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!