this is where i work!

This is the Bickle Pavilion at Hays Medical Center. Nice huh? I like this place!

sunrise/sunset

you should see the sunrise/sunset events here in Kansas! they are incredible! i just don't get tired of seeing them! if only it weren't so blasted hot!

Mei Mei's ride

This is my preferred method of travel. Stylin' and profilin' but, where are my cool shade that gramma got for me?!

At The Mustang Restaurant in McCracken

Yup, eat here all the time! I like McCracken! Great food and great people! They treat me well here. I'll be mutton bustin' soon!

mmmm! Macaroni!

Although I have become somewhat picky with my food, there are some basic things that I will always love, food puffs such as Cheerios and macaroni with cheese! My daddy has taught me well! I love food.

a cat's life...

This is Dander. He loves to sleep in these locals... Cats are weird.

our adoptive dog...

Yes, this is the great Maple! Doesn't really like the outdoors or being left alone but she sure has adapted well to the inner sanctum of the Morales circus! She is not too sure about our cats either... She'll stalk them for hours and then - BARK! and run away fast! Too funny. Maple, you're O.K.

Leaf, you will be sorely missed!

Leaf, our friend, mentor, teacher and all around great gal, is leaving for China pretty soon... She has finished her thesis and will turn it in this week. There are a few steps that need to happen before it is all finalized but it is as good as done. Jake and Amy are about to embark on their journey and Leaf will probably be gone when they arrive... I have a great sadness weighing down on me for it. Joy will be here soon though! Leaf will get updates and pictures, for sure! We love you!

meet Hershey!

This is the newest addition to our crazy family! This is Hershey, a long haired mini Dachshund! This young dog is a riot! He is very well behaved though, for a 3 month old!

walking update!

So here is the proof! I can't post any video but I snapped a few pictures! This girl is a hoot! She is playing with Dallas right now, making her laugh and dance...

The Cakes Walketh!!!

So I am told! Mei Mei has officially started walking yesterday! For the past two weeks or so, Cakes has 'walked' between two people, more like a controlled forward walk/fall thing. She always wants to hold on to two fingers and then one finger to walk. Kim also bought a small walker/car thing for her to push and walk with. She loves to walk behind our Rainbow vacuum cleaner or her high chair or even a plastic cloths bin across the linoleum. Yesterday she broke through though and walked on her own. How awesome is that? Dallas said that she took about three steps in the kitchen, realized what she was doing and sat down. A little later though, she walked around the living room without holding on to anything! I wish that I would've been there! Dallas, the ever helpful older brother always pushes her to walk as much as possible and it is paying off! I'm afraid that he will have a permanent hump on his back as a result though! That child is getting way too tall. He will turn out to be the tall, hulking, muscle bound good looking older brother whom will look over and watch out for his petite, svelte, good looking younger sister. Future boyfriends beware! This will be great.

Rodeo Queens

Rodeo Queens
Originally uploaded by KDCNMorales.

This was the only time that one could actually see who they were and what they looked like in full Rodeo Queen regalia! In the ring, they rode full tilt around the dang place! What was that all about? Ride slowly woman! At least they looked good doing it! They make it look sooo easy.

Headed to town!

Headed to town!
Originally uploaded by KDCNMorales.

Isn't this great? The world is mine! Now take me to the rodeo!

Rodeo Day and Birthday Bash!

Rodeo Day and Birthday Bash!
Originally uploaded by KDCNMorales.

What an awesome day! It could not have gone any better! Thanks to all who came! They came, they saw AND some even rode the horse! What a day... If only I could upload all of the pictures and video clips that I took! I just HAVE to document everything that Mei Mei does (or says!). She is absolutely the cutest and best baby that I have ever seen! Not that I am biased or anything! I have the best kids in the world! I am so lucky/blessed!



I got up very late today! Actually, Dallas and Mei Mei came and woke me up around 11 in the morning! Hello! Loved the wake up call kids! Lounged around for a bit, watched Mei Mei do her thing, cleaned up in anticipation of the soon to arrive guests and read some also. So far so good. Jake and the gang soon arrived and we all migrated outside to do some show and tell as they hadn't seen our farm yet! Kim then saddled up Legend and took most of our guests on a ride. Leaf made it look like she'd been on a horse before! Easy, huh? They all had a good time. Time to eat! There was so much food! It was all great! Slowly we then headed over to the rodeo grounds to mingle and watch the festivities. We missed the kids mutton bustin show though! Kids and sheep... Too funny. My only complaint about the whole event was that 1) it was dusty and 2) the lady beside me kept complaining about not being able to see. She would yell at whoever was standing at the fence to sit or get away. "Oh no. This

isn't gonna work" she would say. What a bitch she was! It didn't help that her two friends would egg her on. Almost ruined my party! We watched calf and steer roping with both men and women and teams. Bronco and bull riding also. Crazy cowboys. Only one kid got stomped on hard though and he turned out O.K. They are one tough bunch. I have a coworker whose brother rides the KPRA rodeo circuit too. I wish that I could've recognized him. Anyway, we all left close to 11P.M. but Mei Mei and Isaac weren't about to go to sleep any time soon though! They just kept on playing after we got home. I hope they sleep till noon! We all had a wonderful time. It was an excellent day! Thank you all for making it great!

Tight jeans everywhere!

Do you like cowboys and cowgirls? Well, maybe not YOU but a rodeo is the place to see lots of young cowpokes doin' their thing! Kim and I helped with vending for a couple hours and had a good time doing that. We went on a short ride with Isa and the cart around McCracken and the rodeo grounds mid afternoon and that was very pleasurable as the weather was perfect! I love this lack of humidity thing! I didn't get any pictures tonight but I will tomorrow. Mei Mei and Dallas were having a grand time! Singin' and dancin' to the tunes! What fun! Gotta go to bed. I'll have some icecream, read a book, unwind and hopefully fall asleep in an hour or two... It's my birthday today! It'll be a great day!

Thursday...

Well, the McCracken rodeo has started! I couldn't upload any pictures as I was having DSL problems and so was the FLICKR website. I'll post some later. This is gonna be a busy weekend as we are also going to help out at the rodeo AND it's my birthday this Saturday! Fun, huh? We will enter Mei Mei in the 'mutton bustin' competition soon! In like 3 or 4 years! In the meantime, she'll have her own miniature horse to ride. We'll get a little cart for it too! I was going to say something rather profound and life altering but I forgot... Must not have been so important.

stay tuned...

What a day! No pictures though...

Kim was called to work this morning at 0800 though she was scheduled to go at noon. I should've pulled the camera out last night! Idiot... Anywayz! Mei Mei, Dallas and I had a fine day! (Kim is still at work) I cleaned the house somewhat, played with Mei Mei most of the time, fed her, changed her and put her to bed. I wanted to take her to see the fireworks in Hays but I didn't know where my keys were! Too late we discovered them in a box just by where I had left the keys last night! Mei Mei did it! So we brought out the fireworks that I bought and lit them all off in a space of about 5 glorious minutes! I positioned Catarina so that she could view ours as well as those that were going off in McCracken by the townsfolk too! She loved it! She had a big smile, ate Cheerios and swayed to and fro! One of my dogs got lost until a few minutes ago... Sorry girl! Shoulda put you in the basement. I wish that I could've taken some pictures of Catarina's first 4th of July holiday! What a weekend! Next week? Rodeo! Party at my place! THAT should be interesting! Stay tuned!

Oh yes, there is more. Dallas went to the local pool for a few hours, you should see his tan! That is one dark boy. He looks like a local from California! He's a fish, says gramma and I believe it! A friend of Dallas' came by with her mom and asked if they could put their calf in our corral and I acquiesced but the darn thing would stay in the pen! Baby cows can get out of almost anything! So they, after a few hours work, had to move the cow again to another place. We tried! Kim is in charge of next years McCracken Trail Ride! We are also helping at the rodeo this Thursday night! This place is fun! We've met a bunch of the residents here including the dude that owns the water works (he also rented this property for his cattle), the sheriff, a lawyer and others that are involved in this and that and have asked for our help. Yup. Why not. Did I miss anything? Probably. Good night though. Tomorrow I head back to work!

Success!

So the DEEPIMPACT mission was a success early this morning! I would've posted then but I was exhausted! The pictures are incredible! I couldn't log on to the NASA website, I'll try that again now but on the NASA channel, I was watching live and that is the best way to see it! Imagine a satellite intercepting and actually hitting a comet millions of miles away! How awesome is that? The satellite was a two part deal with one part detaching an "impactor" and the other in position to document the event from afar. It went off like a charm! That is incredibly cool! You should see the pictures! Actual pictures of a comet close up! I love astronomy!

Mei Mei woke up this morning around 0530 screaming! Inconsolable! What happened? I couldn't do much but mommy sure did! She is so great! Unfortunately, Kim works today from noon to midnight but was called in at 0800... Unbelievable.

Mei Mei's first concert!

What a busy weekend she's had! Holidays are great! We missed the World Classic Rockers yesterday but caught Blackhawk tonight and Mei Mei absolutely loved it! She stayed up until well after we had put her in the van, in her seat firmly strapped in and headed home (11:15P.M.)! She was bouncin', swayin', laughin' and a jigglin' all night long! She was a hit among those around her! She is such a happy baby, full of life. What's not to love? Let's see how she does fireworks tomorrow! She even had icecream tonight (bad mommy!), loved it too... Dallas and I didn't get to duke it out on the paintball field though! We had the cash, man, we had the cash! To no avail as they had packed out of there early. Wusses. Sorry Big D! Maybe next time. Anyone watching NASA and the DEEP IMPACT mission? Check 'em out at nasa.gov/deepimpact for the details! This is awesome! I hope it works! I'm headed there now... Good night all!

Mei Mei was a hit!

Mei Mei was a hit!
Originally uploaded by KDCNMorales.

Was there any doubt? Look at how cute she is! So alive and full of life! She absolutely LOVES the outdoors! She loved the big trucks too!

Look who was in a parade today!

Look who was in a parade today!
Originally uploaded by KDCNMorales.

What a good looking group! What a beautiful, well behaved horse! No, it is not a mule! She (Isa) is a Norwegian Fjord horse! Draft pony. Warm-blood. Whatever you wanna call her just not a mule! We all had a wonderful time as the weather was just about perfect. You should've seen all the interesting things that paraded down Main! Implements, cars, motorcycles, tractors, mowers, ATV's, this society and that club. Lot's of candy, soda and juice were given away too! Yep, we all had fun.