Springtime at the Ranch

A few weekends ago we took some friends from church down to my parents' ranch to relax and grill and chat and relax some more.  I took my good camera with me on a whim, and I ended up having a really fun time snapping a ton of pictures of how beautiful the ranch is this time of year.  Enjoy!

 It's snake season so I grabbed some boots from Russell's closet before heading out to the old barns to take some more pictures.

This is how fashionable I was as I was taking these (a friend took this picture)--- a hoodie, long basketball shorts and men's size 11 boots.

 There is a lot of strange (cool) stuff in the old barns.

 Maya LOVES the ranch.

Did I mention that Santa brought a mondo telescope to the ranch for Christmas?  Kolby is more than a bit obsessed.  He figured out how to hook my camera up to it.  The pictures aren't as good as what you can see in the telescope because he has to take the zoom lens out to use the camera, but I think they are still impressive.

The moon (duh):

 Saturn (blurry, but how awesome is this shot?!?!):

Miscellaneous

Kolby is home.  All is right with my world again.  This was his last trip to Seattle (for grad school); now it's downhill until graduation in August!  Here are some pictures that a friend of his took of their time there.

Where Kolby stayed:

 A joke that's totally lost on me:

 Kolby having a conversation with Mark Jarman, who was a guest lecturer and also happens to be one of Kolby's absolute favorite writers and the main reason Kolby got interested in writing poetry in the first place:

 My happy camper:

 One of Kolby's best friends in the program:

What they really did the whole time:

While Kolby was gone I told a friend that “We are loading up and heading to the ranch this evening” and then got a little embarrassed when she asked who was going with me and I had to admit that I had used “we” with reference to me and Maya.  What can I say, she’s good company.

A few Saturdays ago was family work day down at the ranch.  I sit and work at a computer for over 8 hours a day 5 days a week, and sometimes I just really need to get away to a place that looks like this:Even if it means riding a tractor until the sun burned my shoulders to a crisp.

Eight years ago, my dad and I bought a boat.  OK, my contribution was limited, but I still lay claim to it.  Last weekend, my dad and I sold said boat.  [Cue the gasps from my friends--- I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.  There just was no easy way to say it in person, so I’m hiding behind the internet. :)]  It was just time.  We got a ton of use out of that boat through high school and college and beyond, but it just wasn’t getting used as much anymore.  When we took it to the boat shop the guy was very impressed with how many engine hours it had on it (that’s the comparable statistic to mileage for a car).  I guess a lot of people buy boats and then just don’t end up using them that much.  Our family (and friends) used the heck out of that boat.  It was perfect for us and I have a ton of fun memories of spending summer days out on the lake.  Here is our beautiful boat on the day of our final farewell:

And just for fun, here are some pics of my friends at the lake sometime forever ago (late high school or early college) that I found in a folder on my desktop last week:

 We had our final Life Group of the winter season a couple weeks ago.  Now we have some time off before the next round starts again.  Also, our church is getting really close to moving to a more permanent location, which is really exciting. 

Kolby preached at church last Sunday.  He filled in at the last minute when our pastor got really sick a few months ago, and I guess he did a good enough job to be asked back.  This time no sick pastor, just an invitation to preach.  Encore!  He did a phenomenal job, if you ask me.  :)

Have I mentioned here that Kolby’s parents gave him half season tickets for the Rangers as an early graduation gift?  Yep, we have 2 tickets to every-other home game this year.  Any guesses how many games that is?  41.  41!  We're already 3 games into it and it's a lot of fun already.  Ask me again when it's over 100 degrees outside and it may be a different story, but for now it is really fun.

At work this past week I was assigned a speaking engagement in Austin on June 28.  This is very, very unfortunate.  Being the keynote speaker at a an annual conference of 250+ people?  No problemo.  Giving a talk that lasts a full hour?  Easy peasy.  Leaving town 3 days before my nephew's due date?  NOT COOL.  I booked my flights in as narrow window possible so that I'll only be gone for about 8 hours, but if the baby decides to make his debut in that time frame I will absolutely die.  Tucker, if you are reading this--- don't even think about it, buddy!

Speaking of babies, we threw a precious (if I do say so myself) baby shower for Alayne and baby Collin today.  Now it's just a waiting game until the day we get to see his sweet face!

That's all for now. :)  

Miscellaneous

We don’t exactly have green thumbs around here.  We saved up to do a lot of landscaping last spring and we’ve nearly killed everything that we planted.  It’s one of those things that I joke about but on the inside I feel like I could cry when I think about how much money we basically flushed down the toilet.  We did everything right (but apparently not)—bought plants from a high-quality nursery rather than from a home improvement store ($$$), put in new soil ($$) and fed and watered everything as instructed ($).  Plus it was a ton of work.  If there is a next time, we’ll pay someone to come put the plants in and get some type of guarantee that they will survive.  Live and learn I guess. 

BUT, a few weeks ago we had our spirits lifted when a few plants that did survive started to bloom.  Granted they were really small, inexpensive plants—but we’ll take what we can get!  We also had at least 2 of our rose bushes survive and one has its first bloom of the year.  Can I get a hallelujah?!?

We plan to leave the dead azaleas in the ground for awhile as an effigy to the January-March 2010 savings that we’ll never reap the benefit from.

When the aforementioned plants (called Lenten Roses) started to bloom on the same day spring weather arrived in Texas, I took it upon myself to dig our front flowerbeds out from under a thick blanket of oak leaves and get things looking nice.  Four days later they were covered with some other type of leaves, but at least I got to enjoy them for a moment.

Speaking of not having a green thumb, we think we might have killed a great majority of the grass in the backyard.  Only time will tell.  I think having 2 dogs around, 1 of which poops excessively (I won’t name names), has really taken a toll. 

Here’s a rundown of some other things going on around here.

Kolby is in Seattle for grad school.  He’s absolutely loving it, as always.  He’s in the honeymoon phase of the residency right now—enjoying being around his writer friends and taking classes from some really acclaimed authors—but he usually starts getting homesick around day 6 or 7.  But for now, he’s one happy camper.

I had the privilege of being in my college roommate’s wedding this weekend in Raleigh, NC.  It was a blast.  She was an incredibly beautiful bride.  I doubt she and her husband will stay in Texas for long, but for now they will live about a hundred yards away from my office so it’s great to have her so close. 

The wedding weekend made me very grateful for Remy.  I had just turned 22 when Brad married Remy, giving me my first sister.  I’ve been making up for lost time by borrowing Remy’s clothes at every opportunity.  She pretty much outfitted me for all the wedding events, from the shoes to the dresses to the jewelry.  I’d say our sisterhood is rather parasitic in nature…  I’m not sure I bring much to the table.  But I’m sure glad to have her.  For a lot of reasons.  But this weekend, it was the stylish clothes.  Thanks, Rems!

Speaking of borrowing things for the wedding, I had an "I have some really great friends" moment last week when I met up with Laura, Alayne, Katie and Remy for lunch while they were on spring break.  I had asked earlier if they happened to have any red nail polish or gold-colored earrings I could borrow, and when I got to lunch they each pulled a bottle of red nail polish and a bag of jewelry out of their purses.  Sometimes it's the small things in life that make you really grateful to have best friends.  

  
Maya went to the vet for a teeth cleaning today.  I tried to take a picture of her new pearly whites to send to Kolby but she was just not having it.

Hooray for Maya for not running away for an entire month!  Hopefully the January/February string of prison breaks was just a phase.  Hopefully.

 Last week one of our neighbors' chickens was taken/eaten by a hawk, right out of their backyard.  I was cutting Kolby's hair on our back deck when it happened.  Their 7 year-old daughter invited us to the funeral.  You know, just a regular Wednesday evening around here.

Also last week, several members of Kolby's family visited me at work because his cousin is a Boy Scout and needed to tour a federal building as part of the requirements for a citizenship badge.  It was nice to have the company!

This past Sunday I invited myself over to Brad & Remy's for dinner.  They had spent the entire previous week sanding, staining and/or painting furniture for baby Tucker's room.  It all looks AMAZING.  Seriously impressive.  My mom came in town and worked really hard helping them out with several projects at the end of the week, and then I took over on Sunday by watching Brad grill me a hamburger and sitting on the couch watching the Baylor women's basketball game.  You're welcome.

Other than that, we're just enjoying the beautiful spring weather and looking forward to summer! 

Baby, Baby, oh Baby!

You know what they say--- good things come in threes!

 [if that’s not a real saying, just go with it!]

2011 will officially be the summer of babies around here.  One of my best friends, Alayne, is due with baby boy Collin in May.  He’s going to be super cute, funny & silly, and probably pretty quiet although part of me thinks he could be totally wild just to throw Alayne a curveball.  I can’t wait to meet him!

Then in July, Remy is due with my first nephew, Tucker.  Tuck.  Tuckle.  Tuckleberry.  Tucks McGee.  T-dub.  Tuck Tuck Goose.  I’m still working through my list of nicknames, not sure which will stick :).  He’s going to be cute as a button but he will most certainly be a wild child, there is just no way around it.  Get ready, sis!  You can keep up with Tucker and his in utero quest to be the largest baby of all time over at Remy's blog here.

Another one of my best friends, Katie, will be having a baby in August.  On my birthday, to be exact.  She’ll find out if it’s a boy or girl in a few weeks, but one thing that is for sure is it’ll be one attractive little baby.  And hopefully a redhead, too!  I think his or her temperament will likely be laid back and very sweet, but mischievous at the same time.  I can't wait to find out the gender and hear the precious name!   

I get together with these girls each week (if I say that we watch The Bachelor, how much judgment will I be subjecting myself to?) and it’s so fun to see their burgeoning baby bellies and chat about baby rooms, baby bedding, and all sorts of baby stuff.  One of them made a comment at the Super Bowl party several weeks ago that next year there will be three babies at that party.  Times are a changin’!  It’s such an exciting time, though, and we are so fortunate to live so (relatively) close to each other to get to experience stuff like this together.  I can’t wait to snuggle these newborns this summer and love on them as they grow older!

Travelocity Confirmation - Cancun

If that's not the best subject line in my email inbox right now than I don't know what is!

I just booked our summer vacation.  We are headed to Cancun with our good friends, Tyler & Erin.  Why?  Why not!  We found a super great deal through Travelocity for a 4-night stay at an all-inclusive resort on the beach.  Seriously, I couldn't be more excited.  I petitioned hard for a beach vacation last year when we were planning our first trip with Tyler & Erin but I got outvoted and we wound up on a hiking trip, huffing and puffing our way along miles and miles of National Park trails every day for a week.  [I kid, I kid--- it was a ton of fun and I'm so glad we chose that!]  But this year, all my dreams of reading a book on the white sand beach while having food and drinks delivered to me are going to come true :).

We've never stayed at an all-inclusive place before.  I've gotta tell you--- I think it'll be right down my alley!  Here's my favorite part of the hotel's website: "If you don’t feel like getting out of bed or want to enjoy a meal in your room, we offer room service 24 hours a day with no restrictions, no reservations, and no extra charge."  Boo ya!

Hooray for the chance to vacation with friends!

Valentine's Day

I first said “I love you” to Kolby nine years ago on Valentine’s Day.  We were the ripe old age of 16.  I remember every detail of where, when, how, and why.  It’s one of my favorite memories. 

His baggy jeans were no match for my butterfly hair clips.

We had a pretty low-key Valentine’s Day this year.  We went to dinner at our very favorite restaurant and then came home to watch a movie.  One of my favorite things about Kolby is that his idea of a hot date is the exact same as mine--- Mexican food and a relaxing evening at home.  As I’ve said before, we live on the edge.  

Now I’ll catch you up on all the equally edgy happenings since my last post.

We have had us some crazy winter weather around here lately.  It was below freezing for four days straight, which is completely unheard of for this part of Texas.  We got some rain and sleet right before that cold front came in, so the roads were frozen solid and Kolby had almost an entire week of snow days.  I worked from home for three of those days, and I think we went more than 72 hours without leaving the house.  It was a welcomed break, and Kolby was able to catch up on a lot of grad school work.  We actually got quite a bit of snow on our last snow day.  I tried to take some pictures of the family walk we took that morning, but I slipped and fell right off the bat so I had give up my idea of walking and snapping photos at the same time. 

We don't have any winter gear so we basically just put on all the clothes we could find.  And we used socks as gloves.  Keepin' it classy.  

Speaking of classy... check out those snow shoes.

Our little snow dog.

I promise my car isn't parked in the middle of our lawn.  There is a driveway under there somewhere.

My fall that morning was really stupid and really painful.  We were about 10 seconds into our walk when it started snowing really hard and I decided to run in the house and get a towel to cover my camera.  Run being the unfortunate key word there.  Because everything was covered with a thick soft blanket of snow, I totally forgot about the thick sheet of ice that lurked underneath.  Not only was I running, I was running with plastic grocery bags covering my tennis shoes, ensuring I had absolutely zero traction.  I don’t know what I was thinking.  Anyway, I hit the top step of our porch and my legs just shot out from underneath me.  Luckily I landed straight on my hip, which hurt really bad but kept me from breaking something (like my arm, tailbone or skull!).  The bruise was so deep it didn’t show up until five days later and is showing no signs of going away anytime soon.  Lesson learned.

Brad and Remy came over that afternoon and we celebrated the fact that they are having a baby BOY!  I snapped a few pictures to help then announce the good news.  His name is Tucker Bradley and I think he’s about the cutest thing in the world.  It’s crazy how big he looks in the sonogram pics since babies weigh less than a pound at this point.  We’re definitely thrilled to be having a nephew!

Then, everything thawed out in time for us to host a Super Bowl party with a few friends.  When Brad was over that Friday before he commented that he didn’t think we’d have room for everyone to sit and watch the game.  Kolby and I spent Sunday afternoon rearranging our entire living room to prove him wrong.  It was a success--- the seating worked out fine and everyone had a great time.

Kolby dug our second TV out of a closet and set it up to where those in the kitchen could still watch the game.  Lest we make people choose between food and football.

The girls definitely did not work a puzzle for most of the first half.  That would be cheesy and juvenile.  

I know it's bad form to post a picture this horribly blurry, but I had to show that Brad had a fancy recliner to sit in (one from my parents' house that he actually had at his college apartment for a few years, hence the gross greasy armrests from him eating chips and wiping his hands there).  So he can eat his words about us not having room for everyone.

Life returned to normal on Monday, until we got home from work to discover Maya was missing.  Our friend/roommate had let her out in the yard to play with his dog earlier in the afternoon and accidentally fell asleep because he wasn’t feeling well.  Although Maya has never once dug out of the yard in the 1.5 years we lived there, I guess she succumbed to peer pressure.  We found the other dog right away, but Maya was long gone.  We searched everywhere for her until about 11pm, and had the most sinking feeling as we called it a night and went home.  It was just above freezing outside and we’ve never lost her during winter before.  I kept reminding myself that she was a stray for 2-3 years before we adopted her, so she definitely has what it takes to stay safe.  But then I would see the plush orthopedic dog bed/couch in the corner of our bedroom and worry that she may have gotten a little soft over the four years we’ve been spoiling her :)  I talked Kolby into dragging our twin guest bed onto the floor near our back door so I could sleep there and hear her if she came home and scratched at the door during the night.  He laid down with me for a minute and we both fell asleep.  It wasn’t the best sleep I’ve ever had (reminded me of when we shared a twin while we were in Ghana a few years ago!), with his legs taking up most of the bed to keep from hanging off by about 2’, but we were waking up before 5am to start the search again so it was a short and cozy night. 

We made flyers and hung them up throughout the neighborhood, and I kept driving around looking for her after Kolby headed to school.  I was really nervous to head to work because by the time we got home it would be almost dark and they were giving temperatures in the teens overnight with another big snowstorm rolling in.  Just before 9am, right as I was entering a panic attack of already being late for work but needing to find Maya before it was too late, I got the call I had been waiting (impatiently) 18 hours for.  Someone had found her only a few blocks away from our house.  Hallelujah!

Home Safe!

I just got a call from a very kind man who had Maya at his dog grooming shop.  I guess she was ready to come home but figured she ought to get a bath first?!?  I think he may have actually found her at his house because he said something to that effect and mentioned that she was in his yard with his cats.  I'm a little fuzzy on the details because I may have started crying when he called and said that he had her and that she was safe and happy.  The poor guy had no idea what he was in for! 

She's home now and other than being very thirsty she seems to be uphased by her little adventure.  Right now I'm just really happy to have her back, but once the euphoria wears off I'm going to be pretty ticked off at her for running away again.

Now I'm off to go Google "GPS for dogs"...

Maya is Missing

We can't find Maya.  Our friend that is living in our garage apartment let her and his dog out to play in the backyard around 3pm yesterday and they got mischievous and dug out.  It wasn't until after 5pm that he noticed they were gone (Kolby and I were still at work).  He found his dog right away, but we searched everywhere for Maya and eventually had to go to bed with her still out there somewhere.  We slept on a twin mattress on the kitchen floor in case she came home and scratched at the back door.  Kolby just left to print out some signs that we'll put up in the neighborhood before we leave for work.  This is the longest she's ever been missing and as you know, it is REALLY cold here and they are giving snow and sleet tonight.  The cold weather keeps most people inside, which means there are a lot less people out and about to see her and call us, which is the only way we ever find her.

I understand that there are a lot of troubling things going on in the world that makes this seem really trivial, but if you think about it--- please pray that Maya stays safe and warm until we can find her.  Or even better, that she finds her way home.

I'll keep you posted.