Happy 15th Birthday to Tyler

15 years ago we had our first little boy. He was a much welcomed addition to our family. He has grown into a nice young man. today he is starting his driving part of drivers ed. We will do that for the next four days and then he can get his permit. We are excited for him and scared at the same time. I will post pictures of his birthday get together and cake later when I'm on my own computer. And for his gift he wants a cow of his own to grow up and sell to make some money. He wont' be able to get this until June though until we get back for a couple of trips because no one will be here to bottle feed it.

Happy birthday Tyler. I love you!!

What has been happening.

There has been a lot going on since the last time I've posted. So I am going to try to update this and let you know all that's going on. My pictures are not in the order that I wanted them to be and I couldn't get them moved around how I wanted, but at least you get to see them.




Tim and the kids have been working on making a small pond for the cows to get water from so we don't have to haul water to the water trough as much.


Here is Alexis trying to get the small parts of dirt out.

Tim, Tyler and Trevor working on the pond.

I gave my sister in law, Carrie a Larry the cucumber sucker. She loves veggie tales and cucumbers!!!!!! (Not really). So she gave me this little veggie tales cake. So now I have to come up with something real good to get her. I have an idea though!!!

Tim and I will be married for 16 years on April 23rd. We were able to go away for the weekend to celebrate. We had some other plans to go away on our anniversary, but those just didn't seem to work out. This past weekend just fell together real well and so we were able to go away. We went to the Natahala National Forest on the western side of North Carolina. We stayed in a cabin for a couple of nights and went hiking and just had a relaxing time with no kids around. We were able to hike on the Appalacian Trail for a little while. This has been a dream of Tim's to hike the trail. He didn't get to do the whole trail, only part, but someday he wants to try to do the whole thing.

Here we hiked back to a waterfall. It was about a mile hike. Starting out I found our real quick that I was not in shape, but it was fun to do anyways. By the end of our stay I was doing pretty good with all the hiking.

Tim on the Appalacian Trail

This is an old fire tower dating back to the 1800's. From this look out you can see into North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.

This is a cabin that the people stayed in that were in charge of the towers.

Then this past Tuesday, the 13th, a group of us homeschoolers in our church went to the NC zoo. My kids had a good time and enjoyed seeing the animals. After all of the walking we did there we were ready to come home though.

Tanner

Trevor on a skull.

It was fairly hot that day and this elephant was cooling off in the water. He was fun to watch.

Alexis by a bee.

This is the cabin we stayed in for our anniversary.

Tim got me another Willow Tree figurine for our anniversary. This one is titled I Love You.

I am very thankful for Tim in my life. He is a wonderful husband and father. The Lord has helped us come a long way in 16 years. I am more in love with him as each day passes. Thank you Tim for loving me. I love you!!





Wedensday night Tim and the kids were going to church. I was not feeling well because of my allergies. My eyes were hurting real bad and was hard to keep them open. Anyways they left early to go water the cows that we have over by Tim's parents house. After they were done with that they were headed up the road to church. They didn't make it very far and heard a loud noise and the back window busted out. Someone was apparently hunting in the woods for turkey and shot their gun (because there were three bullet holes in the window). Tyler, Tanner, and Alexis were in the back seat. They ended up with glass shattered all on them. Tim reported it to the sheriff, but there isn't much that can be done. I am very thankful for God's protection upon Tim and the kids. Things could have gone so much worse than a broken window. While I was home I kept having a feeling that I needed to pray for their safety, so I did. I am ever so thankful for God's promptings in our lives. He is so faithful to us and I am so appreciative to God for keeping my family safe from harm that night.

Here is a picture of the window busted out. Later Tim knocked the rest of the window out so that it wouldn't fall on the kids on the way back home.

Half way to 70!!

Tim celebrated his 35th birthday on the 1st of April. here is a picture of the candy that the kids got for him. I got him some knives, but failed to get a picture of them. Tim seemed to enjoy his birthday and we are thankful for Tim in our lives. Love you honey!!

Gravel

We have needed gravel for the driveway for quite some time now. The other day or so our nephew was able to talk with the guy that delivers the gravel. So here are some pictures of our gravel. The kids have had lots of fun playing in the left over pile, but they didn't like it when I made them carry buckets of gravel to other places in the driveway that I wanted filled in!!!

More Cows

We have some more cows. Our neighbor down the road gave us this calf because his mother wouldn't take care of him. This is the same kind as Belle. So this one is named Bully.




Here is Jr. He is a Holstein, but almost white. This one is my sister in laws.



This cow is Tim's Dad's. Her name is Lady.

My kids love being around the cows and have lots of fun.

Spring is in the air

our weeping willow tree




Our Bradford Pear Trees that liine the driveway.

Working in the Garden

Last Saturday Tim's nephew Steve and his wife Rebecca came out and helped us put some potatoes in the ground. We are very thankful their help. We ended up getting eight rows of potatoes in the ground.




Tim made something out of metal and wood to make mounds for the potatoes. It was funny to watch him and Steve make the mounds.

Before we planted the garden the kids made mounds of dirt for a dirt war. They had a lot of fun throwing dirt at one another.