Cattle Conference...Happy Chinese New Year!

Last Thursday Jared and I had the opportunity to attend the annual Tiffin Conference put on by the Lethbridge College.  Buck and Arren invited us to go along with them because it has a lot to do with cattle.  It was really informative and I think I only embarrassed Arren once when she nudged me awake during one of the speakers!  I said it was very informative but also really scientific and in-depth about global cattle markets, not a topic that really excites me!  The highlight of the conference was being able to listen to Temple Grandin and her ideas of humane cattle handling methods.  It was really neat to see her in person, she is autistic and throughout her life has been a real advocate toward autism and has such a love for animals she has been able to design systems that keep animals calm while working with them.  Jared and Buck have both incorporated her cattle corral systems in their designs.  We were also fed two meals during the conference, lunch was soup and sandwiches and dinner was a super delicious prime rib.  We had lots of fun together, Jared made us laugh, as he usually does, when he wrote Charles Carmichael on his name tag. The name comes from a t.v. series we have been watching called Chuck!  When we went through the line to get our lunch the chef that was dishing up the soup was calling us by name from what he could read on our tags, when Jared went through the man said, "Charles, which soup can I get for you?"  It was perfect because the man also had an English accent, Buck and I couldn't control our giggles and thankfully we had already made it through the line.

Deep in thought?!

Temple Grandin

Sunday everyone came home for dinner to celebrate Dave's 40th birthday, Jason's 38th birthday, Dave and Char's 13th Anniversary and Char's 35th birthday!  A very busy month!  As usual it was nice to have everyone home, the kids had fun together and the noise level was just as high as expected!  We weighed Armin and Jonas and at 14 months Armin weighed in at 19.8 pounds and at almost 7 months Jonas finally out weighs Armin at 20 pounds!  It will be Calum and Liam reversed with these two little boys!

Yesterday the boys and I went over to help Buck and Arren move the heifers from my mom's farm to their farm so they can preg test them on Thursday.  It went really well after we finally got them to go over the hill.  After we were all done moving them Arren and I made Chinese food to celebrate the Chinese New Year!  It was a lot of fun and sooooo yummy!  Although we did agree that maybe next year we would just order Chinese food as it was A LOT of work!  It literally took us all afternoon. But it was well worth the effort, I was so excited to start eating that I forgot to take pictures of everything before we dug in!  I had even made fortune cookies with a fortune inside, and as yummy as the cookies were they sure didn't look like traditional fortune cookies!  It was so much fun cooking alongside my sister, I am so thankful for her and her family and for the closeness we all share.  I was also happy that John and Roxanne could be there too because our kids think of them as their grandma and grandpa too!

Lemon Chicken

Ginger Beef

Coconut battered deep fried Shrimp

Beef and Broccoli

Stir Fry Vegetables

Home made Fortune Cookies

Armin and Grandma Debbie

I did a little bit of research of what the Chinese New Year represents.  This is the year of the Dragon and it symbolizes this...Chinese New Year 2012 (according to the Chinese Zodiac) Year of the Dragon begins on January 23, 2012 and ends on February 9, 2013.

The year of the Dragon is the year for great deeds, innovative ideas and big projects. In this year success in particular can expect people who are dealing with finances. This will be advantageous time to begin new projects in business and social level.

The Year of the Dragon will bring the excitement, a big ups and downs in our lives. Only if we adjusted the ruler in the right way, we will be able to pick the most beautiful fruits that we could ever imagine.

Dragon gives happiness and success to all good and honest people. Also, those who have great talent. 2012 Year of the Dragon is favorable for the establishment of family, the birth of a healthy and smart children. During this period we should be bold and not humble.

So, Happy Chinese New Year and I hope this year is one of many, many wonderful blessings for us all!