Here's the Scoop

Scoop # 1

Fall works is in full swing for many ranches here around Alpine. T and my brother happen to be on the 06 works this year. T was so happy about that! He said he gets to "cowboy for real." :)

Scoop # 2

Practice for the WRRA finals in October are also in full swing. Our goal has been to do all our events in under a minute, and yesterday at practice, I was dragging 2 calves to the fire in just that! I was proud of myself.

Scoop # 3

Along with all of other goings on, I've started a class that I hope turns out to be a good deal for me. It's the tax preparer's class at H&R Block. So far, I really enjoy it and get most of what we go over. The instructor told me that there is only a 46% success rate in the entire state. There are only 4 of us in the class, and last week when we had our first quiz, only 2 of us passed, me included!

Scoop # 4

Little K has sprouted a tooth! Acutally 2 teeth! You can feel the one tooth really well, but you can only see the other one. That explains why he has been so terribly grumpy the last couple of weeks. He is getting so big.....

Well thats all the scoops I have for now, so ya'll have a great week!

Block Slacker

I should get an award for being the best blog slacker around. I know we all have our busy days or even weeks but months?? Yes it has almost been 2 months since I blogged last. Maybe more, maybe less. I honestly don't remember the last time I blogged...

Anyways, I'll make this short and sweet for ya. Since I last blogged, there have been lots of changes. 1. We moved. 2. K is getting so big and 3. I'm an official ranch rodeoer.

We moved into Alpine at the first of July, for personal reasons mostly. I'm helping my dad and T is working part time for a local rancher and day working. It has been quite a change living in town but we are doing so much better now. :)

Little K is fixing to be 6 months old! I can't believe it!

This was at the latest ranch rodeo.

We are sure sitting up good! Not quite on our own though.

He loves being outside on the trampoline.

Or in his playtime saucer ( or whatever the heck you call it!)

Oh, and he loves swimming! I'm so thrilled because his daddy doesn't like it much.

And he loves horses! I've never seen a baby get so excited over a horse!

Also since we moved into town, I was asked to join the local girls ranch rodeo team! So far we have gone to 2 rodeos. One in Happy, TX and the other in Roaring Springs TX. We qualified at Roaring Springs for the finals in Amarillo in October! We are so excited!!

The steer we had in the mugging kind of kicked out butts.

That was a last ditch effort to get it mugged...

We finally got it done though.

I got to rope in the branding and I did very well if I do say so myself. The other gals either don't like to heel or don't know how and I'm thinking that's how I made it on the team... Oh well though I had a blast doing it. The one gal, the one was was crawling on her hands and knees in the mud in the previous picture, she paid for all our entries and is the captain. All she wanted to do was mug the steer though, that's what she lives for!

Our team! Girls Night Out!!

Ya'll have a blessed weekend and I'll see ya soon! I promise...



A Much Needed Weekend Away

Long days and short nights call for a weekend away every now and then. Thank goodness we got to do that this past weekend. We made the journey up to New Mexico to see T's folks and celebrate his niece's 1st birthday! It was a small family affair, but fun none-the-less.

Friday I hustled around and got this ready to go on the trip. T had to work that morning, they branded calves at our house so he didn't have to get up as early, and they were done by 10. He then hustled around to get some waters check and we were in the car, loaded down, and on our way. Yes, I did say car... I've borrowed my mom's car because I thought I would be making the trip alone. Plus it gets good gas mileage, about twice as much as our beast dodge does.

Saturday morning Maw and Pappy watched K for us and we went into town for a "lunch" date. More like to run some errands but it was a date to me. When we got back we helped get ready for the birthday girl's party.

All the little kids went swimming, K even had his feet in the water and actually seemed to enjoy it! I think he will love the water like his momma does, at least I hope he does. He loves splashing around when he takes a bath.

I just love this picture! He doesn't like to smile for the camera but somehow I was able to snap one.

This is the more common face. He likes to "box" ya!

Saturday evening it rained so we went inside and visited into the night. Come Sunday morning after breakfast we decided to go to the Black River by Carlsbad and go fishing for Father's Day.

I don't know if he really enjoyed it there. It was kind of hot and last night when I was bathing him I saw that his little legs were slightly sunburned. Poor guy! Doesn't he look just adorable in his little sailor's hat and overalls? Haha!

We ended up getting home about 7 Sunday evening, which really wasn't bad. Reality set in though about bedtime when T's boss told him he had to be at a set of pens by 6 the next morning. Oh joy...

Hope ya'll have a great week.. and... the next post should be my recipe that I received in Ranch Girl's recipe swap! Yum Yum!!

Sunday Morning Blues

I am blue, down, and flat out mad on this beautiful Sunday morning.. I know I shouldn't be, I thank the Lord for such an amazing sunrise this morning. Why you ask? Am I in such a fowl mood... Because my husband's alarm went off at 3:30 this morning and he was gone by 4:30, off to do who knows what. This place we live on has decided to sell all but 500 head of cattle out of a 4000 head herd. They want to make the ranch strictly a hunting deal. The owner is wanting to make fancy enhancements to the hunting camps as a promotional deal to do business, and he needs the land that the cattle are on to ensure his guests get a deer or elk or whatever else lives out here. It's quite depressing really and has left us in a jam, sorta.

Now, before I continue, I mean no disrespect to anyone, I'm just stating my mind. 

For the past couple of months T has been looking for a new job. Besides the major changes that are going on out here, there has also been the management problem that he's been dealing with since day 1. He says they are a little bit different out here, and from the stories he comes home and tells me, I have to agree. We have been very unsuccessful in T's job hunt, which makes me wonder if we are to stay out here and tough it out.. Surly not. Since they have started to gather cattle, its been up at 4 am every morning, home at 5pm or later, in bed by 8pm, wake up the next morning and do it all over again for the past 2 1/2  weeks! without a break in between. I was fine with that for about the first week, until Sunday rolled around and and T was up early again. We thought for sure he would have Sunday off, since the foreman has until October to sell everything. And just so you know, if we were in the middle of a normal cow works, I'd be fine with no Sunday off. It's part of the job...

So this gets me to thinking. What if we are to stay out here, and how can we make it better. All the ideas I have are usually shot down, no they were shot down, all of them. Bottom line and the conclusion: we have to leave this place.

Ok, so I go to thinking again, this time with a little help from my dad. All the ideas we come up with, shot down in the long run. I will say they were given a little more thought but shot down none the less. Well I altered some of those ideas, got rid of a few and added a few and... I'm just waiting for them to be shot down too.

Can you tell that I'm thoroughly frustrated? I am, very much so! I've been praying hard about the ideas and what were supposed to do and I feel like I'm not getting any support. It's as if T wants to stay out here, like he likes to complain about how bad it is and how bad he wants to move... So I told him, you come up with some ideas of your own and we will maul them over. He did, but they were very far fetched. Guess you could say I shot them down, but all his ideas are nearly impossible for us to achieve at this time. At least the one's I came up with weren't so bad and could help us to achieve his ideas later in life.

I guess I'm feeling sorry for myself and should just suck it up that T's gone all the time. No I don't particularly like being out here by myself with K, or that T and I don't ever have any fun anymore, or.. that we don't go to church together anymore. Yesterday I went to a pasture roping that the church was putting on, only because T said I should. I hadn't intended on going because he couldn't go, but I went, and had fun, and got home with him slightly making me feel bad about going....

I love my T, I love him very much and I'm not saying he is the only flawed one here because he's not. I'm having a very hard time being patient about this whole deal...

But anyways, I'm sure your tired of my ranting and raving and my Sunday morning blues.. but I've had enough and I don't know what to do about it.

Baby Pictures & Ranch Rodeos

I told you I would post more pictures :) The mother's finally got their pictures so now I can share.

He sure does love his stuffed horse :)

What are you looking at?

What a silly little guy! He loves smiling at his momma!

You may think I'm silly for taking a picture like this, but I kinda like it!

In other news, T was entered into the Big Bend Cowboy Church Ranch Rodeo last night! Ha, the BBCCRR! How about that?

Sorry I'm being silly. The rodeo was good, there were a lot of people there and about 12 teams where entered I believed. T was on 2 teams. The first, the Dream Team, consisted of T, my brother, and 2 of my brothers friends. The second team, The Hilltop Cattle, was a sponsored so T didn't have to make 2 entry fee payments!

This was not a typical ranch rodeo however, the events were different, mainly due to the fact that there are hardly any cattle around Alpine. The first event, Trailer loading was probably the only original event. It was mostly uneventful though.

The second event, the branding was very different. Usually you have an arena full of cows and calves but we didn't have that luxury. Instead one steer was released into the arena and the team had to head/heel it and brand it's left hip. I didn't get to see this event, and it was probably a good thing. Apparently, T's horse, Curly, turned to sharp tracking the steer and stepped on his own feet, tripped, and went down. Luckily T or the horse wasn't hurt...

The third event, the cowboy relay race, should be outlawed if you ask me. For this event, 2 teams went at the same time. 2 teams members had to saddle their horses one at a time, then race down to the other end of the arena, pick up a team member was standing on a barrel, ride double and race back to the finish line. The Dream team was by far the most interesting team to go. First my brother saddled his horse and raced down to pick up his team member and raced back without a problem. Then T did the same, except the team member he picked up is quiet mischievous and on the way back to the finish line, decided that he would smack T's horse with his hat. Oh it was not good. Sure it made the crowd cheer, but I was slightly upset. Curly, started pitching in the middle of the arena. The kid who started the whole mess, (we will call him J for now) was trying to push T off the horse. T was having a hard enough time trying to stay on his horse... Curly then ran, or more like bucked, into my brothers horse, who was still mounted double. She didn't do anything thankfully, but the kid J was leaning so far to the side that he smacked his upper body against the horses rump, sending him flying, feet up in the air, and eventually crash landing on the ground. But that wasn't the end! Curly kept bucking, turning to run along side the bucking shoots where T was able to jump to the fence. I could have strangled the kid J...

The last event, the mugging was uneventful.. The Dream team didn't get a time, but the Hilltop Cattle team did.

T's folks came down to watch the rodeo and afterwards his mother told me, "I worried and worried about T getting hurt riding broncs, but he has gotten hurt more in this rodeo than he ever did riding a bronc!"

That's a ranch rodeo for ya!

Ya'll have a great Sunday!

Happy Mother's Day - A Week Late

I know I know Mother's Day was last week but... I'm just running behind!

Not a very good picture I know, but K was not cooperating and his daddy wasn't very thrilled about taking pictures...

 Looks like something out of a movie huh? That is my aunt's new house. She let us stay with them when we went to the Western Heritage in Abilene over the weekend. Thank goodness too because there were absolutely no hotel rooms left.

Is it wrong of me to play "dress-up," with K? My mother told so... I just wanted a cute picture to give for Mother's Day and this is the idea I had. All he is wearing is a wild rag... gosh..

But anyways

K tried to fly on Monday night. I was sitting on the stool in our kitchen and had him sitting on the counter in front of me as I was looking up a recipe for supper.. I stepped away for like 2 seconds and heard a loud thump, followed with a blood curdling scream... I don't know how the little turkey did it, but somehow he managed to get himself off the counter and land flat on his back on the tile floor below. Us being new parents we rushed him to the ER in Alpine where they said he was fine. I don't want to give many more details about the whole ordeal... it was really hard on me. He is still a little sore but he is still that happy smiling baby he's always been.

I have more pictures of K to post but I want to wait until T and I's mothers get their pictures :)

2 Months Old

I know it's the 7th, but I didn't have time to blog yesterday when K was really 2 months old.

He has gotten really good at holding his up for more than a few seconds at a time, but he gets very cranky being on his belly, hence the dirty look I'm getting. I wanted to post more pictures but he wouldn't allow it. This afternoon I'm going to try and take some more outside with the help of his daddy!

I just love this little guy! And he sure loves his mommy and daddy! He's the happiest in the mornings, cooing and smiling and trying to laugh. All he does is a quick "Ha," which sometimes sounds like he's fixing to cry, but I know he's not because he has a big ol' grin on his face. He does not like being still at all! He loves his swing, and going in the truck, and being held, and when he has to be on his back he's kicking his legs and pumping his hands.

We have finally kind of established a schedule, when we are at home. Every time I go to town it gets messed up but it's easier to get back on track on. He's eating every 4-5 hours during the day. He goes to bed at 9 and gets up at 7:30 on the dot and only eats once during the night at about 3 in the morning. I try to get him to take a nap around noon, because I've found that if he doesn't he gets very cranky. I'm getting very spoiled with him.. I had a lady at church yesterday tell me that God made the first child easy on ya so that you will have another one. Oh boy... :)

On the other side of things, T finally got a call last Sunday about a job that he applied for at the first of April. They wanted him to come interview and so we made the trip up to Post Tx Saturday to do just that. It went well and the place looks and sounds great and it's everything T wants in a job. He was disappointed in the house though, as am I but I think we can make it cute. The guy told us that he trys to not spend any necessary money, and it kind of shows in the house. It would definitely be a step down from where we are living now, which has me experiencing mixed feelings. I want to move but I don't want to move... I want to move because it would so much closer to town, the place is much smaller than where we are at now so K would get to see his daddy a lot more, it would just be T and the boss and T would be horseback 80% of the time, he would get Sundays off unless something blew up but that's a given.. in other words T would be a heck of a lot happier there. But I don't want to move because it would mean moving into a much smaller house, that if we stay a long time, would only be suitable for the 3 of us and not anymore.. it would mean we would have to purchase a washer/dryer set and refrigerator, it means moving away from my parents, (T says I'm not weaned yet and I guess that's true..) it would mean moving away from a great ranch job that others would love to have, besides the management.. Of course T doesn't have the job yet but the speculation is there and it's driving me crazy. I wish the guy would just call and give us a yay or a nay.... It's all in the Lord's hands

But anywho.. I laundry to do so ya'll have a great week!