Fall Beauty Swap!

Well would you look at that...a blog post! Haven't done this in awhile, but I promise it will be a good one!

I always have fun taking part in Crystal Cattle's #CCBeautySwap! Crystal always does a top-notch job in pairing up people for this! This time I was paired up with Myla from Illinois! She's also a lover of dogs, Hereford cattle, and gorgeous Paint horses! Myla also blogs over at The Purple Front Door and tells our tale of this Beauty Swap much better than I will! You can check out what I sent to Myla on her Fall Beauty Swap post! (PS...there was also a funny mixup about Myla and I being preggers...which we are NOT!)

Here is my sweet box of goodies the ol' Pony Express delivered from Myla! Speaking of mail service, I only get mail delivered three days a week! At my parents' ranch, it was only one day a week! Any of you have similar mail service? One thing is for sure, I'm so thankful for all of the rural route carriers and postal workers! It's a tough job driving all those miles over horrible roads to deliver us all of our goodies (and bills...)!

Anyways...back to beauty products!

Here's what I got from Myla!

That box was stuffed FULL of awesome products! Here's the breakdown of what was in there!

1. Argan Magic hair cream: It smells soooooo good! I used it after I showered last night and I love it! I've tried several similar products and this one ranks right up there with the best! It worked great as a detangler and left my hair so soft! And this morning, my hair didn't feel weighed down like some leave-in products.

2. Rock Your Hair Hot Curls: You spray it on dry hair before you curl it and ta-da it should stay curled! My hair usually refuses to stay curled unless I use 10 gallons of AquaNet! I curled my hair this morning just so I could give this a try! I was a little skeptical when I first sprayed it on because it kind of just clumped my hair like a hair spray would. But I ran the brush I got (#3 below) in the Beauty Swap box through my hair after I sprayed this and it was a lot better. Then I got to curling! Update after a full day of working on the ranch and wearing a beanie most of the day: My hair has stayed more curled that it would have without the product! Yay!

3. Revive Beauty Detangle Brush: This is legit, yo. I told Myla that my hair loves to tangle in the Montana wind so she found this little gem! This was the first thing I used when I opened up the box! The soft bristles worked through my hair super easily! My hair definitely needed it after the cold, snowy/rainy, and very windy day we had yesterday! The handle is a little hard to hang on to so I grabbed onto it like a horsehair brush! :)

4. e.o.s. lip balm in Lemon Drop with SPF 15: I'm a serious believer in this lip balm now! Myla had told me about this and I actually went out and bought the Sweet Mint flavor and I'm not kidding...changed my life! I've always been a Chapstick wearer...but not anymore! I'm excited to use this one during the day! I love that it has SPF 15! I have very fair skin, thanks to my Norwegian heritage, so I always wear sunscreen!

5 and 6. Philosophy in Cherry Pinwheel Cookie: Let's just say I love Philosophy products and Myla fed my addiction! Number 5 is a body wash/shampoo/bubble bath! And it has a cookie recipe on the bottle too!? Yum!  And number 6 is a matching lip gloss! I used the body wash last night and it took a lot of will power not to lick the bubbles. Ok...weird...I know...but seriously...yum! And the lip gloss...delish! It's super shiny and feels great! It's a little sticky, but it IS lip gloss! It's a great color that gives your lips just the right hint of tint!

7. Revive Beauty Makeup Blender Sponge: I couldn't find an exact picture of the one I got, but imagine the sponge pictured has a little black handle to hold on to! I love these makeup sponges! I have the one pictured and have loved it! But I think I like this one better! It's a little denser sponge and seems like it will hold up better than the other one! And I like that the handle acts as a stand to dry out the sponge after each use. The other beauty sponge that I have has a container that I have to pack around with it.

8. Sally Hansen Insta Gel Strips: I can't wait to use these! I haven't had time yet...hope to do it before my twin nephews' birthday party on Saturday! Have any of you used them?

9. e.l.f. eyeshadow duos: Love all of these colors! I love e.l.f. products because they are very affordable and are great ways to try out new types and colors of beauty products without committing too much moolah! I'm excited to play with all of the colors!

10. Now, I bet you're wondering why I got Milk Bones in my Beauty Swap box...well turns out they weren't for me! Myla's fur-baby, Bella, sent them to Annie!

Annie was very grateful for the treats! Let's just say the treats disappeared before I could even get through the whole box from Myla!

And I'm also very grateful for Myla! Thank you so much for the wonderful Beauty Swap box! And a big thank you to Crystal of Crystal Cattle for facilitating another awesome Beauty Swap! Be sure to follow Crystal so you don't miss out on the next Beauty Swap!

And if you're wondering what I've been up to...you can follow me on Instagram @dirtroaddreamer

Big gulps, huh? All right! Well...see you later! :)

Cheers,

Whitney

Corgi Friday!

It's time for a long overdue Corgi Friday!

For those of you that are new to my lil' ol' bliggity-blog, we have a Pembroke Welsh Corgi named Annie and she runs the farm. 

Dylan and Annie combing barley this last summer.

Annie is about a year and a half old and she is full of 'it'.  And by 'it' I mean...well I'm sure you know what I mean...

Annie also suffers from a common corgi syndrome called 'Corgi A.D.D.'.  Clinical signs show that if your corgi feels that there is a deficit of attention being paid to them, they will do just about anything to get your attention! And just about every corgi I have met is an attention hog and gets upset if they're not the CENTER of attention. Annie is no exception to the rule. The way Annie lets us know if we're not paying enough attention to her is attacking the springy door stop.  She started doing this when she was just a little puppy and she still does it!

These first three pics are when Annie was about two months old and she was attacking the springy door stop at my in-laws' house while we were eating supper and not paying attention to her.

 

And this is Annie a few weeks ago attacking the springy door stop in our bedroom (sorry for the blurry pics...she was being a wild woman).

She's such a goofy dog...and I love it! To back track a bit, when Annie was a little puppy we used to get a baking sheet pan, spread a thin layer of peanut butter over it, and let Annie lick the pan.  This was our way of keeping her occupied while we ate supper so we didn't have to listen to a rock concert of Annie playing the springy door stop, howling, and barking.  I learned that trick from my momma.  :) When my older brothers and I were little, my mom would set us in the high chair while she talked on the phone and feed us Cheerios one at a time to keep us quiet.  BUT...if it was a really important call or she wanted to talk on the phone for a long time, she would give us M&Ms! Ha! Any of you use 'techniques' like that to keep your fur-babies or real babies quiet? Or am I the only weird one? Never mind...don't answer that.

One thing for sure is that there is never a dull moment with a corgi around!  Those of you that have a corgi or have spent any amount of time around a corgi can probably attest to that!

Hope you are all having a fabulous Friday!  I had better go check on the expectant momma cows to see if we have any calves on the way!

Happy Easter from our farm to yours!

Whitney

Springtime and baby calves



This first day of spring came with a lovely snow storm last week.  My husband and his dad had to make a trip to Wolf Point (about a 120 miles round trip from our farm) to do some paperwork, meet with our accountant, and...look at a new rifle. Boys...

 

But they also stopped by the greenhouse in Wolf Point and picked up some tulips and hyacinths (my favorite flowers)!  It definitely helped brighten my day with the dreary snowstorm going on outside!  I potted them in this cool old pot that used to be the 'random bolt holder' in the shop. And of course...it's turquoise. I also added some cool ceramic eggs to give my house a lil' Easter decor. 

 

 

Then on Saturday, the whole fam damily (including Annie the corgi) braved the bad roads as a result of the snow storm and made our way back to Wolf Point.  My mother-in-law and I had our Bountiful Baskets to pick up and Dylan decided he wanted to buy the rifle that he looked at earlier in the week.  Here's what the roads were like most of the way to and fro...not ideal...but not horrible. :)

 

 

 

And here's what the wheels of one our pickups looked like after a trip into Lambert last Monday.

 

 

 

Our cows just started calving this past week and it's always fun to capture moments of the new little calves and the momma cows. I'm very thankful to have my iPhone along with me during these times to capture these moments, because well...quite frankly things can get a lil' western in a hurry!  It's much easier to run from an overprotective momma cow with an iPhone than a big fancy camera! That and...well there is a lot of icky, gooey, and smelly stuff during calving!

 

These are just some of the images from around our farm this last week.  We still have quite a bit of snow, but it has gradually been getting a little bit warmer during the day and has now began melting off.

 

Annie drift busting.

Traffic jam on the farm at feeding time.

The photo below was taken about three weeks ago.  This momma and baby jumped the gun on 'calving season' and this baby arrived extra early!  She was healthy and alive, but a tiny calf!  This lil' calf needed some help nursing on her momma, so we had to do a lil' coaching!  But after a few days of help, this baby calf got the hang of it and no longer needed us!

 

My father-in-law, Tim, helping the new baby calf learn how to nurse.

During 'regular calving season', we have all of our momma cows in a smaller pasture in front of my in-laws' house so we can keep a watchful eye on everyone. We let the cows have their calves out in the pasture so they can roam around a find a 'quiet spot' to have their babies. As soon as we see the cow going to labor, we make sure to check on them often (most of the time with from afar with binoculars) to make sure they're not having any problems while calving. Sometimes with heifers (that is a female cow that had not had a calf yet) and young cows, the calves are sometimes too big and the cows need assistance in having their baby. But most of the time the cow doesn't need our help at all!


Dylan checking on a momma cow and new born calf to make sure everyone is healthy.

After the cows have had their calves in the pasture we go out to them to make sure that the baby is breathing and healthy.  We usually wait until the momma cow has cleaned off her baby and had a chance to get acquainted before we start moving the pair to the barn.  We move the new pairs to the barn so we can get them out of the weather (the wind is always blowing here) and away from the rest of the herd.  This gives the cow and calf time to recoup from everything that has been happening.

 

On our first day of calving (minus our early arrival) we had a busy morning!  We had 3 calves born within an hour or so! Our maternity pens in the barn were getting full with new mommas and babies!  

 

Three new mommas and their babies tucked away in the warm barn.

We've had heavy fog the last two mornings (Remember what I said comes 90 days after fog?) so it has made for some neat pictures!

 

Replacement heifer waiting for her feed.



Dylan and a momma cow walking in a newborn calf born at dawn.



This calf in the picture below was born on Tuesday.  He's a cute lil' bugger! This morning Dylan and I put an ear tag in his ear that matches his momma's number.  We match the numbers so we can make sure everyone has the right calf!  Another thing we use our ear tags for is to 'sex' the calves.  An ear tag in the left ear means it's a steer (male calf with testicles removed) and an ear tag in the right ear means it is a heifer calf.  This helps us especially in the fall when we are sorting calves into steers and heifers in preparation for shipping.



Whitney (that's me!) and baby Hereford.

Speaking of new calves, I've been watching a cow while I was writing this and she just had her calf!  I best be off to go check on her and the new baby!

Happy trails!
Whitney

Testing...Testing...

*Tap*Tap*Tap*

"Hello? Is this thing on?"

Uffda.  It's been busy, busy around here!!  So sorry I've neglected you for the past MONTH AND A HALF!!  I promise I haven't forgotten about you! 

Here's what I've been up to in a very truncated version!

1. Tending to our momma cows and getting them ready for calving to start! (Calving started about 2 weeks ago and we're about half way done already!!)

2. Celebrated Mardi Gras in fine fashion with lots of food and fun.

3. Took hunter's safety class.

4. Traveled to the big city for supplies. (aka Billings)

5. Bought a handgun in the big city.

6. Practiced shooting said handgun.

7.  Trapped 8 skunks. Pee eww!!

8.  Mourned the loss of a great neighbor who died in a plane crash. 

9. Said and continue to say many prayers for our neighbor who survived the plane crash and his brand new family.

10.  Passed my hunters' safety class and shot a 99/100 at our handgun shooting test.  So you watch yourselves! :)

11.  Enjoyed the beautiful weather we have been having with family and friends.

12. Remembered dear friends that have left this world too soon.

13. Done an enormous amount of laundry.

14. Spent way too much time on Pinterest.

15. Neglected my poor little blog. :(

16.  Worked and continue to work on landscaping our yard.  Anyone have any helpful tips for types of grass that grow best out here?  We've thought about doing sod, but not sure if we want to put in the investment. 

17. Took Annie to the vet to get spayed.  And lemme tell ya...Dylan and I were worried lil' parents pacing around town all day waiting for Annie to get done!  But she was back to her full ball of energy the next morning! 

18.  Made a quick trip to Miles City to pick up some chicks!  Hardy har har!  Oh and I also visited my family while I was in town too!  The drive home was fun listening to 25 baby chicks peep all the way home as I drove across the lovely rough highways and gravel roads.  Sorry baby chicks!  But now they are in our warm and cozy chicken coop and growing like crazy!

19. Been super busy tending to all of our momma cows and their new babies making sure everyone is healthy and well fed.  As well as keeping a very watchful eye on our momma cows that haven't calved yet!  If you're on Twitter, many ranchers use the hashtag #calving12 and post information about their calving season.  You should join in and follow me on Twitter!  I don't use Twitter very much, but I do love to follow Blake Shelton and see the funny things he has to say! 

20.  And now I'm getting ready to host Easter here in our home!  I'm excited to have family and friends out for the weekend!  We are having a spiral ham with a honey glaze, perfect potatoes au gratin, roasted asparagus, homemade rolls and croissants (made by my mother-in-law), lots of deviled eggs (thanks to our chickens for their great egg production), fresh spring salad, sugar cookies, fresh fruit from our local 4-H'ers, and lemon meringue cheesecake!  There will be lots of people here and I'm looking forward to it! 

What are your plans for Easter?  Are you hosting or travelling to a family or friends?  I'd love to hear about what you're eating for Easter dinner! 

Thanks for keeping with me everyone!  I sure hope things ease up a bit, because I have some fabulous things to share with you!  Until next time...

Keep dreamin' big and always Carpe Diem,

Whitney

Welcome to my blog!

Hi everyone!

My name is Whitney.  I'm a wife, farmer, rancher, and dreamer.  I live along the dirt roads and the rolling hills of Northeastern Montana with my husband. We farm and ranch with my husband's parents.   We raise Hereford cows, winter wheat, spring wheat, feed barley, alfalfa hay, and lots of grass!  We also have a small herd of chickens and barn cats, but our corgi, Annie, keeps them in line! 

Here's a picture of, Annie! 



Annie--our Pembroke Welsh Corgi & Queen of the Farm!



My hubby and I got married this last summer in my hometown! 
Here's one of our favorite photos from it!



American Gothic circa 2011

Well, that's all for now...

I'll be sharing more about my life here on the prairie, as well as lots of funny stories and photos!  You never know what is going to happen down the dirt roads! Thanks for tagging along with me on this journey!

Cheers,
Whitney