Obsessed Much Mondays: Form over Function

Now that summer is in full swing, and this is our official first Monday, I would like to bring back my little series.... 

This is a fun way that I can share what has been on my mind and what I've been obsessing about! 

You all know that I love everything about this little farm of ours, we take pride in this place and hope to never take for granted how lucky and blessed we are. Doing the yard work has always been my thing.......pulling weeds, landscaping, mowing, perennial gardening, potting flowers, and just generally keeping up with the daily tasks of making our place beautiful! 

Baileyhusband is a hard worker and Summertime is his BUSY season, he also takes care of our cows for the most part and does all the BIG jobs around here like building things, repairs, planting our vegetable garden, using the weed-eater (because I'm convinced I will lose a leg), etc. Even though most of the yard-work is happily left to me..one thing that I cannot touch is OUR BARN....or more accurately, our BARNYARD.....

See how beautiful it is in that photo? This is truly a magnificent building built so carefully by my talented husband. But folks, this is not how this looks as of today. That photo above was taken in our first fall after completing the Barn. So picture perfect....and if you look closely, you can see the top of Gunnar's head in the doorway! He's a little taller now! 

I have this constant battle with the husband about FORM over FUNCTION. You see, I want everything to just be pretty, especially this amazing structure on our property. I mean, it has been the backdrop for some amazing photos...

  

But in those photos, I hid a little secret, which I will (reluctantly) show now.....

You see, we show cattle at the County and State Fairs, and this IS an actual working barn. There needs to be a place for the cattle to get washed.....

And a place for them to get looked at safely by the vet.....

And the man in charge doesn't mind the grass (or weeds) growing in here a little so the cows can get a snack when waiting in line to get a bath.....

BUT I WANT IT TO BE PRETTY TO LOOK AT!! And so the argument goes....

I know that ultimately, I cannot and will not win this battle. Our cattle are a huge part of our farm, and we love them!

 And to take care of them, there needs to be all of this mess....

So there you have a little glimpse of the nuances of our marriage..haha! He thinks that our farm doesn't need to be pretty, just functional. And of course, I think EVERYTHING needs to be pretty! 

Please tell me that I am not alone in this?? But I will share something that I am proud of....this weekend we had a group of friends over that had never seen our home and farm. I brought them down to the barn for a full tour of our livestock...and later that evening I remembered that I didn't apologize once for overgrown weeds/grass or the way the barnyard looked in general! So, somehow I am either getting used to the fact that it won't be this showplace of a yard, or just hoping that the rest of our yard makes up for it! :)

Anyway, this is what I have been obsessing over lately....time for me to go tend to my pretty flowers and fluff the pillows on our porch! Thanks for stopping by friends!!