Happy Friday

Happy Friday from Hank the Cow Dog. It’s been a little chilly in Nebraska, so he has been wearing his little vest. He likes it – no joke!

Also, notice the nice, shiny International pedal tractor in the background – more on that soon, as well as my home office update!

Have a great weekend and Go Cats!

Christmas decor

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving! We enjoyed the day in Kansas with Ronny’s family and on Friday, my nephews and I helped Grandma put up her tree. They were big help.

We came back to Nebraska on Friday night. This gave us time to decorate for Christmas!

As I was pulling out my Christmas decorations, I realized I really skimped on the fall decorations this year and didn’t get out a majority of them. So we put up a few more indoor and outdoor decorations to make up for it. (These are all phone pictures – sorry for the fuzziness.)

My favorite part of my decorations is my kitchen chandelier. I draped snowy, pine garland across the top and hung icicle ornaments throughout. This picture doesn’t do it justice.

I didn’t put our tree up this year, but I have two smaller trees up instead.

I also love my nativity scene that Grandpa and Grandma Cinnamon made for us. The perfect reminder of why we celebrate Christmas.

We don’t have an elf on a shelf, but we do have a Santa on a shelf! He seems to be happy up there – maybe he just likes sitting by the wine? :-)

And remember this – my Christmas in July project? It found a new spot in our living room as well. How could anyone give Baby Jesus a white ribbon? Makes me laugh every time I look at it, thank you hubby.

Lastly, we surely aren’t the Griswold’s, but we do have some lights up this year – which is more than what we could say last year. Thanks to Ronny and our friend, Josh, for putting these up!

And while we’re talking decorating, my chair finally came in for my new office/reading room. Here is sneak peak, but I want to share with you the whole room transformation…stay tuned!

Thanksgiving InstaFriday

I’m thankful for …

My hilarious little puppy who is always making life interesting and making me get out of the house on nice evenings.

Beef (food in general). I’m glad to be able to raise beef and consume this protein powerhouse – and have an exciting job that I get to advocate for ag!

Family. These pictures were from a family get-together – it is so wonderful to me that my little niece gets to know her grandpa and our three generations get to spend time together.

Our house. Even though it is easy to dream of better places to live and things I wish I had, we are very blessed for the house that we have and the awesome community we live in with awesome friends!

My husband – yes he may be silly and sarcastic, but I love him more than words can say. Thank you for fulfilling my life, honey! (even if it is with your “cute” little milk jug.)

My faith in Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior.

sweet n’ salty pork burgers.

Yum. I made Shana’s sweet n’ salty pork burgers from from CommonGround Nebraska this week and they are to.die.for. 5 easy ingredients = a quick meal. Enjoy!

sweet n’ salty pork burgers
Ingredients

1 lb ground pork
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tsp seasoned salt
Sliced Provolone cheese
Buns or Hawaiian Sweet Rolls

Directions

1. Preheat the grill or a stove top griddle to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl combine ground pork, sugar and salt
   
3. Mix with your hands until the sugar and salt are incorporated evenly.
4. Make 4 to 6 patties.
    
5. Cook on first side for 6 minutes or until golden then flip for another 6 minutes until the internal temperature is 145 degrees. (If grilling, use a sheet of heavy foil and spray with cooking spray. The sugar caramelizes as they cook (which is delicious), but can cause the burgers to stick to the grill grate.)
   
6. Add your favorite cheese right before you’re ready to take them off the grill. I used provolone. 
   
7. Pile onto a bun and serve. Enjoy!
   

Check out other CommonGround recipes here.

Lake Tahoe

On Thursday afternoon, we took a break from the Red Angus convention in Reno and spent some time out at Lake Tahoe. The trees and mountains were so beautiful.

Aren’t they cute?!

We took the opportunity for a nice photo –this one not so much, but I’m saving the good one for our Christmas card, maybe?

We stopped in Truckee to shop. The guys were thrilled…but they were patient.

We also stopped by the Olympic Village – home of the 1960 Winter Olympics.

For lunch we stopped at the Log Cabin Café – best.breakfast.ever. And as seen on the Rachael Ray show!

It was a beautiful adventure to California…

…and Tahoe…

…and back to Nevada!

Reno & Red Angus

Ronny and I attended our first National Red Angus Association Convention together (I went to one as a Jr. member several years ago) in Reno this past week. We met up with my parents there and several others in the industry that we knew. We also made a lot of new friends and contacts.

We stayed at the Silver Legacy Hotel and Casino…

…and I wanted to come home with this chair.

One of the best sessions during the convention was RAAA President Joe Mushrush’s address – can you tell why we liked it! :)

Downtown Reno was really beautiful as well with their River Walk.

Dad even found gold to pan for!

We did a little gamblin’, eating good steak, and made some new friends – even from Canada!

Up next, the trip to Lake Tahoe…