Another chilly day here.

Happy Friday!!! It's date night Friday! Yeah!!!

Yesterday I won a gift certificate as a door prize at the Women's Business Roundtable luncheon. I was so pleased to see that it was to my favorite mexican restaurant, El Tapitao!

They have a shrimp fajita dish that is soooo good!

So... guess where we're going tonight?

What's on your agenda?

May you be blessed...

A friend just sent me this movie link. If you need a little lift for your day... this is just perfect!

http://www.mayyoubeblessedmovie.com/

Toni's Musings...

My kitten chewed on my iPod headphones last night. Why did I leave them attached to my iPod while I charged it??? Why?

I've started plugging in my new Dodge Ram truck overnight. This is my first time ever "plugging in" an automobile. Starts up pretty good in the morning!

It's a balmy 6 degrees here this morning. We should be done with this deep freeze pretty soon. In the 3 winters that I've been here in northern Wyoming (I'm from Boston!), there seems to be a 2 1/2 week period of deep freeze then it starts to warm up.

Would be great to be a "snow bird." Of course... that wouldn't work while the kids are still in school.... But would be a wonderful future goal! Where would we go? Hmmm....

We are... for sure... in a deep freeze! -16 is pretty cold!

Just got my little guy off for school. We usually walk... but NOT today!

It'll sure be a heat wave when it warms up to 30 later this week!

We have snow covering the ground here. The mountains look so pretty covered in white.

I've started receiving seed catalogs. Fun to look forward to having a garden... when it's so cold now!

Last year I really enjoyed my lettuce. It was my first time growing it! My little guy was asking me about growing popcorn this year. That sounds like fun!

It is so cold today! Below zero... 11 degrees... below zero!!!

They said that it was coming... of course on the day that they said the cold was coming... it was a balmy 50 degrees! I couldn't even forsee it being -11! (If you have some extra warm degrees... would you send them this way?)

It's date night Friday! Yeah!!!!

In honor of the cold... we're going to have a "stay at home" date night. My netflix movies will be here today.
I'm going to make lasagna and meatballs for supper tonight! That should be yummy... then we'll make some popcorn.... got to have popcorn to truly enjoy a movie... right?

It's snowing!

A blanket of snow is covering the land! We have only about a 1/2 inch of light fluffy snow, but it's still snowing!

Usually I walk my little man to school... but decided to drive today.

Sure looks pretty coming down! Hard to believe that yesterday it was 50 degrees, sunny... and just gorgeous!

I've come to know that weather in Wyoming is just like weather in New England... in that it changes pretty quickly.

I'm getting my eyes checked today. Been a couple years since my last appointment... shoot maybe longer!!! But... I believe that my eyes have actually gotten much much better!!! Helps that the air is so much clearer here in Wyoming.

Off to Billings!

Went skiing!

On the last day of Christmas break, we went skiing as a family... something that we've been talking about doing for the past couple years!

Even as we were heading out the door to Red Lodge Mountain in Montana... I was hesitant to picture myself on skis! Hey, I was a kid last time!!!

So, hubby, I and little man who is 9... we all took 1 1/2 lessons. Older son Matthew took off to the beginner slope (Miami Beach).

Before long little man was snow plowing his way down the beginner slope while I was still on the bunny trail practice my turns.

After lunch, my hubby decided that skiing just was NOT his thing. So I waited for my boys by the chair lift up to the beginner slope chair lift. (I wasn't brave enough to hop on by myself!)

After a long...while, along came my 12 year old... who's been several times skiing on school outings. He took off up the chair ride without me. Eventually little man came along.

He expertly guided thru the machine where you insert your ski lift ticket. The two of us get on the chair lift... as we went up and up (I'm mildly afraid of heights!)... he starts...
"Now mommy, don't look down... don't look up... don't drop your skis!
Mommy, you're going to fall off the lift when you get off!
Mommy, maybe the lady will slow the ride down for you...."

Well, I'm happy to report that I didn't fall down when I got off the chair AND... that the lady did slow down for me!

Oh my goodness was it beautiful at the top of the slope (Miami Beach). I beheld breathe-taking views of the mountain ranges all around. Just spectacular.

I slowly snow plowed my way down the mountain... practicing my turning.... till I thought that I would die!!! I had NO IDEA how much energy and exhersion it took to go down hill skiing!

It was a fun day!! Would love to go back again... as soon as my body stops hurting! LOL!

Just back from date night with my hubby.

We love to go out for dinner and a movie..... that's our thing!
Tonight we saw Night at the Museum.... very enjoyable!

Been on the cool.... burr side here. Please send some warmth... if you can spare it!

Happy New Year!

The kids are back to school today! We had a fun Christmas break... shopping... going out to eat... shopping... and topped off by a fun day of skiing at Red Lodge Ski Resort!

About that ski trip...
I hadn't been skiing since I was a kid. 90 minutes of lessons did the trick. I spent most of the day on the bunny slope... "brushing up!" Then proceeded to the Miami Beach chair ride with my 9 year old son (his first day ever skiing)... Mom... don't look down... don't drop your skis... don't look up... Mom... you're going to fall down when you get off the chair... maybe the lady will slow it down for you... LOL!

Well, I didn't fall down... but 9 year old son Aaron DID!

OK... at the top of the Miami Beach trail... I beheld breathe-taking views of the mountain ranges. It was just gorgeous and sunny and beautiful up there. A real treat!

Aaron and I snowplowed our way ever so slowly down the mountain.

......

The day after Christmas with Walmart shopping cards in our hands... off we went to Billings MT to Walmart. OH MY GOODNESS! It was crazy busy there. What the heck was I thinking? Shoot, by the time I got hit by a young man pushing (full force ahead) his empty cart in the arm... that was it... I was ready to GO!

I must have forgotten about the craziness... because after a day of "rest"... we proceeded again to Walmart for more shopping at the Cody Wyoming store... which... was... less busy.

.....

Christmas break went by pretty quickly here... we didn't get to go to the hot springs in Thermopolis! Oh man... would a good soak in the hot springs be really good... right now. I'm so soar from skiing!!!

Bye for now!

It's cub scout day... Wednesday. We're doing a "litter hunt" at the school... which is really just picking up trash! I'm going to buy a couple candy bars for the scout who "does his best... best!"

Simmering in my crockpot for supper tonight is Ham and Bean soup with corn bread.

Aaron Adventures...

Aaron will be 9 soon!

He's getting so big!!!

Last year we started walking to school together. It takes 10-15 minutes. Sometimes we just talk... sometimes we find just the right kicking stone.

Today, we kicked this rock most of the way to school. The question in my mind the whole way (OK... I changed caps to "Mom the soccer coach!") was... Why didn't he kick the soccer ball like this in the fall?

The other day it was sooo foggy. It reminded me of early mornings at the lake in Maine as a kid. Anyway, Aaron grabbed an empty vitamin bottle to collect the fog!

So cute!!!

Snowy day...

Hello from cowboy country!

Got a dusting of snow today. Couldn't see the Pryor mountains all day.

Took a trip to Billings, Montana yesterday. It's about 1 1/2 hours away. That's where we go for shopping. Started my Christmas shopping!!!!

Having some fun!

The beautiful highway thru Bear Tooth Mountain on 9/5/06.


Above you can see Rich and the boys in Red Lodge Montana (9/5/06). What a fun little touristy town!





This is a picture of Aaron & I on a recent day trip to Yellowstone National Park. You can see Yellowston Lake in the background.

Been a long time...

Greetings from northern Wyoming where the stars are twinkling bright this night!

I've added 2 new links to my side bar.

First is for a new program to help us lose inches. I'm a 8 so far... 4 inches gone... 4 pounds gone...

The second is The SECRET...
I've been studying this concept for a while now... "Ask and ye shall receive..." Finally I paid the $4.95 for a single view of The SECRET.

I have to say that it was worth every penny. My only regret is that I have to wait for the DVD version of it to come before I can watch it again....

This is a movie all about.... sorry... watch it for yourself.

15 Year Anniversary...

Rich and I went for dinner at the Rib & Chop House in Cody (Wyoming) to celebrate our 15nth wedding anniversary. It was yummy! And... it's always nice to get out for a while!!!

Tilling the Garden...

It was in the high 70's here today. Just glorious!

I went to Pamida and bought one of those neat reclining chairs for the yard. Also bought seeds: Peas, Green Beans, Corn... and some herbs... Cilantro and Basil. Got to get my tomato seeds planted. I'm a little behind! Hopefully I'm not too late!

My brother-in-law is out tilling the garden spot. That's a good sign!

This year we'll plant...
Tomatoes
Carrots
Yukon Gold Potatoes
Beets
Peas
Green Beans
Cukes
Radishes
Want to try lettuce this year.

I did a good amount of canning last year... tomato sauce, green bean, beets, corn and carrots. We've been enjoying my canned produced all winter!

Will you have a garden? What will you plant?

The Get-Away...

Rich took off Friday from work... and we escaped! Grandma & Granpa watched the kids.

We drove down state, went for dinner and stayed in a hotel. We went past Wind River where we drove through short tunnels in the mountain side and past the winding river... even had a nice little picnic there!

Down to Casper and Douglas we saw tons of antelope! The rolling green hills and flat grassy land made me feel as if I were on the top of a mountain. At one point we encountered fog so thick that you couldn't see a car length ahead!

It was a wonderful 2 day getaway! Wyoming is such a pretty state.... so much more to see! Would love to go to Jackson Hole next.

Dark clouds loomed over paradise...

I was trying to get caught up with some laundry as I hung the house out on the line. Looking up at the sky, I could tell by the dark clouds that something was brewing...

But, I told myself that it would probably just blow over...

The kids had just come home from school when the wind started howling... followed the a huge gust of wind and rain. The electricity flickered on/off then went out.

The boys joyfully found candles. My chicken soup simmered away on the gas stove.

About 45 minutes later the electricity came back on.

I went into the office to check email when I was comfronted by the wafting smell of burned electrical parts... OH No... Not the computer... please!!! I even started feeling the walls to check for a wiring fire. Nope that there, gratefully!

I abandoned the search to get supper on the table.

Turns out that the storm burned out one of our surge protectors. Well, guess it did it's job!

Happy April!

Happy April friends!

Our walk to school was a little nippy but our conversation was warm! We passed a cottonwood tree that is just ripe with leaf buds. What a site!

Aaron and I took bets as to when the leaves would open. He said Saturday. We'll see!

After a couple days of moisture, I've noticed that the grass is turning green. I love it when the countryside goes from shades of brown and beige to green!

Rich said that the irrigation water was being put into the canals on the 1st. I'll have to take a walk up there to see.