Weekend, Thus Far

 Peter and Christian were supposed to go camping this weekend, but due to craaaazy wind and a forecasted chilly night, they decided to do a day hike at the Canyon, and they also hiked Red Butte (pronounced like you're starting to say beauty...., for those of you who aren't familiar with such a land formation... :) ) Anyway, they had a great time and wrapped it up with fajitas (apparently just disassembled carne asada burritos with peppers added) at Tacos Los Altos. Still sounds tasty to me.

 I'm pretty glad I wasn't there, 'cause I would've freaked out a little about where Peter's standing, which is kind of close to the edge of the cliff in this next picture...

The Boids are 3 weeks old now... remember when we first got them, they could fit their head AND wings through these little holes in their enclosure? Time flies when you're having fun...or sitting around doing nothing but getting fat... These birds seriously have no ambition or curiosity outside of their food.

Peter, to Elijah: Mama and Daddy are taking me and Anne to a dance...you wouldn't want to go- there's going to be lots of girls there, and probably smooching.

(What?! They must've gotten this idea from watching Enchanted)

Elijah: Oh. I'll just stay here with Grandma.

 Polka-ing Peter

 The kids had a blast at the dance! When we were driving home, I asked them how it was different than what they were expecting...

Peter: Oh, I was so glad. I thought it was going to be, like, you know, ballet.

Anne: I was nervous 'cause I thought there would be lots of strangers, and I was kind of scared that some guy might sweep me up (she's heard the phrase 'sweep her off her feet' and didn't know what it meant, other than it often happens at balls...). :)

 

 The next batch of seedling to be put out are growing in soil blocks- the same soil they'll be planted into (hopefully tomorrow, now that the wind has died down!)- and hopefully they'll fare better than other seedlings? These ones are the squash/melons/cucumbers, I think.

The "Farm"

Finally got out the camera, but the old one- sorry for the quality. But hey, I'm not a photographer anyway- lots of other things, but not a photographer. :)

 Hot day, full term, full coat of hair- you'd look like this, too.

 This is big for Tirzah- she is still kind of traumatized from all of Bailey's jumping on her, so she doesn't really like going close to animals. She WANTS to, but freaks out very easily.

 Unlike Berea, who is good and bossy, yet still friendly.

Christian put this shelter together pretty quickly and built a little shelf for it, which Belle has taken over. I think Nellie's just feeling too fat to even try.

 Jumping up for kisses.

 Nellie got her first dairy shave today (not a very good job, I admit- but better than nothing). This will make it easier to clean up after kidding and help keep dirt and hair from getting in the milk, if she ever lets me milk her. Over all, she did marvelously for her first time on the milk stand to get her shave. Christian surprised me yesterday by bringing home the milk stand- I wasn't expecting him to have time to do it until Friday! I feel much better having shaved her, though. Maybe this evening or tomorrow we'll tackle some hoof trimming, though I'm a little intimidated by the prospect. They're so wiggly and the hooves are so thick!

 Christian's making the shelter more weather-proof. Hopefully it'll be a comfortable place for kidding!

Belle makes a dive for the drill. She tried the screws yesterday and didn't approve.

 We're trying to be extra friendly with Nellie so she'll get used to our hands touching her all over- with the end result of some good milk! (yes, I've tried raw goat's milk- and it's great!)

 The goats kept squeezing into the chicken coop to ransack the chicken feed, which is bad for them (and our budget!), so we had to partially bury this cement block in front of the doorway to keep them out.

 The importance of strong fences...

 Preening chicken. They're so funny when they fluff out their feathers. Not nearly as funny as when they take dirt baths, though.

 Daddy has a couple of good helpers!

Yeah, We're Crazy

What a weekend! 

Friday night we had Kale'a come have a "slumber" party with her cousins. They are officially in top form for girls, staying up way past their bedtime talking!

Saturday afternoon we went to some people's house to look at their goat (in our quest to start a family "dairy"). They had quite the menagerie in their backyard- 4 goats, ducks, chickens, a miniature horse, a gosling, and an alpaca! The goat we were looking at was pretty timid and would only run away from people. But she was in milk already, which was a plus. We left there with chewed up skirts and the fun barnyard smell still lingering to go to our nephew's 1st birthday party!

When we got home in the evening, I made my customary glances through craigslist posting in 3 different cities and saw an ad I hadn't seen before- for two bred does that had been used often in petting zoos and enjoyed people- in the breed we wanted (nigerian dwarf)- and for a good price! Well, these girls happened to be in Tempe- about 3 hours away. But our favorite Auntie Faith and Uncle Gary were coming to visit the next day and they had a truck...so....we made some calls and they picked up the does last night!

P.S. The chicks are now two weeks old and I'm feeling less attached to them every day. I'm pretty sure that's good. 

Sunday. Church. Stopped by CalRanch to pick up some alfalfa. Home for lunch. Decorated for my mom's beach/Hawaii theme birthday party. (This is really big for me. Generally I hang a sign and call it good. Just watching other people put on big "themey" parties makes me tired. I feel very crafty. But with a mom like mine, it's a pleasure to branch out every now and then. :) )

We can't remember when the last time we celebrated her birthday with her was! Probably high school! Everybody showed up and we had fun opening presents and eating REAAALLLY yummy cake (I can't take much credit- it wasn't my recipe, and I didn't dare make any changes- I don't generally have much luck with cakes).

 The birthday gal!

 Oh. Wow. Hot stuff right here. ;) Haha!

 Can't wait to meet the little dude next month!!!!

After most of the festivities were done, Faith and Gary showed up with the girls! For some reason we only have pictures of one. The white one is Belle (she's a first-time mom, due in about a month, so we hear). The black one is Nellie and is due in about a week or two! Hopefully the elevation change doesn't make her go into labor early!

After the BBQ and just about everyone had left, the eclipse started! In this shot, if you look closely, you can actually see the craters in the moon! Super end to a super day!

Oh yes, and we're hampster-sitting Sammy for a couple months. :)