Life as a Jonas means one thing: there is no such thing as a typical day. However, so many people have asked what a day looks like for our family that we decided we’d try to show you.  This is what Tuesday looked like for Brett.

7:45 AM

I wake up ten minutes before my alarm goes off and sit up, but don’t get out of bed for another ten minutes. I like waking up before my alarm goes off – it feels more peaceful.

8:15 AM

I read my Bible as I finish brushing my teeth and hair, then grab my laptop and settle down to answer a few personal emails that came in overnight. While I’m at it, I check the GMS inbox really quickly – there’s nothing that can’t wait for when I get to work, so I close that tab and go back to my own inbox.

9:50 AM

I grab my walkie talkie, slide my laptop into my backpack, and hurry downstairs to refill my water bottle. I snag a few blackberries on my way out the door. They’re super fresh (even if they are a little bitter. lol)

9:58 AM

I walk into the Sweet Shop with two minutes to spare, and put my stuff down at my desk.

10:00 AM

I check the calendar and notice that there are no scheduled tours. We encourage people to sign up for farm tours online, but since they don’t always, I wait five minutes to make sure no one comes. While I’m waiting, I check to make sure that all of the napkin dispensers are full.

10:10 AM

When my walkie talkie is silent for ten minutes, I finish refilling napkins and tell Indigo that I’m going up to the soaproom. We sold two goats, and they’re going home today, and I need to find their paperwork and get it ready.

11:30 AM

I finish sorting through a pile of goat paperwork that I’d forgotten about and grab the paperwork for Fantasmic and Jericho, the two goats that we sold. I print off the invoice that we keep for our own records, fill in the new owner’s information, and put it in the sheet protector with the two pedigrees.

11:31 AM

I get a phone call from Mom, asking me to meet her in the office as soon as I can.

11:33 AM

I find Mom in the office with our contractor’s wife, Karen, and we talk about wedding stuff for about thirty minutes.

12:05 PM

Indigo comes into the office asking when she can take her lunch break. I take over the Sweet Shop so she can go grab some lunch.

12:45 PM

Indigo and I switch: I go grab some lunch, (some really great leftover pasta!) and she watches the Sweet Shop.

12:54 PM

Fletcher comes on the walkie talkie and says, “Brett, you have a one o’clock tour.”

12:56 PM

I check the calendar – no one was scheduled, so the group waiting for me in the Farm Store is a pop-up tour.

12:58 PM

I finish the last bite of my food and gulp down a drink of water.

1:00 PM

The tour starts, a toddler and his parents, and I can immediately tell that it will be a fast one. We’ll be moving “toddler style” – AKA fast.

1:03 PM

The toddler is already bored with the soaproom. I hurry through, pointing out the most interesting things to Mom and Dad, trying to keep up with the toddler eager to see the “doats”.

1:07 PM

The rabbits have distracted the toddler for a moment, so I answer the questions that his parents have for me.

1:23 PM

We make it through the whole tour in record timing, toddler style, and I leave my tour group with Hewitt for a Baby Goat Experience.

3:30 PM

I check my email again and notice an email from our cross country coach – tonight’s meet has been postponed until tomorrow, which drastically changes my evening. I use the walkie talkie to relay that information to the rest of the family.

4:13 PM

A really cute baby comes into the Sweet Shop, and Indigo and I grin at each other. We love seeing cute kids in the store!

4:30 PM 

The rest of the afternoon passes smoothly in the Sweet Shop, and half an hour before closing I start my cleaning up routine. I wrap cookies and bagels, wipe down tables and chairs, clean glass, wash the gelato scoops, empty garbage cans, check the bathrooms, and refill napkin and utensil dispensers.

4:59 PM

I radio the front store that I am ready to close, and Jade responds that she still has a customer in the store.

5:01 PM

I try again, telling Jade that I’m ready to close.

5:08 PM

After seven minutes, Jade finally responds, telling me that the last customer has pulled out of the parking lot. I lock the doors, shut off the lights, grab my backpack and drink, and head back to the house.

5:10 PM

I walk into a house that looks like it exploded. Apparently Emery and Mason have been processing tomatoes and making gallons of tomato sauce and gallons of salsa. (They’re both great cooks, but neither is the best at cleaning).

8:30 PM

After over three hours of cleaning and making salsa and cleaning and making salsa and washing dishes and cleaning and making dinner, I finally get to sit down and eat dinner.  I love all the garden we food up during winter time, but actually putting it up can be exhausting.

8:32 PM

Mason’s cousin calls, and tells us that Mason’s got another calf to bottle feed, since its mother doesn’t have enough milk.

8:34 PM

We decide to bring the bottle calf here, since Mason is here all day and it’s easier to feed the calf if he’s here. Isn’t he adorable??

After that, the evening was a blur. I remember the calf arrived, we took care of it, and checked on the miniature goats that were supposed to have babies. I went back to the house and folded laundry, helped clean up after dinner, talked to Mason for a little while, and then went to bed. The next day was probably going to be just as busy, and I needed to get some sleep!