Special People

Do you have a special person that when after you talk to them you always feel better? Well...for me that is my cousin Sarah. Even though we don't get a chance to talk very often we always laugh, cry (most of the time from laughing) and just have good conversation. So this post if for you Sarah, I love you so much, I am so proud of you, and I'll never forget "35"! LOL!! It was so wonderful to talk to you today, and I can't wait to see you in a couple of weeks. Hang in there!

Romans 8:28

Happy Birthday to Me!

It's been a crazy day, and I have been shown love in so many different ways! My mom and I went riding this morning, and I got to ride my new-to-me saddle that Jason bought for me. As we were headed out for our ride, my brother called me and wished me Happy Birthday and said that they wanted to come over.

As we were riding my sister, Stacey, called me and wished me a Happy Birthday. After our ride, Preston, Jodie, and Brooke showed up and they gave me some really cool hunting stuff and some Mary Kay stuff as well. But the fact that my brother picked out my present was the best gift of all.

Then I fixed a quick lunch for Jason, and got on the rake tractor for a couple of hours. I had just walked in the door when our neighbor, Tina, and her baby came over with a card and flowers! As she was fixing to leave, Jayne and her kids showed up with a cake and presents in hand. Then later on Helen came over with more gifts, and John Deere gifts and a wild flower lip color at that!!

So, THANK YOU to all of my very loving and thoughtful friends and family! You all sure know how to make a girl feel special! And I love all of you very, very, very much!!!

And.....Happy 35th Anniversary, Helen & Virgil!

Pictures

O.K.! This is for Stacey, so I better see a comment from ya! ;) This is the cake that Janette and I worked so hard on for Stacey and Rocky's birthday. Hence, the Happy "46th" Birthday. On Rocky's side we did a mining theme, and on Stacey's, well.....I just had to do a monkey theme. And there is a awesome story that goes along with the monkey theme, but I definitely have to tell it in person! Right, Stacey?!?



On her (their) birthday, we went out to eat at Claim Jumper, and this is them enjoying all of those candles. We had our fingers crossed that the smoke detectors wouldn't go off!



They were the good sparkler candles, so they had to blow hard! :)





This next picture is kind of gross, so if you have a weak stomach you might not want to go any further. This picture is also for Stacey.



Coffee Pot has acquired a new sore under his chest. Not sure why or how it happened, but here it is.






And this is sweet 27 year old Coffee Pot who is enjoying is time out eating. If you look closely on his back he has a hitch hiker! That bird was just chillin on his back as he walked along.

What a crock!

"What a crock: Blaming biofuels for food prices ignores reality." That is the title for an article in Western Farm Press. The article is quite good, and the title cracked me up! I think that biggest thing here is people ignoring reality! Everyone wants to cry wolf on ethanol raising food prices, but no one wants to take a look at the real data of whats really happening in our markets. So let us look at what happened in 2007 with corn....in 2007 U.S. farmers produced a record 13.1 billion bushels of corn, 22% of which was used for ethanol.

Still, there was enough left to meet domestic needs, achieve record exports, and have a 10 % surplus. What?!? Did I just write surplus? Had not a single bushel of corn gone to ethanol, food prices would still have risen because of the tremendous burden of $100-plus oil, burgeoning world demand for grains, and crop failures due to drought and other disasters.

And speaking of burdens, this afternoon Jason and I were figuring our input costs for our wheat this year. When we came to fertilizer, Jason said that a particular kind that we used we had purchased at roughly $500 per ton, and now it is over $1000 per ton. Unbelievable! I hate to beat a dead horse, but......crude oil again plays a mighty big factor in our food prices.

If you like imported oil......you're going to love imported food!

Don't Worry About Tomorrow

It's been on crazy week around here! So much to do, and not enough of me to do it! Ever feel like that? It started a week ago when we went with Helen & Virgil to get Janette from the airport. It's so good to have her home again, although she has all ready left again.......but it's still good to have her in the states.

Monday, Janette helped me decorate a cake for my sister's birthday. We had so much fun and she learned how easy it really is. After words I took dinner to Jason out on the tractor, and ended up staying out there with him until after 11pm.

Tuesday, I baked over 11 dozen cookies and then Jason and I went to Tucson to celebrate Stacey's 22nd birthday. We had a great time, and got home again after 11pm.

Wednesday, I went back to Tucson to help Janette move out of her apartment. I had a great time hanging out with her and eating at Chopped! Ran back home, helped unload Janette's belongings, then went home took a shower, and Jason and I went to Dan and Kristel's house. We had a great time there as well, but managed to get home after 11pm.

Thursday, I was supposed to pick up Janette at 6am to work on a pivot but didn't actually get up until 6:30am. So around 7 I picked her up and around 10am we were finished. Nicolette and her two babies came over to Helen's house so we spent most of the day with them. I took Jason some dinner again on the tractor, and then ended up driving tractor for a little while. We finally made it to bed by 8:30pm, and it was wonderful!

Friday, I was supposed to be at my mom's by 8am but I ended up driving tractor for a little bit in the morning. Left my house, got to her house around 10:30am and my mom, sister, and I starting cooking for 125 people. We were asked to cater an anniversary party for my sister-in-law's parents for Saturday. I think I got home around 6:30pm or so.

Saturday, I met my mom and sister and her friend in Willcox around 9am. We finished making beans, spanish rice, chicken enchiladas, chile relleno bake, green chile meat, two kinds of salsa, guacamole, and 3 edible fruit bouquets. We only had one accident....I was trying ever so carefully to move on chile bake from one oven to the next when the rack tipped over and chile, cheese, and eggs went every where! But God does work miracles, b/c for one thing my mom just laughed and the other is that we had 2 chile bakes left over! We didn't feed 5,000, but we did have food left over! I left there around 8pm, and came home to lighting, thunder, and a little rain.

Sunday, Jason was supposed to teach class this morning, which he has been preparing for all week. However, with the rain last night and 50% chance today, he is instead baling hay. Thank you, Papa, for covering for him!

So in a nut shell, that has been our week! And I'm going to close with a verse that was a going to be part of Jason's (now Papa's) lesson....

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble! Matthew 6:24

A Few Days Get Away

Jason and I ran away to Flagstaff, AZ for a couple of days this week! We had such a great time. On our way there, we stopped at an antique store in Payson. Actually, we passed it and Jason turned around and I was HAPPY! It was a huge store with lots of cool stuff, but found it to be pretty pricey. I'm to cheap.....don't really like to pay a lot for "junk"! But as I was wandering around Jason found me and he had 3 books in his hand. All of them were about women and ranching. How sweet......bonus for sister-in-laws who enjoy those types of books as well!

As we pressed on our journey, we happened into a saddle shop in Camp Verde. Jason was like a kid in a candy store! They had lots, and lots of stuff as well, new and used. We ended up with a few used items and headed out.

Our destination was actually Mormon Lake which we made it there safe and sound. We met up with the Smith's and others, ate some dinner, visited, and then headed to our room. Tammy had booked our room for us and we were in the Roundup Rooms. It was a long building with four rooms. Tammy's dad was on the end, then Stephen's parents, then us, and another room on the end. Very small, but quaint rooms with a good bed. We bunked down for the night, and we were both reading the new books that Jason had purchased when our "other" neighbors showed up.

First they come stomping down the front porch, opened up the door to their room, the man (excuse me for including this, but you need to the full picture) passed gas loudly, then they began their conversation. It didn't take long to figure out that they were intoxicated. Bonus! The walls were paper thin, so it was like they were standing in our room.

They couldn't believe that the room didn't have a TV! And how small the room was, and that he promised to get a better cabin next time. And how they would like to have room service in the morning that included champagne......like they really needed more to drink. Then the door opens, and someone leaves, comes back, and now we get a radio blasting!

Finally, Jason gets up and gets dressed and goes back down to the restaurant to see if you could change rooms. Small place, and the reservations office was closed this time of night. Some punk of a kid told Jason that they were all booked for the night. So Jason comes back to the room, and we decided that maybe things would get better.......well, they didn't. Things got so X-rated that we packed our stuff and drove 30 minutes into Flagstaff! And we hoped that Stephen's parents hadn't heard anything b/c it was so loud they might have thought that it was us!

We ended up with a great room in Flag. The next morning we called the lodge to let them know that we did not spend the night there last night, and to cancel our room for that night. The manager was very kind and helpful, wanted to know who Jason had talked to b/c they did have rooms available and we should have been moved, and that they would give us a free night. All of that was great, but we decided that we liked our quiet room in town!

Later that afternoon, we went back to the lake for Will and Trisha's wedding. It all turned out very well. Except, that she didn't have a photographer and I ended up taking a lot of pictures with another girl. Actually, I had a lot of fun doing it, but it's not that same as having someone who knows what they are doing! I sure hope that they turned out, but we did take an awful lot of pictures! (sorry, Will) And I got some more good Hagen time! That is one of the cutest little boys ever!

We took our time coming home yesterday, we went through Cottonwood, to Jerome which is a cool little town. It was established in 1876 (same as A&M I was told) on a mountain side. Now, if you have ever been to Bisbee that is steep, but this is insane! Cool place to see if you ever get the chance. From there we went to Prescott, to another saddle shop. Again, Jason- kid in a candy store. Then we headed back home around Roosevelt Lake, which is almost 100% full! It was beautiful, but it really made us just want to be on the lake fishing!


We really had a great time just exploring this wonderful state! You really don't have to drive long before the scenery changes. And between Steve Lindsey (the pastor who did the ceremony) and Jason, I laughed almost the whole time! And if you get the chance, ask Jason about the girl who hit on him! He'll try to blow it off, but I've got witnesses and good ones, Tammy and Stephen! Tommy saw it too, but he thought that it was cool....not so much me though. ;)

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Here are some pictures of wheat harvest before the rain set in. This is Jason in the combine in front of me on the grain buggy.
"When you're the grain buggy driver the view never changes." If you look closely you can see another combine heading towards us on the left of Jason.
We were able to get some help this year, and that is R.L. fixing to dump his load onto the buggy.

OK.....can't believe that I'm going to say this, but this rain sure is a pain! We have 60 acres of alfalfa that we can't get baled and out of the field, and wheat that is too wet to get out of the field. It has been cloudy all day, everyday, since Saturday. But I guess that the bright side it is only 60 acres of alfalfa, and 100 acres of wheat. How can rain be such a blessing and a curse all at the same time? And I also can't complain too loudly knowing that the people in the Midwest would trade our problems for theirs any day!

Just a quote that I found that made me think of some women in my life!

"If a woman is sufficiently ambitious, determined and gifted - there is practically nothing she can't do." -Helen Lawrenson