My Blackberry broke today so I finally did what all the cool kids are doing and bought an iPhone. I’m posting from the Wordpress for iPhone app right now…sorta dorky but cool to me I guess. Marcie also upgraded from a Motorolla Razor to a Blackberry so she will finally be able to send texts longer than two words in less than five minutes!
10 of these

Turned Our Backyard From This


To This


We had no idea there was a brick planter around the trees when we closed in November.
Marcie is working on Christmas cards again which means we have to find a good photo.  This one isn’t it.
Merry Christmas!


We took in a stray dog this week and named her Daisy. We might be putting the cart before the horse since we don’ t close on the house till the first week of November, but we hated the thought of sending her to the pound just because she was three weeks too early. Allison has volunteered to keep her for now. Thanks Allison!
Other than being quite thin, the vet gave her a clean bill of health. As far as we can tell, she is house broken, doesn’t bark, gets along with other dogs and strangers, doesn’t beg while we are seated at the table (just stares at us from a distance,) and seems to be a pretty good dog.



We made an offer on a home yesterday.  It needs some updating and while the previous home owner’s decorating style is best described as “grandma-ish,”  it is a larger home than we were initially looking for and is located in an older and established neighborhood.  We’ll be signing the counter offer this afternoon and pending the home inspection, we should close early November.

Anyone know what’s growing out of the sidewalk?

We love the windows – not sure about the “lattice work.”

It’s a dark photo, but here is the gas fireplace.

View from front entry.

Formal Living/Dining Room
Living/Family Room – This photo was taken from the entryway.  Check out the hip wallpaper on the right. Nice.

Built-In in the Living Room/Family Room.  Probably has to go…

Kitchen photo taken from where the breakfast “nook” will probably be.

The Pecan Tree.  After some pruning and clean up work, the back yard should be great.
Yikes! Would love to get rid of that and plant some grass.  We think that is a live oak tree in front.  The Pecan is behind.

2010 Season Tickets
Here are some photos from our backpacking trip on the South Fork Trail in the Rio Grande National Forest, Colorado.
















For anyone that isn’t aware, I lost my wedding ring back in February. There really isn’t a cool story to how this happened. It’s not as if I decided to go out on the town bachelor style or forgot it in a shady motel room. There were no late night parties or strip clubs involved. However, I was never quite sure how it became “lost,” of course until I found it.
Every February, my job requires a trip down to San Antonio for a yearly sales convention. I usually spend a day or two out in our warehouse packing all the convention displays and materials. This past February wasn’t any different. After spending a few minutes in the warehouse one morning, I decided to head back inside for what was probably my 3rd cup of coffee.
On my way to the breakroom, I realized that my ring was missing. While I couldn’t remember putting it on this particular morning, I was pretty sure I had done so. It’s sorta like brushing your teeth in the morning. When looking back several hours later, you may not remember doing so in your morning daze, but you can’t imagine that you would have left your house without doing so. It just wouldn’t have felt right…With that in mind, it was quite cold outside so I figured it must have slipped off my hand while doing some heavy lifting in the warehouse. Long story short, myself and coworkers spent several hours over the next 5 months tearing that warehouse apart. I began to question rather I even brushed my teeth, I mean put on my ring that morning afterall. And exactly like my grandmother in law and her missing burritos, I began insinuating that someone stole my wedding ring.
Turns out I found the wedding ring five months later in a “pop up banner” storage case, in the warehouse, while packing for our yearly sales convention at the end of every July. We have 10-12 of these pop banners that have accumulated over the years, but I was looking for the one banner that was actually up to date. As I was opening each case, I happened to drop one. This particular case’s lid popped off and lo and behold, my wedding ring shot out onto the concrete warehouse floor. To be honest, I’m not sure I ever felt like a better husband than I did at that very moment.
James Avery now has my ring in Fredericksburg, Texas and is resizing it for a more snug fit. They said it would take up to five weeks, but what’s five weeks when I’ve gone five months without it.
It’s Thursday night, about 11:45, and we finally have our bags packed. We’ve been working on this all week and finally grabbed the last few items this evening after work. I called the ranger’s station in the Rio Grande National Forest and asked about the trail conditions. He said there is no way we will complete the 22 mile loop without snowshoes, so we rented two pair at $20 a pair from the TTU Outdoor pursuits center along with a 2-man tent and two 0 degree sleeping bags. He did ease my avalanche fears and said “that won’t be happening.”
We will be leaving for the 10 hour drive tomorrow morning and hope to arrive around 4 or 5 PM, giving us 3 or 4 hours of daylight before reaching the first campsite around mile 3. From there, we will probably take our time and return to our car on Wednesday morning at the latest and drive back to Lubbock. Check out the youtube video with our packs on. (They turned out to be a little heavier than we hoped…)