A conglomeration of special moments of 2011 that just happened to be captured on camera

I know it is way too late to do a New Years post, but what do I care for that? Besides that, this is not really a "New Years post" anyway. My only intention in this post is to show you some pictures. My favorite pictures. From 2011. Does that constitute a New Years post? I wouldn't say so. But you can make up your mind differently if you wish.

 

In February, Isaac and I went to the Grand Canyon with our aunt and uncle and cousin Mariah.  It was cold, but gorgeous.

This picture gives me that awful feeling I always get when someone is in serious imminent danger, but for some reason, it's one of my very favorite we took of Isaac this year.

This is our tea table.  In February, Mom and I started taking tea together every day between 3 and 5 pm.  We enjoyed it immensely and continued our little practice for several weeks, but eventually stopped for some unknown reason.  (Too many lovely things cease in that manner I think!)  However, our tea times together were special and a memory I know I will cherish forever.

This was when it snowed and Daddy... Well, the picture speaks for itself.  :)

In March our family from Texas, whom you might remember from some previous posts, came to visit.  We were only together for one evening, but we had such a blast.

Ah yes.  I normally hate it when the camera man says, "Now do a silly one!"  We were having so much fun together on this occasion however, that I love this picture. 

This was taken on Mother's Day.  I made the blanket Mom is holding (actually I got some help from my dear friends the Crosses) and gave it to her on this occasion.  Mom is extremely fond of anything with roses, and this was a special gift for her, especially since I had made it.

Remember this picture?  I couldn't help posting it again, because it is definitely one of my favorite memories of this past year.

This is my cousin Josh and the newest member of our family, Amanda!  They were married in November.  We are SO very delighted to have Amanda in our family.

 

My precious Daddy and Mamma celebrated 20 years of marriage together this year.  God blessed them with a beautiful trip to Colorado where they spent a week together by themselves.  

While our parents were enjoying themselves in Colorado, Isaac and I were enjoying ourselves quite as much here in Arizona!  We stayed with our friends, the Crosses and had some of the funnest times of my life, which I will never forget.

I absolutely love this picture of my brother!  It was taken at Lake Powell on another trip with Aunt Kris, Uncle Tim, and Mariah.

Group picture with precious friends, the Iddings and Cross families.

My dear friend Hannah and me.  Thank you Gabby for taking this picture!

Our family picture for Christmas.  Yes, it was snowing.  And yes, that is the barn door behind us.

These pictures don't necessarily represent every important event in my life that took place this year; they are simply my favorites of those we took this past year.  And yes, it was a blessed year.  God has given us so much more than we could ever think or imagine!  Praise be to Him alone, because we sure don't deserve it!

~Kiah 

The Farm Has Grown

Meet our two newest additions to the farm: Betty and Bess!

Betty

Bess

We just got them last Sunday!  Actually, they are Isaac's goats so perhaps I should not say "we".  Mom and Dad paid for one of them for his birthday and the other he bought with his own money.  We are so excited to have them!  Isaac spends a lot of time out there with them, and when he's inside doing school he wishes he were outside instead.  :)  They are Alpine goats, which give the largest quantity of milk out of any milk goat.  We are expecting to have about two gallons of milk each day when they are both milking!  Bess is a really sweet, curious doe.  She is only a year old.  Betty is a little less friendly, because she was not bottle-fed. (Bottle-feeding kid goats makes them bond with the feeder and therefore much more friendly to humans.)  She is getting better though, and is learning to like Isaac since he brings her a carrot every day.  They are both pregnant, so we are eagerly awaiting baby goats in the spring!  We are also greatly looking forward to the fresh supply of milk that will follow, and can't wait to make our own cheeses, soaps, etc.

Bess was very curious about the camera as you can see from both the picture above and the one below.

Oh!  That's Orangie!  He is one of the three barn cats that came with our place.  He decided to join us while we were with the goats.  I guess since I'm on the subject I'll go ahead and introduce you to the other cats as well.

That's Brother.

And this is Sister! (By the way, I know that the names are very original.  :)  They were actually named by our landlord's daughter, who was only 2 at the time.)

Oh, look at how big our chickens are getting!

Dad and Isaac fenced in a small section outside of the actual coop, as you can see above.  They worked on it for a very long time and built it like a fortress!  Daddy says that if anything manages to get in there, it deserves to eat every last chicken!  :)

~Kiah

An Evening Of Christmas Cookies

All the snow we've been getting I think has put us all in the Christmas mood a little more than usual, and to my delight, Daddy has been wanting to bake Christmas yummy things with us!  Baking is one of the things our family does best, and at Christmas we seem to do more of it than at any other time.  One of my very favorite things that we bake together is sugar cookies!  We've made sugar cookies every year for as long as I can remember, and I so enjoy doing it together as a family.  Plus, they're the most special of all the Christmas cookies because they are each unique and not one looks the same.  One day last week (or maybe it was the week before?) Daddy said something to me along the lines of, "Well, Kiah, I think it's sugar cookies tonight!"  So we made them.  And we had a blast doing it.

Trying to stir up the creative juices.  :)

My Daddy is always very creative and makes the funniest cookies, like this one.

No Daddy, No!  :)

Uh oh!  :)

That cross in the middle (decorated by Isaac) was my very favorite of all the cookies we made that night.

~Kiah

What's one my favorite things about winter? Snow, of course!

Let me just start by saying that I've had several things I wanted to post about for awhile, but I simply haven't been able to find the time!  With as busy as we've been lately, I decided to go ahead and post everything I had on my mind in one shot when I had the time.  If I don't post it now, who knows if I'll get around to it later?  So, here goes.  I hope I don't overwhelm you with so many posts in a row!

I grew up in a place where we never got snow.  In fact, in the twelve years I lived there, I can only remember snow sticking to the ground once!  So you can imagine how snow-deprived I am, and how much I love it when it does snow!  All that to say, we got a huge snowstorm last week, and it was absolutely beautiful! This particular storm the snow was coming down hard and in HUGE flakes!  They were the biggest snowflakes I had ever seen.  I can always see God's power and beauty best in nature, and this was no exception.  Watching something so beautiful as snow falling out of a gray sky makes me marvel at the amazingness of our God who made it!

A couple of days later, I was surprised but happy to see Isaac building a snowman!  He was almost done by the time I caught him, so I didn't join in, but took pictures instead.  That snowman made my day I think.  :)

~Kiah

Isaac's Birthday

My little brother turned 15 years old on Sunday.  I have to continuously marvel at how God has changed him, just over these past couple of years, from that cute little boy that I loved to this Godly, amazing young man that I love and respect.

Before we headed off to church, we gave Isaac his gifts and cards.  I bought him a chef knife-- something he has wanted for a long time.  You can see how excited he was by the look on his face.

His gifts from Mom and Dad were of a different nature.  Can you guess?  If you guessed that they had something to do with his little farm you were absolutely right.  They gave him a milking pail, a book on raising meat goats, and money for a goat.  Speaking of goats, I have news... but that's for another post.  More on that later...

After church Mom and I made Isaac enchiladas, one of his favorite dinners.  Isaac doesn't eat sugar, so instead of a cake, we made him a nice big fruit salad.  (He just loves fruit!)  I know, he's not your average 15-year-old boy, but I'm okay with that.  :)

 Cutting the cake  Stirring the fruit salad  :)

This is Isaac's face for, "Stop taking pictures!"

 

Happy Birthday my brother!

~Kiah