Thursday, May 2, 2013

Farmwife's Journal - May 2nd

April has been a busy month on the farm!  What's new, right? :)  The month started out with a trip to Idaho for my sister's wedding.  We had an absolutely wonderful time there with family and friends.  There was a group of 12 of us on the same flight heading out to the wedding.  It was fun!
 

At the airport.  This was Ben and Jonny's first time on a plane.
Idaho here we come!! :)

Pilot and Copilot! :)


 
Right after we landed in Idaho, we drove to Whole Foods in Boise and bought our groceries for the week.  Then we headed to the house at Tamarack where our family would be staying.
 
Finally at Tamarack Resort!  Here we are having a very late dinner. :)

And a soak in the hot tub at around midnight :)
Nadine and Billy were married in a mansion on a mountain....it was incredible!  They met at Tamarack resort in Idaho where they both taught snowboarding.  They were married at this same resort.  My parents rented a huge, beautiful house at the resort for the wedding and most of the family stayed in the house while in Idaho (since most of Nadine's side is from Minnesota).  Everyone had a great time and thoroughly enjoy the beautiful state of Idaho!  Here are some pictures of the trip.



We spent most of Friday making food for the wedding.  My mom had it all organized and everything went very smoothly!  She is amazing!!  Here is Em and her cousin Grace making sandwiches in the beautiful kitchen at the big house.


Here they are again at about 1am, after the groom's dinner, making chocolate covered strawberries.
 

 
This is our good friend Cindy.  We were so glad she was able to join us for the wedding!  The whole family just adores her, and she was a huge help!!  Here we are making cheesy potatoes (at 1am) for the family brunch for the day after the wedding.
My mom and Cindy

The Aunties cooking in the kitchen

We can't forget Uncle Richie!  He spent hours cutting onions for us!!  What a guy!!  And his sinuses were completely clear when he was done! :)
Love this picture of me and my sister kissing our dad. :)


My parents and my sister and Billy at the groom's dinner.

 
Saturday morning we joined the bride in getting our hair done.  It was so much fun!  This is Emmy's hairdo...isn't it beautiful?

Here's my do.  I think it's called a waterfall braid.
 
Then Billy showed up at the hair salon with flowers...had us all crying.  Mr. Romance!! :)

Aren't they cute?  My mom gave Nadine the t-shirt.  "I'm the Bride" :)

Cindy, Auntie Mary, and I worked together to decorate the cake with flowers.


Setting up for the ceremony.  There were about 80 people invited.  My sister wanted a small wedding.


 
Waiting for the ceremony to begin.

My Dad walking my sister down the isle (driveway).  Dad is choked up...Nadine is the baby in the family.

The ceremony was so beautiful!  I cried through the whole thing!  Here Billy is putting her ring on.

Mr. & Mrs. Billy Wagner!! Yippee!

The sign above the fireplace
Cutting the cake.  My mom made the cake.

Me and my siblings


My siblings and their spouses


Our family at the wedding (minus Brandon who was unable to attend).  Don't my farm boys look sharp! ;)


The view from the big house
Ben and Jonny were pool sharks by the time the week was over. :)

This is the house on the mountain that our family stayed in...so nice!  It was just down the road from the big house. 

The kids were in our hot tub at the crack of dawn every morning. 
Our last day in Idaho. :(

Leaving for the airport. :(

We rented a car and thoroughly enjoyed our drive through Idaho....well, OK...the one lane roads with sheer cliffs that dropped down to the river weren't always super fun for me. :)  Thankfully my husband is a good driver.  Here are a few pictures from our travels.



Monday, April 15, 2013

Farm Girl's Journal ~ Lambs!

The sheep are officially due today - the 15th.  Rosie decided to go early, though, and had her lambs sometime early Saturday morning (I missed the birth - *sniff sniff*)!  She's a 1st time momma, but had twins!  They are so cute.  The girl is just 5 pounds and the boy is around 7.  They weren't doing as well in the beginning (Rosie hasn't quite figured out this mom thing yet!) but after some TLC, (and some dropper feeding for the girl, bottle feeding for the boy!) they were making lamb bounces in the pen this morning. :-)  We have two, possibly three (not sure if the third one is pregnant or not) more ewes to lamb.  Yay!


The boy :)


The girl - sooo tiny but she's fattening up now :)

The boy again ;)


Any name ideas for our twins?

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Goat Kids & Syruping!

 
Blondie gave birth to twin bucklings last Wednesday!  :)  We were hoping for boy and girl twins because we were going to name them Billy & Nadine after my Aunt and Uncle that just got married.  But...Blondie had different plans, so it's Billy & Willy.  ;-)  Billy looks exactly like his dad, and Willy takes after his mom!  Blondie went into labor early Wedneday morning, I noticed her acting strange when I went out for chores, and voila! we had twins within about an hour. :D  I'm hoping to get the birthing video posted soon, but I'm having some trouble with movie maker, so we'll see.... :)






 
 
The run is starting!  Ben & Jonny tapped about 100 trees about 2 1/2 weeks ago and the run has been pretty good.  There is about 3 gallons of delicious boxelder syrup sitting on the counter right now. :)
 
 
Dad straining sap

Jonny is really excited about this! :)

Jackson guarding us all while we collect ;)


The boys & I heading out to collect from the trees by the road

Jonny & I

Jonny collecting sap



Me collecting :)