I really have to stop waiting this long between blogging! It wouldn't take that long if I'd just do a little here and there, instead of a whole novel. But, that seems to be my mantra in a lot of areas of my life, especially dishes.
Anyway, here goes...
Jonathan and I find quite a lot of entertainment through looking at the horse classifieds on KSL. Maybe it's because we don't have TV and I think we've watched every movie our library has to offer. We're not really looking for a new horse, though some times I like to dream. We can't help but laugh at some of the wording on ads, and at some of the pictures people post. Like this one for example.
"I'm looking for a pony that can fit in my scuba gear" Said no one ever.
We were given this little inflatable raft thing a long time ago and have never used it. I was hoping it would work for sledding, but once we got out there and tried we realized it's obviously meant for swimming. But since I had promised the kids sledding, and everyone was already bundled up, I got my exercise by pulling them around with a rope. Hey, I wonder if that pony has ever pulled a sled before; it's obviously well rounded for a pony :)
Maggie loves to help sweep the trailer off when we're done feeding the cows. It might look like child labor, but it's her favorite part of the day.
The Sunday school class I was teaching had a foreign exchange student from China in it. She has been attending church regularly with her host family and I think she has had some neat experiences with the church and I wouldn't be surprised to see her become a member. Her host family had bought her a set of Chinese scriptures, but she forgot to bring them most Sundays. The last lesson of the year was one such Sunday, but she really wanted to follow along with us. I had the idea (which, in reality, probably wasn't really my idea) to see if I could download the Chinese Book of Mormon onto my Gospel Library app. After a few simple taps on the screen, there it was (she had to help me select the right Chinese, since obviously I was at a loss of which was which). She was so excited about it, she kept saying, "Wow, this is so cool!" in her cute accent. We had her read part of Moroni 10 in Chinese for us, which was another neat experience. When class ended I was both thankful for the experience, and regretful that I hadn't downloaded it sooner for her. And, I was also a little confused...it took me a while to figure out how to get my phone back to English :)
She gave me this note at the beginning of class that Sunday.
Maybe I'm weird that I took a picture of our odometer, but how often do you see it on a number like this? Obviously the answer is every 11,111.1 miles, but only if you notice each time. Too bad it wasn't 44 degrees as well.
There's quite a few bald eagles hanging around here. We usually have one fly right over us when we're feeding. It's fun to watch them. I really want to see one dive after a fish or something though.
Santa gave Lane sunglasses for Christmas, and now he's too cool to smile for me :)
I cut Maggie's hair. It was getting way too long and tangly. I cut probably four inches off. I'm still not sure it's completely even, but I guess if I can't tell for sure than people probably aren't going to notice.
We spent New Year's with Jonathan's family. We went on a drive with his dad and there was a deer hung up in one of their fences. Jonathan and his brother helped get it untangled, but it couldn't walk after that and they had to call DWR to come put it down. Poor little thing, but at least it didn't have to suffer any more.
Most of my family has been trapped in the inversion going on, so I had to rub it in a little when this is what we woke up to :)
We had to make a quick trip to Beaver to deliver some cows and calves. Apparently Texas isn't the only place where things are bigger.
We also made a trip through Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, and Colorado. Jonathan is managing Loosli's bull sale again this year, so we drove to Nebraska to see the bulls at the grow lot. Then we went to Kansas and Colorado to look for a new tractor for Jonathan and his boss. The tractor they're looking for is slim pickin's out here, but they had found some online in the same general area as the bulls, so we decided to kill two birds with one stone and tractor shop as well. Thankfully, Jonathan's mom was willing to keep the kids with her (thank you!) so we didn't have to drag them all over the countryside with us. It was fun to see new territory, but it was also nice to come home to our own bed :)
This crane was enormous! You really can't judge the size of it in the picture, but a pick-up truck that was next to it was just a speck in comparison.
I love it when the powdery snow floats across the road. Sometimes it was going several different directions at the same time.
You can't make it through Wyoming without seeing pronghorn. At one point I watched a coyote sneak up on a herd, then the herd banded together, and the coyote chased after them.
The cheapest we paid for gas was $2.39 in Laramie. I miss that price.
We saw one of the Tyson plants in Lexington Nebraska, where we stopped at Wendy's for lunch. I remember because someone had driven their tractor to Wendy's for lunch :)
We saw a bunch of corn stalks.
We saw the Case factory.
The Flint Hills of Kansas, which I would now like to see in the summertime (in a non drought year).
I love the mountains, but the thing I love about the plains is that you'll be driving in the middle of nowhere and the only structure you'll be able to see is a church steeple. In a way they seem so out of place, but at the same time it's as if they've always been there, a historic part of the landscape.
I'm not sure why I didn't make Jonathan stop at the Russell Stover factory, besides we knew we had a long drive ahead of us.
I did make him stop here though. I have always wanted to see the Amish, and thanks to the Kansas guide book I grabbed at the hotel I found out there was an Amish and Mennonite community right on our Route.
Yoder, Kansas.
I wasn't able to get a picture of the actual caution signs on the highway, but they looked the same as the one hanging up at the restaurant, where we stopped and grabbed a famous Amish made cinnamon roll to share (it was giant, and surprisingly only $1.50! You almost can't even buy a puny donut for that!) It was pretty good, but Jonathan told me that mine are better, and I think I agree.
I really just wanted to see someone driving their buggy though and I was going to be disappointed if we left before I did. But in our search for a garbage can, Jonathan yelled and pointed, "There you go!" If you look real close, to the right of the silo, you can see it too :) There's something about their way of life that captivates me; Jonathan said, "you probably wish you were Amish sometimes, huh?" To which I replied, "Yeah, and you probably wish you were a Mennonite sometimes." (They're known for having large farms and buying new equipment with cash.)
I've never seen so many options at the pump!
A prairie sunset is a little different than what I'm used to.
Again with the churches.
$2.39 was the cheapest gas, unless you count this :) If only...
We also saw the Valley pivot factory.
Once we were back home it was back to work. I finished the horn on my saddle and I'm really happy with how it turned out, besides there's two long scratches across the leather and I cannot figure out where they came from. When I made Jonathan's saddle the design on the horn ended up being slightly off center, and it really annoys me, so I made sure to get mine nice and straight :) Practice makes perfect I guess.
I love when the snow is extra glittery!
Maggie can draw exceptional cats!
These were our preschool crafts when I taught last.
I chopped my hair off and donated it to Locks of Love. I cut 11" inches off! I haven't had my hair this short since 4th grade, but so far I'm really liking it. It was an adjustment, and I still miss my long hair, but I don't miss it always being full of static or getting zipped up in my coat zipper because it was always in the way.
Maggie's choice of pajamas. She cracks me up sometimes. Her logic was that the shorts and the pants both had polka-dots, so they matched and should be worn together.
We had an ice storm no too long ago. My windshield had about 3/16" of solid ice over it; it looked like a pebbled glass shower door.
Obviously it made for interesting roads. Is this a rear ender or an under ender?
I told you it looked like a shower door :)
1:00-4:00 church is exhausting :) Really though, Lane skips his nap, falls asleep on the way home, and it takes us until 6:00 to convince him to wake up, and then he doesn't want to go to sleep that night.
The first time I wore my hair curly I felt like a 20's flapper girl, sans the long cigarette and bright red lipstick (Not to mention I don't know how to foxtrot). After the curls relaxed a little, and the shock wore off, I decided I kind of like it curly too.
This is the design on the saddle horn for my sister-in-law Heather. Her horn is almost done; I'll post pictures next time.
We had to drop Jonathan's truck off to be inspected and have a few things fixed. On the way there we passed this Semi with a rolled pup trailer. It must have just barely happened because the first officer had just arrived. On the way home I made sure to get a picture. By then there was plenty of help to get it cleaned up. We both decided we feel worse for all the people with broken packages than we did for the driver.
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