HEATH & HILARY

White Rock Half Marathon

2011-12-22T17:36:00.004-06:00

We ran in the White Rock Half Marathon in Dallas on December 4th. The weather was not ideal but we had a blast!

We started running in May and followed this plan.

Hilary's goal was the finish without stopping to walk and we ran the entire time. Heath had a time goal that we met so we were both were pretty freaking excited. We finished in 2:28.

Thank goodness we had these free ponchos. We tucked them under our hats and they kept us pretty dry. It rained on us the entire time but you just got used to the wet and cold.

Before the race trying to stay warm. We got there incredibly too early....oh well, we will know for next year.

Heath ran the entire race with a cone head.....we saw lots of very interesting ways to stay dry.

This was us after the race. We got our medal, t-shirts, a beer (weird, yes, but very tasty), and then ran a little further to the DART rail and jumped on it back to Plano with a whole lot of wet and tired people! Heath wants to run the full next year. We are planning on running in 3 other half marathons this spring.

Here are the puppy dogs during the race. Heath worked so hard and finished their dog house before we left and put a web cam inside so we could access them anytime. This is basically what we saw, lazy dogs! There's a heater in it as well so they were warm and toasty :)

Random pics from the iphone

2011-06-20T13:41:00.003-05:00

Hilary enjoyed her first year at Bayless with these amazing women!

Hil's B'day-Butterfinger cheesecake from Sugarbaker's.......the best cheesecake ever!!

We are training for a half marathon and Moose has been going with us occasionally . We took him running in Austin at Town Lake and he was so tired afterwards. On the drive home back to Lubbock, he didn't move a muscle :)

Landscaping 2 years later

2011-06-20T13:30:00.004-05:00

The front yard May 2009

The front yard May 2011
(we love our drip/sprinkler system)

Sandia Peak and Santa Fe

2011-01-12T18:03:00.004-06:00

On our last night in Ruidoso we ate at a great Mexican food place and enjoyed our last evening together. We packed up Friday morning and barely made it out of our steep driveway due to lots of ice :( Heath truck pushed Vince and Lindsay Altima up a hill! Heath and Hil headed for north for more skiing while the other headed back to the big D.

Christmas 2010

We skied Sandia Peak on Friday afternoon. We stayed in Albuquerque, so the drive was short up the mountain. It was bitterly cold. The windchill at the top of the mountain was -5 and the winds were howling. We had a great time though. The snow was awesome and it wasn't crowded.

Saturday we got up bright at early and drove to Santa Fe. We were so excited because they had gotten 17 inches of snow the previous day. It was beautiful! The trees were glittery and absolutely gorgeous. When we got to the ticket counter we noticed a sign indicating that there was a frost bite warning in effect. We thought Sandia was cold, the windchill in Santa Fe was -40!!! We have never worn so many layers to ski in.

We hadn't seen 0 degrees on the truck before :(

Heath

Hilary

On our last night driving back to Alb. we saw this pretty sunset.
We look forward to Valentine's day where we will ski at Wolf Creek in Colorado with Heath's youngest brother and his wife.

Sleigh Rides & Horseback Riding in Ruidoso

2011-01-10T20:48:00.005-06:00

One evening we went on a sleigh ride around town to look at Christmas lights.

On Wednesday, we took a break from skiing and took a horseback riding trip. Haylee LOVES horses. She goes to horse camp every summer in Arkansas and knows a lot about them. She was in heaven when she got on her horse.

Heath was the only one of us that wore enough clothes. It was pretty cold!

Haylee Beth

Hilary, Haylee, Lindsay, and Heath

Christmas in Ruidoso Part 1

2011-01-09T16:26:00.007-06:00

We had Christmas with Hilary's family in Ruidoso, NM. Lindsay, Vince, and Haylee drove from Hot Springs, AR. Hilary's parents drove in from Plano. We had a BLAST. The weather was perfect, the house was ideal, and the laughs were abundant!

Heath and Hil

Hilary & Lindsay

Wolf's and Halford's

On our way up the mountain. Thanks for driving us Heath!

Heath and Hilary

Lindsay, Vince, and Haylee

Lindsay and Haylee took lessons the first day.

This is Haylee, our step neice. She is such a sweetheart. We had so much fun with her teaching her how to play Angry Birds and Heath and Haylee made a great team while we played hours and hours of Catch Phrase. She collects Breyer horses so we got her some accessories.

Christmas at the Halford's

2011-01-09T16:24:00.002-06:00

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

CRS Christmas party

2011-01-09T14:53:00.001-06:00

Texas Tech football

2010-11-11T20:06:00.003-06:00

Although we have been faced with a "rebuilding year" we have had a BLAST at all of the Tech football games so far.

Hil's parents drove in from Plano for parents weekend. They enjoyed Oklahoma States win! They are retiring in Stillwater next year. We enjoyed spending time with them.

We will hit em' we will wreck em' hit em' wreck em' Texas Tech and the victory bells will ring out!

It must be rough.....

2010-11-11T20:02:00.001-06:00

Bandit enjoying a beautiful fall day.

Moose enjoying the air conditioning.

Texas Tech Women's Camp

2010-11-10T21:21:00.002-06:00

Way back in August, Hilary went to the Texas Tech Women's Camp with her friends Amanda and Heather. They had a BLAST!

#25 Baron Batch

ZOO!

who let the dogs out?

2010-06-21T18:29:00.003-05:00

unfortunately our ignorant neighbors let their dogs out. this morning while hilary was taking the dogs for a walk, 2 dogs off leash attacked moose and bandit. it was very scary. she tried to turn and go the other way but they came from behind and it was too late. moose has 10 lesions on his face and head. thankfully none of them were puncture wounds. bandit held his own and got right in their protecting his "brother." the blood on bandit was transfer from the other dogs. we were only about 6 houses away from ours and the neighbors yard that it happened in heard hil screaming and struggling and came out with a broom stick. we shudder to think of what would have happened if it had continued much longer without his help. as the dogs were running back into their backyard, animal control was pulling up. someone had already called about the dogs attacking a cat. we took pictures, took moose to the vet for documentation purposes, and filled out a dangerous dog affidavit. we are very lucky and reminded about how important it is to have all dogs in a secure backyard and on leash. we may start to carry pepper spray to prevent this from happening again :(
both dogs are acting very normal and have received some extra treats today :)
btw-animal control could not take the dogs that attacked since they were back in a secure yard.

The lake

2010-06-21T18:18:00.005-05:00

saturday we went to lake allan henry wtih heath's parents, heath's brother, and our sister in law becky. we had a blast tubing, skiing, and getting incredibly sunburned! Enjoy the pics, we thought our facial expressions were pretty funny.....

heath loved water skiing. it takes a lot of patience.

hilary also enjoyed attempting to water ski and was close to getting it several times. we can't wait to go back!

The pups

2010-04-23T15:00:00.002-05:00

Martin and Mandy's wedding

2010-04-23T14:57:00.002-05:00

The pictures are all out of order, but oh well. These are the Hilary's! She used to work with Heath at United.

Hilary and the beautiful bride!

The happy couple!

Stunningly gorgeous!

Ben being Ben!

Heath had the honor of being a best man in Martin and Mandy's wedding on April 10th. Martin, Heath, and Ben all worked together at United. They all were on the training team when United got the new POS system. They have been close friends ever since. It's also really cool that we all live about 1 minute away from each other. Mandy and Martin are absolutely perfect for each other and we were so excited to be apart of their special day!

At the rehearsal

Mandy wanted to see how everything looked so Hil filled in as the bride!

Hil's Parents Visit

2010-04-22T17:16:00.002-05:00

Hilary's parents visited from Plano for Easter weekend. We enjoyed a long weekend catching up. Our first stop was Rosa's! There are no Rosa's close to Hil's parents so they always want to eat there. Saturday, Hil and her mom went to Zumba and then we all went to church, and then Cagel's. YUM. The dogs enjoyed some extra lovin' from their grandma and grandpa!

Mandy's Bachelorette Party

2010-04-22T17:13:00.001-05:00

Yep, that is a stripper pole :) We had a great time!

Amarillo Motorcross

2010-04-22T16:47:00.004-05:00

These are some of our best friends Amy and Isaac and their sons Jason and Joshua. Heath and Isaac were fraternity brothers in college. They enjoy motorcross and we were so excited to see the boys race finally!

Jason is a HUGE Texas fan so here we are making fun of each others teams.

Us with Joshy.

It was Hilary's first time at a motorcross race so she took lots of pictures. They did some amazing tricks!

Joshy hanging out before the race.

We love these boys so much. They are so well behaved and polite. We wish we lived closer so that we could see each other more often.

Mylee's B'day Party

2010-04-22T16:36:00.003-05:00

Ms. Mylee's birthday was back in February! She is our adorable God daughter and we love her very much.

Double Trouble

2010-03-23T21:33:00.000-05:00

favorites

2010-01-17T21:00:00.000-06:00

more favorites

2010-01-17T20:30:00.003-06:00

this was the last photo and we were close to frostbitten!
good dogs, look away.

moose kiss in the eye :)

oh bandit....who knows what he was smelling.

The bandit and the moose

2010-01-08T20:44:00.002-06:00

Moosie had surgery on his eye Tuesday to correct the enropion. He's doing much better and has become accustomed to wearing the e-collar.

Bandit enjoying some fresh air.

Only Moose could get his ball stuck!

Weekend project

2010-01-04T20:49:00.006-06:00

Before

After
Heath built the shelf with our neighbor to hold all of the components and Hilary painted it. We are super excited to be able to close the cabinet doors now! We will have a fire very soon :)

Funny

2009-12-30T10:55:00.005-06:00

we kind of like the pirate loving coach around here.
who knows what will happen with all of it.
enjoy the video.

My Montage 12/28/09 at OneTrueMedia.com

2009-12-29T21:06:00.001-06:00

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Let it SNOW!

2009-12-28T11:30:00.002-06:00

Last Wednesday night, as Hilary was driving to the airport to pick up Heath, the rain was changing to snow. We woke up Thursday - Christmas Eve to 4-7 inches. Moose enjoyed his first real snow, while Bandito slept peacefully in his kennel.

This is Jack. He's 6 months old and belongs to Heath's parents. This was Christmas day on the farm.

This is Frostalina the snow woman. We built her Sunday after the 4th day of snow in the front yard. The snow was very wet and she was easy to build. The neighbors built one so tall they had to get on a ladder to finish the head.

Moose kind of liked it.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-23T14:32:00.002-06:00

Merry Christmas! Love, Heath, Hilary, Bandit, and Moose

**pictures by http://bophotography.squarespace.com/

LONG update

2009-12-21T19:00:00.008-06:00

Here is what's been going on lately at the Halford house. Blogger's being dumb so the pictures are all out of order.

We "lost" Moose the other night in the house. Losing a Rottweiler puppy for even a minute can spell disaster, but this is all we found:) The above picture portrays why his nickname is Fat Neck.

Usually Moose goes to bed around 9. He'll just walk back to his kennel and we'll hear him lay down. I guess this night, he saw the door open and helped himself to the bed.

We went to Carol of Lights and in true Lubbock form, it was 20 degrees. We love this tradition.
We went to Austin for Josh Rowan's wedding in November. This is Hilary and Chelsea. Nate and Chelsea live in Ft. Worth and we miss them very much. It was great to hang out with them for a night.

Their wedding was outside and very pretty. My hand was shaking because it was uncharacteristically cold in Austin. The above picture is Josh and Ashley Rowan.

Ashley and her dad.Heath's been traveling a lot lately. At the end of October he was gone for 2 weeks and went to Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, Kentucky, Alabama, and ended his trip in Washington D.C. for a conference for ASTD. Last week he was in College Station and Austin and this week he's in Los Angeles and Denver, and next week he's off to Phoenix. It's exciting that he works for a company that is growing like crazy, but we miss him while he's gone :(Here's Heath with our friend Christie Pare and Jim ? Heath has read some of his books and was thrilled that he got to meet him.

Moose and Bandit are still the best of friends. Here's Bandit hiding from Moose.

Hilary graduated from a 13 week class in sign language. It was a lot of fun and she will continue next semester. The kids in her classroom respond to and love all of the signs.Hilary made these cinnamon rolls. It was quite the experience. Just ask Heath. 3 different batches wouldn't rise. Finally we had a winner and it was worth all of the blood, sweat, and tears. Our kitchen will never be the same again, but oh well.

She also made these for the staff at her school. It's a yummy tradition.
Hilary's friend Brandi had baby Taylor this past weekend. She was a little early but absolutely perfect. Brandi teaches across the hall from Hilary and is a very sweet friend.

Hilary made this blanket for Taylor.

We had a good time at the CRS Christmas party on Saturday night.

Moose is learning how to bark on command. We were using the command "speak" but every time we would say it, he would sit and shake so now we use "bark."

Christmas Card Pics

2009-12-14T17:30:00.002-06:00

check out our amazing pictures. we had a hard time deciding which ones to choose for our card!!

more updates coming soon!

Dog accessories

2009-11-06T17:23:00.003-06:00

Here's Bandito sporting his new Snuggie. Yes, it's a little ridiculous but he really loves it. Bandit will find anything soft to lay on so the Snuggie is perfect.

Moose' accessory is not so much fun. He has a corneal ulcer and has been sporting the lampshade collar for almost a week. Good news is that it's treatable with steroids, bad news is that Bandit could be decapitated and we will have bruises on our legs. Moose is so graceful w/o the collar on, so you can only imagine how lovely it is w/ that thing on!

KIRKPATRICK COMING TO LUBBOCK!!!

2009-11-05T14:38:00.004-06:00

The West Texas Chapter of the American Society of Training and Development has a workshop on Tuesday, November 10 that is a STEAL of a deal! Wendy Kirkpatrick will be presenting Training on Trial. Click on the picture below for further details. The ASTD Chapter in Lubbock is relatively small, but we still try to provide big value for our members. As a result, we have booked a noteworthy speaker for our November meeting. Please help support our efforts by passing this information on to anyone you know that is in the Lubbock area and either directly or indirectly involved with training. Please send a link to someone you know in Lubbock NOW!

David Crowder Band Concert

2009-10-07T18:41:00.012-05:00

Hilary and I went to see the David Crowder Band in concert last weekend in Abilene. We left early Friday afternoon and came home Saturday in time for the Tech football game. We took the dogs with us and had a FANTASTIC time. We met a couple from our church while we were at the concert. Hilary showed up to pick me up from work to leave for the concert and we both had on our black (matching) Experience Life shirts. I believe it is the first time we have EVER been dressed alike. Anywho, so there were 2 other bands that opened for David Crowder Band. One was pretty good, I didn't care much for the other band's music/style/whatever.

Picture Below: One of the 2 decent shots I got of David Crowder - the guy on the right is Jack - lead guitar and pretty amazing at that and the guy on the left is Mike D the bass guitarist. (If you click on the picture you might be able to make out a little more, surprising how crappy the pics turned out, we were like 30 feet from him...I guess lighting, fog machines, etc. didn't help.)

Picture Below: the second decent shot I got of Crowder - same 3 guys as in the picture above.
(If you click on the picture you might be able to make out a little more, surprising how crappy the pics turned out, we were 30 feet from him...I guess lighting, fog machines, etc. didn't help.)

Picture Below: Pretty awesome picture of the whole band and stage setup etc.

Picture Below: Mark one of the guitarists in the band, behind him with the beard - Bwack and behind Bwack is Steve (you'll probably have to click on the pic to enlarge it to be able to see Steve)
Bwack built Steve, it is a robotic drum machine.
If you look back at our california trip, there are pictures of the guitar hero guitar that David Crowder played at that concert. Bwack made that too.
Video Below: Another one of my favorite songs of theirs - Here is Our King

Video Below: The Glory of It All - one of my favorite DCB songs - click here to listen on iTunes

Video Below: David Crowder is a pretty funny guy - here he was explaining to everyone that the emphasis of group singing at his concerts is more about volume than pitch/actually being able to sing. He also talks about how "we have lost control, its so early in the evening". He is such an entertainer - an absolute BLAST to see live.

Video Below: Fantastic instrumental at the end of one of the songs -

Wichta Falls

2009-10-06T11:13:00.004-05:00

That's how we say Wichita Falls around here. Not sure why. It's probably a United thing.
So we left early on Saturday morning to head east for a wedding. Hillary Kuykendall and Heath became friends at United. She's an awesome friend and we are so excited to be with her and her new husband on their special day.
After the wedding, we got in the car and were headed to Ft. Worth. Hilary mentioned to Heath "Wouldn't it be great to just get the dogs and head back to Lubbock?" It took Heath less than a second to say "Call Gail and see if we can!" We were so ready to be home and not really looking forward to staying in a hotel for another night. These puppies were very glad to see us. They slept for 3 days straight when we finally got home! What a wonderful vacation.

Hunter and Becky's Graduation

2009-10-06T11:02:00.002-05:00

We are so proud of Hunter and Becky. They are officially nurses. They just moved back to Lubbock! Hunter is an ER nurse at UMC and Becky is a Pediatric nurse at Covenant.

Heath, Hunter, and Jared Congrats!

California Day 8

2009-10-06T10:56:00.002-05:00

The 17 mile drive was amazing. We loved every second of it!

We stopped in Santa Cruz for some ice cream on our way back to San Jose.

We walked out on the pier and watched this guy for a long time.
Next stop Amarillo, TX.

California Day 7

2009-10-06T10:07:00.003-05:00

We set out early for our whale watching trip. The weather was perfect and we enjoyed seeing over 800 Risso dolphins, 3 humpback whales and a grey whale.

Risso dolphins

Video of the dolphins.
We ate yummy seafood the last night we were there.

California Day 6

2009-10-06T09:54:00.005-05:00

We visited the Monterey Bay Aquarium back in January while Heath was on a business trip. We were only there for about 3 hours. This trip we got their right when they opened and literally had to drag Heath away when it closed. Hilary really wants an otter.

Noisy Moose

2009-08-27T15:34:00.002-05:00

Enjoy!

California Day 5

2009-08-24T20:49:00.003-05:00

We went to 6 Flags Discovery Kingdom.

If you haven't picked up on it by now, we really like zoos, aquariums etc. so this was a perfect place to visit. We rode a roller coaster too.

This is Shouka.

The Newsboys were in concert for free on the night we were there. Hilary saw them with friends a couple of years ago. They have a new lead singer that is pretty awesome. We were sitting 20 ft from them.

California Day 4

2009-08-14T11:55:00.001-05:00

We got up early to eat breakfast with Sunny. Hilary worked at a day care center with her in college and she happened to live in the same town we were staying in. Good ole' Facebook reconnected them!

We stopped at Pier 39 to watch and listen to the sea lions.

We saw this guy at the Academy of the Sciences Museum. It was a really neat museum that was broken down into 4 parts. We spent most of the time in the aquarium.

We also went The Aquarium of the Bay. For lunch we became fans of clam chowder served in bread bowls from Fisherman's Grotto.Sunny told us that we should go north of San Francisco to Sausalito. We are so glad we did. It's a quaint little town with gorgeous vies. We got some burgers and found a picnic table to sit at while we watched the boats come in.

California Day 3

2009-08-13T19:53:00.002-05:00

We took our time making our way to San Francisco. We took Highway 1 and the drive was amazingly beautiful. We stopped at Moss Landing and met this little fellow. Hilary became a huge fan of sea otters and sea lions on this trip.
We saw signs for a "U pick" strawberry farm. This is so much fun! The picture above is of the field we picked the strawberries in with the ocean on the horizon. We thought all of the agriculture was very interesting in California. It's very different from the cotton farms in Lubbock.

Heath doesn't really like strawberries very much, but he loved these. They were very sweet and juicy.

We also picked blackberries. It was the first day of blackberry season so the good ones had already been picked.

We continued on the drive and spotted these kite surfers
and this beautiful lighthouse. We made it to San Francisco and had some yummy Thai food. We stayed in Dublin and met Hilary's friend Sunny for breakfast on Saturday morning.

Coming up next our day in San Francisco.

California Day 1 & 2

2009-08-12T16:56:00.016-05:00

We flew into San Jose late Wednesday night and drove to Monterey Thursday morning very excited to see David Crowder Band at the Spirit West Coast concert that night. We froze!
Even though it was cold at the concert, David Crowder was FANTASTIC!!! Hilary and I both thought that it was pretty cool that he put the words to the songs up on the screen. It made it seem like worship, not a concert. There was also corporate whistling (I am not sure if the ENTIRE audience was whistling along, but I surely was), a keytar, and a guitar hero guitar that he actually played during a song or two. I have now been converted to a DIEHARD David Crowder Band fan.

Click Here to Buy "No One Like You" on iTunes

Matthew West was pretty awesome too.

Jeremy Camp was the last performer, but we left early because we were so freaking cold!

Spirit West Coast was held at the Laguna Seca race track just outside of Monterey. It lasts 3 days and LOTS of people camp out and stay out there for all 3 days. Hilary and I were pretty glad by the end of the night that we weren't staying for 2 more days.

East Texas Trip

2009-07-22T12:20:00.000-05:00

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

#76 Brandon Carter!!

2009-07-08T21:35:00.006-05:00

This is Brandon Carter, #76 for the Texas Tech Red Raider football team. Hilary is a huge fan, HUGE! We saw him tonight while eating dinner at Jason's Deli. He was a very nice guy. He seemed humbled that we were fans. The greatest news is that he's playing another year!!! Hil talked about him at the end of this post.

He left and came back to give Hilary this magazine with an autograph. She will probably frame it tomorrow!

Austin

2009-07-08T13:29:00.003-05:00

"What, did you say we get to go to Austin?"

Mt. Bonnell had some gorgeous views! We learned that Austin heat/humidity and rotties don't mix very well. We were only walking for about 15 minutes and man did Moose get hot. Heath of course googled what to do for him and we soaked paper towels in ice water and rubbed them on his belly and paws. We wrapped ourselves in paper towels too b/c he was producing large amounts of slobber. Hil's car will never be the same :)

We also went to see the bats. Not the greatest picture but they are on the top left corner.

Lazy summer days

2009-07-08T13:11:00.004-05:00

Bandit-aka Bandito, the good one, Wishbone, the perfect one, banders Moose-aka Moosie, fat neck, Moosie McNut, the bad one, big en', Moosey Goosey, the mess, moosiekins, moosers, moosielicious, black monster

Where did this puppy go?

2009-07-08T13:10:00.003-05:00

10 weeks old

1 year and 2 months old

strawberry bread

2009-06-25T13:45:00.003-05:00

Preheat oven to: 350

Bake time: 1 hour
Ingredients:

1 1/2 C. flour
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. cinnamon
1 C. sugar
2 beaten eggs
1/2 C and 1 T oil
1 C chopped strawberries (frozen or fresh thaw first)
3/4 C chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)

combine all dry ingredients. add remaining ingredients. stir until moistened. pour into greased loaf pan.

bake 1 hour or until done throughout

cool for 5 min.

Italian Pie

2009-06-25T13:19:00.003-05:00

Hilary loves to cook, but especially during the summer (when there's nothing else to do:)

This recipe is very easy and Heath even said "I think this is so good, we could have it left over." Enjoy.

Preheat oven to: 375

Bake time: 40 min.

Ingredients:

2 lb. hamburger meat

1/2 c. onion chopped

1/2 t. salt and pepper

16 oz. can tomato sauce

8 oz. shredded cheese

4 oz. can mushrooms drained

Topping:

1 can crescent rolls

1/2 c. sour cream

1/2 t. seasoned salt

1/2 t. garlic powder

Season meat w/ s/p. Brown meat and onion. Drain well.

Add sauce, cheese, mushrooms. Stir until melted, then put in a lightly sprayed 9x12 pyrex casserole dish. Unfold crescent rolls and spread with sour cream mixture. Roll up as crescent rolls and place on top of casserole.

Bake for 35-40 minutes at 375 degrees. We forgot to take a pic after it was cooked, so here's right before it went into the oven!

Albuquerque

2009-06-23T13:01:00.007-05:00

Heath interviewed 11 people in Albuquerque last week and Hil and the dogs got to join him. We had a really good time. We got there Wednesday evening and the dogs seemed to like their room at the La Quinta.

This pop up kennel is the greatest invention ever. Although we need a bigger one, this came in really handy. Friday morning we went to the aquarium and returned home and Moose had unzipped the kennel :) No harm done to the hotel room thankfully!

Thursday, Moose wasn't real fond of Heath leaving to interview at 6 a.m. so he whined, howled, and barked for a long while. Hilary tried ignoring it, yelling at him to stop, taking him out and letting him lay on the floor. None of that worked, so we got up early and went for a 3 hour walk at 3 different parks in town. Needless to say, the Moose was tired for the afternoon and we took a long nap! Friday we took the dogs for a "little" hike in the Sandia mountains. When Hil found this "little" hike she didn't read the fine print that it was 13 miles up the mountain. We finally got there and the dogs had a blast.

Resting with the Bandito.

Heath with the dogs.
The views were amazing.
On the way back down the mountain we were passed by this biker dude. He was going 40 mph!

This was our goal.....a tired Moose is a good Moose!

We dropped the dogs off at the hotel and headed to the zoo. It was very hot and very crowded but we had a good time.

This lion cracked us up!

Baby orangutan.

Friday we got up early and headed to the aquarium.

We put the seats down in the camry so they would have more room and we put Bandit's kennel in the trunk.

This was Moose saying "Guys we need a Tahoe!"

He finally got comfortable and we finally got home! Hopefully we can go with Heath again soon.

Sirens

2009-06-23T12:53:00.004-05:00

Moose is not the biggest fan of sirens!

Race for the cure

2009-06-23T12:47:00.002-05:00

Hilary went to Plano to walk in the race for the cure with her mom on June 6th.

The puppy dogs

2009-06-01T13:31:00.005-05:00

Bandito and his funky ear.

This picture is pretty old....Moose slept on his new bed for about 3 nights. We woke up to a strange sound and found millions of pieces of egg crate everywhere. We couldn't find Moose at first! Thankfully, it was the $30 bed, not the $200 orthopedic one. He'll get one of those when he turns 4 :)

He cocks his head all the time while we are talking to him. It's pretty funny.

Begging for an almond.

For Hilary's end of the school party it was a Luau theme, so with the extra lei's, the dogs got new collars for a couple of minutes. Moose tried to eat his.....

BTW-At the vet on Friday Moose weighed 93.2 lbs. Bandit is still "the boss" at a wapping 14 lbs.

Abilene

2009-06-01T13:02:00.006-05:00

Last weekend we stayed at the The Vintage House in Abilene. We received a gift certificate for Christmas from our best friend Martin. Here are some pictures from our awesome weekend.We got the the zoo early at around 9:30. We LOVE zoos so we were excited.

The giraffes were our favorite part. You can feed all of the animals at the Abilene zoo. You purchase animal crackers as you enter. The giraffes were very well fed and knew how to beg. So funny!

It was feeding day so that was very interesting. The alligator was actually not at all interested in the rabbit. We just missed the big boa constrictor eating his rabbit. After the zoo we went to Frontier Texas. It was a really neat museum.

After a yummy lunch at Harold's famous BBQ we met Brenda, Stephen, and Adam. This is Adam with the blanket Hil crocheted for him. It was so good to catch up with good friends.

Our last stop was to Perini's Ranch in Buffalo Gap. Texas Monthly voted their steaks the 3rd best steaks in Texas. They were the best steaks we have ever had. We can't wait to go back!

Memorial Day weekend

2009-05-27T21:57:00.007-05:00

Before

May 2008

After

May 2009

We are so happy with it. We had no idea what we were doing so we used google a lot and worked hard for 3 days straight. We went to Lowe's 6 times and to almost every nursery in Lubbock to find red geraniums. Here are pictures of the weekend. The edging is in. We used many different tools to get that into the ground.

The tiller became our best friend.

Sand became our other best friend. Heath invented us a string level and we spent almost an hour doing the first 3 stones. After those first couple, we got a little faster. Yeah, almost finished!

complete :)

2009-05-22T15:53:00.003-05:00

If we only had tennis balls for our dogs they would be set for life.

Lake LBJ

2009-05-21T17:10:00.005-05:00

This past weekend Hilary traveled to Burnet (70 miles west of Austin) to spend a weekend with Tech DG's. There were 16 girls that made the trek to the middle of no where! One girl came all the way from Denver. Most girls came from either Houston or Dallas. We had a blast although it rained all day Saturday. We played lots of games and ate yummy food.

The sun finally came out Saturday evening, so we took the opportunity to go for a hike. We walked around scoping out all of the beautiful cabins for next years trip.

Mighty to save

2009-05-14T22:48:00.007-05:00

If you know me (Hil) well, you know that this is my absolute favorite song. Our church made a worship CD and I have listened to # 5 at least 1, 000 times. I am so glad that my God is mighty to save!

Enjoy!

ATO Founder's Day

2009-05-04T17:15:00.002-05:00

We went to Amarillo last weekend and had a blast celebrating ATO being at WT for 50 years. There was a great turn out. Heath played golf all day on Saturday while Hilary took naps and got a pedicure. It was a wonderful weekend catching up with old friends.
Jannie and Hil

Hilary and Heath

Chelsea and Hil

Chelsea, Hil, and Jannie

Moose turned 1!

2009-04-16T18:39:00.004-05:00

Moose at 9 weeks and Moose at 1 year.

We celebrated with Moose's aunt Jan and uncle Doug. Both dogs enjoyed almond paws, peanut butter clusters and dog bones from the Tipton. While we were at the Tipton we met a 220 lb. Great Dane. WOW!

This is Moose's birthday present. It's an alligator stuffed with a water bottle. He loves all things plastic so he sits at night and crinkles it.

He also got his first bed. He immediately loved it as you can see.

Oooops!

2009-04-15T16:56:00.003-05:00

This is what happens when you have "the black dog" and accidentally set the sprinklers for 2 PM instead of 2 AM :)

Looking ever so innocent. If only we had video of it....he had a blast we are sure of it!

The mud was caked to his paws, legs, and face.

BTW-Bandit was clean. Not a trace of mud on him. That's why he is called "the perfect dog."

"The Black Dog's" Birthday post is coming soon....

Easter Egg Drop

2009-04-13T16:55:00.009-05:00

Our amazingly awesome church dropped 50,000 eggs onto Lowery field on Good Friday (well 10,000 from the helicopter-40,000 were already there). Heath took off early and it was a perfect way to spend a Friday afternoon. Nearly 15,000 people came to the event and we enjoyed meeting fellow E-lifers while we volunteered!

Hot Springs Trip

2009-04-11T15:52:00.005-05:00

Last weekend, Hilary and I went to Hot Springs, Arkansas to visit her sister (Lindsay) and brother-in-law(Vince) for a few days. We had an absolute blast. It was nice to get away, for the most part, from work and the grind for a bit. We left out Thursday after Hilary got out of school and came back Sunday evening. We had so much fun from the time we got there to the time we had to get back on the plane to come home. The scenery in Hot Springs is unbelievable, I was a little shocked the last time Hilary and I went (to see her sister graduate) at just how amazing the scenery was. There were trees everywhere, the weather is really nice (or has been the 2X we have been) and there are lakes all around Hot Springs. BTW, this is the first post I have done in quite a while - so hopefully you all enjoy the pics of our trip.

- Heath
Hilary and I on Lake Oauchita. This lake was HUGE and gorgeous. Vince and Lindsay had arranged for us to go out there just before dark and watch the sun set. Lake Ouachita is over 40,000 acres, has almost 700 miles of shoreline, and is one of the cleanest and clearest lakes in the US.
It was so gorgeous watching the sun set on the lake. There was hardly anyone on the lake. It was very serene and SO pretty. We had a BLAST! Thanks to Vince, Lindsay, Eddie and his wife for such a great time.
As is the case with most "scenery" pics, these do not do justice to how beautiful it was there.
Hilary and her sister, Lindsay, on the boat just after the sun had gone down.
Hilary and Lindsay as we were leaving the slip to get out on the lake. It was pretty chilly on the water, but ABSOLUTELY beautiful.
The Oaklawn Jockey Club, where Hilary and I, Vince and Lindsay went to watch the horse races. You can also see the Budweiser clydesdales and the wagon they pull.
Vince and Lindsay at the horse races posing in front of one of the clydesdales that appears to be a bit camera shy.
He was camera shy when Hilary and I took a pic in front of the team also.

The Budweiser Clydesdales are so amazing. If you have never seen them, their hooves are about as big around as a basketball and they live in better accomodations than most of the people I know. I would say they are an American icon, but we all know that isn't true since Amheuser-Busch was acquired by an international company last year. Nonetheless, it was really cool to see them.

The guy in the pink with the green polka-dots is Jon Court. He is on the reality show Jockeys on Animal Planet. Lindsay, Hilary's sister, was crazy about the fact that we got to see him race and weren't more than 10 feet from him in the paddock. The paddock is where they prep the horses for the next race and the jockeys get on them and the handlers walk them out to the starting gates.

celery and singing

2009-03-29T10:34:00.001-05:00

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Here comes the bride

2009-03-22T16:34:00.005-05:00

Brandon and Jennifer got married last night. Brandon is very special to us because his mom Gayla introduced us almost 11 years ago. They are the cutest couple. We are still trying to figure out how to hide in their suitcase so we can go to Paris and London with them!

Bandit vs. Moose

2009-03-18T14:41:00.001-05:00

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

training

2009-03-18T12:43:00.001-05:00

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Blogathon

2009-03-18T12:34:00.001-05:00

it's been a while since we last posted so hilary has been working on some posts during spring break. nothing much is really going on, just busy with work and heath has been traveling a ton. he has visited albuquerque, tulsa, and san jose in the past 3 weeks. a week or so ago, hilary was in albuquerque for a training and heath was in california. on hil's flight home, they stopped in el paso to pick up passenger's. heath was one of those passengers. he had gotten an earlier flight home and it went through el paso too. we were so excited to see each other:) thank goodness he's in lubbock this week. the good one :)

"Did you say walk?"

"or a bike ride?"

our good friends Laura and steven take their dog charlie on bike rides with them. we trained bandit to do it last spring and we tried it with moose on saturday night. man we wish we'd had the video camera that first 10 minutes. he was foaming at the mouth, growling, barking, trying to eat the front tire. heath went faster and he got the hang of it. he loves it now! the best part was he took a nap when we got home.

sweet bandit after a long walk.
check back for more videos!

eat your veggies

2009-03-18T10:33:00.000-05:00

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

rollin' rollin' rollin'

2009-03-17T09:37:00.006-05:00

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Mylee Marie Estrada

2009-02-23T21:35:00.002-06:00

Amy, Hil's best friend/roommate from college had a girl!

She weighed 6 lb. 3 oz. and is very very cute!
Nicholas was pretty funny looking at her in the nursery.

He just repeated "My baby, My baby, My baby."
I think she looks just like Nicho.
Congratulations!

Moose is 10 months old

2009-02-12T16:00:00.000-06:00

"Down"

"Sit" Good dogs!

Sweet Bandit resting after playing outside all day long.

Can you believe this dog is not full grown yet? We hope he stays just this size. He's perfect.

Enjoying his new nylabone.

Enthusiastic is the best word to describe Moose. He is enthusiastic about EVERYTHING; eating, playing, obeying, greeting people, licking you to death, running.

Last Wiikend and other stuff

2009-01-29T18:25:00.005-06:00

Heath got a Wii for his birthday so we have been enjoying lots of games. Tennis

Mario cart

Star Wars

I didn't really want to start a whole new post so I'll just include some new pictures of the dogs. When Bruce was alive, Bandit and him would "spoon." It was the cutest thing. They had this really special relationship. Now, Bandit loves Moose, but it's not so special. We caught Bandit the other night snuggling with Moose. He only does it when it's really cold outside. This night the low was 10.

Moose and Bandit-notice how Bandit is sitting on his back paw.
Bruce and Bandit

The good and innocent one.
Playing with new toys from Uncle Doug and Aunt Jan.

Moose says "Thanks, I love the squeaker!"

Happy Birthday Heath

2009-01-26T06:45:00.000-06:00

today on heath's birthday i thought i would share 21 reasons why i think he's a pretty darn great husband and friend. 21 because that's how old he is....really! he'll never tell you how old he is :)

1. he is a man of God.

2. his favorite places to eat are texas roadhouse and rockfish.

3. he is very very thorough.

4. he goes on walks with me and the dogs.

5. he listens.

6. he's competitive

7. he's stubborn

8. he's faithful

9. he's obsessed with drinking out of stryrofoam cups.

10. he is very good at fixing things.

11. he could watch youtube all day long.

12. he doesn't like foods touching on his plate.

13. he starts my car for me on those bitterly cold west texas mornings.

14. he goes to the tech football games with me.

15. he drives too fast.

16. he opens my car door for me.

17. he helps me put on my coat.

18. he always asks how my day was.

19. he loves to do the yard work.

20. he is incredibly talented and passionate about what he does for a living....training.

21. he loves his family and friends deeply.

clarification

2009-01-18T20:31:00.003-06:00

when i (hil) mentioned "interviewing" in the california posts i meant that heath was the one doing the interviewing. the company that heath works for has an office in sacramento and people who work in san jose and fresno. he was in san jose to interview people for field tech positions. sorry for the confusion....we have no intentions of moving :)

Funny video

2009-01-09T22:11:00.005-06:00

We have been trying to get this on video for a long time. He loves this toy and we are convinced that he squeaks and howls all day in his kennel or outside in the backyard!

The end is the best when he looks at the camera like "What?"

These next few were taken the day after we got home from California. The dogs were exhausted from staying at the kennel.

Poor little Bandito had to put up with the Black monster in an 8X8 room!

Moose kind of looks like he's smiling in this picture. He actually was pretty mad at Hilary for not letting him eat the hermit crab food. He was barking and growling so Heath grabbed the camera!

Day 3 Part 2 San Francisco

2009-01-03T19:53:00.005-06:00

In San Francisco we had booked a tour with Mr. Toad's.

It was a fun and unique way to see a lot of the city. We couldn't believe how cold it was!

Another picture of poodles in a car.

The painted ladies.

I thought the Christmas lights on the boats were pretty neat. We walked around a little bit after eating come really good seafood. It was really crowded since it was New Year's Eve. I guess we are getting old because we headed back to Fremont and we in bed asleep by 10. Happy New Year!

California Day 3 Part One Monterey, CA

2009-01-03T19:26:00.009-06:00

We traveled to Monterey, CA to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We are big fans of zoos and aquariums. This aquarium is one of the top ones in the country so we were pretty excited. The drive was very pretty. Very windy.

Unfortunately we were in a hurry to make it to San Francisco for our tour of the city. We could have stayed at the aquarium for days. We went to Lover's Point on the way out of town. The views were beautiful. There were a bunch of dolphins by the boat.

There had been hump back whales at this particular point the day before. We never saw them though.

We thought the agriculture there was interesting. Very different from the cotton farms near Lubbock. The picture above was brussel sprouts.
Not the greatest picture because we were driving on the highway but this was a strawberry farm. They used tarps with the strawberries.

This was artichokes.
Of course we were missing our dogs, so I had to take a picture of the poodle. Heath sped, I mean drove us to San Francisco just in time for our tour. Blogger says no more pictures on this post, so I guess I will do a Part 2.

California Day 2

2009-01-03T19:19:00.003-06:00

Heath had the afternoon off so we headed to the Winchester House.

We found one of these

on the way home and called it a night early.

California Day 1

2009-01-03T19:11:00.003-06:00

After a long flight we got in at about midnight. Heath was up early for his 6 am interview. I slept late and then joined him for a yummy lunch and then went to San Jose with Mary, Heath's boss' wife. We went to the Children's Museum with M.J. their 4 year old son. It was an amazing museum! M.J. enjoyed himself and I wished for these water contraptions for my own classroom. Good people watching :)
Mary is a "professional knitter" as M.J. called her so we went to a yarn store on the way home. Mary attempted to teach me how to knit. I need to practice a lot.

Morris Christmas

2009-01-02T16:41:00.005-06:00

Heath and I flew to Dallas the day after Christmas to enjoy the weekend in Plano. There were 5 dogs at the house. We can only imagine the chaos if Bandit and Moose had been there as well! Rocky (front) and Binger
Rocky on the table.

Binger on the table.

Haylee (my step niece-my sister's husband daughter) and Hilary

Lindsay and Rocky

No more mapsco w/ a new GPS.

Haylee really really really likes horses. She loved her new Flicka.

Saturday we went to the King Tut exhibit at the Art Museum on Dallas.
We brunched at the famous Waffle house.

Rocky vs. Red aka. Lucky

2009-01-02T16:36:00.003-06:00

Moose and Bandit enjoyed 6 nights at the Tipton. Here's a picture in the car on the way.

Halford Christmas

2009-01-02T15:42:00.008-06:00

We had a wonderful time at the Halford's on Christmas morning. We devoured some sausage balls as we opened presents for 3 hours. wow. Hunter's exciting present of the morning Guitar Hero.

Carol has a lot of jewelry. We are not sure if it all fit in this armoire :)

Becky enjoyed her first Halford Christmas. She got a zebra hair dryer in this pic.

We love anything Craftsman.

"Yeah, a Tech shirt!"

Heath in his new cashmere scarf.

A lovely letter and a straight-line auto leveler to help hang these:
We went to Crate n' Barrel in Dallas and San Jose and found these to hang above the master bed and the guest bed.

Heath will stay warm in his new North Face jacket.

A new subwoofer.....Heath likes his t.v./movies extra loud :)

Jared modeling his new comfy robe.

Hunter's new spiffy shirt.

The Blanket

2008-12-22T12:43:00.005-06:00

2008-12-09T15:53:00.001-06:00

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

2008-12-06T12:29:00.001-06:00

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

2008-12-04T19:26:00.002-06:00

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

2008-12-01T16:40:00.002-06:00

We love our new tree!

Just wanted to mention that I (Hil) have greatest husband ever. He put up the Christmas lights last night in the freezing wind. It took him a while to thaw out. It looks amazing!

new videos

2008-11-28T13:56:00.001-06:00

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

200th post

2008-11-17T21:45:00.003-06:00

In honor of our 200th post we thought we would share 20 things going on with us, not 200.
1. Our dog Moose is getting enormous. He probably weighs 80-85 lbs.

2. Our other dog Bandit can hold his own very well against the massive black dog.
3. We can't wait for the Texas Tech vs. Oklahoma game. Hilary's cousins are huge OU fans so there is some family rivalry going on.

4. We found the most beautiful Christmas tree last weekend at Holland Gardens. It has 1200 lights on it.

5. The talented husband Heath has measured and shopped online for lights for the exterior. Exciting stuff.

6. Hilary has been shopping for the perfect trays for her classroom for what seems like years. She found some at Walgreens. Again very exciting stuff.

7. We are a little obsessed with this cookbook. We have made several things from it and they are low fat!
8. Hilary was baptized on Saturday. Here's the link. Scroll down a little on the page and it will start playing. One of Hilary's friends from work, David Gray was also baptized. It was an amazing experience.

9. We ordered Moose his stocking so he won't feel left out.

10. We had a blast with Hilary's parents a couple of weekends ago. They graduated from OSU so we all went to the game together.

11. Hilary is almost finished reading The Shack. If you haven't read it, go out and buy it. It's really really good.

12. Our good friend Jannie does roller derby. We really enjoy going to her bouts. This is what we witnessed at "half-time" last Sunday afternoon.

Jannie-aka Ink Flamingo.
13. Hilary enjoyed a bout a while ago with friends from work; Shannon and Heather.14. We officially have outside dogs. They enjoy the new fence and clearly run and play all day long. Usually when Hilary gets home from work at 330 they had been in their kennels all day and were very hyper until 10 at night. Not anymore my friends. This is what we see in the evenings now!15. The dogs LOVE anything that squeaks. Moose's favorite toy is the Kong Wubba. We haven't gotten it on video but he will squeak it and howl at the same time. Very entertaining. 16. Moose is doing really well at obedience training. He is VERY focused on Heath. One of the instructors mentioned that we should do obedience trials. Here's a short video.

17. Since we have outside dogs we got them the constant drip thing for the faucet. We are pretty sure that Moose drinks from it all day long. The dog is far from dehydrated:)

18. We are going to Plano the day after Christmas. We got the very last room at the Tipton.

19. We were shocked when the Camry was full with only $30. Yeah for $1.79 gas.

20. This is Hilary's favorite player for Tech. He is a little scary looking, but he's amazing!

Enjoy

2008-11-09T08:35:00.001-06:00

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

In case you missed it.....

2008-11-02T14:46:00.002-06:00

#6 Texas Tech BEAT #1 Texas

Heath and I sold our tickets a long time ago to Becky and Hunter. We sold them before we knew it was such a huge game. Although, we had no tickets we went to the stadium with them and walked around before the game. We sat on a bench and people watched. We saw some interesting folks. We saw a Texas fan dressed up as a penguin, a Texas fan with a tutu on, and a Texas fan dressed up as Pooh.

When the game started we tried to find the Gameday coverage, and noticed a crowd of people sitting in the grass right behind the double T on the south side. They could see the jumbotron! We had a seat with them and enjoyed the first half of the game in the grass enjoying a beautiful west Texas evening.

At half time, we decided to go to the Frazier Alumni Pavillion. It was packed with lots of people who had been drinking for DAYS! We saw many guys almost get into fights, and saw the shortest shorts ever known to mankind. But, it was fun and they had a huge screen to watch the game.

The end of the game was the most exciting, nerve wracking experience we have ever witnessed. Heath is not a huge football fan and he was even jumping up and down giving high fives to random strangers. On the way to the car all you could hear were horns honking and people screaming. People were quite excited.

We made our way to Buffalo Wild Wings right near our house and they played the fight song and everyone cheered as they showed the last 8 seconds of the game repeatedly on ESPN.

My parents will be in town next weekend for the OSU game. That game will be a good one!
Go Tech!

Fence

2008-10-30T16:27:00.003-05:00

We are so excited to get a fence. Our little white dog will never get out again :) Sunday
MondayWednesday

Thursday

New Favorite Toy

2008-10-16T16:32:00.004-05:00

We got the dogs this toy and Moose seemed to like it.

Yucky Weather

2008-10-16T16:13:00.002-05:00

The weather has been rainy and cold all week so the dogs have had to be inside a lot. They enjoyed sleeping extra.....

A playing with every single toy they own.
Thankfully today the weather is sunny and 65 so we are headed on a nice long walk!

This week in videos

2008-10-10T16:06:00.004-05:00

Moose loves to stalk Bandit.

This is what they do from 3:45-10:00 p.m.

This week......

2008-10-10T15:22:00.003-05:00

Hilary did Race for the Cure with friends from work.

Moose grew
Bandit tried to survive.
Moose started another obedience class this week. It's called household manners. Heath is handling him this go around. Moose's friend's Pumkin (2.5 lb. rat terrier/chihuahua mix), & Cricket (70 lb. Great Dane) are in the class too.
At the bank, Moose was very concerned when Heath got out of the car to walk in.
Bandit's bed was missing, so he improvised.
Hilary got her hair and makeup done.

Video

2008-09-30T17:49:00.002-05:00

You can tell by the videos that Moose is quite talkative. They keep us laughing and thankfully Bandit is keeping Moose in line and is the "boss" for now.

Video

2008-09-30T15:52:00.002-05:00