Wednesday, January 24, 2007

I know what most of you are thinking, where have you been? Well, there was talk that the site was changing around a little and my blog was going to be on hold for a while, but it's back in business now. I've been doing a lot so I suppose I have a lot to talk about.

I can now say that I am a graduate of Texas Tech University. I don't want to toot my own horn, but I am so glad to be done and out of there. It just feels good after this long to accomplish a goal that I've been working on for 16 years of my life. Lacy graduated as well and we can now jump into the real world together. Apparently there are responsibilities that come along with graduating and I'm taking those one at a time. I didn't go to graduation because I didn't have any family that could come down, so it wasn't worth it. Besides, I didn't want to walk anyway. Most of my family had come to the Wrangler NFR so it would not have been feasible for them to drive or fly to Texas the next week for graduation.

Instead of going to graduation, Lacy and I went to Cancun, Mexico, to celebrate graduation and just relax. I have never really been on a true vacation before so it was quite an experience for me. We had bought an all-inclusive package, which is the way to go if you ask me. It included our flights, hotel, food, and some activities. We stayed in a very nice resort. When we were on or honeymoon we were not able to enjoy the fun activities because I had a broken leg at the time, so we tried to take advantage of all the fun stuff while we were there.

We went snorkeling a couple of times, which I had never done before. One of the first days we were there we rented a speed boat and our guide took us to a coral reef where we parked our boat and snorkeled for a couple of hours. There was one thing that we could not leave Cancun without trying and that was parasailing. That was probably the most fun thing we did the whole time we were there. I just love Mexico. The people are so nice down there. There's just something about the atmosphere that makes it fun.

Well, the Finals are over and a new year begins. Those 10 days in Las Vegas go by so fast. I didn't do as well as I wanted to, but that gives me a little fuel for my fire this year. I have already been to Denver, Odessa (Texas) and Ft. Worth (Texas) to kick of the year. I haven't had much luck so far, but I feel healthy and ready to roll on. I go back to Ft. Worth the last week of January for my second two horses. I think I'm sitting pretty well on my first two, so we will just see what happens. I'll be attending a walk to Emmaus the weekend of Jan. 27th. It's a men's walk, where you learn and grow in your walk with God. I'm not sure what all the weekend entails but I know it will be fun, and I hope I learn a lot while I'm there.

January seems like it's always an expensive month. Your property taxes and insurance are due and there are always unexpected payments and repairs. We had our well pump go out last week which was a pretty penny to replace. I also got myself into a little fender bender coming home from Odessa the other day. Lacy and I were driving home and Justin McDaniel and Bobby Mote were following us and we both hit some black ice at the same time. Both vehicles were all over the road. Justin got his truck straightened out and mine went into the ditch. I mean, it got slick in a hurry. You couldn't even stand up on the road without almost falling down. The officer said we were the first ones of the night, but we weren't the last. When I went and picked my car up a couple days later at the towing place in Lamesa, they said they alone picked up 17 vehicles that night in a 10-mile stretch of road. A little lesson to drive safely and be careful. We were very fortunate that it wasn't worse and the most important thing is we were all OK.

Lacy and I got a new dog the other day. She a pretty funny little dog. She's part rat terrier and part Chihuahua. She's still really young, I think she's only seven weeks old. We've only had her a couple of days, so she is just now starting to come out of her shell. Those types of dogs have a lot of energy and are usually pretty smart, so I think she will turn out fine. I just hope she can do some mouse and rat hunting when she gets big enough. We haven't named her yet, so if anyone has a suggestion let me know. Hey, we could have a little contest and we will announce the winner next time I write in. So send me some names and we will see which one works.

Supper is on the table and I've got to get, so until next time, be safe and God Bless.



Bareback rider Ryan Gray finished 2006 ranked 13th in the world standings. He currently resides in Lubbock, Texas, with his wife, Lacy.

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