Goodbye Coco!

These are farewell pictures of our cute little pygmy goat. We sold her to a nice lady who lives on 4 acres and has 11 other goats. Coco will have a better life with new friends to play with and roaming freely(for the most part) and not tied up. We sold her in 4 days on KSL, which just goes to show you can sell just about anything on KSL Classifieds. We're still doing the chicken thing. They're so easy to take care of and the fresh eggs are fantastic. Just say NO to store bought eggs!! Anyway......farewell Coco!! We enjoyed your kisses, your ba-a-a-a-a-a-s, eating our rose bushes and NOT eating the weeds, and your horn pokes in the behind. May the grass be greener on the other side(for real).

Everyone has a job to do

Me... I do a little of it all... including planting this garden

Ryan's shirt says it all...


Adam cutting up firewood

Londyn pulling weeds

Lucy filling horse water

This is why we moved to our little farmette, so the kids always have jobs to do inside and outside. And to enjoy a little more privacy and provident living.

A Father's Day Tribute to my Husband

In comment and addition to the next post "A fathers day point of view"... I just wanted to add my point of view too.
I am living my dream life thanks to a great childhood with dreams of one day marrying a tall, dark, handsome man that provides and protects for his family with love and patience, and allows me to stay at home to be "my kids mom".
Dr. Laura gives some great advice in her book "The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands" that I wanted to share with all the wives reading this post. Men really are simple creatures. It's us women who try to complicate things in our own head. I know I just need to chill out and spend my energy on what really matters. Here's a couple of tidbits that seem like no-brainers but are really important to practice:
* Compliment/make him feel important/your hero
* Clear Communication/don't give hints, just say what you want
* Ask not what your man can do for you, but what you can do for your man.
* Recognize the subtle ways our husbands show us they love us.
* Write loves notes
* Make date night a priority
* Do what you need to do to be healthy, so you're not "tired all the time".
* The 3 A's... Acceptance, Appreciation, Affection
* Stop complaining
* Love him for who he is, don't try to change him.

Now, don't over-whelm yourself. Just pick one for today to practice on. I think I'll choose... Write Love Notes. I'm not a big talker, I'd rather write anyway. So, honey, look for those mushy love notes scattered about. Here's one now...
I love being married to you!!! Thank you for allowing me to live my dream life and supporting me as your wife and our kids mom. I couldn't ask for more. I love you!!!

A Father's Day Point of View

This picture made me feel like a gatherer!! Allow me to explain. "Hey honey, have a seat in the rocking chair, on the porch, now gather 'round your old man kids....and let's take a picture." That was the scene running through my head anyway. Adam gave me a card that said, "How does a peaceful, relaxing, stress-free Father's Day sound?...(dog barking, phone ringing, tv on, stereo up all the way, plant tipped over)...stuff these(cotton balls) in your ears and find out." As a father I'm just happy that my kids have food to eat, clothes to wear, and a house to live in. Of course we ask for the occasional big ticket item, don't all dads do that? We have no cash in our wallets, we don't care what's for dinner just that we have one, and our clothes are worn out. We have no private space, except the bathroom if the door locks, and the food we try to hide for later always gets found and then eaten so when the moment comes when we want to indulge ourselves with our favorite potato chips, they're gone. Just an empty wrapper near our son's feet. But that's ok, we don't really care! We'll hunt for more food tomorrow, because we are the hunters, not the gatherers. We hunt for food Monday - Friday, and we really hope to hunt on Saturdays. When we're not hunting, we don't know what to do with ourselves, so we do nothing except watch sports, which is actually just watching other men...... hunt. Make us sit in a rocking chair for a picture and we think, are we done yet, can we go hunting now? So here's my question: Why in the world is Father's Day on a Sunday? It should be on a Saturday so we can actually be HUNTING!!

Weekend Camping Trip

This weekend Londyn went to 5th grade girl's camp so Courtney and I decided to take the other two kids and go camping ourselves. We camped at a local pond where I knew we could catch a lot of planted trout and we did. We were prepared to fish three poles, but the fishing was so hot, it was all we could do to keep one pole in the water. Lucy loved to reel in the fish, but once it was on shore she would run away. I've never seen a two-year old reel in fish so well. We had a great time!

Happy 9th Birthday Adam!!!

Adam's been planning his birthday for months, so we were definitely going bowling. It was nice to keep the noise and mess out of the house, and the kids had a great time.

The Wind Up...

The Release...

The Score!!!



The Girls

The Boys

Lucy held her own with all the big kids and even got a STRIKE

Adam's Bowling Cake

Lucy in "heaven" riding Midnight

Cub Scout Rocket Derby

Ryan and I had never heard of the Rocket Derby before, but non-the-less Ryan stayed up till 1:00am the night before sanding away to make the perfect shaped rocket from a rectangle block. Adam fell asleep on the garage floor trying to be helpful. Ryan did a great job, and Adam painted it the next day just in time for the derby. It had many successful flights.

Our first Summer outing

I cancelled cable for the summer so the kids wouldn't be glued to the Disney Channel and waste away their summer. We will use the money to go on fun outings once a week. After dropping Sammie off at the Airport we went to the Gateway Mall and the Salt Lake City Temple grounds.

Playing in the mist at the Gateway

The Christus Statue at the Temple Visitors Center


The roof of the Conference Center... The kids were tired out from walking too much


Reflection pool at Temple


Columbine growing on the rooftop of the Conference Center (My dad's favorite flower, so it made me think of him)



I don't think you're supposed to make ripples in the pool. It messes with the reflection... But keeping kids out of water, especially on a hot day is near impossible.

Memorial Weekend -- Fun with cousins in Panquitch and Bryce Canyon

Adam, Londyn, Sammie, and Jack

Yes, we went down in there...

It was cool how 1 lone tree grew up through this crack

Check out those storm clouds.... Luckily, we only got sprinkled on

On top of the world

A cave the kids found in case it started to down pour