Christmas and Beyond!

 Christmas Day

Christmas Day was a fun one for me! I had to walk pens at work, so I went around to a couple of my friends' houses during the day. 

Here we are riding ATV's on a pond. The surface of the ice was so smooth that the ATVs couldn't get any traction so donuts were kinda out of the question, but we did pull each other around a little!

This isn't the recommended method, but it does work!

Pulling 2 guys at a time-with the string you could get a little bit of a slingshot effect!

Random Pics from Today :)

If you look really closely, the smudges along the horizon are the mountains of the Front Range. All I had with me was my iphone, and it didn't pick them up very well. (For reference, they are ~145 miles away, almost the length of Massachusetts)

Caydee got to come check water tanks and look at cows today!

Took the puppies for a walk in the horse pasture today...I just think this mare is so photogenic!

Caydee practicing her sit

I really wish I had gotten a video of her walking towards me, she was a little intimidating!

The newest longhorn mamma and baby

Isn't that little sucker cute??? (he has no idea what's awaiting him as he gets bigger....)

Off into the sunset :)

Chats with Patrice

Hi Patrice!  It was definitely porch weather out here today! It was close to 60F here. We were moving cattle and practicing our roping (we need a lot of practice!) in vests and hoodies instead of heavy coats!
So glad Wendell is feeling better! I rode both my horses today for the first time in a while, and they were full of beans!

1. What is your favorite way to have potatoes?
2. Do you keep your house toasty warm or a bit cooler?
3. What would you most like to see under the tree?
4. Do you have an Elf on the Shelf?This one may not translate to other countries- Just tell us something you want if you don't know what I'm talking about.
5. Have you put up a Christmas tree this year?

1. I love cheese on my potatoes! I just made a cassarole the other day and decided to put in potato chunks and it was really good!  I put a layer of those biscuits in a can, then a layer of mostly boiled potato chunks, then a layer of ground beef, mushrooms, celery, green peppers, and tomatoes all fried together and poured a can of cheese soup over the whole thing and covered the top with another layer of biscuits and baked it for about an hour (gotta remember to cover the pan with foil so the biscuits on top don't burn before the bottom ones bake ;) )

2. I love my house toasty warm! Right now I live in the basement and the thermostat is upstairs, so I have to turn it up to 80+ to get it remotely comfortable inside!

3. Oh, I don't really have anything specifically....I love picking out presents for people that I think they would love, so as long as someone put some thought into what I like, I will love it! :)

4. I keep hearing about these things on facebook and random blogs...I tend to follow fads just enough to know what everyone else is talking about....

I just got my house decorated for Christmas over the weekend tho! I do paper chains and snowflakes hanging from the ceiling! (my house is a mess), so here is a pic from last year:

5. No Christmas tree for me this year. :( I don't have room in my tiny basement and I might be moving soon, so I'm enjoying everyone else's! But I do love a real tree and the smell of pine :)

Cows, Horses, and Ponies

Took Caydee for a walk to run off some energy and decided to go take some pics of the new longhorn calf in the horse pasture.

Today's post is picture-heavy since I brought Caydee home last night and got up approximately every 1.5487 hours to go outside :)

the horses were not being very photogenic today....

But the Longhorns made up for it!

Here is the little guy... just a couple days old :) 

She will probably have a calf soon...notice how full her udder is (AKA bagged up)

Some of the scenery...I just love the colors of this time of year! The blue sky really brings out the shades of brown...

Freedom in the Little Things

I think I've posted on here before about my 'Summer of Freedom'. Basically this summer I let go of all the things that I did for other people to be the person I thought they wanted me to be. And it's been amazing how much I've grown personally and spiritually. I just wanted to share and celebrate one of those things with you :)
Growing up, I never really hung out with boys or was more than passing acquaintances with them. I was shy, and I felt that I didn't want to waste my time or anyone else's time if a relationship wasn't going to be very serious. I had a rule that if I could talk myself out of liking a guy within a week, (by pointing out all the ways a relationship wouldn't work/we didn't like the exact same things/ect) than he wasn't 'the one' and I wouldn't even try to be friends with him.
Now I'm all grown up and having to figure out how to interact with guys. There has been a few that I've become good friends with, but I didn't have a crush on them :)  But when there is one guy that I don't know very well, but he seems awesome and I'd love to get to know him, I, for the first time in my life, want to enjoy it. I realize that it might not work out, but it might! So when I will find myself looking forward to seeing him, and talking to him, I'll let myself savor the anticipation and enjoy the moment. :)


Note: This whole post is more about the freedom than the crush. I'm still level- headed me. I'm not giving my heart away or letting it shut down my brain. This is about the victory of getting ready to meet a guy or the guy I marry. Because if I don't let myself open up to the fact that it is OK to like a guy, I"ll end up a spinster with 10 cats, 8 horses and my knitting. Nothing wrong with that, but I don't believe that that is where God wants me.

Hey Peoples!

What. A. Week.
My boss and one of my co-workers went to a conference for 3 days this week, so it was just my other co-worker and myself during the coldest weather yet this year! We were feeding, thawing all the waterers in the feedlot every day and going out to break ice in the tanks in the pastures (some of which are 45 miles away) And on top of that, I decided to be uber-social this week and went somewhere every night but Wednesday! So mentally I was exhausted.
I don't regret doing all the things I did, I just wish they could have stretched over a couple weeks!

But it is supposed to get above freezing next week! I'm so excited :)

And I finally got my Christmas Cards ordered!!!

So after work today I am hanging out with my puppy ( which is making my cat mad)

And I think I'm  going to call her Caydee :)