Fly Like A Bird......

Plummet with a thud! Today was not a good day for Mike. He had a jump that didn't go quite as planned and he ended up in the ER for several hours. Before you all freak out, he's okay, but very, very sore. He evidently got tangled with another guy, and although they got untangled, Mike lost his air and fell about 100-150 feet and landed on his rear. He says he heard and felt the crunching and was certain his back was broken, but the x-rays say his spine is intact. Thank God for watching over him! They are calling it "muscular bruising". Yeah, right. For those of us with back problems, we know darn well that a jolt like that is far more than sore muscles and some bruising. I'm sure he'll end up looking like a question mark within a couple days! He seems to be alright and not complaining too much, but I'm afraid that tomorrow will be pretty rough. Keep him in your prayers, and thank God that He kept Mike from being more seriously injured.

All good!

I think we're finally all better here! Mike got out yesterday morning and safely arrived in California. Tucker attempted preschool yesterday, but by the time we hit the parking lot, he decided his saugage biscuit wasn't sitting very well. So, we came home and all laid around most of the morning. By early afternoon, we all perked up enough to go outside for awhile. Ty took about a 5 hour nap and was pretty happy after that. The house is scrubbed, Febreezed, and aired out! Hopefully, we're over our little bug and moving on!!! Have a fabulous day!

Go Away Little Bug!!

We were up with Ty all night Thursday night, thinking that all the vomiting was due to the antibiotic he was on for an ear infection. Friday, the vomiting stopped and the other end began. Still convinced it was the medicine, the dr. called us in a different prescription. Out of the blue yesterday, it hit me, and a couple hours later, it hit Tucker. After taking care of all of us and cleaning up after us all day, Mike went to bed last night feeling much the same! He was supposed to leave for California this morning, however, he is still in bed! Maybe tomorrow! I think we're all perking up a bit, but noone got much sleep last night either, and we're all afraid to eat anything. What a wonderful weekend this has been!!! After I disinfect the house tomorrow, hopefully normal life can resume..........Hope you're all doing better than we are!!

200th Find

We went geocaching in Lake Charles on Sunday and got our 200th find. Tucker is great at finding some of these things that I wouldn't find in a million years! He's got an eye for camo I guess! We found some cool places that we definitley would never have driven upon on our own!

Picture please!

Last weekend we attended a PBR event held in Leesville, and got to see some of our favorites like Cody Whitney, Steven Shelley, and Jason Bennett. The highlight for Tucker though, was once again getting to meet Don Gay, the announcer, and an all time great in the bull riding world. Another special guest that night was, in our opinion, the best bullfighter ever, Rob Smets. He's retired now, and Tucker was thrilled that he was at this event. It was a great night with a few extra autographs added to our collection.

Don Gay

Rob Smets

Ty was a bit worn out after the rodeo, this is how he looked when we got him in the house to put his PJ's on him!

Mutton Bustin'

As most of you know, or have learned through reading this blog, Tucker is a bullriding fanatic. When I say fanatic, I do mean obsessed. The boy wants to wear only "cowboy clothes", which is fine except that A.) Its hot here, and B.) I can't keep up with the laundry to keep him a supply! Tucker can make anything a bull, as you could see even in the beach pictures. He is very passionate about it and we have no doubt that this will be the passion in life that he pursues. Mike and I both also love the sport, so although its dangerous and scary, we support it 100%. I have to admit though, his obsession sometimes makes me crazy when trying to get him to remove his chaps, vest, and hat before dinner, or when he watches the same bullriding videos over and over and over again in the car! I can't complain, there could be worse things, but the boy even has every single one of his miniature bullriders and bulls named for their real live counterparts. He knows when he's missing one, and he can tell you all about every single one!

One thing I love though, is that many of his favorite bullriders are very devout Christians with strong beliefs and values. They talk about it on videos, and Tucker does take notice. The other day, I even saw him take his hat off and pray after a very "tough ride" on his teeter totter outside. It was precious, if only I'd had my camera.

Anyways, a couple weekends ago, Tucker finally got to get on a real animal for the first time at a PRCA Rodeo. We had him on a waiting list for the Mutton Busting competition, but didn't get the call until we were already on the road. Needless to say, he was disappointed that he didn't have his chaps and vest, but all was well. Take a look at the video...Next time we'll make sure the guys getting him on have him on top of the sheep, not starting on the side!

We had a fun evening out with our friends and ate sat a seafood place called FudPuckers (not to be confused with the burger joint FudRuckers!) While waiting, you could feed the gators, or even ride them. Just kidding-its only a fake one!

For anyone who knows Tucker very well, you know that when he was younger, he was deathly afraid of heights. He put on a brave face for this fun ride at the amusement park after dinner. He was a bit unsure, but determined to ride it!

Mommy was certain Ty had a jacket in the car. Guess I should've double checked, because this is what we ended up with. Thank goodness for extra beach towels!!

Nothing like a little bullriding in the sand!

It was a bit chilly on this day, and Ty fell asleep shortly after we got on the beach. We stayed for his two hour nap, then packed it up for the day. I love this precious pic!

Surfer Boy

EASTER

The Easter Bunny was kind enough to leave the boys some new beach toys this year. Tucker found lots of eggs, and Ty enjoyed his first taste of malted milk eggs!

Easter Sunday was our first day on the beach and after sitting on the towels for over two hours, Ty finally decided that he would give walking on the sand a try. He first had to figure out that he had on shoes and his feet would not actually feel the sand!

The White Sands of Destin.....

This was our second evening in Destin, Grammy's first. It was a bit chilly, but a beautiful evening sunset. Ty was not such a fan of the sand on his feet. He refused to be put down, and was not at all interested in the water either. He definitely won't be a beach bum when he grows up!!

Springtime!

While all of you in the north were still freezing your booties off and shoveling snow, we were enjoying the first signs of spring! There are a few benefits to living an hour and a half from the Gulf of Mexico! Take note of this crazy tree in our front yard. A week or so after this pic was taken it almost had to be chopped down to disengage Ty's head from its trunk! A cute pic here was not so cute, and quite scary, when his head had to be pried out by my neighbor and me!!!

The Big Easy

In between Mike's trips to California, the two of us were able to get away for a couple days. We headed to New Orleans to see the sights. We took in the French Quarter and had a wonderful time. I would have loved to go further out into the city and checked out some of the remaining devastation from Katrina, but we didn't have much time. We wandered around for two days, sampling the awesome cuisine and wonderful music. We had a ball! Thanks to our fabulous babysitter who stayed with the boys, we enjoyed a worry free weekend. We walked in the door to a cleaner house than we left and boys already in their pj's. We sure are going to miss you, Emily!!














The first two pics are the nighttime and daytime view from our room; the last pic is the shadow that is cast at night from a statue that sits behind the famous Cathedral, which is beautiful inside. We loved this view, and thought it really captured how present the Lord is. Our camera just didn't do it justice either! You'll probably need to click on the pics and enlarge them to really see the beauty!

Ugh!

The last week of February, we all dealt with feeling a bit under the weather. For Ty and I, it was mostly just allergies. You would not believe the pollen here-it literally looks like yellow sidewalk chalk all over everything. This is what Ty's eyes looked like before we got his Claritin prescription filled....

Tucker was much worse. He had a fever that would not go away. He floated between 100 and103 for about 7 days or so. The dr. said it was going around and there wasn't much I could do about it. This is what Tucker did about it......He also has a coat on under that blanket!!

Ty tried very hard to love his brother back to health!!

Here we go.........

Finally, I am posting pictures. Get in your time machine because we're going back a couple months!! These first pics are just around the house while Mike was in California during Feb. and March.

SOON!

I promise! I'm working on more pictures!! We've been really busy and taking tons of pics the last couple weeks. I sat down and started getting them sorted today, so hopefully, tomorrow or Thursday, I'll get some posted. We've got some fun, exciting things I'm going to get on here, so stay tuned!

I hope everyone got past the tax man today. We were up very late last night, but finally got it done! Nothing like waiting until the last minute. Maybe next year we'll be more on top of things. But wait, didn't we say that last year?!

I know, I know........

Okay, to those of you who keep asking, I have, yet again, fallen behind, and I am, yet again, sorry!!!! Mom, I got your point when you said, "you could at least write a note". So, here's your note......

I'll post pics after I get through the post wide yard sale on Saturday and have a bit of time to catch you all up!

Let's see, since mid-February we've gotten pretty busy. Mike came home at the beginning of March for 6 days, then headed right back to NTC for another week and a half. He returned on the 24th and the boys and I headed to Destin, FL on the 28th. Mike had a rotation here and was unable to join us, but my mom met up with us, and the boys had a great time with Grammy. It was a bit cold in Destin, but we got a couple good beach days in, along with a couple not so great, wrapped in towels to keep warm beach days! Our next door neighbor took her two boys also so we were able to get together with them several times throughout the week It was a nice break away from Ft. Polk, and now its officially time to gear up for our move. YEAH!!!!

Not much real news to report, but in the next few days, I will post some pics of what we've been up to-I promise!!!! Stay tuned........