Escaping horse

Tonight we got a call from some neighbors down the road saying that our horse that was supposed to be in the back field had gotten out. Andy had just left to go to the Humboldt State basketball game with his dad. I had to call him to come back so we could go find the horse. Of course it was dark....

We found the horse in the next field back. He had found a pasture with a lot more green grass than we have so do you think he was happy to see us? Um, no....! By the way, the horse's name is Tucker. So what I am wondering is if the neighbors could hear us calling to him and if they really could understand we were saying "C'mere Tucker".... ;)

He had no intention of letting us catch him so Andy had to rope him. It was dark so Tucker didn't see him throw the rope over his neck, but when I heard that "whzzzzz" sound of the loop tightening and Tucker took off, I didn't expect a good result. Andy held on tight, though, and finally got him calmed down.

We got him back to our property and I think he is headed out to one of the hill ranches tomorrow....

I've been tagged!

A- Attached or single: Attached for 12.5 years (married for 9.5)

B- Best Friends: Mary, Sara, Christina

C- Cake or Pie: either one (although not a fan of white cake or peach pie)

D- Day of choice: depends on what's going on

E- Essential item: computer w/ internet access

F- Favorite color: chocolate brown

G- Gummy bears or worms: either one

H- Hometown: Loleta, California

I- Indulgences: designer jeans, photography equipment

J- January or July: July

K- Kids: Abigail and J.T.

L- Life is not complete without: my family and friends

M - Marriage Date: October 24, 1998

N- Number of Siblings: 1 younger sister, Mary

O- Oranges or apples: apples

P- Phobias or fears: snakes, something happening to my family

Q- Quotes: "Everything happens for a reason."

R- Reason to smile: when my house is neat and in order

S- Season: early fall

T- Tag three friends: Julie in Arizona, Amanda in Alabama, and anyone else who wants to

U- Unknown fact about me: I have never done anything chemical to my hair.... what you see is natural!

V -Very favorite store: Hang-Ups, Bloomingdales

W- Worst habit: being judgemental (really trying to change that)

X-ray or Ultrasound: X-rays-- only dental ones, and a few of ultrasounds when I was pregnant

Y- Your favorite food: steak or sushi

Z- Zodiac: Pisces

We're home

Andy and I just got home a couple hours ago. We went to Boise, Idaho for a Ranch Management thing.... more on that later. Just wanted to post a quick one before I go to bed....

Good things about the trip:
1. our flights to Boise (pretty smooth and on time)
2. meeting new people from at least four different states
3. getting motivated to improve our business further
4. the espresso bar in the hotel lobby
5. the fun mexican dinner we had with 10 of our new friends
6. that we made it home safely
7. the kids had a great time while we were gone (thanks Grandma Pam and Grandpa Charlie!)

Not so good things about the trip:
1. our flights home (a little bumpy!)
2. the view from our room (a brick wall)
3. it seemed like all we did was eat (and most were heavy meals)
4. the fact that the bartender in the hotel's bar remembered our room number (yep, I think that meant it was time to go home!!)

It was a great trip.... but I am glad to be home!

A liberating feeling

I don't think I mentioned this in my last post about the weekend, but I only took my little pocket-size point and shoot camera. All the pictures that I posted were taken with that. I really like that camera! I had decided that, while I might miss out on a few shots, I didn't want to lug around my big ol' camera and lenses. And I am very happy with my decision. I was able to have my little camera in my purse at all times and take photos when I felt like it.

Andy and I are going to Boise, Idaho soon for a ranch management conference. I am taking my little camera on that trip too. We will be in a hotel conference room the entire time so I don't know if I will get to take any pictures anyway. It just isn't worth lugging my big camera bag through three airports and two airplanes. I will let you know if I get any good shots with my little camera....

This weekend

We had a busy weekend and we fit a lot of things in. On Friday evening we headed to Walnut Creek to stay at Mary and Jeff's (my sister and her hubby's) place. It was the first time we were able to see their new house so that was fun. It was a great stopover on our way to the rest of the weekend. We went down to Oakdale for my cousin's wedding on Saturday and on to Turlock to visit Kristen (my college roommate) and her family.

Here's Mary and Jeff's first picture together on their front porch before we left for the wedding....

And of course my kiddos wanted to be in a picture with Uncle Jeff and Auntie Mary....

My cousin Tiffany Giacomini married Dennis Holmes in Oakdale on Saturday. The weather was perfect, the ceremony was very nice, and the bride looked beautiful. Abigail was very well behaved during the wedding (it was a Catholic Mass)... J.T., well not so much! Good thing he had his little tractors to play with during the ceremony.

Here's J.T. sitting at the table during the reception... doesn't he look guilty of something????

Abigail was so in awe of Tiffany... can you see her in the lower left corner of the picture looking on as Mary congratulates Tiffany?

Abigail and J.T. were so excited that they got to have their picture taken with the bride....

And finally I got a picture of the happy couple! Congrats to Tiffany and Dennis!

Look at the cute wedding favors they had on the tables....

Abigail wanted to have some cake so badly but we had to leave before the cake was cut. She settled for having her picture taken with it.

After the wedding we headed to Turlock to stay with Kristen and her family. All four kids got up early this morning to play and had a great time playing together. Here's Mika and Abigail in the princess dress up clothes.

From left to right: J.T., Kylie, Abigail and Mika.....

After we got home tonight, we asked the kids what their favorite part of the weekend was... both kids said playing with Kylie and Mika. I guess we will have to get together more often! Thanks to Kristen and Corey for letting us stay!

Valentines Day at school

This morning J.T. and I went to Abigail's class for her Valentines Party (he doesn't go to school on Thursdays). The kids each got to frost and decorate a cupcake. J.T. was pretty excited that he could do one too.

Abigail thoroughly enjoyed her cupcake....

Here's Abigail and Nolan.... her favorite Valentine, I bet!

Granny Karen was there too helping with the party so she took this picture of us.... yay, I get to be in a picture every now and then!

The kids exchanged Valentines too.

Happy Valentines Day!

I know part of this is posted as the title bar but I wanted to post the Valentines Card that I made to give to the grandparents.... Happy Valentines Day everyone!

Update on Drake

Just wanted to post a quick little update on Drake. He's home now and is in the middle of a new set of chemo treatments. He is able to the treatments here, at a nearby hospital, rather than travel to San Francisco. I believe he has one more week of treatments. Then will go back down to San Francisco for a body scan and more tests to determine how this chemo is affecting him. That's about all I know right now. I will keep you posted. Thanks again for all your continued prayers!

She has a name.... finally!!

We finally named the puppy! Meet Shasta....

Thanks to Michelle for giving me the idea for the name. It actually fits quite well because we were supposed to go to Shasta last weekend (to Michelle and Brian's for Superbowl... we didn't go because of the bad weather) but we got a puppy instead!

Basketball season started

Yesterday was Abigail's first basketball game. There are eight girls on the team. She seemed to enjoy the game. She will miss next week since we will be at my cousin Tiffany's wedding. Then she will have four more games after that. Here's a few pictures I took yesterday...

Sunny winter day

Today the sun was out almost all day! It was a nice change from the regular winter weather we've had for awhile. After J.T. and I picked Abigail up from school, we went the park with Wendy, Nolan, Caleb and Amy. We even brought the puppy with us. The kids had a great time playing on the slides and swings. They all wanted to play with the puppy.... she just wanted to sit with Wendy and I and hang out. Here's a picture I took before we left...

Amy didn't want to look at me so I snuck one of her by herself....

This was as close as I got to getting them all to look at me.... and if you are wondering, we don't know who the little girl on the right is.... she played with the kids and wanted to be in the picture!

It started to get breezy so we left around 4:00...

Why men shouldn't take messages....

Sunday

On Sunday before we picked up the puppy and before we watched the Superbowl, this is what we did. In case you can't tell, that's Andy driving the tractor and I am riding on the hay wagon. Once we got out in the field, we switched. I drove and Andy fed the hay to the cattle.

Do you see all that water in the fields? That is NOT normal! It rained a lot over the past week or two, and it's not draining out very fast. We don't normally feed hay to our cattle, but as you can see there's more water than grass visible.
I haven't been over to the ranch since Sunday but Andy said it's getting a little better... Thank goodness because Andy gets really grumpy when the ranch is like that!

How long....

do you think this lasted?

The past couple days

I have had a lot of people ask the question and here's my answer: no we haven't named the puppy yet. Poor thing! I have a couple favorites but Andy is still "thinking about it." If we don't come up with something soon, she will think her name is "Puppy." Thanks to everyone that posted a comment or emailed me with name suggestions.

Next February, I am going on a "Girlfriends" cruise with a bunch of ladies from Fortuna area. Last year was the first time they went (I didn't go) and they had 40-45 ladies from here that went. I am really excited! I have been running around getting my passport stuff together, visiting the travel agent, etc. We are going to Mexico for five days and I can't wait!

Last night Andy and I went to session #3 of the PIQE class that Abigail's school district is offering. Now you probably want to know what PIQE is... I hadn't ever heard of it before it started. It stands for Parent Institute for Quality Education. It is basically a class on how to help your kids do better in school and start preparing them for college now. I know it seems funny because we have 10 years until Abigail will start having to apply to colleges. The program stresses that you should start thinking about it and talking with your children now. The program is eight weeks long and it meets one evening a week. I think it's been great so far.

Well that's about it for the past few days...... I will check in later in the week.

New family member

Look who joined our family over the weekend.... She is a border collie (soon to be working cow dog) that we got from our friends Clint and Christina. Isn't she cute? We have one problem though.... we can't come up with a name for her. Can you help us? Here's some info you might want to know to help come up with a name.... She was born on Christmas Day and we brought her home yesterday (on Superbowl Sunday). We already have dogs names Molly, Belle, and Patch so it really can't rhyme with any of those (gets too confusing when they are working on the ranch). Suggestions?

This is what she did during most of the Superbowl....

So if you have any ideas for puppy names, leave a comment here or send me an email... Thanks!!

In memory

Yesterday we lost a member of our family, Bob Winslow. I guess you would call him my step-grandpa. He was married to my Grandma (my mom's mom) for more than half my life. We lost my Grandma in 2005. Bob had been in declining health for many years. We aren't sure when the service will be, probably in late February or early March down in Mill Valley, California where they had lived for the past few years.

Here is a picture of Bob and my Grandma, probably about 10 years ago....

Here's a picture of all of us grandkids on the day of Grandma and Bob's wedding. I was 13 at the time.

We were Bob's only family since he didn't have a family of his own. We were very happy to have him join our family. And now we are all happy that he and my Grandma have been reunited.