Tag Archives: ranchlife

Kids will be Kids – No matter where they Grow up!

DSC08467I was a lucky one I guess.  My Dad always insisted on living in the country, we may not have had a huge place growing up, but we always had outside space to play and explore in without worry about traffic, predators (other than a coyote here and there), or hearing the neighbors!  How amazing that was to have back then.  We had each other, just our siblings for the most part, unless we traveled via horse or bike to the nearest neighbors.  We had to bike to the neighbors to play in their barn (it was of course, way cooler than ours) always listening for Dad’s whistle calling us home for supper, We pretended to play Army in the tree groves in the pastures, we enjoyed being able to enjoy riding horse through many pastures to the next place to visit and of course play in the closet creek we could find! DSC07786

I do remember we spent one summer living in town, oh how I was so jealous for a while after that summer.  Biking on pavement paths, walking to the ice cream parlor, just a few blocks to the bowling alley, just a quick drive to the park, not to mention friends in the same neighborhood (meaning you didn’t have to jump on a horse, bike, or in a car to get to). Oh and I almost forgot – FAST FOOD!   I always thought that was the life, I enjoyed college, being in town, just a moments jump to whatever we needed.

Now that I have kids of my own, looking back there really is amazing things in both Country living and City living, it is just a toss up of how you wanDSC07573t your family to experience life.  As I watch my own children growing up in the country on the ranch, able to play in their very own private creek and dams  (shared with all the neighbors kids of course), able to go learn to pick wildflowers and enjoy picking and eating as many wild berries as they can get their hands on, able to look out their window and step foot in the horse pasture with horses just waiting for them.  Not to mention the occasional sighting of black bears, snowmobiling without having to drive anywhere, and exploring little caves (dugouts really :P).

I realize that this is the life I (whoops, I mean WE) chose for them.  I hope someday they will look back and also realize how amazing their childhood was and be grateful for all they were able to experience living out on the ranch.

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Looking Back – 1 Year ago

It was a day much like today, we didn’t know how much our world could change within minutes but it did.  One year ago today marks the anniversary of the fire that destroyed our home.

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Night of the Fire. I remember William yelling back to the bedroom, get Cody and Get Out! I grabbed my phone (nightstand), boots (closest shoes to the door), and ran to get Cody and his one little blankie and met William and Nora outside. Scariest Night of my Life.

 

Well lets not focus too much on the past, I think it is important to always remember the past but not to dwell on it.  A couple months after the fire we had really begun the research process of house building (again…ugh), someone asked me, “When do you expect to be in the new house?”  Mind you, we hadn’t even decided on plans yet.  I replied, “September, the end of September.”  I was just positive that we could get it done (also I was positive that The Rancher and I both had superhuman powers to accomplish all that had to be done between my job, the ranch, the house, kids and everything else).  Well, needless to say, The Rancher caught wind of my new timeline for him and informed me there was, “No way in h*ll that we would be able to get that done.”

POP! phewwwwwwww! – – – that is my ballon (the only sense of sanity I had) being popped right then and there.

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Valentine’s Day 2014 – In Bismarck after the fire. Grandma Gerry got the kids Balloons

 

So new goals were set, and I said to The Rancher – NO MATTER WHAT, WE WILL BE LIVING IN THE NEW HOUSE WITHIN A YEAR.   AH HA!  There was an attainable goal, and we did it!

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And it is everything we could have hoped for! A lot of hard work, but it is ours – build by us, designed by us, live in by us!

 

Now I keep promising you all a video tour, and I keep trying I really do.  But let me be completely honest.  There is no way with my two toddlers, husband and the mud we are dealing with that I can even attempt to make the whole house clean at one time.  (Unless someone wants to volunteer to babysit the kids at their house :P).  So, I will be working on getting pictures (and good ones at that), for all of our supporters, family, friends to see the house.  We are expecting lots of visitors this summer so be sure to put us on our vacation plans!