Good-bye

With recent rains we have had quite a bit of erosion.  I noticed it at the top of pasture 5 where the logging truck got stuck.  Then I saw it around the pig pen area too!  Ugh.  So annoying to say good-bye to so much dirt.

Also, we weaned the piglets.  We have several sold and I don't want to deal with trying to steal the piglets from Harriet when selling them.  It worked out well to wean as the piglets kept escaping and we set up a dog crate to load them into.  It took a bit of patience but we herded them into the crate and got them moved to a piglet pen by the dogs.  Good-bye Harriet.  The dogs were very excited to have new friends so close.  Hopefully they won't be here for too long and they can say good-bye to our ranch forever.

Oh Grant

Grant is such a goof... especially for a camera ;).  Sandra already took a lot of photos of him, but then I got to snap a few too.  He is so funny!  I just had to add these few photos... silly boy!

 

Photo Time

Whenever we can get the family together it turns into a good family photo opportunity!  Everyone keeps growing up and this stage of our family will not be the same soon enough.  It's been a crazy busy life, but I wouldn't want it any different!  Here are the best of the photos!  It is also so great to use our property!  I think it makes the photos even more personal! Thanks to Sandra for taking them for us!  

 

21 Years!!

Happy birthday Grant!  21 years looks good on you!  Thanks for all the hard work at the ranch today!  It is so great to see you learning and growing at college!  Making friends, staying active, and going on lots of dates keeps you very busy!  We love you and are looking forward to seeing all you will accomplish in your future!!  

 

Family Work

We had a good work day at the house!  We were making great progress finishing up sheet rock.  Grant and Jeff worked on cutting out the concrete to run the wiring to the island.  Aaron and Leanne with Simon and Abby came to drop off some trees.  Michelle and Jonathan  also came out to visit.  It was great to see family again.  Talmage also went to urgent care since he wasn't feeling any better.  He got some medicine and even found a chair to nap in.  Poor guy!

Endowed

Sandra decided she was ready to receive her endowment.  She had done all the prep work with her bishop in Idaho and we got it scheduled for while she would be in town.  Jeff, Grant, and I accompanied Sandra. Talmage had been sick with bronchitis so he stayed home unfortunately.   It was a late session and we forgot to take any pictures at the temple.  Instead we got a selfie at the front porch when we got home.  She seemed to have a good experience and wants to go back again. We scheduled another trip for next week :)

 

Trim

It feels like we have waited forever to get this trim work done... but no better time like the present!  It was great to have some extra helpers as I worked on the north end of the house.  It's looking pretty good!!  Just a few more horizontal boards and caulk to finish it up!

Present Time

We had a nice quiet Christmas at home with our family.  It was so nice to have everyone together again!  It's hard to buy presents while living in a rental and working so hard to finish our home, but it was nice to celebrate!  I think everyone was happy with their presents.  Merry Christmas!  We love our little family!

 

19 Years already!

Sandra is home from college for the break and it was time to celebrate her!  She turned19!! It's amazing to see our kids growing into adulthood.  It's also just crazy to me, but that's ok.  She is amazing and wonderful!  She loved her ceramics class, being a dance instructor on campus and spending lots of time dancing with friends!  College has been so fun for her and we love seeing her learn and grow!  We love you Sandra!!

 

Free Range

The pigs escaped!  Not only are all the piglets out, but Harriet was out too!  I thought we had lost them all at first!  It was pretty crazy to see where Harriet lifted up the fence to escape.  luckily everyone was safe and happy!  Getting everyone locked back in the pig pen was difficult.   After we put in a few t-posts and clipped everything tight we had them locked in again... for now.  Oh man these pigs are sure testing my patience!

 

Bon Fire!

For the ward Christmas party we met at Bishop Acker's home for a bon fire.  It was threatening rain all day, but it turned out to be a nice evening.  We hung out and visited with friends for a bit.  There was a taco truck and the ward brought dessert.  It was a nice night.