Hello all ~
Once again we find ourselves apologizing for being so long in updating the world about the goings on at the Guess House!
It has been a busy time indeed since our last update!
I suppose the biggest news is that Walter has a new work contract that he started March 22^nd.  It will mean an interesting, fun and busy year ahead of us as his new job for the next six to twelve months is located six hours south of us in San Antonio! 
The good news is that the base pay is a raise from his last contract and also they give him $400 a week in expense money tax free!  The expense money will cover not only lodging but a round trip plane ticket once a week-no matter who uses it, airport parking and even a little left over.

It's going to be a big change for us but we are looking forward to some new opportunities.

The job is with USAA a company that provides a wide range of services (Insurance, credit, financial planning, banking, loans, etc) for military dependents and their families.  We have been clients of theirs for years (Through Walters father) and love them!  They have the best rates going on EVERYTHING and fabulous customer service!

And I know youre all wondering - NO! Were not moving!

If Walter gets a permanent offer we might consider purchasing another cabin in the Texas Hill Country between Austin and San Antonio but that would be at least a year away.

Of course we can't live without Walter so we've developed a plan.  Every other week Walter is going to fly home mid-day Friday (He only works 4 ½ days a week), returning to S.A. late Sunday or early Monday morning.

On the alternate weeks Garrett and I are going to leave Thursday afternoon and fly down to S.A. where well stay until Monday afternoon so, most of the week.

We will have enough of the money given to us for expenses to cover a house sitter at the cabin (A friend from church), who will stay for a great price when we leave and the COOL thing about being down there is that we can do fun things and travel during the long weekends. 

As the matter of fact We're writing you from San Antonio as you read!  We just enjoyed our first weekend here..we spent time outfitting the apartment, and spent yesterday with some Almost family (Thanks Cathy and Will et al!!!) J at their beautiful place in Wimberly, TX, which is in the middle of the Hill country.  It was a gorgeous drive a little over an hour and we went to Market (A once a month really cool flea market + festivities) there and then back up to their house to play, relax and enjoy the incredible view of the hills out their back door as Grill Meister Will cooked up some chicken, sausage and steak on the smoker. We won't tell about the part where we ate way too much of the cream cheese/raspberry chipolte sauce dip and crackers! The bluebonnetts are just starting to emerge along with the other wildflowers and the temperature was a perfect 76-ish degrees with partly cloudy skies and NO humidity! (Kind of reminds me of Coeur d'Alene in the summer!!! J)

Walter's car is here with the car-seat and the spare baby bed, as well as some clothes and other essentials so packing to travel for any of us is minimal!

I didnt know this but S.A. is the eighth largest city in the U.S. go figure! We will enjoy spending some time here.there is lots to see the Riverwalk, Sea World (I think we will spend the extra $8 apiece and get season passes-that way we don't have to do it all in one day!) and the water park there etc. There is also Six Flags Fiesta Texas. Our apartments even have a great pool and of course-the essential hot tub for the recently addicted!  There is a Gold's gym nearby too, Complete with daycare, (Membership included with rent) that will allow us to work off the extra calories that I'm sure well consume during our excursions!  Thank goodness!!!

On one of the next recent trips down we have planned to drive south about 5 hours to the beach to visit Sharis sister on South Padre Island.  It will be Garrett's first trip to the beach and he will be SOOOO cute!

We had a brainstorm this weekend and started thinking that instead of throwing away money on the apartment and having nothing to show for it when we're done, that perhaps we should buy an RV to live in (There is a great park right across the street from Walters work) instead and then it would be mostly paid for by the time Walter's contract ended We could take it home afterwards and have guest facilities how cool would that be?!?!?

We'll keep ya posted on that one! Anyone knowing of a great deal on a motorized version contact us ASAP!!!
I will say that it has surely been interesting setting up house in two locations!  I feel like we should be rich with two homes and jetting all over the place - but of course we arent!!!!

If that isnt fun enough we just found out that we are getting an incredible tax return, well beyond what we had planned for , and it will actually be enough to replace the savings weve used while Walter wasnt working AND it will almost pay off the two cars we had to buy last year.

HOW GOOD IS THE BIG GUY UPSTAIRS???!!!!
(Well, we know just making sure you do!!!)

Im tellin ya we were sweatin it for awhile there.

(Well, Walter wasnt but I was!!!)

He got very close to so many opportunities so many times and they would just fall apart at the last minute~very frustrating!

One job in particular that he was offered was a very big job with a big titlegreat benefits and potential for growth  - right close to our home but there was NO pay to start practically and a lot of international travel required.  Walter just didnt feel right about taking it.  It would have been fine after the first year with raises and bonuses etc. but I guess it wasnt meant to be for now.

Walter still has some other opportunities he wants to pursue as well and this will give us time to figure it all out.
We will also both be getting quite a few miles from air travel and should have plenty of free tickets each to use within the year as we wish-that is just TOO cool!!!

I hate the idea of having Walter gone so much but with Garrett and I free to travel it wont be so bad. Not to mention the little man keeps me extremely preoccupied these days!
Garrett and I are most likely going to spend the month of July in Coeur d'Alene (Idaho) with family I think were all going up (Walter included) for the fourth again this year and Garrett and I will stay on for a few more weeks-the eight hour flight home (Southwest Airlines lots of connections) by just Garrett and I could be quite interesting! Looking forward to seeing my brother and family as well as the Montrgrummies, Swaffords and the Gillins too! Walter wants to go visit his best friend in Florida during the time were gone (To check on one of those other business ventures that is a possibility for the future) hope somewhere in there is okay Paul!

Anyone wanting to stay for a month in a great cabin on a small Texas ranch in July should contact me immediately! (There is some pay involved too!)

In other news, I took over all the finances and other Affairs of my parents who have been in Mexico for several months and are a complete disorganized mess (Sorry for spilling the beans mom! J), as well as organizing all the stuff left over from their estate a small storage unit full, and if THAT'S not enough (On top of being a wife, homemaker and mother of a young boy!) I've been garage sale-ing, buying cool stuff to resell on ebay (User name shariwalters-if you want to have a look-see) while Walter wasn't working to bring in some extra money. I've been listing almost 30 items a week (And then having to ship them, process payments etc.)  AND I just began doing some medical billing at home for another new doctor.
Now you know why it's been hard to write!

Garrett is doing extremely well  - we can not believe how much he has changed the last few months (Now 19 months old!) He snuck in a growth spurt in there somewhere and is now a full two inches taller than when last we wrote.

I think he's almost skipped the 3T size clothes and is now wearing mostly size 4s.  He really isn't a baby anymore.  His vocabulary has gotten pretty vast for his age...no sentences yet but just a seemingly large amount of single worlds.some of his favorites are: No, Milk, Bye-Bye, Juice, Jesus, DaDa, Mama, bath, car, outside (He says outzzzz) and all the animal noises for starters.  Another funny thing is when we (Or anyone else) are saying prayers, and he decides the prayer has gone on long enough he will keep interjecting Amen until we stop! He's been having fun in his diaper in the mud puddles outside-digging in them with his shovels and rakes.  I also found him a great set of kiddy-outdoor tools at a garage sale and he loves leaving them all over the yard for me to run over with the lawn mower!

As close as we watch him he had a close encounter of the bad kind with our electric fence the other day he's fine but got a good shock.  He does know the word Hot and reminds us of the fence regularly.  He's got lots of little boy scratches and bruises but he heads for the front door the minute he wakes up and loves to be outside. As soon as we get our finances back in line well get one of the big swing set/fort/sandbox thingys for him and that should keep him busy for a whole five minutes!

He's now old enough to go to the nursery at church but go figure that though he goes to school and Grannys several times a week he throws a fit in nursery.  The bad thing is that they bring him to you if he cries and he knows that and isn't above using it to his advantage.  I don't agree with that approach.  At school they just learn that they have to get over it.  I'm kind of from the Get tough school in a loving way.

I got him some really cute little beach outfits for our southern Texas adventures and he will be so cute!  Somewhere in our travels this year (Pre-September) we will also show up in southern California so all in that vicinity (Claire, Pam, Carole, Stuart, Sharon, Annette, Dee) consider yourselves forewarned!

In the home and animal department we got a five inch snowstorm on Valentines day real, actual, white Snoopy dogs in the tree kind of snow, MUCH to Shari's delight!  Perfect for snowmen etc.! We had a blast and Garrett finally did after we spent 30 minutes wrapping him up in trash bags and rubber bands (To waterproof gloves and boots) etc.. fashioning snow clothes of sorts (No need for that stuff here) so we could take him out and introduce him to the great white present from Heaven!

The hill down to our pond was perfect for sledding and Dog Chow bags make great sleds since they are slick on the outside! Even Mom and Dad had fun!!!
It's spring now and we're mowing and watering and watching the trees and flowers bloom with all that entails.
Wildflower season is fun since every week starting in April we have a new species of wildflower until the whole field is a blanket of them mid May.

We are too blessed!

Oh and we did forget to announce the birth of our first little lamb Socks to mom Ginger after a sad loss of Spice's twins a week before. 

The cattle are off being rebred and won't be back until early June we sold Bluebonnet and her calf Annie so we will just have Bopp and Bye-Bye until Bopp calves again and we breed Bye-Bye this time next year.
I think thats going to have to do for now.

As always, there are a lot of you out there who we haven't heard from for a very long time (Especially The Ash's!!!!) and we SO want to know wassup!  (Lyric weve fallen off your email list please add us back!!!)
You might not hear from us regularly on an individual basis but please know how much we think of you all in that fashion.
You are never far from our hearts!!!
Love,
Walter, Shari and Wee little (Well, not so little!) Garrett.