Ranching

I forgot I hadn't said anything about my AMAZING experience at the Brown Ranch last week!  Honestly.  It was so much fun.  I can't wait to go back.  I went with a friend from college and her husband to her in-law's ranch in Colorado.  I was promised I could ride horses everyday....a dream come true!  So Thanksgiving morning I went for a run to scope out the landscape and see what this ranch stuff was all about.  There was lots of open land with cattle and horses.  And lots of oil and gas pumps - typical Colorado. 

The front yard

Josh's brother just bought some new bucks so we went to check them out.  They were good looking bucks.  At least that's what Josh kept saying.  One was huge - over 150 lbs.  And I was looking cool sitting up on the fence watching them clip the sheep's ears and got lucky enough to get splattered a bit.  Sick.  It did not deter me from the livestock though.  I got my first ride on a horse by myself - I was the only one on a horse. I rode around the yard a bit and got approval to go riding the next day. (Just a note - dinner was so good and everyone was so nice.)

That night, the guys were discussing the plans for Friday - and it sounded like they needed some more help.  They were going to be a man short.  So I volunteered.  I didn't really know what I was volunteering for, but it had something to do with herding sheep and I wanted a real ranching experience. =)  He kept telling me I didn't have to go, I assured him I really wanted to.  And turns out I'm a natural sheep herder.  I'm my mother's daughter - pure farmgirl is what I am!  The sheep were so fun.  It was funny to watch the people drive through the herd - we moved them about 4 miles on the road and crossed a couple highways.  One lady was on her cell phone and I noticed she stopped moving a little ways though.  As I got closer I heard her calling out the window  - move sheepie sheepie.  I don't think they were listening. 

Here are the sheep happy in their new pasture...we moved 1,200 that day. 

Baa Baa...who can find the black sheep?

That afternoon we saddled up and rode down to move some horses and mules from one field to another.  Nancy and I were to direct the sheep down the road when they came out of the pasture.  As they headed toward us we were trying to block them, but they road right by!  They were not as obedient as the sheep.

 

Nancy saddling Blackie Chan

Nancy and Josh riding together

We got a second chance and did much better.  You have to ride up right in the horse's face to get him to turn the other way. Be aggressive.  And to finish the night off, we popped in a good ol' John Wayne movie!  Moving horses

At lunch on Saturday another brother announced he was going to do some branding and asked if anyone wanted to help.  I think he was talking to his dad and other brothers.  But I piped up =)  And I got to brand a cow!!  And watched some other things I won't mention here....And if that wasn't enough, for our afternoon horse ride, we went to round up some stray calves. 

Cattle drive!  Haw! 

Me on Bay B

To top it off, I got to play with the twins.  Oh they are darling.  The sweetest babies, and I can say that even after two 6 hour car rides with them!

Thanks Nancy and Josh!  I can't wait to come back for lambing season! 

It's that TIME!

I'm packing AGAIN!  This is my fifth move in 16 months.  There were a couple big boxes I didn't unpack when I got back to Utah at the beginning of the semester.  Guess I should spend some time going through my things and cleaning stuff out.  I wonder when I'll move again. And if I'll ever have all of my things in the same place again. Do you know how expensive it gets paying the $1 each time you change you address online with the USPS? 



I had pizza for the third time this week.  Although I love it so much.  I think I need to take a break from it.  My pizza eating this semester made up for all of the times I was supposed to eat pizza in college back in the day and didn't.  The best time was eating at Firehouse with Aunt Mary and Elise.  That might be the last time I eat there for a while....love that place!

PS I love that my sister lives on the west coast and answers her phone at night when everyone on the east coast is asleep.  I'm don't know what I'm going to do for the next month when I'll suffer from the time change!

The big challenge is to see if I can really pack everything for a month in my carryon.  I do have mad packing skills, but that's usually just for packing up cars.  We'll see what magic I can work on the suitcase....

Check! Check!

My last day of class is OVER!!!  It was a busy day.  Now just have to turn in a couple projects and do some grading.  We went down to Salt Lake today to talk to the HRVP at the LDS Church.  On the way back I was realizing that our last day of class was now over.  My friend turns to me and says '...I don't know Em.  I don't think your days of going to class are done.  I can see you getting a PhD.'  WHAT? Where did that come from?  I guess I am just that studious and dedicated to school.  Maybe she knows something I don't.  Guess we'll have to wait and see on that one! 

On another note.  I love Facebook (FB).  I learn so many things through FB.  Today I learned that my brother's old roommate killed his wife in Athens, GA a few weeks ago.  SCARY!!!!  Beware of weird people.  Trust your creepy radar.  Report domestic violence.  GET HELP if you are in an abusive relationship. My heart goes out to the wife's family.  So tragic.

Currently...

...I am reading the HR Scorecard so I can write a book review on it for class tomorrow.
...there are 13 days left to live in my 20s.
...there are 10 days left until I am a Master and everyone will bow down in my presence.
...I have 12 days until I go to Georgia!
...I have an N'Sync song stuck in my head.
...I have not talked to my sister Carrie in over a week.
...I am sitting on my bed all bundled up (common occurrence).
...I have a bunch of projects to grade.
...I have a bunch of laundry to do (my clothes all smell like cattle branding and sheep).
...there are 11 days until I move out of my apartment!
...it is not snowing outside...hopefully it will hold off until after I leave.
...I am wearing glasses.
...my hair is curly.
...I am hoping my aunt buys horses and I can get a job in Dallas so I can go riding with her.
...I want to take a nap.
...I am so blessed.
...I am excited it is Christmastime.

Word of the Day

Gonnu.  Sometimes referred to as 'gonna.'  Is a slang form of 'going to.'  Ex.: In reference to doing something, a proper response would be: 'I'm gonnu.'

So, I actually googled this to see what would come up since I just heard someone use it.  And there is an article about word usage among New York City heroin addicts where it quotes a guy saying this!  It is total ghetto slang.  There's your education for the day. 

Thinking Cap

You should see me now. I'm sitting on my bed, with my pillow in my lap and my laptop on my pillow. Two coats are bunched up under my legs, my little pillow and big arm pillow are behind my back. I have my thermals on under my jeans, my slippers are on my feet, wearing my pink vest, and my thinking cap is on my head. My thinking cap is the dark green hood unzipped from my jolly green giant down coat I got 10 years ago to help me survive the cold winters in Provo, UT. Trust me, I look real cute. Focus. On homework. Make. Progress.

Today it snowed.  Everything was covered in pretty white snow.  And it was a great day.  Today I discovered this wonderful website: http://networkedblogs.com/p18417100 - try it out - cool free samples and coupons. 
I have always lived really close to an LDS temple.  Except over the summer in Boston, when I lived 15 minutes away.  The past two years, most of the time when I go running, I at least run by the temple at one point during the run.  Last weekend my roommate and I went to an afternoon church meeting and so I had her come walking with me and we walked around the temple, so I took some pictures.

Logan Temple

And I made two pecan pies last night.  I ate a slice of one today and I have to say I make really good pecan pies.  I mean they are REALLY good.  If you don't like it, that's just fine with me, no feelings hurt because I will eat it all.  Because of that, I do have to find people to give the pies to so I don't eat it all.  And sometimes it gets hard because my friends only want a slice or two, not the whole pie (watching their sugar intake - they LOVE the pies - didn't want you to get confused).  So currently there is a fork and a knife sitting on top of my pie ready - easy for little nibbles here and there.  And why I made two pies, I don't know.  It's not Thanksgiving yet.  I don't have anywhere to take one pie, let alone two.  And then a need arose.  And it was a blessing to have a pie ready to take to someone!

I also love edamame.  Soybeans.  I never thought I would, but then again, I willingly ate cantalope the other night at dinner.  I never thought that would happen either, and it was actually good.  If you haven't had edamame, try it.  Buy a bag from the frozen veggie section of the store, heat a handful up in a bowl in the microwave with a dab of butter and some sprinkles of salt.  It's delicious. 

And I also learned that evaporated milk has no sugar added, it's regular milk that has had half the water evaporated from it - not like sweetened condensed milk.  It's creamier than regular milk and can be used as a substitute for 1/2 and 1/2 or cream.  Hmm...I might have to try this out!

So...this morning I heard my roommates talking downstairs (about wedding stuff - they are both getting married), I was ready to leave for church.  I went down and they were both on the couch with their fiances (same couch - all 4 of them) and they said 'hey! come join us!'  Umm...right.  I went in the kitchen, got a scoop of ice cream and made my way out the door.  So nice of them to try to make me feel included.

Cool Combo

Do you like to spice up your hot chocolate?  Last year I tried really spicing it up with some mango cayenne chocolate to make hot chocolate from scratch so it had a kick to it.  The other day I added a few scoops of orange cremesicle ice cream to just a packet of Swiss Miss. It was quite tastey.  You should try it.  Other ice cream options I would suggest - the good ol' peppermint, even chocolate ice cream just makes it more chocolatey and creamy, and then there's traditional vanilla. 

Or just eat the creamsicle ice cream by itself.  So good.

New Favorite Song

I was driving home last night and this song came on the radio and I just really liked it.  Thought I'd share. 

In a Nutshell

I went to Provo and Salt Lake this week.  What happened?

Saw Lee at Wal-Mart!
Saw Suzy at the BYU grad school fair
Recruited at BYU and UVU
Played with Nancy's girls
Ate BYU mint brownies
Visited Amazing Lori
Sat in lots of traffic
Played with Incredible Kari and her awesome friends
Went to The Pie - ate delicious pizza!
Watched the Hawks beat the Celtics!
Watched the Aggies beat Weber!  (it was a good night for basketball)
Ate a raspberry avalanche at Jake's Over the Top
Woke up to beautiful snow covered everything

the twins

Snowshoeing at the Cabin! (Or so I thought)

I have always wanted to go snowshoeing at the cabin and since there was lots of snow when Mom and Dad went last month, I thought there would still be lots of snow for me to go snowshoeing.  Plus, the weather reports I saw said there was 9 inches of snow at the lake.  We piled in the car - OK, just the two of us so there was plenty of room - and headed up.  Well, there wasn't a lot of snow. 

See.  No snow.

 We ended up just hiking in our regular shoes on the trail and carrying our snowshoes in hopes for more snow.  There were patches here and there.

Katie was playing in the creek and fell in!

We made friends with these hungry birds

The birds came and ate out of her hand!  Then one got smart and found the package.  I saw him fly away with a whole cheese cracker sandwhich in his mouth!

We actually put on the snowshoes and went out in a meadow

Katie went out and tested the ice.  Here she is laying completely on the ice!  I went next and made the mistake of trying to sit on it.  I heard a big crack and thoughts of the Polar Express came to mind with me falling right though.  I quickly got back on the little rock.  It was fun though!

From the 'wall' side of Wall Lake

And since Katie wasn't cold enough from falling in the creek at the beginning of the hike and walking through snow for four hours, she wanted to make a visit to....

the Nudist Ranch.  But unfortunately, it is closed during the winter.  Oh well! 

Love these Pictures

Pictures from the summer...

Boston Harbor

Boston Harbor

Boston Harbor

Horseneck Beach

Look!  no logo!

Horseneck Beach

I am strong and fearless

I am currently looking for a job.  I want a great job.  With a great company.  In a great place.  With great people.  That will pay me lots of money so I can go visit my family often.  Good news - there are some jobs out there.  It's just writing a new cover letter for each job you apply to is so tiring!  I was getting a little discouraged yesterday.  This morning while I was eating my yogurt and granola, I picked up my BYU Humanities magazine and read the dean's message.  Read it here.  He talks about the pilgrim in Dante is on his hard journey out of Hell and how he wants to stop and rest.  The guide then tells him:

“‘Now must thou thus cast off all sloth,’ said the Master,
‘for sitting . . . down . . . none comes to fame. . . . Rise,
therefore, conquer thy panting with the soul, which conquers
in every battle if it sink not with its body’s weight.
There is a longer stair which must be climbed.’” “I rose
then,” the traveler tells us, “better furnished with breath
than I felt, and said: ‘Go, for I am strong and fearless.’ ”

He also talks about the Entitlement of easiness.  These days people feel entitled to an easy path.  If things don't come easily to you, then society wants you to think that you are not good at it.  So instead we steer awat from challenging things and move toward easy unearned excellence where the sense of acheivement often doesn't last long. 

“That which we persist in doing becomes easier, not that the task itself has become easier, but that our ability to perform it has improved.”

Press on!  Climb that hill!  If it's not hard, it's not worth doing!

Other Fun Stuff

So I like to be busy.  And looking back on this week, it was so great.  It started out finishing up my trip in Jackson, then the pumpkin walk.  Several of my classmates (who are all wonderful and great and I'm going to miss them when December comes) and I decided that we'd go out to dinner after class on Wednesdays since we won't be together much longer.  They are HILAROUS.  I love them so much.  Ah, good thing for technology we can keep in touch.  So we have been trying out restaurants most of us haen't been to before.  This week we went to Callaway's in Smithfield.  It was delicious.  And I have to say I like the breadsticks from Pizza Plus much better. 

And another grand thing I did was to make bread with my friend Jess and her grandmother.  I've been riding horses with Jess several times this semester and each time we go to her grandparents' house, she says - 'do you want some toast?  I'm sure my grandmother has some fresh bread.  She's always making bread.'  And not once was there fresh bread.  But we still had toast everytime.  So her grandmother promised that we could come over and she's show us how to make bread.  So we finally went!  And to my surprise, step one was to put the wheat in the wheat grinder to make the flour.  I'm sold. I want a wheat grinder!  And a Bosch mixer.  So the bread turned out wonderfully and it's been two days and I'm almost done with the first loaf.  I love fresh bread!  So now my mom is going to get her wheat grinder ready and we're going to make bread at Christmas!  Yay!  It feels so empowering to bake. 

Speaking of baking.  I have to say I sure am proud of my family - for it was a family effort in Savannah, where dad bought the pumpkin and everyone I'm sure had a part in making fresh pumpkin pie.  I wish I was there to try it!  I can't wait to see pictures of Skye trick or treating.  OH I remember what I did Tuesday.  I talked to Carrie for like...THREE HOURS.  haha!  what fun.  And I looked for jobs.  And went to work.  And I taught a class (part of work).  And I did homework.  And I did a class presentation.  And I went to a play on campus called Sweeny Todd.  And I .....  yep, I like to be busy.

The Pumpkin Walk

In Logan, there is this thing called the Pumpkin Walk.  They have it every year and have for years.  Everyone who lives in Cache Valley goes.  I went for the first time this year.  So this family puts it on I think.  They grow the pumpkins that line walk, and there are businesses or groups that sponsor an exhibit.  The exhibits are scenes made with pumpkins.  For example, the first one was about M&Ms (it was one of my favorites!).

They are all pumpkins!  Painted to be M&Ms.  I love it!

And California raisins for Carrie. 

There was also a scene for California milk.  Why I didn't take a picture of that for Carrie, I have no idea!

This is a scene from Where the Wild Things Are.  The tree trunk is made out of pumpkins as well as the creatures' heads.

A tribute to Michael Jackson's Thriller

This little garden patch was my favorite of them all.  There were potatoes and tomatoes and radishes and corn on the cob and carrots and peas and onions and on and on....they were all pumpkins.  It was awesome!

And I found one of the pumpkins I carved.  For this one I spelled EMMY.

You can just see the M.

There were so many creative scenes.  It was so great.  Yay for Halloween! 

Jackson Trip

Last weekend I did something amazing.  I went to Jackson, WY!! I  have wanted to go there for so long.  And I finally did.  After years of passing signs in Wyoming for Grand Teton National Park, I finally went.  After countless people making me feel dumb about never going to Yellowstone, I went!  And all in one weekend.  I had been asking my friends for a couple months to go to Wyoming and no one was interested.  Really.  Who doesn't want to go see these amazing mountains?  I was shocked I couldn't find any takers.  Then...gotta love Facebook...an old buddy I knew in Atlanta a few years ago sent me a FB invite to go to Jackson for the weekend with a bunch of his friends from SLC.  I didn't know ANY of these people and hadn't seen my friend in a few years.  I was brave.  Actually, it didn't bother me, but everyone kept telling me I was so brave to go alone.  Anyway.  We sayed in a cabin in Idaho, went up on a Thursday night.  We got there late in the dark, so when I went running the next morning, it was beautiful to see the sunlight shining down on the valley (west side of the Tetons).  We drove into Jackson, walked around the little town for a bit.  I have heard so much about this tiny town.  Then we went into the Teton National Park and hiked around Jenny Lake, up to the Hidden Falls.  Everyone was so awesome and the mountains were breathtaking. 

part of the crew

Tetons

 Jenny Lake

Hidden Falls

So this brings me to the realization of the weekend.  I don't like my camera.  I wish I could post some amazing pictures, but when I got home and looked at my pictures, I was so disappointed.  My little digital just doesn't have the best picture quality.  Let me know what you think.  Do you have a camera you like?  What kind is it?  Alas....I am on a quest for a new camera. 

Back to the trip.  The next day (Saturday), we went for a long drive to Yellowstone to see Old Faithful.  It snowed along the way.  We didn't see any bison.  Or buffalo.  Oh - we did see some elk when we were leaving Jenny Lake on Friday.  But we did see some beautiful pools - my favorite was Sapphire pool.  And then we had a long drive back home.  We had lots of time in the car (it was a 3 hour drive to Old Faithful) and we played several car games - haven't done that in a while...I even taught a guy how to play 'I spy.' Seriously. I didn't believe him. Who doesn't know how to play I spy? So I taught him and we played for quite a while! I thought it was pretty funny.

Old Faithful

We had great food too - pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage, homemade pizza, steaks, so delicious!  I think I will have to go back.  Perhaps in the spring or summer to go camping.  There was also this really pretty part of Idaho we drove though on the way home - Swan Valley.  I'll have to go there again too.  It was gorgeous.  And I made lots of new great friends!  Woohoo!  It was a fabulous weekend.  I love the outdoors =)

Pink Vest Adventures

My life is complete.

Tonight I was at Wal-Mart with some friends.  We were looking for silly string.  I split off from the others to search on my own when low and behold, what's that coming across the loud speaker....'Will Emily Maycock please come to Register 30. Will Emily Maycock please come to Register 30.' 

Yep, that's right.  I was paged at Wal-Mart.  Thanks Clay.  My life is whole now.

Someday....

I will be rich.  On that day, I will purchase this vehicle....

Lexus RX 350

I guess I have an incentive to get a good job!

Conference Weekend

I love being in Utah for General Conference and I always try to get tickets to the Conference center in SLC.  It's been great this past year having my parents come out each April and October so I go down and visit them and we go to Conference!  This year I went to their mission reunion (it's been 2 years since they came home).  And my favorite part - besides attending Conference and listening to the amazing talks is going to the Nauvoo Cafe - try the turkey sandwhich with cranberry-orange relish and a white chocolate macadamia nut cookie for dessert.  so good.

Who would have thought I'd have to drag my mom to the BYU game when we were in Provo?  (Of course they were playing USU)  It was a good game - BYU won and USU made a good comeback and scored a second touchdown at the end of the game.  We saw my cousin Suzy there ushering at the game.  Go Cougars!  I mean...Go Aggies!!