Latest News

Obviously I am not very good at updating my blog. I guess because I haven't had any super exciting adventures lately. Although I don't have any exotic or really adventurous pics to post, I do have some pics that are really exciting to me. Pics of Brianne and I. Since all my free time the past month has been spent with Brianne I figured I better post an update about her. I am sure she will really appreciate it! I have been dating Brianne Alexander for almost two months now. We have had a great time together. She lives in Dallas so we do not get to see each other every day but we definitely made the most of the time we have spent together. We have spent time in Corpus, Austin, College Station and Dallas doing a variety of different things. We hung out for a week in Corpus - her hometown - with Josh and Sheridan and her family. We spent a week in College Station - my home - as well as one week and several weekends in Dallas and a weekend in Austin for her brother's wedding. Our birthday's are three days apart so we had a fun weekend celebrating in Dallas in January. Anyway, I am not much of a writer so I will just post some pics. Enjoy! With my birthday present from Brianne.

Brianne with two of her best friends - Alicia and Lisa.

After my birthday dinner at Benihana's.

At the park by Brianne's apartment.

Brianne wearing the "Party Hat" for her birthday. We all had to wear it.

Brianne riding in the back of the truck at the beach in Corpus with the Leftwich family.

Theft, Friends and Fun

Well, obviously it has been quite a while since I last updated the reason being my computer was stolen several weeks ago and I just got my replacement the other day. I was having lunch with my brother at Chili's a couple of Sunday's ago in Robstown - just north of Corpus - and someone busted my window and stole my laptop and GPS. Plus I have been traveling around quite a bit the past month. So, here is what has been going on.

I spent about a week in Corpus staying with Josh, Sheridan and kids and hanging out with Brianne - the blonde in the pics below. I spent the week after Christmas down there and we had a great time. We went to the beach one day and flew kites and jumped off some sand dunes. It was really fun. Sheridan is a great photographer and really got some awesome pics. We also did a thing called "geocaching". It is a worldwide GPS scavenger hunt where you look up coordinates on the website - www.geocaching.com - and go out and try to find them. It is a lot of fun and there are "caches" hidden all over the world.

The rest of the time I have been spending time with Brianne when possible. She lives in Dallas so we have had to travel quite a bit to see each other but it has been a blast and she is great. We have spent a few days in Dallas -where we went to Six Flags - as well as College Station and even a weekend in Austin for her brother's wedding.

It has been a really fun month but it has not been without bad luck. Besides my truck getting broken in to, I got a speeding ticket on I35 in Austin and I lost my wallet. I had to replace all my credit cards and license as well as the wallet that I had just purchased. But what really stinks is I lost my Freebirds VIP card that allowed me to buy-one-get-one-free EVERYTIME I go. Now I am paying full price again for Freebirds.

Brianne and I at her brother's rehearsal dinner.

Gotta love the crosseyed pics! Always makes me laugh. My mom still tells me that my eyes are going to get stuck like this.

With Hogan and Josh at a burger joint in Corpus.

The Leftwich family at the site of our first "geocaching" find.

Gates and Elisabeth with the first "geocache".

Jumping the dunes at the beach.

More airtime!

Josh taking a leap!

Brianne swinging Beck around.

With two of my favorite kids - Beck and Gates.

Jumping with the Leftwich kids. I have so much fun with those kiddos.

Brianne entertaining the kids at Sheridan's brother's house.

Disney is Awesome

I just got back from Disney with David and his family as well as Klayton. We had a great time! We spent a day at each park and did absolutely everything there was to do. The best ride is the Rock and Roller Coaster and the best overall experience is the show "Fantasmic". Disney is certainly an awesome place.

With the fam at Epcot.

Three little pirates. Montana, Stephen and Klayton. The boys had so much fun.

In line for Pirates of the Carribbean.

Mr. Potato Head is awesome!

Fantasmic is definitely the best show at Disney.

The star of the show!

At Hollywood Studios.

The Star Wars experience.

The Lion King.

Pocohantas - hubba hubba.

Diving with Zachary.

The little guys riding at Animal Kingdom.

David and I with our Mickey Mouse hats.

Two of the best Disney characters - Pluto and Goofy.

South Texas Hunt

I just returned from a trip to Corpus where I got to spend time with some of my very best friends (Josh and Sheridan) and their kids as well as go on an amazing hunt. Unlike most Texas hunting we didn't sit in a stand and wait for the deer to come to us. We formed a line of seven hunters and pushed South thru through brush trying to stir the deer up and get them moving. It worked very well. We brought home seven deer and one Nilgai - an indian animal from the antelope family that is about the size of an elk.
I killed the biggest deer of my life and had a blast. I killed an 8-point buck that broke from a stand of trees about 30 yards from me. I pulled up on it with - using a .257 Weatherby - a popped it in the right shoulder from about 75 yards while it was on a dead run. When I got over to it the deer was laying on its back and had flipped head-over-hoof when I shot it. I thought it was dead but it was only playing opposum. Once I got within about 10 feet and was about to crouch down to make sure it was dead the deer opened it's eyes, looked deep into my soul and grunted loudly - apparently he had other plans. The buck proceeded to flip over, get up and come after me at which point I high-tailed it away yelling at Matt to "shoot that deer". It was pretty funny. The deer then turned and ran away from me and dropped after about 50 yards at which point I shot it twice with my pistol and put a knife through it's heart and still had to wait about 20 minutes for it to stop kicking so I could clean it. Enjoy the pics. I can't wait to go back.

Our deer at Andy's house. Mine is the one on the left. Andy's is on the right - a 13-pointer.

Posing with our kill. Jason and his Nilgai, Josh, me and Andy with our whitetails.

Me and Josh with my buck.

Posing with my buck. You can come visit my house in about six months and see it haning on my wall. :)

Sunrise over the Gulf as we headed to our hunt. God definitely blessed us with a great day and a blessed hunt.

I had to put a knife in his heart in order to bleed him out so I could field dress him.

Disembarking from the boat for the 1/3 mile trek over to the hunt.

Andy and his 13-point. This was the first kill of the day and really got everyone excited for what was to come.

Me and Andy with my buck.

My Nephews Make Me Laugh

I have four nephews that are constantly saying the funniest things. As all of you with kids know, kids insights are hilarious and so often catch you off guard. Anyway, I recently took my nephew Klayton to work with me. He was hanging out in the neighboring office and would come in to "check on me" in my office every so often. After a few visits this is the conversation we had. I am not sure what put this in his mind but it really made me laugh as it does everyone I share it with.

Klayton: "Uncle Stephen, do you want to be a dad one day?"
Me: "Yes, I do want to be a dad one day, when I find the right person to marry."
Klayton: "So right now your are just a man living with a dog?"

This is the point I just started laughing. I mean, really, what do you say to that. I am not sure where this train of thought came from but it sure caught me off guard and still makes me laugh.