THUNDER STORM!

So this morning I awoke with quite a start! The entire house was shaking! It was still pitch black outside so I knew it had to be pretty early, but then I remembered that Ken had already left, so it was alteast 5am. Again the whole house rattled and was momentarily lit up with a flash! So I flew out of bed, finally realizing what was going on and that i was missing one of the famous Texas thunderstorms everyone has been telling me about! I got to the window in the front room just in time to see another huge flash of lightning, and find out that it was actually 8am! WOW it was still as dark as midnight with the heavy cloud cover! It was crazy! I must have caught just the tail end of the storm and slept through most of it because it didn't last much longer, but what I did see and FEEL was incredible! I have never experienced thunder like that before! It was POWERFUL! And honestly the slightest bit scary too! One of the rumbles went on and on for almost a full minute! HOW CRAZY IS THAT!? It looks like its going to be a wet and cold day in West Texas!

VICTORY!!

After MANY tedious hours of painting I have finally finished the front room, hallway, and our bedroom! Atleast the walls that is :) Here are a few glorious before and after pictures.... HOWEVER do keep in mind that I am no photographer, so the quality could probably be better, but you're stuck with what I got! ;)

Front door entrance before...

And after....

Hallway, I didn't get a before..... sorry....

Views of the front room before....

And the front room after!!




Here are a couple pictures of the bedroom, once again no befores..... sorry I thought I was going to paint the kitchen next, so I forgot to get the befores for this room! But the walls were the same as the front room, so use your imagination!!

As you can see all the baseboards, windowsills, and doorframes are pretty nasty, so i still have plenty to do...... but I'm pretty proud of what I've done so far so I just thought I would share! OH plus I even patched a hole in our bedroom wall! All by myself!! That was pretty fun! I'm learning all kinds of new stuff! Anyway I've still got 4 rooms to go so its a work in a progress!!

HOME IMPROVEMENT

So I've been working HARD to make our little home feel like its "ours". Ken has been working nights so I have A LOT of time to myself, and lately I have been spending it painting! I didn't realize just how much work goes into painting a room, ESPECIALLY a room that was not given ANY TLC from the previous tenants....

I've been working on the living room and one wall I painted yesterday had, and I'm not exaggerating, OVER 20 nail holes! And let me just tell you, our house is not that big :) There is not one wall in this house that can justifiably have 20 nail holes! WOW! Anyway, I'm becoming a PRO at spackling! haha I felt so good when Ken got up and checked my work only to tell me that I had ACTUALLY done a really nice job, and that it didn't even look like our house! And he REALLY IS a pro at that stuff! Unfortunately i ran out of paint with one wall and a tiny hallway left..... But I can't complain, I found the paint at walmart for 12 BUCKS! It was mis-mixed and marked down 50%!! Thank you to the walmart employee that screwed up or the customer that was not satisfied with this beautiful shade of GREEN that now adorns my living room! :) I guess I'll have to have some mixed, but I still saved and that is whats important!!

Now, while I'm waiting to be able to buy some more paint :) I'll be moving on to the KITCHEN! Ken procured some great yellow paint :) So I'm just trying to decide exactly what I want to do.... Paint the walls or cupboards or a mix of both.... Oh decisions! When everything is finished I will definitely post some pics so you can all see my HARD WORK!!

OH on a side note, our crazy dogs do the darndest things! Maddie is loving our new neighborhood, especially when she digs out of the yard and gets to experience it first hand.....Well we can't have her just roaming all the time, and our landlord promised to bring by some new fence planks so we can fix the problem areas, but he won't be able to get here for a couple days so we have had to block the pups into our little side yard for a few days. Well it didn't take long for them to get bored and start digging holes (punishable by a smacked behind and a heated lecture from Ken). Well I went out to feed them the other day and I found that they had dug a hole, and in order to hide it from us dumped their food into it and covered it with a blanket! Or MAYBE they just wanted to stockpile their food for later.... WHO KNOWS! :) Oh those dogs!

Well thats all for now! Hope everyone has a great day!

rain + two dogs = 1 very dirty kitchen floor.

The last week here in texas has been INCREDIBLE! It was 75+ degrees almost all week! UNTIL today.... It rained all night and its been raining all day, which is very unfortunate for my kitchen floor!! Obviously Maddie and Harley did NOT heed my warning!!

And this was just the beginning! My entire kitchen floor was covered in paw prints! It was cute for a second..... But ONLY 1 second :)

Home!

Ok so obviously this is not a picture of our house, but I had to put it up! This is what ken looks like when he gets home from work!! DIRTY and TIRED! And these are even his clean clothes! The ones he wears to and from the rig but not actually while working!

Our Shed, which Ken loves

The backyard, which the Pups love!

And the front view! Its so nice to have our own place and space! I even planted some flowers and a couple vegetables in our little flower garden yesterday! We'll see how my first foray into gardening goes :)

Pictures FINALLY!

WE LOVE THE SUSHINE! Ken isn't allowed to have his famous beard at work, but it doesn't take long for it to grow back in! :)

Our handsome growing pups! They are getting so good! Well, atleast for the most part :)

This is what Kens rig looks like. He has recently been promoted to Motors, so he stays on the ground for the most part, but the company seems to think he has the perfect physique to be promoted to Derriks, so he has been training a little here and there up on the very top!

On one of my visits we stopped at the most enormous playground I have ever seen, from a distance it looked like a real castle, so we had to check it out. It was great, and of course they had to have a VERY large tribute to the great state of Texas :)

The Lubbock Temple: It is tiny tiny, but very beautiful! I was told that it was only built about 6 years ago, and before that you had to travel all the way to Dallas to go to a temple which is definitely a whole day trip, so I feel blessed to be here now when the temple is so accessible.

This is our lovely church building! For those of you familiar with Borah High School, it is a little smaller then the seminary building there :) We have a branch of about 15-20 members here in Brownfield and I absolutely LOVE it! It is a serious change from the massive wards in Idaho and Utah, but the members here are really amazing! There is actually only 1 other couple that lives in Brownfield and not the surrounding areas, and when Ken got sick and needed a blessing this sweet elderly couple (80+) came to our rescue! It was wonderful!

Happy New Year!

So last semester flew by, and who are we kidding, LAST YEAR flew by! So many changes have been taking place in our little family! It was a crazy year and yet I have a feeling that 2010 is going to be even MORE crazy!

Ken-

Ken took a job with Patterson UTI near Lubbock Tx in the beginning of December. He is working on the oil riggs out in the middle of nowhere :) He says it is the hardest job he has ever had, but he has never felt like he has had a more fufilling job! He comes home stinky and COVERED in dirt and grease, but he LOVES it! Its a great job and I'm so proud of him!!!

Maddie and Harley-

Our little pups are no longer LITTLE, in fact they are HUGE!!!! Maddie is as sweet and gentle as ever, and Harley has really sprouted up! Well actually she has really sprouted OUT :) She is bigger than maddie in every way except height, but I'm sure she will pass her here soon. Both the pups went to Texas with Ken and they are loving having a big yard and warm weather to play in! I miss my dogs! They are my babies and I can't wait to have them back!!!

Allison-

I'm still in Pocatello finishing up the semester before I go spend the summer with Ken. Its hard not having him here, but I'm blessed with GREAT sisters and friends here that keep me sane :) I did have the chance to go spend a weekend with Ken and the pups in Lubbock and it was so fun! It was crazy to be able to see for miles and not see one mountain or even hill, but Lubbock was beautiful and reminded me a little bit of a very flat Boise! Besides who could complain about wearing a t-shirt and shorts in January!! I'm so excited to be able to go down and just be with my wonderful husband again!!

P.S. PICTURES COMING SOON..... Me being my forgetful self left the brand new camera and all its photos in Texas with Ken, so he will send it back to me and I'll get them posted!

All in all things are going well! We are blessed to have such wonderful family and friends that have helped keep us afloat this last year, we love you all and wish you the very best for the new year!