The Gavin Gazette

THE GAVIN GAZETTE

11/19/2008: As many of you know, we have been running 5K races since July. We ran the Bambi Run 5K in Tyler on the 8th. I got first place for my division, and Katherine trimmed 5 minutes off her last completion time! Our next run is Thanksgiving Day, the Turkey Trot 5K in Shreveport. Gavin LOVES the runs, and is our biggest cheerleader. He is already a little runner himself, always running around the yard or house yelling "run run" the whole time. I know he will be running with us when he gets a few years older. At this particular race, he cheered from the finish line with Aunt Alli and Uncle Billy. Hoping to build up to half-marathons soon, 3 miles to 14 miles is quite a leap!

11/4/2008: We went to Galveston on 10/11 because I wanted to view Hurricane Ike destruction first-hand. We stayed at the San Luis Hotel, the central command center for state and local officials still. Gavin loved all the stairs. All the destruction was hard to see. I love Galveston, and have been there at least once a year my entire life. To sum it up, there really is no beach left. Water hits the seawall, and past the seawall, there are no dunes and a lot less island. The RV Park we have camped at for years is virtually gone. I feel an immense amount of sorrow for Galveston, but I know they will rebuild better than before, but they have a huge road ahead (A road and interstate that was still covered in boats and debris.) Most restaurants had opened back up, but were serving limited menus and hours. Wal-Mart had opened back up, but had a lot of water damage. Crazy to see, but I am glad we went to take it all in, they need lots of prayers.

11/4/2008: Sharing pictures from our annual Halloween Costume contest and haunted hayride at our house. It was tons of fun as always! We were Tony Romo, Jessica Simpson, and Little Tony! My parent's were the Biggest Loser before and after, hilarious and ingenious! Jeremy was Richard Simmons, I spared you a close-up of that one! The haunted hayride was a hit again, Gavin and Jaxon enjoyed it too! We had 50+ in attendance, its a lot of work, but worth every minute every year!!! Looking forward to next year's!

11/4/2008: Gavin and Jaxon were playing in the front yard last week on Gavin's John Deere Gator. They were hauling Kat's yard decorations around. And as you can see in the middle picture, they bumped heads, cute picture! The bottom three pictures were taken at a friend's wedding we went to in Austin on the 25th. Our first time to leave Gavin at home for an entire weekend. He stayed with Nanny and PawPaw. Boy were we glad to see him Sunday afternoon!

11/4/2008: We took Gavin to ride Thomas the Train on 10/19 at the Texas State Railroad in Rusk. He loves trains, so, he naturally had a great time!

10/2/2008: We went to Austin for Gavin's birthday weekend. What better way to spend a 4-day weekend? We ate dinner at Hill's Thursday night, where Gavin got to listen to live music on the patio (his favorite) and eat birthday boy ice cream. We went to the Broken Spoke Friday, where Gavin got to hear more good Texas music and hang out with his buddy again, the great Mr. James White (see photo, owns the Spoke). We also went to the campus Friday, and to the TX vs Rice game Saturday. Gavin met a couple of Texas cheerleaders at the Texas Exes pregame party. Check out his little smirk in the picture, he knew he was too cool. Gavin loved the game as well, who couldn't from only 4 rows up? We had a great time, and are never ready to leave Austin.

10/1/2008: We went to the East Texas State Fair last week in Tyler. Gavin had tons of fun with the petting zoo animals, and riding all the fun rides with his cousins and his Nanny! Carson took care of Emma and Gavin on all the rides, such a great cousin!

9/11/2008: Kat finally let me burr Gavin's hair! And it was sooooo cute! He knew he was cute too! It has already grown out, think Kat will let me do it again???

9/11/2008: Gavin had his first sleepover mid-August. He enjoyed packing his suitcase and going up to Nanny and Pawpaw's house. Thought he was just too cool! We went to Palestine for the night to hear Kat's step-Dad's band play, with Aunt Kayla and Uncle Gregory also. We had fun dancing and listening to an awesome band, but not as much fun as Gavin had at Nanny and Pawpaw's! He got to swim and just be overall spoiled rotten!

8/20/2008: At the first of this month, we went to the Ringling Brothers circus in Dallas, Gavin's first circus, and he loved it, as did we! I got us "Celebrity Circus" seats, which were first row center, and I didn't know at the time, but Celebrity really meant celebrity. We got taken to the floor during the middle of the show, and got to ride around in a train of sorts, see picture with clowns coming out of it. It was awesome, Gavin was amazed to be zig-zagging in and out of elephants and dancers and clowns, while all sorts of lights, music and fireworks were going around us. They also slapped "Bello" hats on us, hence the orange hair. Bello is the central character in the circus, amazing performer; and a great trip!

8/20/2008: We went to Galveston towards the end of July with PawPaw and Chance, and Poppa and Nana and crew. We had a large time as always. Went to Schlitterbahn Waterpark, Moody Gardens, Lone Star aviation museum, and of course, the beach! Which was very clean this year! Gavin loved the aviation museum, as he is a huge fan of airplanes! He was in aww, me too! Galveston is always a great yearly family trip!

7/18/2008: Cousin Carson's t-ball team went undefeated and are headed to state playoffs in two weeks! Congrats Carson and the Whitehouse Warriors! Carson had his own rooting section as you can see!

7/18/2008: OK, first of all, sorry for the HUGE delay in updating the Gazette! With my master's degree courses atop everything else going on, time is extremely thin. I will make up for it with several posts! The first 5 pictures are of Gavin and Kat making cookies. Gavin highly enjoyed helping, and of course taste testing! Gavin is now officially sleeping in his "big boy" bed, sniff sniff. We tore down the baby bed this week. He is doing great, the picture below is of him waking up morning one in his new bed. And the last two pictures are from my nephew's t-ball game. He had playoff games every night this week. His team won, and is now going to state in Clifton in two weeks! Congrats Carson!!! We enjoyed the excitement of his games this week. Gavin has a great time watching the boys run around, I know he can't wait till he is out there playing! Won't be long!!!

7/18/2008: I think these pictures will be valuable one day. What do yall think? Gavin and Jaxon borrowed cousin Emma's Barbie Jeep the other day, and were really enjoying themselves. Too funny! And Gavin showed Jaxon his favorite hiding place, so they both played peek-a-boo!

7/18/2008: Gavin started infant swim lessons at Tyler Junior College this week! It was fun, and he learned alot! He is now a lil fish in Nanny and PawPaw's new swimming pool! He loves to swim. We got him an ice cream cone on the way home from his first lessons, which he enjoyed with his Nanny and PawPaw.

7/18/2008: Gavin and Kat went to the Tyler Zoo this week with Poppa, Aunt JuJu, Aunt KaKa, and cousins Sydney and Jaxon. They had a blast, and the animals were better than ever!

7/18/2008: For July 4th, we went to Broken Bow, Oklahoma to ride 4-wheelers and kayak. The pictures in the back of trucks were of us waiting for the fireworks show to start. Gavin had a large time, especially riding the train with Nanny and eating watermelon. He loves all of our family camping trips, as he loves all of his family!!! The river was great this year, no pictures, sorry, can't risk soaking my camera! As me and Kat did tumble over once pretty roughly!

6/23/2008: We got Mr. Outside (aka: Gavin) a playgym for the backyard, and I set it up Sunday after we got back from a camping trip. Gavin LOVES it. Its really great, by Step 2, made in the USA! I also got his swing setup as well. He spent about 5 hours playing in the backyard yesterday. We had FUN!!!

6/20/2008: Gavin got his first "real" haircut yesterday at SnipIts in Tyler (a hair salon just for kiddos). Real meaning not by Nana or Mama, at an actual establishment! His Nana did not make it to our house Thursday, so Katherine and sister Kayla took Gavin and Jaxon for a trim. Note the teary eyes of both! They both look really cute and too grown up with their fresh haircuts! Jaxon was still mad at Kat and Kayla when they got in the car!

6/20/2008: Cousin Jaxon and Aunt Kayla came over for lunch Tuesday, and the boys went for a little swim afterward. They had fun. Note Jaxon's tongue in his slide pictures, too funny. And the picture of Gavin asleep was of him falling asleep by himself on his real bed. He was playing in his room, and climbed up on his bed and went to snoring. He was exhausted!

6/17/2008: Anyone think Gavin is due for a haircut? We do, his Nana is giving him a trim Thursday. The other two pictures are of Gavin enjoying his sandbox. We bought him some blue Crayola sand the other night. He loves it, and of course tries to eat it.

6/13/2008: We got a new puppy for Gavin to have a backyard pal: A golden retriever that has made herself right at home. She is great! On her first day, she has had zero accidents in the house. She was quiet as a mouse all night. Once she is bigger, she will move to the backyard, maybe! :) She already plays great with Gavin. And Gavin tried moving in to her pet carrier.

6/13/2008: Kat, Gavin & I went to Destin, Florida for a 5-day wonderful family vacation! Gavin absolutely loved the beautiful beach. He kept saying "oh wow" and "oh cool" over and over. In the fourth picture, he spotted an airplane, and we both are doing "airplane" in sign language, as that is his favorite to sign. As you can note in the 6th picture, he did not allow sand castles to be built. I would form one building, and he would smash it. Quite funny. We went to the Gulfarium for a dolphin show, which Gavin loved, he actually wanted in the dolphin's pool really badly. Everytime we went anywhere, he passed smooth out in the truck. He played hard and loved every minute, as did we. We can't explain how much fun we have with our little man. I think its evident in pictures! We look forward to next year's Destin trip!!!

6/13/2008: On our way back from Destin, we stayed the night in Baton Rouge, LA. That afternoon, we went to the Baton Rouge Zoo. We had fun, it was an awesome zoo. Gavin did great, considering we were 3 very tired beach bums. His favorite part was the train ride around the zoo!

6/5/2008: Sharing pictures from my surprise 30th birthday party this past Saturday. It was a great time with family and friends. Even my grandparents from Louisiana came in. I appreciate my parents hard-work in setting it all up, great time was had by all! Gavin of course loved spending time with everyone!

6/5/2008: Gavin got a new pool from Nanny & PawPaw, and he loves it of course! Anything to do with water and outdoors, you have guaranteed Gavin approval! Also included a couple pictures of him playing in his room. He loves to sing and play piano and guitar.

5/23/2008: These were taken last weekend in Burnet. Gavin loved beautiful Lake Buchanan, as he did the awesome pool! He also had a great time with cousin Chance, and of course with his Nanny and PawPaw!

Last Updated: 11/19/2008