The First One

Yesterday a big semi truck showed up to get our first bull calf. You see the milkman has been working with genetics on different cow breeds since we started up the dairy. Its a big process once you have a bull that you think has all of the right qualities then you have to send in a hair samples from that calf's tail to see if they have what it takes to make a good stud. Our first one that was proven genetically was picked up by a Canadian company called Semex. Semex sends a semi truck to pick up all of the bulls in the U.S. and ours made the list to be picked up!! It is exciting!!

 The Semi driver was super nice and he let me take pictures of some of the bulls on his truck while he was watering them. Tiana wanted to be in the picture. It is always fun to visit with other people that make the dairy industry go round!!

 Keep your fingers crossed that our little bull will put our little farm on the map!!!

The Haul!!!!

So, on Friday my friend and I grabbed our binders full of our coupons and heading off to town. We walked into the store at 3pm and walked out at 6pm!!! We had a blast and we did so good!! Below is a picture of just some of the things that I bought. I couldn't fit everything on the table!!

 Here are some of the items that I got for free! Yes, for free!!!! Ivory bars of soap

 Colgate toothpaste, starburst and skittles candies. YUM!

 And spreadable bacon cheddar cheese. Delish!!

 For a quick meal I love Hamburger Helper and I was able to get these down to .66 a box so I bought a bunch. Don't worry they weren't all for me I also picked some up for my sister.

It was a great trip as you can see below my total total savings. My bill was $501.79 but I only paid $243.83 after coupons. That is a 53% savings!! YAY!! I was so excited!! I try to only spend a $150 a week on groceries and household and I didn't get to go shopping last week because I was gone so I think I did good for 2 weeks of shopping! I love to find deals! Like I said it the best high out there and it is legal!!! Happy Shopping and if you have any good tips for me let me know!!

Getting Ready!

This is what my kitchen table looks like right this minute!!! I'm getting ready for a big shopping trip later today!! My friend is another HUGE couponer and our local grocery store is having a great sale on a few items I am getting low on. So, today she is coming over, we will do some research, gather our coupins (as I lovingly call them) and hit the store to see how low we can get our bill!! I'm getting excited just thinking about the possibilities!! I will tell you on Monday how well we did!! Hopefully, I will save enough to be able to buy all of those school supplies that we need to get next week!! Have a great weekend! And remember couponing IS a legal high in all 50 states!!! HA! HA!

Country Breakfast

Today I have ALOT (I'm not even kidding you) ALOT of job security!! The house looks like a tornado has blown through it!! So on days like this it helps to get a big breakfast to get the energy to get the day going!! What is your favorite breakfast? I mean in a perfect world, you know the world were the butler would bring you breakfast in bed complete with a starbucks and your house is magically cleaned by Alice from the Brady Bunch!!! OH sorry I dozed off for a minute I think I was dreaming!! Have a great day!!!

Dangerous

 I heard once that Farming/Ranching was one of the most dangerous jobs in the all of the occupations out there. Last week my brother-in-law Jer tested that theory. When they were loading cattle to ship out, his knee got to close to a steer and he was kicked!!! He ended up having surgery where 5 screws were put in and he is suppose to have be down for 6 weeks. I think he has made it 3 days!!! We went over one day to visit him because with harvest going on we never made it to the hospital.

 I've always said that when we all get together it reminds me of a modern day "Waltons!!" Jenny and Jer's house even have a squeaky front door to complete your experience! It was fun to sit around and visit and take a minute to enjoy the air condition!!

 There is always so many kids when we all get together!! Get well Jer!! Take it easy while you can.

So Scared

So the other night I saw the harvest crew leave around 9pm so I figured the milkman would be coming in directly to finally eat his supper. When he didn't show at 10:15 I called his folks who live on the farm and work with us. "Do you know where Dan is"? His Dad said "No, I thought he was in"! I said no and jumped into the car to go and look for him (they had been harvesting in a field that was 17 miles away). I knowing he had been up almost 19 hours at that point. I was so scared that on his drive home he fell asleep at the wheel so I drove very slowly looking in the ditches trying not to panic to much. As I came over one of the last hills before the field there he was with a crew of 3 guys that have a mobile tire service. He had blown out both tires on the big grain truck and he had used the last of his cel phone battery to call them to come and fix it. Needless to say I was so relieved and thankful he was ok but I was also a little mad that he didn't use someone else's phone and let me know!!! 

 It took awhile to get the axle up high enough to get the tire off. Since the asphalt was so hot the tire actually kindof melted into it and it took some extra effort to get it off.

 The guys worked diligently and after about an hour of working on it they finally were able to get the tires off replace them with two new tires and the milkman could finally get home, eat supper and get into bed only to have to get up 3 1/2 hours later and do it all again. There is one thing you can never say about the milkman he is NOT a slacker!!!! Sorry about the pictures not being very clear when I rushed out of the house all I took with me was my phone so that is how I took these pics.

High Moisture Corn Harvest

Since it has been so dry this summer the milkman was able to put a crew together to harvest the corn early. Every morning this was the scene as the harvest crew began getting the trucks serviced and the tractor set up by the silo to shoot the silage up into it for storage for feed for the cows this winter.

 The milkman hired a team of 4 people 3 men and one of the gentlemen's wives Carolyn she was an amazingly hard worker and who was so much fun to get to know! Loved her!!!

 Of course lunch time is at noon and they would stop long enough to eat and take a minute to be inside where it was cool. The temps this week has been running around 100 to 104 craziness!!!

 Owen and Kenton were hamming it up! I'm so thankful how everyone had great attitudes I have to admit I didn't always like the long hours everyone put in especially the milkman, one day he worked a 20 hour day!!!

 Carolyn and I were able to visit off and on throughout the day. I learned so much from her about the farm life. Her and her husband had a dairy for years and years but in May they sold out to slow down a little. Lets just say I didn't see them sitting around eating Bon Bons!! Thanks guys for all your hard work I'm so thankful the milkman had an awesome team to get the job done!!

A Special Bundle

So for the past 2 days we were able to have our niece Melissa and her new little one Garris come and stay at our house. It was so fun having this special little bundle here with us, but I have to say that nobody enjoyed him more then Kyler she LOVED having a real live dolly to play with!!

 I gave Melissa the nights off so she could get some sleep so Garris slept by my bed in one of the girl's dolly beds so sweet!!!

 Since I don't have a baby bathtub anymore we had to come up with plan B! A big Tupperware bowl always works. He loved his bath and Kyler loved rubbing lotion all over him. Isn't there something about the smell of baby lotion on a fresh clean baby? Yummy!! 

 Thanks Melissa and Garris for coming out and hanging with us on the farm. Come again soon you know you always have a 2 year old babysitter waiting!!

A Pirate's Birthday!

On Sunday we were invited to the lake to help celebrate our nephew's 4th birthday! It was a pirate party which had to be held by water of course!! The kids had a blast!

 It was such a beautiful day and the lake (or anything beside water, well maybe not the cattle pond!) makes me so relaxed!!

 No pirate party would be complete without a few tattoos. We all had fun picking which one we wanted.

 I have always LOVED how Alicia gets into all the kids parties! She tried to get the milkman to put on a pirate's mask but it just didn't happen.

 I love these two cute little pirates! There were all of these little minnows so Kenton and Tiana thought that they would try to catch some with a net. Uncle Phil suggested that they put a piece of hot dog in the net. Sure enough they caught a few and then released them back into the water.

 They had a little pool for Kyler and Millie to play in which was so nice so that I didn't have to be worried about her wanting to go into the lake. All in all it was a great day to hang with family and relax which is one of my favorite things to do.

Happy Birthday Payton I hope you have an awesome 4th year we love you!!