Women of Faith

Women of faith! Women I know and admire, who are stronger than they think, and braver than they believe. Sometimes we don't want to be brave, sometimes it hurts to be strong, yet we do it! Through it we gain a greater strength, give strength, and give hope to those around us.

Today I am grateful for women of faith!  I have many friends and family members who are such great examples to me.  Women of different faiths, religions, cultures and ages.  Women that have helped shape me into the woman I am and the woman I continually strive to be.  In their moments of weakness I find my strengths.  In their triumph I see my purpose and am sometimes reminded of my weaknesses.  When I see a new mom struggle to keep her little ones quiet in a store, or an exhausted mother shopping with a screaming toddler, I smile.  Not from spite but from the pure fact that I've been there!  I remember thinking how hard it was, but then you wake one day and those toddlers are teenagers.  I smile because she doesn't know how fast it will go, and I didn't either back then.  When I see a woman who has been through divorce I admire her courage and her dedication to her children and all she's been through and at the same time I am grateful for the man I married and the strength he is to me.  When I hear of a family struggling with death, a little bit of my heart can relate as I think of my sister who lives in heaven. Or when I hear the word cancer, I immediately recall my dealings with cancer and being there when my grandfather took his last breath.  When I see an accident on the side of the road and the EMT's attending to someone's medical needs or working to save someones life I am reminded of my weaknesses and my inability to deal with trauma or blood.  But in the same thought I am astounded at their selfless service and thrilled that those who have that gift share it with others.  All of these experiences help us grow, help us to relate to others and to share our experiences and gain love for one another.

I know... women who know how to throw a killer party, women who know where they are going and who are confident and strong, women who would drop whatever they were doing and help, women who have shared trials and joys in my life, women who have more faith than I could muster, women who have had life hand lemons to them and they've made some KILLER lemonade! Women who have insanely clean homes, women whose children are so well behaved it makes me think I'm dreaming, women who think of others first no matter what, women who make me think I can do anything, women who make others feel so important and welcome.  Women who wouldn't say a bad thing about anyone, women who when we get together we laugh until it hurts, women who love to serve, women who accept others unconditionally, women who are amazing wives, women who can cook like a master chef, women who are so creative it makes my brain hurt, and women who know how to balance life and all that they are handed.  Women whose homes are so warm and cozy you could stay forever, women who know who they are and aren't afraid to share their opinion, and women whose inner beauty shines so brightly you almost have to squint!  How grateful I am for each of them!

The women I know are women of faith, faith in getting back up when they fall down, faith in putting one foot in front of the other ......every. day.  Even on the days they just don't have the will power to do so.  Women who sacrifice for family, friends, neighbors, and complete strangers.  When I see women sharing their weaknesses it strengthens me, it helps me to be grateful for the strengths I possess, and humbles me to know  I do not have the same challenges to contend with.  We all have talents and abilities and skills that we can use to bless the lives of others.  We all have weaknesses and inabilities that allow us to seek the greater good in others, allow us to depend on others, learn from others, and to be grateful for the talents others posses.  This is all for our good!  Sometimes it HURTS to stretch and grow, sometimes we want to take away another's pain and make everything better, (this too is a strength to others) compassion shows we are alive and shows others we care about them individually.  This life was not suppose to be easy, but it was meant to be worth it!  So here is to all the women in my life who have touched my heart and my mind, brought me through things, helped me, befriended me and assisted me on this journey to become a better woman, A woman of faith!  Thank you!!! For your example, your faith, your dedication, your friendship, your weaknesses, humility, honesty, strengths and abilities.  With out ALL OF YOU the world would be pretty DULL indeed!!

Vaccinations....more than meets the eye

Beware: This is a long post... I will delete any rude or unnecessary comments.  These are my views and this is me exercising my FREEDOM TO CHOOSE! 

When I had my first baby the immunizations were given at the hospital as routine.  Not many mother's think too much about it, it's what "everyone" does now right?!  I knew differently.  You see, my mom studied things, researched them out and followed her own pattern of normal ways of life.

When my youngest brother was a baby his immune system wasn't up to par and for this reason my mom did not vaccinate him as she had the rest of us.  He needed more time, more natural immunity's and time for his body to catch up.  He was an at risk birth and was pumped full of antibiotics before being born, which may have been necessary, but didn't help with his well being.  When he was in 3rd grade he still wasn't caught up on his immunizations.  A county healthcare nurse called my mom to "remedy" the situation and my mom explained to her that she was not going to immunize my brother at this time.  The nurse, thinking she was doing her "duty" told my mom over the phone that she would drive to our home and inoculate my brother herself. Threats?! Wow.  Because he could cause an epidemic if something broke out, she then told my mom that my brother could no longer attend school if he was not immunized.  My mom drove to the school and removed my brother, thus began her homeschooling journey (but that's another story).

Having this experience as an example in my life, I knew that as a mother it was my CHOICE whether I wanted to immunize my children or not.  While I am not against all immunizations, in the back of my mind there was always this uneasy feeling, sometimes referred to as mother's intuition :) you may have heard of it.  My decision to not immunize didn't come from simply observing what my mom had chosen, nor did it come from only the uneasy feeling.  It started small and grew into something I knew was the right CHOICE for my family.

My beautiful baby girl was injected with the same vaccines most babies get at the hospital.  When she was 2 months she received her immunizations and at her 4 month check up got them again.  Except this time something happened...she developed a severe allergy to the shot itself causing her to breakout in a leopard like rash from head to toe.  My beautiful baby looked like a jungle animal.  The doctors told me that she was allergic to something in the shot....although they weren't sure what because they are given not just one at a time but several so pinpointing anything is a little hard.
                             


(Now here me out... I am so grateful for modern medicine, for doctors, I LOVE this doctor and many other doctors that have helped my family and I!! I have to deliver my babies C-Section, so without modern medicine I'd be dead, my baby would've died and that would me my story.  I know that doctors and nurses have helped numerous people in my family and I am most grateful for their talents and skills! However, I feel there are certain situations and things where modern medicine is needed, and other places where it is not.  My issues with vaccines are the dosage that is given, and the mixing of more than one vaccine at a time, thus making it difficult to view the bodies reaction between one vaccine's.  We as a family choose not to use modern medicine as a daily practice.  As I stated I believe there is a time and a place.  We do not go to the doctor for the sniffles or for the flu, or ear aches, etc. we go to the doctor when my husband slices his palm open with a knife, or when my son can't breathe because he has a bad case of croup and the cold air just isn't helping.  We aren't freaks, we simply CHOOSE to do things differently than some, and we CHOOSE what is best for our family.)

So here I was  a new mom with a baby leopard.  Needless to say that was the last immunizations my first baby every had. When the next two babies were born I proceeded down the same path.  One child had immunizations up to 6 months and the other only had them up to 2 months.  I felt a very strong feeling with the second baby that 6 months was enough!  In fact I felt an overwhelming feeling that his life could be in jeopardy if I chose to give any more.  That was when I CHOSE to stop vaccinating.  My children are all healthy, average kids.  The older two (that I didn't have as infants) were immunized and they are as healthy as the 3 that were not as immunized.  When I went in to get an exemption when school immunzations were upon us the nurse was a little agitated at my choice and gave me stacks of paper that I could read about the "danger" I was inflicting upon my children.  I smiled as I thought to myself, "I could give you a stack of papers twice as tall that would show you the "dangers" of choosing to immunize my child".  (Please note the nurse that helped me with my exemptions with my youngest two was a gem and she was very respectful of my choice and gave me options if I ever wanted to start slowly down the immunizing road! That is how situations should be handled.)  She signed the paper and we were done.

      

I am not writing this to stand on my soap box and tell you that if you vaccinate you are killing your children.  You can research whatever side of the story you want.  But there is a deeper concern that applies to this and many other situations on the rise in this modern world.  The freedom to CHOOSE!  I have many friends, family members and acquaintances that choose to immunize their children.  I do not think these mothers are bad mothers, I do not think that they should make the same choice I did.  I do not believe that all immunizations are bad.  I do believe that as an American citizen I should have the RIGHT to make the CHOICE to immunize or to not immunize.  I do believe that we are all individuals and that the vaccines made do not fit the mold for every person.  How do they know what effects it will have on my baby, toddler, teen?  They don't! As the mother, I know my child more than the government or drug company does, and I know if I feel good or bad about something.  Some people have severe allergic reactions to vaccines, some people's bodies do not accept the vaccine and therefore they don't develop the antibodies they are suppose to...or maybe they were naturally immune already, and some people accept them free of any effects whatsoever.  But shouldn't that choice be mine?  When people say to me....and yes they've said it..."If I'd have known your children weren't immunized I wouldn't have enrolled my child in the same preschool"  I smile because quite simply, if you believe your vaccinated child will contract something from my non-vaccinated child what does that say about your belief in the vaccine?  Yes I know that people at certain ages can't have the vaccine, I am aware that they may be exposed to something they don't know they are being exposed to.  But, there are outbreaks of the very diseases that we have vaccines for, and a lot of the time the outbreak effects those who WERE immunized.  Chickenpox for example, whooping cough.  These are two that I personally know of.  People I KNOW have been vaccinated and then contracted the disease anyway.  Do your research and make your own choice.  But know that YOU have a CHOICE!

The point is, if we are all forced to vaccinate our children then we give up our freedoms.  Haven't we given up enough freedoms?  Genetically modifying our food, Healthcare, and common core, just to name a few.  When we give up our rights because we feel we want everyone to be the "same" to have to do something that may not be right for them isn't that communism and socialism? Too extreme?! Well it starts with a simple freedom and gradually we will have NO CHOICES left.  I value my rights as an American, I value the freedom of CHOICE the freedom that we can CHOOSE what is right for our families, in education, in health, in vaccines, in religion, in so many things.  I urge you to think about that before you tell people that don't immunize that they are making the wrong choice.  Think about what freedoms you're willing to give up.  As for this mom, I CHOOSE to have a CHOICE! And I choose the same for you!

"Choose your love ~ Love your choice"

Calves to be branded

Summer brings on a whole new list of "to do's" at our house.  While we enjoy the new season, warm weather and the chance to be outside more, we also remember why we like winter to come back around as well.  Spring sprung and we branded the cows again, seriously one of our favorite times of the year.  This year we recruited the help of my cousin from Cali, it was super fun to have him experience all the cows and dirt, ropes and shots, branding irons and dry ice.  

Now that the FUN part is over we move on the other "farm livin'" items.  Watering, cutting, baling, fixing, raking, fixing, spending, fixing, driving, fixing, watering, fixing, did I mention fixing?  It seems to never end! We are running (co running some) over 200 acres this year, the hubs is working overtime at his job most weeks and I'm still keeping my "plate spinning" acts at full capacity.  The other day Hank and I met up in the garage (he was going to change water, I had come from changing another field) I smiled and said "is it winter yet?" he looked at me a little confused and asked "why?" I replied, "Cause I need a NAP!"  Yes this time of year it seems the peaceful slumbers of winter and hunkering down by the fire are missed dearly.  We are a lot like bears, we work and work all summer then hunker down for the winter.  There is still work in winter but much less.  I don't think I have fed my family dinner before 8pm (most days between 9 and 10pm) this summer!  My kitchen floor is a disaster and I swear I sweep 5 times a day.  There is more laundry to do, fuel to buy, sheep to walk, weeds to pull, flowers to water, lawn to mow.  Then we top it off with all the regular things we do and it seems like it's never going to end.  I was thinking about all of the "to do's" and feeling pretty overwhelmed.  The kids still have their activities to do like baseball and swimming lessons to add to the list.  We have jobs and church and checking cows on the mountain as well.  But....as I run Buckwheat to baseball and watch his batting get better and better and his love for the game improve, listen to Jo play the star spangled banner on the piano, watching Peanut count down the days until swim lessons, changing water with Bud (who by the way will be a licensed DRIVER soon!), chatting with Sue on the phone, picking up Hank at 1am from a field he's baling, and washing the dishes by hand cause the dishwasher gave it's last wash months ago....I can't help but think of the quote by President Monson, "Choose your love ~ Love your choice!"  

Bud, waiting for the cows

the lovely shot giver and the new chute closer (oh, and the alley pusher)

roping cows

Jo and the boss in the new Kubota 

I love EVERY busy, chaotic, nap needing, so hungry we could eat a horse at 10pm, filled day!  This is what WE CHOSE!  Our family chose to live this life, we chose each-other, we chose to work HARD and hardly play....(except it is our play).  We are addicted to our jobs for sure, but we don't' regret it, we don't hold a grudge, we thrive when we are working hard and getting in late.  Not only do I LOVE my choice in the man I chose to be my eternal companion, and the family we chose to have, I love the choice in what we decided to make of our life.  There is nothing as truly AMAZING as changing water at dusk with your almost 16 year old son and talking, laughing, watching the sun set.  The wheel lines on the horizon, the gorgeous valley we live in and the BEST family I could have imagined by my side.  I chose this, I love this!  It's not always easy, and often times we are so tired we can't see straight.  There are times when more things break than we care to name, and times when we've spent so much money on fuel, seed and farm stuff we aren't sure if it's worth it....But in the end it's our Happily Ever After, it's the Ying to our Yang, it's the best life we could imagine!  So as you rush around in the life you've made, remember the choice is yours....Choose your choice and love it...it's better that way!

Teriyaki Turkey Burgers

In a effort to feed the family in a healthier fashion, we've been trying  a few different things.  We raise beef - we eat beef - we eat more beef- we sometimes feel like NOT eating beef!  Our beef is grass fed, very healthy and we know what goes in it so I never worry about store bought stuff and I am very grateful for that!  I don't remember the last time I bought beef related products at the grocery store.  But in an effort to not ALWAYS eat BEEF we are broadening our horizons and trying new things.  I haven't been a huge fan the the turkey burger, it's very bland and doesn't have a real strong flavor when cooked ,but this time we kicked it up a notch and it was FABULOUS! These Teriyaki Turkey Burgers are a must try!  They have graduated to our DO EAT list and we are trying more things with turkey burger.  They were super simple to make and the turkey when seasoned properly is really tasty!

Grilled Pineapple...YUM!

As you can see, I just grilled them up on our cast iron griddle right on the stove top.  I seasoned the turkey with garlic salt and pepper and I added a little bit of Italian bread crumbs as well. I grilled the pineapple first, then Patti-ed out the turkey burgers and grilled them up.  We topped them with teriyaki barbecue sauce, tomatoes, avocado, lettuce, and of course the pineapple and devoured them!  EVERYONE loved them!  Seriously a must!  I can't wait to get the BBQ fired up this summer and make these with some corn on the cob. DELICIOUS, EASY and Healthy!  

What's your favorite thing to do with turkey burger?

The FIRST one ~ twenty

She was the first, yet I didn't watch her first step or stay up with her when she was a baby. No, our firsts were different.  Our firsts started at age 8 when she became my little buddy, greeting me eagerly on weekends we had together, letting me dress her and curl her hair.  She was the first little girl, she was the first one I stayed up late with, the first one I made an Easter dress for, she was the first one I waited up for when the dating began, the first one I sent to school, she was the first one I took prom dress shopping and car shopping, she was the first one I taught to drive, the first one that made me laugh and cry, she was the first one that I worried and wondered about, the first one to move in and move out, the first to make me proud as punch, the first to get a job, the first to have her own room, the first one in braces, the first birthday cake I ever made anyone, the first one to wear makeup, the first one that I learned from...the first one.  She still is, the first one!  I can't believe 12 years have come and gone.  20 seemed like a very distant thing when we were having all these firsts together. I'm crazy grateful for this FIRST ONE!  She makes me laugh, we've had some great moments, some sad ones, some crazy ones and some awesome ones.  Happy 20! To the FIRST ONE!  I love you.....to the moon and back (mostest)! 

20 years old!

Dresses and Dances

                           

Mexico

My Little Maid of Honor

Rodeo flag 

 

I didn't write it....but I LOVE IT! Life gave me the gift of YOU!

                             

7th grade

First deer 

Springtime on the Farm

It's the MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR!  I know they sing it at Christmas time but I think I should be able to sing it at other times of the year.  Like Fall because I LOVE Autumn, or SPRINGTIME because it's one of the BEST!  The ground is thawing the calves are being born and things start coming to life again.  I absolutely LOVE this time of year! This year we have had a good abundance of healthy calves.  In years past we've had times when it seems there were more that didn't make it than did.  Sometimes we've had sick ones and mothers that wouldn't cooperate.  This year however has been one of the BEST!  Thank Heavens!  Sick cows and one's that don't make it are just part of the circle of life on farms, but it's never fun.  I prefer healthy years like this one, myself. 

Feeding the cows

Ear Tagging calves

Can't forget Uncle CJ's Piggies

Cute Calves!

Doctoring Calves

I don't know that I ever really thought about being a farmer (or being married to one) when I "grew up" but it just so happens that the man I married got the farming itch about 3 years after we were married.  We knew we wanted wide open spaces, no neighborhoods, we wanted to listen to cows moo and wake up to the sound of sprinklers hitting the fence or the creek running in the back. Now those are just part of what we call life.  We work all summer and feed cows all winter.  We don't vacation much......okay maybe not really at all, but do we need to?  Who says that's what life is about?  It may be for some, but for us - this is what we do and what we love!  I have never been disappointed with the choice we made! (It also is a fabulous way for the kiddos to learn.  We've learned TONS through working together, doctoring cows, branding, spending time together, and being out in nature).  There's no better life!  "Farm livin' is the life for me!"  Stay tuned for the next debut of the famous annual "Cattle branding weekend". Famous as is in we do it every year, it makes me happy and is another one of the MOST WONDERFUL TIMES OF THE YEAR!  I saw a cute quote on Pinterest (duh, where else would I see it haha!) it said

  "Live your life like someone left the gate open!"  

So true!  The joy is in the journey.  Find something you love and live for it!  I LOVE THIS LIFE WE CHOOSE TO LIVE!!!

Do you love your life?  Tell me about it! I'd love to hear what makes your life FABULOUS!

Thanks for reading,

Paleontologists in the making!

These cute little munchkins love to discover things.  When we registered with Harmony this year we got COOL things in the mail...Like CHRISTMAS!  In one box was this Dinosaur Dig kit....and what better day to break it out then a MARCH day.  March tends to be warm one day and miserable the next...okay who am I kidding it's like that ALL SPRING where we live.  No guarantees it'll be nice til, oh I'd say late June then it's just too freakin' hot to do anything.  So you gotta enjoy the nice days and live up the yucky ones.  And that is just what we did.  These three are ALWAYS on me about SCIENCE! So we pulled this bad boy out and they all got cracking on it.  They even let their friends in on it, everyone taking a whack trying to see what bones they could discover.  Really Cool! and kept them mesmerized for hours!!!!

It's all in the preparation :)

Paleontologist's look out!

Oh SHE'S CUTE!

My THREE MUSKETEERS