Drink anyone?

At Thanksgiving, my Mother-in-Law wanted to give me some stuff and said that if I didn't want it to just get rid of it. The "stuff" were these retro cowboy drinking glasses. Heck yes I want them!

There are four different sizes with different scenes.

Cowboys around the fire with the chuckwagon in back.

A cowboy getting bucked off a bronc.

Roping and branding calves on the open range.

Cowboy roping a maverick in the pasture.

Here are a few of them in my Hoosier cabinet.

With no writing or stamp on them, I'm not sure of the brand or era. I'm guessing 1950 or 1960s. Whatever the era, I love 'em!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Annie hosted a wonderful Thanksgiving for all of us. Here she poses in front of her fireplace at her new house.
She proved herself as a top-notch cook and hostess. The ham was the best ever, the turkey was wonderful. The stuffing was hands-down, no-contest, the best I have ever had.

She set a gorgeous table. Note the bench on the left side. It is a very neat find.

She even took it to a whole. nutha. level...

Turkey cheeseball!

Mesa's Dresser- Before and After

I had bought a dresser several years ago at a junk shop. I didn't really know what I would do with it, but it had two huge drawer and a mirror on the top. I started stripping the paint right away, but put the project aside when I got to the mirror. It had some router work on the frame that was giving me fits when I tried to remove the paint.
So when Mesa needed a dresser, I just stained the dresser and then did some painting on the mirror so that I could get it done. (instant gratification)

The colors on the mirror frame match the colors of her curtains, which are bandanas. They also match the little decoupage that I did on the drawers.

One drawer says "Cowgirl" and the second drawer says "Gear." The next time we want to redo her room, we can just scrape these off pretty easily.

Photo Booth F-U-N

Kayce had a photo booth at her wedding at the end of August. Mega fun for all ages! It was the perfect opportunity for some family pictures.

Aunt Rodie and Mom - they took quite a few in the photo booth - all of the PRICELESS!


Lindsey, Matt and Mesa - Not sure what Mesa's parents are doing, but she isn't impressed.

Joe, Larissa, and Randen - again, child not impressed with parents.

Annie and Zach

The starry-eyed guys and elated bride!

Lindsey, Larissa, and Lariann

In September, Zach and I celebrated our one year anniversary by taking a trip to Reno, NV to see Zach's brother and his family. We had a great time playing with the kids, hiking in some desert mountains, sailboating on Lake Tahoe, and touring Virginia City (old west town off of the TV show Bonanza).

Me, Levi, Zach and Elise (in her Husker tu-tu)

Levi loves lizards! He was holding this one and it crawled up his arm and hopped onto his back.

Virginia City is famous for their Camel Races.

Seaman Zach

Me swinging off the side of the sailboat.

One of our other big highlights of the trip was the "swing."

Here we are in our harnesses and feeling pretty brave.

Anxiously awaiting our turn to take the plunge!

We were laying on our bellies and hoisted to the top of the pole. When we got to the top, Zach pulled the cord and we plummeted down about 40 or 50 feet. Then we went swinging out hard and fast. It was so scarey but so fun! Aaron videoed it and all you could hear was me screaming!

Safely on the ground and thanking the Lord we were still alive!

Redo of Dining Chairs

I decided to recover the seats of my dining chairs this week. I had recovered them when I bought the set about 6 years ago. At that time I used a set of bandana dish towels. When I bought the chairs they were covered in a horrifying mauve and country blue print.


After six years of food getting spilled on them, they had started to look pretty rough.


So I ordered some oilcloth from an online retailer. Oilcloth is basically vinyl. They have a huge selection of oilcloth, much of which is in awesome retro patterns! I figured the oilcloth would be the best thing to have since you could wipe it off when spills happen.

This was probably the easiest projects I have recovered because the vinyl is so easy to work with. I just removed the seats which are screwed from the bottom.



I didn't even remove the old covering, just went right over the top of it. I did this because I am lazy and I love instant gratification. Plus, I was trying to get them done in between feeding my kid. She likes to eat alot.

I just stapled the vinyl onto the back fo the seat, and tucked the corners.


This is what the finished project looks like. I also used a red, yellow, and turquoise gingham to mix it up. I had six chairs and wished that I would have bought a different color for each. But, as I mentioned, instant gratification is what I strive for.
I already got to spill test it. I doused myself, Mesa, and the chair in a freak ketchup bottle accident. The chair was the easiest thing to clean up. Now, if we could just make clothes for Mesa and I out of oilcloth, we would never need to do laundry again!

So tired

Gypsy, the dog, has been feeling pretty left-out and ostracized since Mesa came around. Matt and Mesa usually take a snooze at the end of a long day. In the old days, Gypsy and Matt used to take a nap at the end of the day. Now, Gypsy sits on the porch and laments about the old days.
But every once in a while, she will sneak her way into the house and pretend the baby isn't there and that she has Matt all to herself again.

Eeeeekkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A couple of weekends ago, Zach and I went to visit the Wishards and install the central A/C (okay...Zach installed the A/C, I was just in the way). Anyway, it was a fun weekend staying in the new house!!! Yes! They have moved into the house! We had a riot playing in Randen's new sandbox, driving around the pasture, hitting golf balls, and making homemade ice cream.

On Sunday, Riss and I were sorting through boxes with the help of a 1 1/2 year old. Joe had just stepped onto the porch when he screamed at us to get outside. We ran outside to find a HUGE rattlesnake slithering straight to the house. It was instantly mad and buzzing like crazy.

Joe gave it a whack with a 12 foot 2x4. It coiled, buzzed and looked more than willing to strike. By this time it was right next to the house and Zach was closer than I thought was necessary. I continued to yell at him to get farther back. You see, Zach grew up in the Sandhills of Nebraska where there is no such thing as rattlesnakes. He is amazed by them and doesn't realize that they can strike at a distance of three times their body length (I yelled that at him too). He then smacked it several times with a spade. The whole time Riss and I stood on the porch with Randen and told him how bad snakes were and that he had to stay away from them. I think we got our point across...he was shaking and yelling at the snake by the time it was finally dead.

We also had to tell Randen that Uncle was bad for picking the snake up.

Notice that no one else would get close enough to it to be in the picture.

We were wondering...

We have all been wondering how Randen would react to Mesa. Randen is used to having the spotlight 100% of the time. He has a pretty low tolerance for anybody else trying to steal the attention from him. In fact, his grandma Linda was holding a cat on her lap, and Randen walked over and shoved the cat off so he could sit on her lap.

However, we were pretty surprised when he was a perfect gentleman to his new cousin Mesa. He was intrigued with her this past weekend. When she whimpered, he whimpered. He also liked to pick at her hair and her face. He tried to stick his fingers in her mouth and ears. He also tried to pick her up a couple of times.

Can he be left unattended with her for two seconds? NO! However, it is the start of a good relationship!!!!!

Zach's Party

Zach had a birthday last week. Annie threw a party for him. Lots of people were there to help celebrate. Here are some random shots of the evening.

Checking out Barbara the camper...

Annie had tons of food, including a vat of Sangria. I said a vat, because there was tons of it!

Nice fire in the pit.

Festive mood with friends and family! Good way to spend a Thursday night!

Pretty Girl

My name is Mesa Mae and I like to play dress up...

and sleep...

and be silly.

Proudly Presenting...

Mesa Mae!!!

July 7, 2010 at 12:49 a.m.

8 lbs 7 oz 21 inches long...Lindsey was not that big so I'm not sure where Mesa was hiding.

Daddy and his little girl

Gwamma Linda

Grandpa Larry

Auntie Rissa

Auntie Annie

Mama and baby are doing great! Mesa is a cuddler and the sweetest baby girl! Our cousin Kendra is a nurse at the hospital so she made sure they both had the best care ever.

Cousin Randen has yet to meet her. Hopefully this weekend. He's super excited to have a playmate!