Worrell Family
2015 update 2015
is a year we will always remember as one where we dealt with a number of changes
both in our lives. This year, I have started teaching Human anatomy and
physiology at a local Community College.
I love teaching and have enjoyed the students. Our daughter also experienced changes as she started
the 8 grade at a new school.
Due to transportation problems, we had to switch schools at the last
possible moment before school began. She
is doing well in her studies. She also continues
to play the clarinet in band, riding (and driving-cart) horses, playing tennis,
and ice skating. She made us
exceptionally proud when she won a medal at the northwest regional ice skating
competition! She had a wonderful ice
skating competition season and looks forward to next year’s season. Last week, she performed in a Christmas ice
skating show skating to “Home on Christmas Day”. She was so elegant and
beautiful! In February 2016, she will
perform in her third professional ice show “Love is in the air”. Lots of practices there! We continue to play Tennis before school (at
6 am on the days she doesn’t ice skate) and having a blast. Though, I seem to be getting beat now more
often on the tennis court! I am working
with our wonderful tennis coach to hopefully keep these losses to a minimum!
LOL! This year, our daughter grew 7 ½
inches and turned 13! We celebrated her
birthday with a party at trampoline nation.
The kids had a blast jumping for hours especially in the “trick nation”
section where they performed flips and very strange maneuvuers. It made me tired just watching them! How wonderful to be able to jump for hours
and then eat cake and pizza! In June, we lost my dad (86 yrs old) so this holiday season is hard as
we remember his smile and miss him with each passing day. However, the loss has brought us closer to my
sister and her family, an incredible gift.
We spent a wonderful week this past summer with my sister’s family
ending with an incredible weekend on their beautiful houseboat! It is hard to comprehend that mom has been
gone since 2007 and now dad has joined mom leaving us as the next
generation. On the farm, we continue to raise cashmere, Shetland sheep, angora bunnies,
and kiko goats. This year, we have added
a small grazing pig to our farm, the KuneKune pig (pronounced
CooneyCooney). These are small pigs with
incredibly sweet temperaments (wonderful pets!) that graze and don’t destroy
the pastures as regular pigs would. We look
forward to baby piglets later in 2016. We
also found a new llama to adopt (Panda) after the loss of our previous
llama. Panda is the sweetest boy
ever! Llamas help keep the coyotes off
our farm and our baby animals safe. We also saw changes with our horses. The horse that I bought in 2014, Reba who was
a 5 yr old double registered American Quarter Horse/Paint, developed leg
problems and we had to find her a retirement home. We were lucky to locate another paint/arab
gelding (Armaini) who I am having fun getting to know. We also found a new horse trainer who is
amazing and our daughter and I look forward to showing Armani and Lady in
2016. I continue to gain strength in my
legs but I am still dealing with knee pain now a year after my car
accident. Unfortunately, showing dogs is
still not possible due to my knee problems.
This is heartbreaking for me as I have a lovely young bullmastiff girl “Caroline”
who I am wanting to show. But, I hope
this will change in the future with the help of physical therapy. I have located a dog handler who may have to help
me this next year with Caroline. Please check out our websites www.olwestfarms.com and www.olwestbullmastiffs.com for
updates (or facebook). We hope 2016 is a
wonderful healthy year for you and your family. Love, Barbara Ol West Farms |