Happy Birthday Amanda!

 Yay for birthdays! We love celebrating Amanda! She likes to make her own cake, but we let her pick her Sunday birthday dinner. She wanted Mark's smoked turkey, and my mashed potatoes. Her actual birthday was on a Monday, so we took her to Olive Garden and did presents that evening.

Cutest birthday girl with her funfetti cake!

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Yum!

Olive Garden and presents!

St. Patrick's Day

 We had our St. Patrick's Day diner on Sunday this year so Sawyer and Amanda could be here. It's the one time each year we get corn beef and cabbage, and everyone in our family really likes it.

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We had Mason and Nora here for it this year!

Amanda is the best dessert maker. I love just about every treat she makes, but I have a few of my all time favorites. These are on that list. These mint cookies are so freaking good! She made them last year for St. Patrick's Day, and now she's gonna be stuck making them every year because we all love them!

We also celebrated with a little bit of barn festivities.

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Cooking Through the States: March

 We're still cooking through the states, and March was West Virginia. This was our favorite one so far. The foods we picked definitely didn't go together, but we didn't care. West Virginia is most known for their pepperoni rolls. I was excited to give those a try. They are also well known for their biscuits and gravy, and any excuse we have to make biscuits and gravy, we're definitely gonna take. The dessert from there that Amanda made was sho fly pie. None of us had ever heard of it before, and it sounded weird, but that's the whole point of cooking through the states, so we gave it a try.

Like always, the biscuits and gravy were a big hit with this crew.

The pepperoni rolls ended up being bomb! So good, and so easy to make. These will be made quite often around here from now on.

The pie was a molasses kind of thing. We didn't hate it, but it's not one any of us care to have again. 

Next month is Washington! This one will be a little out of my comfort zone, so stay tuned.

Nora Visits

Mason finished up a work project so he had to come back to the office to get started on another one. Each time he has to do that, I get Nora all to myself for a couple days. It's my favorite thing EVER! We had a great couple days!

They got here on a Sunday evening, so they got to see Sawyer and Amanda too. We ate dinner, and then went out to the barn so everyone could see the chicks. 

So happy that Nora got to meet the chicks she named while they were still tiny.

She did really good holding them!

Nora and Aunt Noo Noo.

She got so good holding the babies chicks, she went straight for the big ones! Fern is the best chicken, and was happy to get held by Nora. They became fast friends.

Nora loves feeding Dolly each time she visits.

Ace had a bath, so she even got to go in and pet him.

Nora brought up a stack up books for Uncle Squiggy to read, and he did not disappoint! 😆

Nora went to bed before Sawyer and Amanda left, so she woke up the next morning expecting them to still be here. She grabbed the sticker that Amanda gave her, and was on her way up the stairs to have Sawyer read her more books when I had to break the news to her that they weren't here anymore. 😢

Monday we built a farm out of our new magnetic tiles.

We did some puzzles until Floof drove us nuts.

Nora helped me with the middle of the day animal check.

I had to look in a box I had stored here for Bailey because she needed something I thought might be stored in it. Nora found FOYC, a giraffe Mason gave to Bailey for her 16th birthday. She quickly claimed it as her own.

Nora and I made St. Patrick's Day crack. It was easy enough that she could do most of it herself, and it turned out super yummy!

Here's a video of Nora laying out all the crackers on a sheet pan.

We poured over the topping that we melted on the stove, and Nora was in charge of adding the white chocolate chips.

I told her that she could do the sprinkles however she wanted. 😳😂

We packed up some St. Patrick's Day treats and took them over to our neighbor Larry. Larry's wife passed away a few months back and Larry has started going through all the quilts and blankets she had made. Nora came back with a big panda blanket. She was thrilled!

So cute!

That evening the Women's Run was at the farm. We ran a 4 miles loop and then came back for St. Patrick's Day pictures and animal snuggles. Nora was so excited to meet Gram's friends. She showed them how to do the booth with all the animals. 😁

On Tuesday we got up, got ready, and headed to the Artitorium for a couple hours of activities. So fun!

She's the cutest!

Here is a little bit of what the Artitorium was like. We had so much fun!

They had the coolest area where you picked a sea creature to color and name. They had sea horses, turtles, fish, rays, etc. Once you colored it, you went and put your picture on a machine, and then you watched the giant screen to see what you made start swimming around in the ocean. I could have sat there making stuff all day.

We did a real quick one so I could film to show Bailey and Mason.
This is Fred.

Nora is taking Fred to the ocean now.

I wish I would have filmed more of them!

She made a cute little friend! He goes there all the time so he showed her how to do things and went down the slide with her a lot.

After lunch and a nap, Nora helped me feed the animals and do the evening chores. Fern LOVES Nora and followed her around everywhere. Fern was constantly at Nora's feet, and I'm pretty sure Nora was getting annoyed. She would walk away to a different part of the barn, and Fern would follow right behind her and then just stare up at her. I was dying! 😂

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This was a constant thing!

That evening we got a back porch visit from Cheddar. Every once in a while he'll come meow for a snack and hang out on the porch. Floof and Michem sit at the door and watch him like they're at the movies. Nora joined them that night. 😆

She even got to go out and pet him for a few minutes.

I usually push Nora around the house in the car, and then Nora pushes the cats around in the car. They just hop in and wait for their ride. 😂

When it was time for Mason and Nora to head back to Boise, she gave the cats some good bye hugs. They are always so sad to see her go. They love having a play friend for a few days.

It was a fun couple days, and I'm already planning stuff for the next time she comes!

March Adventures

Not a lot of outdoor adventuring for me this month. I mostly ran on the treadmill and did a weight program. I did get out a few times with friends though, and every time made we excited for summer adventure.

The Butte:

I met these lovely ladies at the Butte one morning before the sun even came up. This group of ladies give me motivation when I can't seem to find my own.

Ashlee-Becky-Jenn-Michelle-Tricia-Ashley

Love that Teton view!

Joyce came down to see the chicks, and we ran my neighborhood loop twice for an 8 miler.

Sunnyside:

Jenn and I met some ladies for an early morning run up Sunnyside. The others were going on a 25 miler, but I just wanted 13 miles. Jenn and I just hung with hem as long as we could up Sunnyside, and then we turned around just past the dump and headed back down the hill.

Women's Runs:

A cold loop around the greenbelt.

A nice evening with mild weather on the canal path. We're loving that it's staying light for longer.

The St. Patrick's Day women's Run was at the farm. We did the 4 mile loop around my area in crappy weather. It was raining and that turned into sleet and snow. We were drenched when we got back to the barn. But then we played with all the animals, so we didn't care about being wet anymore. 😁

Willow was a pro at the booth like always.

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Tillie and Fern loved all the attention. They are always a big hit!

Opal was darling in her St. Patrick's Day finery.

Even Dolly got in on the action, and seemed to love getting spoiled by the ladies.

I had a big end of the month adventure down in Zion National Park, but I'm doing that as it's own big post. Not a lot outside this month, but we should be hitting the good spring season soon. 

Cider Bend-February

 February is a busy month on the farm with lots of visitors coming to do Valentine pictures with the animals. It's so fun!

Here is a reel of all my cute critters dressed up in their Valentine finery.

I wanted to have the pictures here on my blog as well, so here are a few of my favorites.

Dolly

Ginger

Roxie

Ace

Opal

Clover

Willow

Nobody can rock the tights quite like Willow!

Here is a reel of some of our guests that came to see the animals.

We had a couple weeks of some frigid temperatures in February.

All of our outside waters have heaters except for the cows. We can't run a cord to theirs. I spend a good portion of time checking waters and breaking up ice.

The young moose has been back. This isn't a good picture because he was at the very far end of the property, but we have seen his tracks go right through our backyard, and also between the back of the barn and the hay barn. I'm sure he is around a lot and we don't even realize it.

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Mark put a hand washing station in the barn, and it has been so nice.

After all the snow and ice, we had a few really warm days in February, and the farm turned into a huge mess! So much mud and flooding!

The water between the corrals and chicken coop came above my ankles.

Cats:

Floof and Michem have been great. They really are the most spoiled kitties!

I wish I could sleep as good as her.

This is what happens when I try to scrapbook.

This is when I try to organize and clean my book cabinets.

😂😂😂

The two outside cats have been doing great too. Cheddar hangs out here a lot more these days.

Cheddar even visits the back porch sometimes.

Stormy usually sleeps on all the blankets in the hay barn, and Cheddar likes the little bed.
This is what it looks like to be a stray that found the perfect farm to call home.

Donkeys:

Clover and Willow are still my very favorite. I just love them!

I fill their outside water with a bucket every morning and evening. Each morning when I bring the full bucket into the stall, they both have to take a big drink as I'm passing. They have an automatic waterer right in the corner of the. stall, but apparently my bucket water is way better.

Each time I walk out to the barn and I'm spotted by Clover, I get the cutest greeting. I wish I would remember to film her more often because I want to put a whole montage together. She's the cutest!

I love their little twitchy lips when they are waiting for a snack. I also love how Willow shoves Clover out of the way. 😆

I wish I would have started filming this earlier. It was so cute watching Clover follow right behind Willow step for step. 💗

Grateful that Cold Stone supplies us with all the buckets the donkeys could ever want.

I put together a whole reel of the donkeys trying to ruin each other's blankets. 😂

Cows:

Opal is the sweetest little thing. She just wants to be friends with everyone and play. No one was giving her the time of day.

Ace wants you to boop his snoot!

Opal watches Ace play with the ball, but she is never quite sure how to do it herself. She finally went for it, and was so proud of herself. Now she is constantly jumping on it.

The cows, especially Ace, love to run with me in the pasture. We do a lot of laps together. Mark thinks I'm crazy, because it can be a bit intimidating to see 400 pound Ace bearing down on you. He's just like a big dog though, and just wants to play.

Here's what it looks like from my point of view. 😆

By the end of each day, I definitely smell like a cow. They like to lick my clothes, Ace tries to eat my hair, and of course I can't resist snuggles. It's a unique smell, and not in a good way. 😅

Here's a reel I made that describes Mark and I perfectly! We've had this conversations and others like it so many time. 😂

Cute little Opal is always a mess after she eats. Her whole head and face are usually green. She went out in the rain right after she ate, and pretty much dyed her face green.

Goats:

I let Tillie and Fern out to wander around the barn while I do chores in the morning. I started noticing that Ginger and Fern were making friends through the gate. It's so cute! They will just stand together for the longest time. I finally let Ginger out to see if she would be nice to them. Ginger is kind of a brat, so I was skeptical, but she was really sweet. She seems to genuinely like them.

Chickens:

Tillie and Fern are the sweetest chickens. Even Mark can't resist carrying them around sometimes. 😁

I love Thursdays when the chicken coop and chicken run get all clean.

Here's a fun chicken tip:

We got 4 of our 7 baby chicks at the end of February. They are so cute and tiny! the two yellow ones are light brahmas and will be quite big. They should turn white. The two dark ones are Americanas. They will be similar to the Easter Eggers we already have.

We decided to let Nora name the 7 new chicks. So far the little yellow ones are Sage and Banana, and the dark ones are Meatball and Her-Hei. 😂 I can't wait to hear what else she comes up with.

That's about it for February. We'll be spending the next month gearing up for all the spring and summer farm projects we'll be tackling this year.