Color

Fall was beautiful. The drive to and from town is delightful as the colors changed from greens to vibrant shades of yellow, reds, and oranges. This is a view from our clinic with these beautiful trees. It didn't last long. The leaves are nearly all down now, but the weather has been comfortable.

The newest additions to our family are two Great White Pyranees female dogs. Their job is to watch over the Alpacas. They are loving animals, but they bark alot!!!!!!! This one with Levi is Molly. She is about a year old and weighs in over 80 lbs. The second one is named Gabby, she too is over 80 lbs. She is more shy and reserved. She is the one lying in front of Makenzie. Our family has gotten much smaller in some ways, and grown in others.

27 Years of Joy!

Ken & I celebrated our anniversary going to the St. Louis, MO Temple. It is beautiful, as they all are. We were able to do family sealings, work we've been working on all year. Our new ward celebrated with us since it was the ward Temple Day. We then spent the next day at the cannery, canning supplies for the ward. We have recently been called as the Single Adult Shepherds for our ward. We have 59 on our rolls. After calling all of them, we found there will be updating the ward records. One sister on the list had been married for 10 years. Today we were called to be Institute Instructors for our ward. Since we have a University here in Mountain Home, we will have surrounding areas joining us. The adults want a class too, so we teach them also. We're calling them, "Seasoned Adults" since some do not like the "Mature" title. We are looking forward to this new challenge.

Ken and I were able to take 8 youth to the temple yesterday and do baptisms. What a wonderful blessing temples are. Be grateful when a temple is so close to you.

Farm Animals

The kids are have wonderful experiences learning how to care for and love the animals on the farm. Ariona is becoming a great horse rider. She tolerates Makenzie getting her turn. Levi had a run in this week with the rooster that is behind him in the picture. I was driving in from work, and I hear him yelling, madder than a hornet, "I'm going to kill you." Thinking that he was yelling at a sibling, I was ready to give the lecture on we speak to one another. I get to him and he is bleeding, sweaty and sobbing. He had been trying to get the chickens in the pen and the rooster attached him. He had a bad scratch across his eye lid and down his cheek with peck holes on the back of his neck. I took him the house and washed him up before he could settle down long enough to tell me what had happened. Grandpa gave him permission to carry a big stick the next time he had to go into the pen. He is armed and ready.

Lone Rock Alpacas, LLC

Meet our boys! The white Alpaca is Swashbuckler, the dark brown is Montegue, and the lighter brown is Philo. They are all three fleece producing Alpacas. We have plans to get females in the future. We had opportunity to get these three and we jumped. They are wonderful animals. We are all learning alot about eachother. We are now looking into the Pyrenees livestock guard dogs. We have a chance to adopt a 2 year old female near the end of the month. We'll see how things are going at that time. The property photos show alot of open area in the center. I have plans to build fenced areas for males and females with a covered barn community area for all the animals. I have a lot of work for Ken to get started on as soon as he gets here. Road to put in, a well to dig, fences to put up, barns to build, not to mention a house. It will take us longer than we had hoped since the house hasn't sold, but one step at a time and dreams come to fruition.

Barns

This right side of the property will have a hay barn. The tree line borders a piece of property that was once a one room school house. My dream is to rebuild this historic structure and use as a community center.

Property Dreams

From right to left is the span of property we dream of building our ranch and home. Behind this line of trees, in the far right, is a 10 acres field of hay field. We just cut and bailed last week. Gavyn and I stacked 100 bails in the barn one evening after work. No I didn't have my gloves on, and yes I learned that I should have. The knoll above where the cows are standing is where we plan to build the house with a shop off the the right of it.

Working Women

After a week and a half of getting my resume out there and answering newspaper want ads, I got a job. These are the wonderful ladies in the office I work with. Debbie, sitting at the desk, does accounts receivable, Theresa, behind her, does medical records, Julie does "check in" receptionist, and I am the "check out" receptionist for ENT Associates. Dr. Paul Neis, and Dr. Monty Barker are the ear, nose and throat Docs. We have two audiologists, Deborah Baker and Monte Hardin. We also have an allergy department. This is a wonderful group of people to work with. I've learned alot. The biggest lesson I have learned is how spoiled I have been to be able to have been a work from home Mom for 25 years. I am enjoying the challenge of a busy office, but I miss my time with the kids at home. They are all in school now, so I'm only missing an hour and a half when they get home. Some days they even have dinner ready for me when I get there. Gavyn got his driving permit and so I'm teaching another teenager to drive. I find that to be the scariest thing in the world. I've survived 5 learners already so far, I should manage this one just fine. Seminary has started for Gavyn too, so that means early rising for Mom BEFORE work even begins. I find my brain starts fizzeling out about 4PM. That means the last hour is alittle fuzzy.