The Missing Piece

The Missing Piece

The Palouse Empire Fair

THe Palouse Empire Fair

What a great experience for our family. It was a lot of FUN, but a lot of work. We will wait and see when they get their checks in the mail if it was worth it to them. Taylor, Stephen, and Jordan worked with their lambs everyday for about 7 weeks. They trained them to walk with them, "set up", do figure eights and then they also memorized terms and anatomy associated with lambs. They were each put in different classes. There were about 150 lambs in 6 classes. 1st and second place ribbons were given for each class- Stephen got 1st in his!!! It was really exciting to see Taylor's class as the judge could not decide between Taylor and another girl for second place. After about 7 minutes of holding our breath and Taylor and this other girl doing what the judge asked- Taylor got moved up to second! Jordan originally had a lamb named Lena- which he worked and worked with for about 5 weeks until we determined that Lena would not work for Jordan- just a little bit too stubborn. We then got a different lamb for Jordan and he named it Stanley. Jordan had only 2 weeks to train this lamb- and he was a little stubborn too, but Jordan still as able to place 4th in his class. We were extra proud of him. He always had a smile on his face. Holly was involved with Daddy's little shepherd- all of the kids got ribbons and Holly was sure proud of hers. She never stopped smiling and looking at the judge!!! Thank goodness my mom was there to help- we were there from 7:30 am until barn duty was over at 6pm- oh we did ride the rides after that! THanks mom- we couldn't have done it without you!

HOlly working the judge!

We introduced a Title of Liberty at the beginning of Freedom Camp which read:

We the members of the Stephen and Virginia Brockbank family in honor of our Faith, our Family, and our Freedom mutually pledge to each other that we will follow in the footsteps of our fathers; we will climb our mountain and we will NOT come down!

we all signed it the final night of Freedom Camp.....

Jordan got to participate in flag ceremony!


glad Steve got a few hours of sleep in somewhere. :) Love you!

FREEDOM CAMP

Taylor with a few of her cousins.
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Working hard!

The Uncles roll call!
personal time.
Duty schedule.

ancestor posts youth leaders

more work flag ceremony
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What an incredible experience we have just participated in. Steve had a great idea last year to hold a camp for our family. We planned out an itinerary and named it FREEDOM CAMP inspired by his great grandfather John Robinson's farm in FREEDOM Wyoming. The name was so appropriate as we also wanted to teach principles of freedom to our children. Freedom camp was a success with our family and our kids really enjoyed the strict routine of a real camp. We had cabins- roll call and flag ceremony- personal scripture time- lots of hard work- devotionals on freedom and our heritage(including where they each got their names)- and lots of fun!!!

One year later with a lot more people involved, we had our 2nd annual FREEDOM CAMP!!!!!! Our theme this year was FAITH, FAMILY, and FREEDOM. As the campers arrived they were given matching shirts with our theme, and around the camp they found special posts highlighting some of their ancestors(pictures and stories). That night we had a fun barbeque and firepit with smores and a slideshow on the side of the house of the 2010 campers. Camp would begin the next day. 6:30a.m. Rise and shine, 7a.m. personal time!!! The first day the devotionals were about the Freedoms we enjoy in America, our founding fathers, and The Constitution. We also started to build a small animal enclosure adjacent to our new red barn. The 2nd day our devotionals focused on freedom of choice, or free agency and we finished the small animal enclosure and started painting it, we also went to a fun waterpark about 45 minutes away!. The 3rd day(Johnny's 1st birthday) we had wonderful devotionals on Freedom from Satan's grasp- we learned more about the saviors atonement. I am so thankful for all those that prepared such great devotionals that I know helped these kids gain a better understanding of who they are and the things that our Heavenly Father has in store for them. This is one of the main goals we had for freedom camp. We then finished painting and also moved a ton of rock to our orchard. It was fun to see the sheep in their new home. (There was a lot of excitement as the sheep escaped from their old pen earlier that day and we had to catch them- Steve ended up carrying the sheep to their new home, which btw was built just in time!) My personal favorites were: seeing all the kids reading their scriptures together in silence, the reverence at flag ceremony as the kids were in charge of it, Seeing Steve's face working with his nieces and nephews and brothers, The adult men's roll call:), when everyone was full and there was food left over, cabin skits, our awesome youth leaders who were such great examples to the kids and the highlight of it all-testimony meeting. Oh and can I add the fireworks show!!!!!!

It's been awhile, but a lot has been going on. 2 more magical saturdays and a late night sunday (emergency) and we have a chicken coop. Finally! The chicks had outgrown their horse trough about 2 weeks ago. They are finally happy.:) I am happy as well! This chicken coop was a lot more work than we thought it would be. We had no idea what we were doing- Construction wise it was all learn as we go. While we were shingling the roof a neighbor stopped by to survey our roof- he must have felt sorry for us because he stayed about 2 hours to teach steve how to shingle the roof the RIGHT way. Good thing he came around or we would have had some wet chicks.
Other news for our family- Taylor is running track- last meet she ran the 4 by 800 medley- she finished the medley with a 200 yard sprint. Her team lost, but I am so proud of her. The 200 sprint is one of the hardest races in track. She has another meet tomorrow in Pullman. Stephen is playing baseball. He was drafted onto the Tigers team. We had to purchase ALOT of gear for this to happen- pants, shirt, hat, new cleats, socks, bat, glove, oil for glove, batting gloves... am I forgetting anything? We might have to cancel christmas this year. He is doing really well for his first year in the majors. Way to go Stephen!!!!!! Jordan can be found telling jokes. ALL THE TIME!!!!! What's nice is they are actually really funny and the laughing around our house is contagious- usually always started by Jordan. Thanks Jordan! This week Holly found a new friend in the neighborhood and was able to ride horses with her and ride around on her 4 wheeler. She has also been taking care of the chicks and was accidently locked in the chicken coop for about 20 minutes- she needed a few bandaids for being pecked by the chickens when her mom finally remembered she was out there. She is definitely a farm girl. Tanner is 100% farm boy- he loves being outside and is usually covered in dirt by 10am. He also is sporting a few bandaids and mom is needing to run to the store soon for more! Tanner is also a Daddy's boy and looks forward to Dad driving in the driveway everyday with his TRUCK! Johnny is crawling- (big sigh!) He is so much fun- such a great baby- very content. Thanks Drew for the portacrib idea! He lives in his. Steve is.... tired. We are needing the sprinkler system done for the garden and I think we will hire someone for that! He has been working so hard (he loves it) but needs a break- just in time for scout camp on Saturday. (Once again- new gear to buy! seriously no christmas this year!:)) But we LIVE Christmas everyday!!!! :)

Quick Science Project

Stephen had to come up with a science project QUICK (2 days). Thank goodness for a good idea from my friend's blog. He did a Popcorn testing project and had a lot of fun-and tasted a lot of popcorn! According to Stephen's research THE PERFECT POPCORN is IGA mocrowave popcorn (theater style).

Preschool Days

O.K. here goes for my 2nd entry! :)
It was our turn for preschool this week, and we had a lot of fun!! Yesterday we took the kids out in our YARD (the letter Y) and collected things to paste onto a paper. The kids had fun and it was fun for Holly to show everyone her hideout! They also had a lot of fun playing with the new chicks, and it was fun for mom to hear from the other experienced moms about how to take care of them. Thanks!!! :)

Wow! my first real entry for our family blog! We had a wonderful day today. Saturdays are magical here when the weather is warm. Today was one of those kind of days. It started off as usual- JOBS (lots of whining and moaning, but somehow we seem to find our way through a mess and transform our house into a clean one.) Steve usually has some outside work to do- and we end the day working outside with him. Today, he brought home a water trough for a horse. (I thought this meant that we were going to get a horse, which we had been going back and forth on for awhile now, but I was wrong :) He surprised the kids with 16 chicks- the trough was going to be their new home for awhile.(still think it will be for a horse later on! :) The kids went crazy and it felt like christmas. Holly never left the chicks side for the entire day, and right now they are next to her bed upstairs, cause she was worried something might happen to them in the night and no one would know.

We also moved rocks off the grass for about 1 hour, Dad and Tanner tilled about one acre of pasture land, and then we seeded it. We took a walk across our bridge to the tree and played under it for awhile. We watched Lance dig for voles and Copper try to figure out a way to fetch a stick out of the pond. He really wants to swim, but the mud is too thick around the edge of the pond. Taylor and her friend Annica, with help from me, tried to make a bridge over the mud, but it didn't work. It was still a lot of fun!!!
We also managed to watch march madness- happy for Northern Iowa, but sad for our BYU cougars. (I had Kansas going all the way, but it was fun to see Iowa win.) It is now 10:00 at night- the dishes are done and I am ready for bed. I am so thankful for my Heavenly Father who loves each of us so much. I hope I am worthy of His many blessings. Goodnight...................