Pumpkins

I found a couple more photos I thought might be worth sharing. Michael, the boys, and I made a trip to the local pumpkin patch before Halloween. They are growing up on me!

And here is the largest of the pumpkins we actually grew here at home. Well, actually the chickens grew. LOL. I tossed all the seeds from last year out to the chickens and apparently they planted them. Ha!

Snow and No Electricity

Yesterday, around noon, the snow starts to fly. We really weren't expecting it to do much as it was suppose to start at 7am and nothing til noon. By 5pm, the electric was out and the view from my front porch was this...

We had to spend the night at Moms, and since we had trees down in the drive, we had to walk. One fell about 30 seconds to a minute tops after we walked under it. Talk about scary. This is looking back toward the goat barn.

Walking around the mountain to get back to the 4-wheeler. Scary, but beautiful. I about ran the whole way.

This was the view from Mom's porch this morning.

and another from her porch looking up the hill to our house.

We stayed more than toasty warm, were able to cook, and dry the kids clothes they played in the snow in, thanks to this baby.

After the power finally came back on, Mom made homemade biscuits.. along with pork chops, scrambled eggs, and gravy. Don't they look heavenly? Believe me.. they are. I'll have to show you how she makes them sometime. It is unreal. She makes them right in her huge flour bowl and manages not to ruin all the flour in the bowl. She said that is just the "old time way".

I'm sharing this post @ Homestead Revival's Blog Hop and @ Fresh From The Farm: Farm Photo Friday Stop by and check out the other entries.

It's a BLIZZARD out there!

 

This was the view from my front porch yesterday afternoon around 3 pm.

When it started to snow, Michael and I knew we needed to head outside and make sure the dogs, goats, and chickens were all feed, warm, and protected from the weather. It had just begun to snow, but the minute we walked out the door Mother Nature went nuts. The wind was whipping every which way and snow was coming down so fast you couldn't see.  We finished everything we needed to do, but by the time I came inside, I was a froze. The temp dropped fast. 

The tv was lit up with wrecks everywhere. Snow and ice in the mountains is bad, but when it came on like it did yesterday, it made for very bad travel. I am thankful that this winter has been mild so far and we don't have to travel in it as much as we did last year. Last winter it snowed almost everyday.

I expected to wake up this morning to a foot of snow, but we only had about an inch. It must have just skipped us. Our neighbors about five minutes down the road had nine inches and my sister had seven inches. 

This was our first real snow fall of the season and the kids are super excited. I guess I better get them bundled up so they can go out and play.

Family: It's Party Time!

We had a small party here at the house for the boys on Sunday with the family and few friends. Hotdogs with chili and onions, potted meat sandwiches, potato salad, baked beans, chips, dip, pop, lemonade and of course cake and ice cream.

My wonderful SIL Melanie of The Cake Class and her sister Amanda made a spectacular CARS cake for the boys. It was not only beautiful but tasty too! Red Velvet, Carrot, and White were the flavors. Yum.

Isn't it gorgeous?!

All of the kids LOVED it! Thanks so much Melanie and Amanda.
 We are thankful for the great turn out and even though it was really hot we had a fantastic time. We ran fans, had cool drinks and of course lots of ice cream. 

Family: Six!

It doesn't seem like he could possibly be 6! My baby boy is growing up!

Family: Mini Vacation, Splash Park, Birthday and More!

Hello everyone! I am so sorry I have been MIA for a while. Life has been CRAZY! 

Michael was off from work for 5 days and we spent most of that time working on projects around our house. We had a lot of things we needed to get done, and we did manage to get most of them accomplished. Thank goodness!

School is starting back for the boys around the first of August so we had to fit some school shopping in as well. That was an all day event. Finding jeans for Bailey is a major issue. Thankfully we were able to find 10 Husky in Levi Strauss at JCPenney. We still need to get their shoes, undies and socks. Then I think we are done!

On Monday we took the boys to SomerSplash. Michael's brother Scott and family went with us. We had an absolute blast. If you've never been, stop by there sometime. You won't regret it. I guess we stayed over 6 hours. We all ended up with sunburn though. Ouch. We used sunblock that was SPF 45 every hour in thick coats, but still ended up with too much sun. We are all OK now though.

Bailey on the way home from the splash park.

We hadn't been on the road a little over 5 minutes, I turned around and saw him like this.

This is strange because Bailey NEVER naps. He was so exhausted.

Dalton on the other hand... is a napper.. he was OUT in a matter of minutes as well. He fell asleep eating. He had a chicken nugget in his mouth. I had to wake him up and make him swallow it.

Dalton turned 6 years old this week. We had burgers and dogs on the grill, ice cold watermelon, green beans from Moms garden, cake, and ice cream to celebrate with Mom and Dad. Since Bais bday is in August we usually have them a big party somewhere in the middle of their birthdays.

My niece Deidra's birthday was yesterday and it is her and her hubby's 2nd wedding anniversary today. She came up last night and we worked on a cake for her hubby. She planned to make it a two tier cake, but she didn't know she would need 3-4 boxes of cake mix. She only bought two so we only made it a tier. It turned out pretty decent for a cake made by novice cake makers.

If you would like to make a designer-type cake for yourself.. check out my SIL Melanie's blog.... THE CAKE CLASS. She shows you how to do everything.

So, anyway... I'm back and hopefully I'll be posting more. Ignore the picture quality. They are all cell phone photos.

Family: Meet My DH the Jokester

It never fails that Michael can make me laugh even when I am in the darkest of moods. I took this photo of DH at our nephew's birthday party. When DH saw the pic, he remarked he resembles a Shar Pei. The more I look at the photo, the more I agree. So comical! I love him so!

Just so you know.. he doesn't always look like that.
DH hasn't been feeling well lately and we've made a trip to the ER as well as multiple trips to the doctor due to his heart rate being super high. When someone you love is sick, it makes you realize how blessed you truly are to have them in your life from day to day.

Here we are hanging out and goofing off at the birthday party together. Please ignore the fact that we look a little sweaty. It was around 100* and we had  been outside for a few hours.
I am sharing this post at Photo Tales Tuesday, Ruby Tuesday, and 52 Weeks of Happiness. Stop by and check out the other submissions.

Family: Happy 16th Birthday Brandon!

My nephew Brandon (pictured with his girlfriend Kylie) will be celebrating his 16th birthday very soon. His party was today and Mel totally knocked it out of the park with the food, deserts, and decorations.

We had a blast and ate until we couldn't eat any more!

Happy Birthday Brandon!

Family: He Washes Dishes

Raise 'em right!

Bailey needed $2.00 to add to his money that he had saved up for fireworks. Even though $2.00 isn't a lot I'd already given him enough money this week and I wasn't giving him any extra to waste. Yes, to me spending money on fireworks is a waste. We can watch them at the local show for free. Michael suggests that he barter with me. Says maybe I'll let him do dishes or chores around the house in exchange for the money. I say "OK, how many times washing dishes do you think $2.00 is worth?" He thinks for a few minutes and says "Oh... maybe $0.25 each time?" I said "DEAL!!!!" So he thinks he has to wash dishes 8 times this week. He is down two, and I'll probably let him off the hook now. Though he has no idea he is done. Michael told him he really needs to work on his bartering skills! I think he will make someone a great hubby someday! 

More Wild Blackberries

In a post the other day I mentioned that Michael, the boys, and I picked a few wild blackberries while riding. This afternoon we went by that same place and there were TONS of them. I had a 32 oz water bottle in the back of the 4 wheeler. We filled that sucker to the brim. I'm gonna attempt to make some jam out of them. Hopefully tomorrow we can go back with bigger container and get more.

Fireworks and S'mores

Michael and I shot fireworks here in the yard for the boys tonight. Nothing major, just a few small ones, but they LOVED it. They had so much fun. Much more fun than they had last night at the big fireworks. It's the small things.

After the fireworks, we made s'mores and they were soooo good!

Quality family time is what it is all about! Happy  4th!

Happy Independence Day {4th of July}

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Independence Day!   I took this photo the day before yesterday at the campground where my sister and her family are camping for the week. It was a decoration sitting on her picnic table. I didn't have my camera last night to photos of the fireworks, but I will try to get some tonight. That is *IF* they are able to have them. It has stormed really bad for about 12 hours. Rain coming down in sheets, thunder and lightning.
We celebrated with a dinner at my parents house yesterday. Most of the family was there. We had a wonderful time. After, the boys and I went to the campground to stay with my sister and her family for a while. The kids did a lot of slip-n-sliding. Then, at the end of the night watched fireworks. I hope that each of you know the reason we celebrate the 4th. If not, you can read more about our Independence, HERE.

Riding, Blackberries, Turkeys and Sunset

Yesterday afternoon Michael, the boys and I went for a ride on the mountain. It is one of our favorite things to do.  We never know what kind of wildlife we will run into and it is always exciting to run into a turkey, a squirrel, and even a baby bunny as we did yesterday. However we try not to go too deep into the woods because there are bears.

The picture below is of some turkey tracks that Bailey spotted. We didn't see an actual turkey, but did a few days before.

Then a little further down the road we ran into blackberries. They are so yummy. We picked a few.

As if the ride alone wasn't fun enough, we were blessed to see a beautiful sunset and that always makes my night!

Family: Just a Normal Sunday

Yesterday was a great day with the family. Bailey and Dalton had a blast dressing Slinkie up as Woody from Toy Story. She is such a good dog, she will let them do anything to her, and she sleeps in the oddest ways.

Michael and I worked on the electric fence AGAIN. Then he weed-eated around it. It is FINALLY working right. Maybe Ill be able to keep some flowers now. One of the bushes {what was left that the goats didn't eat} in the yard has broke out in some beautiful buds and bloom.

Michael, the boys, and I; my uncle and his wife; as well as my niece, her hubby and baby rode on top of the mountain to look at view, take some pics, and check out the goats a friend has running loose up there. While there, Bailey came running to me and said.. "MOM! There is a drug-usin goat up here, we have to leave." I went to see what on earth he was talking about; the goat was chewing on a empty cigarrette pack. It is pretty hard to get something away from a goat when it doesn't want to let you have it. Just sayin.

It is such a beautiful place up there. We took a few family pics of Deidra, Sammy and Kylee.

and before Kylee was dressed in the adorable denim, she had on the shirt I bought her. Melted my heart.

After our trip, we came and changed the water in Crowbar's waterer and gave him {but I believe he is really gonna be a she} some fresh food.

Foghorn and the gang came out to see what all the commotion was about.

Foghorn is starting to crow and it is so comical.

Oh and like I mentioned before.. Peaches is THRILLED to be home! Can't ya tell?!

I am sharing this post at Homstead Revival's Barn Hop. Stop by and see the other submissions as well.

Crawdad

Michael found this little dude in the ditch next to the house. You would not believe the amount of squeals there were going around here that day. The boys had a blast packing it around in a dog food bow filled with muddy water, but by late afternoon I made them turn the little one loose back into the ditch. The boys were sad, but I bet this little guy was glad to be home.

When it rains, it pours.

Life has been CRAZY the last few days. I had no intention of not posting. It just happened. I am really starting to believe the old saying "when it rains, it pours". 

At the beginning of the week, my heat pump called it quits. I had to call in a repair man. We had a warranty, so I wasn't too worried. After he fixes it, he comes in and tells me it is working now and that what he had to do, something about cleaning coils, wasn't covered under the warranty and I owed him $110 right then. I bout had a stroke. Normally if it is not under warranty they will come talk to you, explain what is wrong, talk about price, and ask if you want them to fix it. He just went ahead and fixed it. It has been super hot here so far this summer, so we had to have the air, I had to pay him. Talk about putting a damper in our money situation. It's been tight around here anyway. But at least we have cool air now.

Then that same afternoon I was washing clothes, went into the bathroom and bubbles were coming out from under my bathtub. I was so confused. The washer was spinning. Michael took up the bottom shelf in the bathroom to access the pipes and suds were coming up between two pipes that were sitting in one another. I know nothing about plumbing, but I knew something was wrong. There wasn't any water coming out. Just bubbles. I thought maybe I was using too much detergent. because I had ran out of supplies to make my own and asked Dh to pick me up a cheap box at work until I could get my supplies. I started using 1/2 the amount of detergent and it is still doing it. I have no idea what is going on. Dad said maybe a line is stopped up somewhere, somehow. Michael is going to try to see if he can figure it out today.

As if that wasn't enough issues with my washer.. I walked into the hall and it had just started overflowing. It was filling up and instead of shutting off when it should, it just kept filling. I hit the rest button and it started working, for that load. Next load, problem fixed? Nope. Michael took the front of the machine off, and cleaned out a hose that tells the machine when it is full, and it appears to be working now, however now the crazy thing will just fill up and sit there. It won't wash. I can turn the dial and it will spin out, but it will not wash. GAH!  Michael seems to think it is the timer. The sad part is this is a fairly new machine, but the warranty just expired. Isn't that how it always goes?!

Next, Bailey, my nine year old flops down in my computer chair and it snaps into two pieces. That thing was an industrial type chair from probably the 70s. How he snapped it, I have no idea. He doesn't even weigh 100 lbs. He must of had it in a strain or something when he flopped down in it, but still it shouldn't have broke.. but it did. So now I am sitting in a straight back chair cause I can't afford to go out and buy a new one with all the repairs that have been going on.  Our electric fence had quit working. Michael and I had to spend an entire afternoon working on it, patching places that the goats or some sort of animal broke. We finally got it going, but this morning I woke up and a big strand is broke again. I don't know what is going through it, but it is getting old. The crazy goats got out one day this week and ate my strawberries. They didn't eat the entire plant, just the blooms and the berries. They also ate my stargazer lily blooms and leaves. Now the only thing left of it is the stalk. I was so upset.

Now if all this wasn't enough stress... our lab peaches {whom we keep tied when we are gone} got missing on Monday after Michael went to work. When he came home, I asked about her.  He said she followed him down the road {we turn her lose when we are home} when he went to work, but he ran her back up the hill. Apparently she kept following him at a distance. She had her collar on, but not the name tag. I was so upset, but figured she'd find her way back home in a day or so. Wednesday afternoon rolls around and I still haven't seen her. I'm really starting to worry. The boys claimed they saw a bear in our driveway the evening before.. so even though I didn't see the bear myself and really thought they imagined it, I was starting to wonder. I made a flier and plastered it all over my facebook account. I called and messaged every neighbor within a 5 mile radius. A lady a couple miles away sent me a message saying she had seen her on Monday. So Michael, they boys and I loaded up on the 4 wheeler {Bai rode his motorcycle} and we drove around there to see if we could see her. Another neighbor was in her yard, we stopped to ask her if she had seen Peaches. She said yes, I was just about to take her home with me. She is up at my nieces house on the hill. I called for her, and she came down the hill like a race horse. She was so excited to see us, she jumped up onto the 4 wheeler with us. We were so happy to have her back. Now she is home safe and sound and has a name tag on her collar.

As I mentioned above, on Tuesday afternoon around dark, the boys went outside about a minute before I did. We were going to make sure the chickens had water and lock them up for the night. Instead of going out toward the chickens, they wondered within sight out to the goat barn. As I stepped out the front door, they started running and screaming towards me. I didn't know what on earth was wrong. I about broke my neck getting down the steps and out to them. Bai said they had seen a bear. Now we do live in the mountains, but we have never seen a bear close to our house before. However a neighbor a couple miles a way got pics of a few on his trail camera. I ask them where  it was at and they said out past the property line. Since it was getting dark, I assumed they probably saw a tree stump or something. I walk over and look down that way. I didn't see a thing. I just tell them that it probably wasn't a bear, it was probably that stump they had seen. Bai said, "No Mom, it was big and it turned around and was moving it's head." and Dalton says.. "Yeah Mom, and tree stumps down have paws." I made them come on into the house while I watered the chicks to be safe. When Michael got home he drove around the hill to see if there were any signs of a bear, but he said he didn't see anything. So who knows.

We have had all kinds of critters around here lately... including snakes. The first one the boys saw in the driveway was a black snake. This last one was hanging on the edge of a board at the log building where we store the motorcycles. It looked more like a copperhead. Thankfully Michael was home and was able to kill it. We all had been in and out of that building a dozen times that day. It is sectioned off. We store the motorcylces in one side and the other side has old hay and our goat feed barrels. Michael said it was probably after a mouse or rat that was after crumbs of the goat feed. Who knows.. but I hate those things.. Now I am terrified to go in there to get feed.

Needless to say.. things have been an adventure around here lately.

Happy Birthday, Heather!

Michael's 2nd Cousin Heather celebrated her 14th Birthday yesterday. Michael, the boys, and I went to the park to party with the family. We had a great time.

Check out the cake my SIL Melanie of The Cake Class and her sister Amanda of Nice Cupcakes made for Heather. Totally awesome, huh?!

The inside of the cake was a zebra print too! Mel just posted a tutorial on how to make one of your very own. Check it out HERE.

The kids ate too much cake, as you can tell by Bai's mouth.

as well as too much ice cream. Look over D's hair, it was crazy windy. We totally need to give it a trim.

A wonderful sugar-filled day with the family, indeed.