Our snowy Christmas

Here are a few pics of the snow at our place during the Christmas holiday. The first pic is a view of the mountain range from our back 5 acres. Gordon and his brother Brad were back with the pigs checking out the fence line. The second one is looking at our house from the barn. The third one is taken from our driveway at the road looking back at our place. The last one is looking out at our backyard and barn from our big picture window in the family room.

As you can see, we had a lot of snow and now going out to take care of animals is a real pain because you either slosh around in the slushy stuff, or slip on the ice. Just what I need. Another chance to slip and mess up my back even more!

I hope you enjoy the pictures.

My little ones

When I started blogging in November, I mentioned all of our farm animals we have. I also mentioned our dogs. We have three mini-dachshunds and a yellow lab. Our yellow lab is Faith. She will turn 2 years old March 13, 2009. We are planning on breeding her when she comes into heat.(should be within the next couple of weeks.) Our breeder has a gorgeous yellow male that will be the daddy. We should get a great breeding out of it.Abby is our black and tan mini-dachshund. She will be 4 years old July 18, 2009. She just had her first litter of pups this past August. We got two cute puppies out of the breeding. We sold the little red female and kept the little red male. That is Puma. He was born August 10, 2008. Ruby is our other red. She will be 2 years old August 18, 2009. The minis are all so different. Abby is quiet and likes to cuddle or snuggle in a blanket by herself. Ruby is the talker. If you look at her, she will talk to you. It is very entertaining. Puma is full of life. Happy and hyper all day long. He is the one in the middle of the other two. Faith is a follower. She likes to be wherever Gordon and I are. We always have to watch where we are going because chances are, we will trip over her.

Anyways, I just wanted to share about my little ones. I love them all and can't imagine them not being part of our family.

Thank you

Thanks to the bloggers that gave me hints on how to fix my blog. I messed around in a different area, and was able to fix the red. I appreciate the help. Now I can change my background as much as my mood allows!
Thanks friends.

Help!!

Ok all you bloggers out there. I need help.

I recently changed the background of my blog, but for some reason, the red background where my info and posts are won't change. I don't want the red, I want it to match the background a little differently. I looked all over to see how to fix it and can't figure it out. Any help would be appreciated!!
Thanks, friends.

From the mouth of babes...

Christmas morning the kids woke up and had to wait until daddy got home from work to start opening presents. Gordon's brother Brad is here for the holidays all the way from Chicago. We sat around and talked about all the gifts and waited patiently. When daddy finally got home and settled, we gathered in the living room and started out our morning singing Happy Birthday to Jesus. We were trying to figure out who was going to be playing Santa and handing out gifts when Sierra pipes up and says, "Uncle Brad should do it. He is the fattest!" Oh my! Luckily Brad doesn't take offense to references about his weight from a 5 year old and we all got a good chuckle out of it. After we were done laughing, I explained to Sierra the proper way to say that someone is heavier than the others. And the fact that it is best to just not say anything at all.

Love

I was tagged by Tiffani!! I am supposed to tag five others and blog about 5 addictions that I have. Here goes...

1. Diet Coke-it is a really bad habit, but there it is. Don't mess with me if I don't get my diet coke. All of you who know me well, am I right?

2. My husband-I know; kind of corny, but true. I love to be with him, and I don't like when we are apart for more than a couple of days.

3.Bath and Body Works antibacterial soaps. They must be good, since myself, Holly and Tiffani all love them.

4. Sleep!!! I love my sleep, oh yes I do. I love my sleep-how about you?

5. My children. I can't live without them. They are the most precious blessings I have ever been given.

Now, on to tagging others. I can't really do that since Holly and Tiff have already tagged the other bloggers I know. Sorry, the game ends here.

It has been a while

I know it has been a while since I last blogged, but with the Christmas holiday here, it has been busy. I promise to get back into it in the next day or so. I have beautiful pictures from our snow storm that I would like to share, so be watching. I will be back....

Off we go

Well, we are off to Portland in this winter weather storm we are having. Hopefully everything will be ok. Please pray for a safe journey for us and a fun time in Portland. While down there we will be celebrating Gordon's grandpa's birthday. He turns 91 on the 21st. He is a very important man in our lives and we wish him health and happiness on his birthday. We will also be celebrating Christmas with both sides of family. I have a strong suspicion that we will be bringing home more than we left with.

Our friend, Greg, will be here taking care of the farm and the dogs. We wish him a safe, fun time on the farm. Enjoy the cuddle time with the doggies!!!

Finally, a tree!

Yesterday we got our tree. I already told you all that, but thought I would let you know about our evening getting it decorated.

It was full of snow and we tried dusting it off with the broom, blowing it off with a shop vac, and finally decided to put down a tarp and bring it in to the family room in front of the pellet stove to dry a little. While it was drying, we had a great dinner of creamy wild rice soup with chicken and rolls. YUMMMMMM!!!! After getting cleaned up from dinner, we decided to tackle the tree.

I had mentioned in my last blog about our pastor preaching on expecting the unexpected. Well, that is the theme of our christmas this year. We have a spot in front of our big bay window that we have put the tree for the past three years. We have to rearrange the furniture and it makes it hard for us to watch TV with our chairs all funny. This year Gordon decided to put our tree in front of the other big window by the stairs. Great idea Gord!! We didn't even have to move our chairs.

Gordon and I got it in place, standing upright and we put the lights on it. Now, in the past, Gordon and I have decorated the tree together with the same ornaments we have had for years and years. Since kids, I usually sit on the floor, hand a child an ornament and Gordon helps them place it on the tree so it looks right. This year, what is our theme? That's right! Expect the unexpected! Gordon sat down and let the kids do all the ornaments themselves. The only advice he gave them was to make sure to space them out so that they are on all of the tree and to not put them too low so the dogs get them or they get knocked off. WOW!! I am impressed! Usually Gordon gets very particular about where he wants the ornaments. The kids did a GREAT job and here is the result.

(I know, it probably isn't the best idea to let my kids stand in the window, but hey, expect the unexpected!!!)

Snow-ok, Wind-go away!!

I was actually a little excited when I heard on the news that we could possibly get 4-8 inches of snow today. I love our farm in the snow. It is so pretty to sit inside by the warm fire and look outside at all the prettiness. That changed in a heartbeat---
Since I have been laid up with a back injury and we hadn't completely decided to wait on our remodel project, we decided not to put up our Christmas decorations this year. We did promise the kids a tree, though. Then I got hurt.
Today while the kids were at school, Gordon and I decided to go get a tree. Today is literally the last day that we had available to do this. Gordon works tomorrow and we leave on Friday for Portland.
Ok, a little snow is kind of fun, but then the wind started. We started out in Everson; couldn't find a tree anywhere. We went into Lynden-no trees! We ended up going almost to Bellingham to the Circle A trailer place on the Guide and finally got a tree. Of course, we paid big for it. We froze getting it onto the vehicle, but finally started on our way home. We got home with about 20 minutes or so to spare before Evan got home from school. Now we have to get it into the house to decorate it. Oh the joys of the holidays!!!

At least we have been somewhat prepared. Our pastor has been speaking on "Expect the unexpected this year for Christmas." Yup, that's us! We will just go with the flo.

Never mind

I was just being so loving and thinking of my husband when I wrote the last post about feeling guilty that Gordon was out taking care of the farm and I couldn't help him.

Well, I take it all back! The crazy freak can freeze out there with his chickens. They probably like him more than I do at this point right now.

I was sitting at the dining room table with Evan and Sierra. Evan was reading to me his homework and Sierra was "reading" one of Evan's books. Gordon snuck up the deck and jumped to the window, pounded on it and yelled, "Rawr". I screamed and he walked off laughing his head off.

Not funny, farmer boy!!! Wait til you least expect it!!!!

Wind, Wind, and more Wind

It is bad enough that I have been laid out for the past four days and now we have a winter wind storm crashing through our farm. It is hard enough not being able to do the normal things like laundry, dishes, picking things up, putting on my own socks, etc...but then this wind storm comes and Gordon is outside freezing his jingle bells off and I can't even help him.
The pig's water had to be turned off so it wouldn't freeze and Gordon had to put down straw for them because they are on concrete. The goats have a nice winter layer of cashmere, but they are going thru the hay like crazy trying to keep their metabolism going. The cows are cows, whatever! They don't care what kind of weather it is. The chickens are probably laying frozen eggs and their water faucet froze, so Gordon is putting up another heat lamp for them and wrapping their water faucet with heat tape. The cats keep trying to find a nice spot to hide from the wind, and the dogs will barely go outside to go potty.
On top of that, we had to get foundation vent insulation blocks again because last year our chickens ate them.

Oh yeah, the joys of winter!!!

The joy of Christmas shopping

Even though I can barely move, and when I do I look like a little old granny, Gordon and I have a date for Christmas shopping tonight. Evan has his Christmas program at school today at 1:30. We are going to that and then our wonderful friend, Jennifer, is going to take the kids home with her and keep them for the evening. Of course, the kids are excited because they get to play with their best friends, Jacob and Anna, but Gordon and I are excited to have a date! Wohoo!!!

Watch out shoppers! I am not nice when I don't feel good!

Oops...I did it again!!

Ok, so my blogging ability has been interupted by the daily happenings of a busy life and the Christmas season and all that I need to be doing right now. I feel terrible that I have been slacking, so here is my latest...

Two days ago, I went out in the dark to put the chickens to bed, and slipped in the mud and wrenched my back funny. I could barely make it to the house and then I had to deal with kids since Gordon was at work. Obviously, I didn't sleep well that night and could barely move the next morning. Sierra ended up missing school because I couldn't get up to drive her and Gordon hadn't come home yet from work. I spent about 4 hours on the couch and then had to get up and try to be presentable for our friend that came over to do family pictures for our Christmas cards. After that Gordon's Uncle and Aunt came by and we visited with them for a while and then went out to dinner with them. I took a Vicodin at around 7pm and ended up sleeping on the couch with a heating pad. Today I woke up and have had a headache (probably from the Vicodin), and feel drugged. I still hurt a lot and am having a hard time doing anything. Sierra thinks it is fun to have to put my socks on for me since I can't bend over to do it. Oh well, I guess this is God's way of telling me to slow down and relax for a few days. All I need is a good book, the remote, and a dog or two to snuggle on the couch with!!!

And yes, I have done this before. It sucks getting older.

A time to reflect...

Looking back on my post from three days ago, I am sad. Today, Tinkerbell went to fly with the chickens in heaven. That horrible creature that is stalking my chickens got Tink. It is probably silly to a lot of you, but she was a really nice chicken and I really enjoyed her. But remember how I said every creature is here for a reason? I think I am learning that nothing is permanent, everything changes and the test is learning to roll with the punches.

I'll miss you, my sweet little Tinkerbell.

Tinkerbell

Tinkerbell is such a sweet little fairy; mischievous, funny, and always willing to help, right? NOT in my family!!! I would like to tell you about our Tinkerbell.

When our Tinkerbell was just a young gal, she had an unfortunate accident and got her neck caught in a door. Not just any door, but the lid to a cooler. Now, we thought for sure that Tink wouldn't make it for many days after that, but she is alive and well. She does have a few issues though. Her neck was obviously broken when she tangled with the cooler lid and it healed in a funny way. She now cannot extend her neck or move it from side to side. Actually, her head is permanently to the left of her body. She will never be like the others, but she is special to us.

Who the heck is Tinkerbell, you might be asking about now?

Well, here she is...our special girl

Now, most chickens have their necks straight out and can extend them to some degree. Tink can do no more than what she is doing in the picture. If you look closely, you can see her feet pointing in the opposite direction.

We run this farm with love and a knowing that God has given us each and every one of these animals to use for a specific purpose. Our cows are for beef, our pigs are for pork, our goats are for entertainment, and our chickens are for egg production. We don't know for sure if Tink will ever be able to lay eggs. We don't know the extent of her special needs, but we do know that she was given to us with a purpose.

Her purpose is to remind us that life doesn't always go the way that we want it to, but we need to make the most of it and enjoy each and every day. Just like our Tinkerbell.

Busy life

I can't believe that it has been almost a week since I last blogged. Life has been busy and hectic and it has been hard to sit down at the computer and update everyone, so I will try to fill you in on my weekend without getting to wordy.



Thursday was Thanksgiving. Even though we didn't do our big meal until Friday because Gordon was working, we had a family day at Chris & Tim's house and spent the day preparing for Friday. Of course, that pretty much consisted of eating, snacking, and tasting everything. Chris, Sherri and I went to Bromley's Market at about 3pm or so to figure out what to do for dinner. The people working there must have thought we were all a little strange. We had on sweats and slippers and were discussing what to have for dinner. (mind you, it was Thanksgiving day). Needless to say, it was fun.
Friday we had our big dinner with turkey, mashed taters, sweet potatoes and all the other good stuff. It was a fun, relaxing day filled with eating and more eating!!
Saturday we all took off and went up to Langley BC to the Colossus movie theater. If you have never been up there, it is worth a drive. The theater is in the shape of a space ship. It is pretty cool. They also have an IMAX theater there. Grandma, Grandpa, myself and the four teenage girls went to see Twilight, while Gordon, Chris, Tim, Evan, Sierra and Carson went to see Bolt. I really wanted to see Bolt also, but the girls wanted me to see Twilight. It was actually a great movie. After that we went to Montana's for dinner. Another great place in Canada.
On Sunday, some of us went to church, Gordon went to work and some of us layed around being lazy. Everyone came to our house for lunch and goofing around, then we all went to Chris & Tim's for turkey left-overs for dinner.
Monday was school for my kids, shopping at Walmart for everyone else. Dinner at El Nopals in Sumas and then to the Sumas Park for the arrival of Santa Claus. It was cold and wet, but we had fun.
Tuesday, Grandma, Grandpa, Sherri and girls all left and we ended our day with ballet and basketball. Whew! I told you it was a busy weekend with lots and lots of eating. Now hopefully I will get back to my normal routine!!