Chasing Campbell

End of 2011

2011-12-31T18:23:00.000-08:00

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

2011-12-09T17:53:00.001-08:00

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....

2011-12-06T09:45:00.001-08:00

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!

2011-11-07T09:23:00.000-08:00

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

2011-11-05T19:18:00.000-07:00

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...

2011-10-07T17:41:00.000-07:00

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...

2011-10-01T18:19:00.000-07:00

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....

2011-08-27T12:28:00.000-07:00

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

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

2011-08-01T08:44:00.000-07:00

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....

2011-07-28T12:32:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-01T18:31:00.000-07:00

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

2011-04-30T18:49:00.001-07:00

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

2011-04-30T18:48:00.000-07:00

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

2011-04-18T18:39:00.000-07:00

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

2011-04-02T18:53:00.000-07:00

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....

2011-03-29T19:49:00.000-07:00

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

2011-03-19T19:45:00.000-07:00

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

2011-03-17T18:25:00.000-07:00

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

2011-03-02T18:19:00.000-08:00

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

2011-02-20T20:16:00.000-08:00

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

2011-02-19T20:21:00.000-08:00

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

2011-02-18T19:27:00.000-08:00

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

2011-02-17T18:42:00.000-08:00

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

2011-02-16T15:29:00.000-08:00

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

2011-02-15T15:17:00.000-08:00

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

2011-02-15T15:10:00.000-08:00

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!

Day 23

2011-02-08T07:09:00.000-08:00

This is my favorite book of all time. My Aunt suggested this book to me and when I went to Barnes and Noble to pick it up and realized it was about 30,000 pages, I almost didn't read it. Usually when I start a book, and it's good, I cant put it down till I finish it. Since this book was so thick I knew I couldn't sit and read the whole thing in one day. I got it anyways.

It took me 3 days to read it. I bawled like a baby. It's one of those "make you feel good books." I have read the whole thing 3 times. I read it once to Cody:) I asked Cody if he would read it before we got married. He agreed:) He started reading it one night and an hour into the book he was only on page 5. I was thinking it was going to take him 2 years to finish it. He got frustrated because the print is really small, the book is fat, and he is not a speed reader like me. I was half way joking when I said I would read it to him. He agreed! I am pretty sure I stayed in Van for a solid week so I could read to him every night, lol! He loved it just as much as I did! If you need a big fat lesson on unconditional love.......this book is for you!

Day 22

2011-02-07T02:15:00.000-08:00

I wish I was better at baking. I think I am a pretty great cook but that is totally different from baking. Most days....ok everyday, all day I have the food network channel on and find neat recipes to try out and they usually turn out fab. Desserts, pastries, etc........not so much. My older sister on the other hand can bake like no other. She made this awesome 3 tier cake for my personal shower before I got married. She is a perfectionist and all her desserts look fake they are so perfect! I get an itch to bake something fantastic some day's but I don't even know where to begin:(

Day 21

2011-02-06T02:11:00.000-08:00

A picture of something that I wish I could forget. If I wish to forget about it why would I post it? I don't want to be reminded of it every time I read my blog:( I have completely forgotten about Christmas 06'.

Day 20

2011-02-05T10:08:00.000-08:00

I want to go back to our honeymoon spot. Punta Cana, Dominican Republic! It was 7 days of pure wedded bliss! It took 14 hours, 2 planes and bumpy 3 hour hot bus ride to get there but it was so worth it. If only I could get over my fear of flying to go one more time!

I LOVE riding horses. Horses that I know and are comfortable with. These horses were CRAZY and I was scared out of my mind. They kept trying to race each other and bumping into each other and getting our legs trapped between them. It hurt and was NOT fun! This pic was taken before we ventured out for a ride and they turned crazy. They look all tamed and lazy in this pic..........they weren't!

The pool was amazing. It wrapped around the whole resort. You could basically get in from anywhere you were.

The beaches were so pretty. We had everything we needed on our resort alone. 12 different restaurants, snorkeling, body surfing, massages on the beach, a dance club, shopping stores, spa place and many more. The nice thing about our resort was, we could go to the beach and lay out and if we wanted to go eat or swim at the pool we could just leave our stuff there and no one would mess with it. They had like 2 staff for each couple there. We could have stayed at the resort for 7 days and never got bored but we ventured out one day for an excursion. We took a 30 minute SPEED boat ride to a small island. They cooked fresh lobster and shrimp out on the beach while every one layed out or snorkeled. It was sooo good! On the way back to the resort we were supposed to stop at a market place and shop but everyone on the excursion voted to go back to the resort. Everyone was exhausted and stuffed!

Day 18

2011-02-04T04:30:00.000-08:00

Whoa, this blog is getting personal. My biggest insecurity is my bone disease. Although, I think the older I get the farthest from my mind it goes. I don't really like talking about it and when I do it usually brings tears to my eyes......not sure why and I break out in a sweat......Is that anxiety?

I was always aware of my legs when I was younger. They never touched and always had a bow. In most pictures I have of myself when I was younger I am standing with my feet turned in and on there side. I guess I did that on purpose so when I saw me legs bowed out I could just blame it on the way I was standing. When I was diagnosed with this disease Internet wasn't around so I couldn't google it and Dr.'s had barely heard about it. I actually googled it for the first time after I found out I was pregnant just to try to find more info on it. There was A LOT of info! It is actually way more common now. I know a couple of people who I think have this disease too. Sometimes it's hard to diagnose and most of the time it goes undiagnosed. I even found a FB page for a support group! I was way more insecure about my legs when I was younger. It seems the older I have gotten and the more prayer's prayed about it, the more I have "outgrown" it. If that is even possible! Dr.'s always told me I wouldn't be taller than 4'6. I am 5'4. They always told me I would need total hip and knee replacement by the time I was 30. I am 28, will be 29 in April. They told me I would have arthritis. I don't. They told me the rod in my femur would not fix the problem. Haven't had a problem since. They told me I would have problems carrying a child because of the extra weight. I didn't.

I have 5 long scars on my leg, a rod in my femur and 3 screws to remind me of what could have been. I am so thankful for unexplained miracles!

Day 17

2011-02-03T04:10:00.000-08:00

This little guy has made a huge impact on my life recently

A pretty good impact though! Everyone says how much life changes after you have a kid and how much your relationship with your other half will change after children. Our life hasn't changed that much except it takes longer for us to get out of the house and be on time for an appointment:) It's not that life has changed much but a feeling I have has changed. There is more emotion, a deeper love, and a deeper connection with Cody. We enjoy when Jones takes naps because it gives us time together. Then when he sleeps so long we miss him and want to go wake him up. It seems like every night on the news there is a story about losing a child or some crack head being abusive to their baby. It has always pissed me off and I could never imagine how someone could do that, but now actually having a baby and thinking that makes me an emotional wreck.

Everyone always talks about how as soon as you see your baby you just have this flood of emotions and you think how you could love someone SO much. I didn't have that feeling then. I was in shock the first week I think. I couldn't wrap my head around what actually happened. I could hardly remember little details and think "did that really happen?' How can your body do that and survive. I had that flood of emotions probably a week and a half after he was born. I was rocking him to sleep one day for his nap and the water works came a flowing. It was like hyperventilating tears of joy, love and thinking if anybody tried to hurt my little man, momma goose would come pounding on your head! I was still in shock that he was actually here and I still couldn't believe it. I didn't want to put him down, I just kept kissing him and smelling him and just hugging him up. Apparently he didn't like it and woke up squirming and fussy and couldn't get out of my death grip fast enough. I layed him down and he went back to sleep. Every time I look at him I feel a flood of emotions, butterflies in my stomach and I get weak at the knees and now I can't ever remember life without him!

2 Months!.....and Day 19

2011-02-02T13:18:00.000-08:00

A picture and a letter

Jones,

We cannot believe you are already 2 months! Time needs to slow down because you are growing and changing way to fast! I was watching you sleep the other day and you didn't even look like a newborn to me anymore. I just knew you were about to wake up and start talking to me because you looked so much older.

You weigh 13.4 pounds

You are 23 inches long

Not sure exactly what size you wear, in the above pic you have on newborn pants and a 6 month sweatshirt. Baby sizes are weird! and not accurate!

You are still sleeping through the night and after 2 months you still have not kept me up at night!

You still eat every 2-3 hours during the day and 6-10 hours at night

You finally stopped cluster feeding at night

You are taking your pacifier easier. Usually out in public when you get fussy

You have learned to love being swaddled! Every time we put you on your back you have a minor freak out and think you are falling. Swaddling has saved us both!

You still love to be rocked

You go to bed easier for daddy than you do me

You still sleep in your bassinet and it will be a sad day when we move you to your crib

When your fussy you love when momma wears you in your sling

You had your first date night with momma and daddy a few weeks ago and you did awesome!

You love taking baths in the big tub with us

I still haven't found a bottle you will take gracefully:( I know, I know...why would you take the bottle when momma has the goods!

You are the happiest baby in the mornings!

We are still waiting for you to laugh out loud! We get lots of giggles though

I pray you will get over your reflux soon

Day 16

2011-02-02T08:27:00.000-08:00

The person that inspires me the most? There isn't just one person in particular. Everybody that reminds me that God is all I "need" inspires me. The one person that reminds me of that daily is a lady named Angie. I have an Aunt Angie that told me about this girls blog http://audreycaroline.blogspot.com/2008/01/beginning-of-story.html one day a few years ago and how she layed in her bed and cried all night reading her story. I had forgotten about this until last year. I had had a lot on my mind and been praying a lot and kind of mad at God and questioning him. I was blog jumping and came across her blog from my Aunts' page. I started reading and I finally put two and two together and realized this was the blog that I had heard about.

So I started from the beginning and started to read. I realized my problems were minute in comparison to what she had gone through. Now that I am a mother her story stirs my emotions on a deeper level. I went back the other night and reread her story again and sat at the computer bawling and thanking God for giving me Jones......a healthy Jones.

I have a friend who is either mad at the world or mad at God and sometimes I don't have the words to respond. Anytime she hears something evil about the world she gets mad at God and wonders why he "let" that happen. She always questions why he chose that person for tragedy and not that person? I get so frustrated talking with her and always end the convo with, "you just don't get it!" One day she asked me what I would do if something ever happened to Cody or Jones and that I would probably blame God and be mad at him. I had to think for a minute. I told her that of course I would probably have a mental breakdown for a bit, but that in the end God is the only person that you need, the only person that won't let you down. God has given me Cody and Jones and they are the icing on my cake! And it is really good icing! and if I didn't have that I wouldn't blame God. She still didn't get it......anyways.......

If you need a little inspiration in your life you should definitely read her story on her blog. You know that feeling you would get when you were younger after coming home from church camp? The high you would have for God? If you do read it, grab a box of Kleenex!

Sorry no picture again. I didn't want to steal a pic:(

Day 15

2011-02-01T08:11:00.000-08:00

A picture of something I want to do before I die? Hmmmm. I am not a dare devil and don't want to jump out of a plane or anything crazy like that. I HATE to fly and would prefer never to get on another plane again, so I wouldn't want to travel the world.

an hour later..................

The only thing that I can think of is watching my little boy grow up. To experience every mile stone he takes and to treasure every minute of it. I look forward to the day he is running around the house naked like a wild indian, little league, school, crushes, girlfriends, calling in the middle of the night needing me and doing everything possible to keep a smile on his face.

and I don't have a picture of all that:)

Day 14

2011-01-31T01:45:00.000-08:00

I could not see myself without my little family. It's way better than I could imagine and I would give anything in the world for them. God has truly blessed me with an awesome husband who is an awesome daddy and a little boy who makes everything brighter.

Day 13

2011-01-30T01:57:00.000-08:00

I don't have a favorite Artist or band, I don't think? I have favorite songs that change from time to time. My favorite song right now is by Josh Abbott Band called O'Tonight. Every time we get in my car I turn this song on. I am sure it will change next month though:)

I grab your hand and you say, "wait"

I say "no girl it's way to late."

We've been playing games for week

Now I am ready to play for keeps

Oh, tonight, we're gonna set the world on fire

I am gonna set aside my pride

Not gonna be the one to say "goodbye"

Neither am I, Oh' tonight

So go on kiss me on the mouth

You know you want to; you should've done it by now

Girl you don't know how long I've tried

Been fighting feelings deep inside

So tell me what you want me to do

Oh, it's to late baby I've already fallen in love with you

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99M6HyGzeic&feature=related

Day 12

2011-01-29T05:30:00.000-08:00

A picture of something I LOVE would be bubble baths. I am talking long hot bubble baths. There is nothing more relaxing than laying in the dark in a hot pool of water chillaxin!

Day 11

2011-01-28T09:10:00.000-08:00

I HATE LITTLE GREEN MEN!!!!!!

I was just going to leave this post with what I hate and the pic but I figured if someone came across this blog they would wonder, "why? That's ridiculous!"

I guess I hate dreams, my dreams. I have the weirdest most messed up dreams EVER! Cody and I used to stay at Nannies' house when we were in town until I dreamed of a little green man......we haven't stayed there since. I have always hated night time and going to bed. I always had a scared feeling and my dreams never helped the situation. The night I dreamed of this guy was the night hurricane Katrina hit. We had stayed up late spotlighting and then stayed up late watching the weather channel. I was super scared that night of going to sleep so I talked Cody into sleeping on the couch in the living room while I slept on the other couch. Our couches faced each other. Around 4 ish I woke up and my eyes were on Cody. Standing beside the couch was a little green man. He was about 3 ft, blonde hair, chili bowl haircut, dressed all in green and had a big knife hanging from his pocket and a green hat on. He wasn't a midget, he was just a short mature man. I immediately freeze, bug-eyed and all. Green man looks at me, then does a hokey-poky type thing to Cody's head. I close my eyes, open them and he is gone. I then hear him running behind the couch and I think he is going to jump over and attack me. I reach for the remote to turn the TV on to get some light and I hear him run down the hall. I am in full cardiac arrest and just sit there in shock, with the TV on till morning! When Cody wakes up I tell him this story, he laughs, thinks I am CRAZY then tells everyone at lunch time what I had told him. Daddo tells everyone that a little man used to live in the house that they torn down when they built their house and he used to have a picture. He tried to find the pic, but never found it. This story comes up sometimes in conversation. It's funny now but I will NEVER forget the feeling I had that night. The feeling of being so frightened you can't move or breath. It's not fun and I HATE the little green man for ruining my nights at Nannie's!

Day 10

2011-01-27T01:10:00.000-08:00

The person I have done the most ***** up stuff with. Well I have never done any **** up things. That's kind of sad. I don't have that one epic story to tell that would shock everybody. I have a lot of rolling on the floor crazy stories that involve a few of my girlfriends. I have 2 girls that I have probably acted the craziest with, Elizabeth and Melissa. I became friends first with Melissa. Her and Elizabeth were roommates and they eventually talked me into moving into a house with them. We had a lot of fun. They are both very outgoing, loud, life of the party type girls and I was still shy and quiet with my occasionally burst of energy that surprised everyone. Cody gave Melissa the nickname yapper because she likes to talk, lol and Elizabeth always had a way of making us all laugh with her care free personality and her dance moves :). I would say I was definitely more care-free and did a few crazy things in my younger days with these girls!

Day 9

2011-01-26T01:30:00.000-08:00

The person who has gotten me through the most would be Cody. We have only known each other 8 years, but I have been through more in the last 8 years than I have my whole life. I know I can always count on him for anything. Before I met him I never really depended on anybody else, kept my feelings to myself, dealt with my own problems and kept a high wall up. It wasn't long after we met that my wall finally came down and I learned that I could count on him for anything, pour my heart out to him, tell him all my secrets and fears and still be loved unconditionally. I always wished we would have married sooner but God definitely knew what he was doing. We got married at just the right time. The only thing good that came that year was our wedding. If it wasn't for that I probably would have fallen to pieces.

Cody, you are my love, my life and everything good.

Day 8

2011-01-25T10:15:00.000-08:00

I have enjoyed going through all 100,000 of my pictures lately! Out of the 100,000 about 50,000 make me laugh. It was hard to pick just one.

When Nannie and Dado dug a huge 28 acre lake in front of their house we had a little fun while it was filling up. Right before this picture was taken Cody almost knocked me out cold! We were having a mud fight and while he picked up a huge pile of mud to throw at me, it had a rock in it. It hurt at the time but I laugh so hard now every time I see this pic! Every time I look at our Honeymoon pics I laugh. For 2 reasons. The first, on the second day we stayed on the beach all day. I can't go under water without holding my nose and a little scared of deep water and more scared of the ocean. On that day the waves were pretty high and Cody was body surfing to shore. He finally talked me into joining him and showed me how to go under when a wave came in so it would just go over me and wouldn't take me back to shore. Sometimes a wave would hit us before it broke and we could just jump and it would pass us. Well I was trying to hold my nose, go under last minute or jump up and nervous all at the same time. I see a huge wave coming and I figured I could just jump to let it pass but at the last minute it broke over me and pulled me under and threw me to the bottom of the ocean floor face first. Luckily, the huge wave carried me back to shore and I was sprawled out on the beach for awhile with my nose throbbing. The ocean floor took 2 little chunks out of my nose.....Ouch! But it's super funny now. My nose hasn't looked the same since. The second, during our wedding my girls kept borrowing my lip gloss and someone didn't put my makeup bag back in my luggage. I didn't notice until our first night there when I was trying to get ready for dinner. I went a la naturale the whole week!

The funniest picture I have is when we cut our Wedding cake. I had issues with my caterer because she didn't tell me she was selling out when I set up a date. She wasn't very helpful when we picked out the flavor. It was my fault because I should have sampled it before the final say. We had Italian Cream Cake as the flavor. I just remembered my grandma's ICC and remembered it being soooo GOOD! So that is what I chose. It was not good in the wedding cake! We tried to hide it but our photographer caught the moment! It was full of nuts and Cody doesn't like nuts in cake....Ooops

Day 7

2011-01-24T09:51:00.000-08:00

My most treasured item would be a box that we call our "Lucky Box." We started this lucky box right after we met. It currently has every poem, love letter, note, movie stub, concert stub, special pictures, birthday cards to each other,anniversary cards and every other card you can think of and everything else that is meaningful to us. It is literally a Lucky box. It's an old tin lunch box looking thing that Cody got as a gift with Lucky perfume in it. The tin box was so cute we turned into a keepsake box. Every now and then I look through our Lucky Box and read all the poems Cody as written me over the years. Having something that can instantly take you back to a time of young love and sweetness is healthy for the heart!

Day 6

2011-01-23T09:43:00.000-08:00

I had a hard time with this post. Who would I like to trade places with for a day? I was thinking that my life was pretty great and I wouldn't want to give up a day for anyone elses day! But, since this is what if and it would NEVER happen I would trade places with Faith Hill.

She is married to Tim Mcgraw! :)

The End

Day 5

2011-01-22T13:30:00.000-08:00

My favorite memory of all time is the night we got engaged, 8-26-05. Cody put so much thought and effort into this night and it was absolutely perfect. I lived in Tyler and he lived in Nacogdoches and we had done the long distance thing the whole time we dated. He would come home every weekend to see me and we would spend it in Van. He brought me back to my country roots and would dress me up in camo and take me hunting and I would drag him to Tyler and get pedicures, so we were both happy! Most of the time was spent out at Nannie and Dado's house hanging with family and going spotlighting till 3:00 a.m every morning or playing in the mud on the 4-wheelers and just acting like kids again. There is a pasture we all call the North Meadow that is special to a few of us. It's the best place to look at the stars and a pretty romantic pasture! Cody also had game camera's out all over the place to see what kind of animal was roaming around at night or during the day that we would check often.

The night we got engaged was the last Friday before we both had to go back to school and we had planned for a few weeks to go to Dallas for date night. Cody's whole family was in for "birthday's" so I thought, and I kept asking Cody why we were going to Dallas while his family was in. He said it wasn't a biggie to them that we could go on our date then come back to Nannies' for birthdays. After I got off work that Friday I went home and got dressed then headed to Nannie's to meet Cody. By the time I got there his whole family was already there. It was very awkward when I got there because everyone was all about me and I was center of attention. I HATE being center of attention and I had no idea why everyone was acting weird! Mark and Sheila lived in Houston at the time and had come in and I still didn't know Sheila that well and she was being the weirdest to me. She was sitting at the bar at Nannie's smiling ear to ear and staring at me the whole time people were talking to me and she would chime in with a random question too:) After we left to go to Dallas I made the comment to Cody that his family was acting really weird and was way to excited about us going to Dallas for date night. I told him I bet they were really upset we were leaving while the whole family was down and they were trying to hide the fact that they were probably annoyed they would have to wait for us to do birthdays. He reassured me they weren't acting weird and t was fine that we left and we went on our way.

We had an amazing dinner! Everyone should go eat at the YO Ranch Steakhouse at least once. During dinner the thought of him proposing crossed my mind. He was a little fidgety and I still couldn't help but wonder why his family was being weird. After dinner, the check came and still no proposal so I put that thought in the back of my mind and realized it wasn't going to happen. We were close to the West End when we left and they have carriage rides you can take around Downtown. I asked Cody if we could take a ride and he said he didn't have any cash. I said I did and he said his family was waiting for us. I was thinking we needed to redo date night again so we wouldn't be so rushed and why on earth if we were going to be SO rushed did he want to come to Dallas so bad. Of course I didn't say anything but I was thinking some things:)

When we get back to Van I asked if we could stop by his house so I could grab some comfy clothes. I was just going to change at his house but he insisted I just grab them and change at Nannies so I did. A proposal crossed my mind again. I was wondering if he had a ring in his pocket or if I was just imagining things. As we are walking out the door I reach around his waist close to his pocket and he immediately turns around so my hand won't touch his pocket and kisses me. I just smiled and went with it.

We pull into Nannie and Dado's driveway and Cody grabs his spotlight. He says lets make a round and see if we see anything. Of course, I said sure but I am thinking, "You have been in a hurry ALL night because we had to get back to your family and now you want tot go spotlighting!" Then the whole proposal thing went back out of my mind. I'm not paying attention to where he is shining this huge spotlight he has but he says, "hmm what is that?" I look and he has the spotlight on this tree with a huge bag of long stem roses hanging from it. We stop and he says, "Go get it." I am in stiletto heels and not sure if I can walk through the pasture to get my roses so I ask him to help. He gets them down for me and says there are 29 roses for the 29 months we have known each other. My heart melts. We get back in the truck and continue to spotlight. I tell him this would be easier if I had changed clothes and took off my heels:) He makes the comment, "let's see what else we will find tonight!" So I start paying attention to where he is shining the light. We go a little ways down the road and hanging from a corn feeder is another present. It's a picture of us together that he had framed. We get back in the truck and continue spotlighting and there is another present hanging from a game camera. We get out and walk around the camera to not set it off and I grab the present. I open it and it's a poem he had written me sometime in the first year we dated. He rewrote it on pretty paper and framed it. I was confused because I had already read this poem before. He tells me to read it out loud. I'm still confused because I know what it already says. I start reading it and the closer I get to the bottom of the poem the closer he is guiding me into the view of the game camera. On the old poem who wrote me the last line read, "Hopefully one day soon you will be my wife!" on this poem he changed it to "Karen, will you please be my wife?" As I read the bottom line he got down on one knee and gave me the most beautiful ring ever! He was so nervous that he didn't walk me far enough in the camera view so it didn't take a picture the first time. So after we dried our tears we reenacted it so the camera would go off while he was down on one knee. I CAN'T FIND THAT PIC :( Here is the other pic it took.
It was the best night. We get back to Nannie's to celebrate and to show off my bling! I was then finally able to change into my comfy clothes:)

And we had the most beautiful wedding ever!

Day 4

2011-01-21T11:12:00.000-08:00

If I had to write this blog 7 weeks ago it would be totally different! Our nights used to consist of cooking dinner and relaxing on the couch with foot rubs and catching up on each others day or going out to dinner and riding around on the ranch or hanging out with friends and going dancing. Hour long bubble baths, a good magazine to read or more foot rubs:) Now it totally revolves around an adorable chubby 7 week old that melts our hearts and we wouldn't have it any other way!

Jones has a fussy time and it usually starts when daddy gets home. It's not a colic fuss just a, "I need lots of love and attention and cuddles and lots of food fuss!" Which usually has me sitting in a rocking chair nursing for 4 hours with a few 20 minutes break in between. In those 20 minutes throughout the night I can hand Jones to Cody for some snuggle time. It gives me a little break to do what I need to do but usually I just sit there and stare at my two wonderful boys.

Jones loves loves loves his baths and gets one every other night and on the off nights we dunk him in the water because he loves it so much. Jones also likes his quiet time at nights too. We usually keep the lights dim and talk soft to him and not get him all wired up playing or tickling him like we do during the day. I am pretty sure this helps him not get his nights and days mixed up and sleep 7 hours for momma! We still have time for foot rubs just not as often. We still get dinner cooked but maybe not as gourmet or fancy as it used to be. We still take our drives around the ranch when it's not so cold out. We still get to go out and eat but maybe not at our quiet fancy place. And we will still be able to go hang out with friends and go dancing when he gets a little bit older. Really, our nights haven't changed that much except now we have a lil' buddy to join us and more love to share. This has been the hardest job we have ever had but it's so worth it. Soon Jones will be older and not need or depend on us as much as he does now. That's sad to think about so we are just taking it all in and enjoying every minute of it.

Day 3

2011-01-20T15:00:00.000-08:00

Isn't this everybody's favorite show!?! I didn't start watching this show till college. It became my favorite fast! I have all seasons on DVD and Cody and I have watched every episode at least 5 times! When we are hanging out with Cody's cousins, almost always the conversation ends with, "like that one time on Friends when....."

I remember the first episode that came on TV. My family watched it that night and we never watched it again. I remember it being funny but mom said we were to young to watch it. I just never understood because I didn't think it was bad. It's not bad, but now that I am older I get the jokes:)

Day 2

2011-01-19T16:47:00.000-08:00

I can't just put one person I have known the longest. I have to put all three of these girls! We all met at the Olive Garden 10 years ago. I was the first to get a job there and it was pretty lonely at first. I just graduated from high school, moved to Tyler and just experienced my first broken heart. These were also my very first really good girlfriends I had. I didn't enjoy HS much and wasn't close to any of the girls and only had guyfriends. When I first started working at the OG everybody there was on drugs pretty much and I was this little sheltered girl that no one wanted to corrupt. After a few months all the druggy's eventually left and they started hiring pretty great people and I have made a lot of friends from that place!

Brandi was the first to come along (Far right). I am pretty shy and kept to myself and Brandi was very outgoing and very talkative. We didn't talk much at first until one day she just blurted out, "why do you walk like that?" I was a little shocked, a little embarrassed and didn't know how I walked. She started laughing and said she was trying to imitate it because she thought it was cute. We have been friends ever since! After I had my second surgery on my leg, my little strut dissapeared, I think she was dissapointed.

A few months later along came Bethany (Far left). Bethany is very outgoing, bubbly, super friendly and makes friends easy. EVERYONE loved her!

A few months after that along came Crystal. She was the very cute country girl that everyone fell in love with.

I am so glad I met each of these girls. Although, we don't see each other much we keep up with each other on FB. Brandi helped me come out of my shyness. She helped me be more outgoing and lured me out of my shelteredness somewhat:) Bethany helped me grow up. She was so mature for her age, had a fiance already and was momma goose to us all. She was a lot of fun and her sweet husband would let me drag her dancing A LOT and to all the Pat Green concerts around East Texas. Crystal was the one who helped me appreciate my country roots! All three of these girls are very special to me and had a huge impact on my life!

Day 1

2011-01-18T15:59:00.001-08:00

1. I found the love of my life

2. I always wanted to be a mother, the thought of it actually happening always scared me, now that it's here I have no idea why I was so scared.

3. After 27 years I have finally stopped biting my nails

4. I am a hopeless romantic

5. I LOVE sushi and could eat it everyday for every meal and I would if I could

6. I have realized in the last year I have a lot of patience

7. I love country music and dancing. I dream of being spun around on the dance floor a lot

8. I love living on a ranch in the middle of nowhere

9. My little family makes my day so much better

10. I don't care much going to the movie theater to watch a movie. I feel like I can't sit still that long. Watching a movie at home I can at least get up and walk around and do stuff while watching a movie

30 Days of Me......

2011-01-17T16:20:00.000-08:00

I stole this from a friend who blogs and thought this was a great idea! I kind of slacked in the blogging department last year and this will help me blog more. More things other than deer, Cody and Jones! ) For the next 30 days I will be blogging the following:

Day 1- A Picture of yourself with 10 facts
Day 2- A picture of you with the person you have been closest with the longest
Day 3- A picture of the cast of your favorite show
Day 4- A picture of your night
Day 5- A picture of your favorite memory
Day 6-A picture of the person you would like to trade places with for a day
Day 7- A picture of your most treasured item
Day 8- A picture that makes you laugh
Day 9- A picture of the person who has gotten you through the most
Day 10- A picture of the person you do the most ****** up things with
Day 11- A picture of something you hate
Day 12- A picture of something you love
Day 13- A picture of your favorite band or artist
Day 14- A picture of someone you cannot imagine your life without
Day 15- A picture of something you want to do before you die
Day 16- A picture of someone who inspires you
Day 17- A picture of something that has made a huge impact on your life recently
Day 18- A picture of your biggest insecurity
Day 19- A picture and a letter
Day 20- A picture of somewhere you would love to travel
Day 21- A picture of something you wish you could forget
Day 22- A picture of something you wish you were better at
Day 23- A picture of your favorite book
Day 24- A picture of something that you wish you could change
Day 25- A picture of your day
Day 26- A picture of something that means a lot to you
Day 27- A picture of yourself with a family member
Day 28- A picture of something you are afraid of
Day 29- A picture that always makes you smile
Day 30- A picture of someone you miss
Day 31- A picture of yourself

Christen and Angie, feel free to join so I can read your blogs everyday :)

I will start later tonight or tomorrow:) Jones is crying for me!

A Few First....

2011-01-15T14:43:00.000-08:00

I have been going stir crazy in this house the last 6 weeks. It's hard to get a newborn out when the highs during the day are in the teens! I have made it to the grocery store a few times while Cody waits in the car with Jones and we have taken him to town several times but we just keep him in the car though. Well yesterday it warmed up a tidbit and Cody was super busy and we needed groceries. I decided to venture on out with him by myself. I fed him before we left and It was smooth sailing. He was in awe of Walmart. He was snoozing good until we passed by the frozen section and I guess he got a chill and he was wide-eyed the rest of the shopping trip! He was a champ! He only got fussy once waiting in the LONG line that is walmart checkout! I just scooped him up and he was good to go! Made it home in one piece, and had all the groceries put away before he got fussy again and wanted to eat.

Cody went hunting last night while me and Jones took a nap. When we woke up I did not feel like cooking. I figured since I had him out today by myself, why not take him out to eat for his very first date night with his mommy and daddy! He was a champ again! I fed him right before we left and he was a happy camper till we got home! I think the only reason I get nervous taking him out right now is I don't feel comfortable nursing in public. I am stocking up with the liquid gold before our trip to Texas so I won't have to worry about that when we go out.

Today after lunch it was pretty nice outside and Cody took us out on the ranch for a ride. We bundled him up and as soon as we hit the bumpy roads in the ranch he was out cold! Since we were on the ranch I just held him and we got some good cuddle time in while momma enjoyed some fresh air!

Lazy Snow Days

2011-01-10T20:27:00.000-08:00

We woke up to a complete white out this morning! We thought the snow had passed but at 10 this morning it started snowing again hard and didn't stop till this afternoon. I would guess we got about 4 inches. It's beautiful!

Cody actually came home at lunch and stayed in most of the day. Lucky us! I got to rest and get a little break and the boys had some much needed "guy" time! The low tonight is supposed to be 6 degrees and the high in the teens......burrrrr!

Jones is taking his pacifier more and more but we have to tease him. You have to hold him like he is nursing and then he ATTACKS it! His hair is getting lighter too. I was hoping for dark locks like his daddy but he is a cutie either way!

Cousin Hannah

2011-01-10T20:17:00.000-08:00

I am so glad Nawna brought my cousin Hannah all this way to meet me this weekend! We had a fun time! You sure are funny Hannah and I love to snuggle with ya! See you again in a few weeks!

Love, Jones

1 month Already!

2011-01-02T12:17:00.000-08:00

Jones hit his first growth spurt at the end of week three and wore me out. One day he ate for 8 hours and would not let me put him down. It lasted 5 days and we both made it! Papa Jones, Grammy and Kristen came to visit this weekend and we had a great time. Jones likes to cluster feed at night a lot and I was tired and wanted to visit with everybody so I MADE him take his pacifier.......he was not to pleased with it, but took it anyways. Week 3 I gave him his pacifier for the first time and he attacked it for 2 days and I thought we created a pacifier monster, then he wouldn't have anything to do with it again until this night. Look at the hand gesture....he is not too thrilled with it, lol!
We also gave him his first bottle this weekend....of breast milk of course! He had 3 bottles this weekend, the first did not go to well and he was confused, haha. The second one went smooth and this last one Kristen gave him he wanted nothing to do with it!

It was sad to see everybody leave........

He was so excited Papa Jones and Grammy drove all that way to see him and he was happy to finally meet his Aunt Kristen!

After everyone left we loaded up and went to town to get out of the house for awhile! We are so glad you love your car seat! That trip home to Texas will go a lot smoother since you love it so much!

Little one we can't believe you are a month old today................

You still eat every 2-3 hours during the day and 4-6 at night

Your not too thrilled about that pacifier

Your holding your head up so good

You smile a lot more

We can't wait till you bust out with a giggle for us

We still haven't had to give you formula!!!

You had your first Christmas

Your first New Years

Overwhelmed.....

2010-12-23T20:07:00.000-08:00

....with JOY!

I still can't believe he is here. I am so in love with this little guy!

You are up to 9 pounds 9 ounces

I can't believe how much you change everyday

I think you are going to have Daddy's skin color, dark and handsome

I am pretty sure you will have blue eyes

You are 21 days old and have already outgrown your newborn diapers

Almost outgrown your cute little newborn onesies!

You eat every 2-3 hours during the day

You eat every 4 hours at night and sometimes you throw in a long 6 hour gap for momma

You are our little cuddle bug

You are such a happy baby and only cry when your hungry or need a diaper change

You are so laid back

We could stare at you for hours.....and sometimes we do!

I pray you will grow up and have your daddy's heart

Jones William Campbell

2010-12-13T16:27:00.000-08:00

I have been saying for months that I think the lil' one would be early. After going to the doctor on the 29th I changed my mind when he said I was not close at all. His due date was December 9th and they were going to induce on the 7th so he would share Poppa Jones' birthday. Lil' one had plans of his own and surprised us on the 2nd! It was a great surprise! Meet Jones William Campbell......he was born 2:11 p.m, weighed 8 pounds 2 ounces and was 19 1//2 inches long! I was also thinking he would be a 6 pounder since he was a week early but no.........he was a BIG boy!
Our little cutie!

Jones might be the best baby ever. He is so laid back and easy going. He is eating good, sleeping good and really easy to soothe.

Who are you when I'm not Looking...

2010-11-30T18:17:00.000-08:00

My favorite song at the moment is by Blake Shelton. It is so good. So romantic. So true. So honest. It always gets me thinking. I think about everything me and Cody know about each other. How everyday we learn something different about each other. We aren't the same as we were at 20 when we met, we aren't even the same as we were at 24 when we got married. No matter how hard you try to know everything about your other half, you never get there. There is always something new to learn. How can someone stay so in love for so long when you fell in love with someone totally different than who they are today? That's pretty easy! It's finding that connection everyday, growing with your other half and getting to know him all over again everyday. I think every couple has a different way they reconnect everyday and it's so important to find it. Don't just go through the motions....you will wake up one day and think, "who in the world is this person I'm married too?"

I know when we go a couple days without that connection it stinks. Life gets too busy, or we are too tired, or just stupid stuff in general get in the way. I am thankful for a husband who understands how important reconnecting everyday is and we might have a day where we want alone time and do our own thing, but I couldn't imagine doing this weeks at a time or even years like some couples. I don't want to know everything about my husband, I want something new everyday to learn, to get to know. I don't want that time to come where we have nothing to talk about. I don't want to get stuck in a rut. I am glad we change everyday!

Happier than a Fat Kid in a Candy Store

2010-10-28T18:21:00.000-07:00

We have had a pretty good week considering Luis is on vacation and Cody has double duty this week, plus doctor's appointment's for me, plus gotta get time in the stand:) I think Cody has been on edge for awhile because he hasn't been deer hunting in a long time. He didn't shoot anything last year, even though Jeff told him he could shoot pretty much anything he wanted, Cody didn't feel right about taking a huge deer in the high fence plus he had no luck at the deer lease in Jayton last year. He has gone out several times to sit and scout in the high fence for when Jeff comes and he has even gone to the back of the ranch to scout the low fenced native deer some just to see what he have coming in. He went out Wednesday in the low fence part, took the camera and his gun and was gonna shoot something that needed to be shot. Luckily for him this 4 1/2 maybe 5 1/2 mature 9 point comes walking straight in his camera view and he got the whole thing on camera! This is the first time he has a deer hunt on camera, that he filmed himself and it is actually pretty great footage! He isn't the biggest deer he has ever shot, but he is old, needed to be shot and he had a HUGE body. Cody had a time getting him in the truck by himself. I think he has watched the tape at least 10 times since yesterday:)

Since Luis is on vacation Cody has been feeding and taking care of the elk too. I have gone with him a couple of times this week but this morning I was feeling blah and didn't want to be bounced around in the truck:) He calls me about an hour after he left to tell me that the battery is dead on his truck and if I could meet him by the elk pens to jump him off. So glad I did not feel good to go with him the first time! That would have been a long 6-7 mile walk back to the barn for another vehicle and extra long with a 8 1/2 month pregnant person waddling for 6-7 miles!

Mission Complete

2010-10-27T12:24:00.000-07:00

Just Breathe

2010-09-14T18:27:00.000-07:00

We have had a pretty busy and crazy week! Today is the final day of bottle feeding the fawns! We are always excited to start bottle feeding and even more excited when it's done! It's like the end to our busy season. I have started to feel a lot better and I have a lot more energy. Everything I have read says you will start to lose the energy you had in your 2nd trimester when you start your 3rd. Well I didn't even get an ounce of energy till my 3rd!

Last Thursday we went and picked up Big Boy from OKC! It was kind of last minute and we left the ranch about 5. The hurricane had made it to OK but we hadn't had a drop of rain and it was cool enough to go pick him up. We needed to asap because the rut is about to begin and the bucks are starting to fight. We made it to OKC about 7 ish and it was raining like crazy! IT took us forever to drive through it with a big ole' trailer and we didn't make it to pick him up till 8. By that time is was already dark, wind was blowing like crazy and the buck was way to skittish and wouldn't let us get a good shot on him to tranq him to load him up. So we ended up staying the night in OKC and tried again Friday morning. We tranqed him about 7:50. After waiting till he dropped, to giving him shots, to loading him up and waiting on the reversal to kick in it was 10:00 before we headed home on the 2.5 hour trip and it was starting to warm up! We got home and unloaded him and he was still drunk and not looking too good:( We put him in a pen by himself and he layed there all day still looking drowsy from the meds. Cody turned on the water sprinkler for him since it had warmed up pretty good that day and he just layed there all day. That night when we went to bottle feed we put two of the calmer doe's that we want him to breed in with him(we picked the two calmer one's that night because it was getting late and we were able to walk them like a dog to his pen:) to give him company. The next day he was cheered up:) and is doing good!
I have been putting off going to OKC and ordering our baby bed thinking they would have it in stock and I wouldn't have to order it, just go pick it up. Finally made it Saturday afternoon to Storkland in OKC and they didn't have it in stock and it was gonna take 12 weeks to get if we ordered it:( Luckily they have a Storkland in Tyler and the bed we wanted was there in stock so we will pick it up next month when we come in for my baby shower. Cody went with me because he didn't want me to drive by myself that far. Well........glad he was with me! We get halfway there, the wind is blowing like CRAZY, I'm going super slow because the wind keeps throwing me from side to side and Cody even kept giving me a hard time because I was going so slow and it's usually the other way around :) We pass an 18 wheeler flying down the road and the wind hit us just right it felt like we were in a wind tunnel and we heard a loud POP on our roof. We didn't think anything of it except it just scared us a little because the wind was so powerful it really almost made me go off the road. We get almost to OKC and we hear another loud pop and then something travel down the back of our roof. I look out my rear view, didn't see anything and Cody turns around and didn't see anything either. We both kind of look at each other curious to know what that sound was when a truck passes us and everyone in the truck is staring us down like we just ran over their dog. I pull over and Cody checks the car out and this is what we find........

The top lights on my hummer BLEW off! Only the 2 on the side survived, lol. All the wiring is still there, the bolts to hold down the piece is still there but everything else is GONE! We were thinking no biggie, a piece of plastic and 3 lights can't be too expensive......wrong......lucky for us we can file that on insurance!

Today I went over to the hunting lodge to finish cleaning and as soon as I opened the door I see this HUGE black think by the kitchen table. At first I'm a little confused on what is was.........as I get closer I realize it's a HUGE spider! I call Cody hyperventilating thinking it is a tarantula because it is so big and hairy and he informs me that it probably is!!!!! I didn't think we had tarantula's in the USA! He was busy doctoring a deer and I had to wait about 15 minutes before he got there to get it so I just put a cup over it. I had a 15 minute anxiety attack and surprised I didn't make myself go into labor before he got there. Cody eventually saved the day as always! I am glad I married Tarzan, he makes me feel safe!

Not sure if it was the 4 hours of cleaning or the 15 minute meltdown but I was exhausted when I got home!

Lightning Storm

2010-08-10T18:42:00.000-07:00

Saturday night we went over to Luis and Gisella's for dinner and while we were there the wind got up like crazy and there was a lightning storm all around us. It was pretty neat to watch. When we were leaving Cody looked over towards the high fence and there was A LOT of smoke. He started yelling for Luis and they took off. He called me when they reached the fire and told me to call the fire department because it was pretty big. Since we have a RR address they had no clue where we were and asked for my 911 address, well of course I had no clue. I just said, if Rodney is working tonight he will know exactly where we are. The guy laughed and said ok! Rodney was here within 15 minutes! While we were waiting on the fire people it started raining which was a good thing! Two trucks from Woodward came and about 30 minutes later 2 trucks from Selmon come and another 20 minutes 2 trucks from Buffalo came. As soon as the two trucks from Buffalo came they turned around and left. After they got the fire under control I asked Rodney why Buffalo came and he said since we were in Harper County and not Woodward that we were in their district. Well glad we have a buddy at Woodward, our whole ranch would have burnt' down waiting on Buffalo! Even though it is kind of scary having your ranch on fire, it sure is good for the ground! Come to find out there were 9 fires around us, all from lightning! The fire department had a busy night that night. Our neighbors had a fire on the other side of them and they had a plane with a water bag scoop down and steal their water! I stole her pictures! They are pretty cool!

That is a pretty big plane to scoop down in a canyon to get water.

What a difference a year makes...

2010-07-21T19:42:00.001-07:00

Last year on this day Cody was having surgery to take out that awful thing in his bladder. We were also just getting settled into a new house, new job and trying to find a comfortable routine. It was 115-120 degrees and super dry outside. We would get up at 7:30 and work till 10 or 11 every night just trying to do everything we possibly could because our deer were dropping like flies. We were beating off rattlesnakes with a stick daily, lol. Bottle feeding 4 fawns IN OUR HOUSE and becoming way to attached to those little dudettes! And wondering if we were even gonna be able to have a baby.

This year we are settled in. Cody is cancer free. We have a comfortable routine down. It has been pleasantly nice outside and we have had a lot of rain but still a little dry. Still getting up at 7:30 working till 8 or so, but being able to breath and relax during the day when it gets hot. All of our deer are healthy, we haven't lost any! Only seen 1 rattlesnake by our house. Bottle feeding 17 fawns in their own little house in our backyard! And we are finally pregnant!

Yesterday and today of last year were the scariest days of our life. Yesterday and today of this year has been spent picking out baby furniture and bedding and preparing for the rest of our life with our bundle of joy!

It's a boy!

2010-07-19T16:51:00.000-07:00

Went and had our sonogram today and everything went really great! The heart, brain, spine everything looked good and everything growing right! We are super excited to finally know what we are having so now we can start planning!

You can definitely tell it's a boy!

Here is a picture of his face. You can see his eye sockets and his nose and mouth and his hand is on his face!

Slackin'

2010-06-15T19:24:00.001-07:00

I have definitely been slacking in the blogging department. Today is the first day in about 2 months that I have felt have way descent. I am still waiting on that burst of energy everyone keeps telling me about.

We are up to 46 fawns on the ground and bottle feeding 17. I am not as attached this year as I was last year. Maybe because they aren't in our house and they aren't with us 24/7, or maybe I am distancing myself so my baby won't come out a nervous wreck, lol

We also have a white fawn. It's a little boy and his face is normal, but his body is mostly white. He is just tooo cute for words.

I will start back blogging more when I start to feel better :(

Round 2

2010-05-15T17:35:00.000-07:00

It has finally arrived! Our busy season! I have wonderful news and not so wonderful news. I will start with the blah news and end on a good note :)

Cody came home this afternoon and wanted me and mom to come outside and look at something. As soon as we stepped on the front porch I could see it......the huge rattler 2 ft from mom's car! Luckily, Cody saw it before it made it's way to the dog pen again!

I am not looking forward to rattler season :(

On a brighter note we had our first set of fawns yesterday! They were twin girls and we had a set of boys today! Both sets were very healthy looking and gonna do great!

I have a feeling this year is gonna go way better than last year. We moved here a week before the doe started having their babies last year and we didn't know how the last guy took care of them. The majority of the babies were small and weak. This year the doe have been in good hands and I think it will show when they start popping out their babies!

They are just so stinkin' cute and very fluffy! :) I just can't wait till the fawns we are gonna bottle feed arrive! Their home is all ready and waiting for them!

Makin' Plans

2010-05-01T17:00:00.000-07:00

When Cody and I got married we both decided to not rush into having kids because we wanted "us" time for a bit. We met fairly young, around 20, and would have loved to run off and gotten married then but we both wanted to do it right. Since we were so young, we dated longer than we wanted to but we decided one of us needed to finish college first. So when we finally got married it was pretty awesome and we decided we would be on the 5 year plan for kiddos. We wanted to come and go as we pleased, go hang out with friends when we wanted and just enjoy each others' company for as long as we could and we had so much more to learn about each other that we couldn't have learned living apart. We have had many weekend getaways together, some more eventful than others!

Our first romantic weekend away as a married couple, other than our honeymoon, we went to the smokey mountains and stayed in a cabin. Let's just say it wasn't the best! It poured all the way up the 90 degree incline to the cabin and once we got there Cody's truck just died and we had NO cell phone service at all! It was super late when we got there, pouring down rain, so we decided to just go to sleep and worry about the truck in the morning. I had nightmares all night seeing stuff and waking Cody up every 10 minutes freaking out about something! haha We laugh about that now! Somehow we managed to get a tow truck up there and somehow he managed to get Cody's truck off the mountain and we ended up staying in a piece of a motel next to the car shop waiting for someone to fix our truck. At the time it didn't seem at all like a great weekend, but on the way home we talked about all the fun we had and what a great time we had. We have half that trip on camera and it's pretty funny to watch.

Our first 4th of July getaway trip was to Lake Oconee when we lived in Georgia. That's the weekend we decided to move back to Texas. We didn't know anybody but had an awesome time trying to find something to do that we ended up upon Zac Brown Band's CD release party right on the lake! This was in 2007 when no one knew who he was and we fell in love with them!

Many weekends hidden away at our honeymoon suite and not wanting to leave the room because our bed was THAT COMFORTABLE!

Many weekends hidden away at a 5 star hotel thanks to priceline when we really couldn't afford our honeymoon suite again, lol

We have had so many wonderful little getaways that it's hard to remember them all. Maybe we could squeeze in a couple more before...........

this little bundle of goodness joins us in December! Even though we threw the 5 year plan in the trash a few years ago and decided to begin trying FOREVER ago, this seems like perfect timing to us!

Senior Pictures and Baptista's

2010-04-26T12:25:00.000-07:00

We had one big fiesta this weekend with Luis and Gisella. They had about 30 family members drive in from Nacogdoches, they arrived at 8:00 a.m Saturday morning. They drove all night with about 15 of them being kids. Baby Luis had is Baptism Saturday afternoon then they had a big cookout! Since the wind was blowing 50 mph (no exaggeration!) they decided to cook out in the barn and they set up tables and chairs and had balloons and everything turned out great. We had a lot of fun and got to eat some really good Mexican food. They had baby Luis decked out in white silk and gold chains!

Gisella also wanted me to take her senior pictures for her. Of course I said yes, but I was a little nervous because I have never done that before. They turned out better than I thought they would! They were very happy with them too and thrilled they didn't have to go pay a fortune for them!

We tried to jump the fence across the street from us and take picture in the wheat field and it didn't work out the way we planned. I didn't want her to rip her shirt trying to jump over and I had the hardest time getting that dang gate open! I finally managed to get this 1800's wooden/barb wire gate open and it almost took my arm off with it! I have a huge bruise and scrapes, no bueno! Cody was out on the ranch and I thought I was gonna have to call Luis to come shut it back for us but after about 15 minutes of trying, sweating and out of breath, we finally managed to get it back up!

Here were my favorite two pics I took! I took about 100 more but didn't want to resize anymore :(

No Mas Deer in La Casa!

2010-04-10T13:49:00.001-07:00

We got our building for the new fawns finished this week. They did a great job on it. I'm not digging the doors, but Cody went to pick it out and they gave him a great deal on the frame and 2 beautiful french doors! They put in the frame, go to put the 2 beautiful french doors in and they don't even go with the frame! I guess that is why they gave him a great deal on it! The doors were for a sliding frame! I was so mad! I went with him to try to exchange them for the same type of doors just not for sliding doors and they didn't have any but just plain doors :( It will do though.
The fawns will even have doggy doors so we can let them out and nibble a little in the dirt on pretty days. Cody will have to build a fence around it first.

There are 8 compartments inside, 4 on each side and we will put about 3 fawns in each pen. We are only gonna bottle feed the babies we 'AI'ed this year and leave the rest with their mommas. Since there will be so many they will not be in the house this year!

The doggy door is the cutest.

We also had to work the deer again this weekend to give them the last of the vaccines they need for the year. Luckily, Drew came down from Nacogdoches to help and brought his dad and a few friends. Which meant I didn't have to help and almost die of a heart attack! They started them Thursday night and Cody called about 8:20 and it was almost dark. He was a little frustrated because not everyone was there yet and he needed me to come hold a flashlight for them to finish the last 6. When I get there everyone finally showed up and started helping and the last 6 went by really fast. The last 12 we did we loaded in the trailer to unload in the high fence. These were the Doe's Jeff bought a few months back. We bred them to awesome bucks and then wanted to release them to get more good genes in the high fence. Usually when we release them, they fall from the chutes and then turn a corner and run straight to their pens. Well this time they had to drop from the chute and run forward about 10 feet and jump in a trailer. Well one decided to turn around when she reached the trailer and ran back to the working area where everyone was standing. At this point it is pitch black, except for the flashlight I am holding. Of course everyone said a few choice words and just plastered themselves to the wall in case she started bouncing off the wall and going nuts. All I was thinking about was all the medicine laying on our table and all the needles that would go flying everywhere if she went nuts. I guess since it was so dark she just stood there and we kind of shooed her back out of "our" area! It was intense! The funniest thing about the whole incident was I kept my cool! Drew's friend was filling the needles for Cody and I was holding the flashlight for him. So when the doe came back towards us he kind of followed me where I ran. He then grabbed my arm and I was thinking, "that's sweet, he is trying to save me from this wild animal!" Instead he grabbed me and ducked behind me, lol. I don't blame him, he had never been around deer before. I still get a mental picture of this and literally laugh out loud each time!

They did half Thursday night and the rest Friday night. Thursday went pretty smooth except for that one and Friday went just as smooth except the second to last one. Since everyone showed up on time I didn't have to go help. When Cody walked through the door I could tell he was not a happy camper and he could barely talk. Apparently, somehow, not sure, when the deer jumped in the chute, she jumped sideways and when they went to open the top to give her her vaccines her legs weren't hanging like they should have been. Instead they were up on the sides and she was laying on her side. Her back was against the boys stomach and they were trying hold her down and push her down in the chute. Well deer are strong little things and she pushed off the wall with her feet and went flying out of the chute! When her head came up she hit Cody's chin and he thought his jaw was broke for a minute. It's a little swollen today but he is fine and pretty dang tough. I wish I could have seen what that guy, who grabbed me, did when this happened, lol!!!!!!!!! So now this is the second time a deer has gotten into our area and not a good thing. Cody said he just yelled to open the gate and he isn't sure who was brave enough to do that, but she went out into her lane and they just ran her back through. I might have had a heart attack if I was down there to see all that!

Easter in Oklahoma

2010-04-04T20:18:00.001-07:00

This was our second year as a married couple to spend Easter away from our families. Our first year of marriage we lived in Georgia and this year happens to be in Oklahoma. Although we didn't get to see our families we had a great Easter Day! When Cody fed the deer yesterday he gave them a little extra feed to last them till this afternoon so he could sleep in with me this morning! We went to church and came home and had lunch on our deck. The weather was perfect execpt halfway through our meal our food was getting a little crunchy from all the sand the wind was blowing around so we finished inside. Cody wanted a roast and potatoes so that is what he got! I also made a strawberry cheesecake and it was delicious! After lunch I helped Cody feed deer and it took forever because we needed to clean out their water. I got burnt:( I wish I didn't have such fair skin and burn so easily! I have dark hair!!!!! Why do I burn so easily?????
Gisella and Luis invited us over this afternoon to cook out steaks and fajitas and watch Jocelyn hunt eggs. It was fun! The best fajitas EVER!

Baby Luis is getting so big and he is the happiest child alive. We got them each a huge stuffed rabbit and he loved it, it was bigger than him! :)

We had a pretty great relaxing day and ate way to much. Gisella is off school tomorrow so I am kid free for one more day and can't wait to sleep in again! :) Hope everyone had an amazing day and we sure did miss everyone! It might have been a good thing we weren't in Van, since we always dominate in the egg hunt:)

Gisella's Prom

2010-03-27T19:06:00.000-07:00

I don't think they had such a great time at prom :( We were gonna keep the kids till about 1 or 2 (they were gonna have an after party kind of like we call project graduation but I guess you can call it project prom?) and they ended up picking the kids up at 8:35! Not sure exactly why but I don't think they really understood what prom was. She invited her dad to come with them and her whole family would have come to if they didn't live in Nacogdoches. I went with her yesterday to get her nails and toes done and she was really excited because it was only the second time she got her nails done. They were really excited about prom too but looked really disappointed when they came back :( I'm sure it doesn't help that she is the only Hispanic person at her school and probably the only one who showed up with her dad.

Crazy Like You

2010-03-24T20:36:00.000-07:00

Well people sing songs all the time
Bout fallin in love and losing their minds
But it ain't love that drive folks mad
It's livin this life day in, day out
Tryin to figure out what it's all about
The who's, the when's, the where's, the why's and the maybe's

I say everybody's crazy so what you need to do
You need to find somebody crazy like you
Someone you can fuss and fight with
And when you make up, then you can love all night with
Someone who shares your particular point of view
Oh their bound to be crazy, just make sure they're crazy like you

I looked high, I looked low, looked far, looked wide
Before I looked in a mirror and I realized
I spend my time lookin for the wrong thing
A perfect insane would be so mundane
A man like me, I'm subject to change
And I'm lookin for some one's track's fit my train

I found me a girl and she five foot four
And I never found a girl that I adore more
We are in tune and out of touch with all the same things
And she's as wild and mean as a deep blue sea
and pure and sweet as honey from a bee
And I love her to death, cuz that girl's crazy just like me

I say everybody's crazy so what you gonna do
You need to find somebody crazy like you
Someone you can fuss and fight with
And when you make up then you can love all night with
Someone who shares your particular point of view's
Oh their bound to be crazy just make sure they're crazy like you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOFmw6e9NCY

The Nuge!

2010-03-23T16:01:00.001-07:00

I forgot to mention the highlight of the Expo weekend....well, Cody's highlight! He finally got to meet Ted. We were able to visit with him a bit and he remembered talking to Cody and said coming out to the ranch to hunt is still a go, just working on an available weekend!

I stayed at our booth whil Cody and Richard went to hear his seminar and I was a little bummed cause I wanted to hear him speak. Well, lucky me they played his seminar in the main building and I got to hear him. He was cracking me up! About 10 minutes into his speech he starts in on Obama and then it went silent. The guy in the booth beside me was mad and went to the front to tell them to turn it back up. When he got back he said the guy told him that people were getting mad and if they wanted to hear him they would be at his seminar! Well they ended up turning it back on and I have never laughed so hard in my life. He is so right and so honest and tells it how he sees it! It was GREAT!

NW Oklahoma Outdoor Expo!

2010-03-22T20:29:00.000-07:00

The expo was great this weekend. The booth was awesome, we made a lot of contacts and now people of Woodward actually know there is a hunting ranch close! We had a lot of teachers around here stop by wanting to bring there classes out for a tour. I think that is a great idea but having a bunch of kids running around the breeder pens with fawns scared out of their minds isn't a pretty sight! But we will see!

The feed store lady, Becky, wanted her booth beside ours so she can point out what feed and protein do to animals so everyone that visited her booth came over to ours! Everyone was very impressed with all of our sheds we brought and everyone wanted to pick them up to see how heavy they are:) I made a huge picture album of the ranch, the lodge and all the different animals we have and some pictures of Jeff and the kids and the animals they have already harvested and that was a hit too! Who doesn't like looking at pictures?!? The men were in awe of the animals and the women were in awe of the lodge and the master bedroom and bathroom!

Friday was kid day so we had a huge basket full of candy to entice the kiddos to come to our booth, then the parents followed!

Richard came down to help with the booth and working the deer in the breeders pens and everything went smooth Thursday with the bucks. Friday they worked the doe and everything went smooth until they worked the babies from last year. One was just too freaked out that it ran full throttle into a metal fence and broke her jaw. They finally got her in the shoot and gave her shots and medicine and Cody tried to clean her up as much as he could and then let her go because she was stressing to much. We didn't know if she would make it since she was stressing so much. Cody called the vet so she could come out and wire her jaw but baby girl didn't make it. This is the sad thing about raising deer. You never know how they will react one day and we had worked her before and she did fine. I am just glad Cody had enough help this time that I didn't have to be down there to see that.

We went out this afternoon to see if we could call some turkey's up and came across this big guy. I got pretty close to him and it looks like he is cussing me! I think his exact words were, "you better tell your man to make this feeder go off before I charge you!" We also found one of the Minnesota buck in the high fence dead :( It's the one who dropped his antlers like 3 months ago and hangs out at this feeder as well. We think maybe the Fallow ganged up on him because about 5 fallow bucks hang out in this area too and they still have their horns. I guess we will never know what happened:(

Birthday and Blizzards!

2010-03-20T19:31:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Cody!!!!!

Cody turned 28 today! Today is not only the first day of spring but the first blizzard of Spring 2010! That is kind of funny! Although we worked all day he had a great day! He got to talk about what he loves and meet Ted Nugent! I will write about that after the expo is over! I usually get Cody a super cool cake from Chez Bazan or another cute little bakery in Tyler, but since we are in Woodward I had to stick with walmart. The selection was slim but I found a somewhat descent chocolate cake.

While we were at the expo today our neighbor booth lady told us someone called her and told her there was a wall of snow on our road and that we probably wouldn't be able to get through it and I just couldn't imagine a wall of snow in one spot. Well since we did have a blizzard pretty much, the winds were blowing hard all day and after it snowed it just blew all the snow in this one spot!

By the time I get home I can tell someone has gone through it and looks like someone has played in it too! Turns out Luis and Fransisco tried to barge through it and got stuck and then had to get the tractor to unstuck them and they smoothed it out a bit so it would be drivable. It was the coolest thing. The top pic is a picture of all the snow about knee level and you can tell on the right how deep it was! It was probably 5 ft tall before they made a path through it. Where they went through it, it's still about 2 ft but the ole' hummer made it through real nice and I even played in it a bit! :) It was fun! So neat to see that much snow blown in one spot, the snow built up from the stop sign all the way to Jeff's house

Cody and Richard had to be at the booth by 9 and I wasn't gonna go till about 11. I had to drive that 12 mile stretch to town (by myself) going 30 and it took FOREVER!!!! I thought I would have been more nervous since I freak out driving in the rain, but I'm getting to be a pro driving in snow/sleet and ice! I get halfway to town, the roads were pretty bad but drivable, and I see a snow plow truck heading my way so I just pull over. After he passes I get back on the road and he didn't do anything but pick up the snow and all that was left was pure ICE and I was sliding all over the place. I wanted to call that plow truck and tell him to STOP because he was making it worst! I did make it to town in one piece!

All in all it was a pretty great day! Snow or shine Cody had a pretty great birthday!

Spring Break for ME!

2010-03-18T19:55:00.000-07:00

Since Gisella is on spring break this week.......that means I am on SP too! I definitely miss the kiddos but it has been so nice sleeping in and doing "me" things! The Northwestern Oklahoma Wildlife Expo is this weekend too so I have been getting stuff ready for that because we have a booth! We went today to set up and it looks really GREAT! I will have to take a picture of it and post it! I am looking forward to the expo! It should be a lot of fun and Ted Nugent will be there too.

Richard came down to help out with the booth and brought Fransisco down to build a new shelter/barn for our new fawns this summer. This year instead of just bottle feeding the fawns that need to be bottle fed, we are bottle feeding all the fawns we "AI" and there will be about 27 of them. Well ....we had 5 in our HOUSE last year and well.....27 this year just won't work in the house! LOL So they get a new house just for them! They are gonna build it outside our back door so it will be easy for us to make bottles in the house and then just go 15 feet and feed. Since we have 2 extra people here this weekend, Cody decided to go ahead and work the deer and give them their shots and I am SOOOOO glad help is here so I don't have to help. My heart just can't take it! It was pure relief tonight not being down there while they ran them through the chutes! When Cody came home he told me about a couple Bucks that were acting a fool and running into fences, poor babies! I am glad I didn't have to see that! I stayed home and cooked fajitas for everybody, I am sure they enjoyed that more than me down there looking like I am about to cry!

Richard made a comment about bringing Cody's little girl with us to the expo since she is so tamed and pretty much follows Cody EVERYWHERE! That would be the cutest thing, putting a collar and leash on her. All those people would scare her to death! The thought of it was super cute though! Maybe if she was still this small :)!

We will let you know how the expo goes. Maybe we will sale a bunch of hunts for next year!

Austin Trip

2010-03-15T20:35:00.000-07:00

This year might have been the best Austin Trip yet! My Mother-in-Law bought me Taylor Swift tickets for Christmas and the concert was awesome. We ended up getting front row seats because my Brother-in-law is a rockstar! We also met Gloriana because the BIL is a rockstar!

Taylor is way better in concert than she is on TV and she didn't lip sync! She put on a great show!

She even gave Josh a 10 second stare down in this picture because he is a ROCKSTAR! :)

Kellie Pickler put on a good show too!

After a great concert, 18 basketball games, country dancing, shopping, pedicures, sleeping late, and hanging out with family we had to head back home. Every year at state games Cody and Mark tell us stories (the SAME stories) about all the fun they had when they were younger and always a story involves a guy named Stanley. Me and Sheila pretty much know everything about this guy and the boys love him. We ran into him one night a Shultz's and they were star struck and continued to tell us the same story :) and they were so nervous they wouldn't go talk to the guy. Well me, Christen and Sheila went to Shultz's one night to meet the boys and guess who was there again.....Stanley Bonewitz! We decided to go talk to him and maybe persuade him to be sitting at our table when our boys walked in, but he was busy talking so we just decided to get a picture with him and send to the boys! We figured they would have been more happy about this picture because we actually held a conversation with him and they were too star struck to, but I think they were more jealous because they were to chicken to talk to him and we weren't! :)

We had a great trip but we were ready to be home again! The best part of the trip was getting to hang out with cousins who aren't just family but really great friends!

Today, was the BEST day!

2010-02-28T14:46:00.000-08:00

It finally warmed up enough for mom and dad to take us out on the ranch with them! When it's below freezing we aren't allowed to go because we shoot straight for the lakes and then we freeze our behinds off! Today was in the 50's with a nice cool breeze and mom and dad let us walk the canyons with them, while they looked for sheds. We only came across 1 little Axis shed, but it was totally worth the 3 hour hike! We also got to take the camo truck!! We have never ridden' in that one before. Let me tell you what dad did last week, ruff ruff! He was going in and out of the canyons' in the dodge and one day the breaks just didn't feel right. So he decided to call the dodge dealership to bring it in for repair and in the meantime not to drive down a canyon. Well 2 days before he was suppose to take it in, the breaks completely stopped working! So he had to start driving the camo truck with the high rack. Well it's not fun driving that truck so he decided to take the high rack off and it's hanging in the barn. Dad will put it back on when we have hunters and they want to go on a safari ride! So back to goofy dad, he had to drive that truck 12 miles to town with NO breaks! He just down shifted when he had to stop and went around town, instead of through town. He made it in one piece, thank goodness! So we got to test drive the camo truck, woo-hoo! Mom was being annoying and wouldn't stop taking pictures! She didn't even get my good side, ugh!

We got to go in and out of canyons for 3 hours! Mom and dad even took us to the natural spring lake and let us swim and the water was crystal clear. We saw some ducks, man they looked good. We had such a fun day and glad it has started to warm up so we can have more fun days with mom and dad. We saw the coolest canyons with the coolest erosion's and silly mom didn't bring her camera for the hike. She missed out on some great pics! When we got home we were wore out! I was ready to go home and sprawl out in my warm hay and dry off from the lakes, but Drake was to tired to even jump out of the truck. Mom had to jump in the back and give him a little push and a little butt whippin' for tearing up the corn sacks.

All in all, today was the best day we have had out on the ranch!

Love, Duke

Jason, Lizzy and Trees

2010-02-21T19:24:00.000-08:00

We got our shipment of sawtooth oak trees this week, all 19 of them and Cody has worked 13 hours everyday trying to get these suckers in the ground. We picked Burks and Lizzy up from the airport Thursday night. Friday, Jason helped Cody with the last of the trees and Lizzy helped me watch the kids. We were so happy they came to visit and had a great time showing them around the ranch and much needed catching up to do!

Cody and Burks wanted to play domino's one night because they were gonna blow each other out of the water......Well, me and Lizzy both blew them out of the water TWICE!!!! Cody didn't even break 100 one game.....LOL!

We also had a bunch of first while they were visiting. We went to Patsy's Island to show them the Indian place and as soon as we entered the Sanctuary the red deer came running to us! They have never ran to us. They usually see us and then haul butt in a canyon! After the 3 bulls came within 15 ft of us, the whole herd of mamma's came running up from the canyon! It was the neatest thing and very impressive! Cody had a bail of alfalfa in the back of his truck, so we threw it out for them. I guess they smelt it and that is why they kept following us, as soon as he unloaded the hay, they went to town!

We also got sleet one night. The sleet was sooo big, it sounded and looked like hail! We also had the loudest most obnoxious thunder and lightning one night, super scary!

We had a good visit with friends and they enjoyed all the views! Friday after they got done with the last of the trees, and the kiddos left, we decided to just ride around in the truck for a couple of hours before dinner and save the 4-wheelers till Saturday. Friday was a little chilly and sunshine.

Saturday, we wake up to fog so thick you couldn't see 10 ft in front of you and it was 26 degrees! We were all looking forward to getting out on the 4-wheelers that we didn't care how cold it was and went for it anyways! The good thing about being married to hunters is they always have enough warm clothes for an army!

Cody and Burks layered us up and we rode around for about 3 hours. It was fun and cold!

I love this pic of Lizzy! She looks like a ninja! LOL

Burks brought his fancy high tech coyote call but it was sooo foggy Saturday we didn't even try it out :( It started hailing Saturday night and we woke up Sunday to a complete FREEZE OUT! Everything was covered with 1 1/2 inches of pure ice! All 19 of the trees were covered in ice to.... Not good! We had to go to OKC to take them to the airport and as soon as we pull out it started snowing and the wind was blowing hard, but luckily we made it to OKC and back with no problem! All in all, we had a great weekend with great friends!

Happy V-Day

2010-02-16T12:21:00.000-08:00

We had a much needed weekend away and we had a great time. We ended up going to OKC and stayed in a hotel with the most comfy bed ever. I didn't ever want to leave! Our hotel was right next door to a place called Kona Ranch. I was so excited. Back in the day, me and my friends would drive all the way to College Station just to eat at Kona Ranch. It's kind of like a tropical steakhouse? We went and saw Dear John and it was so good. Cody loved it too and it was way better than the book. Although, this is the first movie that I have ever seen that actually went along with the book storyline. Hottie Tatum and that girl had so much chemistry which made it 10 x's more great! We also saw Valentine's Day and it was really good too! I figured it was going to be a chick flick to the max, but Cody enjoyed it too! Two movies in 2 days.....Wow......Cody was on a roll! We ate at a little seafood place for lunch one day and Cody got his fill of crawfish, so he was a happy camper. Went to Bass Pro for a bit had sushi for dinner and then we went to the Wormy Dog!
Cody has wanted to visit this place ever since he heard a song about this place. It was way smaller than I thought it would be, but it was a lot of fun. Texas Renegade opened and they were pretty good. After they were done playing they came and stood by me and Cody all night. They weren't the friendliest when people came up to get a picture with them. Aaron Watson put on a great show. Cody saw them at Jitterbugs a few years ago and out of everybody there that night, Aaron points to Cody and made fun of his pink shirt he was wearing, lol. So Cody didn't wear a pink shirt this time!

We had a great weekend. Lots of rest and relaxation with a little bit of fun. I couldn't talk him into getting a pedicure with me this time :( Two movies, sushi, sleeping in, Aaron Watson and Kona Ranch sooooo made up for the 'not wanting a pedicure' :)

It's back to the real world now. My kiddos are still sick and VERY clingy this week. I haven't been able to do anything this week because they are attached to my hip. The 19 tree's we ordered for the deer pens' were delivered this morning and Cody has been working his little tail off trying to get them planted this week. AND Burks and Lizzy are flying in Thursday for a visit! YAY!

Tyndell Road

2010-02-06T18:04:00.000-08:00

It was a great day in the Campbell household yesterday! Let me back up a little for a quick history lesson:

When me and Cody first met we were SOOOOO shy towards each other, except on the dance floor we had a really great chemistry :) So we would always go dancing and find songs that fit our relationship and bond off of that. He had this CD that a buddy of his from ETBU had burned for him and it was called "Tyndell Road." We would always listen to it and we loved every song on that CD. This is a picture of the first night we listened to that CD together, it was also Cody's 21st birthday, the week we met, and the 2nd time to go dancing! We were so young!
Come to find out I had a friend who knew this Tyndell guy and they were gonna be at Jitterbugs the same night me and Cody were gonna be there and of course Cody got to meet this guy. He was thrilled beyond words and this pic was taken that night!

In one of the many times I moved from 2003-2006, the CD vanished and we have been pretty sad about it. Thursday Cody talked to his buddy from ETBU that burnt him that CD and asked him if he still had it, AND HE DID! He said he would burn another one and mail it to us! This was on Thursday, as in not yesterday but the day before! Cody checked the mail yesterday and it was already here! Cody even called RJ and was like, "Did you over-night it to us or something?" and he didn't and we have no clue how it got all the way up here in less than 24 hrs! We were thrilled and have been listening to this CD non stop! We had ourselves a romantic date night last night and reminisced about our good ole days! This CD will definitely go under Karen's Happy list on the IPOD!

Sitting at the dance hall

Pacing upon the floor

I see the girl of my dreams walk in through the front door

Her long brown hair

O how it shines

All I need is one slow song to try to make her mine

I'm just waiting for a slow song to ask that girl to dance

But this fast paced rockin' music won't give me a chance

Wish that DJ would be my friend and play a song where I can step in

And take that blue eyed angel in my arms

I close my eyes and day dream

As the music fades away

Thoughts running through my head of the things that I would say

But its hard to think of words with the music up so loud

So I breath the sigh of loneliness as I turn back to the crowd

A midst my wishful thinking

The music starts to slow

I hear an old George Straight song

Like they play on the radio

I take that angel's hand in mine

I feel light upon my feet

I wish we could dance forever in this moment so sweet

Thank you for the slow song

Now I have my chance

To take that angel's hand in mine as we start to dance

Thank you DJ your my friend I hope this song will never end

So I can keep this blue eyed angel in my arms.

I love how songs can take you back in time, take you back to a memory, take you back to a feeling and make you feel 21 again.

Oklahoma Blizzard

2010-02-03T17:28:00.001-08:00

AND I SOOOO MISSED IT!

I was really bummed that I missed our first snow storm but Cody took lots of pictures for me. We got about 8 inches and we are expecting more tonight! YAY! Since there is so much snow everywhere, Cody was able to burn most of the HUGE brush piles out on the ranch without starting a wildfire! :)

And this is what I got to drive in on my way home Sunday. It was not fun at all. North Texas was fine, it looked like it was dusted with snow and was super pretty. When I got in Oklahoma there was ice everywhere, except for the road. I have never seen so much ice in my life. Every tree was down from being weighed down so much with ice, fences were leaning with ice and ice sickles were hanging from every sign, pole,wire and rail. I'm talking thick and long ice sickles! I don't know how everybody survived that long without power. When I got into OKC the roads were a little wet and snowy, but apparently I was the only idiot driving so lucky for me there was no traffic at all! When I got off interstate to head to Woodward it was like this ALL THE WAY TO WOODWARD! THE WHOLE HOUR AND A HALF. I don't remember seeing any other cars out until I reached a town where they had cleared the roads good. It was 28 degrees and misting the whole ride home. I figured since it was below freezing it would have been snow or something, but it just looked like mist.

As soon as I hit Woodward, the sun was out, it was 33 degrees and absolutely BEAUTIFUL! This is what it looked like when I turned down our road! Pure snow, no ice, and thick!

I think my fear of driving in the rain plus everything worse than rain has disappeared. My hummer has been good for my fears and I definitely feel safe in it.

Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan

2010-01-31T14:25:00.001-08:00

Little Miss Hannah wanted concert tickets for Christmas and I was the lucky one she wanted to go with! I drove 7 hours to take her and her friend to their very first country concert! We had a blast! I even bought a new pair of boots! They are super cute.

I also got 6.5 + inches cutt off my hair, not sure if I like it, but it is growing on me. We stopped by Sheila's for a photo shoot before the concert after we all got our hair done. We definitely had a girlie day. Made a pit stop for sushi the mall and off to the concert.

I really thought I was going to be the oldest one there but I wasn't. The last several concerts me and Cody have been too it is usually elbow to elbow with a million 18 year olds and we always feel so old so I have gotten burned out on concerts. This concert was mostly older people with their kids! It was nice and well I had my kids with me too! :)

We had bleacher seats that were really good, but the last 2 songs we snuck down by the stage and we got really close. While we were down there this stupid idiot who apparantly had way to much bubbly got a little to close to Hannah and Victoria and mother goose came out of the woodwork and he almost got a shoe up his rear end!

All in all we had a great time, great concert and one great memory with my little cousin!

Intense week

2010-01-20T17:39:00.000-08:00

This has been a super intense week. Monday afternoon we had to separate the doe fawns from the buck fawns so they won't breed this year (not likely to happen, but it has happened before) and we don't want a little yearling popping out a baby next year. We decided to run them through the chutes and switch out ear tags(so we won't have to do that in the Spring when we actually work them) on the first 10 that were born (when we moved here we didn't have the right ear tags and had to tag them with what we had at the time).

Since this is their first time being ran through the chutes we knew we were going to have our hands full. And we did. Cody's tame girl was not helping the situation, lol. When we're trying to herd them out of their pen to the alley way, Cody's girl stayed with us the whole time and all the other ones were looking at us like "what is going on, and why is that fawn hanging out with y'all!" We finally got all but 2 out and decided to just leave them in, they were doe and the doe were going back in that pen anyways. It took forever to actually get them all the way down by the chutes, they were going CRAZY! Cody went first to just see how far they would go down, they didn't go far before all 18 turned and started running straight towards me, I almost peed in my pants, I threw myself against the wall of the 10 ft gap they were running through and they all passed me. If these were adult deer, believe me, I would not have been standing there in the first place. Since they were just fawns, it was only a little scary.

Cody finally got his girl down there too and he had to push her to get her down there, it was funny and sad at the same time. They were hitting fences and trying to jump over with out any luck, luckily there were no broken bones yet. Cody ran the first one through, Luis dropped the floor, I covered the head, and Cody changed out the tag, Luis brought the floor back up and she ran back to her pen, success! 1 down 17 more to go! The next one was a male, changed out the ear tag, let him go, and after we let him go we realized, CRAP, that was a male and off he goes in the female pen, CRAP! We will get him later. The next one was Hannah's girl. She is still very tiny. Cody had to open the covered chute, get in with her and pick her up and place her in normal chute, poor girl, she never had an ear tag so Cody had to pierce her ear, poor little girl, she did good and we let her go. This has taken probably 30 minutes, it's fast paced, our adrenaline is pumping 90 to nothing. Cody pushed the next one through, Luis dropped the floor, I covered her head, and she was kicking 90 miles an hour! Luis had to lay on top of her so she wouldn't jump out. Cody tagged her ear, we let her out. When she ran out, her leg was broke. I looked in the chute and when Luis dropped the floor, the chute didn't go all the way down, so the last kick, she kicked a piece of metal. Luckily no bone was showing, so we didn't have to amputate it. There are a lot of things to do when working a deer and 3 people doing it is kind of stressful. We looked at the chute and realized the fawns weren't big enough to push that metal down on their own just yet, so we decided to just run the rest through to separate and not risk the chance of another leg break. We have to work them in the Spring and can change out their ear tags then, that way they will be bigger and not break a leg :( It took forever but we got them separated, except for that one. He was one of the last ones born so he won't be trying to breed :) When we got home, we were exhausted. We both felt like we had been run over by an 18- wheeler. Which deer temperament is about the same as an 18- wheeler!

Today Dr. Mauzzeral came out to draw more semen off our 2 biggest breeder bucks. They got one done successfully but the other one wasn't cooperating and wouldn't go down. Probably because the buck has done this before and didn't want to be violated again! They will be back out next Friday to try again. We also got her to look at the fawn with the broken leg. I felt SO much better about getting a second opinion and she agreed with Cody, leave it alone and it will heal, you can do more damage by interfering than you could by letting nature do its thing. Still, glad she looked at it though!

Here is bigboy before they gave him the reversal!

Farewell 2009

2010-01-09T18:12:00.000-08:00

I am gonna miss 2009, just a little. A lot of things happened, good and bad, and it went by way to fast. Every year keeps moving faster and faster and it needs to slow down a bit. Here is our 2009 life changing events! ha

- I attended my last semester of college and studied more in that one semester than I did in all my other semesters' combined!

- We found out Cody got his dream job in a state I was not too thrilled about. It has turned out to be the greatest decision we have made and the best move yet!

-We both turned 27 and that number makes me feel old, but I still feel 23ish!

- I was able to work w/ Andy and Kevin for a little bit and do pretty much the best job ever and bought my dream vehicle....an H3 fully loaded!

- Graduated College

- Moved to Oklahoma

- Celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary, being so busy with life on the ranch we couldn't do our usual weekend getaway at our honeymoon sweet, but opted to watch the most beautiful sunset ever while we were working and it was way better than our $600.oo honeymoon sweet, lol! And way more romantic! Anyone who has seen our sunset pic would have to agree!

- Have spent more at the Vet office this year than I have spent on myself at the Dr.'s office. Poor Duke got bit by a rattlesnake and I thought my heart was gonna fall out of my chest. That dog is special to both of us and it will be a sad, sad day in this house if anything ever happens to him. Poor Drake had a hard time adjusting to the dry weather here and had paw issues, lol!

- Had to adjust one more time to being away from family, but luckily we aren't 14 hrs away anymore.

- Have been hit twice with the word cancer. I had to hear the doctor tell my husband he has bladder cancer and realized I can be strong for the both of us when I need to be. I had to hear my stepmom tell me my dad had cancer on the phone and wishing it was me and not him.

- First time to witness 115 degree temperatures and then to witness -6 temperature all in the same year and place.

- Raising whitetail deer and bottle feeding some in our house that were to weak or sick to make it otherwise and watching them thrive because we took care of them.

-Being able to not only witness the most beautiful land ever created but also living on it and being reminded everyday how great our God is!

-Realized no matter how hard we try, somethings are just not meant to be.

- We had our first Christmas tree up and decorated.

- Loving/watching/teaching and enjoying every minute with 2 sweet babies that I actually look forward to seeing and can't speak a lick of English....yet!

-Walked across our first frozen lake and not being worried about falling through because it was soooo cold!

- Learning to enjoy the simple things in life.

Sista, Sista

2010-01-02T19:59:00.000-08:00

Kristen, Terre and Jeff came to visit this weekend and we had a lot of fun. New Year's day was perfect, kind of..... It was 40 degrees, no wind and we were just gonna show them around in the truck since it was still a little chilly, but they wanted to ride 4-wheelers and it was super cold but a lot of fun. We took them to Patsy's Island so we could dig around for Indian people and found a lot of bones which we pretended were human bones, but they were probably cow bones, lol. We made it to the back of the ranch and saw a pretty sunset and even walked down the HUGE canyon in the very back! I am not sure how we made it down but we did. We all walked around it and after we got to the other side I don't think they wanted to walk all the way back around it so we had the bright idea of walking through it, Kristen chickened out and started walking back from the top. We all made our way down, very scary, and some how made our way back up the other side. This canyon is huge and very deep and we were all out of breath when we finally climbed out, but it was a lot of fun. We were all pooped when we got home, but luckily I put a pot of chili on before we left, so I didn't have to cook. After a long day outside in the cold, chili was perfect!

Today we woke up to freezing temperatures! It didn't snow, but it was really foggy and all the fog I guess froze and fell and every tree was icy, it was really cool looking but super miserable feeding the deer this morning. Then Terre had the bright idea of digging up bones again in 10 degree temperature. We ditched the 4-wheelers and just drove as far as we could and walked the rest of the way. Luckily, Cody had enough face mask's and coveralls for us all!

Terre and I had so many layers on we were looking fluffy! Kristen decided to stay home and sleep and missed a fun time! I think today was the coldest yet! We dug for a couple of hours till we were to cold to move. I think they were really excited about this Indian place and thought they would find something, but I think the OU department already dug up the goods! We did find a huge piece of flint that looked like it had been shaved down, it was super sharp.

We ventured over to the other side of Patsy's Island and the water was frozen 5 inches thick so we had fun sliding on it for a bit. Cody tried to do a snow angel but it didn't come out to good.

Don't worry, Kim, it wasn't deep, so if we fell through we wouldn't go under :)

After playing on the ice for awhile we were frozen solid and headed home .

We had a great weekend and we were so glad my sister's came to visit! Terre and Jeff brought their dogs, a chihuaha and a cocker spaniel and Kristen brought her pug and Duke and Drake loved them! So glad our dogs play well together!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-29T19:17:00.000-08:00

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?

2009-12-13T15:34:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-11T18:42:00.000-08:00

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.....

2009-12-08T19:05:00.000-08:00

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.

2009-12-05T13:59:00.000-08:00

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.....

2009-11-23T18:20:00.000-08:00

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."

..........

2009-11-19T18:44:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-11-18T15:38:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-11T20:05:00.001-08:00

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...

2009-11-07T19:57:00.000-08:00

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

2009-10-27T12:47:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-27T12:30:00.000-07:00

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'

2009-10-21T19:20:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-20T17:18:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-18T18:30:00.001-07:00

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!