ski lodge on wheels

We brought our trailer up to the snow on Thursday night so that we could wake up and be ready to ski. At Steven's pass they have a place where you can park and plug in your RV.  It's pretty fun.  All of the comforts of home and none of the chores.  

We rarely go skiing with just our family.  Usually there are cousin's or friends there too.  It was nice to have just our family for once.  The girls love to go off on little bumpy trails through the trees.  We have nicknamed our favorite run "Nascar".  

Animals and burning trash

By now it is common knowledge that we have a few pets.  A couple of months ago I got two kitties to live in the barn.  Their job is to kill mice.  The other day I was pleased to see that they are taking their job seriously.  I found a tail and back leg and another unidentifiable part in the tack room where they live.  Hooray!  The black one is named Bo and the white one is Willy.  We don't want them to become feral or unfriendly so we frequently bring them in the house and they play with the dogs.  Funny how they knew immediately how to go potty in the kitty litter and some of my dogs still don't get it.  They are good kitties and we like them.  Like I said, they go poop in the litter box and that pleases me.  I clean the litter box several times a day if they are in the house because the dogs find their poop to be irresistible, kind of like a putrid Almond Roca.  I've found that the grosser it is, the tastier it seems to dogs.  I've grown used to seeing the dogs eat horse poop and for some reason it doesn't even bother me anymore.  

Keep in mind that the cat poop is in plastic bags in the garbage so that the dogs won't eat it.  Did I mention that the vet said to keep the dogs away from the cat poo because they had lots of parasites and bloody diarrhea?  Well, it's true and very nasty.  Trust me, I saw Bo poop out a 4 inch worm and I had nightmares for days.  

We have no garbage pickup here and Darren usually takes the garbage to the office to dump.  Well, he's gotten tired of this and he decided to burn all of our garbage like most of our neighbors do.  One of our neighbors even burned and entire Ford Explorer.  So Darren dragged all of the garbage out to a big burn pile and lit it up.  Did I mention that we don't have a garbage disposal, so all food leftovers and nastiness goes in the trash? Well, it's true.  Months old mac and cheese that was at the back of the fridge, moldy vegetables, and meat that's turned.... all in the trash.  Who knew that burning trash until it looks like charcoal wouldn't truly make trash un-edible?  I mean, really....why would ANY animal want to eat stinking, smoldering mac and cheese and rotten roast beef?  Not to mention the delicious cat poo.  My dogs are special.  Darren chased Holly away from the pile twice on Christmas Eve.  Then that evening he went up to check on the girls and stepped in a huge pile of dog vomit.  He turned on the lights and found 5 piles of barf in Drew's room.  So I was Bisseling Drew's room at 1:30am and the girls slept through it all.  Love those dogs!

Gillian's dog Roxy will always be a present for her.  

Gillian, Bo, and Willie

Christmas 2012 in pictures

We followed our usual Christmas Eve tradition last night of going to downtown Seattle and riding the carousel at Westlake mall and seeing the huge gingerbread houses.  Then we broke tradition by going out to eat at the Mediterranean Kitchen in Kirkland.  Yummy.  And stinky.  Seriously, you will offend most everyone you come within about 10 feet of after eating there due to copious amounts of garlic.  But it's worth it.  

Then we stopped by Bub's and Joelle's house (back to following tradition).  The girls all gathered around the tree to look at all of the Christmas presents and have a serious Santa discussion.  It's cute how they still do that for Lily's sake.  I think that they all still want to believe.  Heck, I would love to believe.  It sure would make my life a whole lot easier.  I love their enthusiasm and excitement.  

Drew turned into a zombie

So, Christmas morning in Snohomish.  I was too lazy to get the real camera and when I suggested it to Darren I guess that he was too lazy too.  So I get what I get with my i phone camera.  This is the kids waiting ever to eagerly to come down stairs and tear through presents. 

Darren and the kids thought it was hilarious to get me an enormous thermos due to the large amounts of herb tea that I consume throughout the day.  I thought it was a smart and practical gift.

Drew took her time patiently and slowly savoring her gift opening.  Mostly clothes for that girl.  Oh, and a BB gun. :)

Gillian got a bow and arrow kit.  

Gavin got a hunting rifle.  

Do you see a pattern???

Darren and I already have guns so we didn't need any more (at least that's what I think).

Apparently we are preparing for Armageddon.

Holly was sheepishly hiding under the piano, confused at all the commotion.....

While the other dogs were all over Darren wanting in on the action.

Gavin has a new girlfriend named Michaela.  Very sweet and cute girl AND she works at the feed store where I get hay and dog food.  She and Drew happened to get matching sweatshirts.  Camo was a popular theme at our house this season.  I even got in on the action.

We took the kids and Michaela to see the Hobbit at the movie theater.  It was 3 hours long but very good.

Then to round off the evening we played some family games.  It started off with Sorry and ended with Headbandz.  (yes, that's with a "z")

A very memorable and fun Christmas indeed.  Mostly I just loved being with my wonderful family all day.  I feel so blessed and grateful.

Jay

When we moved into our home a year ago we inherited Breezy and Jay.  Breezy is a gray quarter horse, a bit on the hefty size and pretty darn bossy.  Jay was a brown quarter horse with a black mane and tail and a cute white star on his forehead.  It was awesome to inherit two horses that were easy to ride.  Jay used to be a pack horse for many years and he and Breezy have lived here most of their life.  All of the other horses knew that Jay was in charge and he emitted a quiet strength.  He lead the pack with a cool head and a calm disposition.

Over the past 6 months we noticed that he was losing weight.  I bought him some special "old man" grain and more hay but he still kept losing weight.  I knew in my heart that it was probably getting to be very near the end of his life.  He was almost 31 years old, which for a horse is old.  When the vet came he said that we needed to have him put down before Christmas.  So I scheduled it for December 14th, one week ago.  It was a very nice and sunny day which was strange.  Darren borrowed the neighbor's excavator and dug an 8 by 8 by 8 foot hole.  My stomach was in knots all day.  Rebecca  came over to stand by my side.  We cut off his tail hair to make into bracelets later.  He kept looking back afterward like "what the heck?".  I felt so guilty.  So so guilty.  Like I was the Grim Reaper or something.  After all, how is it that I am to decide when he lives and when he dies?  But the vet said that it was better to do it before he started to suffer, and it was very obvious that his body was starting to shut down.  He was even leaving hay uneaten.  I had Rebecca lead him over to the hole because I just couldn't do it.  Looking into his big brown eyes and at his bluntly cut tail was just killing me.  

The vet gave me the option of leaving before he injected him but I stayed.  Darren, Gavin, Rebecca,  Tyler and I were with him when he fell to the ground and took his last breath.  I was sobbing.  It was terrible.  I am glad though that we were able to bury him on our property.  After all, he's been here a lot longer than we have.

Poor super skinny Jay on his last day.

To top off the day we put the vet to good use on Chuck.  So far we haven't needed the vet to come out at all this year.  Luckily he was here when I noticed a huge gash on Chuck's right front shoulder.  He had to be sedated and have the wound scrubbed out and a huge flap of skin cut off.  Not a good week for my horses.

Halloween

This year for Halloween we had our trunk or treat at church on the day of Halloween.  I decided to pull out my Cinderella dress.  I'm pretty sure that Gavin wanted me to be a cowgirl.  Oh well, I decided to shower, wash off the horse manure and dress up as a princess.  Gavin was a cowboy of course.  Drew dressed up like a 50's girl, and Gillian was a zombie prom queen.  They were worried that they wouldn't get enough candy if they didn't do any real trick or treating.  They have plenty.  And I can't seem to stay out of it.  I need them to hide it from me.  

We have a new family member this year.  His name is Jimmy.  He is always moving about the house and every day we find him doing new things.  Sometimes he's sitting at the counter working on my laptop.  Sometimes he's at the piano or waving to the horses from the deck.  He is a full size posable skeleton.  Gavin dressed him up as a proper cowboy and he helped Gavin pass out candy at the church.  I'm thinking I need to get him a santa suit for the holidays.  Not quite ready for him to go away yet.

Long Overdue

I realize that I've neglected my blog for far too long.  So in attempt to get back to it I'm going to blindly throw a bunch of pictures from our summer up and pretend like they sum up our entire summer.  First of all, we had gorgeous weather all summer and enjoyed our home and land.  Then came Laura's and Manny's wedding.  Our family all flew to Huntington Beach for the glorious occasion and enjoyed it very much.  I'm so happy for Laura, she found a really great guy.  Their wedding was in Newport Beach on a yacht.  It was a small, cozy and intimate affair.

Richard's family and ours rented a great beach house right down by downtown Huntington.  My kids loved being in the water and boogie boarding.  There were also beach cruiser bikes that we used to ride to the beach or shops.  I love California, the sunshine, and the sand between my toes at the beach.  

Drew started middle school and takes great care in choosing her outfits for the day.  She always looks so cute and is enjoying school.  She joined the cross country team and did very well in her races.  She was always the second 7th grade girl in her school to finish.  

More to come...... I promise!

In the weeds

When I used to wait tables at Chili's there was a saying if you were very busy and running behind.  You would just say "I'm in the weeds."  Well, I can say that now about my live both literally and figuratively.  We have 10 acres and a lot of it has been overtaken by an obnoxious weed called curly dock.  I have spent many many hours over the past month pulling weeds.  My fingers are actually swollen at this point because of these darn weeds.

And that is how I feel in general about my life right now.  School ended abruptly, or so it seemed, and I'm constantly behind in everything.  The kids are just wanting to have fun and I'm just wanting to get stuff done around here. The weather is not very summery so it just doesn't feel like summer.  The weeds have taken over my life for the past few weeks.  I pull them, poison them, dream about them, and then pull more of them.  There is no time to ride horses.  There is barely time to keep up with the laundry.

Another project that we have going on around here is building a chicken coop off the barn.  We will be painting the barn soon and we started on the section that has the coop on it.  I love seeing the difference that a fresh coat of paint makes.  Ever since I was little I dreamed of having a red barn, and now I have one.  It is awesome, and it is one of my favorite places to hang out.  I actually love the smell of it.  Darren and I still can't believe that we are actually living here.  Even though I am constantly in the weeds I love it.

The girls had a fun lacrosse season.

Gillian's nickname on her team was killer because she did so well for her first year.   She also got the "speedy" award for her team because she was so fast.

Drew had fun playing on a team with a bunch of her classmates

This is the Plague....

This is what I've been doing to the plague.

This is what Shadow has been doing.  Destroying everything around.  This was a brand new Sonicare that I had used just once.  

Darren's awesome painting outfit for the barn.

 A frog the size of Roxy outside of our garage.

 We went river rafting last month with our friends to Wenatchee.  Gillian hung out with Kellen Richey. They were like two peas in a pod.  After the trip Gillian said "Kellen is my best friend."

Gillian caught a snake and was really upset that I wouldn't let her keep it.  

Almost done with the chicken coop addition

This past week we went to Lake Chelan with Joelle and her kids.  Drew is looking so old!

Spring and projects

The past two months we have been working very hard on cleaning up the barn area.  We had tons of gravel delivered and rented a tractor and bulldozer to spread it.  I had so much fun driving a skid steer.  I want a tractor.