I love celebrating special occasions and I consider my wedding anniversary to be one of those.  Last week Russell & I had a little get-away to the high country. I planned it but didn’t tell him where we were going, although he knew it involved water because when we walked out of the house to leave, he saw this… The boys had loaded it for me the night before – late at night when there was no chance of Russ seeing it. Our destination turned out to be Blue Ridge Reservoir. I’ve never identified a duck before!  Is this a Red-breasted Merganser? Could this be the male and female Red-breased Merganser?  Or perhaps the green headed duck is a Mallard?  gorgeous views   This Blue Heron…

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Well, after about 2 years, Serenity convinced Seth to shave his beard!  I don’t know how long it will last, because I think he’s already missing it, but we decided throw a little party in his honor anyways. We declared it the “Celebration of Whisker-Free Day” and Wesley has decreed that from henceforth on this day, May 13, all beards should be removed. Hear, Hear! Awww, I’ve embarrassed him… The menu from the Bearded Dragon’s Cafe: Red Bearded Enchiladas Bean Stubble Rice Whiskers  Seth didn’t know at first what was going on.  He walked into the house, with me sporting a mustache and then out came the others with their various “beards and mustaches”… or squirrel ‘stache, as the case was for Russell. Audrey had quite…

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What happens when girls get to be about 20 – give or take a few years?   The fall in LoVe.  After they fall in love, there’s a wedding.  Well that’s where I was this past weekend at another niece’s wedding. Emily’s wedding in March and Kristen’s in May. I didn’t get a lot of great photos but I begged some off of a friend that took some really great ones.  The so-so pictures were taken by me and the really good ones were taken by CF Shalom Photography. An invite to a very special day. Little details… The peacock theme started with the invites and continued at the wedding.  A very nice touch! A relative of the bride put a few of these large bouquet’s together. I loved…

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EXPO’s over.  Saturday was a great auction day – beautiful weather and buyers were really generous.  The last few years the price’s were lower but this year was really good.   Audrey got to be part of the opening ceremonies with the Clover Bud kids from our club.   Serenity sold her 2 aprons with matching potholders for $300. Wesley had a great year with some new buyers & some really loyal bidders entering into the bidding process. His pig sold for $5.50/lb. for a total of $1,452.  Whoa!  He was so excited since it was way more than he was expecting. I made a variety of treat packages.  Some for the 4-H leaders, others for kids that it was their last year, and plastic baggies for those…

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What a great visit we had this weekend with Zachary, family and friends. Zach’s surviving very well the bachelor life.  He’s living in our travel trailer on his own and makes himself supper almost every single night. No, it’s not Campbell’s Soup or Ramen Noodles, but real food!  He’s actually using the Internet to find recipes online.  He gets it all going in the Crock Pot and off to work he goes.  I tasted some of his leftovers and it was good stuff. His go-to spot on the internet is Recipes.com. This is the TEAM that he works with (his 2 cousins on the left, then his boss and then Zach himself). I just loved watching them all pull into the yard, in 4 different vehicles where they have…

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After having 2 people in one day wondering why I’m not posting (family counts, right?), I decided I should give you a little update. The next day after the loss of our new rabbits, Audrey was looking out the breakfast window when she spotted what looked like our new bunny.  The long and short of the story is that the black bunny was found and retrieved.  That we were able to catch it and the location where we caught it was just the Lord because that little fellow could have hid in a multitude of places. I was so happy to have it back, even if it was the male and only cost $5.  The female cost me $20 and that’s the rabbit dinner our dog…

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Unfortunately, I have bad news to report. My adorable bunnies are no longer. Our excellent blood thirsty dog ripped the chicken wire where the rabbits were housed and had himself a nice breakfast.  That dog can be so sneaky!  We know it was him because we have caught him in the act of getting one of our chickens.  He grabbed it and ran into a big field near our house but far enough from us that we couldn’t get him.  We really scolded him and he hasn’t touched one since but if he can be sneaky and get something (like our goat kids) he will.  He just showed up at our house one day and has been here for years – longer than any other dog we’ve…

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Saturday, I felt like I was operating a granola factory.  I made 26 pounds of granola.  Whew!  Using only one oven, it took me most of the day.  Next time I think I might try 2 ovens and see if I can expedite things. This is my Pecan Cranberry Granola… Saturday, Russell brought me home these 2 little bunnies I found on Craigslist.  I’m wanting to use their manure as fertilizer for my garden.  If I get it planted.  For some reason, the whole garden thingy is intimidating me.  Zachary’s not here to do it (he’s working and living about 5 hours from home) so it’s just little ol’ me that’s left to get it going. I think it may be because it’s such a…

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Well I’m pretty sure by now you all are heartily wishing I’d finish all the posts on the wedding.  That I hope to do today!  So bear with me just a teensy bit more, ‘kay? The wedding reception hall was almost adjacent to the wedding chapel.  The setting at the campground was quite pretty and you can see what it looked like here.  In the 5th picture down, it shows the guests waiting to enter the chapel and you can see the reception hall at the back of the picture.   But before the reception could begin, there were pictures to be taken… (Emily’s family) Heidi (the flower girl) was feeling right at home. The centerpiece for each table was a square of burlap with some lace on…

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Then the wedding began! Bro. Dave and Zachary provided the music before the ceremony began.   Sorry about the pictures to come.  They really aren’t very good. The groomsmen came in – Aaron being very expectant.  But then, where were the girls?  The guys probably waited about 10 minutes before the girls finally showed up. When the men first came in Zach & Bro. Dave finished the song they were playing and then the girls song (canned music) started.  They realized the girls weren’t there and it faded away; then Zach & Bro. Dave started playing again.  It was quite funny because they would come to the end of their song and expect the girls to be there but they weren’t – so they’d start again.  Finally,…

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Saturday, March 10th was the big day for Aaron & Emily.  The weather at the time of their wedding was in the low 60′s with no wind.  That’s a big blessing in itself.  This time of year it can be pretty gusty. The wedding was to begin at 2:30 but there were several last-minute things that were needing to be done still, so no one was allowed in to the chapel until 2:30. At the request of Emily, Seth woodburned this sign for them.  It makes a nice keepsake for their new home, too.  This is his second sign that he’s made for a wedding and now his other cousin, who’s getting married in May wants one, too.   At the entrance to the wedding chapel…

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Hello, ladies.  I hear some of you are wanting pictures of the wedding like right now and details.  Sorry to keep you waiting. lol I’ll do my best to give you a good overview of the wedding. But first we must start at the beginning of the weekend with the tarts I made.  No?  That’s not what you’re wanting to see?  Enough food pictures already?  Okaaaay, if you insist. I shall begin with the rehearsal dinner since that was so lovely. The Hotel St. Michael was built in 1901.  It faces the courthouse square that is so charming in downtown Prescott.  Some of its more well-known guests includes Theodore Roosevelt, Doc Holiday and Billy the Kid. I have never eaten at Hotel St. Michael’s bistro but if the…

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Whoza, what a busy few weeks it has been.  No projects completed, I’m just trying to maintain order! We had some visitors from Canada who live on the Alaskan Highway.  Among other things, Stephen hunts wolves that are bothering the cattle.  Lillian has a very interesting background.  Her mother and father were both from the Ukraine.  Her mother’s family were killed by the Germans all except for a sister-in-law and her baby who escaped into the woods and Lillian’s mother who had been sent to Germany to a work camp. Audrey read her very first word last week (B-I-G).  We were so excited.  We use the phonics program Sing, Spell, Read & Write.  I’ve used it for all 6 of my children and heartily recommend it.  Way to…

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Audrey got to go a little girl’s birthday tea party.  Serenity fixed her hair and did such a cute job.  I am one thankful mother to have a girl who knows how to work with hair! Aren’t these little girls adorable?  In other news here at the ranch, we had another skunk tear this open and stay the night, and maybe the next night and who know’s… we’re not for sure where it is at this point!  Thankfully, it’s not anything like the last experience we had with a skunk under our house. (if you haven’t read that post, it’s a must read) And lastly, we are having a good time with a friend of the boy’s visiting.  They are making a home video that…

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I was very blessed this Dec./Jan. to have my sister and her family.  They were here for a month, splitting their time between Tucson and our place. One day Audrey and Bethany (my sister’s girl) decided to go on a hike.  Audrey packed them some snacks and away they went. They hiked quite a ways up the hill near our house before we got a phone call on the cell phone asking to be picked up.  Those girls had some stamina! Unsure of what they would need, they gathered some unusual items for their “back packs”.   We didn’t get a picture of everything but some other items they took were frozen strawberries.  So cute to see what kinds of things they thought of.     We said “Goodbye” to…

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