Favorites at the Farm!

"The Farm" is just a special place. That no matter how old we are, we have our good old favorite things at the farm. It was always a special place for Anna and I. Now so neat to see our children feeling that same feeling about what a special place it is.

Sharing the same favorite things with us!

You always have to walk out to the big wood fence to climb up and look out at the pasture! Sit up there, climb around, watch the cows in the pasture. Watch the sun rise, see the beautiful morning due on the pasture. There is just never a visit we don't love to do this! Above our sweet boys looking out over pasture. Below....Anna and I just like we were when we were their age!

Riding in the back of the truck and checking the cows has to be done! Here's Aunt Debbie and Eli getting ready to go check the cows! Pretty much everyone drops what they are doing and hops in the truck for cow checking time! Love it!!!

Jumping the hay bails such a favorite thing to do! The boys love it! Fun stuff!

Another favorite thing to do is to have a mission. Part of cousin bonding! We tend to find missions while we are there. Like hunt down old things abandoned in the woods, dig around in old farm buildings and find treasures...here we were searching for arrowheads. We found one! yay!

Sweet cousins! Eli got tired so Jake carried him!

Naps of course....after long days of playing on the farm!

Playing in the chicken coop! Can we say hours and hours of fun! Anna and I used to live to search and play in the chicken coop. These three boys absolutely LOVE the coop. Feeding the chickens, searching for eggs, and pretty much terrorizing them.

This chicken was wooed by the boys and allowed them to hold him......ALL the time! Poor little chicken!

Mischievous or what!?

Climbing on and in the farm equipment is just the BEST! They were so cute!

Checking out the cow's water trough. You have to be very careful climbing the wooden fence over to miss all the cow manure ....but coolest thing ever! Uncle Joe has always kept goldfish in the trough.

The Farm House

I am so far behind in posting this past years pictures. These next few entries I am going to post pictures of our last visit to our families farm in Georgia.

This is a place that Anna and I have very fond memories of as children and now our boys do too. We are all very sad because the farm house burned to the ground this past Sunday night. So far there is no idea as to how or why. Lots of memories are left behind, but the heirlooms are all gone forever. The house was built in 1859 and my uncle remodeled about 6 years ago. This is where we stay when we go to visit the fam. Just the thought of going there and the house not being there makes me so sad. My heart aches for all our family. I know we are all thankful no one was hurt, but will miss this cozy house that had so many wonderful treasures in it!!!

Uncle Mucho and Aunt Debbie sitting on the side porch.

The farm house built in 1859

To the left is the front porch with rocking chairs.

It was either this last trip or the one before that we kept saying Uncle Mucho needed to make this side porch bigger. It was inevitable that we would all end up perched right here.

Anna had Carrie playing her Christmas music for church....these three put on a mini concert.

Love this picture!

The boys and Carrie of course planned to surprise Carl Felton. Made hat, signs, and confetti! You were shocked right Carl! ;o)

Tough days at the farm running around with the cows, chickens, and breaking into old buildings tuckered these two out! I just always love the little farm touches like these bales of cotton that were the foot rests. Just such a neat place!

Uncle Joe, Uncle Mucho, and Vern hanging out.

I will post more later when I get a chance from this visit to the farm.

More from Anguilla trip

This picture is from the beach looking back at the resort. The sand was beautiful and felt almost like dough when you walked in it.

This picture above and the next 4 are more pictures from our little trip to Sandy Island. We found some beautiful shells, coral, and fun sea creatures.

Relaxing in the hammock in the shade for a bit.

A little rain blew through while we were on the island and so we hung out under the little hut. I didn't realize Eric was snapping pictures. I was so relaxed! In this one I look like my Mom. :o) I was enjoying a yummy drink while reading an awesome cookbook that I got the night before. We went to Blanchard's Resturant for dinner the night before and we met the owner of the. What a neat story of how they left Vermont and started this restaurant on Anguilla. Later that week I walked back to the restaurant with a few of the other girls and we bought a few more cookbooks that are so great. I can't wait to get to cooking!

Beautiful sunset this last night in paradise! Literally 30 seconds after snapping a quick rain blew in. So we were lucky to catch this photo when we did.

This was a few of the ladies I hung with for the week. I am hoping one of them has a shot that has Dawn and I in it too. Mine was really fuzzy. Fun times with this group!

Love this picture of me and E!

Eric is trying to snap this picture before a crab gets me!

Lots of fun by the pool!

A short rain we all ran for cover....Dawn and I trying to get a few pictures of everyone crammed under the two umbrellas. It was our last day on the lido deck so we were not giving up very easily.

Anguilla Trip

January 28th-February 4th

Off to Anguilla which is a small island in the British West Indies. It was paradise for sure!!!

This was the view off our balcony front. Pretty perfect we thought!!

The view off the side of our balcony.

We were on a corner which really allowed for amazing views. The water was just awesome!

Balcony plunge pool...we took full advantage of this. We would come in from our day heat it up hop in and have a cocktail before getting ready for our evening plans. I could have really gotten used to it. I would have to practically beat Eric to get him out and in the shower each evening. Such a peaceful place to look out and spend time!

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This is what we called the Lido deck. We met some great people on this trip. This was our perch for the week. This deck was next to the infinity pool and the ocean. The deck made you feel like you were on the deck of a ship. One of the couples brought their iPod docking station and we had tunes all day while we laid out in paradise.

View to the left of the "lido deck"

Sushi by the pool...mmmm good!

Eric and I decided to go on a little adventure this day to a near by tiny island for lunch. Here was our view while we waited for our boat to take us to Sandy Island. I just absolutely loved this view of the boats and crystal blue water.

This is Sandy Island!

Relaxing waiting for lunch to cook. We could smell our ribs and chicken wafting for about 45 minutes!

Sweet love.....

Here are Dawn, Melissa, Laura, and Tammy enjoying some pool time!

Eric and I making our last rounds around the resort before we leave paradise.