December 2019

 12/31 - We didn't do to much during the day.  The 4 of us went to early dinner at Blue Fish.  That's where Greg and I used to go for New Years Eve.   We went to friends party in the evening to say hi and have a few drinks then came home to celebrate with the kids bringing in the new year.   Around Midnight Greg got an idea to get tickets to the Winter Classic Hockey game the next day.  Luckily Grammy and Gramps were up at their own party so when we texted to see if they could keep the kids (they didn't want to go) they could answer :)

12/25 - Christmas Day - Kasey came in at 8:30am and said it was time for presents.   Santa brought Landon earpods and Kasey Peppa Pig doll house.    We took our time and got ready.  Then we headed to lunch and Christmas with Greg's family.  We had enchiladas, yummy dessert and then got to catch up with family.  It was a nice afternoon.

12/24 - Christmas Eve - I was up til about 3am wrapping presents.  We got up and walked Patch, got ready, had quick late lunch then headed to Grammy and Gramps place for Christmas Eve.   We started with Nachos and Margaritas. Kasey, Grammy and I sat on the balcony with Grammy's tree.  We ate yummy tacos, opened presents, and had yummy dessert.  Then we played a curling game that Landon got and walked down the hall to game room to play darts and poker. We all had a good time and enjoyed spending time together.

We came home, got cookies and milk out for Santa, the kids put reindeer food in the yard and it was off to bed for the kids.   I still got to read them the night before Christmas.  Kasey and I had watched the Santa Claus Movies - so she wanted me to say Scott Calvin instead of  Santa Claus.

12/22 - Today was our Girl Scout skating event.  We have over 150 people skating.   The troops got their pictures with Santa and each girl scout got some treats (made by the girls), some reindeer food for Santa's reindeer.  The event went pretty well overall.   Afterwards several of the families from our troop went out to dinner at Kelly's.  The moms go out pretty often, but we don't do it often if ever with our spouses.  It was a fun night.

12/21 - Kasey and I spent the morning prepping with my co-leader for Skating with Santa event that our troop is leading.

That night Greg and I had a neighborhood wine party.   We closed down the party which was fun. We ended up bringing all the wine bottles home to recycle - it was a lot :)

12/20 - The kids had 1/2 day today.   Several weeks ago Greg had gotten us tickets to see Star Wars.  Chip - our Elf, brought tickets.  Kasey was not excited, but Landon was.   We also made reservations to have a nice dinner after the movie at Knife.   Good steak dinner for the family.

12/17 - Kasey had an eye appointment today.  She is getting glasses. She goes from being excited to being nervous about it.

12/16 - It was our 19th wedding anniversary.  We spent the evening with Landon's Boy Scout troop 1299 - it was there 20th anniversary of when the troop was created.   They had several Troop masters and committee chairs from the beginning of the troop.  It was cool to hear from them what was important to them.  There were also several from the original troop and many of the boys who have gotten Eagle Scout through troop 1299.  It was a fun way to spend the evening.

12/14 - Today Landon finished up Regional workshop and they performed late afternoon.  They spent about 8 hours learning 5 pieces of music to play.  Landon enjoyed it but was pretty tired afterwards.

12/13 - Tonight we had our friend dinner.  We went to Knife and enjoyed good food, wine and friends.

12/12 - We got a text today that Landon will get to perform in Regional band this weekend. He was excited.

12/10 - Landon had his Christmas band concert tonight.  They got to play on the 9th grade stage which was nice.  He seemed to enjoy it.

12/8 - The boys got home from campout.  Landon was pretty tired.  Kasey had a Christmas piano recital in the afternoon and then she had an evening had a Pom Squad performance in Richardson.  She did well in both events.   The grandparents got to go to both.  Landon stayed home for both which Kasey thinks is very unfair because of all of Landon's sports games she's had to go to.

12/6 - The boys were leaving for a campout.  I got home to get Kasey and a friend.  We went to eat dinner then headed to the neighborhood party.  Always fun catching up with friends from the neighborhood, and the kids have fun running around.

Christmas Letter 2019

Hello family and friends:

I hope this letter finds everyone doing well. We’ve had another blessed year and hope you have as well.

I'm still working at TI, we are doing a huge project in one of my teams that will take over a year.

It's still fun but challenging. I did some traveling for work to China, Houston, Austin and the North East. This year I am doing web and VP of membership for the elementary school PTA and I am Treasurer for the middle school PTA. This made the late summer and fall really busy. I'm still co-leading Kasey's Girl Scout Troop. This year we are running a Skating with Santa event and the girls are working on their Bronze award. They have decided to make stuffed animals that they will donate to the local fireman and policeman (they use them to help calm kids in difficult situations). In the summer I worked at a local Girl Scout Twilight camp - this was mine and Kasey's 5th year to go.

Greg has been spending a lot of time training for Boy Scout Philmont trip next summer - its a big high adventure trip where they will hike 70-100 miles in 10 days - everyone has to train for it. He has lost over 50 pounds walking and eating better. He's still very involved in Landon's Boy Scout Troop doing advancement, adult training and organizing board of reviews. He's still doing clubhouse coordination for the neighborhood which can a bit crazy. This year for my team at work that is local Greg made desserts for them through the year. It ended up being a lot of desserts - we might need to cut back next year. For Kasey's birthday she wanted me to make a cake that looked like Patch. Greg made cake and icing on the way out the door for the weekend and I decorated the cake. I thought it looked pretty good :)

We've still been going to A&M football games this year at least home games. We got to go down for Thursday game just adults and made most of the home games.

We did some traveling this year. Spring Break we rented a big cabin up in Broken Bow Oklahoma. We had both grandparents and even the dog with us. We had fun relaxing, walking the dog, watching movies, fishing, and cooking together. We decided to book it again next year :)

While the kids were at Pine Cove Greg and I went to an all inclusive resort in Cancun for a long weekend. We drove through a storm to get to the airport on the way out there, and about the leave the resort at the end our flight was cancelled. Luckily we were able to get a little cheaper room online and just stayed at the resort one more night - free food and drinks and pool time worked out well :) After that we went to Seaside area in Florida for a week with the kids. We rented a house and enjoyed some beach time, good food, and a little shopping. Closer to the end of summer Greg and I took a trip to Napa area with some friends to celebrate a few friends turning 50. Always fun in Napa to try new wines, visit some old favorites and eat good food. We rented a house that had a pool and Jacuzzi which was really nice in the afternoons between wine tastings and dinner.

Over the summer, both kids went to sleep away camp for a week at Pine Cove. They had fun. This year Kasey went by herself and Landon went with a few friends. Landon also went to Tennessee and flew by himself to see a friend.

Kasey is now 11 and in 5th grade. She's taking hip hop with one of the other girl scouts and this year the girls are also doing Pom Squad. They have class each week and perform 4 times through the year including the recital. She really enjoys it. She's still also taking piano. Kasey is now a 2nd year junior in Girl Scouts. She's helping a lot with the Bronze award. At school Kasey has volunteered to do peer lunch helping with some of the kids with special needs. She's also in a Harry Potter club with the awesome librarian. Kasey helps us remember things often and keeps us on our toes. She enjoys watching YouTube and playing minecraft and Roblox. Kasey and I enjoy watching different movies and shopping of course.

Landon is now 13 1/2, and in 8th grade which is his last year of middle school so he's heading to high school next year. Seems crazy. Landon played football again this fall (right tackle and linebacker). He's decided this will be his last year playing football but it was fun watching him play. This year in band he is in the top band at the middle school (honor band) and he got All City and All Region. For All City and Region they spend about 8 hours with a visiting conductor learning multiple pieces of music, and then they perform for the families. We enjoyed All City performance, Honor Band Christmas concert then Regional performance. This year in Scouts Landon was awarded Life Rank which is the rank below Eagle. He also was awarded Order of the Arrow which is a prestigious award in Scouts. The boys are selected by leaders. He's currently Assistant Senior Patrol Leader in the troop. Landon and I enjoy watching some different shows together and have been watching Friends which enables some interesting discussions. Landon really enjoys playing online games and watching YouTube.

We hope that everyone has a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. May God Bless you this
coming year.


Love, Dana, Greg, Landon, Kasey & Patch Myers

November 2019

11/27-11/30 - I took Wednesday off to hang with the family.  Greg had several people going to Philmont walking multiple days that week in a row.  It was pretty wet so they walked the track at the high school some days then walked Connemara when it dried out some.  Patch loved the 5 mile walks.  Wednesday one of the boys was coming that was afraid of dogs so Greg left Patch home with me.    Kasey rode bikes with friends, I walked Patch 3+ miles and the boys walked Connemara for 5+ miles.

Somehow we ended up doing leaves all afternoon.  I didn't think we had to many but we filled up 25 bags with leaves.  Needless to say we were a bit tired, but Greg and Kasey still started cooking for Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving morning I slept in a little.  Kasey came in to tell me it was her birthday :)   She's so excited for her birthday.  Kasey and Greg were working on cooking.  I got showered and help get stuff organized as well.   We got everything ready and the family came over with their food.  We had a great lunch and then celebrated Kasey's birthday with the family.  Fun times and good food as always.

Friday we decided to get Freebirds from lunch to take  break from leftovers - and it's what the birthday girl wanted.  Both kids wanted to do some shopping but Greg and I didn't really want to deal with crowds on Black Friday.  We did do some online shopping though :)

Friday and Saturday I started working on calendars.  Saturday we went to Grammy's house so the kids could fill her Santa hats with kisses.  Always fun.

We had 5th street for dinner while we watched the Aggies lose.

Sunday somehow I slept until 11:30.  We got up, had lunch.  The boys went walking while Kasey and I worked on girl scout stuff.   We all went to dinner then got the Christmas stuff out.  We got 2 trees up and some stuff decorated.

11/25 - Started the day with Kasey's yearly check up, went to work and came home to eat.   A few of the ladies were meeting up for a few drinks to start the holiday week.  It was fun to get out for a little while.

11/20 - Landon performed at the high school with other honor band students from the 3 Allen middle schools.  They played 1 song, but it was neat to see them perform at the Allen PAC.

11/15 - 11/17 - I left 1/2 day  when a big meeting got moved so we could all drive to college station together.  Grammy and Gramps got Landon to where they were leaving for his campout and dinner.  Kasey wanted to come with us.   We got to the house and discovered it had 1 fewer beds than we expected.  The boys went to watch A&M play Gonzaga in basketball.  Kasey and I went to BJs then went to see a movie which was fun.  After the boys got back Kasey was in bed and we watched the first few episodes of the Mandilorian.  I love Disney+.

The next morning we slept in some, had breakfast and hung out at the house for a while.   One of my college roomates was coming in town and staying with us for the weekend.   They arrived and we all headed to Northgate.  We got 2 tables at Duddleys, got food (some from Duddleys and some next door at Freebirds).  We watched some football and got to talk while the kids went to hang out in the back.   It was great to catch up just like we hadn't missed a beat.   We sat together during the football game and the Aggies won.   After the game we went back to the house, got the kids to bed and we stayed up having a few drinks and talking.  Very fun times.

The next morning we slept in a little then headed back home.   We had to girls come over that afternoon to work on their Bronze award.  They made a video to share at their schools and made some small signs to post on boxes they are going to put at the school.

11/14 - Tonight we took Girl Scouts down to Northpark to do cybersecurity at Microsoft store.  It was good teaching them some about computers, hardware, software and how to look at messages and images to see if they are real or not.

11/11 - Landon had regional tryouts for band tonight.  He was 2nd alternate for regionals.  He was disappointed, but that means he was in the top ~300 band kids of 1000+ that tried out.

11/10 - Landon went early to Veterans Day celebration at the church - he was there with other scouts and getting some service hours.   After he got home we had some lunch together.  Then Kasey and I went shopping.  We went to a craft fair and had a lot of fun shopping.  We got several things for Kasey's birthday.   We came home for a little bit and then went to the salon for manicures.

After that the kids and I went to dinner at La Madeleine.  We tried to convince Kasey that she could like it but don't think we were successful.  Landon and I like it :)

11/9 - We had a busy but good day.  I went to a friend's mom's funeral with my mom.  Sad,but it was good to see my friend and her family.   During this time Landon was doing Regional band tryouts.

That afternoon Kasey had her first POM Squad performance at a Veterans Day celebration.   The grandparents were there and enjoyed seeing some of the old cars there.  Pops got to sit in a 53 Ford that was like 52 Ford he had.  Gramps saw one similar to one his dad had and told us a story when his dad turned it on it's side and they had to get it right side up.  That incident tore up part of the side, and Gramps still has scars on his legs from that.

Kasey did well in her performance and seems to really enjoy it.  Right after Kasey's performance Landon found out that he made it to the next round of tryouts for Regionals with band.  So proud of both of them.

11/3 - Today we had a girl scout activity to do programming with TI robots.   The girls got to change colors of lights, then they got to program the robot to move forward, backward and turn around with different increments.  It was really cool seeing them enjoy programming.  Kasey really liked doing it and had the robot do several things in a row.

After that we did low ropes course.  They have it set up at the STEM center several lower obstacles that the girls had to work together to get across.   They did them so they had spotters and then had to pass each other on the obstacle.  It was neat to see them work together and all get to try .

October 2019

10/31 - Halloween, it was a little different this year as the kids start to grow up.  Landon hung out with friends and had Laynes.  They ended up running around trick or treating, some of them without costumes.  Teenagers :)

Kasey and I went to neighbors house for dinner and drinks.   Then Kasey wanted to trick or treat with a few of her friends instead of the older girls at the neighbors.   I took the 3 of them around the neighborhood trick or treating.  We had fun.  They found the 2 houses that had full size candy bars.  This year a few places even gave parents candy :)

10/29 - It was Landon's last football game - maybe forever.   It was a cold wet night.  Cindy and Carlos came up to see him play.   We lost pretty bad, but it was still fun to watch them play.

10/27 - Auction started today, we got our parking spot one more year.   Kasey also wanted to bid on being Principal for the day and she ended up winning.  She's excited :)

10/26 - Greg left really early to head to College Station for Aggie game with Doug.  I got up early to take Landon and a friend to All City band workshop.   The grandparents, Kasey and I went to see Landon's performance.   It was kids from all 3 middle schools.  Landon was 5th chair for the french horns, 2nd from his school.  They played 4 songs, and performed really well especially for just working on the songs that morning.   The director was from a nearby city but has a few kids in our district in band and talked to families to encourage kids to be part of the band.  

Greg was on his way back and I was heading to a Halloween party.  We had fun with lots of karaoke :)

10/25 - I got to have girls night.  We went nearby places to have a few drinks.  Fun time with ladies.

10/19 - We started the morning doing Tango Tab feed the city with girl scouts and families.  Landon came with us and he ended up being a runner which means he was running around the whole time and even got sweaty.  We donated then made many sandwiches for families that don't have enough food.  Fun activity.

10/17 - Landon tried out for all City with band and made it.  We are proud of him.

10/15 - I worked all morning then we went to the State Fair as a family.  We had corn dogs, a few beers, the kids got to ride some rides, we saw dog show, and enjoyed some time together.   It's expensive but fun.  Good think we went on 1/2 price entrance day - ha!

10/11 - 10/14 - We got the kids after school and headed down south.  We stopped in to get some Mexican food as we headed to Aunt Mary's.  Greg wouldn't let us stop til we got close.  We got to visit and eat with a few drinks with family  which is always fun.

We got up the next morning, had yummy breakfast, showered then headed to College Station.  Kasey decided to stay with aunt Mary and they had fun talking.  Grammy and Gramps drove down.  The game was 2:30 so we got back to have a late dinner and hang out with family.  We got the kids to bed, the guys went to bed and the ladies stayed up with some drinks and lots of laughs.  Discussions not to be shared in the blog, but we had a great time :)

Sunday, more and more family came over.   We enjoyed food, visiting, watching the kids have fun together.  Its always fun spending time with family.  The kids had Monday off so we stayed Sunday night and headed home Monday after grabbing  a few fajitas to go for lunch.

10/8 - Landon had a football game tonight.   During the game a mom went to the fence, yelled Landon's number and told him to block better.  After the game Greg went up to her and told her she didn't have a right to call out kids on the field that aren't hers.   She came up to Greg at pick up and started again.  The coaches had to run her off.

10/6 - Landon went through his order of the arrow ordeal this weekend to become a member.  A few of the boys went together.  Proud of them.

10/1 - Landon played football tonight and the band was performing at the game.  So fun and lots of families there.  The boys won big at home too!

September 2019

9/28-9/29 - We had a few girl scout events.  The girls came over to present their research for their bronze award, and we decided on which one we wanted to focus on.  

Sunday most of the girls and few moms took a self defense class from a lady who is 8 time black belt.  It was a good class.  We learned a few thing how to handle if someone grabs you on the arm from the front and from behind

9/18-21 -  Kasey and I went to Sky Ranch with the 5th grade class.   We stayed in a big cabin with over 30 girls and 17 moms.  We had 6 showers and 6 toilets.  I convinced them we needed some extra space so they gave us access to another cabin which we used for several of us to shower at night.  There was some drama the first night with girls not wanting to go to sleep and some of the adults getting up early woke most everyone.

We had lunch when we first got there then started class.  The kids did a challenge/team building class, fishing class (which at the end they cut open a fish to show you different parts - Kasey did not want to watch, but she caught a fish that was released), they did a really fun american indian class where they got face paint, an indian name, got to taste buffalo jerky and learn from teachers dressed like indians.   They also did another science class where they got to make and shoot rockets, race Mr Potato head, and learn about erosion.   Great classes.  

In the evenings they had some free time to go swimming and do a few other things. Kasey wanted to go swimming then to water slides the first day. The 2nd day she wanted to go to the store then to the big blob to bounce.  Kasey and a few of the girls were there with a few of the boys.  They had so much fun.

The food was ok.   Kasey and I ate with Julie and Violet most of the time.   We were pretty tired when we got back but we kept going.  The night we got back we went to Oktoberfest in Addison.

The next day we day tripped College Station.  Kasey and I both slept in the car a good bit and some at the game :)

9/14 - Greg and Landon went to train for Philmont while Kasey and I walked Patch.  We all got showers and ready and Greg and I headed to College Station with Doug.  We had lunch at Wings n More, then had some beer and football at Duddleys before heading to the game.  Luckily A&M won the game.  We left a little early and headed back since my parents were staying at the house with the kids.

9/10 - Landon had another football game in Wylie.   He didn't play as much tonight but they won!

9/7 - Kasey a few other girls from the Girl Scout troop went to help at a recruiting event.  We probably had 40 younger girls there.  Our girls helped them do some activities while we talked to the parents and then they brought the girls back in and led them in some fun songs.  It was really fun to start seeing them as the older girls and helping out leading.

9/4 - Tonight was Landon's first football game of 8th grade.  It was also the first home game at the new stadium at our school.   It was hot but fun.  This year we have cheerleaders and several students show up to watch.

They boys lost, but Landon got 3 tackles as linebacker.  He played both linebacker and right tackle and played quite a bit of the game.

9/2 - We really had a pretty lazy labor day weekend.  The kids and I went to see Angry Birds 2, Greg went to see Auburn play football at Jerry World.

August 2019

8/29 - Greg and I got to go down for the A&M vs Texas State football game.  Kids were in school since it was a Thursday so Grandma stayed with the kids and Patch.  We headed down in the morning, had some lunch and shopping until we were able to check in.   Then we enjoyed a few drinks at the George before heading to early dinner at Porter and then walking to the game.  Aggies won!

8/27 - Friday Landon was told he had made the A team in football.  He wasn’t sure about that because compared to a lot of those guys he’s smaller, he’s playing for fun and most of his friends are on B team.  We found out today he got moved to B team. We are all ok with that 

8/21 - Kasey started her Pom Junior class today.  They will perform 4 times with the last one being at the dance recital.  She is taking it with a friend and enjoyed it.

8/17 - The boys got up early and went for their first Philmont training session - they walked 5 miles with backpacks and weights.   Its the start of a journey.  Kasey and I slept in and I walked the dog just before the boys got back.

8/12 - What at day.  I worked during the day then headed home early.  Landon had football checkin and it was meet the teacher night at the elementary school.  I got setup for PTA table which Kasey helped out.  I was wearing my VP membership nametag, my Girl Scout Leader pin, and Boy Scout ribbon with Landon's rank pins on it (in case people had questions).  Since I was at the PTA table for most of the evening we got to go to Kasey's teachers  little early.  We went to her homeroom teacher's class.  Kasey unpacked her supplies.  

We got to meet her homeroom teacher and ELA/Social studies teacher - both are named Mrs Wheeler.  We also got to hug her math teacher Mrs Harper who Landon had.   I spent the next few hours answering questions about PTA in the cafeteria.  Then I headed home to eat fast dinner and we headed to the Church for Boy Scout Court of Honor.  Landon received his Life Rank which is the rank below Eagle (very proud of him).  Landon was also one of the people leading the Court of Honor (MC for parts of it) and he received several merit badges from the summer.

8/10 - Most schools have moved to only electronic notification of teachers for the next year.  Our school sends electronic notification and sends home a letter in the mail from the teachers.   We found out Friday who Kasey had but she didn't want to know until she got her letter.  So today  Kasey checked the mail several times and it wasn't there.  We get a picture of the mail each day so I knew it was coming.   Finally Kasey found her letter.  She was so excited opening it and when she did she started yelling happily.  She got really good teachers and was excited.   She doesn't have to many friends in her class but has good teachers so she will be good.

July 2019

7/21 - While the boys were at summer camp - Landon had his board of review and earned his Life Rank.  This is the Boy Scout rank right below Eagle.  Very proud of him.  Several adults gave Greg feedback that Landon was doing a good job handling himself and was really doing a lot of work as leader.

The boys came back quite tired and needed lots of laundry done :)

7/15 - Landon had his board of review at summer camp and received his Life Rank in Boy Scouts.   Very proud of him.  He's acting as senior patrol leader at summer camp and Greg has heard from other adults that he's doing a good job.  

7/14 - We went to get breakfast in our pajamas.   I walked the dog in nice weather and Kasey went to a friends house for a while.    We went to a friends birthday party for the afternoon which was fun.  The girls got to swim and we got to hang out.

That night we went grocery shopping together, grabbed dinner and came home to hang out with Patchy.   Before bed we cooked onions for Kasey's lunch and made brownies for my work.

7/13 - Kasey and I had a fun day.  We hung out at home while I did a bunch of PTA stuff, we ran errands, did some shopping, and had some good lunch.   That afternoon we took some stuff to Grammy and Gramps and hung out with them for a little bit.  We came back to the house to chill with Patch a little bit.  Then we went to dinner with the Beach ladies.  Fun dinner at Wild Salsa and then the girls talked us into having frozen yogurt :)

7/12 - Today the boys left for summer camp. Greg is a driver and Landon was acting SPL.  I'm very proud of him for being asked to act as senior patrol leader for the whole troop for summer camp.  They will enjoy cool weather of Colorado for a week.

7/10 - Kind of a crazy time as usual.  We sort of last minute arranged to go out for Gramps and Greg's birthday.  Gramps wanted go to Outback Steakhouse.  We enjoyed Blooming onion, some steak and got a few desserts.  Yummy food and fun to spend some time with family.