Surgery

Quade had surgery this morning and it went very well. This is him in pre-op :)

The doctor said it was more complicated than they expected. The wart was five layers deep and wrapped around a nerve. I'm so grateful it's over with and it can heal now!

Time to Sell the Kids :)

My goat kids are 3 months old now and ready to go to new homes. And I'm ready to go back to only having a couple of goats. Five goats is too many!! They are cute and fun but I'm tired of getting jumped on when I go out to feed them every day. So I'm listing the two doeling babies for sale on Craigslist.

Update on Quade's Foot

The wart on Quade's foot literally exploded over the weekend. It isn't getting better very quickly so after seeing the doctor today, we've decided to just get it over with and move forward with surgery. Surgery is scheduled for this Friday!

The Kittens are Growing!

The kittens are growing up quickly! They are becoming so playful and fun :) There's just so many of them!

Quade's Foot Treatment

Quade went to the podiatrist today and they did a laser treatment to try and get rid of the plantar wart. It was painful but it's looking so much better! Hopefully we can get it healed quickly so he can get on with his mission.

Quade Was Released

We met with our stake president, President Tolman, tonight and Quade was honorably released from his mission :) They discussed what the next step will be and it looks like he will probably serve the remainder of his mission as a service missionary. President Tolman told us he has received some inspiration as to what he'll be doing but he has some more to finalize before he discusses it with us. He'll meet with Quade in a couple of weeks when his foot is doing better and let him know. Quade is looking forward to having a couple of weeks off :)

It's Alisa's Birthday!

Today was Alisa's 26th birthday :) She had to work until 7 pm at Edible Arrangements, but when she got home we had loaded baked potatoes with brisket and Rudy's BBQ sauce. Then we had a very yummy red velvet cake that I bought at the bakery since I wasn't feeling very well and didn't have the energy to make one for her. The cake turned out to be a red velvet cake on the top layer and cheesecake with a graham cracker crust on the bottom layer. It was delicious! Quade and I gave her the movie "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" and Steve installed window blinds in their bedroom and in the bathroom for her :) Braxton bought her some new clothes. She asked if we could celebrate again tomorrow :)

Rainbow Scarab Beetle

When I went out to give grain to the steers this morning, I found this beetle floating in their water trough. It had very pretty colors so I brought it in to take some photos of it with my macro lens. I looked it up on the internet and it is a type of dung beetle, called a Rainbow Scarab Beetle. Pretty cool - for a bug that eats poop!

And Even More Chicks :)

I have been on a waiting list for some Lavender Ameraucana chicks and the woman texted me this morning that she had 7 of them. So Quade and I drove to Cleveland to pick them up. They will lay a light blue to olive green egg. My friend, Catrina, says I have too many chicks and I need an intervention :)

Quade's Sleeping Quarters

Since Braxton and Alisa are using the extra bedroom now, Quade didn't have a room to sleep in. So . . . Steve and Braxton modified the pantry to accommodate him :) They removed one of my pantry shelves and emptied a couple of shelves for him to put his stuff on. They arranged the buckets of wheat into a platform for his mattress and created "stairs" out of some boxes of #10 food storage cans. And for the finale, Steve installed a closet rod at the very top of the wall for him to hang his clothes on! Quade seems to be going with the flow and doesn't seem to mind it much :) At least he has some privacy and can go to bed at night without anyone bothering him. Plus, if he gets hungry during the night, he can easily find a snack :)

Holes

Did you ever see the movie "Holes?" That's what my path to the barn looks like right now! We had the septic tank checked and they said it was time to have it pumped. But Steve couldn't remember exactly where the last tank lid was, so he dug and dug and dug. He found the cement lid but couldn't find the plastic lid. Finally he called the company to pump it and let them come find it. They were able to find it in less than 5 minutes :) Now he can fill all the holes back in and I can walk to the barn without fear of falling in a hole!

Quade's Home!!

Quade came home today from his mission in England! He has been serving there for 13 months and has been having problems with his foot for 6 months. After having 8 treatments for a plantar wart on his left foot, the mission president decided it was time to send him home to have it treated in the United States. Apparently, the UK has socialized medicine and the doctors do the least possible treatment they can to clear things up and it wasn't working.

So he's home!! We met him at the airport tonight :) He was looking very Brittish in his tailored Brittish suit. He has an appointment with the podiatrist tomorrow morning so we'll see how soon his foot can be fixed so he can finish his mission. We do know that he will not be going back to England. His mission president told him that due to the government changing there and VISA issues he will complete his mission here. He's OK with that and we're just happy to have him home for now :)

New Potatoes

Steve noticed that some of my potato plants were dying back. He checked them and saw that it's because I have potatoes ready! I can't believe how red they are compared with the red potatoes I got from the vegetable co-op last time. They make the other potatoes look pathetic!

Cat and Mouse

When we went out to feed the animals tonight, Alisa saw that one of the momma kitties had caught a mouse and she was letting the kittens play with it :) Good training to be a barn kitty!

The Motorcycle

Braxton rode his motorcycle here all the way from Idaho! I still can't believe he would be willing to ride it that far.

Steve and Braxton took a quick ride on it today to feed Brian's dogs since he is out of town.

Making Cookies

Catrina called me this morning and asked if we could sit with her during Stake Conference and help her with her kids since Jeff was out of town. Of course we did and she even saved us comfy seats in the chapel :) Definitely worth it! And her kids were very well behaved as well :)

So after church we had them come over for lunch and then I made cookies with the kids. They really enjoyed it. Catrina feeds them very healthy food so they don't get to make cookies often. Yep, I'm "that" kind of a friend, corrupting her kids :)

We made Grandma Peterson's molasses cookies. The oldest two kids helped me mix the dough and roll the balls of dough in sugar.

The youngest wanted to help too, so he flattened the balls of dough with a glass. He took his job very seriously and concentrated with all his might.

Then he was very excited to watch them cook in the oven!

And of course while they were cooking I had to share with them the fun of eating the raw dough :) Yum!

Clean Barn

The Young Women in our ward are earning money to pay for their YW Camp this summer. Instead of doing a fundraiser, they asked members of our ward to sponsor a girl and have them do something for them in return for paying for their camp. I asked my friend Vanessa's daughter if she was willing to help me clean the barn and I'd sponsor her. She willingly said yes although I don't think she knew what she was in for! I had her muck out the goats stall, help me clean all of the animals feed and water buckets, clean off the shelves, pick up the trash in the yard, and clean up my garden area. She worked hard and now my barn is all happy and clean :) Too bad the stalls don't stay clean very long!

Shooting and S'mores

Doug McPhie and his girlfriend, Michelle, came up and visited this afternoon. Braxton has known Doug since they were wee ones :) Doug's brother, Will, came with his girlfriend as well.

They all had fun hanging out and shooting.

And Alisa made us a very yummy sausage and pasta dinner :) After dinner they lit a large bon fire in the back where we still have piles of trees from when our land was cleared. I'm sure it was probably difficult to get close enough to roast marshmallows for their s'mores without getting too hot!

Pen for my Chicks

Steve took the day off today to work on the kitchen cabinets. He and Braxton also built me a pen for my chicks. He made it large enough for my many babies :) It's in one of the stalls in the barn with a heat lamp on one corner. The steers have been kicked out of their stall since the kitties took over that one!

Alisa's Favorite Kitty

Alisa has a favorite kitten :) It's black with blue eyes. If it ends up being a boy we'll probably keep it, but no more girls!