Mount up!

Wanna know something really funny?  I just spent the last few minutes cleaning Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream off of my keyboard.  Know why?  Because I'm still five years old and apparently, I had no idea the carton was covered in chocolatey goodness when I picked it up to shovel it into my mouth.  True story.  Bygones!


I don't have too much to say today except that we had a ridiculously good time at the rodeo last night!  We're turning into cow pokes around here, lemme just tell you!  We met our friends Kari and Brent in Greeley, CO last night for the 89th Annual Greeley Stampede.  I wasn't really sure what to expect, except for oversized portions of fried whatever, steel contraptions held together with duct tape called "rides", and maybe some cowboys. {sigh, cowboys....} It just happened to be "tough enough to wear pink" night, so all of the cowboys (and girls) were wearing pink shirts to raise breast cancer awareness.  Pretty cool.


Much to my surprise, this was, like, a real pro-circuit rodeo with cowboys ranked, like, the best in the world and whatnot.  For most sports, I'm pretty familiar with the rules and regulations, what the object is, and how the game is played.  Well, buddy, let me just tell you something - I got learned last night.  I had absolutely no idea what the hell was going on except everything just looked like it hurt.  Bad.  Wrestling some kind of animal is just not for me, but I didn't mind watching those cowboys do it! {whistle!!}


In the next two photos, I'd like to play a little game called "Where's Waldo Nathan".

Okay, this was my favorite part.  Are you sitting down?  Adult supervision may be required for the next segment.  You've been warned...

Mutton Bustin'!!!!  Absolutely, hands-down, one of THE most ridiculous things I've ever seen in my life.  Basically, you take a toddler and dress him all up in cowboy gear, throw a helmet on the kid and set him on a sheep!  Go ahead.  You can take the time to read that again.  Yep.  You read right.  They literally take a SMALL CHILD and put him/her on a sheep and then send the sheep running down the arena to see how long the kid can hang on!  You've gotta see this for yourself.  INSANE!

Look closely.  See the kid HANGING from the sheep!  I'm still in shock. 

Crazy, right?  The rest of the night was pretty wild too...

Brent and Kari

Yes, ma'am!

Uh.  If you take your laptop to the rodeo, you might be a redneck?

Here's another good one.  Kids in a bubble trying to walk on water.  These poor twins busted face over and over and over again.  

Sittin' on top of the world with our legs hangin' free.

Day Trippin'

I know, I know.  You've all been waiting on pins and needles for the last two weeks for a new post.  Refreshing your page over and over and biting your nails.  Admit it, six posts in and you're addicted.  Or maybe you were just waiting to see if I was going to blow it again and write this whole thing off.  Pun intended.  Really though, I had to do some rearranging on my computer.   Anyone who has ever had a laptop with a ton of crap on it, knows how slow it can run.  Well, mine got to the point where it started yelling at me - you know those annoying messages that keep popping up to remind you to do the things that you're supposed to do, but you keep putting them off because you know they're gonna be a supreme pain in the ass?  Yeah, I got those messages for two weeks and I've finally (because I couldn't stand not talking to you anymore!) moved like 300GB of photos to an external hard drive.  Phew!  Now, I'm back and you get to hear all about our trip to the Land of YeeHaw.  


A couple of weekends ago, Nathan and I decided to get out of town for the day.  We thought about heading up to Rocky Mountain National Park, but that place is nutso-bananas during the summer time and neither one of us are too fond of rookie crowds - especially in a place that's supposed to be so peaceful.  So, we decided to head in the opposite direction - North to Wyoming.  I hadn't been since I was a kid and I had never been to Cheyenne, so we put on our cowboy boots, assless chaps and saddled up.

Nathan refused to take his picture with me while I was wearing these sunglasses.  After he found out how awesome they are, he changed his mind.  I think these were actually inadvertently inherited from the costume box of my girlfriend, Wendi.  oops.

We didn't really have an agenda for the day.  We were pretty content to just wander around town.  We started out at Sierra Trading Post, which is basically kinda like the Ikea of outdoor stores, without the Swedish meatballs and cool sideways moving carts.  You could get lost in the place.  I never really found anything that caught my eye, but Nathan found a gem of a Western shirt.  It wasn't exactly a button down - I guess you could call it a "snap down", with the shiny pearl finish on the snaps.  Yeah.  That fancy.  Suddenly, I had a new mission in life - find a real-deal-Holifield cowgirl shirt.  With gaudy rhinestones and ridiculous embroidered roses and whatnot.  Little did I know, tacky cowgirl shirts are not cheap!  I bet we went to every cowboy-boutique-rancher-store-co-op-feed-place within 20 miles of Cheyenne.  Sadly, the Holy Grail shirt was never found but we had fun eating fried pickles with peanut butter and perusing the 3 for $1 record bin we found at a local vinyl shop.

The State Capitol Building

Nathan wouldn't let me stop.  He regards my fond adoration for fire as borderline unhealthy and obsessive. 

This for Mallie!  We saw it in the parking lot of Sierra Trading Post.  They must like the GSP's, too! 

If I were inclined to get a tattoo, this would have to be the place.  

The fried pickle and peanut butter joint...

...with obnoxiously large menus.  

Best flippin' burger in Cheyenne. 

And there ya have it, pardner!  Giddyup!!

Through My Husband's Eyes

Call it a peak.  Call it a valley.  But when you work retail, you have to put in some hours on the weekend.  This weekend, "some" meant "all".  You wanna know how I know whether or not the weather will be awesome on the weekend?  I look at my work schedule.  If I'm supposed to work all weekend long, the weather is bound to be gorgeous.  If I'm off for the weekend, the weather is crap.  Psshhhttt.  Al Roker, you ain't got nothin' on me.  Anyway!  Nathan flew solo this weekend and I've gotta say that I'm pretty impressed with how diligent he's been.  


While I was at work on Saturday, he got both of our flowers beds tilled and plants in the ground.  He's started multiple plants from seeds, and let me just tell you...they have been a labor of love!  They started in his groovy makeshift greenhouse in the garage and they've finally graduated to the real-live ground!  As long as the critters don't get into them, we should have squash, zucchini, jalapenos, tomatoes, dill, rosemary, beans, etc, etc.  There may be some other varietals later in the growing season, but we figured this was a good start for the first garden.  When I came home from work, he'd surprised me with a new little baby charcoal grill with steaks ready to be slapped on.  I was a happy girl!


Today while I was at work, he stripped the sheets from the bed, gave 'em a wash and they're on the clothesline now just finishing their time in the sun.  Okay, so I may have hinted to him that this needed to be done - but he did it! On top of that, he went to the grocery store and picked up all of our meat for the that we needed for the next week or so.  Did I mention that steaks and veggies were on the grill now?  


Okay, okay - get on with the show, I know.  I was surprised to find that he'd snapped a few photos from his time alone this weekend and I was impressed - yet again.  He's a good kid...I think I'll keep him :)

Kate E. Bug

Pre-Tomato

Garden #1

Even the weeds are pretty.

Extreme grilling.

As I sat outside to blog, wonder-husband picked a peony for me.  :)

You know that show, "Sh*t My Dad Says".  Well, I'll leave you with, "Sh*t My Husband Says".  

"Crap.  Now, I've got to poop."