This is my Dad... What can I say... He is the greatest man alive..... I can remember when I was small, I ran over his broken leg with my new tricycle. Boy was he upset... But he still loved me..... He use to travel with his job and only be home on weekends. I can remember when he did come home all weekend we would do projects of some sort, which I always thought was fun. He slept until 9:00 and then we would go jump on the bed and drive him crazy until he eventually got up.. I remember sitting on the bathroom cabinet helping him shave. I remember he would let me fix his hair with barrets and hair spray... Now what a cool dad to let me do that..... One time we were camping and my sister and I caught dad taking a snooze and we got a hold of the grapes and started putting them all over him, including stuffed in his belly button... Oh my those were the days... I remember going to cut wood for the winter. He would share his black coffee (yuck), which I didn't really like, but because he shared it with me I thought it was so special and drank it up like it was sweet tea.... I was so proud when he would go to my basketball games and track meets. I would look up in the stands and see him, and just be thrilled he was there. Then when he would take me fishing. Oh my goodness, I almost couldn't wait to get out the door with Dad.... I was in trouble one time for something I am sure my sister did and not me (LOL) and he got the belt out and was going to give me a woopn', well I tried running into the bathroom and locking the door. Let's just say I never ran from dad ever again after that one... OUCH!!! One time he took me to T or C with him when I was a teenager. It was so cool... We stayed in a motel and went fishing and ate out. Just he and I..... I thought I was pretty special for sure.. Through all my crazy teenage years he still loved me even though I was a Copenhagen (Nasty stuff) chewing, wild, crazy teenager... He always loved me and I always new it. I can never remember my Dad not loving me. Through the spankings and the talks, I could always see the love in his eyes for me. I was so sad when I would let him down. I wanted to be the best daughter ever... Of course I always thought I was the favorite.... Probably because my sister moved away so I was like the only one there.... Or maybe it was because I WAS his favorite...... LOL... Well he is the best dad and I love him with all my heart. As I have gotten older I see how important that my Dad is to my life. I love him...
Most of you know Adam..... He turned 17 in May. What a kid. I can't believe how time has past. It seems like it was just yesterday when he was smashing my flowers in the front yard, writing with markers all over his bedroom wall, sneaking into the candy jar.... I remember buying him happy meals and trying to get him to eat it because he was so excited about playing on the play yard at McDonalds... I was going through my cedar chest the other day and found his old blankie... OK some of you, don't mention to Adam you know about his blankie..... He also had a stuffed animal cow named Emily... She had a bit of a broken neck and her eyeballs all scratched off from washing and playing.... Now he has bigger and better toys, like guitars, a jeep, IPods..... He is such a special boy. He loves me dearly and I know it. He tries to make me happy all the time...He thinks of me, most of the time, first.... Now how many of you can say that.... Yes, I am a proud mom for sure. He has so much to look forward to, like college, career, great opportunities with life, and yes girls... That one I choose to not think about too often... He is so awesome with older people. He always has been. One of his best friends is in his 90's. Most older folk just tolerate a teen, but with Adam they seem to actually enjoy his visits.... I get a kick out of watching him with different ages. The girls his age, well lets just say awkward. Around his siblings, he is just out right impatient and annoyed most of the time. With Jack, his ol' pal he is just absorbing his wisdom. He is very respectful to all, even when he doesn't want to be. That, I have to say is more than I could do.. He is so special to me. I love him with all my heart and my prayer for him is to enjoy everyday life. Never to doubt himself. Always have faith and go with God and serve him well. God made a special kid here and I hope I have raised him the way God wanted. He is truely a special boy and I am so proud of him. Although he has told me that he is sick of goats and WILL NOT be milking for me... We will see who wins this battle??!! He loves me...He WILL milk.... Well enough bragging about the greatest kid alive, aside from my other 4 children whom are totally cool....... I will get off of my soap box and get on with my cleaning. God Bless!
Well most of you know that we homeschool. Sometimes, it is hard to get Brand to do his work. He would rather be outside like most of us would. So, I decided to bring him on out...... He got his work done in no time and off to the playing he went. We are so blessed to have land, animals, and freedom that most who live in town don't have. I hated it out here 4 years ago. I WAS NOT going to live out here in the flatlands with all this alkali dirt, wind and rattlesnakes.. NO WAY... Well here it is and 2 more kids and over 4 years later and I would not move for nothing.... I have realized over the last years that sometimes God knows what you need, not you..... I groaned, complained, whined......... And now I love it here. I love the land, I can see the beautiful sunsets every evening. I can hear the quiet that one doesn't have in town. I can hear the wind blow in the salt cedars and it almost makes a beautiful song. John even killed our first rattler the other day and it didn't even bother me and I still walk out there barefoot... I love our little zoo that we have and I love raising our children out of town. God was blessing me the whole time and I was too caught up in what "I" wanted to realize what he was giving me. Now some can't see what I see. That is because God only shares the special things like this with his special child... One that has grown in him and can truely love ALL things he has given me... God Bless
This is Shi and her hen "Opal"... She loves this poor girl to death.. Literally. She walks behind her real slow and then eases up on her and grabs a tail feather (or two), and then slowly grabs the rest of her... Opal never makes a sound... She goes just about every where with Shi... I think Shi thinks she is her baby (doll).... The poor ol' girl just sits there with her mouth wide open, can't even work up even a cluck, by then end of the day... Shi even puts her in the swing. Lord only knows what is going on in Opals head. I am sure she is thinking, either this kid is trying to kill me or she just doesn't even care..... The other Rooster (Willy) and hen (Hazel) just look up and walk away. They don't even care at all... What is wrong with them???? Poor Opal needs rescueing.. CHICKENS and CHILDREN, they are too funny to watch... I can't figure out what is going on in either of there minds... Or why they do the things they do.. I have been missing the tops off of my green bean plants and couldn't figure out what was going on. I put the powder bug stuff on them and it was still happening. Lo' and behold one day I see Mr. Willy Rooster sticking his head through the fence eating them.... UGHHHHHH !!!!! Now you know what I was thinking...... Need I say more. He is still around eating the edge of my garden... I kinda gave up on the garden idea anyhow... Maybe next year...... Well off I go to milk my goat.. God Bless...
I have been so busy lately that I haven't had time to BLOG!!! It seems that summer brings more chores and somehow more animals. We are up to 4 horses, a donkey (that is totally cool), 6 goats, 10 geuineas ( actually not sure how many of those are left, one of the dogs decided she likes to eat them), 6 dogs, 2 hens and a rooster. Not only are my days filled with chores and children but now my wonderful husband gets a discount at work so we have fencing and building happening as well.. I put a garden in this year for the first time. Some of it is growing and some not. This soil is so bad I can't imagine why anything would grow.... I am still trying to get the grass and tree's going as well. I am still doing school with Brand since he needs to start 2nd grade in August. Yes we are about a month behind schedule. Of course all the other kiddo's do school as well just not as much as Brand.. My Dad had heart surgery last week in Phoenix and is doing well. He got released from the hospital today and now it in a motel/apartment for this week. Something about he can't leave the valley and go to higher ground or his lungs may burst.. Yikes for sure... He is filling much better now that he is out of the hospital though. Shiloh had her appt with the eye doctor a few weeks ago and she can see 14ft now. Praise GOD!! She is legally not blind anymore. Yipee.. Although the dr. did say that if she were 16 she could get her drivers license. Now that is one scarey thought... They give licenses to people who can only see 14ft.. OMG!!! LOOK OUT NM..... The coolest thing that I have done in the last few weeks in milk a goat. And I must say I was ALMOST good at it... LOL... Now I gotta get me one....... Brand is a professional milker also... He was pretty proud too.. What a kid.. Well this is kinda ramblin', but just needed to catch ya'll up on some of the happenings going on at the sturzoo.... I promise to be better in the coming weeks... I have taken some cool pictures recently so will start my saga again soon. The kids are always cracking me up, in more ways than one... God Bless!!
