Charlie

The Herefords have returned !! Jacob's heifer was delivered on Saturday, and he hasn't stopped smiling yet.

First off,  take a look at this picture I came across of my dad. (So sorry, Dad! I couldn't help it! Its CUTE!)

Anyway, I'd like you to meet: Charlie. Yes-She IS a heifer. But..

...her name makes me smile and I don't think Jacob could have  picked a better name. Because MY grandfather's name was Charles, his dad's name was Charles, and HIS dad's, the man who built our family farm, name was Charles. It's an almost 14 year old boys way of honoring what was here before and the heritage that is continuing.

Jacob is really proud of this girl, and the fact that the first Hereford back on the farm was purchased and owned by him.

Charlie...well, Charlie isn't really sure about all of this yet.

Next up, getting her gentled and halter broke.Should be a fun time!! She's only about 500lbs bigger than the last one we did. *gulp*

O.U.C.H

Tuesday evening my sister injured her ankle in basketball practice.  This was a big deal because:

She's a senior. Her basketball season was coming to an end.
Sub-State tournament  was just in a few days.
This was no ordinary little twisted ankle.  This injury promoted calls to doctors and trips an hour away everyday for therapy.

Her ankle was so painful, but she announced she was playing her in her last games. *insert a snicker-snicker here from the annoying big sister. I didn't think there was ANY way she would be on the court, but played along anyway.*

 Here is the big fat nasty foot the day after she did it.

And here is it 4 days after the injury, and the morning after she PLAYED in the first game of sub-state!!  Wow-can you imagine running up and down the court with that?? You can see the bruising starting to go up the leg where she sock lines are at.
I took these pictures in the parking lot of her Dr's parking lot. I rode along with her to therapy for moral support..and to gripe about her driving and music choices. hehe

So, in the end, she did play both sub-state games. She wasn't quite herself, but she finished out her Sr basketball season out on the court, doing what she loves with her teammates.  They won the first sub state game, but got beat in the championship game, so her high school basketball career is now over.

The lesson I learned from my sister this week?

When life hands you lemons, you pick them all up, turn around, and start pelting the lemons back at life. Attitude IS everything. 

New Life On The Farm

Meet Remington!

(Yes. We name our cattle...ok ok...the kids and I... mostly me, hehe,  name our cattle. ;) )

All cleaned up and ready for visitors

We've been waiting for her arrival for about 2 weeks now. Last night we knew she had to be getting close. Rosie's poor udder looked like a blown up exam glove. OUCH!

So this morning, before the sun came up, I was headed out to see if anything was going on, and was greeted by the new momma and her little red calf.

 Isn't she adorable? New life always amazes me. The entire process is just such a miracle.

And in typical  funny farm fashion, she gets up and tries to nurse....off Whiskey..the horse. Yep--I think she's going to fit in nicely around here. =)

The Great Hereford Hunt

I SAID we weren't going to add to any of the 4-H beef projects. Black Out was enough. Yep. That's what I said.

I guess I lied.

Today we met up with a friend, who took us to look at a herd of Herefords. Jacob joined the beef project and the ONLY breed he even thought about was Herefords.

I do admit.. if you were EVER going to try to talk me into letting you get something from the bovine species, this would be the way to do it!  Herefords were what my family raised for generations, until illness and old age caused them to be sold. It still makes me sad  to think about the family history that pulled away in the trailer that day.

I had forgotten how their hair curls at the top. I pretty much smiled through out the entire trip.

Checking them out

Line up, girls, and look pretty!

Decision, decisions.  Trying to decide on just the right one

In the end, he did pick one, and feels pretty good about her. She should be arriving in the next week or so. She already has a name. But I'll save that story for another post. =)

Weekend JUNK

This past weekend Danny and I did one of our favorite things to do together. We thrift store hopped. We did that a lot when we were first married and when our kids were really young, but its something we just kind of forgot about doing. Danny recently mentioned that he really missed doing it, and that we should go sometime. So that's just what we did.

Jacob was at his buddies house, so we just took along Tristen. He had never been to a thrift store. Sad, huh? We explained it was kind of like a whole bunch of  garage sales, all in one building.
"You mean all this stuff used to be belong or be worn by someone else?" he asked.

"Yep."

"But..BUT...there's UNDERWEAR over here!!"

HAHAHA

Anyway, I hauled home a few treasures.  An antique canning jar, a beautiful, like new bed set complete with curtains and valances from JC Pennys for $10, a pair of old ice skates that I plan to dress up and use as a winter decoration next year, and a really neat bright red heart shaped basket that will be PERFECT for Valentines Day next year.

I also found THIS:

Isn't it cute?? Its a homemade bird feeder, made from the bottom part of a chicken feeder, a mason jar that someone hand painted, a glass bowl for a hood. Cute cute cute!

And THIS was my most exciting find of the day:

 I saw this as I was almost done checking out. I turned around, saw it, grabbed it, and brought it home. When we got to the car we noticed it had a note attached to it.  "This was purchased in Turkey in 1965."  I don't know what these are exactly called. I call them wind-chimes, but I've always loved them. I love the look of them and the neat clunky sound they make when they blow in the wind. I'm happy to have some of my very own now!

Danny and I are going to make an effort to "junk" more together and will hopefully be hitting a few flea markets soon.
After all, spending the day together filled with lots of talk and laughter could NEVER be junk, regardless of how much of it we haul home! ;)

BLAH

I seem to have a case of the blogging blahs. But I think its just because that's just how I've been feeling. Blah. I seem to get like this every year around this time. I thought this year would be different, since we've had an amazing warm season so far.  As I write this, snow is blowing and we are suppose to have freezing drizzle in the morning. I AM very thankful for the moisture we've all prayed for, even if it means tolerating the cold. =/*

It probably hasn't helped that a big weekend get a way to a rabbit show that we had been looking forward to was canceled. Jacob had stayed home from school most of the week fighting strep throat. While he was feeling better and no longer contagious, it was pretty apparent the evening we were to leave he just wasn't ready for a big trip. This infection really smacked him down.  I knew we had made the right decision when he didn't hardly argue about staying home. 

Saturday we did make a little day trip out of town for some supplies we needed and a stroll around Petco, where we walked out with 2 handsome new male guppies, and a snail for our fish tank.  It WAS nice to get away, until Tristen started complaining about his head hurting and his stomach "going up and down", which we finally figured out were stomach cramps.  I fully expected him to be down with strep, but he ended up being just fine.

We ate at Applebees for lunch, where we were greeted by a cute little server, who looked EXACTLY like my sister. So much, in fact, I managed to sneak  a cell phone picture of her, just to send to my family.  We sat all through our meal pretty much staring at her with our mouths hanging open, and I am quite sure she breathed a sigh of relief when the family of freaks at the high table left.  I almost went over and talked to her, and to show her a picture of her look-alike, but I'm a chicken and didn't. They say everyone has a look-alike in this world, and Michelle's works at Applebees!!

Hope everyone has a fantastic week!!!


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Homecoming 2012

Friday night was our high school homecoming, and my baby sister was a queen candidate. 

As I watched my handsome dad walk out my beautiful sister, I was surprised to find tears dripping out of my eyes, and my lip quivering. Yes. I cried. Yes. At a high school homecoming. Sometimes being a girl just stinks. I found myself almost unable to take pictures, and was disappointed later with the quality of some of the ones I took due to the fact I couldn't see and was just pushing the button and hoping for the best.

My tears were for many reasons.


 My dad was so excited, looked so handsome, and was absolutely determined to get that girl to half court with out any help. And that is exactly what that guy did. My sister is a senior, and we never in a million years thought he'd be here for this. We had hoped and prayed like crazy, but some days and after some very long nights,  it seemed so far out of reach. 

She may not have won homecoming queen, but I don't think any of us will forget this night.

=)

A smiley face pretty much sums the evening up.