Front Porch love

Ahhh....my front porch! This is where I wish I could be sitting right now....reading a magazine, drinking some lemonade, listening to the soothing fountain (and all the farm birds we have). 

Got it all cleaned up and "perty" for the season.....maybe next week I will finally have some time to enjoy it!
~Kim

BARN love

While I was feeding our BIG cows this week, I found some time to take a few snapshots with my camera-phone. While they are NOT the best quality, I still love the idea behind the pics and maybe someday will get my great big "professional" camera down there and take some good ones.

My kids and I have a fascination for barns...we always swoon over them on drives through the countryside, and often stop and take pictures of them. But this particular barn at Irishman Acres is definitely our favorite!

This barn is probably my favorite thing on our farm....it is only 2 yrs old now, but has been a part of 4 births, a slumber party (in the hay loft) , great shelter from the snow and rain for our cows and Dixie, and a roosting station for our Guinea Fowl at night. Not even to mention has been an awesome backdrop for photography sessions.....

Gunnar's 5 year old pics...in the frame of the barn. 

My 4 babes Fall picture session 2009.

Claire-A-Belle and Carly....nosy little Noras.

My sister and her family. Fall 2010.

Bailey Girl Cousins. Fall 2010. Finally stained barn!!

Emma's Senior pics Fall 2011.

These are Emma's Senior pics that I just scanned, not great images, but  the originals are priceless!

This barn was designed and built by my wonderful, strong, handsome BaileyHusband.......and we couldn't be more happy with how it turned out!
I hope to get inside the barn soon and get it "cleaned". The little Charlotte's Webs have taken over in every nook and cranny. I'll be sure to put that on my to-do list....for next month :)
~Kim

New pillows!

Sometimes all it takes are new pillows to make this girl giggly! You see, I can't sew...not a stitch....but I have a mama who is a whiz at it! THANK GOODNESS!! 

It all started when I was burlap and denim fabric shopping for my daughter's grad party....and then I saw it! The most beautiful fabric that I've ever seen...and it sang to me!!! 

I wasn't even shopping for new pillow fabric for myself...but COULD NOT pass this by. So I bought a couple yards of it...not even knowing what I was going to do with it.

Isn't it PRETTY? I just love the birds and the colors......

So my mama came over yesterday to "help" me do something with it!

And here are some (bad) photos of the final products...she used almost every square inch of what I bought.

 I wasn't planning on adding one to our bed....but I LOVE IT in there..the background color in the fabric is actually the same as my walls! Totally meant to be :)

And here are some throw pillows in our front room (where they were actually made for).

Like I said, it doesn't take much for this girl to get excited, I think I actually did a happy dance when these were finished! 

Now that my home is ALMOST complete...I can start thinking of other projects to do RELAX!

~Kim

My Coffee Room

I am always in the mood for a trip to Colorado in the summertime! My desire for the Rocky Mountains comes from my childhood family vacations that we almost always took in July-August. 

When I got married, I deepened my love of the mountains by taking my husband and then our children to share in my passion.

A few years back, we added a room onto the back of our home. It is lovingly called our "Coffee Room". Somewhere we can sit by the fire in the winter months and drink our morning cup of Joe.....

Somewhere this Mama likes to read her design books and dream of more projects for BaileyHusband. 

Somewhere my kids like to play old-fashioned board games while drinking their coffee (Hot Cocoa).

 When designing this room, we tried to think of all the spaces in the homes that we have toured in Colorado that we love. Stone, wood vaulted ceilings, stucco walls, wood floors, fireplace......

(Oh my, please don't mind the dust on the ceiling fan! :)

.......so we packed up our van, took all the back seats out, and the 2 of us headed to Winter Park, CO to help us furnish our new space!

(These we found at a shop near Winter Park, they are actually from Mexico, but I fell in love with them!)

 Winter Park has an annual Craft Fair in the summer that we couldn't wait to go to. Here are a few things we picked up....

(Nothing is more soothing than the sounds of running water. A local artist in Colorado makes these.)

(These salt rocks are supposed to give you energy . And they are pretty)

(My favorite piece. Made from a Redwood Burl.)

We also bought many other hand-made items...candles, kids' toy train, a bird house, and a welcome sign (hanging above fireplace). Now that it is getting warm outside, I am longing for another trip to my Rockies...I desperately hope that we can squeeze one in this summer!!

(The BEST seat in the house!)

Now I better quit drinking my coffee and get back to the rest of my home....I hear cows moo'ing, chickens clucking, and dust on my new floors calling out my name!

~Kim

Oh, the JOYS....

There are times when you wish you had your camera, and then there are times you are glad no one has a camera!

Recently, I had a "BaileyWife" type of incident that I wish we had a video camera taping, because I am convinced we would have won the grand prize on America's Funniest Home Videos!!

You see, I am DEATHLY afraid of snakes...not only do I not like them....but I am known to completely freak out when there is one in my presence. And since we live in the country, guess what? They are ALWAYS in my presence!!!!! If I am on my tractor, mowing, I am OK with the title of "SNAKE KILLER" , but when the snake is on my concrete driveway, trying to get into my garage.....and no one (male) is around to help me....I did tend to scream and carry on like a complete basket case from a horror movie!! 

My poor 18 yr old daughter, who was home from school with the stomach flu, was forced to come to my rescue...sort of.

I continually screamed bloody murder until she joined me outside...I was NOT going to let that snake out of my site.....and Emma, being the good girl that she is....decided to help mama "kill that trespassing pet of the devil". We had some wood beams sitting on our driveway of my husbands, a pitch fork, and a mallett. If there was anyone around in a 3 mile radius, I'm sure they heard it all.....all the screams, yelling, and crying of us while we were throwing these things at the intruder!

Long story short....here he is......If you are reading this and are a snake lover....I'm sorry.  :)

My boys, when they returned from school, disposed of it...IN MY YARD!!!

Now on to another "BaileyWife" moment.....

This morning, after everyone left for work and school....I looked outside to see our bull trying to crawl under our barb wire fence to get to some fresh grass. (yes, mini herefords do seem to crawl to get to what they want :)

Scared that he was going to go all the way under the fence and join me on my back porch....I threw on my boots to let him out to the pasture. And then continued to do all the morning outdoor chores and weed-pulling in between these rain storms we've been having.

I will just say that I am so glad we live in the country and no one can see that I was in a little night-gown with my chore boots, climbing barb wire fences, hauling feed and hoses, filling water troughs....that would have been a site for the mailman! :)

We have a completely FULL weekend of 4H meetings, baseball practices, graduation parties to attend, another spring concert (last one!), and hopefully have time to work on some projects around here! 

Have a great weekend! 

~Kim

During construction- not glamorous!

I will post before and after pictures later (when it's finally finished), but I thought I would show some DURING pictures right now....this is how we have been living for the past couple months.....

BaileyHusband putting up the scaffold that remained for 4 weeks! Great swingset for my boys, and really hard to relax and watch TV at night. But it's gone now!! Notice the ugly white fan and ALLLL the deerheads? (both, I'm happy to report are GONE from this room...well, most of the deerheads)

The remaining wood flooring that we have to jump over to get to the kitchen......

The SCARY opening to the stairs......

We took down the old banister and railing, and this is how it currently looks, hoping no children fall down the stairs and break their necks...so NOT up to code.....shhh.......the rest of this flooring is getting laid this weekend and hopefully the new railing will not be far behind. Although we still have yet to finalize an order for it!!!! 

This is the "holding station" for all things DECOR, in my bedroom! I hear BaileyHusband trip and get mad every night on his way to finding his side of the bed! This is probably the most stressful part because I like to keep our room in tip top shape....more like my sanctuary. I should probably do something about this soon.........

Our bedroom carpets need a professional to "tuck them in".

The boys helping daddy in our front room

What the front room currently looks like, unfinished , with  a bunch of furniture pushed in..... 

Adding the new trim....oh so pretty!

I FINALLY found a rug that I am in love with for the living room. This is from Pottery Barn. It is their Heathered Chenille Jute Rug 8x10 size. After looking in tons of catalogs, shops, and online stores...I knew this was THE ONE when I saw it on their showroom floor. Pottery Barn is having a sale on their rugs this month, and I got an even bigger discount by purchasing their floor model. BIG SCORE FOR ME!!!! It is in perfect condition and totally finished the space.

That is one thing off of my to-do list....

SOOO much more on that list....{sigh}

~Kim

April Happenings

Besides all the renovations around our home, and all the spring chores that need done around the farm...we do slip in some fun time. Here is a few pictures of what has been happening in our family life.....

Baby nephew Clint joined our family...so precious! He joins big sister (who is one year old) Izzy. Love having my snuggle time with both of them!!!

Gunnar's spring concert...looking so handsome! He is such a ham (wonder where he gets that from?) He sang and danced his heart out. I hope he keeps that part of him forever.....

Sierra's track meet....she ROCKS those hurdles! Track is probably my favorite sport to watch, and I usually hurt my vocal cords during them!

Getting some air! This is her first year doing the long jump and I am quite impressed!

Wyatt taking a breather...hot day in that catcher's gear!

Gunnar making that other team nervous...he got a BIG hit after this was taken!

Thee most gorgeous double rainbow appeared over our home.....and guess what?

The END OF THE RAINBOW was at IRISHMAN ACRES!!!! I always knew that we had the best golden view! It was spectacular to see it end right there in our field!

Wyatt working on a 4H craft project...this burlap pinboard will also be used at his sister's grad party we are throwing her. 

We have to document him making it for his project to prove to the judges that he made it himself! 

All this business is exhausting but the memories of it all are priceless! And I am there with my camera every step of the way!


~Kim