Goals! Goals! Goals!

"Snow, snow go away. 

Come again some other day. 

If you don't, I don't care, 

I'll still be here in my underwear."

This is the song being yodeled around our place by some boys, not-to-be-named,  in their underwear as they are doing the "Snow Day" dance. I joined in the first day or two (fully clothed mind you) but after that I was over it. So. Over. It. 

I am a summer girl anyway and in my opinion all is not right with the world when the weather is so cold, snowy, freezy, and icy. I'm all about cuddling up with a warm blanket, hot chocolate, and a book in my hand but I like that best when I've simply turned my A.C. down really low. 

Feeding cows in the winter is rough. But that's nothing compared to when the frost-free hydrant goes on strike and refuses to fill the water trough any more which then leads to us having to pack water to the cows a couple times a day. Not fun packing water to the cows.

The chickens are giving all kinds of new meaning to the words "cooped up". As in, they don't leave their coop if there is snow on the ground. As in, the coop is ripe with chicken body odor and The Pecker (a.k.a. our rooster) is having a hay day standing on top of the waterer and crowing. Only problem with that is he poops up there which slides down into the water (the idiot) and so I am constantly having to kick him off and clean out the waterer (in sub zero temperatures mind you). 

Things are so bad my grandma has not been able to go to Bingo in weeks now. No bingo is a bad thing. A bad thing indeed. Her lucky bingo blood needs an outlet because when it doesn't get used, bad things start to happen. Owen loses his voice. Caleb grows another inch right after I bought him new pants. Mark slips and falls in the driveway and threatens to kill any who might have laughed at him. You know, bad stuff. 

I'm pretty sure it's why the Seahawks lost yesterday. 

All this snow time has given us a chance to work on this year's goals though and I guess that's a good thing. 

Goals are what this family does - no resolutions around this place. We like to look forward to new things and opportunities rather than reflect on things we want to "fix" about ourselves. Where's the fun in that?!

As the year goes on, we also learn a lot about ourselves. For example, last year a goal we had was to go on more bike rides as a family . When we looked back over our goals, we realized that we had went on exactly zero bike rides as a family. Hmmm... we are obviously a family that doesn't like to ride bikes together. Time to sell some bikes! 

We also had on there that we were going to participate in 4 races as a family. The boys and I signed up for a Valentine's Day 5k and we were all looking forward to it. Before the end of it, I swore it was the last race I was ever going to do with my children. Throughout the three miles I had to pretend I was a zombie chasing them, a Halo soldier trying to capture aliens, and at one point, a mother chasing her children so she can beat them with a stick (not too far from the truth on that one!). The boys complained the whole time and gave an entire new meaning to "Are we there yet" in reference to the finish line. As soon as we were done, they were off RUNNING around with their friends! Seriously! So our goal ended at 1 race for the family for the year. 

This year we have some new goals! We will hopefully accomplish most of them but we will possibly toss some over our shoulders and never look back. Goals are fun!

So without further ado, here are our 2017 goals: 

Faith: 

       *  Read through Romans together as a family inductively 

       *  Encourage one another in our faith walks by praying for each other as a family (we do this by drawing names each week and writing down prayer requests for that person)

       *  Write down prayer requests and reflect back on them to see how God has moved

Family: 

       *  Family dinners once a month again with extended family members

       *  Choose a service project together 4 times a year (once every 3 months)

Finances: 

       *  Save 3,500 - 4,000 for Disneyland trip

       *  Stay within budget and not give in to wants  (Hardest for me, not gonna lie!) 

Health: 

      *  Be aware of sugar intake - dinner desserts only on weekends or special occasions

      *  Begin to teach meal planning to the boys and have them cook 2 times a month

Home: 

     *  Finish the shed - insulating, wiring, painting, cabinets, porch

     *  Plant 3 more trees and landscape another are of the house

     *  Put in pavers on the dirt between the back porch and firepit area

     *  Look into building a hay shed and garden fence

Nothing major (except maybe the desserts) but I am excited to see what this year brings! We have been blessed in so many ways that we are always working at making sure we appreciate everything we have already. 

Even when it is cold, snowy, freezy, and icy and the rooster is pooping in his own water. 

Even then! 

       

Owen's Elk Hunting Adventure

Where to begin? Owen's elk hunting story honestly belongs to him but I feel like I had better help him get it set up...

Owen was unsuccessful this year in the buck hunting department and he was feeling pretty bummed about it. Mark took him out several times, we went out as a family a couple of times, and I even took him out by myself once. We spent a lot of time buck hunting. Owen had told everyone on his football team that he was going and they kept asking him and asking him if he had gotten anything. He kept having to tell them no. 

One of his football coaches told Owen that if he didn't get anything by the end of the season, one of his parents (Mark or I) could turn in their unused tags and get a damage control tag for his property. It would be a late season elk tag - for a cow - but it would be another opportunity for him to hunt. Well, Owen was thrilled with idea!

December rolled around and Owen's football coach, Michael, got a hold of Mark and the two of them worked everything out so that Owen could go hunting. Since it was my tag that was turned in, I had to go along. I wasn't too thrilled at first because it was FREEZING outside but I knew that I had to do it or Owen would be so disapointed I wouldn't be able to stand it. 

The morning finally arrived and Owen, Mark and I were up before 5 am so that we could get all bundled up and have everything loaded up and in the truck by 5:30. We were meeting Micheal and his son Easton (who was also on Owen's football team) and heading up to some property in the hills. Now before I go any further, I do have to mention here that Michael's family have a lot of property. Think bazillions of acres all over Eastern Oregon and I'm not even sure that begins to cover it. We were headed up to a specific area where his cousin just starting a hunting/guiding business called Hunt Oregon. It has a house, out buildings set up to where you can easily hang and gut your animals, etc. Plus, the land has tons and tons of elk on it. Tons. As in I have never seen that many elk except at Yellowstone. 

So, Owen got pretty lucky to be able to hunt this property to say the least. This was a hunt that other people have to pay a lot of money for. Each family member gets to have two guests a year and Owen was one of Michael's this year. Now, I'll turn the story over to Owen...

So there I was . . .

     Dad and I plus mom went in the truck with my football coach Mr. Corey, we all went in trucks and started to go up a big hill then down. Then we got to a gate and parked the trucks. Me, dad, and mom went and saw elk behind us, in front of us, and to the left of us. Me and my parents decided to go after the elk in front of us. so we started to go up the road and we spooked those so we kept going to see if they went into some draws up ahead. Eventually it turned into just a few more and then a few more later. Dad spotted this cow elk all by herself and she was coming down the hill across the field. We saw a big herd of about two hundred, so we stopped worrying about that one lonely cow. We passed a big finger and there was a cow inside so we backed up and she took off. We saw this herd had some elk still crossing the field and road. Then we saw a broken, old barn. We made quick feet to it because it would give us some sort of cover. I set up the gun and asked dad how far they where and he said over 400 yards. So we [me and dad] went to the right to see if we could catch them on there way up the hill when all of a sudden dad turns and he says that there are elk still crossing the road. So then we turned and went to them and got the gun set up and we are 170 yards from the elk and dad asked me if I could kill one and I said I will try. 

Then dad says " No you have to kill it, not try to kill it."

Then I get a little mad and said "Fine, I'll kill it!" but dad stopped me because he said I will miss if I shoot when I am angry. Then out of no where elk come at like 75 yards so then I try to shoot but the safety is on. By now the elk are gone. Me and dad wait then we get up and start to walk to where the elk were crossing and then a calf runs right in front of us. I get really excited and ask dad is I can shoot it.  He says no but it was big enough that I could shoot its mom, so we went to where it ran and dad saw about 20 cows so we start up the hill and I thought they were in the draw but no they were at the top of the hill. 

So we hiked and hiked and hiked some more when dad suddenly stopped  and said that there was a cow coming so I got the gun ready. Then I saw her through the scope but only her head. She never took a step closer, then she turned and left.

Dad's phone went off so he said I could go ahead and try to stalk them. When I saw them there where more than 40. I got the gun ready and dad caught up with me and said to get a little closer so we did. Then one saw us and started to jog. I had my scope on her and dad said the 2nd one was bigger and he was right she had at least a 100 pounds on all of the others. Then he said the 3rd stopped and so I swung the gun on her and BAM I shot. All of the others ran and if you looked through the scope you could see the hole in her body. After all of the other elk ran by, dad said I could shoot her again so I did and did again then she fell. By the time we got there she was dead. My first shot hit her heart then my next shot hit her lungs and my last shot hit her leg. 

That is my hunting story. 

Not bad Owen, not bad. I asked him if he wanted to add some more details or talk about what it was like afterwards with the gutting of it and dragging it down the humongous hill but he said "People just want the juicy stuff, mom". 

Hmm...The juicy stuff. 

Ok. 

I'll tell you the boring un-juicy stuff I guess. Owen was so excited it was hard to get him to stop grinning. He was pretty excited to help Mark gut it out until he realized that having blood on your hands is a good thing only while your hands are still in the blood. Once you remove them from the animal, the blood quickly freezes when it's about 5 degrees outside! Also, since he is so short, he couldn't reach pass the rib cage of the elk (to the heart and lungs) so Mark had to take over from there. 

A lot of this elk meat will be going in our freezer but Owen is also giving some to his grandma and great-grandma. He's pretty proud of that fact! 

Owen has developed a great friendship with one of the employees at our D n B store who works back in the hunting/fishing/gun section of the store - Jim. He gave Owen a brand new, special knife when Owen brought in a picture of his first buck (and he hung the picture up in the store). Owen used his knife to help gut the elk out so Mark made sure to take a picture of it to show Jim. We think he'll be pretty pleased. 

Owen is now the youngest person in our family to have gotten an elk. He is in the process of telling every single person that very thing. 

He's not proud or anything!

In this picture you can see the road winding it's way along the bottom of these hills. To the left of Owen, you can just barely see Mark's red truck (it looks more like a tiny bush). I wanted to make sure and include this picture so you could have a better idea of just how steep and big this hill was that we all had to hike up (and how far Mark and Michael had to drag the elk down!). 

Such a special hunt for this special kid!

Christmas 2016

This Christmas break has been special. Magical. Everything a Christmas break is supposed to be. It has been filled with fun times with friends, trips to the movies (4 times!), lots of good things to eat, and lots and lots of relaxation. 

Every  minute has been wonderful but Christmas day was extra nice. 

We started our morning by reading the last part of our advent story - Jotham's Journey. If you haven't heard of this book before, it was awesome! Each night we would read a little part of Jotham's Journey starting the 4th Sunday before Christmas. It was quite the adventure that little Jotham went on and the kids really enjoyed it. Perfect way for our family to stay focused on what Christmas is really all about! 

After our story, we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and then began to open our stockings. 

Caleb and Owen both purchased a few little things to go into the stockings this year and I honestly think they were more excited for us to find the things they placed in the stockings, than looking into their own. 

The best was when Mark and I both discovered gold coins at the bottom of our stockings from Caleb and then Owen said, "I still have one more thing in mine! I know what it is - gold coins!". Only when he pulled them out, they were lumps of coal instead. We all laughed and laughed at poor Owen but since the lumps of coal were made out of chocolate, he wasn't too upset. Caleb thought it was the perfect moment, of course!

We feasted on cinnamon roll cake - delish, if I do say so myself. 

We played some fierce games of Hearts. 

And then we loaded up the presents, some pies and salads and headed up to Dad and Mom G's house for Christmas with the family. The boys got to see their cousins. 

And their Aunt Molly and Uncle Bill. 

And their Grandma and Poppa Golter but I never did get a picture of them...

We ate a huge, yummy lunch first and then it was present time. The kids took turns wearing the Santa hat and passing out gifts. Sometimes the big, bearded kids would join in!

On a side note, can I just say how much I actually liked the beard? Mark has since had to shave it off until next November's fundraiser but I really enjoyed it while it lasted! 

We opened presents up one at a time, which is my favorite way of doing things. I love seeing what everyone gets and their reactions to their presents. A lot of thought goes into gift giving and I like to prolong the experience and enjoyment of it for as long as I can! 

Molly and I modeling the new hats mom picked out for us. 

We spent the rest of the day visiting, playing games, eating pie, and simply being together. 

Christmas 2016 was a blessed one indeed! 

Things We Do For Our Children (that they never appreciate half as much as they should!)

Someday my children are going to have little Golter's of their own. My prayer is that they will then realize how much work parenting really is. 

Right now, my children don't know the half of it, I tell ya. 

It is exhausting, non-stop, always second-guessing kind of work. Kind of like walking a tight-rope, blind folded and the Ring Master just let everyone know that you are going to be juggling fire in 3 seconds or as soon as he gets his torch lit. 

I had the naive thought that surely as they go older, I would have less to do. I wouldn't need to stay and watch every single practice. I could drop them off and run errands or heaven help me, even go home for a little while. 

Not a chance, people. 

I only got busier. 

You see I found out that as the kids get older, my responsibilities grew as well. 

With each sport or event, I have had to travel further, shell out more money, and horror of all horrors - branch out of my comfort zone by the sidelines. I could hang out over on the sidelines like a boss. I would pack my bag with snacks, drinks, nail polish, a book or three, a cooking magazine, and a hat for sunny days and a blanket for cold ones. Practically a professional. 

I could cheer my children on from the sidelines easily. I am a great yeller and a natural encourager and my piercing screams can easily outpace the other moms so I really think my unique talent benefits my children greatly. Hence the reason I am always yelling at them while they are playing. I try to tone it down but before I know it, I sound similar to  your car when the timing belt needs to be changed. I won't be asked to enter any singing competitions any time soon but if you are trying to track down your dog, I'm your gal. My holler can carry for a half-mile radius at least. 

This year Caleb joined Robotics. Now he is pumped I tell ya. Puuu-mped. He little Lego-building heart beats in double time whenever he talks about it. He now has practice twice a week and a tournament every other Tuesday. The tournaments start at 4 and last until 9ish. At the first one, my plan was to drop Caleb off, run some errands, and come back for the good stuff around 6. 

Didn't happen. 

I pulled up the Hot Mamma and was shoving Caleb out the door when another mom I know asked me if I had a little bit of time. She told me all the parents were expected to help and that she had the perfect job in mind for me. I asked if it was easy and if it took very long. She assured me that yes, it was very easy and that I would be done by 5:30. Hmmm... I totally fell for it and before I knew it I was dressed up in nerdy safety goggles with an official title of "Robot Inspector". 

Seriously. 

Ha!Ha! They wanted ME to help inspect ROBOTS! Funny, right?! 

I was thinking this would be a laugh a minute until the first group (first group of 20!) that brought their robot up to me. They had a checklist for me, 2 pages mind you, that they expected me to read and understand. I glanced at it and it was like my Spanish final in high school all over again - I had no clue. I looked around in a panic and luckily a nice gentleman came over to help me. He is a guy who installs speaker systems and other things for people = super smart and he spoke Robotics. We made a good team. I would read the sentence from the checklist and he would check for it. Most of the time I had no idea what I was reading but it didn't matter! As long as I "sounded" like I knew what I was doing, it all worked out swell! 

Here are some photos of the night: Caleb with some of his nerd crew checking to make sure the robot is moving the way they have coded it to. 

When they are battling it out inside this ring, one of their goals is to have their robot touch these light panels around the ring. They get 10 points for each light that is showing their colors. While the time is going though, the other team can steal their light and turn it to their color and thus capture the points. It's a non-stop battle. 

Caleb's team partners up with another team and they work together to try and defeat the two teams that represent the other color. The kids keep working on the same robots throughout the season and by the end, some of the robots will be able to pick up those large balls and put them into the containers at the top. Those will be some fancy robots, I can tell you that much! I can't wait to inspect those (just kidding!). Those ones are totally above my pay grade!

Caleb was nervous before his team was up and I tried to get a picture with him but he had his game face on. Side note - safety goggles must be worn at all times if you are back by the robots. My van now has 2 pairs that live in the consul so that we are prepared for anything Robotics related.  

Caleb and "Hammer Head". 

Mark made it to Caleb's last tournament and asked Caleb to explain to him some of this Robotics stuff. 

Silly man! Caleb talked his ear off and was as animated as a used-car salesman who really needed a sale. 

Mark did a really good job listening and pretending like he understood what Caleb was saying. He only sent me looks for help 2 dozen times or so. I totally ignored his pleas and laughed in my sleeve at him. Sucker!

Mark and I are becoming fluent in the art of Robotics and while it's not something we EVER saw ourselves doing, we are excited that Caleb is doing something he really enjoys. I am excited for all that he is learning and whether or not Caleb ends up doing something more in this field of engineering I am hoping that he will someday think back about this time of his life and remember how loud his parents were cheering him on! Especially his mom with her banshee-like shrieks. 

So much to be Thankful for!

I love Thanksgiving break! 

It gets me geared up and ready for Christmas.

It's a mini-vacation for the boys and I. 

It's a time to cook and eat and play games and shop and sleep in and read and, and, and I could go on and on. 

I love how it makes me think about things I am thankful for because I am certainly guilty of NOT doing that as often as I need to. 

And I have so much to be thankful for. 

Thankful that cooking can be fun and filling. 

Thankful for beautiful fall walks that help me keep the calorie count in check. 

Thankful for quiet company while I'm reading in the library. 

Thankful for kids who peel the potatoes. 

And especially thankful for those that make cupcakes for dessert. 

Thankful for frogs who live in our fountain. 

Thankful for kids who aren't fussy about Halloween costumes. 

Thankful for pre-school memories that I've held onto. 

Thankful for my boys making new friends on Thanksgiving day. 

I pray that my family and friends know how thankful I am for them! My life is pretty good and it is only that way because of the people I have been blessed to have in it. 

Sending many thankful thoughts your way!

Flashback Friday

This weekend we are having visitors. 

Visitors that are family and ones that warm our hearts each and every time we see them. 

Visitors that we called our own for a time - a little over a year and a half. 

We were a family of four and they called us Mommy and Daddy. We kissed the hurts away, gave them hugs and kisses when we tucked them into bed at night, cheered them on at soccer games and shared every aspect of our lives with them so they knew they belonged here with us. Our boys called them brothers and were proud to do so. 

The boys are with their aunt and uncle now, happily adopted and living a great life surrounded by family who loves them and we are so happy that we get to still see them and be a part of their lives even if it is on the fringes now. They still sometimes slip and call us Mommy and Daddy but for the most part it is Mark and McRiah now (Jaxon version). 

A couple of weeks ago when we were at Jaden's birthday party (he just turned 8) Jaxon was sitting on Mark's lap and he put his two sticky, chubby hands on either side of Mark's face. Looking into his eyes, Jaxon asked Mark "Do you want to be my daddy or do you want to be my best friend". 

What we want and what we can actually have are often two very different things but we know that we are blessed in every single way to still be able to see these precious boys and be a part of their lives! We can't wait to see them this weekend and I hope that our relationship with them continues forever!

Best Dog Ever

Every person on this planet probably knows someone who can lay claim to having had the best dog ever. 

The sweetest dog. 

The smartest dog.

The dog that saved their life, their children's lives, everyone's lives, etc., etc., etc.

You know that person -  braggers that they are. 

Well, I'm here to tell you that they are all big, fat liars. 

Because we hands down, no contest, had the Best Dog Ever. 

The one who loved kids even as a puppy. 

The one you could curl up and take a nap with. 

From sandcastles to snowmen, Kye was right there with us no matter what. And that's where she always wanted to be. 

Kye was woven into the fabric of this family and as I looked back through pictures it didn't matter where we were or what we were doing, I could find her. I found this picture in the file marked "House" and Mark was getting ready to measure out the lines for the foundation of our new house. But first he had to play with Kye.  

This is from our creek a couple of years ago when the boys had friends over. I didn't even remember Kye being there but of course she was. Because she was the Best Dog Ever. 

 Always there, always content, always happy to be doing whatever we were doing. 

Until she suddenly couldn't. We found a tumor on Kye in September and the prognosis wasn't good. While she wasn't in any pain at the time, she wasn't going to be able to beat this either. We were told to make her comfortable, make sure she eats, and keep an eye on her. 

We did and even though our hearts broke a little more each day, we watched as the cancer grew bigger and bigger. Pretty soon, she couldn't jump up the stairs any more. 

And pretty soon she wasn't wanting to eat much. 

And pretty soon she wouldn't even get up when I was lying on the floor. 

That's when we knew it was time. 

With tears running down our cheeks, we said our final good-byes to our sweet dog and then laid her to rest in one of her favorite places here on the farm. 

She is buried right by the creek where there is the sound of the water and deer often bed down under the tree. 

Although we have two other dogs still here with us and we love them dearly, they don't hold a candle to Kye. She seriously was - the Best Dog Ever. 

And she always will be.