We Can Build It, Yes We Can!

The time has come to start the house build!  We took the week of Thanksgiving to get it going.  The wall layout was tedious, but it helped us plan all the little details, like doors and windows.  Then we worked on building walls.  We had some awesome helpers come out and help too!  Matt Kindle with his son Tyler came on Saturday morning.  The Reid family came later that day.  They made it possible to lift all of the heavy walls!  We finished the top slap Friday and then did the lower section on Saturday.  The Elders came out and helped.  The house is really starting to take shape!  Thank you to all those who volunteered their time and talents!!

 

So Thankful!

We spent the morning at the ranch taking care of chores and such.  The kids all showed off how much they love snuggling with the pigs!  

The Kindle family invited us and the Reid family over for Thanksgiving dinner.  I brought mashed potatoes, rolls, and an apple pie to dinner.  All the food was amazing!  It was a great night with great company!  Jeff may have even talked some of his friends into coming and helping with our house project in the morning.  We have so much to be thankful for!

 

Earning their keep

Our cute calves need to start earning their keep!  Well, maybe earning the money for the house.  However you want to say it! Time to focus on selling the little ones.  Hopefully we will have a buyer soon!  Our heaviest calf weighed in at 410 lbs!  We are pretty proud of these little guys! 

 

Beautiful

I've been curling my hair for church the last few Sundays.  I think it's pretty fun!  

The sky was amazing!  So beautiful!  What a great world we live in!

 

Cleaned Up

The kids clean up pretty good!  It was time to update the kid photos!  It's crazy how grown up everyone is!  It was a pretty sunny day so we had to do photos in the shade.  Good thing we still have so much hay!  The hay makes for a great backdrop!  These are just a few of the best photos!  They sure look great! 

After our quick photo session, we cleaned up the well house.  It sure gets cluttered up quickly.  It's nice when everything is cleaned up!  

 

Escape!

Weaning time!  We thought everything was going well.  Until there seemed to be a lady always back in the gathering pen after we moved them to pasture 6.  We moved the extra ladies out and headed home.  By the time I came back to the ranch the next day there were about 9 ladies escaped and hanging out by their calves.  I guess they found a way to break out of pasture 6!  We just moved the herd back to pasture 5 so they can hang out by the calves, and not be in with them.  It all worked out, but it's a shame that they broke the fence!  The corner h brace is pretty messed up.  

Oh, and our piglets are named Bacon and Bits.  The kids love them so much.  They are more like puppies than pigs.  They love to get scratched and cuddle.  They will lay on the kids' feet.  It's pretty funny!  It will be interesting to see what happens when it's time to slaughter them :/

 

The Last Primary Kid

It is always strange as we come up to these big milestones.  This is the temple and priesthood preparation meeting for the kids moving out of Primary in January.  It's crazy to think how old our kids are!  It's amazing to see them learn and grow and become great people.  It's odd to not have such a little one anymore.  I know Lorna will love Young Womens and getting to go to the temple!  It will be great to go as a family!  It really does all go too fast!

Lorna with her friend Claire Smith.

 

Split

The Bullard Ward has grown so much!  It was time for a split.  Unfortunately, that meant that my Relief Society presidency was split up too.  We spent Saturday serving doing food orders as our last hurrah.  We missed Nichole Smith, my amazing secretary who didn't make it out.  The last 14 months have been so amazing because of these sisters!  I will always cherish the friendship we built.  Linnea Ketcher, Donnella Younger, and Nichole Smith 

 

Spring?

The weather has turned nice, and we've been getting some rain... and grasses started growing!  It's like it's spring!  This Texas weather has been so tricky the last few years.  I know the bison sure appreciate the grasses.  It's been hard pressed to get them nice green pastures recently!