A Little Taste of Fall

I love Fall, I think it's my favorite season.  It's a close tie with Spring.  But I'd rather wear boots and sweaters, and I really like making soup.  So, Fall may win.

It's so amazing when all the green trees begin gently changing into bright beautiful colors.

This is our maple tree in our back yard of our house in town.  It is the only Fall like tree we have.

Here some pretty Aspen trees are peaking up from behind one of our barns.

Is anyone else in love with white pumpkins?!  The past two years there have been more of them around, and I'm digging it.

Going from golden to red, from the top down.

This bush sits outside my kitchen window, I adore it.

A snacking horse made his way into my shot.  Snacking horses don't really care if you're trying to get a great photo of the beautiful fall landscape.  If you're where they want to feed they just mosey right on in.

Here's my family's pumpkins we carved the other night.  The one on the right end is my husbands.  Can you guess what it is?  He claims he was being creative,  I think he was just getting worn out after carving three of our children's pumpkins.

I love how tall this grass is.  I am standing for this shot, the grass was as tall as me, so pretty.

And here's my baby kissing "her" horse.  No one officially gave her the colt.  He was born this summer, and since he's a baby and she's our baby I think she figures it's fitting that the horse be hers.  I'm not going to argue with her, and I would like to see someone try.

Aspen trees are the perfect color scheme: black, white, & yellow... perfect.

And here's our dog Gus adorning some pink ear muffs my baby put on him.  It snowed that day (as you can see behind him, gotta love Montana "Falls"), and she thought he needed to stay warm.  He's such a good dog, he kept them on for thirty minutes before they finally slid to his neck.  Then he slept for an hour with them around his neck.  You can't ask more from a dog than to wear ear muffs that his two year old owner puts on him.

Happy Fall everyone.  Hope you are enjoying all the wonderful colors this season brings.

Horses & Such

We recently spent a few days at The Ranch entertaining some out of town guests from Mexico.

They were in for a real treat because we have a three day old baby colt.

He's the sweetest little guy and our first colt ever to have blue eyes.  Chances are his eyes won't stay that color, but for now it is such a cool feature.

He was still dirty from being born.  So, being the mom I am I couldn't resist giving him his first bath.  He didn't enjoy it so much, "but at least you're clean" I told him.  Honestly, I don't think he cares if he's clean or not.  

We also have a colt who is a couple months old.  The hot weather really tuckers him out!

And of course the sky at the ranch was not disappointing.  And of course I had to snap a photo.  And of course I had to share it with you.

Finally, I have to brag on my oldest girls, who happen to be twins.  They competed in their second horse show ever and did a great job.

At age seven they were the youngest riders at the show and most of their competitors were teenagers.  

Nonetheless, the twins came home with ribbons and the satisfaction of competing well.

A big shout out to their Grandpa Buck, who also happens to be their coach.  He's really helped them to become amazing little horse women.  

Great job girls!

And a good job to their horses Best 

and Itchy.

Good Morning

I know things have been slow around here.  The last two weeks have been a whirlwind!  First of all my daughter needed a  minor surgery.  Which meant I was on  full time nurse recovery mode when we got home.  I don't know how many times I ran up and down the stairs to get her something and check on her.  But my quads are stronger for it.  We also took a short family trip to Billings, Montana to a pastoring conference for my husbands work.  It was a blast, but traveling with four little ones takes a lot of work.  I did have a moment of complete rest on the morning we left for our trip.  As we drove past The Ranch this amazing sunrise began to appear.

I've posted many pictures of sunrises here and blogged about how much I love and miss them.  This one sang to my soul and made the world right for a moment.  My husband and I just drank it up.  And I was kicking myself because I hadn't brought along my good camera!

Take a deep breath and rest for one minute.  Nothing like a sunrise to clear your mind.

They're Taunting Me

I'm a hunter.  I like to get out & kill me a deer &/or elk each year.  I usually go by myself.  I enjoy walking slowly & my own pace.  I love the cool crisp air & the quiet of the outdoors.  But I mostly like getting a buck (that's a male deer in case there's any confusion) & having meat.  Hunting is more than recreation for us, it's how we are able to eat red meat year around- it's the only way we can afford it.

Well, last year I didn't get a deer & my husband was too busy to hunt much, so he didn't get his elk.  So this year we need to get something.  I went out the other day & saw one deer & got nothing.  I think the word has gotten out on the deer social circuit & now they're taunting me.

This morning I had four different good size bucks in my yard.

Normally this would be a good thing, except I live on a game preserve.  That means no hunting.

This one (although not a buck) was even brazen enough to lay down by our archery target.  The target even has an arrow coming out of it.  Yah, they're definitely taunting me.

Zucchini Week Begins

 Alright, go out to that garden & pick you some zucchini.  Go ahead and take that bag full your neighbor keeps trying to give you.  Zucchini week is officially beginning.  I personally have been overran by the buggers. So much for planting a "little" garden.  So this past week I actually had some time to cook & with my over abundance of zucchini I played with some recipes.  Starting tomorrow I will share some with you.  A few are surprising and all are yummy.  Stay tuned.

And here is a pretty picture of a flower A) because summer is almost over & I don't want it to be.  Especially since I didn't get to enjoy it because of a house remodel & moving. B) just to brighten your day & remind you of the beauty that constantly surrounds you. C) because I love pink, always have (even ask my Mom), always will.

See you tomorrow!