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.
