Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Arizona Sunrise

For the last couple of weeks when I leave for work there have been some unbelievable sunrises. Every morning I tell myself I should bring my camera and take a few pictures.

This morning before I left the house I had all the blinds open in our master bedroom and the sun was beginning to raise. I was able to capture a couple of pictures from the back yard before I left.


I decided to take the camera with me and when I drove around the corner from the house, surprise another beautiful sunrise! I stopped in the road only for a second a snapped this picture.


As I drove down Pecos the sun appeared on the horizon and I snapped this picture while driving.


And then this one, with yes a police officer in the left hand turn lane attempting to make a u-turn. "Hello officer, at least I am not text messaging"!
Luckily he did not see me taking pictures while driving and it still made for a great picture!

The Birthday Tool Box

This year I was not sure what to get Chris for his birthday which was February 7th. A few weeks before his birthday I had to take his new truck into the dealership to have them check out and issue with the tire monitoring system. While I was there I remember that he wanted a tool box that GM makes that slides onto the rails that are built into the bed of his truck. So I asked my service advisor if he could order it and he said he could and he would do it the next day when his after market guy is in.

The tool box came in 2 days before Chris’s birthday so Alyssa and I went to the dealership to pick it up and when we got there it was the wrong one. I should have known by how inexpensive it was. Now I am in panic mode because Chris’s birthday is only a day away. So they called several dealerships in the area and were able to locate another one and I would be able to pick it up on Chris’s birthday.

When I got home that evening Chris was in the house with his parents so he still did not know about the tool box. After dinner that evening we had Chris come out into the front drive way. Chris was a little apprehensive, but when I had him look in the back of his truck and see such a huge box his eyes just lit up! He was very surprised and very thankful.


Later that evening after Chris’s parents went home I told Chris lets bring in the tool box so we can look at it. Little did I know that someone else would have so much fun with the new tool box!



Yes, that is Daniel inside the tool box! He acted like a 2 year old who just opened up a present in a big box and then only wanted to play with the box, but this time it was the big present that was so much fun!


Daniel would have us close the lid and then carry him in the tool box around house the house and then he would try and guess what part of the house he was in.



After several minutes of this he decided that it would be just as fun to climb inside it with a flash light and open and close it and act like a Jack in the box!

I never imagined that this tool box would bring so much excitement not only to Chris but Daniel too! It was funny to watch Daniel over and over, open and close this tool box and get so excited, it was if he was 2 years old again!

Then when it was time for him to goto bed I got this kind of a reaction! "NO mom I want to stay in the box"!


Big Boys and their Toys!

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Alyssa's 17th Birthday last October 2007

Since Juniper Well Ranch is on of or favorite vacation spots Alyssa wanted to have her 17th Birthday up at the Ranch with 3 of her friends. She brought with her Becky, Brianna and Tori (from left to right).

Becky and Brianna have been up here before with us and this was Tori's first time. We rented them their own cabin so they could do what teenage girls do. Stay up late, sleep in, play games, take pictures and talk about boys.


They even found Smokey one of the Ranch dogs.


On the first evening we all gathered down at the summer house and had Dave & Linda's home made pizzas cooked in a wood burning oven. (From left to right Chris, Daniel, Linda, Dave and another cabin guest and now our friend Steve).

For dessert the girls made sugar cookies, brownies and Smor's in the pizza oven. Steve had never had a Smor's or even know what one was, so the girl's made Steve his first Smor'. (In case you don't know Smor's are made up of roasted (orcharred) marshmallow's in-between a chocolate bar, which is in-between two graham crackers.)

Daniel was definately the designated roasted (orcharred) marshmallow maker or shall I say Pyromaniac!



From the looks and expressions on Steve's face I would say he liked the Smor's made by the professionals.








Once dinner was over and it was getting late it started to get cold so the girl's and another ranch dog, Maximum Bob thought it would be great to do some bun warming!

"Maximum Bob"


Tori, Maximum Bob, Brianna, Alyssa, and Becky warming their buns!

The girls and Daniel decided the next day to go out to the rail road tracks that run along the ranch property to see if they could catch a train to take pictures.

So they headed to the tracks and the girls entertained themselves by taking some very fun pictures while they waited!


These girls sure have learned how to make the rail road tracks look good and us their imagination while waiting for a train!



Then finally a BNSF freight train came in from the south and the girls headed up on a hill to snap more pictures.



And then the train was gone!


The next day the girls met up with Steve and he took the girls out to ride Dusty his horse that he boards out at Juniper Well Ranch. Tori was the only one that had never ridden before and this was the first time any of the girls had ever rode a horse bare back.




Thank you Steve for taking the girls out to ride Dusty, they had a great time!
That evening we gathered again for another great meal at the summer house with the fire pit. We ate and I had made a rice crispy treat cake for Alyssa's birthday. Then the rest of the evening we gather around the fire pit burning a lot of wood to stay warm.








After our evening of fun and burning every thing we could get our hands on, our weekend was finally coming to an end. So the next day we packed up and head out but not before the girls snapped a few more pictures for memories.

As you can see that the girls made their memories with a statue that was on the porch of the cabin all weekend with them.......I think it is Davie Crocket!


I would definately say the girls had a good time and that Alyssa's 17th Birthday was a success! Happy 17th Birthday Alyssa!