Shia!

Shia is so big! She is One and has so much personality! She knows just what strings to pull with her two big brothers and they usually give her whatever she wants. She loves to wear bows, tu tu's, and especially shoes. She steals everybody's shoes. She loves to climb up on the back of our couch and look out the window and wave to people as they go by. I have to say. I just love having a little girl!

Farm Update!

Well we have been really busy. I know whats new... but really we have been swamped. In case you didn't know we are expanding our farm. Last month we bought 20 Acres and we are moving everything over and building a new house, Yeah! This past week we have been getting the poles set for our barn. When I say we, I mean Christian and his brother Niels. They have been working really hard and the kids and I have been the camera/drink crew! We are hoping to have the barn finished in a week or two and start on the house after that. We will also try to have all 20 acres completely fenced in the next couple of weeks. We also have water lines to run from our well that we just drilled and then we will move over the animals (60+ pigs, 100 turkeys, and 1300) Chickens. I am not looking forward to the Chicken part. Have you ever tried to herd Chickens? Not the easiest thing. Actually it is near impossible, but we will manage. Well here are some fun pictures of our new land and us setting it up and the kids playing around. Notice how beautiful the views are...It is our favorite part! Enjoy!

Shia-First Pig Tails, Crawling, Talking, trying to Walk!

I have been super busy and have failed to blog about some of Shia's milestones. She has been growing and learning so fast! She started crawling at 7 months. Now she can almost keep up with her big brothers. Her first word was Ought Ohh!, She also started saying Daddy (of course), then Mama, and yesterday she waved and said, "bye, bye," to some friends. She is always so happy and very content to play with toys in her room! She is already starting to learn the art of teasing! Of course she has Christian wrapped around her little finger, but I wouldn't have it any other way!

Hollie, Hollie, how does your garden grow?

This has been my latest 'little" project. On top of being a mom to 3 kids, being my husbands wife, taking care of 60 or so pigs, 400 chicks, etc. etc. I decided to do something I love, and I absolutely love gardening and watching things grow. We have the most perfect South facing window in our kitchen and I thought it would be fun to see what I could grow. I started 8 heads of lettuce, 4 tomato plants, and 4 cucumber plants. I wasn't sure how well they would do and now I have a jungle in my kitchen. Hans and Dane have really been excited and are in on the action as well. Hans has some Watermelon plants growing, and Dane has a 4 feet long pea plant which is starting to produce abundantly. We had some store bought Cantaloupe that Dane just loved, so he decided to try planting his own and now it is growing great! We have already harvested 4 heads of delicious lettuce and the cucs, and tomatoes flowering! This has been so much fun! The kids help me water everyday and we love watching our garden grow!

I think his Tractor's Sexy

We have gotten to the point on our farm that we just need a tractor. He have been planning on getting one for the past 8 months or so. Luckily we have had great neighbors who have helped us get by in the meantime. I am sure they will miss the barter of pork, for their service. We got the tractor late Friday night and Christian and I came home and drove it around while the kids were in bed. We had to deliver Pork early the next morning, but when we got home Christian's friend was at our house excited to see his new toy! Many other Menfolk from town came to admire Christian's new toy. I love seeing him out "working" on it.

Happy Birthday Hans!

It is hard to believe that Christian and I have a six year old son! Hans is naturally a sweetheart and a leader. (He gets that from his dad) He is a wonderful big brother and loves taking care of Dane and Shia. He is also a great help on our farm. There are so many projects that we could not do without him. For instance we lost our door on our livestock trailer somewhere in the desert between our house and 5 mile pass. (This is long story for another time) Anyway, I was driving into town with the kids one day and we found it. It weighs well over 100 lbs. Hans helped me get that door into the back of our van. I am always amazed at how much easier he makes things for me. Hans has loved Kindergarten and is the perfect student. His teacher is always telling me how great he is in class. He loves learning and loves to be challenged. I am so happy to have him in our family. Happy Birthday Hans we love you!

Our New Recipe with great help!

I love to cook and I recently got the idea of making our own Ham and Bean soup recipe to post on our new website. Everyone asks me what do they do with a ham hock, so I thought I would give them some ideas. I first started by making our own bean mixture. Hans and Dane loved helping me with this part. We got a variety of about 20 pounds of beans and mixed them together. We used Small whites, Black Beans, Lentils, Small Reds, Dark Red Kidney beans, Large Limas, Green split Peas, Great Northerns, and Pinto Beans. There were beans all over the kitchen. Some were wasted, but it was worth letting the kids do the pouring and mixing. Then I simmered one of our Ham Hocks for a few hours with some spices. I added the beans (only 2 cups), some tomato paste, salsa and a few more things and cooked for a few more hours. It turned out delicious! At dinner Hans and Dane kept saying, "this is soooo goood! We are such good cooks." I thought they were pretty cute! For the past few years we have bought the Honey Baked Ham bone (this was before we did our own pigs of course) and used their spice pack and recipe, but this was so much better and I loved that the kids could help too!

Viking Cooking School

Christian already posted a lot about our Viking Cooking School adventure on our farm blog, but I thought I would post some more pictures here. We had such a great time meeting our customers, learning how to prepare this gourmet meal, and most of all eating it. This was also Shia's first cooking class! I was a little worried to take her with us, but she was an angel, of course! She was loving all the attention. She was passed around the whole time and the camera man (for the Salt Lake Tribune) went crazy taking pictures of her. Jim Light, the executive chef was so kind to put this all together for us. Thank you Jim! We had a wonderful evening! Here are some pics.

Our New Website

Here is a link to our new website for our Family Farm. We are now offering Beef, Chicken, and Turkey as well as our Pork. We have been really excited for this and feel very passionate about what we are doing. Please check it out and let us know what you think.
http://www.christiansenfarm.com/

Preserving More than just Applesauce

About 5 years ago Christian and I started canning. I was so impressed that he would help me and he really likes it too! We have made Applesauce, Apple Pie Filling, Bottled peaches, pears, Tomatoes, Salsa, jams, and anything else that we could get for a good price. Although we love the idea of saving money, we love feeling self sufficient. Little did we know Five years ago that we were starting a family tradition. Hans and Dane love to help us with the process and we all talk and listen to music while we work. This year we tried an all natural applesauce. We didn't add any sugar or cinnamon to it and it turned out to be the most delicious applesauce yet. I think it turned out beautiful, if you can call applesauce that. I even had an Apple Pie Filling demonstration at our house for the Young Women in our ward. Hans and Dane have been asking whenever they eat something if it is homemade!

Halloween Fun!

We had 3 full days of Halloween fun this year. Our town does a Harvest Festival at the school with a dinner, and costume parade, pumpkin painting, face painting, decorating cookies etc. It was really fun. Then we have our Annual family Halloween party at my Sister Jana's house and all the kids go Trick-or-Treating door to door around her house. Halloween is always busy with Dane's Birthday and the Night time Extravaganza. Last year we did a hay ride with friends around the town with our trailer and it was so much fun we had to do it again this year. Stan and Amee were able to join in on the fun and the kids were loaded with candy. Hans was a Star Wars Storm Trooper and Dane, well after 3 different costumes and 3 special trips into town he finally settled on Bat Man. Shia was Scooby Doo, thanks to our neighbors giving her the costume. I was a Rocker and Christian, surprisingly was a Pig Farmer.

Happy Birthday Dane

Happy 4th Birthday Dane! The day finally came. Dane counted down the entire month before his Birthday. We had a fun day full of presents, treats, cake, ice cream, and family. Dane had to have a Star Wars cake so Christian had the idea of getting him a Lego set that we could help him put together that morning. It took us 2 1/2 hours to get it all put together, but we had a happy boy! We love you Dane! Happy Birthday!

Spending Time at Grandpa's Farm

Along with all of our own farm work we have been helping my Dad pick his apples. This is something that I secretly look forward to every year. Growing up on an apple farm is not very much fun for a teenage girl. But now I love to take my family there and pick apples with my siblings and their families. My Dad also raises Pumpkins and Pine trees. Christian and I have our own little Apple/Pumpkin/Pine Tree store in front of our house to help out. All of the grand kids get to pick there own pumpkins for Halloween and we all enjoy eating apples right off the tree. They are the crispest, freshest apples you can get. Yum!

"Pretty Please Princess Mommy"

Amee, Leeanne, and I decided to take all of our kids to Toys "R" Us for the day to look around and get some ideas for Christmas. We all said, "What were we thinking taking 9 kids into a toy store." They all wanted everything. Dane found the Indiana Jones Legos and carried a box of each around the store. I tried to tell him that he could get some for his Birthday, but he wouldn't put them down. He was so sweet and kept asking. Then he started saying, "Pretty Please Princess Mommy," and that was the clincher, so of course I just had to get them for him.

We have been trying to squeeze in fishing at the reservoir before it gets too cold. We took the kids up and went camping in our new camper last weekend. It was very cold, but we all had a great time. Thanks to our Mr. Heater we slept toasty warm.

Preparing for Winter

Getting a farm tucked in for Winter is no easy task. Christian and I have been busy planting the field, completing electrical for watering Chickens and Pigs, ordering and stacking hay into the shelter, cleaning up and organizing the yard etc. etc. Here are 12 tons of hay that we ordered to hold us over for the winter. In the process of stacking it the whole stack fell over. Christian and a few wonderful neighbors stacked it all into the shelter and it is now covered. Today we should finish up the last of our preparations and we can kick up our feet and wait for the snow to fall.

Little Brother Hugs and Kisses

Hans has been loving school. He feels so big riding his bike to our little elementary. Dane has to give him a big hug and kiss every morning before he leaves. I think it is so cute. Then Dane repeatedly yells, "Bye Hans, I'll miss you." out the window until Hans is out of sight.