Benda-What? Benda-Who? Bendaroos!

The kids have been asking for Bendaroos since they saw the commercial for the first time. They have been quoting the commercial for months. "But Mom, they don't make a mess, the commercial says!" Thanks to Uncle Roo and Aunt Jane, they finally have some!

Not sure what this look was for, but it looks like she means business!

Annie Get Your Gun

Kinsey got a pink BB gun for Christmas and has been itching to shoot it. We went to the camphouse for New Year's Day and she got to do just that. All you need is a feed sack and you've got a ready made target!
Kinsey has surprised us all. She is as girly as they come...plastic high heels, dress up clothes, glitter, purses, nail polish, and lipstick. But she loves her cowgirl boots, rubber boots, running hay bales, feeding the horses and cows, and being at the camphouse.

I can't wait to see her sense of style in a few years. I have to admit, I'm a little nervous!

Can you see your tongue?

The title says it all...

You tried it, didn't you?

Happy Birthday, Pilgrim

Chad's Grandmother turned 87 last week. We took her to lunch and who should we run into??? Yep, that's him...The Duke. Or an impersonator, but good enough.
Trace, The Duke, and Kinsey

Singing Happy Birthday

the birthday girl

Kinsey loves to eat at this restaurant because the kids meals are served in dog bowls.

my country girl...

This picture reminds me of a bumper sticker my cattle-rancher brother-in-law had on his car. 'Don't tell my mom I'm a cattle rancher, she thinks I'm a piano player in a whorehouse.' The other diners don't know how lucky they were to have such fine dining music.

snow, snow, snow

I have been putting off posting about our trip to Crested Butte because I have so very many pictures from which to choose. So I decided just to post some. No real rhyme or reason to the order of the shots.


Here is Pop in less than 20 degree weather. Yes, he is outside. Yes, in shorts and a tee shirt, sans shoes. The boys were out sledding just up the stairs from where he stands and Chad's drink was icing over just standing out there. It was very, very cold.

Chad and I on a lift. I forget which one it was. I remember this was taken on the last day we skied. Mom and Dad stayed at the condo with the kids and we skied the day away with Matt and Melissa.

Here we are in the van headed to the lifts on morning number one.

Snow angels...Auntie Missy, Aunt Jane, Kinsey, and Uncle Roo. Trace is off camera to the left making snowballs with the snowball maker/launcher Pop bought.

Here we are after our first trip up the chair lift. I asked Melissa to take our picture because I had a feeling that first ride might be the only one the kids wanted to take. I was right about that...Kinsey didn't want to go back up after that ride. It wasn't the ride on the lift that bothered her, but the skiing part. After we made it down the first run, she announced she had to go potty. Since I wasn't lugging both our skis and her up the hill to the bathroom, I told her that the only option was going up the lift and skiing down to the bathroom. She was not happy about that, but she did it. And survived, I might add.

A long-running joke...yes, I am the short one.

Making snow angels. It was far too cold for me to be in the snow, so I happily clicked away from behind the camera.

This was taken on the first morning we were there. It snowed from 2pm the previous afternoon and through the night leaving us a beautiful new blanket!

Here we are waiting for Dad.