Merry Christmas!

We had a fabulous Christmas even our doggies had a wonderful Christmas! My mom had 4 stockings hanging on her fireplace, we just figured they were for me, Kristen, Terre and Cody......wrong.....They were for our dogs! Even they had a fabulous Christmas! Since we have 2 massive labs, of course their bones were massive too. She got them each a massive candy cane bone that they will be chewing on till next Christmas! We got to see everybody and even visited with some friends. We had a pretty big Christmas. Jed got Kim a snuggie (which she did NOT want) but it was super cute and came with a little extra something to play with! LOL! Josh, Cody and I had a book made for them. It is full of pictures about all of our adventures this year!Lucky for me.......Jedro picked out a pair of insulated coveralls for me! We need everything warm we can get because when we got back to Oklahoma......................

IT SNOWED!!!!!!! It is so pretty outside!

Hope everyone had a great Christmas!

Ice Skating anyone?

Since it has been below freezing for the past 2 weeks, all the lakes are frozen over really good! Cody was nice and broke a hole in a lot of them so the animals would have something to drink. It would freeze back over fast but you could tell where the animals would break it too.
We really need to invest in some ice-skates! The ice was about 5 inches thick!

He wouldn't let me go out as far as he went out :(

The last few days has been in the 40's and 50's and all the ice is melting away :(

Karen's Happy

I have been listening to my Ipod a lot lately. I don't know if it's because I have been going to town more and I need something to listen to on the 20 minute drive to town and the 20 minutes back out or that it's been -15 all week and I have taken 3 long hot baths everyday for the past week and need something to listen to, or I am just missing something that me and Cody used to share a lot and haven't in awhile.

The play list on my Ipod, that is the BEST EVER, is Karen's Happy. I bet I have listened to all 25 or more songs on that play list everyday, 3 times a day for the past week. Of course seeing family everyday would be #1 in the missing department, but coming in a close second would be dancing the night away with Cody. Every song on Karen's Happy is a song that is sentimental to us. To our favorite dancing songs or songs that tell our story better than we could or random songs that Cody has heard on the radio and then runs home to find on Itunes so I can hear it, because it reminds him of us :) We have spent nights dancing our hearts out over the last 7 years and there isn't any place around here to go. Sure we have our living room but it's just not the same. The smell of an old dance floor, the slippery powder in the corner that helps with the spins, visiting with friends, people watching, listening to one good country song after the other and loving everyone of them and saying, "man, I haven't heard this song in forever," or "I love love love this song!"

I am not sure why I love old dance halls so much. Every time we find one or go dancing it just brings a flood of memories to us. Our first date was dancing, well kind of. It wasn't really a date, it was more like, "hey, I think you two would hit it off, you bring your friends, I will bring her and her friends and ya'll could meet." So we did. Cody was so shy that he didn't say one word to me all night, but we would all be on the dance floor shaking it and a slow song would come on and somehow our eyes always found each other and we would just smile, that's all it took. Then we would fight the crowd and eventually make our way to each other and dance the whole 3-4 minutes of a song and not say a word....hahaha, but still feeling a connection with him. We still laugh about that! We even found a little dance place on our honeymoon in the Dominican Republic, although it was not my cup of tea in the music department......we had a great time!

Maybe that is why I love to go dancing so much with Cody. That is how we connected and how we became us and how we came out of our shyness with each other. Dancing in the living room on carpet just isn't the same.........I need a dance hall :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkXQnJZiph0

There's a place I like to go
Where the fast songs meet the slow,
And people come from miles around
Just to hear an old guitar sound.
Call your friends and I'll call mine.
We'll have ourselves a country time.
Get there early and have a few drinks
Loosen up step out on the dance floor
Now what do you think?

Yeah, It's a good night for dancing.
It's a good night for you.

A nice two-step might start out the night
Pretty soon we're half steppin' and the rythym's right.
A line dance and the cotton eye Joe,
I spin you around and here we go.

Yeah, It's a good night for dancing.
It's a good night for you.

Well it's last call and the lights begin to come on
And they announce it's the very last song,
I grab your hand and lead you on the floor,
Hold you in my arms and dance till we can't dance anymore.

Yeah, It's a good night for dancing.
It's a good night for you.

Brrr.....

It has been in the low 20's every morning and in the 30's during the day all week. Well today it was in the teen's and the high was 27! Right now it is 15 degrees with a wind chill of -1 and IT SNOWED TODAY. In the morning it will be 6 with a wind chill of who know's what with a high of 24, brrrrrrr! It really isn't as miserable as I had imagined it would be, it's a different kind of cold and as long as the wind isn't blowing 90 to nonthing, we are good to go. I have been extra worried about the dogs, so I brought them in yesterday to bath them just in case they needed to come in and sleep. They stayed in the laundry room for about an hour to dry off and the whole time Drake is acting like he is about to have a heart attack and Duke just chewed on a bone the whole time. They couldn't wait to go back outside, they ran straight back into their pen! Cody did put about 3 feet of hay in their shelter for them, plus in their dog house that is in their shelter and they love it. Well today in the 10 degree, snowy weather I felt bad for them again and brought them in and it was hard getting them in, they didn't want to, but I finally managed and after 30 minutes they were ready to get back outside and ran straight for their shelter. I decided to get in with them and I sat with them for about 15 minutes and I was comfortable. As long as your out of the wind, your good!

And the 3 feet of hay was pretty darn comfortable!
This is how it looked today when we woke up! I was soooooo excited!


This afternoon we went and rode around on the ranch to see if we could see anything and all the lakes were frozen. We might need to invest in ice-skates!

While we were out a blizzard came through. A little exaggeration but it looked and felt like a blizzard. We could barely see 5 feet in front of the truck it was coming down so fast, but it didn't last long. Jeff's yard was covered good when we got back to the house! The wind/snow was still coming down so fast that the picture turned out blurry and you can't tell how fast the snow was coming down :( but trust me......it was!

I sure could get used to this weather! It really isn't as miserable as it would be in Texas if it was -1!!!!!!

Bottle feeding again...different animal.

Luis and Gisella went to Texas for a Quinceanera (sp) 15 year old birthday party. Gisella was trying to explain the tradition to me and they go ALL OUT! It's on up there with a white women's wedding! They didn't go home for Thanksgiving and they aren't going home for Christmas, I guess they were saving up their days for this party! ANYWAYS........these people love babies. Luis somehow manages to catch baby rabitts, baby turkeys, baby turtles, baby snakes, baby, baby, baby! I, on the other hand, am a sucker for baby animals and feel like they belong with their mother, as in, "Stop, catching babies and bringing them home.!" They hadn't brought any home in awhile, thank goodness! Well they also have a dog, a pitbull, and I am deathly scared of these animals. They keep her in a pen though. Well they decided they needed some puppies, so they let her out to mate with a neighbor dog, I think he is some kind of cow dog, not sure exactly. Then, last time Fransisco came down he brought a male companion for this female dog and it happened to be another pitbull! UGH! Well they don't get along at all, so the female dog dug out and gave birth to 8 puppies. 4 died, we went home for Thanksgiving, Luis accidently ran over the mom dog, now they have 4 puppies to bottle feed, they need to go out of town, I get stuck bottle feeding puppies!

I actually look happy to bottle feed these puppies, but it took 3 days to get attached and this pic is taken after the 3 days! I was so depressed when Cody first brought them over. They had been feeding them regualr milk. That is so not good and no wonder 4 died. So when I get them, they are all weak and stink and freezing and crying constantly and my heart can't take this. I am a sucker for baby animals. I wanted to sooooooo bad to take them to the vet, but I knew Cody would think I was crazy, so it took everything I had not to, but I did call a vet :)! I went and got them the food that they need and they have been thriving since they are getting the nutrition. They still need to go to the vet and get shots, and wormed and all that good stuff and that breaks my heart because I know they won't take them. They never took their dog to the vet, and she has even given birth a couple of times :( It's so sad to say, but I am kind of glad they accidently ran over their dog, hope they don't get another one for babies!

These little stinker's also got a bath today. I thought you couldn't give puppies a bath, but the vet said I could dunk them in some warm water and get the smell off of them. They are simply irresistable now! I have no idea what they are gonna do with them, hopefully give them away!

How do you tell someone to get their dog fixed in a nice way? We have 2 labs, I take them to the vet probably more than I should (I am so gonna be one of those mom's that freak out when her kid has a runny nose!) they are overly taken care of and we even got them fixed. Everyone made such a big deal about it, since they are purebred and have papers, but who cares! GET YOUR DOG FIXED especially if your not gonna take care of them like you should!

The Hunting begins.....

Jeff came down last weekend with 2 of his boys and he came down again this weekend with 2 more of his boys. They all had a good time and they all left with a kill. This is Jeff and his 2 younger boys, Micheal and Nathan. They each shot a white-tail and Micheal shot this black buck. Both boys enjoyed helping Cody harvest the meat.

This is Jeff's third oldest son, Joel. He got a shot at this black buck and we think it might hold a record somewhere. We shall see!

Jeff's oldest son brought his dog, Murphey. He is one cute dog! I think Cody fell in love with him because he actually fetched the ducks. I keep telling Cody if he wants to spend the money to train our dogs, go for it, but he keeps preferring his wader's (sp). This dog also rode down in the plane with them. I think Duke would freak totally out if we put him on a plane, lol.

While Cody was putting out more feeders this week he came accross one of the new Minnesota bucks we let out last month. Cody thinks it was the stress :(

He also came accross one of the Minnesota bucks from last year, that didn't make it through our hot sumer :(

Although I don't enjoy the actual hunting part (getting up at 4, shooting a gun) I enjoy the fellowship of it all and the scouting, and getting ready for hunting season and sharing something with my husband that he has a passion for. I also enjoy watching little kids enjoy the outdoors and getting excited about "the hunt" and then telling their story of how the day went and what they saw and when and how. they got what they wanted. It is also rewarding to see a father and son bond over "the hunt."

..........

Carrying the weight on the end of a limb.
You're just waiting for somebody to pick you up again.
Shaded by a tree, can't live up to a rose.
All you ever wanted was a sunny place to grow.
Pretty little thing, sometimes you gotta look up,
and let the world see all the beauty that you're made of.
Cause the way you hang your head nobody can tell.

Even through a stone a flower can bloom.
You just need a little push, spring is coming soon.
Umbrella in the rain, let it roll off your back.
Weather what you can, realize what you have.
Pretty little thing, sometimes you gotta look up,
and let the world see all the beauty that you're made of.
Cause the way you hang your head nobody can tell.

Christmas in November!

Sunday night I was in bed with a stomach bug and didn't watch the kiddos on Monday. On Tuesday Gisella decided to stay home from school and watch the kiddos one more day just in case I was still contagious. Well I felt fine by lunch and went to Wal-mart to buy a Christmas tree! I got the biggest one they had! I have never bought a tree, lights, ornaments, nada because we never had room to store it or even room to put one up and since Cody saw nannies' house everyday, there was no need for me to go all out when he could get the full experience from nannie's house! I decided since we are way out here in OK and not a tree in sight and we have plenty of room, why not!

And it actually feels like Christmas! It hasn't felt like Christmas since I was a littke kid. Maybe it was always the 95 degree, humid, east Texas weather that never made it feel like Christmas? It has been in the 20's at night and 40's in the day here and definitely feels like Christmas in November!

AI

I have been looking forward to the actual "AI" procedure all summer long, but when the time came, I had to watch the kiddos.......bummer. I wanted to witness this, but Cody, the wonderful husband that he is, felt my pain and took a lot of pics and actual video footage of the procedure! Pretty cool! The first time the vet came out, a month ago, we put the SDR's in, she was a little short with us and acted like we better keep up with her. Turns out she was very impressed with how smooth our operation went. Then a couple of weeks ago only me, Cody, Luis and Kim worked the deer at 1:00 a.m to pull out the SDR's and give them a shot and that went way smooth as well. Cody said when the vet lady got here for the actual procedure that she said, "well, ya'll just try and keep up!" and of course Cody said, "Oh, we will keep up!" and they did! The vet was impressed again!

Since we were AIing laproscopically (sp) the vet performed surgey on the deer right there! That is what I wanted to see :( They first ran the deer through the shoot, gave them a shot to knock them out and sent them in a room to "pass out." After they were out, they loaded them on a surgery type table specifically for this procedure, then the vet went to town. They would do 3 doe at a time.

Then they would shave the area.....

The vet made 2 small cuts. One for a camera to see where she was putting the straws of semen and one to put the semen in. Then she would just glue the skin back together since the cuts were really small.

Then they would unload the deer in the alley way, wait 45 minutes to give them the reversal and then they would wake up and walk straight back to their pen, like they knew where they were going! Poor babies were still drunk on the walk home :(

Also, before the vet left we wanted straws of semen from one of our big breeder bucks. Cody tranquilized him (we have this on tape and it is hilarious! The buck would not cooperate at first and Cody was getting frustrated and the guy video taping will crack anybody up.) Then everybody wanted a picture with the big buck!

Also, look again at the picture above: The lady holding the baby is the vet, she had that baby on her back the whole time in a baby sling. We did 2 different pens of doe, and when they had to take a break to herd in the second pen, she took a break and fed her, lol. That would have been a sight in itself to see! Talk about mother/daughter bonding! I think her baby is in training to be a vet!

Times like this...

I wish I was back in Texas, just for a little bit. My dad was diagnosed with cancer last month and it breaks my heart that I am all the way up here and he is all the way down there. He started Chemo 2 weeks ago and radiation/chemo last week. So far he has been doing really good with both and I pray that it will go this smooth for the next 7 weeks. I hope I gave him something to look forward to on Monday's though :) I sent him 7 cards with a picture and a little something about the picture and why I love it and some words of encouragement.


I wish I had a deer lease. There would not be hunting or deer for that matter. There would be 24/7 relaxation, pedicures, massages, comfy robes, feather beds and pillows, books, paints and canvasas, sleep when you want and get up when you want. Would this be considered a hobby too?


Times like this.....

Website

The ranch website is up and running, YAY! It is www.O-Bar-Ranch.net and it looks pretty good. Now we just need to get on the ball and sell some hunts! Anybody wanna buy a hunt? :)
Let us know what you think of the site!

Meet baby Luis

Luis was born September 4th and he sure is a cutie-pie. While Gisella was on maternity leave she kept Jocelyn too so I had a wonderful 2 months off. I started back yesterday watching them both. It was a little difficult getting Jocelyn back in her routine while trying to tend to a newborn but we managed just fine. It is definitely easier than I thought it would be and my anxiety has passed :) I noticed Jocelyn is a little jealous when I feed Luis. When she sees a bottle go in his mouth she will start grabbing for it and throw a fit till I give her a bottle, it is ridiculous and funny all at the same time and we are working on this issue :) Luis is a really good baby, eats and sleeps and I have gotten him to smile which I think is no big deal, but they are shocked that he is smiling because he doesn't around them, lol. I guess it is just the different culture and how they raise a child and how I am used to seeing people raising a child. When he is awake I am always in his face talking to him and making faces at him to get him to laugh and they don't. It's super funny the way Gisella looks at me when I am holdingw baby Luis, because I probably do look like a crazy white woman a little when I am interacting with him! Man, do these kids love to sleep though!

Jocelyn is also jealous that baby Luis has takin' up camp on her bed :) I do catch her patting him really gentle when she knows I am not looking, it's really sweet!

Wanna go Muddin'

If this wasn't the county road......I would be all for it!

County roads in Oklahoma crack me up. I am used to black top country roads, not dirt country roads. We got an inch of rain today, and we need it so I am not complaining! Cody called me this afternoon asking if I could come pick him and Luis up. They got stuck on their way back from the Elk pens. I almost didn't make it, but I managed. I don't know how people can make it down these roads? I guess the people that do live out here have to get something in 4 wheel drive even if they don't want it :) Luis and Cody were in the old ford and not the dodge because Cody said the dodge is to heavy to make it to the back after it rains. Well on their way home, apparantly the 4 wheel drive went out on them, poor things. We figured this might be a possibility, it just happened sooner than we expected. When we got here in May, Cody noticed that the 4-wheel drive was on in the ford constantly. It's an old truck, so when you want to put it in 4 wheel drive you have to get out of the truck and do something to the tire, not sure exactly what. Well no one knew that before we got here, so everyone would drive the thing everywhere, even to town, with the 4- wheel drive on :( No Bueno!

New Breeder Bucks

We are almost done bottle feeding for the year. We have 1 late bloomer left and she is down to 1 bottle a day and we are about to start weaning her off of that. Bottle feeding has been a curse and so much fun all in one. It has been fun getting close to a wild animal and getting to know their personalities and they have helped with the other fawns that weren't bottle fed to be more calm. It was a curse because we went from no kids to having 5 little fawns all looking at us for care :) You know they say to get a dog before you have kids to break you in, I say get a deer! A deer is more realistic to a baby! We have 2 dogs and they were a breeze compared to the 5 little fawns we bottle fed this year, but I can't wait to do it again next year!

Our new breeder bucks arrived bright and early Monday morning. I mean bright and early! The guy that delivered them left Minnesota Sunday afternoon and drove straight through the night. The last shipment of doe's he brought down, he got here around 12 driving straight through. He also stopped somewhere along the way and took a nap with the doe's. Since this time he was delivering big bucks, he didn't want to take the chance and stop with them, so he drove straight through and got here at 6:00 a.m! That was a suprise to all of us. Since it was still so dark outside, Cody wanted to wait till it was light out, so he could make sure he was putting the right buck in the right pen. Which was good for the driver! He got to come in and take a nap, he was sooo tired! After he left here, he was driving straight to Louisiana! I don't know how he did that on 2 hours of sleep.

This is Buddy's Son

This is Big Boy

And this is Avalanche's son

Adrenaline to the MAX

We had a vet come out this afternoon to prep the deer for AI. We had 27 doe we had to run through the shoots and it went by crazy fast and super smooth! We had 2 pens to run through and we tried to get everything situated before the vet got here. Well deer are crazy little suckers! They are skittish, don't do what you want them to and sometimes just straight CRAZY! We are working with an animal that are not supposed to be worked! It took about 2 hours but we finally got one pen loaded in the holding area, ready for the vet and the other pen in the alley way and ready for the holding area. After this 2 hours, I was shaking, my heart was pounding, I have bruises all over my arms from trying to hold a gate open while the wind was blowing 50 mph and it was the best adrenaline rush ever, seeing a herd of 12 deer running full throttle at you! The vet got here about 4 and we started. It went super smooth! The deer cooperated in the shoots, did exactly what we needed them to do and it couldn't have gone any better. We were done by 6:30.

I have never seen a deer being ran through a shoot and it was an eye full! Cody and Louis were very impressive to watch, they acted like they do this everyday. Even the vet acted impressed on how smooth everything went. I didn't realize how involved I would be with the deer, but I have enjoyed it so far. We noticed on one doe, she had a growth under her kneck that the vet had to slice open and clean out, it was GROSS, and it slung all over the vet. I think she was even grossed out a bit that it slung all over her. All the deer did great, except one got too stressed and we had to shoot it with some banimine but she will be ok. It was a little warmer today than it has been, which put a little more stress on them. We have to run them through 1 more time in 2 weeks, for a shot and then we AI a few days after that. We are AIing laparoscopicly, so we will have to knock them out and the vet will pretty much have to do surgery on them right there!

Hopeful

Cody has been putting out game camera's everywhere the past couple of months. Trying to scope out where all the animals are hanging out and trying to get a count of what we have in the high fence. Last year Jeff put in 10 Minnesota shooter bucks and we haven't seen one of them, but we are hopeful their out there somewhere. We have been getting a lot of pictures of native deer that got stuck in the high fence. Here is my favorite one!

We are also starting the AI process on Sunday. The vet will come out and get it started but we aren't actually doing the AI till the beginning of November. I am super excited about seeing this be done. Cody has done this before at other ranches, but I haven't! I am not looking forward to running the doe through the shoot. We got a shipment of 25 Minnesota doe in yesterday. To make room for them we had to rearrange the doe we have. This was not pretty. This is the first time I have seen a doe being worked. I only helped for about 30 minutes and couldn't take it any longer. They would just jump in the fence for NO reason! Cody did eventually get all the babies in one pen to ween and all the Doe that will be bred to a Buck, separated in every other pen. They couldn't be side by side because the bucks might fight through the fence and that would not be pretty! Out little bottle fed fawns helped out a lot when we were trying to get the other fawns together. We just opened the gate to the bottle fed fawns and they just followed us around the alley, which made the other fawns more calm when they had to run past us. Cody's girl was just looking at them like they were crazy! We are still bottle feeding 1, the last preemie, and she is 2 months now and about ready to be weened! Yay!!! Almost done with that!!!!!!

Cody is trying to get me interested in Bow hunting, still not sure I want to do that :(

Daddy, Dallas/Ft Worth and Driving

I traveled South this week to meet up with the girls for our annual shopping weekend. I get halfway home and my stepmom calls to tell me my dad is in surgery. My dad had surgery Tuesday to remove a huge knot/mass/bump off his throat. When they went in to take it out they found cancer on his tonsils and a lymph node. So they ended up taking it all out and took a biopsy of his tongue. We will know more in 5 days what the biopsy report is. I am so glad I was already halfway home because my dad would have made me stay home and not make a special trip just for him. I would make a special trip everyday if I needed to, just to see him :) and I am sure there are a lot of people that would make special trips just for him too. My dad is the type of person that would do anything for anybody. Why not return the favor, right? I pray that everything will be fine, it's in God's hands.

I got to visit with daddy for a few days and he didn't want me to cancel my plans, so I ended up meeting the girls on Friday for some shopping, eating and some needed girl time. No one brought a big SUV for the weekend so we could all ride together, but Sheila had a master plan anyway's

Poor girl rode around in the back back all weekend long! It looks like she might have enjoyed it by the look on her face! We had a great weekend! I was super good this weekend in the shopping department. Cody said I could buy whatever I wanted and I stayed clear of the 7 jeans, coach bags, and The Gap! I need a pat on the back!

Poor Cody, he ran out of milk this week and instead of going to the store to buy some more he used my vanilla soy milk all week. Soy milk is no bueno by itself. I only use it in cereal and green tea. He not only drank some of it, he cooked with it! It is VANILLA soy, Gross! He made hamburger helper with it:(

Perfection

If I had to pick the perfect weather, today would have been it! The storms that hit Dallas all the way up to OKC this afternoon formed right above us this morning. It turned black, sprinkled for 10 minutes and headed east. This storm brought us 68 degree weather, clear skies, cool breeze and the brightest sun ever. Since I don't have the kiddos right now, I was able to spend my day outside, perfection. Yesterday was a beautiful day too, but a little windy. We headed out on the 4-wheelers yesterday to put out corn, fill feeders and check the game camera's and we could hear the red deer and the Elk going nuts. I guess they were trying to call up a mate! It was a really great sound and peaceful. I still get amazed each time I go out on the ranch. Somehow we always manage to find a new hidden road/path/secret passage to explore. We also found a few old old old deer feeders and turkey feeders. They just need to be cleaned up a bit, new batteries, fresh corn and they will be good to go.


We also have some sad news. The last set of twins that were born were way premature and we didn't think they would make it, but they pulled through and have been doing good. Last week the bigger of the 2 had a cold/pneumonia/runny nose. Cody gave her some meds and crossed his finger but she didn't pull through this time. She passed away on Sunday. The other little one is doing good and she is not sick, I hope this cold front that moved in doesn't change that. The high tomorrow is suppose to be in the 50's. The other deer and babies will be able to handle the cold weather, so lets hope little girl can too.

They call me Big Poppa...

We got a new addition to the family here on the ranch today. It is almost time for the rut and since we lost all our breeder bucks this year, it was time to get another. I think by the end of the month we will have 4 more breeder bucks and 20-25 more breeder doe. This big guy came from a guy down the road and scores around 190. Since he is from around here he will have an easier time surviving the heat next summer and we will keep him in the breeder pens. The other 4 bucks are coming from Minnesota. I think the plan with those will be to breed the doe in the breeder pens and then we will set them out in the high fence. Since their northern deer they will have a better chance surviving next summer in the high fence than in the breeder pens. I think they are gonna pull straws from them too, so we will have backup if they don't make it.

Summer is officially over up here! It has been so nice this week. Everyday has been in the 70's and humidity free, so it feels like it's 68 and perfect. Last night I had to turn the air conditioner off because it was so chilly and I was able to cuddle up with a sweatshirt! Last night was a GREAT night because it was the start of comfy sweatshirt season, I picked up a pizza (and it didn't make me deathly sick), read my weekly magazines, and Cody got to do a little dove hunting. He took Louis and Fransisco with him because they were curious about how that worked. Last week we invited them over and we cooked dove for them. They asked about a million questions from how many can you shoot with one bullet to how does a dove look. They loved the dove and told us we had to try tongue since we made them try something new. So last night they decided to bring some over for us. Luckily they brought it over and left. I just couldn't eat tongue, no thanks! They invited us over this afternoon for a fiesta. They received a phone call this morning at 4.00 a.m and their friends were in Woodward and that they came to visit. This is hilarious to me, they didn't call first and they drove all night with like 12 people scrunched in a car. To Funny! So they had a fiesta today and had normal fajitas and it was yummy! Louis, Fransisco and Gizella amaze me sometimes. It is refreshing to know that there are still people out there who are committed to family, who are honest, and who would give you the clothes off their back if they thought you needed them. ALso, I noticed they had a table outside that all the food was sitting on. It was so cute. I kept staring at it and it finally dawned on me that it was the same wood that they made our deck with. They had taken all the scrap pieces and made the cutest wooden table ever! If I knew they were that good I wouldn't have spent money on a table and just bought chairs and had them make us one. It was that CUTE!

No Place like Texas!

We had a fun trip home this weekend. I am so bummed because I didn't take one picture while I was there :( Cody had fun in West Texas and brought home a bunch of dove...yum! I had a fun weekend with the girls. There is nothing better than staying in a nice hotel even though your house is 10 miles away, a home football game, pedicures, sushi, a movie that I have been dying to see, watching the little kids, Patrons, seeing family, girl talk with Hannah, and relaxing at Nannies!

I think the hardest thing about living far away from family is not being able to see the little one's grow and then coming home and they don't remember you :( I don't think Sadie remembered us and that is sad. Little Joe is still to young but he let me love him up on Monday before we left! So to Kevin, Angie, Mark and Sheila, from now on you have to show Sadie and Josiah a picture of me and Cody everyday and if you want you can show them 10x's a day! :) Until they get old enough to remember us and just throw our names out there often to them :)

While we were away this weekend Gisella had her baby. She had a boy and he might be one of the cutest babies I have ever seen. She also decided to keep both babies while she is at home with the little one and so I have a few weeks of freedom :) She really is super mom. We stopped by late Monday night when we got in to see baby Louis and Jocelyn and I really did miss Jocelyn while we were gone. Yesterday I took dinner over to them and they told me that Jocelyn cried for me when we left on Monday :)

It might be a good thing for her to watch both babies right now because I woke up this morning feeling poopy.

We had a great time in Texas but it feels good to be back at the ranch. The dogs sure did miss us too! They were ready to get out of their pens and run around a bit. We took a long walk today and I wore them out, that when we got back home I didn't have to bribe them with a treat to go back in their pens, they went home by themselves! :)

Deck...Whoop Whoop!

Our deck is finished! Louis and Fransisco did an aesome job and we are so thrilled to finally have steps off the back. Our new deck furniture fits perfectly and now we have a place for our grill as well! Cody and I sure are blessed! I am so thankful that Cody gets to wake up every morning to do what he loves to do and so thankful that we work for such a great family. He sure does take care of us up here and thanks for the deck!


Well, the last 2 babies went outside tonight. I am super excited to get my laundry room back and can't wait to sanitize it for good and keep it that way for at least a year! Cody wasn't to thrilled about putting them out since they are still pretty small but it was definitely time for them to be normal. They are more skittish than the other's we have bottle fed and hope that they will continue to come to us when we bottle feed them because they are definitely too young to be weaned. Since we are heading home this weekend it was just easier to go ahead and put them outside. The other 3 outside that we have bottle fed seemed to welcome them in their pen!

Also Joceleyn has been doing really good. She doesn't cry as much when I put her down and if she does I just have to tell her "no crying" and she stops and laughs! I have been teaching her little songs and hand motions and her mom asked me tonight if I have been teaching her 'this' or 'that' because she sais Jocelyn does the hand motions at home :) Too cute. I have also ventured out a bit in town with her and she does really good. I have taken her grocery shopping, to the bank, post office and just running errands and she is too good! I am getting alittle nervous about her little brother joining us. I hope I can handle both of them and do a good job with them. He will be born sometime this month. I cannot believe it is already September! Where does time go?

Keeping up with the Joneses

Daddy and Vicki came to visit us on Monday. We were so thrilled that they came! Since it was during the week I was watching Jocelyn but on Tuesday, I watched her till lunch and Louis watched her that afternoon so we could show them around the ranch. They had a great time! I asked daddy if he has ever ridden a 4-wheeler and he said yes, after the ride he admitted he has never driven one! :) He did good, going in and out of the canyons were a little scary to Vicki, but they are definitely scarier looking at them than acutally going down them! We rode around for about 3 hours and still didn't make a dent in the place! Vicki fell in love with the baby deer in our house. Although I am so ready for them to get out, I am glad they were still inside for them to see! Vicki helped me bottle feed them and she did a good job with the motherly duty of wiping them :) They loved her, they sucked and licked on her for 2 days straight!

We went into town for dinner and when we got back to the ranch we took them to the back to see the sunset, but of course it was cloudy!!!!! They did enjoy the view and the big canyon back there!

Also, I bought a puzzle on Monday. I figured since little Jocelyn sleeps 7 of the 8 hours that I have her, I needed something to keep me busy. Of course, Cody made fun of me for awhile, because apparantly he is toooo cool for puzzles! We started it the night Daddy and Vicki got here but didn't get far, but Cody really enjoyed it and was even competetive, who would have guessed! I barely got him in bed! Anyway, Daddy, Vicki we have gotten pretty far since ya'll left! I think that the picture I picked out helps a little getting Cody to do it!

Karen

Jocelyn

The end of week 2 is almost over. I wasn't looking forward to watching Jocelyn at first, not because I don't like kids, I love kids! It was going to take up a lot of my time that I just wasn't ready to give up yet. Jocelyn is 13 months old and a little cuddle bug. Her parents live out here on the ranch with us. Her dad works for Cody and her mom needs to finish school so I decided to help them out. This week was way better than last week. She cries all the time. She cries when you put her down, walk away from her, lay her down for naps and not lay down with her, lay her on the bed and not on your chest, cry, cry, cry as long as your not holding her! She is also the easiest child to console. As long as she is cuddled up in your arms, she is good to go. I think children need their alone time just like adults. I think they need to learn to play by themselves and just be comfortable with being left alone for 5 seconds without screaming at the top of their lungs. Well I do know Jocelyn's mom and dad run to her everytime she cries, so she gets it honest. She knows if she cries, someone will come a running! Not me! Last week was pretty tough getting used to each other and the fact that little Jocelyn has never, I mean never been away from her parents was tough on her. The first day her dad dropped her off at 8:00, she cried for an hour straight, I would try to lay her down and she would cry harder and just cling to me. She finally cried herself to sleep on my chest, I gently layed her down on my bed, and layed down with her. I tried to get up at one point and she started screaming, I layed back down, she fell back asleep, I tried to get up again, she screamed bloody murder, I layed back down, she fell asleep! She slept till 12, woke up for lunch, cried for another 30 minutes, fell asleep till 3:45 when her mom picked her up. The next day was a little better on how long she cried when her dad dropped her off. Well this week has been great actually! She gets here at 8:00, goes back to sleep till 12, eats lunch, plays (while sitting on my lap) takes a bottle of milk at 2:00 and sleeps till 3:45 when her mom picks her up! Easiest child ever, except she doesn't like to be left alone! The crying would be really hard on me if she wasn't that easy to console, but after she stops crying, she just cuddles you up! Well you can't hold a child for ever so we worked on that this week. Her mother also informed me that she can't walk, O' yes she can! Infact she can run!


On Monday I decided I needed to do other things around the house besides carry her around constantly or lay down with her constantly while she is napping. So I gradually weaned her off me! :) After about 2 minutes of prying her out of my arms and making her stand straight, (as she is screaming) I back up and she takes off to me like she can't get to me fast enough! She makes it about 15 steps before she falls and I catch her in my arms, and the only reason she fell was because she was sprinting to me! I pick her up and she stopped crying! We did it several times (while she is screaming) but she can sooooo walk! I am sure everytime her parents put her down, she screams so they just pick her back up and they have never made her walk. By yesterday I was able to set her on the floor while I cooked lunch and she played all by herself for about 20 minutes before she would start screaming. Today, she didn't take a nap this afternoon so she was up when it was time to bottle feed the deer. I usually let the deer out of their pen in the afternoon, feed them, then they have free range in the house and usually find a place behind a door or curtain and lay there all day. Well today, Jocelyn was interested in them and they were interested in her! I was able to sit her on the floor for an hour! A whole hour before she started screaming! The only reason she cried this afternoon was because she was tired and that was fine.

I got soooo much done in that hour of her playing! Also, usually in the morning I have to pry her out of her dad's hands, except this morning she actually reached for me! Whoop Whoop! This is the best child ever! She sleeps till 12 and she is the sweetest thing ever, even though she cries way to much we are working on that!


Jocelyn is also expecting a baby brother next month, so I will have my hands full with both. So maybe by the time he comes, she will be walking normal, not sprinting the 100 meter, and not crying when I set her down to play!


I also realized this week you can't really plan for a baby. When are you ever really ready for a baby anyway? Somedays I feel ready and someday's I don't. I also think, no we can't have one this time because of this and not here because of this and not here because of this and O' wait we can't here because then the little rascal will be born on opening day of deer season and we all know that is a big No No! :) So I realized it's never a good time! You just have to roll with the punches, if it happens, it happens, if it don't, it don't and just stop trying to plan it because it's not in your hands anyways. When the little one finally gets here, your automatically a parent and you will be ready then.


Karen

Close call!

It is so very dry up here all the time. Even after a day of rain, the sun comes out, the wind picks up and its super dry again, always dusty and the ground is always hard. It has rained a few times since we have been up here but nothing to bad. We seem to live right where the storms form and then they move east. It could be a beautiful day, clear skies one minute and the next the scariest looking cloud is a brewing! The last 2 nights we have had good rain! Both storms have formed to the west of us and have moved our way and stayed for a few hours. Yesterday and today the ground has been wet, sloppy, and so not dusty! Cody decided to take advantage of this and start working on the winter food plots for the deer in the high fence. Last Spring when he was working on the summer food plot, it was dry and the disc just wasn't cutting it, and he ended up going over each food plot about 6 times each with the disc. Since we had good rains and the ground was actually wet he wouldn't have to go over them as much. So he started this afternoon and decided to disc them all once tonight before he quit and he would be home late.

I was starving about 5 and went ahead and made dinner and put the rest in the oven. Cody called about 7 and said something was wrong with the disc and he needed me to come pick him up so he could look for something in the barn. The only way to get to him was by 4-wheeler. I could have taken the hummer out for its first mountain/canyon adventure, but figured I would stick to the 4-wheeler! I finally make it to him, he hops on and we head back to the house. Half way home a scary looking cloud formed above us and starting lighting like crazy! It was pretty scary. We made it to the barn, the cloud passed and Cody was fixin to head back out. He was just gonna take the 4-wheeler back out with him, finish the discing, and bring the 4-wheeler back and I could drop him back off tomorrow so he could finish. Before he left he decided to come home first and eat before he headed out.

He comes home, eats super fast and 15 minutes later he heads back out and said see ya late tonight. He was gone maybe 2 minutes and comes back in and says, "nevermind, here comes another scary looking cloud and then the bottom fell. It was raining so hard. I was thinking, glad u came home to eat first or you would have been stuck on that 4-wheeler in this terrential down pour! Another 10 minutes pass and we could here a little hail. We step on the front porch to see how big the hail is and it's probably the size of quarters, and not coming down to hard or to many. Another 10 seconds pass and they are coming down hard and of course all I think about is the hummer! Cody suggest we take it to the barn, I run and get my rain boots, I get in my vehicle and Cody gets in his truck and I follow him to the barn. By the time we make it to the barn the hail is the size of golf balls and not coming down to terribly hard and Cody has to get out of his truck and open the barn door and I pull in! By the time I get out of my car it is coming down so hard you can barely see 5 feet out and the ground is completely white! Cody then decides he needs to bring in the truck too, finds a cow feed sac and runs to his truck! That so had to hurt! He made it back! Then he decides he needs to bring in the tractor :( He finds a bucket this time because it is coming down harder! Before he can get to the tractor the bucket goes flying off his head, not sure if the hail knocked it off or he threw it off before he got in the tractor. He made it back! We finally realize Cody would have been stuck on the 4-wheeler out in the middle of the high fence if he hadn't come home first to eat and I would have been home by myself and probably would have tried to take my vehicle to the barn by myself and I can never get that huge door open and I would have been stuck in the hail too! We just stand in the metal barn (the noise of the hail was soooo loud we couldn't even hear each other talk) for about 15 minutes. I make the comment, "glad there isn't a tornado warning too" and Cody says, there was! I' am getting scared at this point because I am thinking the run to Jeff's basement sure is gonna hurt with all this hail and that the hail would hurt us before a tornado would reach us! Luckily by this time we start to see clear skies and the scary storm passes us. I leave my car in the barn and we bring Cody's truck back home and check on the dogs. Poor babies, they have never experienced hail before. They looked a little in shock when I reach them, but luckily they have a pretty big shelter! :) Cody picks up some hail and gets the camera and they are still pretty big chunks after 10 minutes of just sitting there and melting.


Now I am worried about the deer in the breeder pens! It will do more damage going out there and scaring them with a spotlight, so we will have to wait till the morning. I hope all the babies were smart enough to go to the shelters!


Karen

When did I turn into a .....

Hopeless romantic.......

Sometime in the last 6 years, 5 months and 1 day. Tuesday night was the first night of the meteor shower and I was dying to watch! Cody and I were laying on the hood of his truck and I made a comment of how romantic this would be if only he had suggested it :) Not only did I have to drag him out there, I made him drink a mug full of green tea in the process! I would have let the green tea slide if maybe it was his idea to go watch!:) He then tells me that he is romantic because 2 months ago he suggested we go watch the sunset, I just smiled and said, "exactly, 2 months ago!"

Yesterday he comes home with freshly picked flowers, finds my favorite vase, sets them neatly on the counter and waits for me to notice them. It made my day, which in turn, made his day! I don't need an expensive gift or date to make me fall in love with Cody even more. Men always talk about how complicated women are. Well, fellas we aren't that complicated! All you have to do is open a door for us every once in awhile, a touch whenever you pass us, a glance across the room, put the toilet seat down, do 1 maybe 2 things a week not a day, a week around the house, something simple as putting your dirty close in the hamper and not on the floor, emptying the dishwasher, just something small will do, a little note and it doesn't even have to be long, a simple I love you would do the trick, offer up the remote 1 night a week, offer a foot rub, I repeat 'offer' the rubbing. I have many more but you get the point. Is it just me or would this not make any woman's day or week complete because it sure makes mine! :)

I love love love poems(which Cody is good at!), picking flowers, making a picnic, riding around looking at houses and just dreaming of our future togething. The one thing Cody has done for me that sticks out more than anything else is, one night I was super cold and decided to go take a hot bath to warm up, when I was getting out he brought me a hot towel straight from the dryer! That is not super big, or even time consuming but it meant so much, made my night, which in turn, made his night :)

I used to not be like this at all. I used to get mad when a guy would open a door for me, I thought it was annoying. I would get mad if a guy would tell me everyday how much he liked me, I would be like, "you told me last week, do you have to tell me that every day, man up!" I was not affectionate at all, maybe a little cold sometimes and even down right mean. I can't believe anyone ever wanted to date me. I wouldn't have wanted to date me either! I do think age has a lot to do with this too. I would say from 17-20 I was like this. I was very sheltered growing up and super naive about things, which is why I think I pushed people away when I realized what couples were actually doing at my age, LOL. I am super glad I was sheltered and naive about the world, I am also glad that I moved out on my own at 18 and got to experience things on my own, and make my own choices and my own decisions and this is where the sheltered and the naive part helped me make the right choices! It also led me down the road to Cody, and I am so happy about that! I think we met at just the right time, if we had met any sooner I would have been super guarded and probably bitter and definitely not ready to give someone my heart completely. I think me and Cody have a pretty good love story, how all the pieces came together at the right time, how we met, when we met, having to do the long distance thing from the time we were 21 to 23 made us have to work 10 times harder for our relationship to work, which made us realize we were in this for the long run.

I am so blessed and this is what I sing everyday........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcZoNBngAnM

Maybe one day one of us will tell our love story.....

Josh-a-Roo!

Cody's brother came and visited us this weekend and we showed him around the ranch. I think he fell in love with the baby deer in the house! He got in late Sunday night and left today. Monday night a storm blew through, which a storm blows through probably once a week but it always goes around us. Well Monday night it hit us straight on. The wind got up to about 70 mph and it was crazy! Cody and Josh ran up to the deer pens to bottle feed the babies before the storm hit while I fed the dogs. No lie, the wind was so powerful it blew me down! I ran as fast as I could back in the house and just glared out the window to make sure Cody and Josh were gonna make it back without getting blown away! Well the wind didn't phase them, they were just lollygagging (not sure this is a word, ha) down the drive, walking as slow as they possible could! When they finally get in the house their like, "man, that wind is a blowing!" The wind lasted about an hour, then rain for about 30 minutes and then the bluest skies you have ever seen! The sun came out and hit the storm clouds and it made a double FULL rainbow and it was sooooo bright! It was amazing! This picture doesn't do it justice!

In case you don't know Josh, he is gonna be famous one day! He is in a band called the Rocketboys and they are GREAT! Also, Josh is a little pimp! The blonde chic from Gloriana is his friend and she not only texted him ALL weekend, she even called him one night! :) Go Josh!

Today while Cody was out he got stung by a horse fly! Poor thing, he is falling apart! When he came home he looked like he had been ran over by a freight train and his poor little hand was twice as big as the other one. Tonight, it's about 4 X's as big as his other hand! :)

Today I started watching Jocelyn. She is Louis and Gisella's little girl. She is 13 months old and she has never been away from her parents. Well Gisella needs to finish school and I agreed to help them out while she goes to school. She slept the whole time....No lie! Louis dropped her off around 8, she screamed for an hour, until she cried herself to sleep, slept till 12, cried some more till Louis came to check on her. He took her home for lunch, dropped her back off around 1:30, he left, she screamed for about 5 minutes, until she screamed herself to sleep and she slept till 3:45 when Gisella picked her up. Luckily for me Cody went to town today to get feed and swung by walmart to buy me The Time Traveler's Wife:) So I can read it before he takes me to go see the movie on Friday! Let's just say......I got A LOT of reading in today with a sleeping baby! :)

Karen