Reef tank

I finally got some good pictures of our tank tonight.

Just a refresher - it's a 135gallon saltwater reef tank. The stand it sits on was built by Bryan. The tank has all live rock in it, with some corals and fish. We are just starting out - so we are adding stuff slowly. We will have some fish, I will get my Moray Eel, but mostly it will be differnet corals.

A view from our entryway

Our first corals - they are Zoanthids

This is a rock with mushroom corals on it.

This is Jaws - our Jawfish. He mostly hides under that rock - he's still shy.

See him watching me from under the rock

This is Scooter. He is a Scooter Blenny

These are Pajama Cardinals, we have 3. They are finally starting to color up.

This is Ringo, he's our Peppermint Shrimp.

Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini

She was afraid to come out of the locker
She was as nervous as she could be
She was afraid to come out of the locker
She was afraid that somebody would see

One, two, three, four
Tell the people what she wore

It was an itsy bitsy teenie weenie yellow polka-dot bikini
That she wore for the first time today
An itsy teenie weenie yellow polka-dot bikini
So in the locker she wanted to stay

It's that season again....the season I dread for so many reasons. We took Kati bathing suit shopping (Tayler was with Greg that weekend). She made Bryan go - because she said he picks out cuter suits than I do. I wonder what she has against 1 piece suits that go down to her ankles? She finally settled on about 7 suits that she tried on. Bryan was walking around singing this song...and then there it was....he actually found a yellow polka dot bikini! And just our luck - they had Kati's size. She was not too thrilled with it - but we forced her to try it on. I snuck my camera phone in so when she came out to show us I snapped her picture. You can imagine how thrilled she was with that. I feel like we had to get our laughs somewhere that night - and the thought of taking this picture to post gave that to us. Sadly, this bikini did not make the cut. But it will forever be immortalized here for all the world to see. Feel free to sing - and good luck getting the song out of your head!

Kati's Formal

Tonight was Kati's 8th grade formal. It's a formal dance for all of the 8th graders in the district. Hayley and Kati got ready at our house before the dance....it only took a little over 2 hours! But..it was worth it...they are gorgeous! How she has grown.

Oops..how'd that get in here? (Tayler exhibiting how we all felt after 2+ hours)

This and That

I just realized it had been awhile since I blogged. Our house has been crazy the last several weeks. Who am I kidding - it's always crazy.

Tayler is home and trying to adjust. She is doing well at home, but is having a very hard time with school. If we can just get her through the rest of this year, next should be better. Her meds have been adjusted so we shall see what that does. Please keep us in your prayers!

Kati has a formal dance this Friday night. We went dress shopping last night. I will post pictures this weekend. She is going with a group of friends - I don't think it's cool to go with boys yet - you go with your friends and meet up with the boys there. Which is fine by us!

Kaylin was here a couple of weeks ago for the weekend. She has finally given in and decided riding a bike isn't so bad. She now cruises down our street on only 2 wheels - and is learning the fine art of stopping, starting, and turning around!

Bryan has been busy getting our saltwater reef tank set up going. We have had live rock in it for about 3-4 weeks now. This past weekend we went and bought some "cleaners". We got 1 shrimp (whom Tayler named Ringo), 15 crabs and 20 snails. Hopefully soon we'll get more excitign stuff in there.

That's all I have for now. Hopefully the next post will be more interesting!

Jim & Sarah's Retirement Home

Bryan's uncle Jim and his wife Sarah have built their retirement home in Stonewall. This was the purpose of our trip, to see the finished home. It is a gorgeous 3 level home on 6.5 acres in the hillside. From their decks you can see for miles. The pictures really do not do it justice! We saw deer, antelope and wild turkey while out there. It isn't 100% complete yet, the landscaping still needs to be finished. But, it's very close! I didn't get any pictures of the inside of the house - I was too enthralled with the view! Next time we go, I'll get some. It is really a gorgeous place! These pictures were all taken from the decks (all 3 levels) - with the exception of the first picture of the house.

Stonewall

We went down to Stonewall this weekend to see Bryan's family. It is on the Pednerales River. We stopped at the Dam a few miles from his family's property to walk around, Chris, Liz and Loralye were with us. Right on the opposite side of the river is the LBJ Ranch. I had more fun taking pictures than anything else - I know - what a surprise!

Bryan found some soft shelled turtles. He didn't seem to happy too pose for me.