Germs...need I say more?

There are a lot of downfalls to working with the public, and one of them is the germs.  I hate germs and I use hand sanitizer every chance I get.  Unfortunately, there are only so many germs you can hide from when working with money (and customers) every day.  I was unfortunate enough to be a lucky winner of the virus that is going around town, and it hit Monday night.  I was sick all Monday evening and still felt puny yesterday, so I stayed home to rest & continue taking anti-upset stomach medicine (I hate the words used for the term when things come from your stomach out your mouth, like the one that’s two words with initials t u, or the v word…so choose other words).  Today I’m doing much better, but with my bruised ribs (that’s another story) it made for one hell of a night Monday night.  My sweet husband held my hair & washed my face for me Monday evening after he got off work & thru the night every time I got sick.  He’s so sweet…I’d be lost without him! 

Now that you know what we’ve been doing the last couple of days, I’ll update you on our weekend this past weekend.  Saturday morning Wesley and I took a couple horses out to move a few cow/calf pairs that were in the wrong pasture into the correct pasture.  Then, we spent the next hour or so looking for 1 baldie cow & her baby as they crawled thru the fence into another pasture.  We finally found her & moved her into the pasture with the rest as well, and it was just in time too.  The rain showers started to come about noon that day & lasted most of the day.  It was so awesome to get some rain again.  The grass is beautiful, and it is such a drastic change from last year.  The Lord has blessed us with much needed rain & we hope He continues to bless us thru the summer months with any rain we can get.  Saturday afternoon Wesley and cooked up a delicious homemade pizza, and watched a few movies that we had recorded.  That evening we caught up on some shows we had recorded throughout the week, then called it a night.

Sunday morning we got up, ate a nice breakfast, then headed over to the ranch to catch a couple horses so Wesley and David could go enter a roping in Miles City.  This roping was a big one – the Wrangler Team Roping Championship roping.  While Wesley hasn’t won this roping (yet), he and David enter it every year & try their hand at winning it.  The roping is progressive after 1 steer, and they took the top 30 teams for high call backs.  They caught their first & second steers, and were the 20^th high team call back out of 250 teams!  I had been taking still pictures all day long of the two of them, and decided that the final run they did I was going to record so we could watch it.  They were paying on 8 holes in the roping and we were SO hoping they would get one of those spots.  It came time for them to rope and they caught their third steer!  They were leading the average at that point (meaning they were leading the roping & if everyone else missed their steers, they’d win).  At this point in the video I lost all common sense & me and David’s cousin’s wife Nikki (who was there watching too) started hooping & hollering!  It was great to see the two of them finally get to catch for each other, and advance on top of that.  They ended up a couple spots out of placing, but considering there were 250 teams at this roping I am pretty damn proud of the two of them!  My hopes are to upload the video (crazy hollering and all) to share with everyone!

This weekend we have a roping in Forsyth again, and then Wesley and I are heading to Opheim Sunday to Monday to check on steers & meet with a potential buyer of our steers.  I can’t believe its July already next week – that means its less than 6 months until Christmas!  Yikes!  I really should start buying Christmas gifts soon – don’t hate…I’m organized like that.  Its an obsession, really (the organization thing).   But hey, at least when it comes time I’m not running around like crazy looking for last minute gifts J

Hope you’re having as good of a week as we are (minus the virus, of course)!  Pictures and a video to follow soon!

Branding and Roping Activities

The Kluver branding went well, but it was a long day to say the least.  Wesley and I were up at 4:30 AM so we could eat a quick bite, get the horses in & saddled, and head out to be at their branding at 5:45.  Upon arrival, everyone got a game plan and instructions on what part of the pasture they were to gather to bring back to the corrals, and we all took off.  Sarah and I took the easier route and had so much fun talking and catching up rounding up the cattle.  We were one of the earlier groups to get back to the corrals, so we held herd and waited for everyone else to arrive back at the corrals with their cattle.  After everyone arrived back and the cows were sorted, we started branding.  The wrestling crew (that wrestles calves to help hold them so we can give vaccinations, brand them, etc.) ended up not completely showing up, so it started out stressful, but ended well.  Wesley ended up having to wrestle calves most of the time, but got to rope a couple as well.  Sarah and I were in charge of vaccinating each calf, and keeping a total count on how many heifers there were versus how many steers.  And, toward the end of the day, I got on my trusty Reno Dino and roped a few calves too!  With Wesley’s coaching I was able to rope about 10 calves or so…I was pretty proud! 

That evening Ab, Sarah, Ab’s brother, and their friend Jack all came over for an evening on the patio.  We cooked hamburgers and talked while sitting on our new patio!  Our company left about 10:00 that evening, and when Wesley and I came inside we decided we’d rent the movie Identity Thief on our Dish.  It. Was. HILARIOUS!  We really enjoyed it.  Sunday we didn’t do much but clean up around the house and cook on the grill again…my favorite thing about the summer months!

This past Saturday we spent the entire day outside cleaning up around the outside of the house, mowing the lawn, and painting the shed.  We had quite the mowing job ahead of us and it took us about 4 hours to mow everything we needed to mow, but we got it done!  And it looks fantastic now.  My dad would be proud (haha)!  Saturday evening we put a beer can chicken on the BBQ grill and smoked it for a couple hours, then I made a couple sides to go with it that evening for supper…and it was delicious!  We hadn’t had a beer can chicken in quite a while, and in our opinions, it is about the ONLY way to eat chicken.  It keeps the chicken so extremely moist and that’s a hard task when it comes to chicken.  Saturday night we watched a movie that we recorded during the day (Water for Elephants – neither of us was very impressed with the movie at all and won’t be watching it again.  We both hate animal abuse & can’t stand to watch it in the movies).  Sunday Wesley started roping in our roping club’s summer roping series so we were out at the arena starting at about 11:45 Sunday and got done roping about 6:00 that evening.  He placed 5^th in the first roping and 3^rd in the second!  I was so proud of him.  Of course I got pictures from the roping (and the branding) so I’ll upload those as soon as I get a chance to do so.  I also got to hang out with our friends Pecos & Dani's little girl Landyn at the roping on Sunday.  What a cutie!  She's 3 months old and just precious!  It lets me think of what it will be like when my little neice comes along in September.   I can't wait until baby Butler arrives so I can hold and spoil her too!  This coming Sunday we have another roping in Miles City to attend, and then it’s back to Saturday nights at the roping arena to watch Wesley rope!

The weather here has been beautiful.  Highs have been in the upper 70’s to low 80’s and lows are in the mid-50’s.  The grass is lush and green, the hay crop is coming up nicely and about ready to be cut, and we are so blessed and thank the Lord for the moisture He has provided for our land. 

Have a wonderful week!

Vegas & the Patio

Here are a few of the pictures I've been promising since forever!  Anyway, hope you enjoy!

Our Jiggs

Little Jakey who's not so little anymore!

Dirt work being moved to put in the patio

Our audience

It was quite the audience!

Wesley dumping the dirt

Packing the sand

Bricks are in place & Jakey is helping Wesley sweep dirt into the cracks

The finished product!  We love our patio.  Its perfect for us!

Jiggs manages to photo bomb every picture taking session I do!  That's ok though, we love him just the same :)

Jake resting after a BIG day helping us with the patio

Pretty petunia's I planted for the corners of the porch

Jiggs proving that he worked hard by displaying the dirt on his precious face

Surprising them on the first day in Vegas!

Eating lunch

Shopping on Fremont Street

Me & Mom

My husband making silly faces!

At the Aquarium at Mandalay Bay

Gambling!

Going to see Gordie Brown at the Golden Nugget! 

 

Perfect Patio Paradise

Summer is just around the corner and in our household we are getting ready to enjoy all that summer has to offer…including pleasant evenings outdoors!  This past weekend Wesley and I started and completed our patio project.  I was pretty proud of myself because this time I took pictures of the patio from start to finish!  But first, a bit about our Saturday.  Wesley and I headed to Miles City Saturday to get the rest of the supplies we’d need to construct our patio, grabbed a few groceries, and then met Wesley’s cousin and his family for supper that evening at the Rib & Chop.  It was so great to see Todd, Lori, and the kids again and we are hoping we get up to Opheim this summer to visit them and see all their fair projects too! 

Sunday we started out bright & early so we could start and finish our patio.  Wesley brought the skid steer over and we moved dirt around, leveled the ground, packed the dirt, laid the bricks, watered in the sand, and completed our new patio.  It took lots of hard work but we were so proud of ourselves and the way it turned out when we got done.  While Wesley did the dirt work for the patio, I was busy planting potted plants to go on the corners of the patio, and mowing the lawn.  After we were done with that we put together our new patio furniture set with matching table and umbrella.  Wesley wheeled out his Big Green Egg BBQ grill to the patio, and we moved our fire pit out there as well.  We are very pleased with the outcome of the patio and will get to use it this weekend when we have our friends Ab & Sarah Kluver over after their branding this Saturday! 

Sunday evening we helped David celebrate his birthday with a meal that Wesley and I prepared, followed by a delicious dessert that is becoming a new favorite in our house – Sopapilla cheesecake pie bars!  Then, when Moo Moo & David left that evening Wesley and I went outside and sat on our new patio and watched the sun set over the horizon.  It was the perfect ending to a day of hard work!  The pictures are on my camera that I haven’t uploaded to the computer yet but as soon as I do (hopefully tonight - I realize I say that frequently but I really am going to try tonight) I will upload them to the blog! 

It has been a pretty cool day here today – the high is around 55 but I doubt if we get that ‘warm’!  And as I mentioned before, this weekend we are going to our neighbors the Kluvers to help them brand and then Ab & Sarah are going to come over that evening for dinner & to catch up.  I enjoy Sarah’s company so much so I’m glad we will get to spend some more time together this weekend!  The high on Saturday is 81 so it will be perfect patio weather when we’re done at the branding!  I’m going to take my camera to the branding with me this weekend so I can get some pictures to show you what it’s like!