A Migrating Visitor

For the past week, we've noticed a new visitor here on the ranch. And not just 1 or 2 of these little guys - but hundreds of them! In swarms, really.

The Robin
These little guys are migrating through out area right now! The best time to see them is in the early morning. You can watch them bob up and down, dart back and forth, and race around on the ground. I'm not sure what they are eating out there (well, besides the bird seed we spread to try to encourage them) but they sure are loving it at our place right now. They come in groves! You can literally look out the window and see easily 50 to 60 of them.

And their sound. That's the best part. They remind JL of growing up. They remind me of spring and the melting of snow. I love to have them around. I hope they stay a bit.

A Discovery

Saturday, JL made a discovery....

Everyone was checking it out and super delighted!
It was ...... our first Bluebonnet blossom!
This is a big deal. Not only is it our namesake showing up, but it represents hope that the drought hasn't destroyed our wildflower crop! We're still a little concerned because February is typically the coldest month out here, but maybe these little guys will survive and come March/April - we'll have a sea of blue!

Here's June Bug. She was feeling a bit under the weather on Saturday. Turns out - she had just had too much sweet, tender grass. We let her out the day before to graze the property. She apparently ate baby grass until her belly hurt!

A Fort

It is happening. Finally my kids are learning the fine art of being a kid! This past Saturday, all 3 of them were outside the entire day - just playing happily BY THEMSELVES! It was magical! They played, they jumped on the trampoline, they explored the ranch, they harassed fire ants (Big Wy didn't make it out of that adventure without a couple bites...but you'd never know it. He's so tough!) they chased the goats and lasso'd anything and everything. And they built a fort. A really cool fort! Down in James' woods, atop the large pile of mulch/rocks. It was fantastic!

James refusing to pose for a picture until his explanation of what he's built is complete.
Pointing out all the rocks he has carefully piled and arranged on the branches.
Here they both are crawling into their bunker. This is where they hide from the bad guys to sneak up on them.
I love Izzy's eyes in this shot. She was totally pretending to keep an eye out for ruffians.
And the explanations continued....
Perhaps it is their age, but I'm really starting to see a change in my kids. I think ranch life suits them. (I mean, what kid wouldn't love to have free rein of all that the light touches.) But really, it's more than just being able to run free and wild. They aren't inside that much.

James would much rather be outside chasing goats and wearing his cowboy hat than inside watching a movie. He's got this new game where he's drawn a bullseye with chalk on the side of the goat shanty. He tosses dirt clods at the side of bullseye and keeps tally marks each time he scores. He calls it pitching practice! :) And Isabel loves to dig in the dirt and build mud pies and mud cakes and mud anything. And Wyatt. Well, Wyatt hasn't known any different so he loves to be outside more than the both of them combined!


It reminds me of when I was little. I use to play outside until the sun went down. My friends on our street and I would play kick the can and ghosts in the graveyard and no bears are out tonight for hours on end. I never was inside playing video games. It makes my heart happy to know that even in this changing world, we're able to give our kids a little bit of that joy.

Ok, I'll get off my soapbox now.

Quint

We got 5 (yes, FIVE) eggs today!! It is a record. 2 from the big chicks and 3 from the baby chicks. It was awesome!!!

Isabel's Room Makeover

This past Friday I decided to paint Isabel's room. After my dining room makeover, I got super motivated to paint the whole house! I had planned to do our master bedroom next, but Isabel has been SO excited to have a pink room (since we moved, really) that I couldn't resist her pleading anymore.

So, I dressed the kids, loaded them in the van and we headed to Home Depot. I took her to the Disney color section and let her go wild. She had decided that each wall had to be a different color, so we came out of there with a quart of:

Blushing Princess
Tinker Bell
Heffalump Purple
and BlueBird Blue

I have to say, as per usual, Isabel has fantastic taste! I really like the end result! It's totally her! Spunky, fun, bright and cheerful!

Before:

Very WHITE and drab. Her furniture doesn't stand out at all.


After:

Pink & Blue wall
Blue & Green wall
Purple & Green wall (I still need to find something to put up on the purple wall.)

Green Eggs

We're back in the green eggs again! It's been SO long since we've seen greenies in the hen house!

Our Americanas (brown baby chicks) have started laying! We got our first green egg from them last week! We're up to about 4 total eggs a day (on average) now!!

I'm pretty sure it's just the bigger of the brown chicks (Little Lynn) laying - the other one is kinda a runt still. But hopefully, it won't be long now. What would we ever do if we were getting 1/2 dozen a day!



And here's our horse. Being totally lazy one afternoon.
I couldn't resist including a couple pictures I took the other night of the beautiful sun set.

First Clover Crop

The garden has started! This has long been a topic around here, but with the heat and the drought this past summer, we put it off.

It had been decided that JL would take his pick axe and dig into the garden ground. We expected rocks. Lots and lots of rocks. What we found was top soil! Trucked in by the previous gardner. Hooray! Now, don't get me wrong - it was still extremely labor intensive to bust through the top soil and churn it up enough so that it was soft and beautiful again. But once that part was done, we ALL got down and played around in it! I haven't seen soil like that in a very very long time. Probably since I left my home in UT.

JL after most of the work churning up the dirt was over.

The dirt is SO soft and rich! And it smells wonderful!
So, after some rejoicing and playing in the dirt, we got to work building rows for our strawberry plants. Did I forget to mention what we were planting? Strawberries. We bought 100 plants from a fellow land owner in our ward that was putting in 300 of her own this same weekend.

They are beautiful. They were mostly just roots at this stage, but there was a bit of a sprout on the crown, so hopefully they will flourish in their new home and we'll have strawberries galore in a few months!

James getting ready to help Dad make some rows.
The kids helped me carefully plant the baby strawberries.
There they are!
Giving them a good drink.

After our hard work, we cooked some sausage over a fire and then roasted a few marshmallows as a treat to top off the evening. Ah, love the ranch!

Thankfully, we've had enough rain around here lately that the burn ban has been lifted.
Mallow Roasting.
It is possible there were a few casualties...

EggMania!

We are FINALLY rollin' in the eggs! We average about 3 a day now (from our 8 chickens). However, of those 8, I think only 4 of them are producers. Two of the baby chicks haven't started laying yet - and 2 of the older chickens are just plain lazy! hehe

We have had two days where we've gotten a quad (4 eggs in one day!) That was amazing.

Since taking this picture, we have started into another dozen carton. There are about 5 in it currently! Time to make some egg and cheese breakfast taco's!!! Yum!

The darndest thing has happened the last few days. We are getting eggs that look like they have been put through a stretcher. I'm not sure if this is just a fluke - or if one of the older chickens that hasn't produced in a while has started up again. It's a mystery - but the eggs crack me up! (No pun intended!)

What is up with that egg?
It won't even fit in the carton!!

The Dining Room

It's done! And, I love it! I chose the Princeton Gold for the walls, and it turned out better than I even imagined! It is a perfect match to the clock, the curtains and the new chandelier! What's better - JL even likes it! So much so, that I think we're going to use the left over gallon for his office!


More Before Pictures Here

And After....

Cowboys and Ropers

Our first Christmas on the ranch was wonderful!

Monster Buck Visited
James Cowboy getting ready to rope him some animals.
Wyatt wanted to help
We went out early one morning to feed animals. The kids toddled out in their PJ's to help. Wyatt found a puddle to toss a few rocks into.
Soon his brother was helping him. Notice how James can't leave the house without his cowboy hat?
The sky was SO blue on this day! I couldn't get over how beautiful it was!

Izzy and Dad watching and waiting while our brisket smoked
Latest past-time: having races on the ranch. Isabel is going to be a marathon runner, I think!
June Bug is getting more and more comfortable with her new surroundings.
Perhaps a bit TOO comfortable!
We saddled her up on Saturday for a ride. The ground had finally dried out a bit and she was ready to go!
Izzy picking a few flowers
The rest of the gang.

We all like to try James' new lasso. Here I am giving it a try!



Every day I feel blessed that this is our life.