Moving In

Over the weekend, we were able to "move in" to the barn. The weather has been nice, so we have not kept horses in it, but it has been fun to use it. Cassidy and I tied up our horses and used the new "grooming" stalls. It was sooooo nice to close the barn doors and work out of the wind. The chickens were also moved in to their fancy new home.

And the goats........I will no longer leave in the morning to take the kids to school and find the goats standing on the roof of the car......wish I had a picture of that one.....yes, we are rednecks and I love it. I have learned a lot since getting goats. The biggest lesson is that they are escape artists. It seemed like no matter what I did to fix their pen, they would somehow find a way to get out. And of course, they headed straight for the garden and my flowers. So, I planned their new pen and barn stall very carefully. I call it Alcatraz. It consists of high solid walls and is surrounded by deep and wide water on all sides. The only access is an electric draw bridge, and I alone keep the key. Just kidding....but they will NOT be escaping from their newly designed home.
This is the barn from the front.

The inside with the breezeway doors closed. Notice above our barn cat. What would a barn be without a barn cat? We have 5 of them running around. I promised Cassidy she could have 10, but she has been satisfied with 5 of various ages and sizes.
This is the view from the side. I think I have decided to paint the shutters and the doors hunter green to match the roof. That will be next weeks project.

Bring on the Rain, Cold, Snow and Wind!! We are READY......

Trail Ride

Last month, I went on a trail ride with some friends in the Esquidilla Mountains. The weather was chilly, the Fall colors were BEAUTIFUL and the ride was AWESOME. I want to make this a tradition every year.Glen, Stewart, me, Jason, Olyvia

The Barn....finally.

I have had so many friends asking me about my barn and I FINALLY have some pictures of what it looks like so far. A few months ago, Ryan (who is married to Jeff's cousin) said the distributor of MD brand barns for Arizona was getting rid of his "yard" of barn odds and ends. This consisted of 10 years worth of misordered barn components, barns removed from various locations, scratched or damaged pieces, roofing, etc. The deal was we had to take it all or nothing. Ryan is the MD barn installer for all of Arizona and he said we could piece together a barn then sell the other parts we don't use to help offset the cost. So, I took a little road trip with Ryan to Scottsdale to look at it all. The yard was a big unorganized mess of barn parts, and was quite overwhelming, but with Jeff's blessing, I decided to tackle the project. It took 4 semi loads and 1 huge flat bed to get everything to our property. Then, several man hours just organizing and trying to determine what was there. The walls are prefabricated and come in 8' and 12' lengths and are VERY heavy...like 400-600 lbs each depending on the type of material. It took 4 guys to move and lift these pieces around. I had them lift up each piece so I could snap a picture and give it a number. Then, I organized all the pictures in a notebook so I knew what I had to sell. It has taken lots of time, but will be sooo worth it in the end.

This is my barn with just the walls. It will have a tack room, grooming area, 6 horse stalls with outside runs and a 16' breezeway. One of the stalls will be split in half for the chickens and goats.Two weeks ago the perlings, trusses, gables, and stall doors were added.

Last week, I stained the front and inside of the barn which is all tongue and groove wood.

This week I have started painting. The walls come pre-painted, but since we were putting it together with mis-matched pieces, I have to paint it to match.
This is the front. There will be an arched window put in when they come back to install the roof next week.
This is the side I have painted.

I was a little worried about selling my left over parts, but have had lots of interest. Using the notebook and the pictures I compiled, I was able to design and sell a 4 stall barn and an 8 stall barn. I also have two other people interested in buying misc. parts for various projects they are doing. It has been VERY time consuming, but I have really enjoyed the challenge. And, now I will have a barn to escape into on those windy and stormy days in Snowflake.

More Visitors...Yeah!

The weekend of September 26, Mom and Dad Oakes, Duane, Geniel, Tyler, Tommy, Kim, Amber and Courtney all came to Snowflake for Sariah's baptism. It was fun to have them here and I wish I would have taken more pictures. At least I got a few.....

Clear Creek

This was another fun day I spent in August with the young women in our ward. Clear Creek is about an hour and a half away from Snowflake. The water was very refreshing and the company was fun.

The girls were not allowed to jump off the high cliff in the distance. But some of the adults that were with us jumped several times off it.....a.k.a. Reed Flake (you rebel....) :)We jumped off the smaller cliff, which was still pretty high and took some climbing to get to. I was really glad I wore water shoes so I could climb up the rocks easier. The weather on this day was perfect. About the time it was time to leave it started raining.

Mt. Baldy

On Labor Day, my dad and I hiked the Mt. Baldy loop. It is an AWESOME 18 mile hike. We we not sure if we would be able to make it the whole way when we started because of the black clouds we were hiking into. But the worst of the storm seemed to be ahead of us and all we got were just a few showers and cold weather along the way. Along the trail towards the top are the remnants of a crashed airplane. There are actually several pieces of it in this area. I learned later that it crashed in the 1940's while training during World War II. Near the top, Dad checked his GPS and we were at 11,200 feet elevation.

Thanks Dad for spending such a fun day with me!!!! I Love You!

We LOVE Visitors!!

Even with the summer vacation coming to a close, we were still lucky to have visitors. In August, Lizzie, Shelly and Kyle came for a visit. Then again on Labor Day weekend, my Mom, Dad, Shelly, Jessie, Kyle, Monica and Emily came up for the weekend. I wish I would have taken more pictures. Here are a few. These with Kyle were cracking me up. My Mom was trying to get a picture with the Grandkids before church but none of them could give a perfect smile because Kyle was being really funny. I think these turned out better anyway....

Eating vegetables from the garden....YUM!Lizzie thought my zucchini looked more like a baseball bat. hahah

First Day of School

The first day of school came and went on Autust 10th. It was great for Cassidy but tough for poor Harrison. He woke up with his ear hurting. Neither of the kids have ever had any ear problems, so I wasn't quite sure what was going on. He wanted to go to school so bad and got all ready but was in too much pain. So, I dropped Cassidy off at school and took Harrison to the Doctor. Sure enough, he had a really bad ear infection. He was so miserable! After spending a couple days at home in bed, he finally had HIS first day of school.

Tubing Trip

Our neighbor Jason Lewis said he would take the beehive girls from our ward on a lake trip, so last August we took him up on the offer. Here are some pics from our day. It was a SUPER BLAST!!

But really, I don't know who had more fun. The girls or me and my friend Amy Flake!!

(or maybe Jason as he drove the boat fast trying to scare us and make us scream louder)

Check out how high I am out of the tube flying of this wake!

We made it!!

Nice one! We rode in the tubes with some of the other girls too.

Yes, those are my feet. I was exhausted after my last ride. I LOVED every minute of it!!

The whole group!