Our Louisiana Baby!!!

**This post didn't get posted yesterday when I wrote it.....what a crazy day it was!!!  More about that later!!

We are constantly talking about animals at our house!  I'm really not sure if we are normal.  Wait, what am I saying????  Of course we're not normal!  In fact this morning as Scott was leaving the house to go grocery shopping, Sabrina and I were huddled around my laptop looking at something.  He saw us and said, "Ok, you two are not to discuss animals, look at animals or go buy anything!"  Who says that to their wife???  Haha...

Craigslist is our friend.  We have found so many interesting critters on there!  For example, did you know that there is such a thing as mini bulls????  Seriously!!!  That's the most awesome sounding thing in the world!!!  Hahaha, and I love the mini donkeys!  They are a hoot!!

Anyway, for several weeks we have been looking for a Great Dane puppy!  We have searched breeders from all over the U.S.  There are some shady breeders out there and there are others that go way over the top on caring for their dogs!  When you are buying something sight unseen, it really makes you want to find just the right dog/breeder.  I'm all about personality.  I could care less about how great their markings are if they have a terrible personality.  When we finally found our "bayou baby", we loved her personality as well as her markings.  Her breeders were quite a hoot as well!  And the funniest thing is most people from the South had no idea where Idaho was!  Some lady in Texas was all, "Where ya'll from?"  Idaho, we told her.  "Where's that?  I ain't never heard a that place!  Is that over by Iowa or Illinois?"  Oh wow, lady.  There are 49 other states out there besides your great state of Texas!  You really should get out more!  Hahaha...

Anyway, after we finally found our new baby and made all the arrangements for her travel, we only had to wait a day for her to get here!

She was one scared baby when we met her at the airport.  She was shaking like a leaf!  She came home and met the other dogs and all the kiddos.  I think she was a little overwhelmed at the noise at first but she has adjusted amazingly well!  She is super sweet and has the best personality ever!!! 

We decided on Kenya for her name!!!

 Sabrina and Keyna!

 We do a lot of sitting on the floor with the puppies!  Haha...I LOVE her markings!!!  They are soooo cool!  Can't wait to see how they look when she grows into them!

Keyna and Sasha sleeping so sweetly.  I love that Keyna's paw is draped over Sasha.  They are good buddies!

Some Sad News.......

Life on the 'farm' isn't always happy.  Sometimes animals get sick....so sick that they have to be put down.  We had some very cold days the first part of the new year.  And then it was unusually warm for a few days and then it went very cold again.  That kind of weather wreaks havoc on baby calves.  Tommy's calf, Cody got very sick.  We treated him for pneumonia for days.  Unfortunately the damage to his lungs was irreversible.  He started getting very weak, couldn't eat, coughed continually, his eyes drained non-stop, he couldn't walk and was very depressed (yes, cows/bulls can get depressed when they are sick.  It's so sad). 

He got to the point where we knew he would not pull out of it.  He was suffering and needed to be put down.  That's the hardest decision for a child to understand.  It nearly broke Tommy's heart.  We knew it was for the best.  We knew it was the only option.

We found the best cattle vet around and he was there within the hour.  Even though I knew we were doing the right thing, watching a life being stopped is never an easy thing to witness.

We did a lot of talking over the next few days and even weeks.  There is still a little hole in Tommy's heart that will always be from losing his friend.

Hope to see you again someday, Cody!  Hope you are running wild and free for now!

And Then There Were 3!

Shortly after brining home our 2 mini's, we started the looooong process of finding a 'real' horse!  That took hours and hours of searching to find just the right one!  There are so many things to consider when buying a horse!  After weeks and weeks of looking at different horses, we found OKIE!!

 He is a beautiful boy!

 Love his markings!!!

 Sabrina and Okie!

Scott and his horse!!  They are quite a pair!  Okie is what you call an "in your pocket" horse.  He is right there, comes out to greet you in the field and the mini's love him!!  No, I mean they really LOVE him!!!   Haha....thank goodness he is a gelding!

Where Does The Time Go????

I should look back at my blog history and see how many times I have said this!  Every day I think, "Ok, today I will update my blog!"  And then.....life happens!  Haha, so much has happened but I will try to hit all the highlights!!

Shortly after Christmas, we decided to add to our animal family!  We decided on horses!  So much thought and planning went into our decision.  With all these little kids, we felt like we needed to start small......so we invested in two adorable mini's!

Peaches and Spring arrived!

 Jasmine on Spring!  She loves that baby!

 Spring as a baby!  Awww....She will be 1 in April!

Peaches is almost 2.  She will be big enough to pull a cart if we decide to train her.  Wouldn't that be cute??

Everyone is loving having these two cuties here!  They are so fun and quite a kick to watch run around the field.

Ok, there is our first update!  I will do separate posts so that they are not so long to read!!!  Stay tuned.....

Christmas 2011!

Well, as I was going through the pics on my camera I realized we didn't take very many pics this year!!!  What happened???  Aaaaahhhhhgggg!!!  Oh well, here are the few we have!

 All ready to dive into the presents!  Sierra and Slade are here!  They came with Sam and Colt!  Soooo fun having them with us again this year.

 The only thing Isaiah wanted from Santa was a John Deere tractor and a candy cane......and he wasn't disappointed!

 The newlyweds!!!

 Nana got a fridge for her room!

Miss Jazz got several princess dresses and accessories and proceeded to try them all on right smack in the middle of the chaos!  But she is such a little doll, no one cared!  Look at that smile!!!

We decorated cookies, delivered cookies, sang carols as we delivered cookies, sang at the nursing home where our grandmother/great grandmother lives (just moved here from Oregon!!), played football, sang carols together on Christmas Eve, ate cookies with our hot cocoa, played Xbox, hide-n-seek, watched Christmas movies, played board games, ate too much food and just enjoyed being together!!! 

Several times throughout the day on Christmas, I heard the words, "This is the BEST Christmas EVER!!!!"  I couldn't agree more! 

Hoping you all had a very Merry Christmas and best wishes for THE NEW YEAR!!! 

It's That Time Again!!

Saturday we were busy, busy, busy!  One of our many projects was turning our bulls into 'steers'!  Ouch.  And of course, I had to take the camera out with us.  But don't worry, all the pics are rated "E" for everyone!! 

This pic cracks me up!  Sabrina loves animals.  She will do just about anything that involves their care/feeding/cleaning....whatever!  But in this pic she was totally covering her eyes.  Some things you just don't want to see! 

 I love this pic!  I turned around from taking the first pic to see these 4 watching with pained expressions on their faces...mostly on the boys faces!!

 Going after the next victim calf!

 Getting the next one done!

Going after calf #3...who by the way, was on to Scott at this point!  He actually roped him!  Very impressive!  We all felt like real farmers for just a second!!  Haha....

Well, it's going to be a busy week of baking, cleaning and trying to keep kids busy!  



Ya Never Know!!!

Sometimes I love the pics that I find on my camera!  Usually taken by a small child, they can be quite entertaining!!  I was cleaning off the scan disk tonight and came across a few that I just had to share!

I had no idea what this was about.....until I saw the next pic....

 speechless.  Haha.....wish I had been there when it was taken!!

Awww, what a nice brother.  He totally has his paw around her!

LOVE!!!!  Jazz had taken my camera downstairs to Papa and Grandma's house tonight and when she came back upstairs, this is what I saw!!!

And of course, the cow pics.  I have five thousand pics of cows on my camera!!



Well, there you have it!  We are just that random over here!!!  Have a great weekend!!