The Glenn Murphy Ranch: Spring Break part 2

Yesterday we got dirty and learned a lot.  Papa drove us around and we spotted Burrowing Brown Owls and Meadow Larks.  We went to the bone yard and the kids were introduced to the circle of life by seeing two decomposing cows.  They both rode Sassy, Avett's first time on a horse. He was beaming and mesmerized.  We watched daddy Papa Erin and Aunt Janice cut the calfs first thing in the morning.  We picked more fresh oranges and sat on and on every piece of farm equipment.  

After our hibachi Buffett dinner we came home and played another game of corn hole, (John and I won!) and then we put the kids to bed and watched a Elder Holland's LDS face 2 face broadcast. Lisa sang and I beamed with pride for my friend.  Wonderful gospel conversation followed by cards and a late bed time.

The kids woke up at 5:55am this morning, a fluke. But not a fun one. Now we will spen the morning at the Verona Lake beach to get all of the wiggles out we can before we take off for Georgia.  It's been a blast of a visit to the ranch.

The Glenn Murphy Ranch: spring break

I'm laying in bed with wet hair from a late night shower and John is sound asleep next to me.  I couldn't have been in there for more than 10 minutes but it was enough time for him to fall right to sleep.  He had an early morning on the ranch today working cattle with Pops.  When he came home about lunch time he had cow blood on his hands and jeans, a few true marks of true hard ranch work. 

Every time we go outside I am met with the smell of orange blossoms blowing through the breeze. I'm so in love with it here, I could just sit and stare at the grove for hours.  The kids and Grammy and I had a little snack picnic under the shade of a Hamlin orange tree a couple of days ago.  We were accompanied by some gnats and Avett wanted to climb as high as he could in that tree. 

Today around lunch time the children were getting restless so I asked john to ride them around on the gator while I warmed up lunch. Grammy is the best at making bulk so we've always got plenty of leftovers on hand at a moments notice.  I was so grateful for the uninterrupted moment to fix lunch while I heard the hum of the gator in the distance and the sound of little voices becoming clearer as they zoomed closer back to the house.

Today Grammy and the kids and I took a spontaneous tour of the old Jacaranda Hotel, built in 1926.  Grammy asked if we could see a room and the receptionist gave us two keys to go and explore as we pleased. It was such a charming hotel.  When we came back down I asked the man in the lobby playing the piano if I could sing with him.  I asked for "How Great Thou Art" and he obliged.  Avett started to cry for me so I finished it with him on my hip.  The acoustics were so beautiful I could have sung there all day and well in to the night. I imagined singing old jazz tunes and gospel favorites with a classical twist.  

Afterwards we went over to Verona lake and had a disastrous meltdown with both children ending up in the lake up to their chests and me running in after them up to my thighs.  Our exit was dramatic, sandy, and wet.  Sometimes you win and sometimes you loose.

We end every night here gathered around the dining room table playing cards.  Different versions of Pitch and To Hell and Back.  I'll never forget the first time John tried to teach me Pitch.  It was the most intimidating and complicated sounding game I'd ever heard of and I never thought I'd catch on.  But then just last night I whooped Pops and John fair and square.  It was a proud moment for me mastering the family favorite, a true badge of honor in deed. 

I love Pops' theatrics as we play and how almost every decision as to what card to throw down is as if he is weighing some of the biggest decisions in life. He says something to the effect of, "Well that is just enough to get a man in trouble."  As he repeated rubs his forehead.  

Tonight as he got out a box of whoppers and offered them to all of us he generously said, "Anybody want some of this manna from heaven?"  I keep a running list of all of the best things he says, I just love him.

This ranch is starting to carve deep memories for our children.  Feeding horses hay, walking around the ranch, picking oranges, riding on four wheelers, visits to grannies, pulling Spanish moss from the trees, Lilly the Lizard on the screened in porch, dancing in the light of the headlights to Papa's music while the adults finish up a night time game of corn hole in the back yard, night time family prayers all kneeling in the living room, Avett's first movie at the theater in Sebring in the recliners, picnics under orange trees and after church, petting Gus and watching him run all over the place and so much more. Evaleigh had her first experience with fireweed a few days ago.  She fell back on the ground after Gus knocked her down and her palm landed right on it.  It started to sting and she cried as John whisked her over to the barn to rinse it off with some alcohol.  An experience not too soon forgotten.

I love that this place is a part of my children's heritage.  It makes me feel like we are a part of something special.  And we are. Something so rooted and deep and rich with a long line of their ancestors working and making something incredible of this beautiful land.  

I am so happy to come here over and over for years to come.

Away

We've been in Florida on the ranch with our family for the past week, it's been lovely. Evaleigh has exploded with firsts in the past week. I think she is just trying to keep up with her cousins. She rode her first horse, cut her first tooth, started talking and making so many more sounds. She tried her first lemon, she started making fishy pop sounds with her mouth, and is just getting cuter every single day. I just don't want to even go home!

kings and queens

Yesterday morning we got a knock on our bedroom door at 9:00am.

Mom says, "Can I come in?"

I say, "No. Let me come out there."

You see I didn't want to wake my husband who had a feverish night with a temp of 101.3.  The weirdest part of it all...I was awoken from a dream in which I was taking his temp and the thermometer said 105.7....weird.  When I woke up I felt his skin and he was burning up so I gave him some tylenol, put a cold cloth on his head, and let him drift back off to sleep.

When I opened the door, the best mother in the world was standing in the hallway with a tray full of the yummiest breakfast in bed food and yelled at the top of her lungs, "THE FIRST GIFT OF CHRISTMAS!!!!!"  (a la Tom Hanks at about 0:36 here)

I could have cried.

I'm pretty sure I was raised by the kindest most selfless person that has ever been created.  

I hope to be half the mother to EJ that my mother has been to me.

Our breakfast was complete with hot chocolate avec big marshmallows, cheese toast and jam, peppermint sticks, and fresh tart cranberries, bananas, and sliced oranges from the grove.

We ate like a king and queen in bed.

It was the perfect start to a day full of present wrapping, Christmas card sending, laundry, working, and teaching.  
The long day ended with my hips up on the couch, John Mayer playing on my iPhone near my pelvis, and ice packs on the top of my tummy.  I only stayed in that position for 10 minutes because two certain king sized somethings on my chest were suffocating me.
No turning response from the little girl in my belly but all in all a pretty wonderful day.
Maybe we're just playing the wrong music...Hubs thinks we need some of this.


p.s. Thanks Bridge for the feature.

the fruit of our loins : the orange grove shoot

A few weeks back we had a little photo session on our family ranch with Audrey Layne in the orange grove.  We did it in the grove in honor of the fruit of our loins which will be coming about in 6 weeks or so.

We are so happy with how beautiful the pictures turned out.