Sweet Grass Ranch

Sweet Grass Ranch in Montana-Vacation

Bare back riding at the Big Timber Rodeo. It was great!!!!

Our Cattle drive, that's Jeannette in the red.

Jeannette's sister, Debbie and her horse CALVIN.

Chase was one of our wranglers- he was great.

We just got done loping across this meadow.

We went and helped brand some new calves. We caught them and they branded them.

Jeannette's sister, Laura on her horse- GARRETT.

Jeannette and her Mom, Carol.

My father in-law, Carl on his horse, BARNEY.

My Jeannette on her horse DOOZY.

Jeannette and Jack the dog.

Danica with her horse.... Spencer.

Beutiful scenery.... the dog is Sadie... she was fast... could chase down Deer.

2 of the best Wranglers.... Bridgette and Honah.

Nice view!!!

WE met every morning to go riding. The Wranglers would get our horses ready every day.

Eric on WILLIE the horse. Good horsie!!!!

This is part of the Ranch. Carl and Carol stayed in the left one, and Rich and Debbie, stayed in the bunk house, along with alot of Mice.

This is Danica and she is standing in front of her and Lauras cabin.

The Cabins were almost all original Homestead houses from along time ago. Short people.

This is inside the main house. We ate as a big family every night and day.

The main house at the Ranch, We ate all meals here.

The river was flowing with Spring snow melt.

nothing but beauty all around.

This is the view as you come into the valley.

This is the road leading to the Ranch, it is 30 miles off the beaten path.

Nathan's High School Graduation

Tonight Nate graduated from High School. We are so proud of him. Here are some pictures that I took while waiting for the Ceremony.

Nathan walking

Joy - Grandma

Simon - Brother

Noah - Brother

Andrea & Jamey - Proud Parents

It was fun, but it was really long and alot of people had those stupid air horns.
Yuck, they were way too loud.

Nathan being cool!!!!!!!!!!!

Nathan & Grandma (Dorothy)

Happy Birthday Brandon!!!

Today is my son Brandon's birthday. I want to wish him a very Happy Birthday!!!

I love you more than you will know!!!!

Mom

Happy Birthday Marti!!!

Today is Marti's birthday.

Marti is Grandpa & Grandma Manning's oldest grandchild.

She is Joni's oldest daughter.

So that makes her my oldest cousin.

Did you notice a theme Marti? Oldest is the operative word today. I knew you would appreciate me bringing up the fact that you are old.

I too am old. Just not as old as Marti!!! lol

You know we love you Marti! You are the greatest!!!!!


Love,


and the rest of the fam damily

What I did on my (pre) summer vacation

Just got back from the most exciting vacation. I just had to share with you all the excitement that I had.

What do you mean I didn't go anywhere.

So how could I get back from something that I never went to?

OK, you caught me. I actually had a staycation instead of a vacation.

So what fun & exciting things did I do on my staycation?

I'm so glad you asked. I had so many plans. I was going to get so many projects done being at home all week. So many that I was going to have a ton of things to share with you all over the next few weeks.

So how did I do?

First off, my staycation started off with an ouch. A big ouch! I wrenched my back somehow on Saturday.

So I ended up having to take pain pills & muscle relaxants. Let's just say, I was in "happy land" for awhile. The lower back pain lasted all Saturday, Sunday & Monday.

It was a good thing I wasn't hosting a Memorial Day BBQ this year. I was pretty looped.

I spent most of the long holiday weekend napping.

And watching a full season of America's Next top model in one day.

Meet my new BFF. We rarely parted company this past week. I even took my naps holding onto my new friend. We were inseparable.

BFF & I had so much fun visiting with some old friends.


Oprah had been wondering where I had been. She was so happy to see I had time for her again.

And we can't forget Dr Phil. He was so excited that I was spending time with him that he even had some of my other friends the Housewives of Orange County over for a visit as well.
I was even officially introduced to Dr Oz. I knew that he was friends with Oprah. And I had seen him a few times, but had never been formally introduced. We have now. And we are the bestest of buds. Except he says I need to lose some weight & eat better. Whatever!!!!

By Wednesday my back was feeling better so I thought I might try something new and adventurous.

Cleaning my house. I decided that I didn't like that. I don't think I'll try that again anytime real soon. Besides, the house likes to play tricks on me. It messes itself up when I'm not looking. How is that for thanks?

On Thursday was my wedding anniversary. Mike & I had big plans. But we had no money to actually pull them off. And my front tooth crown decided to break off. So instead of doing something romantic and/or fun, I got to do this instead:


Did I tell you that I hate dentists?

And what did Mike get me for our anniversary? A new $1000.00 tooth. Isn't he the greatest?

But that darn tooth fairy didn't give me anything for the broken tooth. How am I suppose to pay the dentist if she is so stingy?

We were able to salvage the day by going out to dinner.

We went to Applebee's. Only because we had a $25.00 gift card that Mike had won.


I told Mike he could only choose off the 2 for $20.00 menu. You get to choose 1 appetizer and two entrees.

For the appetizer we picked boneless buffalo wings. We got the Honey BBQ ones. They were pretty yummy.
For dinner, Mike had the riblet basket & I had the 7 oz house sirloin. We did pay extra to add a couple of salads. The salads were pretty big & very yummy. We even shared a small hot fudge sundae for dessert. So we had to fork out a little of our own money. But it was our anniversary after all. So we splurged. I was so full when we left.

Our original plan was to go to dinner & then to the movies. But I was so full from dinner and the movie we wanted to see didn't start until almost 10pm. We decided to go to the movie another night. Besides, I still had 3 more days of vacation. I had to spread the fun around.

I was having so much fun on my staycation that I can't even remember what we did on Friday and most of Saturday. I'm sure it was more napping & spending time with my BFF. Too much excitement for me to remember.

On Saturday night we managed to sneak in a little movie time.

A friend had given us some free movie tickets to Harkins Theatres. That is the only time we go to the movies. When we get free tickets. The down side of free tickets is, you can't see anything that just came out in the last 10 days. So our choice of movies was Robin Hood, or Robin Hood.

It was a hard decision. We almost couldn't decide. Finally we had to do "Eeny meeny miney mo". And guess which movie won? I know the suspense is killing you. But you know how I love to tease. Ok, ok, it was Robin Hood. Who would have ever thought?


I love movies from this time period. I wouldn't have wanted to live then, the smell would have killed me. But I love watching movies about Old England. I'm just glad they don't have smell-a-vision at the theater.

It was a pretty good movie. We liked it. There will most definitely be a sequel. That is, if they made enough money from this one.

Do you want to know the best part about free movie tickets? We can afford refreshments. You knew it was going to come down to food. We purchased a drink cup at the beginning of the year. Each time you bring it back, you can refill it for $1.00. And then we get a large popcorn which can be refilled for free. So we always eat one bag at the movie and get it refilled right before going home so we can enjoy popcorn later at home. Still tastes pretty good the next day.

Finally the last day of my vacation rolled around. And finally we get some excitement. At Jesse's expense. But we got excitement.


A visit from our local police.

You see, someone broke into Jesse's truck sometime early Sunday morning and stole his stereo, GPS, 2 thumb drives, his backpack full of clothes & a new drill. It seems he locked his truck, but left the window down an inch. That was all the thieves needed to be able to unlock the door & rip him off. He learned a hard expensive lesson that day. Don't leave your window down any & don't leave valuables in your vehicle.

And there you have it. The review of my exciting vacation. Don't you wish you could have come along?


What are you plans for vacation this summer? I still have a couple of weeks of vacation time to use up. Just wish I had some money to go somewhere. I don't think I could handle another staycation as exciting as this one.