Okay readers, I know what's going through your mind! I didn't fall off the face of the earth nor did I drown in a river. I have been really busy over the past couple days and just haven't had time to update on what's been going on.

So let me start you off with the biggest news of all. I traveled to Hermosa, SD yesterday for work to see and listen to Temple Grandin give a presentation on animal handling. Now let me tell you who Temple is. She is a renowned animal handler, author and autism advocate. She is a professor at Colorado State University. She is an amazing figure for the cattle industry. It was huge for me to be there and as well for my company. HBO came out with a movie, Temple Grandin, on Feb. 6 and I haven't seen yet but will soon! My parents caught it on HBO and gave amazing reviews to me! It makes me more excited to watch it after meeting her in person!


Onto other news, my garden! I have tomatoes growing! It's so exciting! I talked to my Grandpa sometime last week and he told me to pull up some onions and see what I have. I'm nervous, so that's why I haven't gotten to it yet. I hope to do that tonight when my plans are to de-weed my garden. Also, I think I may have some beans ready to pop anytime. My produce has sure taken huge turns over the week.

Our 4th of July weekend plans is still a mystery. Dustin and I have a lot of options but just don't know which one to do! So maybe by the end of the week, I'll know which direction we are going. I know this is a short post but just wanted to inform all of you that I'm still here and everything is going well.

I'll let you know how my gardening extravaganza goes tonight later this week! Enjoy the nice and beautiful weather outside, because I am!

Hello readers! After a busy weekend, I thought I would fill you in with my weekend happenings! Brace yourself, it's busy!

This weekend was Philip Days, what a better way for Dustin and I hopefully meeting some people. On Friday, we attended the Matched Bronc Rodeo. It was an awesome event and well attended. My favorite part was able to watch J.J. Elshere, World Champion saddle bronc rider, spur his horse to make it far into the competition. Then we grooved on downtown to listen to Dustin Evens and throw back some drinks with friends.

Saturday was pretty busy. The Cattle Business Weekly sported our stuff in the Philip Days parade. Let's just say, I always knew that I had the 80's spirit in me! And I think I went over the top. We were promoting our marathon rely. Check out pictures below. Besides the parade, we were able to conquer our crazy lawn and spruce the garden up. After a long day of work, we were spectators at the demo derby. It was a great night to relax!


So Sunday leads me to express my greatness of cooking. I made my first apple pie. Let's just say, 4-H has been beneficial in creating me into a Betty Crocker! Since today has been gorgeous, Dustin and I prepared a feast for supper. It was amazing!


Enough with the cooking, I have exciting news. A package from my grandma arrived on Saturday with a rain gauge and a ton of pictures of me from when I was a baby to when I graduated from college. It has been so much fun looking at those. My garden is doing really well. Everything is up from under the ground and growing. We got hit with rain tonight and experience our first tornado siren tonight. However, there was no damage! I'll have to see how much we got tomorrow morning!


I better stop rambling! Just wanted to update!

Until next time...maybe I'll try my hand at making a cherry pie!

Greetings ya'll! So I finally decided to update on some recent happenings!

First happening...rain!
Second happening...rain!
Third happening...rain!
Fourth happening...sunshine! Hooray!

Over the past several days, we have been getting hit with rain like the rest of the state has been. We are not flooding like Mitchell or Aberdeen areas are, thankfully! I just didn't have much to say because rain makes me blah! So on a positive note, the sunshine is out!

It was nice to be home over the weekend with the weather not cooperating. I was able to get some laundry accomplished and clean some areas in the house. Exciting news, I have been getting some well rested nights! We purchased a new mattress and let me tell you...no more 5:30 a.m. wake ups or restless sleep!

I'm not going to discuss my garden today. It just hasn't been good. What I really should do is slap myself on the wrist because I haven't been a great caretaker! Also, our lawn mower is acting up so that doesn't help matters!

The only thing that is getting me through this garden deal is my Grandpa! I talked to him on the phone the other night and he gave me as much of his gardening smarts as possible. It's so nice to have some help tips. What I should do is wait for him to come out here to show me what he is really talking about! I'm thinking a road trip for Grandpa!

Well, I hope the sun is shining in your area and you are able to get out and some something active! I'm going for a bike ride tonight!

I better get to my weed pickin' and bike peddlin'....enjoy the sun!

Alleluia! It's Friday! I don't know if it's just me but this week has felt like it took centuries to get to this day! It could of been Mother Nature's mixed emotions of the weather or just trying to recuperate from all the traveling we have done in the past month!

Dustin and I have nothing planned for this weekend, well I take that back! We need to run to Rapid City and stock our fridge again. I'm looking forward to having some quality time at home. My plan is to work our washer and dryer to death and polish the woodwork that seems to be caked with dust. It will be a nice time to get everything organized again!

I have a few updates! First one, marathon training. I haven't talked much about the grueling training that I have done to get into shape for our office marathon rely in October. We have conquered a month of training already and I can proudly say that I can run a constant 2 miles! Just 2.5 miles to go!

Second update, our garden has really grown in the last couple days. With all this heat and rain we have been getting, hopefully some produce will be coming soon. The only things that I'm waiting to sprout is the peppers and chiles. I think within a week they should be peaking through the ground.

I know that this post isn't all to exciting but I thought I would keep you on your toes with some news! I hope everyone will enjoy the weekend like I will be doing!

Until the next rain storm...set some time aside to relax!

After much traveling in the past month, we have finally parked the car hopefully for several weeks now. Dustin and I have had shared many minutes and hours on the road to see family and friends plus to share a special day with many friends as they say their vows to one another. It has been so much fun!

To recap all of you avid readers what happened over the weekend, we were in the Aberdeen area. One of Dustin's high school friends Adam said I do to his new wife Adrienne. Dustin was an usher and did an amazing job! It was a fun time to catch up with friends! Check out the photos below!

We travel to Pierpont to spend time with Dustin's family. I finally experience my first camping adventure even though we stayed in a camper. It was so much fun to sit outside and enjoy the nature. Dustin's uncle, Eugene took me out fishing. It was so much fun to re-live my childhood. I would go fishing with my grandpa down at Round Lake, just down the road from my home. Well, this fishing adventure with Eugene was different. I got a bite and I was using all my might to reel this slimming thing in. Right when I thought it was close to the top, SNAP, there went my line. I was disappointed! Say, I still had fun though!


Here is my garden update. Onions are becoming overbearing, beans are still growing, tomato plants are still alive, and the carrots have showed their face. We are just waiting for the peppers and chiles to surface! We got a nice little shower early this evening, just right when Dustin was going to through the kabobs on the grill. It will be exciting to see in the next couple weeks what the garden will do!


Until the next post...hopefully the sun will shine!

Memorial weekend was an amazing time to be home and see family and friends! I'm a true country girl at heart and loves spending as much time on the farm as possible. It was an action packed weekend! Dustin and I arrived around 1:30 a.m. on Saturday morning, slept for a few hours and the craziness starts!

I usually can't sleep past 8 a.m. to save my life so bright-eyed and bushy tailed I was wake with my mom's amazement of why I'm up at this time. My mom and I spontaeously went into town and got pedicures. It felt amazing! We then rushed home to feed the men and then took off for Willmar to get stuff for her landscaping around the house. We quickly drove back to get ready for the wedding that evening. I want to extend my congratulations to Andrea and Chris and Chuck and Jaime on their blessed day! Dustin and I wish you the best on your new adventure together! Anyways, that's what I did in one day on 7 hours of sleep!

Sunday was looking much better...less to do and a more relax day. I started off with a nice 1.6 mile run down our road. It was nice to get out but man, when that wind is against you, you struggle! When I sprinted home, I saw my mom and dad out laying the mulch around my mom's plants. NOW let me tell you something, I found out over the weekend about why my mom has done this is because when she received a plant from her office, I told her, " I bet it will only last 5 days!" She did not like that, so now I can say that I lit some fire under her butt to prove me wrong!

Around lunch time, the sheering began. Autumn and Alyssa, who house their animals at our farm came out to work. Autumn and I combined sheered four lambs in two hours, despite some clipper issues. Check out the photos below of the fun time!

Later that evening, my parents had a grill out where some family friends showed up and some friends that I haven't seen for a very long time did as well! It was so much fun to catch up with them. Especially my longtime friend, Amy who I've known since kindergarten and is getting married next March. We talked about wedding stuff and caught up on the latest gossip!

Let's just say Memorial weekend was an action-packed one! Unfortuentaly, I couldn't get any pictures because the battery in my camera died. It was a depressing moment! Next time when I visit, I will do my best to capture my farm life. On a positive note, when we arrived back in Philip, I immediately went to check my garden to make sure nothing roasted over the weekend, my beans sprouted over the weekend! It's amazing...now I'm just waiting for carrots, chiles and peppers to show their colors!

Now the reason for the title of this blog post, Dustin and I got a new car and we've had it for about a month now and we almost have racked up 5,000 miles on it! This weekend, we hit the road one last time for a while to head north to Aberdeen. One of Dustin's high school friends is getting hitched and we look forward to sharing this special day with them and seeing some more friends.

Well, until the next post...enjoy the beautiful and sunny weather!