Memorial Day Celebrations

We had quite a few May birthdays this month and we celebrated a couple of them this weekend.Janae made this great cake for Ashton and Kevin that celebrated their birthdays this month.
I made a special dog cake for Armstrong's birthday. You can see Precious & Armstrong are very focused on the cake. You can see Precious's snout on the bottom of the page.
Nonny & Poppy were able to join us for our BBQ on Saturday night. It was sure nice having them over and they helped with dinner, which was GREATLY appreciated!
My mom and my brothers were there for the BBQ. Even my Grandma Coley came up to visit us.
Here's Precious taking off upstairs with Armstrong's new birthday presents. She is a funny little girl. She thinks all toys are for her own enjoyment and she goes crazy for the dog cake. Armstrong enjoyed it too, but this was such a funny shot of Precious that I had to post it.

Happy Birthday Kevin!

My baby brother turned 13 today! He is now a teenager, what a scary thought! I know this isn't the best picture of Kevin, but I think it is funny. He is such a character. He is a lot of fun to talk to and is a great helper! Thanks for being such a great baby brother, Kevin!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ARMSTRONG!!!

Today is Armstrong's birthday! Our little boy is 4 years old! It seems like just yesterday that we brought him home. We got him in New Hampshire and we are so lucky to have such a wonderful dog! He and Precious are truly the best dogs ever! We love them so much!
Here is Armstrong getting his first bath when we brought him home.
He still scratches his head like this. Some habits never change I guess.
Armstrong loves to go hiking. We really like this photo of our adventurous little boy.
He loves to travel. He wants to go wherever we are. I think he wishes he was human. He loves us very much and is always cuddling with us at home. He always has to touch you when you are on the couch or in bed. Usually he just has his paw near by. He is such a cutie!
This morning he and Precious had a special treat. They always get a special breakfast and dinner for their birthdays and Christmas. Today they got pancakes, eggs and dog food. Look how good they are patiently waiting for Aaron to give them their breakfast. Tomorrow we are going to BBQ and have presents, cake and ice cream for our sweet little boy. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ARMSTRONG!!!! WE LOVE YOU!!!

Happy Birthday Michael!

Today is Michael's Birthday! He is 29. Here he is enjoying a tractor ride at our house. We sure appreciate all of his help and willingness to research many things for us. He is a great brother and we wish him a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Meet Bugsy & the New Babies!

This is Bugsy! She's my newest bunny. I got her on Monday. She might look kind of funny, but her fur is amazingly soft! I sure like our new baby girl.
Aaron came up with the name Bugsy. Her eyes really stick out of her head and Aaron says she reminds him of a deer or rat. I think she is adorable and reminds me of the Velveteen rabbit. I think the name Bugsy really fits her.
Here are our 6 newest chicks. I can't remember what breed they are, but they lay white chicken eggs. On Saturday we lost our 5 chickens that Michael brought up. On Saturday we were home and decided to run to my sister's for dinner. She lives a mile away and it was 5pm. The chickens were still out eating so we didn't put them up. I have locked them up after it was dark and they were always okay. We came home from dinner and I couldn't find them in the hen house. I looked all over and found 3 in the yard and the other two were missing. We think a cat or bobcat got in the hen yard and killed them. We both were so mad and upset at this. We spent all of Saturday cleaning out the hen house and the chickens had such a great time eating all the grubs that day. They loved the new hen house we had set up and they were fully grown and looking so beautiful. They were so friendly too. We were so excited about their new home and to come home and find that made us so upset. If we find that cat it is going straight to the humane society. We are now looking into new ways to protect the chickens and build a safer coop. These 6 are to replace Michael's chickens. We feel so bad about what happened. Hopefully we can limit the harm to the chickens.

I am really beginning to understand the farmer's point of view from the children stories and how they work so hard to protect their crops and chickens from animals. It is a lot of work to keep them safe and secure. It's hard to keep them safe, but still give the freedom to enjoy the full yard. I guess we will have to figure out some balance here so they are happy, healthy chicks, but kept safe from predators.
These guys are really cute and friendly. When I was setting up their cage yesterday they kept hopping into my hand and falling asleep. My hand must have been really warm and comfortable.
This chicken is quite a character. She is the boss. She likes to have the highest perch and we keep finding her sleeping up here and spying on the smaller chicks that are on the other side of the divider.

Hard Part of Farm Animal Ownership

This morning we woke up to something unpleasant. I went out to check on all the babies and our smallest turkey didn't make it. I was very upset and couldn't help but cry. I felt stupid because I've only had the turkeys for a few weeks. The little one was so friendly. She would come and jump out of the cage and into your hands. I felt so bad she didn't make it. We really don't know what happened. She was quite a bit smaller than the other turkey and the runt of the batch. She wasn't growing at the same rate and I guess she lasted as long as she could. I will miss the little girl. Here are some pictures of her at happier times.



Hopefully the rest will do better and I'm glad I had the little turkey for the amount of time I did.

New Additions

Okay, so now I have an addiction to the local feed store. They know us now. Last week I went in to get some new feeders for the baby chicks and turkeys and they had some baby bunnies. I wanted a long eared rabbit and they had these really soft and cute rabbits called lion heads so I had to get them both.Here is Flopsy and Nala. Flopsy is the white and orange long eared rabbit. I named her after the Beatrix Potter rabbit. Nala will look like a little lion with her mane as she gets bigger so I named her after the Lion King. They are such cuties!
Flopsy will get to be fairly big and she is supposed to be very active. Right now she is more timid than Nala and when you hold her she just lays in your lap. She is a sweetie.
Nala is our curious bunny. She always wants to check everything out and is always on the go. She is supposed to be the mild one, but we will see what happens. She is very soft and cuddly.
I also bought some more chickens the other day. They are supposed to be really good layers and lay the brown eggs. I bought 8, like I said I have an addiction. We now have 2 Americaunas, 2 Rhode Island Reds, 2 Black Giants and I can't remember the name of the other 2 black ones. But they have a white dot on their head and are really cute.
Here I am with the newest additions. I talked to my brother Kevin yesterday and he asked me how many chickens I now have. We now have 5 from Michael, 6 from the first batch and 8 from the newest batch. That makes 19 chickens! We also have 2 turkeys, 2 bunnies and 2 dogs. We are getting quite the farm now. I really like having all of the animals around and they are all different and unique. Luckily I have a husband that lets me get them and thinks they are great too!

Baby Chick Update

Well the baby chicks and turkeys are getting bigger. The baby chicks are looking kind of funny these days. They are getting more feathers and looking kind of shabby. They are sure going to be pretty once they are fully grown.
This chick has the most attitude. We think she is going to try to rule the roost. We'll see what happens.
Here are the two turkeys. They are getting bigger. The larger one is too tall for the incubator now and we had to transition them to a larger area.
The smaller turkey is about a third the size of the larger one. They sure are cute.
Here you can see the size difference, even though they were hatched on the same day.

Cibecue Falls Hike

Yesterday we went on a hike to Cibecue Falls down in the Salt River Canyon. We had a great time and luckily we brought hiking sandals because most of our hike was in the river. The trail would cross through the river and we found it was easier to hike in the water than climbing over the boulders on the sides of the river. We had a great time and Precious & Armstrong did a great job in the water. Precious doesn't like to be in water, but she swam with Armstrong when she needed to to cross the water. They were so funny to watch swim. They look so relaxed and smooth as they swim. They don't make a splash when they swim.We stopped on this big boulder for a snack. It was beautiful country. Precious was inhaling any food she could get, for a minute I thought she and Armstrong had switched bodies because she never acts like that.
Aaron & Precious. Precious actually looks calm here, we caught her when she wasn't running around like a crazy woman. She loves hiking and just wanted to keep going.
Here I am getting kisses from the dogs. They sure are troopers! They were exhausted when we got home, but it was well worth the trip to visit such a beautiful area!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ASHTON!!!

Today my little brother Ashton turns 18! I guess I really can't call him little anymore. I can't believe how fast he is growing up. He's 18 and graduates in a week and a half! It's amazing how fast time flies by. He is such a great brother, always willing to help with whatever you need. I feel very lucky to have him as a brother and we love him very much! Happy Birthday Ashton!

Starting the Tractors

We've had quite the interesting day today. Especially after the work hours were done. We have a sun deck that you can access by the stairs where the dogs play. The gate blew down and Precious greeted Aaron when he came home on the roof. He pulled up and she was just hanging out up there. That gave us quite the scare. She loves heights because of the views. We decided to go play out in the big field for awhile. Armstrong was loving jumping in the tall brush and looking for rabbits. He came out covered in dust and panting. He looked so happy playing out there.
Aaron decided to try to start the tractors out in the field. Ryan came over to help and they got them started right away. They actually caught a little rabbit that was hanging out under the tractor.
Look at the happy farmer! He sure is handsome!
The little bunny they caught in the field. We put him in a cage with some food and water to make sure he is okay before we release him.
Here's an update on the other babies. The two turkeys are doing great. I'm sure glad we have two because they are always hanging out together.
The chicks are starting to get their feathers in on their wings. They have so many colors and are going to be beautiful when they are fully grown.