We went down to Kansas for special meeting yesterday. We are so blessed to have the friends we do! I can't tell you how encouraged I was just being there and listening, and then the conversations with different ones afterwards and in between meetings. It was VERY special! Larisa Hertz was there with her family and had a part in the meeting which was about the most encouraging thing a person can watch or hear!

One of my favorite bits of advice given during meeting was this for couples:

Love one another and you WILL be happy. It's as simple and difficult as that! :-)

So true! Just wanted to share with you today.

Last night, Beau had basketball camp. Oh what fun to watch! We dropped him off for an hour and then went back to watch all their games. There were 106 boys there (1st through 6th grades). Beau won 1st place for his division (1st & 2nd grades) and then during the championship round where the top 2 out of every grade played against each other, he was 4th place out of all 106 kids! I was so proud! I took some pics and am downloading them from my phone right now. If it works, I will post them at the end of this! He won 2 snickers candy bars and a towel just like the "big guys" use during their games! He was pretty pumped!

Then as part of that, all the boys got into the Varsity game tonight for free. So, the whole family went and we all had a great time! I can't wait till Beau is in high school sports! He really enjoys sports, which makes him fun to watch when he plays. And I know I'm just his mom, but I think he's pretty good too! Which will come in handy, cause it's easier to cheer for someone that actually gets playing time, than a benchwarmer like I was in volleyball! Ha! ;-) Thank heaven Beau takes after his dad in athletic ability!

And now Beau has basketball practice tomorrow morning too! So, we will be basketball'd out by the time this weekend is over! :-)

The kids get a 3 day weekend, which is nice. And wanna hear something else nice? My husband is refinishing my dining room table for me and I am so excited!! The leg fell off this morning - don't ask - it's just one more thing in a whole list of things we seem to be compiling this month! :-) And because of that, he reinforced all four legs and is completely refinishing it like we had planned to do since I bought it this summer! Might even get it done tomorrow!! Woohoo!

Kaylee had her first play date with a school friend today. Baylie is one of her best buddies in her class and invited her over for the afternoon. It was set up that she would go home from school with them, so when Rod went to school to pick Beau up, he saw Kaylee & Baylie walking to Baylie's car and he rolled down his window and asked her if she was coming home with him or what!? She just giggled, shook her head no, and kept on running right past him! :-) Man they grow up so fast!!

Our snow if finally melting! But we still have at least 6' high drifts on either side of our road out here in the country! Gonna take a while to melt completely, I'm thinking! :-) I have lots of pictures downloading off my phone, so as soon as I find them on my computer, I will post some!

Have a wonderful night!

Beau just came down, hugged me and said, "Mom I think I'm gonna head to bed, I have practice in the morning!" The funny part was, he said it like he was making a sacrifice going to bed so early. And maybe he is, it is only 11:54pm after all! :-)

Apparently, 1 in 5 people in the world are Chinese. And there are 5 people in my family, so it must be one of them. It's either my mum or my dad. Or my older brother Colin. Or my younger brother Ho-Chan-Chu. But I think it's Colin. ~Tim Vine

Do you ever read or hear something and it just tickles your funny bone? This was it for me today! :-) Cracked me up!

One must wait until the evening, to see how splendid the day has been.

Isn't that a neat quote? I think it was Will Rogers that said it. I just love it.

Here is one of the sweet little baby girls we have.

This heifer was waiting for her food and I couldn't resist taking her picture first.

New Babies!!!

Guess what Hope and I saw when we went out to the pasture this morning!?! Two more brand new little calves! We saw one yesterday and here the other two showed up today! Ol' Notch ear below had to have had her's in the early morning hours this morning as he is all cleaned up and running around and she hadn't had him at 8:30pm last night and wasn't showing signs then either!

Here they are again from the other angle. Notch & Baby. Isn't he cute? He's the heftiest of the bunch and also the only boy.

Below is #2 with her baby girl calf that she had as we were pulling into the pasture this morning! I knew something was up, by the way she was standing there, but Hope and I had to fill the water tank and feed the calves before we could drive out there. By the time we finished that and drove out to her, she was licking her calf and baby was nursing! This calf is the only one with white markings on it's face. The other 2 are completely black.

You can tell how new a calf it is!

Smart little calf went right to nursing!

Here is C592 and Notch with their babies. All the babies were born within a day of each other. The one on the left had hers yesterday early morning and Notch was early this morning!

And though it's hard to see them all, I managed to capture all the mommas and their babies that we have!

Obviously this little brown guy isn't very new! We actually bought him & his mom when he was a new calf back in June, so that makes him 3 mo's old now! He looks cuddly I think. But he's not very tame. This is the closest I have ever gotten to him, and he bolted as soon as I took the picture!

Easy Bake Queen!

Hi, I am the Easy Bake Queen! Here to show you

how to make a cake. . . (so glad you could join us!)

First you mix it. . .

Then you bake it . . .

Then you check it 400 times. . .

while little sister helps with cleaning. . .

It's always good to get a second opinion on how it's doing . . .

Then with assistance, you carefully (Easy now! It's hot!) carefully

take it out of the oven. . .

Check it for temp . . . is it still hot?

Nope! It's good to go! Now it's time to frost and eat it!

(if your mom remembers to take pics of that part!)

Otherwise, you just pose for pics with the assistant chef. . .

One of Kaylee's favorite things she got for her birthday was an easy bake oven! So, these are the pics from her first cooking episode! And did you notice her new apron that is just her size? She was very excited to get that too! All three kids got involved and it was a hoot to see that first cake come out of the oven. All 1/8" of it! :-) Lightbulbs can do miraculous things!!