Our Thanksgiving day...

My family gathered around our kitchen table for thanksgiving dinner. My kids and husband, my niece and husband, my brother and his wife. The biggest thing that all of us have to be thankful for today is that Loraine my brother's wife is with us being a part of all of our lives.

My niece and husband that was married this summer. He has received the name Harry Potter because he now has a scar on his forehead after a truck incident and with those glasses Alex just renamed him Harry Potter

After dinner it was relaxing and playing game time. There is Harry with Rooster keeping watch.

Matt examining his snowboard, Dan and Candice in a fierce checker game with Alex, Loraine and Brayden keeping watch.

Another fierce Chinese checker game going on. We really had to watch Steve and John they kept trying to jumping crazy ways. We decided they were really trying to cheat!! Not sure if Loraine is chuckling because we were catching her cheating or if she just thought the whole thing was crazy and funny.

Dessert Time!!

Matt tried to keep the whole pumpkin pie to himself, but Candice wouldn't let him. Others did get a small piece. There was 1/2 a pie left and this morning when I got up there wasn't any pumpkin pie left, only an empty pie dish. Wonder who the pie thief was in the night.

Dessert was pumpkin pie, apple pie, cherry pie, homemade ice cream, whip cream,. But the grande prize was a chocolate chip cake shipping all the was from New Jersey from John's mom. Dinner was delayed because ham and Turkey took longer to bake. But all turn out great.

What I was was most thankful for was to have my small family and extended family gathered around me on this very special day. I have many many things to be thankful for.

workin day on the ranch...

Alex out in the middle of all of it trying to herd the cows into a pen.

Today was a preg test day at the ranch to help determine which cows to hold over and which ones to sell.Steve was a gate worker opening gates and sending the open cows ones not pregnant one way and the pregnant ones another direction.

Yes, those cows are finally getting which gate it is that they are supposed to go into to.

Matt trudging across the mucky manurey corral with Loraine in the background watch him make the move.

Loraine standing watch over those pesky cows.

Dan in the mist of them trying to figure out how to get those darn cows moving and not just milling around.

Dan with his apron and rubber sleeve on for preg checking the cows.

Brayden and Matt standing watch in the corral.

Thanksgiving snowmobile adventure...

My Daughter and Nephew. He always takes her with him. Usually he has her in front and he is standing behind. They are headed to get her a helmet and knee pads because he loves to jump and it scares her. So much she usually screams!!

Equipment check.

Alex in Red, Brayden Nephew in yellow, Loraine sister in law bundled up, Dan my brother in Blue.

Dare Devil Dan.

This is so funny Brayden was out in my field and was trying to tip the snowmobile on its side and go for a long as he could.

But guess what happened!! I told him he was messin up my alfalfa hay field!!

Now he is trying to get Rooster to hop on and go for a ride. Rooster kept looking back at me as if he was asking do I really have to.

There is always so much work to do on the ranch. But when the work is done its time to play!!

What I love about coming to the ranch...

Is Its Christmas Village Time!!

Is we get the other house ready for Christmas before we leave so that when I come home my home is beautifully decorated and ready for Christmas.

Here is my daughter putting together the Christmas village. She and her friend have put the village together for the past couple of years. My husband started collecting the village for me years ago. But this past summer at an Estate sale we were able to pick up eight more houses to complete our village.

Little bits and pieces.

More bits and pieces. This picture of Christ has a very special meaning for us. You can see the young boy looking over Christ's shoulder that is actually a young man who served a mission in Norway. He ate at our table many times, spent Christmas with us and was one of our favorites. He is in this picture because his Dad painted it. His father is Del Parson. The missionary had his father sign it and he gave it to us to thank us for all the times we feed him.

Another picture of my daughter setting up the village.

My daughter and husband sprinkling snow through out the village now that is it set up.
I just love this time of the year.

I love the Ranch even when...

It is snowing. I love the peaceful feeling I get. I love watching my nephew who is such a dare devil race around the field on his snowmobile knowing he is testing it out and will be over soon to get my daughter to go for an adventure.

Rooster looks back at me and says do I really have to go out! Its cold out here and no will come and play with me.

When the corrals beginning to sag and look sad because there won't be any horses in them until next spring. Actually theses corrals became the horse hospital this summer. We had on three different occasions horses staying there that needed to be doctored and taken care of.

This is out my front door these trees are beautiful in the summer, but look just a beautiful during the winter months.

My nephew is such an incredible athlete. He is 6 ft 4 inches we just measured him a couple of nights ago. He is a pencil if you were to turn sidewards he would look like a stick. He takes good care of me and I just love him to bits.

what summer is all about...

I am back home in Texas, but I sure do miss my ranch. So I decided to do a few blogs on what the summer is really about...
It is about planting grain the fields. This is my brother planting barley. Of course Rooster king of the ranch is checking it out and making sure he makes his rows straight!! Unfortunately an early snow and rain made the harvest this fall not as good of a harvest as it could have been.

Its about getting cattle ready for summer pasture. Branding, Shots, fly tags and then getting them moved to their summer home. These babies are so cute. They love to go the wrong direction, buck and call for their moms. The moms know where they need to go but getting those babies to go there takes work not only on the moms part but the cowboys part also.

A son who is an amazing, gifted, creative builder of things he just happens to see on the internet. Then takes a piece of metal and makes a beauty piece of art.

And what would a summer be without a wedding!! My niece got married this summer with the Tetons being the backdrop. It was an awesome event. We love her Dear John. It was such a fun day. But more important I love the time I had with my niece through the whole summer.
I just love being at the ranch for the summer, but more important I love being with my family.

Life is so quiet now...

But there are still many fun and neat things about this summer. It has been a tradition for me to put a wreath at my mom's grave on a shepherd hook each year. She always loved flowers along the side of her house so I decided that she needs to have a wreath next to her to remember her by and her beautiful flowers by. This year towards the end of the summer I put a fall one out. This is my mom's sister who I love a adore who came with me to put it out.

Talking to wreath trying to help it to understand that it needs to stay on the hook this time especially when the wind blows.

This is an amazing picture. These are two of my most favorite people in the whole world. My daughter has such a close relationship with her grandfather. They have a very special bond. She enjoys her time with him as much as I always enjoy my time with him.

I love how he always puts his arm around her and tells her special things or gives her special advise. He has always been a man who loves each of us with all of his heart.

I hated to see the summer at the ranch come to an end.