Maiden Voyage

Ethan got his first saddle this year from Santa, and a couple weekends ago we got to get out and saddle up Rowdy to take the new saddle on its maiden voyage. Don't get me wrong, this wasn't the first time Ethan has been on the saddle! He's been riding it in the house, on his rocking horse, and while it sat on the saddle rack, but this was the first time for him to be on it a horseback.

Zack working to get everything set just right


Checking it out....


Getting a feel of things.


Now taking a hold of the situation.


Ride'm Cowboy!


Very excited and proud of himself!!


To say that Ethan LOVES horses would be a HUGE understatement!!
Kisses for Rowdy for a great first ride.

Happy New Year!!

It's hard to believe that we are already starting another year!
We celebrated 2010 and rang in 2011 with great friends and family at
"Waltz Across the Pasture".

The Erwins


The McKays

Walt Wilkins & The Mystiqueros started off the evening and Brandon Rhyder sang us into 2011.


We enjoyed plenty of libations, dancing, and lots of laughs and fun times.


The Erwin's continued the celebration of 2011 on Jan. 1st by heading to Gruene and seeing Walt & the Mystiqueros play at Gruene Hall. We enjoyed this same show last year and it is by far one of our favorites!!


Ethan enjoyed the show and was complimented by Mikey "the sound guy" for protecting his hearing. He had to catch a snooze mid afternoon so he could enjoy all that Gruene Hall had to offer that day.


We are ready to make this year one of the greatest, and look forward to everything it has to offer! We wish each of you many blessings and all the very best for 2011.

Merry Christmas x 5

So I'm a little late with this post but its been a very busy Holiday season!!
We celebrated Christmas 5 times this year!! Yep, that's right 5 different Christmas get togethers. Ethan had LOTS of practice opening gifts and he definitely caught on to the Christmas spirit. It was fun to see him checking out all the presents under the tree, and he loved playing with all the new stuff.

Our first Christmas was with my family in Brenham on Dec. 18th. Needless to say Ethan was spoiled by Nana and Opa and also Uncle Jared and Lauren.

A new tricycle from Nana and Opa


His very own A&M tailgating chair from Uncle Jared & Lauren


Remote control truck (doesn't quite realize that the control and the truck go together)


After we our Brenham Christmas we all headed to La Vernia to do Christmas with my Dad's family. We enjoyed our evening at my Aunt Elanie's house and Ethan got to play with his cousin Landry. Landry was born two days after Ethan. So, when they're together it's like having twins!


The next week we traveled to Comanche on Dec 23rd and had Christmas with the Erwins on Christmas Eve morning. We were very excited about opening gifts with Uncle Clay and Aunt Marcy because they had a special surprise gift for us. We got to find out if they were going to have a baby boy or a baby girl this May.

We can't wait to meet Cousin Addison!!

Of course Ethan got a ton of more gifts....

His own laptop computer from Pops

A tee-pee from Uncle Clay & Aunt Marcy


We headed back to Granbury Christmas Eve so that we were at home when Santa came Christmas morning. We woke up early and sure enough the Big Guy had brought more gifts!!


Ethan got his very first saddle from Santa (which was also a surprise to Mommy).


More goodies Santa stuffed in the stocking.


Our 5th (and final) Christmas celebration was back to Schertz for my Mom's family (The Schmidt clan). We have a very large family....
My mom is the oldest of 7 kids

(Grandma with her kids and their spouses)

I'm the oldest of 20 Grandkids

(Grandma with 18 of the 20 Grandkids)

Ethan is one of 8 Great Grandkids!

(Grandma with the 8 Great Grandkids)

Plus spouses, girlfriends/boyfriends, pets, and a partridge in a pear tree.....
In all seriousness we counted and this year there were 55 people at my Grandma's house! It was fun to be able to all get together. We enjoyed watching the kids exchange gifts and the adults did a Chinese gift exchange that was fun too!

All of our Christmases were VERY blessed, and we enjoyed the time that we got to spend with all of our families!!