34 of 52: Miles and Miles

Here we are all lined up in the van. Girls on one side and boys on the other. No, we didn't plan that. The kids just sit at random in the back usually.
I like this picture below because it says a lot. You can see the wide open empty road behind us. We travel miles and miles of empty roads and scarcely populated land when we make this trip. You can also see the buildup of stuff the kids create after being in the car for hours and hours. You can also see my son. He definitely takes after his father. Oh, and my daughters are not wearing their seat belts correctly. We'll have to have a little chat about that...
I took these pictures on our recent road trip across the top of our big state. We call it the High Line. We make this trip often enough that it does seem like we are more used to it now. It's still a long trip at just under 500 miles. We have to plan for a day going and a day coming.

We like our van. It's seen us safely over miles and miles. It's been as far east as Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As far South as Jackson, Wyoming on numerous occasions. As far west as Newport, Oregon a couple times, and North up into Canada. It also faithfully takes me back and forth to the school daily and into town a few times a week. We bought it new between our 2nd and 3rd child and we celebrated the day we payed it off. It's been "lived in" for over 5 years and I would be lying if I told you it didn't have it's share of dings, scrapes and stains decorating it. I just blame it all on the kids! Even when I scraped a mail box when I was driving down our street I said it was because I had to talk to one of the kids and wasn't paying attention to where I was going. Bad excuse I know, but it was true. But who knows, I might even have to let my kids drive it someday. They better not scrape any mailboxes though! ;)

I've gotten pulled over for speeding only twice in my life and both times in this van. The first time was about 5 years ago in North Dakota. They can be sticklers in North Dakota! I got a 70 dollar ticket I think. Then I got pulled over this last Tuesday for speeding in town here. I'm not kidding! Luckily I only got a warning. Maybe he took pity on me because I was so nervous my hands were shaking when I handed over my license, insurance and registration. I guess we all need a little reminder once and a while. :)

Well, this post has gotten lengthy, just like our trip. So I'll stop now. I'm curios though. What do you think of minivans? Please take a second and fill out the survey on my sidebar. Thanks!

Hosted by Forever In Blue Jeans

52 Weeks is a year long challenge for YOU to be in a picture once a week for 52 weeks. We are always the ones behind the camera, this is YOUR chance to get out in front and be in the pictures with our family. We are glad you are joining this challenge. More importantly your family will really enjoy having you in the picture. Thanks for playing along! Oh, you can just jump in now with 1 of 52, you're not getting off that easy! Now go take a picture!

Just Another Link In the Food Chain

More hunting was done at the farm this last week over the Thanksgiving holiday. Randy shot two more deer (a fork horn buck and a doe). This coyote was also shot by someone, maybe even by 2 someones.

I like this picture of Colter and Randy with the coyote. They said after they left, a bald eagle came for lunch. It's nice to know they helped out the food chain a little bit that day.

They also helped out our food chain. We are going to attempt to make summer sausage and jerky with the meat we got from the most recent deer. We love summer sausage and jerky and it's another great protein snack to have around.

Sometimes people ask me to post recipes for wild meat. I guess I don't have any special recipes. Mostly I just substitute the hamberger in most recipes with the venison or elk hamburger. I always add onion and sometimes garlic. We also grind a few pounds of 50/50 (pork meat/pork fat) combo when we are grinding the meat. We did not do this with the elk and it is very good. I cook steaks in the crock pot with seasoning and cream of mushroom soup most of the time. Then I serve them with potatoes or rice. I haven't done roast much. Has anyone else? What do you do? Randy and his Dad did Elk steaks in a George Foreman Grill one day after their elk hunt and he said they were awesome.

That's about all I know about that...

It's nice to be at the top,

SnapShots

We had a wonderful time over the Thanksgiving Holiday with Randy's dad and brother Ryan and sister Aleta and their sweet families. We ended up with lots of pictures but here are some of my favorites. I will try and post a slide show later on of more pictures. We missed you Russ and Andrea and boys!

Pulling with all her strength and smiles!..

This is what happens when you see a beautiful sunset just as your going through a grove of black silhouetted trees.

And you beg your husband to "STOP THE CAR!"

And he refuses.

Ah well, it turned out kinda cool anyway...
I "heart" these faces! Is he taking them off a cliff?...
I just couldn't stop taking pictures of the sky. I just couldn't...

These guys played and played...
One late afternoon, my husband climbed to the top of this grain bin to have a look around. I told him to wait there so I could run and get my camera in the house. When I returned, this is what I saw.

More sky...

Cousins, cousins, cousins...
It's great to be back home again and special privileges to look forward to this week. Then only a couple weeks till Christmas Holiday. WOW!

Have a great week wherever you are!


P.S. You really should see the eastern Montana sky someday and experience the sunsets...

Giving Thanks 2009

Happy Thanksgiving from our home to yours,
and family

33 of 52: Ice Skating

I am a little late with this 52 week post but I had NOTHING to post on Thursday so thought I would post now and call it good for these two weeks together.

Here I am* with the kids at our local ice rink. We have enjoyed a couple of Saturdays here lately. The ice isn't ready to skate on at the pond so it's GREAT to have a rink to go to and still be outdoors. We always come away with rosy cheeks!







Hope you are all enjoying the cooler days. It has been just beautiful here with a little blanket of snow this morning. We are looking forward to a special week ahead.

All the best to you this week!

Hosted by Forever In Blue Jeans

*52 Weeks is a year long challenge for YOU to be in a picture once a week for 52 weeks. We are always the ones behind the camera, this is YOUR chance to get out in front and be in the pictures with our family. We are glad you are joining this challenge. More importantly your family will really enjoy having you in the picture. Thanks for playing along! Oh, you can just jump in now with 1 of 52, you're not getting off that easy! Now go take a picture!

School Pictures 2009 and my Rose Colored Glasses

Here are some things I want to remember about Kyla at this age...

-She loves to read (by herself or to her brother and sister) and we often have to "ground" her from reading because she would read her hours away and do nothing else if we let her. ;o)
-She loves people and animals (especially horses and dolphins).
-She likes her piano lessons and has been passing her songs every week.
-She is my supper salad maker.

Here are some things I want to remember about Colter at this age...

-He has a sense of humor and he can be very definite about what he thinks. ;o)
-He loves to ride bike, draw pictures, and build stuff with whatever he has available.
-He is a good eater and enjoys his food very much!
-He has his own running clothes and likes to "go running" like daddy.


Here are some things I want to remember about Maya at this age...

-She seems to finally be kicking her "finger sucking" habit and as a result she talks non-stop! ;o)
-She likes to tell people that her mommy is teaching her "preschool".
-Oh my can she giggle.
-Besides playing with all her "kids" (dolls) for hours, she also likes to sneak the dog in the house and play with her until Mom sends her back outside.

Likely I will be updating these lists as I think of more stuff I want to remember. It occurred to me today that it might be a fun way to record some of these little things that we might one day forget...

Have a wonderful weekend,


P.S. I just read through this and realized that a few of my statements might sound like I'm bragging so I thought about deleting/changing them and then I thought that wouldn't seem quite right so... I'm sorry if it seems a little braggy, but I don't care to remember anything bad and I do want to remember all the good so just skip over those parts... Thankyouverymuch. ;o)

Rounded Edges: Take 3

To see my rounded edge pictures collection, click here.

Don't worry. Be happy.

Gone Hunting 2009

Early morning in The Breaks

Randy and his Dad met at one of their favorite hunting areas to go elk hunting. Randy was lucky enough to get an elk right away, so they headed back to the farm and he tagged a dear too. Here are some pictures from their hunting trip.

Taking the shot...

The elk ran down this ravine and fell into this tight spot...

Now the work begins...

Dad and Randy with Cow Elk

His very first Elk!

The scenery of the morning...

The Bone Trail

The road to no where...

A barren land...

Randy took this picture at Sunset...

They went out the next day and looked around some more...

And then hunting back at the farm...

Dad, even though you didn't get your name drawn to shoot an elk this year, you sure got some great shots! Thanks for sharing all your pictures with us! We all enjoyed looking at them and entering into your hunting trip.

and family