Annual Cattle Branding

Brian, Addison and I getting ready for the branding to begin.


Brian, Phil (my dad), Jeri and Aryana getting ready for the branding.


Mama Dianne takes Addison to see her cow Mabel, while Papa Phil and Aunt Brenda look on.


Addison and Brooke watching the cows go through the squeeze chute, awaiting their cows.


Addison saying "icky" to Brooke who is playing in the mud! Dianne is looking on.


Addison trying to convince Auntie Sarah to take her into the cow pasture.

This past weekend we went to Elgin, Oregon (just outside of LaGrande) to my dad's cattle ranch for his 50th birthday party and annual cattle branding party. Brian, Addison, Abbie, Jeff, Cheryl, and I all drove down late Friday night for the festivities. We were joined in Elgin by my dad, Dianne, Brock's family, Brenda, Blake, Elma Jean, Sarah & Chad, Harley & Janice, Phil & Jeri's family, and many more of my dad's friends and Dianne's brothers families.

We are tired from the drive the night before, as we arrived at 3:30AM! However, we were able to get up and join the fun later that morning. All of the guys geared up while most of the ladies watched, except Dianne & Brenda who jumped in there and helped. The cattle branding consisted of giving the annual vaccines, giving the medication to prevent ticks, branding the cows that hadn't already been branded, banding the male cows, and replacing the ear tags. Addison and I watched until she got too cranky and needed to go inside. She had fun watching the cows go through the squeeze chute (where they hold them to brand, band and vaccinate). It was funny, Addison would say "stuck" when they were in the chute and then she would say "got out" when they were released, she was so concerned. Addison was able to see and pet her cow Mabel, which she enjoyed. Brian had a good time joining my step brothers Brock and Blake who were all wrestling the calves that were too small to go through the chute but needed to be branded, etc. He was covered in mud by the end and pretty sore too!

We ended Saturday night with a party for my dad's 50th birthday. We all went in the shop and played games, visited, ate lasagna, watched the UFC fight, and ended the night with karaoke. I missed out on the karaoke, as I was so tired from the night before I crashed early! Nearly everyone else stayed up until 3AM having a good time and celebrating.

Sunday morning we went back to Portland to recover. We had a great time!

Trick-or-Treat

Addison on Halloween.


Side view of Addison's witch costume.


Addison in full gear getting ready for Halloween.


Addison holding her cousin Cooper.

Addison really enjoyed trick-or-treating this year. As most of you already know, I made Addison's witch Halloween costume and she did pretty well keeping the hat on most of the evening. For Halloween, we went over to Aunt Sonja's house and were joined by my mom, Brian's parents, and Brian's brother's family. Addison, who loves to play with her cousin Ethan, was terrified of his scary costume and would run and jump in the lap of the nearest person! We all ate dinner and waited for Brian to arrive from work before we began the trick-or-treating. We took Addison to a handful of houses on the street and she did very good, she said "trick-or-treat" and she said "thank you" after she got her treat. The only thing we need to work on is her trying to walk into the houses. She would just go right up to the door and the second they opened it she would try to push the door open and go on in!

Keeping Busy

Addison feeding the goats at Draper Girls Farm-Hood River Fruit Loop


Brian, Addison & I at Draper Girls Farm-Hood River Fruit Loop

It seems like we have just been non stop the past few weekends and have really enjoyed it! Brian, Addison and I went to the fruit loop (a loop of almost 40 orchards) in Hood River with Jeff, Cheryl, Debbie, Terry, Terry's nephew and girlfriend, and the Stahl family. We had to much fun tasting all of the different apples and pears, but I really enjoyed the Packer Cookie Stop where there was cookie tasting! We came home with 20+ lbs of apples and plan to make apple pie, apple crisp, maybe some apple butter and apple sauce. I had so much fun that this past weekend I invited my sister and mom to check it out. We made a few stops and really enjoyed looking at all of the lovely fall colors through the gorge and on the way back down Mt. Hood, it was gorgeous!

On Saturday night Brian, Addison and I went with my sister to Aurora to have dinner with my dad and Dianne at the home of one of my dad's former high school friends. We had some delicious fajitas (my dad made the meat from the cattle he raised) and Addison had a good time playing with the dogs and loved all of the attention from everyone else!

Sunday I finished a super soft baby blanket for my new nephew Max and nearly completed the blanket for our new little one. I also made homemade pumpkin bread from my own pumpkin puree, baked cupcakes and decorated them like pumpkins and made cheese balls to take to Brian's aunt's house for dinner that night. All of us including Jeff, Cheryl, Brandon, Shelby and Cooper went to Brian's Aunt Brinda's house for dinner. We had a nice time visiting and catching up and all of the food was yummy too! Addison had lots of fun playing with Brian's cousin Amanda and Aunt Brinda. She was so worn out that she fell asleep on the way home and didn't even wake up when we pulled her out of the carseat!

We are looking forward to Halloween this week and a low key weekend to come.

Pumpkins, pumpkins, and more pumpkins!

Brian, Addison & I at Liepold Farms Pumpkin Patch

Fall is not my favorite season, but I would have to say it is a close second. For those of you who don't know, I love pumpkin, and I mean almost anything that is pumpkin based from pumpkin drinks to pumpkin pies and pumpkin ice cream. No, it's not a pregnancy craving, it is just one of my loves. So, I am thrilled that it is that time of year again and I can indulge in some pumpkin items that I can't find any other season of the year.

This past weekend we went to the Liepold Farms (the place we bought all of our berries from this summer) to the pumpkin patch. This was Addison's second time at the pumpkin patch, but I must say that going to the pumpkin patch in Oregon is so much better than in Texas. We got there early and Addison got to see the animals in the barn, have a pony ride, run wild in the corn maze, play in the kiddie area, eat some caramel corn and pick out her pumpkin. We all had so much fun! Addison stayed up past her nap time, but crashed hard at about 4PM when we were on our way to dinner with Papa Phil. She was so tired, she slept right through dinner and even slept through getting in and out of the car twice! I was even ready for a nap myself, but of course didn't get to take one :( Hehe!

Now we have 2 medium/large and 2 small/medium pumpkins that are just waiting to be gutted, craved, and baked! I am so excited, this is going to be my first year baking pumpkin and making my own pumpkin puree. I haven't even decided what all I am going to make, but likely a homemade pumpkin pie and probably some pumpkin bread or pumpkin muffins. Brian is excited to get creative and carve his pumpkins and clean up all of the seeds and bake them for a tasty snack. Again, this will be the first time that we have roasted pumpkin seeds, and it should be a fun little adventure! As for Addison, well, I don't think she has any idea what is in store for the pumpkins, but she just enjoys looking at them and trying to hold the ones that are way too big for her to carry!

What's New in Addison's World?!

Addison is so funny these days! She is always doing something new and never ceases to amaze us. For starters, Addison has really been into doing artwork. Her first piece happened to be one of our accent chairs. I did not find this to be very funny at the time (in fact I was pretty mad). What happened was Addison found the sharpie that Brian uses to write on his DVDs and while I was making dinner she decided to draw all over the chair with black sharpie! Well, the art work is still there, as I don't know how to begin to get it out. Besides that, Addison has been enjoying coloring in her Strawberry Shortcake coloring book. It is so funny, she comes over and says "pen" or "colors" and then just sits very contently and colors.

Deb, our daycare provider, has reported that Addison loves to sing and dance. Addison often sings "no more monkeys jumping on the bed" and she is really into this duck and turtle song that they sing. The other night Brian turned some music on and she was jumping all over the place, shaking her arms along with her hips. It was hilarious!

When Brian takes Addison to daycare and they are heading out to the car, Addison will not go unless Brian lets her carry his lunch. She doesn't care to carry her own lunch, but she must carry Brian's lunch out to the car. Deb even told me that she sometimes carries it in to daycare with her!

Addison is very talkative and repeats nearly everything! The other day she dropped something in the kitchen and I said "it's okay, it happens" and now she goes around saying "it happens" and she says it so appropriately too. She is always announcing who everyone is and what they are doing. When we take Abbie outside to go to the bathroom she is always saying "Abbie potty" or "Abbie poopie". Not to mention she is kind of bossy, she is always telling Abbie what to do "down Abbie", "off Abbie", "Abbie eat". She also has to tell you where everyone is. If it is a person and they aren't present then they are at work and if they are a dog they must be in their crate.

For those of you that don't know, Addison is really into Elmo these days. She wants to watch Elmo when she gets home and most of the time (at least now) she doesn't actually watch it but just likes to know that it is on. She is also happy to watch Sponge Bob Squarepants or "toon toons" (cartoons). When the show ends she comes over and says "one more?" and especially gets sad when the credits begin to roll.

For Halloween I am making Addison's costume and am really excited about it! Brian wanted her to be a witch, so I got a pattern that has a little hat, bodice, and tutu that will all be orange and black. I am almost done with the bodice and am hoping to have it completed by the end of the weekend or at least nearly complete.

All in all, Addisonh just never stops! I swear, at 8PM the turbo boosters kick in and when I am ready to calm down and relax for the evening she is in her prime. She is so much fun, it will sure be a change to have another little one around that is well very much the opposite and very inactive for a while.

More to come soon!

Ear Infections

Addison has been plaqued with several ear infections over the past few months. So, I have been trying to get her referred to ENT for the we can get her evaluated to see if she needs tubes in her ears. Well, Addison got an ear infection about 3 weeks ago and they refused to refer Addison to ENT at this time, they said she needed to have at least another ear infection. I was thinking, "oh that won't be a problem!". Turns out Addison got another ear infection yesterday and we went to see a different Dr, as her primary has been our on maternity leave and we are bouncing around right now. This particular Dr was fabulous, in fact I wanted her to be Addison's primary but she is full and not accepting new patients and hasn't been since Addison was born. She put in a referral to ENT and Audiology and Addison goes in to see Dr. Brock with ENT (my favorite ENT Dr!) next Thursday and then has an appointment with Audiology in early November. I do not wish Addison to have tubes put in her ears, as I see them done on babies every day, but i do not wish her to have multiple ear infections either and would like to remedy the situation ASAP! Lets hope we get things cleared up soon and we'll keep you posted!

We're Having a?!?!

We are getting excited for the new addition to the Burleigh Family that is joining us this coming February. I have had 2 ultrasounds in the past few weeks and have not been able to get a definitive answer as to whether our little one is a boy or girl. The first ultrasound the baby has it's legs crossed, but they could see the 3 lines that would indicate a girl, but couldn't determine that there wasn't anything hiding between the legs. I ended up having to go back for another ultrasound the following week since they couldn't get a good profile picture of the baby. So, I geared up and had a bit of caffeine and orange juice to help get the baby going in hopes of finding out the sex. Well, this time the baby had one leg out (like doing the splits) and another leg tucked up under where we would be able to see the genitals. I was really bummed! At this point we will assume that we are having a girl unless proved otherwise and might try to see if we can get another ultrasound scheduled and the baby to cooperate so we know the gender for sure. Because, as many of you know I am a planner and don't like to be taken by surprise, so I would like to have the appropriate boy or girl blanket made and color coordinate the announcements for a boy or girl.