Christmas Letters

2025 was a crazy, busy, often terrible, but overall wonderful year.

Sunshine and I started out the year with his very first ride! During which, all five minutes of, he was perfect. Then the weather turned miserable and he got a very long break.

The cold held most of the month. The children spent that time building big muscles as they performed their winter duty of breaking ice. And there was a lot of ice to break. They got very good at it and a bit grouchy as the ice they had to break got thicker and thicker.

Once the cold snap finally broke Gus got busy and built himself a go cart. Not one with a motor, but one that rolled nicely down hills. He used whatever materials he could find laying around the junk pile. Then not wanting his creative spell to be broken, he designed the sledding contraption. A big plastic culvert got rolled up on blocks, then an old mattress spring, another junk pile find was placed under the end of the tube. It’s a wonder no one has broken any arms playing on these wonderful toys.

They save the arm breaking for more traditional pastimes.

To celebrate Gus’ birthday in Feburary, Elly and Gus went sledding with their big cousin Cade. After sledding, as they were headed home the two bigger kids dog piled on Gus. His arm got caught underneath. The doctor confirmed it was a buckle fracture. No separation of the bone. Instead it was compressed and slid sideways while still together. Terribly painful but only requiring a splint, not a full cast.

To celebrate his birthday in a hopefully more fun way, the kids and I met their grandparents in Omaha for a quick weekend visit and trip to the Omaha zoo.

In March Larel’s eSports team got to compete remotely, always far better than having to drive! Cousin Cade and a couple other kids fought their way to a third place finish in Fortnite.

Just before calving started in the end of the month my horse Rusty and I made a Guinness World Record attempt. We tried for the most tricks by a horse in 3 minutes. With all the reputable friends we could find watching we managed to do 33 tricks in right at three minutes. It looked good but we would have to wait for the officials to decide. Waiting is difficult!

Calving went without any blizzards or major hiccups. Both of Elly’s cows managed to calve in the same day giving her a one day calving window. Both children got to help me with pulling calves this year. Gus wasn’t so fond of it. Elly got to be a pro. She would glove up and have everything ready to go as soon as we had the cow in the chute. It was much easier with the pro along to help.

Elly took a break from her calving duties in early April for her first middle level dance. Her cousin Ava came over and helped her get her hair done and clothes chosen. She looked gorgeous and had a great time dancing with all her friends.

With the weather getting a bit warmer we made the evening check of the cattle into a family activity. We would all bundle up and grab our lights to walk out in the dark and cold to check the cows. The kids wrestled and played and we all tried to scare the others in the dark. The cows got checked. Making it a family affair made it all more fun if not more efficient.

May saw Larel back in the field discing, getting them ready for corn planting. The kids and I started making the rounds of fence lines getting ready to turn cattle out to pasture.

News came from Guinness about Rusty’s record attempt much quicker than it did for Ghost. He had done it! Rusty earned the title of most tricks by a horse in 3 minutes at 33 tricks!

We worked calves towards the end of the month. The kids are getting big enough to be good help there too. The neighbor kids came over and they made a great branding team. While we were working the girl who had my old horse Jerry came by to bring her back to me! I had given her Jerry because I was busy having and raising babies. Now that she was busy with little ones of her own she was letting me have Jerry back. At just the perfect time for us too.

Elly has been watching gardening shows with her father and wanted to put in a flower garden of her own this year. In between getting corn planted, Larel worked a patch of ground for her as he got the rest of his garden ready. We all hurried and got seeds planted, following the garden design she carefully made up. We got the planting done just before they headed off to spend a couple weeks with their grandparents.

While the kids enjoyed their adventures in Illinois Larel finished planting his always gorgeous garden. I put the finishing touches on my second book then hit the publish button. This was when I discovered that in the middle of summer with children home, the garden going full swing, and all the summer work going on is a bad time to publish a book. Despite my lack of attention it managed to make number one new release in whichever horse category.

Once the children got home from their adventures around the big city they dove full on into summer fun. They swam, feasted on fresh garden vegetables, fixed tanks, checked cows, we even made the local parades, carnivals, and festivals. Unfortunately Larel was too busy taking care of the farm to make almost any family get togethers. We missed him! But there was work to be done.

School starts way too early in August. But, with enough horses for all of us now not only could we all go for rides together but it was much easier to pick kids up from the bus on horses. After the first time when I got to very carefully carry Elly’s backpack with her school computer in it hooked over my saddlehorn I learned to let them know I would be picking them up horseback and to leave breakable things like computers at school.

After working well all summer the pivots decided they had had enough and began to break down constantly. The children work best (work hardest that is, without being distracted constantly) when they are separate. So Elly was chosen as pivot repair assistant while Gus got to go help me during those times. She became quite skilled at helping remove tires and replacing pivot parts. She’s not going to grow up as one of those girls who don’t know how to do the work around the place!

The whole family pitched in again when it came to getting the wheat planted. It took all of us to get the machinery over to the wheat fields. I drove the persnickety old stick shift seed truck. Larel brought the tractor and drill. The kids followed behind with the pickup so we’d have a ride home. Gus is great help with all things that need driven, tractor or pickup. He became a pro at filling the planter and would like to be allowed to drive the tractor. He’ll have to wait a little longer for that.

As soon as the wheat was planted and coming up nicely there was a downpour just over the wheat fields. Neighbors reported over three inches of rain in a very short period. The water came down so hard it washed over the road. It also washed out large parts of the otherwise nice wheat crop. After being so dry last year now it was washing out. It always has to be something.

In the end of September I caught news of a trick training clinic coming up near by. It is so seldom that I get a chance to attend horse events in my own area of training that I immediately jumped at the chance. Elly and a friend came along to play. Elly brought Rusty and I got to play with Sunshine. It was great fun and we learned quite a bit even if the training style was different from our usual. Both horses have new bow styles added to their repertoire. After being the one teaching others for so long it was great fun to be the student again.

The day after the trick training clinic my dad came to stay with us. He spent the month of October remodeling a cabin we have had sitting in our backyard for years now. The kids have been complaining about needing rooms of their own. Our house is tiny and doesn’t belong to us. There was no where inside to move them to and no adding on. So we kicked them out. With dad’s help the cute but bare cabin became a cozy little cottage just the perfect size for a room. Both children got to learn about wiring and carpentry as we worked along side him to get the job finished. Snug, warm, and now darling he made it just perfect.

So both children moved out to share a different room. Oh well. Maybe one will move back in some day.

We had an impromptu Halloween party and sleepover to break the cabin in. Friends came over to ride horses all afternoon. Then we carved pumpkins and toasted hot dogs over a campfire. It was the perfect housewarming party for the kids’ new cabin.

For Halloween the kids came home informing us of their plans for the night. Guess they’re getting all grown up. Gus had group costumes planned with his friends. Elly is too cool to dress up so she went as a teenager. But she went right along with them and happily hasn’t decided to give up trick or treating yet.

Larel had to take his eSports team to the east side of the state again for championships in November. They brought home a 4th in Super Smash Bros.

In between that and work he made up a gardening game for his Commodore computer. He and the kids sat down and made the graphics for it. It’s still a work in progress but I enjoyed playing it and it’s nice to see them having so much fun while they learn a little about coding.

With some nice weather I managed to get a few rides in on Sunshine. He was doing so well that Elly even got to get on him. It’s fun to see a horse with so little riding safe enough for a kid to hop on.

We brought cows home in the beginning of December. They were ready to go! With Ghost home I’ve been playing with her, working on teaching her to drive.

Elly had another school dance, Christmas themed. Once again cousin Ava came over to help her get ready. She looked lovely and had lots of fun.

Gus has not been having a fun December. He got his nose bit by a neighbors dog then the very next week had to go in and have four teeth pulled. Baby teeth that weren’t coming out properly. They still hurt to have pulled! Then the next week he caught a door handle to the face. Luckily it only resulted in a fat bloody lip, no more teeth knocked out. But he is having a tough month!

Despite Gus’ misfortunes it has been a pretty good year. We will try to keep him as free of injuries as we can next year and are looking forward to seeing what the future has to bring.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

The year started out with a terrible cold spell. We spent our mornings chopping tanks that were frozen nearly solid. The children, bored from being cooped up, got to come outside with us. Usually they helped. Occasionally we assumed they were old enough to be left unattended. They are not.

After watching “A Christmas Story”, one of them decided to try licking a metal post. Somehow she was surprised to have the same outcome as their movie role models.

After Larel bought Megan the Escalade for Christmas last year so she would have something to pull a trailer with, Megan went looking for a trailer to pull. After picking through twenty year old trailers for hardly less than new ones, she decided to go ahead and get a brand new on with everything she wanted on it. The beautiful new three horse slant with a tack room may be used far more as a portable tack room than for hauling but was well worth it for the tack room alone.

Rusty foundered from the cold. Again. It had been a few years since he had any trouble so it did come as a bit of a surprise. He is doing alright, just a couple months of lameness and a year long battle to get his feet healthy again.

Larel took the Hay Springs winter Esports team to state. Again. While he was gone the kids and Megan sneaked up to Hot Springs. They went to the Mammoth Site and Wind Cave, followed by swimming at Evans Plunge. Then drove home in dense fog.

Calving went well over all. Pulled calves out of a lot of heifers. Both kids’ cows calved! And both had beautiful heifer calves. Their herds are growing.

Larel took his Esports team to state again in the spring session. During which cousin Cade and his teammate Arian won state in Fortnite. Go Cade!

After school got out for the summer both kids moved out to the tent in the yard. They decided to spend the summer feral. Which lasted until their trip to Illinois.

Megan and children met her parents in Iowa again. They’re getting to be quite the regulars. After a day spent enjoying the surprisingly large amount of tourist destinations in Iowa the kids were off with their grandparents. The trip to IL was long with many detours to see the sights, an aquarium, Dubuque IA, all sorts of great things.

When they finally got to IL they spent a couple of weeks seeing the sights. Riding bikes all over with their uncle Justin, going to Lake Michigan, up in Wisconsin where it’s far more wild and beautiful, and of course freezing that day. They explored much more of the beautiful state of WI. They saw huge trains at a train museum. All sorts of fun things before it was time to come home again, where they promptly moved back inside.

As soon as they were home we had terrible hail storms. One came through by the house and damaged the corn crop and killed our swimming pool. A later one covered anything the first had missed and almost completely wiped out what had been a promising wheat crop. They were the only rain we got all summer and came so fast the water all ran off.

Back to school again! Elly is in middle school now. Nearly a teenager in sixth grade. Gus is in fourth grade and enjoying learning Nebraska history this year. Shortly after school started, everyone started getting sick. Elly developed Pneumonia. She spent the whole month of September sick and really ruined our fall plans. Then Gus got it for not quite a month, followed by Larel.

All the sickness meant very little Halloween fun. No time or energy for the usual Halloween party and didn’t even make it to the haunted house. We did of course manage trick or treating with a hippy and a terrible monster of some sort. The weather was even nice for it.

Corn harvest was going nicely. Weather was good. The crop had held in there after all the hail damage. Not great. Not awful. Just going. Until the second to the last round when the rear axle snapped in half. There the combine sat with its hind end on the ground. But, God is good. It was in the best spot and mostly done. They were able to get repairs done and the field finished. Just took a couple weeks longer than it would have.

Having earned her Guinness World Record last year Ghost received an offer for her own personal, personalized copy of the book. We waited excitedly to find her listed within. And when we did we were nearly overwhelmed at the one full sentence mention she received. Yay Ghost! But it’s fun to have a copy of the book with her name on, and in, it.

The cows are home now for the winter. They were happy to get out of there with the pastures nearly picked clean. It was a very dry summer and the dust was making them and everyone else sick. Hopefully we get good snow this winter or there will be even less grass next year. Gus got to drive the pickup over and back for the big move. He’s turning into a real hand.

Christmas is coming quickly and the kids have been busy practicing for the church Christmas Program. Elly will be playing her guitar again accompanied by her friend Whitten on his Saxophone. She is going to play Elizabeth, without a guitar, this year and Gus will be a wise man. Looking forward to the program. It is a wonderful church to spend our Christmas eves at.

Megan and Larel started the year off exhausted from trying to keep cattle alive through the horrible snow storms of last December. The rest of the winter was spent fighting snow drifts as high as the barns and doing a lot of digging out. The church Christmas program was finally held after New Year’s Day, once the roads were plowed out enough that people with good 4-wheel drive could get through. Elly played her guitar for the performance while both children joined in the singing. They are getting ready for this years Christmas program. Hopefully there wont be as much snow and the program can actually be on Christmas this year.

The last of the snow drifts melted in June leaving a pile of fence to fix. Somehow we did manage to fit a few things in beside fence fixing.

Elly is in HAL(High Ability Learners) again. Gus missed being eligible by a painfully small margin. However, that was alright by him. He is completely uninterested in scholarly pursuits. Instead, he has learned how to drive. He is very useful to have around when we need vehicles moved, or people need rides. By the time he is actually old enough to drive, he’ll be a pro. For now I’m not quite brave enough to let him drive down any actual roads.

Elly was in Girls On The Run this spring. She did it with her cousin, Ava, and they ran a 5k together at the end of the season. They practiced every Monday, running laps around the football field after school.

This summer the children got to go see their grandparents for two whole weeks. They saw the sights, road the train to downtown Chicago, and enjoyed the pleasures of the big city. Gus enjoyed going to the big swimming pool with lots of good slides the most. Elly’s favorite was Lego Land.

Elly is still doing guitar lessons. She switched from her acoustic guitar to bass this fall so she could play it in the school band instead of switching instruments entirely.

Gus decided to stop guitar lessons and started taking roping lessons while we were there instead.

Elly also got a new horse. After much arguing she managed to convince her mother that a palomino was needed and color was more important than anything else. So once they found a horse who was perfect in every other way and just happened to be the right color, Sunshine came to live with us. He is learning to be a trick horse while he begins his riding training and Elly may get to ride him some time in two or three years. Maybe.

Gus and his good mare Lady are still running around causing all sorts of trouble.

Both children are doing mid level robotics through 4H. They get to build robots then program them to accomplish ‘missions’. Fun AND a great learning opportunity.

In September we had the interesting and unusual experience of having a moose move into one of the pastures. She, and possibly a few other moose, had been spotted in the panhandle and we had gone out searching a couple of times when we heard reports of them in the area. Then one day there she was, laying happily by the creek, not far from the road. She stayed in the area for a few weeks before moving on. It was a thrill to get to have a moose choose to stay with us for however long she chose to stay.

Some really good friends and neighbors managed to get to our house last March, despite the deep snow and bad roads, to witness Megan’s Guinness World Record attempt with her pet/trick cow Ghost. Ghost performed ten tricks in one minute to achieve the goal. Then everyone had to wait until June to see if it was accepted by Guinness or not. Once they approved the attempt, Ghost was proud carrier of the record of Most Tricks By a Cow in One Minute. She got to be on the front page of the newspaper, on TV, featured on a Canadian podcast, and enjoyed her 15 minutes of world wide fame. Not something often accomplished by a cow.

This next year Megan plans another world record attempt with her trick horse Rusty.

All that is an off-shoot of her job with the Horse Tricks Club which is still growing and doing well. Between work with the Club, book promotion for Understanding Horse Whorls, and taking care of the cattle herd all the time, there hasn’t been room to fit much else in. Other commitments have been slowly cut back to find some time to spend with family, maybe get to work with her horses and cows once in awhile, and finding time to finish that next book would be amazing.

Larel has been so busy in his support role, making sure all the work gets done on the place, and helping the rest of us to do all the fun things he makes it possible for us to do, that he hasn’t found much time for himself. He is an amazing father and husband. His daughter says we can’t say completely adored by his wife and children, so I’ll leave that part out. Work has been crazy for him as always, at home and at work. He kept all the equipment repaired and running to make it through a good hay season, severely drought damaged wheat harvest, and a late corn harvest, despite many unusual and complicated break downs. Somehow through all that he managed to find enough time to grow a beautiful garden that kept us in fresh veggies all summer with plenty to can and freeze to continue enjoying through the winter.

Larel is coaching e-sports once again this year with a much larger and younger team than the last couple of years. They haven’t made a state play off yet this year, but it’s a pleasant break from the constant trips the last couple of years.

So far this Christmas season has been warm and dry. As much as we need to get some snow this winter it’s hard to be sad about missing out on another white Christmas as we look back on the carnage from last year. The year has had its ups and downs and was never anything less than a mad scramble trying to get to all the things. But busy is good and we are happy to all be together here in our snug little house.

Wishing you all a safe and Merry Christmas