Wedding Venue

On February 9th we had a wedding at our house.  It's not something that I ever thought would happen at my house, but somehow it was suggested as a good place for a small wedding and I said yes, of course.  Rebecca was my helper/wedding planner extraordinaire.  Somehow we pulled it off.  I found out that if I move all of my furniture out of my living room I can set up 50 chairs.  Then we moved the chairs and set up 5 round tables after the ceremony.  

Unfortunately our half mile dirt road up to our house was very muddy and bumpy.  Darren and I rented a tractor and had gravel delivered so that people could make it somewhat unscathed to our home.  I had fun driving the tractor.  

 Natalie, Amanda, and Drew

Jeff and Carolyn Keyes

Slowing down

Gillian, Isabelle and Drew cruising on the quad

My New Year's resolution is to slow down.  Very atypical of all past resolutions and goals.  I am usually pushing my body too far too often and now I'm paying for it.  I am no longer 20 years old and my body is trying to tell me that, even though I try to tell myself that I can and should do everything that I want to do.  For some reason I have had major joint stiffness, muscle aches and pains and even swelling in my legs and ankles. Through it all I was going to CrossFit, mucking stalls, and staying up until all hours of the night (morning) just to get stuff done.  I realize that this cannot go on right now so I've decided that January is my slow down month.  If I'm tired I rest.  If I hurt, I rest.  If I'm stressed, I rest.  So far it's been difficult.  I'm not used to sitting down or taking naps.  I'm usually in a perpetual state of work and hurry.  I will be seeing a Naturopathic doctor soon to see if she can help me with my all over pain and stiffness.  AND.... the hardest thing ever is that I'm taking a month off CrossFit.  I hope that I am better soon and can return but I am in no shape for it (or much else) right now.  I'm trying to stay positive and not dwell on things like "rheumatoid arthritis" or "lupus".... just a couple of things my western doc seems to think could be wrong.  

I do wish that I had slowed down before I plowed into the back of a car on the freeway last Friday afternoon.  I was going for a lane change and by the time I looked back from looking over my shoulder, traffic was at a stop.  I slammed on my brakes and tried to bail into the carpool lane but  ended up careening into the back of a Jeep Cherokee.  The airbag punched me in the face and sent out an acrid smell that stayed with me for hours.  My arms tingled with the burn of the airbag.  It was surreal.  I really hope they can fix my car.  Now, if I can just get back to slowing down.

Stinky airbag is my friend

Hiding

We've had three nights in a row of guests over.  I'm exhausted.  Which doesn't explain why I'm not asleep right now at 2:10am but that's another story....

Gillian has been playing hide or seek for 3 days now.  She always gets them with going behind the armoir that is on a diagonal in the dining room so that she can go behind and climb up the back and sit on top.  For some reason the other kids don't look up there and behind the fake trees.  The good news, no guests tomorrow night.

Earlier in the day Gavin took out his new rifle.  I was in the shower.  Whenever Holly sees Gavin with his gun she immediately runs and hides or finds me and cowers under me or as close as possible to me. This was a first.  She really doesn't like showers but I guess her fear of guns made her overcome her  dislike of water.  I should have taken the opportunity to shampoo her but she was scared and overwhelmed and I didn't want to make it worse.  Drew thought that it was so funny that she took a picture.  No, I really don't get much private time!

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.