Rachel at Home on the Ranch: December 2016

Saturday, December 31, 2016

Christmas Vacation Reflections

Christmas Jammies

Here it is, almost a week after Christmas and things have just started to slow down! December came quickly and is now almost over. We were in Cincinnati for almost 2 weeks with my family to celebrate Jesus’ birth and to be together. I enjoyed staying with my mom and seeing my sister most days and I enjoyed remembering and recognizing some of our family’s traditions.

We spend every other year with our respective families (and actually next year will be the first Christmas in our whole 14 years of marriage that we will not travel on this holiday, because we now live with our Wyoming Family!). This alternating family celebration was a tradition with which we have been very consistent and it has served us well.

Opening Stockings from Santa

This year we were in Cincinnati and that was super-fun on multiple levels. We arrived on Sunday the 18th and the week before christmas was full of cookie baking, decorating mom’s house (which we cheated a little and didn’t put up the tree but bought a big, beautiful poinsettia- it is gorgeous and worked well), celebrating Christmas with the other Mahoneys in Georgetown, visiting friends/family in Lexington and attending Christmas Eve services at Quest. When we got back to Cincinnati, the girls were delighted to find their christmas pjs were waiting for them!

Christmas Chaos

Christmas day was a flurry (only figuratively since there was no actual snow and it was almost 70 degrees) of activity beginning with stockings for our girls (they opened their presents before we left Wyoming) and then we went to my childhood church home with my mom. When we came back to my mom's house, my siblings and their spouses (along with the 8 cousin) arrived. It was CHAOS! So many presents, kids running around, food… We did manage to get a picture with all the girl cousins wearing their matching/coordinating dresses made by my super-talented mom. By the time 2:00 hit and everyone left, we were all ready for a nap!

Girl Cousins in Coordinating Plaid

The rest of the week was full of visiting and connecting with people we love- trying to squeeze every possible moment with meaningful connection. We were driving home from the grocery on Tuesday when I looked at Vic and told him that I miss the wide open spaces of home. If only the miles between Wyoming and Ohio/Kentucky were closer, that would be awesome!
When we left my mom's house yesterday morning, we were all ready to be back home! After an early morning flight our of Dayton, we ran to our next flight in Minneapolis and made that flight in the nick of time! Once we arrived in Rapid City, we were tired! We had lunch (trying to keep Lydia awake so we could get her back on some schedule) and ran errands while in town (cannot miss the opportunity to run to the store because we may not be back for a week or so). We stopped to see Vic's mom and visited with her for a while then we drove the rest of the way home. When we pulled up to the house, our cat, Ninja, was was glad to see us and we all breathed a collective sigh of relief to be back on the ranch!
As I look back over 2016, I am so thankful for the adventure we started! It has been a good year. Full of sadness, joy and anticipation. I love our little life that we are living! We are entering 2017 with high expectations and joy. I pray the same is true for you!

Thursday, December 1, 2016

Sunsets on the Ranch

I have lived in Wyoming for 6 Months now! On June 1, 2016, we arrived on the ranch with all of our things and we decided to stay. The time has flown by and I am finding myself more and more at home here. Over the past two months, I have traveled to Kentucky, Ohio and Georgia to visit family and some friends. It was so good to see people that I love and have connections with but the thing that most surprised me at the end of those trips, was that I could not wait to return to the ranch. It's quiet and peaceful here, entirely different than the hustle and bustle of city life (especially in Atlanta!).

One of the things I look forward to at the end of a long day (including car pool, kids, diapers, laundry, paperwork and cleaning) is the night sky. I love watching the process of the sun going down and the stars appearing. There are so many stars that are visible from the ranch! And, I have experienced so many beautiful sunsets from our front porch! The sunsets are coming earlier and earlier these days; I caught last night's sunset at 4:10 PM and the days keep getting shorter.

I've posted many of sunsets on my instagram account (@rachelmahoney) and those are some of my most liked posts. I'll share with you a few of my favorite photos... Follow me on Instagram and you'll probably see many more in the future!