Tori Lost Her First Tooth!

Last Saturday 12/6/08 Tori discovered that she had a loose tooth! She was so excited about it! She kept saying, "I've never had a loose tooth before!!!" Yesterday, Ben pulled it out for her with his pliers. She says it didn't even hurt!

Pictures of my new sidewalk and deck.

I meant to post these pictures awhile ago but I forgot. Here is my new sidewalk in my front yard.

Ben's Uncle made this sign for us and I put the flowers in the cement--I was going to use the flowers for our wedding but I used horseshoes instead and put the flowers in our sidewalk.




This is my new front deck! I love it! It's much better than just having stairs.

Victoria is in the local Newspaper!

Check it out by clicking on the link below:

http://www.uvsj.com/articles/2008/11/27/news/34.txt

OUR WEDDING PICTURES ARE HERE!

Some of the pictures got cropped when I put them on photobucket. The actual pictures are not cropped but you get the idea.

Coming Soon... More Wedding Pics!

Mr. & Mrs. Bloom 7/11/08

My friend, Becca e-mailed this picture to me so I thought I'd post it since I don't have my pictures back from my photographer yet.

Tori on her first day of school

Tori was so excited to go to school this morning when she woke up. She got dressed, waited patiently while I did her hair and ate a good healthy breakfast all while talking about school and all the fun she is going to have. When I took her to school, we found her classroom and before I could tell her goodbye (and without saying goodbye to me), she ran inside and asked an aide where her seat was. Tori came home on the bus around 11:15 am. When she got off the bus, she waved and shouted goodbye to all her new friends.

Tripplets: A very rare event

A few weeks ago, about the week after we got married, I received a phone call from Ben who told me that I need to go help Emmy bring a cow, Abigale and her calves in to the corral because she had twins, but she abandoned one and took the first one with her to the other side of the pasture. This is the calf that Abigale abandoned. In this picture, Abigale hadn't even licked him yet to clean him off and increase his circulation.



So, Emmy and I went out to the pasture and sure enough, that poor little calf was all alone in the middle of the pasture and Abigale, much to our astonishment was on the other side of the pasture with her first born calf AND A THIRD CALF!!! This is Abigale with her 1st triplet on the left and the 3rd born on the right. As you can see, the one on the right is still wet and slimy. Abigale was just starting to lick it when we arrived.


So, with the help of Ben, Dean and Alex, we all brought Abigale and her three calves into the corral. Abigale accepted all of them and they are all strong, healthy and doing great! It is very rare for a cow to have triplets, especially having them all survive and all healthy. Emmy said that the Veterinarian said that he's only seen one other cow have triplets in all the years that that he's been a veterinarian.


Here is Abigale in the corral with her triplets.

Easy Recipe of the Week (Or until I decide to change it!)

Tamale Pie
Prep & Cook time: 20 minutes

1 pound ground beef
1 package (about 10 ounces) frozen corn, thawed
1 can (about 14 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can (4 ounces) sliced black olives, drained
1 package (1 1/4 ounces) taco seasoning mix
1 package (6 ounces) corn muffin or cornbread mix, plus ingredients to prepare mix
1/4 cup (1 ounce) shredded cheddar cheese
1 green onion, thinly sliced

1. Preheat oven to 400* F. Brown beef in large skillet 6 to 8 minutes over high heat, stirring to break up meat. Drain fat. Add corn, tomatoes with juice, olives and seasoning mix to beef. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Pour into deep 9-inch pie plate; smooth top with spatula.

2. Prepare corn muffin mix according to directions. Spread evenly over beef mixture. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown. Sprinkle with cheese and on ion. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. Makes 6 servings

A much needed update

I've been told several times that I need to update my blog so here we go! Ben and I had a wonderful wedding. Everything turned out perfect and lots of people came. It really was a dream wedding for me because of the beautiful location on the farm and because of my carriage that I got to ride down to the wedding in with my mom. It was a beautiful white carriage pulled by a beautiful horse named Skip (the other horse that usually works with Skip had not arrived yet and her name is Tomalou -thus, when the driver gives the horses the command to go, he says "Step up, SkipTomalou.") Anyway, it was a beautiful wedding and I hope to be able to post more pictures soon!


This was my wedding bouquet!

A crazy chain of events

Yesterday when Ben got home from work, we went to meet his mother, Emmy to go doctor calves as normal. We doctored 3 calves that were in the corral by giving them vaccinations, medicine for scours, ear tagging them, and castrating the bull calves (ouch!). Next, Ben and I drove out to the pasture to check the cows for any new calves. Sure enough, we had a newborn! Cow #3 had calved out in the swampy area of all places! Ben drove cautiously into the swamp. It was time to doctor this baby now. As Ben drove closer to where mama and baby were, sloshing around in the muddy swamp, mama and baby fled to safety--away from us! Ben drove forward to follow them...but just then, our wheels started spinning. We were stuck! After several attempts, we knew we needed more help. Ben walked over to where the cow and calf had retreated to meet his mom so they could take care of the calf. Afterwards, Ben and his mother came back with her 4-wheeler. We tried to pull our Ranger out with her 4-wheeler but it wouldn't budge. Next thing we know... HERS IS STUCK IN THE MUD TOO! So, Emmy walked home to get her husband's 4 wheeler. When she came back, Ben and I had somehow gotten her 4-wheeler out of the mud by lifting and pushing and pulling. We tried to use both 4-wheelers to get our Ranger out of the mud but that didn't work either. Ben drove his fathers 4-wheeler out of this section of the swamp to come around to the other side and then THAT 4-wheeler got stuck in the mud as well! After several more attempts of trying to free the Ranger from the mud, Emmy went to get the tractor. The tractor did the trick-no problem! (We had to be careful about where we positioned the tractor-on dry ground only) so that it wouldn't get stuck in the mud too! After the tractor freed the Ranger from the muddy swamp, Ben and I got inside to go home. We drove a few feet... but then the engine died! Then, simultaneously we saw that a cow was out and in our hay field! Emmy went to get it back in the pasture and then I went to go help her. We realized it wasn't our cow so then Emmy, Ben and I all went to take it back to where it had broken through the fence. Ben took me home so I could wait for Tori when her other grandmother was bringing her home and Emmy had to push Ben and the Ranger all the way home with her 4-wheeler.

Ben and I got married on July 11, 2008. We were married out here on the beautiful Bloom farm. It was a fun wedding! We had a country/farm theme and It turned out great!

Our Goal 7/11/09

This is Tori's Favorite Picture . . . in front of the old slaughtering barn.

LIFE ON THE FARM

It's time to doctor a new born bull calf. He was born on Sunday, June 8th. As you can see, Mama cow is doing her job and protecting her baby while Ben is chasing the calf... (Maybe he needs to learn to rope!)

Almost got him! . . . Watch out Ben!

Whew! Finally caught him!

Ben and his mother, Emmy doctoring the calf.

Time for shots, ear tags, and a little procedure to turn the poor creature into a steer!

All done! Mama cow is taking her baby far away from the perceived danger now.