Busy Life

We've had a busy last few days.
Thursday we went and got a piece of junk...A treasure for Koda to scavage and tear parts off of.
We also hit the Zoo.
It was fun.
Friday was graduation.
My baby brother graduated, along with my baby sister in law.
It was fun.
Windy, but fun.
Saturday we went to my cousin's graduation BBQ.
That was fun seeing everyone.
Today, I'm staying home.
I'm tired.
Also in other news.
We ran out of pull-ups.
Maybe we'll get this potty thing figured out now

Have a fun relaxing day.
I am.

Animal Abuse

As I sit here and fight the sleep from my eyes, I stumble upon a post that touches my heart.
This is how I feel.
It makes me sick that animal abuse is so widely spread.
But good animal husbandry is dismissed and ignored, by the larger public.
Please read her post.
I CARE about Animal Abuse
It's true 95% of ranchers and farmers do the right thing and go to the extreme sometimes of keeping their animals alive.

I've been raised with lambs, calves, chicks, puppies, kittens, all in the mudroom of my mothers house when they weren't doing good or needed a warm place to stay.
And my mother doesn't allow any animal in the house...believe me.

Example:
A couple of years ago my dad had a calf that had a messed up/broken back.
He fed that calf night and morning on the bottle.
Made sure it had fresh hay and water.
He helped that calf survive to be 6 months old.
Then the calf decided to pass on.

Is that animal abuse or is that pure love?
95% of ranchers are like this.
We don't beat our animals.
We don't starve our animals.
We don't abuse our animals.
They are our lively hood.
We love them just as if they were our own children.

Just a thought.
Oh and guess what, all our calves so far are red, except one white one...interesting huh?
Have a good one!

Reasons to HATE night shift

Its hard going to sleep when your man is gone

Therefore

I'm up to late

Reading, blogging, Facebooking, surfing, movie watching, sewing, to-do listing, housework, texting

Or all of the above

Not a smart thing seeing how I have

A newborn

A teething toddler

And 3 early risers

Sleep is a must when you have a child

Times that by three equals more sleep needed, but not gotten usually

So its 9:30 pm now

I'm feeding the baby

The princesses are asleep

I'm going to bed
Hopefully I'm able to sleep and not stay up to late reading
The curse of a good book
:)
Oh and the biggest reason to hate nightshift
It's Lonley

Hope your nights are better and if you haven't enjoyed the wonders of night shift...hope you never do.
ON another note, Isn't this just sweet?

Nighty-Night-Night

PS only took me an hour to upload this pic...UGH

Simpler Life

Ahhh...My life has been so much simpler since I've gotten this in my house.

Running Water.

Oh man, you have no idea how nice it is until you have to go without.
Seriously four months of having to haul water in 6 gallon jugs.
Boiling water before I wash my dishes by hand.
Hauling my laundry to my mom's every week.
Showering at unsuspecting peoples houses.
Yep that was the good life....haha NOT!

I'm living the good life now.
I got this for my birthday.

Yep, my husband did good (especially for not remembering it was the big day, until 3 that afternoon).

Also I love being able to use this, which has been sitting un-used for a good while now.

Yep life is really good now, oh and so much simpler.

It's like I have all this free time on my hands.

Which means I have more time to watch and clean up after this.

Yes I think she's adorable too! Even with a chocolate beard I'll keep her.

Have a great day and eat some yummy chocolate and see if you look good with a chocolate beard too!
:)

Sheep Doggies

Its Farm Fact Friday, today we are going to go to a sheep operation and learn about some working animals!

On many Range Sheep operations, (sheep operations that run all over the country side and rangeland. Here in the basin most operations have winter country, which is the desert or the low ground and then summer country which is up in the mountains, and spring and fall are spent moving from low ground to high ground.)

Since range sheep operations are ran over mostly unfenced public and private lands they require a herder to watch over the sheep and make sure they are not overgrazing the land and they are staying healthy. Sound like an ideal summer job? On a horse every day, living out of a sheep camp with a wood stove, nothing but your sheep, dogs, and horse for company, for very low wages?

A very helpful and needed animal needed in a sheep operation are a dog or usually dogs.

First there is the herd dogs, usually numbering around two or three per herd. These dogs help to keep the sheep grouped together and helps the herder keep the sheep out of dangerous places, ie: the roads.

These dogs are usually a border collie breed or another herding dog breed. They are usually very friendly, but some are standoffish.

Then many operations have guard dogs that actually stay and live with the sheep to protect them. A breed that is used is Great Pryneess (Don't know if spelt right). These dogs are raised with sheep from the time they are pups and the sheep accept them and ignore them. Notice the sheep in the background of this picture with the puppies?

They keep predators from attacking the sheep and will even keep unkown humans from approaching the sheep. There are other animals that are used for sheep protection such as mules, donkeys, and/or lamas. In the old days that is why many sheep herders had mules or donkeys, was for protection for the sheep. If you happen to be driving and see one of these dogs just walking around, then you will most likely happen to see some sheep close by.

These dogs are working and should be left alone. They are protective animals and if you let them do their job, they'll pay you no never mind. Some of these dogs are also very friendly. If you encounter a friendly one, just ignore it, they are not pets they are working animals and need to be treated as such.

Thanks for stopping by and learing about Sheep Doggies Today! Check back next Friday for another fun fact.

Thanks to my sister and mother for taking such wonderful photos!

Storm, Girls, Phones, and Water

Oh my the last few days have been not fun.
All this storming going on, turning my mile long drive way into a mud hole.
Seriously.
Not letting the girls go out to much.
For they come back as mud monsters.
Phone and internet switching companies.
Ugh still crappy if not crappier serivce in our hole of the world.
Thinking of changing companies.
Especially when I think it will be about sixty dollars cheaper.
I just need to go and do it.
With three children I'm hesitant.
They'd probably throw me out of the place with the devil's my girls have turned into.
I thought the second child had to be tough.
Haha.
Melody is going to be super tough.
I'm hoping its just the storm and once its gone my house will return back to some sort of normalcy.
I'm really needing to sew.
Kinda backlogged on my projects.
I don't want to.
But I've set aside today to sew.
And here it is noon thirty and I'm blogging.
Hmmm.
Haven't even gotten my sewing machine out yet.
Well, if you have nothing better to do today you should check out this blog Pionneer Woman
Its great.
Just finished her book.
Black Heels to Tractor Wheels.
It was great.
Ok, I'm going to go sew now.
After I take the bucket away from Daisy that I can hear her filling up with water in the bathroom right now.

See you, Hope you have a fun filled day, with less water then mine is involving!

The Oldest Turns 3

Yesterday was my daughters 3rd birthday.

Amazing.

She's grown up so much.

From this:

To This:

I've changed alot too, though.

She is defintaly the child that makes me want to pull my hair out the most.
But then she smiles with her wild hair do.
And she's forgiven.
She's such a girl but a huge tomboy.
I don't know anyone else who can wear a tutu princess dress, high heels to big for your feet, with a crown.
And still run down the muddy road to go help change water.
Can you?
I can't.
I can't do it in tennis shoes and levis.
Oh but I did just give birth two weeks or so ago.
That's my excuse.
So today we are in the aftermath of partying.
Yep, all three...I mean four are asleep right now.
So I'm being lazy and sitting her eating pizza and frosting.
SHH don't tell anyone.
I'm really folding laundry, or I will be soon.

Have a great day Ya'll!

Menu Plan Monday

Here it is Monday again and its time to party in our household. Today is my oldest's birthday. The big number three. Happy Birthday my Daisy Mae!

Last week, I tried a few new reciepes. Yep still looking for that perfect Mac'n Cheese dish, Chicken and Rice dish, and even a great homemade BBQ sauce.

I also did all my preparing last Monday for the week. And I'm here to report I LOVED IT!!!
It cut down on my dishes for one thing. It was also nice, cause It'd come around five or six I go to get dinner ready and all the prep work was done! I didn't have to change my dinner plans, for I had already gotten them prepared, they just needed cooked. I also didn't have to go to my storage unit, very often, since I did all my "shopping" on Monday. Like I said, I loved it. But because of partying today and Koda going on night shift, I'm going to have to change my preparing for this week to tommorrow. But that's ok, you learn that quickly has a mom, flexibility is a must.

So onto my menu plans for the week.

MONDAY: PIZZA PIZZA PIZZA and CAKE'n ICE CREAM. YUMMM!!!

TUESDAY: Beef Stew

WEDNESDAY: Lasagna...Didn't have it last week, since I had none of the right cheeses so we had spaghetti instead, and we'll have lasagna this week.

THURSDAY: Extreme Nachos...Husband wants them, so we'll have them

FRIDAY: Hot Dog Delight...my own reciepe, very good, the name doesn't do it justice

SATURDAY: BBQ Chicken

SUNDAY: Sweet and Sour Pork...Husband doesn't care for this type of food much, but he eats it for me.

What's your plans for this week???
Link up here at Organizing junki.

I am a Survivor!

Today I went shopping with all three girls.
We survived.
Even came home happy and had naps.
It was great.
I think I've found a little trick.
Between the two stores I shop normally.
Take a trip to the park after lunch.
But have a snack (candy) waiting to lure them back into the truck.
No fits.
No tears.
Even listened (mostly) in the stores.
Yep it was successful.
:)

Farm Fact Friday

What color of milk does this cow make?

Nope Not Chocolate or Brown

White milk is what this cow produces just like every other cow that roams this earth.

Want to know more about different Types of dairy cows?

I'm going to be doing a new feature called Farm Fact Friday.

It's amazing the misconceptions that are out there about agriculture.

Let me know what you think.

Menu Plan Monday

My life has made some changes these past two weeks.
A new baby.
Running Water.
So now I get to stay home and do my laundry on Mondays.

So nice.

I've decided to implement another change this week.

Over at Organizing Junkie, she does a link party called Menu Plan Monday. We all link up and share what we are eating that week.

Here's my menu for the week.

MONDAY: Tater Tot Casserole & Brown Sugar Carrotts. I'm very use to doing slow cooker reciepes on Mondays, so I suppose I'll keep with the trend.

TUESDAY: BBQ Pork Ribs and Green Bean Casserole. Two of my favorite dishes and very easy to do.

WEDNESDAY: Lasagna and green salad. Something I actually craved through my pregnancy and still do!

THURSDAY: Smothered Chicken and Rice and Broccoli. I found this recipe online...sorry I can't remember where, but it sounds great. I've tried different chicken and rice recipes and still looking for the family favorite for our household.

FRIDAY: Steak, Tators and Gravy. We are beef ranchers, better eat beef sometime right?

SATURDAY: Slow Cooker Mac'n Cheese with hot dogs. I have to have a kid favorite meal this week right? Plus another easy one with the slowcooker in use.

SUNDAY: Roast and Veggies. Got to have a good Sunday meal, plus the leftovers work great for other meals next week. Double Bonus.

Come check out the other fun Menu's for this week at Organizing Junkie.

The other fun change this week. I'm going to do most of my perparing today. So there all ready to go and all I have to add is the finishing touches on the day we eat. Wish me luck!

I now have running city water in my house.

And I like it.

Two Destructive Forces Hit Home

This morning my little munchkins have been so good. Playing in their room and getting along. Its been nice, so I've just left them alone.

Well I eventually heard Page start screaming, went in and lets just say tornados Daisy A and Page L have hit our house recently.

Miss Melody

Thursday, April 28th our newest little angel arrived.

It was a long time coming. I started having contractions Easter Sunday, went in and got sent home; Early Labor. Well I kept having these contractions on and off. We seen the doctor on Wednesday and asked if I could be induced. Koda had been off work and just hanging around just in case. We didn't dare start working on our water line, in case she showed up in the middle of the project, so it was just waiting. And my patience was GONE. Dr. B was also leaving the next day for like five days and I wanted him to be there to deliver me.

Well by the end o the day, I was scheduled to go in at seven the next morning to be induced. Next morning about five thirty I get a call, telling me that during the night all the labor rooms had filled up and to call back about nine to see when to go in. So we waited, I called, and I could get right in. Now of course it took us a hour and half to get there.

So ten twenty I was in the labor room, hooked up and ready to go. Twelve thirty came along and Dr. B came and checked me and broke my water. An forty five minutes later the epidural finally showed up I was hurting pretty good by then. Two o'clock came along and I was wanting to push pretty badly. The epidural still hadn't quite taken full effect by then. Dr. B was able to get there and deliver me, although it was scheduled for Dr. A to do it. They figured that it would take a lot longer then two hours to get her here. I suppose it was a good thing we had me induced cause I figure if I hadn't and Koda was still at work, there is no way he would've gotten there in time for the delivery.

So we had our Melody Belle at 2:23 pm Thursday April 28th. She weighed in at 7 lbs 10 oz and a length of 19.5 inches and has a ton of hair.

Daisy is captivated by her and wants to help me do everything if it includes "Mellie". Page is a little more skeptical and has realized she's not the baby anymore and is turning into a regular toddler with tantrums being thrown over the littlest things. My sweet little baby girl is growing up, but I guess that happens, especially when you get a new baby in the house. One thing I was shocked by was how big Page actually was, its amazing, she isn't a baby. Haha funny I know. We are glad Melody is here and even though I'm a little more stressed out now, we'll someday figure it out.

The three girls

It really does happen three napping at once

Daisy and Melody

Daisy and Melody

Dad entertains the girls