Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Thanksgiving at the Ranch

We had a great Thanksgiving spending time with my (Erin) family at the ranch down near Stephenville. We also took the opportunity to take a current family portrait with our newest family member, Justin!

We only got dressed up and put all our makeup on one time when we were there, just to take the family pictures. The trees were changing colors and looked so beautiful. I think they made a beautiful backdrop. I only wish that we would have waited to order our Christmas cards until after these pictures because I would have loved them to have been on our card!

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Then the boys decided to have some fun:

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Here are some other pictures from our time there:

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For the record…most of the fish were caught with the pink Barbie pole:

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We loved our time there, mainly because we are truly getting away from everything…our cell phones didn’t even work all the time down there. I think we all need that slower pace every once in a while and we were VERY thankful that we got it that week.

Friday, November 11, 2011

Avery’s Birthday!

Our sweet baby girl, turned 4 last week. I know everyone says the same thing, but I really can’t believe how the time has flown by. It seems like few months ago, we were exhausted parents from being up all night with a colicky baby with acid reflux. Poor Avery was not a happy camper for the first 3 months of her life. If she was awake, she was crying. There were times I just sat and cried with her. But thankfully after the first 3 months and many different types of medicines, our happy, precious Avery emerged!

Just a stroll down memory lane… (OH, how it makes me sad when I realize how many good pictures we missed because we didn’t have our good camera yet…I have to try and look at the pictures of my babies with unbiased eyes… and not covet the camera that we didn’t yet have in our possession….anyway, sorry for the blurriness)

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Avery was very specific this year that she didn’t want to have a party with all her friends. She just wanted her family there with her for her Tangled party and then she wanted to go with her friend, Abby to a place called Sweet and Sassy. It is a place where little girls can get mini-pedicures, manicures, facials and get their hair fixed for fun.

Also, to save money, Damon and I have been making and decorating cakes for the kids. After every birthday, I say how crazy we are and how I would rather just pay someone and not mess with it, but then the next birthday comes around and we want to take on the challenge again! Yes, we are crazy.

Here are some pics of our cake making journey:

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Pictures for her party:

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Her new coat and hat from Gammy and Papa:

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Then, on her actual birthday, November 2nd, I took her to “Sweet and Sassy” with her friend, Abby:

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I love the look on Abby’s face here because the girl was doing a sugar scrub on her legs and Abby crinkled up her nose like the girl was killing her and said, “That is too scratchy!”

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Getting their chocolate masks….and they girls really did smell like chocolate ice cream all day long!

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This next part made Kristy (Abby’s mom) and I laugh uncontrollably! It was just so cute and funny to see our girls trying to be still enough to keep the “cucumbers” on their eyes!

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Getting her hair done…this part was a little frustrating. I don’t think she knew what to do with curly hair. She literally didn’t use a comb or brush or anything. I re-did it when we got home because it really just looked like she had rolled out of bed and had personally stuck bobby pins in her hair. Oh well, the girls didn’t know the difference.

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It was a super fun birthday, and I can’t believe my baby girl is 4. I love you, “Avie”.

Monday, September 5, 2011

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch…

Recently, our family made a weekend trip to a funeral in the Dallas area, and spent the night on the way down at "The Ranch."  If you've known Erin's family for any number of years, you've probably heard them make mention of their Ranch near Stephenville.  Long story short, it's the house and land that Erin's Bubba (that's Grandpa to the uninitiated) owned, and when Erin was growing up their family would go down there a couple of times a year, usually for a week at a time.  Crossing the cattle guard off of the highway, it doesn't take long to realize that you've entered into a different world, a throwback to (without trying to sound too cliche) a simpler time. 

The family has always enjoyed time there because of that simplicity.  As kids, that meant fishing, exploring, and collecting all sorts of things - rocks, bones, leaves, whatever.  As they got older, they came to discover that there may or may not be an age requirement to drive the old Bronco out on the dirty trails.  And those naps that you fight off so violently when you're little?  The ranch is a fantastic place to let them catch up to you now. 

I realize after trying to give you the Cliff's Notes version of what the ranch is and what it means that we would do well the next time we go to take a few pictures of the house and its immediate surroundings.  You'd quickly get a sense of what I'm talking about just from seeing the place.  While I don't have anything along those lines, we did take some during the few hours of daylight we had to work with. Here are our adventures!

Little Man was pretty stoked to get to use binoculars to aid in his exploring:

We made our way to the "back tank," where traditionally plenty of fishing and turtle hunting has taken place.  The drought has certainly made its presence known, but the dry ground does lend a different perspective than we're used to...

The ranch is always a fantastic place to find all sorts of animal remains... which is perfect for a six-year-old boy!

And this is Papa no doubt making up some story about how the poor animal fought valiantly and died a hero, and here lie his bones to this very day...

A couple of shots that caught my eye:

And finally, when you're cruising the ranch looking for chicks, this is probably the way you should do it...

Thanks for taking the time to read; you can comment on individual pictures at www.DamonWestPhoto.com on the "Just For Fun" page.  And for those who are concerned, the Bronco wasn't actually running when that last one was taken. :)

Damon

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

First Day of School

Cayden started 1st grade last week and Avery started Pre-school for 3’s yesterday. Avery is going to our church, Calvary Baptist Church and Cayden is now going to Southcrest Christian School. We are so blessed to have such a great school that he can go to and we have been so impressed with every aspect of it so far. It reminds me a lot of where I (Erin) went to school growing up at Plainview Christian Academy. The classes are small and the teachers and staff are so great. Academically, they are really stretching the kids and doing some amazing things that I’m super excited about, but the thing I love the most is that he is learning scripture every day, learning more about the Bible and learning songs that we like to call “Jesus music” at our house. What a blessing that we are so thankful for!

Here is Cayden on his first day:

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His precious teacher, Mrs. Henry

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His class waiting at their cone in the assembly room to do pledges and prayer together:

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2 hands covering your heart is better than 1, right?

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Walking into his classroom:

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Everyone sitting at their desks for the first time:

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All ready to start the day!

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I was a little nervous about his first day because when we got there is was evident that all the other boys in his class knew each other from last year and as a mom, I was worried he would be left out of everything. When I picked him up that afternoon he was all smiles and said it was a really great day! He still loves it and is excited to go every day. What a blessing and relief for this Momma!

 

Miss Avery started to her 3 yr. old Preschool yesterday and she will go 2 days a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Unlike Cayden, she has been VERY hesitant and has NOT wanted to go to school. There are 2 cool things though….her teacher, Mrs. Ricks, is the mom of one of Cayden’s friends, so she kinda already knew her. The other cool thing is that her close friend from last year, Abby (the friend who she was hugging when she fell and busted her head open) is also in her new class! We are hoping for no more destructive hugs this year, though…only the good hugs please.

All that to say that Avery was “sortof” excited to see Mrs. Ricks and Abby…

 

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Walking into school:

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Avery and Mrs. Ricks:

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Her excitement was slowly fading, unfortunately, and Avery was NOT letting me leave…even if that impaired her playdoh making skills:

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But after a few minutes she warmed up and started playing with Abby:

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Mrs. Ricks (Shawdi, to me) texted me that afternoon saying what a great day Avery had, what a great helper she was and how much she loved having Avery in her class. Shawndi texted, “I’ve fallen in love with her already”….. Thank you Jesus for a teacher who is so flexible and loving!!!

So those were our first days of school!

On a side note, as you can see we are gearing up for some Texans football…if anyone wants to join us in cheering for them, we will forgive you for your past sins of mocking them and we will welcome you to the great world of Houston Texans football.