..Soul Food Friday.. on the wrong Friday..

Ok I'm a little late at the soul food Friday link up with Jen, i'm a rebel like that. But here you go.

What feeds my soul? The moments in life where you're having too much fun to stop and take pictures. Remember the Brad Paisley song who needs pictures? " who needs pictures with a memory like mine..."  Let me just paint you a picture of our awesome weekend. 

Sleeping in until 10:30! Now I usually don't like to sleep in much past 8 but after going two years with out a full nights sleep between being pregnant an then the non-sleeping lil rancher. I induldged and slept lots of family time at the farm including a combine ride during milo harvest checking first calf heifers on grass and a nap in the pickup for the little rancher. On Sunday followed, church, quick lunch, and a bummer turned around to an awesome afternoon with friends.  We got moved to a new field to try and finish up milo harvest, but the test cut was too wet, so that ment an afternoon off of work for my rancher.  We enjoy a couple beverages, picked some fresh apples, looked at horses and cattle and had good company and conversation in BEAUTIFUL weather!!! It doesn't get much better for a fall day folks!

Cheers to many more days and weekends like this one...


* Ok so I've been preoccupied and have let this sit for awhile. So when I said this weekend... I really ment like a month ago when it was still Fall and not almost winter and Thanksgiving... oh well it was still wonderful and i'm really looking forward to the next one!

Happy Friday Everyone!

Tis' The Season...

It's that time again... Cattle processing time...

Time to sterilize the syringes with boiling water.  

For The Love Of Fall!

Because it's my favorite season...

I'm dedicating...

This first post of October...

To the season of fall...

Some call it autumn, but it's fall.

My Top Fav's of Fall

1. It's softball season.  Point. blank.  I am immediately brought back to high school softball on a brisk fall morning especially in October, because that means it's the POST SEASON! Summer softball is fun, but it's nothing compared to fall ball!

2. It's Football season.  Point blank on that one too.

3. It's sweatshirt season. Nothing better than beating the heat all summer to FINALLY being able to put on your jeans and sweatshirts. Ah!!!

4. Hot Chocolate and Hot Tea.  I'm absolutely not a coffee drinker, never have been, never will be. So when it is chilly enough for me to embrace the warmth of hot chocolate or tea in a coffee mug I totally dig it and can see why people drink coffee...... HA! Just kidding on that last part. Gag-A-Mag!

5. The colors. There is something to be said about the colors of the sunsets and sunrises beautiful!!! Add in the turning leaves and you have heaven on earth!  

6. Fall Harvest.  There is also something to be said about fall harvest.  Harvest in general is a very busy and on a slight time crunch.  But with fall harvest it is much "bigger" (for lack of better phrasing) In other words we have two crops to harvest in the fall which is more than the one wheat crop during summer harvest. Ya still following? No? Yeah me neither!  I just like fall harvest okay? Okay!

7. It's not summer.  So I like summer and all, but it's no fall, and fall's not summer. Comprehende'? Fall is also not winter. I'm usually not ready for winter right after we have a hot summer, so it's great that we get fall to ease into winter. Okay, i'm glad we had this talk!

7a. Because 7 is my favorite number i'm stopping there folks. Sorry.


7b. Pumpkin patches!

Life Of A Ranch ..... #6

Life Of A Ranch Cowboy's Wife Daughter #1/6

He taught me how to rope and ride and how to be a tough ol' cowboy/girl... He gave up on teaching me how to rope and well, I don't blame him.  Now it's time for him to teach my boy how to rope, ride and how to be a tough ol' cowboy.  
Here are some of the teaching that took place this spring and summer.

"haya! haya!"

Face off with the hereford.

"Grandpa, this is how it's done"

"always count them in and out of the pen"

Pre-ride pep talk.

OK, so ignore pretty much everything in this picture.

1. How ugly this picture makes the horse look because he really doesn't look that bad.

2. The fact that Cooper is screaming and wanting down.

Just notice that they are all three together. :)

Rain Is A Good Thing!

Last night we got a very pretty rain! What more to do than go out and play!!!
And the best thing? It's still raining lightly!

Since we live in town and have no dirt roads to go splash through puddles, I'm thankful that all the water from our block runs into our driveway. I think our HUGE evergreen enjoys it about as much as Cooper. 

I haven't uploaded the pictures from my camera to the computer yet, so here are some "unique" pictures AKA taken with my iPhone of my camera's display...

Life's Short, Dance In The Rain!

Stop And Smell The Roses!

I'm linking up with Jen at Almost Gypsy Soul for Soul Food Friday: What Feeds Your Soul. Check it out!

Stop And Smell The Roses!

Let's be real here... Motherhood is always foreign to a new mom, regardless of how many books you've read, babies or kids you've baby sat, how many nieces or nephew's you have, how many classes you've taken, or how many TLC shows you've watched or how well you "think" you're prepared for the way the little life will change your view of pretty much everything.  But there's good news, there's been a ton of women who've been there too, and they learned and they can help you.  The other good news is, it happens pretty fast and it's like something or someone is yanking you by the hand dragging you around showing you what to do; it's called being a natural.  It's not easy in the early days, but you do what comes natural and you figure out how to do things and what should be done next, sometimes you have encouragement (a screaming baby) and you figure it out, sometimes faster than others.

Fast Forward 17 months...

Stop and smell the roses!  When you have a "do it myself" toddler nothing is done very fast.  But it is important for their learning when they want to "do it myself".  Lately I have been trying to get him to hold my hand when we are walking around the yard or if we go on a short walk around the block.  Although it takes longer for him to walk with me than for me to carry him; he is learning about his surroundings, and learning to behave.  And it's not just him learning... I find myself looking around at my surroundings taking in God's beauty, the individual blades of grass, the rocks on the ground, the leaves on the tree, the feathers on a bird, and not just noticing the grass, the ground, the trees or the birds as a whole.  Looking at life through Cooper's eyes is so rewarding, everything is so interesting and beautiful and often taken for granted!  I challenge you to look at life through a toddler's eyes, slow down and enjoy the simple things in life. 

Stop.And.Smell.The.Roses!

Matthew 6:25-34

New International Version (NIV)

Do Not Worry

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Here's To You

My best friend is getting married this weekend. She's my sister. My non sibling sister. My best friend. That's female and not my husband because it should go without saying that he is truly my best friend, but we won't get into that, this is about My Best Friend...... AKA Brianne

Most people call her Bri, and I do too but that's very unusual she'll always be Brianne to me.

From kindergarten playground playing to third grade cursive instructing to matching shoes in fourth grade to sports playing and sleepovers to college roommates for four years to going our separate ways for careers/jobs (as neither of us are currently employed doing something pertaining to our degree which is okay) for a farmer husband and starting a family for almost four years now that's been me, the lifer Kansan farmer/rancher's wife and now that is going to be her title too, I'm so excited to share that title with her! She's going to make an awesome Coloradan farmer's wife. 

(this was my attempt to convert her to country during our college years)

Her soon to be hubby one upped me though and got her into a pair of overalls, classic!

On a visit back home a local lady that I knew quite well had welcomed me into the farmer's wife club, back then I was still green; I smiled nodded and said thank you not knowing what else to do or really what was ment by that.  Now that i'm not so fresh into the scene I understand where she was coming from and it is an honor to be a farmers wife and to be in the farmer's wife club. (Now i'm not saying we pay dues and meet once a month, but it is still a very valid club, one to treasure!)

Remember the commercial from the super bowl, "So God Made A Farmer"?  I saw this poem on facebook so I tracked it down you can read the blog it came from here.

"So God Made A Farmer's Wife" - By Sierra Shea

And on the 9th day, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, Oh dear, the farmer is going to need help." So God made a farmer's wife.  

God said, "I need somebody who will get up before dawn, make breakfast, work all day in the kitchen, bank, school, or alongside her farmer and then come home to fix supper and wash up the dishes." So God made a farmer's wife.  

God said, " I need somebody willing to sit up all night with their newborn son. And watch him grow. Then pray each morning and teach her children to say, 'please and thank you.' I need somebody who can make a fried-egg sandwich, stretch a paycheck or thicken soup, who can clean her house with vinegar, baking soda and hot water. And who, planting time and harvest season, will finish her forty-hour week on Friday, then, join her farmer in the field for another two days, six meals and five loads of laundry." So God made a farmer's wife.  

God said, "I need somebody strong enough to plant trees and heave bales, to co-sign a loan for a half a million with steady hands, yet gentle enough to tame show lambs and raise kids and calm the farmer when he's upset over higher rent or lower corn, who will stop her work for an hour to talk on the phone to her neighbor who just found out her mother is sick.  Somebody who could cook and clean and not cut corners. Somebody to wash, dry, iron, tidy, feed, rake, water, drive, check the homework and pack the lunch bags and remember the basketball schedule and replenish the refrigerator and finish a hard week's work with a five-mile ride to church.

 "Somebody who'd sew a family together with the soft strong stitches of sharing, who would laugh and then sigh and then reply, with smiling eyes, when her daughter says she wants to spend her life "doing what mom does." So God made a farmer's wife.

"Here's to you, to everything we've held onto, the secrets that no one else knew." -Eli Young Band

Cheers to you Brianne and Shane! Wishing you 100 years of love and happiness and lots of rain! Rain makes corn, corn makes ..... a lot of things but mostly rain makes for a happy farmer and farmers wife!  Excited for Friday and ecstatic for Saturday!!!

Congrats again and welcome to the Farmer's Wives Club 

So Proud! ! !

So what if you can't understand it all. He's 16 mo old.

He sings his ABC's, George Strait, and the National Anthem...

He throws away his dirty diapers.

He always puts his shoes in his basket.

He grabs the pot holder from his dad in the living room and takes it into the kitchen and puts it away. This one impresses me!

He can sign more and milk.

His words are few and far between but he says: Dally, Tractor, Mom, Dad, What's this, Cow translated to MOOOOOOOO, UtOh, and Cheese.

He has grown from 9lb 9oz. 21 inches to be 29 lb. and 34 inches in those very short 16 months.

He has dimples, bluest of eyes, and the brightest smile.

His hair is blonde and getting blonder.

He has had three hair cuts.

He is not a baby anymore.

He is the sweetest and then at the same time the most strong willed "little boy".

He. Is. Cooper. My. Cooper.

Loves bouncing.

Loves blowing kisses.

Blurry, but that's what you get when you try to snap a picture of a very active boy.

All Smiles. All The Time.

Life As A Ranch Wife #5

Life As A Ranch Wife #5

Life as a ranch wife this time of year is really quite nice.  Cattle are out on grass = cattle are out of the lot which means much less manual work for my Rancher and more time to get the backseat items up to the front seat and out the door!  In normal people terms, it's a great time for catch up!  The end of breeding season is coming to a close so it's time to get all the bulls gathered.  We usually leave them with the cows for 60-70 days.  I love this time of year, cattle are out on grass hopefully fully nourished growing their suckling babies and the babies that are in the making. It is such a pretty sight to see cattle satisfied out grazing.  Rewind to about 30 days ago and other locals were starting early weaning and selling parts of their herds because of the severe drought that we are in.  We are blessed! It finally started raining, it is a little late, but always welcome! The country side is really greening up, and let me tell you EVERYONE is in a much happier mood.  Nothing like a county fair to bring the rain, happens every time! I'm convinced that we need to have county fairs in June, July and August. :)  

I don't have any clever cleaver moments to share this time but man am I thankful for the rain! Keep it comin'! 

Positive attitude

Positive attitude people... PASS IT ON!!!

I'm not the most positive person in the world but man it sure is a kick in the pants when you encounter someone who only acknowledges the negative. You'd be surprised how a smile and as my dad would say an "attitude adjustment" can brighten up life a little bit.  There are so many crazy things happening in this world we need to just get back to simple living.

Simple living at it's best... Rancher and his dogs...

Busy Bee's

We have been busy bee's with helping setting up for the fair, helping the youngsters, and enjoying the awesome activities that the Graham County Fair Board sets up... Including two trips back to L-town. I'll get back on track next week I hope. 

Until then here are some funnies I pulled from the world wide web. Enjoy!

 Speaking of sirloin... Is it supper time yet?

Admit it, you know you do. 

"wel, we're gonna have to breed short-legged cattle or start in fixin' fence"

Interesting perspective... 

I think I'd be willing to try short-legged cattle myself, that's how much I like to fix fence.

Always a favorite of mine.

See you all in a few days.

Cancer Sucks

Two Words for today's feelings... Cancer Sucks!

Yet another life was taken too soon in our eyes, but God had another plan for my Uncle.  I am thankful he was mostly pain free during his 8 month battle.  I am grateful today that he is healed, it might not be an earthly healing but heavenly healing is the ultimate goal.

I am also grateful that family was able to spend time with him over the last 8 month journey.  Lots of new memories were made.

R.I.P Uncle Chuck... Until we meet again.

Life As A Ranch Wife #4

Life As A Ranch Wife #4

When it comes to supper, you never know what time of the night you'll eat.  Back when it was just the Rancher and his Wife. The wife was a good wife and would wait and eat supper with her Rancher. Bad news for the scale and my clothes for that matter! Snacking until supper is a terrible idea! Now that I'm an even better wife I cook supper and eat it at normal hours with the Lil' Rancher then TRY to hold supper for the Rancher until he makes it home for the night.  Lesson #723479723 in Rancher/Farm wife initiation: Buy Use a crock pot! Last week here I was thinking  oh I'll be a nice Wife and have supper warm/hot for him for when he gets home.... I learned why I normally put it away and then warm him up a plate once he is home. We got busy playing with Lil' Rancher before it was time to put him down for bed when I smelt something I knew we were in trouble!  I burnt the spaghetti sauce, so bad that it ruined the nice teflon pan. Now let me tell you it's not fun to cook or clean with that pan now.

Lesson #723479724 Don't be an over achiever, let him warm up his own supper! It really is for his own good. (more reasons than one) 

Insert pan pictures here... I really did try  to be a good blogger and take pictures, but Lil Rancher is too cute to resist pictures so I ran out of room and the pan had to go! ! !

Life As A Ranch Wife #3

Life As A Ranch Wife #3

Bad things to say to your Rancher... 

"the cattle are out!" Rancher usually responds with a few choice words, stops what he's doing which normally is a big and important project, then before he can hang up, continue with "in the pasture" ha ha ha! He then again has a few choice words, chuckles and goes back to what he was doing. Get's em every time! 

When he calls you and needs something answer the phone, "keep it short I'm busy".

One thing that I will say has paid off for the both of us.  Before I ever had helped him back when we were just freshly dating I told him if you ever yell at me I'll quit and never help you again! Kind of to my surprise, he never has yelled at me for a mess up, ever; not that I mess up very often:). Truthfully, I think he knows what awesome help I am and he doesn't want to chance losing the awesome hand! I saw a resent Ranch Wife post in a magazine that said " Know that when you step out of the house you move from the "wife" department to "hired hand" status. Although the word "hired" indicates there will be a paycheck that you will never see, rest assured you will have job security. The price is just right. And most of the time you will be "the best help he has" even if it is because you are the ONLY help he has." 

 A joint effort in labor is fun and rewarding! But don't tell him I said that. 

     Lil Rancher in the making!

Life as a Ranch Wife #2

Well after starting, and posting the first time yesterday I kind of wondered if I really was going like this blogging adventure. Then, in the middle of cooking supper I had some smashing ideas!  I took some notes down and started a running tab of "things to blog about". This could be fun!

Life As A Ranch Wife #2

I had full intentions for this blog series to be anything but serious or lovey dovey; and for it to be funny like something I had recently read about what the Rancher expects his wife to do when it comes to working cattle or like the previous Life As A Ranch Wife #1, how no matter what or where everything always gets related back to cattle. But if there is one thing that always remains the same... the Rancher will keep his wife on her toes at all times and the Wife can't always predict the Ranchers next move, last night that point was proved.  The Rancher came home from a hard day of work; (not that he doesn't work hard but this is the easier time of year for him) I showed him my first blog, he liked it by the way.  He then throws me the news paper and tells me to read a story that the editor had submitted.

"Here, you need to read this you'll like it." I don't read the paper much, I usually rely on him to tell me the news that I need to know, so I wasn't too thrilled to read this but thought it must be good. The Rancher then says right before I start reading " you'll really like it and I bet you'll tear up" That's it, I got my armor on I will not let him be right! So I begin reading, it is kind of a lengthy story but I get 3/4 done with it and... he was right, I began to tear up.  I looked at him and said "dang it, you were right?" We joked a bit about that statement and the tears dried up and I finished the article. Then the Rancher said " I'd do that for you babe"  Such a sweet story about a dying husband getting his wife out of the house so that he could prepare their much loved garden for their next anniversary that he would miss out on.  As well as record a video of him telling her about how he planned their first anniversary apart. It was truly a very sweet and loving story and the rough n' tough Rancher reminded me that he can in fact be the remantic (long story) that he once was when we first started dating.  

This isn't the exact story, but it is similar.

The Rancher and his Wife.

Life As A Ranch Wife #1

Well, this is my very first blog.  I tried to get it set up quite a few days ago, but it wasn't working. Go figure I had all my brainy thoughts on what to blog about; different themes for different days that sort of thing and I was very much into it then, but this is now and I've been awake since 4 AM with little man. But you can't be a blogger if you never start...