It's A Girl!

~Photos by Nancy

Our good friends, Roger and Linda, have a new addition to their herd:

Quita (as in the spanish word for small: Paquita) was born SOME time during the night.

They sent us a text in the morning to announce their surprise.  We've been talking about this delivery for a while, but weren't expecting anything for a few more weeks.  They went out to the corral in the morning to feed the horses, and found that they had an extra horse.

Surprise!

Springtime On The Farm

~Photos by Nancy

The Pivots are running again...

And THIS guy is in the neighborhood...

Dusting crops...

The pecan groves are suddenly green...

(I took this one about 10 minutes ago.)

Spring is in the air!

The Last of the Faux-hicans

I found this cute picture late last night.

And suddenly, I remembered back to how cute Hayden's hair was even before he started cutting it himself.  His favorite style was, indeed, the beloved Faux-hawk.  I even let him wear it to church once in a while.  Watch out!

The Farmer plays golf today at a local course!

And since:

1.) I don't have a baby-sitter, and,

2.) He is playing in a private tournament

I get the privilege of staying home with His Majesty.

We get to:

1.) Do laundry

2.) Take a nap

3.) Eat snacks

4.) Watch Sprout®

5.) Read Dr. Seuss

Try not to be jealous!

(Someday I will be WITH him....Ben recently bought me a cotton-candy PINK golf glove.)

*Photos by Jimmy (playing with my camera)

PS: Isn't he good?  Jimmy (volleyball buddy) used to work for the Seattle Tribune...now he designs sports logos and T-shirt layouts for College Teams.  We like to brag about our talented friends...so that we can show pictures like THIS:

(Click to enlarge)

That's Jimmy (front and center) with my hubby, Ben (smiling to the RIGHT of Jimmy) winning the GOLD with Team Alaska at Arctic Winter Games (That's TWO different links). "Hey Tulip: We thought you (and the other volleyball buddies) would like this!"

*     *     *

And HERE'S a picture of my "Hottie-Hubbie" at 23 years old,

coaching High School Volleyball for Chugiak High in Anchorage...

I love you!

My Farm Boys

~By Nancy

Here are a few special moments (frozen in time) of the boys that mean so much to me.

*     *     *

"We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand...and melting like a snowflake.

Let us use it before it is too late!"

~Marie Beyon Ray

Sweet Boys

Learning the Ways of the Farmer

Daddy's Shadow

~Photo by Nancy

I took this picture with the help of my new tripod and the camera's timer.  While trying to get a good shot, however, I had to set the timer and then frantically run into place in a panic before hearing the "click" sound of the shutter.

I ended up tripping over rocks during a couple of tries and then running through a small thorn-ridden Mesquite bush, slashing through my ankles.  I was amazed at how big the thorns were on such a new plant!

(Perhaps that's why there's a slight grimace on my face and why Ben looks like he's holding back a big belly laugh.  Hayden is just standing there, shocked at what he just witnessed.)

If you want to see what a Mesquite looks like, click HERE and scroll down half-way to see the "thorny armament" picture.

After that, we took THIS picture and I proclaimed we were officially done for the day.

Oh well...Maybe we'll try again after I heal.

Mommy and Me

We decided to take a Sunday drive up the canyon (about 10 minutes from the farm).

We ended up being silly and capturing some fun times together.

...then we met with friends and whipped up some home-made ice cream!

"You're right, Shanda....the secret is the Mexican Vanilla!"

(Sh-h-h-h-h-h.)

It was nice to finally have some pictures WITH Hayden since I'm usually the one behind the camera.

~Photos by Ben

Snuggling

Eskimo Kisses

Bird-watching

Telling jokes

King Ranch Edition

~Photo by Nancy

Lunch Interrupted

~Photo by Nancy (click to enlarge)

Is There A "Baby-Sitter" Instinct?

~Photo by Nancy

Did you know that cows get babysitters?

Well, it's true.

New (cow) moms usually hang out with other new moms and their babies.  Once in a while, though, you will see one momma cow and a bunch of babies together.

Where are the other moms?

I learned from the Ranchers that the cows will actually leave their babies with the one "sitter" cow, while they wander off for a little "alone time".  I didn't believe it at first.  Could the need to get a little "Me Time" be a part of Mother Nature's way of keeping a good balance?

Could following the example of a COW make us better moms?  It sounds funny, but it's something to consider, don't you think?

*     *     *

Okay, so here's another funny thing that cow moms do...

When the calves are still tiny, the momma cow will plop the baby under a bush or some scrub brush and walk away.  The funny thing is that the baby will not move....no matter what...until momma gets back.

One day, while Ben was out helping a Rancher check his cows, his job was to find the new babies that had been born that week;  Just to make sure they were all accounted for.  Counting over and over he just couldn't seem to find the newest baby of them all.  The mom was grazing, so he was confused.  "Could the baby have been taken by a pack of Coyotes during the night?" he wondered.

After wandering around for a while he finally stopped, put his hands on his hips and looked around.  As his head dropped down before taking another step, he noticed the teeny-tiny calf under his foot.  He had to stumble in order to avoid STEPPING on the baby calf, who stared up at him with big glistening black eyes.

*Photo by www.idahofair.com*