Home Sweet Home

New Baby Girls We brought home two baby sheep last week! Brighton has named one Emily and Adaira named the other one Rosie. They are barely weaned American Blackbelly sheep. Justin and I have been ruminating over possible meat animals to raise and previously thought we might want to try a cow, but we honestly weren't going to have enough room for a cow and hay is super expensive ($18/bale) right now. We've thrown around the idea of pigs but our zoning only allows us a single pig, so we couldn't breed it. I HATE goats, so they weren't even an option, so sheep are the direction we decided to go. Granted in an emergency food crisis I'd rather eat beef or pork over mutton, but the good thing about this breed is they are supposed to have a very mild flavor and are recommended for "gourmet lamb" meat. Anyway, they look like goats because they are a hair (not wool) breed, which means we don't need to sheer them once a year (another plus). They stay relativel...

Daisy had her 2 month appointment today and before I forget I wanted to document that she is 13lbs 5oz and 24.1 inches long. She is above the 90th percentile in everything. She got a few shots and has been sore today, poor thing. That hasn't stopped her from giving us some sweet smiles and excited outbursts today. Last night we visited Grandma and Grandpa Ellsworth and Daisy was smiling and giggling when we put her in front of baby Charlotte (and Daisy hasn't been giggling). She was just so happy and making all sorts of cute little laugh sounds whenever she could see Charlotte. It was so precious! I hope they are great friends in a few years! We are glad Daisy is healthy and strong, looking forward to this first exciting year and seeing all of her developments, sweet thing that she is!

A Nice Surprise! Many of you can probably guess that Dale is rough with 99.9% of everything around him (toys, household objects, his older siblings, etc.). There are many toys and books in our home that I bought when I had Brighton and they have survived he and Adaira but were destroyed by Dale. I am happy to say that there is one thing in our home that Dale is surprisingly gentle with, and that is his new baby sister. I have been so shocked to see him sitting quietly next to her like this and softly stroking her head or gently patting her leg if she is fussing. In these first pictures he just grabbed himself a toy so he could go and sit by her and play with it. I tried to catch his little hand on her head but he moved it and wouldn't put it back. Daisy's bassinet is still next to our bed. Last night I was heading to wake up Daisy from her short afternoon nap when I saw the lights on and the door open to our room. I thought "Oh great, Daaaaale!!!" and wondered w...

Daisy's 'Head Shots'  My brother Duane and his family were in town for a few weeks around Thanksgiving. It was so great to see and spend some times with them (I didn't get to see them much though because Daisy was just 3 weeks old and I was still up all night with her all the time, which made me pretty useless during the days). Angie took these pictures of Daisy for me and I pestered her enough that she sent them to me two days ago, just before she had her own baby (yesterday! Congrats Duane & Angie! We are having all kinds of baby cousins born around here!). These were taken when she was just 3.5 weeks old, on November 29th, 2011.  MY FAVORITE! I couldn't decide which hue edit I liked most, so all three are on here... Thank you Angie!

Snow Trip! Dec. 27-29th I decided to take the kids up to the cabin in Show Low for a few days to enjoy the snow and have a good time away from home for a few days during their break from school. Just me and four kids... I was a little nervous about doing it but it turned out great! My parents and brother (and his family) were up there too so once we were up there we weren't alone. There was so much snow to play in and it was perfect because I didn't have to take them anywhere, just suit them up and let them outside. Brighton really enjoyed himself, he tried for a good 10 minutes to do a head stand in the snow. Dale found his favorite toy! It was such great weather to play in! Sunny and somewhat warm, but luckily there was enough snow on the ground that we had two days of fun before it started to melt through. Below is what we did for two days straight. It was so perfect because I didn't have to drive anywhere or bundle Daisy up or anything. Whenever she was nap...

Christmas   I know that nobody cares to read about Christmas at this point, but I'm documenting it for the annual book I make out of this blog. Feel free to skip this post if you like!  On Christmas Eve our friends in the neighborhood were doing carriage ride again and they were running them all afternoon and evening. My family came over in the afternoon just to do a ride, since some of them had never done anything like this before, plus the kids always enjoy it!   I was too busy cleaning the house all day to put on my mascara, blegh! Grandpa Dean, Dia (Don's wife)& Rocky (Her name is Raquel but it's so much more fun to call her Rocky) Marisa, Grandma Barbara & David (and he and Marisa's kids: baby Charlotte, Emerson on my mom's lap, and the side of Stratton's head) We know who this cute pair is! That evening we had a lovely Christmas Eve dinner with Justin's family. Grandma Joanna brought some stuff to dress up the kids (and a few of the men...)...