Roundup 2012

It's that time of year!  The annual Lehi Roundup Celebration!  Our most favorite part, the Stock Parade was last night.  This is our most favorite because lots of our favorite people are yearly celebrities  and we love to wave at them!   So let the parade begin...

God Bless America!

My big brother Lyman and darling niece Chelsee!

Hey he is smiling!  Doing what he loves. 

Presenting the Lehi FFA!

FFA V.P. my niece, Addie Beck! WOOT WOOT!

Our cousin Miles on Mr. Shorty with friend Hopes.
Lookin' good Miles!

And now the best little pony cart in the whole western United States!
Filled with our Cousins Tate,Whit,Reese,Aunt Kelli,Grandpa Lynn and GG  

The Cutest Little Cowboys in the Country.

Ah, we love this part of summer.  Home town celebrations with the people you love are the best!  Happy Summer Everyone.

The Boss Lady's Big Debut!

Thats right gang, The Boss Lady made her television debut today on Studio 5!  KSL's Darin Adams came to visit me and take a tour of the Boss Lady.  Here is the incredible feature he put together.  

Studio 5 Visits the Boss Lady!

Check out the link above or scroll to the bottom of the blog for the embedded video.

First Boss Lady Campout of 2012! Yeehaw

The first campout of 2012 was a success! We headed to central Utah's Sanpete County for a little cow wrestling and camping in the fresh air. 

The Boss Lady debuted in style! She is now 42 years old, bless her heart. She is good as ever despite a few functional flaws...ahem - the heater wouldn't light. It was a little tense and a little bit chilly the first night, but Mr. V will take care of that later. She also needs a new water tank...those little flecks of rust when you wash your hands are just not glamorous! It's not her fault, she has aged gracefully and every girl needs a little work done at some point!

My good friend James from Flowers on Main in Lehi, Utah made up some gorgeous flowers in our collection of tea pots.  Thanks James!

Now enough about the trailer... on to the fun we had on the farm! It's spring and that means babies! I don't know about you, but I think little calves are the sweetest. So let the fun begin! 

Look at these cute cowboys all ready for the rodeo! We love this time of year because we get to camp with cousins Tate, Whit and Reese. This year GG and Grandpa Lynn came along too!

These little cowboys waited patiently until it was time to run the calves into the chute.  They are quite the little ranchers!

Here they come! 

Move on down cows!  

Reese and Kelli - My two favorite Cowgirls

This little sweetheart is my favorite this year - I think I'll name her Ms. Pearl

The kids' pick is this little brownie calf - only three days old and gentle as can be. 

We played hard and by the time we hit the hay, all was quiet on the farm...even the three little piggies.

Happy Mother's Day!

For mother's day, I was blessed with a new camera!  The vintage trailer men are really good at picking up my hints. Ahem - such as...


1. Bring home the brochure for the camera you want which happens to come with a pretty red case just special for mother's day.
2. Coach the eldest hooligan to make random comments about said camera, which mom would love, while you're away on business.
3. Suggest Mr. V go with you to the Camera store to look at new accessories for his camera... 


Yes, it was pathetic. However,this strategy does work! So here's some of the first pictures from my new lovely Nikon J1 (in white). 

This is my first Nikon and it's a little different than what I'm used to, but I think I'm going to like it! 

With or without a new camera, the greatest blessing of all is having these wonderful boys and getting to be their mother.  They are smart, fun, kind and sweet all wrapped up in my two favorite people in the whole wide world.  I love you boys!  I'm so glad you are mine and love you from here to the moon and back.  XOXO

Hello Again!

Hello my friends!  It's been a few days has it not? Well... here's what has been going on at the Vintage Trailer homestead.


This past weekend the wind wouldn't stop and it was freezing, so how unfortunate, I couldn't weed! Ah...let's cry a tear. Instead I fled to my sewing machine and started making apples! These are for my Debbie Mum Sampler that the Queen Mum and I are both making. I like them so well I think I'm going to make a whole quilt of apples - envision simple red and white with green leaves and brown stems. What do you think? I think I love apples! Here's the pattern - start baking! 

I also decided I need to stop simply pinning to pin and actually make something from all that Pinterest inspiration. I wish it was one of the delicious recipes.. as do the starving males at my house. It was a recipe - almost. A recipe from the Happy Zombie for Manzanita Stars! I just love these and they go with any kind of fabric you can imagine. The Boss Lady needs a new quilt to keep us toasty in the early morning mountain air.  Here's my first block...

I'm going to separate them with chocolate brown sashing and cover the back with cow print minkie.  I can't wait!  Many more to sew, but a great stash buster and quick to make.  I'm also thinking a big Texas Concho would look really cute in the middle of that star... 


This weekend is Boss Lady time!  She's getting a bath, along with an inside spring clean, dusting and a few fresh flowers just in time for the big calf working at the ranch.  

Roll out...Let's go camping, and apple baking, and star catching...so much to do!

Delightful English Garden

It's sad to say, but we have come to the point in our journey where we are all just exhausted. The point where the idea of driving for two hours to see Canterbury Cathedral sounds like 60 days in the desert without water. The point where, if we were on a road trip, we would head for home.

But since we can't fly home until Friday, we call our good friend Michele who has welcomed us so graciously into her home, and ask if we can come back to their house and the comfort of their hospitality for the last few nights. We are done driving on the left. We are done wandering about looking for thatched roof houses. We are done.

So we abandoned our plan for Brighton and Canterbury and headed back to Beaconsfield. On the way back, Michele suggested we stop at Hampton Court Palace. It is one of her favorites and it was on our list. What a treat that was indeed. Take a look...











This is the most beautiful garden I've seen in this lovely country. It is sunken and surrounded by stone walls, so it retains heat and therefore was just in the perfect time of bloom. It was completely spectacular. It completely revived our spirits. This made it worth the trip alone and I could have spent all day just gazing. The palace is also quite impressive...








But the gardens stole the show!

Today we went to the British Museum for a bit and saw all the Egyptian Mummies. That was only fun for about an hour, so we went exploring for Portobello Road's famed antique shops. We found lots of treasures we can't take home in our suitcase, but loved the shops and got lots of inspiration. A good day overall. Tomorrow is our last! We can't decide if we have it in us to explore Windsor Castle. We still haven't received an invite from the queen... I'm sure it s just a mix up with the Royal Mail.

Cheers!

Location:Hampton Court Palace, London

The Cotswolds

On Monday, we wandered through the wonderful villages of the Cotswolds. These are the little country villages that have lasted hundreds of years and are charming and peaceful. First we stopped in Moreton in Marsh, then Stowe on Wold and finally Bourton on the Water, also known as the Venice of the Cotswolds.





I was a bit disappointed that we weren't able to find the thatched-roof houses. It gave me an entirely new perspective on giving other people directions! The nice people who live here know how to get around without the need for signs and simply think you'll find a Hamlet by "go down that way and turn right then turn right again." following these directions did allow us to see some very nice neighborhoods and villages, follow a single lane road where there was a traffic jam with two horses and then find the only road out blocked... That was fun.

The highlight of the day for the boys was finding the Cotswold Motoring Museum!





And look what I found inside- Three unique Caravans!

















I've seen so many caravans on the roads in England, bring pulled by regular sedans! Thy are very brave...

Today we are off to Brighton, Arudel Castle and Dover. Cheers!

Location:Bourton on the Water

Stratford Upon Avon and Shakespeare!

Sunday we had a restful day. We spent the night in a lovely hotel in Stratford Upon Avon. This is the birthplace of Shakespeare!

First, we were enthralled watching the little canal barges going through the many lochs of the canals adjoining the Avon river. I had a brief vision of becoming the Vintage Barge Lady, which was quickly squelched by Mr. V. hmmm...



After the barge experience, we visited Anne Hathaway's Cottage. It has beautiful gardens and a wonderful thatched roof. So peaceful and lovely.


Anne Hathaway's Cottage

We stopped for a lovely lunch at the Pen and Parchment before heading out for a little shopping and a visit to Shakespeare's childhood home.


All of the plants in this garden are used in his plays and poetry.


I think Warwickshire is the prettiest part of England and I can see why it inspired such wonderful writing, poetry and theatre. I bought a little book of Sonnets. Tanner bought Macbeth. He is a much deeper thinker than I.

Location:Stratford-Upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England