The House - An Introduction

We have neglected to mention a BIG ongoing project. It is a project that started last fall and is still going. The project has been interrupted with calving, a baby, haying, weather, and life in general. This project is the building of Joe and Larissa's house.

It is going to be wonderful when it is done! So we will go back in time a little bit here to see some of the work in progress. To date, it has most of the roof on and the doors and windows mostly in. We will show some more recent photos in a couple of weeks.

So last fall, the footings were poured

Fast forward to the crawlspace being poured. Then the floor joists, floor, and a round of logs.

Here is Ris last fall. She was prego then. I think that she was going to try to not go into labor until the house was done. Good thing she just went ahead and had the baby.

Here is a picture of some of the crew. By the way, family, friends, or absolute strangers are welcome to show up on any given weekend to hang out, i.e, work on the house!

Uncle D is good help!

Sometimes breaks are taken. Annie and Dad take another break.

Below is a picture from last fall. You can see Ris was really starting to doubt that the house would be done before Randen was born.

When I grow up...

Big R is 324 days old and we're already predicting what he'll be when he grows up. There's the obvious...

a cowboy like his daddy!

Probably not a rhinestone cowboy though.

Maybe a famous piano player like Mozart!

Or a model for some big designer clothes company. Maybe he could help his auntie shop for fashionable clothes.

Or how about a taste tester? Hmmm...mashed lima beans.

I hear dog whisperer's make big money!

Or a real estate agent. Ring ring!

Hello - why yes! I have a property that would be just perfect for you.

Let's face it...he's already got the cell phone thing down and who wouldn't want to buy a house from such a cutie?

But for now he'll settle for being a mama's boy.

Sand Creek - Girls' Campout

As mentioned earlier, we are going back in time. We are remembering the lazy days of summer. Actually, we are just posting some of the stuff we haven't gotten around to yet!

One of the highlights of the summer was going on the annual All-Girls' camp weekend. The group consists of aunts, cousins, and friends. We always have a blast! These gals are awesome!! It truly is a highlight of our summer.

We go to Sand Creek by Beulah, WY. The scenery is gorgeous. Our Aunt Barb and her friend Vicki plan the weekend and tell us what we are eating and what to bring. The weekend consists of eating, tubing down the creek, geocaching, sitting around the campfire, laughing, and having a contest of some sort.

Here is a picture of Vicki cooking up some vittles.


Here is a picture of the pink flamingo that is the camp mascot of sorts. It used to have a partner, but evidently it was stolen out of camp one time.

As mentioned, each year there is a contest. The contest this year was most creative apron. Here is a picture of one of the winners. Vicki's apron was cool and practical with potholders and towels velcro'ed to it. Larissa is in the background. She also won a prize for her apron.

Here is a group picture of all of us sporting our aprons. Back left: Ris, Vicki, Aunt Janet, Annie, Lindsey, Anne, Shannon, Kendra Front: Aunt Barb, Julie and her adorable daughter. Kannon was not there for this picture.

We didn't get any pictures of the tubing adventures, but it was GREAT! Aunt Barb has a camera housing that she uses on her diving trips, so we are still waiting for her to e-mail those pictures to us...

Here is Kendra in front of her camper.

Here is Aunt Barb enjoying a glass of the good stuff!

Annie and I are enjoying nature.

This picture is all of us having a meeting at mid-day. Here Barb, Anne, Janet, and Vicki find a geocache!

Anne and Larissa were geo-cache virgins. This was their first one. Here they confer on coordinates.

Ris and Annie set up the GPS.

Before the campout, Aunt Barb usually sends out the itinerary. For one of the meals, the instructions said "Dress for Dinner." Which probably meant to put clothes on instead of just wearing your swimsuit. Annie read that differently and wore "Old Blue" the promdress. Pretty sure she was the best-dressed person in Beulah!

Here was one of the campfire nights. Making S'mores, drinking toddies, and laughing. Life doesn't get any better than that.

Goodbye summer, we miss you already.

Pre-Wedding parties

We are really behind on our posts. We have tons of stuff to post about camping trips from earlier this summer and a host of other things that happened this summer. But we will get to that... probably by the first snowfall. So we are going to go back in time a little bit here.

Annie was showered with gifts and parties before the nuptials. Here is a recap.


This picture is a little grainy, but it shows Annie at her shower thrown by her coworkers. It was a REALLY nice shower!


Gorgeous cake!

Wonderful gifts!

The we had a little get-together at Annie's house. This was earlier in the night. We drank pomegranate margarita's and ate food by the firepit until the wee hours.
What a fun summer night! P.S. Our fire-making skills were honed, but it still took us a LOOOONG time to get it going without the aid of gasoline or the like.

Kayce is sampling the food below. She brought the most amazing hot wing chip dip. YUM!

Some of Annie's former coworkers and her former boss, the fabulous Cindy Guthrie, hosted another shower for her. It was a garden-themed party. It, too, was awesome! I don't have any pictures to share of that.

Then we had our traditional Klima shower at Aunt Rodie's house. She is a fantastic hostess! Check out her place-settings. P.S. each napkin ring was an actual diamond ring from Rodie's collection. Of course they were real dahling. Puuuhhleaaaze!

Here is Annie opening the gifts from all of us.

Aunt Rodie always made us four girls a Barbie cake for each of our birthdays. For this occasion, Barbie became a bride!

She had pearls on her voluptuous skirt, rock and roll hair, and a very risque, lattice bodice.

So that is a recap of the pre-wedding parties! We had a blast!!!!!!!!

Isn't that sweet...

Matt went to work really early this morning. Before he left, he must have gotten creative with the used, shish kabob stewers from last night's steak-tip supper.

Aaaawwwwww! Isn't that sweet! It's like an old-fashioned text message.

Things Worth Celebrating

It is always fun to get something new. New clothes, new jewelery, new boots, new shoes. These things make a smile everytime we use them.


But every once in a while we get something new that makes us jump up and down and squeel with joy. Especially if the new item replaces something in our lives that we hate. Recently, Ris finally got to replace her old fridge. Big deal you might say. Well, this fridge provoked more profanity from Ris over the last year than anything else. Here it is in all it's alvocado splendor.



It is probably the same age as she is. Part of the refridgerator compartment freezes food, and there is an area that keeps food just over lukewarm. The freezer won't stay defrosted and the fridge door wouldn't stay closed. Another strike against it, was that it was TINY.

When the new fridge was finally delivered, she jumped for joy. She was a little disappointed when the delivery drivers (who had driven from Rapid City to Lantry) didn't share in her glee.

TA DAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The new model is huge, the door stays closed, the food stays the appropriate temperature, and the freezer is a big drawer that slides out.

The delivery guys did say that it is crazy what makes women happy. Upon delivering a new washer and dryer to one woman, she hugged them. Hey, some things are just worth celebrating!