2013 Year-In-Review (Part 3)

In late September, Tony and I took a road trip to check on some cattle that we have leased out in Tennessee. We started out by visiting the Arch in St. Louis on the last day of September. This ended up being a good thing as it was closed the next day due to the government shut-down. When we arrived there was thick, thick fog. We took in some of the movies and films that they had to offer on the history of the Arch and by the time we were finished with those the fog had lifted and we took the tour up to the top of the arch. Was very clear and we could see much of the city and more.

We continued our trip by traveling thru some of Illinois, Kentucky and then stopping in Nashville before we looked up the cattle. We ended up being able to get tickets to the Grand Ole Opry and getting to see Vince Gill who is one of my very favorites! After looking in on the cattle we headed to Branson, Missouri, which is one of my "happy places"! I LOVE going to Branson and Silver Dollar City is especially fun when it is all decked out for the Fall season! We traveled 2,400 miles in a week and decided that we wouldn't be ready for another road trip for awhile!

In October, Emily and I had fun decorating not only for the Fall season, but for Gunner's first birthday party! She picked the theme of tractors and pumpkins. I love this picture of the kids on the tractor. My Mom and Dad gave this tractor to Emily on her 2nd birthday. This last year, my Dad took it and totally refinished it! Does it look almost 30 years old?

We celebrated Gunner's first birthday with lots of friends and family. Again, Emily did lots of planning and it was a wonderful party celebrating a special little boy! This was his smash cake before the "smash"!

On Halloween Emily and Gunner and Tressie dressed up as Super Heros! She made their costumes and we had a busy day by taking the kids up to their Mama and Daddy's offices so that everyone could see their costumes, then went out for lunch, then home for trick or treating in the big town of Kit Carson! Tressie was really into it this year and it was a great evening weather wise. She got lots of candy so was a happy and excited little girl!

In November Tressie and I again did boxes for Operation Christmas Child. I challenged myself to do a box for each age group for the boys and girls which totaled 6 boxes. Tressie really enjoyed shopping thru the year for these and coming home and putting our goodies in a big box until time to send them off. She was a big help this year in assembling the boxes and getting everything ready. We will involve Gunner in the next year or two and continue this project that I have a real passion for! Such a blessing to know that some child who might not of ever received a gift before will be getting one of our boxes. I was able to receive information on where the boxes went. For the last two years, our boxes have gone to Mexico.

I found an idea on Pinterest that Tressie and I did in November. We had a "thankful" banner. Each day Tressie would tell me what she was thankful for and we would write it on a leaf and hang it on our banner. She loved this and each morning when she got here she would run over and want to do her leaf for the day! Such a simple but fun way to list our blessings and things we were thankful for in the month of Thanksgiving. Again, something that Gunner will be involved in probably next year!

Christmas can be quite hectic here on the ranch with the guys needing to do "chores" before anything else on Christmas morning. So, this year we decided that we would do our Christmas with Emily and Justin and the kids on Christmas Eve. We had a relaxed evening and enjoyed it very much! Tressie informed her Mama that they needed to wear their dress up clothes, so dress up they did! Don't they look nice?

Grandma and Grandpa's little cuties! Nothing makes Christmas as fun as the little ones! They bring such joy to our lives and we are very thankful and blessed that we are able to spend so much time with them!

And just like that, the Holidays were over and a new year has begun!