Cowboy Corban

It is a good thing that we have moved to the cowboy state because Corban is very much in love with being a cowboy.

Why I have not been blogging!!

A lot of people have been wondering what happened to us and what has been going on. I am sorry that I have not posted updates of the kids. Here are the 45 reasons why you guys have not seen any new photos.
DONE PROJECTS:
1. Scraped popcorn ceilings off of the hall, Corban's room, Eden's room, Master bedroom, and small bathroom.
2. Ripped out old carpet from Eden's room, Corban's room, hall, and Master bedroom.
3. Installed new laminate flooring in Eden's room, Corban's room and hall.
4.Painted ceilings in Eden's room,Corban's room, Maser bedroom, hall and small bathroom.
5. Installed wainscoting in small bathroom.
6. Installed new lighting in small bathroom.
7. Installed new kitchen sink and faucet.
8. Painted cabinets in small bathroom and installed new hardware.
9. Painted walls in master bedroom, Eden's room, Corban's room, small bathroom and hall.
10. Installed cat door.
11. Built tiered garden area along house.
12. Built storage shelving, coat rack, entryway bench seat, dog food dispenser, Corban room shelves and toy chest.
13. Fixed and replaced window screens.
14. Installed screen/storm door.
CURRENT PROJECTS:
15. Painting walls in living room and dining room(20% done)
16. Painting murals in kids rooms(45% done)
17. Installing trim throughout house(10% done)
18. Painting trim and doors throughout house(10%)
19. White washing wainscoting in small bathroom(50%)
20. Building chicken coop(50%)
21. Digging out irrigation ditch(30%)
22. Burning old moldy hay and weeds(15%)
23. Repair, convert and paint Edens bed to a bunk bed(75%)
24. Building shelves for Eden's room(25%)
25. Cleaning up all trash and poison from property(5%)
PROJECTS NOT YET STARTED:
26. Scrape ceilings in living room, dining room, kitchen, and master bathroom.
27. Remove carpet from living room.
28. Install laminate flooring in living room, dining room and master bedroom.
29.Fix toilet in small bathroom.
30. install new flooring in small bathroom.
31. Fence in yard.
32. Build swing set.
33. Fix corral fences.
34. Build windbreak.
35. Build dog houses.
36. Fix rabbit cage.
37.Fence in property.
38.Plant tree.
39. Paint kitchen and master bathroom.
40.Install new window in Eden's room.
41. Re roof shed.
42. Build saddle racks in shed.
43.Paint cabinets and replace hardware in kitchen and master bathroom.
44. Reseed property and irrigate.
45. Plant garden.

Another Gunslinger Bites the Dust

Our first pet that Alma and I ever got together, our cat Boss Hog, died Saturday night. He has been with us through 6 years of marriage and 7 moves. He was a truly wonderful cat even if he was a bit onery at times. He lived the life of the gunslinger, "live hard, die young".The kids helped put together this remembrance video of him.

Puppy Overload

I've had a major puppy overload this month. I have been taking care of my sisters puppy for her for 3 weeks until she can come pick it up. On top of that some puppies from the neighbors have started coming over to my place for food. I thought that I had a massive racoon invashion everynight breaking into my cat food and trash. I spent countless hours coming up with ways to feed the cats and not the local wildlife. It turns out that it is 12 starving pups and their mother. The mother is really old and should not have been able to have any puppies but miraculously had 12. Now she cannot feed them all and the owner cannot afford to feed any of them so I started to dump some food on the ground by the barn. They are going to be giant dogs because the scoundrel father was a Great Pyrenees. I called all the local shelters that I can find and none can take any so I'm still searching for a solution to this problem. We have already agreed to let Corban and Eden each pick one to keep and my mother has also agreed to take one but that still leaves 9 more. ANYONE WANT A PUPPY?

Herding Cattle This Summer

I spent a lot of my time moving cattle this summer in Colorado. Here are some photos of my family and I and a few friends.

I actually trained 4 out of the 5 of these horses in the line up.

My dad, sister, myself and my mom waiting for the truck load of cattle to arrive.

Eden and Corban draw their family

Eden's rendition of her mom and dad. Note how her dad has hair on his face.

Corban's family picture.

Corban's 2009

I started looking at all the photos that were taken this year of the kids and decided to make a summary of each. Here they are. Corban's year was like a roller coaster. He suffered from acid reflux since birth and finally went off medication a few months ago. He also had 7 double ear infections this year that we can recall. All this on top of the bumps and bruises acquired from learning to walk and run made for a very long year. We did manage to get a lot of smiles despite all ailments and look forward to a better year.