Heelllo 2011 - The Year of Smiling Faces

OK - so I have the new found need to get things in order and live the life like people do in TV shows. I mean they look so perfect and always have time to get everything done. It's possible right?!? So, here are my goals for the next 365 days:

1) Blog a bit more consistently - I mean really, a quarterly post isn't worth the effort.

2) Get back in shape

3) Learn something new - IDK horticulture, photograhpy, knitting...the world is my oyster :)

4) Finish the Family photo wall that I started 6 months ago

5) Make a trip in the Falcon without having someone tow us back in.

My list looks small, yet doable...ready to take on the challenge of the resolutions...

We went to church on Sunday - the first service of the New Year for us. As the mass ended, Father proclaimed that this year would be the "Year of Smiles". So here's to a year of smiles and productivity!

Before signing off:

Our '74 Malibu Falcon - a family ski boat that everyone envies

Christmas 2010

Say it ain't so...another Christmas under our belt and 2011 is knocking on our doors! We had planned to go snow skiing in Colorado with the rest of the Hensley Crew & Kubala's but we had to bail out at the 11th hour due to work.

So sadly, no skiing for us...I bitterly went back to Academy and returned all my newly purchased ski gear and went in to work on my vacation days. Blah. Whatever!

But Christmas must go on - we had a pleasant yet busy holiday. Most of our holidays, like most married couples, are spent rushing from family to family trying to fit everyone in.

Luckily, this year we were able to split it up a bit. Christmas Eve we went to church and celebrated with Jerry & Beverly and the rest of the fam. Christmas day was spent with Daphne and fam. After the noodle soup and gifts were passed around, we played some games. The first was Bullshit, a card game of fibbing...this was not Granny's game. But Mexican Train was more up her alley. Laura and I played Mexican Train for 5 hours after most had fallen asleep, gone to other families or gone hunting.

The next day, Chad and I went to Church and off to my family to have our Christmas and tacos for lunch. Nowadays, our Chirstmas's consist of little ones ripping their presents to . Then you know the drill, looking for batteries and tools to put their new, shiny toys together.

After lunch, it was time for the grown ups to play. The Bubela's & Garner's gave us Rockband and the keyboard for our WII. The kiddos watched us with eagerness & hope as they begged to play...they were shortly escorted home to take naps ... bawahhahhaaa...I know we can be so evil.

A few pictures to share:

1,460 days later...

That's right - Chad bought our house 4 years ago. This has been a work in progess but I feel it is coming along nicely compared to the sad sight it used to be. We aren't through by far, still need a car port and fabulous patio area for BBQing, wine sipping (or beer in Chad's case) and enjoying the nice country air & sunsets.

Day 1: View of the barn from the house. There was a massive clean up of numerous sheds and junk. Dirt/grass drive that went to the barn from the house.

More Junk - the old owners specialties were tires and thread protectors. We loaded up all the metal we could and took it to the scrap metal place. Added limestone to the drive and added a culvert that circles around the backside of the barn to make circle drive.

House #2 (old farmhouse) directly across from our house. I really loved this house, it would have been a great fixer up and moved to deer camp or the bay. But Chad finally sold it a couple years ago. Once leveled it looked like a new house. She had it moved to Ganado and fixed up as a rent house...looks great!

House #2 - Different view - somewhere in there are crepe myrtles that are in front of the dog kennel.

2009 - Flower beds & landscaping is added.

Oak trees are planted around the circle drive. (They look so tiny here!) Roll up garage door replaced the old barn doors in the front.

2010: Ahhhh, the damn clothesline poles...not one of my favorites - he was so excited when he had them made and put in.... I, on the other hand, not so much. Whatever, they are here to stay I guess.

Added a little more eye appeal to our once boring flower bed.

The oak trees are getting bigger

Gracie's Kennel - where the old farmhouse used to be.



Rowdy

Gracie

n

Buffett, Bays & Boats!

Well, it looks like I'm going to take a stab at our blog that Mom has started for Chad & I. I know I'm not near as good of a writer or as witty as she is,  but here it goes :)

This past weekend was chock full of busy! We attended the Jimmy Buffett concert in the Woodlands. First, we stopped by our friends Jess & Amber for a quick meet and greet of their precious Anna. Next, we were off to the concert to hang out with Crystal & Cliff and the rest of the gang - we had such a great time to sipping on some boat drinks and visiting with some of my great college friends. We don't get to see each other often enough!

Friday was a long exhausting day! I rode with Chad on various work appointments. I spent most of that time sleeping trying recovering from the night of fun at the concert. We were up and going by 7am and didn't stop until 10:30 pm. While putting about 400 miles on the truck, we fit in Beasley, Pasasdena, Anahauc, Houston, Rooms to Go (Woohoo!!), Rosenburg, EC, Home & finally Port Alto. We were beat!

The rest of the weekend was spent doing various bay things - mainly getting the house ready & shopping for Memorial weekend. Chad also tinkered on our family boat for a bit and got our ol' '74 Falcon running. Looks like the girls will be cruising in style for Memorial Weekend!

The game warden was down and took care of a pesky 5' alligator that had been hanging out in a slough close to the houses on our end of the bay.

As the weekend drew to a close, Chad took me wade fishing for the first time. No bites but a good learning experience--it was somewhat enjoyable (that is until I get stung by something and now I deem wade fishing as stupid)

Crystal and I at Buffett - Woo Woo!

 

 

 

 

 

Chad cruising in 

the Falcon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The pesky alligator

 

Robin's Baptism

After many months of preparation, Robin was finally baptized at St. Philip the Apostle Catholic Church during the Easter Vigil on April 3, 2010.  The photo on the right is of Robin wearing the burlap robe as she arrived at the church.

The next photo captures a special happy moment shared by Robin and Father Gary.  All who were watching felt the same happiness as evidenced by their smiles and tender looks. 

Robin is helped out of the baptismal font and then she leaves to change into the white robe.  Wendy was her sponsor, attending all the classes with her. 

 

Wayne, Susan, Carolyn, Wendy, Gage, Robin, Chad, Father Gary

            

  Carolyn, Robin, Wendy                                   Tracy and Robin                                         

Clarification of Spoons Rules

It's been years since I've played Spoons, but it's coming back in bits and pieces. Evidently there is a dealer. After the proper number of cards have been dealt to each player (4?), the dealer starts passing the remaining cards one at a time. If the new card fits the player's hand, it is kept and one of their other cards is passed to the next player, etc. The dealer is kept quite busy, but I guess everyone else is, too.

There could be other updates...as I remember more, or am corrected by others who already know more!

2009 Nada Spoons Tournament

Well, they might have some big, high-falutin' tournaments in Vegas and other hot spots, but you have to go to Leo's Place in Nada, Texas, to compete in the Nada Spoons Tournament.

Almost all of these photos were taken during the 2009 tournament.  The final photo was taken yesterday, just before the 2010 tournament began. I haven't had a report on it yet.  Well, I heard from Robin that she didn't make it to the 2nd round.  When asked who won, her reply was, "Some girl."  Ooookaaay, then.  Moving on.

Spoons, for any overly-sophisticated folks who might be reading this (as if,) is a card game, executed in a similar manner to the equally challenging Musical Chairs.  Spoons are placed in the center of the table; one less than the number of players...just like Musical Chairs.  A round of cards is dealt out, and at the signal one card from each hand is passed to the left (or the right...does it really matter?)  The players continue to pass one card at a time until one player has (secretly) gotten 4 matching cards.  Once you have them, you stealthily grab a spoon from the middle of the table.  Once the first spoon is grabbed, everyone can grab one.  Except, of course, the slowest person will come up empty-handed and will be eliminated from the next round.  It's hard to believe, but I have seen it myself that a player can be so engrossed in her hand that she fails to notice she's the only one still passing cards.  That's how intense it is!

The top 3 winners get wooden, wood-burned trophies.  Apparently, 4th place through 8th place medalists receive wooden "medals" with the appropriate numbers burned onto the face of the medal.  All very classy!

So, here are some photos from last year's tournament:

     No explanation needed here. The venue:  Leo's Place in Nada, Texas

It's really important to make sure the refs understand the rules.

Spectators watch quietly as the contestants try to settle their nerves and concentrate.

Game play is halted while the medics are summoned for a finger injury.  You really can't beat duct tape for stabilizing an injury.

      There, it's fixed!

The top winners with the medical team.

The official scoreboard.

The 5 top winners!

An exciting moment as eventual winner Christie reveals to the camera that she has 3 sevens; just waiting on that 4th one to get passed to her!

A close-up of the 2010 trophies and the medals.  Very nice.