Uh-huh...I'm here again!!

I'm feeling pretty funny today, so I thought I would continue with a few more tid-bits from Vegas. I know my last post was all over the place. That's just me. I start something, move to something else, go back to the first thing. Can you say A D D? I've got it. I'm bouncing my leg all around while I'm sitting here trying to type. It's just me.

So the funny story. Here are a few pieces of important information you need to know before we start the story.

#1 - Riley does not carry a wallet. He never knows where it is. It could be in about three different pickups, on the dash, in the console, etc.

(One time we stopped for milk at Allsup's on a Sunday afternoon on our way home from the feedyard. Riley goes in for milk and promptly comes right back because he had no money in his pocket. We ended up finding "the wallet" in the pickup with $100+ dollars inside. Nice!)

#2 - I took 2 purses and 2 carry-on bags to Vegas.

a) A regular purse to carry on the way there.

b) A small, across-the-body purse to carry while there.

c) Two carry-on bags to carry all my loot home.

d) Oh and I bought a purse while we were there.

So you have to have your id to get through security, right? At Amarillo, no problem. We put "the wallet" in a bag or purse. I'll admit, I have no idea where we put it.

On the way home, we get to LAS to check our luggage curbside. Keep in mind it's not just us. There are a few people in our group right there with us. They ask for IDs. I get mine out and Riley starts to look for his. Where is "the wallet"? Which bag or purse might it be in cuz goodness knows it isn't in his pocket.

Before I know it, he has our suitcase open throwing my clothes all over the sidewalk trying to find "the wallet". He says, "Tori this is serious. We can't leave here.". I quickly inform him that I can leave because I have my ID. lol

So, "the wallet" was safely in the zipper pocket of one of the carry-on bags. It had probably been there the whole time. lol

Uh....maybe you had to be there.

This photo is from the plane. Pretty cool, eh?

Now on to a phone dump sort of thing. Random pics, but it's our life.

Monkey A doing her thing.

I wrapped up this gift, a Bonnie Concho gift certificate, for my cousin. Kind of proud of my fancy wrapping.

Monkey A again. She can dress herself unless I pick out the clothes and need her to get them on because we are actually going somewhere.

Ketchup on tacos! Riley fell back into his old ways for a minute the other day. Yuck!!

My prissy little cleaning lady!

Viva Las Vegas!!

Riley and I had never been to Vegas.....ever. Dimmitt Veterinary Supply so kindly sent us on a complimentary trip to the National Finals Rodeo this year. We had the privilege of seeing the 8th and 9th rounds. They put us up at the Monte Carlo, which isn't the fanciest place on the strip but was plenty nice to us and right in the middle of everything.

It was so cool.....the rodeo that is!! Oh wait, let me rewind for just a minute. We have never left our children. Scout stayed two nights with Tripp and Hope when Reno was born. We of course saw her during those days. So when we were asked to go I was all over it. Riley was a little hesitant but I was just certain that it was the thing to do. As the time neared, I started to dread it more and more. We had snow and some of our friends weren't able to fly out as planned. I was hoping it would happen to us also. Gigi and Papaw came to stay with the kids here at our house.

I woke up at 6:30 am that first morning we were there almost in tears wondering how I would manage. First thing we did was go out to The South Pointe Casino, which has an arena inside,to watch the World Series Roping. There was some shopping there and at that point I decide that I would

survive.

Next we went to the Convention Center for more Cowboy Christmas. That evening we went to our first ever NFR performance. Tanya Tucker sang the National Anthem and I was wishing Scout could hear it since she is absolutely obsessed with the song. The rodeo is such a cool show. It happens fast and is an "edge of your seat" kind of thing for me.

It was sickening to see Cody Ohl and Tuff Cooper acting like....well lets just say they aren't the guys that I root for.

(So Riley and I both love to eat very much. I have to say I was a little disappointed in the quality and the cost of food. Maybe we just didn't get out to the "great" places. I'm pretty sure we wouldn't have wanted to pay what they cost though. The buffet was fun because I like to try new stuff. On Friday evening we ate at The Brand Steakhouse inside our hotel. The ribeye came with the rib. Pretty funny and I should have brought it home considering what we paid for it, but was afraid I'd get stopped at security. lol)

That first day we talked to Scout two or three times. She was good without us. She and Papaw had built a snowman. Ladies tend to be happy when they are calling the shots, right?

The next evening when we talked to her they had gone to Autumn's ball game and she literally didn't have time to tell her Mama "I love you". Wow!! It was kind of upsetting but then again it would have been much worse if she had been upset herself and missing us. Yeah right. lol

Here we are in the airport ready to come home. Can you tell we were getting pretty excited?

No, I'm not trying to turn my 3 year old into a showgirl. lol She is very much into dressing up, so what could be more fun than a tutu with matching wings? You should see her jumping off of chairs trying to fly. Not a joke.

Google Upgrade

Ok, so I've been getting this prompt in Gmail for ages about how my Internet browser needed to be updated. I thought "whatever, whatever" but then tonight I got this wild hair to check it out. Seems as if Google Chrome is quite amazing.

I finally posted on the Sandhill page of this blog and was so excited. Wait, let me back track.....the first thing it let me do was comment on my sister-in-law Kaitlyn's blog. That in itself was super. I'd been telling her that it wouldn't let me but I could clearly see it was letting everyone else.

So, back to the other reasons why I love it. The spacing and adding pics, etc was so easy. I had been having major trouble with making my posts look even sort of decent. Waa Laaa....Google Chrome hooked me up.

I have tons to share.....Riley and I went to Vegas this past week for the National Finals Rodeo. Neither of us had ever even been to Vegas, much less to the rodeo. For now I'll just share this pic. You'll see it soon enough as it is this years Christmas card photo.

We spent Thanksgiving in San Antonio with Baby Saylor Quinn. I wonder if we will still call her that when she's 20? Oh and her parents were there too, and the grandparents......lol.

There is just something about being an Aunt. It happened to me so many years ago, almost 19 actually. Crazy to think Summer Lynn aka Princessa is going to be 19 soon. Any who, being an aunt is just an amazingly fun thing no matter what age they are.

We've had some normal time at home before all the going here and there of the holidays hits.

Scout and I have decided to bake for some of the neighbors, well mostly just the old neighbor men. Wonder if they read this? Who am I kidding? Ah well, I'll bet they will eat the goodies regardless. Scout mostly likes to eat the Rolos off of the pretzel cookies. I on the other hand prefer the finished product.

Reno can walk very well now. Of course he still crawls almost everywhere though. He walks in circles just for fun.....with his sister's boots on his hands. Lately he has been very big into having two of something......two bottle brushes, two gas drop bottles, two of Scout's flip-flops. Well you get the idea. Oh and how could I forget? Two pacis!! All of a sudden he loves the paci. Not sure where that came from.

Hope you all are staying warm!!

ts

Friday Picture Dump

Just admit it....you are impressed. I'm even impressed with myself. The deal or maybe I should say motivation is named Kaitlyn Smith. I have this crafty, sweet, technologically advanced sister-in-law that keeps me on my toes.

So now that I'm an "Instagramer" my phone is full of pics and I'll admit it's kind of cool just to see what you snapped all week.

We did a little Christmas shopping (redneck style), played outside, learned to make funny faces, rode bucking broncos, posed in our Hannah Montana gown, and of course relaxed in a bubble bath.

We hope your week was just as SWEET!!

ts

Behold..

the bright side of writing a whopping check for a new heat/air unit.

Yes, you got it.......three brand new baby pallets!!! I'm so excited I can hardly stand myself. Look-out Pinterest, here we come!!

It's ok to be jealous!!

ts

WCRR 2011

We've been at the WRCA Finals in Amarillo all weekend. Lots of cool things happened.

1. We got to see Saylor Quinn for the first time.

She is precious!! Absolutely, positively, 100% precious. She is very much a Smith baby just like Scout and Reno. You can tell that she's going to be a hoot.

Little Miss Attitude!! Shortly after we snapped the photo above she got angry at Reno for touching her arm, well and maybe for digging in her belly button a little. lol

2. Summer designed Sandhill shirts for us to look "cute" in.

Summer, Mimi, & Kelsey

3. The Jumpin Jackrabbits kicked some tail. They placed 2nd in Pokey's Jr Ranch Rodeo.

Hunter, Coach Tandy, Pake, Matthew, & Bray

4. We got to see lots of family and friends. Thanks especially to Chris & Mary Beth and Kenneth & LaRue for being such supporters. Ya'll are much appreciated.

Like Mimi, Like Scout (don't you think?)

5. Sandhill didn't do soo hot in the rodeo, but Trail showed for his first time and Autumn and Tripp dominated.....as usual. Trail was so level headed and did super for his first time.

6. Kaitlyn got me all hooked up with Instagram. Yep, I'm in love now!! Instagram is a photo program that you can do super cool editing and sharing. I think I love it as much as Pinterest.

7. Did I say anything about pretty?

These two had every single cowboy within a 2,000 mile radius drooling this weekend. lol

8. My friend Jennifer didn't get to come. Darn it, I was looking forward to meeting her.

9. Oh, check out Tandy's and Summer's blogs for some other cool pics, etc.

Laters!!

Seamless Dough Sheet

Maybe you all already know about this. I am pretty well known for being "behind the times" on news type stuff.

The other day I had in my mind that I would make sopapilla cheesecake sometime soon. As I reached my little hand up to get Crescent rolls what did I pull down? None other than this Seamless Dough Sheet.

What was my little mind thinking? Wow!! Surely this will be perfect. No more pulling the dough, mending the tears, or trying to smooth out the seams.

This is what it looked like going into the oven. I call that perfect....no lines and no cream cheese poking out.

Waa Laa!! Love me some sopapilla cheesecake. I know everybody has this recipe but if even just one person didn't know about it then I am helping. lol

Sopapilla Cheesecake

2 cans Crescent Seamless Dough Sheet

or plain crescent rolls
2 - 8 oz pkgs Philadelphia cream cheese

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 stick of butter

1/2 cup cinnamon sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9x13 pan. Spread one dough sheet or can of rolls in the bottom of pan. Whip together softened cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla and spread over dough. Top with second dough sheet or can of rolls. Pour melted butter over top and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Bake @ 350 for 35 - 40 minutes. Serve warm or cold.

Ha ha.....I have some left overs in my fridge!

A Normal Day for Us.....

Quick despcrition of a normal day for us since I accidentally captured it (with my phone camera, of course).

Prissy Lady, wearing a pj top of mine that she robbed out of my closet, in her bathroom "doing her hair".

Hmm.....what could have happened? There are hair clips all over the counter and the floor. The drawer it all came out of is chunked in the sink.

Oh and shall I even try to explain the nastiness on the counter? Being the good, patient mother that I am, I allowed her to assist me in dipping strawberries. She was promptly sent to wash her hands. Should I have helped her since she is only three and had it smeared half-way up her arms? Probably so. Did I? No, because.....

I was probably chasing after the little stink that made the other mess.

Have a beautiful, brown, blowing-corn-stalk kind of Saturday!!

ts

Reno - 1 year

Reno is a Buffalo Gap baby....that is he was born on the weekend of the Glasscock Family Reunion in Buffalo Gap. My mom and her cousins are so cool, and weird. They like each other and get together every year. We went this year and arrived home just about an hour before the party started. Yikes!!

I've had a sticky note on my computer for a month and a half that says the things Reno was doing at 11 months. He says, "uh-oh" and usually says it right before he throws something down. He also says, "thank you". He gives 5, plays peekaboo, and waves bye-bye. Mr. Reno is such a monkey and climbs on everything. Most recently he climbed into a chair at the foot of our bed, then onto the table by the chair, next onto the bed, and finally ended up stranded on Riley's bedside table. He has also been able to stand up unassisted in the middle of the floor for at least a month. Just recently he has started this hilarious, wild walking. He'll stand up in the middle of the floor and take off going 9-0. Of course after a couple of steps he goes splat right on his face, stands up and goes again. It is pretty funny. He is starting to last for about 4 or 5 steps now. Not sure when he will officially be walking. I thought he would have at 9 months since he started pulling up at about 6. Never know!!

At his 12 month well check he weighed 19 lb 5.5 oz. Unfortunately I don't remember his exact height. I do know that he is in the 8th percentile for weight and around the 50th percentile for height. He for sure isn't a hoss like his sister.

Surprise, surprise!!

I know you can hardly believe your eyes, a blog post by Tori. Things have just been non-stop around The Smith household and I have tried to rest in my spare time instead of blogging. Forgive me!!

I hope you like the makeover. My new, but I've-never-met-in-person-friend Jennifer did it. She seems to be a pretty handy lady in every since of the word. I can't wait to meet her at the ranch rodeo this year. Speaking of ranch rodeo its almost time for the WRCA - WCRR.

Since I've been MIA, we've had family pictures, new blinds, a family reunion, a first birthday party, a wind-storm, and a new pediatrician just to name a few. We also took Bonnie Concho to Fair on the Square in Canyon, TX. It was our first on the road show. Tiring, but great fun. Of course I don't have pics of anything but the birthday and well duh the family pictures. They turned out great and I highly recommend using Dusty.

I'm gonna re-break ya'll in kind of slow with a few random pics for today.

We wrestle like "wild-indians"!!


We play outside every chance we get.

(Gotta love static electricity in his little blonde "fro".)

My little "Miss" thinking she's all grown-up.

This storm was on Monday, October 17th. We had just gotten home from Reno's one year well check (with the new Dr). I think It blew in sometime between 4 and 5. Not sure of the exact time. It happened really fast though.

It was sooo creepy looking. I of course was afraid it had a tornado in it.

No electricity for a few hours, but I didn't care. I was just glad to be at home.

Hope to report again soon!!

Tori

(Like the signature? It's webdings...lol!!)