Tractor Time

This guy is changing so much right now. He is getting more stable sitting. He is so interested in moving things. This is why we turn the toys on their sides and let him move the wheels. 

His slightly red cheeks from time spent outside on Sunday watching the cars go by while I teach. Oh my sweet son. 

Andrea and Merle are loving spending time with their dad each day in the tractor. They ride for hours just enjoying something new. 

Andrea was showing me how she could get long roots when she pulled weeds. I love that this key lesson from grandma Saunders teaching years ago get the root so it doesn't just grow back no hair cuts on weeds. 

We have beenw orking to go on walks in the evening after dinner. Sometimes to see what is happening on the farm, always to put the food we ate to work in our muscles. It's a nice time to visit and work on finish out our day. 

I bought this ride on tractor last fall as part of a gift package at an auction. I knew the baby in my tummy was a boy and thought this would be a fun toy for him. He is getting big enough to balance and enjoys the rides the kids provide. 

Andrea playing dress-up with random material from my stash. 

On our walk the girls always look for rocks. Alia found this huge rock with a missing "bite."

Loading up for another few hours. 

Me and Jake after delivering lunch to the tractor crew. My velcro baby challenges my body to carry him wherever we go. Thankfully we have a stroller too and sometimes we use that. Aliza loves to jog with him in the stroller he enjoys it too. 

Spring is springing the trees are dropping so many seeds. The definition of prolific should include an illustration of elm tree seeds. Oh well we love the warmth and the sunshine. Life is great.
 

Fair Pig Pictures

Its that time of year again where we are pig farmers. The breeders were so kind to provide housing for the purchased pigs until the weather settled to prevent shock and illness. Likewise their very secure pens provided for an easier photo reporting experience. 

Afton prefers red pigs. Millie likes the belted pigs. 

Livy still working to bend her legs due to the knee surgery in February. This has been a much longer involved recovery than I was anticipating. She wrote a story or journal entry about the surgery experience it has been very painful for her as well. However she is making progress and hopefully long term will have healthy strong hips and legs. 

And the norm for these girls. Homework. Writing and tracing then coloring pictures every day of this academic quarter. They have hours of homework everyday. It is hard to spare them this much but the idea is that all this working will lead to a large growth factor. So far so good for the other kids who have also been required to complete this journey. So Bruce works with the pigs and spends as much time as he can scratching them and watching them. Afton has less homework and joins Bruce in chores and pig taming. 

Summer is coming soon, maybe as early as next week. The pigs will be there ready for walks and eventually ready for the fair experience. Life moves fast. These girls have a lot expected of them this summer. We are thankful for a new employee at the shop who allows Greg to be home more working on the farm. This is a good shift for him and us. God provides. We are blessed. 
 

Owyhee Field Days

One highlight of spring is the field trip to the Owyhee field day. The high school kids go as facilitators and the elementary 5/6 grade goes as participants. My sons have gained favor and respect with the rafting guides who bring their boats. It is a long day of sharing the delights of the water with group after group of school kids. It was cold this year and Reed was in his outdoor Carhart sweatshirt and coat along with bogs. Some years its t-shirt weather some years its bundle up weather. Thankfully the rain ended prior to the arrival of the younger kids. 

Afton had the best time. I'm amazed at how much she is looking like her older sister Addie in these pictures. 

Innovation allowed the kids to eat their lunch in a horse trailer out of the elements a bit. Small class size is a blessing of her school. 

They learned about fish. My kids are not fans of fish. Afton shined at the tube setting station setting one then two tubes one in each hand. Her teacher accused her of showing off. My mom says its not if you can truly do it. I believe she did.

Reed in the last boat and on shore explaining how to use the paddle. He still had a lot of work to do to make the rides safe and successful. 

The beautiful, amazing, life giving owyhee dam. Forever a piece of my family life. I love this day that student after student can have a small taste of learning how vital water is to our desert existence. 

The highlight of the day was the tour inside the dam. There isn't time for every student to go in the dame but those thick walls have passageways for maintenance and work. The students hiked up and down flights of stairs to get a view of how the dam works. The lights out portion scared them good, and was another memory made. 

Addie was a facilitator along with a fellow FFA member from my alumni chapter. My brother donated one of his jackets back to the chapter and it was being used by this young member. Full circle of growing, giving, and learning. Addie has been asked recently what she would tell people about agricutlure- she responded there is a place for everyone in FFA. Everyone belongs there and agricutlure is part of all of our lives. Whether we grow it, eat it, love to watch it from our daily drives, movies, or books, or like to wear clothes agriculture is part of our lives. This day showcases how many different industries and organizations are part of this water source. 

Anna and Aliza were also able to facilitate the day. They were excited to be able to return to an event they both enjoyed in their youth. We are blessed to know the visionary organizer Vicki Price. She hasg rown this program bigger and bigger each year. 

We are very blessed to learn and live in nature. I love the dam so many good memories of my growing up happened there. Now more removed I don't get there as often as I like. Thus making days like these particularly special as I know the quiet beauty and awesomeness of the dam construction can touch their hearts and imaginations.  Life is good. 
 

Merle Birthday

Merle had another birthday and we had a party. The grandparents came. 

And some cousins for a spaghetti picnic outside. Oh how I love parties that can utilize the big outdoors. 

The Utah cousins came and the kids were happy to share the slower pace of rural life. 

We had the lemon sunshine cake. At our house that just seems to be the standard. The whole event was the norm. 

Afton lit the candles and Merle extinguished them one by one. 

Aliza and her cousin Karadyn washed the piles and piles of glass dishes. I had forgotten to get paper but truly there is good conversation that can come around a sink of soapy water. They were so kind to do that. Jake is positively huge. Here he is showing off his super legs. We were happy to get Reed back he had left for the weekend for the Auto and welding Skills USA contest. Reed had a good experience and is more determined to continue in his preparation for next year. 

It takes a long time to cross the state of Oregon and Reed had less sleep than he liked on Sunday thankfully we had later church. 

And what after school for about 5 hours a night looks like right now. Homework so much homework. They are working through and preparing for state tests, the play, a huge final writing project of 4 papers a week from Livy and Millie complete with illustrations which they are working on. The regular one page active each night, 4 science review worksheets for the week, and maybe some help at home. That's a lot. I know the end confidence that comes from hard things, so I'm biting my tongue, lip whatever. But it is a big stretch in a little time and more than one kid in the grinder is tough. 

We need some blessings to be able to cover all that is suppose to be happening. Yet another blessing of the rain we can't be in the fields they are too wet so we can keep working through this load in the house. These two are serious about food right now they must be growing to need so much nourishment. I love kids who will eat. 

Life is good and we shall survive. Aliza's presence is so nice. We are thankful. 
 

Home

We are so happy to have Aliza back at home for a few days. How we all love the calm and skill she brings with her. She matches the other redheads here and is getting reacquainted with the baby boss. He is charming and demanding all in one the longer one is around him the more they see his range of emotions. Thankfully he is still amicable to new people holding him. 

The girls have a play coming up for school. Aliza was kind enough to go costume hunting for them and found exactly what they needed to look their parts. 

Livy let her magnificent hair down for us. She has a lot of wavy hair. It is thick and gorgeous. She will be playing the part of a manners or etiquette teacher. 

With pearls adjusted we think she is ready for the stage. Oh and high heels she is so excited to wear high heals. 

And on another note we had Joey on the call this week as we were receiving answers and blessings from heaven in 1.5" of rain over the weekend. Allowing for another week waiting on the dam to release water and a good nourishment pre-planting. 

Sometimes it really blows my mind that there is a potential to have 30 children or next generation in our family. Then there's the grandchildren we hope each gets to have. Wow!

We are reading the short books of scripture in the Book of Mormon those that follow Enos before King Mosiah and King Benjamin. The ones that write less and less and talk about being defenders of the people but not having much to relate about God. For most of my life I have thought well yes how does one improve on Lehi, Nephi, Jacob? But maybe they got side tracked in working to protect the people and fighting battles that they didn't know Jesus. Maybe they thought they were too stained from fighting and leading or living to be worthy of Revelation. Maybe time passed so quickly they didn't record special moments or missed them? Isn't that easy to do? To focus in the wrong direction. To entertain, or live and forget to know God, to worship him, to praise and thank Him.

The rains came Saturday night heavy and really heavy on Sunday. Months ago fellow faithful ward members shared how God had blessed them in years past. I have clung to their faith and testimony. And here on another fast Sunday God answered those prayers and sacrifice. Alma 45:1 says the people rejoiced with prayer and fasting. I told my family we should also be joyously fasting that God had heard their hard giving up of food. He saw their struggle and blessed us. That he surely does hear us when we ask. 

It is my most sincere desire that my family knows Jesus and knows they can depend on Him and His word. I am working to recommit my time and effort in paying attention, using the time we have together and being a better follower of Christ. To turn my will more to him. I still get caught up in what is happening in the current war but I'm working to be more present and more serviceable to Him or my family which sometimes I think is pretty similar. As we head into a long year of farming and new trials I hope we can see the hand of God not because we have crisis after crisis but because we pay attention to the small blessings he gives daily. Life is good and beautiful. 
 

4 wheeler rides

This guy does not like to be left alone or inside. He likes to see and know what's going on. So we carry him and he's happy. We went on a walk after dinner as my blood sugar likes me to do. We went to the farm. The kids run there to jump on the Marvin's trampoline. We walked and saw what the guys were doing in the shop. Jake of course loved seeing where the men were and what they were doing. Its curious how soon babies identify their spots. Jake loves his dad and wants to see what he's doing.  Then after all that investigating we asked for a ride home. 

Bruce is always happy to give a ride. We piled on and headed home. But as Jake was unshielded we had to go slow. 5 mph slow. That was hard on Bruce's thump we jumped off when we were close enough and gave Bruce the freedom to drive normal. Jake thought the ride was great. I was so thankful for the assistance. 

We do love family rides. I found this picture earlier in the week. My big kids all gone from my house now and my much younger husband. This picture is 17 years old. Similar time of year I believe. How time does fly. 

Andrea and Merle had a delightful afternoon using tools to screw screws into our wooden drawers. They were so happy and industrious I didn't worry about that not needing to be done. Learning through exploration and real application- you pay big money for toys that simulate that. 

And the results of the recent chapter FFA elections. It will be good for Reed to serve and learn more leadership skills. 

Surely the time will continue to speed ahead and in a few blinks of an eye it will Merle then Jake who are also running for offices and working to develop their leadership abilities. I won't wish it away as I cry thinking about the tender memories I hold of the first 6. I'm so thankful there are more because I would be pretty heart sick if my mothering time was over. I jus thave to make and keep track of my daily weekly and monthly lists so I can keep up with who's where doing what right now. I invested in a two month calendar so I can spacially keep track of those items. I'm trying to keep in focus what is most important today and tomorrow and do those things. Like dinner earlier, enough clean clothes, supplies etc. and now with farming coming into play we up the requirements and here we go. Life is full and that is a blessing. We are grateful for the miracle of managing. 
 

Elder John

I can't say much about these photos other than he's serving well, he's still got his sense of humor, he's a big guy. And I love getting to spy on him a bit. 

Senior missionary couple who supports the missionaries. I will say John makes people smile with the words he wears. He's always working to make people smile. 

I believe the young lady is a recent convert that he really enjoyed teaching. She was just ready and understood it was a positive experience. 

Missionary Monday. Harold is the tile ceiling, Mark and John after a tough pickle ball or basketball match. Love his curly hair. A puppy yay. Anna had so many dog stories, John is much more cuddly like a puppy. No idea just a picture he shared. 

He teaches a lot has a few people on date to be baptized and is working hard. He has had approximately one baptism per transfer. People are looking for new ways. He is particularly strong in his testimony that Jesus can help you change. I love that about John he is passionate about the power of the book of Mormon and Jesus Christ. These things are good and true.