Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Let's see...

...in the last two weeks we:

1. The Castillo's stayed with us while here for our nephew Ryan's graduation (May 30th).
2. Hosted Ryan's graduation party.
3. The Gaston's came for a visit.
4. Hosted an "end of school year" party for The Junction boys.

Let's start with Ryan's graduation...

My sister Jan, husband Ted and all the kids, Jimmy, Cassondra, Zach and Rebecca along with Cassondra's boyfriend Pete came to stay with us during Ryan's graduation weekend. We enjoyed having them here and they all were a HUGE help preparing for the party. My dad ("Pops") and Yolanda ("Grandma Yolie") came in from El Paso and stayed with my step-sister Sylvia who lives here. My step-brother Joe, wife Amy and our nieces Sydney and Sammy came down from Dallas and stayed with my sister JoAnne and brother-in-law Ruben. This was the first time in many years that all of us were together in one place! As you can see from the picture, my dad and Yolanda have quite the crew! The graduation party was attended by 100 family and friends! It turned out to be a beautiful night despite a brief thunderstorm that decided to park itself right above us just as we finished setting the tables.

Congratulations Ryan we are all very proud of you!
Good luck with your new job this summer and at A&M in the fall!

Proud Parents!


Dad & Yolanda's Clan!

This past weekend Gerald's brother Gary, nieces Stephanie, Katie, Lizzy and nephew David along with Stephanie's boyfriend Jason and David's friend Rich came for a visit. We had a great time! We were bummed that our niece Larissa, husband Clint and little Miss Maylee were unable to make it. Maylee is teething and was running a little fever so Clint and Larissa felt it best not to make the four hour drive with a teething baby...I don't blame them! Also, our niece Ashleigh and her boyfriend Matt were away on a cruise and could not come. On Saturday we went to the Riverwalk and did the touristo thing and later took the kids down to our homeowners park to swim in the river. They had a great time! We also enjoyed hearing Gerald and Gary's funny stories. They had us all laughing. Our nieces and nephew got to hear some great stories and learned some new things about their dad and uncle! ;O)


Katie & Lizzy

Stephanie & Jason


David, Lizzy, Gerald, Me, Gary, Rich

Sunday morning Stephanie, Katie and Jason headed home and Gary, Lizzy, David and Rich stayed to help us get ready for The Junction party. I don't know what we would of done without all of their help! We also had help from our good friends Carol and Troy along with the Walters family, Marcus, Katrinaa, Evan and Lilly! We rented a dunking tank, sno cone machine and had water balloon fights. Gerald cooked up a huge batch of the famous "Gaston Tacos", yummy! The boys requested the dunking tank so they could dunk the staff. It was so much fun! Everyone enjoyed the dunking tank but I think Gerald enjoyed dunking me a little TOO much! How odd, I seemed to be the target for many of the water balloons!

Lizzy & Gary getting the tacos ready!

Gerald & Troy cookin' up the tacos!


Gerald trying his darndest to hit the target...after several attempts...he missed...


...and resorted to cheating!
(click on the pictures so you can see up close what a BIG cheater he is!)

...so that's what's been happin' around the Rockin' G & B lately. We enjoyed our break from working on the place...fun and games are over and now it's time to get back to
work on The Western Town!

Thursday, May 14, 2009

The Return of "Pepe"

In an earlier post ("Oh Deer!") I wrote about my little friend Pepe Le Pew. This morning I fed all the critters, came in to get second cup of coffee, and went back outside to water the plants. Guess who I smelled when I opened the door? Yup, Pepe Le Pew. He's somewhere in the vicinity. He's either attracted to Pussycat's food or still looking for Penelope Pussycat...

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Huh? 610?

Most of you know I am VERY low-tech with this blogging thing. Let's just say I'm not the sharpest tool in the blogger shed. I still struggle with some of this stuff. Well yesterday I somehow stumbled on our blog stats and imagine my surprise when I saw that we had 610 "profile views". I didn't realize there was a "profile view" counter.

HUH? Are you kidding me? At first I thought I saw 61 but when I took a second look it was indeed 610. I really don't think 610 different people have viewed our profile. I have concluded it must be that all 3 of you who read our blog have checked out our profile 203.33333 times or maybe at the most 5 of you have checked it out 122 times...what other explanation is there? Oh wait...make that 640 profile views, who are you people?

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

New Twist on Tuna Casserole

Last night I had to come up with something for dinner. Our pantry is a little on the bare side as I am in desperate need of a grocery run. I took what I had on hand...

...and I came up with what I call "Tuna Casserole Ole". I am not a big Tuna Casserole fan, but I must say this came out pretty tasty! Gerald loved it. Give it a try, it is quick and yummy! Drop me a comment if you make it and tell me what you thought of it. As most of you know, I don't measure, so these are approximate measurements. Adios for now, I'm off to buy vittles...


Tuna Casserole Ole
1 1/2 cups elbow or egg noodles
4 0z Velveeta cheese or 4 slices American cheese or cheddar cheese
1 can tuna, drained
1 can cream of mushroom or cream of celery
1 can Rotel tomatoes
1/2 - 1 cup chopped onions
1 cup frozen peas, or mixed vegetables
1/2 cup crushed tortilla chips

Heat oven to 350. Cook noodles and drain. In the same pot add cheese sir until melted (the heat from the noodles will melt the cheese without putting it back on the heat). Add the next 5 ingredients and mix well. Spoon into a greased casserole dish and top with crushed tortilla chips. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until heated through. Serve with a salad. Serves 6.

Oh Deer!

Woke up this morning to the STRONG smell of "Pepe Le Pew" AND found that our deer friends had helped themselves to a geranium feast. My two favorite geraniums were reduced to stalks sometime during the night or early morning. Oh well...that's what I get for moving them within deer reach! Hopefully they will grow back quick with the help of "Miracle Grow".

As for "Pepe Le Pew", hopefully he moved on to look for his girlfriend "Penelope Pussycat" elsewhere because my kitty kat girls will kick his butt! By the way, for those of you too young to remember, there was a Looney Tunes cartoon (waaaay back when) about a french skunk (Pepe Le Pew) who wanted Penelope Pussycat for his girlfriend but his odor among other things offended her.



"BEFORE"



"AFTER"