Valentine’s Day: Our edition ❤️

Share your story! Valentine’s Day is coming! ❤️ 

Here’s our story:

How’d you guys meet? We grew up like 200 yards apart (my now mother in law baby sit me back then) but Brian is almost 11 years old so I don’t remember him. We knew of each other as we got older but never talked. We officially met at his shop. I was there with mutual friends, going through the worst break up ever and just felt like killing time. Look at us now 😂

First date? Our first public date was the Tulsa State Fair. I was SO excited. Because of our age gap and me being a senior in high school, we kept our relationship a secret for a good minute. It felt so nice to go out with him and just be a couple together. Hand holding. Laughing. Not riding rides because he’s a party pooper. But still, best day of my life at that point. I will never forget it. 

How long have you been together? 13 years in September 

Married? 8/1/2009

Age difference? Almost 11 years  

Who was interested first? I thought that I was but found out later that he had seen me in town a few times and told his buddy, Juke way before meeting me that he was interested in me. 

Who is taller? Brian 

Who said I love you first? We were on a four wheeler ride and checking cattle on his land. I got this super heavy emotional feeling while I was hugging his back and at that same moment he stopped the ATV, turned around, and told me that he was falling in love with me 😭 It was about a month into our relationship and we both felt it at the same exact time. It was cheesy special. When you know, you know? 

Most impatient? Not Brian  

Most sensitive? Also not Brian 

Loudest? It used to be me but now Brian is losing his hearing from old age so he yells at everyone. It’s not cool. 

Most stubborn? We are both very stubborn. 

Falls asleep first? Brian. Always. 

Cooks better? We cook extremely different. My style is more eclectic and highly seasoned with a variety of all types of food. His style is strictly southern cooking. He takes the cake for southern food and all things grilled. He learned from his mama. 

Better morning person: Brian. He loves morning time. He’s gets up at 5 am, takes a shower, then drinks coffee while he watches the news..... FOR FUN 🤢

Better driver: Brian 

Most competitive: Both of us are really competitive.

Funniest: Idk. He’d say that I am. We are just different. Brian’s dry funny. Like, I’ll be rolling laughing at something that he said-did and he won’t even flinch. He doesn’t think that he’s funny. I’m obnoxious funny and laugh ALOT. 

Where do you eat out most as a couple? Home. Obviously 👧🏻👧🏻👦🏻👧🏻👶🏻

But really, when we go on dates it’s to Logan’s Roadhouse, Outback, or Red Lobster. 

Who is most Sociable? BRIAN! 

Who is the neat freak? 😬

Where was your first kiss? Standing on a back road. 

Who initiated your first kiss? Brian. 

How long did it take to get serious? Wellll we ‘met’ in September, fell in love in October, he purposed in January, and we got married in August (right after I graduated high school or it would have been sooner) so I’d say not long 😅

Then we had 10.5 kids and grew old together. 

Who is the first one to admit when they’re wrong? Both of us are great about that. We always have been. 

Who wears the pants in relationship? His friends would say that I do but honest to God neither of us do. I respect Brian as much as I respect any other person on this planet. If he felt the need to be superior to me, I know that it would be a severe situation and that he would be right. His motives and heart are pure. He will always do what’s best for us. 

Spends the most? Me but in my defense I do all of the clothing shopping, bill paying, errand running, grocery shopping, supply shopping, ect for our family. 

Who drives when you are going somewhere? Brian. 

#ValentinesDayChallenge

Updated Get to Know Us

H E L L O  F R I E N D S ! It has been over 6 months since my last Q & A/Reintroduction and my oh my — A LOT has changed so I thought that I’d pop on to do another little get to know us. I get messages asking me random things fairly often. Like, I have 11 messages now asking me stuff. From where do we live to what kind of foundation do I wear, and everything in between. Rather than doing a Q & A style of post I’ve decided just to do an about us with answers to the most asked questions mixed into it. 

We are the Lane’s. My name is Callee and my husband is Brian. We have been together 13 years in September and have 5 children ages 1 to 9 years old. We live in Oklahoma and are cattle ranchers. We raise beef, mini donkeys, pork, poultry, goats for dairy, sheep, dogs, and grow all of our our produce but we also own horses. We travel as often as we can and are currently in the process of finding the perfect vacation home in the Estes Park area in Colorado that will not only benefit us seasonally but will also be another income for us. We kind of hustle a lot and have many jobs at any given time ha. We own a Feed Store and Tire Shop. We own Lane Shorthorns, a cattle ranch where we raise Shorthorn show cattle but also raise grass fed steers for harvest-sale. We sell both Shorthorn halter-lead broke show calves and Shorthorn beef post butcher so if you’re looking for ranch raised beef for sale locally, I’m your girl. We own Doodle Lane of NE OK and raise a variety of pets from Corgi’s to Doodles full time in a home/kennel free/ranch environment. We are landlords locally and soon to be landlords to the vacation home in the Rockies. My husband is also a lumberjack on the side and cuts wood to sell. I have an Etsy shop and make homemade soaps, bath bombs, lotions, creams, ect. We sell our own ranch raised eggs and produce at our Feed Store when we have plenty to spare which let’s face it, is often because we garden on a big scale. Most of our side hustles are incomes that go strictly to our children’s savings accounts for when they are older. Cars, insurance, college, ect is priceyyyyy so we bust our butts to set the kids up as best as we can and trust me, they earn it. They are as hands on as we are and always helping. It’s all hands on deck around the ranch 🙌🏻

Four years ago we sold a multimillion dollar Tyson’s contracted chicken farm and got ourselves out of debt so that we could begin to create a more self sufficient lifestyle. In October of 2020 we sold again to reach for even bigger goals for our family and to grow our businesses/ranch. We wanted to create something from the ground up again that better accommodates raising animals but also that better fits our growing family because our future 4 years ago has changed greatly since. With our new homestead we will eventually be totally self sufficient. Our water is sourced on site. We have always been avid gardeners and raise all of our own meats, poultry, produce, and on our way to only consuming our own dairy too. Cheese making is going to get the best of me so if anyone has any tips PLEASEEE SHARE THEM? We are saving to go fully solar powered on the entire ranch and should be able to do it within the next year or two. First, We plan to replace my SUV for an SUV with a lot more storage. I have a Nissan Armada and LOVE it so much but as a family of 7 plus, there’s simply not enough storage behind the 3rd row so we are getting a Yukon XL. We have to get something bigger first and foremost. Living debt free has been the biggest blessing but also the hardest thing that we’ve ever done. Countless extreme choices went into getting where we are and there was times of heavy fear and regret. We had to stop traveling as much and stop spending money mindlessly. We had to save, save, save and even now we are still saving to finish off 2 of the biggest goals which is a brand new car and the solar panels. Quitting the job that supports your family to take a risk on opening your own business was TERRIFYING. Truly sickening. But Brian knew that it was what God called him to do and I knew that Brian would never do anything that would hurt his family. Now four years later we have never been more secure and blessed. Blessings upon blessings. I feel like it isn’t real life at least 10 times a day. We are living the fruits of our sacrifices and thriving beyond anything that we ever could have imagined. Our life is chin deep in exciting, big things at every turn. Reaching our goals and fighting to achieve them when staying in our comfort zone would have been so much easier is a huge thing. Especially when you have 5 babies relying on you. But we did it and we are seeing God’s Grace everywhere. I will never feel adequate enough for the life that I have. I am so humble and thankful. There really aren’t words for how humble I am. We couldn’t have made it without our faith in each other and in the Lord. Without the hard choices and long journey to reach the end. It was all apart of the process, going all the way back to my husband building the chicken houses on his own before we had even met. The Tyson’s farm sale. The old ranch sale. It all had to happen to teach us what we know and to get us where we are. God was setting us up for today, now — the life that we are living and the security that we have in not owing anyone, anything. It is the most powerful and enlightening thing ever and I’d do it all again in a heartbeat to give my family the security of not having debt. 

Among our big new adventure of selling our place to rebuild another, we also are on the adventure of parenthood. Stages from pregnancy to toddlerhood to preschool to preteens, our life is just all around in a new season. My girls are the grade that I was when I started puberty which hit me big time hard when I realized that. They are changing daily and becoming so much older looking. They officially act and look like preteens. My oldest is the hardest working kid on the planet. She is endlessly motivated and witty. She is so mature that I often talk to her like I would my best friend because she’s just not a normal 9 year old. She reminds me of my cousin Taylor, a lawyer who graduated early, always is the best at what she does, and is determined beyond expression. My 2nd daughter is dramaaaaaa but oh she’s sweet. She is the kindest hearted spirit and so giving. She loves with all of her and is super gentle. She has the eye rolls and stomp offs down packed but if she thinks for a second that she hurt someone’s feelings she is mush. She’s a doll with a tude and very clever. She loves like I do and has my temper to match it. It’s hard to accept that my babies aren’t babies anymore. My oldest son is girl crazyyy and loves to do all things daddy related. He is his best friend and they are always doing stuff together. He is convinced that he will play football at OSU one day and no one can tell him other wise. He wants to play sports, be a rancher, and be a dad just like Brian. He’s a closet mamas boy though ha. My pre schooler started her first year of homeschooling this year and is so freaking smart. She honestly shocks us and has for a long time. She was one of those toddlers that talked and potty trained way early. Like, creepy early. I can’t remember a time when she didn’t have an adult vocabulary and couldn’t carry on full conversations with someone. She’s so independent (aside from STILL breastfeeding) and is changing daily. My 14 month old is beginning to walk and learns new things regularly. His little personality isn’t so little. He’s the happiest and silliest baby that I’ve ever met. I love watching his humor and goofiness. He was exactly what our hearts needed and the purest little soul. We plan to welcome more children into our family through both biology and embryo adoption within the next 4 years. Embryo adoption is where a couple adopts an embryo harvested and created through science in hopes of being implanted via IVF. Often times there are extra embryos left over that couples never use so they ultimately end up trashed. Little life’s just waiting to be lived that would otherwise be discarded. We will be adopting 2 of those embryos and implanting them both at once into me via IVF. They will not biologically be ours but should God’s plan be for them to be successful pregnancies, they will be as ours as any of the others are. We’ve also talked about foster to adopting older children later in life. We honestly couldn’t tell you how big our family will end up being but we do know that we WILL grow again. We saw the life that God has in store for us once we finally let go of our own fears and expectations. We let go of the voices saying that 4-5 kids was too many. We let go of the judgement and whispers. We are doing what we feel lead to do and that is to not have a cap on how many children that we will have. By the time that I’m 35 I can truly see us with 3 more kids. 

Brian and I grew up next door to one another. Literally. His mom baby sat my ‘brother’ and I. He is 11 years older so we didn’t talk much as kids but we re-met during one of the darkest times of my life. Our love story of fate and divine timing still makes me emotional when I think about it. 

I tell him that he saved me but he reminds me that we saved each other. He was also living a hard life and going down the wrong road. Besides my family and kids, Brian is my biggest blessing. Our marriage and relationship is everything. The companionship that he gives me and the partnership that we have is so incredibly unique. He treats me like I am a god. Just ask my mom how many times her and I have talked about the look that he gives me regularly. Like I created the world and am a queen. He is the most amazing man, husband, and father. We live such a cozy, beautiful life together. It’s nothing fancy. Nothing big. Nothing extravagant. It’s as simple as family and the farm in small town USA but it’s a literal dream come true. 

On top of building a ranch, growing a family, raising animals, homeschooling, ranching, running businesses, and just basic everyday life I also LOVE all things cosmetic. In fact, it was my profession prior to mom life. I love make up and hair styling. I love fashion and girly things. I’m a weird blend of ranch and glam. I can change a tire or the oil in my car. I can drive a standard and pull a calf. But I can also do a set of nails and color hair. I can spend hours braiding and shopping for fashionable kids clothes. 

I am naturally a planner. My husband calls me a professional list maker because I like everything to be neat and tiddy. I like structure and goals. I like writing. A lot. So much so that I’m sitting by 3 books that I’ve written right now. Blogging is an extension of that. It’s just hard to find the time to do it in our wild lives. 

I am big time obsessed with home building, designing, and decor. I would make it a living if there was a demand for it in our area. I recently started a page for all things home related and can’t wait to watch it grow once our home is done and the decorating can start. My style is all over the place in just about everything in life. From my music taste to my clothing taste to my home design taste, I’m all over the board. When we were creating this new home I had the hardest time picking between rustic mountain home get away, southwestern ranch, and traditional farmhouse so I decided to marry it ALL. I have no clue how it will all look in the end but I’m trusting my creative gut and running with it. Every single thing that we picked in our home was solely me going with my gut even if I’ve never seen the styles blended before. Self assurance and trust in it’s truest form so fingers crossed that I didn’t botch it hahahaha. 

If you’re following along you’re in for a crazy ride because life has neverrrrrrr been so busy for us but I can’t wait to watch where it’s headed.