The Christmas Season is FINALLY Here!

Christmas time is upon us once again!  Wow, I can’t believe Christmas is less than a week away…yikes!  We are looking to have good weather to fly back to Texas for our annual winter trip so we are definitely excited about that.  As far as today goes, though, we are under a winter weather advisory as I watch the snowflakes fall outside.  I’m glad it is snowing this week instead of next week, however! 

Christmastime always brings a lot of emotions & sentiments to our home as we are away from some of our family no matter which way we go.  But, we make the absolute best of it & try to split our time as best we can.  We are definitely ready for our vacation & to see everyone in Texas again.  We get very excited to see all our family & friends down in Texas that we only see once a year and know that with Christmas comes the time for us to head south.  The weather forecast shows temperatures in the 60’s for the highs in Texas so we are definitely looking forward to that.  We’ll probably look like outcasts in our shorts & t-shirts down there because we’re so used to 30 degree days that a 60 degree day is going to be a heat wave to us! 

We have lots to be thankful for this past year & reflect upon as we enter a new year.  We thank God every day and are so blessed by Him that we are able to do what we love.  We live our dream each day when we look outside the window & see the open range, our cattle, and our horses grazing about.  I can’t imagine another life for us and I’m so happy that we are able to continue making our living by ranching.  As we go into 2014 we’re praying for another prosperous year for us, and as always we pray for moisture to bless our ground so the grass continues to grow.

There are lots of special people in our lives but we too often forget to mention them on our blog…our parents.  Our parents are the reason we are where we are today & we can’t thank them enough for all their love, support, and guidance.   We are excited to spend Christmas with Wesley’s parents then head south to see my parents & spend quality time with them as well.  We love all of them so much.

You’ll have to forgive me in advance if the blog goes silent for a few weeks.  As we prepare to depart for the Lone Star State we are busy preparing things at the ranch for our absence.  And, of course, we have to prepare our “children” (of the 4 legged kind) for our trip as well.  I promise to update everyone as soon as we get back from Texas with details of our trip & the like.  We are praying that our flights are smooth, they’re on schedule, and we don’t have a nightmare in the Denver airport that we did last year.  Until next year, sweet blog readers….

MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Love,

Wesley & Tiffany, Jiggs & Jake

Conversations with Moo Moo

 

 

If I haven’t said it before, Wesley’s mom is a gem.  Too often she and I are both too busy to get to have a conversation together, so when we have to gather the herd for various reasons I’m excited for more than one reason – because I get to ride my Reno Dino, and because I know I’ll get to have a conversation with Moo Moo.  How it works is normally Wesley & David will ride ahead of us & plan how we’re going to gather, and make sure they are the first ones off their horses to get the gates for us to ride through.  Moo Moo & I lag back & catch up with what’s going on in our lives and what’s going on in the upcoming weeks.  Whether we’re talking about school, work, ranching, cattle, or the men we’re married to, we have the best conversations just the two of us.  While no one can take the place of my mom, she runs a close second.  My mother-in-law is an amazing person & I wish everyone could have a relationship with their mother in law like I do with mine.  I don’t think Moo Moo will ever know how much her conversations mean to me when it’s just the two of us on the backs of our horses walking along & talking freely with one another, but they are something I hold dear to my heart.  She’s a special lady!

Our Thanksgiving

We had a wonderfully delicious Thanksgiving surrounded by our family & friends.  Wesley's parents came over as well as our neighbor.  We tried out hand at smoking a turkey on our Big Green Egg and it came out delicious!!  We put it in at 4:30 a.m. (yes, we're hardcore like that) and it was done about 10:00 or so.  It came out looking absolutely amazing & the moisture that the bird retained was unbelievable!  I also made tons of sides to go with our turkey, and Moo Moo brought over a side of mashed potatoes & a huge relish tray.  I also made a cheese ball to go with her relish tray for our appetizers.  Of course we had entirely too much food, but we are so lucky & thankful for those blessings.  Here's a sampling of pictures from our turkey day.  Enjoy!  :)