The Smith Bunch

My family had a little mini reunion last month. We were all able to attend, and it's the first time we've all been together in a few years. We went to Kalli's family cabin. It was really fun and so great to be together. Kalli took these family photos for us while we were there.

The whole fam, altogether. It was a little bright; thus, the squinting.

I love my brothers and sister!

The originals

More Cabin Fun

Here are some pictures at the cabin. It was a little crazy having us all in one cabin, and quite chaotic with all the little kids around, but very fun, nonetheless! I have the greatest family!

Playing a fun game of sorry sliders

Daddy and Jayci

Cute little Van all bundled as a bear

We sent the babies down the hill together. They weren't too thrilled. Jayci cried, and Ren about fell asleep.

I'm all bundled up!

All the grandkids together. A little crazy trying to get a good picture with such young kids!

Jayci and Ella, ejoying sleding together

Jayci loves her grandpa!

Eric was the tough guy that pulled the little ones up the hill

Breanne and Drew

The whole group eating breakfast

Our Petting Zoo

When I get together with my friends and family, a lot of them are interested in our goats. You have three goats!? Why?? What do you plan to do with them. Then I proceed to tell them that they are pack goats for hunting. Yes, Chad has been told they make the best pack animals, so he decided he just had to get some. When I found out he wanted goats, I politely tried to tell him I didn't totally like the idea, but when he kept on the idea, I gave up. Let me tell you something about Chad: once he gets an idea in his head, there's no talking him out of it. So you better just let him do it and realize it's a bad idea on his own, rather than trying to talk him out of it. (His new want is a 4 wheeler. I was successful talking him out of "unnecessary debt" one summer, but I'm afraid this summer might be a different story). Needless to say, Chad studied up on the goats, found a man down the street who has about 25 pack goats who rents them out for hunting, and stalked him many times about the goats, searched for where to get them, talked to his hunting buddy about getting one with him, and finally got 3 of his own. (one of them is his buddy's goat, although, his friend pretty much only pays child (kid) support). Chad sure was happy to have his goats, but if you ask him now how he likes them, he might answer with a less enthusiastic answer than he once did. Goats are a pain! He has figured this out from much hard work in trying to take care of them.

Some challenges Chad's come across in raising goats:

1-keeping them in their pen. He got an electric fence that is kind of like a big net with stakes, and our friend's goat has decided he can just jump over it. So, Chad has tried many things to keep him in. He finally tied a bunch of hot pink twine around the top to make it higher, and they seem to be doing pretty well. Another challenge with the fence is that there are all sorts of tricks to keep it shocking, so Chad has had to do many things to keep it working, including a few repairs.

2-keeping them fed through the winter. Chad had to buy around 50 bales of hay to keep them fed (they are supposed to just eat weeds, but as you know, no weeds grow in the winter). He made a little makeshift trough for them to eat out of, but they would get in it, poop in it, and tip it over so half their hay was getting wasted. Our kind neighbor built them a really nice feeder that has been so great. It has three holes for their heads, so they don't fight over the food anymore, and they can't get in it. Or at least two of them can't. Once again, the trouble maker, Max, our friend's goat, has learned to climb inside of it to get the food he wants. Steve, the biggest goat, gets very angry and butts the feeder over and over again.

3-they stink! I don't know how many of you realize this, but un-neutered male goats really stink. As gross as this sounds, during the rut, which we found out is fall, they like to pee all over themselves, which causes them to be yellow and stinky. Well, I'm sure you can figure out on your own why this is a problem.

4-they cost a lot. Yes, they may have only cost a small price of $75 to begin with, but sadly, as Chad has come to realize, goats aren't cheap. He has had to buy the fence to keep them in, twine to put on the fence, hay for food, pellets, build a wood shelter and feeder for them, get them neutered (future), build a special addition to our shed to keep their hay dry, and buy them wood chips to lay on and keep them warm. All these have added up to a small fee.

So, as you can see, these goats have not come with a small price. One night, when Chad got home late like he often does, I watched him outside in the cold, dark with only a t-shirt on chasing the goats around trying to get them in their pen. He was picking up BIG rocks and throwing them at them. After he came in, I asked, "Why don't you just throw in the towel and just give them away, you tried it out and it didn't work". He kind of chuckled about that, and said, "You know, if they keep getting out, I'll definitely be tempted." But luckily they are being a lot better these days.

I do have to say that, despite what I say about Chad, I do really admire him for sticking with these goats. He takes care of them all by himself, with exception to me feeding them on rare occasions. He is up feeding them at 5:30 am before work, and really works hard to take care of them, with little complaint. He even saved poor Yugi when his leg was stuck in a tree and would have surely died if Chad had not found him when he did, got him unstuck, and walked him around, talking comforting words to him around the yard (as he recounted the story to me). I look up to him for all the hard work he takes on and follows through with. I don't know that I've ever seen a harder worker in my life than Chad and I really respect him for that.

I didn't mean for this to be so long, but that is the adventures of owning goats that I thought I'd share. So if any of you are looking into the goat business, I'd suggest you rethink it. :)

Okay, to be fair, I do have to include a few good things about our goats:
-They are quiet. They don't do much beh-ing like some goats, which is so nice.
-They are very friendly. You may not know this, but goats love attention and love.
-One day (if we make it that far with them) they will make some great pack goats for Chad and Thayne. (The only problem is, they have to be about 3 years old, so we have to endure them for 2 more years.)
-They eat a lot of our weeds (although, they are a little selective with which ones).
-They are good food storage for an emergency (I don't think we'll have too many people begging us to share).

-Jayci LOVES to go out and see the goats, and especially loves when they eat out of her hand.

Our depleting hay supply. Chad used his sweet skills to build this addition on our existing shed. It's really quite good, and once we get it painted on the outside, it'll look much better.

The feeder our neighbor built. As you can tell, he's quite the woodworker, and has a big wood shop at his house.

Yugi, Steve, and Max

These two photos are courtesy of Jon. When he and Melissa and Van came to visit, they had fun visiting the petting zoo. The goats got their own photo shoot with Jon's sweet camera.

I've had lots of people ask if we got a saddle for Jayci to ride them yet. The answer is no. But hopefully when they're bigger and more reliable we will get to that.

Here's Max in the feeder with Steve trying to butt him out!

Why I Heart Valentine's Day:

Heart balogna and cheese sandwiches, mmm!




Making cute Valentine bags

Valentine treats for the kidos

Cute Valentine's from little kids

My favorite... Little Jayci in her Valentine outfit from her Grandma Baxter!!

She won't keep the headband on, but she loves to take it off and put it on by herself. (It took me about half an hour to get a DECENT picture of her! Toddlers aren't the easiest to take pictures of, are they?)

So, preparing for Valentine's Day has been extra fun for me this year because I got to do a Valentine party for preschool. This means I have to do lots of art projects, and cute snacks. I always love to do cute stuff, but Chad doesn't exactly appreciate it, so I'm glad I have the preschoolers to humor me. I told Chad I'd make him a heart sandwich for lunch, and he said, "No don't". Well, he's no fun. I guess it'll be nice when I have older kids that will actually enjoy my little holiday surprises! Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

Jayci's Love of Shoes

As it seems most little girls do, Jayci has developed a love of shoes. She wants to put different shoes on all the time. Up until she was about one, she hated shoes, so I could never put them on her. It's fun now that I can put all her cute (hand-me-down) shoes on!

She loves to try on whatever shoes are laying around the house

These are the shoes she'd wear in the middle of winter if she had the choice. For some reason she is always attracted to these shoes.

Jayci playing in her shoe drawer, trying on the shoes

she's got big shoes to fill!


She was trying on Daddy's hunting boots one night. The no pants is a normal occurrence, especially at night. She loves to run around without pants on, or any clothes for that matter!

For the firtst time, the doctor wasn't concerned!

So, two weeks ago I took Jayci to her 15 month appointment, and for the first time since she was born the doctor wasn't worried about her size! How great! Not that she's grown much, but he says she's not going down on the charts. The charts tell it all, right? I knew she was growing because she was finally growing out of her 6-9 month clothes, but I wasn't sure how much. Well she grew 2 inches and one pound in a month. She's now a whopping 29 inches and 16.7 pounds!! Big girl. Okay, so she's still a very puny thing, but at least she's growing. I figure at this rate, she'll be able to be in a front facing car seat by the time she's two (if I'm lucky). She did go from the 10th to the 20th percentile in height, and is now in the 40th percentile in head size. Weight, on the other hand, she's still off the chart. I was trying so hard to get her to gain weight just before the doctor's visit, so I could revel in my victory of getting her up to size, but about two days before, she got sick with an ear infection, and didn't eat hardly anything, so I think she would have weighed more if it wasn't for that. At least, I'll blame it on that. Anyway, everyone always tells me not to worry about what the doctor says about her weight, and I really don't that much, but it's always nice to hear "I'm not concerned about her size." Anyway, just thought I'd share my joy.

This isn't the best picture, but I haven't taken too many pictures lately. This is her in our freezing basement. I have to dress her warm whenever we go down there. Notice how long her hair is getting. It's getting very curly.

I love being a mother

Disclaimer: Normally I am all about pictures, but this morning I just felt like writing, so if you're in the mood, go ahead and read, if not, skip down to pictures below.

Man, it's fun having a one year old. Jayci is getting so much easier these days, and sometimes I can even forget I'm a mom for a few minutes... something I wouldn't have dreamed of 1 year ago. (I know, you are probably all thinking, just wait a few years, it gets harder). But I'm sure all you mothers can relate. One child, over a year old, just you and him/her, hanging out all day, taking naps when they do, it's a great life. At times you can even think, "hmmm... a little time to do nothing at all, I'm even starting to feel a little bored, something I almost forgot existed". I guess that's why mothers think, I need to mix it up a little, have another baby. And then the chaos starts all over again. Am I right? I've been having these feeling lately too... "oh another baby would be so fun, seeing them for the first time, taking them home and having this sweet little bundle to cuddle, etc". But then I'm around babies, and remember Jayci as an infant. Waking up every three hours to eat, taking 10 minute naps here and there, going through a stage of screaming almost all day for 3 weeks straight, me, literally running around the house with her in my arms, which was the only way I could get her to stop crying, handing her off to others who say, "Here, I'll take her", as if they're thinking, "she's a new mother, I'm sure she could use a little help calming her baby down", only to give her back to me 5 minutes later, screaming much harder, "Sorry", is all they can think to say. One day I called my mom, an hour away, asking her to come over, "I just need someone to be here." Because I was feeling so isolated and alone.

So, like I said previously, I love being a mother! And do I want another soon? Yes! Am I crazy? I have always told Chad I want 7. Mostly it's just a way of shooting high so I have at least 5 or so, but I still think having a large family would be fun, until I think of screaming babies, and messes, and meals... :) Maybe you moms with more than one child could give me a little insight into being a mother of two (or three or ten), and tell me how great it is. Then I can think about extending my family. Until then, I think I will enjoy being a mother of one. Isn't it great?