Krystal in Brazil

My friend, Krystal, has been in Brazil this past week on a mission trip. I have been praying for her and I know she is having a wonderful time there helping so many people in doing God's work. I am looking forward to hearing stories of her trip and seeing the pictures from all of her travels.

An old friend, Kela, from Amarillo, had flown in for the weekend just prior to her departure. We met up for dinner with Krystal's friend, Amanda. Here's a picture of me, Georgia, Krystal and Kela.

Trip to Stamford

We had an unexpected trip to Stamford on Wednesday to attend my grandfather's funeral service Thursday morning. My grandfather, Maynard, passed away on Monday night. He hadn't been doing well since before Christmas after having a few strokes. He was 91 years old and was such a wonderful person. We will miss him dearly.

All of the sisters and their families were there. We did get to spend time with Grandma and Papaw on Wednesday evening. Also, I am happy to report that Georgia only had one crying spell with Pop and didn't cry at him again the entire time we were there! Here are some pictures from our visit.

Georgia is 6 months old!!

Georgia turned six months old on Monday. Today we had her check-up and she weighed 19 pounds 6 ounces. She is 27.25 inches long - the nurse said about as long as a nine month old. It's funny because everyone always talks about how long she is. I guess she doesn't have a chance at being short... look at her mommy and daddy!

Here are a few pictures on her six month birthday...

She got two teeth two weeks ago. I finally got a picture of those pearly whites!

Houston Livestock Show - Part 2

In addition to seeing friends, I was also able to spend time with two of my sisters, Jennifer and Judith, and their children. Jennifer's children were showing steers there, and Judith and her family had traveled to watch the show and take some family from Germany to the rodeo and the show.

The Kelley's had a great run with their calves, placing two thirds and winning Champion Polled Hereford Steer. Unfortunately John Thomas got sick on Thursday and therefore was unable to show his steer on Friday. I did get to spend some time with them on Wednesday and here's some shots from our time together.

We were also able to visit with Aggie friends David and Misty Groschke. Their daughter, Paisley, was born about a month before Georgia. Finally I got a picture of the girls and their daddy's!
We had three steers that we had sold that were showing in the Grand Champion Steer drive on Friday night - Champion Brangus, Champion Chianina and Reserve AOB. Our Chianina had a great shot at getting Grand or Reserve and even though he didn't win either title, in our minds he was an awesome calf. The Johnson family showed the steer and are not only awesome clients, but some of our closest friends. Kenny Herzog and his family came to watch Brady show at the rodeo Friday night, so here are all the guys before the pre-judging.
Here are a few shots of Brady's calf. He was such a cool calf - silver with a white bald face.

This is Brady's third time in the Grand Drive - the past two times he's had a Champion Chianina and a Reserve Limousin that both came from us. I guess it just wasn't his time yet, but I always have believed that the third time is the charm. Brady is a good kid and such a hard worker - if any kid deserves to win big, he does. One neat thing he started doing this show season is he wears a pink shirt with Charlie's initials on the collar. He and Charlie were pretty good buddies and when he passed away last April, it was pretty hard on Brady. I think this is a great tribute to Charlie and I know he's smiling down on Brady for keeping his spirit alive in the show ring.

Houston Livestock Show - Part 1

Last week was absolutely crazy. On Monday, Jacob and I spent ALL DAY on the phone with our telephone bid-off sale. We spent 2 hours Sunday night and started Monday morning at 8 am, took a little break around lunch and stopped at 11 pm that night. Then we finished bidding off the last 4 calves on Tuesday. It was alot of work and I was never so glad to get away from the telephone for just a bit. The sale went really well and was very successful.

It was hard to keep Georgia entertained and she provided lots of background noise during phone calls. Her Nani kept her for the majority of the day to help us out. Here she is in her jumperoo that morning:

Tuesday afternoon we headed to Houston for the steer show. It was great to spend time with old friends. I was able to see both Katie Jo (Yates) Day and Kacee (Taylor) Hogg. Old stock show buddies and some of my best friends.

Katie's son, Ryder, got to spend time with Georgia. She thought he was pretty cute. It almost looks like she wanted to kiss him here!

He really wanted to hold Georgia so with his mom's assistance Ryder got to hold her. The first high pitched scream she gave him was the moment he had had enough of her. It was pretty funny. Here's some pictures from our time spent together:

I was also able to see Kacee's children, Becton and Brynlee. We stayed at the same hotel so I got to meet up with them a few times in addition to seeing them on the fairgrounds. She got some cute pictures of Becton and Georgia. Click here to go to Kacee's blog where she has some pictures of their time together.

Pop and Georgia

As I mentioned before, Georgia and Pop didn't hit it off too well the last time he was here. Here are some pictures of their time together.

Family Reunion - Valentine's Day

On Valentine's Day we spent time outside of Mexia at Jacob's mom's family reunion. This was my first time to attend and it was nice to meet everyone. Here are a few shots from the day...

Georgia Update

It has been pretty hectic lately and I haven't gotten a good chance to sit down and blog! I spent about a week looking for my camera and finally found it in one of the bags from our most recent stock show trip. I was worried I lost it and was relieved to happen upon it yesterday.

We are busy busy as we have been getting things together for our cattle sale this weekend. Jacob has been out of the house by 6 every morning and he usually doesn't make it in for the night until 10:30 or so. It has been hard on us all because me and Georgia both miss him and I know he is missing spending time with her. However, today is the last day for the sale and we start bidding calves off tonight over the phone so after tomorrow afternoon life should resume a little bit of normalacy. We leave Tuesday for Houston and this is the last trip of several days we should have to take for a while. Thank goodness - I am ready for a break!

MorMor and Pop (my parents) came down last night to help out and spend a little time with us. It has been very interesting because the moment Georgia saw Pop she started screaming at the top of her lungs. This continued every time she saw him and every time he spoke to her until she went to sleep last night. Then this morning she thought about screaming when she first saw him but I hope I have put a stop to this. From that point on I had him feed her cereal, give her a bottle and hold her for quite some time. She is finally warming up and giving him some smiles.

As for Georgia, she is almost six months old which is SO hard to believe. She can roll over to her tummy now and push up on her arms. However, she cannot get back over to her back from her tummy so she screams and cries until I come to assist her back over. This lasts for a few seconds before she is back onto her tummy. She began getting two teeth last Monday and they are coming in slowly but surely. I think she is having quite a time with these pearly whites and so everything needs to be chewed on. Also, she has decided that after I put her to sleep on her back that she should roll over to her tummy and sleep. This has been very concerning to me because I have to check her all the time to make sure she is still breathing. I even roll her back over to her back as she is sleeping and then five minutes later when I check she is back on her tummy. Ugh! I guess there's not much I can do but check on her often and let her be comfortable. I still put her on her back like I am supposed to so I guess this is all I can do.

Another Georgia thing... when her pacifier falls out she can reach for it and put it back into her mouth. Sometimes it gets put in backwards and I have to help her get it situated. It is pretty funny. She also can laugh and giggle, jump up and down in her jumper toy and stand up strong on her legs when I help her.

I will try to post some pictures next week - now that I have my camera!