I had a camera once...

and I really, really loved it!  I mean her.  I mean it.  I tried to be appreciative and grateful of it's abilities and efforts in working so well and so hard for me for all these years.  She was our first big purchase together...Lee and I were not yet married.  Nonetheless, she has captured so many wonderful memories of ours over the past few years.  I really miss her.  She...yes, she, was a valued part of our family and went EVERYWHERE with us!  I realize that she is not as big and fancy as some...and some may say just a little point and shoot, but she NEVER let us down.  She captured so many of our memories beautifully and I pray that she finds her way home and into my arms soon.  Our holidays and family memories will never be the same without her.

Where, oh where did you go on November 24th, after capturing so many wonderful memories of our first Thanksgiving here?  We love you and miss you and home you come home soon.

Bundling Up!

I woke up around 3:00 am last night to the sound of sporadic rain drops pelting the window by my bed with quite force and gusts of wind blowing the tree outside the house so that the limbs were hitting the roof.  Our first cold front of the season has arrived!  Gage and I both slept in a little late and as soon as he finished breakfast, we both bundled up to go and feed horses.  I HAD to, of course, take a bunch of pictures of the first time he had a jacket, hat and gloves on!  I may have overdone it a little, seeing that he only went from the house to the truck and back, but we are now prepared and have the routine down for our next outdoor adventure in the cold!!!

Our happy boy!

Our sweet little ham

This is the "I'm not so amused" face

Heading out to help mom feed the ponies!

West Texas Soul Food

I truly believe there is something good for the soul about the deep West Texas and Panhandle areas of our great state.  The people and the land are beyond compare.  I have to admit..I even had a few good hair days in that dry West Texas air...which is a lot to be excited about for this South Texas girl!  Lee had a meeting in Lubbock on Friday and Saturday, so Gage and I decided to tag along to get some good family time!   We have learned that driving at night, even if it is harder on us, is much easier on the little one.   We are truly blessed with a great baby, but when we drive at night, we don't have to stop to feed, change diapers, etc.  We picked up a friend of ours in San Antonio at 9 and only stopped to fill up between there and Matador.  Gage and I stayed with his cousin, Jeni, her husband, Patrick and their little girl, Sheridan, in Matador, while Lee and Jarrett went on to Lubbock.  It was such a treat!  I absolutely love Lee's family and his cousin, Jeni is no exception!  I took notes the entire time on cooking and "discipline tactics" she used.  Great momma, great wife and great friend! Love her.

One thing we learned on the trip - when you leave San Antonio at 9 pm...you can expect to get to Matador, TX at about 4 am!  Patrick was quite the welcoming party as we pulled up to their house to unload myself, baby and gear.  They had our room ready and waiting with sheets pulled down for us to come in and go straight to bed!  Gage was such a trooper!!  He woke up when we were taking things into the house and went right back to sleep when I put him down in the pack & play Jeni had waiting for us.  I am soooo proud of that little stinker!!!  Lee and Jarrett continued on to Lubbock, which was an hour-and-a-half down the road.

Matador, population 668, is the county seat of Motley County which boasts a quaint grocery store named Lowe's, library, weekly newspaper, old jail and a 21 1/2 foot arrow that points to the trail that Quanah Parker traveled  on through the area.  Jeni and I (actually, mostly Jeni) also did a lot of cooking, traveled out to the Matador Ranch,  went to church where Patrick is the preacher and went to a private park at the springs in Roaring Springs, which was beautiful!  Jeni described it as an oasis in the desert, and I would have to agree!  There is a naturally spring fed creek that fills the pool with reeally cold water! These are a few pictures I snapped while we were there.

 

Jeni & Sheridan checking out a wild looking bug with big pinchers that was swimming around!

 Sweet and beautiful Ms. Sheridan

Aunt Jeni & Gage

Another first for me was going to see a 6-man football game!  Motley County (yes..that is the entire county, not just Matador) played Crowell. By the way, did you know that in 6-man football, they call the game if the score is at least 45-0 at half time?  It happened at this game.  Made me kinda sad.  I couldn't belive how well Gage "paid attention" and watched what was going on out on the field.  He LOVED it!  Being there was special. It was 100% "small town USA", and I LOVED it!

We finished our weekend with a stop on the way home in Buffalo Gap, TX for dinner at the Perini Ranch Steakhouse. We had reservations for 7:30, outside, which was PERFECT for watching the sun set on the beautiful evening from our table!  Before we got arrived, we had decided that while there that we would keep Gage out of his carseat/carrier, since he was going to be in it another 9 hrs that night. Here he is demonstrating his new (and favorite) skill:  standing!

 I love that in this picture, Gage is looking at the menu and also holding on to Lee's sleeve.  This is a new thing...holding onto things...especially the person that is holding him or close to him.

After ordering and before our meal came, we all walked around to enjoy the beautiful scenery.

 I took some pictures of the guys by an old chuckwagon that they had.  I LOVE all of these of Gage.  His little personality is really starting to shine through and I think several of these capture that!

I know a couple of these are blurry, but they are a few of the cute looks he gives.

 This is our first family shot with the little man smiling!

This was the restaurant manager named, Nan.  Nan had taken my reservations over the phone, greeted us when we arrived and offered to take our family picture while we were out walking around (see above).  When our food got to our table she came over and asked if she could hold Gage.  After a few minutes of visiting, she asked if we minded if she walked around outside with him.  So...Lee and I had a dinner all to ourselves, while Nan babysat Gage and walked around with him (his favorite thing EVER!). (You can tell he's starting to get tired here)

This is Lee's steak with green chili hominy.  YUMMY!

This was all that was left of my hamburger steak when Lee suggested taking pictures! Covered with green chilies, red onions, mushrooms and provolone cheese...it was THAT good!

my potatoes were...delicious!

 

We had the most wonderful bread pudding known to man with whiskey sauce, but 

scarfed it down so fast that we didn't even think to take any pictures!

This is us with the owner, Tom Perini, who gave us a signed cookbook of his!
(horrible picture of me!)

 

We left Buffalo Gap with full bellies and after a fabulous evening as a family!  The drive home was a little unnerving, as I think the only land that is not overgrazed right now and the deer want to go to is right by the road.  We had deer, fox and coyotes run out in front of us, so it was a slow, but good trip home.  We pulled through the Laureles North gate at 4:06 am, just in time for Lee to go to bed for a few hours before work.  I can't think of anything that I needed more than some 

quality time with good friends, family and my two favorite guys in this world!  

I am truly a blessed gal...and my cup was filled this weekend!

Buddies

I have been wondering how this would all go down since the little guy got here.  Today, I was able to capture some really sweet moments with Gage and Mattie.  Up til now, she has pretty much ignored him.  He, however, thinks she is soooo cool!  Anytime she walks in the room or around him where he can see her, he smiles sooo big!  This afternoon, he was enjoying some time laying on his back and playing with his baby gym mat.  The next thing I knew...he was rolled over on his tummy with his arms pushing his chest up and looking around.  I  jumped down there to talk to him and Mattie immediately came over to join us.  The following pictures are the progression of how it went down.  I thought it was pretty sweet myself.  (Warning:  anyone who freaks out over pets and babies together should steer clear!).

Blueberry Scones

Quick note I wanted to share.  This recipe was given to me by one of my most favorite people in the world, Ms. Barbara.  I had these a couple times when she made them for our bible study group and could never practice self control while they were out.  They are THAT good.  I promise.  Just think..soft, sweet, delicate pastry with moist, plump, tart and sweet berries that pop when you bite them and sweet and tangy lemon glaze. 

Mom was in town a few weeks ago and we made 3 batches of these.  Mmmmmm.mmmmm.mmmm!  Let me know if you want the recipe.  It is a crowd pleaser.

Study, Study, Study

I don't think I've done this much studying since I graduated from college!!  Funny thing is I have WAAAAAYYYYY more to learn now than I did back then too!  I am going to start 2 new bible studies this coming week and am actually really excited about the groups.

The first one that I am doing meets on Tuesday mornings at First Baptist Kingsville.  My new friend, Rhonda, that invited me to the Beth Moore simulcast will be leading this one.  I am really excited to get to know several of the ladies in this group better and to do another Beth Moore study.  I have done her Esther and  Breaking Free studies and LOVED them.  This time we will be doing:

The other one is going to be a ladies group from Corpus Christi Community Church.  My friend, Lori, and her husband are just launching CCCC.  She and several women will be leading this study and I am sooo excited to learn from them!  We will be meeting at a lady's house in town on Wednesday evenings and Lee is going to have "Daddy Duty" so that I can go by myself!  This group will be studying the book:

I have only read the introduction thus far, but this book is written in a wonderfully candid way.  It is about God's promises to us, what they mean and how encounters with Christ are the fulfillment of His commitment to us.  I can't wait!

So, here's where I admit to the nerd that I have become.  I guess I've always had the tendency when I have a subject I would like to learn more about.  Enter:  Parenting!  So...I am going to share a few of the other books that I have read lately.  This is my most recent one.  I am just finishing this book and ABSOLUTELY love it!  This couple wrote the book, Men are Like Waffles and Women are Like Spaghetti.  I absolutely love them as people and their writing style is very simple and straight forward (perfect for me!).  I'll go even further and add that I think one of the reasons they are so likable is that they are from Texas!  I told Lee that this is a book that I would love to read together with him some time.  The book has ideas on:
- creating character-building opportunities for your kids
- helping your kids make wise decisions
- building a family legacy your children would want to cherish
It is geared towards raising children of either gender, but the examples that they give are from their experiences with their 3 sons...so it is perfect for us (at least at this point in the game)!  They stress the importance of being proactive, intentional and consistent.  Their goal was to raise Godly and responsible men of character, and I couldn't wish more for our son.  This book is:

A few other parenting ones that I have read:

 

These are some that I am hoping to read:
Parenting Isn't For Cowards by James Dobson
Parent's Answer Book by James Dobson
Bringing Up Boys by James Dobson (have this one...just haven't read it yet)



I am not even going to bore you with the list of things that I read when I was pregnant!  I LOVE to read when I have time and it is something that is applicable to a particular season of my life.  Suffice to say....Biochem, Molecular Biology, no thank you.  That stuff I had to bribe myself to read.  You know, now that I think about it...I think the only reason I passed those classes is because I had study groups at my house with really smart people...and I cooked for them.  That's the only way I could get really smart people to hang around with me.  Ha ha.  I catered meals for them in hopes that pieces of their intellect would osmos to me.  I digress.  My apologies.  I also really enjoy reading from an actual book more than a screen and love having the book to go back to and reference anything I may need (you should see my books...highlights, underlines, multi-colored notes, etc.).  Thank the Lord you can buy used books at Half-Priced Books and Amazon for sooo cheap!  (I can't tell you how many I have bought for less than $1!)
Now that I have bored anyone who may still be hanging on TO DEATH...If anyone that reads this has any recommendations on books please share!  Right now, I'm really into the parenting and marriage topics.  Let me know about you!