Sunday, June 27, 2010

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.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Nathan's High School Graduation



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)

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

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

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

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

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

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.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Summer Cookies



This week Launi at Gracious Rain posted pictures of Summer Cookies on her blog. I have been making Summer Cookies since I was in Junior High School (some time ago). Anyway it is getting warm here in San Diego so I decided to make Summer Cookies this evening.

Here is a picture of my cookies:


Don't they look good? They are really good. If you would like my recipe let me know and I will post it.

Jodi

Happy 50th Birthday Eric!! Happy Anniversary Mike & me!

Today my brother Eric turns 50!!! So I thought we would throw him a virtual birthday party. You are all invited.

You know we need cake. Be sure to have the hose ready when you light the candles.

I'd hate for your house to burn down. One fire in the family is enough. And did you notice I made a banner? And there are balloons too.

And what would a party be without presents?

In honor of your birthday Eric, I got you this shirt to wear. Wear it proudly.

You only turn 50 once. I should know. Been there, done that. And since I am so wise, I have a bit of sisterly advice for you on your birthday.

Happy birthday bro!!! You are the best brother I could ask for (don't tell Todd I said that). Love you more than you could know. Now have a good one!!!


Love,



P.S. It is also Mike & Kim's (that would be me) 4th wedding anniversary today. So happy anniversary honey.
Yup, we got married on Eric's birthday.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

The burning bush

Had a little excitement at our house this evening. And I missed it all.

Brandon & I were driving home from work when I got a phone call from Mike. He said "I have some good news, some really good news and some bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?" I said "the good news". He said "the good news is that ugly pampas grass bush that I hate is no more. The really good news is we still have a house. And the bad news is there was a little fire".

When we got home, this is what we found. It seems someone set the pampas grass on fire, which then set the fence on fire. What we don't know is, who it was, or if it was on purpose.

This is what pampas grass is suppose to look like (ours looked like this but way bigger).

This is what it looks like now. And did you see our fence? It's going to need replacing.

Lucky for us, the neighbor across the street on this side just got home from work & saw the bush on fire. He alerted Mike. Luckily Mike was home. Normally he wouldn't be, but today he was. Mike used the garden hose from the back yard to try & put the fire out.

The fire started to burn through to the back side of the fence. Mike said there was a lot of smoke.

A lot of the neighbors came running to help, but only the hose from the back yard would reach. The neighbors were throwing buckets of water onto the burning bush.

The fire department came & finished putting out the fire. I hated that I missed seeing the sexy firemen.

Mike did inhale a lot of smoke. Took him to the doctor, but he will be fine. Doctor gave him an inhaler of some sort. Maybe I should get him a fireman's hat as an award for saving our house. He is my hero. My own personal sexy fireman.
Smells like a bonfire at the beach at our house. Too bad I don't see the ocean when I look out through the big hole in the fence. Hopefully the house will air out soon.

I'm just so thankful that Mike was home at the time of the fire. If not, our house probably would have burnt down. The fire was traveling down the fence towards our house by the time Mike started putting it out. And the pepper tree had started to burn as well.

I'm so thankful for our neighbors who alerted Mike and called the fire department.

Just wish that Brandon & I were here to see it all. Then I could have had some real cool photos for the blog.

Now if only I hadn't just raised our homeowners deductible from $500 to $1000. Ouch! You live and learn.

Too bad the ugly agave plants didn't burn. I guess I shouldn't be greedy.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Happy Birthday Jase!!!

Today is Jase's birthday. Jase is Eric & Jeannette's oldest son. So that makes him Dorothy's grandson & my nephew.

I thought I would try posting a birthday video. I found this one on YouTube & thought it was quite funny. I hope I haven't offended any of you. But everyone in my family will think it is hilarious. Including Jase.



Happy Birthday Jase!!!

We Love you!!!

Aunt Kim

Friday, May 14, 2010

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is Dorothy's birthday. And Dorothy just happens to be my mom.

Happy birthday Mommy!!!!

Hope you have a great day. I'm sending down Brandon to visit you for your birthday. lol. Have a great day!

Love,

Kim

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Happy Mother's Day!


Happy Mother's Day to all of you that are mothers. If you are not, make sure you wish your mom, or someone who is, a Happy Mother's Day.

In honor of mothers day I thought I would share with you a video. It's about Stephanie Nielson, survivor of a near-fatal plane crash. She shares her story of a beautiful life centered on faith in Jesus Christ and love of family.


It's long, but worth watching.



I have been following Stephanie's blog at NieNie Dialogues ever since I heard about her plane crash back in August 2008. She also has an awesome sister named Courtney who has a blog called C Jane Enjoy It. Courtney posted a lot about Stephanie's accident and took care of 3 of her children while Stephanie was recovering.

I recommend you read both of their blogs someday. You will find both quite inspirational and even funny. And both have a way of making motherhood the most noblest of callings. But especially Stephanie.

This is the perfect video for Mother's Day.


And I want to wish my mom a Happy Mother's Day. I love you!!!!