Last week Titus experienced his second Halloween. Last year we bought him a hot dog costume which he only wore for about 10 minutes. This year Titus was loaned a costume and he got to be a turtle. Surprisingly, he wore his costume for a few hours. Oh, but he refused to wear the part of the costume that went over his head. We were invited over to a friends house for a party for the first part of the night and trick or treating afterwards. It was a fun night.

Not a happy kid. That’s okay Titus, I don’t like hats either!

What’s cooler than a turtle? A turtle in a truck!

Titus enjoyed a Halloween wagon ride.

We did stop at one house with our nifty plastic bag for family. After this house, Titus spent the rest of the time in the wagon.

I truly think that babies get the shaft when it comes to birthdays. Well, maybe it’s just my baby. Titus celebrated his first birthday on June 11th. What did we do? Chick-fil-a! Woo hoo!

Who wouldn’t want to do Chick-fil-a for thier birthday? I was at camp all week and left early so I could get to Austin in time to celebrate. Since we were still pretty new, we were a little short on the friends list (it’s starting to grow a little now). So, we invited my boss and his wife (no, it’s not as pathetic as that sounds… we really like them a lot). Titus had some presents to open and some cake to eat. Welcome to the world of sugar my son!

Birthday Cake from Kenny Conley on Vimeo.

Birthday Cake 2 from Kenny Conley on Vimeo.

On my way to summer camp today (Camp started on Saturday, I just made my way up after church on Sunday), I made a pit stop in Longview where I met up with Joel and Heidi. Actually, I had dinner with Joel before seeing Prince Caspian. I know, you’re probably thinking… movie? Really? You only see this good friend of yours every 2 years and the first thing you do is go see a movie? Yes. It was actually Joel’s idea. You see, all you girlies don’t really understand this. Guys can bond just as much sitting in a movie theatre or playing a video game as girls would while shopping or planting flowers together. You see, it’s a powerful, shared experience that’s linked with a movie we may never forget. As I think back at some of the big movies in my life… I remember who I saw them with. Really, I do! I saw Batman with my friend Ronnie in the 6th grade. I saw space camp with my mom, dad and brother (we didn’t see many movies together as a family… so it was special). I saw ET with my Dad, and Return of the Jedi with my grand father. Braveheart I saw with my best friend Stephen right after graduating from High School. I saw Titanic with Sara and Transformers with my friend Ryan. I could go on and on, I remember most of them. So, I added one more shared experience to the list tonight.

(Oh, and I talk and video chat with Joel all the time… so it’s not like we haven’t both talked and seen each other!

Oh, back to this blog!!!!

On February 8th I celebrated my 31st birthday. Unfortunately for me I spent the first half of the day traveling, sick with a cold and the last half of the day packing. Two days later I got to celebrate my birthday with some of my best friends in Texas. It was a reprise of my 30th birthday… a party at my favorite Mexican joint “Mi Pueblo!”

Here are some pics of my friends. Unfortunately I didn’t get pictures with everyone who came.

We met the Stevens about 6 months after we moved to Texas. They visited Anchor Church (the church I moved to Texas to work for), joined and by some coincidence, I baptized JD. Almost three years later, we’re great friends, Shelby is on staff at our new church and both our families have/are expanded.

Twice now we’ve gone to JD’s parents lake house in Possum Kingdom. Both times were a welcome retreat from the business of life. Ultimately it was a great time for all of us to hang out. We went last spring just before Titus was born and it was so awesome! Below are some pictures from this last visit.