Family, A piece of heaven on earth.

Beautiful Kids!

2010-10-12T07:29:00.000-07:00

Here are my beautiful kids growing up! This picture is taken on the first day of school, 2010. Adam is now in 5th grade, Annika is in 3rd grade and Eli is in 1st! They are all doing very well, we are so proud of them!

Annika's Baptism Video

2010-06-11T05:36:00.000-07:00

This is a slideshow I put together for Annika's baptism. It is 14 minutes.

How far in the "country" are we really?

2009-06-19T14:57:00.000-07:00

In case anyone wanted to know how far in the "country" we really are. The nearest town is 6 miles away, Montevello. There are no services or stores and the population is 300. The next closest town is 9 miles away, Milo. There are also no services or stores there either and the population there is 100. The next closest town is 17 miles away, Nevada. There is a Walmart, 2 local grocery stores, McD's, Burger King, Subway, Taco Bell/KFC, Dairy Queen Hardee's, and Sonic. About 5 sit down restaurants, Sutherland's, Orshelns, a few other local hardware stores, and THAT'S IT!!!!!!! Not kidding! Good luck!

We are 60 miles north of Joplin population: 400,000 (4th largest city in Missouri, and 100 miles south of Kansas City. I hope that helps anyone get an idea how rural we are located. Fun for us! ha, ha.

Planting a garden is fun to do!

2009-06-17T19:51:00.000-07:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Highlights of May 2009

2009-06-16T11:55:00.002-07:00

I recently pulled out my bike and kid trailer and have started biking again! I LOVE TO BIKE! I have always loved to bike and I live in a beautiful place to enjoy it. We live right next the a Missouri State Conservation Prairie Area on hundreds of acres. So I took out my camera one day to capture some of the views I get to see along the way. I even captured amazing flowers in bloom.

A gorgeous flower I caught in bloom while on our bike ride.

Missouri State Conservation Prairie

We celebrated Annika's 7th birthday on May 14th. We celebrated with our traditional birthday poster. A is for Awesome Student, N is for Nothing sweeter, N is for Naturally beautiful, I is for Insists on being modest, and A is for A child of God. ANNIKA! We love you.

This is Annika and her cousin, Charlotte celebrating their birthdays together.

Chris and I celebrated our 11th Anniversary in St. Louis. We went to the temple and to the Arch. We took Micah with us due to the fact that he is still nursing, we were fortunate to have my cousins husband's family in St. Louis, they were kind to watch Micah for us while we went to the temple. Our other kids stayed with Marci (Chris's sister). Anniversary's are always my favorite highlight of the year.

This is Chris carrying Micah in our Maya wrap. He is so handsome.

Highlights of April 2009

2009-06-16T07:53:00.001-07:00

We put our house up for sale in April. We thought we had it sold, but it didn't work out. We had another house 5 minutes from Nevada that we put an offer on but sadly we lost the contract and that house is now sold, so we currently do not have another house that we are interested in. We will be patient and wait for the right opportunity to move.

The kids and I had fun one day flying our kite

Annika and Micah enjoying our afternoon flying our kite.

Eli flying a kite in our front yard.

We enjoyed Easter with the Stocks. This is Chris's sister, Marci's family. They moved to Missouri last July from Lehi. They are the closest family we have here. They live about 1.25 hours to the north of us in Garden City. It is soo nice to have them "close" (well close is relative). We have learned to appreciate our limited time spent with family much more now that we are so distant from most of our family.

Eli hunting easter eggs.

Aunnie & Lizie showing off their easter eggs

"Farm kids" enjoying a sunset on the farm.

We planted a potato patch with 25 pounds of potatoes. About half the plants came up and are doing well. These are our chickens looking for worms or bugs in the new plowed dirt.

Catching up the animals on the farm

2009-06-16T06:28:00.000-07:00

This is Bella, she is one year old now, so we will breed her soon. She is a gentle cow, we all like her.

These are one of the three liters our mamma rabbit has had this spring. She has had 7-11 bunnies per litter.

These chicks were hatched over spring break when we were in Branson. This was our first batch of chicks sucessfully hatched from our broody hens. They were a total surprise!

This is our Banny Hen, she hached 5 chicks on Easter.

This is "Babe", our new Jersey bull calf. We got Babe to breed our cows to next year.

Adam feeding Babe. Babe is bottle feed twice a day for 3 months. A lot of work to raise babies but the kids love to help.

Chris and Micah on the farm.

Eli & baby goat. We had a goat and her baby, with the intensions to milk her. But after a few days we decided she would not work out on our farm so we gave them back. The baby was only 5 days old and soo tiny and cute.

Chris,Micah & baby goat

These our guinea fowl we raised from chicks last summer. They are a nice addition to our farm. We originally bought 15 chicks, 3 died the first 3 days after we got them. Then when we put them in the field, a preditor got 6 of them and recently, 3 more disappeared so now we only have 3 left. This is life on the farm, animals come and go.

Branson Trip 2009

2009-04-30T16:59:00.000-07:00

Finally, an update! Our computer is fixed, so I have a ton to catch up! We went to Branson with my parents for Spring Break! We went to Silver Dollar City and had lots of fun! We enjoyed our precious time together!

Happy Holidays

2008-12-26T16:56:00.000-08:00

Dear Family and friends; Thank you for stopping by the blog. We had hoped to get some really cute features on here for our Christmas letter but alas, our old computer is moving so slow and is so temperamental that it is just not working out the way that we wanted it to.

Nonetheless, we really want to give you an update on how things are going. We have been in Missouri now for over a year. We have a wonderful life that is full of blessings and trials. Each member of our family contributes to the love and joy that we feel at this Christmas season.

Adam was baptized a member of the church this year. He is in the third grade. He continues to do very well in school especially in thereading, spelling, english, etc. part of it. He has been improving his math scores as well and is making steady progress. Adam enjoys cub scouts and is almost ready to get awarded his wolf cub award. We love him for his real true desire to follow the Savior and deal with lifes challenges the way that Jesus would do it.

Annika is 6 and is loving school as well. She is learning to read and write. She is very diligent at doing her homework and studying hard. Aunie has some really sweet little friends here and really loves her Sunday School teacher (sister Shelton) and her bus driver (Pam). It is interesting to see how she has really taken to these wonderful women and what joy they bring to each other. She also really enjoys being a little mommy to her brother Micah. She watches Stacy close and follows her lead in taking care of the baby.

Eli is a bundle of fun. He is always smiling and happy. He does joy school with a couple of his little friends and is learning about values. He helps mom a lot and really enjoys the time that he spends with her. It is difficult to express how truly cute his little personality is, but he makes us laugh a lot moan a little (he IS four you know) and pretty much everything else in between.

Micah our tiny baby is enjoying his first Christmas on earth. He is getting very big. We guess that he is about 18 or 19 lbs now and, like our other kids; he is a chubby little angel. He smiles and talks a lot and is very popular with the ladies in the ward and in the community. In fact he is popular with the guys too. He enjoys going out and greeting his public.

Stacy continues to be as busy as a mom can be. She is toughing it out in the country. She is a farm mom and does her chores out here. She also runs the joy school without any help, takes care of the children and occasionally makes the 20 minute trek into town in order to enjoy a bit of a social life with friends or at church. She is still active in her Moms of Preschoolers (MOPS) group. She is the education counselor in the relief society and enjoys serving the Lord by serving the women and families of the ward.

Chris changed jobs in September and is now working as a therapist on the acute mental health units at Heartland Hospital. Chris works just a few hours a week at Nevada Mental Health and will continue seeing a few patients there until they terminate from therapy. Chris serves as the elders quorum president in the ward. He really loves being involved in missionary work and the spreading of the gospel message. When he is not at work he works hard trying to stay on top of the farm chores. There is alsways a project that needs doing and it often seems that there is not enough time to get everything done.

We wanted to recap our year by listing our top ten things that we are thankful for after experiencing our first year in Missouri.

10 We did not blow away in a tornado. Missouri set records for the numbers of tornados that touched down in 2008. None of them came close to us though.

9 We did not wash away in the floods. We had one of the wettest years on record and water was everywhere but it didn't bug us hardly at all.

8 We got a cow (Nana) and she had a little heifer calf. Nana, who starred on our Christmas card, is a wonderful addition to the farm.

7 We have a newfound appreciation for electricity and running water. After being without electricity for three days due to an ice storm and without running water for three days due to frozen pipes, we now count those among our luxuries.

6 New friends!! Between church, schools, neighbors, etc. We have been given so many new friends and relationships that we cannot even count them all. They have blessed our lives in numerous ways with love, advice, prayers, and acts of service. .

5 Animals, animals everywhere. As many as 32 chickens, 12 cats, 2 cows, 8 rabbits, 15 guinea hens and a duck have called our farm home this year. That does not count the wild critters that frequent the barn, yard and fields around our little house.

4 Sunrise and sunset. We are surrounded by natural beauty of the highest order. The beginning and the end of the day are the most beautiful and make us feel blessed all the time.

3 We get to witness miracles as the Lord does his work in this area. The ward is growing like crazy including people moving in, convert baptisms, and investigators attending church

2 We have had great health and no major injuries. Doctor? What is a doctor? Even Stacy’s delivery which was all natural was about as smooth as we ever could have hoped for.

1 Micah, he is an angel straight from heaven and adds a ton to our little family.

Halloween 2008

2008-11-03T07:17:00.000-08:00

Kids had a fun time at halloween this year. We went to a pot luck at church then Trunk or Treating after. We won the best decorated trunk this year. We brought the truck and decoraded with haybails and a scarecrow. Adam was a ghost, Annika was Princess Annika, Eli was Hopper from a Bugs Life, and Micah was a puppy. They were all so cute. Dressing up is the funnest part of halloween!

Micah is growing!

2008-10-23T20:11:00.000-07:00

Micah is sure growing! He is now 2 1/2 months old and he has already doubled his birth weight! He weighs 15 pounds! We love him to death! (ok, more like forever) He is such a good baby! He is happy most of the time and we love to make him smile and laugh! Every ounce of pain to get him here was worth it! When I look at Adam and my other kids and then look at Micah, I realize how fast time goes and kids grow up so fast, so we are enjoying every moment with Micah. I'm sorry to all my family and Chris' that we moved so far away and that you cannot hold or "squish" (as Chris' family would say) little Micah. I know he loves a good "squishing."

Produce from our garden

2008-10-23T19:28:00.000-07:00

We grew a large garden this year, probably our biggest garden yet! We enjoyed the fruits from our labors. We were somewhat limited as to what we could grow this year because we planted late in the season. Veggies we grew this year included: bell peppers, tomatoes (5 different varieties), zucchini, summer squash, eggplant, beans and okra. We gave a lot away and also canned and froze some. Probably one of the best parts about our land is that we have 2 large pecan trees and several black walnut trees.

This one was hiding.

New Addition "Columbus The Duck"

2008-10-21T19:37:00.000-07:00

We have a new addition to the farm, his name is Columbus. Adam named him. He was given to us by a friend together with three hens and a rooster. Columbus makes a nice addition to our farm. We like him. I love hearing his quack, it is a new sound from the familiar "Cluck, Meow, Mooo, and Cock-a-doodle-doo."

Happy Birthday to Stacy!

2008-10-12T20:00:00.000-07:00

We spent my birthday with some friends who are members that live by us. There names are Janet and Gary. We ate heart kabobs with vegies and rice. It was a gormet meal!

Our Baby Micah is Here!

2008-08-11T16:48:00.000-07:00

Announcing the new addition to our family, Micah Thomas!
Born: August 9, 2008 @ 5:20 am
Weight: 7 lbs 8 oz
Length: 21 1/2 inches
He is absolutely beautiful! We all love him so much!
Labor and delivery went well, he was very anxious to get here and wasted no time. Happily, to mom and dad, he waited long enough until we could get to a hospital. We arrived at the hospital at 5:00 am and he was born shortly after at 5:20 am. Stacy and Micah are home and both doing well.

The Yoder's Farm

2008-08-07T07:03:00.000-07:00

We have had the pleasure to get to know a unique family here living near us, the Yoder's. When we first moved here to Missouri we were looking for, of course, raw milk. The closest raw milk we found was raw goat milk at the Yoder's Farm. So we dicided to try it out. We found we liked it just fine and continued to purchase milk from the Yoders every week. Through this, we had the opportunity to get to know this wonderful family. They moved here from California 15 years ago. They have 9 children from age's 30 down to 10. Their oldest is married and living nearby, but the rest of the children still live at home to help out with the farm. They have around 150 plus milking goats. This family is truely unique. They eat 3 meals together most days, sing and read from the bible at every meal, dress simply, and all are very talented. Emily, 27 is a midwife and very good with animals. She helped us tremdously with Nana when she developed Mastitis. Issac, 20 built the log cabin in one of the pictures when he was only 15 years old. They are all hard workers and have music abilities. Skip, 25 plays piano by ear and most of them play the violin and sing. My kids love to visit their farm. I enjoy my long talks with Katie, the mom. She is very simple, kind and spiritual.

Every year they hold an open house to the farm and invite the public to come tour their farm and sample some goat products like; milk, cheese, ice cream, fudge and goat burgers. This year they did a special program to tribute past presidents since it was held a week before July 4th. We love living here in Missouri, it gives us a unique opportunity to meet truly wonderful people we would have never met otherwise.

Beating the Heat!

2008-07-29T18:20:00.000-07:00

We finally got our pool in working condition and the kids and I have been soaking, playing, cooling off, and having a blast everyday!

Big, Beautiful Pregnant Belly!

2008-07-26T18:06:00.001-07:00

Here I am in my fullness of pregnancy. My sweet friends and sisters from my ward in Nevada gave me a baby shower this week. They are all so kind and generous. I am indeed very blessed! I think I am set up with all I need. I am just waiting for the baby now. I am 38 weeks. I delivered Adam at 38 weeks, and Annika and Eli at 39 weeks. I am hoping for sooner than later! I am feeling the full effects of summer pregnancy in HOT, humid Missouri. We are all very excited anticipating the addition of another boy in our family. We still don't have a name picked out for sure. If you would like to vote on a few that we are discussing please make your vote. We are considering: Micah, Jeremiah, Ammon, Samuel, and Luke. Please vote or suggest your own.

Our trip to Utah

2008-07-24T13:16:00.000-07:00

Yes, we have been back from Utah for over a month and I am just now updating our blog. We had a great time visiting with family and friends! We always had plenty to do and enjoyed all of it. I am sharing just a few pictures of some of the things we did while in Utah. We spent a weekend in Orem and enjoyed visiting our old ward. My cute girl friends and I went out to dinner, with no kids! and had a good time. I have so many great friends!

Time Share in Park City

2008-07-24T11:58:00.000-07:00

During our stay in Utah, the kids and I stayed with my family at my parents time share in Park City for a week. We had a great time relaxing at the pool, playing at the park and visiting the Olympic Museum.

Summer Baseball games

2008-07-24T11:32:00.000-07:00

We had the great opportunity to attend our cousins, Jake and Nate (Shane's kids) baseball games. The kids love being with their cousins.

Bountiful Temple

2008-07-24T11:21:00.000-07:00

The kids and I spent some peaceful time one Sunday at the Bountiful Temple grounds during our stay to Utah.

Sleepover, Smores with Grandma & Grandpa

2008-07-24T10:41:00.001-07:00

Grandma and Grandpa had a "Grandkids Sleepover" with smores. The kids had a great time.

We are coming to Utah for a visit!

2008-05-24T09:25:00.000-07:00

Yeah! We are so excited to be coming home to Utah for a visit. We will get there May 30. Chris will fly back to Missouri June 4 because he has to work and has to take care of the farm. The kids and I will be staying until June 20. We are so excited to see all our family and friends! My 6 month pregnant belly is not excited but we miss everyone terribly so I know it will be worth it! Just for your information, we still have 5 bunnies and 4 kittens, if anyone is interested in one please let me know as soon as possible, we will try to give them away this week so claim yours quick. We have 4 black and white kittens, all of them are 8 weeks old. 2 of them are normal size and 2 are very small for their age. We have 2 white bunnies, 1 black, 1 brown, and 1 grey. They are about 8 weeks old and can live indoors or outdoors. Ours are all outside all of the time. The kids have lots of fun with them.

Adam's Baptism

2008-04-11T05:23:00.000-07:00

Adam was baptised and confirmed on March 22nd. It was a great day. Every thing went very well. We were happy to have my parents there to share the day. Adam's cousin, Isabella was also there at the baptism. With Adam's permission, here is his journal entry on the day of his baptism: "Today is a very important day of my life. Today is important because I was baptized. I was baptized on my Grandpa Thomas' birthday and today is the day before Easter Sunday. I was also baptized with my good friend, Hyrum. The bishop said he thinks we were the first two 8 year olds that got baptized at the same time in this ward. I am really comforted now that I have the Holy Ghost. When I grow up, I want to help other people with their baptism. P.S. I didn't hold my nose."

Our cute bunnies! They all lived!

2008-04-10T20:12:00.000-07:00

Our bunnies were born March 21st, there were 5 of them. We were careful not to touch them until they grew older. The mother rabbit has done very well feeding and caring for them. They are 3 weeks old now and are chubby and have lots of fur. They are so adorable. I am not much of a fan of bunnies but these are so cute! The kids absolutely love playing with them. They are so soft and cuddly. If you are interested in having one of these bunnies they will be ready to be weaned the end of May. We are coming to Utah and we will bring a bunny to anyone who wants one. Just let us know.

Our new baby kittens!

2008-04-10T19:55:00.000-07:00

Whispers, our cat, had 5 kittens on March 24th, they are just over 2 weeks old. They are all black and white. Some have blue eyes. The kids love to hold and love them. If you are interested in having any of these kittens let us know and we will bring one to you the end of May when we are in Utah.

Nana's calf is here!!!

2008-03-21T19:56:00.000-07:00

It was like Christmas this morning! We woke up to a new baby girl calf! We were all so excited to see her, especially the kids. Nana had her during the night so we all missed the delivery. We named Nana's calf, Isabella, after our niece who is currently visiting from Utah. She is excited to have a cow named after her. Our rabbit also had her babies during the night. We were unable to get a picture of them today because Mother Rabbit covered them in straw and her fur to keep them warm. We also did not want to disturb her bunnies very much because last time it turned tragic and none of her babies survived. We are hoping and praying that she will take care of them this time, so we are keeping our distance from them.

We finally got Nana, our milk cow!

2008-03-05T15:39:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday, we picked up our latest addition to the farm, Nana. She is the main reason we are here. We have waited a long time for her. Nana is 5 years old and is big pregnant. She is due to have her calf within the next 1-3 weeks. We are so excited! In fact we have a lot of exciting news to report on the farm. Spring is almost here and we are going to have baby animals! Our cow is pregnant, our rabbit is pregnant and our cat is pregnant. So it will be exciting to have new little life here on the farm. I hope to witness their births, if I'm so lucky. The kids are all very excited as well.

We survived the ice storm

2008-01-30T14:39:00.000-08:00

The day was December 9, 2007 and we were introduced to the great weather phenomenon, somewhat common in this area of the country, known as ICE STORMS. An ice storm is made up of freezing rain, which is a form of precipitation composed of rain that turns into ice upon, or quickly after, contact with the ground or some other object. This kind of storm usually occurs when the weather is cold enough for ice, but the rain for some reason does not quite freeze. The result is amazing!! Everything gets covered with a sheet of ice.

It was a Sunday morning, 5:30 am; we were wakened by a telephone ring. It was a member of our ward informing us that church was canceled. I don't think either Chris or I can remember a time in our life that church was ever canceled, for any reason. It was very strange to say the least. Then when we went outside to investigate, it was amazing! We have never seen anything like it before. Everything was completely covered with ice! The trampoline netting was a 1/2 inch thick sheet of ice with netting in there somewhere. The cars were covered with at least a quarter of an inch of ice on the sides and more like a half an inch on the tops. Getting un-iced was a chore. We were glad there was no church because it would have been embarrassing to walk in an hour and a half late. At about 11 am our power went out. Our whole trailer is run on electricity. We have a generator but unfortunately it's not in working condition. So we layered up and Chris and the boys tried to chip away at the ice. The power stayed off. Finally, at about 4 pm, we decided that we may not be very safe staying in a trailer with ice all around, and no power so we decided to go to a ward members’ house in town. They still had power and were kind enough to accommodate us. So we camped at our friends’ house. The kids’ school was cancelled on Monday and Tuesday so it was kind of like an early winter break, only really icy. The roads were so icy that it made for very dangerous driving. Many kids, including our own are bused in from rural areas. Finally, after 3 days the power came back on and we were able to move back home.

Soon after we came back home we found out that our water heater which had been performing poorly was now dead. We were quickly introduced to cold Missouri winters, first, with no electricity then with no hot water! It definitely made it for very uncomfortable living. We have learned that our "piece of Heaven" isn't always "Heaven" during the winter months. The winters here are different than what we are used to. At times it can be really cold!!! We have been down to 5 degrees Fahrenheit this winter. However, at times it can be really warm too. We got all the way up to 70 degrees one day in January. Things don’t seem to stay frozen for weeks like they did in Utah. Snow does not stay on the ground for long. Our winter has been somewhat complicated by the fact, as we found out after the cold started, that there is little and in some cases, no insulation on the bottom side of our double wide. It makes for some awful electric bills and some colder than average nights. So, we have been getting creative and should have a solution to that problem shortly. This winter has been a test of our pioneer spirit. We are looking forward to spring.

These pictures were taken only 10 days after the ice storms. As you can see the ice melted and this day was 50 degrees! We were out exploring our land with no coats! Amazing! Missouri has strange, unpredictable weather patterns.

Missouri Ice Strom

2008-01-30T14:37:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving with the Stocks

2007-12-05T09:01:00.000-08:00

We thought that we were going to have to spend Thanksgiving alone this year. Surely, no one was going to make the long trip here to Missouri. At the last minute Chris's sister, Marci called and said they were coming to Missouri to look at real estate in the Kansas City area and would like to spend Thanksgiving with us. We were thrilled! We had a wonderful homemade Thanksgiving! They only stayed Thanksgiving day and that night but it was sure nice to spend it with family! Thanks so much, Stocks! We love you. These pictures are taken on our large round bails of hay.

Days with Eli

2007-12-05T08:05:00.000-08:00

Since both Adam and Annika are in school all day, I have lots of one-on-one time with Eli. He cracks me up daily with the things he comes up with. His favorite activity is to jump on the tramp so everyday he says, "Mom, the tramp is waiting." One day when it was raining hard he said, "Mom, lets go jump on the tramp." I said, "Eli, its raining." He said, "No Mom, its only raining on the house, not on the tramp." I chuckled. Another morning it snowed a thin blanket on the ground and later melted. When Eli went out and saw that the snow had melted he came stomping back in and cursed me for melting the snow. I calmly explained to him where the snow comes from and that the sun melts it. He finally accepted the truth, Mom doesn't control the snow. So I laughed when I found this:
4 YEARS OF AGE ~ My Mommy can do anything!
8 YEARS OF AGE ~ My Mom knows a lot! A whole lot!
12 YEARS OF AGE ~ My Mother doesn't really know quite everything.
14 YEARS OF AGE ~ Naturally, Mother doesn't know that, either.
16 YEARS OF AGE ~ Mother? She's hopelessly old-fashioned.
18 YEARS OF AGE ~ That old woman? She's way out of date!
25 YEARS OF AGE ~ Well, she might know a little bit about it.
35 YEARS OF AGE ~ Before we decide, let's get Mom's opinion.
45 YEARS OF AGE ~ Wonder what Mom would have thought about it?
65 YEARS OF AGE ~ Wish I could talk it over with Mom.
Eli and I love being together everyday. We jump, play, interact with the animals, and explore our land together. It is so much fun being a Mom!

Mothers of Preschoolers

2007-12-05T07:42:00.000-08:00

I joined a community organization here called, "MOPS," which stands for Mothers of Preschoolers. This is a nationwide organization run by local chapters. I was introduced to this program from the other moms in my ward. They are also involved in this group. There are only 3 other LDS moms in addition to myself that live in this area so we have a unique opportunity to meet other moms from all different religious or cultural backgrounds. MOPS mission statement is: "MOPS EXISTS TO ENCOURAGE, EQUIP, AND DEVELOP EVERY MOTHER OF PRESCHOOLERS TO REALIZE HER POTENTIAL AS A WOMAN, MOTHER, AND LEADER IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST." It is held once a month at the Church of Christ building. All the moms meet together to socialize and every month there is a different agenda. Last month, we talked about cooking and demonstrated recipes and then made a "take-n-bake" Lasagna. While the moms are meeting there are classes with teachers held for the kids according to their age (0-5). Then there is a playgroup also held once a month, where we go to a park or to the the local community center's gym and let the kids run and play. It has been a great experience to be involved in this group. I also joined the Steering Committee, which plans the meetings. I am over "Publicity," which means I am in charge of writing the newsletter every month. I even got to travel to Osage Beach for a leadership training meeting, which is a very pretty part of Missouri.

Bugs

2007-12-05T07:20:00.000-08:00

Okay, a word about bugs here in Missouri. They are to inflict and torment man. Okay, well at least some of them are. There is a insect here called "chiggers" Quoting from Ohio State University's webpage, "Probably no creature on earth can cause as much torment for its size than the tiny chigger. Chiggers do not burrow into the skin, but insert their mouthparts in a skin pore or hair follicle. Their bites produce small, reddish welts on the skin accompanied by intense itching as irritating as acute cases of poison ivory or poison sumac. These symptoms often are the only way of learning that an outdoor area is infested since chiggers are so small that most cannot be seen without a magnifying glass. Chiggers feed on a wide variety of snakes, turtles, birds, and small mammals as well as humans."
Fortunately, most chiggers die when it freezes so we don't have to worry much about them again until the Spring. But when we first got here our kids were like magnets for them. All of them especially Eli and Adam were covered in them and they itch them like crazy! When they itch them they brake open and become sores. I tell them to stop itching them and they of course don't. I then told them that if they continue to scratch them open they will be left with sores that will scar. I asked Adam if he wants scars? He said, "Mom, when I am an adult, I will grow hair and no one will know they're there." After my initial reaction of complete shock, I chuckled and was grateful he had a good attitude about it. I just hope he keeps that attitude. So this is a picture of Eli's legs. The other picture is thousands of lady bugs. In the fall, hundreds of thousands of lady bugs come indoors to find warm places. This is in our milk barn, I was amazed at how many there were. There were also hundreds in our house. Fortunately, they don't bite or cause any damage indoors. They're just a nuisance.

A short visit from the bunnies

2007-12-05T06:46:00.000-08:00

We had a very short visit with six new bunnies our rabbit had. We have 1 female and 2 male rabbits. Unfortunately, we did not realize she was pregnant. Since then we have learned much about rabbits. Their gestation period is only 31 days and they ovulate with each intercourse. So maybe more than you wanted to know but it is very important to know this information because that means we could be having bunnies every 31 days. Now we understand the standing joke about rabbits. I guess it is true. So one morning Chris found six new bunnies that were born in the night. It was a very cold night and when he found them they were exposed and the Mama was not caring for them like she should. This is our fault we needed to separate them and give her a nesting box. Which we have now done. Two of the six didn't make it through the night and the other four were barely hanging on. We separated the Mama and hoped for the best. The other four died before the day was done. The kids were very excited and sad when the were gone. We learned a great lesson and will keep them separated until the Spring, when the weather gets warmer. They sure were cute. So tiny with cute floppy ears.

Halloween Pictures

2007-12-04T19:18:00.000-08:00

Yes, Chris was dressed up for Halloween. Many people at the party were hesitant to ask if he was dressed up or not? Adam designed his costume. He was the "spirit of BYU" If you want more details, ask him. Annika was Snow White and Eli was whatever he wanted to be just as long as he wore his black cape he was happy!

Sept. 30

2007-10-01T10:36:00.000-07:00

Today is my birthday, I made it to 33. I hope I am wiser than I was a year ago. I feel happy and healthy and full of life. Sadly, I was unable to celebrate it with my family and friends in Utah. However, I was able to invite some new friends from our ward in Nevada to celebrate it with us, the Crim's. They also have 3 children, two boys and a girl. Chris made waffles, hashbrowns and omelets! Then my friend Shellie surprised me with a homemade Dutch cake and I made homemade ice cream. It was a nice day! My new calling is in the primary teaching the 8 & 9 year olds. All the kids in the primary sang to me and I shared a treat with them. It was a good day. Thanks to everyone who remembered me and wished me happy birthday.
Stacy

I painted our front room

2007-10-01T10:29:00.000-07:00

I painted our front room. It took me 3 days. The paneling grooves took long to paint. I happy with the results. It feels very warm and comfortable. Although our new house is very small, I am very happy with it. I am able to keep up on the cleaning much easier so I have more time to do other things. Downsizing and simplifing my house has been a unexpected nice blessing.

Friday, Sept 28

2007-10-01T10:11:00.000-07:00

Today was the most beautiful morning! I had to take pictures to try to capture it. These pictures are outside on my front porch. It was misty with a light fog. I thought it was just beautiful. I love this place and I am enjoying the serenity and beauty daily.

Monday, Sept. 24

2007-10-01T09:45:00.000-07:00

Well, we got rid of our first rooster last Monday, Sept. 24. One of the elder sister missionaries serving here, who is from Cache Valley, Utah volunteered to help us learn how to butcher and skin our chickens, she has many years of experience. We have 4 roosters and we don't need that many roosters. They are somewhat aggressive, they have pecked at all of us at some point in time. Aunie is scared of them. We planned to take care of all three of them Oct. 1st. However, last Monday when Chris and the boys were out feeding the chickens early in the morning, one of the roosters pecked Eli so Chris kicked the rooster and injured its foot. So, Sister Eskelsen came that same day to butcher him. These are pictures of the event. She is coming back today to teach Chris how to butcher and skin the other 2 roosters today. Though this is not my favorite part of the farm, I am grateful for the meat and I made great, healthy chicken noodle soup and plan to make nutrient dense broth out of other chickens in the future.

A happy day swimming!

2007-09-23T14:31:00.000-07:00

We finally got to use our swimming pool yesterday. We may not get to use it much more this season. The weather was warm and sunny, in the 80's. The pool's temperature was around 80 degrees. It was cool but still enjoyable. So far we had not used the pool because of bad weather or because we had other things going on and didn't have time. The kids loved playing in the pool for all of the reasons that kids love that kind of stuff. We also had some visitors, old friends that Chris knew from Mesa named MaryLou & Kenny Glass. Chad Wilcock, MaryLou's son, and his 4 kids were there too. MaryLou and her family relocated to Missouri many years ago. We stayed in touch and MaryLou and Kenny gave Chris and I a place to stay while we were doing the job search, etc. Yesterday they came to visit us and enjoy the pool and hot tub with us. They were our second visitors on the farm who stuck around for any length of time. This past Monday we had the sister missionaries, our first guests, over for dinner. We are now accustomed to entertaining visitors so just let us know when you are coming.

New animals on the farm

2007-09-14T12:37:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share pictures of the new animals on our farm. We are housing six horses that belong to the first counselor in our bishopric for the fall/winter season. They are beautiful to look at. They run and play and eat all day. Here are some pictures of them.

Here is a picture of the buckskin. She is a mare. There are five mares and one stallion. They come and talk to us over the fence. They are friendly.

We found this turtle in our yard. We put him in a box for a few days and then released him back into the yard. The kids had fun with him while we cared for him.

Here is our new dog. He showed up on our property yesterday and adopted us. That seems to be a trend around here, we either find animals or someone gives them to us. We are really starting to utilize this farm's potential! There's plenty of room, so the more the merrier! We have not chosen a name for him yet. We also see squirrels all day running up trees or drinking from our water in our bird bath dish.

This is our cat, staying her distance from the dog...

This is the cat and the dog checking each other out but keeping their distance. I'm happy to say, they are now friends.

2007-09-08T14:49:00.001-07:00

We finally made it!

2007-09-08T13:23:00.000-07:00

It feels like it has taken forever, but we are finally here and living our dream on a small farm. We couldn't be happier! The move went pretty smooth. We arrived here in Milo, August 31 and closed on our house the same day, YEAH. We walked around the property that night and many days since and have felt so extremely blessed! It feels like we found our piece of heaven on earth.

The ward here is great! It's wonderful to have instant friends. We received lots of help from our ward unloading our trailer. The ward consists of approximately 100 active people living in about a 50 mile radius. There are around 23,000 people also living in that same radius so we have a lot of opportunities to share the gospel. There have recently been 9 new members join the church in our area. We have already had the opportunity to assist the sister missionaries teaching the gospel to a young family who is investigating the church. They have a son around Adam's age and Adam also came with us to help in the discussion. It went great! The spirit was strong, and both Chris and I missed our missionary days. It truly is a great and marvelous work.

The kids are so excited to be here also! They run around all day and have lots to do. We adopted two new cats with the farm. We did not know they were included with the farm until the day we got here. They are outside barn cats. The kids love all the animals here! We have 2 cats, 3 bunnies, 20 chickens, and we are temporarily housing 6 horses for the winter. We are now just looking for our family cow. We have lots of options here for good milking cows, we are just waiting for the right time. We first have to clean up the milking barn, where the chickens currently occupy. In the meantime we have found another family farm close to us that raise and milk goats. So we are currently buying goat milk from them until we can set up shop for our cow.

Adam and Annika started school this week. They are adjusting well, especially Aunie. Kindergarten is all day here, from 8am-3pm. So I was worried how she would do. She has pleasantly surprised me. Both Adam and Annika have great attitudes about school and even about getting up at such an early hour. This week they road the bus to and from school. So that means the bus picks them up at our house at 6:40am sharp. They never complained and the ran to the bus with smiles on their face. Aunie was especially excited to ride a bus. Chris starts his job next Monday so he will drop them off at school in the morning and the bus will take them home. Adam has homework every night and he takes it very seriously. Also, Adam is soo excited that he gets to start cub scouts! You can start cub scouts if you are in 2nd grade here. So he already started last Wednesday.

Life is great and we have meet many wonderful people here and have also had unique opportunities. Missouri is a well kept secret. The lifestyle here is much more laid back and pleasant. The nature is beautiful. We miss our friends and family and encourage all who have a desire for this kind of lifestyle to follow us here. We have 23 acres and are willing to share with others.

Stacy

Moved Out

2007-08-26T09:52:00.000-07:00

I wish I had a bunch of pictures of the empty house in Orem, but suffice it to say that we have officially moved out. Heck we don't even have a key to the place anymore. I want to thank all of you who were so helpful to us in the moving time. That includes those of you who watched our children to those of you who helped us clean to those of you who risked life and limb to get that huge trailer loaded. We could not have done it without you.

Currently we are staying with Stacy's folks for a couple of days. We have a couple of things to do on Monday, like close on the Orem house and then we will be leaving for Milo first thing in the AM on Tuesday. the enthusiasm about out new adventure has never dimmed. The kids are very excited to get on with things too. We will really miss Utah and all of the people that we really care about. Utah will always be home for Stacy and I.

Besides people there are a few things that I will really miss about living in Utah. One is the chance to fish in the mountain streams that I really love. The streams and Rivers in MO are just not as fast and do not flow like they do here. Good stream fishing for trout is at least a couple of hours drive from where we live. Another thing is just having big mountains nearby. Missouri, from what I have seen, in spite of all of it's natural beauty just does not have these huge, majestic mountains along with the vistas and the snow capped peaks. I will miss the mountains of the West. They have become my good friends and I love them. The third thing that I will miss is the opportunity to see a lot of BYU football in the fall. It is ironic that we land in MO just one day before BYU football season begins. That all by itself is enough to make me goofy. I am hoping to see 5 or maybe 6 games this year if I am lucky. All of you who know me know that I am completely serious about this little "no Cougar football" issue. I am hoping that I will stay busy with Farm, Family and adjusting that I will not have too much time to miss these other things that I love.

Well, that is my too bits for today. I hope that each of you knows how much you mean to us. We are all excited for what lies ahead but will carry with us wonderful memories of you who are such a great part of our lives.

Chris

A new week

2007-08-19T15:04:00.000-07:00

This is a good time for an update. This past week was full of a lot of business and things to get done. We did a lot of paperwork and so forth so I could get hired and get my Missouri Social Work license. We did a lot of things to get loans closed on our Orem home and our Milo home. We reserved our moving van and we did a lot of packing!! It is really starting to sink in that we are so close to moving. Each day I think of the changes in our lives that are about to happen and there is joy and saddness and excitement. Most of all though I am impressed about how calm we feel about the decision.

There are a few dates that we want people to be aware of.

22nd- Moving party (loading the truck) at our house at 5:30 PM.

24th- Last day in Orem.

27th- Last day in Utah :(

28th- leave early morning for Missouri.

30th- Arrive in Milo

31st- Moving in Party (unloading the truck) at the new farm.

We really appreciate the help that we have had from family and friends. Any additional help will be appreciated. Our phones will be active for a while. (Stacy 623-3046; Chris 755-4531).

We love you all, Chris and Stacy

Missouri, here we come!

2007-08-13T21:06:00.000-07:00

Wow what a month!

2007-08-12T19:40:00.000-07:00

This is my first attempt at blogging. Stacy has done all of the other entries so far. I want to add my perspective to what she has already written. This has been a truly amazing summer for us. We started out thinking that the whole summer would be spent starting the process of building a farm from scratch in eastern Utah. Instead we have spent the whole summer trying hard to find the right job and the right place to live and have our farm and raise our family. In any event, things seem to be working out alright.

As most of you know, I went to the Nashville Tennessee area this summer to work. I was installing video surveillance systems in a Sam's Club out there. It was not what I had envisioned for my first job out of graduate school. I spent about 6 weeks away from home. It was a great experience. I got to work with my younger brothers Mike (33) and Rick (26). It was fun to work with those guys and to see how all of our parent’s teachings about working hard paid off. There is nothing quite like working with your brothers on a really big project like that. We did really well and got through with the job when we wanted too. I really liked the day to day association with my brothers. It was also nice to see Mike’s kids and wife. I had not spent much time around them in about 6 years.

One of the reasons I went to Tennessee was so that I could be a little closer to Missouri and Arkansas. I have had my eye on those states for quite some time as potential places for us to live and to work. At one time, Stacy and I had decided that we would move to Vernal for a few years and then if we still wanted to, we could look at moving to Missouri or AR, and take our time doing it in 2 or 3 years. I called that our "three year plan". Well things did not work out with the job in Vernal. It was a state job and when the final pay offer came through, the salary that they offered me was way too low to raise a family on. At that point Stacy and I decided that our three year plan might have become a three month plan. I began looking at jobs in those two states with a little more enthusiasm.

During the time that I was studying job possibilities in MO and AR, my brother-in-law Dennis mentioned to me that I might want to consider going to work in Tennessee with Mike just to make a little money to hold me over. I thought that was a great idea. We worked it out so that I could take a week off while I was out there to go to MO and AR and interview for jobs. I worked for two weeks and then took my little road trip. I interviewed with 12 agencies in 6 days. I drove over 2,000 miles in one week and I saw a lot of country. I was impressed not only with the quality of the agencies that I interviewed with, but also with the places that I saw and the people that I met.

The result of my week of interviewing was that I got about 11 job offers. I could not take all of the jobs so I narrowed it down to the three jobs and places that I thought held the most promise for our family. After that, I went back to work in Tennessee for a week and a half. Stacy came out to TN on the 2nd of August and we started yet another road trip with the intention of allowing Stacy to interview with the agencies that were interested in hiring me, looking at real estate in each area, talking to church members in each area and learning about the schools and communities in each area. After that we would decide which area was best for us.

My top three choices were Jonesboro Arkansas, Fort Smith Arkansas, and Nevada (pronounced nev-Ay (like hay)-duh) Missouri. As Stacy and I went to each area, we tried to keep an open mind and open hearts. The short story is that even though each area had things that we loved, we decided that we are going to live in Nevada. That is a very interesting town about 50 miles north of Joplin, MO and about 65 miles south of Kansas City, MO. The schools there are very good; the town is friendly and very faith and family oriented. There is a very small ward there (about 100 active members) and there were many options for homes for us to consider.

Eventually we decided to buy a 23 acre property outside of a town called Milo. It is about 15 minutes from Nevada. It has everything we want in a little farm. It has a huge shop building, a small milking barn, a well plus rural water, a storm shelter, several acres of grass hay, chickens rabbits, fruit and nut trees, good land for a garden, and so on. It also comes with some fun things for the kids, an above ground swimming pool with an elevated deck, a trampoline, a basketball pad and hoop, a big wooden swing set, a Jacuzzi, lots of frogs and so on. The house is a bit small for the size of our family, but it will work for us. It is a double-wide trailer that has three bedrooms and 2 baths and is about 1400 square feet. We anticipate that in a few years, we will have to upgrade the house a little bit and then we will have a new, somewhat bigger house and the existing house can serve as a guest house for when everyone comes to visit us.

We will close on our Utah house on the 24th of August and have to be out of here by the 31st. We hope to close on the Nevada property soon and hope to move around the end of the month. I hope that this helps you guys get a perspective of where we are and what we are doing

I love you all, Chris

Workin' hard & staying busy while we are apart.

2007-07-15T22:03:00.000-07:00

It has been 2 weeks since Chris left for Tennessee. Although the separation has not been ideal, it has been less painful than was expected. We must be being blessed. Chris is working hard in Tennessee, working a grave yard shift for the past two weeks. I am staying busy remodeling the other half of our basement, last year we remodeled the mother-in-law apt. in our basement.

I have also stayed busy selling our home. We will have it under contract this week, and anticipated to close by the 15th of August! So we are praying for a miracle that we will find a job and a place to live that fits our criteria VERY SOON! Chris is starting his job hunt Monday, July 16. He has 9 interviews set up with different potential employers. Some in Tennessee, Arkansas and Missouri. He loves what he has seen so far in the Mid-west and has informed me that he is 100% committed to moving to a small rural town. I, on the other hand, still love the idea of moving to a small community and have a farm, however, I will admit I am not excited about moving 20 plus hours away from my family and friends. It will be a great adventure but at a great cost of leaving so many people I love dearly. At the same time however, I know that it will all work out for the best and I look forward to our next few months. Chris is planned to return August 3rd. Less than 3 weeks to go! :)

Goodbye Tridell, Here we come Midwest??

2007-07-01T08:21:00.000-07:00

Okay, so we had big summer plans that involved a small town in Utah and a nice piece of land to work hard to build into a home. We were excited for the opportunity to build our dream of a small farm. Well those plans have changed! Call it fate, call it destiny, call it bad luck or good luck, we are no longer moving to Tridell, Utah!

Here is an update:

June 19: Chris gets a call from his potential employer, DCFS in Vernal. They inform him that they can no longer offer him the salary they previously told us they could pay him. So we said, ok how much, their reply was a shocking $12K less a year than previously offered and 20K less a year than when he quit the state in March 06. So in keeping with our family's goals which are to raise our family on one income we declined the offer to work for DCFS in Vernal. Needless to say we were VERY disappointed!

June 20: Chris looks for other job possibilities. He finds that the three other jobs in Utah (Gunnison Prison, Community Mental Health in Central Utah and LDS Social services all put a freeze on hiring new employees. So he begins a new search outside of Utah, which include jobs in Idaho, Missouri, Arkansas, and Tennessee.

June 22: Dennis, (Chris's brother-in-law) tells Chris he has a temporary job for him in Tennessee. It is installing a video surveillance system in a large Department store. He will pay for all of Chris's traveling expenses to get there and he will pay him while he works there. Chris saw this as a great opportunity to get to the midwest and interview with these mental health companies he has been pursuing.

June 28: We decide together Chris is going to Tennessee to work for Dennis and interview with potential employers in the Midwest.

June 30: Chris leaves for Missouri. He will arrive in Tennessee on Monday July 2 and will start the temporary job. He will return the first week of August.

Not like we planed. However, we are learning that life doesn't always work out like you plan. We trust our Heavenly Father and know that all will work out for the best!

Tridell Utah, Here we come!

2007-06-12T16:14:00.000-07:00

Hello to all you Thomas Fans!

2007-06-12T15:43:00.000-07:00

And thank you for visiting our blog. Technology is an amazing thing! With this fancy blog, first, we intend to keep in touch with those of you who have touched our lives, and two, to keep you all updated with: THE THOMAS' BIG SUMMER ADVENTURE!! It will be very exciting and we know all of you are thinking, why didn't I think of moving out to the country and get me some land and get to work? Don't worry if you are asking yourself this question, we will do all the work, you can just sit in your comfy computer chair and read and watch as our adventure takes off and it will feel as though you are there yourself.

First, we would like to speed everyone up to date. Listing events in chronological order:

April 27, 2007 Chris graduates from BYU! Way to go Chris!

May 4, 2007 Chris passes the Utah State Clinical Licencing Exam! Double way to go Chris! Also, Chris applies for a Clinical Therapist job with DCFS in Vernal, Utah.

May 24, 2007 We receive an offer on our house in Orem. Yeah!

June 8, 2007 Chris receives a job offer with DCFS in Vernal.

June 9, 2007 The buyers of our home contract back out! Huge Bummmer!

June 11, 2007 Chris goes to Tridell to set up a perk test on the land that we would like to buy. The picture above is the 5 arces we want to buy, that is if it passes the perk test. A perk test tells you if you can put a septic tank on the land. The land is beautiful! It has mature trees and a green pasture to move our cow right in.

June 12, 2007 Chris plants a garden in our friend, Julie Elder's garden plot in Tridell. Not as late as the pioneers, we're just thankful we have a garden!!