Saddle Up!!

Breanna has been making and

selling her handmade jewlery

for awhile now in hopes of

buying a horse.

Well we talked her outta that

and strongly suggested that

she get horse tack first, horse later.

So she took her hard earned money

and bought a saddle.

(the day it arrived)

Sooooo exciting! Almost as good as x-mas.

Of course it's her favorite color

PURPLE!!

It didn't come with everything needed

to start riding, a few key pieces were missing

but the people on this ranch are amazing

and set her up with what she didn't have.

She is so happy when she's riding, and in turn

make Dale and I super happy!

(Breanna and Quiet)

Unfortunately for us we have recently found out

that it's not a good saddle for her and now have 

to sell it to get her a better one.

But once again the wonderful people around

us have come through for her again.

She has been loaned a saddle that's better

for her. And my baby girl is happy 

once more.

What more could a parent ask for?

Now if only we could find Darby something 

that makes him as happy as his sister!

Little Gardens- veggie

Well we kinda gave up on the

Veggie garden... for this year anyway.

The weeds were just to much to 

handle.

So we took up all the carrots,

and what a haul they turned out to be.

(Farmer Dale)

It ended up being a lot more than 

we thought we'd get.

So one of our neighbors gladly took

some off our hands.

This is one of our turnips.

After Dale hauled it out, he decided to

wait till the end of this month to riff the rest out.

We also got a small head of lettuce.

Noticing how crowed the lettuce bed

was, I thinned it out and we're gonna wait 

and see if we'll get anymore.

NEXT year, I think we'll be better prepared for

all the work... I hope!

Summer Fun!!

Grandma and GrandBob

gave the kids inflatable kayak's

as passing gifts this year!!

So Cool!!!

Then wonderful Grams took the

children home to Alberta 

with her for three weeks!!

So here Dale and I are looking at these

boxes with kayaks in them...

We decided that as good parents

we should check them out for safety.

First Dale had to blow them up for inspection.

They turned out to be much bigger than expected.

Now that Dale had this done, we said

Looks good... but are they water safe???

(hehehehe)

Salmon Lake

Just in case we needed a rescue, we headed up to 

Salmon Lake resort. 

Needless to say we gave the staff a few chuckles

when they saw us heading down to the lake carring

these kayaks.

Getting in proved to be challenging!

I personally was frighten after watching Dale

climb in. Thought for sure one of us was going for a 

cold swim!

He's in! 

And floating away!

Thumbs Up!!

So there I am standing on the dock... changing my mind

about the whole idea of going out there, when I'm told to 

put the camera away and get in...

All in all it was fun and quite a workout!

Not so sure how the kids will make out, but I guess

we'll have to wait and see.

Yummy Treats

Home made treats are really the best!

Dale has been making beef jerky

for about a year now, and it's 

sooooooo good!

So for Father's Day he bought 

himself a pepperoni kit.

Holy cow!!

It's delicious!

He's made it a couple times now and

it just keeps getting better.

It's a freaking cocking gun you stuff 

meat in... crazy!

The casing was a little tricky at first,

but he's got it down pat now.

Now the fun part!

Squeezing the meat into the casing!

Darby liked this part the best I think.

hmmmmmm...

This is what we got out of 1lbs of 

ground beef.

It sits over night then after 2 hours in the

smoker it's ready to eat!!

And it's so worth the wait.

Never again will we buy pepperoni.

I wonder what Dale will put in the smoker next.

Diffidently the best gift mom and dad

ever gave us. I think we might have to 

invest in a bigger one if Dale keeps finding

new stuff to make though.

Little Gardens- veggie

Well...

Our dreams of a fabulous veggie garden

are slowly drifting away.

*sniff,sniff* tear :(

We haven't really had the time to 

devote to it. And it shows.

I'd post a picture....

but I'm to embarrassed by the amount of

WEEDS!!!

On the up side, we have harvested 

a pile of spinach.

I think we've made a least 5 cuts

of it so far. And it's delicious.

The carrots are the only other veggie we might

have any luck with.

I pulled one just to see how they were

doing. Looks pretty good so far.

Dale being a ham about it!

But when we pulled a purple carrot today

it was Orange!!

Curious...

Maybe they don't turn purple till they're 

bigger... just have to wait and see.

Makes me wonder how everyone elses

gardens are doing???

Working out!!

Hello all!

Sorry I'm a little late with this one.

We have been super busy!

So here we go...

Starting weight- 192lbs

Current weight- 175lbs

Total lost- 17lbs!!

WOO-HOO!!

So excited!

It's only been three months.

I think I'm doing pretty good.

In addition to the small changes in 

diet and the walking, I've also started

working here on the ranch.

Just painting fences, but I'm out

a whole hell of a lot more now.

( Dale wanted this pic included )

No bikini's in my near future but

I'll be a hell of a lot more comfortable

wearing a bathing suit in front of others now :)

I'm super happy with the way I'm

looking now.

I still don't have a goal weight

that I'd like to reach. I think I'll just

keep on keeping on and see what 

happens!

Darby

For those of you who know me

you'll know that I'm not the kind of

mom that likes having helpers when I 

bake or do crafts...

But when you have a kid like Darby

sometimes it's easier to just give in.

My little man loves to bake!

And without Grandma or Nanny close by

sometimes I have to just give in.

He wanted to make cinnamon pull aparts.

The package had been in the cupboard for ages!!

I wanted oatmeal cookies!!!

The dough was a little tough to work with.

Took a lot of extra flour.

I helped with the dough a bit.

It felt funny when we were working

with it. I didn't think much on it though.

They were sopose to rise a bit.

Still I shrugged it off.

Even the icing was tuff to work with.

He was so proud of himself!

Then when I tasted them....

they tasted old!

But Dale and Darby liked them.

Breanna like me did not.

Later on after half of them where gone,

Dale looked at the box because there was still

another batch in there.

He discovered the expiry date...

2009!!!!

No wonder they didn't taste right!!

Needless to say we through the rest out!

Now when were hauling boxes out of

the cubboard we are checking the dates

on everything!!!