A Very Happy Birthday!

Boy, our family can draw out the birthdays! :-)  My actual birthday was last Tuesday, the 22nd, but the celebrating actually started on Friday, the 18th when my parents came into town and brought Gramma Mary and pizza over to our house for a little family party.  Colin got me a cake (white with chocolate frosting from Sam's) and we had a great time laughing, eating and playing ping pong!

 Then, on the evening of my actual birthday, we headed to El Paso for dinner at Famous Dave's - my favorite barbecue!  Grammy and Grampa met us there and we all had another nice celebration and delicious food!

 Since we had already done birthday cake on Friday, we opted to go across the road to Krispy Kreme for some birthday doughnuts!

 My birthday is never over to me, though, until I get to celebrate with a night out with my hubby and friends!  That happened this past Friday as we went to dinner at Cattle Baron and then hung out with Michael and Sherri and Jeff and Joy afterwards.  Of course we had a great time!

I am so blessed to have the family and friends in my life that I do.  I got so many thoughtful texts, calls and facebook posts on Tuesday, wishing me Happy Birthday!  I cherished every one of them!  Thank you all for taking time out of your hectic schedules to send me a Birthday greeting! xoxo

Phase 8: Closet Shelving

Every change and addition at our new house has been very exciting, however, things this week just hit a new level of exciting, for me, anyways!!  The shelving in the closets was completed!  Blame it on me being a woman, but that was highly anticipated! It started last week, when Colin and I met the framer who would be doing the shelves. at the house to walk through and tell him exactly what I wanted.  I liked having something to be in charge of!! 

 

First are the kids' closets, which are identical.  They didn't get walk-ins because after visiting showcase homes last Fall, we realized that they would have so much more room in a very large, regular closet.  Here's a front view:

 A view of the right side, where I asked for some extra shelves:

 A view of the left side, where the double hanging rods will continue around the corner:

The linen closet in the master bath (which Colin always jokingly refers to as his closet when showing people the large walk-in closet that I will no-doubt be utilizing most of):

The closet in the office/guest room has already been designated as my "craft closet"and instead of shelves just in the middle, I had him do 5 shelves on either side, leaving the middle open to hang a pegboard and put some drawers on wheels for my cardstock and other paper:

 Our ginormous pantry that we aren't sure we can ever fill up:

 We have never had a walk-in pantry in any of our houses, and only a very small pantry you couldn't even step into at the house we rented from my grandma our 2nd year of marriage.  So, we splurged a little on this one and I know we won't be sorry!

Finally, the one I was the most excited for - my, I mean, OUR master closet:

 As you can tell, we splurged a little on this one, too!  A view of the left side where there is a 5-shelf stack, a single hanging rod, followed by a double hanging rod that goes around the corner:

 The double hanging rod ends at another 5-shelf stack, where the doorway into the laundry room is and then immediately on the right, as you walk into the closet from our bedroom, are lots and lots of shoe shelves:

Another view of the shoe shelves:

 I can't wait to start filling it up!!  :-)

Jack-o-Lantern Smile

It took Cady a lot longer than most of her friends to lose her teeth, but once they started coming out, they aren't stopping!  Her first two lost, were pulled by the dentist early last year.  Then, there were none until she and Gramma Suzy pulled that one at the end of December when we were in Mimbres for Christmas.  Last Friday evening, when my parents were here to celebrate my birthday a few days early, Gramma Suzy again helped her pull one. This one was one of her bottom ones.  The Tooth Fairy visited that night and brought her $5.  She had another loose one that Gramma wanted her to pull that same night, but she wouldn't.  Well, that one, another top one, came out Wednesday as she was enjoying an afterschool snack!  And, she still has another bottom one that is pretty loose!

 

Needless to say, her smile is looking very similar to a jack-o-lantern smile! She has some teeth that are already coming in, though, so my baby girl isn't going to look like a baby for long! :-(

 The Tooth Fairy brought her another $5 on Wednesday night, so she is now $10 richer, thanks to losing teeth:



The best thing, though, is that she got these out naturally, at home.  That is already 1 more than Colton had come out naturally and 2 more than I had - the rest of ours were pulled by the dentist!

Phase 7: Sheetrock, Tape & Texture

Getting to some more exciting parts of our house - all on the inside!  The sheetrock has been completed, as well as the tape and texture!  Woo hoo!  Its feeling more like a real house now!  Here is the sheetrock going up in the dining room and kitchen:

 

 Completed in Colton's room:

 The kids' bathtub:

 Looking out from the office to the nicho in the entryway:

After that, the tape and texture was done.  We decided on bullnosed (rounded) corners and a hand-troweled texture that is mostly smooth with a few rough spots here and there.  I think we are going to love it!! 

 

Here is looking into the house from the front door (living room straight ahead, office/guest room to right):

 Colton's room taped and textured (door on left is to their jack-and-jill bathroom and door on right is to hallway and then Cady's room):

 Looking from our bathroom toward the master bedroom (the shower is on the left with my sink and vanity area beyond it, close to the door, the bathtub will go to the right):

 Master bedroom, taped and textured and ready to paint:

 More of the walls:

 Taken from the dining room looking into living room (doorway on left goes to kids' rooms):

 The garage all ready to paint:

The closet shelves are finally being done today (very excited about that!) and then its time to get the walls all painted!

My Oryx Hunt

Last weekend was very exciting for me because I went on my very first oryx hunt!  It was actually my very first big game hunt, period!  Colin has been on two hunts and has enjoyed them, and we enjoy having the meat in the freezer, as well, so I asked him to put me in for it.  We put in for the badge hunts, which are depredation hunts in areas of the White Sands Missile Range, to help with population control.  You have to have a White Sands employee, with a badge, to guide you.  Lucky for us, one of our good friends who we met through school and soccer, Conrad, loves to take people out on hunts and was very excited that I drew this year!  He took Colin on his last hunt, as well, and we greatly appreciate him, his knowledge and the time he takes to do it.

 

My hunt goes through the month of January, but last Friday was our first day to go out and try.  We picked up Conrad after dropping the kids off at school and headed out to the small missile range - same area where the Bataan Death March Memorial Walk takes place, that I participated in a few years back.  It was a COLD and WINDY day and while we saw sign of them everywhere as we were driving around, we weren't seeing any actual oryx.  We figured they were all bedded down out of the wind somewhere.

 

Finally, around 12:30, we saw one young one out by itself.  Too young and small for me to shoot, though, so we kept driving.  About an hour after that, we came upon two nice, mature bulls, but like most of the oryx on this part of the base, they have been hunted a lot and spook easily.  They took off running and we lost them quickly in the thick brush.  Like Colin said, that's how they have gotten to be so big and mature is by taking off as soon as they see sign of trouble! 

 

About thirty minutes after we gave up on finding those two, we spotted about 4 of them, close to Highway 70.  I couldn't shoot toward the highway of course, so we devised a plan, drove outside the base, pulled over on the side of the highway, and climbed over the fence. I was so nervous!! Colin and Conrad were nervous/excited, but my excitement wasn't showing up - just nerves.  I was shooting my dad's 7 mag rifle, and had only shot it once before, the previous night, just so I would know how it felt.  Both Colin and my Dad swear that is the most dead-on gun they have ever shot, so I just went with it!  We got into position, quietly and carefully, praying they wouldn't spook. They were about 200 yards out and were aware of us, but luckily weren't running.  Conrad got his shooting sticks set for me and I got the gun into position and tried to steady myself and focus on aiming on the middle one, which is the one the guys told me to shoot.  Just as I was feeling settled-in and ready to pull the trigger, my target moved, and I just knew it was going to bolt.  It stopped again so I decided now or never and shot.  The next thing I knew, my left ear was buzzing because I forgot to put that ear plug in, I saw dust fly and oryx running and just knew I missed, then I heard Conrad say, "Did you see that thing drop?" and he and Colin were all giddy and excited! :-)  Colin helped me get the gun ready to shoot again, in case it needed it, and we started walking towards it.  I was still in shock and excited and praying I wouldn't have to shoot again! I didn't, though- dropped it with one shot!! I don't know who was more excited - the guys or me?!?!  It was all pretty surreal, though, and  I still can't believe it.  It did have a broken horn, which disappointed me at first, but I wasn't planning on getting it mounted unless it was larger than Colin's first one, which I knew would be hard to beat, especially on that particular range.  In the end, though, I was just proud of myself for getting one, on the first day, and it was a large one which means I filled up our freezer with meat!  Plus, it was a depredation hunt, so in the grand scheme of things - I did my part and culled one for the range, and they were probably glad I got rid of one of the broken horn ones, lol!  Colin saved the cape to get it tanned, so that will be cool, too! 

 

Now, here are my pictures: (taken by Conrad, right there on the base because he has a photo badge and is allowed to - he does great work!):

It was a pretty exciting day and I can't wait to do it again sometime!! :-)  Next up, however, it's my Dad's turn. After thirty-plus years of putting in for the once in a lifetime oryx hunt, he finally drew and will be hunting towards the end of this month!  Good luck to him!!

Phase 6: Metal Roof

The roof has been one of the longest processes, but I am happy to report that it is now officially complete!  It started back in November with laying all the paper.  Colin started it and with help from our friend Kacy, my Dad, myself and my cousins husband, finally finished it! Here is Colin just getting started:

 My Dad helped him get the garage covered:

 The entire house covered (finally):

 The back part of the metal roof complete:

 Getting the rest done:

 Getting the little part of the kids' bathroom (their tub and shower) that sticks out of the side of the house:

Our beautiful house with the beautiful, silver, metal roof:

Our 11-Year Old

Still can't believe our oldest is 11 and officially a 'Tween!!  I really try hard to take pictures of the kids every year around their birthday and Colton's don't always get done because of the time of year.  It is usually cold, not real pretty outside, and we are busy!  This year, however, was special because not only did I get them done, but I did a shoot on a rare snow day, which was perfect for our December baby!  Here they are, enjoy!!

 He looks a little cold in this one:

 

 

He is still our cowboy, as you can see, and is very anxious, as we all are, to move into the new house where he has more places to roam and can hopefully get a horse soon! Here is some more information:
Best Friends:  Jimmie, Devin, Travis and Mckaela
Favorite activities:  hunting, riding ATV, reading, playing on his new Nook HD, playing soccer
Favorite tv shows:  Duck Dynasty, Gold Rush, Wild at Heart series
What he's reading:  Loves anything to do with wars or history
Favorite foods:  steak, shrimp and tacos
Favorite snacks: green bell peppers, chips, popcorn
Favorite drinks:  rootbeer and chocolate milk
Favorite places to eat:  Dickey's BBQ, Jason's Deli, Red Lobster, Texas Roadhouse
Favorite candy:  Hershey's chocolate bars, Milk Duds
Favorite color: Camo (that's his answer although he's been told  that's not a color!"

We are in for some big changes this year - the main one being that he will be entering the 6th grade in the fall and starting middle school!!  While I am still in disbelief and a little anxious, I am more at ease about this than I thought I would be, because he has a huge group of great friends that will be going with him to the same school and not only that, we are friends with all their parents! So, we will have a great support system for both of us already in place! :-)  He will also be moving out of KidsZone at church and into the Youth group which is made up of 6th through 12th graders! A little crazy, huh?  He is a great kid, though, who makes good decisions. We pray that continues as he is growing up!