Tag Archives: wine

And off we go….The ranch family hits the City!

Ok, well not the “whole” family, but The Rancher and I got a weekend off the new place.  First day/time/dining out/trip without the kids since the move.  For many people this is totally normal, traveling with their kids everywhere.  However, we were spoiled and we will fully admit it.  With myself transitioning from always working outside the home, to having a job where I work from home, being with my children and husband all day, every day has been quite the adjustment.  Not to mention moving away from both of our extended families who were always there to lend a hand if we had a big trip, or an awesome Menards/Lowes/Home Depot trip (after remodeling our first home, then building a home 2 years ago on the South Dakota ranch – those places knew us by name!).

Needless to say….I was looking forward to this time to explore Montana and Washington where there were no diapers, sippy cups, yelling for “NEMO” or fighting!  So hi-ho hi-ho it’s off to Spokane we go, 9.5 hours on the road!  William’s younger sister Jewel moved out there about two months ago and hasn’t seen any family since, so she was also excited to take us around.  Here is a visual tour of our road trip!

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These pictures were taken along the I-90 corridor through Montana, Idaho and Washington

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This is the Clark Fork River that you cross approximately 12 times on this trip  DSC07594 DSC07579

Absolutely Stunning.  However, not one place along this 640 mile trip had the amounts of snow that we do here at the ranch!

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Jewel (The City Girl!), The Rancher, and I had a blast! We ate great food (even though William wasn’t so sure on ordering at a few places because it wasn’t a steak house!), had delicious wine from Cougar Crest Winery and Patit Creek Winery’s as well as visited some local breweries!  If you ever get the chance to try Ice Wine, do it!

What are your vacation plans for the upcoming year?!

Resolutions…Make them, Break them, Hate them!?!

We all make them, we all break them, and it’s a bad circle that we get into.  Most often I think the issue is we set ourselves up for failure.  Now, if I made the resolution to try a new bottle of wine every week for 2014 that is something I could stick to I’m betting!  Does it make me “healthier,” “a better person,” “a better parent”??  Oh who knows, but it might just make me feel better!

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Wine…yes please?  Some of the bottles from our recent trip to Spokane!  Tell ya more later!

So now for real.  On the ranch here we have a few things that have to happen in 2014:  we need to get all the paperwork/legal side of things done in order to properly run two ranches; We need to ensure we have the best care, best feed, best everything for the cattle we care for; We need to begin marketing the other aspects of the ranch.   But is that a resolution?  Not exactly.  A resolution – by definition – “a firm decision to do or not to do something.”

So here it is, men and women of the world.  My resolution.  I resolve to do a 30 day challenge in January.  Why only January?  Because I would hate to commit to doing something for 365 days if I cannot even do it for 30 days.  30 days is a much more reasonable idea.  So my sister-in-law Jewel (who moved clear over to Washington State a few months ago) came up with the below challenge for us, and we would love you to join us.  We will need a good group of people for motivation because Lord knows I’m terrible at trying to work out by myself!  This of course came together after a good visit with Jewel in Spokane and some much needed down time for William and I…and of course a few samples of wine!  I will tell you all about that trip and places you must go in Spokane tomorrow!

January Challenge

You will probably have to click on the image to check it out, or leave a comment with your email and I will send you a good copy!  Compiled from http://shrinkingjeans.net/  Visit her website for more great workout tips!

But for now – I will challenge each and every one to do the above January Challenge in some way shape or form.  Also check out the 52 week savings challenge. Decide first on what you will do with the money you save!  It is just that, for 52 weeks, save the amount of money for each week you are on.  Week 1 – save $1 (put it in a jar).  Week 2 – save $2….Week $10 – save $10….and on and on till week 52.  You will have just about $1400 at the end of the year!  What will you do with that?!

Share with us your resolution if you have one or borrow one of mine!