Fun Weekend of Showers

Last weekend I went home to Uvalde for two showers for two very good, and very pregnant friends, Sami and Sarah. I had such a great time seeing friends, family and watching Sami and Sarah so happy and glowing!

Thursday, I left Childress and headed to Abilene to meet Julia. She rode with me down to Uvalde and we had such a great visit on the way there and back. I love that we were friends, but not besties by any means in high school. Then, we both went to A&M and ended up both being Psychology majors (and are now both teachers), and we grew much closer. And now, although I don't see her very often, I consider her one of my closest confidantes. We have been through very similar situations the last few years and even got married within a few months of one another. I was blessed to be one of the few "Uvalde people" in attendance and I'm grateful I got to share that special day with them!

Thursday night I spent putting together Sami's hostess gift at my parents' house; I was so proud of myself for doing it all alone!

Our hostess gift to Sami, her jogger stroller!

During the day Friday, I ran errands with mom, ate lunch with good friends, Aaron and Jill Phillips and Caleb, Aaron's little brother. Then, Friday night I cohosted a shower for Sami, due October 10th, with our good friend Meredith at her new home.

Meredith, Sami, and me

Sami (holding baby Hagan), Julia, Sarah, Tania

It is beautiful and, as always, decorated so cute! She did a great job getting it ready for the shower in 3 short weeks!! We just had "dinner" of finger foods...I made sopapilla cheesecake, chocolate dipped strawberries and artichoke dip with sliced french bread.

Sambo and me

We had a great time visiting and watching Sami open her presents. She is a beautiful mommy-to-be and it is so great to see my dear friend so very happy! Can't wait for baby Harris to be here!

Saturday morning I went to a very sweet ladies shower for Sarah, due September 14th.

Sarah opening gifts Saturday morning.

She also looked gorgeous and was literally glowing with excitement. She is certainly going to be a great mom to Sweet Baby H!

Sarah and Sami, tummy to tummy!

Lastly, Saturday early evening I went to my dear friend, Tania's house with my mom. There are four of us who are really close from high school and when we're all in town, we try to get together and have lunch with the moms and daughters. So, we headed to the Leskovar's for empanadas, hummus and some GREAT visiting. Unbeknownst to Sami, Sarah or me, Tania was planning on asking us to be part of her "mis amigas" or house party, for her wedding. She wrote each of us a sweet little note and gave us some awesome Tyler candles as a little gift. It was so touching! We are all really excited about Matt and Tania's upcoming wedding in April! Good times.

Good friends...Tania, Sarah, Sami, me with my note from Tania.

Lastly, here are the pretty mommas (minus Tane, Sarah's mom)...Celina (Tania's mom), Becky (Sami's mom), and Laura (my mom).

Sunday we headed back around 10 a.m., which, if you know Richard and/or me, you realize what a miracle that was. But, Rich wasn't with me and I had another person to think about, so we got home in plenty of time for Bible study and a nap!

GREAT times with GREAT friends...

Good Times in U-Town

UHS Class of 1997 10-Year Reunion

Friday Night, June 22, Lonestar Saloon

Rich and me before we left for the Lonestar Saloon.

This is a picture of me with my cousin, Jimmy Cleaver. He also went to UHS. Until February of this year, I hadn't seen the kid in over 6 years! It was good to see him!

Some '97 girls...Sami, Sarah, me, Amanda, Kelly












Some '97 guys...Roy, Roland, Stephen, Johnny

Maricela, Tania and me!

What's a party without a little bit of dancing...
Dana, Dawn, Maria, Kelly, Weslie (married into
UHS fame), and me! Vale Rodriguez was the band
and they were great!

Couples...Rich and me*, Matt and Tania*(back), Misty and Roland* (front left), Weslie and Stephen* (front right)

Saturday, June 23
Picnic on the Frio River

Richard, John and Matt (all husbands/significant other) of a UHS grad are grilling burgers and hot dogs for the occasion! Thanks, dad, for the grill!









While we were setting up, this Axis deer just wandered up the river bank to our picnic. The kids thought it was great!





















'97 girls at the river...Tania, Kyley, Sami, Meredith and me





A group of classmates and some of their mates...Kyley*, me*, Kami* and John, Curtis*, Jennifer*, JoJo*, Sami* and Blake.




Here is Roland with his 8-week old son, Kade. His wife was the redhead, Misty in some of the above pictures. What a sweetie!







This is me with the SWEETEST, MOST BEAUTIFUL child I have ever known. Her name is Mason Ann Elliott (Mae Mae by her Momma) and I absolutely love her! I could have hung out with her the whole reunion! She knows how to count to ten in SPANISH and will point to certain body parts if you ask them in Spanish...she's only TWO! She has big blue eyes and I could just eat her up! You can't tell, but in this picture, when she put her arms around me she found my ponytail and was pulling on it so I was laughing!












It's been a long day and it just started! We are ready to head home but are waiting on people to start leaving...everyone was having such a great time, but we had to unload chairs and tables and get home to get ready for the evening!

Saturday Night...Uvalde Country Club

The setup...

The buffet...potatoes, pork tenderloin, chicken of some sort, and a salad/bread.













The dessert table...cheesecake. On the other side was a cake with Class of 1997 written on it.










Some of the classmates put together a memory table of classmates who have passed away since graduation. There are five that we know of. Jennifer Hernandez (below left) died in a car wreck and left two children behind. Kristi Mahmalji (upper left) got sick and could never recover. Jessica Hernandez (middle) died of Leukemia, Rhonda Waller (bottom right) died in a car wreck just a few months after graduation, and Bennie Arreola (upper right) took his own life. The last one few people knew about until we got to the reunion, so we were all obviously shocked by this news. In the middle is Rhonda's mortar board and a poem she wrote about graduation and leaving our friends. It was very touching.


Another classmate put together a DVD slideshow (everyone got a copy of it to take home) of pictures sent to her by classmates. It was GREAT! We also had DVD's of Sports Spectacular and Graduation Spectacular.














Tania and I handed out awards to classmates. We had 10 total and they were really fun!












The studs...Stephen and Roland with all the girls (from right to left) Kyley, Sami, me, Kami and Tracye.










Kami and Kyley are best friends...they each bought a dress and then one called the other to tell her about it. Turns out, they bought the EXACT same dress but in a different color! They were both registration girls so it looked like they did it on purpose!














Our table for dinner...Roland* and Misty, Julia* and David, Richard (taking picture) and me* and Sami* and Blake.




These are just tables we had set up outside.













By the end of the night, this is where everyone was...in the bar of the country club. Most of us went in there for 2 reasons...the a.c. was working better in there, and there were comfy places to sit down!
One of our classmates was at the reunion but was also working that night as our chef at the country club!
Tania and me...she was the coordinator of the whole reunion and did an AWESOME job! She had koozies made for everyone, DVD's of the slideshow and directories to take home. I was very impressed with how much she took on, but no one was surprised...she's been that way forever!
It's been a long weekend and I'm exhausted. This is me with Weslie and Stephen, the parents of the beautiful Mae Mae! Now, do we even have to wonder why she's so cute? C'mon!
These are all (well almost all...I think there were a few, maybe 5, that didn't hear the announcement for group picture time) of our classmates that made it to the reunion. I think there ended up being around 50. I guess that's not too bad, but we did graduate with 280 in our class. Those who did show, had a GREAT time!
"We'll always be, Loyal and True, all through our school days and when we are through. Uvalde High, three cheers for you...rah, rah, rah...we pledge our hearts and our selves to you."