It's been so long!!

It has been nearly a year since we last wrote on our blog. Aaagh!! The time flies. We've started school, and we're excited about the classes that we have going on. Alex left for college again a couple days ago which was a sad moment for all of us. I'm a 9th grader this year and Travis is a junior. We had an awesome summer and are finding it hard to get back in the swing of school.
=^..^= Jordan

Dove Huntin'

We went dove hunting in Brawley this past week and had tons of fun. Dixie (the boxer) was very interested in the birds, she even retrieved one for us! Obviously some people are more excited than others to be holding up dead birds :)
=^..^= Jordan

Havin' fun at the beach!

Even though we haven't had many great beach days - this was for sure one of them. The kids were playing around and enjoying the wonderful day and the beautiful sunset! How awesome.

Love this picture

this was taken in the gardens at Mount Vernon. That trip seems like so long ago. I found this picture on my computer and thought it was so beautiful!

Another New Vacuum

I have to admit, I vacuum a lot. But what's the deal with having to replace a vacuum every year or so? Do you think that they (Bissell, Hoover, etc) decide that you can only use their product so many times and then that's it - time to get a new one? I wonder if the vacuum would last longer if I used it less often? Hmmm, something to ponder. I have to admit, when I pulled the lovely royal blue machine from the box and started vacuuming, it was very exciting. Our last vacuum had for sure been falling down on the job and then finally just gave up with a loud sound and a terrible smell! After running the new Bissell around the house I had an entire plastic container of gross stuff - how exciting! I know it's an illness! My kids think it's scary how much I enjoy vacuuming! Better sign off - time to vacuum!

Mites - ugh!

We noticed the chickens were looking a bit picked on, so we "set free" two of our roosters. Well, the girls still looked a bit beat up, so out goes the last rooster. A couple of days ago, the poor girls still looked chewed up, even worse then before, so we started looking closer -- they have little black spots on them and they are itching and shaking their heads. Well, they have mites, yuck! So the big dusting project ensues! Jordan was in charge of herding one or two hens at a time into the hen house where Travis reaches down and grabs them by the legs and flips them over. Once they stop clucking and making a huge ruckus - I start dusting them over with mite dust. What a production. All of the hens were in quite an uproar by the time we were finished, we were afraid that a few of them weren't going to survive by they way they were acting. I hope it clears them up - how disgusting! They did all survive by the way!

Mount Vernon

George Washington's home in Virginia. So pretty!