Oh the Joys of Raising Farm Animals

Yesterday I noticed that some of the chicks had poop sticking to their bottoms. It was gross looking so I decided to look how to clean it up and if it was normal. Come to find out it is a condition called butt pasting and if they don't get cleaned out, they get clogged and die. That kind of freaked me out and they said it has to be taken care of immediately. So Aaron and I cleaned them up with baby wipes. When Aaron was trying to get one of the turkeys, she just jumped right out of the incubator and into Aaron's hand. She is the one we got yesterday and is very friendly. It startled Aaron that she jumped out like that and it caught him off guard. It wasn't very fun and I couldn't believe I was actually cleaning chicken bottoms. Oh, the glamorous life. At least they are safe now and they still look clean today. Hopefully, it doesn't come back. I've never had farm animals before and it sure is interesting to see the different animals. There is already one chicken that looks like she is going to be the dominant one. She is much bolder than the others and very curious. Another one reminds us of Armstrong because she sleeps or relaxes most of the day. It will be interesting to see what their personalities will be.

My sister teases us about becoming farmers since we have the new baby chicks and then yesterday I spent the day planting flowers and a strawberry patch. We are also planning out our garden. I guess in a way we are kind of becoming farmers. It's a lot of fun and I really enjoy having fresh vegetables and herbs.

Deciding to Have a Baby

Aaron and I have been talking a lot lately about having a baby. The other day we decided to take the plunge. We thought about starting with just one, but when we saw all of the babies we went home with 8 new members for our family.
Here is our first Midget White Turkey. He is so cute and soft. He actually lets me pet him.
This morning I thought the turkey looked lonely so I went back to the store to pick up a companion. Here is the newest member of our family. He was actually sleeping in my hands.
Experiencing the tractors. I think he'll fit right in.

Baby Chicks

Along with the 2 turkeys we decided to get 6 baby chicks. They are so soft and cute. They huddle close together at night right next to the heat lamp. They are adorable. I can't wait to grow up, they are going to be such neat looking grown up chickens. Two of them will have a bunch of feathers on the top of their head so they will look like they have crazy hairstyles.


Hopefully the baby chicks' cousins can come up soon to live and they can all play in the hen yard together once they are full grown.
Armstrong wanting to be near the chicks. He wants to go wherever we are. We introduced him to the new babies yesterday and he just stared at them. It was pretty funny. I wonder what he will think of them as they grow. I love having these little babies around. Now I've been looking in the newspaper and on the Internet for other farm animals. I think I want to get some pygmy goats or some sheep. My brother in law wants us to get some pigs. It would be so neat to get a horse, but that might be a little too much work. We'll have to see.

Shamu! Shamu!

Last week we had the opportunity to go to San Diego for a week. We had a great time. Our first day there we went to Sea World. I love animals and I LOVED Sea World. I have been trying to get Aaron to take me there for years and we finally went. I was so excited to go. It's great going in April because for the same price as a one day admission you get an annual pass. I can't wait to go again!You can't go to Sea World without seeing Shamu. The killer whales are amazing to watch.
Look at the back jump!
3 generations of killer whales
Here is the trainer on the tip of Shamu. It was amazing to see how high they can jump.
Ta-da! Shamu at the end of the show. Isn't she amazing! There is always a splash time where everyone chants Shamu! Shamu! and all 4 killer whales come out and splash the crowd. It's amazing how much water they can splash on people. We decided to stay dry and sat up higher up to see the overall show, but there were some drenched people. We only got wet when we went on the roaring rapids ride. No one comes out dry from that ride. It was pretty funny how drenched Janae got. Whenever we go on water rides she always gets the wettest. We just can't figure out why, but it provides us entertainment.

Dolphins

We actually started our day by feeding the dolphins. They feel so rubbery and they are so cute. I loved feeding them and petting them. My dream is to swim with dolphins one of these days.
Aaron feeding fish to the dolphins.
Look at this cute guy. I loved seeing the dolphins!
Here are some people doing some training with dolphins. I would love to do this someday. It looks like they are levitating the dolphin, but he was just jumping.
This dolphin has set records for how high she can jump. They sure are amazing creatures to watch!

More Sea Animals

Aaron looking at the Beluga whales. They are such a funny shape. They are kind of lumpy and it is fat deposits to keep them warm in the cold Arctic waters.
We went to a sea lion and otter show and they are so funny. It was probably the highlight of the trip at sea world. Here is the little otter bringing out a Pepsi to the Pepsi jingle. We all laughed a lot at the show.
One of the sea lions diving from the top of the submarine. The trainers did a great job in the show. They showcased the animals' character and it was very entertaining.
In the shark tunnel. They look so scary.
Two polar bears taking an afternoon nap. After all of the walking around at Sea World this is what I wanted to do. The bears were so big and it was kind of funny to see them sleeping side by side like this.

Anheuser Busch Animal Celebrities

Here is the stagecoach they use in the commercials with the clydesdales.
I thought Clydesdales were supposed to be bigger. (J/K - this is the donkey from the 2004 commercials that dreamed of being a Budweiser horse)
Here's the Dalmatian from the commercials. He has a cooler around his neck to keep him comfortable.

Aaron & I with Sammy, one of the Budweiser horses. These animals are so beautiful and big.

Weekend Update

We had a busy weekend and had a lot of fun. Friday night we watched Ryan's (Janae's husband) brother and sister. They are 9 & 11. They have been wanting to come stay with us for awhile and there parents were out of town so they begged them to let them stay with us. For some reason the kids think Aaron and I are a lot of fun. We really enjoyed having them here. On Friday night Janae and Ryan came over too and we all had some pizza, played Disney Scene It and then had an Indiana Jones movie marathon. Janae and I worked on some quilts while everyone watched the movies. We made it to half way through the last Indiana Jones movie before the kids decided to call it a night.

On Saturday we had a busy day. We ran some errands and I took Jake & Lexi to the Show Low Aquatic center to go swimming. They enjoyed going down the slide and playing water basketball. The kids did a great job playing with Precious & Armstrong. Precious & Armstrong loved having their visitors and were sad to see them go. Then we had a bunch of people from work come over for a BBQ and to play some cards. Everyone had a great time and it was fun to visit with everyone.

Sunday we had a relaxing day. We went for a motorcycle ride to the Mogollon Rim. It was my first ride of the season and it was so nice to go for a ride. Aaron and I had a great time enjoying the scenery and spending some time together. It was a busy weekend, but we had a great time and enjoyed all of our company.

Last Weekend

I haven't had a chance to post or write about last weekend. Last weekend we went to Casa Grande and Tucson. On Friday we went to dinner with Aaron's family. It was great to see everyone and enjoy a good meal. Linda made me a very delicious birthday cake that we all enjoyed. We enjoyed seeing our nephew Hunter, he is growing up so fast. Then we went to Tucson to see my family. We hadn't been done to Tucson for over 6 months. It was good to see my brothers and we celebrated my birthday and Trent's birthday. Ours birthdays are a little over a week apart. I did cosmic bowling with Ashton & Kevin and some of Ashton's friends. It was so much fun. I can't believe how fast my brothers are growing up and enjoyed spending time with them. Here are a couple pictures of the trip.Trent opening up his IPOD Nano. He's been wanting an IPOD for awhile and he was so excited my parents got it for him.
Here I am opening my presents. My mom likes to give me toys I can use to play with my dogs. She also gave me some gorgeous frames for some painting I wanted to frame.
Armstrong enjoying his treat. He sure is a happy little boy.
Precious was very focused on eating her snack. She is such a funny girl.

I Thought It Was Supposed to Be Spring Already

I thought it was supposed to be spring and it was the time of year to plant a garden. I guess not as this is what we saw yesterday evening.The snow was coming down in big flakes and it was actually difficult to see across the road.
I couldn't believe it was sticking as just 2 hours before it was sunny and the dogs were playing in this field.
I really wish summer was here.
We decided to try to enjoy the snow and had a fire.
A couple minutes after the fire was started, this is what I found. He really is the king of comfort.

Happy Birthday Jeff!!!

Our brother-in-law, Jeff, is celebrating his birthday today. We just wanted to wish him a very Happy Birthday! (We stole the picture from his family's blog). We wish we lived closer so we could celebrate with him today. We hope he has a great birthday!

Happy 16th Birthday Trent!!!

My little brother Trent turns 16 today. I can't believe how fast he is growing up. He is so excited to be getting his license. I was just looking at baby pictures of him this past weekend and I still think of him as a little kid. He's a great brother and I hope he has a great birthday!

Birthday Celebrations

On Thursday we celebrated my birthday with my Dad, Julie, Janae, Ryan & Donnie. We ate at Munich Haus. It's my favorite restaurant up here. It was a lot of fun to be with everyone and enjoy a good meal.
Unfortunately I was sick on my birthday. I came down with something a few days before so I spent the weekend resting to try to get better quicker. I got up to get something to drink and came back to the couch to take a nap and this is what I found. As soon as I had gotten up, Armstrong had buried himself under my blanket. He looked too comfortable so I found a different place to lay down.

My birthday was pretty low key this year. Even though I was sick Aaron still made it fun for me. We went to see the new movie "21" and had dinner at Red Devil Pizza. Janae and Ryan joined us and Aaron surprised me with a Turtle Ice Cream Cake from Marble Slab. He is such a sweetie! I had told him I wanted an ice cream cake a few weeks ago and he had the restaurant bring it out for me as a surprise. He is so good at things like that. He likes to surprise me with my gifts. I sure am lucky to have such a great and wonderful husband!