Steer shows coming!

This past weekend we spent several hours each day working with the whipper-snappers steers. They have a show next week (first of the year) and we are getting ready. They don't want to walk much yet so we tied them to the back of the pick-up and drove circles (mind-numbingly slow circles) around the pasture with each.
After some time doing this they got pretty good at following along.

Bub looks good here in his basketball shirt, swim trunks and boots don't he?

They got brushed after each round of the pasture as well.

Seems real happy don't they?

This one is Bub's. He did a little better than Sissy's.

It was a good day for all involved. Wish us luck next week.

Fig preserves!

Papa and Mimi came over to the house last week and Mimi and the Mrs. were out gallivanting and found a fig tree. So they picked some and brought them home and made fig preserves. Papa and Mimi must have been the ones that knew how this was done because in 17 years of wedded bliss this is the first I recall of homemade fig preserves.
They cooked up nicely...

...and were delicious!

The last (I swear) of the Colorado vacation!

OK, so apparently there is a Mt. Baker in Colorado and this is it! It's the taller peak on the left. There is no known information that would link our Baker family to this mountain but hey, there is no info NOT linking it , so we'll claim it! Kinda Purty ain't it?
This is Cassidy and Sarah. They are first cousins to each other. They are the off-spring of the Mrs. 1st cousins.

Cassidy can lick her elbow. I don't know why she knows that or why we needed to see it, but I bet you can't lick your elbow. I can't.

Here is clan Daniel standing in the Colorado river.

Here we're about to go in.

Mimi, Faith and me. It's cold in the mornings in Colorado.

Me and the Mrs, my pesky sister-in-law and her husband.

Apparently we were fascinated with the river.

This is Kevin. Remember him from the last post. He is quite the dancer. Look at those moves.

Whipper-snappers at the sign. How many pics are there of kids in front of signs?

Sissy and Mimi.

We found this really cool sand beach at Grand Lake on our last day there. We hung out there all day. It was really cool.

Dannette and John are avid bikers and brought them along. The whipper-snappers thought that was cool. Bub goes for a ride.

Ken and Scoot and their whipper-snappers, all grown up.

Whipper-snappers riding motorcycles.

Me and the Mrs.

Michelle and Ken.

Pesky aunt Nettie and Sister.

Pesky aunt Nettie and Sissy.

Papa cooks breakfast. Papa cooks breakfast all the time, no matter where he is.

and eats grass?

What's in those trees?

Papa and Mimi point at Baker mountain and claims it as their own!

Sonja and Russ. Brother and sister. The Mrs. 1st cousins.

Look, another sign. Let's throw some whipper-snappers in front of it and take pictures. People will come from miles and miles to snap photo's... Sorry.

Look familiar? Anybody besides me think Abby Road?

My precious.

Another river? What's the deal? Don't we have rivers in Texas? Why?

Still more Colorado vacation (I promise it's over soon)

Every 3 years we get together with the Mrs.' fathers side of the family for a reunion and a trip. This is the Baker family reunion. These people are absolutely insane but loads of fun. This is the first cousins. The Mrs. is one of these.
This is the first generation out-laws. Out-laws are folks who marry into the family and are not born in. These are the really nutty folks who had a choice and joined anyway. Above here is the Mrs. mother.

This is generation number 4. Great-grand kids of Charlie and Beulah Baker. The whipper-snappers are part of this generation.

Generation 3 out-laws. It was a sparse group this year. Definitely the coolest faction of the family. And the best looking.

Fred and Anna and their great-grand daughter, Haley. She would be the first (I think) of generation #5

This crazy-nutty family also likes to sing, do skits and sing Karaoke when they get together. This is Jackson and Cassidy. They are brother and sister. Kinda the Donny and Marie of the reunion.

Clan Daniel girls sing a song...and dance!

Dad sings the nifty-fifty United States.

I'm out of order here. This is generation 2 and spouses. The 4 original siblings and their spouse's.

John and Sonja. They are way cool. The kind of people you would want as neighbors (if you lived in North Carolina which is were they live).

This is Kevin. Successful. Single (ladies). And can sing both the male and female parts to Summer Nights with conviction. He also does a mean Hank Hill.

Me and the whipper-snappers singing Bohemian Rhapsody. Don't ask why my kids know this word for word.

My father-in-law....??????

The Mrs. and her sister.

Mad-hatters perform.

The whole Hee-Haw gang!