it's official...

Well, after about a month of preperation, it's done. Kyle and I are homeowners! We are busy starting with homeowner projects, such as priming EVERYTHING and painting EVERYTHING. And, of course, Kyle has already swept and hosed down the back patio, too. We started out by wiping down all the walls, ceilings, cupboards, trim, and floors. On Saturday we primed everything with an oil-based primer (it needed to cover up the smell of the previous owner and it did!) Sunday we painted the ceiling, kitchen, and all the walls. ALL. Only thing left with a paint brush is trim and doors...ya know...the fun stuff :)

But for now, all I will leave you with is a picture of the outside. I am going to take a couple weeks off from blogging and enjoy the Holidays and the new house. I'll be back in 2011.

Hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday! And, of course, Happy New Year!

little tuck-man

Over the weekend as Kyle and I slaved away in our house, Tucker had to be resourceful and find new areas to soak up the sun (it was a gorgeous weekend in the 70s) and curl up and be warm in (because 50 degrees is cool to him...he is going to FREEZE in MN!). I thought these pictures were too cute not to share!

Even though in those pictures he looks adorbale and all cuddly, in THIS photo he does not. He looks like killer-attacker dog! It is the first time he saw a CAT up close and personal...within 2 feet. The very first time he encountered a cat he growled at it through the window...and this is what he did when there was no window seperating the two...

His hair is standing straight up all along his spine! So far Tucker is not a fan of cats but has taken a liking to our camping chairs!

thanksgiving: part 2

I know its way long after thanksgiving, but I still want to share with you what Kyle and I did on the other half of thanksgiving...out at the farm.

My dad recently purchased a new tractor, and this was the first time I had a chance to see it. So, why not make it a family picture?? Our christmas card a few years ago was taken with the new JD gator and our dog, Maggie. This year, we decided to re-create the picture with a larger JD product and our next dog, Chester. You will have to wait for the christmas cards to seethe final result, though!

We did, however, go on a mini photo shoot around the other place. The barn was recently torn down, so we had fun with the old copolas and an old truck. It was windy and cold, but fun. Here are a few of the pics that you won't see on the Christmas card ;)

decorating for the holidays...

Sorry I have been MIA for the better part of last week- we had server/Internet issues. All is back up and working (all but my Outlook email!) so we are back on line and back with civilization.

I have really been getting into the holiday spirit lately, even though we are not doing much decorating this year, I have noticed decorations all over the place...and so different from MN! The biggest thing that sticks out for me down here is the cars. People love to decorate their cars. I started noticing it around Halloween...there would be the random "stuffed leg" sticking out of a tailgate, things like that. I have seen way more around the Christmas holiday. One that makes me giggle every time I see it is the "Rudolph Car." There are antlers and a big red nose to put on your car to make it look like rudolph! Can't picture it? It looks like this....

Can you see why I giggle when I see it on the road?? I caught myself wondering why I have never seen this before, but thinking about it, that would not last a day in the winter weather in MN. (Which I heard was a bad weekend for that! Wow!)

Another way they decorate is wreaths on the grill. Not sure what I think about this...I can just hear my dad's voice in my head saying something like "that would block the air flow" or "better chance to overheat" or something like that. But lately I havent had the air on or the heat on. So maybe it doesn't interfere? I might have to ask around!

Either way you will not catch me decorating my car. I would never get dad's voice out of my head! haha. It is fun to drive around and see all the holiday cheer, though. It is odd to see the lights on the houses during the day...it just looks so baren and brown. The no snow thing is really throwing me off when it comes to lights on the houses. Wierd how you associate things together like that!

I promise I will be updating you on things that have happened over the last week while I have been in the dark with no Internet! Hope everyone is having fun Christmas shopping, and for all friends and family up north, Stay WARM and Drive SAFE!

two dogs?

I know that we have one puppy, but I didn't know that I was going to have to deal with ANOTHER dog in the house...
This last weekend Kyle wasn't able to go on his planned hunting trip due to work conflicts, but at night Kyle found a way to be with Tucker. Kyle was fixated on this pup all weekend! It was so cute and entertaining to watch.

tuck's tricks so far...

Just wanted to share this video with you of the 'Tuck-Man.' He is 13 weeks and can do a few tricks- sit, shake, high-five, down, and stay. We tried to capture them all on this short video. At the end we reward him with a piece of rawhide (it looks like paper, so thought I would clarify)

Enjoy :)

thanksgiving: part 1

This past week was a busy one for Kyle and me. We traveled north (to the Tundra) to see family for the Thanksgiving Holiday. It began by leaving Tucker at a co-workers place- hard to leave him but he had a fun time with 4 other dogs and 4 kids to play with!

The first part of our holiday break in MN was spent at Kyle's parents house. We flew in late Tues night, so Wednesday (since it was a snow storm) we got to spend an entire day hanging out with everyone. Jason and Sally were home from MI, so it was a good time to catch up with them. It was also a good time for Jill to give her annual Flu Shots, but she changed things up this year by giving us the Flu Mist. Let's just say I am NOT a fan of the mist and prefer a needle in my arm!

We also had the chance to meet the 2 new foreign exchange students, one from Denmark, Allan, and one from Taiwan, Simon. Both are fun and interesting in their own ways. We also had lots of time to spend with our nieces and nephews- Chris, Brayden, and Lauren. I swear they each have grown a foot since the last time we saw them! They are growing up so fast!

Thanksgiving day was celebrated with a traditional meal, and for supper Jill made an ice cream oreo cake with candles in it for my birthday. I of course ate way too much...just like every other Thanksgiving! Friday Janine (my sister-in-law) hosted a baby shower for our other sister-in-law, Sally. Her and Jason are expecting a baby at the end of April, and since the family will not all be together again before that, we thought it was the perfect time! We also were able to see more family and friends that came out to congratulate Jason and Sally.

All-in-all, the first part of thanksgiving was a good one spent with lots of people and good food :)

snowy vs. sunny...

I read alot of online news sites like MSN, CNN, MSNBC, the San Antonio Express News, and of course, the Inforum from Fargo, ND. I checked the Inforum website today, and was shocked at what I saw! The first headline that jumped out at me was, "Fargo-Moorhead "bulls-eyed" by snowstorm, reports of 11.5 inches so far today"

After reading that, I thought I must have mis-read, because surely, it can't snow a foot in one day, can it?

Oh how soon I forget the power of SNOW.

As I looked at the article, it was hard to believe that as employees looked out the window to the parking lot at work, they saw this:

Outside the Microsoft Campus in Fargo

Compare that to when I looked out my window towards my parking lot at work:There is a bit of difference! Crazy to think I would be in the same spot a year ago. It also boggles my mind...I need my AC on today and Fargo needs shovels and snowplows.

So- if you are up North, hope you are warm, safe, and well. If you are down South, hope you are cool and comfortable!

ya mon...

A year ago (to the day), Kyle and I were packing our bags and looking forward to warmer weather. A year ago, instead of packing up and heading home for the Holidays, we packed up and went south. Way south. All the way to JAMAICA. Here is a photo of the view from our room (L) and a view along one of the pathways within the resort (R).

We were on our honeymoon! I was looking forward to drinks on the sand, crystal clear waters, snorkling, and just hanging out in the sun. It did not disapoint! We went all-inclusive, which is the way to go, by far. Here is a view of the beach (turns out not too many people vacation over the Thanksgiving Holiday, so the resort was less than full, which allowed for plenty of room on the beach and privacy). I was so happy that the chair cushions allowed me to float! The best part was taking the drinks IN the water WHILE I floated! It was amazing and so relaxing.

The sunsets were breathtaking, the food was amazing, the drinks endless, and the people were so friendly and really did say "ya mon" every other word. Kyle and I enjoyed the week long gettaway in Jamaica, and were extremely happy with everything!

So this year, as I am enjoying the company of family and filling my face with delicious home-cooked Thanksgiving food, I will remember our time in Jamaica; but at the same time I will be thankful to be at home with family, and not alone in TX for the Holidays. :)

i'm a fan of comedy...

Last night Kyle, Jason, and I went to the Vince Vaughn and Kevin James Comedy Roadshow, and it was HILARIOUS.

You know who they are, right? Some of VV latest movies have been Couples Retreat, Four Christmases, Wedding Crashers, and The Break-Up. Some of KJ latest movies have been Grown Ups, Paul Bart Mall Cop, Hitch, and of course, his sitcom King of Queens. Here are some pictures to refresh your memory :)

The show started at 8:00 pm and I didn't stop laughing until it ended, around 10:30 pm. There were 3 stand-up comedians that accompanied the two hosts.

One was Richie Minervini, who owned the comedy club that Kevin James found his start at in New York. He has also had parts in movies with Kevin James, included Grown Ups, Paul Bart Mall Cop, and King of Queens.

The second was Steve Byrne, who also had small parts in movies with Vince Vaughn, such as Four Christmases and Couples Retreat.

The third was Owen Benjamin, who was a rockstar on the piano. I never knew the piano to be so funny! He found sounds to relate to jokes and emotions, which made it even more funny. He also had a small part in I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry.

Overall, it was a night full of laughs. It was a needed stress releiver and a great way to see some of my favorite actors in person. I am looking forward to see their new movie coming out, The Dilema, in January. Hopefully these two will do more movies together in the future!

call me a nerd...

I've heard it all before. I'm used to it. I am in my twenties and I love HARRY POTTER. I can thank my cousin, Katie, for getting me started. She gave me her paperback copy of the first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone, because she got a hard cover copy. I do admit, the first chapter was hard to get through. It was unlike anything I had ever read. I really had to open my mind to an entirely new world, which existed halfway across the world, in London.

Ever since I got hooked in that book, I have read every book upon its release, usually within a day or two. My mom would get so angry with me because my nose would be in a book rather than doing chores, or going to bed. (I stayed up late...very late...to read.)

Since the books became such a huge success, they were made into movies which have grossed millions of dollars. I am a fan on the movies, however, nothing can quite replace your original imagination and the words of the author herself.

In ONE WEEK from today, Part I of the 7th book will be arriving in a theater near you. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is a long book, a book that I read twice. It is captiviating, heart breaking, rivoting, and so many other things. (See...here you start to believe that I really AM a nerd!) I am very excited to see the movie, and I hope it will not disapoint.

Here is a trailer in case you want to see! (I get goosebumps every time!)

So, here's to being a Muggle! Cheers! :)

veterans day...

A special THANK YOU to all the veterans

who have served, are serving, and will in the future.

....including my dad :)

xoxo

pumpkin, pumpkin, and more pumpkin...

With the Thanksgiving holiday right around the corner, I have been craving pumpkin. The smell, the taste, and all the different recipes to bake with. Especially my pumpkin roll that I now make every Thanksgiving...its not the same without it! (Thanks, Shannon!)

Last week I finally found some Libbys pumpkin at the grocery store, and after Kyle requested pumpin bars, I made them during the Vikings game. Thanks to my wonderful grandma and her amazing recipe, they turned out so tasty and fabulous. People at my work had never heard of pumpkin bars (must be a northern thing?) so I brought some in to share and they all LOVED them! (They kept calling them pumpkin cake!) After such a wonderful experience with my first pumpkin craving of the season done, I am out to try some more.

Here are a few recipes I have gathered over the past month that have pumpkin in them and they look (and I am sure taste) amazing! Maybe this weekend I will have time to experiment in the kitchen again...

I currently follow Picky-Palate, she has an amazing food blog and her recipes are always simple! Here are some of her pumpkin-inspired recipies that caught my eye (and hopefully yours, too!)

Cinnamon Toasted Pumpkin Pie Tarts
Chocolate and Pumpkin Pie Shortbread Bars
Double Pumpkin Kissed Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Gooey Pumpkin Butterscotch Brownies

Taste of Home also has many fabulous recipes, and I found this one that sounded amazing...

Snappy Pumpkin Cheescake

And something for an after dinner...

Pumpkin Pie Martini

So now that I am officialy hungry and still an hour away from lunch, I need to get my mind off of food!

Happy Baking!

our bumps are contagious...

This fall Kyle, Jason, and I decided it was time to meet some more people, so I signed us up to play on a sand volleyball league. Since we didn't know anyone else, the league placed us on a team with other individuals looking to play. We met for the fist time at our first game...which was interesting! Getting to know each other and play volleyball at the same time was...well...interesting.

The name the league gave us is "Our Bumps are Contagious." Kyle LOVES the name. haha. After we played our first game, we had a change to chat some. Turns out one of the girls is from Moorhead, MN and has an aunt that teaches near Dassel. Another teammate is from a small town near the town that Jason is from in Washington. Another teammate's husband plays softball with Kyle and Jason. SMALL WORLD! It was crazy to see how we connected, even though none of us had met otherwise. No one on the team is originally from San Antonio, which is kind of cool as well. One is from Florida, Washington, Kansas, and us from Minnesota.

Here is the team!

(L to R) Me, Alia, Kyle, Jason, Guy, and Stephanie

We currently do not have the best winning record in the league, but we are not the worst, either! Right now we are there to have a good time, enjoy the sport, and meet people. It helps that they let you bring coolers in as well! :)

You know Tucker is Kyle's dog when...

You know Tucker is Kyle's dog when

A) He loves a broom just as much as Kyle

B) He loves Crown just as much as Kyle

C) He sleeps just like Kyle!

Don't forget...Tucker is my puppy, too. I just get the cuddle side of him :)

happy halloween...

Hope everyone had a fabulous, fun, and safe Halloween weekend!

on the border...

On our way to Del Rio, to pick up Tucker, we had the unusual experience of getting within 100 feet of the Mexican border. I am not sure if you are up to speed on what a wonderful place Mexico is right now, but to save the gory details; it is bad, not safe, and the drug lords are taking over. Basically, the border between the US and Mexico is not safe. Needless to say, I was nervous getting so close!

On our way down, we saw miles and miles of ranches. Hunting ranches. You could usually tell what kind of ranch it was by how tall the fence was. The taller the fence meant the bigger the game. Tall fences prevent animals, namely big game deer, from jumping out and going onto someone elses's ranch. Texas ranch owners own thousands of acres of property and charge top- dollar to go hunting on their ranch.

Here are some examples of what the ranches looked like, along with an example of a gate entering the ranch:

The more we drove, the more I noticed side "roads" along the fence lines of these ranches. I asked Kyle what that would be for, and he explained that those "roads" are there to look for footprints. Not animal footprints, HUMAN footprints. They drag along those roads and then Border Patrol drives along looking for fresh prints in the freshly dragged road. If they see some, they can assume some illegals managed to cross the border and are somewhere in the ranch property.

This is an example of one "road" I was able to get a picture of:

When we got to Lake Amstad (where our puppy was at!) we had to take the dam access road. (All lakes down in TX are man-made, usually a dam of some sort). We accidently missed the road and ended up driving on top of the dam, getting us within 100 feet of the Mexican border. Here are some pictures I took while my tummy started doing flip-flops! Once we passed a border patrol vehicle and came close to the lookout towers, we turned around!

Mexico

On the way back to San Antonio from Del Rio, we had to drive through a Checkpoint. All traffic must pull into this "station," roll your window down and talk to the officers on border patrol. (They check for anything unusual or suspects.) They commented that Tucker was a cute dog! It was an interesting little road trip, but next time Kyle and I plan on driving the OTHER direction!

tucker and his bed...

Not sure WHY he does this, but thought it was too cute and too funny :)

ut football...

On Saturday we went to a University of Texas (the Longhorns) football game. Tyler, Kyle's little brother, is a die-hard fan and it has always been a dream of his to go to a UT game and see the Longhorns win at their own stadium. Well, he achieved half of his dream. The Longhorns lost, but he did get to see the stadium and experience game day-- and it was awesome.

It was an 11:00 am game, so we ended up leaving our house in San Antonio at 7:30 am. We picked up our friend Jason, stopped for Jack in the Box breakfast, and headed up north to Austin. By the time we got through traffic on I35, found a place to park, walked to the stadium and found our seats, we had about 10 minutes to kick-off. Even before the stadium filled up, I was amazed.

The Longhorns played Iowa State. It was supposed to be a for sure win, but with the rebuilding year that the Longhorns are having, they are struggling. With their quarterback from last year in the running for the Heisman Trophy, their new quartback this year has some major shoes to fill. It was difficult watching him stuggle, and I could tell Tyler was frustrated. He just wanted them to win! Even though they lost, I was impressed with the number of fans in attendance, how HUGE the stadium was, the band...everything. I could go on and on about how it compared to places I have been, but I will just put some pictures up so you can take a look for yourself!

Background:

- Officially called the Darrell K Royal - Texas Memorial Stadium has been the home to the Longhorns since 1924.

- It has an overall capacity of 111,000 people

- Record attendance- 101, 437 when the Longhorns played UCLA on 10/25/10

- Since September of 2009, the Longhorns have not had a game with fewer than 100,000 people in attendance

- The stadium has a 7,370 square foot HD LED scoreboard, nicknamed "Godzillatron"

- There were 100,142 people in attendance at the game we went to

We even got Kyle to wear orange!

The stadium- a picture of the stands on the left and right, with the view of the feild and Austin skyline in the background

Touchdown!!!



Even though it was rainy and cloudy in the morning, by the end of the game the weather was in the upper 80's and the sun was beating down on us. We all got the dreaded t-shirt tan, and Tyler even got a watch tan line! Overall it was a new and fun experience, and we are hoping to make it an annual event!

meet tucker...

Over the weekend Kyle and I drove to Del Rio, TX. What's in Del Rio? A litter of PUPPIES! We both have wanted a puppy since we moved down here, but we were going to wait until after the holidays, however; Kyle happened to find this litter and fell in love. The dad dog had a great build and excellent hunting qualities, and the mom had a good build and look, both with excellent backgrounds. The price was right, and they had happened to have a pup in the litter that was already getting feathers and quail!

After the 3 hr drive to the border, we finally had him. Barely 7 weeks, he was tiny and slept in my lap the whole drive back to San Antonio.

Once home, he had some "sea legs" from being in the car, but soon enough he found them and was exploring the house. I think he sniffed every inch of it! We introduced him to our backyard, where he had never been on grass before. (He wasn't too sure of it at first, but now he knows that is where he goes to the bathroom). The dogs nextdoor have an annoying bark, so they scared him right away. He is getting used to it, but still doesn't like it (neither do I)! He is also having some issues with his collar. He will be in the middle of playing or running and all of a sudden stop and scratch. Hopefully he gets used to it soon!

In addition to getting used to grass, he is getting used to the house and his kennel. The first day Kyle and I both went to work was difficult, lots of barking, howling, and crying. He is catching on quite fast, though....thank goodness! He has also found his favorite spot in the living room to chill; in between the couch and the end table. Its small- the perfect size for him to feel cozy whenever he can't cuddle with one of us. I love the cuddle stage, but I know it won't last forever!

We have also got an abundant of toys for him to play with, so hopefully he does not turn our furniture into a chew toy! He is taking a liking to my wicker baskets, though! He has a couple squeaky ones, a couple with no stuffing, some ropes, bones of rubber and raw hide, some small tennis balls, and even a "chilly bone." I can't believe how much they like to chew on ice! He really likes to watch you with the toy, and then attack your hand so he can have the toy. I have some puppy love bites on my hands to prove it!

All-in-all, he is a very smart pup who catches on fast. He is already recognizing his name as well as sit and come. Kyle loves working with him (and running around in circles in the backyard with him!) I know Tucker will keep us busy in the future, and I am taking advantage of the puppy stage for as long as I can...and taking as many pictures as I can, too!

border patrol...

Here is just a fun fact I figured out.

Before I lived in San Antonio, I lived in Fargo, ND. From Fargo to the Cananda border it was roughly a 2 hour and 30 minute drive.

Now I live in San Antonio. From San Antonio to the Mexico border it is roughly a 2 hour and 30 minute drive.

Now I can actually say, "I moved across the county"...from one border to the next.