Hello again...my poor 'ole blog!

I guess I've been a bit (a lot) neglectful. What can I say...stuff happens! This is a crazy and strange, but fun year for our family. Two freshman girls...one a college freshman, and one a high school freshman. You would think having three in the household on a daily basis rather than four would be pretty much the same...but it's really quite different. Definitely an adjustment. Here are my two beautiful girls from a few months ago. I miss having four in the house!

Paityn and Tony (the horse) meet again

and the hope of getting a horse of her own only grows stronger

She already has the name picked out.

It would be SO much more fun...if only the weather would cooperate!

It's beginning to look a lot like POPCORN! :)

Jello glazed popcorn is one of my dad's FAVORITE things. In fact, that's what he asked for for Christmas. So yesterday the girls and I got to work. We made 26 batches. We made every flavor we could think of...cranberry, berry blue, tropical fusion, blackberry fusion...the list goes on. We even made cinnamon (using unflavored gelatin and cinnamon oil), which is my personal favorite! We had such a fun time listening to Christmas music, being silly, and working together.

Here's the recipe:

Glazed Popcorn

8 c. popped popcorn (we used 11 c. since the popcorn was especially fluffy)
1/4 c. butter (margarine)
3 T. light corn syrup
1/2 c. sugar
1 pkg. (small) Jello gelatin, any flavor

Place popcorn in a large bowl. Heat butter and syrup in small saucepan over low heat. Stir in sugar and gelatin; bring to a boil over med. heat. Reduce heat to low and gently simmer for 5 min. Pour syrup immediately over popcorn, tossing to coat well.

Spread popcorn on foil lined cookie sheet, spreading evenly. Bake in preheated 300 degree oven for 10 min. Cool. Remove from pan and break into small pieces.

Tree Hunt 2008

I have to admit...this time of year, I'm really missing Wyoming. I miss the SNOW! Had we been there longer, I might have grown to dislike snow, but I hadn't reached that point yet. On the flip side, when June rolls around and I'm floating in the pool (vs. turning my seat heaters on and scraping snow), I will not be missing Wyoming. You get a little, you leave a little.

One thing I truly love about my family is that, no matter where we are, we find a way to keep our family traditions...such as the annual TREE HUNT. Granted, going to a tree farm in 67 degree weather (with ferocious wind) was slightly different than the quiet forest, traipsing through snow up to our knees and the gentle falling snow. (See Tree Hunt 2007) But still...it was fun.

So here we are...looking for the "perfect" tree.



Is this one it?


Well....maybe not.

But I think Paityn spotted one...


Here it is

and, upon the wisdom I gained from my grandpa, we "put rocks in our pockets" to keep from blowing away. :)

Here's the SAWMASTER, hard at work, cutting down THE TREE.


and taking it to the shaking machine




AND...they wrap it up and tie it onto your car...now THAT'S service you don't get in ANY forest! :)

Paityn...meet Tony

Paityn has been wanting a horse for awhile now. She's spent months trying to work up enough nerve to ask her PaPa to get one. Finally, a few weeks ago, she found the courage and asked me for his cell phone number. It caught him a little off guard...out of nowhere Paityn calling to ask for a horse. Right now, the problem is my parents aren't home enough to give a horse enough attention, and we're too far away to give it the needed attention ourselves. I know he would like to make it happen though.

For now, she got the next best thing. He arranged with my aunt for Paityn to ride her horse on Saturday. I'd say she had a good Thanksgiving. :)


Brushing Tony

Getting ready to ride

Tony the horse

This is the BIG TIME

Paityn, Tony, PaPa, Dusty

saying goodbye

It's that time of year again....

Time to do those family Christmas photos. It's always a good excuse to get out and enjoy the outdoors, and today was a beautiful day. We took a thermos of coffee and made an afternoon of it.

I'll share some from today, but I'll hold off on sharing the Christmas card photo...I'll share that later.

Wheat Harvest

They say you can never go home again, but I'm not so sure that's the case. To me, "home" will always be "home". Maybe it's because we've moved so many times and lived in so many different places, but it just always feels like we're going home when we go back to the place where I grew up, and where most of my family still lives...Oklahoma.

Every June we spend about 10 days helping with harvest. Over the last 20 years, my city-boy husband has become quite the farmer. He looks forward to it, and I THINK they actually count on him. It's a family event, and although my girls have been many places, and experienced many different things, I think this might just be the most wholesome wonderful thing out of them all.

Every kid should get to experience country life...at least for a moment.

There's nothing like some good old-fashioned dirt-diggin' kind of fun!

Remember "Parachute Men"? They make for some cheap and great entertainment. :)

I love that my kids can get a small taste of how I grew up. I come from a hard-working family with good strong values, and, although there were times during my teenage years that I didn't want any part of it, I'm very proud that those are my roots. I can only hope that I can be the kind of example to my children that I was shown throughout my life...that of my family.

Missing my girl

It's been a quiet week around our house. We haven't heard Paityn's voice since Monday morning about 7:45 a.m. when we left her on the bus in the school parking lot, headed for an amazing experience. Her 4th grade class, along with the other 4th grade class from her school (about 40 10-yr-olds), along with a handful of teachers, headed for Jackson, Wyoming for 4 nights and 3 days at the Teton Science School, where they would snow shoe and cross-country ski with real scientists to do fieldwork and observe wildlife like nowhere else in the world.

The roads were closed on Sunday, so we really had our doubts that they'd actually get to leave. But...the roads opened up, and the trip was on. Monday was a difficult day. There's the distance thing...the weather thing...the road thing...the "she's only 10" thing. But there was also the "once in a lifetime opportunity" thing. And I couldn't take that away from her. We finally go the call in the late afternoon that they'd arrived, safe and sound, and I started to breath again.

To put things in perspective, the dog refused to even go outside to potty for the first 24 hours. (what a bladder this guy has!!) I guess he was waiting for her to come home.

I miss my silly, sweet, quirky kid. I miss her bringing her box of conversation starters to the dinner table. I miss waking her up in the morning and putting her to bed at night. And I can't WAIT to hear the tales she has to tell about this incredible trip she just experienced.

She's on her way home...I'm counting the hours. Only about 4 1/2 hours before they arrive. Then I'll breath again...again.

Meet my nieces

I've been thinking about them a lot lately, after spending so much time with them at Christmas.

This is Carley.

Carley is 5-years-old and goes to kindergarten. She's a great reader, and SO very smart!! Carley is a quiet observer. She could teach most of us adults a thing or two about watching and listening. Often times, she seems beyond her years, but once in awhile, the silliness of a 5-year-old comes out. She's good at the things she does because she pays attention. She REALLY pays attention.

This is Kadyn.

Kadyn will turn 4-years-old in March. However, she's "TIRED" of being "this many" (three fingers), so she has declared that she's "THIS MANY" (four fingers). Kadyn is a FIREBALL, which delights me to no end. When my girls were younger and going through the "terrible two's", "terrible three's", "terrible four's", etc., etc., etc., my brother was a very WISE young college kid. He had an endless supply of wisdom for me...things he would and would not allow, etc. Kadyn...well...she's taught him a thing or two about parenting!!! lol You know...the things like "some have a mind of their own, no matter what you do"...stuff like that. And, by the way, Mom, Dad, Nathan....you can all stop blaming that stubborn streak on ME!!!! I have NO idea WHERE she gets that!!!

Kadyn is just a little bit of a thing. She's the kind of kid who leaves you no choice but to fall in love with her. She's all of 22 lbs., and proud of it. In fact, when I picked her up to hug her recently, I teasingly told her she had no bottom. Boy, did she straighten me out about that!! Yes she DOES have a bottom, because "ALL KIDS HAVE BOTTOMS!!!!!" I stand corrected!!!

There's definitely something special about nieces. Despite the miles between us, and the difference in ages between them and my girls, they are all still very close. We truly enjoy the time we get to spend with them.

Tree Hunt 2007

Today was one of my very favorite days of the year. The day we bundle up in the warmest things we can find, head up the mountain with our tree tag, and go in search of the perfect (or maybe not so perfect) Christmas tree!!!


The weather couldn't have been better, as far as tree hunting goes. The temperature wasn't unbearably cold, yet the snow was falling down. The forest always seems so peaceful and quiet, and gives you the feeling that you're the only people around for miles, even when that's not the case. If you stand still and really pay attention, you can even smell the sweet smells of the aspen and the pines.


There were snowballs....


snow dogs...


snow angels, and catching snowflakes on the tongue...


and even a not-quite hidden smile from a teenager.


Finally, after much searching, we found the tree.


It may seem a little thin to you...maybe it is. But it's fresh, it smells nice, and most importantly, it's OUR tree...one we searched for, found, cut, and drug through the knee-deep forest snow. So thin schminn....it's a GREAT tree!! And it was a GREAT day!!!