The Ranch

This is the sign that we have been driving under ever since Lindsay was just a baby.

I love "The Ranch"....

my kids love it......

my husband loves it...

pretty much anyone who has ever been here loves it.


It's not that we have spent weeks, or months here...but the times that we have been here have been some of the absolute BEST EVER.

I know it's not much to look at, but when we came around the curve and turned down the driveway a hundred memories came back to me.

Like this one....I have the cutest picture of Brooke and Jacob posing just like this with their hands on their faces, their cheeks all red from being outside in the snow. It is one of Brooke's favorite pictures and she mentioned it while we were there.

And this one....the snow gets really drifted around the house, and the kids favorite thing to do was to climb onto the second story deck and jump off into the snow.

And....Brooke also mentioned the time that she came running around the corner, hit the edge and got her first black eye...and that the kids used to bring a little snow in and throw it on the fireplace and we would get mad at them.

And...the time we had a picnic on the knoll and it took us two hours to get everyone to the top because the snow was so deep we all kept getting stuck trying to get there. One of the best picnics of my life.

And...when Tom, Marcy and I took a midnight ride up to the top of the knoll. The moon was out, the stars were amazing and we just spent some time talking.

And...Dave's work trip when "Fat Albert" made his first appearance, or all the times Tom begged and finally got Dave to tell "The Bear Joke".

And...When six of us piled onto a huge tub and flew down the knoll....and crashed...and someone's glasses got broken.

And...The million hands of poker that we have played there..and the list of all the poker games we know...and the poker game that someone (I think Dave, but I'm not sure) made up called "Flat Top".

Yes, we absolutely, positively, without a doubt love the ranch.

So, after being at the house and thinking about all our great times there we decided to go and check everything else out. We went out to the house where my nephew Cory is staying.

He is home from college and working at the ranch.

This is the stove that is in the house...everything is a little old, but he has the cutest sun room with lots of books and a little table that is perfect for sitting down and playing a few hands of cards. So, we took a few minutes and played a round of 21. Brooke was the winner.

Our next stop was to go to the top of the knoll. Brooke wanted to try driving my new machine so she took off, like the Nelson that she is, heading straight for a huge puddle...of course I'm yelling at her to

"Slow down" and "don't get me all muddy".

That only worked for the first couple of puddles....after that she pretty much smiled and plowed right through them.

She got to drive up to the top on a trail that was pretty steep and really rocky, and she did really well. She was a little scared, but she made it.

The view from the top was spectacular...everything was so green and pretty.

This is the grave of the original owner of the ranch.

Brooke, Jacob, Tonia, me, Marcy

This was an awesome experience for us. Being back at the ranch and talking about all our memories was really great. We will be forever grateful that Tom has been so generous in sharing a place that means so much to all of us.