Twenty-one is so much fun.

Once again February has left us smiling. I hit a milestone this month. My body aged 21 years. I don't know where my mind is on that scale, though. My brain may still be stuck in the teens, or may have jumped to my thirties, not too sure. Sad thing is, I don't know which I'd prefer. I do know that life has been quite the adventure in just 21 short years. 

My birthday celebration was legendary. One for the books. There's something you should know about me... I love/hate surprises. I like surprises that I don't know about. But I don't like the anticipation of surprises that I do know about, such as gifts, dates, or anything else that I don't know the details about. So, with that said, James had something "planned" for my gift.  I'll be honest. I was terrified. "What if it is an awesome gift that I totally don't deserve?" "What if it is a really weird gift that I don't understand?" "What if it is a bad gift, do I pretend to like it?" Seriously, talk about over-analyzing. Sometimes I just have no idea how to be a normal person. (It's times like these that I think, "WWJD, What Would James Do?" He is the most rational person on the planet. And he's stuck with this mess of crazy.)  I tried my best to not attempt "begging" for a clue, because that's happened before. (Remember when I was confused about my mental age? Seven. Yup, just figured it out.) James told me we have to pick up the gift before going out to eat. I mentally crossed "Gun" off of my list, because we weren't going near Cabela's.  After an excruciating ride, with dramatic stop lights and last-second turns, we pulled into Ron's Music. I was getting a guitar. 

After squealing with delight, I turned to James in shock and said, "You listened." Folks, I've always wanted to learn to play the guitar, but the timing was never right (Involved high-schooler, turned wedding planner, turned newlywed, turned college student, turned MOM, and there's not much for time after that last kicker...) But still, learning to play the guitar was on my bucket list. I've only told him that I wanted to learn maybe 5 times since we've been together. It was the coolest gift because he was the only one that would have known to give it to me. (After I told my mom and sister, two people that know me better than most, that I got a guitar, they both asked, "Did you want a guitar?") We went into the store and the man asked what kind of guitar we wanted. I looked at James and said "Acoustic?" We were so ridiculous. We had no idea what we wanted. The man was helpful and I walked out gleaming. I ended up with an Ibanez and love it. I've learned about 10 chords and callouses have formed nicely. The first three days were really hard because I was playing the chords upside-down, making awkward finger placements and horrifying sounds. We got that taken care of... Thanks to my best cousins, Seth and Trey, for coaching me and not making me feel like too much of an idiot.  They're the coolest. 

After that surprise we headed to Olive Garden for supper. Now I ordered a glass of white wine, because I want people to think I'm classy. Guys, it was just bad. How do you nonchalantly force down a glass of wine and still be respected by anyone within view? The waiter came and suggested I try a red wine with my entree. I gave that a sip and he actually laughed at my reaction. Is it supposed to taste like that, really? Because if so, just give me the grapes. Needless to say, I turned down that glass. I've never understood what "dry" meant when describing wine... Now I FULLY understand. Later James made mention to the waiter that it was my birthday. Once he learned that I was 21 by just a few hours, said "Well if anyone asks, I carded you. So got a big night planned, then?" I grinned and told him we were going grocery shopping next. He was flabbergasted and scolded us saying we needed to celebrate. I guess I thought we were. :) Anyways, the manager then came and wished me a happy birthday and brought me some dessert, on the house. Next, we actually went grocery shopping. It I was thrilled because we were out of fruit and vegetables. (I take it back, maybe my mental age is 65...) 

Some of you are going to be thinking that my birthday sounded pretty lame, well, the real party happened a couple weeks later... I was laying in bed one night trying to imagine my perfect birthday. All I could think about was laser tag. Yes, laser tag. I realized that I wanted to take my best cousins and have and epic night of laser tag. So that's exactly what we did. Seth, Trey, Taylor, Emily, and Ashton joined James and I for battle. We had an hour session booked, which was split up into 8 continuous mini sessions. After the second session I was sweating remarkably. I haven't sweat that much since the time I ate a whole box of Sour Patch Kids in 10 minutes. We were at war with a bunch of 2nd grade boys. It couldn't have been more perfect. That is, until a group of 5th grade girls joined the party. THAT was awesome. They were terrible. We crushed them. I can't wait until Trevin is old enough so I can take him and not feel weird going by myself as an adult. After laser tag we hit up Red Robin (Yumm) and feasted. Awesome night with some awesome people. 

Valentine's day came a few days later and apparently Trevin isn't into tradition. He ripped up his Valentine when I wasn't looking. He hates love. But he loved the cookies, candies, and treats!

Trevin's vocabulary is exploding. Words are constantly forming on his lips. Some audible, others are hard to interpret. For your convenience, I've written a Trevin's Pocket Dictionary list for you. Here are some of the harder words to understand. I would suggest keeping this handy if you are ever near him. 

Trevin's Dictionary:

Din = Drink

Ewie = Movie, Louie, Ewie
Pit ta toe = Veggie Tales
On new new = Robin Hood
Up a ten = Elephant
Do I = I want it
Meer = Come here
Min = Come in
Bire = Fire
Moe Moy = One more
Woot = Milk
Boon = Balloon, spoon

Translations by Megan Huenefeld

Looks like warmer weather is headed this way! Can't wait to make this a regular occurrence.

Christian Resource Center lodge is coming along nicely! I stopped by last week to help paint the kitchen. Floors start being installed next week. So much progress.

Nicole Nuss is expecting in March and before the baby comes we wanted to get in a 'freezer meal' day. I'd say it was a success! We're hoping to tackle Runzas soon. Consider yourself impressed. 

She can really go anytime now, hard to believe it's gone this fast! Hopefully by next post, they'll have a healthy baby. :)

Do you want to know something? Mom's are the best. One Sunday, I walked out of the house without the diaper bag. Yeah, don't ask. My good friend Jocelyn Epp found out and brought Trevin a fruit jerky during service. That kept him content until it was time for children's church. Seriously, mom's just look out for each other. Special thanks to Jocelyn for saving my hide!

Cousin Jackson came over for a play-date! Trevin wasn't too sure about sharing his toys, but he enjoyed having someone to chase around. I can just sense trouble when these two are together. 

James and I have a constant battle over the thermostat. I like it warm and he likes it cold. It's generally good-natured teasing, but this morning I busted out laughing after seeing this. 

<<<<<<<<<

He took a marker to the screen and tried to fool me into thinking that it was set at a warmer temperature. He's hilarious. 

Because, why not? 

Bilingual household, growing on the farm... 

My hands smell like hog guts.

In late January we went on a ski trip with Tory & Jill Held and Tom & Paige Yockey.  We took Trevin with and Owen (newborn) joined us too, making 8 bodies total. We had high hopes, and they were soon crushed like a cracker on the interstate. Because of the littles, we decided to leave at midnight and drive through the night to Winter Park, Colorado, an eight hour drive. We put Trevin to bed at regular 7:00 bed-time, and James and I followed shortly. We left our house around 11:30 to meet up with the others. Trevin wasn't too bothered by being woke up and stayed awake for our ride to town. We got everything loaded up into two vehicles, ours being one, and we took off. Trevin decided he wanted to stay up and didn't crash until 2:30AM. But he was super adorable because he just wanted to hold my hand the whole time. It was cute until my arm fell asleep. After a couple of seat rotations and fuel stops, the other vehicle's heater went out. We stopped and tried to fix it; it was in and out the rest of the way. We arrived at 8 AM to pick up our keys for the condo we rented. (Backtrack: We called ahead of time to ask for an early check-in. They told us that there was no one going to be in the room before us, so they would have it cleaned and ready to go for us.) When we arrived, the condo wasn't ready and we were told to that it would be ready in an hour. We went to breakfast and stopped back for the keys at 9 AM. The room was still not ready, they gave us the keys and told us that it would be done by 10 AM and they would call when it was ready. We went and rented ski equipment for the weekend and arrived at the condo a little after 10, with still no call from the company. The plan was for Jill and I to stay back with the kiddos while the rest hit the slopes. The babes were restless and desperately needed to get out of the car. We waited, and decided to try our key to the rental and see if we could get our stuff unpacked. The beds were stripped but everything else was obviously dirty. We were concerned because the room was supposed to be finished but hadn't been touched.

The rest of them took off to ski and Jill and I stayed behind. We tried calling the company multiple times with no answer. We ended up leaving a message warning them that we were in the room already and no one had been there to clean. Finally they called us back and didn't seem too impressed that we were already in, we were told the cleaning crew was on the way. When the cleaning lady arrived she chewed us out for being in the room without permission. (Understandable) But we argued that the room was supposed to be done hours before. She then told us that we had misunderstood and that it wouldn't be done until noon. We had moved all of our bags onto the kitchen table so they would be easy to clean around. The cleaning lady left clearly upset and said she'd be back in 10 minutes to start. A few minutes later we receive a phone call from a supervisor telling us that they wouldn't clean until we left the condo. (We as in the people, our bags could stay on the table, but they didn't want us watching them.) Meanwhile Trevin's carseat was disassembled because of a spilled drink on the drive. We asked where we were supposed to go with 2 kids under 2 in need of naps and without a carseat in a town we've never been in. A coffee shop was the answer from the supervisor. And guess what? The "coffee shop" was a couple tables in the front of a grocery store. Totally ideal for our situation... (sarcasm.) Thankfully it was only a couple blocks from the condo. We were told that they would start cleaning as soon as we left and that it would take 1-1.5 hours. We left at 12:30 and returned at 1:30, sat in the parking lot, and awaited a phone call. Then the cleaning crew showed up. They hadn't even started. Talk about frustrating. By 2:30 we were back in the room and ready for some good news. James couldn't deliver any. Turns out they had spent the afternoon in the hospital. Tom took a bad fall and ended up with a broken collar bone. I think it's safe to say that everyone was exhausted after the first day of "vacation." The rest of the trip was rather smooth, aside from some car sickness on the way home.

The guys went night skiing and even met up with James' cousins who happened to be in town.

While on the trip, Tom said to me, "I think I'm starting to figure you out. You were raised on Dr Pepper and classic rock."I don't think anyone has ever described me so accurately, with so few words. 

James got some new toys!

There's always a good time to be had at the Leadership Center on Super Bowl Sunday!

My brother came and stayed with us for a couple days and helped get the basement (or should I say basements) project rolling again. Trevin took advantage of some bonding time. 

They were able to get both basements cleaned out and gutted. They are now ready for the actual reconstruction. It's gotta get worse before it can get better, right? 

James' Christmas present was a gun safe. A gigantic gun safe. That he wanted in the basement. Thanks to the help of some hard workers, they got it down without much trouble. 

Butchering 2014 is in the books. And it was a whopper. Warning, if you can't handle dead livestock, don't continue. #nofilter #bloodymess (And I believe those are my first hashtags...ever. I'm glad we could share this moment.)

Butchering is a tradition that has been passed down for generations. Grandpa always takes care of the liverwurst.  

 Friday consists of loading, killing, skinning, gutting, and hanging hogs. Now normally this is a man-only day. But I was determined to break through the social barrier and show the world just what women can do! (Did that sound feministic enough?) For real, I just wanted to get my hands dirty. And dirty they became. 

My cousin Corb is the expert on gutting and he showed me just what to do. I took that hog by the hams and showed it who's boss. The most important thing was to not cut open organs or intestines and not dig into the meat. 

Obviously the camera crew had a sense of humor. 

I was elbow-deep in that beast. And no matter how many times I washed my hands that night, I still fell asleep to the smell of hog guts on my hands. Interesting dreams were had. 

I'm glad to have my first hog under my belt. Can't wait to try the skinning next year. 

When Saturday comes around we process the piggies. Some do bacon, some do chops, some sausage, some do brats. This is where the creativity shines. Everyone makes our trademark smoked sausage. And I love the pork chops. And the bacon. And the sausage. And the ribs. And the liverwurst. Mmmmm pork.

But THIS is what I absolutely love about the event. Just as I was taught, now we teach. 

We ended up with 14 hogs this year. Usually average 16, so it was a pretty fast and smooth weekend. 

See that pot? Pretty nasty, but it produces these delicious ribs that have a sodium content that could kill a woman of my stature. 

And at the end of the day, we pack up a hog's worth of meat and place it in the freezer to enjoy for the whole year. 

Eating good tonight, growing on the farm...