Labor Day Weekend

…better late than never!

This year we headed to the ranch for Labor Day weekend with the Sorenson Family.  Originally, we were supposed to head out on Friday, but Jarrad came down with a stomach bug.  I really thought we were going to have to cancel the whole trip, but by Saturday morning, Jarrad felt better and we headed out.  Seth, Suzanne and the kids met us out there.  I didn’t tell Meg that they were coming, so as we were pulling onto the ranch road, she saw their car and got super excited.  It was great. 

Both of us brought our yellow labs.  Dixie is 10 years old and Emma is 10 months old.  I was surprised that Dixie did so well with Emma, but they both just kept to themselves.  We took them both out for the afternoon hunt on Saturday.  Dixie was a fetching machine and got every bird that Jarrad shot.  Emma on the other hand, was a little gun shy and hid under the mule until Seth drug her out and took her with him. 

Dixie hunted so hard that she could barely get around, so she had to spend the rest of the weekend locked up in Joey.  She just can’t do it like she used to…poor girl!  

***Dixie***

 

***Emma***

***Colton, Tanner and Meg***

 

***Meg and Tanner***

 

***The kiddos perch while we were hunting***

 

***My sweet girl***

 

On the second afternoon hunt, we had to have the kids fetch the birds since Dixie was out of commission.  This was such a cute scene…Tanner, Colton and Meg were around this bird.  I can only imagine the conversation that was going on was one for the memory books. 

It seemed that finally a decision had been made.  Meg picked up the bird and ran it to Jarrad as fast as she could.  The look on her face is priceless. 

 

***Meg, Tanner and Colton***

Meg and Tanner were pulling feathers off of birds in Jarrad’s bag.  I’m not even sure he was aware what was taking place behind his back. 

 

***Seth and Emma***

 

***Two peas in a pod***

We had a great weekend with the Sorensons and hope we can make it out there again during deer season. 

First Day of Second Grade

How can meg already be in second grade?  It seems with every new grade, every birthday, I find myself asking how can time be going by so fast?  How can Meg be growing into such a beautiful young lady so quickly?  I guess I just need to accept that there is nothing I can do to stop the clock from moving forward.  Whether I like it or not, she’s growing up. 

Meg was so excited about the first day of second grade.  She was so easy to wake up on her first day.  There was no fighting about what she was going to wear, no fighting about brushing her hair or teeth and no fighting about what was for lunch.  It was a beautiful morning. 

I had to beg her to let me walk her in this year.  I have a feeling this may be the last year I’m going to be allowed to walk her in.  That morning, while Meg and I were eating breakfast, she actually asked me if I would be walking her into school when she was a freshman in college?  She’s such a smarty pants sometimes. 

As we walked into the school for the third year, I couldn’t help but think about the first day we walked into that school in 2009 for Kindergarten.  As I look back at the pictures from Kindergarten, I can’t believe how much she has changed.  Meg is no longer a little girl, she’s turning into a beautiful young lady. 

This year has gotten off to a much better start than Kindergarten and First Grade.  I hope that we will keep this momentum going forward. 

Meg, I love you more than you will ever know.  You are my everything!  I see you. 

Shells

Even though I didn’t want to go to the ranch for Easter, I do love watching Megan enjoy herself so much.  Meg loves everything about the ranch.  We were at the back tank and she went running off with Dixie.  (I stayed behind enjoying a beer).  She hadn’t been gone five minutes before she came running back down with two handfuls of shells.  She was so excited with her finds. 

I love this sweet girl! 

Canvas photos

My office recently moved to a new location, so I have been on the lookout for some decorations for my new office (actually, it’s a cube).  I knew I wanted to find a cute way to display pictures of Meg and the dogs, but didn’t want to use boring photo frames. 

Meg and I went to Michael’s for some supplies to create canvas prints.  I had originally planned on doing 5x7 prints, but found some 6x6 canvases and fell in love with them.  With a little scrapbook paper, mod podge and pictures, I was able to create some great canvas prints. 

***three canvases***

***one layer of mod podge***

***mod podge – matte***

***scrapbook paper and photo applied***

***mod podge starting to dry***

***the final product***

I love how the canvases turned out and think I will make some for the house.  Meme already asked me to create one for her with pictures of Megan and Luke. 

Christmas Day

After celebrating with Jarrad and Megan on Christmas morning, we headed over to Boompaw & Nawnaw’s house to celebrate Christmas with them.  Nick, Michelle & Parker were there as well as Leigh Ann, Eddy & Jackson.  We were sad that Stacy & Bryan couldn’t be there – they were definitely missed by Megan and me. 

The house was very busy with two infants and a six-year old girl who just had to bring her babies (Reagan, Rachael, Sarah & Travis).  Boompaw looked very comfortable in his recliner with his boys.  Parker (left, 5 weeks) and Jackson (right, 3 months) were right at home in his arms too. 

Around noon, Meg was in the kitchen with Boompaw and she saw Santa and Mrs. Claus pull up in the driveway.  She immediately started screaming and yelling and ran straight for the front door.  I love her enthusiasm, it’s contagious!  Meg is so thoughtful that she even thanked Santa for her gifts at the house earlier that morning.  I love this girl of mine! 

***Santa & Meg***

***Mommy, Santa, Meg & Daddy***

***Boompaw, Santa, Megan & Nawnaw***

***Boompaw, Jackson, Santa, Megan, Parker & Nawnaw***

***Parker, Santa, Jackson & Megan***

***Beautiful Megan***

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve we spent the evening with Nina in Dallas.  Meg, Jarrad and I got to Nina’s house around 5:30.  Meg was very happy to see Nina, Auntie Lee Lee, Uncle Eddy and Jackson.  Unc, Aunt Michelle and Parker got to the house a little later in the evening.   

Meg and I had baked Christmas cookies the night before, so they were ready for decorating.  We all decorated a few cookies and ate a few too.  Right as we were finishing up cookie decorating, Nina’s power went out.  Thankfully she has a gas stove, so we were still able to cook what we needed.  The power was probably off for over an hour.  As we were sitting at the table, enjoying the meal, the power came back on. Nina is a candle burner, so we had plenty of light. 

After dinner, we exchanged Christmas presents.  Meg got lots of great stuff this year, including a cook book, apron, Juicy crayons and a box full of money.  It was a great Christmas Eve.

***Parker Ramsey***

***Jackson Bradley***

Helping Hand

When Jarrad asked me what I wanted for Christmas this year, I knew the exact answer.  I wanted a pair of boots.  So, on Sunday Jarrad took me to Cavendars Boot City to shop around.  As luck would have it, I found the perfect pair. 

Jarrad wouldn’t let me have them until Christmas.  While Jarrad and Meg were busy wrapping my boots, I snapped a few pictures of them working together to get my gift ready to put under the tree. 

It was the sweetest thing to watch Meg helping Jarrad.  She would help hold the paper and pass him the tape.  These two can get a lot accomplished when they work together. 

I can’t wait to see what’s wrapped under the tree for me this year!