We are currently on vacation.  Because farm life is very involved and the animals need to be taken care of seven days a week, we try to get the family off the farm several times a year. One of our favorite places to visit is the Atlantic ocean.  I actually grew up on an island…

Anyone who has ever owned livestock knows that a lot of time and decision making is spent on hay.  I know that sounds silly.  After all, hay is just dried grass.  How hard can that be? I’m here to tell you it is in fact very difficult.  Imagine having to go food shopping for all…

Over the past 9 years, most of my focus has been on my business, my husband, and on my children (sometimes, but not always, in that order).  It has worked very well because I was able to integrate my time with all of them since we have the privilege of homeschooling and working together on…

I admit it, I’m a math geek.  I loved studying math and sciences and got my degree in Engineering. I’ve always loved to read, but I never particularly enjoyed writing papers about literature.  But when I was in school, I was not a history fan.  I thought history was quite boring.  Who cared about memorizing…

The other night, Emery put some chicken in water to turn into chicken broth.  After simmering them for several hours, I removed the chickens.  When they had cooled sufficiently, I started picking the chicken off the bones.  As you can imagine, this is a rather brainless task, so my mind started to wander. I had…

My children are growing up.  Jade (the youngest) just turned ten years old!  I no longer have any children in the single digits.  I have three with their driver’s licenses.  By the end of the year, I will even have one who is twenty-one and legally able to consume alcohol. Life is changing. In a…

We have a very public business and my children interact with a lot of new people they only meet once on a daily basis.  Because they’re children, they are generally brutally honest with what they share with people. This usually doesn’t cause a problem at all because we aren’t trying to hide anything.  The fact…

Have you ever felt overwhelmed?  I certainly have.  I work very hard to avoid being overwhelmed, but it can (and does) happen despite my best efforts.  When I’m feeling that way, I can often feel paralysed.  I’m not sure which way to turn or what effort to make or how to reduce my stress. I…

There are so many things in this world that I want to do.  And most of them I have never done before.  In many matters, I muddle along myself because there is joy in the learning.  But when it is something important, I seek advice on how to proceed. For example, learning how to cook…

July is our major celebration month.  We celebrate Jade’s birthday, Colter’s birthday, Jim and my anniversary, and Fletcher’s Birthday in the week beginning on July 4th and ending on July 12th.  (Ok, technically it’s 9 days, but with everything going on it feels like just one week!) It’s a busy week full of celebrations.  And…

Last night I was super sleepy and ready for bed on the early side (9:00 instead of my normal goal of 10:00).  I had my teeth brushed, my pajamas on, and my phone off.  I was looking forward to turning the lights off. Then I heard it – a knock on my door.  “But all…

Even though this blog post will go live on a Monday morning, I’m actually writing it on a Sunday afternoon.  If you were to observe me and my family on this Sunday afternoon, this is what you’d see… Jim is giving himself a haircut. I am sitting in my office, bouncing on my ball chair,…