krause springs

we have friends in town from oregon this week and we ended up at krause springs. on our way home we stopped at matt's boss' ranch.

we roamed some of the hill country on saturday

and we were all beat.

it was a beautifully long and wonderfully fun day.

krause springs

boss ranch

an interesting side note about the above picture:

this property backs up to the pedernales river. yes, this is usually a deep and powerful flowing river. the levels are usually all the way up to just where little pete and allie's feet would hit whilst sitting upon that rock. i had to document how unbelievable and scary this years drought has been. we are officially on another strict burn ban. the lack of rains in the summer and the few freezes we have already experienced this winter have put us in the driest state we have seen in a while. i could write a whole article on this subject and the importance of fire safety, following burn bans  and water conservation restrictions,

which are always important topics, but especially in extremely dry, drought conditions.

a bit late...happy new year!!!

i got lost there in reality for a bit and forgot all about blogging.

this is probably not the last time an unintentional absence will happen and my apology is, of course, accompanied by an update!

leica's first christmas.

so fun. so many presents for the sweet boy.

 g-ma popken really wanted leica to open one special present on christmas eve. we obliged and were so glad that we did.

cheryl got the book the night before christmas which had a recordable playback option that read the story to leica and it was g-ma's voice! such a cool present and leica loved listening to g-ma read him this book. he actually looked around for her a couple of times.

so cute.

 our friend matt came over on christmas and, low and behold!!, there was football watching. i guess every once in a while we can veg out in front of the tv. that's just what you do after stuffing yourself with a yummy holiday meal.

my parents came to visit us over the new year weekend and i put my mom to work.

 i found a used baby bjorn for our upcoming trip to oregon. 

dustin and leica had to model it for me.

 i finally took my camera to the salon on one of our visits and took some photos of the people we like to visit.

 ailing and leica.

 leica and debra.

 debra showing leica all of their new art that is part of their rotating shows of local artists. also, if you need your hair coifed, cut, or colored or you are in need of some lovely aveda, give 'em a visit here or just stop in.

 

 leica is the official 4001 salon mascot.

that's right. official.