A Life Update + I Ran a Half Marathon

Well it has been about 4 months so it's probably time to dust off the blog... I really do have a fairly good reason for neglecting it-last time I posted was in the middle of boys basketball season, which stretched into March, and then BOOM we moved back to Reliance, South Dakota. We had always said we'd like to get back to the area someday, never thought it would be so soon though! Justin had an opportunity to return to his old job and we decided to take advantage of it, even if I was unsure of what my future would hold.

Luckily things lined up just right, and I found a job I am loving as a crop insurance adjuster, and jumped into that position two whole days after I returned to South Dakota from finishing up basketball season in Wyoming. Needless to say, it has been a crazy four months! I love the interaction with the farmers in the area, and have ran into several of them in the past in my agronomy days. I'm not so crazy about all of the driving time, but I'm thankful for my XM radio!

Justin has now been calving for four months, since we were calving heifers out in Wyoming in February. Luckily, the end is in sight for him and he is now getting ready to brand, and then start haying. Sooo maybe there isn't much of an end for him!

And now the really crazy part--I survived my first half marathon! I probably didn't get to run as much as I should have in the few weeks before due to my work schedule being a little on the crazy side (I spent a week and a half living in a hotel), but I did stick to getting my long runs in. I was a little disappointed in my official time of 2:32:40, but my time on my Garmin said 2:30:06 which is pretty darn close to my goal of 2:30! I heard other people say they thought the course was a little long too. I learned my lesson though-I'm pretty sure that when my iPod Shuffle is plugged in and my laptop is asleep, the charge drains back out. It lasted a whole mile... talk about a let-down! Luckily I had some music downloaded to my phone and plugged into that-it wasn't my running playlist but at least it was something! And yes, I'm already looking to see when I can sign up for my next race :) This summer is shaping up to be a busy one!

Sandra, my mother-in-law, and her friend Pat walked the race too!

Can I do 23 all over again?

I want to do 23 all over again. And no it's not just because I don't want to get older, 23 was a pretty awesome year.

It started off by marrying a pretty amazing guy, and the best wedding dance ever.


And a crazy fall with really awesome co-workers who I miss a lot! (Not the work so much)


Then I started a new job as an accountant which I quickly fell in love with


But then I let my husband convince me to take a chance and change jobs again, moving to Wyoming.


There were so many awesome memories made with great friends in Reliance-of course the play, all those nights at the bar, pick-up basketball...

And who can forget all the events I was able to photograph over the year. I feel like I've come a long way with Cowgirl Imagery, and am looking forward to what I'm able to accomplish with 24.


And who knows, maybe I'll want to do 24 all over again too.

I'm back!

After almost falling off the face of the earth for over a month... not really but almost. Life is finally returning to a new normal. Justin and I have started new jobs in northeast Wyoming. We are settling into a gorgeous home along the Powder River, where Justin works as a ranch hand and I run the office for the ranch. He has been enjoying riding his horse everyday, while I try to figure out how to make Cow Sense work.

We've been a little here and there over the last month, spending a weekend at Justin's parents place, then packing, driving a U-Haul, and going to Minnesota- of course I couldn't miss the county fair. And of course I took pictures while we were there.

Littlest brother answering questions during showmanship

 Grand Champion Senior Swine Showman-and 3rd Overall Senior Showman at the MN State Fair!

And of course there was The Band Perry in concert-so many people!

Yes-this picture was taken behind the stage!

I have LOTS more pictures to share-be sure to check out my Facebook page in the near future! But I had better go make sure I have enough groceries to last the next 2 weeks. Gotta make a trip into town tomorrow! This whole being over an hour away from the nearest grocery store takes a little getting used to!

We took a road trip last weekend...

and headed west...

First stop: Wall Drug (donuts for Justin and taffy for me). That really was our whole reason for stopping there.

Next, a few stops in Rapid City. Justin needed another Sabona bracelet for his right wrist now, and a roping glove w/ gel pad (so we can hopefully avoid future broken bones)

Supper was at Dickey's! One of the best BBQ joints I've ever eaten at. Seriously, every time we go to Rapid we eat there at least once. We headed on up to Gillette for the night, then spent a little time in Wyoming. Seeing sights like this:

and this (name that museum)

It was a quick trip, but a lot of fun! I love semi-random road trips. And I love Sheridan. Of course we made the obligatory Devils Tower stop on the way home. And a flea market where I was creeped out to the max by a guys booth. Seriously-deer feet, pheasant pelts (complete with head), snake skins, and who knows what else.

This weekend's agenda: Volunteering at the 4-H rodeo where it will be a wonderful 97 degrees. Ugh.

Busy short week ahead!

I'm getting tired just thinking about the week ahead. Or, what's left of it I should say.
Tomorrow night I'm looking forward to tuning in for AgChat, the topic is family relationships on the farm/estate planning. Wednesday night is Play Days, and I'm looking forward to getting more cute pics like this one:

 Thursday night will be getting ready to head out of town, then heading west after work on Friday! I have to go to work this week??? Ugh. I probably won't see much of Justin either, depending on the weather, he'll be haying, so the only time I'll see him is when I go to bring him supper in the tractor!

I have a new couch! And other random thoughts

Since I don't have much of anything real exciting and interesting, and I've posted all of my new pictures on Facebook (go check them out if you haven't! <---) here's a list of all things new and exciting in my life...

• The couch I ordered a month and a half ago FINALLY arrived. Flooding held it up, or so the furniture company claimed...
• Speaking of flooding, please keep the people affected by all of this flooding in your thoughts and prayers. The Corp. of Engineers has put some of the strain on Chamberlain/Oacoma and some coworkers of mine had to go through the stress of tearing out their basement and sandbagging this past week.
• Work is going to get a little quiet, everybody is leaving for the holiday weekend, and Justin and I will stay home. I'm just looking forward to my 3-day weekend!
• I made a quick trip back home this past weekend, to say goodbye to my family's foreign exchange student, Carlos, who made has started his trip back home to Brazil :(
• I had fun catching up with some good friends at the street dance, and got to be the sober person with the other Abby, my brother's girlfriend.
• I only forgot my sunglasses at home this weekend. Not such a big deal because there's plenty of those around here. Last month, I forgot my straightener at home. I think I wore my hair in a ponytail for the entire time I didn't have it.
• June Monday nights in Reliance mean summer rec basketball. We spend about an hour doing drills with the younger kids, and then enjoy a little game of pick-up. Tonight's "little" game was an hour and a half long! 
• Justin's birthday is in two weeks. I told him he was getting a picture of himself as a present (see previous post) but I probably should do a little more than that... Any suggestions???

Summer!!!

Oh wow---it finally feels like summer! It was pretty tough staying in the office all day today... Inside is the LAST place I want to be right now! So instead of putting up all the pictures I wanted to, here's a quick one from my trip out to visit the horses last night.

We've had Sweet and Sour, our Belgian mares here for about 6 weeks now. They've really calmed down and became very friendly! We had plans to get them hitched up and back to pulling this summer, hopefully we'll still be able to do that despite Justin's broken hand! He goes back to the doctor on Monday, they should be putting on hard cast so maybe he'll be able to get back to working!

Saturday afternoon...

While it's nice I got off of work early this afternoon, I'm kind of bored. Plus, it's hunting season, sooo that means I spend a lot of time by myself, since I do not hunt. At all. So far I have taken a nap, walked the dog, watched a disc of That 70's Show on DVD, and picked up the kitchen, but I'm bored.

Doesn't help that my TV choices are Texas vs. Nebraska, Auburn vs. Arkansas, a tour of the Hy Vee liquor store, making clam dip, something to do with snakes (changed that one instantly) and some vocal performance on public TV.

There's a whole long list of things I should be doing, but they require a lot of motivation. Like cleaning out my closet and getting rid of a bunch of clothes, sorting through all the "stuff" on our living room bookcases, writing wedding thank you notes, hanging up pictures and wall hangings...




I guess organizing the house sounds better than watching football. Better get that Netflix subscription activated sooner rather than later.

Time to breathe...

It seems like I finally have time to breathe. Work is slowing down for the season, we didn't have anywhere to go this weekend, the house is somewhat clean and in order. It's kind of nice to not have much to do! Except the whole big wedding lurking in less than three months thing... ugh.

Well Justin and I headed out to Montana last weekend to see his brother get married. Here's a few of my favorite pics of my soon-to-be brother and sister-in-law!


It was fun having them stop by on their way home for supper tonight. And it was fun having my brother and his girlfriend stay last night (we were trading furniture!), as well as my grandparents and great aunt stopping by on their way home from their summer road trip!

Where is time going?!?

When I look at the date of my last blog post, it's slightly depressing. What have I been doing?

• Work
• Trying to plan a wedding
• Work
• More wedding stress
• Work
• Trying to spend time with Justin
• Work
• Trying to spend time with my dog
• Work
• Getting my house organized and keeping it clean
• Work
• Trying to have a social life
• Work

Yup. That bad. Hopefully the end of the spring rush is in sight and I can quit working 14 hour days, 6 days a week. I'm looking forward to a break next weekend to travel to Montana for my future brother-in-law's wedding!

Feeding Cows

One day, I decided it'd be fun to go with Justin while he did chores for awhile. I don't know if I'd call it fun, but... I did take a few pictures while we were out feeding cows. He made Macy and I get out while he picked up the first load of bales.


That's ok. I got to take pictures. Then we jumped back in to head into the pasture. Justin said I either had to open the gate or drive the tractor through. Since it was all muddy, I really didn't want to get out of the tractor, but I didn't want to drive it through either. He said all I had to do was push this lever


and then just drive on through. Not as easy as it sounds. Really. Despite growing up on a farm, my tractor driving experience is very limited. Very.
Once that heart attack was over, we had to drive down to the creek bottom, where the cows winter. Waay down. Another slight heart attack.


They were hungry cows.


Lots of them.


After feeding the first eight bales, Justin got a call and had to hurry up because they needed the loader at home. I'm really not disappointed about not getting to ride along while he fed the last sixteen bales. That's a lot of hay.

And next time I think about going to help out at the ranch, I'm going to make sure I really know what's going on...

So Big! and... So Busy!

My little puppy is growing like a weed! Macy had a lot of "firsts" yesterday... first tractor ride, first glimpse of cows, first time being around another dog... needless to say, it's been a big weekend for her! I shot this picture of her while I was riding along while Justin fed cows. It was one of those times where what I expected was quite different than what actually needed to be done-bouncing across the alfalfa field to get to the pasture at the bottom of the creek, to feed 20 round bales... yikes! Needless to say, I'm glad I didn't have to ride along the whole time!

And where did my week go? Practice for the Reliance Community Play, a trip to the "big city" for some groceries and other necessities, more play practice, taking Macy over to play with some friends' kids, and Justin's Christmas party for work (delicious prime rib, and Crown and Coke... can't go wrong!). It's been a busy week! And I'm sure this week won't be much better, with the big premiere of the play on Saturday, we'll have play practice more than a few nights this week! Doesn't leave much time for photography, or cleaning, or laundry! Oh well... I wouldn't have it any other way! Well, except for more time with Macy!

I'm back!

After a somewhat relaxing/busy weekend, I'm back at school. And real life, unfortunately. My Friday consisted of spending 6 hours in a car driving to and from a job interview, that may or may not have been successful. We'll see I guess. Then it was up to Justin's parents place for the weekend.

It was nice to kick back and relax while Justin and the guys went hunting (no luck yet!). Saturday morning my future mother-in-law and I went wedding dress shopping, and I think I've found the one!

We had tickets to see Lorie Line in concert Saturday night (her 20th Anniversary Holiday Tour) and it was probably the best one yet! She brought back all her old traditions, like the medley (I got Great Balls of Fire in there!) and the fan letter. It was a fun night, and Justin loved it too!

Sunday morning, we spent some time with the draft horses. We were somewhat successful in getting the harnesses on Sweet and Sour! Finally!

Here's a picture of me with Sweet. They are sooo big!

Well I suppose I had better be getting to class. I'm looking forward to a family photo shoot this afternoon! Look for a preview possibly tomorrow!