Halloween

Leo the box of popcorn.

Clea being Tinkerbell.

Bruce was supposed to be a racoon. After spending all morning "fixing" up his costume, we couldn't find the mask. So after an entire house search we gave up and found this Black Spiderman costume without a mask.

Our Summer in Pictures

Since it has been May since I posted last I thought I better update this blog. Needless to say we have been busy this summer. It also helps we did get a new computer and it is much more user friendly. So here are some pictures.

Here is our trip to California for Jami's wedding. Leo's 2nd birthday. The fourth of July. Jed and the kids trying to light snakes.

Computer trouble

Well...we have been experiencing computer trouble the last month or so. We took the computer into the computer man because of some windows that popped up about cleaning up viruses. Well he cleaned it up a little and did some updates and said it wasn't too bad so we begged him for the computer back for a short while. It is amazing the amount of stuff we do with the computer, whether it be pay bills or keep records or file tax stuff online. I worked on the computer to-do list for the one day we got the computer back. When we took it back to him and he really started cleaning it up, he discovered a bad virus that was a root virus. Every time he would take it off, it would automatically re-install itself. So it took him a while and he had to re-install all of our software, but we are back in business now. He said the biggest mistake we made was to not do the automatic Microsoft updates. We were a little out dated on anti-virus software, also. Lesson learned!

He also said he would suggest us budgeting in a new computer some time. We are pretty outdated. After he installed all the updates and the new anti-virus software, we are running pretty slow.

I am so baffled by the fact that there are people in this world that actually created these stupid viruses.

Baby Chicks

About a month ago we decided to get an incubator to hatch out some baby chicks. Well a few days ago we are seeing the chicks pip out of their shells. It is amazing how God created things so perfectly. We got fertile eggs and put them in the incubator. The temperature is supposed to remain at 99-101 degrees for 21 days. You are supposed to turn the eggs three times a day until they are at day 18. We first saw the little pip holes and about 14-16 hours later the little wet things were out of the shell and very tired. About 12 hours later they are dry and can be removed from the incubator. They are a noisy little fuzz ball that needs food and water. So far we have only hatched six out and there are about 18 eggs in there. Not sure if the others will hatch or not. We are supposed to wait a few extra days to make sure no more will hatch.

Easter

We had a great Easter. On Saturday, it was very cold and with a chance of rain. We planned a family picnic anyways, but ended up staying at Bim and Lindy's because it was just too cold. Clea wasn't feeling well and she did not participate in the festivities much. Bruce and Leo had fun hiding the eggs and finding them over and over again.

On Easter we went to church. The tradition there is to have dinner after the service and then an Easter Egg Hunt. We had lots of fun. Clea was feeling better and enjoyed hunting eggs.

Happy 4th Birthday Clea

Today is Clea's 4th birthday. We had a small get together yesterday evening. She had a great birthday.

I am not a cake decorator. I do like finding easy, unique looking cakes to bake. I usually enlist Jed's help in decorating.

It's been a year

Yesterday I took Bruce for a one year later follow-up on his leg. It is hard to believe that it has been one year since Bruce broke his leg. And surprisingly it doesn't just feel like it was yesterday, it feels like it was five years ago. I guess it seems that way because he has healed so well and without any complications. He had a good report from the doctor. We got to look at the x-rays of his leg and they looked really good. One angle you couldn't even tell where the break was and the other angle you could barely see the outline of the break. His bone looked completely normal. We thank God for the great recovery!

This is Bruce a year ago with his cast on:

This is Bruce today, outside doing normal kid things.

Busy Times

I know the last few posts have all been cow pictures...but this one is significant.

This is Bruce's heifer. We sold Bruce the heifer of his choice when he was about three. She was a year old or so. Last year was her first year to calve. She calved early in March and a few days later we went to check on her. On our way out to her we saw a coyote. By the grace of God, Jed actually shot it and killed it. We proceeded out to the heifer. We spotted the calf laying down. The heifer was nervous and kept walking back to him. The closer we got it was more evident that something was wrong. We found the calf dead, still warm, with raw flesh on his hind end. It was so sad. The heifer had blood on her nose from nudging the baby to get up. I kept my composure only because Bruce was in on the discovery, but it was difficult. He ended up buying a doogie from Papa Bim and Mama Lindy, so he would have something to sell in the fall. Which by the way, with God's many blessings, turned out to be the fastest gaining doogie we ever saw. So a full year later, Bruce's heifer gets another chance at raising a calf. I must mention Bruce took a diligent effort in praying that everything would be okay with his heifer and her baby. God is great.

Not sure how it happens this way, but it appears Clea's heifer, that would have been a first calf heifer this year, has lost her calf. We do not know why or how. So we are in the market for a doogie for her raise this year.

This is a picture of the Ambulance building Jed has been working on the past few months. It amazes me so much that I am married to the man who can build something like this. My "job" seems so insignificant compared to the his job. That's okay because he has to put up with me reminding him every day that he CAN do something like this and we STILL live in a 1973 double wide.

Yes, those are my kiddos up in that death contraption. I was assured it was safe.

Checking Cows

I got to go check the cows this week. We got our little pick-up running so the kids and I went to check the cows while Jed was at work. It was nice and peaceful. I might as well have been by myself.

This is how the kids were right after we left the house and they remained like this until we got home. Bruce wakes up and says, "Did we forget something, why are we going home?" I had some pictures to prove we actually went and checked on the cows.

To my delight I found the first calf heifer we were looking for with her new baby. Calves are so curious. They are fun to watch.

Honest Scrap Award

Okay, so I was "tagged" by Kate. It has taken me two days to come up with some honest things that I am willing to post. And honestly I have only come up with 5 things, so I am going to fill the other 5 with some honest impromptu.

The Honest Scrap award goes like this: A) First list 10 honest things about yourself - and make it honest (hence, the award 'Honest Scrap'), even if you have to dig deep! B) Pass the award on to those that you feel embody the role of the Honest Scrap. (This is an award only to display on your blog that everything you write on it is in truth, sincerity, and integrity.)*

1. I have a tendency to lose my temper. With my kids mostly, poor children. But also when I get frustrated doing something that is difficult. I try very hard to control it and to be slow to anger, especially when Bruce reminds me of what the Bible says. I am by no means abusive, or do I say bad words, but I do scream and have been known to throw things. I think I got this from my mechanic father. I have witnessed him come up from under the hood of a car screaming, cussing and with bloody knuckles throw the wrench across the shop.

2. I am extremely self-conscience of my mustache. When I was in high school I bought some beauty items meant to bleach the dark hair to light hair to make it less noticeable. I guess I wanted to get it real un-noticeable because I deliberately left the chemical on my lip too long. Of course for about two weeks after I had a huge very noticeable burn on my upper lip.

3. I am embarrassed to admit that I have no recollection of my younger years. If some one asked me my kindergarten teacher's name I could not even remember what she looks like. I have a few memories that stick out, but that is it up until about 4th grade and that is when I can recall lots of events.

4. I have a huge scab on my right knee from a fall I took last week. I ran out to the freezer early in the morning with my house shoes on and as I ran scooting my feet so my slippers would not fly off, one got hung up and I was down. I hurt both knees and both hands. Thankful I didn't bust my head, because I was down before I had any chance to catch myself.

5. I like to go to yard sales. It is probably a good thing we live in Animas, because my house would be packed full of junk if I got to go often. In my defense, I only buy things that I would use or that are a good deal.

okay here is where it gets hard

6. I am not a very good housekeeper. I do what I have to, to keep the house neat and healthy, but I tend to put off doing things like windows, blinds, etc. until they are very dusty.

7. I am a rule follower. Jed is not. It leaves for lots of interesting decisions made on both of our parts.

8. I love every part of being a mom. I love reading to my kids, because I love to hear the stories. I love taking them to the park because I love to swing, slide and play tag.

9. I am a paranoid mother. I can see my kids getting hurt everywhere. I constantly have to turn away when I know they have to learn how to do something. I hear my self say, "don't get too close" and "you're going to hurt yourself."

10. I want to love God more than anything else in this world.

I have no idea who reads this blog, so if you want to participate, great! You're it!

Get your confidence back!

A group of four of us from church went to see Beth Moore in El Paso on Friday and Saturday. Wow! It was great. She is just like you would expect her to be live. Her presentation was about digging your confidence out of the trash. The key verse for the weekend was in Hebrews.

So do not thorow away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. Hebrews 10:35-36.

Through John 15:5 and Philippians 4:13 we learned about humble confidence.

I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5

I can do everything through him who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13

She had eight points through out the session. I really liked the conclusion point.

• Daily and deliberately believe God over every other influence.

Movie night and the past week

On Friday night, the Baptist church in San Simon played "Fireproof." We couldn't pass up the babysitting part. I highly recommend that movie. It was an excellent movie.

I guess I should have started at the beginning of the week. San Simon was hosting the country gospel band "Desert Reign." We went on Monday to see them play. They were very good. It was an extremely meaningful service. I came away very moved.

On Saturday, we did some outside cleaning and then went to count all our new little baby calves. This is my favorite part of ranching. Seeing those cute little babies out there with their mothers. We have a total of 4 new babies and lots of cows that are getting very close. After that Jed offered to take one kid on the four wheeler to fix fence while the rest of us waited in the pick-up. Of course every one of the kids wanted to go. The clincher was when Leo very loudly expressed his want to go. So Jed gave in and we all piled on and began the slow treacherous drive along the back fence. I have to admit, I wanted to go also. The idea of sitting in a parked pick-up with kids bouncing off the doors just didn't appeal to me. It was very fun. We managed to climb a very high hill and we all got to look out over the vast countryside in awe. I got to practice praying without ceasing during our entire venture. One failed move and we all could have been wiped out. We managed to literally "prop" the fence that was down in several placing, make it back to the pick-up, load up, and beat the rapidly deflating front tire (on the pick-up) all the way home.

The Weekend

On Saturday, we had a few cows to gather. We are scaling back on the cow scene and so we are consolidating the herd to sell some this weekend. We found them pretty easily and successfully pinned them. The day was so beautiful we spent the rest of the day outside. On Sunday, we had just a nice of day and spent the afternoon outside. The kids wanted to ride Blondie both days.

Christmas Morning

We enjoyed company with a big breakfast. We hung around the house for a while and then went to Duti's for a 2:00 lunch.

We had a good Christmas, celebrating the greatest gift ever, Jesus!

Christmas Program

Eventually I will get all these Christmas posts on.



On December 21, we had a Christmas program/concert at church. It was very nice. I taught all the kids a simple Merry Christmas Baby Jesus song and they also sang a few other numbers in larger groups. It was very cute.

The loud voice you hear towards the end was me, of course. I almost didn't post this video because of my voice. Ugh... The part of the song I like the most is: "It's Your presence not some presents we love most on Christmas day." I love how miraculous the Christmas story really is.

The Great Tree Hunters

Okay... so our Christmas tree looks like a greaseweed (I am unsure of the technical name) bush. Our days were getting short. I wasn't feeling well and no one else was up to making the trek to hunt a tree between Lordsburg and Silver City, so we opted for the next best thing. The best part of this picture is the fact that we are still on the road. I didn't even get any pictures of the kids and Jed decorating.

Easy Gingerbread Houses

About a week before Christmas, for the first time, we made gingerbread houses out of graham crackers. It was a lot of fun. Of course the builder had to instruct us on building the house. He used terms like gable ends...

A fun time was had by all. Leo was in sugar heaven. And by the looks of Bruce's face, he tasted the frosting a few times. Clea didn't taste too much, she got all involved making a fence around her house with gumdrops.

Not Bad for Animas

We had a little glimpse of winter here this morning. It snowed for about an hour. It even stuck a little. School got cancelled and there were three pile ups. Just kidding! But definitely not bad for Animas. The kids were so excited to go out and play in it. It took Clea thirty minutes to put on her cold weather clothes. I told Jed she won't last 5 minutes out there. Sure enough, she was finished playing outside in about 5 minutes. She never has been one to enjoy being uncomfortable. Leo and I went out together. He wasn't too thrilled to be out in it either. Bruce lasted the longest. He had lots of fun.

Happy Thanksgiving

I hate uploading pictures on my computer, especially if it is a busy time. So of course I will post things weeks after they happen.

We had a great Thanksgiving. All the families were down and even got to stay for several days. I read a question the other day about what is so much fun that time just seems to fly by. I think I enjoy spending time with family because the time just flew by and it seemed like we didn't have "time" to do lots of things. It didn't help that Thanksgiving weekend is the most popular cow works time.

The kids loved spending time with their aunts, uncles, and cousins. Since we will not all spend Christmas together, We thought it would be fun to exchange gifts at Thanksgiving time so we would be able to see everyone open their gifts, so we had Christmas on Thanksgiving Day. We also had a wonderful Thanksgiving feast. Lindy's beef was definitely the hit. We never did get tired of eating leftovers. Here are a few pictures of the kids enjoying the gift giving.

The Wedding Party

On November 22 Kasey, Jed's cousin, got married. Her primary ring bearer and flower girl couldn't make it, so Bruce and Clea filled in. They were thrilled, especially after Kasey told them they could keep their wedding garments. At the reception all the kids had a blast dancing on the dance floor. It was fun!