Computers, Rodeo and Shingles

Our deal this week is Dell Desktop Computers. They are decent systems for a reasonable price. These come with a DVD burner, keyboard, mouse and speakers. We have systems with both 19" and 23" LCD flat panel monitors included.

Watch for next week's deal - its a good one!

Rodeo season has picked up and today we are handling call-backs for the Irene Rodeo that's coming up on Friday and Saturday. The next two weeks of entries are the biggest of the year with three large rodeos each of the next two weeks as cowboys and cowgirls head out for the 4th of July circuit. It will an exciting time for our phone operators and hopefully safe and profitable for the cowboys. We will definitely make it to the Boss Cowman Rodeo performances in Lemmon and are hoping to make it to Ft. Pierre on the 4th of July to spend time with Jack's sister and family during their celebration.

Besides the major bathroom remodel (we have a toilet and tub!) the remaining supplies for the exterior renovation have all shown up; last Friday, Saturday and Sunday the boys shingled the house. Adam and Jack worked all day on Friday and Chuck joined them Friday evening, Saturday evening and Sunday to finish up. It looks great! We are very excited to finally see progress outside. Next, Jack will be carefully removing the cement asbestos siding and prepping to install new windows and asbestos-free house coverings. Let us know if you'd like to help - we're glad to feed you in return! Stay tuned for pictures of the progress.

You can expect one more blog today - Danessa's senior pictures. I'll get to it between rodeo entry call-backs this afternoon. You won't want to miss them!

Danessa's Senior Portraits

With only hours to spare, the sweet new gear arrived to get Danessa's pictures done right. Danessa and older sisters Danika and Dantae had a great time scouting locations on their ranch and helping set up the shots. I'm pretty sure I was spoiled into thinking I will always need two assistants. We had a blast and got some pretty neat pictures.

When I talked to Danessa's mom earlier in the week to ask if they had any locations in mind she said there was just an awful lot of junk laying around. Perfect!! Junk is cool and I hope to have my own someday :) For the shot above we worked with some foliage growing on one side of an old house, currently used for storage. Classic senior pose - check!


Then we shot a few pictures by an old windbreak. For as smiley and happy as she is, Danessa can do serious pictures! I think it was harder for me to maintain composure than her - she rocked.

I realize that this picture probably won't make the yearbook, but I couldn't help myself. Besides being related, I was also Danessa agriculture teacher for several years and this face I saw many times. In true youngest-child fashion here's her "It Wasn't Me" - hehe...

It seemed like a central theme throughout the afternoon and evening was a mixture of "Glam Danessa" and "Ranch Danessa". She is one hard-working ranch girl who loves to ride horse, break calves and shear sheep (right?) but also loves getting all glammed up for rodeo queen contests, prom and special events. Here's a sneak peak at next year's prom dress!!

I took a ton of pictures with the horses, and this one is by far my favorite. We hope to try a few more toward the end of summer but we'll leave those ideas as a surprise. I couldn't get over how awesome her blue dress looked in the bright green grass. So cool.

Definitely one of my favorites. This is a road that Danessa probably travels several times a day between "places" on the ranch. How cool is it that she'll be able to show her friends and family where she grew up by using pictures like these? It makes me want to go home and take some of where I was raised.

And this - a little attitude, right?! What teenage girl hasn't been told to take off the heels or flip flops and put something a little more practical on? Just because its cool, doesn't mean it is a good idea. Except in this case...

Thanks again to Danessa and sisters for being troopers! We took pictures until there was barely any light left in the sky and we had been eaten by mosquitos. But (I think) we all had a great time and came away with some pretty cool images.

Note to other seniors interested in pictures for this school year - I'll be taking some time off in September/October so if you want summer foliage (the green stuff) we should book sessions before school starts.

Deal of the Week, Ketchup

Yeah, yeah. I realize I'm way behind in blogging and I'm sure you're all terribly worried that you've been missing out on something exciting happening in our life, but not so much. We did have one week of Midwest Rodeo Entries call center and have had the last 2 weeks off. We'll hit hit hard again next week when we take entries for Highmore and McLaughlin. Sometime I'll give you a blog about what we do there. Other than work we've just been getting ready to tear apart the house. We're officially in construction zone until mid-September when we're trading in power tools for a crib mobile and baby monitor.

Deal of the week - three weeks long (you best take advantage) - is senior portrait sittings. We're offering a portrait credit for seniors who book before June 15th. And even if we don't book tons of senior sessions (though I'd love to work with you all!) it has been great publicity for the photography biz. We have had numerous inquiries and several bookings so that's great news! Let us know if you have any questions. We're happy to help! Just remember, I'll need a little time off this fall so we hope to keep the schedule full this summer.

Because I know you love him more than me. Here's what Gage has been up to:

We spent some time at the ranch with Uncle Rick and "Osey" (Rosey) brushing out his monstrosity of a coat preparing for the big First Ride.

I know, I'm doomed right? My apologies on the (lack of) photographic quality. When Gage was "in position" I wasn't. Its still funny though. Next time we'll try it with boots and see if we can't get the mark-out too.

We have had a ton of rain lately. Lots of clouds. Lots of drizzle. And one very cooped-up toddler who's pretty sure he needs to live in the great outdoors. This was his first experience with a puddle. He LOVED it. I wasn't sure he would because he really prefers to have clean hands and clean shoes, but something about a great puddle and mud boots really turns a kid around.

Gage is growing up so fast. I've had a few Mommy Moments the last week that I attribute mostly to pregnancy hormones. One morning in particular brought a few tears to my eyes: Gage woke up and peed on the potty like a big boy (we're working on it...), then completely dressed himself (I zipped and buttoned the jeans), got his own breakfast and sang me the ABCs on the way to daycare (minus E, F, and G). Its a good thing there's a baby coming - Gage has grown up.

He has been really crabby lately and exercising his mastery of the English language in a negative fashion but we can now attribute the attitude to all of the new things he is working on. "No Mommy, I not go to Raven's house." and my favorite "I want to need _______." It just about sends me over the edge sometimes. But I asked for a glimpse of what was going on inside his head so I'll enjoy it before he turns into a teenager and doesn't talk to me for days on end. Besides potty training, ABCs and getting dressed he's also recently gotten color recognition down well and can count to 10. Not every time, but he's done it several times. He now counts all sorts of fun things. "Mommy, I count bulls. Mommy, I count circles. Mommy, I count books." These are all things we've been working on for several months and he seemed to get them all figured out overnight (so that's what he does when he doesn't sleep).

So there you have it - all the ketchup I can mustard right now. And all that you can stand(wich).

Kim