TyAnn Has ARRIVED!!

Well as most of you know our daughter TyAnn Lea Clements arrived on April 17, 2011 at 2:22 pm. She was 7 lbs 13 oz. and 21 inches long with beautiful blue eyes (which look like they will stay blue) and brown hair. She is beautiful!!

It was quite the journey getting TyAnn here. My Aunt Kristie and Uncle Jim along with Lex, Lisa and their two kids, Tess and Brady were coming to help me with TyAnn. They all were flying and so they booked their tickets to get here April 16 - which was my due date and we were just crossing our fingers that TyAnn would be here by then. Well on Friday, April 15, my doctor said that I hadn't even begun to dialate and he wouldn't start me until the next Wed. I was staring at having all of this company to help with a baby and there would be no baby. So everyone put a smile on their face and we talked my dad and Jade into driving down early to come hang out with everyone.

Well lo and behold Ben and I headed to the hospital Sunday morning at 1:00 AM. I guess my water had slowly broke earlier and so because of that the doctors decided to start me. We called my dad and told him to not take his time in driving down here and finally she arrived at 2:22 pm. It was quite funny I think she waited for my dad to get here since he had only been to Stephenville for about an hour before she arrived.


It was such an amazing experience to see our daughter for the first time. How she fit in there is beyond me...LOL! It only took a few seconds and she had her dad wrapped around her little finger.

Ben and TyAnn Catching up on some much needed sleep at the hospital

The doctors decided to keep her and I in the hospital for an extra day and so finally Tuesday afternoon we got released and headed home to a houseful of family. Between all of my family coming and Ben's family was here from Odessa we had a houseful. I think that first day home TyAnn was never put down from the time she got up to the time we put her down for bedtime, she just passed from person to person.

Grandpa Bill and Aunt Kristie

Grandpa Bill and Tess

I can't begin to express what she means to me. Everyone had said you won't know love til you have a child and I believe it is just something you have to experience for yourself. Ben and I's world has totally changed for the better. We now have our own family and it is an awesome feeling. We love you TyAnn Lea Clements!

Have a little patience.....

I have been told many times that patience is a virtue and well it is one I definetely do not have. All my life I have struggled with patience. From my mom telling me to have patience to my husband telling me the same thing - you would think I would finally achieve some. NOT! Now my daughter is telling me to have some patience and she will arrive. I don't think there is anything worse than waiting for a baby to come. Every twinge, every cramp you wonder is this it?? and well in my case nope. I realize I still have 2 days til my due date but dang I am ready for her to make her grand entrance. The room is ready, the bags are packed and family is just about on their way so hurry TyAnn......hurry up - you don't want to be late for your big day and your mom is running out of patience! :)

Wow - It's Been A Long Time

I can't believe how long it has been since I have blogged. My mom always loved reading my blogs but I just got too busy and well you know how it goes...excuses, excuses. Actually my good friend Steph has given me the inspiration to start blogging again. It is a great way to do a journal of our family events and also keep everyone that lives away from us posted on what our little family is up too.

There has been alot go on in my life since I blogged last and I don't think I am even going to try and catch up. Between finding out I am expecting our first child to my mom and grandma passing away and then selling my part of my business and getting ready to be a mom - there is just too much. There has been alot of sadness and grief in my family lately but the silver lining to a very gray cloud has been the excitement of preparing for TyAnn Lea Clements arrival!! Everyone from my awesome aunts and cousins to Ben's family and all of our friends can't wait for her to show her face. As I write this I am currently 10 days away from my due date and I am trying to be patient.

So I thought I would post a few pictures from my preggo journey and hopefully this will kick off my new determination to keep up my blog!

Grandma Helen's 95th BDay party - 5 weeks along and no clue I was preggo except that dang Diet Coke in the morning sure upset my stomache :)

Last Ride at Anshutz - 13 weeks

Christmas Party - 23 wks getting a little bigger bump

26 wks

Utah Baby Shower - 30 wks along - Tess and I

35 weeks and counting

I am now 10 days away from my due date and I am counting down everyday. Luckily I feel pretty good and my list of stuff to get done before TyAnn arrives just seems to get longer. I will try and post more pics of her room ect and of course when she arrives.

It is nice to finally be back and a part of the blogging world - hopefully I will do much better!

My Husband - The Announcer!

As you all know my husband Ben is a team roping and rodeo announcer! That is how we met - he announcing and me as a secretary at the USTRC Finals. I am quite proud of all of his accomplishments. He has announced numerous rodeos including pro rodeos, ammys and college rodeos. He also has announced the USTRC finals for many years.

Now announcing a team roping can be quite boring and even though he does his best to make it exciting - it is what it is - a team roping. But on the other hand I hope sometime you get to see him in action at a rodeo! He does an amazing job! I know this is pretty much a bragging blog but most of you that read this probably will never get to see him in action so I wanted to post a few pictures and a video of his "famous" dancing!! I hope you enjoy and just know I brag because I am So Proud of him!

Relaxing in Alpine

A couple of weeks ago I got the chance to go with Ben and his sister Brandi down to Alpine, TX. They were announcing and doing the music for the college rodeo (Sul Ross State University) and I tagged along for the ride. I had gone down there last year and absolutely loved it.

It is on the edge of the Big Bend National Park and someday I want to go on down through there. This is the only place in Texas where I have found somewhat mountains. No they are not the Rockies but they are better than the "bumps" of Stephenville. I forget how much I miss the mountains until I wake up and see the sun rise over them or watch a sunset with the mountains in the distance.

We spent 2 1/2 days down there. Along with the rodeo and just hanging out we also went and watched the Marfa lights. They are pretty neat and sure make me wonder about the whole alien theory. Noone can explain them and they are almost hypnotic to watch. If you ever get a chance to go down there make sure you check them out - they are worth the stop!

The town of Alpine is like Park City only stuck in the middle of nowhere. It is a charming town full of interesting shops. Brandi and I did a little window shopping. The only thing strange about down there is the amount of border patrol vehicles. I guess I just never get close to the border to see them that often but in Alpine they were everywhere. It is such a different way of life when you get down there with the border problems and that part I am really not very comfortable with.

Here are a couple of scenery photos. I hope you enjoy and if you are looking for an interesting place to visit put Alpine, Tx on your map! I would highly recommend it!!!

And the winners are....K Bar!!!

Yes it is that time of year again for the Odessa Ranch Rodeo. As usual Ben entered the KBar Ranch with his dad, Dane Driver, Drew Forte and Ethan Cory. They had a great time and won it again for the second year in a row!! Below are some of the pics - I was the filmer and so I didn't have as much time to take still pics but these turned out alright.

Oh by the way check out the shirts - that is courtesy of late nights trying to figure out iron transfers! You wouldn't think it would be hard to use iron on transfers on black shirts but believe me! I spent three days or should I say nights trying to get them to work. After finally figuring them out we took the shirts to the cleaners and they faded so they had that "vintage" look but they worked!!!

Ben carrying the American Flag

Drew, Ethan and Bob checking out the competition

Ben getting ready to go rope a goat!

Ben helping flank a horse

The Winners (l to r Ethan Cory, Dane Driver, Jordan Driver, Drew Forte, Bob Clements and Ben Clements)

I am proud of my husband!

Visit to Utah

I know it has been forever since I updated my blog. I have the usual excuse of being busy and I have just put it off. My mom finally said when are you going to update your blog - I keep checking and there is never anything new on it. Well that kind of lit my fire and so here goes. The summer was a busy one and so instead of trying to catch up on everything I thought I would write a little about my trip to Utah in Sept.

I was lucky enough to be able to go home to Utah for a couple of weeks in Sept and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. As usual my mom and I had a list of projects to do. So I was busy painting for her, riding my horse with Carolee and visiting with friends!

We painted Jade's room - hung window molding and pretty much gave his room a facelift. I wish I had pics but it turned out pretty cute. As with everytime I visit there just doesn't seem to be enough time to get everything done!

I also got my mare Barbie Doll in. She has been turned out for about 3 years and I keep craving to run some barrels in Texas so I decided to try her. I just want to thank Carolee for all of her help with Barb. We rode together everyday we could and Barb was working great when I left. I sent her back to Texas and I am excited to start running barrels again.

I also was able to go to dinner one night with Laurel, Steph and Saundra. Steph is having twins and so we had to get a pic together. I think she looks great in this pic because she was due at any time. Needless to say she has now had her twins - Teague and Taya! Congrats to Steph and Coby - I am so excited for you guys to start your family.

Of course I have to post a pic of my favorite niece. She loves to wear everyone's shoes around and so here she is in my moms Sunday shoes. Check out those blue eyes!!! She has her Grandpa's eyes!

For all of you that I was able to see - it was great to catch up and those of you I missed - hopefully I will see you next time because you know me I can only take Texas for a couple of months before I am ready to head back to Utah for a few days and catch up with my family and friends and breath that sweet mountain air!!!

Before I end this I have to tell you that the trip back to Texas was horrible!!! We took off from SLC on time but since there has been monsoon weather in Texas they closed DFW and we had to land at Wichita Falls and hang out there for about 5 hours until they reopened DFW! It was a long ride home! For the first week of being back to Texas it did nothing but rain - if you can believe this we measured over 12 1/2 inches of rain in one week!! Now that is crazy! Everything is so green now because either the grass is green or the mold is green hard to tell the difference sometimes! LOL

I will try to be a little better on blogging so stay tuned and I will post more in a few days!!