Thanksgiving Week, So Much to be Thankful For

Ryder's first snow angel for 2013!

Kinsley fell asleep under the ottoman in our living room.

Kinsley is slowly learning the art of eating with a fork and she LOVES spaghetti!

What a character. She is growing up so fast.

Thanksgiving, my second favorite holiday. I haven't mastered a pecan or lemon meringue, but at least I am trying. I think the pecan looks okay, well except the crust and the lemon meringue looks awesome, but who knows how they'll taste!! Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. We have tons to be thankful for this year and every year. I am thankful for my husband and kids, food, my camera to capture all our greatest moments, our home, our jobs, all my family, Zoey, our horses, our cattle and all the opportunities we have each and every day.

Today at daycare Ryder said what he was thankful for:
His bed, his shoes, his house, his family and his toys - not too shabby for a 4 year old

If Kinsley could talk "english" she would probably be thankful for:
Her dolls, her family, her shoes, food, olives, cheese - typical of a 1 1/2 year old

My camera is one of my most cherished possessions, it helps me to remember all the moments in our lives. How easily we forget special moments that are not caught on camera.

Thought:
I was talking with a good friend the other day and she said that you have to learn to not have expectations of others, that way you are never disappointed. This didn't really make a whole lot of sense to me at the time, but the more I have thought about it, the clearer it gets. The only expectations I should have are for myself and only myself. They eventually broaden out to my kids and my husband, but I think that is all the farther they need to go. I have to almost say outloud to myself, "Does this concern me? Will it effect me? What will it help to worry about this?" and more often than not when I am worried/concerned about something I can answer each of those questions, NO. Life is too short to worry about the small stuff. Make sure you and your family are happy and the rest has a funny way of taking care of itself.

Anyways, that is my deep thought for this week.

For a week in November (in Moscow), a week in December (in Pocatello), a week in January (in Twin Falls) and a week in February (in Boise) I will be attending or have attended Leadership in Idaho Agriculture (LIA). I have been asked if I would like to attend for 4 or 5 years now from my bosses at work, but I have kindly declined each year because I have to be gone so much and it is so hard to be gone with my kids. But this year they didn't get me a choice so I agreed. I have been to the Moscow session where we did lots of public speaking, toured Bennett Lumber (amazing), and learned to think on our feet. It was probably the hardest, most stressful thing I have ever done, but man was it worth it. I am so excited for Pocatello I can hardly stand it. LIA is focused on speaking, self presentation and confidence, it is awesome. Idaho AgCredit sends someone every year and each of the participants have a different opinion of the class. Some hate it and some like it, luckily I am one of those that love it. For the Pocatello class (in 2 weeks) we have to give a 5 minute speech on a topic of our choice, make a poster of our life, plan an LIA Alumni dinner and go on another tour, just to mention a few. It has been a lot of fun. Probably the best part of the whole class is getting to know 32 other people in every field of agriculture you can think of. There are producers, government workers, canal company workers, winery workers, fertilizer and barley salesman. What a great group of people, I have enjoyed getting to know a few of them and look forward to learning more about them over the next 3 weeks.

Another note: Thanks to Grandma Kathy, Grandma Susan and Wade for taking over while I have and will be gone for these classes, I truly appreciate you all and could not do it without you.

Happy Thanksgiving - Be Thankful For Today

And Then.....

So the kids and I don't get many photos together because I am always behind the camera taking the photos. So even though this is not my finest moment, I still cherish the picture of my little monsters with their mustaches!

Todd (on the right) shook this tree and leaves rained down on Ryder, he thought it was awesome!

Have I ever mentioned that I love fall and all it's colors?

Ryder was trying to use a back scratcher on Grandpa Wayne, I'm not sure if the scratcher is pierceing Grandpa's skin or if Ryder is choking him, either way Grandpa looks a little uncomfortable.

Playing outside, what gets you dirtier?

Halloween 2013, Ryder was Sonic the Hedgehog.

Halloween, Kinsley was a Devil Diva.

Colt was enjoying the entire Halloween experience. Oh my heck he is cute!

This is a "scary" picture in every sense of the word. From left: Ryder (Sonic), Carly (witch), Lauren (witch), Kinsley (devil), Whitney (Gene Simmons - Kiss), Colt (horse)

These are the best kind of pictures.

I couldn't resist posting this picture of Carly, what a doll.....

Updates

I really stink at keeping my blog updated and I am sure a lot of people have quit following it, but it is my Thanksgiving resolution to update my blog once a week.......

We have all been doing really well. We are glad to have the calves sold and cows home for the year, life seems to slow down just a little which is just fine with us.

We took a wonderful trip in July to Ennis & Virginia City, MT - I absolutely loved the trip, the kids had a lot of fun. I wouldn't reccommend the Lewis & Clark Caverns with a 3 & 1 year old! We will be taking this trip again, for sure.

This is what a little cowboy looks like at a family reunion after playing and running for several hours straight.

Well these are the cutest young gals I have ever seen. Shanny and I were enjoying ourselves at the Butler family reunion in August. Hasn't Shanny grown up to be a beautiful young lady? She's wonderful, love her!

Ryder flexes his muscles and shows off his spiky hair do. He's a lot like his dad.

This is so cute of Kinsley in the beautiful fall colors. She is growing so fast and is now at 18 months old trying to potty train herself, wow, she's amazing.

This was the first of November when we brought our cows home. It was a beautiful day.

Here is Kinsley today playing in our first touch of snow.

Ryder also enjoyed playing in the snow. He was asking at 6 am if he could go play in the snow. I finally gave in around 10 am. It was really cold, but they had a blast. At least we're not preg checking heifers with Wade today, brrrrrrrrrr!