Spring babies

One of my many favorites of spring is all the baby animals that are born. Two weeks ago the boys got 8 2-week old calves to bottle feed. Last Thursday Matt picked up 6 tureky chicks. Then yesterday when we got home from church we found that Juliet, our pig, had delivered her piglets--all 15 of them. We were not quite prepared for them and Matt wasn't here to help out so the boys ran up to a neighbors house (they use to have more than 500 pigs). It was pretty yucky to watch her at first because she was wound up and was stepping on the babies. She was barking and they were sqealing. She ended up laying on one and killing it. Pretty sad. The Hart's (the neighbors) were so kind and spent almost two hours getting Juliet and her piggies set up in the crate with heat lamps. We couldn't have done it without them.

introducing . . .

. . . DINNER! Well, they will be in several months. After our not-so-great pigs last year we made sure that we got the right kind of pigs to raise for butchering this year. We picked up the little piggies Monday evening. Can it just tell you that they S-T-I-N-K! It was only a 5 mile ride with them in the back of the Sequoia in boxes, but I could hardly stand it (Chase either). Curse my darn "super nose". The pigs really are quite cute with their pink skin, white eyelashes, and big ears . The remind me of Wilbur from Charlotte's Web. And, omigoodness, they are the nosiest eaters I think I have ever heard...snorting, smacking, and making all kinds of noise. Now I know where the saying "Stop eating like a pig" came from.

Special Delivery

Back in February Chase, Trey, and Layton pooled their money to put together a chick order from Murray McMurray Hatchery. A lady in our ward also asked that Chase raise chicks for her and she would pay him to butcher them (I guess). Because of the many different varieties that were ordered they had to wait 2 months to get their chicks. Well, at 7 o'clock this morning the post office called to let us know the chicks had arrived. We now have 44 (give or take a few) chicks.

Old 'Matt'Donald had a farm

Matt is thrilled to have acreage again and is putting it to good use. We now have a full-fledged farm. We have . . .

2 ducks

2 pigs (1 for us & 1 for Doug & Kathryn)
A horse

4 Turkeys

2 Rabbits

4 Geese4 calves
11 chickens
2 sheep (down from 4 originally)
and of course, we can't forget our dog!
It is fun to see the boys with the animals and how they take their responsibility of feeding them very seriously; especially Chase. He is so good to feed every morning and evening without being reminded. Thankfully most of the animals are quite calm and don't mind when Zander runs up to them and tries to pet them or ride them. I am grateful for a hard-working husband that makes all this possible for us by going to work everyday to pay for the animals and feed for them, building and fixing fences, etc. I love seeing him teach our boys how to care for the animals, build fences, and be responsible boys. I thought this picture of Matt fixing fence and Zander sitting with him was too sweet not to post. We truly are blessed with a great life!