Spring is in the air

Calving is in the air!-New baby 3.14.09-soaking in the sun! I cuddled on him before his mama came a bawling for him!

As of right now, we are sitting at 54 degrees, the nicest day we've had so far! The snow we got last week and the snow that we've had since November is finally disappearing, and there is water everywhere! We have had a hectic week, and it all started a week ago.

Last Sunday we went out to check cows, since calving is going on, and tried to cross the creek. Well, the ice didn't hold up and there went the fourwheeler, the front half sitting almost straight up. We laughed at first, but then realized that we had around a mile walk back to the house, and it was chilly! So off we went, through the pasture to get the pickup and chain! Needless to say, we got it out, I slept very well that night, and that was the start to a bad week. Temps dropped into the -20 to -35 range at night, and with new calves dropping through the night in the pasture, we lost three in one day. What a bummer, especially when they're not even ours! Nothing that is wet and that new can survive temps that cold. We finally got our first live calf on Friday, and I applauded to that cow! The temps finally started to straighten out, and it's nice going out that early to have the fourwheeler start! Saturday we got up at 4:30 and Nathan headed out to check while I got ready to go. We were heading to Spearfish for our Childbirth class, which was from 8-5! We got there and learned A LOT of good things! I am very happy we went, and we got to see the Labor and Delivery floor, which included getting to see 2 newborns! It really hit home that in a few weeks that is where we'd be! To Nathan it got him even more excited, and to me some parts of the class brought on more anxiety! All in all, a fun but tiring day! Today, Sunday, we've spent most of the day outside with the girls. We took them on a fourwheeler ride to check out the fast moving water south of the house, and on our ride we of course encountered our favorite critter, Mr. Skunk! Libby got sprayed, and you'd think we would be used to the smell by now, but it burns just as bad in our nose! Now, we just got in from a long ride of checking cows, and since there are huge waterfalls and currents of water going through the pasture, you have to figure your way through a large pasture! After getting to the far East corner of the pasture, we found another dead calf. Frustrating and disappointing, but we could tell it was born breech. She's a good mama too, which just makes it more frustrating. After getting back to the main herd, we went around a tree belt to discover a brand new calf that was just born! I love hearing the mama's talk to their babe's so we sat there with the fourwheelers shut off just to watch the first moments together. I took lots of pictures today, so I'll add some and mention what is going on in them! Enjoy the weather, spring is defiantly in the air!

Nathan & the girls trying to drain some water off of the driveway! That stuff is SO deep! The girls enjoyed getting scuzzy! We had a bottle of bubbles from the baby shower last weekend, so we blew some bubbles for them to chase-it was so funny!

Jade biting at the ice, and drinking some water! She was blowing bubbles while trying to get to the ice-it was so cute!

This is just a small waterfall, but it made us feel like we were in the Hills! The pastures are just flowing with water, I've never seen so much water!!

Nathan trying to find a place to cross, I let him go first! This was a pretty easy spot to cross, but some of the spots made me nervous!

A fresh new baby! Within minutes he was up and trying to suck, it's always such a miracle, no matter how many times I witness a new one being born!

This doesn't even show half of the creek, and it's usually so small! The water is just barreling through the culverts! The geese have been flying around like crazy, and that's a sound we obviously love!

I have so many pictures, I could go on and on about how much water is flowing right now! It's funny what wonderful temperatures and a little sunshine can do to a person, we're just so chipper today! We'll run out one more time today to go check cows, and then we'll call it a day! This next week brings the normal work schedule for Nathan, and hoping that my brother is coming to visit soon! We are slowly but surely getting our baby things organized, and now that we've had the showers and our birthing class, we feel ready to go! We hope this finds everyone else enjoying the wonderful weather outside!