Corndrifts in February

instead of snow drifts in february, we got all the fog blown out one weekend and lots (and i mean, A LOT) of corn shucks blown across the road into our yard from our no-till field on the llc.  it plugged up all the ditches, drains, flower beds, fence lines, everything!  so, we burned it and raked it and sadly, since then have had no more wind or storm to stir it around, just some occasional fog and exceptionally moderate temperatures. 

 then the geese, ducks, and snow geese came in for most of the month of february.  it was truly amazing how many came in every morning and nite across the road (click on the pictures to see how big/how many there are!!!)...these only show a section of how many were out there.  you would drive down the hill into the valley, and all you could see was white throughout the entire pivot.  since the field is no till, there was corn for them to eat and we didn't mind it getting cleaned up.  they were so LOUD with their honking!! and there were people from miles around that came, even ducks unlimited, who came and hunted the snow geese one weekend.  we got a free hat, ha ha! the boys tried to snag a few with their bb guns one friday nite :).

at the beginning of the month, we went and helped our cousins pack up and get ready for the move to missouri.  good bye makenzee and sterling.  we sure will/do miss you!! it was sad to see spencer and michele's family actually go, but they are off for now...on a new adventure!

 poor miss emerson struggled all month with hair loss and dry skin.  this time around, it affected all facets of her life.  we did blood draws, allergy tests, and naturepathic visits.  in the end, we discovered she is allergic to all dairy products and chicken eggs.  we sure hope changing her diet will help her!

 much of my time during the month was consumed with a holistic management conference and selling 7 steers and 4 pigs.  the pork was gone in 5 minutes.  the beef has been a thorn in my side!  there is still one full, beef left to sell that we've got to store now...
and we had our first, and only, encounter with folks who don't know too much about buying meat and where it comes from.  but that is behind us!  just hoping for the freezer to get cleared out!!!  how did i get this job is what i'm wondering...???

for valentines, ben and i went to the temple the day before.  then, our family had breakfast together and a fun day working outside!  we exchanged a few, fun little gifts and had a yummy dinner by candlelight at home.  you can see my little buzz with his mustache on and valentine he made me.  on president's day, we headed down to pomerelle and myself and eldon took the older kids skiing on the ice.  it was a beautiful day...but, i'm afraid, i am getting too old for ice skiing for fear i might damage something.  we still had a nice time and are glad we could go!  we met our new baby cousin, claire, for the first time:) :) and ben popped in to drop off aunt carolee's laundry and say hello.  that would be the last time...

 we harvested more carrots from the garden and bridon was the sole, weedburner driver one saturday afternoon before the adult stake conference meetings.  scary!  but they got it done i guess.  ellee has been talking and playing and imagining much more.  here she is dressed up in her 'anna' costume i made her.  she is a lot of fun and we can't believe how fast time has gone by.  ben headed out towards the end of the month to hay meetings.  we had the blue and gold banquet while he was gone and so instead of dad making a cake for it, bentley and i made a cake with duck eggs (for emerson) and decorated it like a bag of popcorn to go along with the carnival theme that nite.  we babysat earlier and took both non-member neighbor kids along in our pickup that kept blowing fuses (car was getting fixed for more than a week from the old guy waxing the doors out at the hardware) and ran wild.  it was a great time for all! and mom even survived:).  we did more home improvement and decorating, karate, church work and meetings, and a few friend activities.  we are grateful for the gospel and are trying our best to keep all these kids going on the right path!!:)