Home For The Holidays

Since we moved to Boerne Travis has wanted to build a new set of dog houses for our pups. We left our old dog houses at our old house and the dogs needed new homes.

In the beginning, Travis created a frame for house #1


After framing was complete, he added siding and flashing.


Then we cut out the hole for the door.






Then comes the metal roof! Getting close!


We took a break because Parker wanted to cuddle!


All done!





So proud of Travis' hard work. The dogs and I thank him very much!

Christmas in Dixie...

Errrr Boerne.

First Christmas in our First House.

First Fire





First Tree.
Meet Doug, the Douglas Fir.






He's full of life and a little crazy on the bottom. Perfection to us!


First set of Lights


Since that pic was taken we added white lights around the front porch. It's beautiful if you ask me.

I absolutely love making all these memories in our new home, new town, deep in the Hill Country.

We are indeed richly blessed this Christmas season as we celebrate the true reason: Christ's birth!

Happy Birthday, Jesus!!

Come The Fount of Every Blessing

Thanksgiving 2011.

We spent Turkey Day at my parents house with Trent, Kourtny, and Jackson. We pulled in late Wednesday night, but this cute kid below was still awake waiting to say hello!

We had an impromtu family photo session Thursday morning.

Jackson did a GREAT job of cooperating for pictures and he LOVES to say cheese. LOVES.

Thursday night we headed to downtown Ft. Worth to see the Christmas parade. The parade began with a bunch of Elvis' riding mini-motorcycles.

This picture does NOT do it justice.

Saturday night we all headed to Jerry World to watch the Baylor Bears take on Texas Tech at the Texas Farm Bureau Shootout.

Jackson came with us and made it through the ENTIRE game without one fit. He's a true Bear fan.

The world's largest HD TV screen FULL of Baylor fans cheering on the Bears to victory.

Did ya notice the score on that score board???? Well, the final was 66-42. Sic 'Em.

Look at NiFlo stepping in for the injured RG3. We won't even discuss how RG3 was so horribly taken out of the game. It. was. Dirty. Ugly.

Thankfully he is OK and will be able to play in the final game of this season when we take on the Longhorns in Waco.



Trent and Kourtny

Aunt Nat and Jackson

 Sadly, the weekend came had to come to an end and we all headed home. We had a wonderful time together eating, laughing, relaxing, football watching and being thankful for all of the blessings and love that is in our lives. God is good. We are blessed with wonderful family, friends, jobs, school, good health, and a precious nephew.



Deep In The Heart Of Texas

Our friend, Alli, flew into Texas for a long weekend visit at the ranch while on the hunt for her first deer.

Alli arrived on a Thursday afternoon and we immediately headed to town to scarf down some Mexican food and enjoy Happy Hour.

Friday morning we packed up the car and headed up to Llano.

We stopped for lunch at the Burger Bar and shared a true to Texas meal:

We ate it ALL. It was yummy! Clearly, eating healthy was not a top priority this weekend.

Friday afternoon/evening Alli's dad and brother joined us followed by our dear friend, Jaran, and her hubby Michael.

We spent Saturday morning walking around the property and snapping these fun pics:

                                                                    Jaran on the rocks

                                                                       Boys. Lovely.

                                                                        Handsome Hubs.

Exploring

Hunting is hard work. Haha. We had late nights catching up and sipping wine, so getting up at 5:45am to hunt was hard!

Jaran and MW

Saturday night Alli shot her first deer (a doe!). She dropped and then got up. We searched and followed her blood trail (we looked like we were on CSI-we looked pretty legit) that night AND the next morning but we never found her. We are fairly certain she jumped the fence and went to the ranch next door. BUMMER!!

We headed back home Sunday afternoon and stopped at Dairy Queen for a sweet treat.

It was an awesome weekend that I hated to see come to an end! I can't wait for Alli's next visit do she can officially shoot and find her first deer AND have pictures to prove it!

I See Antlers Up On The Wall

November 5th 2011 is a day I won't soon forget. I made history...not really, BUT I'm going to live up this moment because I can.

I shot my first BUCK. It was an 8 point and only the 2nd deer I've ever shot! The 2nd gun I've shot, too.

On 11-1-11 I drove up to Llano after class to make sure the timer was working properly on the feeder and to install the trail camera.

Friday the 4th we headed up to the ranch after T got home from work. We hunted Saturday morning and saw some bucks at the feeder, but none big enough too shoot. We decided to check the camera to see what had been visiting the past few days and we had over 500 pictures.

My handsome guide





I immediately noticed this guy visiting daily, named him Bucky, and called him mine.

We hopped back in the blind around 3:30 as we knew he had been visiting daily around 4. Well, at just 3 minutes after 4 guess who walked on up like he owned the joint??? Bucky!!!

My heart started racing, T handed me the rifle, told me to slow down my breathing and relax. I watched him through the scope for a few minutes until I had a clear shot. The next thing I knew I had pulled the trigger and I saw him fall over. He didn't even have a chance to run away. Dropped him!

I couldn't wait to get out of the blind and go se him up close.


This is what we saw when we walked up:



Next we had a photo shoot that looked like this:


















Above you will notice Bucky hanging from the gambrel. I took care of what happened next and practiced my anatomy knowledge and then we took him to the processor. Fresh venison will be hitting our freezer in 2 weeks!


It was a great experience and such a fun, fun day with Trav!! I couldn't have done it without him. He encouraged me and cheered me on!

Bucky might not be the biggest deer, but he's my first buck, a hill country deer that has survived this drought, our ranch isn't huge, and we aren't high fenced...so, with that I think I did pretty good!!

My favorite picture:

The Chill Of An Early Fall

Cooler Nights. Shorter Days. Red and Orange Leaves. Leaving the windows open during the day/night.

It can only mean one thing in Texas: Fall is coming!

Last weekend Trav and I had the honor of being in our friends wedding, Sara Steinle and Trey Cook.

Rehearsal Dinner LOVE

The wedding took place on her parents ranch in Pleasanton with the reception following the The Pearl Stable. Great venue if you're in the SA area. It was awesome. Mariachi band followed by country band, delicious Mexican buffet, cocktails, dancing, scrumptious cake.

The beautiful bride and Alexi, bridesmaid

Bonnie and Sara

Bonnie and Sara breaking it down

Tambourine Time

Micah and Heather

First Dance

The back of my do. Who knew it was so expensive to have your hair done in Boerne? It cost me 85 bones.

James and Travis

James being James

Self Portrait

The love of my life

Travis and the Groom. 

Mr. and Mrs. Cook are now off to enjoy a week in the Bahamas. We had a great time at the wedding and were so honored to be a part of it! Here's to a wonderful life together.

In other news, Jackson, our nephew, went to the pumpkin patch last week. 

"Mom, I want a pumpkin THIS big"

 

"I'm the funniest guy around"

Father and Son time.