A Day In The Life

I saw this idea on someone else's blog and thought I'd give you guys a glimpse into what a normal day looks like for me.

The day I chose was last Tuesday.

6:00 am: wake up and get myself and Hunter ready to go.

7:20 am: go check cows before Hunter and I leave for work.

8:00 am-4:30 pm: work, work, work.

Oh, and throw in an hour of Zumba in my conference room on my lunch hour...

5:30 pm: help serve dinner at the FFA Banquet for about 60 people.

7:30 pm: head home, get stuff ready for the next day-Hunters outfit, my outfit, replenish the diaper bag and pack my lunch.

8:30 pm: Hunter in bed and I bake banana bread and no bake cookies to send to our cousin Nathan who attends school at Montana State. He has 2 weeks left of school so I thought I'd send him some goodies to get through the last weeks of school.

10:00 pm: finally in bed, read for about 20 minutes and then lights out! 

This was one of the nights Patrick was up helping his aunt and uncle seed their crop, so it was just Hunter and I. Usually after baby goes to bed, Patrick and I spend some time together.

This was a pretty busy day, but about normal for us. We are always running here or there, an often have different meetings or engagements in the evening. 

What does a typical day look like for you guys?

Saturday Night Fun

This weekend was pretty nice. Patrick has been working long days getting the crop in, and since the weather was a little rainy this weekend he got to spend more time at home with Hunter and I.

Saturday morning my MIL and I went to a direct sellers showcase where people that sell things like Pampered Chef, Mary Kay and Origami Owl bring their catalogs and merchandise and sell them in a big market place. The show was kind of a bust, except for the Pampered Chef stuff I ordered. 

That night Patrick and I, and a friend of ours drive to a brewery and had dinner and watched a concert by Doug Stone.

Doug Stone is an older country singer with a couple of good songs. He is friends with the brewery owner, which is how he came about to this little town of 900 people called Wibaux. 

There were only about 200 people there, so it was a nice small concert. 

Sorry for the blurry pic, but I still thought it was a good one. This friend of ours, Vanessa, is one of the greatest people we know!

Sunday was a really rainy day, so we mostly stayed at home and watched TV. Hunter stayed at his grandparents house Saturday night, which means I got almost 10 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Yahoo!!

Hope you all had a great weekend! Come back tomorrow for a "day in the life of Nicole".

Life Lately...In Pictures

I was so proud of myself for doing a blog post each day of the week for two weeks straight...and then I fell off the face of the earth again. Ha! 

So I'll provide a recap of life around Hackley Land and Livestock...

We sold and loaded up my garden shed. We are building a giant shop next to our house, and Patrick told me I could have a corner all for my garden stuff. Away she goes! And yes, we are lifting a building with our tractor. Don't worry, it's legit.

We went to Dallas for a wedding...Hunter did so great for his first time flying!

Chay and I before the wedding.

My mom flew down there to watch Hunter for the day of the wedding, because there were no kids allowed at the wedding. She was grateful to have some grandma and Hunter time!

AND the greatest part of the trip was getting to meet one of my long time blogging buddies, Shayna! We had dinner at a little Mexican restaurant near the hotel. We talked for 2 hours straight and could have kept going! 

Since coming back from Texas, we've just been gearing up for seeding and checking cows. We've had lots of little babies being born!

How cute are they?!

Hope you all have a happy week!

Easter Weekend

Hope you all had a great Easter weekend! We had a great weekend filled with fun stuff. 

Saturday night Patrick and I attended our annual brew fest. We both worked at the event so there was no drinking for me, since I was on the clock for work checking ID's. 

Top is from Maurices, jeans are Silver brand.

Isn't he handsome?? But this is more like us...

Ha!

By the way, whoever decided to have a beer fest the night before Easter Sunday probably wasn't thinking too clearly. 

My brother and sister in law watched Hunter that night and just stayed the night so we could all go to church together. 

And here's a big fat mommy fail...didn't even get a picture of Hunter on his first Easter...whoops!

Afterwards we came home and just had them, my in-laws and out neighbor over for a small meal. The menu included a ham, twice baked potatoes, broccoli cheese casserole, green beans, pretzel rolls and white chocolate raspberry cheesecake for dessert. 

I also made a "man basket" for Patrick:

You can see that I cut the top off of a Coors Light box, stuffed it with tissue paper and goodies. I got him the latest People Magazine-Country, sports illustrated swimsuit issue, body wash, body spray, deodorant, and all of the candies he likes. Nothing too fancy. 

It was a great weekend overall! Now Patrick is up at his uncles to start seeding the crops. It's go go go time from here on out!

Mama's Night Out

Last weekend Patrick and I attended a local fundraiser for the Mondak Stockgrower's Association and the Foundation for Community Care. Both are local non-profit organizations. Obviously Stockgrower's helps promote animal agriculture, and the Foundation helps support local healthcare. This was the second year the two teamed up to put on the Cattleman's Ball. It's a night full of food, dancing, drinks and an auction.

My friend Chay was in town again, so we went dress shopping in the morning. I got a new Calvin Klein dress that I absolutely love. Since I've lost so much weight after baby, most of my dresses don't fit me. Oh darn, have to go shopping! Chay and I were friends in college, so when we were getting ready for the evening it was just like old times. 

Before we left for the evening, my mother in law came over to watch Hunter and got a few pictures of us.

Our first family picture :) I hate that it's a  little blurry, but the lighting wasn't the best at the time.

How lucky is he that he had 2 hot dates?!

I love that Hunter is smiling for the camera!

And last but certainly not least...

This event was pretty fancy-they had a red carpet and everything! The evening started out with a social hour, and salad and rolls. A few people got up to talk about the organizations, including a representative from the Montana Beef Council. Then we were served a dinner of prime rib, and baked or scalloped potatoes. They had a dessert bar, and we told Patrick to get us one of everything, so he did! Hey, this was my cheat day for eating, so I took full advantage!

Let's just say after a few cocktails, Chay and I decided to have our own photo shoot on the red carpet...

 It started out nice...

Then things got a little western...

I don't know what got into me on Saturday night, but I just felt like having a whiskey night. That almost never happens. It just sounded good for some reason though. Who knows.

Patrick with our good friend Vanessa, Russell, and Vanessa's friend Megan.

It was a great night out with friends, and we look forward to doing another fun outing in a couple weeks to a local brewery! 

10 Things for Thursday

This is a play on the whole "Five on Friday" blog posts that I've seen around, but I decided to go with 10 Things for Thursday.

1. First, let's just get this out of the way, shall we? Cousins...cuteness overload!

2. I know I keep saying I want to get back to blogging. I have a LOT to share! I have about 10 blog posts started, I just need to find the time to finish them. It will happen, I swear!

3.  I seeeriously need to figure out a new name for my blog. And a new URL. It's gonna be a pain in the ass to switch it all over, but it's been a long time coming. I'll be a blogger for FOUR years coming up in May, so I think it's time for a re-vamp.

4. This winter has been SO bi-polar. It's literally either freeeeeezing cold below zero, like -20 degrees, or 30-40 degrees. And hardly any snow. I NEVER thought I'd say "I could really go for some snow right now" but I've caught myself saying it several times. We need the snow for moisture for our crops!

5. I know it's only the middle of February, but we have pretty much our whole year planned out, vacations and all. All of the travel we'll be doing is either for a wedding or to see family. March-bachelorette party in Vegas. April-wedding in Texas. May-camping with my family over Memorial weekend. June-wedding in Cancun. Heeeeeyyyyy! July-brother's wedding in Western Montana, and friend's wedding in Idaho. August-September-family is coming out here to help with harvest. And I think that's it! Usually things start slowing down for us in October, and it will be a welcomed sight! 

6. I am officially the Women's Committee Chairperson for our county's Farm Bureau. I'll be promoting things like our cookbook, the Farmer's Market, farm to table education in local schools, scholarships for students and a photo contest. All fun things! I'm excited to get started!

7. I love my son, but I was ready to get back to work. At first I thought I was never going to be able to make it back to work with the type of schedule he was on-which wasn't a schedule at all. But by the end of the 7 weeks I was getting stir crazy. I'm glad to be back and around adults all day! I know it will make me a better mom.

8. Ok, here's another. I couldn't help it :)

9. Obamacare ACTUALLY did something positive for me. With the new changes in all of the insurance companies, my insurance covered my birth control. ALL of it. I didn't have to pay a dime. Holy shit. That ridiculous premium I'm paying every month actually did something. I'm glad my husband and I work so hard to pay a ridiculous amount so others who don't can get free healthcare.

10. We're getting our taxes done tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed for a big ol' return! We have pretty good luck every year, so I'm hoping this year will be just as good to us. Between owning our own business, the farm and a new tax deduction, I'm betting we'll do pretty well. Which is good cause I told Patrick no matter what we get for our return, I want a big ol' fancy camera!

That's all for now friends! Happy Thursday!

Current Favorites

Currently...

...listening to: I've recently discovered the Pop2K station on SiriusXM, channel 10. It plays all of the great songs from my high school and college days. Try it out-promise you won't be disappointed! Also, Christmas music, duh! Here are some of my favorites: Mariah Carey, Michael Buble, Point of Grace, Sugarland, Faith Hill, Kelly Clarkson and Lady Antebellum. I tend to like more country artists, because I feel they stick to the more tradition sounds than say, Britney Spears' Christmas album.

...reading: Just finished the Divergent Series. It was pretty good! It got a little boring towards the third book, but overall I liked it. It did remind me a lot of theHunger  Games, but had a different story. I need to visit my Goodreads list to see what I'm gonna read next.

...cooking: Lighter Lasagna Soup. Easy, healthy and delicious!!

...missing up on: my family and niece. It's hard knowing we won't be spending Thanksgiving or Christmas with them this year, but my parents will be here to visit us and baby after the first of the year.

...watching: we watch a lot of football this time of year, which is fine with me. Other shows I'm loving are The Blacklist, Greys Anatomy, Nashville, Law & Order:SVU, and NCIS. I do not however, enjoy that they all take a break this time of year!

...enjoying: the coziness of our living room with all of our decorations up, and of course the Christmas tree. I love sitting in the dark with just the Christmas tree lit, and just staring at all of the magical-ness of it. Yes, that's a word :) It literally brings a smile to my face and I sit there in the dark grinning like an idiot. Ha ha ha.

...over hearing about: I am SO incredibly sick of hearing about Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber and the Kardashians. I went to google something about Christmas the other day and the number 1 thing that came up was the 2013 Kardashian Christmas card. Are you kidding me?!? And people wonder what's wrong with the world. 

...craving: hot tamales and puffy Cheetos. Yummmmmm :)

...looking forward to: finally having this kid! House is clean, everything is ready, and now we just wait...

What's going on with you lately?

Low Key Weekend

As you can probably imagine, I'm not doing a whole lot these days, other than relaxing and spending time at home. People say that at the end of pregnancy you start to nest...I can't really say that I have felt any of that. I've had a lot of time at home so naturally I've done a better job at keeping up on dishes and laundry. Especially after working 2 days from home last week! But nothing crazy like scrubbing the walls or any deep cleaning.

Now a quick side note...I know a lot of the US has been dealing with artic temperatures. But I saw a couple of my FB friends post something about how Montana had the coldest weather in EARTH last week. That's right...colder than the South Pole. Yes, Montana is for badasses. Or really crazy people. 

This was without the wind chill, which put temps at -45 or so. 

So what does a low-key weekend look like for me? Friday, I went to a Christmas craft bizarre. It was ok, but didn't really really have anything I was looking for. I ended up only buying a couple jars of canned jellies and jam.

Saturday morning I woke up early...didn't even sleep in. Patrick ended up spending about 6 hours outside getting the cows' water unfrozen. He was frigid by the time he came back in, so I made up some yummy beef stew for him...one of his favorites. It's the Pioneer Woman's recipe and I highly recommend it. Saturday night we stayed in as well.

Sunday morning I was up early again, and decided to cook Patrick breakfast in bed. He deserved it after his day outside on Saturday. I cooked up scrambled eggs with cheese, homemade hash browns, bacon, toast, blueberry muffins and orange juice. 

Yum!! After that we headed to church, then home to watch football for the rest of the day. Anybody else watch that crazy Vikings/Ravens game??? I napped, made more blueberry muffins, then cooked chicken Parmesan for dinner, which is also one of Patricks favorites.

To say I'm counting down the days for baby to arrive is an understatement...10 days until due date...

How was your weekend?