...Meanwhile, back at the ranch.

I've been really lax in keeping this updated. I don't know if anyone reads it, since no one comments, but I'm sorry, in any case.

Here's a nice photo of the girls. This was taken by their babysitter for some contest.

We've been extraordinarily busy lately. We are remodeling the kitchen (all new cabinets) and we've finished putting saltillo tile in the house. Finally, six years later, we have the house where we want it. We've vowed that the next house we have we will improve first so that we can enjoy the fruits of our labors.

I'm looking for a job in San Antonio, Texas. Soon (hopefully) our home improvements will result in a quick, profitable sale, and we will emigrate to Texas. I have a couple of good leads on jobs. I hope to hear any day now.

Rio Grande Zoo

I went to a conference held in Albuquerque, NM. During some free time, I visited the Rio Grande Zoo. It's pretty nice - lots of different animals, nice displays. I spent about 4 hours there. My favorite is the chimp, who brought over a nice pile of poop to smear on the window. Then she ate it. Yum.

St. Patrick's Day Parade

Gabi, Uri, and Sonya await the parade floats. Uri is hiding.

There were some really good floats. Unfortunately, I had Gabi on my shoulders most of the time, so I don't have any other photos.

We had a great time watching the parade. The weather was pleasant, but a little windy. I didn't think the parade was quite as good as in years past. None of the Irish dance schools performed in costume - they just wore t-shirts and shorts. We walked around the festival grounds for a few minutes, but it was very busy and we were hungry. We went home, ate, and took naps.

While trying to sleep, I kept hearing an odd scraping sound. Later, I went outside to look and discovered the high winds were starting to peel up the roof! Sonya and I quickly weighed it down until we could fix it.

Gabi celebrates the big win!

This is Mulan, our latest chicken. She is a Silkie. They do not have functioning barbicels on their feathers, so it is like they are covered in down. She is smaller than our other two, so she will no doubt be at the bottom of the pecking order.

Pony Rides!

After the holiday hoo-haa died down, we threw a 4th Birthday party for Uriel and we hired ponies! They rode & rode & rode. Gabi would have ridden until she fell asleep.

The Frye's Rockin' New Year's Eve Bash.

Uriel & Gabriel celebrating at the Frye's New Year's Eve Party. We didn't make it anywhere near midnight, but we had Fun!