Rattlesnake Roundup

A couple of weeks ago we were able to go to the Rattlesnake Roundup in Sweetwater, TX. This is the worlds largest roundup and Bryan has been excited to go as soon as he found out we'd be moving to west Texas! Let me tell ya, it did not disappoint! They definitely had more rattlesnakes than I've ever seen in one spot.

Checkin out the merchandise. They had pretty much anything you could think of made of snake!

Snake demo

Giant bubbles! These were so cool!!

Davanee certainly loved them : )

Look at all the snakes!! Don't worry, there's a piece of Plexiglas there : )

Davanee's first time getting her face painted! She had a blast!!

I love her face in this one

She's very pleased with the results : )

My beautiful girl!!

They also had a HUGE flea market with all sorts of fun crafts (that was my favorite part). Bryan got to try fried alligator and fried rattlesnake, which he was really excited about, and they also had a gun show there which he really enjoyed. Overall it was a great day together as a family : )

Weekend with the Murdock's

For Davanee's birthday this year we were able to visit Bryan's family in Paris. For those who may not know, Davanee and Bryan's dad share the same birthday plus she's the first grand baby on that side so I think that makes it extra special! My mom and sister were even able to come up and visit. It was a super fun weekend!

Davanee and her Uncle Dalin! I think it's so awesome that they're only a year apart. They have so much fun together!

Dalin is being a pirate : )

Bottle feeding a calf

These two are so fun!

Trying out the four wheeler. Apparently Dalin can't take a picture without making a funny face!

What is everyone doing, you ask? Why, they're fishing for crawfish of course!

See?

I guess Bryan and Sarah don't care too much about their tongues : )

Getting some help from daddy

Hannah being...well...Hannah : )

They sang to Davanee in Primary and gave her a huge Hershey bar and a copy of  The Friend.  She was so ecstatic!

Party time!!! I asked Davanee months in advance what kind of cake and party she wanted and she told me she wanted a Strawberry Shortcake cake. The funny thing is, I didn't even know that she had any idea who Strawberry Shortcake was!

Happy Birthday to Davanee ad Pops!!

I love this picture!! She was literally shouting for joy as soon as she realized it was a bow and arrow set.

I love this face too! She got tons of presents and was super excited with each one!

Pinata time! This was supposed to look like a strawberry...Davanee called it a tomato : ) Oh well, everyone had fun breaking it open anyways.

Scrambling for the candy!

As you can see, we had a blast!! I always love it when get to visit family!

Davanee's 4!!!!

How did this happen? Where did the time go? The past 4 year have been amazing and challenging all at the same time. We love having this funny little girl in our lives!!

Remember this tiny little girl we brought home?

We've come a long way since bringing that tiny bundle home from the hospital and Davanee has certainly grown up quite a bit! Here's a few things that make our 4-year-old awesome!

- She makes friends instantly! She's my little social butterfly, she loves people, and makes friends wherever she goes.

- She's creative. She loves to draw and paint and has a huge imagination! She always comes up with these elaborate stories and then makes up a song to go with the story! It's hilarious, we love listening to her story/song combos. We also love overhearing her playing with her toys. She will talk and play with her toys for hours!

- She's beautiful inside and out. Ever since Davanee was a newborn we could not go anywhere without someone stopping us to comment on how pretty Davanee was. The same is still true today.  She is also kind and loves to be a helper and tell me I'm doing a good job. This makes my day!!

-She is smart. She's constantly surprising us with what she knows. She's doing a great job with letter recognition and can write her name and words like 'mom' and 'dad' with very little assistance.

-She's hilarious!!! Davanee cracks us up all the time by just being her silly, goofy self. I really need to start writing down some of the things she says, but Bryan and I are usually so busy laughing that I forget.

-She has a sweet spirit. She loves primary and talking about Jesus and the Temple! We love to listen to her sweet prayers.

- She is energetic! I swear this girl never stops!! People always talk about how boys are the energetic ones, but I'm pretty sure Davanee could run circles around those boys!

- She's the perfect blend of tomboy and girly-girl. Davanee loves all things princess, Barbie, My Little Pony, Strawberry Shortcake, you name it! But she also love Ninja Turtles, Spiderman, guns, Lighting McQueen, and pretending to be a superhero. We love this about her!

Ok, I know this is getting wordy but I can't help it. I love this girl!! Here's a few pictures I took of her on her birthday. I only got a few good ones because, as you can imagine, she wasn't really in the mood to take pictures when there were new toys to play with : )

"I'm 4!!"

Pretty girl : )

I really like this even though she's being a little pouty

Happy 4th Birthday, Davanee!! Mommy and Daddy love you!

Bryan's Job

I am so incredibly grateful for Bryan's job with Chevron!! It definitely wasn't a career we ever thought he'd go in to but it's been such a blessing in our lives and we know it's the career that he's meant to have.

So, for Bryan's job you're first required to go through a 6 month training program to become a field specialist (basically he monitors pump-jacks all day). After the 6 months is up you get evaluated and if everything looks good they promote you to a level B field specialist. This comes with a raise and at this time you can bid/apply for a level A field specialist position which also comes with a raise : ) Are you following all this? It kind of confused me at first.  It's basically all the same job just with different pay and once you're a B you get your own truck. Anyways, here comes the cool part. Because Bryan is so awesome, his boss approached him and said that he wanted to evaluate and promote him to B an entire month early! His boss also told him that an A position was opening up at his office and he wanted Bryan to apply for it!! This stuff does not normally happen. You're not even supposed to be allowed to apply for an A position as a trainee but Bryan's boss said he'd approve it.

This is a wonderful blessing on so many levels. Originally we thought that we'd be in Big Spring for 6 months and then it would just be a surprise where we'd be after his training. Normally, there can be up to a year of waiting and not knowing where you'll get a job at the end of training.  So for Bryan to have gotten the A position even before his 6 months was up is HUGE!!! I'm so incredibly proud of him and all his hard work. He has worked so hard to provide for us and it's nice to see him being rewarded for it. Plus, we were able to renew our lease before it was up!

So, now we'll probably be in Big Spring for a year or two and then Bryan will try and move up in the company. I don't think he'll have any problem advancing!

Dress-up

Hey, remember me? I can't believe I just started this whole blogging thing and I'm already bad at it! Oh well, now it's time to play catch-up : )

Lately, Davanee, has really been in to dressing herself and has become really picky with what she wears. Usually I can get her to wear, what I would consider, a suitable outfit whenever we go out but as soon as we get home she strips and immediately changes her clothes and takes out whatever kind of hair-do she has in (that part is really tough on me). Then, she wont just change once, she'll change her outfit multiple times! Here are a few pictures from just one evening.

Here's how she starts out the day, hair fixed and mom-picked outfit

And now dress-up time begins : ) I don't know if you can tell, but she's actually wearing two skirts.

 

Outfit change number 2

3

4

5! This is her rock star pose!

I know I already posted this picture to facebook, but it's my favorite! I just love the face she's making, it makes me smile every time.

Needless to say, this girl cracks us up. She's always so excited to model a new outfit for us that I almost forget about the huge mess in her room from all the wardrobe changes : )