Knee Deep and more....

 It's kind of neat, during the snow season it is much easier to track the habits of the deer, or the kitties, and even the dogs. We even saw that a deer walked inches along the side of the house.

 Poor Lizzy was stuck in her house. She was even refusing to come out for an animal cookie...her favorite! And then we discovered that her gate was frozen shut so Victoria had to climb over the fence to dig her out. The snow was deeper than her little legs....it was almost up to her chin.

 Lizzy smiling.

 We were trying to get the dogs to come up the path a little further. They wouldn't. They are trained to stay closer to the house so they were too afraid to come any closer.

 It was cute, Thunder wouldn't go around Sammy. She was waiting patiently for him to keep moving and basically get out of the way. She loves to race up and down the path, chasing little snow balls or snowflakes.

 Lightning found a spot under the slide to take a breather from pouncing through the snow. He followed me, jumping from one step to another.

 He is so light that he didn't sink too terribly. He ducked underneath the pine tree to inspect the nice little spot that the deer have been sleeping in. The other morning we spotted three under the tree.

 This is a nice, cozy little spot.

Thunder spy hopping.

Crazy Snow!

 Sunshine after an awesome storm!

This doesn't even show really how deep the snow is.

 It is hard to believe that these hills are three feet high and more!

I absolutely love it!

It is so beautiful, crisp and clean.

 I love these little snowballs that have formed inside the iron swirls.

 I came around the back side of the wood shop and came upon a deer resting under the pine tree.

We have been watching this guy's antlers sprouting...they are getting longer.

Awww......

Life is so much sweeter with kitties....

especially these two!

New Year's Project

 It took Kaleb, Jared and I 10 days to strip paneling off the walls, re-plaster, paint the ceiling (compliments of Kirk),  paint this beautiful amber moon, and strip two layers of linoleum and tar off the wood floor.

 We have uncovered two chimineys and vents to the upstairs in the process. 

One is still covered in plaster.

 We are still trying to figure out why this beam is along the ceiling when it doesn't support anything.

We confirmed that there was a bedroom once next to the dining room. There were remnants of the old closet, the door way and an old hearth where the old wood stove sat.

 I'm happy to have the old linoleum removed but now we have remnants of tar on the floor that will need to be sanded. We steamed and scraped as much as we could get off.

I'm sure eventually, when it is all refinished, it will be beautiful.

 I am so pleased to have nice clean walls.

I can't believe how dark it was in this room before.

Now it is sunny and bright like my favorite season....summer!

 Kirk is working on moving electrical plugs up and secured so eventually when we get the walls and the floors finished we might have base boards again.

For now....it is a work in progress!

Daily Visitors

Sammy was quietly watching our daily visitor.

Deer are one of the most beautiful creatures....and they can be the most destructive as well.

They look so innocent.

Happy New Year!

It was a dark and stormy day.....

What better way to bring in the New Year!

Snowshoeing in Temple Fork

 We could see a storm blowing in....and feel it too, of course.

Good thing I had three layers of pants on and about four layers on top!

 We figured if we got stuck in a blizzard that we could use Daphne's scarf to signal for help.

You can spot that pink a mile away. It is amazing how beautiful the landscape is and then a flash of pink!

 I never noticed how up hill this path was until we snowshoed it.

 Our extremist wilderness survival guys.

When these guys were little we would go on adventures hiking places in Arizona. I always was concerned that we didn't go too far and hurt ourselves too much. I didn't want to turn off their love for the great outdoors by their mother traipsing them all over the desert. Plus, I was worried about getting ourselves into something that I was responsible for. How would I take care of them all if I were the only adult. Now, I don't worry about that part. I rely on Kaleb to pack the kitchen sink in his day pack. I know these guys have enough experience that I trust them. My little guys....that are taller than me!

 Daphne and I saw these natural tunnels that the river was appearing and disappearing into. Some places the water was so slushy it barely made a sound.

 Break time.....drag out the snacks.

 We also figured that we could just wave Victoria with her jacket on if we got lost.

You can spot this girl a MILE away!

Our Wilderness Extremist. 

A true Eagle Scout.....always prepared!

I guess she got tired. 

I came upon her just taking a rest in the pile of snow.

There were many areas that if we didn't have on snow shoes we would have sunk up to our thighs in snow. Just as we were turning around to go back, the storm caught up with us and blew us all the way back to the van. We were covered in snow. It was awesome!

Of course, when we got back into cell phone range....Nana had called us three times to warn us of the approaching storm and figured of all places that we were in the canyon in the middle of it.

Yep we were, which is why we had given her our plan.

Always gotta be safe in the winter around here!

January 2017

This year is already proving to be wonderful in every way...even with it's challenges of -22 degrees weather. These goats have taught Victoria so much about responsibility.

Kaleb will come in to give Victoria a message if he gets outside before her. He will tell her that Jacks and Lizzy wanted him to tell her.....and then he will Baa really loud in sentence form like they are speaking sentences. It is actually really funny. You gotta love Kaleb and his funny character.

 Beau is quite a character too. He was playing in the snow. He also figured out that the electrical tape to keep him and Jacks from cutting each others hair wasn't working. He kept resting his chin on the tape. 

 Lizzy will only come out if I have something in my pocket for her.

She came out for animal cookies.

 A sign that our children are grown....the snow remains pristine on the slide. I'll have to find some little boys to come over and tromp all over it.

 The kids are doing snow removal for two houses which can be a lot of work with the length of their driveways.

 Taking time out for a little fun. Though I almost got the van stuck. The kids almost had to get out and push. We got out though. I wasn't worried. Kirk found out and was instantly worried.

Awwww. it was fun!

 Though sledding in -10 degree weather isn't really that fun.

 It was cold enough to shatter another plastic sled.....which is why we have metal saucers and foam ones too, like boogie boards.

 Our daily visitor

 Making the rounds, checking on the bird feeders.

 Looking at his markings and the surrounding foliage just confirms how awesome God's design for camouflage really is.....

Oops!

I hate the blue walls!

And the paneling!

And the ugly vinyl floor!

Ugh!

 Do you ever have that moment when you kind of pull on a piece of molding that is partially pulled away from the wall and it falls off completely....so then you kind of take a cats claw and pull just one piece of disgusting looking paneling painted blue with waverly fabric squares framed in ugly brown molding away from the wall to reveal the 1930's wall paper that was probably covered over the in the 50's that is now holding disentegrated plaster behind it that some has fallen off to expose huge gaping holes in the plaster....so then you end up taking it all down, which leads to removing the ugly stupid cabinet covering a chiminey...so you chip the plaster off the chiminey and then discover that there is a useless beam on the ceiling for no reason at all held up by a single 2x4? And then you pull up the vinyl floor, then the particle board under that, and then chip off the linoleum tile to expose tar that and some kind of mastic that was put right over top of the wood floor. So you have to drag out the steamer and scrape this gooey mess off the wood which only really comes off in certain places leaving a mess that will probably have to be sanded off in others. Do you ever have that moment when you start something and then think.....

Oh My Gosh! What have I done?

And then you have to text a picture to your husband at work, kind of like a warning as to what is going on at home saying....something happened, I just walked into the room and the everything started flying off the walls!

The really fun part is having two boys who love to do demolition as much as I do!

It was fun, but overwhelming, exciting but taxing, and worth the 9 days it took to partially finish.

We still have electrical plugs to move, replace, a light and fan to install, and more to take down as soon as we figure out to why it is there in the first place.

It is awesome having a carpenter son who can help us prioritize and decipher.

 Happy New Years!