Category Archives: Country Living

First Annual Egg Hunt

So one night a couple of months ago, Andy & I were lying in bed and he said, “you know what would be fun?”

Then I told him I was too tired.

Then I laughed  and laughed, because sometimes I’m witty.

Anyway, he told me he thought it’d be fun to host a big Easter Egg hunt for all of our friends and their kids. Emphasis being on, “our friends”. He wanted to put on an egg hunt for adults. I was game.

So an evite went out, plastic eggs & goodies were procured.

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All in all, we stuffed and hid around 500 eggs…just over 150-ish eggs for the adults filled with scratch-it tickets, candy and other stuff like seed packets and fishing lures. All the rest were for the kiddos filled with candy, change and various goodies like temporary tattoos and stamps.

Andy zoned off an area around the play structure for the kids, complete with traffic cones and twine. Then he & Rylee hid all the adult eggs back in the trees. I stayed at the play structure with the kids when the adults went on their “hunt” so I didn’t get any photos, WOMP.

We had 12-14 kiddos and about the same number of adults that came out. We kept lunch simple with a build your own sandwich bar. We spread out some blankets and all the kiddos picnicked outside before the big egg hunt.

The weather was gorgeous and we’re pretty sure everyone had a good time.

We can’t wait to do it again next year!

Currently V.3

Oh hello Thursday…fancy meeting you here! My mind is currently cluttered with a big ole list of things to do before our First Annual “Rice Ranch” Easter Egg Hunt for Adults (and kids) {but mostly the adults} so I figured I’d play along with Lindsey and her friend and link up with their “Currently” thing. Enjoy?

Feeling better than I was earlier this week. I still have a lingering sore throat, but I’m able to eat, so I’m not going to complain…too much.

Imagining what life is going to be like once we get our back patio put in later this spring. I cannot wait to have our grill always on our back porch and not have to pull it out of the garage and grill on the driveway. And to enjoy playing or relaxing to a view that’s less of our rental house and more of a grassy field…

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Considering getting a pedicure. And also a massage.

Listening to Rylee’s wants/needs more lately. Amazing how a kid actually knows what they need sometimes…novel concept, eh? And, mind blowing, actually listening to them makes for a happier kid. She’s always hungry after school, so was always the battle of “you can have a snack when we get homeifdadisnt on his way home yet”. It madeourevenings miserable and filled with annoying whining that ultimately led me to losing my temper. Now? She gets a snack, dried fruit, maybe a cut up apple or a Z-bar, on the drive home and everyone is happy. By the end of the day, I’m spent, and touched out, but Rylee is in snuggle before bed mode. I’ve been making a conscious effort to put aside my selfishness of just wanting to sit by myself and getting down and letting her sit on my lap, or lay right up against me as we watch some tv. Giving her some one-on-one attention without her baby sister always tugging at my feet or trying to crawl up in the middle of what’s going on seems to be helping make the world a happier place. And also? Less naps…I think we’re coming to an end of naps for my almost 5 year old.

Moving more. We spent nearly all last weekend outside. This is the time of year we’re always on the move and I love it. Theres always stacks upon stacks of projects to be done when you live in the country. I’m really looking forward to being able to do more on the property this spring/summer since i won’t be pregnant or taking care of a newborn. It takes my body a little it to get used to it, but I love spending time outside…weeding a flower bed, hauling firewood or you know…just taking pictures of cows.

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HK

 

Just solidifying my old lady status

Holy crap I’m exhausted today.

As Brandy would say, “I mommed the shit out of this weekend.”

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See? Even wore a total mom outfit…cardi, skinnies & ballet flats.

Andy was busy working outside all weekend {springtime in the country, it’s a beautiful thing.} hauling firewood, working on the tractor and just generally doing some spring cleaning on the property. That meant I was on solo kid duty.

Saturday I was showered and ready before 8 AM…that? never happens. The girls & I were out of the house by 10:30, hitting Target, of course. We did a bit of shopping then headed out to the airport to have lunch at my best friend’s restaurant…she’s working Saturday’s now/again {WOMP}, so I thought maybe she’d like a visit from a couple of cute little girls. {I got multiple compliments on how cute, darling & well behaved my girls are.}

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After lunch we headed home and after Reese napped we headed outside.

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Sunday the girls and I hit two grocery stores, grabbed doughnuts on the way home then spent a bunch more time outside. While Reese knocked out a 2-ish hour nap I weeded the front flower beds.

There was a mid afternoon bath for Rylee courtesy of the unfortunate placement of her head being directly in line with Reese spitting up.

Then of course there was the general household duties that I attempted to work in there too.

We topped off the weekend with ham, homemade mac-n-cheese, biscuits and veggies.

From sun up to sun down I didn’t stop. Chasing after kids. Holding a needy, teething Reese. Bending. Running. Cooking. Etc. Etc. Etc.

I had my phone tucked away nearly the entire weekend and it was glorious.

But now? I feel old. Like…I didn’t do anything seemingly out of the ordinary, yet here I am on Monday morning completely worn out and physically sore.

And as if it weren’t already completely obvious that I’m the oldest not-even-thirty-year-old on the planet {remember?}, I’ve gone and done it again…Today I’m over on Brandy’s blog ranting about how kids these days are kind of assholes. <–GO READ IT!

Apparently the sun got to me this weekend, because today? COLORED TIGHTS!

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Happy Monday Friends!!

A little dream I keep

I have this dream I keep tucked away in my back pocket. I’ve never really told anyone about it, yet I think about it quite often.

I think it’d be a fun adventure to turn our rental house into a bed & breakfast.

I feel like there will come a time where we will no longer need to rent the house out, yet neither one of the girls will be ready to live there.

It wouldn’t take much, just some furniture, really.

With the way the house is set up, it actually lends itself to a B&B set-up quite nicely. 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms. Each room could have it’s own private sitting area. The kitchen is nice & spacious and there’s a big dining room that I can just picture a nice big country table in the middle of.

I love to cook and entertain. I could cook breakfasts with eggs, fruits & veggies harvested right from our own backyard.

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Our property is beautiful. I would love to share it with others as a peaceful weekend getaway. A little piece of country living.

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We live within mere minutes of some amazing wineries. We’re within an hour of the pacific ocean.

Guests could spend their days wine tasting or hiking or visiting the ocean and spend their evenings enjoying a beverage of their choice while relaxing and watching the sunset off the back balcony that happens to have the perfect view.

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People from across the county, who knows, maybe even from around the world, could share their stories with us. Write their names in our guest book. Leave a mark on our lives.

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But I don’t know…it’s all kind of silly. It’s just something I daydream about sometimes.

Oooh Life

I almost started out this post by saying that this last weekend was just what I needed. Then I remembered that’s pretty much how I started my post about my New Year’s weekend. Is it really possible to have two weekends in a row that are that good? Am I tempting fate by putting that out in the internet-world? Does that mean that this weekend will just downright suck? Perhaps.

This weekend we tackled part of our new year’s resolution of revamping our laundry room/pantry space. Then that morphed into tackling Ry’s closet and our office/play room the next day. We also hit up costco. Andy went shooting with a buddy. And the girls and I spent some much needed time playing outside. In the SUN! Slowly but surely our house is getting into order. I sense this weekend will be another busy one with organizing and purging. I need to finish the office area. We’re getting rid of the GIANT desk that is used for nothing more than to stack papers on top of. I seriously can’t wait!

I’m eyeball deep in tradeshow prep at work. This is our first major tradeshow as a company so this week/two beforehand is extra important for me and my Type-A self. So, please excuse the photo dump…that’s pretty much all I’ve got the time for at the moment. One day I may return to some sort of real blogging.

Someone has been practicing her sitting up skills…she was doing pretty well on Saturday and was making herself belly laugh every time she realized she was sitting on her own.

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Rylee was super into the shelving project. The checker at the home improvement store let her scan everything with the handheld scanner. Then she helped Andy with all the leveling and stud finding…legit doing it by herself. Andy was having a blast doing the project with her. It was the sweetest thing to sit back and watch.

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Safety first, friends!

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The mostly finished product! Horray for smarter use of space! {Boo for how much that shelving stuff costs! Holy crap}

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Her closet has been like straight out of the movies, if you open it you’re not sure if you’ll be taken out by a toy avalanche. Don’t tell Rylee, but while she wasn’t looking I started throwing stuff away.

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Go ahead and file this under heart-melting moments. Rylee is such an amazing big sister. Seriously almost makes me cry. {Side note: WHEN DID I BECOME SUCH A SAP!?!?}

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Our front yard. Amazing day.

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MUD PIES! What’s hilarious is how Ry is still, 3 days later, so shocked I let her play in the mud. What she doesn’t realize is that this was so me when I was her age. I LOVED playing in the mud when I was little. She was building a robin’s nest, by the way.

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I think we’re finally starting to get the hang of the work/fun balance thing. At least I hope we are.

Our little family of four is settling quite nicely into itself. I love them. So much.