New Patio = a lot more work than we thought...

We have our new patio, and it looks great!! We can't wait to have good weather outside so we can really enjoy it. Here are the before and after pictures:

We basically replaced the whole patch of dead grass with an extended patio.

The mess the workers left behind, however, is unbelievable. Apparently, they decided to drive the cement truck into our back yard, and they left us some horrible ruts in the ground to fix. They left tools, string, wooden stakes, and chunks of cement all over the place, so Travis and I spent Sunday afternoon cleaning things up. Travis bought over forty bags of soil to fill in the ruts and spent at least five hours out there filling in the holes and pounding the dirt back into the ground. The major ruts are fixed, but there is still more work to do and soil to put back in place. I picked up all the trash they left around the yard (with Rio's help) and filled in a couple of holes (yes, Travis did most of the work...I was grading papers!!).

The grass will hopefully grow back in the spring, and Travis has done a lot of work to level the ground, so hopefully it won't be too noticeable. For the rest of the winter, though, the ground is muddy and dead. We decided to put up a temporary chicken-wire fence for the dogs so they wouldn't need a bath everyday and to keep them from digging more holes in our freshly laid dirt. The dogs only have about 1/5 of the yard now, but at least they are clean and our dirt is staying where we put it. We haven't tested the sprinkler system again yet...

Ahh, the joys of home ownership. :-)

Internet, Cable, and Heat - Restored!!

You never know how wonderful something is until you lose it....

We haven't had internet, cable, A/C or heat since Thanksgiving, when we discovered that the dogs had chewed through every wire in the backyard that they could find. So, of course, the weather became really cold, and we were finally desperate to fix the heat when the house was 58 degrees! Travis had been trying for a few days to fix it - he had spliced wires, hooked everything back up, and checked the system several times, but couldn't get it to work. The day after it was 58 degrees inside our house, I finally convinced him that I was COLD, and he called a repair guy. Turns out, it was only a blown fuse in the heater/AC unit that Travis didn't know about. Our house is gloriously warm and cozy now!

The cable and internet, though, was another story. Travis couldn't fix the wires the dogs had chewed through, so we had to call the cable company. After two missed appointments last week, they finally came out today and fixed the whole thing for free. Wires had to be completely replaced! Both the units are now bundled in chicken wire, PVC pipe, and zip ties, and we are hoping the dogs can't get to them now. :-)

While the cable and internet were down, Travis and I found ourselves doing all sorts of crazy things, like going outside! We spent the afternoon on Saturday driving around Del Rio and taking pictures (I was really excited about doing that...Travis pretended he was excited too). We also cooked a lot more, spent a longer time eating dinner, and found time to spend with the puppies and each other more often. I am very grateful, though, to have everything up and running again!

"Oh no, mommy, I would NEVER chew on your wires!!"

"What, who, ME??!?!?"

(Not the greatest pictures ever...it was hard to get them to stop for two seconds!)

Our newly reinforced AC unit which (we hope) is now puppy proof!

The white pipe on the right now houses our cable cords

And, from our tour around the glorious town of Del Rio:

Yes, we live three miles from the border, and yes, this is me standing in front of the border fence between Mexico and Texas. Not many people can say that they have done this! :-)

Christmas Tree!!!

I was really excited to pull out all of my Christmas decorations and get them set up in our new house!! We turned on the movie Elf (awesome Christmas movie) and pulled out all the Christmas boxes from the garage. After a quick trip to Home Depot, we had all the decorations we needed! We have a wreath on the door, wonderful smelly Christmas candles, garland and lights in the kitchen, and a beautiful tree in our living room. Luckily, I have a giant spray can of cat repellant, and it has worked for years to keep animals away from the tree. It's working perfectly again this year, so I'm hoping we can keep the tree standing, even with all the puppies and kitty running around! And, after all the shopping I did this past week, I have lots of presents to put under the tree (once I get a chance to wrap them!).

I love the Christmas season, and I am really excited to have someone to share in the decorating and celebrating all month long at home! :-) And, I'm looking forward to seeing our families again in three weeks in Dallas!

Merry (early) Christmas!!

Thanksgiving

The weekend before Thanksgiving, Travis and I had a party and invited everyone over for fried turkey. Travis was really excited to use his new deep fryer from the wedding, and the turkey turned out great!!

Then, Travis and I made the trip to Houston to see our parents for Thanksgiving. We brought along the puppies and the kitty so they could meet the grandparents!! All three of them are doing a GREAT job of traveling in the car, and we really hope it lasts. They love getting into their crates (although the cat does have some hesitation, but he eventually calms down), and they all sleep once the car starts rolling. The only one I have to worry about is Travis, who likes to get everyone all excited and awake for no reason except to see them. :-) The picture below is Percy, perfectly happy to smush himself into the smallest part of a his large crate and sleep like a baby:

We spent Thursday and Friday with Diane and Saturday and Sunday with my parents. Diane made a great turkey dinner on Thursday, complete with all the Thanksgiving fixings. My favorite thing, though, was Ted's greenbean casserole. So yummy!! Then, she made a great fish dinner on Friday. We enjoyed Salt Grass Steak House on Saturday with my parents, as well as two delicious breakfasts. So, while moderation is key, this was definitely not the weekend to start a weight loss plan. I'll be starting that tomorrow. :-)

The Thanksgiving spread.... And, from left to right: JJ, Travis, Catherine (Travis' cousin who was one of our bridesmaids, Ted, and Jerry (Travis' uncle)

We had not see our parents since the wedding, so it was really fun to see everyone again! The dogs and kitty behaved beautifully and have already been invited back again. It was a fun weekend and a great end to a nice long Thanksgiving vacation. There are so many things we are blessed by and grateful for, and I was happy to celebrate with family all weekend!

This is just a picture I felt like I should have:

It's a sign we see pretty often on all our trips back to Del Rio!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

A Visit with the Twins!

Finally, Travis and I had the chance to go to Dallas and visit our niece and nephew. They are about a month old now, and we were both pretty excited to see them!! We went up on Thursday night, and I stayed home with Kelly for the weekend while Travis and his brother went hunting. Kelly and I entertained ourselves with the babies, shopping, and ridiculous Lifetime movies, and we had a great time!

The babies are so precious!!! I am holding Avery, and Travis is holding Carson. This was Travis' first time to hold such a little baby, and he did a great job! :-)

My favorite thing that Kelly did was swaddle up the babies when they were sleeping. They were so adorable, and I couldn't help but take pictures!! Carson is on the left; Avery is on the right. Avery is a little louder than Carson is and cries a lot to get attention. She was usually the one who got her way the first time! Carson is pretty laid back and is usually patient about waiting his turn. You could just hold him and he was happy. Avery liked to be walked around, rocked, moved, jostled...anything to keep her moving!

Kelly (my sister-in-law and proud mama!) holding Avery, and Travis holding Carson.

Bulldog

Our family grows yet again....

Travis will tell you it was my idea, and he's right. I knew we'd be getting one eventually, and I decided that I would rather just have two puppies all at once, rather than training one dog and then going through the entire process again in two years. So, we drove to Georgetown last weekend, and we picked up a full blood English Bulldog from a breeder Travis found online. We have named him Percy, short for Sir Percival Worthington. Travis just calls it Bubba. :-)

Here are some pictures of our newest pup:

There are not enough words to explain how excited Travis is about his new puppy. This dog is going to be (hmm...already is...) spoiled rotten!!

Percy is a chocolate and white bulldog, and currently weighs in at 14.8 pounds.. We like the little pigment on his nose that looks like he is wearing a nose ring!

Rio LOVES her new playmate and is very excited to have him around. They play together all day and are completely worn out by the time I get home from work. They are keeping each other entertained all day, which is nice! They both love to chew, so we have filled the backyard with all sorts of fun toys. Rio also loves to grab on to all of Percy's extra skin and pull on it...

The puppies are completely worn out by the end of the day, and they happily climb into their separate crates to sleep. They are sleeping through the night without any trouble, and Percy has already started snoring. It's also very cute how they mimic each other in EVERYTHING, even the way they sleep!!

Pumpkin Carving

On Monday night, we had some friends over for pizza, chocolate fondue, and pumpkin carving!  We had a blast, and when everyone came over, we ended up standing around, munching on food and talking all night!  One of our friends brought her dog over to play with Rio, and another of my friends brought her two little boys, so there was lots of screaming and barking for most of the night.  It was fun to watch everyone running around in our big backyard!  We ate pizza off our halloween plates, and then we ate lots of yummy chocolate fondue.  By the time we finished all of that, we were stuffed, and everyone was too tired to carve pumpkins!

So, we said goodnight to everyone, and after they left, Travis and I carved our pumpkins together while watching Hocus Pocus.  It just wouldn't be Halloween without Hocus Pocus and freshly carved pumpkins!

We had lots of help with our carving.  I think both animals ate at least one pumpkin seed, and Rio tried to eat a handful of the orange stringy stuff from inside the pumpkin too...

Mijo was really desperate to be helpful and just couldn't stay away!

Our little puppy couldn't handle all the excitement of the evening, and she passed out on the floor (after eating all the pumpkin inards....)

Striking a pose with the pumpkins!

Our finished products, which are now proudly displayed on our front porch!

Happy Halloween!