Peter ordered this for after his hunting trip:
I have no words…
If you are a fan of deer and elk meat, please message me so I can get you a BIG package. I support the hunting. I do not support me eating the spoils. Picking buck shot out of my teeth is not on my bucket list, FYI Peter.
One of our favorite restaurants, Orange Table, constantly features local artists work. Most of the time we love what is on display, but it’s out of our price range or we can’t figure out where it would hang. But this past month, we found the perfect combination of great art, great price and a location desperate for something great.
The artist for August was John Arvizu from Trapdoor Studio. He featured several screen prints that almost had a pop art feel to them. I love this look, but this is not the style of our house and I was afraid they would look strange…but Peter’s office is totally devoid of actual art (except for the awesome oil painting of the Georgetown Law archway I had done as a graduation gift – awesome, yet lacking in funkiness). PW agreed that the cowboy print was perfect for his office.
When contacting John about picking up the print, I asked him about another picture on his website. He told me that it was already sold, but that he would talk to the owner to see if they would be willing to switch for a similar print. Thankfully they were willing to trade so Ralphie the Buffalo came home too:
John has a great video on his website that shows the process that each print goes through from drawing the stencil, cutting it and then creating layers and layers of color, dimension and interest swipe by swipe of the screen. Be sure to check out the store section of his website – his prices are great for a one of a kind piece!
We put another great vacation in the history books this weekend with the annual trip to Coronado, CA. We spent 4 days enjoying the cool weather, walking to every destination and relaxing. It was just what a beach vacation should be!
SAND MOMMY!!! SAAAANNNDDD!!!
Very serious game of kickball
Finally getting to fly her Barbie kite
The beach is a lot of work for Baby Mason
Ok, the beach is a lot of work for everyone…
“I don’t get it…where’s the beach?”
The surrey bike. PW and I laughed about riding these around campus when he ran for student senate in college..
Showing off her new favorite hat that she picked out at the surf shop
Dancing to the music on the deck…mommy wishing she had cocktails to improve her moves…
I love the way she is hanging on to us. Hoping she plans to do so for a very long time!
Last week marked Baylor’s second year at preschool. I can’t believe how much bigger she is this year than last year! She landed in a great classroom with several of her buddies including the infamous Ms. Morgan. She has three teachers, two who have been been teaching since forever and one who is only a few years out of college – it’s the perfect mix!
August 9th, 2012
Tuesday afternoon I got a call from my mom telling me that there was a fire at the ranch. Her voice was all I needed to hear to know that it wasn’t good and that they had no idea if their homes, business and escape route were about to go up in flames.
Montana is experiencing the same drought most of the west is having and everything was crispy dry when we were there in July when the norm is lush and green. It was dry to the point that the annual 4th of July fireworks that my step brother puts on (and that rivals most municipal fireworks show) had to be canceled. And now hearing how quickly a small fire in a tree went to structure and life threatening in under 10 minutes, it was a good decision.
Because of the rural location, fire support is hard to come by – or is unconventional to say the least. A neighbor has a water truck, but if the neighbor doesn’t answer the phone, there’s no water truck. The closest fire department is a half hour away and the forest service has to scramble helicopters to come to the rescue. Thankfully the ranch boarders Yellowstone National Park and sits on an 80 acre lake so once help arrived, they were able to gain control of the situation.
This is a picture from last summer of the Paradise Valley
And this is a picture of from the height of the fire yesterday – you can see how yellow the grass is.
Thankful for the forest service and the three available slurry bombers – this picture is about 50 yards from the parent’s deck
The aftermath. The estimate was about 100 acres burned. The sad part is that it will take close to a decade for this to become lush and green again.
I think it’s safe to say that the family is feeling blessed that this wasn’t worse, but sad that it happened at all.
We have been on a mission to turn Bay’s room into a shared room for her and her soon to be brother. It has been quite the process. What should have been just moving some furniture, a new bed and some bedding, has turned into a multiple weekend project.
First, the garage needed to be cleaned out and reorganized to be able to hold the extra desk from the office and other odds and ends. Next the kitchen set and table and chairs from B’s room moved to the office. Finally the changing table and bookshelf had to be emptied and moved around in the bedroom so that the crib could be moved and then the big girl bed assembled. Then the furniture didn’t fit in the room so there was another rearrangement. Then there was a discrepancy in the color of a few items so there was spray paint involved. Countless trips to Lowes, Home Depot and Target….And trust me, this is the short and sweet version. There were many arguments, coercion of friends to help move furniture, a few tears, a lot of cleaning and the realization that we have far too many hobbies and crap in general.
In the midst of all the chaos, Bay was transitioning to her new bed. Part of the reason this is all going on now was that I wanted her to have lots of time to move into her bed when she was comfortable. It turns out, she not only was ok with sleeping in her new bed, she insisted on it. She loves her new bed. As we were putting the sheets on it, PW began giving me puppy dog sad eyes. When I asked what was wrong, he responded that she’s a big girl who doesn’t need her crib anymore. I laughed a little because he gave me the business when I got upset about deconstructing her room a few weeks ago in preparation of the furniture move. It wasn’t until I reached into the crib to take the sheets off that I realized that the soft pink sheets are never going back on.
We stood outside her door that night looking at her room and fighting off the urge to snuggle her and cry “you’re our BABY!! You can’t grow up yet!!”. We checked on her a few hours later and were happy to see that she was tiny in her giant twin bed – it made my heart happy to see that at least for now, she’s still little.
Here’s a sneak peek of the room – the final results will be up on Scottsdale Moms Blog for Pregnancy Week (5 contributing writers are currently pregnant!) at the end of August.
This year was Baylor’s first trip to the Livingston Round Up Rodeo. We go every year and it’s a blast – the childless version can be seen here….But being pregnant and with Ms. B means we had the slightly less rowdy version this year. However fun none the less! B made it all the way to the spectacular fireworks display complete with patriotic music (the sun doesn’t set until after 9pm so the fireworks started around 10pm). Such a trooper!
Getting to sit with the big girls
The Noni
PW in his rodeo finest
Titi, cousin Zoe’s mom
I had a chance to experiment with my camera and the speed setting a little. The results were pretty darn good!
This is my favorite.
Steer wrestling…this guy is a Wranglers model so I felt a picture was necessary.
And this is the funniest part of the whole evening – this is the rodeo clown with 4 dummies strapped to himself that move like puppets -they all do the YMCA. It was hilarious and just a pinch disturbing.
No really, I do. I love the silliness, creativity and pageantry. And in a small town parade, it’s taken to a whole new level – not necessarily a better level than say the Rose Bowl Parade, but a new level just the same.
Poor B had maybe 6 hours of sleep the night before the Livingston 4th of July Parade. She got over an hour of a nap in her bed and then napped the 45 minute drive to the event – I had to wake her up when we got there…which explains why her pigtails are crooked and she looks less than pleased in the first few pictures.
Getting into the spirit
Cousin Zoe!
Cousin Madi. One half of the “big girls” B was chasing around all week
Learning how to pick up candy from the big kids
Noni, Momma and her girl
See? This is why small town parades are the best. Where else are you going to see a plumbing company advertising by putting a toilet on top of a trailer AND making it shoot water like a fountain?!
One of my least favorite parts about summer is that the doors and windows are pretty much nailed shut. In order to keep our 81 degrees of air conditioning contained and keep the 112 degrees from outside getting in, it has to be that way. I break the rules a little at 6am when it’s only 85 degrees outside and get a little fresh air, but really, it’s barely enough for me.
So on top of no fresh air, I really hate when dinner stinks up the house. It seems to linger for days…don’t get me wrong, I hate this problem year round, it’s just especially bad when there’s no open door time. Not to mention that my already hightened sense of smell is at a super hero level while pregnant which makes the problem that much worse.
Last weekend I had a hankering for pulled pork made in the slow cooker. It’s heaven on sandwiches with pickle relish and in quesadillas – basically it’s dinner and lunch for like 4 days. But the smell…it normally annoys me, but this time of year and at this stage of pregnancy, it’s a no go. So I floated the idea of putting the slow cooker outside to PW. His response surprised me when he said he thought it was a good idea…and it was a good idea. No overwhelming even-my-pillows-smell-like-pork problem AND delicious dinner – genius!
Mmmmhhh…pulled pork
Peter and I were talking on my birthday and I asked if when we started dating at 17 if he had ever thought we’d be together at 30. His response was that he knew we’d be together at 30 and beyond. The man has a way with words alright.
Case in point: on our first official date, we went to our high school football game. He told me throughout the game that he heard a song and it made him think of me. I was so smitten and couldn’t wait to hear what it was. As we drove from the game to the dance, he put in a CD and smiled sweetly as Sir Mix-a-Lots I Like Big Butts blasted through the speakers. I couldn’t help but crack up. His sense of humor and willingness to take a HUGE risk just made me like him even more.
October 1999
We spent the next four years after high school living it up at UofA. I have plenty of pictures to prove all the fun we had, however, most of the people in the pictures now have respectable jobs where being dressed as an Olympian from the 80s with a 40 in their hand isn’t quite the image they want out there. And so save myself some time asking them for permission or cropping them out, I have found this picture that is a good indicator of the typical date dash.
Yes, yes my dress is made of plastic wrap. Thank you for noticing. Also please not that it is not see through – 4+ rolls does make for a lovely “anything but clothes” costume.
And on June 24th, 2005, in 110 degree heat, we finally got to say “I Do”.
I’m aware my extra large feet are not my best quality, but those were awesome shoes…
Happy 7th anniversary PW! Can’t wait for 70 more!
The Goon Room 