Reaching Goals

It is the most amazing feeling to set a huge goal, thinking that maybe it was just a pipe dream, and then reach it. That is exactly what our family did on October 3 2011. It took our whole family to reach this goal, along with many others who were patient, understanding and helpful whenever we needed it. The kids had to be extremely patient with living arrangements, their belongings in storage, unfulfilled promises that never seemed to come true for a child. (Sandboxes, and chickens, playhouses and ponies, never having to leave your friends or start a new school ever, ever again.) This went on for 3 long years for these kids. Now that Daniel and I's dream has come true, we are working on fulfilling our long awaited promises and making all their dreams come true - a little at a time! WE BOUGHT OUR RANCH!

 Daniel and I were looking around and think this huge tree is going to make the perfect treehouse and play area. Cailin wants monkey bars and Colt wants a gigantic sandbox. Kiley wants to jump on the trampoline and have a slide.  I was thinking Swiss Family Robinson!:) So Daniel went out with the chainsaw and did a little thinning. It is going to be better than their wildest dreams! The best part about this whole treehouse and the whole ranch is the fact that we can do what we want and don't have to ask permission!

 Just across the barb-wire fence is the future site of our barn and corrals. After working the cows a couple weeks ago we need a better setup.

 Our windmill in the West Pasture.

A wooded area where there are two water tanks on either side of the fence. There are a ton of trees on the place- which is awesome and helps me not to miss the mountains so much. One thing we've learned is that birds pick up cedar tree seeds and end up dropping them on the ground, then a little pesky cedar tree grows up to be a huge tree and eats up all your grazing land. So one project for this winter is to get rid of some cedars that dot the ranch all over. We do have some great shelter belts in every pasture, so not all cedars are bad, just the ones that aren't where we want them.