The Sellers Boys

Friday, December 30, 2016

Another Year in the Books

There were a lot of complaints about 2016, or at least a lot of people whining about it, but for us, it wasn't half bad. We kept working on our house remodel, kept watching the kids growing up and playing sports and doing well in school, and went on a fair share of adventures along the way. I look now at the blog and see I wasn't nearly as active as I have been in the past, which is unfortunate. Maybe social media has changed the world since I started this blog, and in many ways it's easier to connect with people around the country in so many other formats. The world is not as small as it used to be. When I started this blog, the intention was to share photos and memories with family in Montana from our new lives in Florida. That was five states and eight years ago. Now I find myself working on another blog book for Becky and I realize how important these posts are to us. They capture snap shots of time periods and memories we won't get to experience again. If I have a resolution for the new year it will be to make sure we use our real camera more than our camera phones in 2017. Getting the camera out means we're getting out, together, doing things we won't want to forget. We're thankful for everyone we get to do those things with and we wish we could do more. But more than anything, we're thankful for these three boys, and the memories we'll always have. So here they are for the holidays, and we hope everyone out there is enjoying the season and looking forward to a new year!

Another Miller Thanksgiving!

A couple of years ago we went up to Missouri to celebrate Thanksgiving with the Miller Family, and since the colder weather is far more enjoyable in Missouri than the hot and humid weather, we thought we'd do it again. Besides, we don't get a lot of "winter" down this way, as in... none at all. It really wasn't winter there either, but it was colder, thankfully. It was a great time in Keytesville and the boys loved hanging with their many Miller cousins. We ate turkey, threw the football around, and I schooled Grandpa Jim and the boys in Risk. Unfortunately, Rowan was able to embarrass me in Connect Four multiple times, but we'll just forget about that. We also took the drive up to Swan Lake, and enjoyed hanging out with the oldest Miller boy before he heads off to be one of the few and the proud. Say what you will about rural Missouri, but we have thoroughly enjoyed our times there.

Big Rocks and Dinosaur Tracks

We took another road trip in November and it passed us through a couple of Texas State Parks, including Enchanted Rock and Dinosaur Valley. We'd been wanting to check both of them out for a while, so while we were headed to Missouri, we thought we'd take the time to finally do it. Enchanted Rock is a massive dome of rock pushed out of the Earth by some sort of volcanic activity. It was a pretty decent hike to the top of it, but not too difficult, and this was probably the perfect time of year to do it. We went to the summit and braved the winds, then hiked down the rocky canyon and around the base of the dome. The following day, we stopped in Glen Rose at Dinosaur Valley to check out the dinosaur tracks preserved in the icy waters of the river that flowed through. Apparently, some massive long-necked dinosaurs migrated through the area followed by some smaller raptor-like predators and left footprints in the ground that were quickly filled in and petrified (in ways I can't explain). Either way, we saw footprints the ranger said were dinosaur footprints. It was cool. And by cool, I mean COLD. I had to wade barefoot through the water carrying Paul on my back to see some of them, and the water was a little frigid. Good times.

Foreign Travels

In late August and into September, I was fortunate enough to get to travel overseas for work (with a little free time...ok, quite a bit of it). I'd never been out of the states, so it was a new adventure. I traveled to Norway for a week or so, and then on to the UK. It was an incredible trip I'll never forget. I wish Becky and the boys could have traveled with me and I'm sure there would have been far more pictures if they had. Unfortunately, the plane tickets alone were a little outrageous, so I'm not sure when we'll ever be able to take five of us on a trip like that. Either way, I had stories to tell and souvenirs to bring back, so it all worked out. Here are just a few pics to remind myself to add this to the blog book I'll inevitably make at some point.

The Fjord in Oslo, Norway.

Trondheim, Norway.

After tea with the Queen at Buckingham Palace.

Viking burial ship in Sweden.

Tower of London.

Friday, November 11, 2016

Play Ball...

Still trying to catch up on the blog, still way behind. But the Summer of '16 for us was somewhat dominated by baseball, now that I look back at the photos. In June, Adam was on the T-Ball all-star team and I coached to a series of defeats (oh well). We celebrated the 4th of July at a Hooks game and watched the fireworks under the bridge. Then Adam moved up to coach pitch and Nolan started Pee-wee T-Ball. Oh yeah, and the Indians fell to the Cubs in the 10th Inning of Game 7 of the World Series. They almost made it. Our baseball is done for this year, but what a year it was...

Future big leaguer...

'Merica!

Let's hear it for the Hooks!

Go Red Raiders!

Go Baylor Bears!

Sunday, September 25, 2016

June Vacations Part II - Montana

Becky and the boys made their annual trip to Montana. It's always a highlight of their summer to get to hang out with the grandparents and cousins. This year was just as fun: