Tuesday, July 11, 2023

Father's Day

We love celebrating Mark! I knew exactly what kind of dad I hoped our kids would have, and they got even better! He truly is the best! I hope our kids realize how lucky they are to have the kind of dad that is 100% involved and supportive of everything they do.

We celebrated Father's Day with dinner and presents at Sawyer and Amanda's house. Amanda made him fancy pigs in a blanket and homemade mac n cheese. We call it Mark's death row meal, because it's what he would choose for his last meal. He gets it on Father's Day and sometimes his birthday. Amanda classed it up a bit though. 😂 Dinner was followed with presents. Pistachios and an awesome shirt from Sawyer and Amanda, and a tree saw and Dude's Day in the Mountains from me! 

Pistachios have been his favorite since he was a teenager.

He had to pick out his own tree saw, so I needed something fun to surprise him with. He gets to spend a day on the 4 wheeler in the mountains with Phil and Eric. Lunch and dinner included!

His tree saw is awesome, and he used it for a huge project on the farm. That will be posted with the July Cider Bend post.


His shirt from Amanda. Hahaha, I love it!

Mark redeemed his gift in Ashton and Island Park. The guys had a great day, and so did the girls! Phil and Eric were in the razor, and Mark was on the 4 wheeler. First they rode to Ponds Lodge for lunch, making a few scenic stops along the way. Then they rode up Sawtell, and around Island Park. They covered 135 miles. When they got back, we had a steak dinner ready for them. So fun!

Eric-Phil-Mark

You will never meet three better men!
Warm River Butte

The view from Sawtell Peak.


On top of Sawtelle.

They saw two moose!

While the guys were out playing, Joyce, Steph, and I were having plenty of fun ourselves. We did a 6 mile walk/jog on Joyce's road. Then we took the e-bikes to Teardrop Lake. I've never ridden an e-bike, and I had so much fun! We did 24 miles, and at first I was thinking there was no way I could go 24 miles on a bike. I haven't really biked in years. But since we could go so much faster on the e-bikes, it was a breeze. On the way out, I didn't have the bike assist me very much. Then I went full assist most of the way back, and had a blast! I cruised up the hills, and at one point, Joyce and I got up to 35 miles an hour. So stinking fun!

The flowers on our walk.

Riding to the lake.

I thought the dirt road would be hard, but the bikes made it so easy!

Cute little lake. We're coming back up to kayak it.

Tricia-Steph-Joyce

Selfie with Joyce coming around the bend. 😂

It was a fun way to celebrate our guys! Happy Father's Day Mark!

Monday, July 10, 2023

Cider Bend-June

We've had lots of fun on the farm in June! It keeps us busy and working hard, but it's so fun and worth it. It's cool to watch the process of building a dream from scratch.

Every time we clean out the donkey's stall, they like to roll in the hay dust.

The goats are still a big hit with visitors, and keep us very entertained.


We've been halter training the goats, and it's hilarious! They do better when they can stop for snacks. 😁
 

June brought a lot of afternoon thunderstorms, and we love it! Sometimes when the wind picks up, and the clouds roll in, it gets Willow a little fired up. This was an especially fun show she put on. 😂 The dramatic jump over the ball is the best! 😆


We did our first goat stall clean out. It'll definitely need to happen more often once they get a little bigger.


Mark took a trip down to AZ for our niece's wedding, and I stayed home to take care of the animals. Willow loves me when I'm her only option, but Mark is hands down her absolute favorite. She missed him a lot while he was gone. He got all the Willow love when he got back.


When the goats eat, they don't just nibble from the edges. They go all in....literally! I often wonder if they can breath in there. 😅




Then they usually walk around looking like this for the rest of the day. 😂

The goats have really liked their new hay feeder. We went down one evening to let them out in the pasture, but only two of them came running out. Roxie was stuck in the feeder. I don't think they realize how big their horns are getting, and somehow she managed to get her head in the feeder, but couldn't get it out. We tried everything to get her out. She was stuck in their good. We ended up having to cut a section of the feeder out to get her free. 

Stuck little Roxie.


Here's the section we cut out.

The goats are really testing out their horns. So far they have been really soft with each other. They don't really try to but us with them, but they have done it once really soft to Reeses. She didn't mind one bit. 😄


Now that they are getting a little bigger, they love playing with buckets, balls, cones, and whatever we put in the corral for them.

I let the donkeys out in the pasture for about an hour every morning. When the donkeys are out, the goats get to have free reign of the whole corral. I usually spend time with them in the corral each morning. They follow me wherever I go, and it's so funny! If I run, they run! If I walk in a circle, they walk in a circle. They are so cute and friendly!




Reeses and the goats have become pretty good friends. She hangs out in the pasture with them. The goats play this cute game of chase with Reeses. They try to sneak up on her, and get as close as they can. When they think she has spotted them, they take off running. Reeses is totally deaf, so she just wanders around not having a clue what's going on around her. It's a total one sided game, but the goats don't know that, so it provides a lot of entertainment for them. 😄




Clover is incredibly fast, and when she gets the zoomies, it is my favorite thing! I love to watch them run! It never gets old. Sometimes I get nervous though, because she runs so fast, and doesn't know when to slow down. She gets a little crazy, and I'm always worried she'll fall.


When we first started letting Clover and Willow out in the pasture, they would have so much fun, that we couldn't catch them when it was time for them to go in. It was quite a sight to see Mark and I out there for a half hour each night chasing donkeys around. Trust me, they are impossible to catch if they don't want to be. They got better as time went on, and now they are great. Every once in awhile though, they still get a little sassy, and the chase is on. It's funny unless I'm in a hurry and need to be somewhere. 😅


As you can see from the following pictures and videos, the animals are still quite helpful when we are doing chores. 😒








I raked the goat's whole corral area, and when I went to get the wheelbarrow to pick up the pile, the goats had started playing in it. They they took a nap right on top of the pile! They have a whole corral, but the pile I made was clearly the best spot for them. 


😩😩😩

Willow stands on my piles too, but mostly just because she wants me to rake her. 😆



This is a total Ginger vibe. 😆


Clover and Willow aren't super vocal, but I love when they do a good bray. Willow brays a lot more often than Clover, but when Clover wants to, she can be quite loud for such a tiny little thing. I finally filmed it. If I go back upstairs in the morning after I feed them, and don't take them on their walk, Willow gets quite distraught, and lets me know it. I needed to run upstairs for just a second before I took them walking, so I filmed it this time.



Our orchard is doing amazing! We got cherries already, we have lots of apples on one of the apple trees, and we have pears on one of the pear trees. We didn't think we'd get anything the first season. It's fun to watch the progress.

Apples

Cherries


This is the cutest pear! The birds better not eat it! They already ate some of the cherries!

Goat halter training has been hilarious! We don't usually use the halters, because they just follow us around, but we still want them trained for them. You never know if you'll need to take an animal off the farm for something, or need to halter them for a vet visit. It's just a good idea to have them used to them.


Here's a cute video of the goats coming in from the pasture. They are seriously so cute and fun to watch.


We're still having a blast on the farm. We have some big projects lined up for this summer, so stay tuned.


Saturday, July 1, 2023

Nora Rae-14 Months

Our little munchkin is 14 months old! Bailey and Mason are having a fun summer with her, since all they each have is work. Not having school and homework gives them extra time to do all the fun things with her. 

Nora spends lots of time at the park, splash pads, and zoo. She also had her first camping trip, and it was a huge success! She can now eat almost everything her mom and dad eat, so meals are fun for them as Nora gets to try lots of new foods. 

She still loves the swings!

Sliding all by herself!

Dancing to Hannah Montana. Yep, that's what Bailey is watching. 😂

Bailey and Mason bought a zoo pass, so Nora goes about once a week. I totally remember doing that when my kiddos were little too!

watching the monkeys at the zoo.

The penguins!

The penguins loved her!

Feeding the goat!

Watching the tiger!

I love this picture! Zoom in and you can see how excited they both are.

Walking around the zoo like she owns the place! 😄

Bailey wants to hike with Nora a lot this summer. She has a hiking goal she is getting ready for that will happen in August. Stay tuned for that. In the meantime, they have been doing lots of hikes; sometimes as a family, sometimes just her and Nora, and sometimes with her friends.

Cute little hiking family!


Nora playing in the creek.

Having some ice cream!

Cruising around downtown Boise.

Nora wearing cherrios on her forehead through church. 😂

Nora is gonna be a water baby just like her mama! She loves the splash pad, and gets to go quite often. 





I'm pretty sure Bailey uses Nora as an excuse to finally be able to play at the splash pad. 😆

😂😂😂

Bailey is training for a marathon, and she does most of her runs with Nora in the stroller. That's not an easy task, especially when the miles start getting higher. She had her longest run with Nora at 9 miles. Then as the month went on, they got longer. The last one she sent us was a 15 miler! That's hard work pushing a baby! Bailey says Nora has fun, and 'yell talks' to everyone they pass. 😄

9 miles for this duo!

Look at that smirk! I could just die!

15 miles! Way to go girls!

Cute girls in black and white for church.

This is my new favorite video! The singing, the swaying, and the arm in the air. It doesn't get much sweeter than that! 😇

A new trick!

Another trip to the park and the splash pad!

Nora arrived in Jack Sparrow fashion! 😆

She is beyond darling!

Dance party with dad! She can really feel the beat! 😄

Eating meatball subs just like the rest of the family.

Another park day!


Cutest outfit!

Bailey sent me tons of videos and pictures of their very first camping trip with Nora, because it was so fun!

Nora collected rocks and sticks while Mason set up camp.

Playing in the dirt.

They bought an awesome hard framed pack, because Nora was outgrowing the smaller one they had. They went on a short hike on Friday after they got camp set up to test it out.



I think it's safe to say Nora likes it!

Tin foil dinners. Check out the darling little camp chair.

Cutest little camper!

Sitting by the fire with mom.

Making s'mores!

Nora's first s'more. She wasn't quite sure what to think. 😆

Snuggles and a s'mores face.

Sleepy time!

Muffins for breakfast!

Now it was time for their big hike. They hiked Stack Rock, which is about 14 miles!

Mason climbed to the top of Stack Rock while Bailey and Nora ate lunch. 😳

Nap time!


Flowers!

They loved camping, and hopefully will get to go again before school starts back up.

Post church hair once the pig tails come out. 😅

Spaghetti!

I think she liked it! 😋

A zoo day with dad!

Another zoo day with mom.

Cuties!

💖💞💗

Taco salad! She ate every last bite, including the lettuce. She's such a good eater!

Bailey has Nora help her bake a lot. Here's a blooper. 😅

I hate to end this month's Nora post on a sad note, but this is too cute to leave out. Nora is such an easy going, chill baby. Not a lot gets her riled up, but lately she has learned how to fake cry if she doesn't get her way, and it's hilarious. 😆

The face!

Love you baby girl! I'm so happy it's July, because that means we get to see you!