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!

Las Vegas, Baby!

Tomorrow I am headed to Las Vegas, for one of my best friends' bachelorette parties! Vegas is like our second home-literally-because we have a timeshare there.

This picture is from 5 years ago when we went...the girl on the right, Stef, is the one getting married. Chay and I are 2 of the bridesmaids!

There are 11 of us going-2 of us from Montana, and the other 9 from Texas where my friend is from. I don't get into Vegas until 9:30 tonight, but when I do we are headed down to Fremont Street!

Saturday night we paid for tables and bottle service at Tryst, which is the club in the Wynn Hotel. I'm really excited, and we'll all get to dress up!

Sunday night we're headed to a Burlesque show, which should be interesting. I head out early early Monday morning. It was the only flight that got back to Montana in time for me to be home Monday instead of on Tuesday.

It will be a quick trip but I'm excited for warm weather, drinks, and some girl time! I'll be sure to have a trip recap for you all next week!

Birthday Weekend Road Trip

So the last time I posted, I told you all it was Patrick's birthday...and what you probably don't remember is that my birthday is 2 days after his! I turned the big 2-9 on Friday the 25th! We didn't really do anything big on our actual birthdays-I cooked Patrick, my brother and his mom and dad dinner on his birthday, and we all went out to eat on my birthday. 

But what we did to celebrate our birthdays didn't happen until last weekend...we drove to Minneapolis for the Packers/Vikings NFL football game!! It was my first NFL game, but Patrick has been to several others. I've been to baseball, basketball and NASCAR races before, but never a football game!

We got to stay in downtown Minneapolis at The Marquette, which is a Hilton hotel. It was pretty fancy and we enjoyed it. Except for the beds...the rooms said 2 queens, and what we ended up with was 2 beds that seemed smaller than a full-size bed. And I'm gonna let you in on a little secret I find humorous...when Patrick and I travel together, about half the time we get 2 beds in the room and sleep separately! We're not the "cuddle all night" people. We're all about the "I need my space to sleep". We just sleep better that way!

We got into Minneapolis late Saturday night, and boy we were in for a surprise. We thought we had lucked out by getting in late so there was no traffic. Little did we realize that most bars and clubs downtown were having their Halloween parties that night, so it was a giant freak show downtown! But quite entertaining.

The next morning we got up, enjoyed breakfast at the hotel, then went back and napped before heading out for the day. Below is my Aaron Rodgers impression...when he scores a touchdown he acts like he has a championship belt on.I thought it was comical to do it with my giant belly.

We just decided to wander around until we found somewhere good to eat. We stumbled upon this gem...

We ordered some amazing appetizers...chicken shots (boneless chicken bites with whiskey honey glaze), and soft pretzels with beer cheese sauce. I'm telling you...I will dream about these chicken bites they were so good!

I ordered the Berry and Brie salad with creamy poppyseed dressing...also good!

After eating out delish meal, we walked the 8 blocks to the stadium to hang out for a bit before the good. We found some people with a hilarious sign...

We headed into the stadium as soon as it opened, because we wanted to see every minute that we could...and I have to say our seats were fantastic!! 7th row behind the Packers bench, on the 40 yard line!

One this is for sure...football butts are as great in person as they are on TV.

The Packers ended up winning the game! It was such a cool experience and we had a great time!

































We got up EARLY on Monday morning and headed back to Montana for another week of work! I'm happy to say that this was my last bit of traveling before baby comes...I'm ready to stay close to home and relax!

Another Wedding Weekend!

This past weekend we traveled to Great Falls, Montana to attend wedding #3 of 4 for us this year. It was an absolute gorgeous wedding at a beautiful church and a great reception with my sorority sisters. And man oh man, if you're younger and reading this blog (like, college age) and you are thinking about joining a sorority, you should just prepare yourself for the amount of weddings that you'll be attending later in life :) They are FUN!

Back to this wedding...

 Like I said, gorgeous church! I brought my  regular camera with me to get better pictures, but forgot to charge the battery...FAIL.

 

And as luck would have it, we got caught up in a small parade and had to take a detour so we were late to the wedding. However, if we weren't late, I wouldn't have got this great picture as the happy couple was heading out of the ceremony!

And onto the reception...there were probably about 12 of us sorority girls there. I do have a complete group shot, but I think it's on Patrick's phone. These are a few of my favorite girls-

Brianne, my best friend Stef and myself.

 Isn't the bride beautiful?! The other two girls on the right of the picture were 2 of my roommates after we moved out of the sorority.

Stef and I

And I can't leave out the best looking guy there ;)

Afterward we headed to Cascade, MT, about a 25 mile drive south to go to the Cascade rodeo street dance. My friend Chay lives there and that's who we stayed with. We were at the street dance for about half hour before deciding to head home to bed. 

We got a good pic of all of us here too. The other preggo in the middle is Chay's sister Shantell. She's due about 2 months before I am.

It was a quick trip over (6 hours) and a quick trip back yesterday, but WELL worth it!

Hope you all had a great weekend too!

PBR & Old Friends

Last weekend was one of those weekends you just NEED to have once in awhile. Got out of town, visited my sister, hung out with old friends, ate too much food and saw some cowboys ride bulls at the PBR! Oh, and got some new shoes. That never hurts my feelings.

Patrick and I were lucky enough to take a little time away from the farm and calving to have a weekend getaway that recharges your batteries and makes you feel almost human again. We headed South to Billings, which is like our "big city" around these parts. It's population is a little over 100,000. No, I didn't forget any commas or zeros ;) We arrived Thursday night and just went to bed after visiting with my sister for a bit.

Friday morning we got to visit with an old friend of ours who was in town, then headed over to the State FFA (Future Farmers of America) convention where our cousin was competing in his last year as a senior. We attended the alumni meeting, and visited with some friends from Culbertson. I also won a silent auction bid, and the 2013 FFA Alumni scrapbook award again! That makes 3 years in a row! Kind of helped that I didn't have any competition this year. I think I scared them all away ;)

Friday night we picked up my sister from work, headed to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner, then off to the PBR Rodeo! The picture below is what happens when we get to the PBR about 45 minutes early.

Introducing the riders. It's definitely a good show!

After the rodeo we sat in the parking lot waiting to leave for about 45 minutes. That was...fun?

Aaaaand let's just say things got a little western on Friday night after the rodeo, and this was Patrick's outfit the next morning. Lovin' the loafers. And Lazer the dog!

After a little bit of shopping Saturday morning, we headed out to his friend's house for their FFA State Officer 10 year reunion BBQ. I think all but one were able to attend, and it was great to get the whole gang together! When we showed up, one of the guys' wives had bought balloons, a cake and all sorts of decorations! 

 What a great crew! The guy on the left, Darin, was the Best Man in our wedding, and the guy on the right, Brandon, was also a groomsman. That lovely lady in front on the right is the amazingly wonderful Halsey over at Spunky Junky.

Yeaaaaah, this is more like it :)

 Sunday morning we did the obligatory big city Costco run, and headed back to the farm. It was a great weekend to relax, see old friends, and have a great time!

Eric Church...YUM

Ladies...Eric Church is hot. Like...yum. That's really all I could come up with! 

We were both excited to see him:

 
We drove the 3 hours to Regina, Canada (it's pronounced like "vagina". No, I'm not kidding! hahaha) and went to his concert last Friday, and I can honestly say it was one of the BEST concerts I've been to! Granted I've only been to mostly country concerts-save the Snoop, Ludacris and Nelly concerts back in the day-but I've seen Miranda, Kenny, Sugarland, Jason Aldean and a bunch of others. He was GREAT. Better than great. I would pay good money to see him again!

So without further adieu....Mr. Church:

He opened with Country Music Jesus

And he's one of those artists who sounds almost better live than on his album.

I made this one extra large so you could see his smile. You're welcome. 

 I'm thinking all sorts of inappropriate thoughts right now...

Loves Me Like Jesus. Love love love.

Just'a creepin.....

 Drink a little drink...

Smoke a little smoke.

 He ended the show with Springsteen!

It was a fantastic show...like, blow your mind good! He was entertaining the whole time, hardly slowed down, and had flames, fireworks, different backgrounds, cannons and smoke throughout the whole show!

If you have the chance to see him, DO IT!

Tomorrow I'll be back with some things I learned about our neighbors to the north, and a DELISH recipe you won't want to miss. Two words: Crock pot!

Washington D.C. Recap

Finally, my post from Washington D.C.!

Spent a day at the Capital talking to our state legislators

This is Jeannette Rankin, the first female elected to congress. She was from Montana.

A table that was used by President Lincoln to sign a very important paper...of which I can't remember because I was being yelled at by the security guard because apparently it's illegal to take pictures in here?

And then my best friend Stef showed up on Wednesday, and then the fun began!

Then we started being touristy on Saturday, and explored downtown. I took this picture with the EPA sign, because I'm just really not a big fan of some of the rules they come up with for farmers and ranchers. Like, we cause too much dust to go in the air when we drive our tractors through our fields? 

Hey, let me know how starvation works out for you...

It was only theeeeees big....hahaha

The White House...thanks a lot Obama...

Vietnam Memorial

Lincoln Memorial

I love this picture I got

 Korean War Memorial. This one was eerie...the looks on these statues' faces was almost real. You could just see the fear and terror in their eyes.

And by far, the most moving place I visited the whole time. Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. 

Overall I loved D.C., and can't wait to go back! There is still SO much I wanted to see that I didn't get a chance to go to.

Have you been to DC? Any other places I should go?