17!

Jul11

How did another year go by so quickly?

Sawyer and his Papa Doug...

We are so proud of the thoughtful, hard-working, young man that he is!

All the kids...

Pictures…

Jun4

Emmalynn had her first doctors appointment today. At the two-week appointment they are generally making sure babies have gained back up to their birth weight. Em was up to 7 lbs 4 oz…almost a full pound. Everything else checked out well and she is still sleeping straight from 11pm to ~5 to 6 am at night too! We’ve all been enjoying having a baby in the house again…especially one wrapped in pink.

Here are some pictures of Emmalynn’s first couple of weeks…

Brand New! Her Apgar's were 9 and 9.

My first look...

Tiny Toes...

Sleeping...

With Daddy...

Snuggled Up...

Awake...

And one of the littlest boys…

Sleeping little boys...

The little boys were being awfully quite which generally means trouble… but I found them napping peacefully together on the floor!

Zany Zayne…

Apr18

Here are two recent pictures of Zayne that I just love…

Po-ta-TOES…

Sep5

A little boy brought me a little something with his older brother’s help…

–

po-ta-TOES...

Goings on…

Aug28

Another beauty...

We have been having problems with a couple of sheep being renegades and crawling through the portable fence. So this week Sawyer and I brought back all the sheep and sorted out all the trouble makers. They then ended up staying in the main pasture for a couple of days due to being busy haying and then yesterday the kids and Iwere able to get them pushed back over to the portable fencing where there is more grass. So last night Mark went over to check the voltage on the wires and to check on what it would take to put a perment fence in over there. There is already a fence in place that looks pretty good, with the exception of the east side that is almost completly down but still has all the posts and most of the wire. For the rest of the pasture it looks like we’ll just need to put in a couple of new post, insulators and one more round of wire to keep them in. We then could do some rotational grazing, and then if someone popped through the temporary fence we wouldn’t have to worry so much about them getting into the neighbors yards as all of them seem to respect the main fence (with 7000+ volts) running through it. Mark also GPS’ed the garden and found out it was 4/10ths of an acre.

Icelandic ewes...

So last night I was able to ride the property lines with Mark as he checked on the fencing situation and GPS’ed the whole thing. When we got back to the house the littlest boys where wanting a ride so off they went with Mark. Zayne was too cute, his little eyes would get real big and he would smile and then wave. When it was all done he got so mad to have to get off. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing! (Him being so little and already thinking the 4-wheeler is so fun!)

Mark and the little boys...

Artistry…

Aug27

Who is this bearded wonder?

Storing Up…

Aug27

It’s hard to believe that summer is leaving us fast behind. With fall just around the corner the guys here have been busy hauling hay for all the various creatures here to sustain them through the winter.

Finally home well after the sun had gone down...

Mark

Reaching

Sawyer bucking bales...

The barn with hay again...

Stack of hay...

What every farm needs or maybe what every 16 year old boy needs to do?

Hard Work...

This is what every farm needs or maybe it’s what every 16 year old boy needs to do? ;0)

What would haying be without a little hay ride?

Their only about half way done and we need about another 6 tons, but their getting closer. The hay is absolutely beautiful, a nice alfalfa grass mix that’s very leafy and I’m sure the sheep will do very well on it this winter. Tori also was able to help by driving the pickup while the guys threw hay into the back, she did a good job. She was even able to throw her dad off the trailer while going down one of the hills on the bumpy field when she got going a bit too fast and helped redistribute the hay a bit on the trailer… But hey that’s what learning all about right? ;0)

Thanks to CJ for all your help the other night-you definitely saved Mark’s shoulder by volunteering to help us and to the Krantz’s for their wonderful help too. Thanks to the Vo-Ag Center for the beautiful hay.

Steer Show…

Aug20

After the lamb show was finished up we were able to go home for a couple of hours and catch a much needed nap and then we were back to the fairgrounds before 5pm to watch Sawyer and Royal in the steer show. Sawyer worked so hard this year and we all spent many-an-hour worrying over this critter, from whether or not he would make weight to how wild he was going to be at the show. They both did so well!

Sawyer before the show watching the Senior group go...

Finally, in the ring...

I'm not sure who was more nervous at this point?

Talking to the judge...

Lining up...

The market class...

Awaiting the judge's decision...

All finished up and talking to Papa...

Wow! This was such a great experience for Sawyer! Showing an animal is so dependant upon that animal that it can really make things interesting for the show-person. If the animal is having an off night due to being in a strange place with lots of different/loud noises, different tasting water that they don’t like, lots of different people, different schedules, being around new animals, etc it can really be a challenge. However, Royal worked so well with Sawyer Tuesday night and for showmanship Sawyer and Royal were called back to the finals which completely surprised Sawyer. He said he never dreamed of being called back. The judge complemented Sawyer on how well fitted and cleaned Royal was, on on how knowledgeable Sawyer was and how much he appreciated Sawyer’s calm demeanor. In showmanship they only awarded grand and reserve, which he did not win but placed in the top 6 and Sawyer was very pleased with that! For market Sawyer was also called back for the final rounds and placed 9th out of the 34 steers there and received a purple ribbon for being one of the top 12! He did so good and worked extremely hard. We are so proud of him! He too is hooked on showing and is looking forward to next year.

New and Improved…

Jul29

Do you remember this?….

: Royal’s Rampage…

After much work and a different halter Royal is a different creature….

He walks like a poodle on a string...sort of!

~*~

He needs to work a bit more on setting him up...

The fair is still three weeks away which should give him plenty of time to finish working on Royal.

Notice the smile?...

On Sunday Sawyer took him to the fair grounds to have his hooves trimmed and to get him weighed. He weighed in at 1115 lbs so he will definitely make weight, which is a huge relief to all of us. :0) Sawyer is now actually looking forward to fair!