Monday, December 18, 2017

Our Best of 2017!

CHRISTmas greetings from our home to yours!

2017 - Our Best!

We have been truly blessed in 2017 with many things, the most notable, the opportunity for spiritual growth and to feel God's love and comfort.

The Lord has offered up many opportunities to seek Him.  By simply opening up space in our hearts for Him to work, 2017 has truly been one of the BEST years yet!  AMEN!

The Ranch - It continues to provide for us and allows us a lifestyle of flexibility and risk taking.  Enough flexibility to both be involved on numerous community and organization boards locally and on a state level (where I have found joy again in this work in 2017) and to have quality family time.  Enough risk taking (with unpredictable weather and cattle and crop markets) to keep our noses to the grind and our souls remembering He is always enough.

The Girls - Our cows, mares and the "Good Dog, Rayna", continue to be a source of pride and they bring joy to the arena of 'work' for us.  I look back on our little journeys of 'animal husbandry'.  It started for me as a child, generationally feeding cows, horses and chicken with my parents on days when I didn't have school.  It started for Pete as a very deliberate decision to have 4-H livestock projects and to purchase his first McCumber Angus heifer in 1986.  Over 40 and 30 years later I am just so very, very thankful that those opportunities existed and that they fostered lasting dreams and left lasting passion and opportunities for 'growing and raising things'.
https://www.bestangusandquarterhorses.com/

Home - It's where the heart is.  Our hearts and our ranch are both here. 
https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=A0LEViwySD1aKlUAXrcPxQt.;_ylu=X3oDMTByMjB0aG5zBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzYw--?p=voices+of+watford+city&fr=yhs-pty-pty_extension&hspart=pty&hsimp=yhs-pty_extension#id=1&vid=299b989b39a5caba046bddeb96feaabe&action=view
After showing Kyle this recently released 'Voices of Watford City', he told me this:  "Mom, I am so thankful we live here.  I love everything about living here.  I never want to live any place else."  The community is making a home for our future.  I'm so proud to be from this place.  It's people are God fearing, blue and white collar professional, get it done, take care of your neighbor folks.  They are amazing.

Speaking of our future, Kyle is all things wonderful and brings us more blessings and joy than we could ever imagine possible.  From 4-H pigs, steers, horses, photography; to football, basketball, baseball, ninjaz; to third grade music, PE, math, reading, science (his favorites in no particular order) - he is the great encourager, collaborator, stirrer of the goofy pot, and diplomatic keeper of the peace.  He says his prayers every night and as of late has been especially vigilant requesting fast and complete healing of Carson Wentz's knee and our good friend and local community leader, Gene Veeder (who among many other things helped him pick out his first puppy, Rayna). 

During this CHRISTmas season, may you find stillness with Him and peace knowing HE is always enough.

Best Wishes in 2018 - Pete, Vawnita & Kyle Best

Kyle's last day of 2nd grade at WCES
2nd grade Valentine box - X wing fighter



First day of 3rd grade WCES

3rd grade flag football

Summer baseball

9th birthday party - Nerf gun wars!
Climbing buttes and checking spring pairs

Jaden and Kyle's first fall roundup - pasture 9-1

Riding to gather, fall of 2017 in pasture 9-2

Fall roundup riding to gather pairs

Tracy and Richard filming sale bulls, April 2017

Jaden and Kyle with their first 4-H steers, November 2017, Coal and Beefy

Winter grazing on the Kelly place, December 2017

Fall gather, pasture 9-2

Rayna and a fall sunrise in the beautiful badlands

Tracy and Maddy

Rayna and fresh cut grass, summer 2017 (irrigated grass I might add)

The boys watching their steers eat



Walking the 4-H pigs during one of the only rains we had in the months of May, June or July.  We were thankful to be walking in the rain!

We had a couple trips this year.  One was a road trip out to Seattle for Lyle's Aunt Naomi's 90th Birthday party.  We drove out and stopped along the way to visit several Angus ranches, meet numerous cousins and hike and raft Gracier Park.  It was really great to see LOTS of family from the Marsten, Dahl, Best and Tang sides, some for the first time!

The other was a trip of a lifetime, the Best family's Grandma Mercedes Trip.  This year Sue and Lyle hosted the family to Quepos, Costa Rica (on the Pacific side) at a resort that is world renowned for its eco-friendly design.  It supports a rainforest canopy that hosts Squirrel monkeys (which are endangered) and many other tropical mammals, reptiles and birds.  The Costa Rican people are an amazing people as well.  Truly, a trip of a lifetime.

Kyle meeting his Maley (Dahl) cousins in Seattle for the first time.  He also met Marsten, Tang, and Best cousins for the first time!

Hiking Glacier park

The monkeys of Manuel Antonio, Quepos, Costa Rica

Cousins - Sara, Lindsay and Kyle loving the catamaran tour in Costa Rica

Tulemar Resort - AWESOME!

The Best siblings - Kevin, Carmen, Pete.  Whatever it was, it was clearly profound!

Kyle with the San Jose, Costa Rica International Airport Toucan!
Thanksgiving, 2017... Home again.  Home again.  Jiggity Jig!

The Squirrel monkey.




The white faced Capuchin monkey.



On our way home from Costa Rica, we took in the Fort Worth historic Stockyards.  Kyle didn't really get all the 'to-do' driving the steers.  He thought there were a lot of riders considering the size of the herd!