Pampering the Cowgirls

     Becca has turned 5 and instead of trying to celebrate in the middle of moving, I decided to throw her a "pampering princess party" one week after we had moved and one week after her actual birthday.  I am always looking for party ideas that include our staff and I can pull off at the ranch. My little Becca-Boo is very enamored by her princesses and she's very enamored by our staff girls right now. So, why not combine the two? Our staff girls were in the middle of spring cleaning and working very hard to open up our ranch so why not "pamper these ranch princesses"?  I think Becca was more excited about seeing the staff girls dress up than dressing up herself. It was so fun to pamper my 5 year old princess and the "Cinderella's" of the ranch.  The pictures might give you a glimpse of our new house, but my mom is coming tomorrow and until she has helped me with the finishing touches, I don't want to post the official pictures yet.  I can't wait to show you!!!!

It was so easy to use "princess" pink since her birthday
is so close to Valentine's Day.

These are the party favors for the girls.
Bath fizzies in the shape of a cupcake.

Manicures and Pedicures.

Pedicure for my princess.

The girls made their own Valentine's cards.
Couldn't Snow White work at Disney World?

More of our "ranch princesses".

"Prince Jack" kept creeping back into the party,
even though it was girls only.

More pampering.

Becca's first Bible.

   This for me was the most memorable part of the night. Before Becca opened up her Bible, I wanted to make sure my sweet girl and our very special staff girls knew where their beauty should lie. I read out of 1 Peter that tells us,  "we should not adorn our outward appearance, but the imperishable qualities of our heart...and this is what is precious in God's sight". It is so fun to be pampered and to be as pretty as a princess, but with all the lies the world is telling these sweet girls, I want my princesses to find confidence in what truly makes them beautiful. Becca opened her gift and was so excited to have a "big girl" Bible. The next day I heard her say softly as she was looking through it, "this is the greatest book I've ever had." I could not be prouder of the young lady she is growing into. Thank you, sweet Becca, for 5 of the best years of my life.

This was the "after party".  Look at my cowboy
holding a pink wand.

And Jack thought he was "the party".

Trading Spaces

     We are in the process right now of trading houses with Molly and Jeremy, the other family on the ranch. We were fortunate enough to have some renovations done and this space will be much more fitting for a family of 6!!! Have you ever tried to trade houses before? My parents did it about a year and a half ago and I have a new respect for them. It has been like working a jigsaw puzzle:


Step 1: Renovate our new master bedroom and bathroom so that we can have storage for our entire house.
Step 2: Move our entire house into our future bedroom.
Step 3: Lay new carpet up at our old house for our future residents.
Step 4: Move Molly and Jeremy up to their new house.
Step 5: Have carpets cleaned in new house.
Step 6: Move in and enjoy!


    So, at this very moment, my 3 kiddos, my pregnant belly, and my computer are residing in one of our guest cabins...this is one of the conveniences of the business we run. Pray for us!!! I am so excited about change and look forward to showing you more of a finished product, but for now these are the pictures that represent my upheaval. 

So, this is the master bedroom, currently a holding place for all of our belongings. But, I can't wait for the reveal because right outside my my front door this throne is still sitting.

Yes, that is a blue toilet. This came out of the master bathroom that we just renovated!!! I can't wait to show you what has taken its place. 


     For those of you keeping up, here are a few images of walking through our deconstructed lobby right now. They are working oh so hard and I love watching the progress. I might be more excited about the lobby right now than my not-so-blue toilet!

A Soaring Blessing

  
    Yesterday was Sunday and I was recovering from a cold and recovering from my husband also being out of town for 5 days. I decided that morning that we were all up to worshipping God corporately at church (or just didn't want to do another day by myself at the ranch). It is rare to be able to actually attend church on Sunday mornings, but while the ranch is still closed down we have weekends off and take full advantage. With husband out of town, 3 kids in tow, recovering from much phlegm, and our typical 3 hour round trip off we went. 


   As I hit the 9 mile dirt road once again and felt the routine tug at my heart to be flustered and discontent about living so far from convenience, I quietly surrendered to the time God had for me on that road. It truly was a peaceful drive. On this very sunny, blue-skyed day, I peaked a hill 2 miles from the ranch and in my peripheral vision saw the biggest bird I had ever seen. I honestly considered what the heck a pelican was doing in the Rocky Mountains and as the sun shone even brighter on the creature's white tail feathers, I realized I was driving along side of a rare sighting of a bald eagle. I had never seen one so close. I could not contain my excitement, waking my two boys and trying to spot the bird for my daughter, not one of them was able to participate in my excitement. I will never forget it and I am once again thankful for the splendor God has for me in my 9 miles. 


    I could not help but meditate on a promise in Isaiah 40:31 and "those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength, they will mount up with wings like eagles..." I have never had such a clear vision of that promise. That eagle was HUGE and this is the kind of grace and strength the Lord desires to give us. Is this what I portray to this dying world? Am I an eagle that anyone and everyone wants to just get a glimpse of? More likely, I am the frantic, puny black bird that most of us consider a bad omen.  I am thankful that my Lord is always waiting on me as I learn to wait on Him.

We are back!!!!

  We have returned to ranch life. This means we have returned to renovations, moving, homeschooling, and the weekly schedule of driving back and forth to Bible Study, ballet, and errands in town.  I am having a difficult time getting my blogging feet back under me, however within the last week there has been something very worth while to show each of you.


  Before we had left for Christmas break, our management team decided that we could not put off renovating our lobby any longer. I am so excited and honored to be a part of the decision making process and to observe as piece by piece this face lift happens. We do not open up until February 18th and we should have our new lobby mostly complete. I thought I might include you in the process. For some of you, it will be so exciting to see how it is transformed. But for others, you might have to mourn change on the ranch. (Our guests are not exactly used to change at Lost Valley.)  Here are the first few days of demo and the first few days of change. I can't wait to show you the progress.

Close down...party down!

    After a huge Thanksgiving weekend our gates are closed. It is very different not having swarms of people all over the ranch, but it is a much needed break for all of us.  It is unusual to only worry about feeding ourselves and the horses, to not have to clean the public restrooms two times a day, and to have a lodge where the lights stay off and the doors stay closed. I am appreciating the silence right now, but come February I will be ready for life and noise once again. Just to give you a little bit of insight into this strange feeling, I need to recap the last couple weeks for you. We have alot to catch up on. 

 

   We were able to celebrate with all of our staff and have Jack's 2nd birthday party up in what we call the Round-up Room. This is our conference and meeting room on the second story of our lodge. I get to look at birthday parties differently when we are shut down. I had the idea to bring in a bouncy house and then that idea led to actually buying a bouncy house for us to use all winter long.  So, now we've turned our conference room into a jungle gym for these months we're closed.  It has been our sanity!!!

I love you Birthday Boy!

   The night after Jack's birthday our management team put on a Christmas party for our staff that serve us so faithfully. We held a "cocktail" party in the dining room and the McClish's and the Warnock's cooked and served dinner for all of our staff who were just able to sit and relax. It was so fun to give back and let them be the recipients of our 4 diamond service.  Our staff is truly amazing!!!!!! The Fosters then hosted a dessert at their house and we had some sad good byes to say as we paid tribute to our employees that had worked at the ranch for over a year.  Our dear friend, Hammie, is leaving us and next season will be the first season at the ranch for the Warnocks to be without Hammie!!! I am in complete denial! It was an emotional night, but such a sweet night to be with so many people we love!

This is another sad good bye! CK, I all ready miss you!

Merry Christmas from Lost Valley Ranch...until 2012!

A Lost Valley Thanksgiving

    There is nothing like it and this year I was very thankful to be spending the holiday with 167 people in our dining room. Our Thanksgiving weekend is booked months in advance and one of our favorite weekends of the year. Every cabin is full, every seat is full, and every serving platter in our commercial sized kitchen is used.  This year, we decided to attempt a "Martha Stewart" original and welcome our guests with a turkey made entirely of fresh produce. Our head chef made 40 jars of homemade apple butter for each family to take home and our centerpieces were made up of pumpkins (that my staff girls retrieved from the pumpkin patch about a month before) and white spider mums. I am thankful every year for the feast we get to be a part of and for the people that have become like family to us this time of year.  It takes an incredibly talented staff to pull off 13 cooked turkeys, 8 pumpkin pies, 40 jars of apple butter, 85 horses saddled to ride, a very competitive "turkey bowl" football game, and a talent show for the best of them. Thank you staff and guests for making this an unforgettable Thanksgiving!

Even Becca was able to help turn cupcakes
into turkeys.

This is the homemade turkey that welcomed our guests
to the cold line. ( He was our creation named "Godfrey")

Let the gorging begin.

The dessert table that could easily
be called sinful.

The table we gathered around.

And a family that I could not be more thankful for.

Dinner in a Pumpkin

     This is my second year to make "dinner in a pumpkin" for my family and staff. I wanted to share this fun recipe, because it is a creative presentation and could become a fun family tradition. I know there are several recipes out there and you can modify to fit your taste. Keep in mind I made this for forty and not four, so my quantities were a little bit different.


1. You start out with a round pumpkin that you cut a good size hole in the top and clean out. The kids (aka our staff) love helping with this part. (Save those seeds, season them with a little curry, roast them for about 20 minutes and have a great snack.)

2. Next, you just follow the recipe below. I modified by leaving out the water chestnuts and I know a good add on can be almonds. Also, it's a nice touch to baste the inside of the pumpkin with butter and brown sugar before you put the mixture in.

Enough to feed an army!

On a stovetop cook:

1½ lbs ground beef

1 small onion, chopped

2 Tbsp oil

2 Tbsp soy sauce

1 Tbsp brown sugar

1 can sliced mushrooms

1 small can cream of chicken soup

1-1/2 cup  cooked rice ( I used 2)

1 can sliced water chestnuts (drained)

1 green pepper

1 red pepper

3. Fill the pumpkin with the mixture and cook at 350 for about an hour or until the pumpkin is very tender. 

It will look like this. And be sure to get a bite of pumpkin with each scoop. Enjoy this Halloween tradition!