Update soon - I promise!

Wow, it's been a while. I'm really sorry for no updates lately. We have been swamped. I have new pictures of the house...just give me a couple days to get them downloaded and I will post them. I haven't forgotten about this blog!!

Store Pictures - Finally!

We finally bought a new camera dock and were able to take some pictures of the store. Here they are!

Front of store:

Taylor and inside:

Some of our many many apples that we go through like crazy:

Open for Business!

Our Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory in Southlake Town Square is now open for business! I will try to post some pictures very soon...we've just been REALLY busy. But it is really fun and we love it there! Come by and see us, but first check our website for coupons under "Special Offers" (although if you forget the coupon and just mention it, we'll still let you get the deal!).

Please feel free to let us know what you think about products, prices, things we should sell but don't, the feel of the place, the cleanliness of the place, the friendliness of the staff, etc. We would like to see more customers so we're open to any improvement ideas!

We really THANK EVERYONE for all of the ideas, support, and discussions over the past 6 months about the store. Thanks for being excited with us!

The proud owners,
Lisa, Cyrus, and Taylor Vestal

House Siding and Chocolate Store Update

Just wanted to show a couple more pictures. Here are more recent ones of the house. Cyrus and Taylor got A LOT of work done, but now that the store is opening soon, I don't know what is going to happen! But it's sure lookin good...

Here are two pictures of the inside of the store! These are a few days old so it already looks different even today! The tile was put in just after we snapped the pictures. The opening day keeps changing with construction and furniture delays, but right now, we are 99% sure we won't open until next Saturday. We are getting trained on the cash registers this Thursday (and Friday for some) and will be setting up the store next week to open on Saturday. I'll keep you updated on here with Grand Opening info.

(case for caramel apples)

Why the Writer’s Strike was the best thing for Society

Some of my favorite TV shows include:
24
Grey’s Anatomy
The Office
Brothers and Sisters

I was just as sad as anyone when I found out they were not going to come on this season, or possibly they would come on, but in an unexpected, inconsistent manner. I had my withdrawals every now and then, but it really didn’t affect my life that much. You see, I didn’t feel like I was “missing something” because there was nothing to miss! It turns out, it was actually making my life better.

Do I learn anything from those shows that I can apply to real life, or that will make me smarter? No. They are purely about situations I will never be in, relationships that are unreal and overdramatic, and beautiful people that don’t ever exist in masses like that together. Maybe once in a blue moon I would see something that made me think about my own life and come to some conclusion…but this was really rare.

That’s why, when the shows came back on recently, and I once again found myself glued to the T.V., I realized what a relaxing break it was to not “have a show to catch” (and I have DVR, yet the time commitment still builds up). I’m convinced I was 10 times more productive during the period when the shows were not on than I am now. I say this because I hope everyone realized what I did. Without so much T.V., you can take the time to have nice quiet evenings at home (listening to the radio or music or heaven forbid, read a book), talking to your spouse, walking the dogs, cooking a longer supper, working on a scrapbook or homework with a clear mind (not distracted by the T.V. story line), or getting some other things done during the week that you won’t have to find time to do on the weekend. When I think back on these times, it makes me happy and feel relaxed. I hope that others out there were able to take advantage of the writer’s strike and enjoy their life for the other things in it, even if only for a little while. I have made it my goal to try to keep the house like that more often, because its just … well, pleasant. We’ve also tried to cut back on our shows, which we’ve been pretty successful at from the list you saw above (although new shows are becoming very tempting).

This all said, I still can’t wait until tomorrow night when we see Merideth work closely with her ex-boyfriend, whom she obviously still loves, to develop a new and unprecedented surgery to save the live of a supposedly terminally ill man with a large tumor in the middle of his brain, who will wake up only to realize he was “out of his mind” when he married his new wife (and provoked a bear cub)!

Sister Trip at the Gaylord!

Finally, I have been able to take the time to upload my pictures from our annual Sister Trip. This year we met in Grapevine at the Gaylord Texan the weekend of April 11th. It was so nice, fresh, and relaxing. The four Walter sisters (Mary Jo, Rita, Florence, and Marguerite) met up on Thursday, and mom, Pam, and myself joined them Friday evening. We shopped a lot Saturday morning, and then Valerie joined us at lunch time. Also joining us at lunch time was Julie and their newest baby, sweet little Helen. Sherry and Heather joined us Saturday evening for dinner at Esparza's, and we split up to go our separate ways on Sunday. The weekend was full of silliness, laughter, sweetness, and tears (but in a healthy way). We missed other "sisters" who couldn't come due to health reasons, distance, busy lives, and being close to giving birth :). I am lucky to have such a beautiful, smart, caring, and loving family...and I learn something new from them every time they are around! Enjoy the pictures!

My pictures can be downloaded or printed from kodak gallery at:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=7w109yj.32ul9zo3&x=0&y=-qhecbs&localeid=en_US

Valerie's pictures can be downloaded or printed from snapfish at:

http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=222168187/a=127926427_127993499/t_=127926427

Speaking of Nephews and Nieces...

I couldn't resist posting these pictures of our nieces (yes, they are twin's - Cy's sister Shawn's kids). Shawn has deemed these their Rock Star pictures (taken Easter weekend). Carson is blue, Jordan in yellow. They are really hamming in the last picture! Posing like movie stars!!







They are too cute!

Reno and Nephews!

Our trip to Reno was great! We saw our newphews, Holden and David, for the first time in 2 years. They are 5 and 3 years old. Katie and Moo Moo came with us, and we just played all weekend. Poor Holden skinned his nose at school the day we arrived and had a giant strawberry on his face. Even worse, poor David fell off the slide at school a couple of days before we arrived, and come to find out, he broke his leg!! A 3 year old with a broken leg is a sad thing. :( He couldn't run around, but I enjoyed carrying a baby around! Here is a slide show of pictures. Or you can go to the kodakgallery files to download a photo or order a print:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=7w109yj.a0hst1lv&x=0&y=qj2yxp&localeid=en_US

Easter Weekend and More!

Last weekend, for Easter, we went up to Gainesville. Easter Sunday was also my (Lisa's) birthday! This won't happen again for like 200 years.

Friday afternoon we had lunch at Gloria's with Katie, Shawn, and the twins (Carson & Jordan). Carson LOVES her aunt Lisa and even let me take her to the bathroom and rode in our car! Gloria's has the best salsa and margaritas (yes, I was drinking at noon on Friday). Then we went back to Katie's and I got some Easter/birthday presents! They are such a sweet in-law family, and treat me like one of their own!

Friday evening we loaded up the pups, and headed for Gainesville. We got them to my dad's, and then left to meet some "long lost" friends for dinner at Gainesville Seafood. Casey and Scott -- we enjoyed seeing our old friends again since it's been so long. Shannon and Melissa - it was great getting to hang out with you and getting to know you. It's nice to have more"married" (or almost married) friends!

Saturday morning, I rode with my mom to pick up uncle Gary in Denton, and Cyrus went to Taylor's to work some cows (I don't know, put medicine on them or something). Then Jack came and met us for lunch in Muenster, TX at Doc's. We talked about wild hogs and at rueben sandwiches. I went back with Cyrus and Taylor to unload the cow's worth of meat they picked up from Muenster and to go over our business taxes for last year.

Here is Taylor pulling Cyrus on the dirt bike to try to help get it kick started...

Here is Cyrus petting Sally, with the horses behind...

Here is baby horse Gimpy (he had some leg problems when he was born) and pretty Ginger. Their mama is dead, so they are best buds...

Here is old CJ (left), Ginger, and Gimpy. The other kid, Gordy, is at the trainer!...


When we left the farm, we got the dogs and went to visit grandmother and granddad Vestal. They have always had weenies and LOVE seeing Milo and Libby (but I can't say the same for Jones' Tiger and Godiva)! Godiva is a new, chocolate-colored chihuahua who will have to be renamed so she doesn't represent Rocky Mountain's competitor! :)

So, Saturday night we were pooped! We picked up Grandma after leaving the Vestal's, and took her to dad's where dad and Lisa had cooked an entire hamburger meal! It was sooooooo good and hit the spot! We finally took grandma home, watched the Aggie men lose, and retired to Scout's room to play a little "Wii" before bed.

Easter Sunday morning we woke up, got Starbuck's, and lazied around while watching the First Baptist sermon on TV. Dad and fam went to Flowermound to meet Uncle Phil and Janice for Easter brunch, and Cyrus and I stayed in town and went to meet the whole Sicking crew at Mary Jo's for lunch. Our cousin Misty, whom we haven't seen in AGES!, was there with her husband and son. Cousin Jo is getting so close to having her boy! Yay! We later went back over to dad's to open birthday presents, get the dogs, and eventually go home.

Here is Grandma sporting a Joe Walter Lumber Co. hat in matching spring color!...

We managed to see ALL the family in like 2 days! Sorry, I forgot to take pictures of anything but the farm. Ooops. I'll get better.

This past weekend Cyrus and I CLEANED CLEANED CLEANED the house, and then I planted some herbs on Sunday. Hopefully they won't die! They are just so cute in their little yellow pots! We are getting ready to order a new window and door so we can finish siding the front bottom portion of the house.

The Chocolate store started construction on Monday! It's getting pretty exciting....

This weekend we head to Reno to visit our nephews, Holden and David (Cy's sister Erin's kids). The weekend after that I go to our "sister trip" at the Gaylord in Grapevine to spend a lovely weekend with all the women on my mom's side of the family. Pam will be here too. WE ARE GETTING BUSY!

Vote for Gainesville, TX to get a Trolley

Our hometown, Gainesville, TX, is entered in a Hamburger Helper contest to help get some funding to create a Trolley for the historic town. I’m just enlisting your support to go vote for Gainesville! I’m not sure how you vote exactly (I think it just votes when you click on the link), but you could leave a comment. :)

The funny this is that I know almost MANY of those names listed to the right side that have left comments (high school mates, teachers, people from church, people I’ve babysat for, etc.). Gotta love small towns!
http://www.myhometownhelper.com/ViewProject.aspx?id=39148
___________________________
Dear Chamber Member:
Please help us get the trolley up & running with your vote of support! Just click on the link below and read our message.
The more votes we get, the better our chances of winning the grant. March 31, 2008 is the deadline to enter, so please forward this to all of your family, friends, or anyone who will be willing to help us with this project.
Sincerely,
John Broyles
Chamber Director

Children are an Amazing Thing

The thing I love most about friends and family having babies is getting to see features of someone you know really well, show up in another little human! What makes it even more interesting, is that it's two people merging into one -- usually more of a stranger combined with a really good friend or cousin. I can see Blake's little smirk in Zoe's, but I see Joel's eyes...but somehow they are Blake's too!

(Zoe)

(Bryan, Olivia, and little Brody)

I love watching the kids develop into a morphis of the two. I can't wait to see my cousin Jo's little boy born with features that have been in our family for generations and generations!

I am very excited about watching all the new babies that will be here soon, and continuing to watch the existing ones develop into little mini-parents! Keep the pictures coming!

Engagement Congratulations!

Congratulations to our two friends who are engaged.


Joseph Finch proposed to "Dr." Dionne Smith - plan to wed in New Orleans in December.

AND...

Scott Hutchison proposed to Melissa Case - plan to wed in September.

Yay! I love weddings! Plus, married life is wonderful!

Durango Pictures! - Making Candy

Here they are -- pictures from our trip.


Cyrus and Taylor ready to go make chocolate in the factory...

The Master Candymaker, Jim, whipping up a batch of "Aspen Cream"...


Cyrus separating marshmallows on a table...

Four copper kettles a' cookin'...




Yummm, the insides of a "Pecan Bear" - caramel & pecans! (the next step is to enrobe in chocolate)...


Drizzling the "signature" on some toffee (WITH OUR HANDS!)...




This was when we got too busy making chocolate that we forgot to take any more pictures.


Here is one of all the FUDGE and BARK we made in training class. Wow!...










(At the request of Cyrus, Deer picture was removed because of poor quality :).)

All pictures from our trip can be viewed from our website or at this kodakgallery link (may need a free account to view photos):
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=7w109yj.8vs964er&x=0&y=-lx9359 .

Baby Schilling! (Jo's Shower)

On February 23, 2008, 6 of us hosted a baby shower for Jo & Mike Schilling's (Jo is my 1st cousin) soon to be born baby boy! Our hostess gift was a suped-up Graco Pack n' Play. The shower also created a great excuse for my sister, Pam, to come home to visit. From left to right are me, Pam, cousin Heather, mom Dianne, aunt Sherry, great-aunt Mary Jo, and mom-to-be, Jo. She is due towards the end of April.

See our cute little baby boy clothesline in the back? :)

All 4 of my pictures from the shower can be viewed from our website, or at this kodakgallery link (may need a free account to view pictures):
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=7w109yj.28vq6opf&x=0&y=-w0wp3d .

Durango, CO

We are back from Durango. I swear, I will try to upload pictures this weekend - from our trip, my cousin Jo's baby shower (it's her first!), and from when the Air Force Academy guys came to visit over Valentine's.

As we drove upon Durango at about 8:00 Sunday night, it appeared from the mountain pass and was a little bitty city of lights in the valley of the mountains. Durango was a really neat place. It is an old mining town stuck down in between the mountains, founded in 1880 because of the railroad. The historic downtown reminded me a lot of Gainesville, which was founded in 1850. I would say Durango's downtown was just a little more "country" or "miner-saloonish". I'm not sure if there's a word for that. Plus, it was surrounded on all sides by mountains!

Even more, it has the Animas river which runs right through town, and is used for competition rapid rafting in the summer. The scenery from this town is spectacular - snowy mountains with a river running down the base of them and historic buildings to complement.

Anyway, we didn't ride the famous Durango-Silverton train, but we saw it! We visited the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory that started the whole company there in Durango's downtown. We shopped the little shops and walked around the town to get some exercise (after eating all those calories!). We stayed in a condo a mile from down which had a perfect little sledding hill next to it. Cyrus and I made about 2 trips each -- we were dying trying to hike up the hill in that altitude! I got going pretty fast and it was fun. Cyrus aimed towards a little rock and got some air on his last jump. No pictures of this...sorry.

A neat story was our second night there, Cyrus and I went downtown to eat a nice dinner (Durango is FULL of local restaurants!). We missed our turn and drove past a corner in town with a little grassy area. There were two deer standing on the corner!! Then we U-turned to get back on track, and I was going to take a picture of the deer in town, but they were gone. I said, "they have to be somewhere close" and as we drove back into the downtown main street and parked, there they were!, in the middle of the road on the boulevard. This time there were 6 or more! They were just frozen there thinking "where are we?". They were so cute. Some people shewed them away and they just ran up the street, lost as could be. I guess they finally made it back to the mountain which was a couple of miles down the road. I might have some pictures of this if they turned out (it was dark).

We went skiing at "Purgatory" on Monday and Tuesday. I would have traded my $60 lift ticket for a massage at the hot springs spa down the road if Cyrus hadn't paid for both days up front. But I did ski the second day, and I did alright. It is fun, but I definitely don't desire to ski like Cyrus and Taylor do. They just go up the lift, down the mountain, and straight back to the lift. I like to take breaks (I took an hour long nap in the Powderhouse on a couch...it was awesome!). There was like a 1 hr blizzard on Monday, but the rest of the time, and especially Tuesday, the sun was shining on the fresh layer of snow, and the skiing conditions were great! Sorry - we forgot our camera both times.

We got home Wednesday night about midnight, and now I am back at work, and Cyrus is busy getting things ready for the store to open (this is his job now - LUCKY).

Chocolate, Chocolate, Sick on Chocolate!

OH MY GOSH! That's all I can say. I keep waking up every day during training and asking "am I really here? Are we really doing this?". Yes, we are. We are 2 months away from opening up our chocolate store, and it is going to be awesome!

We spent all Monday afternoon SAMPLING every kind of chocolate and confectionary we wanted, out of the over 100 products! Ya'll, this was better than getting married. I mean, this was the most fun I've ever had...I was in HEAVEN!! This chocolate and all the fillings (nuts, creams, truffles, homemade marshmallow, etc.) are out of this world. And it was even more amazing after we toured the factory and saw how they were made.

And we did not just "tour" the factory, we WORKED in the factory all Tuesday morning. I have pictures but will have to wait until we get home to download them. We started in the kitchen, where the "master candymaker" was mixing cream for our "Aspen Cream" in a big vat (picture to come). We watched them move thick, gooey POUNDS of corn syrup into giant copper kettles, and watched caramel come to a boil in the kettles. Imagine cooking in your kitchen...times 20! Then we made our way over to the big stainless steel tables where they poured out chocolate or marshmallows and then cut them into little squares. This covered the entire table where they had to use bars on the edges to make a perfect layer of stuff. We actually got to pull apart cut marshmallows, rub them around in powdered sugar, and put them on a tray (picture to come). The kitchen cooks are very knowledgeable and skilled in candy making. There are so many temperatures, consistencies, measurements, and motions that have to be perfect to make perfect candy.

After the kitchen came the real fun! The next part of the factory had all of the candy assembly lines. For instance, we lined up toffee rectangles on a conveyor belt, that then went through a machine to get "enrobed" in chocolate. We dipped our entire hand in chocolate, and drizzled it onto a conveyor belt of chocolates to make the "signature" (picture to come). Crazy! Then we got too busy to take any more pictures. We moved on to the end of the assembly line where we boxed the little chocolate items coming off the line. We were supposed to grab 4 truffles in each hand and put them in a box...all while checking the item, top and bottom, for holes, tails, and defects....I don't think so. I could only get 2 in each hand. Those girls that do this all the time were laughing at us because they are just so fast at it.

The main thing is how surprising it is that so much is done by hand in this factory. It really makes for a very special product.

Anyway, we also worked with the truffle machine by lining up the shells for the machine to come down and insert the filling.

The amazing part was the "dipping" department where they were making clusters. When working with melted chocolate, you have to follow a procedure called "tempering". This has to do with working the choclate to the exact temperature while mixing it around on a cool table. The girls here do this by hand! They measure the temperature every little bit to see how close they are, and just literally play with the chocolate by mixing it with their fingers and using a spatula. They let us try this by making almond clusters. Cyrus and I both mixed the chocolate, added almonds, checked the temperature, added more warm chocolate if needed, or more almonds to cool, and then when it was ready, scooped a glob to put on the tray. We each had a thick layer of milk chocolate covering our entire left hand which we had to go wash off (and in my case, i took a huge lick first).

We went on to stand in the line and put individual assorted chocolates in a paper cup and then into their spot in an assorted package of chocolates (similar to Russell Stover's). I was only fast enough to do one, but the employees were required to do three!

It was just a crazy two days! The factory was surprisingly small. They are able to run multiple products down the same couple of assembly lines. For instance, after we were packaging the chocolate truffles, we walked towards the front of the line (maybe a 100 feet plus total) and there were already pink truffles coming down the line. I mean, there was hardly any changeover time.

The rest of the time in training has been spent discussing financials, marketing, promotions, customer service, inventory, ordering, etc. We have also practiced making fudge, and will learn how to make divinity, dip apples, and other stuff later this week. We are learning so much and we can't wait to get started!

I'll come back and add pictures when we get home. I'll write a separate post about Durango, CO itself, which is pretty cool.

Going on Vacation!! (to work)

We are gearing up to go to Durango, CO for 10 days! We leave Sunday, March 2. Training for Rocky Mountain Chocolate will begin Monday and last through Sunday. Phew! They are tough! We are going to get so fat training with chocolate all day! But that's okay, because we will go to Purgatory to ski for two days afterwards to burn some calories (or drink more hot chocolate in my case).

Progress is moving right along on the store. We've got insurance, the architect's final design, some major equipment on order, and the design is currently out for contractor bids. They should come back in 2 weeks and then construction should begin! Opening up a store is really exciting! Plus, it is a WHOLE lot easier (but probably more expensive) when you have a franchise helping you. We think this franchise is a good way to get started in the business world.

When we return, maybe I'll have some pictures of Colorado and us playing with chocolate!

Don't worry, the buddies (dogs) will be staying at their grandparents...the Governor's Mansion (Granpa Clegg & Lisa) with their cousins Maggie & Lexie. I'm sure they will be fat when we return also!

Beautiful, Beautiful Wood Siding!

This picture was taken in December 2007. This is just one side of the house, and Cyrus and Taylor have already done another side of the house since then. They are starting to put siding on the FRONT of the house which makes us really really excited (let's boost that curb appeal)!

Notice the duct tape on the bottom right window. Yes, Lisa broke it! We have a replacement...we just have to find the time to put it in!

Milo & Libby Pics

Aren't they so cute?

Valentine's Surprise!

Cyrus surprised me last night by bringing home flowers and candy and taking me to Ruffino's for a romantic dinner (wine, dessert -- all out!). Since we are having company this weekend, we had V-day early! Flowers make me so happy and he knows exactly that sunflowers and tulips are my favorite! How could sunflowers not make someone happy?

I kindly responded with his V-day gift -- a set of "lego" blocks that are actually magnets (but can still function as a lego block). Random, I know, but legos were one of his favorite toys, and he likes to play with things. No picture of them because he wouldn't let me take one. :)

Everyone deserves to have a fresh vase of flowers brightening up the house!

Chilifest Announced!

The entertainment for Chilifest 2008 has been announced. Headliner Gary Allan, then Aaron Watson, Pat Green, Stoney LaRue, and Randy Rogers Band. It's Saturday, April 5 in Snook, TX (outside College Station). Chilifest is a blast of great music, and I would LOVE to go (Stoney is my favorite!), but we will be traveling to Reno that weekend instead. And no, not to gamble, but to see our sweet little nephews Holden and David, whom we haven't seen in over 2 years (long story)!.

If anyone goes to Chilifest, have fun for us, and tell Stoney I said hi and I love him!

Sunbathing Dogs

Here is the latest picture of Milo and Libby. They were laying on a blanket on the floor in the little sliver of sunlight they could find.

White Teeth.

Cyrus had a mishap with the paint sprayer while they were painting the house. It doesn't taste good!

Naked House!

Here is a quick picture of Cyrus and Taylor taking the pink stucco siding off the house. It looks better already! haha.



Another one...






Lisa and her mom scraping paint...







Example of foundation work...

Ugly House!

One of the biggest things going on right now is fixing up the house we live in. We're not exactly "flipping" it, but trying to improve our neighborhood and preserve an old house that would have otherwise fallen into a state of disrepair. It is located in central Fort Worth in the "Fairmount District". Here is what we started with in October 2006. (I'll post some updates as we go along).

First Post!

Hi everyone! We decided to start this blog so we could post some pictures and stories about what is going on in our lives. Enjoy!