Friday

It's the last Friday of the month and tomorrow is the last day of the month.  Wahoo!

Goodbye February and...

The girls and I have all been fighting off ear infections, and then Jesse ended up with an eye infection that we are assuming was pink eye.  I bought myself a "hang in there, Mama" coffee on Wednesday.  It helped!  ;) 

I ordered "31 Days to a clutter free life" and it just showed up a couple of days ago.  Just in time to start my spring cleaning.  I don't feel like my house is awful... but we have our "hot spots" where everyone comes home and dumps their stuff and I'm constantly trying to clear off certain counters and/or my desk.  So I'm up for any advice or tips she has for me.

Yesterday was my older sister Lindy's birthday.  A bunch of us girls in the family and whatever kiddos aren't in school yet, all met up for birthday lunch.  I wish I would have taken a picture of everyone.   I think there was 11 of us... needless to say we take up a large table.  

After lunch, my Mom, younger sister Leslie, and I all met up at my parents house to start working on birthday dinner.  We made 3 pans of lasagna, visited and listened to music.  Good times.   

Source

Birthday Girl with our niece Shea.

Thankfully, Leslie remembered to take a picture.  I was only thinking about cheesecake at this point!  Haha!  ;)  

The kids don't have school today, so we get to stay home and have a lazy day.  We have a couple things planned for the next couple of days, but nothing too big.  So hopefully we'll all work on staying healthy and enjoy the weekend!

Today I linked up with

 Andrea

Amy

&  

Christina

Have a great weekend friends!
xoxo

First calf of the year

A couple weeks ago, I posted about the cows getting close to calving.  Well, the next day this cow had her baby.  I tried to sneak out to take his picture but, I didn't want to worry the Mama, so I stayed back and just zoomed in.  She still didn't really want me there.  She moved around the tree and was looking at me, so I took a couple of quick pictures and left.  

I wanted to get back out and take a better picture since you couldn't really see him very well, snuggled up in all the hay, but it's been raining, and then I was out of town.  So yesterday I finally made it back out and got his picture.  He's already almost 2 weeks old... but still so cute!  Mom uses ear tags instead of branding, in case you are wondering why he has this on his ear.

I can't wait for the rest of calves to arrive.  It's so cute when all the babies run around and play together.

The sun has been out the last few days, and it has felt so good to get out and walk around.  I have to keep reminding myself that it's still February and that it could snow anytime.  I know that the Mountains probably need to get a lot more snow, so they won't be too dry this summer.  But it feels like Spring right now, and I'm completely over winter. 

My parents have been out harrowing the fields and pastures the last few days, and I just love how the fields look afterwards.

This little guy is just turning 3 so he'll be able to get more training in this year.  His name is Jango.  He is Ruby's baby and has been one of my favorites since he was born.  He followed me all over the pasture yesterday while I took pictures.  

Even though I know it isn't Spring yet... these nice days are giving me a boost, knowing that Spring isn't too far away.  I'm getting more anxious to get my Spring cleaning started.  Once the nice weather is fully upon us, I don't want to be inside more than I have to.   Anyone else getting excited for Spring?

I hope you all are having a great week so far! 

Back home

We got back home, right before bed last night.  We had a lot of fun, but I am so glad to be back home.

Here we are at 4:00 am sitting in the Spokane airport waiting for our flight. 

Visiting New Orleans and going to Mardi Gras, has always been on my Aunts bucket list, so we checked that off for her.  She was super excited, and already had beads and a mask before we left.  She even had her nails done up in Mardi Gras colors, so she's showing them off.  :)

 Mom, trying on a hat at the New Orleans airport when we arrived.  I think she was getting excited as well.

When we arrived in New Orleans, we paid for the shuttle to drop us off at our hotel and scheduled for them to take us back to the airport yesterday.  Well there was so much traffic and people that it took us 2 hours to get to our hotel.  It was crazy!!!  They could only take us part of the way to our hotel, because streets were blocked off for parades.  So the driver parked as close as she could, and then we had to walk the rest of the way.  Thankfully she led us most of the way.  We had to walk about a dozen blocks up and down the middle of the French Quarter.  You can just imagine us, walking right through Bourban Street, pulling our giant suitcases and bags down the middle of the street, after dark.  I guess the driver had been mugged the night before, when she was taking other people through the streets to their hotels, so that was comforting.  Ha! 

Anyway, we made it to the hotel, and then went and found a place to get some dinner.

 

Lots of fun and funky costumes for sale everywhere.

The next morning, we went back down in the French Quarter and did some shopping and people watching.  All of their facial expressions crack me up! 

This was the extent of my dressing up.  It was so cold down there and I've been fighting off a cold.  I wore this hat and scarf type thing around my neck.  At least it kept me a bit warmer.  And after seeing this picture, I decided it's time for a haircut! 

These two were so excited!

When I've thought of or heard about Mardi Gras, I always thought about women walking around and showing off their "ladies" to get beads.  Well, that is something that I've had no desire to see or be around.  It may happen down on Bourban Street, but where we were a bit more uptown, it was completely clean and there was none of that.  I was pleasantly surprised.  :)  I didn't see anything inappropriate the whole time!  There were tons of families, and grandparents.  Lots of parades, and people just stood along the side catching beads and cheering. 

Monday, we took a carriage ride and toured the French Quarters.  

It was a lot of fun to see the whole area and learn some neat things about it.  We even stopped at one of the cemetery's, which was a bit creepy.

Before we had left to come on this trip, I had googled good places to eat.  This Napoleon House kept coming up.  The building is really neat, but honestly I wouldn't eat there again or recommend it.  It was our least favorite place that we ate at the whole trip.

I couldn't get over the amount of trash that was left in the street from the parade.  They come by quickly and clean it up.  But still, it was unreal.

My cousin and I had decided to skip this parade, so just our mothers went.  Well, we ended up getting a phone call from them, saying that they had too many beads and couldn't carry them all!  Hahaha!  A lot of people didn't want the beads, but these two dorks, had so much fun!  Ha!  My Aunt had on a hat that we had bought to keep our ears warm, and she had bags that she was putting her beads in.  We kept laughing because she kind of looked a bit homeless, and some guy even gave her his broken chair. 

This was all they could carry and Michelle and I carried the rest of the beads that aren't even in the picture.  We laughed and said next time, we are nominating 2 of their other kids to come chaperone these two!  ;)

 Lots of fun, but it's definitely nice to be home!

Dan picked Emma up from school yesterday because her ear was hurting.  He made an appointment and they said she has an ear infection, so he got her medication and came home with her.  Well, sometime shortly after her appointment, her ear drum burst.  :(  Poor girl!  She is so tough!  I had that happen to me years ago when I was a kid and I remember how awful it was.  So today, we are at home hanging out.  Gracie has a good cough, so she's home with us as well.   It should be a good day to catch up on laundry and take it easy! 

On the road again

Yesterday morning, Mom and I headed out of town bright and early.  She needed to drop off a bull at the Live Stock sale and I had made an eye appointment, so I could order more contacts.

I really wish I was comfortable hauling around a big trailer, but I'm not sure I ever will be.  I've pulled this one about 15 miles one day, but it was just a straight stretch on the highway.  I can do that.  But downtown with tons of traffic... yikes.  Thankfully, it doesn't faze Mom at all.  We pulled it to the mall, Target and Costco, like the rednecks that we are.  Haha!  ;)

Do you all remember the episode on Friends where Rachel has her eye exam?  Well, that is me!!!  Ha!  I have had glasses since I was in 2nd grade I think, and no matter how many times I've had to go get my eyes examined... I HATE when they blow the air into my eyes.  It's not so much the air itself, because it doesn't hurt.  But for the life of me, I can NOT keep my eyes open.  My eyes always clamp down, and I am literally trying to pry my eye open to look at the light while waiting for them to shoot it with air.  It is a really long and painful process for both me and them. 

I had to take my contacts out when I got there, so I could see nothing.  After the whole Rachel experience, I finally was led back to the exam room.  While waiting, I decided to take a stupid selfie... because who takes selfies when you can't even see the phone that you're taking your picture with.  Ha!

Later yesterday evening, after we had dinner,  basketball practice, and filled out our valentines for school, we all sat down to watch some HGTV.  We've loved watching all the "flip it" shows.  Even the kids were getting into them. 

The weather this winter has been so mild.  It was actually 53 degrees here the other day!  Dan and I are so thankful and we were talking about how we could really get used to these kind of winters!

And in other fun news... I am packing my bag for a little trip down South!  My Mom, Aunt and one of my cousins, had started to plan a trip.  Neither of my sisters were going to be able to make it, and since someone needed to even out the numbers, I volunteered to go along!  ;) 

We are headed to New Orleans on Friday.  So between now and then, I am busy trying to stay caught up on laundry, making sure the house is clean, getting valentine party stuff ready and prepping a bunch of dinners, so Dan won't have to worry about finding something for dinner while I'm gone. 

I've been to New Orleans once, (you can read about my last trip down there, here) but my Aunt never has, and it's one of the places that she's always wanted to see.  We are looking forward to some sunshine (hopefully) and some good food!!!

We will definitely be making a stop or two at Cafe Du Monde, but if anyone has any other recommendations, I'm all ears! 

Morning Feeding

Dan and I built our house right on the edge, or I guess it would be the middle of Mom and Dad's ranch.  It's actually right out in their hayfield.  In order to get to our house, you have to drive down their lane, past the barn and on over to us.  So all of these cows and horses are my parents and not mine.  Which my husband is very thankful for.  Ha!  But living where I do, we are surrounded by them everyday, and it's very much a part of our life.  My parents moved out to this ranch when I was in 1st grade I think.  So this is where I grew up.  When Dan and I got married we lived in town for a few years, but I was very excited to move back to the ranch once we were able to build.

You can see our house out on the left of the barn in this picture.  My parent's house is farther off to the right of the barn, but you can't see it in this picture.  I took this from the back pasture looking in. 

Most mornings, after I get the kids on the school bus, I swing over to my parents house for a cup of coffee.  This morning, I took my camera and rode along while they fed.

After we fed the horses, we headed to the pasture that has the 2 bulls in it.  I'm not intimidated by the cows at all, as I've grown up with them all my life.  But the bulls are another matter entirely.  These boys are both about as gentle as they come, but I still don't trust them at all!  

Here they come...

Crossing the creek to get to their breakfast.

 I was totally holding my breath, as they both reached the bank and checked me out!  Eeek!

"That's right, just eat your food... don't worry about me!" 

Next we headed over to feed the ladies.  

They can be out of sight, but once Mom yells, "Come Boss" they start running right for you. 

She doesn't look to impressed with me, does she?  Haha!

Gertie, the cow with the brown spot on her nose, always looks like she's smiling.  :)

Mom's cows all have names on their tags, and Mom knows who most of them are without even looking at the tag.  The cows with numbers on their tags, belong to our friend, who also helps out on the ranch.  

They should start calving anytime with in the next couple of weeks.  Mom loves calving season, and gets up a couple times a night to check on all of them.  Once they start to see that some of the cows are looking close to calving, they will bring them up into the corrals next to the barn, so she can keep a closer eye on them.  I try to help and keep an eye on them as I head into town or back home... but honestly, I'm not good at it.  So I just try and take pictures of the cute babies once they arrive.  Someones got to do it.  ;)