Monday, February 15

We ran away from home...

Shawn and I have had some really busy past couple of weeks.  So we decided to run away for the Valentine's weekend.
I wanted to go back to a small town in MS that we lived in for 2 years.
While we lived there, we were the poorest of the poor.  There were such wonderful Antique stores in this small town so it is fun for us to go back now (it is just a short drive away) and hang out and do some shopping.

Funny spin is that 1 by 1 as we went to these shops we loved they were closed or literally the buildings they were in were nonexistant.  I was bummed but had to laugh too... literally they were all gone.
But Shawn saved the weekend.
He went to the little old town visitors center and they had a list of all the antique stores remotely close in other little towns.
We had so much fun, treasure hunting and driving through these tiny towns hunting down these little shops.
One shop was closed for the winter, even the power had been turned off... but the owner let us snoop all through it with flashlights, now is that treasure hunting or WHAT!?!

 
 I love how antiques can reach out and 'grab' me.
Something that I would have never thought I would be interested in won't let me leave without it.
This child's rocking chair was that item for me!!!
 
It is such a piecemeal of items that someone had lovingly put together to create this for a little someone.
It is a sturdy creation too.
I've placed it here in my entry, and just incase a little niece or nephew decides to take a rockin' ride... it will be just fine!
These baby shoe molds were a discovery at an antique store in Florida several vacations ago.
I think they look precious next to the new rocker.

The amazing circular window had to come home with me too.
Shawn was quite perplexed.
It is so very interesting, and I have it braced up against a shoe shine box that Shawn found and loved.

 
Now found in out entry is this pitchfork.
I think it is so whimsical for our farm setting.

I have always been drawn to old pottery and glass.  I found several treasures of each.
This crock was such a great size and had that rimmed top that I had not seen before, it begged to come with us :)
 
Shawn unburied this gorgeous thing, tucked in the corner of a store.
It even had a sold sign on it, but luckily it had just been marked with a wrong tag.
The price was higher than we were comfortable with.
Just as a tip:  you can almost ALWAYS get at least 10% knocked off of the price of an item at an antique shop... but in this case we needed more than that.

The shop owner called the owner of this Goat Cart and she lowered the price considerably for us.  This goat cart actually belonged to the owners parents and had been in an old barn for years and years until someone had discovered it and hauled it to the Antique store.

For now I will keep it on our back covered porch just outside our kitchen door.  But I can see it traveling all over the farm, including possibly the entry to the B&B.  I will always make sure it is covered... it is just too precious of an item to let it weather any further... hope to have this for a long time.

I'm not sure who this bell grabbed hardest... we flipped over it.  We had to hunt for the two pieces because it took us a minute to figure out how it mounted... there were several miscellaneous jiblets of hardware around this bell, but we did indeed find its bracket.
We will eventually mount this bell onto a post back by the future pond.  
We think it will be fun to have future barbecues/campouts out there and have a bell to ring to gather everyone together.  
I just hope Shawn never asks me to hold either of these pieces again... seriously backbreaking weight!!!

The weekend was so fun.
It snowed the whole time we were there, not enough to make things dangerous... just beautiful.
We ate at our favorite restaurants, saw a movie, and slept in every morning...
Vacations like these are the hardest to come home from :)

Tuesday, February 9

Long list of excuses...

 It was just 2 posts ago that I shared my goal of completing Savannah's room and bathroom in time for incoming visiting family that were to arrive last week.
Um, well, I failed... like didn't even come close to finishing the project.
BUT,
I have a litany of excuses.
Wanna hear them?

We completed the necessary projects in the carriagehouse to get my sis moved into the loft apartment.
Still lots of cosmetic and a few functional things to complete, but it is livable and she has it decorated already and it is adorable!!

Week ago last Saturday... My sweetie invited all our family,30+ folks, to my favorite restaurant to celebrate my upcoming milestone of a birthday.  It was a wonderful, crazy, loud fiesta!!

Monday was my official birthday, and I share my birthday with Ty!!
I woke up to this herd at the entry to our farm.
Thankful my hubby did not get the buzzards are grimreaper :)
Cows... now that was funny!
Monday night we celebrated Ty's birthday.
He wanted to meet family again this year at Chuck E Cheeses.
Loads of fun!!

Tuesday was Shawn's birthday!
I fixed him one of his favorite meals and got him a NY Cheesecake.
Later that night he went out to the movies with Savannah and Christian.

Wednesday a baby goat was born on the farm.

Funny story here was that we thought it was a girl for the first 24 hours... even called it 'Willow'.
Later to find out... oops... goat has man parts!
So now the kids have named him RockyRoad... aka Roady.

Thursday, Shawn's dad and his wife Char arrived from Utah.
They stayed with us the whole weekend and did a lot of partying, whew!
Friday was Christian's 14th birthday.
We went out to eat at his favorite restaurant, Logans.
He was wonderful enough to postpone his bday campout a few weekends to enjoy family and let the spotlight be primarily on his little bro.
 
Saturday, Ty was baptized.
He is a shy guy, I think the expressions in most photos proves that fact, but he was truly excited for his special day.
Savannah was such a trooper and helped so much this crazy busy week.
 
Sunday, Christian was ordained a Teacher at Church.
Wonderful opportunities to serve and grow, very proud of his good choices.

And then Monday morning our new hens and rooster arrived.
So fun... I don't know if the excitement of this will ever grow old.

So... see why I shall grant myself leniency in the fact that Savannah's room did NOT get completed.
Those to dos shall now be 're added' to my forever long gotta get em done list.
And life goes on, snicker!

Monday, February 8

Ty's Baptism

On Saturday February 6th, Ty was baptized.
Ty was very nervous to be the center of attention but very excited at the same time.
He was surrounded by all his family and friends and it was a remarkable day.

He now will participate in the CubScout program at Church and will work on his Faith In God requirements.
He struggles with memorizing things, just like me, but on Sunday he was already hard at work memorizing the Articles of Faith.
We are so proud of Ty's decisions.

For 6 long years, every day, I would look up...pleading with my Heavenly Father to let me have another baby.  My gratitude for Ty and the blessing he has been to our family is overwhelming.
Truly Grateful!