My Fabulous and Furry Family Portrait

All I wanted for Christmas was a nice winter family portrait.  This of course would include my children, my puppy ‘Kelso’, and my sheep ‘Big Lil and Wonder’.   They are all family to me and everyone needed to be included, even if they really didn’t know what was happening.  Gathering children for a family portrait is tricky in itself.  Herding sheep and keeping a dog calm is a whole other ballgame.  Besides having sheep and a dog,  the local horses walked our way, curious about what was happening in ‘their’ pasture.  It was quite the circus with bags of grain being tossed here and there as well as animals and humans jumping up and down.  My darling friend, Angie and our cute neighbor boy, Cooper, were my assistants in capturing this menagerie.  We had a blast.

First we hopped into our neighbor’s field one, wintery white Sunday afternoon, and began to get to know the locals.  Our neighbors’ horses are so friendly and wanted to be in every picture.  Because of this, we let them trot into the photos  (for the most part).  Ethan, Maille, Adam, and Jay loved stroking the horses manes as well as chatting equestrian talk with them.   These creatures were so beautiful and friendly we just had to capture their smiles and backsides (LOL) in our winter family portrait.

Why Sheep?

The real faces I wanted in my portrait were my children’s, my husband’s, my dog’s, and our sheep’s.  Why sheep?  My friend Angie and I adopted six bummer lambs from good friends in Morgan during COVID 2020.  We bottle fed these babies as well as nursed broken legs back to health.  ‘Wonder Woman’ was the name my friend gave one of her lambs because the ewe couldn’t even walk for months after she was born.   With time and sweet care, her strength grew and she began to walk.  Wonder has grown up to be a wonderful momma ewe to two darling spring lambs.  Because of our love for sheep and fiber, my good friend and I took a spinning class from Judy Gunn with Judy’s Novelty Wool.  She’s an amazing teacher of wool skirting, drafting, picking, carding, dying and spinning.  A true Utah shepherdess.  

Ok, sorry.  I can get a little carried away when talking sheep.  🙂

Capturing this portrait of my family and our animals was the best Christmas present I could have asked for.  I’m a farmer at heart and find such beauty and  joy in God’s creatures, great and small.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, friends!

Love, The Baxters