Another Long Update

 Miriam, David, and Emily with cousins at the awesome Family Reunion held in Branson.

Like Father, like Son.  Their farmer's tan lines are amazingly similar.

Isabelle loved being thrown by Grandpa.

The kids like to work out with Jonathan and I in the mornings.

 Peek-a-boo

 Staining the hay feeder

 The first of two days of brushing Louie.  Summer is better without that undercoat.

 Kristy & Jonathan working together on the new chicken coop.

Playing at the Ward Pioneer Picnic

We’ve been doing good. We were blasted by the heat the last few weeks (it hit 111 on our property last Monday), but the temps are back down to the normal 90s now. When the temps were high, we were out refilling stock tanks twice a day. We still have pasture for our livestock although it won’t last much longer so rain would be much appreciated. A prolonged drought will lower the prices on our livestock (since everyone is selling right now) as well as raise prices on hay. We just had a stake-wide fast this Sunday for rain. It was an amazing experience. Other stakes throughout the surrounding states are doing it as well. Luckily, we don’t have very many animals yet so our pastures aren’t overstocked. If we could get the front fenced, we would have more options for feeding, but we just haven’t had time to do it.

We sold our first two ram lambs this past week.  It was so exciting but it was also difficult to watch the lambs leave, even though we know thy are going to good homes and are going to be used as breeders.  Up to this point we have only added animals to our farm, not sold them off.  It's surprising how attached we've become to each of them.  This past summer we added a miniature jersey/lowline cow (who's pregnant) and a tiny dexter/lowline bull to our farm. 

Our garden is doing well.  Not sure about our corn patch.  We don’t know yet whether it’s pollenating properly.  Our green beans are just dropping their flower buds without setting fruit.  Arg.  But the rest of the plants seem happy enough.  We’ve had plenty of cucumbers, cantaloupe, zucchini, squash and tomatoes.  Nothing beats a hamburger with home grown tomatoes. Yummy.  J

Isabelle exchanged her parlor roller pigeon for a set of fantails.  They look pretty cool.  Her baby pigeon (Rocky shown below) is almost as big as his parents now and he flies beautifully.  As soon as we finish the chicken coop we’re building, we’ll help her build a pigeon loft.  She had a scare a few days ago when a hawk starting chasing her pigeons, and one went missing, but momma pigeon showed up in the morning.  She must have a found a place to hide out.
 

We took the kids to the Warren County Fair and they loved seeing all of the animals.  We asked tons of questions and are planning on bringing our own animals next year.  Miriam was most excited about seeing the bunnies and she was able to pick out her favorite breeds with the hope that she can buy one as soon as she saves enough money.  Her favorites are a Netherland Dwarf, then a Holland Lop, then a Mini Lop.  The rules are she has to collect the chicken eggs for 30 days in a row to show us that she will take care of her bunny, and if she wants it inside then she has to keep her room clean for 30 days in a row to show us she will keep the cage clean enough for inside the house.  She also has to pay for everything herself.  She’s been much better about collecting eggs.  And she says she isn’t going to spend her money on candy or anything anymore until she gets her bunny. 

David loves the computer.  He is the first to get his chores done every morning so that he can get screen time.  He would spend all of his money on screen time if I didn’t limit him.  He especially loves Bloons Tower Defense and Cool Math Games.

Emily is both adorable and frustrating.  That goes for Zachary as well.  Emily gives the best smiles and hugs, but she can’t help herself when it comes to pushing David’s buttons and she occasionally still throws temper tantrums.  Zachary understands our words better now and when I tell him to stop or to put something back, he’ll often do it.  But then other times he is stubborn and throws a tantrum when he doesn’t get what he wants.  And whenever something is missing in the house, everyone assumes he did it and 95% of the time they’re right.  The usual question is whether he put the item in some weird place, or did he throw it in the trash can?

Jonathan is super busy right now.  In the mornings he is working on prepping his seminar to be held in September.  During the day he has some major projects going on at work.  He was happy one day when he came home and said, “Well, I just saved the company 4 million dollars.”  In the evenings he is either working the farm with me, playing with kids, or doing his callings.  Last week Jonathan was at the Stake Center all evening  on Tuesday for his Stake Financial Clerk calling, scouts Wednesday night, and then there was a scout campout that he ias in charge of Fri-Sat.  Luckily, the kids are fairly well behaved for me and we’ve worked out our systems.  Heavenly Father has blessed the family for Jonathan’s and my callings.  I do feel it.  The other day, I was giving the kids their chore money and Miriam said she didn’t want to pay tithing.  I said “Heavenly Father has helped you find a way to earn more money for your bunny.  Do you want to say to him, “thank you and please keep helping me earn money,” or do you want to say “I don’t want your help anymore.”  She said “oh fine, of course I want His help” (with an exasperated tone).  J  I was laughing inside, but as I’ve thought about it, I’ve realized that time works the same way.  Just as we consecrate our money, we also consecrate our time.  And when Jonathan or I give of our time to do His work, he blesses us and creates more time (through efficiency, friends helping, etc.) so I do not begrudge it (well in all honesty there is that little bit of exasperation that I feel when Jonathan is gone yet again but in my mind and heart I know it to be true and good).

I have some weeks that are completely full and stressful, but the last couple of weeks have been pretty relaxed.  I’m enjoying having a bit of down time, due in part to my aversion to being outside in the high heat.  Luckily, the lack of rain means less mowing and weeding, etc.  I have made great inroads on my vendetta against squash bugs and cutworms.  We also harvested our first grapes.  Hooray!  They are sooo tasty. 

Lambing Season

We finished up our first lambing season a couple of months ago and it was quite the experience.  I later emailed the breeder we bought our sheep from and asked him if our experience was normal and he essentially said, nope, you had a really bad year.  So here is our experience in a nutshell. Don't read if you don't like TMI.

Callypso was our first young sheep to go into labor.  I noticed it in the afternoon and by the time the kids got home from school an hour later, her little boy was on the ground with no complications.  I'm so grateful we had one easy one so I would know what was normal and what wasn't.  I have to say, the little grunting noises the mothers make to their babies as they clean them off is adorable, as is watching a little newborn baby trying to take it's first steps.

The next day, one of our two 10-yr old ewes went into labor.  The first two babies were already on the ground when I noticed and ran out.  I watched her give birth to the third baby.  She was cleaning the first two babies off and they were drinking her milk with no trouble, but the third baby was barely moving and she was only occasionally cleaning it.  I ended up bottling it. That evening, Isabelle noticed another young ewe was going into labor so we decided to try to transfer "Chocolate Chip" to her.  We brought her in the barn and waited.  And waited.  After 30 minutes of seeing two little hooves sticking out and nothing else happening, we thought this can't be normal.  I asked Jonathan to run into the house and get the book that talked about potential lambing problems and I got out the shoulder length OB gloves and lubricant.  He took a long time and I was greatly annoyed when he came back without the book and instead carrying papers he had printed off the internet.  I grabbed the papers and read the first problem which was "locked elbows."  For some reason I reread it 3 times and only skimmed the rest of the pages.  Then Jonathan and I got her laying down and he stroked her head and whispered to her while I put my hand inside and tried to figure out what was going on.  It was much harder than it sounds on paper, but since the head was right there in the birth canal, I figured it probably was "locked elbows" and I pushed the head back into the Mom (much harder than it sounds when the head is small, slippery, and you're worried about poking an eye out) and then pulled first one leg and then the other until they were in the proper position.  Then, when I pulled on the slippery legs, the baby came right out.  Amazing!!!!  It was a truly unique experience to know we had saved the life of the ewe and baby... to be a part of the creation process.  It was awe-inspiring.  The lamb, "Rocha" was 12 lbs.  The mom didn't adopt "Chip" so we had a bottle lamb to care of.  Isabelle was great about getting up in the middle of the night with me to feed him for a couple of months.  Oh, and later when I looked in the book I had asked Jonathan to grab, it turns out "locked elbows" isn't mentioned so I was so grateful he listened to the spirit and looked it up online instead. 

Over the course of the next few days the rest of the sheep lambed without problems until the last one.  She too was having difficulties so we ended up assisting.  It was locked elbows again.  At least this time, I knew what I was doing except that when it came time to pull the lamb, he was stuck.  The ewe wasn't fully grown yet so her body just wasn't big enough to birth a 15 lb lamb.  I reached a point where I wasn't sure I was going to be able to get the lamb out at all.  I turned to the kids (all 5 were lined up 2 feet away watching) and asked them to pray.  Their response, "Mom we've been doing that the whole time.  You just worry about the lamb."  Then they started chanting "You can do it Mom!"  And knowing I had the support of my husband, kids, and Heavenly Father revitalized me, and I was able to get the lamb out.  They both survived and now "Fudge" is our favorite ram lamb. 

Unfortunately, not all of the lambs survived.  Our 2 old ewes didn't have enough milk to support twins and we didn't know enough to be watching out for that.  First one died and then we realized another was losing weight.  We supplemented, but it was too little too late and we lost our favorite girl, "S'Mores" (sitting on top of her Mom in the picture below).  We held a funeral for each of them.  Since all of this happened the week of Easter, our experience made the idea of the death and Resurrection of our Savior that much more real to us.  On Easter Sunday we brought Chip to Church with us and everyone was able to pet him.  We thought of our Savior as the Sacrificial Lamb.  I am so grateful He paid the price for us.

So that was our lambing season.  We have had other animal changes as well.  We were given 7 baby chicks.  Unfortunately, 3 of them were eaten by our neighbor's cat along with one of Isabelle's pigeons.  We are not happy with that cat.  It seems like he can get into anything no matter how secure we think it is.  We also recently bought 2 more cows, one 2-yr old mini jersey/lowline angus that is pregnant and due in September and 1 miniature bull (he is tiny at only 32" as a yearling). Our lambs are doing well although they aren't happy that we are weaning them from their Mommas right now.

We also built a trailer for transporting animals.  It works really well and collapses down in only 2 minutes for storage.  We are proud of it.  We stained the deck and landscaped the area by the mudroom door.  And of course we are busy with our Church callings (I'm RS President and Jonathan is 11-yr old Scout Leader and Stake Clerk).

Our kids are doing well, although I'm beginning to think that with them home all summer, Isabelle and Miriam's fighting is going to drive me crazy.  Thankfully, they do have their adorable moments that soften my heart back up.  Last week Miriam was finally able to pass her level 2 swim lessons (4th try) and it was really great to see all of her brothers and sisters cheering her on and giving her hugs and congratulations.

5 Months in Review

It has been a long time since I've posted anything.  Sorry about that.  Life is busy as I'm sure it is for you too.  We've had lots of fun the past few months and we hope you enjoy the pictures.  :)

Zachary at age 8 months (He is now 13 months old and walking)

Emily had pet cattepillars for a little while.  I would walk into the mudroom and see her with 10 of them crawling all over her arms and legs.  She loved how they tickled.

We spent a day at Living History Farms.  Miriam is playing "teacher" and has just called the primer class (Emily) to the front to recite lessons.

Emily loves reading when she is supposed to be napping.  Luckily, one often leads into the other.  On a funny note, yesterday Emily wanted to buy some screen time but all she had was a dollar so I told her we would need to break the dollar before she could buy the 20 minutes she wanted.  She promptly grabbed her dollar and started ripping it up.  Oops.  Not what I intended.

Jonathan went on his annual walkabout.  He loved it as usual.

Isabelle now has her own pigeons.  She is such a responsible child.  She went out to give them fresh water twice a day every single day of winter.  She pays for all of their food and equipment herself.  She is looking forward to when we will help her build a nice pigeon loft this summer.  Below, she and Miriam are holding "Tanner and Tucker."  They are now a mated pair and Isabelle is anxiously awaiting their two little eggs to hatch.  They are flying roller pigeons (tricks in the air).  She also has "Flippy and Floppy", another mated pair who do tricks on the ground.

 Here is the promised picture of the hay feeder I built using plans from Premier One Supplies' website.  Our Galloway cow is now fat because she basically stood at the feeder the entire winter eating.

For Halloween we were Knights and Ladies (Miriam hates princesses). 

Jonathan was David's squire and Zachary was the page.

 Miriam's Birthday

Jonathan surprised me with tickets and a hotel room to go see the Time Out for Women in Kansas City.  It was so nice to relax and have some time to think and ponder.  It may become my version of an annual walkabout.

The kids were all straining to see each other play the computer, so Jonathan piped it out to the TV and set up benches to sit on.  Luckily the keyboard and mouse are wireless.  They thought it was great to see their "Cool Math" games on the big screen.

In December Jonathan ended up having a kidney stone and had to go to the hospital.  It was his first stone so it was scary since we didn't know what was going on.  Luckily, he passed it the same day.  In the picture he is happy to finally be doped up on pain meds.

The kids love it when I crochet things for them, so here I'm finishing up a blanket I made for Isabelle for Xmas.  Miriam and Emily got purses.  Jonathan got slippers, and poor David and Zahcary are still waiting on their blankets.

The whole family chipped in to make Santa cookies.  Jonathan also made a lot of Almond Rocha candy and caramels this year.  He kept craving them.  I was too, but never fulfilled the craving since Jonathan managed to eat entire plate fulls within the first day of making them.  His sweet tooth is strong.

The animals are all escaping from the drizzle by going under the overhang.  You can't quite tell, but they are all there... 2 cows, 8 sheep, a dog and 17 chickens.  Unfortunately, last month Louie decided that ignoring the chickens for a year was enough and that chicken is now yummy.  We only have 8 chickens now.

Making Graham cracker houses.

 Bethlehem night (Xmas Eve)

The were lots of great Xmas presents, but my favorite were the mucking boots my parents bought our kids.  They love them and they have really come in handy.

Jonathan and I built a balance beam for Xmas for the kids to practice their gymnastics.  Unfortunately, a month later most of them decided to quit.  Isabelle is the only one still going, and she has decided to finish out this season and then take a break.

My handsome men.

Zachary's First Birthday

 This is what we look like when we get up at 6am for family scripture study.  Miriam is hiding from the light under the blanket.

  After dealing for a year with a stove that can't keep the right temperature and a microwave with buttons that don't work, we finally replaced them.  Here is the old set. 

And the lovely new set.

Now that the weather has turned beautiful, it's time for hot dogs out on the deck.

Jonathan and I have started working out together every morning before he goes to work.  We are doing Tony Horton's Power 90 and it has worked very well for us.  The girls were quite impressed last night when I was showing them my "guns."  They also go around asking us if we have abs yet.  The only problem with our workouts is that Zachary likes to get involved too.  This is especially difficult when we're doing sit-ups and he collapses onto our tummy.

We did a controlled burn on our front field.  It was a cool experience.  This is after the burn is done, but the field is still smoking.  It greened up beautifully within 1 week.  Couldn't even tell it had been burned at all.

Washing eggs.  Again.

Resting up after a hard day of work.