And She's Up!!

Zeke ever so patiently teaching Koriann how to put lights on the tree!




I was so excited to get our tree up this year!! I actually wanted to put it up the day after Halloween, but Zeke said NO. So we waited till after Thanksgiving. Koriann was so excited when she saw what was going on. She wanted to be right in the middle of it all. I like alot of lights my tree, so halfway through we ran out of lights. Zeke fixed it though so it looks good now and it has lights on the whole thing. When it came to decorating Koriann and I did that on Saturday and it looks awesome!!! I love how little kids decorate trees. Ours has lots of ornaments down low and in the front only. I was able to sneek a few away from Koriann, but for the most part she hung every single one.




Here she is in all her glory!!! If it was up to me I would leave the light on 24hrs a days.


I finally found a tree topper that would go with our Rancher/Farmer tree theme. I LOVE it!!
I am so excited for Christmas with our little family. I can't wait to watch the girls on Christmas morning, holidays are just so much better with kids around.

I hold her

Yesterday I was getting Aspen ready for a nap, I always swaddle her for this. Koriann really wanted to hold her. Well it made Aspen get her second wind and she ended up not having her nap. But it was really cute to see Koriann hold her little sister and want to help put her to bed.



How can you not LOVE these blue-eyed beauties?



Aspen just takes everything in stride, she could care less what happens as long as her BIG sister is by her side!!

Thanksgiving!!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. Sadly I didn't take one picture on Thanksgiving, but I did get some of the other things we did over the long weekend. Yes, Zeke had the whole weekend off. That never happens, but we are so grateful that he has a job, and it a really good one at that!!
Koriann was most excited for the 'Blue Drink" which is PEPSI. She loves that stuff, but I only let her have it once in awhile, oh the bad habits that her dad and grandpa teach her. We had so much food that we were eating it for the whole weekend. Grandpa Jeff made a pumpkin cheesecake, which is the best thing ever!! All the food was overwhelming for Zeke I think. Aspen even ate some sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes and pieces of a roll.



Zeke and Jeff worked really hard to build a shelter over the dogs for the upcoming winter. It looks so good and the doggies will appreciate it. The parentals have some really nice places for there animals, if I was to die and come back as a animal I would want to live at their place. Seriously how much more spoiled/loved can those animals get!!






Koriann is addicted to any horse she sees!!! She was so excited to be able to go for a ride, I didn't know who was happier to be around the horses Zeke or Koriann. He loves taking her and having her around the horses!!
Koriann and Zeke almost got bucked off though, my brilliant husband just wanted to ride bareback with Korainn and Red had another idea about that. It scared Koriann pretty bad but she did recover, and Zeke just took it all in stride as usual.



He just can't resist "playing" with any horse he gets around!!



Zeke was in heaven!! I do believe he is a little homesick!!!


I LOVE how at "home" Zeke is on a horse. He seriously was so happy to ride again, I think he needs to take a trip and go wild cow chasing with Zeb.

Catch Up

I love that my friends and I have kids that are around the same age, it makes for easy play dates.


Bryson came to visit Aspen one day and they were so cute with one another. They mainly just starred and smiled at each other. I can't imagine having to deal with twins because these two were into everything!! I feel like I got off easy though, poor Leslie had a house full of toddlers. I would gladly just take these two by themselves any day over the toddlers.



She wasn't to sure at first of the sippy cup, but is doing really well with it.


So little, but oh so big at the same time!!


We waited until Aspen was 6 months old to start her on any food because Koriann was allergic to formula and rice cereal. But Aspen took it like a champ and we didn't have any throwing up or anything!! She loves her food, which is such a relief. We are lucky if Koriann eats twice a day, that's including snacks. Aspen LOVES crackers, sweet potatoes, bananas and apple sauce. She tolerates the rice cereal but it diffidently isn't her favorite. She also is taking a sippy cup with water to wash down her crackers. She is so cute and just tries to feed herself with the spoon. I really hope her good eating habits continue.




We have been so busy the last few weeks. Everything just is going by to fast. How is it already the end of November and the first of December already?!! We are getting very excited for Christmas. It is going to be so fun with the girls this year. Koriann is very excited to see the "fat man".

Half A Year!!!

LOVES her stuffed horsey!!


We love this little girl so much it is freakin' ridiculous. She is never grumpy and smiles at you no matter what time of day or night it is!!



Holy merlin's beard, where does the time go?!! Aspen is 6 months today!!! We LOVE this little girl so much. She makes our family so much happier!! I couldn't have asked for a better baby.

At 6 Months Aspen is: CRAWLING like a maniac!!
LOVES her rice cereal
Sucks her thumb, won't really take the bink anymore
Gives the best smiles
Loves to play with Koriann
Sleeps like a champ when we are home, traveling not so much
Has to be swaddled to sleep
Loves her bathes and gets sad when she has to get out
Growls at people when first meeting them
Is into everything
Takes everything in stride and Never CRIES
Loves to talk to anyone
Like to snuggle with mom
Is still wearing 3-6 months clothes
Has the longest feet
Can almost sit up unsupported
The CUTEST baby EVER!!

We Love you so much baby Aspen!!! Thank you for coming into our home and our hearts.
Even the littlest cowgirl of the family has to have boots!!

Halloween 2011

I LOVE this picture of the girls!! It show their relationship perfectly.



We carved our pumpkins earlier this year than usual. Koriann didn't care for the guts and stuff. She keep running around saying gross and sickk!! So it really ended up being me and Zeke carving the pumpkins, while Koriann played with Aspen.


Koriann thought this one was way scary and wanted nothing to do with it when Zeke turned out the lights. We told her it was a nice scary pumpkin and that made it tolerable for her. Then she got to when she liked having the lights out and the pumpkins glowing, she loved to go and look at them and she would always so COOOL!!



Koriann was so so to wear her costume. Which made me happy because I was really worried at how well she would do. Koriann even got into character and would say "arrgg" and "hey matey."
I only wish I would of had a sword for her but oh well, she still looked so freaking cute and we had an excellent night.


How cute is this little girl? I love this on her and it makes it even cuter that her daddy picked it out for her!! Everyone who saw her just thought she was just adorable, which we would have to agree.


Here in town they do a Halloween parade for the younger kids, and oh boy was it busy. They had it at the park and all the town businesses give out candy. There was seriously like 1000 people their, but we braved the crowds and got some candy. Koriann was kinda shy at first, but was always so polite and said "Thank You" for every piece she got. Aspen even got some cool stuff.


Zeke was so freaking excited to take Koriann trick-or-treating!! Which I was so glad about because after the Halloween parade I was pretty worn out. We went out to the Cove, and it was awesome!! Seriously we only went to like 20 houses and Koriann bag was freaking full. I love agriculture communities, they really go all out for the holidays. The old people really enjoyed seeing the girls dresses up, it was great because we only saw like 3 other people out there getting candy. Koriann got so excited every time we pulled up to a house!! She would knock by herself and say "trick-or-treat" in the cutest voice, and precede to say "Thank You!!" in the loudest voice possible!! Zeke was in heaven, I don't know who had more fun, him or Koriann.



Little Aspen is such a trooper and just goes with the flow of everything, she seriously never cries or get irritated. But at the end of the night she was so pooped she could hardly keep her eyes open. We all had a great time, but now what to do with all the candy. Can't wait until next year!!

Ranch Life 101: guidelines for women:

Ranch Life 101: guidelines for women:

1. Always load your horse last in the trailer so it is the first one unloaded. By the time he's got his horse unloaded, you will have your cinch pulled and be mounted up ready to go - lessening the chance of him riding off without you with your horse trying to follow while you are still trying to get your foot in the stirrup.

2. Never - and I repeat never - ever believe the phrase "We'll be right back," when he has asked you to help him do something out on the ranch. The echoing words, "this will only take a little while" have filtered through generations of ranch wives and still today should invoke sincere distrust in the woman who hears them.

3. Always know there is NO romantic intention when he pleadingly asks you to take a ride in the pickup with him around the ranch while he checks waters and looks at cattle. What that sweet request really means is he wants someone to open the gates.

4. He will always expect you to quickly be able to find one stray in a four-section brush-covered pasture, but he will never be able to find the mayonnaise jar in four-square feet of refrigerator.

5. Count every head of everything you see - cattle especially, but sometimes horses, deer, quail or whatever moves. Count it in the gate, out the gate or on the horizon. The first time you don't count is when he will have expected that you did. That blank eyelash-batting look you give him when he asks "How many?" will not be acceptable.

6. Know that you will never be able to ride a horse or drive a pickup to suit him. Given the choice of jobs, choose throwing the feed off the back of the pickup. If he is on the back and you are driving, the opportunity for constant criticism of speed, ability and your eyesight will be utilized to the full extent. "How in the *@*# could you NOT see that hole?"

7. Never let yourself be on foot in the alley when he is sorting cattle horseback. When he has shoved 20 head of running, bucking, kicking yearlings at you and then hollers "Hold 'em, hold 'em" at the top of his lungs, don't think that you really can do it without loss of life or limb . Contrary to what he will lead you to believe, walking back to the house is always an option that has been used throughout time.

8. Don't expect him to correctly close the snap-on tops on the plastic refrigerator containers, but know he will expect you to always close every gate. His reasoning, the cows will get out; the food will not.

9. Always praise him when he helps in the kitchen - the very same way he does when you help with the ranch work - or not.

10. Know that when you step out of the house you move from the "wife" department to "hired hand" status. Although the word "hired" indicates there will be a paycheck that you will never see, rest assured you will have job security. The price is just right. And most of the time you will be "the best help he has" even if it is because you are the ONLY help he has.

Today Zeke and I was talking how sometimes "City" people just don't have a sense of humor about life. Most of our friends here in town have no clue what it's like to work yet alone live on a working cattle ranch, and all the awesome humor that comes with it. Our friends always picture it as being romantic and just happy days of riding and being together all the time. If they only knew the truth!! But LOVE the ranch life and EVERYTHING that comes with it!! SO to all those out there, here's the real low down on how it is.