Hello? Anyone there?

When people knock on (visit) my blog, they see that no one has been home for a long time. I apologize for that but things have been pretty busy around Alpine, America.

I was going to blog shortly after my last blog that my mother and I ran a 5k race in the Marathon to Marathon in October. We didn't do to bad actually, for our first race in who knows how long. You see, I used to run cross country in high school and since having a baby, I haven't even thought about running. I really enjoyed it and I think we are going to try and go to some more.

(K and I after the race)

K was even in the race. My aunt and uncle took turns pushing him. Oh, and I forgot to mention I won 1st place in age group! Out of 7! Ha!

We also went to our Women's Ranch Rodeo finals in Amarillo. We placed 12th out of 16 teams... so... it wasn't that good but I think we all had fun. Next year we may have to change a few things. Here are some pictures.

 The branding

 Heel em!

 My team!

 Getting ready to roll

OK the next big thing that has happened was Halloween. Growing up our parents always let us dress up to an extent and took us into town to trick-or-treat. So, I couldn't help myself but dress K up as well!

(Isn't he cute!)

K was supposed to be thing 1 1/2 from Dr. Suess's The Cat in The Hat. T and I were going to dress up with him but we ended up not doing it. It would have been fun though. We took him around to some of the house's in my grandparents neighborhood and he had a blast!

Umm that's about it that I can think of right now... Oh Wait! My hubby just accepted a job that we have been hoping and praying for! He is know offically a camp man on the 06 ranch of Alpine, TX! We are so fortunate and thankful for this turn of events.

Well, hope ya'll have a wonderful thanksgiving and we will see ya next time. I will be here the next time ya come a knockin' :)

Pictures on a Monday

This coming Saturday K will be turning 7 months, but I couldn't help myself to take pictures before hand. It's such a gorgeous day here today, 73 degrees and dropping!

so here ya go....

I added this one because you can see his little teeth!

Hope you enjoyed!

Typical Wednesday

Not a whole lot is going on here today... It's just another typical Wednesday.

K and I are over at my folks helping my dad pack for their latest show. They are headed to Missouri for the last show of the year... finally! My dad's business has really taken off this year, and every time they go to a show, I'm here holding down the fort. I don't mind that much, it's kinda fun running things by yourself.

Still no word from my hubby, they are out on the wagon at the 06 this week so it's been kind of lonely at my house. Hope he's having fun though.

I guess I'll share some pictures now because I don't know what else to write about.

We were being a little goober 

 

 

He was grumpy here.... 

Bath time!! The flash scared him, hence the face.  

Sitting up like a big boy.  

 

 This has been our new favorite face to make.

He was very mad at me the day I took this picture, so I just left him to scream to himself. When I came back, he was asleep... 

 Big boy cup!

Watching a movie with daddy. Doesn't daddy looked thrilled?

 

Speaking of daddy, the other morning I didn't feel like getting up when K did, so his daddy came and got him. Well it's customary to change his diaper first thing when he gets up so I tell K's daddy that. About 2 minutes later, here comes daddy, with leather gloves on and frown, asking if I will come change the stinky nasty diaper. I stayed in bed.... So in the end, T FINALLY changed a stinky nasty diaper! Score! Haha :P

 

I wish I had some pictures of K's little teeth, but they are not big enough to see really good.

 

Well, I suppose I better go do something productive...



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.