Life on Mimi and Pop's Farm

Here's what started it all. Yes, I know. It really is gross to see your mom and dad kiss. But, aren't they just adorable? They truly are great people, parents, and examples for us younger folk!

My cousin Ashley came out to Mom and Dad's house on Thanksgiving to take some family pictures. She did such an awesome job! (Thanks Ashley!) She's going to do some of just our family one day soon. We scheduled a session over the week of Thanksgiving but had a H-U-G-E unexpected surprise. More about that later...but enjoy the show!


This is the crew. Mom and Dad with the grandkids on the tractor (minus Addy and Ayden). Standing is Trisha, Steven (my little brother), Me, Chad, Stacey, and Keith (my older brother).



Here's what happens when Popsi thinks no one is looking! Kennedy and Taylor L-O-V-E to ride the tractor with my Daddy!



This is one of my favorite pictures of the day...very creative and combines two of my loves...my kids and the Tractor!



And then there was this cow...

Her name, according to my kids, is "Crooked Horn Betsy". Crooked Horn Betsy has been on the farm a long time. She is quite gentle. Several months ago my daddy got a crazy cow that destroyed a lot of farm equipment type stuff. I didn't grow up on the farm, so I don't know the proper terminology. But, the cow was crazy and my daddy said on more than one occasion that he should've just shot her where she was standing! I don't allow profanity on my blog or I would quote his top 10 things to say about the crazy cow. After months of Joe vs. Cow, which included penning her long enough for her to destroy the corral and ruining a friendship between my dad and the "friend" who sold him this gentle cow, my dad hired a "real cowboy". This "real cowboy" was hired to come out to the farm with his dogs to haul the crazy cow some cows to the sale. Now, if you know my daddy even a little, you can just imagine how difficult it was for the tightwad to part with even a penny for something like this. However, his health was at risk. His heart and my mom's ears couldn't take it any longer...and it was getting expensive replacing fence panels, etc. One morning back in September or October, the two cowboys showed up with their many, many dogs and began rounding up cows. Yes, Chad, myself, mom, dad, and the girls were all outside on the porch watching what proved to be a pretty uneventful cattle round up. Dad had discussed selling several of the older cows. One of the ones on the list of "probably" for going to the sale was "Crooked Horn Betsy". Taylor was clueless about this development until she noticed the cows being herded into the corral. Very politely she said,"Popsi, I know you're not gonna sell Crooked Horn Betsy, are you?" I'm not real sure what happened after that. Six weeks later, guess who's still on the Akin Farm?



Yeah, her name is Betsy!