Winter Wonderland

We're getting some pretty cool snow today. The flakes are huge and don't really show up on the picture, but it's making for some neat scenery. This shot is off our front porch, towards the hospital. As I look at this picture and then look back through some of the ones we have from living in Greeley and Garden City, I'm grateful for where we are now. Not that NW Kansas is extremely scenic, but we just got lucky when we found this house. We've couldn't have asked for a better location!

Hoss's Crazy Antics

We haven't blogged in a while, so I guess it's time to update this thing. We never seem to have creative things to write about except Hoss. He's the kid, what do you expect. He's always doing something weird like a kid. We had a few ears of corn left over from some fall decorations. We threw them into the yard for the squirrels and the birds, but Hoss decided he liked corn too and joined in.

It finally snowed here and Hoss loves snow. He was out with his tennis ball yesterday while we scooped the drive way. His favorite game is to "punch" the ball through the snow and hide it from himself. He definitely loves being outside and didn't seemed phased by the cold. He probably would have stayed outside all day if we would have let him.

Hoss and his new buddy, Buster

Matt and I had just got home and noticed a stray dog in our lawn. We love dogs and not to mention he looked like Hoss, but taller! We read his tag and found his name and his owner’s phone number. We called the owner and asked if he was looking for Buster? He replied he was out of town and his roommates are looking for him. He then thanked us and said he would send them right over. Well an hour later and only two or so blocks away here they come. During this waiting time we had Hoss get to know him. Hoss was not very happy to see him but soon warmed up. Buster on the other hand had a really good time. They tried to play in the lawn but with Hoss being so short and fat and Buster so tall and leggy they didn’t do too much. I think Hoss was glad to have a friend for the short time he did but was glad to go back to his only child lifestyle!

Jena's Latest Project

Jena has been updating the curtains in the living room and kitchen. They were a baby blue color and not really what we wanted. Some Rit dye and hot water and we had the brown color we wanted. The only problem we had was the curtains shrank about 8 inches. Jena sewed some fabric swatches to the bottoms, Matt built some cornices and "tada", a new look for very, very little cash.

Tree Trimming

We were doing a litte tree trimming recently and Hoss was a big help. He's kind of a like a kid, he'll put anything in his mouth. He thought the pine branches were a pretty good toy. The sap and the needles didn't really bother him too much, but then again, nothing really does. We're slowly getting the house and the yard cleaned up. Trimming up the trees and pulling out some overgrown bushes has made a big difference. We keep saying we're getting rid of the little old lady look one day at a time.

Sunrise Pics

Everyone liked the sunset pics so much, I thought we should share a sunrise pic as well. I took these a couple days ago from our front porch. The trees looked like they were on fire.

Before and After

Before

After

We've been painting and changing a few things on the outside of our house. The "little old lady" blue has been changed to black and we painted the front door dark red. We also pulled out some bushes and have been trimming up trees. It's looking better, but we still have a few more projects to go.

Fire with the Beringer Boys

Zekke and Titus spent Saturday night with us and we had some fun roasting marshmellows. Mom and Dad bought us a cool fire pit for our anniversary and we've got some good use out of it. The boys love to come over and roast marshmellows and they always have some funny things to say. This time, Zekke told me he would roast me a mellow and that I should tell him if that it was good enough to win a contest. He didn't care what kind of a contest, he just wanted to know if it would win if he entered it. After eating about 5 more marshmellow than I wanted (with these boys, you have to like eating marshmellows - they roast 'em, you eat 'em), we decided he could win the contest. For the most part, they both do a good job, but it's pretty funny watching them when the marshmellow catches on fire.

Getting a little Patriotic

Here's a shot Jena took about a year ago when we were still in Greeley. The community college had about 500 flags in a field for Labor Day/9-11 Memorial. It was a pretty cool sight. There happened to be a storm moving thru, so she also got some cool rainbow and cloud effects.

Western KS Sunset

To those of you who aren't in Western Kansas...

Here's you sunset shot. Jena took this by the corn field behind our house. Too bad the corn isn't Golden Harvest! Maybe next year.

Hoss's Clothes Basket

Hoss has a new favorite toy. He loves to attack the clothes basket and gets pretty fired up when you try to get it from him. He pushes it around with his nose and he can even pick it up and carry it around. He gets a little crazy at times so we have to hide it sometimes. Currently, he's had it taken away because he cut his foot open and didn't even slow down. He walks around the house looking for it, but can easily be distracted with a tennis ball (much safer!).

We miss Colorado!

We spent Labor Day weekend in Gunnison and had a good time visiting Matt's parents and Grandma. Linda came too and we had a great weekend. We spent part of Saturday on 'top of the world' at Monarch Pass. We drove to the top of the pass and then rode the gondola to the top. The elevation was near 12000 feet and the guy running the ride said you could see for about 125 miles. The rest of the day Saturday was spent hanging out in Gunnison. Sunday we hiked up Mill Creek about 2 miles. It was a fairly easy hike, but has us winded several times. There is some beautiful scenary up there and it makes me miss living so close to it. Check out some pics...

We're joining the revolution!

Jena made a comment tonight that we should start a blog since we like reading about our family on their blogs. A couple minutes later, and here we are. It's not that we have so much to talk about, but Jena loves to share pictures and tell Hoss stories so maybe this will be a fun way to do that. Anyway, here we go...