The kids and I moved bulls with Jason the other day and attempted a family picture afterwards. I’m sad we won’t get to move cows anymore. The boys have really done a good job this year. It amazes me how well they ride and how well they move cows.
Trying to get everyone posed.
Almost got us all.
Finally got it.
I watched these deer from the boys’ bedroom window today, and was glad this doe and the buck following her didn’t go under the tramp.
The sun shinning off spider webs. They’re everywhere.
And this buck is still chasing down his doe.
We got a couple inches of snow yesterday, so Jason and the kids played outside. The older I get, the less I like the cold. Maybe moving to Florida will help me appreciate the cold and snow when we move back west.
Riggin was excited to go outside (he always is), but he only lasted a few minutes before he wanted to come back inside. Poor kid doesn’t have any outside clothes that fit him.
We’re moving. To Florida. I suppose we always knew that if we stayed with the company (Agreserves, the parent company of DCC, Rex Ranch, and many other operations world-wide), we’d have to spend some time in Florida, but I’m just not ready to leave the Sandhills. I love it here. The country, the quiet, the community. But as we’ve prayed about this job offer, we’ve felt the confirmation that we should go. It will be different, to say the least. Beginning with Jason’s job. Since he has a master’s degree in agronomy and ranching experience, they hired him as the Agronomist at Deseret Cattle and Citrus. Kinda funny, since he’s spent the last six years ranching. He will still be in the cattle segment, but he won’t be cowboying. He works with the cattle foreman to determine what pastures need to be fertilized, replanted, etc. and he is over the machine shop, the heavy equipment, and the tractor crew.
The next huge change is being so far away from family. That’s been one of our biggest concerns. We can’t just pack up the car and be to Grandma’s house in 12 hours. Everyone in Florida assured us that it’s only a 5-hour flight to see family, but that did little to comfort me.
Location will be a big change. We’re going to miss our Lakeside community. We finally feel like we belong. We’ve met so many good people and the Rex Ranch crew has become family. In Florida, we will live on the ranch, but in a sub-division (I can feel myself gagging at the thought). Good-bye country and quiet. But I have been told it is a good community, and from what I saw, I agree. The kids will have lots of good friends to play with – I’m quite sure Ryder (Mr. Social) is going to love it. The people we met there were very kind and I’m sure we’ll get along just fine. But I just like having my space…with no one in sight.
School will be a huge change. Next to telling my mom we were moving, I was most nervous to tell our teacher. I’m worried about our Lakeside school. I’m hoping a family with school-aged kids will move up here to the Star so we won’t have to worry about Lakeside closing. The school in Florida is about 30 minutes away (no change from what it is now), and there is a bus, but unfortunately, because of the bus route, it takes over an hour to get to school and get home. So the kids get on the bus shortly after 7 and get home a little before 5. I’m not looking forward to that. Although, all the ranch moms said the bus ride is their kids’ favorite part of the day (and, thankfully, it is just elementary kids on the bus). The school is obviously much bigger. Class sizes are fairly small (about 20 kids per teacher), but there are five or six classes in each grade. They also don’t really have recess there. Apparently, the teachers decide when or whether or not they have a recess. Crazy. We’ll see how the boys survive that one. They also wear uniforms, which consists of blue or khaki pants or shorts, a belt, and a tucked in blue, white or orange polo shirt.
With Jason’s early morning meetings and counting tithing afterwards, we currently spend at least 6 hours at church on Sunday (plus the hour it takes to get there and the hour back). The huge change in Florida will be this:
The church is right across the road. Crazy.
I always knew it would be bitter-sweet to leave. And it is. We are going to miss Nebraska. But we are doing the Lord’s will, and we know He will bless us in this next phase of our lives.
Our Lakeside Halloween was a great success again. We love being a part of this community. Earlier in the week the school kids went into town to do a skit and sing for the residents of two assisted-living facilities. After a soup supper on Halloween night, the school kids performed for the community and then went trick-or-treating.
After trick-or-treating to the five houses in Lakeside, the kids come back to the school and line up for more treats. It’s always lots of fun and the kids go home with gallons of candy!
Our school celebrated Johnny Appleseed’s birthday by spending the day at the teacher’s house. The kids made apple treats, sang apple songs, read apple books, made apple crafts, and watched a Johnny Appleseed movie. It was a day of fun and memories and surprisingly, no sick tummies.
