Annual 2012 River Floating Trip

For the second year in a row, a group of us have gotten together for a float down the Guadalupe River. Marie, Artie's sister, goes through all the hard work of putting this together and ends up creating one amazing trip with awesome memories. The lake house that we scored this year was phenomenal!! It was on Lake Dunlap which allowed us for plenty of sun and water time in the privacy of our own deck/pier. A few pics of the house...

Our awesome lakehouse

to the right :-)

to the left :-)

from our pier

our little pond 

We were able to score these awesome floats off of E-bay that sat approximately six people or 1300 lbs. It also had two built in coolers!!! It was pretty sweet!! :-)

Needless to say, it was one relaxing and enjoyable weekend!!

delicious brisket being prepared a la Nick :-)

Marie and myself

Lauren paddling away

loading up the coolers!! 

Nick

Lauren and Sherrill

my handsome being shy!! lol

"I'll jump if you jump!!"

Goofballs lol

Oh, the peer pressure ;-)

Waaaahoooooooo!!!!

Gorgeous

So relaxing...

<3

Calling it a night lol

Thanks again to Artie's sister, Marie, for one amazing weekend! Til next year!! :-) 

Family and El Paso in June

Off to El Paso is where we were headed off to in early June. After 5 nights of working straight, my honey was a tad on the tired side. He knocked out so fast at the airport waiting that I could not resist to snap a shot :-) 

High school graduation is a big deal for us all so when we received notice of Artie's cousin graduating in El Paso, we immediately made plans to attend. Any reason to visit home an extra time is always a plus!! Aaron graduated from El Paso High School and boy was that one beautiful campus!! "The Lady on the Hill" is what they refer to it as...and she was a beauty!! 

Cousin Barbara, Aaron's mom, was a one proud and glowing momma for sure!! Her baby boy is all grown up, well almost ;-) 

Proud mom!!

This is Artie's parents and ourselves with the graduate!! 

Proud of you Aaron!!

Now living in Houston all my life, I realized it is a crime to be a Houstonian, attend the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, and to this day, not own a pair of boots!! Well, while in El Paso, we also changed that!! Artie and I bought ourselves our very own first pair of boots! I can not wait to wear these bad boys!! Absolutely LOVE these!! 

His & Hers 

Artie also has a godson out in El Paso who we try to visit every time we are out there. His name is Evan and will be 3 in August. He is so precious and cute!! We met him and his mom, Maria, at Chuck-E-Cheese for a good time but little did we know that Evan was not a fan of Chuck-E. The minute he took one glance at him coming our way, he held onto his mommy for dear life!! Now as a child myself, that thing terrified my sister and I to our very cores. Something about being two and a stuffed animal looking thing coming at you that did not sit well with us lol 

Chuck-E for those who do not know...

It took some coaxing and convincing that Chuck-E would not come back out before Evan decided to have some fun! Artie and him had a blast!! 

Evan and his nino <3

Back on the home front, we decided to plant some fruit trees that my dad bought us as a house warming present. Deciding where to plant these trees was our first challenge because we plan to uproot most of what is in our backyard and do some landscaping but we managed to find the perfect spots. With some recommendations on soil conditioners and fruit tree food, we began the hard work...well, I say we, but it was all my amazing handsome man! :-)

"What have I gotten myself into?"

"It's ok baby! I got this!!"  

My silly man!! lol

First of two orange trees 

Words can not amount how much I love him!! <3

Lemon and Lime tree

Last orange tree

Next up, time for our annual river float trip!! I shall save that for another entry! :-) Be blessed world!! 

Playing Catch Up

Ok so I fell super behind on this for a second there. RECAP!!!! 

Now we are the proud parents of two boys!!! Our second kiddo has been one whirlwind of emotions yet now that everything has settled, he is a blessing to our little family. Quick background on Milton...that is his name :-). We went to the shelter to expand our family as to give the little Chauncinator a little brother or a sister so he could have a playmate and life long friend. After one long hour with a lab mix by the name of Wendy, Chauncy was not feeling her at all. She desperately wanted to play and the little Chauncinator was not having it. So Manny (Milton) was brought out and it was instant!! They both seemed to get along so well!! Manny, however, was guarding his right hind leg and was not putting any pressure on it what so ever. The vet came to examine him and told us that nothing seemed to be seriously wrong but without X-rays and further examinations, she could not be totally sure. In light of this new information on Manny however, we were told that he would be removed off the adoption list and we would have 48 hours to decide if we wanted him but to act quickly because he only had 48 hours. Talk about pressure!! We knew what we wanted to do but decided to go home and sleep on it...before we were out of the parking lot however, we called the shelter and said we would come back tomorrow. We came home to prepare the home and little Chauncy for his new brother. We changed Manny's name to Milton because he just seemed like a Milton and it suited him better :-) So I introduce you to Milton Rojas!!

Soon after arriving home, he seemed to be doing better on his hind leg with no limp after all!!! Poor little guy had an unfortunate fate at the shelter all for nothing!! Well, almost nothing because he soon began to limp on his right foreleg. X-rays confirmed a complete fracture up towards his elbow joint. It was starting to calcify and luckily it was aligned properly so it will heal as best as possible all considering. 

Pinecones are his favorite snack LOL I have to pry these out of his grip

Chauncy and Milton have had a few run-ins like most brothers do but with time, they are now doing better. Chauncy continues to be the pesky little bratty brother while Milton just lets him be for the most part. Every now and then he will pin Chuancy as to remind him who the older brother really is but never with force or aggression. They are so much fun!! <3 

Daddy love!!

Milton has a long road of recovery ahead of him but wouldn't trade my life with my boys!!

The guys in my life!! <3