Shortly. Shorty. Short.

I realize that I’ve been doing a lot of looonng, very picturesque blogging lately. I haven’t  just shared my recent thoughts, only recent doings. So I’ll make this short - sometimes hard for this writer.

Blessed with what I get to do daily.

But it takes me away from my loved ones which I don’t always like.

Been doing a lot of praying lately for others. I don’t like to see them hurting, but I know the power of prayer can heal.

Feeling unsure today.

My self-control has been out of control. Need to refocus.

Hitting the gym again tonight. I wish the weather was nicer to run outside.

Not always sure what I want, but glad for choices.

My desk is a mess.

What am I cooking for dinner?

That is all. :-)

DIY | Hank’s dog vest

Remember Hank’s vest from this post?

Well I made it out of an old pair of jeans! Ronny has a great fleece-lined jean vest that my grandpa gave him and he wears it quite often. So we thought it would be fun for Hank to have his own, too.

I first used a brown paper bag to create a pattern that would fit Hank. Then I cut three pieces: the back and two front sides.

The fleece material that I found was pretty thick, so I decided the best way to line the vest was to fold it over the sides of the jean material. It didn’t match Ronny’s vest exactly that way, but it was easier for me – and cuter.

After I cut out the jean and fleece materials, I simply pinned the fleece down and sewed as close to the edge as possible.

I did this with all three pieces individually, then sewed the sides to the back. Simple enough!

And we’re pretty sure he likes it…keeps him warm in these cold winter days we’ve had!

Cotton Bowl 2012

I’m finally settling down from the Cotton Bowl.

For Christmas, in lieu of gifts, Ronny and I had the opportunity to go to the Cotton Bowl. Our K-State friend in Seward, Dustin, invited us to go with him and his dad – they had everything set up so why not!

We left Thursday morning, picked up Dustin’s dad in Salina, KS, then headed south to Fort Worth, TX. That evening, we had a great time in the Stockyards listening to Texas Country music and and met up with many K-Staters we knew.

The next day, we headed back down to the Stockyards to check out some of the historic sites.

We ate a great big lunch at Coopers Ole Time BBQ to fill up before heading to the game.

At Cowboys Stadium. It was ginormous – there were 80,956 people attending the game!

Inside the stadium was just as impressive – yet it was frustrating that they partitioned off the stadium so that us – sitting in the west endzone – couldn’t get to my sister sitting in the east endzone. But we saw her on the screen four times – she was a rockstar!
The view from our seats:

I found one of my besties, Patricia!

Congrats on a good season, Cats! Thanks for giving us the opportunity to attend a bowl game and cheer on K-State!

A mustache story

Before Thanksgiving, Ronny started growing a mustache. It really wasn’t purposeful – mostly that he just was too busy with work to shave his face.

But because the rest of the hair on his face grows in patchy (except his neck beard…but that is gross on any man), he decided to see how long he could stand his mustache. Didn’t talk that one over with the wife, but I played along for awhile.

He had to show it off first at Thanksgiving, then keep it long enough to show his older brothers during Christmas, then show his friends on New Year’s, then keep it through the Cotton Bowl.

We did have some fun with it, however. It’s funny the things two people can do when they are alone on Christmas Day with nothing to do – let’s take some old-fashioned pictures! So, here is Grandpa Pope and Grandma Frasier (as Ronny named us):

We had too much fun making that one.

Some of our friends joked that he was just trying to keep up with his dog. Hank happens to have a new vest just like his father (I will blog on that later)…so we took father-son pictures before I convinced him, er… I mean, he finally decided to shave it off.

Before:

After:

Don’t worry, Keith Stone – you’re still smooth. Literally!

Garmin–a new incentive to run

For Christmas, I asked for and received a Garmin Forerunner 210 watch. It is a GPS-enabled sport watch that has a premium heart rate monitor that I strap around my ribcage.

What is so cool about this GPS running watch is that it calculates my time, distance, pace, elevation change, heart rate and calories that I burn. I borrowed my friend, Shelley’s, for the Lincoln State Farm 5K and it was great to keep track of my splits and know how consistent I was.

What is even better about this is that I can now track all of my usual running routes here in town and know exactly how far I’ve been running, my elevation change, and the exact distance. Then I can plug it into my computer and upload all of my info to GarminConnect.com. Even my walks with Hank are fun to track. Here is my normal 2.5 mile running route:

For any runner that doesn’t have a GPS, I’ve been using www.runningahead.com – which is a great site to help you put together a running route or map out where you ran.

I’m excited to run in some new races this year and try out my Garmin! Thanks again, Mom & Dad!

Seasons of 2011

2011 was a great year for us and we feel so blessed for the opportunities we were able to have and everything we accomplished.

In the spring, I was able to speak at the CLA’s Marshall Frasier Beef Symposium in honor of my Gramps in Colorado and travel to New Orleans and Tampa, FL for work.  We ran a 5K in Lincoln, 10K in Manhattan and the BoulderBOLDER 10K in Colorado. In May, we traveled to California to a friend's wedding in the Redding area and visited Kelsey's grad school friend in the Sacramento area. We had the chance to travel through Napa Valley and wine taste along the way - amazing!

In the summer, we had way too much fun growing our garden, playing with our dog, Hank and I traveled to Japan to promote U.S. beef.

In the fall, we traveled to Texas to visit Ronny's Grandma Polly.  Made several trips to both of our parents' homes in Kansas and Colorado, where a little cattle work was involved. Ronny was in “full swing” of golfing and we celebrated two years of marriage.

In the winter, I worked on several quilting & sewing projects, we spent Thanksgiving in Colorado and did a few DIY projects. We also enjoyed a K-State football game and Ronny flew over our house.

We are so excited for 2012 and what is ahead. We are heading to the Cotton Bowl in Dallas to watch K-State beat Arkansas, looking forward to some fun trips with friends, more quilting projects and 10K races. Most of all - spending more time together and with Hank!

Happy 2012!

Up in the air

Last week, Ronny had the opportunity to fly with one of his customers/friends to Kansas to look at some heifers. His friend, Jon (pictured below), owns and flies a 1968  Skyhawk 4-seater plane that they were able to fly right out of Seward.

Ronny wanted me to blog this, mostly because he was so excited for this new experience, but also to brag to me about his “flying experience”. With all of my travels for work, I have to drive an hour and a half, check in my bags, go through security, and wait an hour for my plane to take-off. Ronny left our house at 9:45 am, got to the Seward airport at 9:50 a.m., found Jon and the plane, and took off a little after 10:00 a.m. Jealous. Even better was that he was at his destination in 45 minutes! (Probably not as fancy or fast as your jet ride, Mom & Dad!)

Jon did a swoop through Seward to fly over our neighborhood to get the bird’s eye view.

Jon was even brave enough to let Ronny fly solo for a few minutes.

Ronny says thanks, Jon, for the opportunity, I say thanks for being safe, Jon!