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We also spent the weekend playing with the new tractor and I built Nichole two more garden boxes so we can a big fall garden planted. Other than that trying to stay out of the heat and rain. Also I added to the left of the blog links to our social profile pages (facebook, lastfm, picassa, youtube, etc.)

Derek, Nichole, and Heidi

Derek and Heidi spent the night together as Nichole had a YW sleepover and it went really well. Also this weekend Nichole rode Buck in the Wausau Possum Festival Parade and really had a blast. We have a video below and have posted a few pictures of the parade in the gallery. Wausau is a little town about 10 miles north of us and does this festival every year, kind of a crazy event but we had a blast. Check it out at http://www.wausaupossumfestival.com/

Click here to view the embedded video.

Derek, Nichole, and Heidi

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Derek, Nichole, and Heidi

It’s my turn to update the blog and let you all know what is going on. Heidi’s one year Dr.’s appointment went really well. She was 17 lbs 4 oz and was 27 inches tall. That keeps her right in the 3-5% range. Which the Dr. thinks will be normal for her . She has been very busy  trying to walk by herself. She will practice with Mommy and Daddy, but then decides she would rather crawl since it is faster. She is certainly starting to get into the toddler phase since she likes to have things her way and cries when she doesn’t get it. She really seems to be liking going out to the barn and riding. Which of course we are excited about and got a few pictures.

We also got a new saddle, a kids size so that I can start teaching riding lessons again. Heidi took a ride on the back of the couch the other night when if first got here. We also got a little video of her riding with her Daddy. She seems to just love it!

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Derek and I have been doing well. Derek has been busy with the young men and I have been busy with the young women at church. We love our callings and are keeping busy. Swifty is doing well and adjusting to life at the Tucker house. He and Summit are starting to play a little together and they like to run around the pastures. The barn cats are starting to enjoy the new house and Grande has decided that Derek’s grill is the perfect spot to hang out, when it is not on of course.

Heidi also had some wicked bed head the other morning so I got a picture of it. I’m not sure it does her justice but she does look pretty cute and you can see her teeth. She now has 3 top and 3 bottom and loves to bite things.

Other than that we are doing well and are just trying to stay cool with all the hot and humid weather!

Love,

Derek, Nichole and Heidi

Heidi also got a push cart for her birthday from her Great Aunt Linda and she has started to push it around while walking. She isn’t walking on her own yet, but this a sweet start and we were able to catch it on camera yesterday. I think she is going to start keeping Nichole more busy soon.

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Also this past week we came across another australian cattle dog (blue heeler) to adopt. His name is Swifty and he had been in a rescue for over a year. He is a 2 year old red merle australian cattle dog. So we have brought him home as we figured we need to get a dog that is used to little kids before Heidi gets moving to fast and starts beating up on them. He has a great demeanor and loves to run, but is very calm inside which is a plus as Heidi is starting to move around.

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July and we are so thankful for the country in which we live and the freedoms we enjoy .

Derek, Nichole, and Heidi

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Heidi is getting bigger everyday and is almost walking, she tries to go from table to table and then gives up and crawls and it is faster and man is she fast. Every time we turn around she has made it to another part of the house in nearly seconds. She will be going in for her 1 year check up next week and we will post her growth stats. Nichole and Heidi have been enjoying a swim group with a few Mom’s from church at their backyard pool and Heidi has really grown to like the water. She is keeping us busy all the time.

On a sad note this weekend we lost one of our dogs, Nevada, which was the blue heeler we adopted 8 months ago. She got extremely sick on a trail ride we took and passed away while I was trying to get her home. She will be missed and was a great friend even though we had her for a short time. I thought she would be Heidi’s friend for a long time, but it seems as though another dog might have to fill that place.

Derek, Nichole, and Heidi

Seems it has been a little bit of time since I have written a post so I figured I better get one out while Heidi was taking a nap. She is doing really well and we are gearing up for her 1st birthday at the end of the month. I cannot believe that it has been a year already. She is truly a blessing, even though she gets in lots of trouble! Her new favorite thing to do is open the dvd player. She figured out which button it was and crawls as fast as she can to get there, when she thinks we are not looking. She spent a little time in her playpen this weekend so that Dad could finish up with the truck and Mom could work the horses. She really liked it for about a half hour and then she was over it.

Derek has been keeping busy with work and school. He just returned from a quick trip out to CSU to see his advisor and work on some papers. He was also able to see some friends which was good. He then got home for a very busy Memorial Day weekend. I had lined up for us to go and see a horse, since we had been thinking about getting one I could teach lessons on again. So we did that Saturday morning and ended up buying him.  Derek then spent the rest of Saturday and Monday cleaning the cars and mowing the lawn and one of the pastures.

His name is Buck and he is a 12 yr old grade Quarter Horse, which means he is not registered but he is a really honest fellow, just out of shape.

I spent the weekend helping Derek, watching Heidi and riding the horses and working on our garden, which has gotten huge. Derek says it is like a controlled jungle. I guess that there is one thing all the horse poop around here is good for! Other than that things around here are going pretty well. We are looking forward to some vistors at the end of the month as my Uncle Frank and Parents will be coming for a vist for Heidi’s birthday. It will be lots of fun and good to see everyone again. Hope you all are doing well and we will talk to you later!

Derek, Nichole and Heidi

Just another update on our new house. Things are going really well we are getting used to living in the new house and are knocking out projects one by one. We have been busy the last few weeks fixing fence, picking up pinecones, raking leaves and in general picking up. We also did some additions, Derek built a raised box garden for me to plant vegetables in. We planted tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, zucchini, bell peppers, green beans, watermelon, and cantalope.

We also were able to build a tie rail for the horses outside of the barn. It is a solid one that is 6 inches around. It was pretty beefy to put in but we got it done. We also fixed the spacing of wood in the stalls, they way that it was set up there was about a foot an a half between boards. We added boards so there is only about 3 inches between them.

Heidi is doing well she has been teething the last few weeks and we now have 2 bottom teeth. We were able to catch her in her swing having a blast.

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We hope you all are doing well and we will be posting more pictures soon.

It seems like a long time since I have written anything, and I think that is because our family has been so busy! In the last few weeks we have moved the horses, dogs, cats, books, boxes, furniture and all the little things that end up in the pile that you think why are we moving this again The move went well and the unpacking did too. We finally have everything in  order including curtains on the windows, which always makes things look better. The pictures are up in the gallery along with pictures of the outside of the property so you can get a feel for the lay of the land. The house is up on a high spot with the rest of the property kind of rolling down small hills away from it, which gives us a pretty good view.

We then had a a great visit with Derek’s parents who came to escape the cold Jackson weather and to enjoy some warm Florida sunshine. They also got to enjoy some great Florida humidity when it rained a couple of evenings here and the mornings were a little damp. Overall we had lots of fun and Heidi got some good spoiling. While they were here Derek and I got to take a ride on the Water Management area that our property backs up to. It was nice to get away for a little while and it was good to work the horses up into a good sweat.

Heidi has been doing really well. At her last Dr.’s appointment she had moved up into the 15th percentile for weight and height at  15.8 lbs and 26.5 inches. She is tall and skinny just like her Daddy. She has also started to crawl and pull her self up on furniture and toys. We have a video of her playing with Grandma and crawling around the floor which is pretty darn cute, but also pretty tiring to keep up with.

We hope that everyone is doing well and enjoys the pictures!