Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving 2011, Also known as the day I gained 10 extra pounds!  I love to bake!  I use thanksgiving as an excuse to bake!  This year I only got to make tamales, Pumpkin Pie and Pecan Pie!  (I’m including tamales in the baking category this time.)

That morning started with the baking:

(We had to make another pumpkin pie because that one was kidnapped and devoured with 4 forks before I could get to it to save it.)

Then to Granny and Pawpaws!

Georgia Claire is walking now….

Dinner, The best part (Love the label's)

The day after we spent the day at my sisters house with my Dad.

Takes all day to cook.  About 30 min to eat and 5 min to a weeks worth of leftovers!

GC eating her version of Thanksgiving!

Sister and I doing what we do best!  Etsy shopping and pinterest!

And the pumpkin pie, pumpkin cake and pecan pie!  Wish I had some left overs of this!

We ended the day visiting my cousin who one comes into town once a year!  Crazy fun guy that I wished lived closer!  He also have 3 daughters!

This Thanksgiving I had so much to be thankful for!  I am thankful everyday for my family and feel so blessed to be loved by them in return.  We are healthy and happy and without that, none of the other stuff would matter!  I am also thankful for the jobs Joshua and I have.  We are both self employed and as scary as that choice was for us, we have never been happier!  My photography business is now a 40 hour a week job!  Sometimes more.  It has been more rewarding than I ever imagined and I can still make every activity that my girls are involved with.  I’m thankful for the little farm that’s not so little anymore.  We are expecting between 40-70 babies this year and for the second year in a row, sold out of show wethers. (Boy goats that FFA and 4H kids show) They are winning shows too!  We were able to purchase a buck this year that will be the difference in us being a goat farm to THE goat farm.  Were excited to welcome him!  181 is his name.    I’m living in my dream home (Even though it’s tiny and the heat is out downstairs and it’s sometimes messy) My car runs and is semi-problem free and Joshua's at least runs!  We have clothes to wear and food to eat! 

I think a lot about what we have and don’t.  Not just on thanksgiving.  I also am thankful for the journey that were on.  It’s not always easy and I don’t often share some of our downs but without those , without all the times we’ve struggled, the times we thought life was especially hard on us has really taught me/us so much!  For that I am thankful!

God has blessed us far more than we deserve and we will do our best to earn everything he gives us and make him proud in return!

Family Pictures

So, we've never had professional family pictures!  Ever!  Crazy huh?  And, I still don’t think we ever have…..  A friend of mine volunteered to come and take a few pictures for us one day.  We set a date and got ready really early.  We stepped outside and realized it may be the windiest day ever!  And, It was so super cold!  But we foraged on and smiled our best!  My family was surprisingly so well behaved……  Here’s what we ended up with:

This one’s too stiff!  We couldn’t joke or play because the girls were freezing and just not in the mood.

My Favorite!  (Maybe because I’m not in it!)

Too over done because I had to photoshop hair out of all our faces.

I really like this one!  Hate my hair in it though…..

And the picture we really really really wanted was us in the goat pasture.  With the wind we couldn’t do my real vision so we huddled up in a corner to sorta block the wind, and then the goats and kids were no longer cooperative so this is all we got…  Were going to try again in the spring!  Wish us luck!

Thank you to my friend Angel, willing to put up with my family and my demands long enough to get a few great photos of us!  Can’t wait for a great day to do this again! 

Sometimes we WIN everything

So, Autumn is into the breeding part of goat showing.  When you show girl goats that are judged on how good they look and how good at carrying babies they are/will be.  Genetics' have to be right and they have to have the right bone and meat structure!  (I’m guessing birthing hips)

Well, remember when Dancer and Cupid were born?  I remember like it was yesterday!  Dancer was our first goat born to us we won money with and Cupid was a bottle baby that was part of our family and lived under our roof until her untimely death at only 5 months old.

Well, Dancer is still doing well, thriving, and being spoiled rotten.  Everyone around here has a soft spot for her and you will often find her; out among my family and not behind a fence with the “goats”.  She has no idea she’s a goat and not sure why we have her with them. 

So, Autumn will occasionally show her and her baby.  Her baby is something special and does VERY well at shows!  Kit Kitridge is her name but we simply call her Kit!

This past show we did good!  Super good!  Dance and Kit won first in their class and Won a Grand Champion and Grand Champion Reserve overall.  We also took 2 others and they got a first and second place and a Reserve Grand Champion.

Good for my girls because we don’t win every show but the shows we do win, we usually win HUGE!  (When the judge and Joshua have the same opinion of what a goat should be! Ha!)

Me and Dancer Chilling watching Autumn show!  She usually lays her head on my lap and sleeps….. Love that goat!

Autumn Showing Kit

Dancers turn

 

Proud Papa and Uncle

Joshua doing what he does best… Coaching from the stands…. He can’t help himself.

Love Aubrey's taste in clothes

Autumn was so tired (shows mean early mornings) she took a nap on Dancer while waiting for her picture with the judge.