July 4th weekend

Another Work Weekend

Yes, we were at it again. It was a beautiful weekend with blue skies and a wonderful breeze. Uncle Jack had gotten the auger working, so the boys worked on getting more fence posts in the ground. Leah sealed grout and stained a mirror and I painted more of the outside trim. Mom organized the new closet and other items, but the best part was showing Mom all the progress we made at the last work weekend. I will admit it was difficult to get back in the work groove after working so hard just a few weeks ago. And our "To Do" list is honestly a little intimidating. It's pretty long.

But the kids were with us and it was a beautiful weekend, so we did take a little time to enjoy just being at the ranch. There were lots and lots of ATV and Mule rides, even a little fishing trip for Alexander.

The Ranch had gotten a lot of rain over the last week, I'm not sure exactly how much, but it was probably around 9 inches. All the tanks were full and the field was green. We were a little worried the front yard would be a mud pit since the guys had left the new sprinkler timer on to water everyday. Not to worry, it was beautiful and dry.

We made lots of decisions and possible future plans (again, our "to do" list is huge already!), like adding another bathroom, maybe another bedroom and David's grand idea of enlarging the kitchen! Not sure that last one will happen, but its nice to dream. One major decision was made to leave the playroom as the playroom and make the carpet living room the newest bedroom. Don't ask. Just know that it significantly cuts down on the labor and we can get the new rooms moved around and set up sooner rather than later.

Oops, forgot to mention in my previous post that the guys put down the insecticide for our little friends who like to sting with their tails. Its coming up on scorpion season at the ranch. Here's hoping all the chemicals do their job and keep them out of the house this year.

Here are a few pictures of the guys at work.

I'm sure there's another work weekend planned in the near future. There's a fence to finish and a deck to build. Not to mention lots of painting. If you've got a free weekend, give us a call. I'm sure we can rustle up a beer or tropical coconut and stick some jalapenos on the smoker for you.

Work Weekend

This last weekend, we had a no kids work weekend at SBR. David brought his friend Matt, and was joined by Leah, Dad, Brian and Me. It was a crazy work a thon for 2 days. The boys started on Friday evening by power washing the house while Leah and I got some of the inside ready to paint. Then a planning session over dinner & drinks.

Saturday morning the boys left early to start cutting trees for fence posts and the new deck. Leah and I got started painting the hallway & kitchen, while Dad did some work in the new room finishing the trim. After a while, Matt got Leah and I started painting the outside of the house with his power sprayer. It was amazingly fast. Though, Leah and I were no where near as fast as Matt at painting, which is probably why he took over after a few hours and finished up the outside paint for us.

Once we realied we were going to run out of paint, Dad ran off to Gonzalez to buy more along with a few more necessary items for our projects. While he was gone, Leah and I finished the hallway, finished painting the kitchen, sealed some grout, painted the closet in the new room and did some other general projects. Those included going through the kitchen & bedrooms to purge.

During the day, the boys smoked meat and jalapenos. I got to try my hand at coring about 50 jalapenos while Leah stuffed and wrapped them for smoking. They were wonderful.

Brian got there for lunch, and went to work with the boys cutting and hauling trees. It was cool watching Dad get the tractor out with the auger to dig the holes for the stumps. They got them all lined up, placed, and started digging. At the 6th hole something went wrong. Really not good. At first they were sure if the auger or the tractor broke, but eventually decided it was the auger. That put a stop to the holes for the new fence.

That's ok, we still had so many other projects to work on - like regrouting some of the new room and setting up a sprinkler system for the yard.

We've decided it's going to take many more work weekends to get things where we want them and a new deck and fence built. But it was exciting to see so many changes happening at one time. Below are a few pictures of our progress.

Hallway with a fresh coat of white paint and

missing a bookcase and coat rack.

We moved the coat rack into the bathroom to hang towels, replacing a

previous rack. This one goes nicely with our Texas Flag theme.

We cleaned out a few things from the bunk room.

Hung denim curtains and cleaned off this coat/hat rack.

The new room now only needs the grout sealed

and to be cleaned up before we move furniture in. Oops, forgot to include

the necessary new electrical wiring and air conditioning.

Our favorite new thing - The CLOSET!

There are no other closets in the house.

And this one is HUGE!

One end has hanging clothes

And the other end has hanging clothes

with plenty of room for the shelves of linens, baskets of

hats & gloves, the heaters and random boots

The repainted and reorganized shelves in the kitchen
Yes, we "reorganized" the liquor. You wouldn't believe what we found

up there. Stuff that Dad tells us is older than David!

The hallway bookcase is now in Mom & Dad's room

where the shelves of linens were before the move.

The outside of house before we started painting.

Notice the lovely 2 tone color. Actually, the

house was 3 different colors all the way around.

Now, its a "lovely" gray color. No one is sure who picked out the gray,

but none of us are volunteering to repaint it! I'm sure once we have the

trim & front door painted it will all look less boring.

We started painting the trim dark gray on the rafters, but didn't get very far.

That is on the list for the next work weekend.

Here is the row of fence posts that got in the ground.

We call it Yard Art.

Want us to call you for the next Work Weekend? It's lots of fun!

Christmas thru New Years Vacation

Mom & Dad, David & Leah w/kids, and Brian & I w/kids spent the week after Christmas till New years at SBR together once again. The guys spent the week ...

working on the new room...


...building a new hog blind...



...and bought a mule.

They did receive some help from the kids.


...measuring...



...and dragging things to the burn pile.

Birdie rode the ATVs

Ashley tended the fire

While the boys were working, we girls were painting. Leah and I repainted the white in the dining room & playroom, including the ceilings, and added a dose of red to the kitchen.


We also painted a wall in the new room a nice light shade of champange.

Mom was wonder woman through it all by keeping an eye on all 5 kids.

Don't worry, it wasn't all work. The family was introduced to Rock Band 2 for Wii! There are many many fun stories to tell. Let's just say that Mom scored the only 100%, on a heavy metal song no less & Ashley loves to sing the Smashing Pumpkins.

Plan to join us next year for our week vacation!

We work hard, but play hard too!