Monday

Hunting and a new poocher

Well, we have had an exciting few weeks in the Eckley household!! From a trip to Topeka, Kansas over thanksgiving and coming home to get a new pooch and the boys taking off to go hunting for their first time together...and the arrival of the annual Christmas tree...it has been a whirlwind of excitement here these last few days!

First, let me begin with telling you about the new puppy in our lives. His name is Morgan. As it turned out, Brent has been wanting a lab for a long time, but it just never seemed like a good time to get one and frankly, I was not sure that I wanted to have another pooch in the house. BUT, that being said~ I finally broke down and decided that we would get one. After sometime trying to locate one I ran across an ad on craigslist that a lady had put on there saying that she had found 3 abandoned lab puppies and she could not keep them...but did not want them to go to the humane society either. (I don't blame her!!) So, off to Gholson the girls and I went. For those who do not know~ Gholson is a three horse town in the middle of no-where about 25 or 30 minutes from here. We finally found the house, and there they were...the puppies. As is my habit, I prayed about it and asked God to lead me to dog. And did He. Morgan is the cutest, naughtiest little sweet lab I have ever seen. He wants so badly to play with Max~ but Max is not having any of that. So, Morgan fills his days with confescating people's things like...shoes, pants, socks, lissa's bra...does not matter. He will take whatever he can get his little teeth on and he drags it all to his bed. He;s like a little pirate collecting his treasures! LOL And when he is not doing that, he gets himself into trouble pulling lights off the Christmas tree!! (Hence the naughty reference.)





This year being so full of everything else that is going on, I ended up having to go and pick out a tree by myself!! Far gone are the days when the boys would trek up into the Colorado mountains to search out the perfect family Christmas tree. We have now been reduced to a trip to home depot to check out the trees that have been trucked in from who-knows-where... But~ I met the most awesome man at home depot~ his name was Shawn~ and he helped me get the perfect tree. And for a 4 minute drive and $24.00, I found us this beauty...



To round out the story telling for the day~ we have a hunting trip! This was the first time that Brent and Mike have gone hunting together. Mike got his first gun just a couple of weeks ago. My 13 year old is now the proud owner of a Remington 770 .243. Not sure what all that means, other than I know it meant 400 bucks at the cash register! :) After weeks of trips back and forth to the store to find the right gun, and blind and camo gear and all the odds and ends that you could possibly need, my men were off and running Saturday morning for the most fun weekend ever... Or that is what I am calling it. They were all dressed out in their camo gear, walked about 10 miles a day and slept in 25 degree weather!! Made me real glad that I was at home asleep in my own bed with the heat on!! They did not get a deer this time~ but they did have one heck of a father-son weekend...and that is what is most important!



Thanksgiving in Topeka!

We just got back from an awesome trip to see one set of Brent's parents for Thanksgiving! We drove up to Topeka on Wednesday afternoon/ evening. Thursday was so much fun!! The girls and I helped Grandma prepare the turkey and get all the food together so we could have a fabulous meal with our family.

One would think that things were going on all smooth until 2am Friday morning when a fire broke out in a space heater!! But then again we had quite a time when Andrea and I went out shopping at 4am!! She got woke up to me telling her that there had been a fire~ but that everyone was OK. We were so lucky~ neither the carpet or the wall caught on fire...just the heater!

When we were out and about we got to see people acting not so joyful. Andrea thought that she was going to get beat down by some people in line for a tv and I got rammed in the bum by a lady who was trying to get to a portable dvd player! That is right...rammed over a 50 dollar dvd player...not hardly worth it if you ask me.

We did get some great stuff and had an awesome time running around together. After a little breakfast we went back to the house to open presents with Lissa for her birthday. MY BABY is now in double digits! That's right...the little one is 10 years old. Happy Birthday to you~ Lissi Loo!!

(We also celebrated another birthday this week~ our poocher Max turned 6!)

The girls and I had a most incredible experience with their grandma while we were in Topeka also. We had a tea party with her. All of us got dressed up and drank out of fine china. Grandma had purchased several teas we could try and some yummy special cookies. It was really incredible, and to top it off we read the first chapter of the book Hinds Feet on High Places. It is a shaping up to be an amazing book, and the girls and I are going to finish it at home.

Other than that, the kids got a special treat because it snowed Saturday before we left! How awesome is that?? The kids really wanted to see some snow, and they got to go out and play in it before we left.

We took lots of great pics while we were there~ although I noticed when we got back that there weren't any of Mike...How do these things happen??? Sorry dude!


A near miss with the car slash mailbox!


Notice all the backed up traffic on the other side of the street...we were so glad to be going the other way!


The girls looking dazed and confused in the truck~ only 2 hours into a 10 hour drive!


Even Maxie got to go to Topeka!


My bro-in-law Al in his stylin' work uniform.


Daddy and Daughter.


So many tea cups


How can I possibly choose?


Pretty Ladies!


One of my Gram's cups.




A little light reading...



Early Christmas presents.


Lights!