Camp Weinheimer

Every year on a very hot weekend over the summer, Kyle's side of the family gets together for the annual camping event. All of the Roy & Bernice Weinheimer family is there as well as some extended family. This is only the second year we all attended. Kyle went last year by himself because I was very pregnant and it was very hot. We had some other obligations this past weekend so we did not attend the entire weekend, but arrived late on Saturday.

We love, love the outdoors and camping, however, Kyle and I prefer being outdoors and camping in cooler temperatures. Since we are just two of the many, we have been outvoted for a cooler time every year. Oh well, we try to make the best of it.

When we arrived they were still in the midst of the games. Kyle's family is really big into games. I am not, or at least I am not anymore. Kyle joined a team and participated in a few of the games. He was on the winning team for the watermelon eating contest and I have no idea where they placed in the word search game. Taryne and I watched from the sidelines.

Since it was super hot outside, they had a cow trough filled with water to jump in and cool off. I let Taryne splash over the side...she just loved the cool water!

Here are few pictures of us from the weekend....overall it was a good trip.

Kyle in the watermelon eating contest...

Taryne has SOOO much fun with her Great Aunt Colette...

Taryne exploring our tent...

Trying to stay cool...

End of a long, evening...trying to get Taryne to go to sleep...this was after 10 pm.

Until next time...Gig'em!

New blog is here!

Ok, I know it has been several months since I mentioned adding a cooking blog. Well,  I have finally created that new blog and here is the link to Old Army Kitchen.

I will be posting some recipes here in the next few days. Thanks everyone for your great ideas and you can read on Old Army Kitchen how I found my new blog name.

Until next time...Gig'em!

Visit...

Sorry, but I am still catching up from the wedding weekend and this is the last post from the wedding weekend.

Sunday morning before we left my parents house, Aunt Claire, Grandma Milady and Grandpa Clarence came out to the house for a visit. Yay! We got to see them a little more before we had to go home.

Taryne just loved spending time with all of them. She was just enjoying every minute and no fussing...until it was time to leave and get in the car seat.

Here are some pictures of that morning visit...

Until next time...Gig'em!

Pasture ride...

If you read my post about Charlotte and Zach's wedding, then you saw mention of a ride through the pasture. My parents live out in the middle of nowhere on a little less than 200 acres in the Hill Country. While I do not like the city of Llano (I only went to high school there...) nor do I want to ever live there, I do like my parent's land. You have a little bit of everything...granite outcroppings, fishing ponds, hills and open pastures. My dad has two of his open pastures planted with Coastal hay. If you want more information regarding hay and hay production, please call Kyle, he can tell you everything you need to know and I won't sound like an idiot.  I know all about rice farming, but hay, no clue.

Anyway, last weekend while we were at my parent's for the wedding, my dad had his two pastures of hay cut. I am sure they bailed the hay Monday so I don't have any pictures of that. During our ride through the pasture on my dad's Ranger, I tried to take lots of pictures. Luckily it had recently rained there so things were fairly green.

I just love riding around the pastures in the evenings. I did this with my dad when I was in high school and we did this when we had a deer lease (before we bought this place) and even when we were checking on the fields when we lived in Manvel. There is just something peaceful about that ride late in the evening. This particular evening everyone but the three of us (me, Kyle and Taryne) were at the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner for the wedding. So we set out to enjoy the evening and give Taryne her very first ride on a Ranger.

The back pasture after the hay was cut...

This huge hill is behind our property...

The was a huge oak tree, but the week before the wedding a storm came through and lightning struck it and blew it apart...you can't see the gate that would normally close here, but I made it in shop class in high school...

If you look real close, you can see the deer...

Sunset from the front pasture...

Cows...

Yucca bloom...

Me and Taryne after the ride...I remembered I needed a picture of her in the Ranger!

Until next time...Gig'em!

Thirty One...

I recently joined an amazing company called Thirty One. In case you have never heard of it, Thirty One is a home based business and the product offerings are amazing! They have handbags, totes, thermal totes, home storage bags, stuff for baby, stationary and more.

I am very excited about this opportunity! In March I was laid off from my job, but was offered a position as a contractor with the same company. Good and bad...I still had a job working part time, as needed, but I no longer had my full time income. The best part of the whole thing is I get to stay home with Taryne and enjoy her bright face much more than before! However, I am still looking for that full time income and I have several opportunities I am attempting at once. I have my real estate license (so if you or someone you know is looking in the B/CS area to buy, lease or sell, send them my way!), I am trying to start an Etsy shop (more details later) and I joined Thirty One.

The mission of Thirty One "is to celebrate, encourage and reward women through offering quality products and an outstanding opportunity to become successful business owners". I believe this company (I have tried several home based businesses in the past) will allow me to grow as a person and will support me as I grow my business.

To showcase some of the products from this great company, I am hosting two Open Houses at my home (email me if you need directions). The first will be this Friday, June 18th from 3-7 pm and the second will be next Saturday, June 26th from 10 am -1 pm. If you do not live in the area, but want to find out more about the product or the great customer and hostess offers, please contact me.

I will be having a door prize drawing after each Open House. You automatically get an entry just for stopping by, but you can earn additional entries by bringing a friend or two or more, spending at least $50 or hosting a party.

I am sure by now you are curious and wondering what these products look like...right? Well here is a link to my website. You can browse the catalog online and view the June and July customer and hostess specials. If you cannot make it to one of the Open Houses, you can shop online through my website. Just click on the "Place an Order" tab, then "Place an Order" on the right side, then select Shop Now for my Open House event.

And here are a few pictures of the great products:

Just in case you are looking (or become intrigued once you peruse the website) for a great home based business, I encourage you to look into Thirty One. It is a very small investment to start (Just $99) and if you join this month, you have a chance to earn your $99 back, so you will start your business for FREE!

I would love to see you on Friday or next Saturday! Send me an email if you think you are planning to stop by!

Thanks and Gig'em!

Birthdays, anniversaries and weddings, oh my!

Well, one birthday, one anniversary and one wedding. Taryne turned 9 months on Saturday, Kyle and I celebrated our 11th anniversary on Saturday and my sister Charlotte married Zach on Saturday. Saturday was a busy day!

I did the flowers for Charlotte's wedding, so I was busy from Friday until last night with prep and clean up. I also helped my mom with the cooking on Saturday morning. I am totally amazed at my parents for basically doing it all themselves...with the help of family and friends of course, but no catering or other "professionals" for wedding stuff.

I thought I was going to have a coronary on Friday because the flowers did not arrive in Llano until after 2 pm!!! I was panicked they would not show up and if they did I just knew they would be wilted, but luckily, they were ok. The insides of the boxes were HOT and I was so nervous they would not hold up, but they did...thank goodness.

After we got the flowers back to my parent's house, Aunt Claire and my cousin Nicole helped me make the boutonnières, bouquets and the table arrangements. I cannot thank them enough for their help! I had to miss the rehearsal, but that was ok because we got the flowers done fairly quickly and Kyle, Taryne and I had time for a drive through the pasture before it got dark.

The wedding was absolutely beautiful!! I think the only thing that would have made the day better was less wind. The wind was blowing so hard that it knocked some of the table arrangements over and each jar was filled to the top with water...

Last Wednesday, my Grandpa had surgery for his heart and we did not plan for him and my Grandma to be at the wedding. They were going to put a pacemaker in, but ended up putting something else in to monitor his heart and then go from there...I have no idea what it is called, so please ask my mom if you are curious. Well, Grandma and Grandpa made it to the wedding. They came with Uncle Ricky, Chance and Amanda. Whoohoo!!! I was so excited to see them! That really made the day perfect.

The wedding itself was short and sweet and perfect. It totally fit the personalities of Charlotte and Zach and I cannot think of anything that showed who they were more perfectly than the ceremony. Their personalities also came out in various parts of the reception as well.

Without further ado, here are pics from the prep and wedding this weekend...

The flowers...we had 100 orange Gerberas, 100 white Gerberas and 90 white daisies

The table arrangements

The bouquets...Charlotte's is the white one and the bridesmaids had orange

The prep...my mom and I cooked 50 pounds of potatoes...

The potato dish was awesome! It has potatoes, cheese, sour cream and bacon and seasonings...

Zach requested peach cobblers (like my Grandma Martin made) for the Groom's Cake...

The Bride's Cake...

Grandpa Clarence, Grandma Milady and Mom

Here comes the bride...

Charlotte & Zach

Grandpa Clarence, Grandma Milady, Me and Taryne

Taryne, Aunt Claire and Grandma Milady

Grandpa Clarence, Uncle Ricky and Nicole

Nicole, Amanda & Chance

These 2 flowers broke on Friday and I placed them in a cup of water for us to enjoy. Last night when we got back from the wedding I picked them (not sure why I did this...) but this is what I found...the stems curled up and intertwined...amazing!

More of my family was at the wedding, but somehow I did not get more pictures. I guess I was a little crazy and busy! To all my family, it was so great to see you all! I hope we can see each other again very soon! Love you all!

Until next time...Gig'em!

Bathroom tile project...

As you know, we have been remodeling all areas of our house. Our latest and greatest project was the floor in our hall bathroom. All I can say is thank goodness that bathroom was small! I forgot how much of a pain it is to tile a floor! And I am very glad we did our bathroom/closets first since that area was so large.

We had originally planned to lay the tile over the existing linoleum, but once we removed the toilet, we noticed the linoleum was not adhered to the concrete. So...we pulled up all the linoleum, which wasn't too bad, but an extra step in the process. Once it was removed, we had to scrape up all the old glue because the floor was fairly uneven.

Before we went through the process of actually laying the tile, we did a "trial run" first. We popped our chalk line and then laid all the tiles in the bathroom without thinset. Then Kyle so diligently measured and cut all the tiles to the appropriate size and shape. Once we were happy with this, I created a chart so we knew exactly where each piece went once we picked them all up to apply the thinset to the concrete.

The area around the toilet base was very unlevel and I had to apply a coat of thinset before we started to level the area out. Once that set up, we laid the tile and it took no time at all. We waited 24 hours and then applied the grout and cleaned the excess. As of today the grout is almost dry, but we are going to wait a few more days before we seal the grout. And since we will be at my sister's wedding this weekend, I am sure that won't happen until next week!

Here are some pictures of the journey it took to get the tile in the hall bathroom...

Removing the linoleum.

Dry-fitting the tile

The area around the toilet that I had to level out

Laying the tile

All the tile in

The finished product

Until next time...Gig'em!

Yummy in her tummy...and on her face...

Taryne had mac & cheese with veggies for dinner. During the meal, she managed to remove her bib and that is why her face, hands, arms, clothes, the table and the high chair are covered in her meal....

Until next time...Gig'em!

Blankie...

One of the gifts Taryne received was this beautiful blanket crocheted by a woman my mother works with at the hospital. We like it because it is light and has holes since Taryne loves to sleep with the blanket over her face. I think this particular blanket is going to become her "woobie". She can sleep without it and doesn't carry it around with her, but when she lays down to sleep, she loves to hold it. We usually have to come back later and actually cover her, but that is ok.

This morning when we woke up (to Taryne talking and her piano playing), we walked in there and found this...

Last week I found her jumping up and down in the crib with the blanket draped over her head. I missed my photo opportunity with that incident, but I caught her this time! I love how she is using the blanket as a shawl and has her fingers intertwined in the blanket. And of course she was jumping.

Until next time...Gig'em!