Ellie's Campaign

Ellie is running for student body president of her middle school this week.  She told me last week that she wanted to run and I tried to talk her out of it.  It sounded like a bunch of unnecessary work.  Why would she subject herself to that??

She convinced me so this week I've been helping her with her campaign.  Her posters have all been based on the Campbell soup idea - "Voting for Ellie is a SOUPER choice", "Campbell Can!!!!"  and so forth.

She had the idea to get these little jars of candy and tape a Campbell soup label that reads "Vote Ellie" so we were all working on the last night.  This morning she set up a table outside the school to pass out these little candies to all the students.  

She's doing a skit for the student body and this afternoon they vote.  Stay tuned tomorrow for the results!!!

It's really been such a pleasure to help her.  She's so grateful for all the help she receives and keeps thanking me, and the rest of the family, for helping her.  Her little friends have been involved too, helping to hang posters and hand out the candies this morning.  She has a really nice group of friends.  

Ellie is SO different from her brothers and I am so grateful for her!

Grandpa Dick's birthday

Heather and I flew to Mesa this last weekend for Grandpa Dick's 90th birthday party.  It was SO good to see Dad, Rae, Amber, and Tonya.  And Reese!!!  We stayed at Dad's house.  He and Rae are always so welcoming.  On Saturday, we went and had lunch and swam at Uncle Jimmys house and then dinner and pictures in the park with the whole family Saturday night.  It was good to see the cousins, some of which I hadn't seen for years.  It's amazing how big the family has become.  I don't even know which children belong with which families.  

It was a great weekend and made me excited for the cruise coming up!!!

First Milking

Oh my laws, the day is here.  It's finally here.  May 10, 2017.  The first day of milking in the new barn.

Craig was pretty nervous.  We both had a gut ache that something was going to explode, something was going to catch fire, cows were going to fall off the turntable, equipment was going to fall off....  Craig went to the store and bought himself a new pair of milk boots in honor of the occasion.  

The new boots must have been a lucky charm because nothing bad happened!  It went well!

Between Craig and Hayes and the kiwis and the NorthStar guys and Mark and Mundo and Jorge, there were about twelve or thirteen people in the barn, watching and helping.  I watched them try to get the first cow onto the turntable and it took about four guys pushing it on to make her get on.  I thought, "Oh, no, if every cow takes this much work, it's going to take forever to get done."  But she was the worst.  Once she was on, the other cows followed much easier.  They weren't super excited about it, and some of them took a bunch of pushing.  They were nervous and pooped ALL OVER.  That nice clean new barn doesn't look so nice and clean.  Everything took about three hours but Craig says that it will get quicker.  

We think it went really well.  Nothing exploded.  Everything worked pretty much the way it was supposed to.  Craig is pleased.  I was so relieved and happy watching those cows go around.  That's the first time in a long time that I've had any kind of positive emotion towards the new barn.

This day has been a LONG time coming!

Cows in the barn, and Hayes hanging from the rafters

You see that thing in the barn??? No, not Hayes, the other thing.  That's a COW.  In the BARN.  

Craig wants the cows to get used to coming in the barn.  We're still milking them in the old barn, but once they are done milking, the gates are set up such that they have to come through the new barn in order to get back to their corral.  They don't step onto the rotary, they just walk through the holding pen and then out.  They like to stop and look around and sniff the new gates.  Some of them take their time, looking at all the new sights, and some of them hurry right on out of there, before the barn boogey man can get them.  It's fun to watch them.

And the other thing is Hayes, hanging from the rafters.  He said that the wash pipe needed securing and he readily offered his rappelling services.  

Barn is almost finished

Hallelujah, the barn is almost finished!  Craig thinks we should be milking cows within the week.  I hope so.  We have the kiwis back to install the equipment, along with about ten other people coming and going to finish plumbing, wiring, gates and fences, and other stuff.  It's a beehive of activity.  Yesterday Craig, Brigham, and Mac brought the cows into the new holding pen to get them used to it.  The cows were skittish and weren't sure about coming in.  I think we have a big job in front of us, trying to get the cows used to the new barn.