He'll always look up to his daddy...

Well, I've got both kids down for a nap, Colt is roping and so I've got a few minutes to sit down and blog. Colt has been entering quite a few ropings lately and has another one Sunday afternoon. He's done really well and is loving it, who knows what that could lead to someday. Several of these pictures are from one that we went to in Abilene last week. I LOVE the picture of him sitting on the fence while Ryder is looking up at him.
My latest project has been working on a floor plan for a house that we want to build someday. We just bought land with my inlaws and will start a barn and other little things for now. We probably won't even put our house on the market for another couple years. It just depends on how long it takes to save the money that we need. We've been out to the land several times over the past month and Ryder absolutely loves it out there. He's quite the outdoorsman and would stay outside all day if given the choice.
It's amazing how fast both of them are growing up. Syndey turned 5 months yesterday and is wearing 9-12 month clothes because she's so long. She still spends the majority of her day sleeping in the swing, but when she's awake, she's nothing but smiles and laughs. She is such a happy baby. Ryder spends most of his time on the trampoline, riding his jeep or playing with his trucks and tractors. He has a new fascination with trailers, tractors and ropes. I wonder why??? I think he's going to be our little farm boy/cowboy and that's fine with me. He's so full of energy and loves to climb on anything he can find. The other day, he was yelling our names and so we walked into the kitchen to find him hanging off the fridge. We have a side by side and he had both hand on the handles and had walked his feet up to his hands. He was literally hanging vertically from the fridge.
We've been so blessed to end up with two awesome kids. Well, I better run because I've got to make a bow for Sydney's church dress tomorrow. Most of these pics are of Ryder, because Syndey stayed with my mom; more of her later. Hope everyone has a great week.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Love me some cowboys...

There is just something about this time of year that makes me so happy. The weather starts cooling off and that means football season is here. I love just hanging around the house on Saturday afternoons and hearing some college game in the background. Then of course there is Sunday and Monday for NFL and I love to watch the Cowboys. I think they've got a pretty good shot this year, but they are the Cowboys and history proves that you shouldn't ever give them too much credit. We've got tickets to the Tech games, and I love that too, but it's such a pain to find babysitters and make all those arrangements. The Tech games are really more about socializing than football. We usually tailgate in the same spot and it's just always fun to be with everyone, without the kids. Okay, I guess that's enough football talk, but I don't have much else to talk about. Nevermind, I just thought of something. Please tell me that someone has watched the new 90210. I was so excited when I heard it was coming back with some of the original cast, but was so diappointed when I actually watched it. Those kids are idiots and the principals family is the sappiest bunch of crap I've ever seen. Is it just me or does anyone else feel the same way. Maybe I'm just synical because the original was my favorite show in the world. Anyway, here are pictures. I hope everyone is doing good.

Last thing...has anyone had problems linking other blogs? I can't get any of your links to come up on here. Don't take it personally, I just can't do it.

Faith, Hope, Love Ministries

Make a Smilebox slideshow

It seems like I've lived on the computer for the past few days. I've meant to post this for a while and am just now getting the opportunity. These days, it seems like everyone has a "cause" that they're fighting for and while it's so easy to sit back and let everyone else do the work, we decided to make one of our own. This is something that I am very passionate about because I have seen the effects that divorce can have on a family and it's members. As most of you know, my sister is a single mom raising three kids on her own. Her ex no longer sends child support or has any real communication with the kids. We've seen her struggle emotionally and financially and it came to the point where we felt as if some sort of intervention was immediately necessary. We started a non-profit organization called Faith, Hope, Love Ministries and it primary purpose is to help single parents with resources and finances. As of today, Larissa is our focus, but her financial situation is only temporary and we will then be able to help someone else in a similar situation. I've attached a link to the website and you can read all about. Hopefully, it's self explanatory. Go to the original post, because Larissa added something to the blog last night. If it's something you're intersted in or have any questions, please let me know. We've already had an amazing response and with God's help, anticipate great things in the future.

I couldn't post a blog without adding pics of the kiddos. There were so many that I had to do a slideshow! Have a good one!
***For some reason, I can't add the link to the page, but here is the address: faithhopeloveministries.blogspot.com

Back in the saddle....

Ryder and "B"...

Miss Priss...

Trying to get ready for church...

Mom, Madi and Sydney...

Mom and Sydney...


The last few months have been a little different for our family. Colt has decided to get back into roping again. He grew up team roping with his entire family, but decided he hated it when he was pretty young. He would mess around with it when we were at his parents house, but he hasn't been in a roping since he was probably 13 or so. Anyway, for some reason he decided he wanted to build an arena, get a horse and start doing it again. Everyone has their own natural talents, but roping is something that comes so easily to him. He's great on a horse and looks like such a pro in the arena. He entered a roping yesterday and did amazingly well. He was only one of 2 people that made it to the short round twice. All they had to do was catch and he was almost guaranteed a prize, but both of his headers missed for him...he was pretty disappointed, but there's nothing he could do about it. The top prize was a really nice horse trailer and they paid 10 cash spots which would have been nice too. Since there were 250 teams that entered, it's awesome that he made it that far; especially since so many of those people have devoted so much of their life to practicing. Here comes a kid in tennis shoes and a baseball cap that hasn't entered any sort of competition in over 15 years and he out-roped almost everyone. I'm so proud of him and so excited to see where this is going to lead. He's going to another one in Muleshoe on Labor Day, so we'll see what happens.

Here are a few pictures of the kiddos. I've debated for a while on how to handle Ryder's "B" (blanket). If you notice, almost every picture has a "B" in there somewhere because he never goes anywhere without it. I decided to take his picture with it and then I may start cutting it into smaller pieces. I haven't been able to take scissors to it yet, but at least he has pictures with it. Hope yall have a good week!

A mini vacation....

just like 7th grade doubles pictures...(Jill, I hope I made your husband proud)

aaahhhh!

Daddy and the kids...

Ryder's 1st tennis lesson...

Amy and Syd...
We went to Dallas for the weekend and had such a good time. Amy Van was house sitting for some of her good friends while they were in Hawaii. She asked us to bring the kids over and let them swim while we grilled out that night. I knew they had a nice house, but my jaw hit the floor when I saw it. Some of the ammenities included (in realtor language) outdoor kitchen with flatscreen, fireplace, pool, hot tub, lighted tennis court (yes in their back yard); the inside had 2 staircases, an elevator shaft, a dining room table that seats 24 people and to top it all off, the master closet was honestly the size of my bedroom at home. We did the math and realized that their house is 6 times the size of mine. I could go on for days about how gorgeous it was. We ended up staying there 2 nights because we didn't want to leave; it was like being at a resort.
Needless to say, we had a great time and it was so good to see Amy and let her spend time with my kids (when I could pull her away from the Olympics...Go Michael Phelps:) For those of you who don't know her, she's crazy, but I love her! Anyway, here are a few pics from "the mansion". Have a great week.

The last B-day party for a while....

I actually wrote this over a week ago, but was having problems downloading the pictures. I realized it was because I have too many saved on my computer, so I'll have to start putting them on disks...aaaggghh! Anyway, this is a slideshow from Hannah (3), Elise (2) and Ryder's (2) Birthday party. I had to throw the single picture in there, because they were both trying to kiss him; what a little stud! We're headed to the "Big D" for the weekend; have a good one!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Life is not always meant for us to understand...

You're probably wondering why I posted a picture of a "present", but it's a lot more than that. Most people don't know this story, but I've thought about it for a while and something is compelling me to share it. I'm not doing it because I want sympathy or anything like that, but to show that while we don't always understand why things happen, God always has a bigger plan. Four years ago last night, I layed in a hospital bed and delivered a baby girl. On our way to the hospital, we were fully aware that she would never take a breath. Her name was Summer J. Scott, she was 12 inches long and weighed about a pound. We knew at 9 wks that something was wrong, but it was a few months later that the Dr.s determined she had Turners Syndrome. We were told that I would get to about 8 months and her heart would probably stop beating. Although I didn't make it that far, her heart did stop beating. Oddly enough, I knew exactly when it happened. Colt and I had really prepared ourselves for what we had to do that day and although it was just like a normal, induced delivery; in our minds it was more like some type of procedure. I guess that was our defense mechanism. As those months of being pregnant went by, we learned several things. Probably the most important was that it's not always our job to understand why God does what he does. He's God, it's his prerogative and it's our job to determine how we will handle the outcome. They always say that major tragedies will either make or break a relationship and through this challenge, it only made us stronger as a couple. We saw sides of each other that we had never seen and opened up in ways that I never would have imagined. Looking back, I think that God knew we needed something to shake us up, and this is what it was. I also know that at that period in our lives, we were in a financial mess. Things would have been very different for her than they are for Ryder and Sydney and we wouldn't have been able to take advantage of many of the opportunities that were so blessed with today. I say all this because when life has you in the middle of a storm and it looks like there's no clear skies in sight, just be patient. We don't always get the answers, but I firmly believe that we learn the lessons that can lead us to a greater understanding about so many things.

Back to the "present"....Instead of having a funeral, we had her cremated and saved her ashes. We weren't sure what to do with them, but knew that it would be revealed to us at some point in the future. Last spring my mema past away and we decided to bury her ashes with mema. When my dad ordered the headstone, he decided to have her name put on there also; I thought that was awesome. I guess the reason I wanted to write about this was because sometimes I feel a bit of guilt because I don't ever want her to be forgotten, but at the same time it's not "casual conversation" material. I guess her birthday just made me think about it. The flip side to all of this is that God has chosen to bless Colt and I with 2 beautiful children and we both feel that our lives couldn't be better. Our lives go on, business as usual, but she will never be forgotten; it's awesome to know that we will still get to meet her someday!