WINTER ROUND II

So... I woke up on Thursday morning to snow coming down, great for R and J who were going together on a school ski trip. Not so great for me who  had errands to run all day and several appointments.  Luckily for me it stopped around 9 and slowly through the day disappeared, in town at least. R said they got 8 inches fresh powder on the mountain during the day. That night C prayed for more snow so he could go snowboarding the next day.  Friday morning I woke up to this...

C came running down the stairs yelling," Heavenly Father answered my prayer, it's snowing!" It kept snowing and snowing all day and according to the weather reports, it's supposed to stick around.

Now it's very pretty, I'll grant you that , until you have to drive in it.  Since  we live out of town limits our roads don't get plowed.  The county comes and sprinkles some cinders/sand at the intersections but that's about it.

The boys are having a grand time sledding and snow boarding on the hill on the other side of our driveway and it's providing some peace and quiet in the house and thankfully R is keeping the fires going, he is quite a pro at it thankfully so we are toasty warm, as long as we stay in the house.  Be that as it may... I want spring!  I've had enough!  The robins are back and that means spring is here! So weather consider this your noticification... Your time is up, I'll see you next year.  It's time for warmer weather. 

BTW, I told C if he prays for more snow before December he's grounded!

MAN'S/KID'S BEST FRIEND

Remember Neptune?  He's getting quite old these days and hates the winter here.  Poor guy has finally put on some weight at least and loves the freedom, although he gets into trouble sometimes, Friday I came home to work and met them trotting down the road like they had someplace to be, I think they were just trying to get away from R and the loud tractor.  Anyway, these days he has alot more gray than black and I wonder how much longer we'll get to have him with us.  He still has enough gumption to wrestle w/ Jazzmin and run around the property and as usual, he is happiest at my feet, all the time which often drives me crazy when I trip over him, constantly.

 Jazzmin is the sweetest of sweet dogs.  I don't think she has a vicious bone in her body.  We've had some strays lately and they weren't so nice to her.  After they would be mean to her while she was trying to get away, she would come running to me with this confused look on her face like she really just couldn't understand why anyone would be so mean.  She truly is sweet and loving as can be and loves nothing more than to lay at your feet and snuggle and have her belly rubbed.  She also loves to snuggle w/ anyone who will, the only problem with that is she ALWAYS has to have a "hand" on you and she doesn't realize how big she is so her "hand" is pretty big and clumsy w/ large toenails to boot.
And... what other dog do you know that would be able to sit and stare at that pizza and not touch it?  I don't know many boys who can safely leave their food within reach and know that it will still be there when they  come back.  This was while we were watching the SuperBowl on Tuesday night, yes we DVR'ed it, and that was a long 2 days, anyhow, we let the boys bring up pizza to eat on the sheet and even though they both wanted some, they didn't take any.  What great dogs my kids are blessed with.  They love them and cuddle them and ride them and "hunt" with them and pretty much go all over our place with them. Even the cats love them.  They truly are a kids best friend!

JAKE'S B-DAY BASH

For Jake's birthday, can you believe it, the kid turned 10 this week, anyway R found a ski resort close by with a tubing hill so we went tubing for a few hours.  J was allowed to invite 3 friends, unfortunately, R's weekend off corresponded w/ the basketball tournaments here in town, which all of Jake's friends played in.  2 of the 3 opted out of their games and came with us.  The third is a great kid also and felt like he would be letting his team down if he didn't play, can't blame him for that.  Anyway, a good time was had by all.

We even had fun standing in line, which didn't take long.  The little boys got to go in their own tubes which I wasn't sure they would be brave enough to do but they never seemed scared or hesitant and after the first run, AJ was going down on his own, he somehow got ahead of us in line and was at the top of the mountain to go down the run while R and I were still at the bottom.  Didn't phase him one bit, he just got in his tube and went, several times.

R's fave part was the lift that took you back up the hill, no hauling your tube back up everytime. Nearly effort free fun... who could ask for more?  The little ones had almost as much fun going up as they did going down.  I had more fun watching their faces as we went down than anything else.  L had a look of sheer terror when you come over the lip of the steepest part, when it feels like you are going to catch air but you don't and then he would holler and yell and laugh and say "I want to go again!"  AJ would bounce in his tube the entire time and laugh hysterically.  I think they may have had more fun than the big boys but maybe not since J tells me he loves tubing.  They can't wait until next weekend to go again.

And who could resist this handsome stud?  Afterwards we went for pizza, what better way to cap off a fun day?

RIDING LESSONS

J and C started riding lessons a couple of weeks ago.  They are learning to do the groundwork and safety and bonding w/ their horses at the same time.   I'm so glad that we decided to get them a few formal lessons to start with, they are learning so much more from Shena and so much better.  I can't wait for the beautiful weather to come so that we can go out everyday!!!! I know it's coming, the sun is up for a full hour longer than it was a month ago and today it's 52 degrees... our hens started laying again, it's coming...FINALLY!  Soon, even on days I work we'll have daylight left to go on a ride to the falls or into town for ice cream... I can't wait!!!!

AINT THAT THE TRUTH

On my first day of work I was shown my own space to hang pics and personal stuff, nevermind that once we move to the new hospital none of us will have any personal space, I mentioned it to R and the next  morning I had a stack of pics mysteriously appear in my purse to put up at work.  So, my space became truly mine.  A few days later this little piece of paper appeared and I left it since it is all to true and I couldn't think of a better description.

DIRTY WORK/FUN

This is what I came home to on Friday night.  A little over a month ago our garbage man got stuck in our driveway and when I say stuck I mean STUCK!  up to his doors and had to be pulled out by a semi wrecker, left a 3 foot deep trench on the left side of our drive, STUCK!  This particular trench was left by the wrecker when he tried to pull out the truck.  Anyway fast forward a bit and R borrowed a tractor to fix the drive and so that I could clean out the pastures after a long wet muddy winter.  I pulled into the drive to see R pulling the truck up and hooking it up to pull out the tractor.  MADE MY DAY,  I laughed so hard it turned around my foul mood after working all day w/ a nasty cold coming hard.  Needless to say we did get the tractor out and did fix most of the drive, we should be able to finish it this week.  As you can see, the boys were in heaven playing in the dirt  and with the tractor.