Back in Business

Who would have thought that the snow and cold weather would mean more eggs! I collected 9 eggs yesterday, that is amazing! We placed a heat lamp in the hen house to keep the water from freezing, maybe the 24 hour light keeps the hens from molting (spelling) or roosting, or maybe the young hens are finally at max production, or maybe they love to see my smiling face twice a day when I water them and gather eggs over break? Whatever the reason, we are back in the egg business!

Swimsuits and stocking hats

While the weather outside was frightful, the children playing in the water were delightful!

Last weekend we loaded up my sister's Tahoe and headed to Honeycreek Resort to the indoor water park. There is something a little strange about putting on a swimsuit and a stocking hat. The kiddos loved the water park and everyone had a fabulous time!

Blessed Christmas

... blessed with these Christmas angels!
... blessed that S.C. brought Bailey and Natalie!... blessed that we can share Christmas with the family,

... and blessed that we are a part of this large family!

WOW! What a group! Thanks for the fun weekend, three cheers for the photographer! We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

Christmas Lights

I have been keeping myself very busy on this Christmas break... to busy to blog? But now my Christmas shopping is finished, our house is cleaned (the surface anyway,) my knitting is almost complete, we played cards with the fam (we were the champions), pulled off another successful Troy Church Christmas program, and toured Christmas lights with friends. Let's take a minute to describe the lights... AMAZING! At 506 North Elm Street, the lights light to the music beat. I would recommend that everyone in a 100 mile radius to turn your radio to 103.5 and check it out. Our car load of 8 sat there in amazement for 10 minutes, without even talking (that's amazing, no talking). Bri said it was totally awesome, and the rest of us all agreed.

Snow Days

It doesn't matter is I'm 12 or 32, snow days still rock. There is nothing better than that early a.m. call... No school today. Or like last night, the evening call and then... sweet, lets stay up late! Let me give you a little run down on why I love snow days... no make-up, warm fire in the fireplace, clicking knitting needles, bundling up to go chore, cold kiddo cheeks when they come in from playing, (is 10 degrees to cold to let them go out and play?), hot chocolate, online shopping, and DISH (it's awesome!) Did you know CMT has videos on every morning for 5 hours? Simply incredible!

Tilly

Tilly is the newest addition to the Lough Ranch. She is a middle ages black pony that belongs to Briley. With the nice weather on Sunday, the girls wanted to ride. After and hour and half of changing the cinch, reins, and everything else on Bri's little pony saddle, they were off to the arena. Tilly was great! However, while I was worrying about Tilly and Bri going to fast, bucking, running away... I should have been worried about Brett and Red (the solid team.) Brett rounded the third barrel and headed for home, Red kicked up his heels, and Brett took a header right in the dirt. While Tilly, Briley and I were standing there in shock, Brett got up and walked toward us with blood dripping from her chin. We got her cleaned up and amazingly she got back on. Thankfully, she only walked away with a busted lip, scrapped chin and side, and a bruise on her arm. There is no doubt her small injuries will heal in a few days, but the memory will scar her for life.

Disney Princesses on Ice

Last weekend we went with a group to Disney on Ice, I took my princesses to see the ice princesses. We all had a BALL!

We ate at Spaghetti Works... great, fun place to eat!

Big News!

We have got some BIG news here on the Lough Ranch, first, we now have Dish Network TV again. It has been 5 years since we have had Dish, so I'm sorry if my blog is short, but I have Country Music Videos to watch. Second, Bluejeans died, we are all a little depressed. My goat herd is dwindling down, only 3 left. Third... did I mention how we LOVE all our new channels, I might gain 20 pounds this winter. And finally, my Christmas shopping, gift making is almost finished for this year! Better run, the TV is calling.

Blessings

Sunday at Church, our pastor challenged us to make a list of what we are MOST thankful for, so here goes:

family (all of them)
friends
sunshine
stars
the best little church in Troy
old country music
the "Ranch"
lazy chickens (1-3 eggs per day)
smiles
laughter
children (home and school)
my husband
bluejeans and boots
our roots
food
the Old IH
fires in our fireplace
weekends
dandelions in November
freedom
love

We should count our simple blessings everyday!
Happy Thanksgiving!

Makin' pies

It takes teamwork at the ranch to make pies, Grandma Chuck makes the crust (from scratch), I roll out the crust, we cut up the fruit, she adds the sugar, cinnamon or whatever, and I roll out the top crust and put it together. I must confess we make a mean team, but you should see our disaster in the kitchen. Before Bri went to school, Grandma Chuck let her help with the process and gave her Great Great Grandma Opal's pie pan. Bri takes complete ownership and has to make her little pie every time the rolling pin hits the table! Bri made a delicious apple pie this time. We freeze them and bake them whenever we need a treat. A couple of these are for the church bazaar on Saturday.

No pressure

No pressure ladies (sisters) but I must tell you that my homemade gifts are DONE! Yes you heard it, the procrastinator is finished with her homemade gifts (kids and adults) before Thanksgiving. BANG! And now I'm blowing the smoke from the top of my pistol! Get to work ladies! I wish I could show you all a picture, but not until after Christmas. The best part was that Brett helped complete them and loved every single minute... Bri, on the other hand, could care less and only helped about 20 minutes. She needs a few more years and a longer attention span.

CMA Awards

Wow! Taylor Swift cleaned house last night at the CMA Awards. I am very proud to say I own her latest CD, and I can sing along to most of her songs in the truck with the girls... but if it wasn't for the girls I probably wouldn't own it or sing along. They love her and were very happy that she was 4 for 4. Now personally, I am more of a fan of the tribute to Barbra Mandrel, and who better to sing her song then Martina (42 and is still beautiful and rocks) and George (old and is still the best... looking and singing.) Some say he has lost his touch... not me. He would be the only person I might leave my husband for. But not to worry, Blake, we haven't even met yet. Sugarland is another favorite, she can sing anything and puts emotion in it all, I think that's why I like her. It's amazing how some people can sing... and some people absolutely can NOT, that's me, the NOT! Thank God, He gave me some other talents.

Bluejeans

Last week we welcomed Bluejeans to the ranch. She is so little that she escaped though the cattle panel fence. She spent the first night away form her mommy in our barn with the cats. Now she is back with the goats (and yes we have quite a herd... Billy, Clem, Hersey, Bert and Ernie and now Bluejeans.) She is soooo cute, Blake even admitted her cuteness. Bri named her after the horse on her favorite movie, "Hannah Montana."

Happy Halloween

Miss America is practicing her "Queen wave" and the rodeo clown has a trick rope.

Trick or treat! Here are the little monsters lurking around our neighborhood... a cute bumble bee, a princess, two cowboys, a rodeo clown and Miss America. The girls missed school last week with some kind of bug, not sure if it was H1N1, but the candy must have killed the virus, and the girls are back to school this week.

And guess who won the dance competition at the "adult" costume party Saturday night? Yes Charleston Flapper Suzy and Gangster "G." They still got their "move and grove" on. Way to go!

Beauty

This is a picture of the sewing machine I bought at my neighbors farm sale on Saturday, isn't she a beauty! I know it is a Singer Touch and Sew 626, and it still has the manual, and it came with a cute little sewing desk with a drawer full of old button and pins, and yes it does work. I don't know how to thread the bobbin, or the needle, or how to reverse it, or how to change stitches, or anything else about sewing 626 machine. But I can't wait to learn! The best thing about the 626 machine... it cost me $6.00! In today's world, one can spend 6 bucks on a sandwich, or 2 gallons of milk, or a week of pop from the pop machine, or 3 songs from itunes, but not me... I bought a sewing machine. What a beauty! For the record, my neighbor is a beauty also. She has lived on that farm for 39 years, 8 as my neighbor. I would describe her as simple, but her simplicity will be missed!

Fall

We carved pumpkins last weekend, just for the record, I did not carve my own, I just helped the girls. No cute carving idea that I had to try this year, no creative carving, maybe I am finally growing up... NOT!

I love this picture! I took this from the middle of the road as the sun was setting. The kiddos were playing on some hay bales... same thing we did when we were kids. A few days ago, Bri went to a friend's house and played on some bales and told them she was a professional. Second generation hay bale jumpers!

Round #2

Tonight I decided to give the sweet potato fries another chance... well they still vacuum! That is a term my mother uses for suck... and I must admit, I prefer my students to use vacuum as well! Anyway, we used all the sweet potatoes tonight so no more experiments with them until next year. I believe my family hated to see them go... NOT!

Happy 10 Years!

Who are these young, thin people? Where has the time gone? To think that at the time of these pictures, we had no children, no farm, only 2 payments, no real jobs, no responsibility... it was only us! WOW! Look at us now... what will the next 10 bring? So *cheers* for the past 10 years (actually 17) , and everything we have learned in that time. *Cheers* for doing the best that we can in the present, and *cheers* for looking forward to the future and the experiences it will bring!

Egg-cellent

Here is a picture of my latest excitement, a green egg. One of my youngest hens (about 6 months old) started laying. They are Americana Chickens so they lay greenish-blue eggs. Two days ago, to my surprise, I found a green egg. Today I found another, so now I have 2 green eggs. How beautiful!

LOVE

At the Chuck Utt Reunion...

... the girls LOVE the excitement of going camping,

... the kids LOVE the the 4-wheeler and wagon rides with Grandpa,

... the "Old IH" LOVES his new friend the Ladybug (aren't they cute!),

... and I LOVE spending time with our families, yes, all of you!

Happy Homecoming

It's Homecoming for the Mighty Mustangs! Remember the days of T.P.ing the town, "Shriners on Mowers," the hilarious lip-syncs? Good times! The best Homecoming memory is when I took Dad's old truck to town after coronation. We had that puppy loaded... dozens of eggs... many rolls of T.P... half the senior class (my friends)... half the junior class (Lincoln's friends)... and a pistol in the glove box. When we got pulled over and the sheriff saw the gun, I thought for sure I was going to jail. Ended up, we had to break the eggs, the sheriff took the gun to the cop shop, then we all went home!

Clean Freak... NOT!

Great plan, deep clean one room of my house a day. In theory, I should have my house "cleaned" in 12 days. In reality, I may have it "cleaned" by next year at this time... maybe. As most of you know, cleaning is not one of my top priories in life. So far this week, I have deep cleaned my bathroom and the laundry room (the two smallest room in the house). Because I don't like to clean, I have been taking cleaning advice from my family. When I say deep cleaning I mean scrub the floor with vinegar and baking soda, thanks Ed; wipe the walls with my new Wet Mop Swiffer, thanks Lindsay; dust everything; and mop. WOW! I have overworked myself this week, I think I should take a break until next week. I still think Aunt Julie has the best cleaning advice, but it is still a secret! I would also like you to know that none of these tips are from my mother, wonder why?

Table Talk

At the supper table tonight, we discussed the activities from the day. The girls did not have school, but mom did. They had a dentist appointment this afternoon, so super dad took them. After the appointment, they were killing time, so decided to stop by and ride Grandpa Jim's new ATV Ranger thing. (if he knew, he might "poop") Not only did they ride it, but they drove it. To hear the girls talk about the experience was a hoot! I guess Brett was pretty good, but her foot bounced with some bumps... and so did the gas pedal. It sounded like Bri had trouble reaching the gas pedal (not such a bad thing), and got a little close the the neighbor's bean field. Shhhh! I love when they tell the story. Speaking of supper, I tried to make baked sweet potato fries for supper, I would not recommend them. I was the only one that ate them, and I ate most of them, not because they were good, only because I hate failure!

Fly away!

About a month ago, we found 5 monarch caterpillars, you know, the ones that are black , white and yellow, found on milkweed plants. Well, we is more like I, I walked in the ditches along the road, and the girls walked in the yard and yelled to me, "Did you find one yet, Mom?" every two minutes. We also drove to Grandma and Grandpa's house looking in the ditches, and found two tiny ones (Grandpa needed his glasses to see them). Any way, 4 out of the 5 make a chrysalis in their jars. So far, 2 of the five have turned into beautiful, orange and black monarch butterflies. That's amazing to me, how a little worm-like creature can turn into a beautiful, free butterfly. So here's to nature's beauty... spread your wings and fly... FLY AWAY!

Things

... the important things are not things at all. It is so hard to see past all the material things here on earth. The most important "things" in life are not what we can touch at all. We should truly count our blessing every single day! It is so hard to focus on "things" like faith, family, friends, love and laughter, with a society like ours. No, I have not lost it or went off the deep end... and yes, this is deep for my simple little mind and life... but my simple little life had a "look at your life" experience this weekend. And I must ask myself (we should all ask), "what am I really about?" So let me end with this... LIVE like there is not tomorrow... LAUGH everyday... and LOVE one another!

Back to School... FLU!

Wednesday should have been Briley's first day of Kindergarten... but Tuesday night she starting puking... THE FLU HIT! She was sick until about 2 a.m. and ran a temperature until about noon, by 1 she was ready to go to school. Briley was devastated that she was sick and had to miss the first day of school. She has watched Brett get on and off the bus for 2 years, and been waiting to go to school forever. The last month we have been counting down the days until Bri goes to school. This morning, she ran into my room and jumped on the bed and whispered, "Mom, do I go to school today?" And I finally got to say, "Yes!" She went to school, ran to that big, yellow bus and never looked back!

As for mom, she puked for almost 6 hours, laid on the couch for 12 hours, had a temperature for about 24 hours, took a 3 hour nap, and missed 2 days of school! We are hoping the other two have better immune systems, only time will tell!

Believe it or Not!

You will never believe what happened to me over the weekend... let me set the stage. August 22 was the last Midwest Family Rodeo. Our family had a successful year, not necessarily with price money, but in other ways. Brett is becoming more confident with her riding everyday, and actually wants to ride everyday. Briley has a love/hate relationship with her pony, but loves to ride by "herself." Blake has had a "personal trainer"... thanks Steve, and is learning more and more. And for myself... Saturday, I won a buckle. I wish I could tell you it was my excellent horsemanship or speedy goat tying... but that's not it at all. I won the buckle for being 'the runner" and yes that's really funny. If you know my "track record," you know I am a slow runner, always have been, always will be! Never a track star in high school, and I haven't gotten any faster over the past "few" year! Anyway, in Ribbon Roping, a roper ropes a calf, then the runner takes the ribbon off the tail of the calf and runs across the line... that's me, the runner, I'm the 2009 Champion Ribbon Roping Runner at the Midwest Family Rodeo. Thanks Rog!

Good news, bad news!

Well, let's start with the good news... my computer is working again... so I can blog. The bad news... for me, summer is over and I am back to school. I have been in meetings for 2 days and tomorrow is the big day... the KIDS come back. The good news... they (the kids) are so excited on the first few days of school, new clothes, new supplies, getting to see their friends, and most of all smiling and ready for a new year. As much as I dislike getting up with an alarm, and going back to the working world... I must admit the excitement and energy of the first few days of school is amazing. Can we bottle that enthusiasm up and save it for cold February days?

Vacation

We have returned from our vacation this year... some might argue that everyday day is a vacation here on the Lough Ranch, but it's not! (school will start very soon) We traveled to Estes Park, Colorado for the Craig Family Reunion.

In Omaha, we stopped at the zoo for a break. This polar bear was swimming in circles, the same path, the same strokes, over and over... zoo life must be rough! The girls liked the zoo, but enjoyed the sky ride the best.

This is our "cabin in the mountain" we (Lindsay, Adam, Blake, Leslie, and 4 girls) stayed in during the trip. It was located in Allenspark about 30 minutes form Estes, and how we found it at 11:00 at night, I will never know! Thanks Mable... the Magellan GPS thing.

There was a COLD little stream behind our cabin... Bri fell in!

We enjoyed the Craig Family Reunion... visiting with lots of people, playing on the swing set, a round of miniature golf, and trying to figure out how many family reunions Blake has attended??

We also traveled UP into the Rocky Mountain National Park. Absolutely amazing views... and to think it has been like that forever... so beautiful and clean and chilly... and a little hard to breath. We hiked up a little rocky place and found some snow and made a few snowballs.
Overall, we had a great time, but boy were we glad to get home to our own beds, and be finished with the 16 hour car ride!

Redneck??

You might be a redneck if... you tie the bottle calf in the back of the Ford Ranger Truck and take him back to Grandma and Grandpa's barn. Yes, we did it! We haltered Cowboy, loaded him in the back of the Ranger, and tied him to the dog chain to take him back (we sure are glad Grandpa and Grandma live close). He road quite nice, he laid down most of the way and didn't even try to jump over the side. I can't wait until one of the girls write or draw a picture about this experience in the journal or something at school this year... always a proud moment!

Hollyhocks Dolls

We had a guest stay over a few days while her parents were out of town. The girls love when she comes over to play and really love when she stays all night. They played and played and had tons of fun... they also folded laundry, not by choice. We also made Hollyhock dolls from the the flowers I transplanted from our neighbor. I can't remember how or when I learned how to make Hollyhock dolls but sometime, somewhere in my 31 years I acquired the skill of making these dolls from the flower of a Hollyhock, it was a big hit with the girls! However the Hollyhocks might be endangered!


The Hollyhock dolls are dancing.

County Fair

Last week we camped at the County Fair... well, the girls and I camped, Blake only stayed one night. The "Old IH" is not his favorite place to sleep. Tuesday night the girls participated in a Fun Rodeo. They are great helpers when we are packing to go, but not as good at unpacking when we get home.

This is Brett and her bottle calf, Cowboy. They made it though the fair with only a few tears (lessons) and did a great job, both of them!
Briley won the pedal tractor pull Sunday. She pedaled her little heart out. All in all we had a great time, the girls loved the carnival and going to the shower house every morning to shower. the "Old IH" didn't even leak when it rained.

Rodeo

Yes, I am a slacker blogger... we have been very busy! Over the fourth, we help at the rodeo, late nights, sleepy girls, candy in parades, PICTURES WITH QUEENS! She is actually our neighbor. Briley set up the photo shoot during the parade. We really wanted a picture with the trick riders also. Bri is practicing there arm movements on a pony... we just hope she stay in the saddle for now!