So for those of you who don’t know, most of the week it’s been cold here in Texas. So we decided that one easy and scrumptious dinner would be Crock Pot Tortilla Soup. Something I could “set and forget” and it would be ready by the time everyone else came home. The recipe is quite yummy and simple.

Our cast of characters: Chicken, Peeled Tomatoes, Enchilada Sauce, Chopped Green Chile Peppers, Garlic, Onion, Water, Chicken Broth, Cumin, Chili Powder, Salt, Black Pepper, Bay Leaf, Frozen Corn, Cilantro and Corn Tortillas.

We begin with the chicken. Now as you can see this chicken is the smart cuts, but I don’t think the chicken is very smart since it’s going to end up in the soup and ultimately in our tummies.

So we need to send these chickens to the Spa. Give them some time in the hot tub.

Once they’ve had a good 20 minutes or so in the Chicken Hot Tub, we take them out, put them on the cutting board and get to shredding.

After the chicken is completely shredded into yummy goodness, bring out the onion and the garlic. Chop up the onion and mince up the garlic.

Now we’re going to put the chicken into the Crock Pot.

Open the can of peeled tomatoes and dump them into a bowl. Mush and smush. Mash and smash. Put the tomato mash into the Crock Pot along with the chicken.

Add in the can of Enchilada Sauce

The can of Chopped Green Chile Peppers

The Garlic and the Onion

Take a peek into the Crock Pot to see just how delicious those ingredients look together.

Now it’s time to add the liquid. The Water and the Chicken Broth.

And our spices: Cumin, Chili Powder, Salt, Black Pepper and the Bay Leaf.

The last player to jump into the mix is the Corn. Give it a good stir and turn the Crock Pot to low for a good 6 to 8 hours.

Right before time is up, either bake or fry up some tortilla strips. Use these as topping and for dunking into your soup.

I do have to say that I did find this recipe better as a leftover with some shredded cheddar sprinkled over the top. For some reason, the flavors just seemed to pop. I would recommend it to anyone who’s looking for that good Crock Pot meal.

Original recipe found here.

So I’m sitting here waiting for one of my programs for work to reset and release the hold so that I can get back into it. It takes 15 minutes, so I wander out to the car to grab my glasses (don’t ask), and I pass the Christmas tree on my way out and in. The realization hits me. Our tree is still up. Our Christmas decorations are still up. Are we the only family who still has our decorations up approaching the last week of January? I go to the door and peek outside. I see that the neighbor still has Christmas lights on his house, but that’s understandable because the weekends have been rainy lately. But if they are rainy then that would mean we would be inside. *Gasp* I can’t see inside anyone else’s house, so I can’t confirm indoor decorations. It’s not like it’s a difficult task. Just take down everything, pack it in labeled boxes and heft it on out to the garage or the attic until next holiday season. I guess I’ve started my task list for this weekend. *lol*

Do you have your decorations still up? How long is acceptable for indoor decorations? Outdoor decorations? Or are you just too embarrassed to share?

This weekend we learned that an old friend passed away.

We first met Bleaux when we went to Aunt Tricia’s house to visit. At the time, I don’t think his name was Bleaux. I’m not sure he even had a name, to tell you the truth. All we knew was the he was the prettiest golden and white dog with the most magnificent blue eyes. We believed that he was part wolf/part husky mix, but no one really knew. He was skittish and wouldn’t come within 10 feet of any male with a cap on. We visited Aunt Tricia several times, and each time he would be there. Eventually we learned that his owner wasn’t the best of people and really didn’t treat him as a pet should be treated. Gigi and I formulated a plan…

We were going to break him free! All we knew was that he didn’t belong where he was getting the treatment he was getting. Now we weren’t Thelma and Louise, MacGuyver, or the A-Team, but we were courageous, and a little sneaky. We were on a mission. Gigi picked up some tranquilizers from the vet, and we headed out. We arrived at Aunt Tricia’s determined to bring this wonderful dog home with us. We gave him half a tranquilizer. The vet had advised it would take about 30 minutes to take effect, so we waited. And we waited, and we waited. 30 minutes came and went and this dog was still chugging. So we decided to try to other half. So in it went and the waiting game began again. Waiting…waiting…waiting….Ugh was this dog never going to go down. We knew that we would NEVER get him in the car without the help of the medication. So we tried the second tranquilizer. And waited. And what do you know?! He was out like a light. Seeing this time as our best opportunity, and not knowing how long he would be out, we muscled up and got him into a kennel in the car. And off we drove him to freedom. Well, our house.

We arrived at our house and the poor dear was still out. We got the kennel inside and waited while the effects began to wear off. When he opened his eyes, he was in his new home.

Little did we know that tranquilizers cause constipation. (Those of you who didn’t know, please take note!) So the poor guy was a howling mess when he tried to go to the bathroom when we took him out. But, eventually, that too passed. Bleaux stayed indoors with Lady Grace while we were at work. He suffered the worst separation anxiety I’ve ever seen. He would sit on the couch and look out the window at the other dogs on the ranch, Honey and Maggie, and wish to be out there with them. We were afraid that he would try to run away. And we didn’t want that after our brilliant rescue efforts. But the day came when we knew it was time to let him run with the outdoor pack. We came home to the back half of our couch being strewn all over the house. Literally, our couch was missing half of the back. Stuffing, boards, fabric…everything. We weren’t angry, just shocked, but we knew it was time to turn him outside.

He took to the pack with Maggie and Honey very quickly. He would visit the other neighborhoods, but would always return. Maggie and Honey ended up going to live with other families for various reasons, but Bleaux was our ranch dog. He was dependable. He would always notify us of visitors even before we could see them down the driveway. He would follow Norma to and from her home and patiently wait to make sure she made it inside. He would keep the ranch free of snakes and other vermin. He even got along well with newcomers Beaux and Kitty Kitty. And of course he would be rewarded with treats and a lot of love. He would have been content with all day tummy rubs.

In his years at Hawk’s Nest Ranch in Georgetown, he had many adventures. He was hit by a car, thus making his tail pretty useless. He ended up stinking beyond belief after rustling through garbage and who knows what. No one wanted to go near him, and all he wanted was someone to scratch his belly. He was even caught in a coyote trap for several days. This was the most harrowing of ordeals because we couldn’t find him and of course tried to drive our minds away from thinking the worst. But he persevered through all his adventures, and when Dad and Gigi retired to Leakey, Bleaux went with them. Heck, he deserved it.

Out at the new ranch, he grew fat and happy. Of course he had friends like Beaux and Poofy and Pea. In the beginning, he would tag along wherever anyone went. He would keep Gigi aware of snakes while she worked in the yard. He would keep Dad company as he worked out on the ranch. Whenever anyone came to visit, he still notified the family of their arrival. And of course, he and Beaux would mark every single tire of every vehicle that came on the property. If you drove it there, then it was his. If you were one of the people who just liked to wander around the ranch in the early morning or even the afternoon, Bleaux was content to follow and sack out in any shade near you. All he would hope for was a tummy rub every now and then.

As he got older, he got slower. He would still try to follow, but wouldn’t make it as far as the destination, but you would find him resting in the shade along the way, usually in the barn. He still loved his tummy rubs. His hearing faded and so did his eyesight, but he was still fat and happy and very much loved. He passed in his sleep with a tummy full of dinner. Still fat and happy, and still loved.

Dad and Gigi chose to bury him at the ranch and surrounded him with a border of rocks in the shape of a heart. That is where he is now, in our hearts. Still fat….still happy….but most definitely loved.

So it always seems like I’m a weekend behind. It’s just been go, go, go. I’m not complaining because being on the go is a good thing. But I do need to remember to breathe. It’s kind of like on those workout videos where the instructor reminds you to breathe. (You know that someone at one time forgot to, so they have to remind everyone.)

So last weekend was filled with the union of two of my wonderful friends. Ray and Mandy joined each other on life’s road.  I had the privilege of capturing those moments for them. The wedding was casual and they were surrounded by family with an immense amount of love. It was a small ceremony, but beautiful and unique, just like the bride and groom. The wedding was UT themed (and I would like to take a few second to apologize to the happy couple on behalf of the Texas Longhorns, who provided a losing game as a wedding present. Coulda been better, guys.)

The bride and I started our adventure at Selma’s International for a stunning hairstyle by Kerem Ozen and even Selma herself. We also learned the secret to a fabu hairstyle…ready ladies…get your pens and paper out….bobby pins! Lots and lots of bobby pins. But Mandy’s hair was gorgeous.

The officiant was a dear friend who donned a dapper top hat and UT gear, even though he’s an A&M Alum. You conducted a wonderful ceremony, Jim. You added your own flair, making that much more special.

The bride and groom prepared their own heartfelt vows, and read them off a Kindle.Very appropriate!

Even though the ceremony was short, it was beautiful and fun. It was definitely a reflection of the bride and groom, which is what any wedding should be. It is a day to be remembered. A day for a man to look at a woman with love in his eyes, and for that woman to look F-I-E-R-C-E. (OK – for those that know me I’m an America’s Next Top Model junkie so fierce had to be in this post. And doesn’t Mandy look fierce. And you can tell that Ray just adores the new Mrs. Lopez.)

I hope that I captured all the moments you wanted and more. I did have a great time, at the reception, hanging out with friends, and enjoyed meeting your families and friends. You guys are loved by so many. Here’s to you on your journey to this point and from here forward. May love always be in your hearts and your lives.

So as I promised this post will have pictures of the Ranch Rodeo, but before that I have to tell you about our “Pet”. In a previous post in June I mentioned our friend who lives in the driver’s side mirror of my car. Butters is what Munchkin named him. He’s a friend of an eight-legged variety. Obviously, he’s been there a while if I first posted about him in June. Almost every morning he makes a web from the mirror to the car window. Sometimes there are small mosquitoes that became his morning meal.

Well….most mornings I take Munchkin to school and Butters is usually hanging out on his web or behind the mirror doing whatever it is that spiders do when they are in their homes. We get halfway to school and he crawls out and begins taking down his web. Now, I’ve never seen a spider take down their web. This spider will climb up the main lines and actually disconnect the interconnecting lines and roll them into a ball that he carries behind the mirror. He will do this no matter if I’m going 20 mph or 45 mph. I tell you he’s either crazy or a daredevil. Since he’s been living there so long and he’s now a small part of our family, I have started taking the web down if I plan on going outside the neighborhood where I would drive faster. I don’t want him falling off. He’s interesting and frankly, Munchkin likes him. I do, too. For a while there in August, I didn’t see him very often, but now that it’s getting cooler he comes out almost every day.

So here’s what he looks like.

And this is him actually taking down some of his web.

Now that I’ve given some of you the heebie jeebies, let’s move on to the Chisholm Trail Ranch Rodeo pictures. If you haven’t gone, I do suggest you go because it is a good time. And El Patron actually served wine and margaritas! I stuck with water, but they were tempting.

Mugging: Contestants wrestle a cow to the ground and tie three legs together to stay bound for 6 seconds.

Roping is a big part of every event.

The horses know their jobs.

Wild cow milking: The cowboys must catch a wild cow and milk it into a beer bottle.

The final event was roping a cow and loading it into a trailer. This was funny because after the cow was in the trailer, the cowboys had to get into the truck (2 in the bed and 2 in the cab). There was honking, and one team even squeezed all 4 teammates into the cab.

Like I said, it was fun and if you have a chance to go to a ranch rodeo, I highly recommend it.

So last weekend was a busy weekend. Saturday Munchkin and I went to the Chisholm Trail Cattle Drive. After watching the longhorns lope up and down the river bank, we headed over to the rodeo arena for the Ranch Rodeo. Quite an interesting and entertaining event, if I do say so. There was mugging, branding, wild cow milking and corralling. She laughed, I laughed. At first I suggested that our seats were not the best. (We were sitting front row just off of center arena.) I was afraid that the action would be closer to the other end of the arena. Boy was I wrong. There were cows and cowboys and horses scattering all around right in front of us. I did take pictures and will post some shortly.

The next day after work, I went to photograph a dear friend’s new granddaughter.  It was my first newborn session, so I was extremely nervous. I had everything from a space heater to a bean bag to fabric. I even made a hat and some cocoons. Little Miss A was such a sweet baby. She slept most of the time. The only time she got upset was because I didn’t let her fall deep enough back into sleep before posing her. So we took a few minutes and she drifted off. I got some great shots and had a super hard time deciding on the sneak peek for this one. Even though it’s not really a sneak because her gallery is already up. Thank you so much GG for sharing your new little diva granddaughter with me.

Here she is in all her sweetness.

Sorry about the title. Pop songs playing on Nick. Munchkin’s still up. Really…uhhhhh…OK fine. Even if she wasn’t up I would still probably be watching it. Why do these kids channels suck you in? You want to turn it off, but for some reason you just can’t. You don’t want to bob your head to the beat, but you find that it has a mind of it’s own when the drums thump. Should I know the words to the songs? NO. Do I? Well…since I’m being open, I must say that I do know a few of them. Her Dad has a few on his computer. If you ask him, he’ll probably tell you that they are for Munchkin to listen to, but I can definitely say that I have heard them eminating from the office when she wasn’t home. They’re catchy. And some of the shows actually have a good message to them.

But I digress from my original reason for posting today. I have wonderful news for those of you with mobile devices such as iPhone, iPod touch, Android, Opera Mini, Palm Pre and BlackBerry Storm. The blog is now transformed into a more compatible format for these types of devices. You still have the option to view the website as normal (you can turn mobile on and off in the footer of the site). You can see all the pictures in the blog posts and also leave comments while in mobile view. Bookmark it today!

Finally, and update on the first week of school. 2nd grade seems to be Munchkin’s cup ‘o tea so far. She’s been doing all her homework as soon as she gets home – including reading for 20 minutes. She also finishes up her chores and then settles down to whatever she fancies (coloring, a snack, reading, playing cards, DS, Wii, trampoline, playing with the pups – you get it). She had great behavior all week! Now on to another great week! I hope everyone else had a great first week.

I can’t believe that there are only 2 days left before school starts back up. I took Munchkin to meet her teacher last night. I think she likes her from the first impression. We’ll see how it goes as the year progresses (like when there’s actual homework assigned). I know that we should start working on picking out a first day outfit. There is definitely going to be some back and forth and compromise. If today was any precurser, then it should be an intresting morning come Monday. Today we were going to a movie and lunch. Munchkin came out in a t-shirt and jeans about an inch to an inch and a half too short and shoes that should have been worn with socks, but no socks present. We spent 15 minutes discussing how the pants were too short and either 1) needed to be thrown away, or 2) needed to be turned into capri’s or shorts. For some unknown reason the girl won’t wear shorts. She’s a skirt and jeans kinda girl. Eventually we found some capris and flip flops and headed out.

Can I just say that I like Nanny McPhee. I liked the first movie and I like the second movie. I thought that the first movie was a smidge better than the second, but still enjoyable. I also like the fact that Emma Thompson was the writer for both films. Nothing like a writer to play their own character. No spoilers here, just if you liked the first one, then you will probably enjoy the second, so go see it.

Now it’s time to just relax for tonight. Tomorrow is full of a baby shower for a friend’s daughter. (Picture opportunities). And work on Sunday and then the nightly struggle of getting back on schedule for school. Then the big day Monday! If I don’t see you until then, everyone have a super weekend.

Well, we spent the last week at the ranch. I must say that it was a much needed rest, and I was sad to come home, but glad in the same breath because we came home to our other two babies. I did miss them, even though Ms. Grace has been nothing but a ball of gassiness. We’re planning another trip out there in December, but will probably hopefully make another weekend trip out there before then. We left Munchkin out there for the next 5 weeks. I’m not missing her completely, yet, but I’m sure I will in the coming weeks. I’m sure she’ll come home about 3-6 inches taller and tanner (not that she can get much more tan with her olive, Italian skin). I set her email up on her phone so she can send quickly without logging onto her computer. I’ve already had one email with the subject line “Houdy”. LOL.

We were supposed to go out for the 4th of July Rodeo. Unfortunately, due to the weather, the rodeo was canceled. They did have the parade, but not without sporadic showers. The kids scored tons of candy and the adults got t-shirts and koozies. We headed down to the craft fair downtown after the parade. Dad had a custom cutting board made for Hubster and surprised him with it at the vendor’s booth. I’m sure that day we probably saw most of the 387 population of the small town while we were there that afternoon. That night the girls lit sparklers. Munchkin held her ears as the sparkler dwindled down because she thought it was going to explode or pop in some way. I couldn’t help but laugh.

When we go out, I love taking pictures of the animals and various flowers and other plants out there.

Sometimes I see what I can find in the barn.

If I am lucky enough, I get to snap a quick picture or two of Munchkin.

We were going to head back on Thursday so Hubster could do payroll for work, but he did it remotely, so we ended up staying until Saturday morning. We wanted a day to recoup. Hubster tackled the lawn while I worked on the dryer (he stuck his shoes in there and they scuffed the inside all to heck) and the shower door (gotta love hard water). I also worked on the business a bit. I updated the background image to the blogsite because Hubster wasn’t too fond of the watermelon colored polka dots. To be honest, I wasn’t either. I wanted something a little edgier, but wasn’t sure what to do at the time. I think I’m happy for now.

I also set up a Newsletter Signup. I hope to be able to send out newsletters regularly. If you want to sign up for our newsletter, go here and enter your email.

Stay tuned for more updates!

Recently we’ve had visitors of an eight-legged variety outside our house. Both vehicles have inhabitants either on wheel wells or side mirrors. Butters lives behind my side mirror. Almost every morning he makes a web and Munchkin and I look at it when we get in the car to head off to camp.

On our way back into the house the other night, we noticed some more “friends” camping out on our palm.

This hairy little dude was just hanging out, surfing the leaf that was waving in the wind.

On a close leaf, we found these:

Unfortunately, they’re not there today. I don’t know if they hatched, were eaten (we do have lizards who live in the palm too), or just blew away. A little further up the same leaf we saw this teeny, tiny young lady. (I’m assuming the mother to the above eggs?????)

There are more friends out there. Maybe this coming weekend we’ll go out and take a closer look. What’s in your front yard?