5

Gabi turned the Big 5 last week!  She was very excited and it seemed like it was a week-long celebration.  She had a party with lots of her friends and cousins last Saturday.  Amanda made her a rainbow cake...both inside and out!  It was super cute!

 



Gabi wanted her party to be rainbow themed, so the guests watercolored Rainbow Fish, blew rainbow bubbles, and took home licorice rainbows.  They mostly just ran around the yard and played!

My Mom & Dad were in town the weekend before Gabi's birthday, so we celebrated then as well.  It was so nice to have them here.  On Saturday morning, we set out from our house on a hike and made it about 1/3 of the way up Windy Ridge.  We ended up packing back a ton of rocks for Gabi's collection.

Rest stop!

Maya the "tough girl mountain climber!"

Morning snuggles with Grammy Mary

 

We went out to dinner at the Tunnel Inn in Story (yum!)  They surprised Gabi with a slice of birthday cake!

Opening presents from Grammy Mary and Papa Gary!

We had yet another celebration on Gabi's actual birthday with the "ranch family".  They came over after dinner for cupcakes, ice cream, and presents.  Gabi's teacher at school made her the Birthday Crown.

 

 

 

Here are some more pictures from the last couple weeks:

 

Maya playing at the park

Crazy hair morning for Maya

Maya's "work"...she would trace letters, words, and numbers all day if she could!  She is starting to write them all on her own as well.

Out on our adventure today...rock surfing.

Lots of love to you all!  Tara



Soooo....it has been awhile.



Hello!  Hope this finds you doing well!  We have made it through summer and have had a busy couple of weeks getting back into the school of things. :)  Our summer was super fun and even though I'm a little sad to see it go, I was excited to get back to teaching this year and the girls were excited to return to Ms. Evonne's to see their buddies and especially to start preschool.  We all function better with routine anyways (well, at least I do.)

 

Here are some pictures from the end of summer.

 

My running buddy, Katie, lives up the creek from us and has let the girls ride her horses.  Gabi is a natural.

Maya loving up on Rocky...both girls have given him so much more attention now that Jackson is gone. He loves every minute.

Playing in Gio's sandbox with buddies Tera and Kodi at the Pig Roast Greer & Amanda hosted a few weeks ago.

We put sod in about a month ago and it has done really well despite a major lack of rain.  Our sprinkler system rocks and I will now admit that it was worth every penny.  Greer and Chris really helped us out and we are thankful for their time.

Backyard all raked out and ready to go!  I had a few choice words for the weeds we had to pull out of there. ;)

Here we go...the Bobcat came in handy!

Almost done!

FINALLY DONE!  The girls have longed to do this all summer!

 We've gone on a few hikes, camped out in the backyard last weekend, and spent an evening at the cabin a few weeks ago.  Here are all 5 cousins playing in the canoe!

 
We traveled with Greer and Amanda to Austin, TX over Labor Day weekend to attend the Wyoming vs. Texas football game.  We had a great time...ate lots of yummy food and hit the town.  Gabi & Maya stayed with Dave and Joyce and had a heck of a good time.

At the University of Wyoming tailgate.

Texas stadium...we sat in the middle of a sea of burnt orange....a little intimidating but they were pretty nice to us.

Both Gabi & Maya started preschool last week.  Gabi is in Pre-K and Maya is in the 3/4s class.  They both love school so far. 

Gabi's 1st day of Pre-K

Maya's 1st day of 3/4s...of course she had to wear her absolute favorite dress in the world.

Maya and her buddy, Kade. She doesn't ever call him "Kade", she calls him, "my buddy Kade."

There has been a fire burning in the mountains near us since August 14th.  It started by lightning and has now grown to over 6000 acres.  We have had helicopters with big buckets of water flying over our house and haven't been able to open the windows much because it is so smoky.  My treadmill has reluctantly been used more than I'd like because I can't run outside.  They're getting a pretty good handle on it now, but it got pretty scary late last week. 

Hard to see the flames in this picture, but they were definitely visible on many occasions, especially at night.

 

This was probably the worse day...taken from the mesa above the ranch.

 

 

The harvests around here have been unbelievable!  The apple trees in Don & Phyllis' yard went crazy!  On Labor Day, we shook most of the apples down and pressed them into apple juice.  It was a lot of hard work but that apple cider sure is going to taste good this winter.  The kids definitely got in on the fun!

Picking up the apples.

One of many hauls.

"Heads up!"  Joe was up in the tree shaking down the apples.  I'm sure every kid got bonked in the head at least once.

The handy apple washers.



In addition to the 18 quarts of apple juice, I've also canned 14 qts. of applesauce, 27 pints of salsa, 34 pints of green beans, 26 pints of diced tomatoes, 14 half-pints of pizza sauce, 12 qts. of spaghetti sauce, 9 pints of tomato sauce, 5 pints of zesty zucchini relish, 9 half-pints of jalepeno jelly, 13 quarts of Colorado peaches, 5 pints of apple-chipolte BBQ sauce, and 5 pints of Sombrero BBQ sauce.  My canner is offically put away for the season...I kinda got in a little over my head (aka...lack of time for all of that once school started!)  I have frozen a lot of veggies as well including green beans, jalepenos, and green peppers so far. The garden this year was definitely a success...and is not done....there is still a lot to be harvested and enjoyed/frozen.

The girls still love to play outside, especially in their new grass.  It will be hard to keep them in once the weather turns.  Gabi is an expert bike rider!  Often, Joe and her will go for a bike ride after dinner and she loves every minute.  She is kind of a wild woman on that bike, but not major injuries yet (knock on wood.)  Gabi is also getting really good a hula hooping! 

Gabi took this picture of herself with my phone. :)

There is a new face on the ranch!  Dave and Joyce got a new puppy, Rusty.  He is super cute and the girls just adore him...they want to go see him everyday.  It will be fun to have him around.

 Until next time...and hopefully that is sooner than later...Happy Fall!  Tara



Johnson County Fair & Rodeo

Our week at the fair started last Tuesday with the Sheep Lead.  Nine of Don & Phyllis' Great-Grandchildren participated!  We made wool jumpers for the girls and Joyce made the boys little black vests with the JH brand on them.  The girls' t-shirts had the brand as well.  We made a corral that went around Madison and the sheep, Mary.  The other kids carried the corral and Gio pulled Milan in a wagon.  They did a great job and won "Most representative of the wool industry"!  They were all pleased with their prize of $5 each, a huge sucker, and a pink participant ribbon!

Mary the sheep

Gabi in her wool jumper

Maya's jumper was a bit big, but still pretty cute.

Gabi & Gio with Mary

Off they go!

On their way to model for the judges!

On their way back

Don & Phyllis with their sheep leaders!

 The girls had a fun time watching a few shows, the parade on Saturday, and the rodeos.


Maya watching the beef show with Papa Don

Maya watching the parade and gathering lots of candy

 Each of the girls entered quite a few items in the fair.  They made cookies with Grammy Joyce, made arrangements with flowers from the garden, selected marigolds and zinnias.  They each entered a painting and peas from the garden.  Gabi also entered the Heaviest Zucchini contest and won a purple ribbon!

Gabi's big blue fish finger painting won a blue ribbon

Maya's watercolor painting (that she spent an hour on one morning this summer) also won a blue ribbon!

Gabi's giant zucchini!

 Maya took home quite a haul of ribbons!  She won Grand Champion for her sugar snap peas!  She won reserve for her peanut butter cookies and another for her flower arrangement!

Notice Joyce won Reserve Champion for the Adult class too!!

Below is the poem that Phyllis wrote for the Sheep Lead.  The announcer read it as the kiddos were walking out with Mary and modeling their outfits.

Hall Cousins

This herd of cousins are styling 100% wool duds

They are friends, playmates, and also great buds

Madison’s leading the sheep named Mary

McGiveny’s said “Go steady – do not tarry”

Madison’s skirt is purple, with a plaid band

And everyone here has a big JH brand

Ella, Kate, Gabi, Maya, and Milan – all the gals

Wear their plaid jumpers – they are all special pals

The boys in this group are Gio, Marco and Jay

They are sporting black vests on this special Tuesday

The vests are all wool – don’t they really look spiffy

Will they wear them all day? – That would really be “iffy”

All the clothes from wool cloth were made by a Grammy and the mothers

And the corral for the sheep was made by some others

They figured with this many kids – just perhaps

The sheep needed protection against major mishaps

By the time these kids enter 4H or FFA

The ranks will be bigger in a very good way

They are all a bit small, but they like this style show

When they get older they will all be “in the know”

These descendents of the Hall’s – ages seven to one

Have good times at the ranch – its hilarious fun

They wear wool for their clothes with JH on their chests

And they are trying real hard to be some of the best.

A special thank you to Ian McGiveney for the use of his Rambouillet Ewe, Joyce Hall for the wool all of the garments were made from, and Phyllis Hall for writing our catchy poem.

Mountain Fun

A few weeks ago we headed into the mountains without a plan and had a super fun day!  We ended up going to Medicine Wheel, a Native American historical site.  We hiked into the area and walked around admiring all the cloths, trinkets, rocks, and dreamcatchers that adorn the area.

 Both girls hiked nearly the entire 3 miles and had a great time!

There was even some snow along the trail that inspired a snowball fight in July!

Maya did a good job walking but needed a ride for the last mile or so!  Daddy to the rescue!

After our hike, we found the most picturesque site for a picnic along a stream in the woods.  The girls had fun playing in the stream after lunch.

We stopped at the Fish Hatchery in Story on the way home.  The girls' favorite part was feeding the large trout in the stock pond.


 

Miss Cutie Patootie (aka Crazy Hair Girl.)

Sometimes the most fun days are the unplanned ones!  Tara