Labor Day Weekend

We have had so much fun the weekend. Maren and her kids came to visit us for the weekend. They got here lat Friday night and stayed till Monday morning. I love that my family will come and visit, even though I have a Brother and Brother-in-Law that refuse to come see me.

Abbey and Cody

We also got a call from JC's cousin Greg and his AWESOME family, telling us they wanted to come out for the day on Saturday and also Val came to see us for the weekend, although I feel like I never get to spend the time with her when she comes because there are always other company too (Val next time you come we are going to go do something just me and you).

Val on Easy and Cody on Old Bay

 

James and Old Bay

 

Greg, Owen and Tara 

Saturday I thought that it would be fun to BBQ some hotdog's and chicken and let everyone ride and then roast marshmallows. So that is what we did and we had a blast! All the kids got along great and ate tons of somores.

Cody, Paige, James, Jojo, Tara and Reese

Jojo, Cody and Sadie

Cody

Reese keep pulling out the wipes and using them for a hat.

After everyone got settled in that night Kelly came back over to the house to grab a chair to sit on his pourch. I walked outside and was talking to him for a second and her heard Val yelling about a snake right outside the door. We both thought she was joking but sure enough there it was ready to strike. Kelly had walked right passed it a time or two we were all amazed that it didn't get him

Sunday we thought that we would take it a bit more easy and make a big Italian meal and hang out all day. For those of you that don't know Maren is a GREAT cook! She let JC choose anything he wanted for dinner (I don't think she will make that mistake ever again) he choose Gnocchi. Now this a a wonderful pasta dish but you have to hand make the pasta, which takes forever and is a big sticky mess. Needless to say Maren and I spent years in the kitchen but the end result was so worth the effort. After all was said and done Maren and I were beat and so we threw all kids in the shower and put them to bed. We followed shortly after.

Cody, James, Jordyn watching movies

It was a great weekend and I am so glad we could spend the holiday with all the people that we love the most! Thanks everyone for coming to visit us all the way out here, we love it and want you to all come back very soon!

Kids having a dance party before they left

Paige, Sadie, Abbey, Jojo, Jester, James and Cod

           

Cody was so sad after everyone left

My wash runneth over

We got a good rain this afternoon.

playing down by the wash, it is probably 2 feet deep they were standing on the bank.

Little frogs the kids caught.

Picnic

Last Saturday afternoon we all went riding, JC took the kids down the wash and up the "mountain" as Cody says. Everyone had a great time and were all very happy. Later that night JC told the kids that the next day after church we should go out and drive around the ranch and see how much it has changed, since we have gotten all the rain, and have a picnic. So that is what we did. The first place we stopped was an Indian ruin by Stockton Hill but there was no shade and we were eaten alive by ants and biting flys so we went down to the was by the S.O. mill.

 

JC and Sadie coming back from their ride

    

Me and Sadie riding

 

  

Cody is our official gate opener

 

Things are really green and beautiful right now!

 

    

This was the fist place we stopped and I put them right by a ant hill, oops

    

JC enjoying the cloud cover

  

Sadie, Jordyn , Cody

  

JC, Me and Bailey

 

Jojo and Cody

Sadie was going to swim in the tank but the lightning started

 

 

and a trip around here is never complete without seeing something like this!

We had a wonderful day together!

Field Day

The girls had there first ever field day at school. Each grade wore a different color. Sadie's wore red and Jojo's wore green. There where 12 different stations they went to, to play games. Cody and I went to watch cheer and take pictures of them. The girls had so much fun and they all got a prize at the end!

 

When we first got to the school there was 10 min before it all started to Cody got to be part of Kindergarten!

Getting ready!

hula hoops

Sponge pass

The parachute they were nice enough to let Cody play and he stayed there most of the day.

Squirt guns

tag games

Relay Races

water balloon hot potato

follow the leader

dance time

Pictures with the Tiger

Round steak???

This is some of our round steak.

I always have so much round steak when we get beef that I don't know what to do with. I make the usual things like chicken fried steak, salisbury steak, and well that is pretty much it for me. Since I am out of ground beef I need more recipes for it. So if any of you are like me I have something new (at least in my kitchen) that you might want to try.

I get my steak and season it with tenderizer, lime juice, mexican chicken bullion, and garlic salt. I let it sit for a few hours then take the whole thing and through it on the grill. After that I dice it up and put it in a tortilla with thinly  shredded cabbage and cilantro and lime or whatever else you want in your taco.

Just thought I would share. If you have any good round steak recipes to share, Kellie & Kristen, I would love to have them.

New School Year

This has been an exciting new school year.  Both of the girls are going to a new school and this is Jojo's first year.  Sadie was a little nervous about her new teacher this year, she is very structured, which I love, and expects a lot form her students. If you know Sadie very well this will be an adjustment, she has a harder time being able to not talk to others and sit still in her seat so she may get a bigger load of homework but hopefully she will learn to focus a little better this year she is going to be a star! She came home from her first day every excited and said she thinks she will love her teacher.

Jordyn is so happy to go to school every morning even though she has to wake up at 5:45 to get there on time. She has the most loving teacher in the school and is ready to learn all she can. She already has 2 best friends and is learning to "read".

Then there is this little monkey. Cody has had a hard time without his big sisters to take care of him. I is my little shadow now and does not know quite what to do with himself. He goes with his Papa whenever he can or we go visit JC at work, he loves his daddy!