Ted's cute family

So, Ted's family came out to our house on Sunday and we had a great time eating tons of food! I decided to go and show them some of the farm equipment while they were down here and explain to them a little about what each of the equipment pieces do. So, Ted got some pics and so did I of the family. The pic with Ted's family is only about 1/4 of them (they have nine kids in the family, but the others couldn't make it), but I think they could still pass as a farming family! :) Love you all! Oh, and isn't Lissa so cute? I think she is so beautiful!

Here are some pics of our tractors we are using to plant and disc this year. When I was taking the pictures, it started to snow and hail...as you can see. Crazy huh? The end of April and we are still seeing snow. I cannot believe this crazy weather this year. So, my brother is in the tractor with the planter and roller harrows behind it, and my mom is in the tractor with the disc and tires behind her. We got our grain planted in 10 days, so we planted about 60 acres a day. It was busy, and we are glad it is done. Morgan and I got the tire pressure checked on the pivots on Friday, and so the pivots and linears should be good to go! I am excited to see everything we just planted start to spring up out of the ground. It is one of the best and most rewarding feelings after all the hard work. One thing about farming is, you really see what you have accomplished. Well, later today we are having a picnic at our house and our families are coming over. I am way excited to see them all. Well, hope all is well for everyone!

Great and Exciting News!

I have some great news... Take a few guesses...It's probably NOT what you think I am going to say...Keep thinking...Guess again...Ha Ha Ha...You got it!!! My rock picking days this summer are over! (hopefully we don't find anymore or else) So I calculated up how many hours I have spent rock picking and it has been almost 50 hours. I am so glad it is over. Morgan has been picking rock even more than that though. She picked every day all day. So, she has probably gotten in over 100 hours of picking rock in the last week and a half. This is one of the hardest jobs you could ask for, but yes, you do get a good all-day workout. So, now we are going to be getting the linears and pivots ready for watering this week. We already have had two flat tires on the pivots, and another pivot we had to have a technician come and work on it. So, we are three for three on repairs. Hopefully, they all go good for the rest of the summer. My mom is almost done discing now, and Adam is almost done planting. He should be done by tomorrow, and my mom will be done by today. I am way happy to have this completed. Then, this farm (behind our house) should be good to go, and we can start on my parent's farm. We have mainly hay planted on their farm. We do have to replant some hay and grain on their property still, so it will probably take another week before we are done with that. I am way excited to get some warm weather here though. Today is blistery cold! I cannot believe how hard the wind is blowing too. The chill goes right through you, no matter how many layers you have on. I know they keep saying it is supposed to rain, but all we get is wind and cold weather out here and no moisture. We would lots rather have the rain because we need it to help our seed germinate and take root.

Well, my life has been kind of busy and changing a lot lately. So, apologese for the slow writing. I think that Miriam is the main reader on my blog, or she is the only one who writes comments back to me...So thanks Miriam. I will hopefully be able to slow down and write more in the weeks to come. Oh, and I will get some pics of the tractors too. Talk to you all later!

Dirt, Sweat, and Soap

Now that I am working on the farm, I get dirty! And I do mean DIRTY!!! So, I have been picking rock on the farm with Morgan (she is such a good sport and keeps a positive attitude). I am not so happy about the whole picking rock thing. I mean, there are so many rocks that you cannot get all of them, and we are trying to hurry so that my mom can disc and my brother can plant. I literally have countless bruises on my legs, blisters on my feet, and sore muscles like never before! I have such great empathy for all the people who have to do this job every year! So, Morgan and I have tried to keep ourselves from going insane out there, and we came up with another verse to "If you could hie to Kolob". It is..."There is no end to rocks"... repeated several times. Also, we have decided that the rocks are Mormons. They multiply and replenish the earth more than anything else in the world. Seriously though, we think that rocks do have babies, because there will be a big one and then tons of little ones and a few medium ones all around it. Anyway, when I signed up to help on the farm, I thought I was going to be running errands and fixing lunches (you know, doing the jobs that a woman should do on a farm), but I am telling you, picking rock is the worst job you could have...aside from hoeing beets. I honestly would rather move pipe all day! Now that's saying a lot. Anyway, I should quit going off about the rocks.

This week, I have had a lot of evening activities, like a ward party, two ESL classes, and tomorrow night baptisms for the dead with Ted's family, so what I have done is, work hard all day in the fields, then rush home and shower and get ready for these activities. This has been repeated day after day. So I get dirty, (because the wind blows so much out here, I even get dirt in my hair and ears...yuck! ) then, I get clean, then dirty, then clean...and so on...you get the picture. I cannot believe how good a shower feels to get all clean again. I cherish flat ground (the fields are plowed, so really uneven ground), clean clothes, clean hair, carpet, showers, and houses. I have never thought before about what it would be like living without a home, but I think it would be one of the hardest things to do. I appreciate the people who took the farms out here out of desert land (sagebrush, rocks, and grasses) and made it into farm land so much more now. Adam said that they took our farm out of desert only in the 1950's. So, I can only imagine what the hard work would have been like. I should be more thankful for what we have now. Well, I have babbled on long enough about my farming life so far this Spring. I hope to get a little better attitude about all of this dirt sooner than later!

My life on the farm...

As most of you know, I am working on the farm this summer... So I will tell you what I have been up to this week. I have been picking rock. There are so many rocks in the fields! Morgan and I are working from sun up to sun down picking rock, and it seems to be an endless task. We have had 7 loads of rock in the rock picker that we have picked. The big ones we can't lift we get with the rock picker, but the rest of them we get ourselves by hand. It is a lot of work, and you get really dirty. It makes for a long day, but we are moving along pretty well. We have gotten one pivot done so far, and are starting on the next pivot now. Well, speaking of work, I had best get back to it. I am late already for work, but I just thought I would update you on life. Hope all is well for the rest of you. Sorry if I don't write as much, but I am so busy I barely snuck in time to write these last two blogs...Oh, and the baptism went great! Hunter is such a sweetheart!

And the 2008-2009 Snake River Junior Miss is...

Okay, so this last weekend was junior miss! It was such a crazy day on Saturday. First, I had to hurry and get ready myself...then I went over to Susie's house and put on her makeup and did her hair for her interview. Then, I hurried and ran home and did Whitney's hair for the junior miss (she is a girl I helped last year that took first runner up, so she was also in the program). Then, I had to finish packing up all my stuff and run to the high school and get Susie ready for the program. We only had one hour to get her hair and make-up all done. She has short hair, and we curled all of it, so it took a while. I thought short hair would be easier to do, but it is harder because ever little hair has to be in place. So, the intro went well, and so did physical fitness. Her talent was amazing! (she played the piano) And lastly, self-expression. She did amazing on that too! Well, finally it came time to announce the winners... and you guessed it Susie won it! She is now the Snake River Junior Miss for 2008-2009. She won the Be your Best Self, Scholastic, Interview, and Talent. She is amazing! I thought she should have won self-expression too, but I think they wanted to spread around the scholarships a little more. But, I am so proud of her for doing so well! She was incredible all night, and stayed very calm and collected, even though it was rushed and nerve recking! Congrats Susie!

The weeks fly by!

On Monday, Ted and I went to Utah to get some fruit trees from my cousin's nursery. It was a lot of fun. The drive seemed to take forever, and we figured that after all the money we spent on gas just to get there probably was not worth it, but that's okay. We really wanted to support our family. We also visited Ted's family and friends while we were down there and really made a day out of it. It was way fun!

So, while we were down at the nursery, we saw one of my half-sisters...Susan. It was funny, because my cousin was helping us, so he knows our family, and he was all like... "Oh, here is someone you know!" and we were like..."Yaaaa"... (I was thinking to myself, do I really want to know her?) She is not a very nice person, and actually snubbed us (meaning, she didn't even talk to us or act like she knew us). This stunned my cousin and Ted! This doesn't surprise me though, because I have known her all my life. I also know her mother, and her mother is just like her. So, no surprise, but kind of funny...I think. The irony to this situation is, this weekend we are going to be driving up to my half-brother's house Donald, because his daughter is getting baptised. So, my half-sister Susan and her mom are going to be there...and don't worry...it is going to be like they have never met us in their lives or, like they are our long lost friends... although I am going with the first option...they will act like they don't know us. Wish us luck! So, also because of the baptism my half-brother and sister, Karen and Jim with their spouses are coming up the night before and spending the night at mine and Ted's house, and my mom's house. I am excited! I have been cleaning my house all day to get ready for them.

Also this weekend, is junior miss! Yeah! I went over to Susie's house (the girl I am helping) and walked through things with her one last time before the competition, and she has improved so much! I cannot believe she is the same girl I started with! I am actually quite proud of myself for helping her so much and so incredibly impressed with her and how far she has come! On Saturday, at the junior miss competition, I will be doing her hair and make-up...so pray for me and her to do our best! Thanks! Well, I will sign off for the day, and I hope all is well for all of you out there reading up!

Friends...

So, yesterday, I went to have lunch with my friends from Nauvoo, Katie and Miriam. They are so cute! We went to eat at Katie's house, and she made a delicious dish of chicken and rice casserole. Then, we decided to go and see Miriam's husband's farm. They have tons of birds that he is raising, so we went and saw those first. The turkey's were huge, and they really do gobble. He also has pheasants, chuckers, and quail. It is like being at the zoo. Then, we went and saw his cows. There were some way cute baby calves, and we got pics for Katie and Miriam with the older cows. Speaking of pics, here they are... I had a lot of fun!

Good memories with Dad

These are some pictures that I got with dad. He is sincerely missed and we love him so much! I can't wait to see you again someday dad...