Updating my blog:

Obviously, being more consistent with blog posts was not one of my New Year's resolutions. :-)

Any of you who are mothers know that, when little babies come, suddenly things like blog posts are not all that important and fall far down on the list of priorities.

That being said, we've been busy this month! Here are just a few photos to demonstrate:

The first two weeks of the month we had company, with my mom arriving from Iowa on Jan. 2 and leaving to go home on the 16th. Mid-way through her stay she was joined by my dad and Grandma Hemken from Iowa, so we kept plenty busy. My mom helped with organizing and sewing projects around my house, which was very welcome, and my dad also did things like install a thermostat in the basement so we can run the furnace to heat the downstairs bedrooms, while using the wood stove upstairs.

If I ever get to it, I will post some photos of all the projects my mom and I accomplished.

The photo above is my mom and Levi playing dress-up once again. :-) The newborn-sized onesie she made at his Iowa baby shower last July, and she managed to stuff him back in it, although the snaps were about at his belly button.

We've also been cutting teeth! My mom found Levi's first one on Jan. 3, and the second one showed up the day after she left on Jan. 17. She gave him this crocheted cap for Christmas, along with a mini library of children's books and a box of clothing for him to grow into.

Speaking of the books, also while she was here we bought a bunch from the local Salvation Army, and with the two collections we've been enjoying the library. Either Scott or myself reads to him at least once a day, and usually it's twice because I read to him again at bedtime. He's at a stage where sometimes lala land is more interesting than looking at the books, but other times he does act really interested in the pictures. I plan to continue reading with him, covering five or six books every day at this stage.

And he's also started on solids since my last post. See why I haven't had time to write anything new? The fun never ends around here. :-) He's still at one meal a day, in the evening, but I need to start feeding him in the morning. He has a very healthy appetite, polishing off a bowl of rice cereal in no time, and hanging his mouth open, begging for more. We have some store-bought rice cereal I've been feeding that was given to us, but once that runs out I will begin making our own from brown rice. He's also had pears, peaches and apples, and doesn't seem to agree with banana yogurt - not sure yet if it's the bananas or yogurt that's causing the problem, but it does keep him up all night fussing.

Levi has been thoroughly enjoying the Bumbo seat that the Roundup office staff gave to us - except it's not the Bumbo brand, I always forget what it is. This toy that sticks in the tray is one of his favorites, and when I take it out to feed him I have to hide it otherwise it will distract him when he should be eating.

And in other news, this black Ford truck is no longer in our possession, as of last Saturday.

We now have this green Dodge - a diesel, with a lot more room in the back seat for Levi than the black one had.

So that's just a brief update on all that we've been up to! I could make promises about posting more frequently, but we all know that people shouldn't make promises they can't keep. :-)

Summer Work

Since I've been doing lots of random things lately, working off several to-do lists, I figured I'd share lots of random photos with you today. :-)

First and foremost, let's point out that top cow dog in the photo above. :-) That's Lucy working cows last Saturday morning when we were up at the ranch to brand late calves and turn our bulls out. Lucy continues to be a good hand to have around, and she's very eager to do her work. She would work cows all day long every day if she had the chance.

We got up to the ranch about 5:30, but still didn't get too early of a start. It's been pretty hot lately, so it would have been nice to have been an hour ahead of where we were.

Scott, Jamie and I gathered the cows off the meadow, which is a small pasture close to the house, so it didn't take too long.

When we got down in the bottom Trav and Bob joined us, also.

The grass in the meadow is still very lush and green and pretty.

And here we are about to the corrals, which are on the right edge of the photo.

And here is an accidental shot, but one that shows how much my belly sticks out now - to the saddle horn.

I've been riding Deets this summer, since my mares are on nursery duty. Most times people don't like to ride him because he's so tall and almost impossible to mount without a step, but I figure I need a step for any horse these days, so I might as well ride him. And once I'm on, I'm on, and everyone else has to open the gates. :-) This photo marks 33 weeks of pregnancy.

Once we gathered we had six calves to brand and a few to dehorn before turning the cows back out. Bob grilled steaks for lunch, then Scott and I headed back to town for a nap before heading to the county fair's rodeo that evening.

Sunday morning I woke up early and made my favorite pancakes - the whole wheat ones with no sugar and the beaten egg whites that give them fluff. They're delicious. The recipe is for blueberry, but this time I made them 'mixed berry' because I had partial bags of blueberries and raspberries in the freezer. The bummer about frozen blueberries is that they turn the whole batter blue/green, and then your husband is suspicious. :-) I have yet to make them with chocolate chips, but I'm sure that would only take them up another notch. Someday I might remember to post the recipe here - I have it on a card in my recipe box.

Since it's been hot during the day, Scott and I did some yardwork before Sunday heated up, and then took it easy the rest of the day. I edited a group of photos, and we watched a new show on Netflix instant called "American Pickers," which is actually a couple of guys from eastern Iowa who travel the region, sifting through people's barns and sheds, looking for good junk. I also got started on the log cabin-patterned quilt for our baby, of which I've already made two for the new babies of college friends earlier this year.

This was last night's project - waxing Scott's black truck.

Isn't it pretty? We really should have taken before and after photos, because for some reason our vehicles are covered with tree sap this summer, and it was pretty dull and awful before. Our theory is that the cottonwood trees drip the sap with the high heat - last summer we didn't get nearly so hot for so long, so it didn't happen to the vehicles before.

Now the question is - when will it be the poor white truck's turn? Perhaps next week, as the rest of this week and the weekend are pretty scheduled already, with another baby class, a wedding in Meeteetse, etc.

Scott and the pups take a break with some sun tea after waxing the truck. We've been making lots of sun tea this summer, and it sure is delicious on the warm summer evenings. Notice how green the lawn is, though! I've been working hard to keep it deeply watered, and it's doing pretty well through the dry heat and scorching sunshine.

And I'm not complaining about the heat, because I know we've got about another month of summer before the temperatures will cool and we'll trend quickly toward winter again. I'll take all the 90s I can get!

it only took a year and a half

in the midst of the ranch rodeo business and excitement of last weekend, i overlooked the notable fact that i had a gooseneck ball installed in my pickup last week, picking it up friday.

since i got the truck in january 2009 i've wanted to put one in, and since i started hanging out with scott and helping with ranch work it's been obvious that i needed to install one so my truck could actually be useful. it's kind of the same situation me and my horses are in with not being able to rope.

so, after all the house start-up expenses settled down, this month i had the extra money and i called up a guy who runs wyoming turbo, as he was the one recommended by friend dejoe, who sold me the truck.

last july's truck project was tinting the windows all the way around, which i love. until i got my mercedes car without tint, i never realized how much cooler the truck's interior stays in the summer sun.

so anyway, there it sits in the driveway with the shiny gold ball in the bed, and it's a B&W turnover ball, so you can pull it out of the square bracket and flip it upside down to have a level truck bed again, if need be. i could have just had a fixed one welded in, but i figured i might as well get the good one. maybe this weekend i can come up with a reason to head to the ranch and hook scott's trailer on it to try it out. :-) there is a used titan gooseneck horse trailer at our friends' trailer dealership that scott told me about, with a dressing room in the nose and a saddle rack in the back corner. thinking about going by to take a look, since it might be a good price.

it's been nice, having the diesel mercedes, as i've already spent a lot less on fuel. yesterday i filled the truck for the first time since returning from our july 4th trip to iowa. it used to take $75 once a week to fill it, and sometimes more. anyone with a truck is very familiar with the fact that most gas pumps shut off at $75. it's depressing to have to run your card twice at one fuel stop!