A fun filled Christmas

Hope everyone had a fun, safe, and a very Merry Christmas!! Our tradition is to start off Christmas morning at my Grandma's house for her famous cinnamon rolls, a family picture, and our gift exchange. Then we head over to my parents house for another gift exchange and Christmas dinner.

Here my parents are modeling the wild rags that I had got my mom. Aren't they cute?!?



This is our White family picture. My grandma has so many Christmas pictures hanging on her wall, and we all agreed that we are looking better as we age!

Rocky, Preston, Andrew, Dad, Jason, Chris
Paul, Paula, Kathy, Mom, Jodie, Grandpa
Denise, Brooke, Grandma, Sydney, Me








Two of our very sweet cousins! Denise is a nurse at the hospital in Sierra Vista, and Andrew is playing college baseball in Oklahoma.

Denise, Me, Stacey, Andrew








My parents always fry their turkeys. So this year my grandpa thought that it would be a great idea to fry a sand hill crane. My dad looks proud, but my Aunt Kathy doesn't look so sure.

Now we are waiting for Jen Jen's Circus to come to town so that we can finish celebrating!

Busy Times

Merry Christmas from Arizona! Good friends of ours had there annual Christmas party yesterday, and this was her Christmas tree. She had the local FFA chapter make the ornaments which were brands from ranches in the area.









Jason and I have been so busy taking care of our calves. This pretty much consumes most of our day everyday!! But as you can tell I'm in love with some of them. That is 36 giving me a kiss on the check. He is so sweet.....I'm going to miss him the most when they are gone.





My most recent cake. Not only did it look good, but it tasted really good! I think that I've found a new cake recipe.





Hope you have a wonderful Christmas celebrating the birth of our Savior!!

Tis The Season....

for cotton harvest!! Dad started stripping cotton yesterday, so I took the opportunity to snap a few shots. The field is so white that from the highway it looks like snow. This could possible be one of his best fields ever, and he has grown some pretty good cotton these last couple of years.











This picture is blurry, but he had just dumped a load onto the bowl buggy, which my brother is driving. And Preston is moving the cotton around so that they can get more into the buggy. The first time you see this done you think that they are going to dump it on the ground!










Here he is dumping the cotton into the module builder, and from there is gets pressed into a nice block of cotton that can be hauled away.

















Isn't it beautiful?










"Riding off into the sunset"!











When I was little, my family raised lots of cotton as did others in this valley. I remember getting to jump in the cotton trailers to smash down the cotton so that they could get as much as possible in the trailers. We also lived right next to the cotton gin, and I remember one time spending the night inside of one of the trailers. All those fun memories came flooding back yesterday with the smell of the cotton! What a wonderful life growing up as a farm kid....and being a farmer's wife!!

One of those weeks.....

Side Note: Had my blog done ready to post and it erased this picture. So, it's story is below!













OK, so this is a random blog for me to vent a little bit! I'll start with this picture that I took back in May, just thought that it looked really cool. Last May, when my mom and I went to Denton, I found this wagon wheel at an antique shop...still haven't done anything with it, but it looks kind of neat leaning against my house! ;)






This month marks a year since we put Windy down, and got Praise. I was browsing my old pictures and found this one when Jason and I first went and looked at him.


This is Praise this summer. I just talked to the lady that we bought him from this last week. When I called her and told her who I was she was SO excited to hear from me. She lives close to where we go to church and she had been driving around the different church parking lots trying to find our pickup!! I gave her an update on him, and told her that he is the best horse that we have ever owned, which is true.

Now, for this last week.....it basically started out bad. I was filled with frustration, disappointment, and sadness, hoping that the week would get better. Well, it didn't. We finally got a combine on Thursday to harvest out pinto beans, and that night as Jason was backing up to dump the last load the back axle broke. Did I mention that it's not even our combine? It's still not fixed, but it is no longer sitting on the ground. On Saturday, we were able to get another combine here and we will be done by today.

It rained last night, on our hay that was ready to be baled. Lovely. How in the world we have had so much rained on hay, but yet are still so dry is beyond my comprehension. And the clouds are building again today. We have had lighting and thunder, just like it is monsoon season. Weird.

Sick calves. Coccidiosis to be exact. I told Jason that this is more stressful than a newborn baby.....I think anyway! Every night I'm dreaming of these calves and trying to keep them alive and healthy. And with harvest being in full swing, I find myself there a lot by myself. But I really do enjoy spending time with them.

Maybe this week will be better!

Our Latest Project

For weeks, Jason has stayed up late crunching numbers and building spread sheets. For weeks, all he talked about were calves, what we would buy, where we would keep them, how to turn our rained on hay into money. Well, after weeks and weeks and weeks, we finally have calves!





These two pictures are some calves that we bought right from the ranch last week. There is one in this group that I call Stitch, from the Disney cartoon "Lilo and Stitch". And once I get a picture of him, you'll know why but he is the cutest little thing!







These calves came from the sale barn two weeks ago and there is more of them, but I did not want to bore you with pictures of calves, that is if you are still reading this! ;) We have had to doctor them several times to get them over shipping fever. As of today, everyone is fat and happy!


So, basically, what all of the this means is that we are going nowhere this winter. Just 8 miles down the road to check on our sweet little calves and back again!!

Where does the time go?

I did not realize that it has been two months since I have blogged....if feels like just a couple of weeks have gone by! Good News, we are alive and well. Just an update on what's been going in southern Arizona.

1. Hay...and lots of it! We just cut two pivots of hay, so starting very soon our days will get long and the nights longer.

2. We painted Nina and Papa's house. And when I say "we", I mean Jason helped me! We had a lot of fun, and really enjoyed the coke floats in the afternoon.

3. We have spent some time helping our friends as they are vaccinating calves and getting ready to ship. That's been a lot of fun and it's nice little get-away for us.

4. Mema and Karen came from Arkansas to visit. And I'm embarrassed to admit that we only spent one afternoon with them. It just happened to be during our hay time.

5. Janette came to visit, and she is going to be here today. WhooHoo!!

6. Coming in 2010....a baby!! Teaspoon, my mare, is pregnant and she is getting the cutest little tummy.

7. Last weekend we finally got away to the White Mountains. It was cool and damp and perfect! We saw elk, lots of turkeys, and antelope. That has too be one of our favorite past times, and it's hard to believe that we have only been up there once this year! And there would be pictures but I have misplaced my camera's battery charger.

8. Roasting chile......and LOTS of it! Since we just planted a small block of chile in with my dad's red chile, I did not expect to roast a lot of chile this year. Well, on Labor Day, we picked and roasted 520 lbs. Thankfully, I had the help of my parents and Tammy. On Thursday, we roasted 180 lbs. for the people at Valley, and now I have another 150 lbs. for Monday for more people at Valley. Ask Virgil about who got me in all of this work! Actually, he has made it a lot easier being organized and helping to get the chile distributed. Thank you!! And a big thank you to my parents who have helped me everytime I've had a big order. My dad is getting to quite the chile roasting expert!!

That's about it for now. This week is county fair, and we have kids that we support showing everyday, but at least this year it's only a one hour trip both ways instead of two hours!

God has been so good to us this year and we continually see His hand in our lives. I hope that the past two months have been good to you!

Wedding week

Well, we made it!! All went pretty well, and a big "thank you" for everyone who was praying for us. This picture is of Jodie, Rosanna, Stacey, Me, B and S waiting in Gadabout for our pedicures.

This is S and B being so cute! I can't believe that I didn't get any pictures of them on my camera all dressed up. I'll try to find a way to post wedding pictures when they come in.
Me and my parents after the wedding. Stacey's colors were truffle, wine and candy pink. I just happened to be in wine, but there were 16 bridesmaids and we all were in different colors. It was really beautiful.
Jason and I together....we clean up pretty good! He was happy that he got to wear maroon. And I wish that I had taken a picture of the back of my hair. I had my Italian man, Giancarlo, do my hair. It was so unique and very modern which is ironic because I was the most country girl of all of them there! There wasn't one curl in it, it was all braids and twists. Crazy! And I had 68 bobbi pins in my hair, it took a little while to get them all out.

The day of the wedding all of us girls were getting ready, and I went to find my dress. I could not find it anywhere. So I went to ask my mom because she was bringing it with all of the other dresses. She forgot it. So Jason had to drive 30 minutes back to her house to get my dress and another 30 minutes back. She was so upset with herself! Jason and I missed out on all of the pre-wedding pictures, but we were both in the wedding!

The ceremony went very smooth and was very beautiful. My sister is gorgeous anyway, but she was picture perfect on her wedding day!! Again, no pictures with my camera! We arrived at the reception hall, took some pictures, and then the DJ was going to announce all of us and it started raining and the wind was blowing hard. So there was quite a delay, but eventually we made it out there. Jason and I were first and then so on. We had to walk down these steps and then to our tables. Well, Rocky's sister and her husband were a couple of people behind us. As they were walking down the steps, she completely missed the bottom one and hit the ground. He husband, Scott, stood over her and yelled "SAFE"! She was OK and handled it very well, but she's had lots of practice being graceful....she was runner up at the Miss New Mexico pageant a few years ago.

After we ate, did the toasts, and cut the cake it was time for the dance. Stacey and Rocky danced first and then they handed the microphone over to Stacey. She announced that the first father/daughter dance would be with me and my dad. I bawled!! The only regret at my wedding was not getting to dance with my daddy, and she gave that to me on her wedding day, before she danced with him. My eyes fill with tears as I write this. It was the most precious, most thoughtful, most priceless gift anyone has ever given me, and I will forever be grateful! Thank you, Stacey.

It was a wonderful wedding, and I could not be prouder of my sister and my new brother-in-law. He absolutely adores her, and she could not have picked anyone better. They are perfect for each other, and we love you so much!

The Cake.....from finish to start.

Blogger was putting my pictures up in a very random order! But anyway, I guess that we'll start out with the finished cake first. By the way, the post is for you Nette!












I did not get any pictures of it that night, only when I had set it up. I was fairly happy with it, but I was really happy with the taste of the cake. Rocky wanted a strawberry cake with chocolate icing, so that's what he got! And it TOWERED over the wedding cake. My sister was upset that she didn't ask me to make her wedding cake. It looked more like a child's birthday cake. I'll post pictures of it when I can.

(These next pictures are all mixed up! Sorry.) My very messy kitchen! You can't make cakes without making a huge mess.
This is part of the icing project. From here, I am going to start smoothing the sides.
This is my huge bowl of icing.
This is my cake right out of the oven.
And right before the oven.

Well, Nette, I hope this is what you were wanting!! Sorry it's backwards, but just scroll up! ;)

Hope y'all had a great 4th of July! I've been reading about people spending time on the lake, having BBQs, and fireworks. Well, my 4th consisted of driving tractor.....all day. But this was the fireworks that I got to see, not bad, huh?

I have been on the tractor for days, working on my cake when I am able, and trying to clean house before I leave tomorrow. My sister's wedding is on Friday, and things on the farm are CRAZY trying to get the wheat out so we can plant beans, swathing hay, waiting for it to dry but it keeps getting rained on, ect. Oh, yes, and yesterday as I was bringing the disk to another field I had a blow out on one of the tires on the disk. Nice. But it did give me some time to work on my cake!

Please pray for my whole family as we prepare for this wedding, and please pray for me and my cake!

Good Humor

We had a surprise 40th birthday party for my aunt last Friday night. All of my other aunts thought that it would be a great idea to dress up. This is my wonderful husband (cute, isn't he!) and my soon to be brother-in-law (he's pretty cute, too!).

I think they better go see a dentist before the wedding next week! And maybe, Jason, you could go see someone about your hair....just a thought.

Bridal Shower

Today we had a bridal shower for my sister, Stacey. This is a group picture of all of us that attended. And this next picture, well......it's priceless!!





This is my five year old niece helping Stacey open her presents from her soon to be mother-in-law!! Poor little B will see this picture the rest of her life!

And I really don't know what I would do without friends. Thank you, Jayne, for taking pictures today!!

Here it is

Well, this is a picture of my first attempt at a wedding cake. It was for my cousin's wedding a couple of weeks ago in Las Cruces, NM. She sent me a picture and I did that best that I could, I just hope it was what she was wanting.

It was a little stressful....OK...a LOT stressful. We had a few mishaps, like dropping a tub of icing on the bottom layer of the cake, but all in all I think it was a success! Thank you, thank you for everyone who encouraged me along the way and for everyone who was praying for me!! We could feel your prayers! And a HUGE thanks for Tammy who came at just the right time and did the flower placement on the cake.

Sorry, Nette, I did not take pictures of it while I was making it. But, I will when I make the cake for Stacey's wedding!

Wisdom

Sometimes I have to wonder....What is going on?? Seriously, where is the wisdom of the people who are elected into a public office? Check out California, Senate Majority Leader Dean Florez, is writing a new bill that would ban all antibiotics in animals used for human consumption. He is going to ban them from schools first. But what are the effects of antibiotics used in animals? He is concerned about our long term health, but for how long have we been consuming meat from animals that have been given antibiotics? For me, it's probably been pretty close to 27 years now and I'm doing great! More importantly, how will consumer safety be affected when we have sick livestock everywhere that we can not treat?

Along those same lines, I heard a statement made the other day that made me so furious!! A young person told me that they had heard on the news (and we know that it HAD to be true) that 8 to 10 year olds are having a stronger sex drive because of the food they are eating. WHAT!!! I was thinking.....HAVE YOU WATCHED TV LATELY?!? I've decided that if you are a Christian or a farmer you are always under attack....try being both!

All of this just proves that the only truth in our lives comes from God's Word. Not from our friends, the news, or our "oh so wise" politicians!!

"If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind." James 1:5-6

Spiders, Snakes, & Scorpions....Oh My!

We love our new house, and we love living here.....we do not love all of our "roommates"! This house breeds spiders, I don't why, oh and crickets. I have sprayed the house from top to bottom, before we moved in and twice since then. Yet....spiders and crickets.

So, I can live with spiders and crickets but last week there was a scorpion in our bedroom. Nice. So I sprayed it too! It had crossed my layer of poison because it was dying, but needless to say.....I sprayed AGAIN!

Last night, Dakota would not stop barking. So finally I asked Jason to go and see what she was barking at. Turns out she was barking at Milo because she was in Dakota's dog house. When I thought that Jason had everything straighten back out between our two "kids", he didn't come back in. Pretty soon he was standing at the sliding glass door asking me to come outside.

He had killed a baby rattle snake that he had nearly stepped on. This house also breeds rattle snakes!! But I didn't expect it to begin so quickly. So my top priority this afternoon is spreading Snake Away around the house. Sure hope this stuff works!!

Happy Easter

This was sent to us, and it is a great reminder of what Easter is all about. Hope you have a wonderful Easter!!

Thank you, Father, for sending your son to take my place on the cross.

http://videos.komando.com/2009/04/10/brad-paisley-and-sara-evans/

Dreams....

Yesterday my good friend, Jayne, stopped in to see me. She told me about a conversation with her daughter, Katie. She had crawled into bed with Katie one morning when she was waking her up for school. Katie told her about this dream she had about having surgery on her leg and she was the one doing surgery. Jayne always tells her that she needs to be doctor because she likes stuff like that. Well, Jayne again told her that maybe she should be a doctor. Katie told her that she doesn't want to be a doctor, she wants to be a farmer's wife like Candice!!

What a compliment!

My SB09! ;)

Okay....so everyone's blog has been about SB09, and I've been feeling a little left out. No spring break for me or my "kids". However......I was involved in some SB09 activities. Yesterday and today I have been at the Agape Youth Ranch to teach my ever so popular horse science class, really it's just b/c they can't get anyone else to teach it b/c I'm not a great teacher. Anyway, I started the class out yesterday by asking a very important question to make sure that all in the class would be able to handle and understand what I was going to teach. So now that I have 17 teenagers' attention, I asked how many people knew what a horse looked liked. You should have seen there faces!! They looked at me very strangely, like this lady is out of her mind, and slowly raised their hands. What a great way to start out the class!!!

Today I asked them what came to mind when they thought about horses, and one girl responded my saying "an appetizer of Heaven". I also was asked a question...

Victoria: Can I ask you an off the wall question?
Me: Sure!
Victoria: Are you a White?
Me: Why yes I am.
Victoria: You people are EVERYWHERE!!!

Never a dull moment.....

Hardships and Heartbreaks

I came across a blog this evening, thought you might like to take a look. Sunday, Jeff preached about God knowing the "bigger" picture. I'm so thankful that He does, and it's refreshing to know that others know the same thing even in the midst of their deepest pain. Life is hard, but God's love is so GREAT and BIG!

For what is your life?

In January, we painted, did some remodeling and moved. Crazy, busy time in our lives all filled with excitement, worry, and some sadness. Our world as we knew it was changing.

In February, Dakota came into our lives one week and the next Cody left our world. We had an engagement party for Stacey and Rocky where we announced that our world was forever going to be changed with the birth of a baby. One week later, our world was changed again....

I knew something just wasn't quite right. I wasn't sick, tired yes, but not sick. I even told Jason that maybe I needed to take another pregnancy test just to be sure! Sunday morning I started spotting very lightly. Thought that maybe I had just been overdoing it so I laid down. The spotting began getting heavier followed by cramps. Sunday was a hard day for both of us. We have waited for this child for such a long time, and to be loosing this baby was heart breaking.

Monday morning we went to Tucson to see the doctor. As we waited a very long time in the office, it began to wear on me. As teenage girls with their moms, women who looked like they were on the drugs, etc. came in, I wondered why I was the one having a miscarriage. Wasn't I a better candidate to raise a child? But as I sat their I realized how arrogant that was of me to even think that way. Who was I to question what God has planned for our lives? The best thing is is that I don't even have to understand why, but just trust that God loves me.

There is nothing like the loss of a child, whether if they are only 7 weeks, 25 weeks, 3 years, or 40 years old.

James 4:14
whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

More changes......

More changes are coming our way....we are adding to our little family! Yea! Cody and Milo are going to have a new sister!! Her name is Dakota, she is 4 year old lab and we will be getting her this weekend. My soon-to-be brother-in-law, Rocky, hooked us up with dog. I'll keep you posted if he got to us or not! Just kidding, since they are not married yet he is still trying to earn those brownie points!

By the picture I would say that she is good with kids. Do you see that smile, or is just me? Have a great weekend, and go AZ Cardinals! Who says that God doesn't work miracles!

Changes

Wow! It's been a month since I have blogged!! So for all my faithful readers (haha) I have been in the process of moving. Big changes are in store for Jason and I, and we have moved 30 miles south to Elfrida. Jason's granddad sold the farm and we have moved to my parents' farm to help my dad out. Please remember us in your prayers as this is a HUGE change for us!

We have been in our new house for 1 week now. On the second night, I had this incredible urge that I just wanted to go home. Things are better now that we have settled in a little more, but it's weird to be back in the house that I grew up in. But I feel that we are where God wants us to be at the moment, and we are stepping out in faith.

And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and the He is a Rewarder of those who seek Him. Hebrews 11:6