Tonight, we went for a stroll to check on the cattle  who are now at the edge of the pasture, furthest from the house.  Christian has divided the pastures into sections and rotates the  cows about every three days throughout about 50 acres of land.  It's good for the cows, and it's good for the land. Spring is so  beautiful here, and it smells so good; earthy, fresh, and clean. We followed each other along the trail while  Angus jumped in and out of the woods next to us, living his best life.  I think I was living my best life, too. At 7:34, I took a ..read more

Tonight after dinner we sat around enjoying the evening until Lottie announced she had homework that she had "forgotten about".  So while Christian and Lod finished up a few math problems,  (homework on Sunday night around 10:00 at my house is just a typical Sunday activity.  Sadly.) I cleaned up dinner and started making lunches for Monday. Then we had family scripture study and family prayer. Just before we said our goodnights and before we all went to our separate rooms,  I pulled up on my phone a photo taken 17 years ago of Gigs and Jane together.   Gigs, 6 m ..read more

We dropped Claire off at the airport for her   16-hour flight to Accra to be a part of a medical mission, Ghana Make a Difference She's going to fly into Ghana a day before her group, so she can  visit and serve in the temple before she leaves for the hospital to start working. GO, CLAIRE, GO! She left her roller-skates at home.   ..read more

 For Lottie's birthday, we gave her horse lessons,  and today was her first lesson! She's a natural!   Her horse, Baylee, was such a gentle sweetheart  (and 30 years old! Perfect for first-time lessons!) I didn't want to be a helicopter mom, but I also wanted to watch her as she saddled the horse, ride, rise & post, and learn proper horse commands. So I hid in the bushes.   Just this first lesson. I LOVED horse lessons as a young girl (about the same age as Lod). And I LOVED my instructor, Candace, she was college-age, cool, and fearless, and I consid ..read more

 Today Claire started packing for her 2-week medical mission trip in Ghana!   She's been planning this trip for nearly 6 months,  and tomorrow she's finally going! Lottie stayed home from school today (obviously sick), and sat curled up in her tortilla blanket on Claire's bed surrounded by clothes, luggage, shoes, food, and other things while Claire packed.  I could hear them laughing and listening to music. From time to time I'd check in, and give my opinion about which sunglasses or fanny pack she should bring, help fold clothes to fit in her backpack,  and ..read more

It is with sadness that I announce that our darling bunny, Brane, passed away this morning around 12:35. Yesterday evening we noticed he was acting lethargic and showed zero interest in eating like he once did. Sweet Brane is reunited with his sister and brother and 1kajillion cousins in bunny heaven. Thank you Brane for letting us care and love you. You've made our home happier, and we'll miss you! RIP   ..read more

 Enjoy this text dialogue between me and Gigs this morning: Now, enjoy these cute mother/son photos we got  together yesterday during the solar eclipse while he was working on his welding project with Christian. (Working on the lawn mower)  ..read more

Seven years ago, in 2017, I viewed the solar eclipse together with all the Nies. We were living on the ranch and we used Christian's welding masks to  see the beautiful solar phenomenon! On both days, 2017, and today, Christian happened to be welding and happened to have his masks out, and I just happened to return home from exercising right in time to view it, AND, it just happened to be the last day of Spring Break, which meant everyone was home!  What are the chances of all these happenings? If we didn't have the welding masks, I don't think we would have been able to see t ..read more

This is what I loved and learned most while listening/watching hours  and hours of conference: It's all about Jesus,  and it's all about our personal relationship with Him. It's about our devotion to Him, what we are willing to give  and give up for Him. It's the promises and covenants we are willing to make with Him,  and it's our devotion to Him.  By prioritizing our relationship with Jesus, we can find that  our questions are met with clear and direct answers perfectly tailored to our situations. I LOVE this quote by Sister Wendy Nelson, "I believe if you ..read more

Last week, I prayed for an opportunity to share the good news of General Conference.  I wanted to be able to tell someone about  this extraordinary gathering of Saints who want to hear God's voice! It's really such an amazing weekend. Yesterday morning, the girls and I stopped by Trader Joe's after our Barre class and filled our cart full of delicious food  for the weekend.  A man approached us and asked us what we were celebrating, and I got to tell him about conference weekend!   He asked all sorts of questions about it, too! Here I was, standing with my two ..read more