Marcie & Matt

It had been way too long since we had seen my mom and my brother and his family. We were finally able to go visit them and do some fun things with Brayden. Since Covid we have taken extra precautions so we did not travel and kept our space from family. With the decline in cases and us getting vaccinated we felt safe going to visit. We still used all precautions but it was so nice to get to do fun things again. We took Brayden to a Dallas Mavericks game since he has been so into basketball lately. It was way different with all the Covid protocols but we enjoyed it. It really felt good to do something that was somewhat normal. We also spent part of the day at the zoo with my mom and niece. It is not always about what you do but who you do it with. We love spending time with family and it felt amazing to see them after the crazy year we all have had.

I went a little out of order but we feel like there is so much to update since last October! Life got away from us and we are just now starting to catch up with all things life. After our last post in October of 2020 pretty much the whole family caught COVID and were quarantined at home for 2 weeks but Brayden was home for 3 as Thanksgiving week fell right at the end. We did get to enjoy some family during Thanksgiving and Christmas! With 2020 being a crazy year it felt good to be able to see some family. We spent part of Christmas break with Matt's middle brother and his family. Brayden had fun playing with his cousins. Then when the new year came we were definitely ready for some normalcy....but in February Texas had a major winter storm and we were left without power and water for several days. It was something that we had never experienced before so it was scary. Luckily we got through it even with having to do a lot of repairs around our water wells located in different parts of our land. Our pool had to end up being drained and we are working on repairing the pump that froze and cracked. This experience made us realize we are grateful for everything we have and all the support of family and friends. During that time Brayden played his last basketball season that Matt will coach so it was bittersweet. We are excited to be able to watch him play junior high sports and enjoy being parents and not the coach. Now we are all in the groove of work and school, but we are ready for summer!!!

It has been a crazy year dealing with the pandemic and we were so ready to be able to go on an adventure!! We love traveling so not being able to go many places made us a little stir crazy. We decided to take our RV and drive to Carlsbad New Mexico and tour the caverns. Matts parents came along and took their RV as well and we were able to stay right next to each other. We enjoyed walking the caverns, walking the trails, hanging out at the RV park, and walking up to the stores. It was so nice to be somewhere and experience a new place. Of course we took all the necessary precautions to make sure everyone stayed healthy. Brayden even met a friend and was able to ride bikes and play with him. Everest even enjoys being able to go with us! We look forward to planning more RV trips and going to the lake this summer!

So much time has gone by without any updates and so much has happened! I will start out with the progress with the house. The outside has finally been painted and they are working on finishing up the stone. Inside has a lot done as well! They need to finish up the painting and install all the cabinets. The main flooring is already installed, we are just waiting until closer to the end to get the carpet installed. It has been fun building this house from the ground up but has had some stressful moments. I am definitely a person who has a hard time making decisions so having to pick everything out has been the hardest and I hope it all ends up looking good together. It has been a fun process because all 3 of us have been able to pick out certain things we wanted. Can't wait to share when it is finally done! We have been so excited to start having new memories in this house!

Something huge and new is happening, we are building a new house!! It has been a long process and unfortunately was slowed down by the virus but now we are moving.  We just had the foundation poured yesterday and next week the framing will start! We are so excited for this new adventure.  We still live on the same land but are upgrading to have a little more room. I will share the progress as we go so that you can see the place that we will call home.  Right now we are living with Matt's parents just right down the street from where we live and Brayden has enjoyed his extra time with his grandparents.  

Summer was fun and busy.....now that school is back and sports are happening we have a lot going on. With the state of the world right now I am grateful that we have a somewhat normal life routine going except that we are taking all the extra precautions still.  Brayden is back to in person learning and is in the middle of his soccer season.  This is the sport that is definitely his favorite as he has played since he was 3 years old.  Work has also kept us busy which is nice! 

We have several hobbies and a recent one is raising registered longhorns.  Since we live in the country and love animals why not?? They are beautiful and fun to watch.  We have enjoyed driving around the land watching them and getting to take pictures.  When they see us coming they come right up to the truck as they sometimes get treats so they always greet us hoping we have them.  We do have to be careful because they don’t realize how big their horns really are and they are very social.  This is a cool pictures of the ladies that we visited the other day.

Life has been so crazy lately and I know everyone’s life has changed with what’s going on in the world. We have all been so used to living life by having a routine; some go to work, take kids to school, go to sporting events, go shop, go out to eat, etc.…. with life change comes new routines.  We have been able to spend more time with family and have created new routines.  We are lucky enough to have a semi normal routine as we are still working but every day when the weather is nice we take multiple walks down to the mailbox with Everest, we play games outside, work on projects or are doing school work.  It is a nice break to have life slow down a bit. Luckily living in the country, we are able to be outside more and are not cooped up in the house.  We are definitely trying to focus on the positives during this time.
 
We have had to celebrate Matt's birthday and Easter but have tried to make is a fun as it can be.  Matt is always so positive so this year he says, do you even get older when your birthday happens during quarantine??  NOPE! I guess he decided to not age this year.

We hope you are doing well during this time!

I wanted to introduce you to one of our favorite little pups!! This is Everest (yes, we named her after Paw Patrol) and boy is she a cutie! However, she can be a little toot. She loves to get out and explore and really loves her toys especially her little squeaky balls like in the picture.  She also loves to be held and to snuggle. She has been a little lost without her pal Tuffy as we lost him to due to age recently.
 
Hope you enjoy animals because we have many and love them! Look out for more posts about them and our life!

Now that we have shared about our lives, what we enjoy and our family, we want to close with a few promises to you! If you choose to pursue an adoption plan with us, we promise to respect you and whatever level of openness that you wish to have with your child. We promise to love your child unconditionally! We promise to provide a safe, stable and happy home for them and to give them a life filled with every opportunity possible! We know this is a very difficult decision for you, and no matter what you choose, we see you as a mom who just wants to do what is best for her child. We will support you in your decision no matter what!

We have 2 Shih Tzu's, Tuffy and Everest. They are inside dogs. We also have a Great Pyrenese, Linus, who is an outside dog. He loves to escape and sometimes we will have to go search for him, but he is never far. There is a cat that we named Socks. Socks was here before we moved in and he decided to stick around! We have many chickens, 3 horses, 1 cow, and 2 longhorns. Our family has many more wild horses, cows, longhorns, llamas, emu, donkey, goat, and bison on their farm.