It's been a while....

It seems like yesterday when I made my last post, but as my sister reminded me, it's been almost a month. Several of you asked about the picture of Ryder and Colt on the fence. I entered it into a contest and am still waiting to see what they decide. It would be for the November issue of SuperLooper magazine; we'll see.
We've had quite a bit going on this month. Colt and I celebrated our 8th anniversary. (I guarantee you that a lot of bets were lost over that one) It's hard to believe that it's actually been 8 years; 6 out of the 8 have been very happy...don't ask about the other 2 :) I'm so blessed to have him because I couldn't ask for a better husband or father.

The kids are doing great. Sydney has two teeth now and working on a few more. She's an absolute doll with all her smiles and laughs. Ryder is rotten as ever, although he's still the sweetest most entertaining things you've ever seen. Do you notice anything wierd about this picture?

I opened the silverware drawer the other night and water started pouring out. Then I noticed that my spoon slot was full of water also. "Precious" (as we usually call him) had been playing at the sink and apparently thought the spoons were thirsty. He's truly a handful and we've learned to NEVER EVER turn our backs on him. Gotta love Ryder!

Here are several random pictures. We finally have a family picture and that's only because Amy Van was in town and took it for us. I still haven't figured out how to set up the automatic thing on my camera. Hope everyone has a good one and I'll try to post again soon!!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

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.

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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

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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!

My baby is 2!!!

Love this picture!!!

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It's so hard to believe that Ryder was born over two years ago. He has been such a joy to us and our family and we never expected the last couple of years to be as wonderful as they have been. Now our joy has been doubled with Miss Sydney...life is good :) Ryder had a small party Monday night with our family and he decided on an Elmo theme. I'm not big on characters, but other than tractors and farm animals, Elmo is the only thing he's really taken an interest in. I did my best at making his cake and it actually turned out really well. I have no idea how it tasted because I wasn't about to eat all that clumpy icing, but the kids seemed to like it. I asked his Pappa (Colt's dad) to make his traditional B-day cake and it was great. We've decided that were going to have to buy a bigger house just to hold all his toys. Do they still make small toys? If so, please tell me where. Ryder ended up going home with Colt's parents for the week and it's been so strange not having him around. Granted, I've gotten more done around the house than all of last year combined, but I'll be ready for him to come back in the next couple of days. We're debating taking the side off of his baby bed this week. I think he's old enough, but it may drive me crazy and end up back on the bed by the end of the week...we'll see.
For those of you that new about my grandaddy, he had a heart attack the other day and remarkably is doing just fine. He's already gone home and you would never know that he came near death a few days ago. Knowing him, he's thinking that he's got to much work "around the house" to finish up and it's just not his time. He's a funny guy!
This is random, but I'm going to start posting houses that I have for sale on my blog. Hey, I might as well kill two birds with one stone. If you know anyone looking for anything in the Lubbock area, whether I have it listed or not, just let me know. Anyway, I hope all is well. Have a good week.

A great weekend...

We decided to visit Colts family this last weekend. He has always been very close to his aunt, uncle and cousins, but they live in northern NM and we usually only see them once or twice a year. During the holidays we always get together and have the JLS ropin (Jackson, Lehman, Scott) and were fortunate to get to do that this weekend. Back a while ago, we found out that his uncle Joe has pancreatic cancer and immediately started treatment. I'm so glad that we got to see him this weekend because nobody knows what God has in store for his future. For the 4th, we went over to Eagles Nest and watched the firework show over the lake. It was so gorgeous becasue we were right in the middle of the mountains, no clouds in the sky and nothing but a million stars and awesome fireworks. Of course it didn't dawn on me that capris and flip flops probably aren't the smartest thing to wear at night in the mountains. I don't know what the temp was, but it was pretty dang cold for July. Overall, we had a great weekend with his parents and the rest of his family; once again, it was nice to get out of town.

To be honest, I don't really feel like blogging right now. I feel compelled to mention this, but don't want to talk about it yet. I just got a call from a good friend in Dallas that I used to teach with. She called to let me know that one of my very good friends at school died last night. She's had cancer 5 times now. I don't have much to say, other than I hate cancer and it scares me greatly. On that note, please keep her family in your prayers and please pray for Colt's uncle Joe, too. He's got quite a battle ahead of him. Don't ever forget that we don't know what tomorrow holds, the ones we love may not be with us. Don't take anything or anyone for granted. Now that I've probably depressed you all, (sorry) have a good week.

Intense Prayer...

"Let the little children come unto me"
I love this picture. Ryder is learning how to pray and that we say prayers when we sit down to eat. He looks like he's in deep agony, but it's still the cutest thing. It takes forever to eat a meal, because he will take a bite and want to pray, take another bite and want to pray....Larissa has already warned me, "just wait until he starts saying them". I'm sure they will get interesting. As for Sydney, she's getting so big. She can't wear gowns at night anymore, because her legs stick out too far. We'll go to the Dr this week for her 2 month checkup and I really curious to see how much she's grown.
It's been a good week, but still really busy with work stuff. Summer time is usually when things kick in for the real estate business and I'm so blessed to have so many things going on right now. It's amazing that I can still get this much work done and stay home with the kids most of the time. My mother in law was here yesterday and watched them for a while and my mom has volunteered her Tuesdays to watch Sydney while working on Larissa's house. We're so lucky to have everyone this close. Not too much to write about, but I had to get this picture posted.

A crazy month...

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No, I didn't fall off the face of the earth, it's just been a really busy month. I've had more going on with my business than I ever have (but I'm not complaining) and adding Sydney to the family has been a much bigger adjustment that I ever expected. She is wonderful and it's been so awesome to watch her change and grow every days. She's already sleeping through the night and not even 7 weeks yet. She usually goes to bed around 11 and doesn't wake up until at least 7 the next morning. Ryder sleeps at least 13 hours a night and still take at least a 3 hour nap during the day. For whatever reason, God blessed us with really sleepy children. All in all, things have gotten so much easier and we're starting to figure it out.

Colt and I sent Ryder to his parents and Sydney to my parents this last weekend and took a long needed getaway. We went to Albuquerque by ourselves and had a wonderful time ALONE! We stayed in a really nice hotel downtown where there were all sorts of restaurants, pubs, and shopping within walking distance. We went to the casinos one night, rode the tram and just spent a few days "hanging out" together. It was so nice to not have anyone else around and have no set schedule. I would have taken pictures, but we got to the top of the city (tram ride) to admire the gorgeous view and that's when I realized that I left my memory card at home...go figure! Anyway, we had a great time, but were certainly ready to see the rugrats :)

I don't usually have deep thoughts to write about, but I had an epiphony (I love that word) while we were there. We were sitting on a patio eating supper and watching all the people go by. Down town Albuquerque is FULL of strange and homeless people. We were right next to the sidewalk and a really old man, wearing torn up clothes, using crutches falls down on the ground near us. There was an iron gate seperating us, but my first instinct was to go over and see if he was ok. I noticed that nobody was even paying attention to him as he layed there moaning. I looked at Colt with shock and he said, "no, he's just doing it for attention so he can get money." Although I thought theres no way, he got up and hobbled away. About an hour later, the same man came back and did the EXACT same thing. I was amazed, because Colt was right. As I looked around, I noticed so many people that I would refer to as "bums" that have brought this lifestyle on themselves because they are alcoholics, drug addicts or whatever...then it hit me. That man is someones son, probably someones father and brother. I'm so quick to judge people, and whether he had made bad decisions or not, he's still a human who deserves what we all want. There may be a family sitting home worried about him, wondering if he's warm, where he's sleeping, or if he's even alive. It just really made me think twice about the way that I look at people and the fact that those are the people that Jesus spent so much time with. It's so sad that we allow the media and other forces to determine who we accept and who we don't. Whether he wanted money or not, Jesus would have helped him up and sat there and talked to him. I chose to enjoy my hot supper in front of him! Anyway, it's just something that's been on my mind and something that I really need to adjust when it comes to the way I look at people.

I know, deep thoughts by Suzanne. It's been so long since my last post that I had to do another slideshow because I have so many pictures. Have a good week!

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Precious Sydney...

Still scrubbed in at NICU...

The proud big brother...

All my babies....

Ryders first encounter with Sydney...


I'm so happy to say that I'm at home and so is our precious Sydney. She was in NICU for six days, but we brought her home yesterday and she's doing wonderful. Thank you so much for all the prayers, meals and gifts; we are extremely blessed to have such great friends and family. The adjustment has not been bad and my recovery has been much better than I expected. Ryder has been the biggest problem this last week. Only 2 hours after I was released from the hospital, he started throwing up and running fever. He has never been quite this sick for this long. He threw up this morning, but that was the last time and has been able to hold down pedialyte all day. This is a huge improvement from the last 3 days. He started feeling better tonight, so hopefully he'll be better by tomorrow.
He's not really sure what to think of Sydney. He really wants to help by throwing blankets on top of her and literally throwing teddy bears at her. He even tried to put her headband bow on tonight but ended up with it around her neck. This morning he tried to feed her a nutragrain bar. He has the right idea with everything and I know he has sweet intentions, but he is really aggressive and doesn't understand the meaning of "gentle". Needless to say, we can't turn our backs on him for even a second.
Were so fortunate to have had Colt's mom here for the week. With Ryder being so sick, I don't know what I would have done because I'm not supposed to pick him up for a few more weeks. Colt has been such a trooper and deserves "daddy of the year". I feel bad for him because he's had to concentrate on work, taking care of me, tending to Ryder, and leaving some time for Sydney. He slept on a hospital couch for 4 nights and rather than getting a good nights sleep our first night home, he slept on our couch with Ryder until 3 in the morning because that's the only way he would quit crying. After all that, he got up and went to work the next morning. What a man!!!!
I look around me and count my blessings because we have such wonderful friends and family and I have two beautiful children along with an amazing husband. What more could I ask for??? Thanks again for all the prayers, I always knew that everything would be okay. Have a good weekend.