jennifer Boster

Volunteers work to organize clothing donations as part of the Service Fair.

Hundreds of volunteer hours were donated by members of the stake in preparation for the service fair. Bishop Mark Gorman of the Parkwood Ward asked auxiliary and priesthood leaders in his ward to coordinate the effort. "I did nothing," Bishop Gorman said with a smile, "It was all the ward council." Home teaching companionships distributed most of the 2,000 door flyers announcing the clothing drive, and the Parkwood youth collected the donations and dropped them off at the fair where the Relief Society sorted by gender and size.

Photo by Jennifer Boster

Children write letters and draw pictures that were sent to the service men and women at Bagram Airfield military hospital in Afghanistan.

Photo by Jennifer Boster

Sister Tuft (left) and Sister Singer (right) help with a box of donations at the Service Fair.

The clothing drive produced hundreds of articles of clothing used to help the families of the elementary school children. More than 60 large boxes of additional clothing were donated to the local University Hospital, battered women's shelter and a homeless shelter. "This clothing drive has exceeded my expectations by one thousand percent," said an emotional Stephani Singer, who serves as the stake service fair director.

Photo by Jennifer Boster

The Bingham family helps tie a quilt that was donated to the local Ronald McDonald House.

Photo by Jennifer Boster

The Parkwood Ward Relief Society organized the sorting during the clothing drive.

Stake volunteers of all ages were given unique checklists for each of the 53 children, and tasked with the assignment to find coats, pants and shoes for each child. When completed, members of the stake personally delivered the donated items to the homes of each family.

Photo by Jennifer Boster

A young girl carries a box during the clothing drive.

Photo by Jennifer Boster

Volunteers were able to help tie a quilt for the local Ronald McDonald House.

The Helotes Ward elected to send packages to injured U.S. military personnel and children at the Bagram Airfield military hospital in Afghanistan. Dianna Tuft, whose husband is a physician currently stationed at Bagram, explained, "We're sending toy bags filled with bouncy balls, coloring books and harmonicas over to these injured Afghan children for them to use as therapy, but also for fun."

Photo by Jennifer Boster

The Patrick family helps sort and organize some of the donated clothing.

Photo by Jennifer Boster

The Varney family helps tie a quilt to be donated to the local Ronald McDonald House.

Two of the most salient items sent to the soldiers were handwritten letters of appreciation and a large handmade banner reading, "The Alamo Remembers You!"

Photo by Jennifer Boster

The Freckleton family pauses for a photo during the Service Fair.

Photo by Jennifer Boster

This banner was signed by children from the Helotes Primary before being sent to troops in Afghanistan.

As a result of the service fair, the stake was not only able to help school children in the community, but was also able to strengthen its relationships with other community groups and neighbors. A joyful Sister Singer remarked, "This is the first San Antonio Texas West Stake Service Fair, and I am already excited about ways we can improve it for next year."

Dicken's on Main November 2010

It is tradition for us to go to the small town of Boerne, Texas for Dicken's on Main the day after Thanksgiving. It is a festival full of Christmas music, great food, entertainment, shopping, horse drawn carriages, and even some snow (fake of course, it's South Texas after all!). We always have a super time and this year was no exception as we introduced Katherine to our family tradition. 

Thanksgiving Day 2010

Our pie tower shrunk this year with only 6 pies but they
all tasted great!

Joshua Munoz

Jeremy's job was to set the table and he did it with
loads of finesse! 

Henry's job was to carve the turkey!

Jose, Tania and their kids

Henry with his parents

Amber and Jeremy

We have so much to be thankful for!