Shootin' It Up

 Well here are the owners of the ranch - Lauren's grandparents (and the pup!).

On Christmas Day, a group of her family members decided to go out onto the property and shoot guns - YES!  I knew I was going to like these people!

We piled into one of the pick-up trucks and headed out......

Here is Lauren's uncle getting the target set up and the guns ready......

Even Lauren's teenage sister was shooting!

When they say "everything's bigger in Texas," they really mean it.  The sky and ranch were so big and beautiful!

Here's the truck, the ranch, oil rigs and cactus - all in one picture.  LOVE IT.

And this is some of our weaponry.....hahaha

Another of Lauren's uncles shooting stuff up......

I am so glad I brought my ear protection - Lauren's sister was covering her ears because it was pretty loud.....

Here's the target and the wood structure that was holding it up.  We killed it!!

Some shotgun action......

 Loading the skeet shooting machine thingy.......

And this is how they dispose of their spent ammunition on the ranch - a bottle stopper!  hahaha

They even decorated the cattle guard that led up to the main house - so cute!

This is the 3-story ranch house - soooo beautiful!  I felt like I was in a movie!

I felt like I was in a movie about life in the south - look at this wrap-around porch!

I ended up staying on the 2nd floor on an air mattress in the office.  Look at the cowboy painting on the wall.....

And I was sleeping on a cow hide rug!

Gotta have a Texas flag in the office!  And this one was flown over the Alamo on the 4th of July in 2006.  SO COOL!  Also notice the stitched longhorn in the leather chair.

 This is the landing/hallway/stairwell on the 2nd floor - from where I was staying in the office.  I felt like J.R. Ewing was going to walk in at any moment......or I would see some ghosts of cattle barons past.  I loved it!

There was this winding staircase in the middle of the house - it went up to the 2nd and 3rd floors, which contained the office, a bunch of bedrooms, bathrooms, etc.

Here is the gate to the ranch - their last name is Hitt.  They are members of the Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association!