Farm, Family and Friends...Oh My!

Long or Short???

2011-07-18T14:28:00.000-07:00

I was recently at a church youth activity Kyla mentioned to me in front of a couple men in our ward that we needed to hurry home to cut her hair. The one guy said "Your not going to cut it short are you???" We were going to just cut her bangs a little shorter. This prompted a discussion on whether or not women should have short or long hair.

Since I do cut hair I've always been bothered by men that think all women should have long hair. I have nothing against long hair but a lot of factors go into any hair style. Age, height, lifestyle, if your hair curly or straight and amount of hair a person has have a lot do do with what style a women can wear.

My other opinion is the woman should decide how she wants her hair not her husband. He's not the one that has to wear and style the hair. Besides that I loved it when I heard on "What Not To Wear" that hair is an accessory and it should be changed just like jewelery.

So what is your opinion? Long or short?

Girls Camp

2011-07-10T22:00:00.000-07:00

We had a very fun week at camp. I didn't know I was going until only 2 weeks before. Much like the first time I went only about 2 months after we had moved to WA. At least this time I knew the girls and many of the stake and ward leaders. The first time I went at the last minute was because the ward leader had some medical issues and couldn't go.

This time it was because I have been asked to be next years stake camp director. Big job! I've been told this already many times. But I'm very excited about it! I feel very blessed to have grown up with good ward and stake camp leaders that gave be a very positive attitude about girls camp. Many of the years I went were not so ideal. One year we had a bear very close to camp, another year we had rats in the lodge and another year it poured rain the entire week. I think our leaders still made camp fun and I learned a lot. The program has changed but ideas and values learned have not.

M was a YCL (youth camp leader) and I think she had fun too. I'm sure it was good for her to practice some leadership skills. This will be her last year. So I'll be going to camp by myself. I've been lucky enough to spend several years at camp with my girls.

I feel really blessed to have such a beautiful place to go to camp, fairly good weather and great group of girls and leaders to go with!

Hair cut time.

2011-07-10T21:48:00.001-07:00

I have had my cosmetology license for about 25 years now. I had always planned that I would teach my kids to cut hair to save money, and the boys could use it on their missions. Well so far I've not done a very good job. Mackenzie mentioned a few weeks ago she wanted to cut someones hair. Who would be the best person to start on....Kaden or Jensen were great options. Jensen refused.

Now I started too on one of my siblings. My sister. Go back around 30 years, we decide that I could cut Melanie's hair. We asked our mom and she said fine but if I messed up she would not be paying to fix it. I must of been ok because I don't remember any tears or trips to the salon to get it fixed. That was my beginnings of cutting hair. I don't think I've stopped since.

Mackenzie did a good job and Kaden doesn't have much to complain about. I think we'll have to pin down Jensen soon.

Real view

2011-07-10T21:41:00.000-07:00

Day 3 we had much better weather and so we were lucky enough to drive back up the mountain to see a much better view... talk about beautiful. I'm sure it's even better on a completely clear day. We would have been able to see Vancouver Island, the Olympic Peninsula, Mt Baker and Mt.Rainer, and the Canadian Rocky's. Just with our limited view I can see why they say it's so beautiful. We really didn't have a lot of time so I didn't get too many pictures. Maybe next time.

Cutest Girls Ever!

2011-07-10T21:23:00.000-07:00

In April my nieces came to visit for about a week. Craig's brother and his wife took a trip to New Zealand on business. Lucky for them. I really forgot how much work little ones are. We spent time at the park, trip to the pool, played with and made new friends (thanks Jayme, they had a blast!) and of coarse M's favorite activity crafting. She told me several times "My mom doesn't do crafts but you do Kelly." They went to bed great, enjoyed the animals as long as someone held their hands. I think we could even to it again....although I think I'd like to be the one going to New Zealand

Top 10 views in the world???

2011-07-03T19:45:00.000-07:00

I was lucky enough to go to girls camp this year. We were able to go Orcas Island which is a part of the San Juan Islands just off Bellingham Bay. We drove to Anacortes which is south of Bellingham and then took a ferry to the island. We stayed in a state park that has a number of cabins, although we were not able to stay in some of the cabins because of a pine beetle(fear of some tree falling on the cabins and squishing sleeping people) The stake leaders got to stay in tents.

As a family we went to the San Juan Island and to Orcas Island about 10 years ago and so it was fun to go back and stay awhile this time.
Day 1 was overcast but still comfy temperatures. Day 2 was hike day, we woke up to rain and misty drizzle. I didn't have a problem with this expect that we were told the hike to Mt Constitution ends at what is said to be one of the top 10 views in the world. When we came as a family 10 years ago it was locked in with fog and rain and we didn't end up seeing a thing. Well it must be something about a Wednesday because it looked exactly the same when we got to the top 10 years ago. I was a little disappointed to say the least. Weather in WA can be difficult at times!

What busy time of life!

2011-06-26T21:15:00.000-07:00

Blogging has not been a priority because life has gotten in the way. I don't think I'm more busy the usual it's just that I have not made my blog a priority. My friend let me know the other day in not too many words. So I'm really going to try and go back to blogging every Sunday evening.

The past few weeks have brought a lot of changes. I was release from my calling that I served in for the past 3 years and 1 month. That was the longest I've ever been in a calling! Now for whats new....Nursery Leader and Stake YW camp director. I'm excited about both! This year the girls are going to Orcas Island in the San Juans. What a bunch of lucky ducks including me! I just hope for sunshine on Wednesday because we are hiking up Mt. Constitution and I'm hoping for a good view of the islands and the mountains. Pictures to come.

Our 23rd Anniversary

2011-06-26T21:00:00.000-07:00

What a fun day! We got to spend it with our friends Kyle and Amanda at the Vancouver BC temple. More to come about our adventures to Friday Harbor and Vancouver to celebrate!

Trip to San Juan Islands

2011-06-26T20:59:00.000-07:00

We have had to pick-up all of our animals from somewhere other then Whatcom county (with the exception of 2 ewes)and everyone seems to come with a story.

Our first flock of sheep came from Montana. We sent Brendon off to the MTC and left 2 days later to make a 9 hour drive, spend the night, pick up the sheep and drove to my parents spent the night only to have a mother and lamb get out at our friends house the kept the sheep over night.

Our first batch of pigs came from Texas when a friend made the trip in about 72 hours only stopping to get 3 different litters of pigs. Then Craig had to follow suit and went and got about 24 pig from eastern S Dakota in about 5 days. Our last trip was to get more pigs from Walla Walla over Thanksgiving only to have a major flat tire on the suburban that turned into a four hour ordeal in 20 degree weather with my kids and 3 extra kids that belong to my sister.

We had been looking for a ram to breed with out Cotswald/Lincoln ewes. Craig found one at a monastery on Shaw Island (On of the many islands in the San Juans) The past 2 years we have gone to Whistler for our anniversary and thought why not kill to birds with one stone. Craig called the bed and breakfast made a strange request to see if we could bring a extra guest for the night-our lamb that we were picking up on another island. They were happy to help. We were pretty lucky that he was easy to get into the back of the suburban and thought he was going to be ok until he about jumped over the seat. I crawled into the back to try and keep him calm the rest of the ferry ride. Turned our keeping him in a pasture for the rest of the day, the night and part of the next day was just what he needed and we were able to ride home with out me in the back seat.

Notice the lovely heaving breathing on the back window. I did a thorough cleaning of the car when we got home! He's a really sweet ram and is already checking everyone out!

Anniversary Part II-Vancouver, Wicked and The Stanley Cup Riots

2011-06-26T20:58:00.000-07:00

Last year we had a chance to go see Wicked after a friend had talked it up so much. Thanks Courtney! We went to Seattle and loved it! So when another friend found out that it was coming again to Vancouver we decided that would be part of our anniversary was going to Wicked again. We ordered tickets as a group, we got a great deal. Most of the people were from our church.

Who would know in Oct/Nov that the Stanley Cup game #7 would be playing that night just blocks away from the theater where we would be going.

We made out plans to ride the bus from White Rock(just across the boarder from Blaine, WA) not far from our house. Then we wouldn't have to deal with parking and issues getting out of downtown depending on the outcome of the Stanley Cup. Which we found out could have been just as bad if they would have won.

It took a little longer then we expected and riding on a bus with roudy hockey fans(I'm sure they had already started drinking) was interesting but we made it. We were a bit worried about were we had planned on eating, would it be full if they had a tv broadcasting the game? All bars along the way were packed and had people standing outside trying to watch the game. We lucked out with the place we had planed on going to, they had 2 available tables.

We had a fantastic dinner-authentic pizza and the best dessert. We headed to the theater but stopped to make sure how we'd get to our bus on the way home. Vancouver was loosing and the crowds were getting a little scary at this point but Craig reassured me we'd be ok. The middle picture is the crowd in front of a giant tv screen just to the west of the theater. They estimated 250,000 to 500,000 people were in the downtown area for the game.

The play started at 8 pm. At intermission around 9:30 as the lights went up we were told not to go outside "due to the events going on." We could see the remains of a burnt car right were all the people had been watching the game. We could hear loud booms from tear gas. We looked out the other window and saw a guy throw some kind of bottle on fire towards what we found out later were 2 police cars that they were setting on fire. More tear gas and black smoke coming from the burning cars. Then we saw another guy throw a newspaper box(the big metal ones) on the windshield of a car. We were then asked to move away from the window. I couldn't believe what were we seeing! Of course I started to worry, I had no desire to walk through any of that. I knew we had to go about 5 blocks to get to our bus stop.

I calmed down and decided to just enjoy the rest of play and we'd worry about it afterward. The play ended around 11 pm. We were told we had to stay in the building until the theater got word of safe routes to leave the area. About 1/2 hour later they announced the safest and open routes for driving. The Skytrain was running but there was no bus service out of downtown. Great, we had no way to get home. With cell phones we all gathered by the entrance and made a plan on how to get all of us home. A few others were in the same boat as us. We rode with some friends back to our car. The road that we left on ended up being closed and we were sent down a alley by the police only to have something thrown from a window above. We ended up getting home around 1 am. I'm so thankful for the safety in numbers. I hope never to be around a riot again. So sad for the people of Vancouver.

Good-bye to our favorite baby!

2011-06-26T16:15:00.000-07:00

In April we said good-bye to our favorite baby and her parents. We will miss the Leon's. We had many sleep-overs with baby C including a few sleepless nights...at least for Mackenzie. We hope they are happy back in Utah and wish them the very best.

Spring Break

2011-06-26T15:57:00.000-07:00

One of the days we took a day trip over to Deception Pass and we were in hopes to see the tulips blooming in Skagit County. The tulips were a wash because they were not blooming yet...too cold of a spring. But we had fun at the beach. It was a pretty warm but windy day, what should I expect at the beach. I found out that Kaden is afraid of heights. For being such a big talker about what he can do there was no way I was going to get him to walk out over the bridge. I have to admit it's pretty high but what a view when you walk out to the middle of the bridge.

What we've been doing when I haven't been blogging

2011-06-26T15:15:00.000-07:00

Weddings:Christina and Sung

Craig and I took a trip in February for his sister Christina's wedding in San Diego. You would have thought we were still in WA with all the rain they got while we were there. Thankfully it stayed dry enough for pictures when they came out of the temple. We hadn't been to CA since we had moved and I was really looking forward to some warm days. In the end I was glad I took my coat because it was a lot colder then I'd hoped for.

Rest of our days in CA

2011-06-26T15:00:00.000-07:00

We had hoped to do more in CA but time was short. We went with Brendon over to downtown Disney after the wedding dinner, only to have it dump buckets of rain so it was a quick stroll. We spent Sunday evening with Craig's family for dinner and watch a gorgeous sunset. Monday we had just enough time to go to the beach for a few hours before catching our flight home. I loved our trip to CA but realized why I still like living in the NW.....to many people, too much traffic and so many homes that are so out of our budget that we could never live in CA, especially with all those animals of ours.

Mother's Day

2011-05-08T17:29:00.000-07:00

I know some women hate mother's day, I really have no feelings either way. But this year was truly one to remember. A few days ago Craig told me that Kaden wanted to make me breakfast in bed. I thought that I had a early church meeting and since Kaden kept asking me what time I had to go to church I knew what was up. Kaden had Craig set the alarm to get up early, you'd think that it was Christmas with waking up 30 minutes even before the alarm went off. He ended up waking up at 5:00 am and started breakfast. I have to give him a lot of credit, no one helped him, he was quiet and it turned out pretty good. Here is a picture of what I got for breakfast. He was pretty proud of himself and especially his fruit salad. He even had a book that he wrote about his favorite things but how he loves his mom. Way to go Kaden!

Vancouver-New Year's Day

2011-01-02T20:21:00.000-08:00

After 2 weeks of being a bunch of bums we figured out something to do as a family. We took a trip up to Vancouver to the aquarium at Stanley Park. In the 7 years that we have lived here we really have not gone to Canada a whole lot at least as a family, for me I think I get intimidated with big cities, I don't like not knowing where I am and I'm so afraid of getting lost or ending in the "wrong" part of town. It was fun to say the least after the aquarium we went to some Christmas light that were set up in the park. The trip ended on sour note when we got sent into the boarder crossing office because Mackenzie has an enhanced ID and a drivers permit. It wasn't a big deal to the people in the office but I have feeling it might end up being a bit of pain until she gets her enhanced drivers license.

My dad is the greatest!!!!!

2010-12-21T19:37:00.000-08:00

I took this picture as my dad was heading up the stairs so he didn't know it was coming but I had to brag a bit about what a great dad I have.

He is probably one of the most "handiest" guys I know. I remember when Craig and I had only been married a few years and something was broken that Craig couldn't fix. In frustration Craig blurted out..."I am not Bob Lim" I realized then that I had to be patient with the fact that I had not married someone like my dad that either he knew how to fix it or he'd figure out a way too. But over the years Craig certainly had become more handy and a wonderful help.

I'm really grateful that my dad has been only a phone call away and I can call when the car might not be working right or he can tell us how might be the best way to go about fixing something or even can tell the kids how something works. He recently came to the rescue when our car had a major flat tire on the highway even though he couldn't solve one of the problems he brought all the other necessary tools to get the job done. Thanks dad your the best!

Funny things you see while out and about

2010-12-21T19:00:00.000-08:00

Kyla and I wondered if this mess happen to this car while the guy driving the car was in the mall or was someone too lazy to clean it off? It looked a lot worse in real life.

Is it legal to have all those things on your antenna? Funny thing is I saw this car just a few weeks ago(Kyla took the picture this summer)

My sister posted on her blog that one of her fears is a big logging truck on the freeway, wondering just how safe is passing one of them and what are the chances of all those logs coming off the truck. I too have thought the same thing since I also saw that quite often growing up in the Pacific NW. We'll this sight was just about as scary at first. I was relieved when I realize it was a truck towing another truck, but I really think they should have turned it around.

This is NOT a very good picture but I had never noticed it until a friend of mine from Lynden pointed it out. It says-"Welcome to Yakima, the Palms Springs of Washington" My question is, "Has the person or the people that wanted to put this sign up ever even been to Palms Springs?" I must admit I have never been to Palm Springs but I've seen pictures and it is gorgeous!....I have been to Yakima several times and well Yakima is not like Palm Springs....I wonder if this has really helped the tourism of Yakima. We really only like to stop for gas or Miners Burgers in Yakima.

Gingerbread houses

2010-12-21T18:22:00.000-08:00

Not sure if they got more candy on the houses or in their tummies. Unfortunately for the houses none of them survived the flat tire incident the next day. They got moved around too much and most of them ended up in crumbs on the floor of the Suburban

Driving home

2010-12-21T17:22:00.001-08:00

First off the pictures are in the wrong order and with my lack of blogging skills I don't know how to move them.

This was our trip home that turned out to be a 11 hour trip instead of the 6 hours that we had hoped for.

We were just 30 miles away from my parents house and we looking at the sky and all of the wind turbines, I was about to grab the camera because with the fog and they snow it looked really cool up on the hill. Then we heard the loudest bang.....I looked at the back tire and told Craig it was flat. When we stopped it was more then flat it was shredded. I've always thought when I've seen those tire pieces on the side of the road it had to have come from one of those big rigs. I guess I was wrong it can happen to any tire. At this point we had to partly unload the back of the car to get to the jack, we had our own stuff for the 5 of use plus we were taking my 2 nephews and a niece with us and extra's that my parents sent with us to take home. We found the jack only to realize it wouldn't fit under the car because it was so low with the tire shredded. Things went from bad to worse when we realize the part that lowers our spare tire was missing. We finally got someone to stop with a Chevy model only have his part to lower the tire was broken. I called my dad thank goodness he was home. He gathered his tools and headed out.

In the mean time about it was cold only about 20 degress and I had 5 kids that couldn't sit in the car. They just had to wait it out with the rest of us. After about 2 hours my dad arrived along with the state patrol. While waiting Craig had been trying to get the lug nuts off and only 4 of the six would come off. When the state patrolman showed up his first response was "You are going to have to get this rig towed, it can't be blocking my highway" I knew if it came to that would we not be going home till the next day. Craig convinced him to let us try and then even flagged someone down with the right part to get to our spare tire. The man also only lived 2 miles down the road and when we couldn't get the 2 other lug nuts off he went and got a blow torch. Even with the torch on nut refused to budge and they had to melt off the entire screw.

After a very cold 4 hours they got the spare on...thanks to my dad for bringing a portable compressor and filling up the tire we were on our way. We made it safely home although we still had a problem with our lights on our trailer but it was a easier and quicker fix. Lesson learned make sure you have all parts to fixing a flat tire before a long trip and I think I'm going to have a emergency kit in my car!

More car pictures

2010-12-21T17:20:00.000-08:00

Thank goodness Mackenzie and I had bought some long socks at the store the day before because it was cold!

Lessson learned..be kind to those you go to school with!

2010-12-21T17:15:00.000-08:00

So when the state patrolman came I let Craig do the talking and stayed out of it. At this point I was frustrated, on the verge of tears and freezing! Kaden came up to me and said, "The patrolman said he went to school with you." I asked Kaden if he was sure because he sure didn't look familiar to me. After a while I finally went up and asked his first name. It was Ron Nordman....I could vaguely remember him. I went back to the car and began thinking and then it dawned on me I had gone to elementary school with him but he had moved to another school and went to a different middle school. In the mean time his last name had changed and our Senior year in pottery class he told us who he was. I did go back and ask him if he was who I was thinking of and it was. His dad had owned a local mini store called Mikes Short Stop that we would often get candy on the way home from in jr. high. I really think because of knowing him he was kind enough to let us work longer on the car and didn't have us immediately tow the car. Thanks Ron!

Come on Jensen just smile for the camera

2010-10-17T19:56:00.000-07:00

I have a terrible time getting pictures of this kid unless he's playing football because he always turns the other way. We were waiting for the play to start and taking pictures he refused to smile and finally Craig turned his head for me. It's not my fault when he gets older, I had off his photo album and there is very little pictures

Dress up time

2010-10-17T19:48:00.000-07:00

These are some of the same dresses the girls have been wearing since the were 3 and 4 for dress up. I'm glad they still like to have fun!

Fair concert

2010-10-17T18:40:00.000-07:00

I'm the first to admit that I loved to watch "General Hospital" in high school and thought that Dr. Noah was quite cute. When I heard that Rick Springfield was coming to our fair I was pretty excited to use my set of free tickets for his concert. Craig had different plans, he wanted to go to Weird Al, he won out since our my friends husband wanted to go to Weird Al also. We lucked out and got another set of free tickets and went to Rick too! We'll it was fun but he's not quite the same cute guy....he's really aged but what could I expect for guy that was almost 61. I've decided after being to quite a few 80's band concerts in the past few years men over the age of about 30 shouldn't were tight leather pants, they are just way too old for them. We still had fun, Kaden thought the music was way to loud.

Fair Fun 2010

2010-10-17T18:20:00.000-07:00

Jensen and Kaden and some of the animals that they were showing at the fair.

Summer fun

2010-09-19T21:23:00.000-07:00

Mackenzie spent the summer in CA babysitting for Craig's brother but she got to come home for a week for girls camp. Saturday after we got home we got a phone call from a friend inviting us to go out on their boat. Of coarse I jump at any chance to go on a boat. (Craig comments it's the one thing he can't give me....a boat) So I headed out with Mackenzie and the boys for a bit of fun. Mackenzie and I were the only ones to go out on the tube and it was fun!

I love living in the NW except when.....

2010-09-19T20:29:00.000-07:00

family comes to visit in August and it rains. I had big plans for us on Saturday to go up to Mt. Baker but we go rained out. We tried to go to Chuckanut instead but it wasn't any better cause it was just too wet. Maybe next year Christina :0(

Kyla was being camera shy and hated that we were out in the rain.

Girls camp pranks

2010-09-12T21:19:00.001-07:00

I'm all for "fun" pranks at girls camp as long as no ones is hurt and especially as long as no ones feelings are hurt. The Ferndale 2nd ward had life size cardboard cut-out of Taylor Lautner and the girls from our ward along with the Everson ward thought it would be fun to kidnap Taylor. The girls even wrote a funny ransom note, hid him the next day under and had Bro. Dewey promise he didn't see a thing. It all went over very well.

Girls Camp

2010-09-12T21:10:00.000-07:00

More Girls Camp

2010-09-12T21:01:00.000-07:00

Kyla and I decided to take a trip down to girls camp and then we were invited to stay for a night, it was fun even though it was just for 2 days.

Coolest fireworks ever!

2010-09-05T21:19:00.000-07:00

Up in Vancouver every summer they do an amazing fireworks show, we have talked about going for the last couple years and finally got our act together and went. We took our friend Christie and her new baby and Kyla brought Mallory who she'll be rooming with this fall at BYU-I.

More fireworks

2010-09-05T21:00:00.000-07:00

Crime scene???

2010-09-05T20:47:00.001-07:00

Most Sunday afternoons people like to take naps at our house, some tend to find interesting places to sleep. This was the scene one day when I came into the family room around 4:30.

Busy busy summer

2010-09-05T20:31:00.000-07:00

Mackenzie has been bugging me about I've been neglecting my blog so it's time to catch up on what we have been doing.

Newest toy or chick magnet???

2010-06-13T21:31:00.001-07:00

Brendon came home with a new toy the other day along with his friend Justin. It's called a slack line. The line is very similar to the kinds that you use to strap stuff down like on a truck. When I heard what he paid for it I though why didn't he save a few bucks and buy those then we could get two uses for his dollar. Well he tired that and it's not the same.

The idea it to walk on your own power on this line that is secured between two trees. It's not as easy as it looks. Especially when Brendon was showing me what people do on the line on UTube. Crazy to say the least. The mother in me reminded Brendon(after seeing Utube) no jumping or flipping.

As you can see in the pictures I need A LOT of practice. I might have to get it out in my spare time when I have nothing else to do.

In the end Brendon admitting this new toy could have the possibilities of being a chick magnet. What a boy I have!

Lynden Parade

2010-06-13T21:21:00.000-07:00

Lynden has a few parades during the year that comprise of mostly trackers, berry pickers and local businesses. This year our 4-H group that Jensen and Kaden are in decided to get in on the action. We brought 2 of our newest pigs and our 10 week old goat Hana. Thankfully the rain had stopped for at least one day!

Kyla's Graduation

2010-06-13T20:58:00.000-07:00

Another graduation down....just 3 more to go. Kyla is headed off to BYU-I in the fall she received a scholarship that will pay for her tuition. Thankfully all her hard work at keeping her grades up paid off.

Balloon Stampede

2010-05-16T20:56:00.001-07:00

Ewwww Gross

2010-03-16T17:35:00.000-07:00

*Warning don't read this if you are eating....

A few Saturday evenings ago we were clean-up the house and as I was barking orders to the kids to help get the family room cleaned up I though it would be helpful to clean under the cushions to see what money or other treasures I might find.

Now this is a pretty old couch that we've had for about 15 years. I have already recovered it once and had planning on doing it again but it sinks pretty bad and I decided it was not worth it.

I did find many things but no money, I think Kaden got it all. But I did discovered why the couch is sinking.

There were two large holes in the couch where a large wire had broken that supported the springs. When I looked in to hole I also found all kinds of junk. I think I may have solved the mystery of missing socks too, cause there had to have been like 10 socks in there. I found batteries, paper, and kinds of stuff. I few of the things I couldn't reach so Jensen helped me to tip the couch forward. This created another adventure in finding things. As Jensen ran his hand along the bottom back edge of the couch he hear crunching. We decided to find out what it could be. I got out my handy screwdriver a proceeded to pop out the staples that keep the fabric on the couch, this is what I found.

The funnies thing that I found was our plane tickets from our trip to Hawaii. I was cleaning the couch on March 13th and we went to Hawaii on March 14th 2000. How I wished at that moment I was in Hawaii and not cleaning out my gross couch.

So if you want to find and missing socks or other things you haven't seen in 10 years clean your couch or you could even tear it apart like did.

Cow story Part 3...I know your getting tired of this but...

2010-03-13T18:29:00.000-08:00

my friend Kelly had a few questions. The cows belong to our neighbor that lives just north of us. Craig just made sure the cows were back by the barn and left hoping they would stay back there. The only thing we found in the morning was a big ol' cow pie on my porch and a bunch of hoof prints in one of my flower beds. They did a little damage to my roses but nothing serious.

The ironic part of the whole thing was about this time last year this very same neighbor was not very happy with us when he found out we had sheep. The reason being that last a year and a half ago at the Puyallup fair 2 maybe 3 cows died because of a disease that cows get from sheep, it was a rare case and it was a very sad loss for those kids that owned those cows. Our neighbor wanted our landlord to sign a piece of paper that if any of our sheep got out he could take action to remove the sheep from his property. It was a few heated weeks but it all finally passed and we are on good terms with our neighbors now.

End of the cow story

2010-03-09T16:41:00.000-08:00

Craig finally came home around 3:45 and we still were not sure what to do. We did consider calling Kevin Price but I wasn't about to do that to Courtney. Looking at the clock we realized someone would be coming more then likely to milk the cows in the next hour. Craig said they were all back by the barn and there wasn't really a whole lot we could do at this point since he couldn't tell where the had gotten out from. I still worried a bit about a cow wondering into the street again nothing could be much worse then hitting a cow. So finally we headed off to bed around 4 am.

This incident reminded me of when my sister Melanie go married. We were all at home getting ready for the reception that was to be held in my parents yard when my sister Paige who was around 17 at the time came running into the house. Paige had been mowing the yard on a riding lawn mower when she saw a cow go running through the yard and up the small hill that takes you out to my parents drive way. We all went to see the massive hoof prints left in the yard when this lady comes down the street on horse back with lasso in hand. She asked if we had seen the cow and which way did it go. We told her what we knew and she told us to call the police. Our first thought was "What would police officer do, pull out his gun and tell the cow to halt or he would shot?" Now I realize at least he could help with maybe preventing traffic if it was a issue...wait I grew up in Walla Walla, WA traffic is only a problem when a high school event lets out. This left quite a impression on my brothers roommate that had drove home with him from Provo he really thought he was seeing country life. By the way my parents live in the middle of the city.

3-7-10 3:16 am. Yes I said a.m.

2010-03-07T03:16:00.000-08:00

Why you ask am I awake at 3:16 on a Sunday morning? I'm was having problems sleeping because of a nasty tickle that was making me cough, but I finally went to sleep around 1:30 after a cup of honey lemon tea. I was awoken later by the not so tiny lumping or thumping of something running past my window. The mystery thing turned around and ran past my window again heading back towards our front yard. I nudged Craig, he hardly stirred(reminded me of when the kids were babies and he never heard them cry). Then I heard it......"Moooo" I whispered "it's a cow!" I really got Craig awake this time. He asked if I was sure. I was pretty sure. He looked out our window and he could see nothing. He went to the front door, still nothing. He went to our back door where our barns are and sure enough we could she the silhouette of at least 4 or 5 cows wondering around. What to do?

It's now 3:32. Craig has made 2 trips and I've made 3 phone calls. I don't think our neighbor is home and neither is his son who lives on the other side Cows are wondering around their house no one answer's the phone or the door. Do you call the state patrol? Animal control?

Guess who did this????

2010-03-02T15:32:00.001-08:00

I make totally yummy cinnamon rolls and somebody decided to frost them in green and it clashes with my blog background too!

Finally!

2010-02-28T16:41:00.001-08:00

Someone knows where I'm coming from.

Kaden has the job of unloading the dishwasher every morning. He strongly dislikes this job but has come to the reality for the most part that it has to be done and he's the man. Step back to this summer, I was tired of the kids using 3 and 4 cups or glasses a day to get a drink of water. So I went and bought a water jug to keep full and wrote names on some cups we got from 4-H. It didn't work and I kinda gave up. Fast forward to about 2 weeks ago and Kaden unloading the dish washer one morning he says to me: "That's it! I've had it with every one using all of these glasses and I have to unload them. I'm tired of this." I wanted to give the child a extra hug since someone finally understands just one of my frustrations. We made of this sign that morning and posted it on the cupboard, it has made quite a difference.

Where in the Olympics is JR Celsk?

2010-02-28T16:08:00.001-08:00

The girls searched all day...no luck.

Vancouver Day Trip

2010-02-28T15:23:00.001-08:00

Since we couldn't afford or get tickets to any of the Olympic events we decided we could at least make a trip into Vancouver to see the sight and try and go to the free stuff. The sights were great despite the rain but the free stuff took way too long to stand in line for. Over all it was a fun day.

Sorry

2010-02-11T20:37:00.000-08:00

Blogger was misbehaving and posted my pictures 3 times... not sure how to fix it.

Olympic Torch

2010-02-11T20:08:00.001-08:00

We found out that the Olympic Torch was going to come pretty close to our house and just across the boarder. Not really knowing what to expect since it said it was at a park and it had been raining a good part of the day, we gathered blankets, umbrellas and our chairs and headed up to Abbotsford Canada.

When we got to the park it turn out to be a small stadium, no chairs needed. Thankfully we brought our blankets because the seats were wet. The 3 older kids and I went down on the field to see what was going on. We found that we could stand right by the track and wait for the runner to go right by us. I got Craig and Kaden and we went back to our spot. We ended up with a pretty good view. The kids were able to get their picture taken with a former Canadian Hockey player that carried that torch at some point. We have no idea what his name his but I'm sure all the little 8 to 12 year old Canadian boys that wouldn't move so others could take a picture did know his name.

Over all it was a fun experience and we were glad that we went! Too bad we can't afford tickets to go to the events....I guess we'll have to be happy with some free stuff and maybe we'll go the the Para-Olympics instead.

Lemon Bars

2009-12-29T21:12:00.000-08:00

We had the missionaries over for dinner back in September and Mackenzie wanted to know if I was making a dessert. I was running short on time and really didn't want to make something. She was very persistent about making something so I gave in and told her to go ahead. She picked lemon bars which she has made before. They were cooking while we at dinner and they were pretty warm when they came out. When she brought them to the table they looked different to say the least. But we figured they couldn't be too bad. Well they didn't taste bad but I could tell something was missing. I asked Mackenzie if she remembered to add the eggs her response was, "Eggs! What eggs? The recipe didn't call for eggs!" She got the recipe book out and started laughing when she found the recipe that called for eggs! We all had a good laugh and still ate our runny lemon bars.

Golf, A Gentlemens game....

2009-12-29T21:00:00.000-08:00

We gave a presentation at the Bellingham County Club about our farm this fall and in return they gave a 2 passes to play golf. Craig of coarse was more excited then I was but it would be fun to see if I could even still play. I played a few practice rounds on the WII and figured I could easily get at least a 72. It ended up being a bit windy that day but it really only added to the challenge. In the end I found out why they call it a gentlemen's game.

1st picture is Craig finding my ball.
2nd picture is Craig pulling my cart.
3rd picture is the water hazard the Craig hit the ball over for me after the first one went into the water.
4th picture is the first hole that I hit the ball into the water/ditch.

I love my husband...it was a fun day!

Photo shoot

2009-12-29T20:31:00.000-08:00

Somethings in life are just not meant to be captured in a photo...I think pigs are included especially our large black boar. Our pigs are very friendly to say the least and if they see Craig it means FOOD! We needed to have our picture taken for a group that we will be working with in Whatcom County and they wanted it to be of us and some of our animals. How do you get 5 pigs and at least of few of your sheep to hold still for pictures? Our sheep really don't even like people except for one of them so they wouldn't come close and the pigs like us too much. Mackenzie was the photographer and out of all our kids she dislikes the pigs the most unless they are less the 5 days old.

Hopefully we won't have to do this again anytime too soon!

Candy Apples.....Yummy

2009-12-27T16:02:00.000-08:00

The tradition continues at the Mayberry's house of making caramel and chocolate apples. We do marshmallows too! Sometimes I wonder how we don't get sick eating the candy in between covering the apples.

Leavenworth

2009-10-25T21:28:00.000-07:00

We headed over to Leavenworth for Labor Day week-end. The summer had been very nice up until this week-end. Usually east of the mountains it's in the 90's but this week-end it was only 55 to 60 and rained like crazy. I had really hoped that we would go swimming in Lake Wenatchee but it was way too cold. It was still a fun week-end eating good food, fudge, playing games, seeing the shops in town and making new friends with the dog that was at the house that we stayed at.

This is only kind of horses or cows we would ever have!

Fair week-Pigs

2009-10-18T22:32:00.003-07:00

Both Jensen and Kaden were able to raise a pig this year. We felt very lucky because a number of kids in our 4-H group had weigh problems with their pigs and were not able to sell them at the auction. Kaden did a little better then Jensen with the pigs and was in the final group of pigs.

2009-10-18T22:32:00.001-07:00

Fair week-sheep

2009-10-18T22:21:00.001-07:00

This was Jensen's first year working with our new sheep. They area breed that is not easy to tame. They are Navajo Churro. He was able to show them in a couple different classes and did well in all of them. Although I think he will be using a different breed next year.

Jensen had to get some help from some of the other kids in our 4-H group because it's very hard to show a flock of 5 sheep by himself.

Hug Point

2009-10-18T21:59:00.000-07:00

We went over to Hillsboro which is where we lived before WA to visit friend and had a lot of fun. I watched the weather and we had a change for a fairly nice day so I called by sister and we took a chance on going to the beach. It was one of the things the kids really wanted to do. So my sister skipped worked and we headed out. Lucky for us the rain stopped about the time we got to Hug Point and we had about 4 hours of nice weather. Just about when we were ready to go it started to rain. It poured that night and all of the way home but we had a great time.

Hug Point

2009-10-18T21:50:00.000-07:00

Hanging around Aunt Melanie's

2009-10-18T21:40:00.000-07:00

New way to paint toenails...with glitter!

Mackenzie thinking that Dora likes to be held like a baby.

My brother-in-law Jack and "D"

Trip to Portland

2009-10-18T21:30:00.001-07:00

It's a heart!

We had planned to go the the beach but like WA weather it can change day to day and since the forecast was rain we headed up the gorge to Multnomah Falls instead. What a hike! We didn't make it too the top, I think the mile marker was wrong and how do you tell a 6 year old just a little farther when you don't even know what a little farther means....think about how the pioneers felt when they just kept seeing another hill or mountain!

Girls Camp

2009-09-20T20:56:00.000-07:00

This was my favorite thing about girls camp this year. Every year they float down the river and the first year that I went down the river about half way through I wanted out of the water, it was way toooo cold and I said I'd never do that again. Well this year they came up with a much better option to the river and way more fun!

Kaden and his pig

2009-09-13T18:49:00.000-07:00

Craig came running into the house one day needing the camera and I wasn't sure what could be going on because the only reason Craig uses the camera is to take pictures of the garden or the animals for our other blog. When I got out to the barn there was Kaden asleep on his pig that he was suppose to be working with.

Free Flower

2009-08-07T09:38:00.000-07:00

On Guide Meridian on the way into Bellingham there's a flower shop that has a sign sitting outside that says the following: "Free rose is your name is -----". The name changes every week and this week it was Kate. We were driving to go to my sisters in Portland on Wednesday and one the girls read the sign out loud. When Kaden heard this this was his response. "What a flower? That's the dumbest thing that I've ever heard of! They should give them something better then a flower. They should at least give them chocolate!"

A true man after my own heart. He'll make a great husband someday!

Making Cards

2009-08-02T19:46:00.000-07:00

This is my totally cute niece that learned to love making cards. One of the days that we were making cards the boys decided to go fishing and her dad wanted to take her. He tried so hard to convince her to go with him but a girl's gotta have priorities and she kept making her card. She did eventually go with her dad but not until she about ran out of stickers!

Mesa Falls

2009-07-26T21:33:00.000-07:00

Upper Falls

Since moving to WA we now drive to Island Park via Spokane and through MT. But before when we lived in OR we would head south and through Boise and back up to Idaho Falls. Just before you get to Craig's parent cabin there's a sign for a place called Mesa Falls. In all the years we've gone to Idaho Mesa Falls is something we have not seen...although I'm sure there is lots of things we have not seen. So this year I really wanted to go. The only child that wanted to go with us was Kyla and Craig's mom came too. She saved us $5 buck because she has an annual pass so we were happy about that. The turn off is on what looks like a flat plain so you'd never know there was such a big water fall just 10 miles off the road.

Lower Mesa Falls

This house was built to house a family that first came to the area when they wanted to use the falls to supply electricity to the area

Yellowstone

2009-07-26T21:03:00.000-07:00

We hadn't made a trip over to Yellowstone in a while, in fact I don't think that Kaden could even remember the last time we went. Not that the park really changes but it's still always so beautiful to go. Although we were quite disappointed that we only saw 3 bison. Usually it's what you see the most of but not this time.

Sapphire pool

Old Faithful

The girls and Madi
Old Faithful Lodge

Kyla and our niece Madi
Walking on the boardwalk

Dress up

2009-07-26T20:42:00.000-07:00

It just wouldn't be the same if we didn't have a "dress-up" session at grandma's.

To Market to Market to Buy a Fat Pig

2009-07-19T19:57:00.001-07:00

The day before we went to Idaho I had to work for Dr. Claypool so the girls had agreed to completely clean the house and pack the car with the exception of mine and Craig's suit-case...score for me!
So it's around lunch time and Craig calls me to tell his brothers latest idea. They called him some time Monday morning to see if we could find a pig, have it butchered and bring it with us. I busted up laughing. The brothers wanted to try roasting a pig in the ground. Well that just wasn't enough time for us to come up with a pig. So they called around and ended up going to Bozeman or Ennis and brought it home. They dug the pit, built a fire and heated the rocks. They did the reading online and did all the work. It worked out pretty good, they learned they needed to cook it a little longer but have a way for it to cook a little more even.

(Please note the pictures are not in order, I still haven't figured out how to move them around and not loose them)

Day in Seattle

2009-06-09T22:17:00.000-07:00

We took a day and headed for Seattle to celebrate our 21st anniversary. After going to the temple we headed to downtown Seattle. I have lived close to or been in many a large cities, I have always love to people watch and notice funny things. Here's my top five for what I saw today:

5. Polite bikers that have cute little bells that they ring to warn pedestrians that they are passing.

4. Jello shots $2.00-I don't drink and I don't like jello, why would I want them together?

3. Blue haired 40 year old guy(at least he looked that old to me) with bright green socks getting on the bus.

2. Teenager begging for money to buy beer and her friends sign that had a very offensive word also expecting money...what were they thinking? I really wanted to tell them to get a job.

1. You can park on the very south end of the Alaskan via duct for free. There is signs all over that tell you that you cannot park over night. But you can camp overnight if you have a tent are are willing to sleep on the hard ground.

Big boy toys

2009-06-04T07:55:00.000-07:00

I'm not referring to the size of the boy but grown men. I remember a commercial growing up that said something about boys don't grow up their toys just get bigger.

In trying to get a garden going we have had to take out 2 very large areas of grass. One of them had a swing set that we did not want and the previous owners son did. He hasn't been able to get it so far but we needed it gone. Craig, Jensen and I worked pretty hard to get the sod out of the front area but in the back the sod didn't stay in big pieces so our very kind friend Rick VanderVeen brought over his front loader and just pushed the sod out of the way. He also said he could just pull the swing out of the ground.

Jensen had a blast helping Rick and loved that he could drive the front loader, with Ricks help of coarse!

Boys will be boys

2009-06-04T07:49:00.000-07:00

Dan and Kaden

I think Kaden is losing.

No explanation just pictures of boys being boys...sorry Dan I guess your a man now! It's was scouts and the boys were playing ultimate freebie and Kaden decided he could take on Dan McGirr. Then he thought it was ok to start wresting with Gabriel too! It's was a fun activity to say the least.

Prom

2009-06-04T07:41:00.001-07:00

Hannah Hoyt, Maren Booth and Kyla

We are lucky enough that our stake puts on a "Church Prom". Kyla and her friends didn't have official dates but decided to get dressed up and go anyway. We actually got Kyla's dress over a year ago at DI in Seattle and just had to make a jacket for her. We had dinner at our house and made enchiladas and Italian Sodas. Then the girls headed out to the stake center for the dance.

Hats off to Terri Booth for Maren's dress, it was a strapless gown and her mom bought two dresses and added the sleeves to complete the dress.

Sheep shearing time

2009-06-04T07:30:00.000-07:00

Oops forgot to rotate the picture...it's looks like bunch of dead sheep on our barn floor. But it's so cool to see the soft wool on the underside and the beautiful colors too!

Craig found a person(turned out to be a kid in high school) that could shear our sheep, because the task seemed to be way too much for us. It was hard enough to trim their (the sheep) hooves a few weeks ago. It was pretty amazing how quickly he did it and kept the sheep under control. I was lucky enough to have a friend give me a loom and another friend give me a spinning wheel. So now the task of cleaning the wool. I don't think I'll give the spinning a try until fall, too much to do outside right now!

Oodles and oodles of plants

2009-06-04T07:23:00.000-07:00

Along with all of our animals we are planting oodles of vegi's. We started them back in April in my living room about 3 weeks ago, I had had it with my living room being a green house and moved them outside on to our porch. I think the final count was about 1000 starts. I think we have lost a few but we should still do pretty good. We are growing "heritage" variety of plants or they are rare seeds that are unique. For instance we have tomatoes that are purple and chocolate brown. Cucumbers that are white. Carrots that are purple. Corn that is green. I'll have to post later one they all are in a growing. We hope to sell most of them at the one of the farmers market and hopefully from our own house one day.

It's always fun when Grandpa comes...and grandma too!

2009-06-04T07:14:00.000-07:00

We took a walk over to Berthesen Park to show my dad that trackers and stuff. I was amazed how he so much about all the stuff that is there.

My parents had a wedding to go to in Seattle last week-end and since they were already close they came to our house after. I really don't have a lot of pictures of my parents growing up my mom took all the pictures and I don't think my dad is in many of them. I know my mom will hate that I'm posting this picture but I'm doing it anyway.

My dad was so great helping with fixing the lawn mower, take apart my chairs that I'm trying to refinish(more of that on another post) and various other stuff around the house. I'm grateful for all that he did!

Kitten's x3

2009-06-04T06:54:00.000-07:00

We have 2 cats that came with the house that stay outdoors all of the time. We kept them in order to keep the mice down, which I don't want in the house. The both are friendly but only one will let us pet her.
We came home from a trip to Walla Walla for spring break and the cat came to the door. I was petting her and noticed she was a bit"fat". I told the kids she's more then likely pregnant. Just a week later she was skinny again. After search the barns we found 3 kittens, she had had them in of all things the our baby stroller. We had a problem with her moving them around a lot but the kids have been finally able to hold them and take them outside.

Their pretty cute, but I'm glad they stay outside!

I've been called a Blog Slacker

2009-06-04T06:49:00.000-07:00

Mackenzie is my most opinionated of all my children and does not hesitate to tell it like she thinks it is. I keep telling her it might get her into trouble someday. So this will be a mass of pictures of what we have been doing for that last 6 weeks or so. I just have not had time to get pictures off the camera. Maybe you'll understand when you see all that we've been up too.

I'v been degraded to a Spousal Unit

2009-05-14T20:04:00.000-07:00

As many of you know and for those of you that don't Craig teaches at a school in Seattle called Brainbridge Graduate Institute or BGI. It is a long distance learning school for students to get their MBA. Craig has taught at BGI for about 7 or 8 years. Most of the students and faculty are very liberal and Democrats, I'm sure the cheers when Obama won were as loud at the tears when Bush won 4 years ago.

A few weeks ago Craig won a 2 nights stay in Leavenworth for a fund raiser for the school. Here is a portion of the thank you note that we received the other day in the mail.

Hiya Craig,

Llamas, churros and blacks oh my! (Baaaaa....bleet....oink oink) makes me feel right at home.

I suppose Leavenworth would be a good escape when you and your spousal unit need a little time away from the livestock and yer dairy neighbors(wink, wink)*.

All jokes aside, we are seriously appreciative of your support and participation in the D&SJ auction.

I rather enjoyed the QM Heritage Lane Animals exercise. Sounded like dairy land needed some diversification too.

Many thanks to you and Kelly.

I can't believe I've become a "Spousal Unit" I asked Craig when did I become a form of measurement? He hugged me and said "Now you have to realize how they think." I do understand they want to be all about equality for men and women and being politically correct at the same time. But I could think of better things then calling a person a "Spousal Unit". They must know something about me because I have a name at the end of the note.

Blog for Brendon www.elderbrendonmayberry.blogspot.com

2009-05-03T21:41:00.000-07:00

In the MTC-I have no idea who the other missionaries are.
At the Provo Temple
I'm guessing this is him studying.

Brendon has been asked to only write to his family so I decided the easiest way to keep friends and extended family up to date is a blog. So if I didn't have enough time for my own I'll have to keep myself busy with his too.

I told Craig as I look at least first pictures that even though it's seem time is going pretty fast that I still find it hard to believe that he's really gone. I even found myself the other night stopping to think when is he going to be home tonight- thinking that he was still home and was out with friends.

I also was thinking about those first days when he will get home and I'm sure I will still go through a period of not being able to believe that he is really home.

Who needs Walt when you've got John? John Deere that is!

2009-04-17T08:29:00.001-07:00

When we moved into this house the previous owners left the lawn mower/tractor for us to use. They couldn't promise how well or how long it would last but with such a big yard we will take anything we can get.

We have been having problems with back tire going flat, so with much effort and elbow grease Craig got the tire off and fixed. Next afternoon you'd think we'd just told the kids we were going to Disneyland with all the squeals and laughing I heard from outside, even over the sound of the noisy engine. Ya gotta love living in the country when this all it takes to keep 4 kids happy for a while!

Maybe would could sell day passes for $5.00 and we could even take a tour of the sheep and pigs when was the last time you saw those animals in either California or Florida??? Kids might actually find out that their food comes from somewhere before it gets to the grocery store.

Get the Creavitiy Flowing!

2009-04-15T07:27:00.000-07:00

The first five people to respond to this post will receive something made by me. HOMEMADE!

The item will be my choice made just for you!

Restrictions and Limitations:

1. I have complete creative freedom

2. What I create will be just for you

3. It will be done within the next 6 months

4. You have no clue what it will be. It may be personalized note cards. I might bake something. I might not think of anything until 6 months from now...

The catch? You must re-post this on your own blog and offer the same giveaway to 5 people who comment. The first 5 people to leave a comment telling me they are in, will win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift from me! Be sure to post a picture of what you get!

Anyone past the 6th comment will be entered in a drawing for another item!

Thanks Paige!

I'm all for breast feeding but.....

2009-04-12T20:37:00.001-07:00

We ended up needing to go through Everett and Stevens Pass when going to Walla Walla after going through the mountains one comes out in Wenatchee. Unfortunately you have to drive all the way through town to get to the highway.

This was the billboard right in the middle of town. I busted up laughing along with my girls. Now I have breastfeed all of my children for 1 year with no other food or bottles and then we start solids at about a year. Most of my kids were weaned around 18 months to 2 years. I find this billboard a funny way to encourage someone to breastfeed. Wouldn't it be easier to give out information at either the hospital or in the OB's office? What are your thoughts? And how do you advertise to get someone to pose for this?

Just before we saw this billboard we rounded a corner and some guy and girl about my age were crossing the street(in a marked cross walk) carrying this small red flag. It reminded me of when I was a crossing guard in 6th grade. Anyway I figured this guy carries this flag with him where ever he goes so he can safely cross the street. I then noticed that on the other side of the street there is a little tube holding about 5 or 6 of these same flags. We tried to get a picture of this but the light a block or so up changed. I guess the city doesn't want to put in any more lights in and uses this as a solution. Based on the fact that the speed limit was 35 mph and the cross walk was on a curve I don't think I'd rely on some small flag to get me safely across a busy street.

Spring Break

2009-04-08T20:52:00.001-07:00

We decided a week or so ago to make the mighty trek to Walla Walla for the first part of spring break.

One of my sisters lives in Portland so I gave her a call and convinced her to come too. My other sister lives in the Tri-Cities so she came with her husband and kids. It was the houseful to say the least. Also while we were there my parents are doing an addition on the house and with that they are putting on a new roof.

A friend from my parents ward came Saturday and they took the roof off of the north side of the house. It made for a noisy day between 10 kids and the men on the roof tearing it off.

My sister Melanie, Kyla and I on Saturday night ran to the store to get Mackenzie a toothbrush which she forgot. While we were out we decided to show Kyla what cruising the gut was. This is what teenagers do in a small town on Friday and Saturday night. It means going down Main street turning on to Issacs, past the frat houses where collage guys sat on couches that we could check out. Once you got to the mall or so you'd turn around go back the same way and do it all again. During this drive one would have the music on and windows rolled down no matter what time of year. We decided it's not quite the same when you are 38 and 42 and in a Suburban and it's only 6:30 at night. To sum it up I think Kyla thought we were quite strange teenagers to something to wasteful with our time and gas. But gas was only $.75 cents a gallon at the time.

Saturday night we watched Twilight. Now I'm glad I didn't pay $8 to see it in theaters but I may want to read to books. We'll have to see.

Sunday was spent watching conference not much was heard at times with 8 kids under the age of 12, thank goodness we can read it soon.

Monday to the park again and just hanging out. We headed home on Tuesday. It was a very fun week-end and makes me wish I lived closer to my sisters. My brother in-law thinks we should all move to MT and set up a compound...but then we'd turn into one of those weird families with tons of kids whose stock piles food. Beside that I'm not sure how good a garden does in MT with out a humongous greenhouse.

The Romance is Over

2009-03-31T20:13:00.000-07:00

This past week we had one very sick ewe and her lamb. It all started when her lamb was calling out in a way I'd never heard before. I called Craig and told him I thought something was wrong with the lamb, she wasn't nursing and the mother didn't seem to care about her "crying". So after running into Bellingham I made a stop at the feed store for some sheep milk. It comes in a powder and is even made by "Land O Lakes". I asked for a bottle, instead they gave me this little nipple and said all I needed to do was put it on a 20 oz water bottle. When the vet came he confirmed our concerns and said the ewe had mastitis and another infection that she had given to her lamb. He said we would need to continue bottle feeding the lamb every 4 hours.

Easy enough, in all the movies you always see this cute small child with great ease either feeding a small lamb or calf with this big ol' bottle and every one is happy.

So what really happens is the lamb has no idea why you are sticking this thing is their mouth, the lambs resists and you end up with this sticky, funny smelling milk all over you and the lamb. I finally got smart and got a towel that helped a bit for the lamb but not me. Poor Craig, at one point got a eye full of milk when the lamb jerked away and what was on her lips ended up in his eye. For me it was the next day I was in Bellingham and way scratching my ear only to have flaky white stuff come off...I'm sure it was dried lambs milk.

So much for the movies....nothing like it is in "Real Life".

Firsts....

2009-03-18T20:53:00.000-07:00

This is a list of firsts. I would love all of you blogging friends to post your firsts, too, but I'm not going to tag you...

Who was your FIRST pet?

When I was 3 or 4 Santa brought my brother and I a white poodle, we named her Scoshie.

Do you still talk to your FIRST love(crush)?

I actually just connected with him on facebook. Allen Stevenson, he also took me on my first date after I turned 16.

What was your FIRST job?

I worked at a dentist office, I was the cleaning girl.

What was your FIRST car?

I'd have to say the first car that has been in my name is our Suburban.

Who was the first person to text/call you this morning?

Melanie Masterson, she had a work question.

Who was your FIRST grade teacher?

Mrs. Troop at Propect Point, she scared me.

Where did you go on your FIRST airplane ride?

New York City, it was when I went to be a nanny.

Who was your FIRST best friend and do you still talk?

It's a toss up between Barbara Denton and Karron Jackson. Karron and I have stayed very close over the years and I just found Barbara on Facebook

Where was your FIRST sleepover?

I would have to say at girls camp.

Who was the FIRST person you talked to this morning?

Jensen or Kyla

Whose wedding were you in the FIRST time?

When I was about 4, I was the flower girl for my Aunt Joanne.

What was the FIRST thing you did this morning?

Read my scriptures.

What was the FIRST concert you attended?
Corey Hart. At BYU, I have to admit I went with my date only for the concert.

FIRST set of stitches and how? I don't remember how old I was but the metal part of the seat belt went into my forehead. I also don't remember it happening thank goodness.

FIRST piercing? My ears and only, I was 13 or 14 and I did it myself...what was I thinking.

FIRST foreign country?

Canada. We went to my other aunts wedding, I was also a flower girl.

FIRST movie you remember?

Dumbo, it scared me, I think it was those scarecrows. I don't like that movie to this day.

What was your FIRST bike? A ten speed bicentennial red, white and blue bike, in 1976.

What was your FIRST computer?

My husband had one when we got married.

Who was your FIRST roommate?

Wendy, I don't remember her last name. It was in Provo.

FIRST KISS?

Allen Stevenson-see my first crush.

Future Ruler

2009-03-09T21:19:00.000-07:00

This is the lasted perspective that Kaden has of the world and a conversation with me.

Kaden-"Why do I have to do everything that you tell me?"
Kelly-"Because you are a part of a family and you have responsibilities in our family"
Kaden-"Well when I grow up I'm going to be just like you and dad and tell everyone what to do, I'm going to be the ruler."
Kelly-"That's not what it's about being an adult, you learn to listen and help out and then when your an adult you will teach your children the same things."
Kaden-"You and dad don't do anything. Dad just sits around the house and is always on the computer."

So Craig and I have come to the conclusion that I am the dictator and he is the bum, at least in Kaden's eye's

Sunday Afternoon

2009-03-09T20:36:00.000-07:00

This is what children do when parents are so tired from the "spring forward" time change and they need a nap...well at least mom needed a nap cause dad was out of town.

Disclaimer-no children were hurt during this event, in fact Kaden just undid himself after we all got a laugh out of this.

14 and counting

2009-02-23T06:36:00.001-08:00

I'm beginning to think we might become like the Duggar Family on 18 kids and counting. Although we can produce faster with so many ewes and a gestation period of only 5 months. Saturday morning Jensen went out to the barn to take care of the sheep and he discovered a new lamb. We were expecting one of the ewes to deliver first so it was a big surprise to us. It was a girl, we have named her Maggie.

We know of at least 2 more ewes that are pregnant. The one won't be for a while but she's the one I can't wait to see. She is an English Blue and has 2 small white markings under her eyes that are called tear drops. This make her pretty rare. It will be cool to see if her lamb has of the qualities. She is called an English Blue because her wool has a blue tint to it, also making her rare.

What to do with the sheep?

2009-02-19T22:09:00.000-08:00

My friend Kelly asked what we are doing with the sheep, I thought it would be easier to answer here. One of the them with be food very soon and others will follow. Craig has contacted some local chefs at some of the nicer restaurants and they will buy both our pigs and sheep. These sheep are Navajo Cheerio Sheep, which were raised by the Navajo Indians until the US Calvary came in and wiped them out with the Indians. They are a rare breed and Craig wants to help with bring back the breed.

Their wool is great for all kinds of use. The wool comes in all colors and you never know what color a lamb will be. A couple of our sheep even have features that our rare within the breed. We will sell some of the wool and I am looking into buying a spinning wheel and a friend is giving me her loom. We will have to see what I can learn to make.

Got sheep? We've got 13!

2009-02-18T14:06:00.000-08:00

We made the trek to MT over the week-end to get our new flock of sheep. All arrived safely and thankfully no new lambs on the way as 3 of the yews are pregnant one could be any day now.
This is Jackson(all the sheep have been names from the previous owners) He's the big pappa to many of the sheep including the 3 lambs and the ones on the way.

As I said we have 3 lambs, 2 of which are twins. They are pretty shy but we are able to pick them up.

Good-bye for 2 years

2009-02-13T19:51:00.000-08:00

The day finally came! When Brendon got his mission call all the way back in October it seemed so far away, especially when we thought it would be at least before Christmas. It certainly not the event I want to do again and again. I've joined an email group of moms with missionaries going to Mexico so that seems to help. I do miss Brendon, Wednesday was the hardest and I'm trying not to be too emotional about the whole thing but when it your son 2 years seems even longer.

We are now waiting to hear from Brendon and see how things are at the MTC. They do have email now, we have to wait until his p-day and we have no way of knowing when that is. So we must patiently wait.

Brendon looks pretty sad in these pictures not because of emotions but because he went horse back riding with his friend the day before he left and his allergies caused some problems. When our stake pres. came over to set him apart he kept asking if had taken some benadryl. Brendon finally gave in Tuesday morning and took some so the pictures at the airport are much better.

He made it to Provo safe and sound although he said he had a hard time finding his connecting flight to SLC. Thanks to our friend Dan McGirr for picking him up, letting him spend the night, and taking him to the MTC. Dan told us that Brendon was asked to give the opening prayer in the meeting with all those other new missionaries.

All good things must come to an end.

2009-02-05T16:57:00.001-08:00

Not that wallpaper is a good thing unless your Martha Stewart. I'm not sure who thought blue pears would be pretty on walls and for wallpaper none the less. I think my mom loved wall paper, it was in every room of the house with the exception of her bedroom and the living room. Scary thing is that if I could find some red toile either in wallpaper or fabric I might put on my walls in a small area.

My kids were great help getting it down. I got the bathroom done also. The problem happened when I started to take down the wallpaper in my bedroom. It was on only 2 walls and it came off very easy. But on the second wall they had not done texture and so the paint came with the wallpaper so we are now at a stand still till we decide what we are doing with the wall.

We still have wall paper in 2 of the upstairs room. Although one of the rooms is Brendon's so once he's gone and everything is boxed up it should be easy to get done.

Busy Busy Mom

2009-01-30T21:38:00.000-08:00

My daughters have let me know that I am not a good blogger since have I not posted in over 4 weeks. Hello, I don't just sit at the computer all day while they are at school working their little fingers away doing school work! Maybe they just think I sit at home watching t.v. and eating chocolate to my hearts desire.

They forget that just because I am no longer working outside of the home I do have things to do. A church calling, buying things at the store from that list they seem to always add things to. And the biggest job of all it seems lately is trying to get that oldest boy of mine all that stuff for his mission. What about going with only purse and script. Boy did the first missionaries have it easy! Books, clothes, first aid kit, luggage, shoes(which by the way he took over a month to decided on and finally listened to his mom and bought what she suggested) and then the shots that they need to have. We lucked out it was only one extra more that what they are suppose to have. Thank goodness. Oh, I forgot I still have to get him to the doctor one more time for the final check on his back. We are down to the big count down of just 10 days to go.

I will change my slothful ways and hopefully by Sunday have loads of pictures of what I have been doing for the past 4 weeks and then will get my daughters to post something if I can't get it done myself!

Natural Disaster

2009-01-08T12:38:00.000-08:00

As we were driving round (before I took the kids to school) looking at all the water the following conversation took place in the car:

Jensen: Mom did you know that home owners insurance doesn't cover floods?
Kelly: yes, I did know that.
Kaden: Do we have flood insurance?
Kelly: No we have renters insurance, it covers our belongings. Besides that it would have to rain a lot to damage things in our house.
Kaden: Well if we had a flood I'd make sure I took my batman car.
Kelly: I think that there are more important things that we should take like pictures, important papers...
One of the kids:Scriptures
Kelly: Yes, and the computer. Beside that if there really was a threat of the flood we could move lots of stuff upstairs.
Kaden:But what if the water got upstairs then I would loose my legos.
Kelly:That's why we have renters insurance. The chances of it flooding that much is very slim unless Mt. Baker blew it's top and there were tons of snow.
Kyla: It would take a natural disaster to flood our house to the upstairs.
Kaden:Like me?

I have never told Kaden he's a disaster, just that his room can be. Kyla and Mackenzie were busting up laughing the rest of the way to school.

Water, water everywhere

2009-01-08T12:16:00.001-08:00

From winter wonderland to water as far as the eye can see. The first picture is a day or 2 before the rain started. The second is one of the houses that we had hoped to get in to. We would have been right across from the red barn on the right. The third picture is just over by where we used to live. Down the hill is the other house we wanted. I think we had a little blessing when things didn't work out with either house.

The last two pictures are the business across the street from us. Usually they have two small ponds instead of the huge lake/river from the house to the corn field on the other side.

Risng from the ashes

2009-01-08T12:08:00.000-08:00

Really it's from my bed. The flu ended up hitting full force Friday morning. What fun and joy. I was blessed with a "lady in waiting." Kyla was so sweet to get me anything that I needed. She even laid in bed with me and watched movies. On the other hand Mackenzie came in on Saturday and asked if I was contagious, I told her more then likely I was. She spent the rest of the time at least 10 feet from me and if she had to come in my room she would cover her mouth when she would talk to me.

Monday the kids went back to school and I thought I was feeling pretty good. I guess it was wishful thinking cause I was back in bed by 11:00. Tuesday I took it easy and by Wednesday I was well enough to take the girls shopping in Bellingham because they canceled school due to flooding.

Being sick is the pits!

2009-01-01T17:03:00.000-08:00

My first post of the year and it's all about me and how crummy I feel. Last Sunday after we dropped Craig's sister at the airport and were heading home I got the worst tummy ache. I finally spoke up about a mile from our house cause I was about to loose my yummy lamb dinner that Craig had made. It hurt about as bad as when my appendix had to come out. Craig reminded to me that could not happen again.

With the crummy tummy I got a big old cold sore and the final icing on the cake...the dreaded UTI! Thank goodness for my beloved Dr. Claypool, he was great and called me in a script.

I did ok the rest of the week and the flu part is gone, but now I have the runniest nose in the west. How is it that you nose can be stuffy and running at the same time?

Happy New Years to everyone!

Snow Days!!!!!!

2008-12-21T13:35:00.000-08:00

The kids got to start Christmas Break two days early because of the snow. So they headed outside and the girls decided to take some pictures. The only bummer about the snow here is the wind that comes with it. Notice how the kids eyes are all squinted.

We even have our own skating rink in the backyard.

Getting the Christmas Tree

2008-12-21T13:25:00.000-08:00