Family Time

Amalia Whitmer was graduating.  We decided to go out and support her and her family.  It was a fun little road trip to New Braunfels, TX.  Jeff and Grant stayed home to work, Talmage is off to FSY training, so it was just me and the three youngest.  We drove through Round Rock on our way and had to stop and buy a Texas sized donut.  It was a nice treat for the trip down.  Friday night the kids had fun playing.  They even got to go to a friend in the ward's house for more fun games.  They played kick the can and red rover.  Good times!

That night we were talking about how much Benson looks like our brother, Vance.  I looked up some facebook photos so the kids could see what we were talking about.  I think Clark looks a lot like Joe.  The photo I found was of Joe and Vance.  It was fun to do a recreation photo of Benson and Clark looking like Vance and Joe.  Joe still had his letterman jacket, so Clark is wearing the same jacket in the photo.  So fun!

We went to our hotel for the night and were back the next morning for family time. Amalia and Joseph had to head out around 11 to get to the school and head up to the graduation.  We visited and played games until everyone headed out, around 2.  Since it's a long drive home, we didn't stay for the graduation part.  It was nice to see Joe, Amanda, and my mom.  It's crazy how fast the kids are all growing up.  I'm glad we are a little closer now so that our kids can build more memories together.  Congrats to Molly on her graduation!  

 

Metal Time

I got a better photo of the new calf.  It's so small!  Tracy is being such a good mom.  Still waiting on more calves though. 

Talmage and Grant went to Phoenix for their cousins wedding receptions.  They had a great trip and got to do some temple work with Grandparents too.  While they were gone, we started putting the metal roofing on the garage.   It took several hours to get the first 3 panels on.  Man, this was way harder than we remembered!  Lorna mentioned we should predrill the holes in the panels.  We had to go buy a metal bit to drill the holes with.  By the time we were ready to work again it was afternoon.  We finally started making some good progress!  The sun was crazy hot, and we were all sweating like pigs.  We were about 4 panels away from finishing the first side, but it was time to stop for the day, so we didn't die.  It was very defeating to be up on the roof and know how quickly the well house roof went up... and see how long this took us.  Having Elder Maloney help on that project truly was a blessing!  We will get this roof up, but it will be a slow and steady pace.  

 

First Calf!

Tracy finally had her calf!  She had been looking ready for quite some time.  She was really good at hiding the calf too!  I got some decent footage for the video, but by the time I wanted to take photos she had tucked her calf in the weeds, and I could barely see it.  Now we wait for more calves!  Hopefully we have a really productive year with 11 calves total (that would be 100% conception rate).  

Also, while out weed eating the yard, we found a turtle friend.  I didn't stick around too long, but they are always fun to watch!

 

Happy 45

Another year older!  They just sneak up on you at some point.  It was a pretty normal day.  Mhari ended up working that night and we went out to the ranch to work on the house.  I did get homemade cheesecake, that Lorna helped me make.  Talmage got me (with my help) a new wheat grinder.  Jeff said I can get another Instantpot.  Mhair got me an adorable daisy necklace, Lorna got me new nail polish, Clark got me foot care stuff, and Grant got me a new pastry blender.  It was nice to celebrate with family.  A couple days later Jeff took me out to dinner.  We tried out the Golden Coral.  It was good.  

 

Happy Mother's Day

For Mother's Day Jeff got me a new church dress.  It was nice to have something new to wear.  The older boys had made me cards earlier in the week.  Mhari gave me a cheesecake cookie from Crumbl and Sandra called to talk to me.  It was a nice day.  I'm not sure when I'll have all of my kids together for Mother's Day again.  Life changes fast, even before you realize it. 

 

Wrapped and Roofed!

Today was a big day for the house.  Nathan and Tiffany came to help, and we got so much accomplished!  They helped me with the house wrap.  Jeff and Talmage (and Grant when he got off work) did a great job getting the roof up.  The first row took a few hours.  After that the roof really started going up quick!  The house is really coming together!  I helped put the felt up on the roof with Tiffany and Lorna.  Talmage and Grant then put up some 2x4 boards to prep for the metal.  With half the roof done we will now only have to worry about half the rain :).  

Primed

It was time to paint the garage before the roof goes up, even if it's just a primer coat right now.  The kids were great help!  We bought a paint sprayer to help painting go quicker.  I had to hold the sprayer pretty close to the building, so I ended up being covered in white speckles!  It still probably needs another coat and then the paint, but at least we can move along with some roofing and the T1-11 is now protected from the weather.

Beautiful Night

We are trying to continue work on the house in the evenings.  We are about ready to put up roofing but have to finish up a few things first.  Mhari loves being on the roof.  The sun was red tonight at sunset.  It was just a great evening.

TBA President

This weekend we went to the spring TBA Conference.  Jeff has enjoyed being on the board for the last year.  This time it was combined with the NBA.  We went down to Fredericksburg, TX so that was fun.  The event was held at Roam Ranch.  It was time to do elections for board positions as well.  Jeff was put in for president and "won" (as it was uncontested).  I think this will be a great opportunity to move the TBA forward and make great connections in the Bison community.  This position is re-elected every year so we will see what next year brings.  There was no house progress this weekend, but it was nice to enjoy a quick getaway together.  

 

Not Dry

Let's just say that the roof is not on and the rain keeps coming.  The house is definitely not dried in.  I'm on constant watch for water damage.  Finding time with no rain in the forecast and enough time to put up a roof is the challenge right now.  I know we can do it, but it might just take a bit of time.

 

12 Years!!

Our little girl is getting so big.  She is 12!!  We just love our Lorna Bug!  She has grown so much this year.  She is 5' 3.25" tall now!  She has been doing great at school and making great friends.  This year she has really grown in her horse-riding abilities.  What a blessing to get to learn and develop such a great skill!  She loves to be on the roof helping with the house build.  We just love Lorna and are excited to see her continue to learn and grow!