Jake's first taste of farming barley

A few Saturdays ago Jake got to go to work with David. He got to ride in one of the big tractors with the boss man and got his first taste of what planting barley is all about.

A few new pics of the kiddos

Spring is among us!

Well, I think Winter has finally left us until next time. Everything around is starting to turn green...the flowers are blooming...and the animal babies are all around us...I think Spring is finally here. We are loving the weather. During the day the temperature has been in the high 60's to high 70's and then cooling back into the high 30's to 40's at night.

They recently branded all of the calves out at the farm. Luckily, the chose to do it on a Saturday so the kids and I were able to go out and spend the day with them. Jakob jumped right in and helped out. He loved every minute of it! Carley, our little social butterfuly, enjoyed just being there and asking 50 questions to anybody who would pay attention to her!

Getting Settled In...

Well, we made the trip safely and we are *slowly* getting settled into our new home.

Jakob is loving his new school. He says that all of his teachers and classmates are very nice and welcomed him right in. His school is much smaller than what he is used to. His class in Florida had 19 kids...he makes #7 in his new class. There is one school here and it is K-12th grade.

David is enjoying his new job and all of the adventures that go along with it. Right now they spend most of their time tending to the cows that are calving and their new babies, feeding all of the cattle, and working on all of the *HUGE* farm equipment in prepration of the upcoming farming season. They will be planting soon and then they will be very busy for the rest of the summer!

Carley and I are enjoying some long over due Mommy/Daughter together. We have met some other people around town with kids around her age, and we have been doing little things just to get out of the house every now and then....storytime at the library, meeting for playtime, etc. We are having Fun! Fun!

Today we are getting our first "real" snow since we have been here. We have had a few flurries, but nothing enough to actually stick to the ground. The kids are loving it! Every 30 minutes or so they have to look out the window to see how much more has accumulated on the ground. I have already been informed that tomorrow we will be building our first snowman!

Now that we are getting settled in and things are starting to feel like we are at home, I hope to take the time to go out and take lots of pictures. I will be posting some soon!

Packing Up and Moving Along

As most of our family and close friends now know, we, as a family, have decided to accept an opportunity to move to Montana! David is going to work for Kolb Brothers in Hysham, MT. He will be farming part of the year - growing sugar beets, malt barley (you beer drinkers need to pick up a Coors ~ that's who they grow for), corn, alfalfa and wheat. The rest of the year (the cold, winter months) he will be taking care of cattle at the feedlot until time to ship them out to Minnesota.

Although we will surely miss Florida and all of our family and friends that we are leaving behind, we are excited for the change, and for an opportunity to venture off on our own. We have thought about this decision for a few months now, and we both agree that this will help us grow stronger as a family.

Everybody needs to remember that we have an open door policy at our house! :) We always accept visitors. I know from past experience that Montana is a place that you have to see to appreciate...you can look at a million pictures, but they just don't do it justice. It's definately a place that everyone should visit, at least once in their lifetime.

Pictures will be coming soon!