End of 2011

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

2011 has been such a great year!

We made a lot of memories and had an extra special little guy to share it all with.

 I have always enjoyed the simple life but this is the first year I have really appreciated the simple life.

Out here we get to spend a lot of time together and I mean a lot of time together and we love it.

There is a lot of work to do but its stress free......on most days.

We are away from the hustle and bustle of everyday fast paced life.

I can't wait till the day Jones realizes how awesome it is that he gets to live here.

Not very many people can say, "I just pet a deer!" "I just got within 10 feet of a 400'Elk" and be able to stand outside at night and see every star in the sky, shining so bright, it lights up our back yard.

I don't miss the city lights

I don't miss all the traffic

To sit out on our deck and hear Elk bugle. To experience absolute peace and quiet.

This life we have built together is priceless and Jones just makes it 100 times better!

I hope 2012 is just as good to us as 2011.

12 months and counting

You had your 12 month Dr.'s appointment the other day and are doing great!

We changed Dr's and we love him

You weigh 22 pounds 10 ounces

You are 29 inches long

You are walking 90-to-nothing

You are talking up a storm

We started you on cow's milk....you hate whole milk....you will drink 2% with a look of disgust :)

You are eating everything we are eating and LOVE food.

You have slimmed up a lot since you have started walking...I miss your little chubby roles:)

You are starting to look like a lil man...not my baby anymore

We made you a play room and you can sit in there for hours playing

You actually had your first peanut butter and jelly sandwich tonight...you said ummmmm ahhh

Still the happiest child EVER

I am so proud that I made it a year breastfeeding,  I really wanted to be selfish and throw in the towel a long time ago and I didn't.  This was the best thing for you and the least I could do.  I really enjoyed that time with you and sad to start weaning.  It was very challenging at times not being able to leave you for long periods of time but we made it!  I feel like I'm the breastfeeding GURU and know it all:) 



One....

My baby is 1.......

When did this happen?

We had such a good trip and an even better birthday party for Jones!  We can't thank everyone enough for EVERYTHING!

Jones didn't have a nap on his birthday party day....we were just too busy going.  He slept for about 3 minutes on the way to the party and we left him in the car (guarded of course) to sleep for about 20 minutes before we got him out to start the party!  He was a trooper and we only had one breakdown:)

Jones, you sure are a special little guy who makes every one's life a little brighter.  You are such a joy to be around and you have such a sweet soul.

We Love You!

Earthquakes and walking, O' My!

We experienced our first earthquake Saturday night.  It was the neatest (only because we had no damage:) feeling and the craziest experience I ever had.  I was laying in bed and Cody was checking his e-mail.  The bed started shaking and I just assumed Cody snuck in and was on the ground shaking the bed trying to scare me.  I lean over, he wasn't there and the night stand started shaking, then all the pictures on the wall were rattling and then a loud boom rumbling noise.  I just froze and took it all in.  In my mind I was thinking earthquake but I hadn't heard Cody yell or say anything so I was wondering if he even felt it and if he hadn't felt it I was going crazy.  It seemed like it lasted forever but it maybe lasted 30 sec?  It lasted long enough for me to conjure up 4 or 5 scenarios of what all the ruckus might be! So after it stops I jump off the bed and poke my head out of our bedroom door and look down the hall and can see the light on by the computer and I figured Cody was still checking his mail, didn't feel it and I was losing my mind.  So I walk down the hall and I see Cody standing in the kitchen with a shocked look on his face too and he asked if I felt that, ha!  Ummm, yeah I felt it!  Jones woke up, moaned and groaned for a few minutes and went back to sleep.  I guess he felt it too!

Little one will be walking probably before this week is over.  He is getting too big, too fast and I need him and time to slow down!  We have been so busy this week.  We have had hunters and that has kept Cody busy.  I have cleaned the lodge twice this week for hunters and guest to come stay. Since we have been busy little man has pretty much had to entertain himself during the day.  We work with him a lot at night and he is on the verge of taking off.  He takes about 4 or 5 steps and gets soooo excited he claps and just face plants. Then he gets up and does it again......

We love you so much lil' man!

Haloween 2011

We had a lot of fun this Halloween.  Jones made it special!  Me and lil'man came to Texas the weekend before and had a mini trick or treat with the family.  We had to show off our lil'stinker!  Uncle Ronnie hooked up the tractor and we took our first hayride.  It was a lot of fun and all the kids enjoyed it......and the grown ups too!

I made it back to OK in time for Cody to join in on all the fun too!

Jones had his first sucker and he was in LOVE!  He has had a ruff week teething and has had a sucker pretty much everyday this week.  That sucker gives him an hour of relief a day!  Bring on the suckers!!!  While I was in Texas my Aunt took me to a second-hand store that had walls and walls of baby stuff galore!  They had a whole isle of costumes and I had to pick him up one!  This was the cutest one they had and it was $2.50!  He was cute in both!

Jones is on the verge of walking!  A few more days and I know he will take off!

Inevitable...

It was bound to happen.......Top 5 words that Jones can say:

Dada

He has a word for milk thanks to my Father-in-law!

Bye Bye

Mama

DEER

We go ride around every night checking the deer, Jones rides around with Cody a lot to feed the deer, we pet the deer, we eat deer, breath deer and live deer!

 Hunt Deer

 Work deer, study deer, score deer,

I'm sure he will be a deer man like his daddy!

Hunting and then some...

I just realized that our Ranch blog has turned into Jones' blog!  So lets change it up a bit:)

We had our first large group of hunter's come out this week for a very successful hunt!  11 to be exact plus 5 guides.  All the guys were great, very nice and a pleasure to be around!  We hope they come back!  I was very busy cooking and catering to them and got in on some of the action!  Kristen came down to stay with us to tend to Jones while I was back and forth from our house and the lodge.  I just assumed I would make breakfast at a certain time, be done, cook dinner at a certain time and be done.  It didn't quite go that way.  I started breakfast each morning around 9:30. A few hunters would come in want breakfast then head out to see their animals being cleaned and meat being packed in their coolers.  Another group would come in, I would cook for them, they would head out to see their animal being cleaned and meat being packed in their coolers, then the guides would come in wanting to eat.  Then I would have to clean up and sometime in the middle of all that I would have to run home and feed Jones. I would get home about 12:30, feed Jones, head to the lodge to do laundry, head home to feed Jones, chill out for an hour and head back over to the lodge to start dinner at 7:30, head home at 8:30, feed Jones and put him to bed, head back to lodge to feed round one of hunters at 9:15, feed another group at 10:00 and finally sit down with the guides at about 10:30 to eat, clean the kitchen, set out donuts, cereals, bowls etc, for early hunters in the morning, home at 12:30, bed by 1:00! Then somewhere in the middle of all that taking pictures..Whooo, I am tired!

All the hunters were very impressed with all the facilities and all the guides did a great job!  At the end of the hunt they were pros at cleaning an animal!

All the guys had exciting hunts and meat packed in their coolers to last a year!

They were supposed to stay till Sunday but got everything they came to get and left yesterday (Friday) We were exhausted yesterday and was in bed by 9.  This has not ever happened! Ever!  It was so nice!

 I definitely spent more time at the lodge helping than I planned on but had a great time.  I couldn't have done all this without Kristen!  Jones had a great time with her and whined anytime she left the room!  He even gave her a couple of explosions up his back that she had to change! lol.  He has been looking around the house for her today and even crawling to her room a couple of times:(

All-in-all it was a great few days at O Bar Ranch!

I am left now with 17 sets of sheets to wash, 17 beds to make, a lodge to clean, upstairs and down, and a house of my own to clean that I have neglected this week.  All this can wait till Monday!

Not so normal day....

Today has been a weird day.  We got home a couple of days ago from our 3rd trip in 1 month to Texas.  It's always nice to go in and visit and see everybody but always nice to come back home.  We were out and about alot in Texas and I needed something to get J's attention when he would get fussy.  I downloaded a baby Einstein app on my phone and he LOVES it!

When we pulled up to our house Jones squealed he was so excited.  When we came inside he started staring and pointing at all his toys and grunting.  It usually takes a good week to get things back on schedule and rest up from the long travel days.  I have been on the verge of exhaustion running around like a chicken with my head cut off plus having to deal with the pain of shingles.....again!  Not fun!  This morning I needed to get a lot of things done.

Clean house

Clean house

Clean house

I went to bed last night dreading today..........

I woke up this morning ready to go!

Got a lot done plus cleaned up a huge poop explosion!

J man got a little stopped up over the past week.  He has had a lot of starches and bread and those do not do a tummy good!  I have nursed and nursed him since we got home and he is all cleaned out now!

We are going to have a busy busy month.  We have our first big group of hunters coming at the end of next month.  Around 13!  Cody has been getting things organized with scheduling and getting things set up on the ranch, etc and I have been trying to get new recipe's together and make a list of all I will need to feed these boys!  J has been helping with the scouting!

I have found several recipes over the last few days and this morning while flipping through the channels I came across a reality TV show about Dallas Elite.......Gimme' a break!  Why do people have to make Texas look so bad......anyways in my annoyance I flipped over to the food network channel to get some more recipes and a new show was on called The Pioneer Woman.  I have heard about her for awhile but never looked her up.  It was refreshing to watch after watching the Texas Elite show....barf!  She is my new go to girl for quick "on the ranch" recipe's to feed an army!  Love her!

8 months

Sweet Baby Jones, where has the time gone?

You will be 8 months tomorrow.  We will be in the car all day traveling back to East Texas

You are effortlessly happy all day long

You have to much to see and learn, to nap during the day

You sleep 12 hours straight at night

Still loving mommy milk

Your favorite food is squash and potatoes only the the homemade fresh stuff:)

You love your sippy cup with water, although you prefer to chew on it more than drink from it

You have 6 teeth and I can feel 2 more working there way....slow down!

You would prefer to chew on mommy's Iphone and Daddy's TV remote over all your beautiful colorful toys

You never meet a stranger. 

You want to take off and crawl so bad.  Somedays I think you can but you prefer to tease us

You say DaDa all day long.  I say to say momma and you laugh.  I think you said, "No" one day!

Your sleeping in your crib now.  I think you miss sleeping in your bassinet but enjoy the new freedom of a lot more room now!

You are very hot natured like your daddy

You 'talk' all day long.  Im sure you know exactly what you're saying..I don't:)

18 days....

We just got home from an 18 day world wind.  It seemed like we were gone a lot longer than that.  It is amazing how dirty your house can get when your away and Cody even did all the laundry and the dishes before I got home!  We drove about 1800 miles, only one breakdown( from Jones) and he had a good reason.  We had a busy, fun filled 3 weeks which included:  Wylie, Edgewood, Van, San Antonio, back to Van, Edgewood then Wylie, Dallas, Allen and Frisco!  We had lunch with old friends, cousins we have never met, Aunts I haven't seen in forever!  I have found my new love......IKEA and Chuy's!  I met up with a few of my old OG friends at the new IKEA in Frisco and it was AWESOME!  There I realized I need to get a new GPS CD for my car because roads weren't even showing up.  We did lots of shopping!  Stopped in Gainsville at the outlets on our way in and on our way out!  Made a pit stop at the Terrell outlets with Grammy!  and hit up a few children stores in Ardmore,OK waiting for Cody to meet back up with us for the ride home!  and found JBear two stinker shirts while in Texas!!!!

Went swimming and LOVED it!

Got to feed a mini horse!......almost got bit by a mini horse:)

Tried to talk Jackson into liking Jones....Sadie is sold!

Played in Nannie and Daddo's sprinklers

Hung out with my favorite cousin Hannah!

Uncle josh and Jones got to help Cody at the Expo in SA!

Jones somehow managed to pick up his daddy's and friends old school gang sign!

When I got home I cleaned out Jones' closet.  Everything he had was either way small or the stuff that fit was winter clothes.  I took everything off hangers and put in storage bins and hung up all the clothes he racked up while we were gone and now his closet is full again.....little stinker! 
Since we were away from Cody 90% of our getaway, we were on the phone a lot.  I said Daddy to Jones about a million times and Cody talked to him on the phone a million times.  By the end of our trip Jones was saying DaDa!  He missed him so much!

It was so good to get back.  Still trying to get the house in order and cleaned.  Our room looks so empty now. We moved Jones into his room on Monday night.  I finally just moved everything out of our room.  His rocker, pack n' play, put up his bassinet, humidifier and all his goodies to his room. He was way more ready than me.  He did really good, better than me.  When I first put him in his crib I think he was a little shocked that this was not what usually happens and started crying and was bright eyed and didn't want to go back down.  I let him swing for a little bit till he got drowsy and tried again.  It only took 3 tries and he was out!  The next night 2 and last night he went down the first time!  Although he woke up at 4:45 ready for the day this morning.....No Bueno!  This momma is tired!  The first night he was out of our room I woke up about 20 times and confused on where I was.....and looked at his video monitor about 50 times!  Which is weird because I'm not one of those paranoid moms that constantly worries!

Trying to get ready for round two on Tuesday.........

It has been so easy traveling with Jones because he had been sleeping in a bassinet that fold up easy and was very light to carry.  Now I'm gonna have to tote his HUGE pack n' play with us.  I was not thinking when I registered for that gigantchuwon of a thing!  I might need to invest in a smaller one and sale this one!

Busy Busy Busy

I  have neglected the ole' blogger.  I have been doing a lot of writing instead of blogging:)  I bought a thick journal and have been writing Love Letters to Jones!  I got so interested in Ancestry because I know nothing about my family and decided I want Jones to know us and know stories about his life, stories that he can't remember and most of all I want him to know how much he is loved.  That little dude is loved SO much and he doesn't even know it yet!  I wish I knew stories about my parents and grandparents and wish I had them to read.  I'm still waiting on your Legacy book KIM! :)  I will try to write more here but I'm loving Jones' journal more at the moment:)

Cody got his first Hole-In-One and he was soooo excited!  It was a par 3, 125 ish yards and the sucker went in on the first shot!  I don't care for golf and have tried to hit the ball a couple of times and it doesn't go far.  So I usually go for the ride and the tan.  Kim and Jed were down visiting and we all decided to go.  Jed and Cody played and me, Kim and Jones watched!

Our fawns started dropping middle of May and I think we have about 16 so far.  We haven't had to bottle feed any yet and hope it stays that way:)  It took Jones awhile to notice the deer but he has finally noticed them.  He just stares at them confused!

The nice thing about OK and the dry climate is at night it is SO nice.  The wind finally died down and we were able to ride around the ranch on the ranger instead of the truck.  Pretty scenery and beautiful sunsets are a part of our every day here!

Photograph

I've got a picture it's glued in a book

Of most of my family that somebody took

Grandpa died early before I could know

The man that they tell me I take after so

Though I don't remember it still makes me laugh

When I see us together in a photograph

Mommy and Daddy burned hot like flame

But it all turned to ashes with no one to blame

I can still see them but not in my mind

It's been so long that my memory's blind

Though I can't remember it still makes me laugh

When I see us together in a photograph

Well it happened last winter we had a son

And they took a picture of family round one

It's there to remind you when you can't recall

What your daddy looked like when you were so small

Though you won't remember it still makes me laugh

When you see us together in a photograph

Sneaky Sneaky

We had a busy busy week.  We ended up going to Texas last Saturday.  We made a pit stop in Wylie and stayed with my mom and headed to Van Sunday to surprise everyone! I woke up with Shingles....ON MY FACE.....again! Not sure what caused this break out but I' am willing to bet either me stressing out about the storm we drove through on our way home or my minor freak out in my sleep the night before?

We walked into church Sunday and the in-laws almost passed out!  It was the best seeing their faces!  It was a fast trip but we got to see everybody and spend the night with Mimi, Papa Jones and Grammy and Nawna and DooDee!

We had our Easter celebration at Nannie and Dado's house.  All the "big" kids got to act like little kids, if only for the day! 

We got family pics done and can't wait to get them back!  I hope they turn out good.  I was not feeling it that day and was a little insecure about my shingles and they were hurting and I was exhausted and nauseated all day.

Tuesday night was pretty intense.  Several storms came through Van and we set up shop in the tub for a couple of hours.  Jones didn't know what to think about that but he did great!  Tornado did hit Van, but luckily it was a few miles away from us....it was still scary though.

We had a short trip but had a lot going on.  Easter, birthday's, two massive storms, pictures, tornadoes, feeding Star and Sushi!  Wednesday night we stopped back by mom's house.  Jones was sooo tired and was out by 6:30.  Mom cooked hamburgers for us, but since Jones went to sleep early me and Cody snuck away for sushi!  It was much needed date night!  We also made it home in 6.5 hours!  That is a record.  We only had to stop once to feed Jones!  He slept the rest of the time and was in bed by 7 that night.  We were all wore out but so glad we came in!

Cody's Girl

We lost Cody's girl this weekend.  It was a pretty sad day.  Not sure exactly what happened but a couple of weeks ago Cody noticed a knot/growth looking thing on the back of her leg.  He tranqed her and cut it open and cleaned it out and she has been doing good ever since.  Friday we had some vicious winds.  It ripped shingles off of our house plus it ripped 3 roofs off the deer shelters in the pens. Majority of the buildings in town were damaged from the wind too.  It was CRAZY!  On top of her healing from her little surgery wound and plus the stress from the wind and huge roofs flying off she was probably just over stressed.

She loved loved loved Cody!  After his cancer scare last year he was in bed for a few days recuperating.  I fed the babies and took care of them and she could tell something was wrong with him.  She would run to our room and stare at him and one day she just decided to jump up on the bed, like a dog, and check things out for herself:)  She was always waiting for Cody at the gate anytime he would go to the deer pens.  She would NEVER let him work her through the chutes.  He would have to go in there with her and just pen her up against the wall to give her shots....she did not like that one bit!  We will miss you little girl!

4 Months

You are a big boy!  You weigh 16.8 pounds

You are 25 1/2 inches long

Your eyes are blue blue blue

You laughed out loud for us for the first time

Still loving mommy's milk

Still sleeping through the night

You finally play flat on your back without having a minor freak out thinking your falling:)

You attended your first trip to Austin for State Basketball

You went swimming in a big pool and loved the extra company in your "bath"

You have started grabbing at everything and bringing things to your mouth

You rolled over completely for the first time

I pray the transition to your room/crib will go as smooth as the last 4 months with you!

J Bear,  we love you so so much!

It's only Tuesday....

This week needs to hurry up and END!

You either have to be a complete crack head, jobless and taking advantage of the system to get a break at Children's Medical Center when trying to pay your OUTRAGES bill that was racked up in less than a 24 hour time frame!  After listening to a lady tell me their "policy" I had to ask, "can I call you back tomorrow and start our convo over with you.  I will tell you that I am a loser, I spend all my money on drugs and can't pay you, but I can probably afford to give you $25.00.  Will that be ok.....GREAT!  UGH!

I got addicted to ancestry.com this week.  I had to take a break from it today.  I kept dreaming of Census records all night.  I tracked one side of my family back to the 1700's and found some pretty sad stories.  My 3rd great grandmother was kidnapped by Indians after they killed her family.  Sold to a rich family who treated her like a slave and then saved by a man who married her and gave her the world!  Mary Todd Lincoln(Abraham Lincoln's wife) was my 3rd great grandmother's sister!

It has been super cold and yucky out

On a better and brighter note....I love this little guy!

Happy Birthday My Love

Cody's birthday isn't till tomorrow (Sunday) but we celebrated tonight!  We have been busy all weekend with the expo and tonight was the perfect night to celebrate.  I had to pick up Cody's cake yesterday so it had been staring us down!  We usually start J Bear's bedtime routine about 6:30 and he is out by 7:30 but he has had a busy day too.  We had to get up at 7:00 to go man the booth at the expo while Cody finished working deer.  Cody joined us about 11:00.  Jones was SOOO good the past 2 days.  I  went up Friday to stop by to visit with Cody and J was so good we ended up staying all day!  Today he wouldn't nap very good up there so we came home around 1:00 so he could get a good nap in and then head back up till the expo closed.  He ended up taking a 4 hour nap...2-6!  So we met Cody for dinner and came home.  Since little man was well rested and in such a good mood and going to bed later, Jones wanted to throw Cody a birthday party tonight!:) 

When we got home Cody had to run to the deer pens so J had a quick bath and we set up.  Daddy was surprised!  I started taking pictures and Jones started laughing so hard!  Best Birthday Present EVER!  It was his first full on laugh out loud!  He got so tickled at the flash I just kept taking his picture.  I think I ended up with 50 pictures!  I so wish I had gotten the video camera, but then there would have been no flash to laugh at so it worked out great!  Were were laughing so hard we were crying when it was over.

In all the pics Jones' hair looks SO red!  I guess it was Cody's yellow shirt.  The cake was yummy, the strawberries were yummy and Jones picked out the adorable decorations!  All in all it was a great birthday celebration!  Happy 29th birthday, Cody!  We love you so much.  So glad your my husband and so glad your Jones' daddy.  Hope you have the best birthday ever My Love!

Basketball Jones

Basketball has taken over in this house.  We have filled out our brackets....I'm sure I will win again this year:)  I put Jones in his bouncy chair today to try to get some stuff done around the house.  He was GLUED to basketball again.  He fussed during commercials:)  Let's just say I got a lot done today!  He is JUST like his daddy!

3 Months

You are such a good  baby

Still loving momma's milk

You had your first trip to Texas!

Had your first trip to the hospital because you got sick:(

Went spotlightng for the first time with Daddy...you got a porkypine:)

Sleeping 9-12 hours straight at night

You love sitting on the back porch and staring at the dogs

You try to talk back to us when we talk to you

You have mastered swimming in the tub:)

You enjoy laying on our bed during the day with your pacifier when you are tired, sometimes you have conversations with the deer picture in our room.  I try to record you, but I can't sneak up on you!

I pray time will SLOW down

Day 30

A picture of someone I miss

I think we all miss Granny and Papa.  Jones always has such a serious facial expression and we didn't know where he got it from....I think that came from papa.  Granny was always smiling.  I don't think I ever saw her without a smile on her face.  They were my Granny and Papa from the first time I met them.  Papa would always ask questions and drill Cody and always had great advice and making sure he was doing what he was supposed to be doing and he treated me the same way.  As soon as you stepped into their house you felt at home.  You couldn't leave without eating or drinking something and Granny would make sure you were as full as a tick on a dog before you left her house!

Papa passed away in 2006 soon after our wedding.  This picture was taken at our wedding and Granny was all smiles.  We were in Georgia for a job interview and the plane ride home was the longest 2 hours of our life.  Granny was a tough little cookie and seeing her so strong made it a little easier on everyone else.  She passed away soon after.....I think from a broken heart.

Granny would always grab my face when we would leave from visiting them and say, "just love each other always."  I will always remember that and definitely not let her down on that.  Strawberries and Dr. Pepper will always taste a little bit sweeter because of Granny.

Day 29

A picture that always makes me smile

I was one hot mess at our wedding.  I cried more that day than I had in my whole life, everyone was rushing us along, Cody was rushing me (he was ready to go:)!  I wanted to elope and he wanted the huge fancy shindig.  I finally had to remind him that he wanted this and to stop rushing me!  When it was time to throw my bouquet, I climbed up on a chair and just chunked it backwards.  In all the excitement and loud commotion I realized the DJ guy was still talking and was like.....WAIT NOT YET.....to late.  The photographer caught my reaction in mid, "I am so sorry! I wasn't listening:)"

My sister caught my flowers.  Of course!  She ALWAYS catches the bouquet.  I bet she has about 20 in her closet....she fights for those sucker.  At Terre's wedding...we were probably 8 and 10 or 7 and 9 at the time.  Kristen caught her bouquets too then and one of Terre's friends grab it out of her hand after she caught it.  I'm pretty sure Kristen fought back for it.  In this pic Kristen's face is priceless!  She's like  hahah suckers!  It's ALL mine!

Then there is my niece Ashlyn.  She went after the bouquet too, Kristen taught her well, and her very expensive dress ripped!  The strap on both shoulders snapped and she shined everyone.  Luckily she was only like 10 at the time and not 20:)  She was so embarrassed.

Day 28

A picture of something I am afraid of.  I don't know how to put this in a picture.  I am not afraid of the dark but afraid of staying in a house at night by myself.  It's about 9:00 tonight and Cody isn't home yet and I feel a little anxious.  Not sure why I have this feeling.  I have always had this feeling.

Growing up I couldn't sleep by myself.  My room was all the way on the other side of the house and I hated it.  I would have to bribe Kristen every night to let me stay in her room.  Some nights she would be nice and let me sleep in her bed...other nights I had to sleep on the floor.  She is 2 years older than me and when she left for college I thought I was going to die.  I am not sure how I  managed those 2 years before I left to for college.

I always had roommates in an apartment and was fine.  One year I decided to get an apartment by myself...It lasted 6 months and I probably stayed there.......5 times total by myself.  I always stayed at a friends house where I eventually moved into.

First year of marriage, when we were in Georgia, Cody had to do a little traveling.  I begged my mom to come stay with me.  She would fly up and stay when Cody was away.  When we lived in Van I always stayed at Cody's parents house when he was away.

The thought of sleeping in a house alone gives me the willy's!

Day 27

A picture of me and a family member

I can't pick one sis and not the other.

Meet Terre and Kristen

This picture cracks me up.  Typical picture usually involves me being goofy, Terre posing and Kristen being classy and sweet looking.  This pic is the complete opposite.  Kristen is being goofy.  Terre looks sweet.  I am posing!  I have this pic sitting on a book shelf and a few people who have seen it always think mom is the 4th sister!

Terre is 11 years older than me.  I remember when she was in college and would come visit, me and Kristen would cry our little eyes out every time she left.  When we would stay with Terre in Dallas and we would go out people always asked one of 2 questions.  Are these your kids? (talking about me and Kris) or are you half black?  She always had a dark tan.  It always surprised me people would actually ask a person that!

We had pictures made for mom for Mother's Day one year...2003?

We rented a house in Florida for Christmas in 2003 and Cody came along with us.  It was the worst trip alive.  It poured down rain the whole time, a hurricane hit and we were all stuck in a house for 4 days.  Cody says we could have our own reality TV show and be more entertaining than Keeping up with the Kardashians......he has a good point there!

Kris lives in Dallas and Terre lives in Allen.  I wish I lived closer to them.......some days:)

Day 26

A picture of something that means a lot to me.



I have never been a big animal person.  Every year at the DU banquet in Nacogdoches they always have a white lab up for auction.  The cutest little puppy ever!  My first year to go with Cody I was able to hold that puppy and cuddle him and kiss him up before he was auctioned off and found a home.  That year I think that puppy went for about 1900 dollars!  I was a little in shock.  The next year they had another one and I wanted him SO bad!  I was hooked! Of course, I didn't want to pay 2,000 dollars for a puppy so I waited, and waited and waited some more.  One day we passed a sign that read lab puppies for sale and off we went to find the house!  They had 2 left.  I fell instantly in love with one and Cody chose the other one.....the smaller one....the runt the owner called  him.  She gave us a deal on the runt and we took him home.  I was madly in love by that night.

We named him Duke....he looked like a Duke...King Duke!

He would sit in my lap while I drove.  Go spotlighting with me and Cody, ride the 4-wheeler with us, the tractor and sit between us in Cody's truck.  He was a great puppy.....a little hyper..... and an even better dog!  He now weighs in at 95 pounds...he is huge, not fat.....just huge!  Not sure why the lady called him the runt!

A year later Marley and Me came out and I had to go see it.  The book was by far better than the movie.  It had more stories and told more about the couple who bought him.  We could relate to about 75% of them all.  I cried my little eyes out at the movies and will cry my little eyes out when we lose our big ole' tub of love.  The funniest part of the whole movie is Marley was supposedly the runt too and they called him their little "clearance" puppy!

We eventually got Duke a playmate, we love him too, but........he isn't Duke!

I can't wait for Jones to be old enough to enjoy him as much as we have enjoyed him.

Day 25

A picture of my day!

I took this pic on the day I was supposed to write this blog.  This is the day Jones got sick and I did not have time to finish blogging last week.  Papa Jones gave lil' man his first calf!  When he was born he had a perfect star on his forehead.  You can still make out the star but it's more distorted now that he is growing.  His number is 27.  27 will probably be Jones' lucky number.  2 is the day he was born and 7 is the day Papa Jones was born.  This is a pretty special little cow if you ask me!  We had to take Jones to meet him while we were in Edgewood last week!

Texas Trip

We finally took little man to Texas to meet the rest of the family.  We took 10 day off that way we would have plenty of time to see and visit with everyone we wanted to.  We rotated between Van, Edgewood and Wylie.  Our 4th day there Jones wasn't feeling up to par.  I figured he was worn out being passed around, not getting his naps in good and just being away from routine.  During our days in Wylie he had a little cough and wouldn't keep anything down.  After 12 hours of not having a wet diaper I was concerned and called his pediatrician here in Woodward.......never got a call back!  I googled a pediatrician in Wylie and took him in.  Everything looked good to her and his lungs sounded good.  She was worried too about not keeping enough fluids down and no wet diapers for 12 hours so she sent us to Children's in Plano.  He was a little dehydrated and by the time we go to Children's you could tell he wasn't feeling good.  He just layed in my lap and buried his head and fell asleep.  He never cried while they put his IV in and got a urine sample.  After they started giving him fluids he lit up and smiled the whole time.  He started keeping food down and they sent us home after 24 hours.  They think he had a little virus:(  I woke up sick Sunday, Cody woke up sick Monday but we were both so ready to be home.  We traveled all day Valentine's day.  All 3 coughing our lungs off.  A 6 1/2 hour drive took 9 hours.  We all slept like a baby though when we got home.

Our first trip home did not turn out as planned at all!  So glad Jones is feeling better though.  I didn't take hardly any pics either:(

I will continue with my 30 days of blogging too!