Almost Gypsy Soul

 Yup, that really happened, that is how I was introduced at my cousin's wedding. I'm that girl. the single one. in a super awesome dress (I added that last part, it wasn't part of the introduction). So anyway, back to my cousin's wedding. It was held at a beautiful botanical gardens in Berthoud and there were lots of my favorite family people there. The weather held and the ceremony was gorgeous. They had a wonderful reception right there with music and dancing, food and fun. Missing the other sister Hands down best thing at the wedding.....a photo booth! Which we managed to drag both Mike AND the Big E into. against their will I might add, but the end product was some pictures that I'll cherish forever! Congratulations Landon and Kristen!

As I look around the world today, I realize that not everyone can say THANK YOU to their Mom for doing their job and doing it well. I am a productive member of society that knows right from wrong, knows how to work and knows how to play. I can recall my younger days and not understanding why I had chores, bought my own clothes, worked during the summer, had a less than ideal car, had my own checking account, was expected to do well in anything that I chose to do, expected to do well in school.....when it seemed that few other kids my age was saddled with this type of responsibility. But I see it so clear now, its because my parents loved me and wanted me to be able to function on my own after I left Limon. Thank you Mom and Happy Mother's Day!

My baby sister is getting married and she doesn't cook very well (her words, not mine). So we decided that a kiss the cook shower would be in order so that she could fill her kitchen  with handy utensils and her cookbook with tried and true recipes. Everyone invited is charged with bringing Little Sister at least one recipe for her recipe book that was handmade by Mr. OKTrailerParkFriend. And might I add that he did an awesome job! Her book will even be filled with matching recipe cards. Even with the threat of bad weather, there was quite a showing for the party. We ate some good food, we drank some good drinks and Kelsey filled her cookbook and kitchen cabinets! And a HUGE shoutout to OKTrailerPark Friend and Mr. OKTrailerPark Friend for the awesome cookbook to store her recipes in! Thank you for everyone who was able to make it to celebrate with Little Sister!

I've gotten an invitation for several years to join the fun in Red River NM from Football Fan and this year I made it a point to go. After all, the snowboarding was "free" . Although this year's group was smaller and calmer and abided by the the new rules. Rules like: 1. No puking 2. No bar fights 3. No cops/jail. Even with rules in place, we had a great time and even got some fresh snow to play in. **We may or may not have even needed rules, as we were sound asleep by 11pm, we were on vacation, we do what we want** I had a conversation before I left on the trip that went something like this...... Friend: So how many people are going? Me: Oh, I'm not really sure, I think like 10-ish Friend: Wow and you know all of them? Me: No, I actually only know one person, but I'm sure we will all be friends because she likes me and she likes them so its pretty much required right? Friend: Um, sure. I win, I came away from the weekend with some new frien...

I'll never forget the first Thanksgiving that I spent away from my family. I was a freshman in college and we were in Grand Junction at a basketball tournament. I ate Thanksgiving dinner at the Golden Corral and then I cried. Who eats Thanksgiving dinner at the Golden Corral....well apparently a lot of families do, my college basketball team family included, but I just wanted to be at my Grandparents with all of my aunts, uncles, cousins, parents, sisters. Looking back, it wasn't as bad as I seemed to think. Those girls were really family too, we were sisters all united by a leather basketball. We were a team family. I couldn't have asked for a better group of girls to get me through my first couple years of college. My second Thanksgiving away from my family came when I was at school in Oklahoma, luckily I have great friends and even though it wasn't my immediate family, it was still family in Southwest Oklahoma. These are my boys! and yes we drank beer on Thanksgi...

The Assistant Pack Leader had wanted a weenie dog for as long as I can remember. Said weenie dog had a name long before he entered this world and Critter joined our family one year for Christmas. Critter Jack is the poster child for personality. He was quirky, he was fun and he wasn't afraid to stand up for himself......or any toy who he made the decision to adopt. Critty could "back it on up fat Jesus" into the roping box that looked eerily similar to the corner of the couch. Fist bump, had that one down. Want him to roll over? He'd do it with style by spinning in a circle first. every.single.time. Critter was very protective of his bones, treats and especially of the toys that he found on his own. A hedgehide (which of course is a hedgehog that had his feet chewed off so he couldn't run away and had been gutted....becomes a hedgehide) or a bear that he pulled out of Assistant Pack Leader's garage sale pile, or "Snowy" the snowman that he...

  [Linking up with Julia at Black Tag Diaries for Thankful Thursdays] Having a sister is like having a best friend you can't get rid of. You know whatever you do, they'll still be there.  ~Amy Li This month's far-away friend(s) are none other than my Sisters, Assistant Pack Leader and Little Sister. Throwback As much as we can get on each other's nerves, it never fails when we really need something we are always there for each other. And I really don't think anything will ever change that. There has been laughter, tears, jokes, hugs, sleepovers, travel, hours on the phone....you know the drill. And we are stylish too! But no matter what, through good times and bad, these two are my best friends. No one understands anything one of the rest of us is going through better than us! **Don't forget to come back to Almost Gypsy Soul tomorrow and link-up for Soul Food Friday! Share with the world (its a small world) what feeds your soul**...

So I found a pin on Pinterest about calling someone and pushing the numbers on the phone to "sing" happy birthday to the person on the line.....So, I'll be trying that out on the Assistant Pack Leader today as its her HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! Happy birthday Sister, I hope you have an awesome day!!!!

WOOF! Hey there, Tylie checking into the human's blog. She is a bit more of a gypsy than I am, so I'm pretty thankful she dropped me off at Grandma's before she took this crazy 3,000 mile journey. I was a little nervous about staying at the ranch because Grandma got a new puppy, I don't really like puppies and would really prefer to be the center of attention and get all the pets. Hey I'm an only dog child. But, I concede....Lexi is alright. I had to set her in her place so she would know not to jump on me, but after that we got along great...we even switched food bowls almost every day! This is my buddy Lexi...she's a little bit bigger than in this picture. We are friends now. My favorite thing that Lexi and I did was rake hay. We ran back and forth making sure Grandma drove straight. Sometimes we would get hot and thirsty so we would run down to the river and get a drink. Lexi is crazy, she likes to swim in the river....I just get in to my belly so I do...

Raspberry Days was in Garden City, UT was a couple weekends ago, while we wanted to participate in the activities we didn't want to be too close for our phobia of large crowds. We opted to camp in Montpelier, ID and boat on the eastern edge of Bear Lake for the weekend. Music Man, Little Sister and Little Sister's Boyfriend were all there to get extreme on the wakeboard. Camping was great, we were practically the lone rangers in the campground. We got in some campfire sittin', some cornhole and a few adult beverages. The lake, well see for yourself how it was.   I love me some campfire cookin', bean bag throwin, wakeboarding weekends at the lake!

A while back my real life and blogging friend, Football Fan, wrote about her trip to The Cowboy Rides Away Tour with King George. As I started commenting on her blog post, I realized I was telling her the entire story about my George concert experience a few years back at Cheyenne Frontier Days and ended my comment early with ........"but.....well I'm just going to write a blog about it" So here is said blog! As long as I can remember there have been 3 artists on my dream concerts list 1)George, 2)Brooks & Dunn and 3)Garth. When I found out that George was going to be at CFD, I immediately called the Sisters and ordered us tickets. We got the "Party Zone" which is standing room down on the track between the stage and the grandstands. We had been to CFD concerts before and the Party Zone was awesome, comfortable and fun, close to the action. BE WARNED! THE PARTY ZONE IS NO PARTY AT A GEORGE CONCERT! I have never been surrounded by more rude, obnoxious...

Today is the anniversery of a couple big events....Mike's birthday (my pops) and the Limon tornado that hit in 1990. First things first, HAPPY BIRTHDAY POPS! This article was on NBC news last week showing a little bit about how our little town banded together and rebuilt. We were so lucky that newly installed tornado sirens helped to spare the lives of all those in Limon this night. Looking back at the pictures in the article, its hard to believe that a little over 20 years has passed. And for the record, many years after the tornado, Dad was kindly asked to leave town to celebrate his birthday. I mean seriously has anyone else woke up to a scene like this from their birthday party? Mom and Dad were at the bar on this street, eating dinner. They, along with other patrons were in the walk-in cooler during the storm. The top of the cooler was sucked off, but no one was hurt. Afterwards, they all got shirts that said "Cooler Crew" on the back! Photos via Denver Po...

When I moved there it was so hot I was fairly certain it wasn't God's Country, but everywhere I went I heard "Welcome to God's Country" by the time I graduated and it was time to leave, I was sad to leave God's Country. Even when we start to question how and why horrible things such as the huge tornado that hit Moore Oklahoma this week, God is there and there is not a doubt in my mind that God is in Oklahoma, the day the tornado hit, the weeks of recovery and reconstruction and until the end of time.   As I watch the news and look at pictures from Oklahoma, I can't help but think back to 1990 when I had just recently finished 1st grade. It was June 6, 1990, my parents had dropped us off at Lynn and Lisa's so they could go celebrate Dad's birthday. When we came out from the crawlspace, scenes that I see on the tv were before my very eyes. Luckily, in the Limon tornado, fairly new warning sirens were credited with saving many lives, givi...

This is Tylie, she had her first hair appointment in her 8 years last week a few weeks ago. As you can see she is super excited about this.....well ok maybe excited isn't the correct word to use here. I tried to explain to her that she should be excited.....it wasn't just  a hair appointment it was more like going to the doggie spa! "Mom, please, please don't make me go!" I signed her up for a shampoo and brush out, nails, ears and teeth! She is going to be so shiny! and she'll smell like a flower. Tylie wagged her butt (she doesn't have a tail really) so hard she almost fell off her paws when she was picked up from the "spa". She smelled so good, wasn't molting all over my house and now had a good excuse to roll in the dirt while I was at work (yes, that really happened grrrr!) And to stamp in concrete the fact that doggie spa is worth every penny of $35, Little Sister's Boyfriend noticed as soon as she ran through the door t...

This quarter's collection of Far-away Friends will feature all my far-away families. Even if it started out as friendship of one, it turned into the entire family. I can't imagine my life without every single person that makes up each of these families. If you remember from earlier in my blog, Cowboy family are the ones that introduced me to Stretch , one of my good friends and one of my favorite roommates ever! Cowboy Family are some of the best people you will ever meet! They are hardworking, honest, caring, salt of the earth people. Nothing is more important to them than family (they celebrated 35 years of marriage this week!), friends, ranching, working hard and playing hard. Some of my favorite memories are with Cowboy Family, they live in one of the toughest, most beautiful parts of Colorado. Cowboy Family has grown over the last few years with Cowboy #1 getting married and having a little girl and another on the way. Cowboy #3 got married and have the cutest l...

Last night I had a crazy dream A wish was granted just for me It could be for anything I didn't ask for money Or a mansion in Malibu I simply wished, for one more day with you One more day One more time One more sunset, maybe I'd be satisfied But then again I know what it would do Leave me wishing still, for one more day with you First thing I'd do, is pray for time to crawl Then I'd unplug the telephone And keep the TV off I'd hold you every second Say a million I love you's That's what I'd do, with one more day with you One more day One more time One more sunset, maybe I'd be satisfied But then again I know what it would do Leave me wishing still, for one more day with you Leave me wishing still, for one more day Leave me wishing still, for one more day Well, in the past year  we've said goodbye to four great people on my mom's side of the family. Our family has come together to laugh, cry, ask why, remember and honor more times than one...