My Sister

I was able to spend the day with Arren yesterday!! We did crafts all day, so much fun and so totally needed!!!! I even impressed her by using her table saw while still keeping all fingers intact!!! She had made these burlap pictures to hang in her kitchen and I LOVED them! So I made myself some too!! It was so easy to do too! All we did was iron some freezer paper on to some burlap (I had never heard of freezer paper before, one side is shiney and this side is put on the burlap). This paper helps feed the burlap through your printer, just a regular every day ink jet printer!!! We found a printable online for the picture we liked and away we printed!!  We then made a frame with some old corral fence boards!!! Very rustic!!! I also made a family rules sign printed on burlap too, but it's quite hard to see the words, I might have to do it on something else, maybe a cheese cloth or something!! 

Arren made some cute arrows to hang in her basement, they turned out really good!! 

We didn't even use her newly organized craft room, just the garage and power tools!!!! 

I so love my sister, she really is my best friend (next to Jared, of course!!) it was a really great day!!

Meet Carl

There is a snowy owl who has decided to claim a power pole near our farm as his own!!!! Cora decided to name him "Carl"!!!!!  I'm very thankful she gave him a name, I can oficially say hi to him each time I drive by!!!! If you find yourself down our road and see a snowy owl perched on a power pole please say hi to Carl!!!!!!!

Weaning Calves

A Saturday, a very cold Saturday, we weaned the calves from their momma's!!!  Jared, Emry and I got a head start rounding up the herd to get them into the corrals and Dave and his family joined just in time to get the last of them moving through the gate!! It went really well, it's so good to have everyone out there helping, many hands make light work!!!! Separating went well too!!! Dave ran the gate for the cows to go out and the calves to go in!!! Char and Blake relayed the message to Dave if Jared wanted the animal in the corral or out in the field!! Jared took a group of animals into the alley and sorted them.  Cora and I made sure they didn't go the wrong way!! 

Emry and Leah took pictures!! Everyone had a job!!! I actually think the biggest job was Cora's, she was the dog whisperer!!! She would pet Gibson and Fender to prevent them from chasing the cows, Fender's favourite pastime!!!! 

It was so cold Jared's beard was frozen, pretty cool!!!!!

All our toes were frozen we had to do little tap steps to get the feeling back!!!! And my face, oh was it cold!!!!  I thought this picture was very fitting for how cold it was!!!

Jared and I fed the cows and moved a feeder into the calves pen before heading in for lunch and some hot chocolate!!!!!!

After lunch I made a mad dash for Claresholm to get more bands to casterate the Bulls and make them steers!!!! Boy were there some big guys, it took both Dave and Jared to get the band around the Bulls testicles!  Jared had to put the elastic, which is really quite thick, around his pinky finger and thumb and band 27 animals!!!!! His hand is still sore today!! Everyone again worked hard and we got everyone through the squeeze before it got dark!!! 

Then we went out and rounded up a sick cow. All summer she would go off by herself but didn't show any signs of being sick but recently she would hunch up her back and just looked unwell. So we brought her in and Jared treated her with some antibiotics. We brought her in again the next night after Jared talked to the vet and they suggested he make her swallow a magnet. Doing this would pull any type of hardware, a nail or wire, out of the lining of her first stomach, which could be making her uncomfortable. Unfortunately she was just too far gone, Jared went out the next night to check on her and he had to shoot her. He felt bad, he always hates how he tries to help the animals and it never seems to work in his favor. But he also couldn't let her suffer anymore.

Despite it being a cold day, it was lots of fun and restores my love for the cows when we get to be out there working with them!!! 

Emry

Our daughter really is amazing!! The kids had Junior Curling last night, their first one of the season, and I had just mentioned to Jared that he will have to tell them he will pay the registration fee for the kids next week after he gets paid. We didn't think anything of it until Emry left an envelope on the island with $50 cash inside, the amount needed to cover the registration fee, and on the envelope was written "keep it"!! I showed it to Jared and both of us teared up and told her she didn't have to do that. She said she knew but wanted to. Jared told her she would be paid back on Friday and we thanked her for what she did!! I didn't think it was a big deal to pay next week and I didn't think the kids were even paying attention. Little do I know what they take in. She really is an amazing girl, so full of love and concern and compassion for others.  I love her so much and am very grateful to have her as a daughter!!!

Calum informed Jared after curling last night that he didn't like curling....he LOVED it!!!!! I'm happy he had such a good time, I'm afraid it's like watching paint dry for me!!!!

New Year's

This New Year's Eve and day we spent with the Puzey's!!! We started out by having a super yummy soup made by Myrna, a very creamy potato and chicken!!! Rachel and her sweet little family were there too!!! We were later joined by the rest of the Puzey clan and also my dad!!! We started our celebrating with yummy finger foods...meatballs, cocktail wieners wrapped in bacon, mini buns with pulled pork, fruit and chips and punch...all put together again by Myrna!!!! Jared set up the ping pong table and ALL the kids loved it!!! Armin even got pretty good at it!!!!

The little kids rang in the new year at 10ish and then were put to bed!! The big kids stayed up and watched an episode of Dr. Who while the adults visited!!!

The next morning we were treated to a yummy pancake breakfast and more visiting!!! Some of us headed over to Dave and Char's and got the grand tour of their new house!!! It sure is beautiful and the finishing touches are coming along!!!!  After the tour the grandkids opened their cousin presents and their gifts from Grandma!! Everyone was super excited for their gifts and had fun assembling Lego and having nerf gun wars!!!!  While it was still light out we went outside and shot off Calum's rocket he was given by grandpa Glen for his birthday!!!! Again it was quite spectacular with how high it went!!!

By mid afternoon we were all ready to eat again so we enjoyed some super delicious sour cream enchiladas!!!!! Myrna really is a fantastic cook!!!! After the dinner we all got to listen to how very talented the Puzey's are!!! Each family took part in a talent show!!! Emry sang What child is This while Jared played the guitar!!! Little Jonas sang Santa Claus is Coming to Town! Cora and Leah sang an old folk song while Dave played the guitar. Bowen sang while Lalainia played the piano, what a sweet little voice he has!!! Myrna and her girls sang, which left quite a few with teary eyes!!! And Lalainia sang Grown Up Christmas List, again leaving many with teary eyes!!!! 

I was so happy to have my dad there with us for those two days, Armin played ping pong with him quite a bit!!!! It was great ringing in the new year with those I love so much! A great start to the year!! I look forward to what this year has in store and for the memories that are sure to be made!!!