This. Is. Us.

Love the show and stole the name but its perfect.  Everyone and every family has their US...here is ours.

About last night.  So today is our 14th wedding anniversary.  We couldn't do much today because of Joe's schedule so we kind of celebrated last night.  And by kind of I mean kind of.  Our lives are crazy and Joe is not a planner so between 4 kids, work, and my take-it-hour-by-hour schedule at 5:30pm I told him we had cans of tuna and boxes of au gratin potatoes that I would fix for supper.  I was later then I thought getting home...so I walk in the door at 7:30 thinking we were having sandwiches...my plan B...and Joe had the potatoes in the oven and was crumbling toasted bread for the tuna patties.  Awesome!  So I jump right in.  Well that in itself was fun because he's a smoker and a griller not a kitchen cook.  Dinner was delicious and it describes us perfectly.  He loaded the dishwasher and washed all the dishes.  Its how he says I love you.  And I love it.

So fast forward to 10pm.  Yep our kids are having a great summer...even the 2 year old stays up.  Whatever.  I go lay down in Kate's room (5 yr old) with the 2 yr old.  Kate in her bed and me on the floor mattress with the 2 year old.  Kate is whining about wanting to lay with me and this and that (more than usual) so I tell her fine go lay with daddy.  He's in our king size bed.  I am not jealous at all.  He's sleeping alone in our king size bed...I am on a bunky mattress on the floor with a still awake 2 year old.  Whatever.  Anywho.  Kate walks into his our room.  Here is where it gets CraZy.  4 kids.  Anything goes.  So apparently she leans into his face to tell him to scoot over.  And then she barfs.  In his face.  And then because that's not good enough.  She starts walking/running somewhere and continues to throw up on the bedroom floor and the bathroom rug.  What the heck.  After the dust settled I had a stern convo with her about how you throw up.  She's 5.  She can do better.  I said please just stay on the hard floor away from beds and rugs and puke.  Right there.  In a pile.  We went over this a few more times because the nights still young and I have no idea if it will happen again.  Joe and I both jumped into action (I heard commotion and ran into the room) cleaning up all the puke...putting stuff in the washer with so much bleach and ALL THE FUN THINGS married couples do on anniversary eve.

We always say we should write a book.  All.  The.  Things.  Honestly I am so thankful I get to do life and family with Joe.  There is just something so magical about raising a family with your husband who is more than your best friend...he's like a mirror image of you.  You feel the same things as you go through the same things and no one else quite understands exactly what the both of you are feeling while going through the things.

Joe was engaged before and I was engaged before.  I had a dream.  Like I HAD A DREAM.  No really it was a turning point for sure.  At 21 in college.  I dreamed I was getting married, wedding day getting married, walking down the aisle getting married.  It was so vivid.  In our big catholic church.  As I started walking down the long aisle I quickly realized the person I was walking to was not my current significant other.  Whoa.  So in my dream my head is scrambling trying to figure out who this boy is.  Hmmm.  He kind of looked like a classmate of mine but it wasn't that person.  Very vivid.  Very real.  As I past the 3rd row from the front there sat my current significant other.  What.  Most of the dream was me trying to figure out this boy I was walking towards.  Woke up the next morning in shock and the biggest gut feeling ever.  Broke off the engagement.  Just like that.  And started hanging out with some hometown friends.

A few months later I met a guy.  Neither of us were crazy about settling down.  Over the next year we had more fun than ever.  We were dating but we did more hanging out with mutual friends, his brothers, their girlfriends, etc all in our hometown.  Everyone started getting engaged and married.  I think we went to, or were in, 50 weddings in the course of a year.  But nothing for us.  We talked marriage but he never pushed go.  I got frustrated feeling left out.  Finally once I just started being patient he proposed.  A year and two weeks later we were married.  July 12, 2003.  Walking up the aisle.  It was my dream and my dream guy.  Not joking.  He has all the vivid features from my past dream.  I can still picture the dream.  And its Joe.  Crazy!  And some divine intervention for sure.

One of Joe's best friends told me one time that he is the "salt of the earth' kind of guy.  (salt of the earth definition, an individual or group considered as representative of the best or noblest elements of society. )
Not that I think I married a king or anything but I sure got a good one.  He is the guy I hope my daughters marry and the guy that I want my sons to be.

This would probably embarrass him so I kept it much shorter than the words in my head.  We all have good guys.  He is def not the only one.  I am just happy I get to do this with him.

I came home this morning from taking the oldest to camp to this.  I know it sounds so cliche BUT this is exactly all the things with us.  Thoughtfulness goes such a long way.  Evidently he went flowering picking this morning.  At our home.  On our land.  You can't buy that.

Here are some pictures of my dress.  I LOVED my dress.  I cried when I took it off after wearing it maybe 11 hours.  I want to wear it again.  IS that weird??
These 3 were taken by my FRIEND Jami at the Cathedral in downtown Dallas.
Side note:  We were a year shy of the digital age so these are pictures of pictures I snapped in the album with my iPhone.

Best day ever...(photos Morgan Photography)

Best wedding party ever!

And we had so much fun!
He had me at our first dance years before this...

This was not the original plan.  And it was the only thing that didn't go exactly as I had pictured.  We were supposed to ride away into the sunset (or 11pm...we were having so much fun and didn't want to leave!!) in a vintage Rolls Royce.  But I missed the confirmation voicemail from the car company the day before on my parents home phone so they cancelled our order...ugh.  Whatever.

When.  Yes, when we do our anniversary party we will try it again!

Thanks to my BFF's dad for coming thru with a really cool getaway car!

Off to our honeymoon...

That was us and THIS IS US.

Home

Fresh house.  Touch up paint on the doors (actually painted entire things), a pressure washed house, a mowed yard, extra green grass thanks to all of our July rain, pretty blue sky after a week of on and off raining...Home.

New Year {updated in July}

I wrote this post in January but kept it in drafts...not sure why...so I have gone through and edited to update and am posting.  Also, I am excited to get started on posting updates of the organizing I have done.  {Updates are in here}

Last year at exactly this same time I said to myself come hell or high water we will get a barn this year.

Ava's passion is leading us down a path I can honestly say I never would have imagined.  Getting this done was no easy task.  For one we are busy people.  So squeezing in the time was crazy.  And then the expense.  That was a doozy to get moving.  Just when I had given up and thought we would have to wait it all started falling into place.   

Here it is

More of my resolution was to inexpensively close in our garage and knock out a wall in our kitchen and then another in the playroom to open up our garage turn it into a family room.  So now the kitchen is open to an area where our farmhouse table sits and once you walk past it you are in  the family room and the family room exits to our patio (old driveway).  {It is still not finished!  And I am not sure when it will be.  I know exactly what furniture I want...I will do an inspo board post on that.} 

Also I resolved to get a handle on our "stuff" in the house.  What could I really do without?  And then ORGANIZE what was left.  Adding shelves as tall as the wall helped tremendously in the laundry room, small closet off playroom, and old dining room.  I took all the kids books and we went through and kept the most cherished. I took all our board games and cut out the lids and put them in big 2 gallon bags so they would fit behind the doors of the bookshelves. And it just goes on and on.  And I am still working on it. 

Resolutions get a bad rap.  But I love them.  I love goals.  I love a fresh start.  So I will keep continuing to organize because I have realized that I really do love it.  I am somewhat passionate about it and you know what they say about things you are passionate about. 

My 2017 goals or resolutions if you will:
Complete the new family room
Complete the barn--we still need a tack room and then organize all that.  Yippee! {Done.  Thanks to some great family members}
Take on a healthy lifestyle for our whole family and start working out again. {Ummm...I should be doing that as I type} 
Keep up with this blog better (post pictures of all my organizing) {you know its only July...better late then never}
Post more to my instagram ~ markettofarmhouse (that community is amazing.  Amazing.  so many wonderful women lifting each other up.  its my jam.) {Doing that but the follower thing is HARD.  People follow you only to market themselves, then unfollow you.  Frustrating.  I try the hashtag thing but its hard to stay on top of too....plus you have to stage your photos at least a little.  Its still a goal and I will keep trying.} 
 

Prep work

I opened up blogger to start a new post and realized I had one in drafts from a few weeks ago that I never finished.  July 12th.  Joe and I's 13th wedding anniversary.  It was a picture from our wedding day.  I had started to type about a dream I had before I met Joe.  A dream.  Doesn't it all start that way.  For me it does.  I am a planner and a dreamer.

When we bought our land and moved we had goals and plans in mind.  Dreams.  One of those was for Ava to be able to have a horse at her house.  Today part of that dream is official. 

The Glenn's are getting a BARN!  It was my New Year's resolution!  No kidding.   

Remember I said I am a dreamer AND a planner.  Once that dream hits my head the wheels start turning and plans start being made.  Literally January 2nd I made my file folder and got to work.  Researching... asking Ava's horse instructors, paying close attention to barns where she rides, asking neighbors...you name it and I was researching it.  And everything I found I would discuss with Joe.  From there we had a basic footprint in our heads.  Then we had to find contractors and get bids and quotes and everything in between.  Except for a few weeks I did something that had to do with the barn.  And yes it has taken this long. 

I will post as we go but so far we have cleared out quite a bit of our land for pasture (or paddock).  And of course, a spot for the barn.  The pad has been set and forms are up.  Concrete is next.  Hopefully it is poured next week. 

We have ordered the actual metal building.  I am excited and nervous because we did go with a color and trim that we have not seen in person or anywhere around here. 

Stay tuned for more posts over the next few weeks!

     

 

Goin' for broke and we're gonna be rich
Watch the sun settin' on the ridge
Baby tell me what you think about this...........

Calling all Chicken People

When we began our journey out of a neighborhood and on to a little land we had 3 goals in mind.  They were unintentional to some extent.  When we realized our oldest was going to be a "horse girl" at around 4 years old we knew our home in the city was not permanent.  And we knew our next house would be on land.  In January of 2012 when our youngest daughter was a little over 1 JG and I both knew it was time to start making our new dreams a reality.  Now that our youngest son is 1 we have set out to put into place our "top 3" goals. 

Finding land, building a house, and adding one more little one has taken 3 years :).

We are looking at chicken coops. 

The price ranges have me puzzled. The top is around $1000 depending on options  (urbancoopcompany.com) and the bottom is $232 (amazon.com).  Hmmmm.  Is this really a case of you get what you pay for?  We are looking at space for around 6 chickens.

Chickens are a very hot topic issue.  The chicken people seem to love it and the non-chicken people seem to think the chicken people are crazy for doing it. 

So my question is for the chicken people.  Tell me you top 3 words of advice in the comments below! 

Tractor problems

We needed to retrieve our game camera card yesterday. So Troy and the girls and I took the tractor to the "back" of our property. I would rather walk but Troy is weighing around 27 pounds these days and it's back breaking to carry him that far.

You see where this is going. After all the heavy rains and our property being in a lower area it is still quite muddy. I knew this and kept to the left in this particular area on the way there. 

On the way back Troy was done with his tractor ride and was a little squirmy. No excuses thought right?  I hate and I mean hate being the girl who did this!  It's so cliche and I could just hear Joe. It was getting dark so we abandoned the tractor. Joe was actually sympathetic and not angry at all. Instead he gave me a few pointers knowing I would try to get it out today. 

4 wheel drive. Who knew. I just assumed (I know remove the u...blah blah...and the d...blah) that a tractor was auto 4 wheel drive. 

I headed back to the back this morning. Put this sucker in 4 wheel drive and with the help of this board and a little maneuvering (and a little praying) I got it out!  Woo hoo!!  Our neighbors aren't too close but if they heard excessive cheering this morning it was me. 

I kind of feel like I redeemed my card. You know. The "I'll try to do anything a man can do" card.  The women in my family are that way. And I love it!  (Yes I know I got it stuck to begin with but I was going to give it my all to fix my mess.) 

Now to clean up the tractor and semi repair these massive ruts. 

All in a day. All in a day. 

#markettofarm 

#glennacres

The icing on the cake was several pics like this from the game camera card.

 

Keep it Simple

This post may be a little long winded.  I am putting my thoughts out here in black and white.  Whew.  Christmas.  It took my breath away this year.  Anyone else?  Yes I know, its always December 25th.  And I am a planner.  I make a list every single day.  And each January I note in my November/December calendars what I need to do by when for the next Christmas season.  I did not do this last year.  My main focus was the birth of our fourth child due 2/8/15. 

We have traditions we do as a family each Christmas season that we have done since our oldest was born.  We visit Santa. We go to Hallmark and the kids pick out their annual ornament. We host a cookie baking/decorating session at our house with grandparents, great-grandparents, and cousins. And, Joe and I get a rare day to ourselves of Christmas shopping while grandparents entertain the kids (and by entertain....last year it was Holiday in the Park at Six Flags and this year it was Santa parachuting from the sky in Frisco, TX...complete WIN/WIN for us and our four littles.)  Sounds simple.  {Side note:  The elves parachuting before Santa was a success.  Santa not so much.  He landed in the parking lot.  Upon a trip to the ladies room my mom ran into said Santa in the hallway and because she is one of the friendliest women ever she asked Santa if he was ok and they conversed about what went wrong and the last minute decision he made to land in the parking lot vs the crowd of excited children.  Details.  Memaw gets the deats.} 

Simple.  I just reread the above paragraph.  Even though our traditions do involve monetary and material things its clearly not about that.  Its the memories.  Fast forward to Christmas in 2016.  We will absolutely keep the traditions.  Also, we will continue to spend Christmas Eve at my grandparents with extended family and cousins at the Flying O' Farm and Christmas Day with more grandparents and somewhere in their we gather with more grandparents and Joe's three brothers and their wives and our nieces and nephews.  Its a complete blessing!  Grandparents and siblings and in-laws and most importantly cousins...lots of kiddos all relishing in everything Christmas and what Christmas is to a child.  Pure Joy.

Getting ready to start our 3 days of Christmas.  All the kids are looking and kind of smiling.  YAY!  Two don't have shoes on.  yay.


Christmas 2016 will be slightly different because while making these very important memoires we will keep the monetary part simple.  Simple so that we can focus on the memories. 

We can not even walk in the playroom right now because I have not taken the time to go through and reorganize toys for four kids.  My dad has a saying of "its out of hand".  For us this Christmas was...in more ways than one.  Is it because I did not start Christmas shopping in July?...maybe. 

Most are new toys, some are old but very much played with, and the other new toys are in bedrooms or other areas of the house.  -sigh-

A fresh start.  I love a fresh start.  There is something therapeutic about taking down all of the Christmas décor.  As much as I love it once December 25th passes I am usually ready to put it away and reorganize. 

 When the kids are grown we will have white lights.  For now its "rainbow" for our littles!

"The reason for the season" and a kitty.

The playroom tree filled with all of the kids homemade ornaments over the years. 

  Cozy.

 Rudolph must have been attacked by a certain Rhodesian Ridgeback. Rudolph,the one-eyed reindeer.



I actually took the time to enjoy New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.  New Year's Eve we went to my parents for burgers and fireworks and New Year's Day we cooked at home and Joe's parents came over.

Yum.  Joe recently started smoking--food.  Ribs, chicken, everything.  I even did mac n cheese one time.  The best. 

As I was sitting down to start this post I found a draft from July that I had started.
"For the past 3 years we have sold/packed/moved from our home, built a house, and unpacked that house.  Its a blur really.  And had baby #4.  This is the first time/summer/year that I have felt I can be intentional about my goals.  I am highly goal oriented and make a list every day.  But even a list-a-day does not get things done.  You have to be intentional.  Most of that is time management.  Especially with baby #4 in the house I have learned that I can not realistically get 20 things done in a day.  So lately my lists have been short.  Simplified if you will.  This allows me to stay motivated because each day I feel a small sense of accomplishment."

This still holds true.  Cheers to a fresh start and a new year.  Keep it simple!