We forgot to post this...

Our Trip to Cabellas

Joss in her new Hat

The little girls choir in the background (notice Joss's new hat! Dad loves it:)

Luke and Joss on the bridge

The biggest catfish we have ever seen it was almost 4 feet long fo real


Keri and Joss in the car


Luke and Joss in the parking lot

Alligator Gar

Joss was really into fish watching!


Keri and Joss in the car again! So cute!

Look at all those animals in the background

Family portrait

This was Thanksgiving weekend, but we forgot to put it up. We made a trip to the wild winderness playground that is Cabella's. This might be the best outdoor fun to be had in Texas, (sadly, considering it's indoors!). We took Joss & she loved it. We were there for hours, looking at all the great exhibits and Christmas shopping. Joss really got excited about the big aquariums. Her eyes were as big as silver dollars, staring at the giant catfish. It was altogether a joyous holiday experience.

Poppie & Josselin in her wintermint hat




Santa Joss
Luke & Keri on the Annual Brookhaven Golf Course Christmas walk. (This is the time during which we try to make ourselves feel better about the amount of food we've eaten).

Jossie the snowgirl. This was the ridiculously cute outfit my mom bought Joss. It was her grand entry getup everywhere we went on Christmas Day.

Time for a new topic

I told Luke our blog is becoming kind of boring. Hunting is boy stuff. So, I guess it's high time I start contributing, huh? So I found this great little piece on making a happy home (in the sense of decor and ambiance). I just love her thinking on how to decorate the spaces that you live in. So here's the a little intro on the blog entries to come. Let's raise our glasses to a happy home in this New Year.

Creating a Happy Home
"I love quilts because the designs are so fresh, exuberant, and playful," says interior designer and author Alexandra Stoddard. "Quilts bring emotional comfort to your home, and they make you smile." The installments to follow will include some of Alexandra's ideas on how to create a happy home with the things you love.
Written by Alexandra Stoddard. Photographs by Keith Scott Morton.

Source: http://lifestyle.msn.com/homeandgarden/home/staticslideshowcl.aspx?cp-documentid=2137328&imageindex=1

I caught a duck with my bear hands!!!!

Believe it or not I caught this little guy with my bear hands. I don't think that he was injured or anything. I saw him swimming in the water and I started to follow him. He left little bubbles coming up so I followed the bubbles when he would dive under the water. I eventually figured out how long he could stay under and how far he could go. When he came up I grabbed him. He did seem a little nervous but I did not hurt him. It is odd that he was by himself. They are usually pretty social. In case you are wondering what kind he is. I believe that he is a drake (male) green wing teal. And just for the record I did let him go. I am not cruel. Sorry for the video quality I used my phone.

Hunting and Poaching

Austin and I took the dogs out early this morning to check out some new places to hunt for ducks. For those that don't know there is a 2 week break in the middle of duck season which we are in the middle of. So we could not legally shoot anything today. Some people might think that hunting is kind of taboo, or that shooting ducks is cruel. I can see how someone might think that. I definitely enjoy just being outside with friends and with the dogs more than shooting. Hunting does serve a greater good though. If waterfowl populations are not kept under control they can and still sometimes do anyway destroy farmers crops. They can do some major damage a freshly planted field. Anyway, Austin and I go out this morning and we do not even take our guns. We get out of the truck, and unload the dogs and then.....BAM....BAMM. There was some one out there shooting at ducks. Remember that it is illegal right now to shoot ducks. There is a break in the season to give the ducks some time to rest. This made me so mad. Could these poachers not have waited 7 more days for the ducks to be in season again? Could they not follow the simple laws that the texas parks and wildlife established for good reasons?
After we got closer to the villans they must have felt guilty because they did not fire another shot. I felt good about that. We did find some great new places to hunt from next weekend when ducks are back in season. The dogs had a great time and we saw 3 bucks out there. One of them was a 10 point. Who knew that Denton had so much wildlife?!!!!!

Luke and Joss have some father daughter time

I, Luke, gave Joss a bath tonight. She is so funny. I just like to watch her. We took a few pictures together. It was her idea of course. Seriously though. Keri and I are so lucky to have such a wonderful, beautiful baby. She is so happy all the time now. The first month or two was a little rough. But once we figured out the right combination of food, sleep, holding positions and voices it became much easier. I already love her so much. I never thought it could be so much fun to have a baby. People say that she looks like me but I think that she might look more like Keri. I can see that she definitely has my eyes. Hopefully she will not get my eyebrows. If she does I will feel compelled ti get her laser hair removal for her birthdays and every other major holiday. Including Columbus Day (the guy discovered America). I seems unreal still to me that I have a daughter. Even though I see her every day and I hold her all the time it just seems unreal. I was holding her on the couch and I thought to myself I wonder what she thinks of me so far? Which brought on a multitude of more questions. First of all can a baby have an opinion of their parents? Does she know I am her Daddy? Does she like me? Does she have thoughts? Does she wonder where I go between 8 and 5? Does she miss me? Am I doing a good job so far? When will she start to walk or talk? What will she say first? And on and on and on...

I don't know if I'll ever have an answer to most of those questions but I can't wait to find out.

Luke and Kolbe Went Duck Hunting

Kolbe and I got up at about 4:30 this morning to go duck hunting with Austin Jackson. This was the first time I've been in about 3 years and Kolbe's first time ever. I am so proud of him. He did absolutely awesome. Kolbe was a little timid with the first one but after that he figured it out he did awesome. He was able to bring all the ducks back in from the water. Austin and I did pretty well. There were not whole lot of ducks flying around this morning seeing as how it was 75 degrees. 40 degrees would have been better. However it was nice because we had a couple good fly-bye's and Austin and I were shooting pretty good. We got a couple of 'coots and 3 Mallard's. 1 Drake (male with green head) and 2 hens (females that are mostly brown). Believe it or not we saw 2 deer (one large buck and one smaller buck) swimming across the lake. All of this took place on Lake Lewisville right behind Paloma Creek. Can't wait to go back. All this fun only a few miles from our house!

This is Funny

I found this on another bloggers page and thought that it was worth posting for more to see. Keri and I watched it at least 10 times and laughed a little harder each time!!!

Thousand Trails

Lots of Good Food
Joss likes to ride bikes almost as much as her dad!

Ready for the Hayride!


Joss and Lollie


Joss just loves this thing!!!

Keri and I went with her family this weekend up to Lake Texoma to a camp ground called Thousand Trails. We stayed there from Friday night till Sunday afternoon. It was a lot of fun. Joss got to go on her first hayride, first bicycle ride, and her first vacation!! Keri and I took a little while to get up there. We were the last ones there as usual. We arrived on Friday night around 9:pm. We sat around the campfire and hung out. Saturday we played several rounds of putt-putt, rode bikes, went on walks, played frisbee, took naps, played card games and scrabble and ate lots of good food. Needless to say it was a great time.

Joss is growing up so fast!

They grow up so fast don't they! Seriously.... Joss is almost 3 months old and already Keri and notice so much change and development in her. She is discovering her hands now. She does not have the coordination to hold her bottle but she sure does try hard. This makes feeding time way more fun. She thinks that she can hold the bottle up but she just whacks it out of her mouth and gets formula everywhere! We like to put this hat that is way to big on her so that the sun does not burn her forehead. She forgot to grow hair when she was in the womb. I think that she likes wearing the hat because this way people don't know that she is pretty much bald. This bow is great. It is kind of like those sunglasses that girls wear. You know those huge ones where the person wearing them slightly over estimated the size of their head!
She really is so beautiful and the bow is adorable.

Joss's First Walk

So Keri's mom, Terri got this sweet baby harness thing and Joss loves it. At first we had her facing us like she is supposed to. Joss did not like that so much. So we faced her out and she loves it. So I think that she will like to travel!!!

This is what Keri and I do for fun

This is what Keri and I do for fun. This was a few weeks after we got married. We got to Farm sit so we would go around and make silly videos about it. Keri secretly wants to be a reporter. I think that she could do it if she really wanted to. If you know anyone in the news business let us know!!!

Keri Jo's Labor

So we had Joss at a birthing center. We are not real big on doctors. The whole experience was amazing. Keri woke up at 1:45 A.M and we left our house at 2:30 A.M. We made it to the birthing center at about 3:00 A.M. even though Keri wanted me to take her to the emergency room. The midwife checked on everything and told Keri that she was dialated to an 8. About an hour and a half later, little Joss was born. 8 lbs 15 ozs. We were back home at our house by 7:30 A.M. the same day. How crazy was that.

Lukes First Blog

I guess I am new to this blogging business. I must admit that it feels kind of strange, funny and maybe a little familiar. I used to write my rants and raves, poems, journal entries, prayers, etc... all the time. It seems as though I have convinced myself that I am to busy for that non-sense anymore. Well I think that having a little baby girl has changed all that backwards thinking. I'm afraid that at some point along the way I quit feeling and experiencing things like I used to. I can't pinpoint anything that would have caused this (probably just my laziness.) I used to be the guy with the camera or video camera to my eye all the time. I used to make stupid videos. I miss these things. I think that a combination of Joss, Keri Jo, Lauren & Jack, Clay & Emily, Brad & Jenny, and Chris & April have made want these things again. My "Little Trial Blaiser" (This is what I find myself calling Joss) has made me want to get my a*^ in gear as far as being a father and a husband.
I remember growing up there were those parents that were respected, revered, and then there were the ones that were either dead-beats or worse just kind of there. I would like to be the respected father, the one the my kids respect and the one that my kids friends look up to. - Seeing Keri Jo with little trail blaiser has shown me so much. I can not comprehend what it must be like to be a mother. It seems that she gets these super human bursts of energy in the middle of the night when all of the sudden she just springs out of bed as if she had not been asleep for 4 hours and not gotten 3 hours of sleep the night before. I am so so proud of her. I want to be a better husband. - Then there is Lauren & Jack. They will be watching Joss for us. They make me want to cherish this life more than I do right now and live life like it could be over any day. Lauren has gone through great tragedy and seeing the poise and wisdom that she has is inspiring. - Clay & Emily so good to hang out with them again. I have to admit that starting this blogging thing spawns from them. Keri & I are constantly saying that we need to take more pictures like Clay and Emily. I love the wall of 8x10 pictures they have in their dining room. - Then there is Brad & Jenny. I really look up to this couple. I see the patience they have with each other and life. I am jealous of how purposeful they are. - Chris and April. Man I know where Chris is right now, wondering what life is going to be like in 6 months. I don't think that there is any way to prepare. I remember wondering will it be a boy or a girl? Will I be a good parent? How is that supposed to come out of there????

I guess that I am trying to thank all of our friends for being great examples.

Dude, I did not mean for this to get so long winded. I guess I just figured that if I did not type these things while I have been thinking of them they may never get said. I guess I will use this blog deal to let others in on what is going on in my head. That could get dangerous, I know.

I am tired and I don't know if any of this makes any sense but I guess that I'm not getting a grade and you don't have to read it. I think I'll like this blogging thing.