A Little Update Through Pictures...

Believe it or not there are actually flowers in the desert!

Cactus blossoms are beautiful to me... probably because they are so vibrant and colorful in a very dry and brown land!

Justin found two sheds while flying his paramotor so we hiked out one evening to get them.  

I almost stepped on the tail of this gigantic rattlesnake! 😬  (Don't worry, the snake is dead and he is holding the head with a pair of pliers.)

One of the sheds we found that evening.

Two mama cats have had litters of kittens recently...

(I love Benaiah's chubby little hand in this picture :)

Benaiah and I took a trip back to PA for a few days... we enjoyed getting to see Aunt Robin and her kids while we were there.  Genia helping Benaiah ride Benjamin's tractor :)

Serenah and Benaiah sharing some popcorn 🍿☺️

Hope and Joy came back from PA with me for a week.  Hope is quite the chef and made these delicious eggplant fries for us one afternoon. 

A good-bye selfie in the airport before they flew home.

Another addition to our "farmette" has been made... name suggestions are still being taken for these two little bunnies.

Benaiah loves to climb into his wagon and sit until someone sees and gives him a ride!  

The bunnies like when they are allowed to hop around the house and follow him!

Happy Birthday Benaiah!

Benaiah has turned ONE!  Happy Birthday to our walking, jabbering, giggling, not so little, baby boy!

This past weekend we had a little party for him at our house with some family and a few friends.  I meant to take more pictures but here are a few from the evening.  I chose to do a barnyard theme.

The birthday boy!

 Seasoned pretzels and candy cowtails were edible decor on the table.

 For dinner I made pulled pork and had in a crockpot, along with potato salad and pickle spears.  There was also a vegetable patch, cow pies, haybales, tractor tires, lassos, and chicken feed for everyone to enjoy! 

"Chicken Feed" was party mix in a tin tub.

Vegetable Patch = veggies and dip

Cow Pies = brownies

 Hay Bales = Rice Krispy treats

Tractor Tires = chocolate donuts

Lassos = Twizzlers  

I don't have a picture of the drink station but we had chocolate milk as a drink option.

 Juliana made these delicious mini cupcakes to go with ice cream for dessert.

Benaiah thoroughly enjoyed getting to eat one all by himself after blowing out his candle :)

 Joanna walking in the door was a pleasant surprise to us all!!

Benaiah the Busy Boy

In less than two weeks our baby boy will turn ONE YEAR OLD!!  What?!

He's quite the busy little boy, walking everywhere, not even bothering to crawl anymore!

 He loves to "read" books... When the house gets quiet I can usually find him back by his bookshelf with alll the books pulled off, intently turning pages.

Watching Daddy fish 🎣 wishing he could reel in a big one ☺️

Fun Fact: Today (April 24th) was actually Benaiah's due date!

A Surprise Baby Shower for Serenah Joy

Before Jenny had her baby I told myself that if it was a girl I was going to throw her a baby shower.  Well, as you all know, little Serenah Joy was born and we were all elated with her arrival.  Hannah had the same idea of having a shower for Jenny too so, we started planning and ended up keeping it a surprise, hoping that Jenny wouldn't find out!

I think you can tell by Jenny's expression that she was pretty surprised when she walked in!

I told her I was having a few ladies over for the afternoon and thought it'd be nice if she could come with Serenah.  We told her to come at 1:30 so she wouldn't see all the cars parked outside and guess what was going on if she came at 2 with all the guests.  A few ladies arrived early so it worked out perfect to have some people there to say, "Surprise!" when she walked in!

For decorations I made these paper flowers for a backdrop for Jenny to open gifts in front of.

Guests could write funny or sweet messages on diapers making the later job a little more amusing for Jenny! :)

Hannah did an awesome job on the games.  

For "baby abc's" the guests had three minutes to write down a baby product/brand for each letter of the alphabet.  I don't have a picture, but for the price is right game Hannah had a basket with all of the products she bought at Target for the guests to see.  

She also had this baby bottle for the guests to guess how many candies were in it.

Since the shower was later in the afternoon we did snacks and finger foods for the guests to enjoy.

Little Serenah was held by many loving arms throughout the afternoon.

Jenny, Hannah, and Natalia

Sister Ruth and Sister Connie

Sorry for the bad lighting but here's a picture of the gifts... all the ladies were so kind and generous to Jenny and baby Serenah.

For the favors I made s'more packets for everyone to take with them.

The little princess 💕

Another Addition to the Family 🎀👶🏻

I'm an Aunt again!  Justin's sister, Jenny, and her husband, Micah, welcomed a precious baby girl into their family this week!  Justin, Benaiah and I went to the hospital to visit the evening after she was born.  Benaiah was enthralled with his new cousin, little Serenah Joy.

At first he was a little unsure...

"Who is this tiny human?"

Then all he wanted to do was give her kisses!!

We are so happy for Micah and Jenny on the safe arrival of their beautiful baby girl!  

Serenah is the ninth grandchild and second granddaughter in the Strite family!

Seeing the Sights

We had two special visitors from Delaware this week, Grandpoppy and Grandmommy came to see us for a few days!  It was fun becoming a tourist in my own area with the afternoon excursions we took to see the sights in old Bisbee, Willcox, and the Chiricahua's!

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Driving down this street in Bisbee is like going back in time with all of the old cars parked along the curb.

Grandmommy and I enjoyed browsing this oil shoppe in old Bisbee...

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The flower boxes that line Railroad Avenue in Willcox have different ranch brands painted on them.  I thought it might be a little tribute to the past because in the early 1900s, Willcox was the national leader in cattle production.

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The view from Massai Point at the top of the Chirichua National Monument is always breathtaking!

Sorry for the blurry picture, it's off my phone.  I just thought it was a neat shot of the three horseback riders and their dog loping along the trail.  Also, there is snow on the mountain peaks in the background.

 While we were in the Chirichua's we could see dust blowing off the dry lake in Willcox over 50 miles away.

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It's always fun to have company and this trip with Grandpoppy and Grandmommy was no exception, thank you both so much for coming to visit!

A Double "Happy Birthday!"

This weekend, Justin turned 22 and Benaiah passed the 10 month mark!  The activity of the day, chosen by Justin, was "shed hunting".  We hiked a little over 8 miles and found seven antler sheds!  I must say it was pretty fun since we found so many.  Justin carried Benaiah in the backpack and he actually fell asleep for almost 2 hours!  His sleeping positions varied as he bounced along, one is pictured below :)

I thought the berries on this bush made for a colorful photo opportunity in the surrounding brown dessert...

These were all of our finds.  The top two are very old and broken but they are a set.  I found the one on the left and then Justin found the other one about 200 yards away.  Most of the antlers we found were very old but the two on the bottom were probably dropped last spring.

The shed hunt to start the day was a lot of fun and then to top everything off we had Justin's three younger brothers over for games and dinner in the evening.  Happy Birthday to my dear hubby!