Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Halloween pics, a small rant, and some running stuff

 Hope everyone had a great Halloween last night! We made six stops and they got a huge sandwich baggie full of candy at every stop.  Sugar overload! Here are the kids and my sisters kids with my parents.


Sunday night we took the kids to the Boo at the Zoo apparently we should have gone Friday or Saturday.  There were only 4 trick or treat booth when we went and I heard from others that there were over 20 the other nights.  A little disapointing but we all had fun still.  Avery wanted to be an evil princess.  No idea where she got this other than my parents got them some face paints and they wanted to be painted up scary like the pictures on the paints.
Cade was an evil spider.  or at least that was what he was telling everyone.  I am a mean mom and made them utilize costumes they already had.  I hate spending 40 dollars on costumes that are worn one night.

Are you scared?
And here ate the kids last night.  Pretty scary once again!


I grew up on a family ranch. I have had the amazing opportunity in my life to work with 4 generations of my family. My 81 year old grandmother still rides her horse and helps work cattle. She has been blessed and has worked on the ranch with 6 generations of family. I have so many great memories of working on the ranch with my family. Summers spent on horseback, swathing hay, fencing. Lots of time on the tractor. I learned to drive the big hay trucks when I was 13. I bonded with my parents and siblings. I learned about hard work and the satisfaction of a job well done. Some of you reading this may have grown up on farms and ranches or have family that lives on them.

At a time when the average age of the American farmer is 57 years old and going to want to think about retiring and handing over over the reins to younger generations the Department of Labor is looking to tear children out of the farming/ ranching operation and sideline them until they are 16 and in some cases 18. There are exemptions if the farm is owned by the parent. But forget working for an uncle, grandparent, or if the farm is a family corporation like mine is. I want my kids to grow up being able to have the same opportunities to work that I did. If you are at all interested you can comment on it HERE
You can read more about it HERE and HERE
Both are very good articles and are much easier to read than the government document.

I know they are proposing these for safety but really what is next? High school sports? Seems like at least once a year there is a death in school sports. I know in Montana a high school cross country runner collapsed at the state meet and I just heard on the news yesterday that he died. Point is quit over regulating us! okay done venting, on to other things in my life!

 I threw in some speed work this morning for the first time since the half marathon I did in September.  It felt really good.  I love me some speed!  I could also feel that I had not done any in a while though I was sucking some wind at the end.  The colors are so pretty right now.  I love fall!

 Today is the first day of my birthday month!  Yay!  I love birthdays!  Today I am thankful for fall and continued good running weather.

What are you thankful for today?

18 comments:

  1. Awesome photos!...looks like a great halloween!

    ReplyDelete
  2. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MONTH to you :)

    I agree...not to get too into politics, but the govt can certainly do LESS regulating, in my opinion.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Happy birthday month!

    I like the evil princess idea it's like "before she was an evil queen, Maleficent, was an evil PRINCESS!"

    ReplyDelete
  4. Too cute! Love the kids costumes.

    Happy Birthday month!

    ReplyDelete
  5. happy birthday month! the kids look great in their costumes and love that your parents got involved as well!! today i am thankful for my dad...even though he is far away...we can always still be there for each other!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Happy Birtdhay Month!

    Pics are cute.. ITA about the family farm/ranch work. So much of my familly same as yours with generations working together... and extended family.

    Hey, I can't seem to find who won your Gymboss giveaway?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Yay Happy birthday month!!! I love that you get the whole month! I also love your parents' costumes!! And yes your two are very scary!! I have no experience with farms but it seems like if people are responsible then let them be.

    ReplyDelete
  8. The kids are adorable! Glad you had fun trick or treating! I'm thankful for my health, my job, and my family every day!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I agree with the price of costumes being expensive. I rotated making my own versus buying every other year. The kids are cute! Happy Birthday Month to YOU!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I think as a kid my brother and I didn't really care about our costume as much as we cared about putting as much makeup on our faces as possible. So your kids are completely normal to me. heehee!

    i agree with the laws and regulation stuff - it seems like so much of it is well-intentioned, but ends up hurting good people doing right and not so much hampering those that aren't well-meaning in the first place /rant

    I can't imagine what it's like to run in Montana, but it sure is beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I get in trouble for trying to pull off a Birthday week....and you are going for a Birth month...I love it!!

    Love the Halloween pics...esp the scary faces!!

    ReplyDelete
  12. It's hard to have such deep-rooted traditions be changed.

    Oh and that evil spider and evil princess? They do scare me...just a little. Ok, more than a little. Good makeup :D

    ReplyDelete
  13. Glad you got in some speed! I will have to check your link on the farming/government stuff. I hear a lot of what you are saying in this part of our state. My husband's family used to be in the hay business here.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Love the costumes!! I want to have the attitude you have about speedwork!!! I wish I had an opportunity to let me kids grow up on a ranch!! i grew up on a farm but now live in the city and hate raising my kids in the city. So I am jealous!!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Great job with the costumes!

    Having grown up on a farm too I have some pretty strong opinions on this. Seems like before long it's going to be considered abusive for kids to have chores and not be compensated accordingly for their work.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Some scary costumes...you guys get into it! This stuff involves some clean up...I'm impressed. It is my birthday month too! :) Nov. 9th. When was yours again? I think you told me once before.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Great costumes! You all look great! It's such a fun time of year. :)

    ReplyDelete

Because I love hearing from you all!