Christmas Finale

Christmas lights on the deck with a little dusting of snow made for a very pretty sight.

Hannah all dressed up to go to church for Christmas Eve Service. We as a family were apart of the Advent Candle Lighting during the service.

Home again, home again..............to find that the dog had pooped on the carpet in the living, so through much gagging I finally got that cleaned up and supper started. (Mental note: make sure the dog is outside when we go to Christmas Eve Service next year!) This is Hannah opening a preschool pc game pack.

Hannah opening a magnetic doll set, sort of like paper dolls.

Cassidy stalling to open his gift, cause his big sister is digging him to hurry up so she can open her gift. We take turns opening gifts and no one can open their gift till the one before them is finished.

Its.................................a letterman's jacket!!!!!

Doesn't he look sharp??

Grace opening her gift......what is it??????

Its a bottle of ketscup, ha ha!! Really there wasn't just ketscup, but a couple gift cards. Can you tell she thought this was a bit funny?

Here's hoping that you all had a very Merry Christmas and wishing you a Blessed New Year!!

Kagan and Dallie

This is Kagan and Dallie, my brother's kids. Kagan is 5 and Dallie is 3. Look like little sweetpeas, don't they.
We will be going to Mom and Dad's for Christmas and will get to see my brother's family then.

Brrr, Baby Its Cold Outside!!!!

It sure is cold out. The tractor has been jelled up since yesterday. Doug is working to get it going again. Though we are not from Minnesota, I thought this video was funny and we can relate being northerners. Stay warm! BTW, you will have to shut off my music to listen to the video.

Lady Scotties are Class B State Champions

We spent last weekend in Rapid City at State Volleyball. Here we are all together after the championship game.
Hannah stayed with Grandma Bonna on Friday night. Afte chasing her on Thursday through the Civic Center and finding her down on the floor, thanks Luke for alerting us, we couldn't bare the thought of another two days. She had great fun at Bonna's.



Grace showing off her medal and her parents.

Grace receiving her medal.

Grace and Cassidy

Lady Scotties "State Volleyball Champions. We haven't won State in Volleyball since 1996. This is the only sport that Philip has taken State in ever.

Philip Lady Scotties Headed to State Volleyball

The Scotties are headed to State in Rapid City on Thursday. Their first game will be against Mt. Vernon at 2:00 pm. Grace is a manager this year, that's her on the left in the front row. Congratulations and good luck ladies.

Some of you might be wondering...

what do Doug and Nancy look like. Here is a picture of us last year (cause I can't find a recent picture, oh yeah, there isn't one, ha) at State Volleyball in Sioux Falls. The girls are going to State again this year, but it will be in Rapid City, much closer than last year.

Opening Day of Deer Season

Cassidy got a 3x4 mule deer buck on the opening day of deer season Saturday. He has a 26" span.

The proud hunter shows off his trophy. His dad would be proud.

Cassidy and Doug were pretty tired after wrestling the buck in the snow. They got the 4-wheeler trailer stuck in the snow, so they had to ride the 4-wheeler home double with the buck on too.

Grace's Turns 18

Our "little girl" turned 18 on November 6th. My the time has flown and I feel old at times. She spent her birthday snowed in with her boring family, but I think it was ok. She received 18 roses for her birthday and
some other things. No birthday cake as my oven doens't work without power. I did cook a pudding cake in a cast iron skillet, it wasn't great but it was something.

Blizzard

The storm started Wednesday, November 5th. It started raining in the afternoon while I was at work and by the time I got home it was starting to snow. We got over an inch of rain before it started to freeze and then our troubles began....

Here are the bulls calves having grain after the storm. They sure love it. Anyway we lost power Thursday morning about 4:30 and the wind blew aweful. School was cancelled and Grace got to spend her 18th birthday stuck at home. The first day of no electricity wasn't too bad, but...


This is a picture of a fairly deep crick, its blowed full of snow so it looks level with the banks. On with the story, we were lucky that we didn't lose any cattle and we stayed warm with the propane stove as the woodstove doesn't work without power. I was getting rather sick of cooking in the dark even though we did have oil lanterns. The power finally came on lastnight, Sunday, about 9:30. I almost felt like jumping up and turning on all the lights, but I contained myself.



Here is a bale stack that the snow almost covered and the round bales are stacked three high. Its an awesome snow drift.

Everything is still covered with ice and slowly everyone is getting power back,thank the Lord for linemen.

Our crossing that was filled full of water in the spring blowed shut with snow, we really should do something about that. Here Doug is digging it out with the tractor. There are some drifts that are so hard that we just have to chip away at them. But we are safe and sound and we hope that all the others at endured this storm are doing the same.

Sisters

The Princess Sisters

Princess Number One

Princess Number Two

The girls went to town to "trick or treat" tonight. They came home with a grocery bag full of candy.

Mickey the Kitty

Our kitty used one of her "9" lives today. Bob called lastnight and said he could hear a cat in the feed wagon, well we looked in the feed wagon and nothing. Later in the day Doug found her in the grinder mixer in the shed, we just were looking in the wrong place. So, Doug hooked the tractor up to the mixer and pulled it out. Mickey was stuck in a 6" tube with an elbow. It has a fluted top that gets bigger. Doug and Cassidy tried to get her to grab an old sheet I gave them, but they couldn't get her. When I got there they were both headed to the shop to get tools to take the mixer apart. I started talking to her and she was all but screaming back, so I decided to climb up on top with the flashlight and have a look. When I shined the light in and called "kitty, kitty" she would jump up enough that I could see her paws. By this time Doug and Cassidy came back and they threw me up the sheet and I ripped it into a strip and tied a knot in the end and I run it down the tube. Mick grabbed the sheet and I pulled her out. She was one happy kitty. She came to the house for a bowl of cream and cat food. We have no idea how long she was down there, she comes and goes, so we don't pay much attention.

Hannah's 4th Birthday, October 21st.

Our baby girl is 4.
Grandma Mary and Grandma Shuffield came the Sunday before
Hannah's birthday to celebrate.


Hannah got a new dolly from Grandma and Grandpa. It has
red hair too.

Silly girl!!!

Grandma JoAnn

Grandma Jo is Doug's mom and she turned 73 yesterday.We are taking her out for supper tonight at the local steakhouse. She is a resident at the nursing home and she really enjoys a meal that not hospital food. Hannah made her a birthday card and she is really excited about taking it to her. Yesterday they had a birthday party for her at the nursing home and Selma (Doug's sil) made her a cake, thanks Selma.

Taking the heifers to fresh pasture.

Doug moved the heifers from the school section to the missle base pasture last week. Here the "girls" are getting one last drink before they head out.There they go, you can see our place in the background where the trees are. He brought them through the yard and down the road to fresh pasture.

Fall Fixing

Here is my 12 year old "baby" Chester.

Doug and Cassidy fixing the end of the shed last weekend.

Cassidy setting a pole.

Oats

Here is Hannah and Doug measuring the oats.We got a good crop this year and Doug has been busy hauling all the hay we got this summer.What a little rain won't do, I think Doug thought that I didn't believed him that it

actually does rain out here. Seven years later it did rain and it meant it. It was a beautiful year, green most of the summer, and cool till August. Life is good.

It Rained It Poured

This is a picture of our crick crossing in June, we couldn't get across for a few days.

Our Kids

This is Hannah, our little cupcake, she will be 4 in a couple weeks.

This is Cassidy, he is in the 8th grade and playing JH football. I should get some football pictures of him

This is Grace, she is a Senior this year. My how time has flown.

Mom and Dad's 40th Wedding Anniversary

My Mom and Dad will celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary on October 12th. Mom made me swear that we will not have a party. She is such a party pooper, ha. She instead told us we could have a party when they were married for 60 years, (an Ensure party) funny.

Thorson Hereford Ranch

Welcome to our little piece of heaven on earth, life on a ranch can be tough, but we wouldn't have it any other way.