Sheep....yes, more sheep.

It's been a while again.  

This is me, trying to think of what to all write here this time....

Well, Michael and I went to Minnesota the weekend of Valentines day. One of Michael's distant relatives was getting married that Saturday, so Michael's siblings and their spouses were at Dale & Kathy's for that occasion too. It was a pleasant visit and went by way too quickly.

We went to church with all of Michael's family Sunday morning and then went out to eat with most of the church members, as they were having their "Diner's Delight" that day. After an enjoyable time of visiting and eating, we went to Carla's (a lady Michael knew) to buy 5 ewe bottle lambs from her.

 They're so much fun....to take for a walk...

 ...or a run...

 ...but they can't climb haybales very well, yet.

 Our older and much less-playful sheep:

 On my way to go babysit last week, I saw this snowy owl staring back at me...

Please pray for Michael and I as we keep searching for a farm of our own. We put ads in the local papers and have had a couple of  phone calls, and there is one place we went and looked at even and are considering but are waiting to see if something closer and more ideal becomes available. 

We don't want to just rush into something and regret it later.

Meanwhile, we're attempting to sell our car, as we've decided we really don't need 4 vehicles for 2 people.

Michael had the day off of work on Friday, and it was SO warm and lovely out that we washed our car, by hand, with a garden hose. I've never done that in February before!

 Anybody want to buy a really nice, Kia Rio car?  It served us very well on our honeymoon.

 My dear friend, Lauretta sent me this picture of her and her husband, Lee recently. Michael and I were planning to go visit them a few weeks ago, but something came up and we didn't go.  I LOVE being married, and I love that my best girl-friend is enjoying wedding bliss also, but I sure do miss her!! We now live over 2 hours apart and I haven't seen her since our wedding almost 4 months ago.  At least we can still text...

My dear husband and I listened to a very good message yesterday by Dr. S. M. Davis, called

 "The Sin of Silence". If you are not familiar with Dr. Davis, I'd highly recommend going here to learn more: 

https://www.solvefamilyproblems.org/SearchResults.asp?Cat=1832

Now it's time to go put my homemade pizza in the oven, in anticipation of my husband's soon arrival. :)

Update...

My posts are sure few and far between now that I'm married, aren't they? Oh well. :) 

The baler that Michael and I bought arrived.  

We bought a rake and mower too, so now we just need a tractor!

 It's fun watching Vonn grow up.  He and Tracy Jo come here every Wednesday and then I go to their house on Thursdays. Vonn has great trouble with keeping his mittens on.

Last Friday, Michael, my mom and I butchered the last 5 turkeys. It's good to be done with that.  

Today I made yogurt and butter and this morning, I made kefir pancakes which turned out really well.  It's so nice having a cow...

Time to get back to work!

Our herd/flock is growing!

A week and a half ago, Michael bought 2 calves at Kist Livestock in Mandan.  This one (Rudolph) wasn't doing so well, but after much "doctoring" (herbal tea, kefir, eggs, essential oils, vitamin C, etc...) and keeping him warm in the shop for over a week, he is now learning to drink from a pail and resides in the barn with the other livestock. :) The other calf is now sick, so is getting lots of natural remedies and seems to be improving.  

I babysit Tracy Jo and Vonn here at the farm on Wednesdays and then babysit all 3 of the Littles at their home on Thursdays.  While here, the Littles love playing with the animals! 

 Michael is pretty happy as his pickup is fixed up again. He bought a used pickup box and had it sand-blasted and painted to match. 

 He'll probably take it to Napoleon this week sometime to get the striping/sticker put on. He also bought a black pickup topper from an ad he saw on Bismanonline and that's already come in handy a couple times. He hauled a couch home in it one time and another time, some, uh, livestock which I'll tell you about a little later. I think that having a pickup on a farm is pretty much a necessity...

 Yes, we did attend family camp. That was enjoyable, as always.

 Michael participated in "The Amazing Race". One of the sections of the race, each team member had to blow a mini-marshmallow across the floor (blowing through a straw) to the finish line while keeping their hands behind their back!  Another part of the race was where each team had to assemble a 300 piece puzzle as fast as they could. Then there was the button sewing...

 AND NOW, for the announcement of our newest farm additions:

We are now the very pleased owners of 7 SHEEP!

Yes, the Littles love them too....

 Vonn wanted to kiss them....

 First, on Monday, we drove down to a farm by Zeeland and bought 3 lambs that are half a year old. One is a ram and the other 2 are ewes. They all fit nicely in the trunk of our car. :)

Cute, eh? ;)

 This is Buckwheat......the calf we bought when we got our milk cow, Ivy.  He's spoiled and still gets some milk twice a day 'though he most certainly doesn't need it.

 Our little Amram. We're naming our sheep with Bible names, in alphabetical order, so he gets to be first. Then is Bilha, Chloe, Drusilla, Eva, Faith, and G ?. 

Tuesday, we met a guy in Bismarck (he was from SW of Bismarck and met us halfway) and bought 3 more ewes--two yearlings and one 3 year old. This is Eva.

 Drusilla (who missed a shearing last year and has way too much wool on her.)

 Yesterday, we drove up north a ways to buy a 3 year old ram from my friend, Heather C. The C. family invited Michael & I to stay for lunch and we had a nice visit afterwards. Loading this big guy was interesting, and it took 5 of us to lift him into the pickup box/topper.  His name will start with a G.

 Ivy likes Michael. She likes licking Michael. What a funny cow. :)

 Eva also likes Michael. Of course, Michael is a likable kind of guy, so maybe that's why? ;)

We are really enjoying having animals and the fact that almost all of the them are friendly and enjoy being played with. Life is good. 

Tomorrow will be our 3 month wedding anniversary. :) 

Update~

Life is very good and full!  

When Michael isn't up at Steele working at Mid Dakota Grain, he's home working on projects, making our home so much nicer! 

I helped him with a project yesterday...  His snowmobile needed some reupholstering done.

 It didn't turn out as smooth as we would have liked, 

but it's much better than what was there before (nothing).

 He installed this laundry-room tub/sink so I can wash our milking buckets in there and he can wash up there after being in the shop and such.

 He put a light above my stove, connecting it to wires which were just sticking out of the wall.

 Andrew came over and tuned my piano for me the other day. I gave him a haircut in return. I also gave Michael and Jacob haircuts that day.

Michael also rewired a lightswitch in our bedroom so it's easier to find in the dark. He's so handy!

When I'm not babysitting, I've been keeping busy with odd jobs too. I've been making lots of dairy products lately (cream cheese, sour cream, buttermilk, kefir, cream for whipping, butter, and Mom made cottage cheese). We're still looking for a couple calves to buy...  

This weekend is the Cabin Fever Family Camp at Crystal Springs, so we plan to attend that, in between milkings. My mom has been feeling pretty poorly lately, so please keep her in your prayers.

OH, and Michael shot a coyote a couple mornings ago! :)

Update!

Tomorrow it will be 2 months since Michael and I were married!!!

  My, how the time does fly when you're having fun. :)

This is our home that we're renting from my folks.  I took this picture on a beautiful frosty morning last week.

 One of our wedding presents... :)

 We now have 2 guest bedrooms. The quilt on this bed was handmade by Rachael (Michael's sister) and was her wedding gift to us. Isn't it lovely?

 Our 2nd and smaller guestroom...  

Michael MADE this bed-frame years ago. :)

 The denim quilt was also a wedding present. Our friends were SO generous!!

 One of the largest of the 4 turkeys we "did in". It weighed 30lbs, dressed.

 A gift from my sweetheart...

 The honey we extracted from the honeycomb Michael discovered in SD...

 My beloved installed a new shower in our home! He's so handy...

 "They" sent us the wrong shower door home, so we used just the shower curtain until last night, when Michael brought the correct door home and put it in where it belongs. I love that man!!

He also dropped my rings off to get them bonded and it feels quite strange to be ring-less now.

 Here's picture proof that he even helped me write out some of our many thank yous 

(still a work in progress as there were 193 to write, but the end is drawing near).

And now, our big news!

It's about our new addition....

....to our farm....

Does this give you a hint?

 YES, we bought a milk cow!!!

 It took a while to decide on a name, but the matter is now decided.

Meet IVY...

Date of birth: July 10th 2013

Breed: Brown Swiss

Purchase date: 12/21/15

Bought from: Prairie Diamond Ranch, Steele, ND

Status: Milking for one month

Temperament: Very docile, but she does have the Swiss stubbornness and if you want her to go somewhere, it's best to let her follow you rather than trying to herd her.   

Notes:  She has quickly adjusted to being hand-milked, even without the kicker. Last night, she let Michael and I milk her at the same time, one sitting on either side.  We're highly impressed and pleased. 

We hope she'll be around for many years.

 She likes to eat...but that's no surprise.  She is a cow, afterall.

We are still waiting for wedding pictures to come from our photographer, but have a few to share.

Consider this a sneak-peek of our special day:

I bought my wedding gown on the Internet, as it is hard to find modest gowns locally. I wore my mom's wedding veil which was altered a bit (sequins were added and the front headband part was removed) by Michael's Aunt Joy.  Our colors were Watermelon and Sage. 

The flower girls, Amelia M, Johanna M, and Tracy Jo M looked like little angels. :)

Our ring bearer/wagon puller/wagon-sitter-baby boys were: Michael M, James M, and Vonn M.

My bridesmaids were: Anna U, Heather C, Miranda G, Dorena W, and Lauretta H.

Michael's groomsmen were: James D (his brother), Grant D (his cousin), Andrew B, Jacob B (my brothers), and Nate A (his college friend).

 My groom with our ushers:

Michael's cousins, Garrett and Ethan; our brother-in-law, Nicholas; and my second cousin, Hristiyan

 Michael's Aunt's sister, Katey has a flower shop (Paws Floral) and did all the flowers for our wedding.   She put these flowers in the bows on the chairs in the sanctuary a couple hours before the ceremony began.

That's all for now.

Happily ever after~

Hello everyone!  This is Mrs. Dalquist writing. :)

I've had several inquiries as to when I'd be getting back to posting on my blog and, well, maybe now is the time to start?  Life is by no means slowing down, but I do want to record some of the special moments of my first month+ of married life here so as to remember them better later, so I'll give a quick update.

Michael & I went on a 2 week honeymoon, traveling as far as Arizona to see the Grand Canyon. We had SUCH a great time and saw so many amazing things. My favorite memories are of being at Yellowstone National Park and the Coral Pink Sand Dunes, oh, and driving through snow in the mountains of CO. Michael also took me to see Cora, WY--a very tiny town. :)

The following 2 weeks were mostly spent in SD, helping my dad and brothers tear down 2 buildings which will later be rebuilt on the farm here and up at Andrew's place. We will be going down there to hopefully finish up that project next week. 

On November 22nd, we went to Mandan to celebrate my grandma Marly's 81st birthday and Thanksgiving with my extended family.

Last week, my husband and I went to MN to visit his family and to go to his grandparent's house for Thanksgiving. It was great to see everyone again and to get to know my new family better. Michael did the morning cow-milking for his dad while we were there to give him a little break. He says he doesn't mind not getting up at 5:20am every morning anymore though. 

This last week, Michael & I were finally able to get our house mostly in order and to work on projects that help to make this house our home. :) It's been a delight filling our kitchen and home with such generous wedding presents... 

 Michael has been helping up at Mid Dakota Grain as needed.  I got most of my name-change paperwork finished (social security # changed; new driver's license; credit card companies notified; bank accounts changed; local gas station card changed; etc...). We also did some shopping and spent our wedding money on buying a beautiful new bedroom set. Michael went to pick it up today so it will be very exciting to get our room set up tonight!  He also bought a pickup box so as to fix up his truck and picked that up this morning. We're now pondering buying a milk cow and stopped in at Carrie K's last night to look at what cows she has for sale. Prayers would be appreciated, that we know if we should buy a cow now and which one.

So, you see, I HAVE been busy, but no, I have not forgotten about blogging and do hope to keep writing from time to time in the future. There will be wedding pictures posted here when we get them from our photographer. In the meantime, if you'd like to watch our wedding (and slideshow AND the Kingery's concert), you may do so here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Re9vNZIJwHc

Have a wonderful December~

PS. YES, I am LOVING being married to Michael David Dalquist!!!