Bitter Sweet Christmas

Now just what do you buy a Red Neck for Christmas?
His wife bought him a Colt 45 (trusting person?)





Christmas morning 2007
I see your little foot prints in the snow!



Well once again it is Christmas past, and this was a bitter sweet one. Here it was Christmas morning and I am out in my PJ's and slipper with my camera to photo the beauty the Christmas Eve blizzard has left behind (good I live in the country, and my neighbors know I am a nutty old lady).

The children start arriving about one o'clock, Blaike got here first, and soon Tommy and his gang were on our door stop. Since we had no set time for anyone to be here; I started putting out the goodies and we began the present exchange; this avoided a little of the confusion we usually encounter. Around three the rest of the crowd arrived, and the party began, lots of visiting, thank you's, eating, and just a enjoyable time. Our little Addison got a much needed nap amid all the noise. She is such a precious baby; she never made a whimper all day, even being passed from person to person some of them being total strangers. That evening Kelly and Sarah called and we got to hear them open their presents. Little Abigail is so cute she just jabbers away. Kelly said she loved her babies we gave her. She gave me lots of kisses over the phone. It was so sad for everyone they didn't get to come spend Christmas here and I guess that was the bitter part for all of us, but other than that it was a great Christmas, watching our family bond; the new and the old; just getting to know each other better. I am hoping there will be many more such times when we can ALL be together.

Sunday December 22nd

Yesterday we enjoyed a sort of early Christmas.

Steve, Cindee, Kelly and Sarah, came to our house for Sunday dinner. Since there is a chance we not will see Kelly and Sarah again before Christmas, we decided to let them open their presents, from Grandpa and I and their Aunt Natalie and Uncle Mark.

We had a great time; Cindee brought videos of Abigail opening her early presents, as Kelly Ross and Sarah, has their plans dashed and will not be coming home for Christmas. Little Abigail, who is not quite 2, soon got the knack of opening those presents. She put on a great show for us,

what a sweetie. Cindee and Steve informed us that we will be getting not one new Great Grand Baby, but two as both Kelly's and Sarah's are pregnant. Both babies are supposed to be coming in July and August just days a part . Sounds like this Great Grandmother will get all almost all the baby lovin' she desires.

Christmas Rush

Well there is less than a week until Christmas, and being retired this year I fully intended to be settled down for my long winters nap by now. Not so, I must either be the worlds biggest procrastinator, or the most disorganized person. I keep saying my shopping and wrapping are done and that is good, then I buy more things. I am stressing on the food issue, what to cook and serve; you want everything to be great but does anyone really notice? The way I cook it will probably be safer to buy everything already prepared. I guess I will bite the bullet, and make my grocery list and go shopping today. I am thinking how selfish I am worrying about this when there are those out there who probably have nothing. Oh, let's face it this is probably the worlds most boring blog since I really have little to say or complain about, and the only shopping I have left to do is those little "Plastic Gift Cards" everyone seem to want now a days, talk about easy. So we are looking forward to a Merry Christmas, Cindee and Steve's family will all be together this year so it will be great to see all of them at once, it has been a while.
Merry Christmas everyone, I must start making that list.

TWINS?

This is a pictures of Natalie and her little brother Troy that was taken when she what about 5 and he was around 3, I don't know how many times people would ask if they were twins.
Dad carried this is his wallet for many year, this is the reason for the bad condition of the picture. Natalie has a friend who is trying to restore it, and we hope she can get it done because it is the only one we have.

Now and Then

Cindee about 1961 she was 3 years old.

Abigail Summer 2007 about 18 months old.

Have you ever came across a picture that brought back a moment in time? See what you think of these photos.

You May Be A Red Neck If......

Temperature outside 28 degrees, temp in cooking pot 350 degrees, Red Neck 2 degrees off plumb.

Well Thanksgiving has come and gone and the stress is over for a day or two. We had a good time with our family, and realize we have a lot to be thankful for; at least some of us feel that way, a few may disagree. When my son shows up about anything can happen, and almost always does, and if you don't share our sense of humor, you may be shocked. We have all the little family faux pas, which can be pretty funny. I didn't get to visit with the grandchildren as much as I would have liked to as I spent most of my time in the kitchen, but I did get a chance to shower hugs and kisses on little Addison, who is the sweetest thing in the world, I just wish we could see more of her like every day nothing selfish about me..

One deep fryed turkey---Crunchy

What's going on in there? Is dinner ready yet??

Grandma I'm 24 do I still have to sit at the little kids's table??

Happy Thanksgiving

Well Thanksgiving is almost here and I am so happy, most of my children and grandchildren are coming home. Of course I have the usual worries, will everything be good enough. Our house is small but the closeness provides for more love. You never think of out growing your house, but little ones don't take up much space but when they grow and marry things can get a little out of hand. Maybe that is why young people are building such huge houses now a days. They relate to Thanksgiving and Christmas when they go home.

Well back to Thanksgiving, this is going to be a real "Red Neck Affair". Tommy is going to deep fry the turkey, (we purchased a ham just incase) Steve was all for the deep frying but a little worry Tommy may set himself on fire. Tommy assured us he is a pro, he has fried several turkeys and geese as well. He and his wife belong to a Trap Shooting Club and so far this season they have won 9 turkeys. We thoughtabout telling the grandkids he had to shoot the turkey, and they knowing Tommy would have probably believed that to be true, but no, they shoot at clay targets, and have to hit a certain amount to win a frozen turkey, from the way they talk these 9 turkeys only cost $200. bucks, but the money goes to charity so all is good.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

My Great Granddaughters

How could I go on and not speak of my little Great Granddaughters. They are the light of my life. Halloween was a hoot this year, hearing of all they things the were doing and seeing all of the pictures posted on Meg and Ry's blog, and getting pictures of Abigail thanks to Kelly and Cindee. My fridge looks like a photo album. I am looking forward to the holiday and getting a chance to hug and squeeze them. They are truly gifts from God.

Family Ties

These are pictures from Sarah's wedding taken in January of 2007

Kelly, Sarah and Abigail.

Ryan & Megan.

Dad, Natalie, Mark and Cindee enjoying a snack.

The host with the most Kelly and Ryan.

Mom, Natalie Tommy, Cheri, Ashlee and AJ.

Steve & Cindee, Oh Boy the last one.

Our Expensive Hobby!

We have been raising Race Horses since the late eighties, and spent many summers at the race tracks. Since we decided to retire we gave our last colt to our daughter Natalie and her husband Mark, for course we had to keep half interest. We couldn't walk away completely; this summer we had a little hard luck with the horse staying sound and only ran four races. We won one and place one second and one third. Our first race was a disaster with Tom and Mark driving five hours only to see the horse finish dead last. I guess you would like to know the horses name "Hez A Distant Rocket" only this time it wasn't quite the distance we had hoped for, talk about taking your own sweet time.
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Bosen Futurity Idaho Falls Idaho