Cowboy Cookies

Cowboy Cookies

1 C butter

1/2 C sugar

1 1/2 C brown sugar, packed

2 eggs

2 C flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

2 C oats

1 C coconut

2 C chocolate chips

1 C chopped Pecans

*Beat butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well. Add flour, baking soda and salt and mix well. Add remaining ingredients. I use a cookie scoop (love this thing!) and scoop cookies onto a cookie sheet sprayed with Pam. Bake at 350 for about 12-14 minutes and cool on wire rack. Makes about 4 1/2 dozen cookies that will last approximately 10 minutes.

Note: I ALWAYS double this.

Warning: if there are any cowboys around when you remove these from the oven, they will disappear before they are cool. I actually had to threaten my bunch last night who gave me a really hard time about taking pictures of cookies. According to them, it was considered cruel and unusual punishment to keep them from their cookies.

Side story: I can't remember what these were originally called, but I have been making them for about 17 years. When our son was 2, I was mixing up a batch and I put him down for a nap. He took 4 hour naps!

When he awoke, he came scampering into the kitchen, "Cookie Mommy?! Cookie?!"

While he slept, DH had brought 5 dayworkers by in order to pay them and they had devoured every single cookie. Poor kid. I told him that the cowboys had eaten them all and he replied,

"Cowboys? Cookies? All gone?"

So alas, they were re-christened and will forever be known as Cowboy Cookies. Here you go son, have all you want:

Shipping Day and Fireworks

Yesterday morning we shipped all the beef calves off the ranch. We had a small crew of 7 ~DH and the kids, Grandpa, Clint, DK and Dave. DH did lots of prep work and had everything gathered and sorted off in order to make shipping day go off without a hitch. The recent cold snap was still lingering in the pre-dawn hours as the crew saddled up. Everyone piles on the layers and then begins to shuck them, one by one, as the temperatures rise. Yesterday, no-one shucked much. A cold wind kept everyone bundled up.

The 3 trucks were already lined up and waiting to haul off the calves. We only shipped off 169 steer calves and 61 heifers this fall. We kept most of the heifers as keeper heifers. Half of our operation is beef cattle and the other half is Corriente. We are presently building up our cattle numbers and in the process of getting everything synchronized to a 90 day breeding program.

I actually got to spend some of the morning outside after clearing up the kitchen after breakfast. I mostly tried to stay out of the way ~ photographers are notorious for getting in the way. I am still learning. Thought I would share my day with you using my favorite medium ~ photos!

The morning started out with a bang ~ literally! DH went to flip the light switch on in the medicine room

and was greeted with SNAP...CRACKLE....POP....and SIZZLE!

Everyone said that it was quite the display. Apparently fire was shooting out of the rusted openings in the tin and it sounded like an entire fireworks stash had gone off. Thank goodness we had a fire extinguisher stored there and thank goodness DH was right there. It's scary to think that we could have lost the entire barn. If it had reached the hay...yikes! I don't even want to think about it! All the old (and all of it is old!) wiring just melted.

Looks like the kids and I will be getting a crash course in electrical installation in the coming weeks.

Here's a shot of our shipping day company: The owner, the buyers, the truckers and the livestock inspecter all showed up bright and early:

This is part of the crew bringing the calves into the pens. Sure do wish I had a camera with a decent zoom lens.

The kids and Clint bringing the first bunch up towards the scales:
DK and Gary discussing who knows what...cattle would probably be a safe assumption.

Dave and Grandpa pushing the calves to the scales:

Dave and DD ~ looks like there's nowhere else they'd rather be! DD lives and breathes horses and when we work, she is in paradise. The crew picks on her a lot, but she picks back!
Grandpa and DS bringing a bunch to the truck:
DS closing the gate behind the cattle and wishing the wind would stop blowing:
DH and DK making the final push into the truck:
This one loves what he does. It's quite possible that he's also grinning because I just told him that we were having Peach cobbler and Ice cream for dessert!

DH and his 4-legged partner (I'm the 2-legged one):

My favorite photo from yesterday ~ sigh!

Baked Oatmeal and the Arrival of Winter

It's 5 am and I am wide awake. In fact, I have already been in the kitchen and the comforting aroma of Baked Oatmeal is beginning to waft through the house. I don't care for oatmeal, but this stuff is wonderful! I think it's the combination of cinnamon and tart apple mixed with brown sugar that transforms oatmeal into this heavenly dish. It's the perfect way to start a cold, snowy, wintery morning.

And there's no doubt that winter has arrived. The forcasted high for town is 36 ~ it's always colder out here so it probably won't get above freezing.

It has been snowing throughout the night and I hope it keeps on coming. There is something so serene about a snowfall out here on the ranch. I doubt I would be as excited about the snow if I had to travel out in it though. As long as I'm able to stay at the end of my dirt road, play with the kids in the snow, make a feed run with DH, watch the frisky horses play as they gallop in for their breakfast, sip mugs of hot tea and hot chocolate with little marshmellows, cuddle under the flannel quilt with a good book, bake cookies, catch a good movie, work on my scrapbooks and take some pictures...well, that makes for a perfect day. Might even have to throw in a nap for good measure. I am so spoiled.

DD and I will compile our baking list of must have Christmas goodies and probably do a little shopping on-line. We'll all pull out the Christmas puzzle she selected at Hobby Lobby last week and watch a fun movie as we watch the snow fall from our big plate glass window in the living room. Did I mention that I was spoiled?

Baked Oatmeal

3 C Quick Oats

1 C brown sugar

2 tsp baking powder

3 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp salt

1 C milk

1/2 C butter, melted

2 eggs, beaten

2 apples, chopped (we like Granny Smith)

*Preheat oven to 350. Combine all ingredients. Spoon into a 9x13" baking pan sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Bake for 45 minutes. DH and DS like this with milk and DD and I like it without.

Here's to a warm and cozy Saturday!

Of Snow and Tryptophan

Hope everyone enjoyed a blessed Thanksgiving! Ours was quiet ~ just the 4 of us this year. After 20 years of marriage, it was the first time I ever roasted a turkey! DH either smokes our turkey each year or my Mom cooks it. This year I flew solo and hey, it was pretty darn good if I do say so myself. It just fell apart when DH tried to remove it from the roaster. There wasn't anything left to carve. So of course DD and I spent much of the morning in the kitchen, but I am not cooking today. Thanksgiving leftovers taste better the second time around anyway!

The boys bundled up and headed out in search of quail in the morning and came back victorious. If they keep this up, I'll be needing some new quail recipes.

While they were out, a strange, white fluffy substance began to fall from the sky. Yippee! Snow! Woo! Hoo! At the first sign of snow, I turn into a little kid. Suddenly the holiday spirit began to stir beneath my previous Scroogie-ness. I ran outside with camera in hand to capture the arrival of winter. My subjects didn't seem to relish it to the same extent as I did. They looked rather pitiful as they stood forlornly in the cold, wet weather. They seem to be questioning my sanity...or insanity as the case may be.
Back inside, the welcoming aroma of a Thanksgiving feast greeted my nose and we all gathered around to share our thankful thoughts and proceed to make ourselves miserable. Were y'all aware that there is actually a chemical in turkey that induces sleep? Honest, it's called Tryptophan. It's actually an amino acid (C11H12 N2O2 - see, I actually did pay attention in Chemistry class!). Well, the Turkey I bought had an extra dose. It was like turning out a light. Suddenly my arms and legs felt like lead. It was all I could do to drag myself into the kitchen and tend to the mountain of dishes. I had no choice. If I had left them unattended, they would have multiplied, taken over and staged a mutiny. The minute my head hit the pillow, I was out...for 2 hours! Just writing about it makes me feel...very...yawn!...sle..e..e..e..p..y... blame it on the leftovers!

Just call Me Scrooge...

And yes, I love Christmas, but I have one request:

Can't y'all just wait until the day AFTER Thanksgiving?! Grrr...

Christmas trees begin to mysteriously appear in September.
The employees at Hobby Lobby are scurrying about, hanging out ornaments in October.
The snowflakes that decorate the main street in town are winking at me in November.

Grrr...

Anyone ever hear of that obscure holiday called THANKSGIVING?!

And yes, I know that we should keep the Christmas spirit within us all year long. As far as I am concerned, our entire Christmas foundation lies in Christ and I am fully aware that my Scrooge-like attitude does not emulate that picture, but I am stubborn and I believe that the Christmas decorations need not see the light of day until AFTER Thanksgiving.

We are so amazingly blessed in this country. Can't we set aside ONE day to celebrate friends and family and the sacrifices so many have made, and are making, in order for us to enjoy the many freedoms we so often take for granted?

Each and every day I find that I am thankful for SO many things. I made a list once and it is slowly morphing into a scrapbook page. That list makes me smile and every time I glance at it, it makes me happy. It obviously has big things that I am thankful for such as:

1. Christ
2. My amazing husband and children
3. My marriage
4. My friends (old & new)
5. Our health

Then there are the immeasurable little things that add richness to my already blessed life:

6. Living this life at the end of the dirt road (this could be listed in the above
catagory. I have a hard time breathing when I am not on my dirt road.)
7. Books (reading, libraries, bookstores)
8. Photography
9. Rain and the sound of it on a tin roof (after 12 years of drought, I cried
when it rained)
10. Music
11. The smell of horses and the barn
12. Everything about babies, kittens, colts, calves, puppies...baby everything
13. Brown paper packages tied up with string (now I will be singing "A Few
of My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music all day.)
14. Letters and phone calls from friends
15. Candles
16. Reading aloud to the kids under the flannel quilt in the winter
17. Fireplaces
18. Spring and Fall
19. The first snowfall of the season
20. Fresh sheets on the bed
21. The 15 years we spent in the Davis Mountains ~ love those mountains
22. Laughter
23. Walking through the yard, barefoot, in my p.j.s, in the summer, with
a mug of hot tea, before the sun rises and tending to my plants.
24. A scrubbed kitchen and bathroom
25. The twinkle in DH's eye

See, just typing out a bit of that list put a big smile on my face! I am an optimist, a glass-half-full kind of person,

but in regards to the arrival of the Christmas Holidays...

until the day after Thanksgiving...

Ba Humbug!

Pecan Pie

Browsing through my recipes this morning, I was undecided about which to share, but in honor of Thanksgiving, and my pie-loving family, I think my recipe for Pecan Pie will fit the bill.

I start with my mother-in-law's pie crust. Since I could not cook when DH and I were married, my MIL and my mom get credit for the fact that I can cook at all today. Both of them are wonderful cooks.

This pie crust does not use cold water, as many do, but I have made this crust literally thousands of times and it never fails to receive a standing ovation. (OK, not really, but hey ~anything's possible and it does get rave reviews.)

Granny's Pie Crust

2 C flour
1/3 C milk
2/3 C Mazola Corn Oil (DO NOT substitute. I don't know why ~ just don't. I speak from
experience. I keep this oil in the pantry just for this pie crust)
pinch of slat

*Mix all ingredients in a bowl with a fork until combined. This will make 2 crusts. Enough for 1 Apple or Cherry Pie or enough for 2 pies like a Pecan Pie.

Divide dough in two and roll out between waxed paper. I had to figure out this waxed paper trick on my own, but it makes getting the crust into the pie plates super easy. I spent many a time crying over my pie crust before I figured this out. My husband adored pie and I couldn't even make a simple homemade crust for him.

I felt like failure.
And no, my self-worth is not wrapped up in whether I can successfully make a pie crust or not.

Pecan Pie

1/2 C melted butter (no substitutes)
1 C packed, light brown sugar
1 C light corn syrup (Karo)
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla (I use the pure extract)
1 1/2 C pecan halves

*Mix together butter, sugar, corn syrup, eggs, salt and vanilla. Blend in pecans. Pour into pie shell. Bake at 450 for 10 minutes. Lower temperature to 350 and bake for about 40 minutes.

Now, I am not a big fan of Pecan Pie, but everyone else in the free world seems to be and I have made too many to count. Many a pie connoisseur (and cowboys are pie connoisseurs if ever there were any) has given this pie accolades (that's a good thing ~ it means high praise). I have heard that two men even claimed it was better than their Mom's. =D

Enjoy!

Shortcuts

Shortcuts. Yep. That's the subject of today's mindless rambling. One might infer from the simple word that a shortcut would cut something short. That may well be the case in a normal world, but normalcy does not dwell at the end of my dirt road. In my last post I shared a fast, easy recipe that included a shortcut that actually did cut something short ~ preparation. However, in my ranching world, shortcuts of that caliber do not exist.

When the kids were small, we often loaded up and went with Daddy. It was always an adventure.

And we always took a shortcut.

DH: Hey, I'm running over to the Kingston for a minute to check that windmill we repaired yesterday. Wanna come along?

Me: You bet Honey. Hey kids, lets jump in with Daddy.

Kids: Yeah! Yippee! Woo! Hoo!

So we go toodling along the ranch road and arrive at the first gate.

DH: This gate's not swinging right. Give me a minute and I'll have her fixed up.

After 10 minutes, the kids pile out of the pick up and squat down in complete fascination in order to watch a Dung Beetle (my daughter has just informed me that she once wished to be a Dung Beetle ???!!! In her defense, she was 3 at the time. Hope she has had a change of heart.) as I support the gate from the opposite end while DH applies one of the laws of physics to the other end and viola: the gate swings easily.

Suddenly I notice that DH is veering off south from the main dirt road.

Me: Uh, Honey, isn't the windmill west?

DH: Yeah, just want to take a peek at the mares for a moment. This is a shortcut anyway.

20 minutes later we are all transfixed at our first glimpse of the 2 new baby colts that were apparently born last night. We are amused as they balance, uncertain on their long, spindly legs. They tenatively take a step and stumble towards their Mommas. They nurse confidently and we chuckle as their little fluffy tails swing in delight.The arrival of the new colt crop each spring is always eagerly anticipated and it is another 20 minutes before we reluctantly pile back into the pickup and turn towards the windmill.

Half an hour later we reach our destination. Windmill is not pumping. Sigh. DH climbs to the top of the tower with tools in hand and yells down instructions. The kids are warned to steer clear of the tower and they are soon immersed in a rousing adventure of Hank & Drover as they dash, laughing, across the pasture. (Fans of Hank the Cowdog know of what I speak. If you're not a fan, you're missing out! Get the books or listen to them on tape. Your life will be all the richer. Never the same, mind you, but richer).

DH: Turn on the brake. (not an easy feat when the wind is blowing)

He fiddles with the thingamajiggy

DH: Turn off the brake

Still not pumping.

DH: Turn on the brake.

He hammers the whatchamacallit

DH: OK

I let off the brake. Whew! There she goes and before long, the sweet aroma of that cool water reaches my nose and its steady cadence, as it filters into the stock tank, is music to my ears. Before climbing back into the pickup we all quench our thirst from that crystal clear water. No bottled water on earth can compare.

Finally, we are headed home. But wait. What's this? Home is to the east. We are now pointed north. Uh, Honey...Honey...

I don't actually utter these words. After 9 years of marriage there is no need. He easily reads my expression.

DH: Just want to check the deer feeder in J-Heart while we're over here. I'll take the shortcut.

The shortcut is over the mountain. As we precariously climb Mt. Annie, we begin scouting for the perfect Christmas tree. We won't need it for 8 months, but by the time we reach the deer feeder we have found 27.

Deer feeder filled. We turn back east.

By now the kids are getting whiney. They are hungry. They are 3 and 6. After 9 years of marriage I have also learned a bit about shortcuts and I am prepared. I pull out crackers with cheese, a couple of apples and a hastily packed baggy with cookies and we dine next to the creek. Every morsel is devoured, washed down with cold mountain spring water and before we reach the next gate, the kids are sacked out in the back of the pickup where they are quite content to roll amidst the mineral blocks and cow cake.

My life is blessed with shortcuts and I am richer because of them. I pray that you do not grumble about the shortcuts that appear along your path. Instead, embrace them so that you do not miss the treasures along the way.

As we veer off yet again, I wonder how long it would have taken... had we not taken the shortcut.

Taco Soup

Thought I would begin to share a few recipes with y'all once in a while. With colder days on the horizen, this one seemed like the obvious choice for today. I spend a lot of time in the kitchen, but I love delicious, simple recipes like this one. On winter days when we all head out to help on the ranch, this is the perfect meal to come home to ~ after all, we never know when we'll get back to the house.


TACO SOUP

This is one of our favorite, quick, go-to meals on a cold wintery day. I make it a habit to keep cooked ground beef in the freezer, speeding preparation time up even more. Honestly, this can be in the crockpot in 5 minutes. It freezes great too!


2 lbs ground beef

1 large onion, chopped

2 (14.5 oz) cans diced tomatoes, undrained

1 can Rotel, undrained

1 can whole kernel corn, undrained

1 can pinto beans, undrained

1 can Ranch-style beans, undrained

1 package Taco seasoning mix

1 package Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing mix


*Brown your ground beef and onion. Season to taste.

(I use pepper, seasoned salt and granulated garlic. We have our beef processed and our ground beef is very lean, thus there is no need to drain it. Go ahead and drain yours if need be.)


Dump everything into the crockpot and let it simmer from 4 hours to all day.


Serve with Fritos, cheese quesadillas or cornbread; shredded cheese and sour cream. Then sit back and watch the crew go back for seconds and thirds!

Amarillo by Morning

For the first time in an entire year, the whole family packed up and headed off the ranch for three nights. We had to be in Amarillo by Friday morning. The kids were slated to perform at various schools and at the WRCA (Working Ranch Cowboy Association) WCRR (World Championship Ranch Rodeo) this weekend. My daughter has been performing her cowboy poetry and my son has just recently begun playing his guitar. We have some dear friends who included them in their performances. So this weekend we rode to Amarillo on the coattails of the kids. Hotel rooms and tickets for the Ranch Rodeo were paid for by the WRCA. This is one awesome organization! The people are just amazing and they promote and support the working ranch industry and cowboy lifestyle across the country. It's an organization that is filled with honest, hardworking people who love what they do and will give you the shirt off of their back in order to help you. Here's their cool link if you want to know more about them or read about our fun weekend:

http://www.wrca.org

Come to think of it, I lied. My DH did spend one other night away from the ranch this year. He and DS went to Kansas for a bull sale this spring. It was a fast-paced 1,000 mile trip. Up to Kansas one day, sale the next and back the same day. DS had just gotten his driver's license and when they returned,

I asked him: "So, did you drive any?"
His reply: "A little"
Me: How far did you drive?
DS: All the way from Kansas

Whoa! Guess he's getting experience. He drives most of the time now. I am getting spoiled and will have to renew my driving abilities before long. I have gotten spoiled having a personal chauffeur.

Oops, there I go, off on another tangent. I should warn you that I tend to do that quite often.

So we really enjoyed our time away. This weekend is something akin to a family reunion. Everyone in the ranching community attends and we get caught up on who moved where, ranches that changed hands, new additions to families, visit with old friends, make new friends, watch lots of cool horses in the ranch horse competition, cheer on friends, AND get all of our Christmas shopping done! This is the first time that we didn't have to make a fast and furious trip out of it. Now that we have help here on the ranch, we were able to enjoy out time away and not fret over things here at home although my handsome cowboy is always on the job. Even while we were there for fun, he never stops thinking about work. We spent a long time at the T&S Trip Hopper (they make range cattle feeders) booth making arrangements to order parts for one of our feeders, at the Peterson Waterer booth to inquire about their livestock waterers (we are looking to replace what we have in the pens, which we will be expanding), at the Hughs trailer booth to stay up to date on new improvements and changes in design and at the Texas Range Mineral booth for an entire course on bovine nutrition and a refresher course in Organic Chemistry. Whew! I learned a lot and surprisingly, with the exception of the the Organic Chemistry (it took me right back to that dreaded classroom at A&M. I shudder at the memories of that class), I enjoyed every minute.

And boy, did we splurge this weekend. No trip to town is complete without a trip to the bookstore. We found the nearest Barnes & Noble before supper when we drove into town. My family flocks to bookstores like ducks to water. A Bible for me (my only purchase this weekend), a Sherlock Holmes book for the kids, a Performance Horse magazine for DH and lots of perusing the aisles.

After watching the Ranch Horse Competion, DS and I pointed the truck to the big music store down the road. He would like to get a new guitar and he has been intense on researching the various brands. He spent 2 glorious hours in a room filled with guitars, but I think he came away more confused than when he went in, so the search continues.

My family was also close to running bare-naked and they were in desparate need of clothing so a run to the local western store was on the agenda. Apparently we are an odd shaped family. My DD is 14 and wears a 36" (soon to be 38") inseam and a 35" sleeve length. DS is 17 and wears a 38" (soon to be 40") inseam and a 37-38" sleeve length and likes button shirts. And DH cannot wear the S-M-L shirts that are readily available in today's stores. The sleeves aren't long enough so finding a 37" sleeve length, with snaps, in a shirt he likes, that is not a work shirt(His entire work wawrdrobe consists of light blue chambray for summer, heavier dark blue denim and tan for winter.), requires much hunting. Sigh! So off we go and once we enter the store, my family disappears in all different directions like a scattered herd of horses. One very smart, sweet young man takes us all under his wing and spends an hour tending to all of us. Every time I would lay something over my arm, he would appear and ask if I would like for him to take it to the front. He kept tabs on each of us, was very helpful and not pushy at all. I spent my time wandering from one family member to another, asking what they found or helping them make selections. I didn't need anything. I am not rough on my clothes and hopefully I am not still growing! Hard to find clothes that look good on fluffy moms! Thankfully, everyone found enough to keep them clothed for the next year or two. The girls at the counter were helpful as well. Wrangler was running a promotion where you received a $20.00 rebate for a $60.00 purchase. That, plus the sales, made me happy! The girls rang up our purchases separately so that we could send in for multiple rebates. That extra $80.00 will be most welcome!

When we pulled out on Sunday, the boys made plans to stop in at Gander Mountain ~ an easy place to part with your money! I think they are set for all hunting exploits for a good while! They too were running a deal on ammo and the man who checked us out gave us an even better one! 20% off the entire purchase, plus 50% off a bunch of our purchases. The boys left with big smiles.

We don't shop often. None of us enjoy it, but we did all of our shopping for the entire year in one weekend and that makes us happy! Now if I could only find a way to avoid that grocery store!

We really enjoyed the weekend, but we are glad to be home. Nothing like turning onto our dirt road and thanking the good Lord that we don't live in the city!

Its November Already?

Oops! I guess its been a while since I posted. Sorry! Don't know where the time goes. My Dad says time moves more quickly as you get older. Older? Who me? Nah! However, time does seem to be whizzing by! My excuse is valid. The fall weather has been coercing me to spend as much time outside as possible. These crisp fall days are hard to resist and there is no guarantee how long they will linger. So, once the winter settles upon us, my posts will not be so sparse, but until then ~ I plan to soak up every glorious fall moment!

I am glad to report that I survived my kitchen incarceration and I have been set free! Whoop! Its mind boggling how many dishes I have washed! My new goal is to have a dishwasher installed before Spring Branding arrives. That will be a bit complicated since my little crooked house on the prairie will need to have a facelift before it will accept one. The counters in this antiquated kitchen are low and they will need to be raised 3" in order to install one. There is no room for a portable one either. I feel greedy even wanting a dishwasher. This year has seen the arrival of a new house for North Camp, new floors in the bunkhouse and a sprucing up of the other home here at headquarters. Not to mention the fact that I almost passed out when I picked up $6,000 worth of Bovishield Gold vaccinations! And we probably need to install a septic before we put in a dishwasher. Its been a great year for the ranch, but it seems like we've gone through an awful lot of money!

Thought I'd share a few photos from the one day I was actually able to disengage myself from the bondage of the kitchen. I thought about hiring a cook next time just so I would be able to devote my time to taking pictures. Didn't go over too well with the crew. The first one to respond was Justin. He looked up in horror and replied adamently, "Oh! Don't do THAT!" Grin! It's nice to be appreciated. Gotta love these guys! They also told me that I should open up a cafe....I don't think so! I really do like to cook but here's what I really LOVE to do:

This is my DH (dear husband) preparing to gather the cattle in Armstrong Pasture. I could take pictures of this man forever! Sigh! Even after 20 years of marriage, he still makes my heart melt. I am so blessed.

This is our son. He's not too fond of the pre-dawn hours. He's got this amazing sense of humor ~ it just isn't apparent at 5:00 in the morning. He's growing up way too fast!

This is DD (dear daughter) heading out to gather the cattle from the north end of the pasture. Something about this picture just spoke to me. I know I did not follow the rule of thirds that is practically a commandment in photography circles but I loved the vastness of both the sky and the waving grass in the pasture. My daughter looks small in this picture and it gave me a moment to reflect upon the fact that it won't be long before she tackles the immense world that awaits her. Its almost symbolic in that she seems to be caught between two places ~ her idyllic childhood and her bright future. I miss the mountains of West Texas with all my heart and it has taken me a long time to acclimate to this flat land ~ I see beauty in both my daughter and the land in this photo.

Here's a shot of part of the crew holding the herd as DH and my FIL cut cattle. See the green grass in the pasture? Look closely. Who knows when that will be seen again. We live in the desert. Its not supposed to rain in the desert. This year it rained. And rained. And rained. We are thankful for every drop. When it gets dry and we are praying for rain, I will look back on these photos as proof that yes, it did rain at one time.

And here's one of my DH. Did I mention that he makes my heart melt? :D