The Alaskan Experience

Brady and Jess went to Alaska the end of June and spent a week. Jess has a friend from college living there, who they stayed with. Ethan and I babysit Ellie, their love able dog. They brought back a huge swag for all of us. I learned that swag means presents. Brady and his new video camera shot hours of video that we enjoyed watching. Now I wanna go to Alaska, but I wanna go to a lot of places. Brady and Jess are our world travellers. Last summer, they went back to Wisconsin to visit her family and they took our little Ethan along. He now loves drove trips. They spent several days at at family cabin at Eagle River. I could have some of the cities and facts wrong, but I'm doing my best to remember. They went to the World's Largest Mall and Mount Rushmore, just to name a few events. Oh yes, there was a bear in Jess' mom's backyard one night when Jess was letting her dogs out to potty. Jack and Ellie went on the trip too, with the help of a "dog sleeping pill", the trip was a breeze.

Toe nail art by Dana Preece

I think those are real diamonds

Fun in the Sun with friends

The date is wrong as to when this happened. I'm about two or three weeks off.














Livi likes to be the girl that sits on the ladder. I asked her if she wanted to be the life guard and she said, "No, the girl with the whistle."

Liv and I swim together quite often, playing make believe games, like I'm her baby or the little inter tubes are the other siblings. It's all good fun in the sun. . . just as long as mom says I need to take a nap. . . then I relax for awhile and then the fun starts all over again. Life couldn't be simpler. I am blessed to have such a true friend as Olivia.















The Evans kids! They're always fun to be with. All that is missing are the Aschcroft kids and it would be complete.

Boy howdy, them's some Shiners!

Danton fought a towel rack and won. He went to bed not knowing what he was going to wake up with.

Konnor celerated the 4th of July with a BANG. We went to our special spot on campus to watch the fireworks. Dan put out our chairs at 7 a.m. One can never be too early to save a spot, that's our motto. Jason, Danalin, Taylor, Konnor and Baylee joined us. The Mark Ashcroft family was there as usual and the Kyle Ashcroft family. This is our little tradition to sit in this special place and enjoy the fireworks together. We won't see Kyle and Susan until next year, even though they also live in Hyde Park, funny how things work.

Back to poor Konnor, he was sprayed down with OFF, but unfortunately, the next morning, he woke up with this new look. He wears it well.

We had fun watching the fireworks. It was fun to have Danalin and family with us this year.

I found it quite humerous that TWO lads in our family had black eyes in the same month.

Setting up POOL #2

I had some great help to set up my second pool of this season. The first pool lasted just under one month and the filter died. We returned the whole shootin' match to the store box and all, and they gave us a brand new one. Yippee. . . another pool to set up. Nevertheless, I had some great help. Luke and Ethan, and Meg and Liv, I couldn't have done it without them. For most of the time, we worked as a well oiled machine until Ethan or Luke got tired and we took a break of sorts.

I love my pool. Dan is so good to me to buy me a new pool each year, and he says, " it's my pool". I could spend hours just floating around my spacious watering hole. The neighborhood is always welcome to take a dip with me. I have one rule. . ."No peeing in the pool!"

Father and Son

Dan and Ethan just chilling on the swing in our backyard. Happy as two peas in a pod. Notice the ladder up against the shed and a lawn chair on the roof. That's Ethan's spot for the fire works. He is so special to me.

The sun never sets on a KOOL Cat

Taylor and Konnor

Guys just hangin'

Konnor and Ethan just hanging out together

eating a Popsicle. It all sums up to be

one uncle and one nephew enjoying life in their

own simple way.

BFF's

(Best Friends Forever)

Coco and Livi

Taken in the summer of 2007

Introducing Sugar and Spice

ONE DAY OLD

Sugar and Spice

They were so fun to try and catch and hold. They were adorable little creatures.

The Stock landed . . .

It's a Boy and It's a Girl.

Our beloved Pepper had her babies on Friday, May 23, 08 at around 7 pm. We all gathered for the special event with great anticipation and concern. Every time Pepper had a contraction, we could see the little hooves, then afterwards, they would disappear. I was a nervous wreck. Her contractions were 4 1/2 minutes apart. The look on her face can not be described. . . the pain and agony. But finally, the hooves and a little nose appeared and suddenly dropped to the ground. Bill rushed to the baby's aid, wiping her off and laying her by her mom's nose. But Pepper wasn't finished yet. A few minutes later, another little nose and hove appeared. Dan was concerned as there wasn't two hooves. Dawned with rubber gloves, he felt inside and there was another leg but it wasn't pointing in the wrong direction. The good doctor that he is, he started pulling the little guy out. The baby was trying to breathe while still in the sack so Dan pulled the membrane away from his nose. Pepper just about hit the ceiling when Dan tugged on her baby. The pain! Eventually, the baby came out. I guess we could have let nature take it's course. . . but that wouldn't have been as much fun. Dan was concerned that Pepper needed to lick her babies clean and bond with them, but Pepper fell asleep. So Dan and Justin Evans wiped off the babies. After her little nap, Pepper regained her motherhood, and frantically licked her babes. By this time, they were trying to stand and then walk. Her tongue was going 90 miles a hour cleaning those babies.

It was a fun Friday night activity!

Baby girl born first

Baby Boy last. Born with Dan's gloved assistance. He should have been a vet.

Kinda a messy and gucky. The Evan's and Dixon were at the birthing event. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Quite a special event for the neighborhood.

Happy 51st Birthday BILL

Just gotta wish you a Happy Blogger's Birthday even though you'll never see this. It's not cuz you're blind or can't find you're glasses. . . .you're not a blogger like your better half. You can't view it on your work computer and I don't think you know we have a computer in our computer room at home. . . .nevertheless

We all love you to pieces!

Dan and Baylee

Positive Vibrations. . .

"If you have a positive thought your body actually goes into a positive vibration, you actually attract everything that resonates with that vibration."

Smallest House

This house, located near the intersection of Dufferin Street and RogersRoad is believed to be Toronto 's smallest house. Occupying what used to be a driveway, i t's a one bedroom, one bathroom home that sits on aparcel of land 7.25 feet (2.2 metres) wide and 113.67 feet (34.6 metres)long and has an interior area of just under 300 square feet (under 28 square metres).

That's our boy!

I read it in 96 days

The Hinckley Challenge to read the Book of Mormon in 97 days. One day for each year of his life.

It was an awesome experience and I think I learned more than usual this time. My mind was more open to receive the influence of the Holy Ghost. I really enjoyed reading the books called "The Book of Mormon Made Easier", by David Ridges, it took twice as long but the insight I received was phenomenal. Anyone can borrow my books!

Konnor's 2nd Birthday

Baylee's First Pedicure

PRICELESS

The Saga Continues. . . .

We've had quite the weekend. We started with six baby chicks and one baby goose. Dan built a fancy brooder to house our precious fowl. Something was amiss in the coop, one of the bigger chicks was being pecked right down to the skin. Dan separated them. But alas at no avail, they continued to peck her and a couple others. I am new at this business so I had no clue these little rascals would turn on each other. Put a bunch of women in a small space and look out. . .there will be some pecking going on. It's hard for me not to be graphic in my description of what transpired. Oh my heck, the large chick that was being picked on was near death on Saturday morning. Dan gently placed her in a shoe box for her to die. Well the day went on and she was still alive in the shoe box in the dumpster. We now call our dumpster. . .the "dumpster of death". Ethan, the soft hearted lad that he is, decided he'd better take matters into his own hands and put the little chick out of it's misery. He got his BB gun and asked me to leave. He didn't want me to witness what was about to happen. I assured him that I could handle it but he insisted that I go in the house. It was hysterical to watch him and his friend, Dixon attempt to put an end to the suffering. They were so cute (tender-hearted) and a bit on the jumpy side. Ethan said it was hard enough for him to do it, that he didn't want me to watch.

We decided (actually Dan decided) that the chicks had their feathers and they could be put outside, the open space would alleviate all the back biting (get it? back biting). That evening as I checked on them one last time, I thought they looked cold as they huddle together in the pasture. The truth is, Dan was tired of cleaning up their messing in the fancy brooder.

To my shock on Sunday morning, Dan informed me that they were all dead. It appeared that a Magpie or pies had gotten to them in the night. Those damn Magpies (excuse my French).

The baby goose, Francesca was alive. She is the intended mate for Frank, the old fart. We put her in the pasture with the other large animals and Chester, the duck has taken her under her wing. Frank, has left Ophelia, the goat and has turn his attention to the two new ducks. The ones we held the contest to name, it's probably prudent that we wait to name them as we see if they live. You put a name to an animal and it becomes personal. What will become of Francesca? Will Frank ever imprint to her? We intended them to mate for life and hatch us some mini Franks. The saga continues on the Balls Ranch. Stay tuned!

Taylor is holding one of the now deceased chicks. It's a tragedy.

P.S. Ethan, Dixon and Luke decided that Cheeks (the pregnant goat) needed a proper burial. Just before dusk they set out to dig a grave back by the dog run. I just had to watch this adventure unfold. They worked as a team, with Ethan spouting out the orders. It grew dark and cold, and I was asked to bring them a flashlight. The hole got deeper and deeper, as they tried to estimate the size of Cheeks. I suggested that they get Cheeks' body out of the Dumpster before it was too dark. They placed gardening gloves on their hands and painting masks on their faces and dove into the Dumpster and the fortunate Ethan stayed on the outside to lift out the goat. Can you tell who's in charge here? The boys wrapped a string around the gathered tarp and Ethan lifted the body out. They all gagged a few times in the process. I laughed to myself as they dragged the tarp to the back. They were three boys on a mission, an important mission. I held the flashlight as they shoveled dirt onto Cheeks as well as the masks and gloves. I didn't want to wear those gloves while gardening. Dixon said a couple of times that tonight was a GREAT NIGHT! ! I cracked up.

Sad News about Cheeks

Our pregnant goat named Cheeks died this evening. We surrounded her body as she took her last breath. She's the one on the right. We think she was trying to deliver last week and the babies died thus causing her death. She too was wrapped up into a tarp and gently placed in the family dumpster. We've found that living on our little farm, death is common place. It's an adjustment for all of us except for maybe Dan. You didn't hear me say that he was cold hearted when it comes to farm animals. I'll deny it.

Looking on the bright side of 50

PERKS OF BEING 50!
1. Kidnappers are not very interested in you. 2. In a hostage situation you are likely to be released first. 3. No one expects you to run--anywhere. 4. People call at 9 pm and ask, did I wake you???? 5. People no longer view you as a hypochondriac. 6. There is nothing left to learn the hard way. 7. Things you buy now won't wear out. 8. You can eat supper at 4 pm. 9. You can live without sex but not your glasses. 10. You get into heated arguments about pension plans. 11. You no longer think of speed limits as a challenge. 12. You quit trying to hold your stomach in no matter who walks into the room. 13. You sing along with elevator music. 14. Your eyes won't get much worse. 15. Your investment in health insurance is finally beginning to pay off. 16. Your joints are more accurate meteorologists than the national weather service. 17. Your secrets are safe with your friends because they can't remember them either. 18. Your supply of brain cells is finally down to manageable size.

Win Big Bucks by naming the Ducks

No using Pink as a name. . . .

They could be a boy or girl,

unisex names

Shaquira's final resting place

Her final resting place. . . our Dumpster

Poor Shaquira passed away as she drank from the animal's small plastic swimming pool, we think she fell in and to my great surprise, chicken's can't swim and their feathers aren't water proof. Who knew!

Reasons Why I Blog. . . . .

The wonderful quotes from President Hinckley and President Erying are one of the reasons that I blog. It's a marvelous way to journal and scrapbook at the same time. A blog makes for a much more interesting read. I also blog to keep in touch with family and friends. To those of you that have the courage and time to visit my blog. . .bless you. Much of what I write, may not be of any interest to many, but it will serve my posterity and I will be doing as the prophets asks. My plans are, at the end of this year, I will have my blog printed and bond. Won't that be a awesome journal for 2008! ! ! ! There are great sites that will do this, it's pricey but worth the money.


"You will have significant experiences. I hope that you will write them down and keep a record of them, that you will read them from time to time and refresh your memory of those meaningful and significant things. Some may be funny. Some may be significant only to you. Some of them may be sacred and quietly beautiful. Some may build one upon another until they represent a lifetime of special experience." Gordon B. Hinckley, 2006

"To you women of today, who are old or young, may I suggest to you that you write, that you keep journals, that you express your thoughts on paper. Writing is a great discipline. It is a tremendous education effort. It will assist you in various ways, and you will bless the lives of many--now and in the years to come, as you put on paper some of your experiences and some of your musings." --President Gordon B. Hinckley


"When our children were very small, I started to write down a few things about what happened every day... The prompting came to me, I'm not giving you these experiences for yourself. Write them down. I recorded those things so that my children could have the memory someday when they would need it. Have I seen the hand of God reaching out to touch us or our children or our family today? I urge you to find ways to recognize God's kindness." --President Henry B. Erying

King of the Hill

Our fun little Gilbert loves to stand on your back.

It's his way of being the King of the Hill.

Dan, Livi and Gilbert

Gilbert popping Danton's back

Megan and Gill

Amber, Ashlynn Evans and Gilbert . Our great neighbors