We have had an interesting year.  Full of events.  We started out the year with a kitchen remodel.  Nothing like a remodel to get things started off right.  We replaced the floors and countertops with the major help of my brother Greg.

We acquired pack goats this year, four of them.  Here is Zeus arriving at our home.  A good portion of the year was spent outfitting and training these goats with short hikes.

We hired out for sheep shearing again.  Always an adventure but we had gorgeous wool from our 40 sheep to show for our hard work. We also acquired a new breeding buck this year- Bumble Bea.  We are using him to make blue-eyed goat kids.

We chose to limit our animal breeding this year after the sleep-depriving lambing/kidding season of 2010.  So we did not intentionally breed any sheep and only one goat.  So Magpie had little Flight Time and Big Easy, very cute little bucklings. 

We were able to go on few trips this year.  The first was to Laughlin to celebrate Tom’s mother’s birthday.  It was a nice warm sunny break for us.

We went to our cabin and surveyed some flood damage.  Fortunately the cabin did well through it.

For our wedding anniversary we went to Methow Valley and hiked in Pipestone Canyon.

Tom went on an extensive dual sport motorcycle ride with my father and brother.  They hit up Eastern Oregon and Southeastern Washington on their journey.

And then in the fall we went to New England for a business/sightseeing trip.  We visited a lot of cideries as well as seeing the fall colors and historic sites.

This summer we started marketing our farms’ products with the introduction of a produce stand as well as participating in farmers markets.

The biggest event of the year was the wedding of Tom’s daughter Jaylene to our new son-in-law Russ.  It was a beautiful wedding.  It was a year of weddings because my cousin Keith was also married.

In September we had a surprise with the birth of a little lamb.  The rams had escaped into the flock 5 months prior, and this little cutey is the result.

In October we hired a tree service to remove five huge cottonwood trees from our backyard that were threatening to fall on our house.  Watching the falling of the trees was impressive.  The clean up is an ongoing project to recover our yard.

We are continuing to collect, grind and press apples for cider.  We are at 62 gallons and more is coming.

And finally we had the birth of two goat kids, Petunia and Pisqually.  They are doing well with the aid of a heating pad in this chilly November weather.

As you can see, it was an eventful year.  We are learning to cope with being middle-aged and its associated ailments with the help of good medical insurance.  We look forward to the new year with great hope and anticipation of adventures to come.

We hope you and your family are well and thoroughly enjoying this holiday season.

Merry Christmas!

Donna and Tom