Eggs, Girls and Life

I know its been ages since I've blogged (again) summer here has been HOT. Our garden is hanging on by a thread. Parts are growing well, while others are withering and dying.

The kids are having the time of their lives even as their school supplies have started arriving. To keep them on track they have been doing very light summer school and reading each day.

On to the fun and insane topic that I really, really find funny. Our chickens! First off a few of them are laying already - cute tiny half sized eggs. We just ordered their legs bands so I can finally start naming all of them - instead of the two names I had because they were the only ones I could tell apart from the rest.

Tiny egg next to a golf ball

Also side note - out of the 12 babies we bought 9 survived to adulthood. ALL 9 seem to be female. What are the odds of buying unsexed babies and finding they're ALL girls!?!
Hubby added another set of laying boxes since we ended up with more girls than we thought we would.

Now back to naming the ladies. Drumroll....

1. Lemony Snicket (yes male name but since my beautiful Americana looks like lemon pepper seasoning it works. Lemony Snicket pen name for Daniel Handler)
2. Henrietta (You can't have a flock of hens without this name. Don't argue with me, I'm convinced this is a must.)
3. Clary (Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare)
4. Hermione (Harry Potter by J.K Rowling)
5. Anne (Jane Austen's Persuasion)
Anne has been changed to Lizzie from Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice having both an Anne and an Annabeth was too confusing for the kids. Later on down the road when the flock changes we will have an Anne again.
6. Polgara (The Belgariad & The Mallorean by David Eddings)
7. Vin (Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson)
8. Kahlan (Sword of Truth by Terry Goodkind)
9. Annabeth (Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan)

I don't know if you can tell but I LOVE reading. There were a few names that we cut out because we knew they would be uber popular and/or no one would know they were from books.
Cut names were Arya (both from Eragon and Game of Thrones), Esther (Dickens Bleak House), Tris  (Divergent), Rose (Vampire Academy) & Poppet (Night Circus).

Not all of the girls but most of them

Summer seems to be flying past! Highlights so far include my amazing B-day weekend, 4th of July party at Shayne's, lazy pool days with the kiddos and my sister scoring an amazing job!
Hope everyone else is having an amazing summer!

Nine Years and Winter in Spring

Lets start with the odd but somewhat normal Utah oddness. Winter in Spring. This year while the rest of the country was hit with blizzards, snow and frigid temperatures Utah had the most mild winter I've ever seen!
Seriously it snowed 3 times in the whole of winter and nothing very severe or lasting, a very un-Utah winter.
Yesterday was far more normal, even though we all complained and talked of it all day long - it was nice to feel like Utah was once again acting like itself. Bizarre.
You see, we started out the day with very strong winds. Winds that increased as the day went on.
50-80 mph winds gusted through the northern valley for a good 8 hours.

This would have been perfectly fine - even with the damage to cars, garbage cans, trampolines and other various out door items and fences - but it was coupled with mild rain, which caused MUD RAIN.
Everything was caked in dried MUD. You see the wind was blowing so harshly that you could barely see for all the dust and dirt. Add a sprinkling of rain and all that dirt stuck and then immediately dried again do to - the wind.

It was during this time that the kids and I went to pick up my dog from the groomers. This meant taking wash clothes to wipe the mud off the windows, keeping them in the car so I could do it again in the parking lot of the groomers - normally this type of behavior would cause laughter and pointing, instead I got nods of appreciation and a thumbs up for my cleverness!
Once home our power continued to flicker but stayed faithful as the rain finally over powered the wind and started to wash the mud away.
This is a good thing as soon after the mud washed away, the snow started. SNOW. You know the white soft squishy stuff that we normally get during winter time but didn't this year? Yeah that stuff.
Lots and lots of that stuff...

Bottom car left - Dried Mud. Bottom car middle - snow (yesterday)

Today is my sons 9th birthday! He is 100% under the belief that Jack Frost likes him and arranged the snow especially for his birthday. I am not dumb enough to disabuse him of this, as at least he is happy with the snow and not complaining that it's STILL coming down!
So far I've cleaned 4 inches off my car and shoveled the sidewalk. I will go out again in an hour and do it all over again. (Finally I am using the shovel I bought for winter!)
I am fairly sure G'man will decide snow in April sucks when his present arrives today in the mail.
We bought him a new scooter - his other one broke after two years of near constant use and abuse.

The weekend should bring warm weather, thankfully since I am planning a BBQ bash to celebrate my sons birth. (Okay not to big, but still full of love)
Right now the snow doesn't show any sign of stopping, instead its coming down harder and stronger than ever!
Have a safe and fun day!

Chicken Haven Complete

I'm sore and tired, but extremely happy that one major summer project is finally complete.
Sure we may tweek the top of the coop come fall, we may add another set of laying boxes to the other side of the coop, but for now at least, its done.

We lined the insides of the fence with chicken wire as well to keep them in and Patch out. He LOVES the chickens but wants to play, bite their necks, so he has to stay on the outside of the fence.

Update 8/8/15: Patch actually LOVES the chickens (not in a bad way) when they are together in the same yard the most he does to them is to try to gently herd them back into their smaller yard and out of his yard. We still have to keep them separate though due to his LOVE and OBSESSION with rolling in their wet poop!
Now they share the yard, he gets it in the morning to mid-afternoon and they get afternoon into evening. Thankfully this has been working for them all.

We really did a lot of work to get the entire area completed. Not to mention I ran out to have lunch with my bestie. I was trying to get to the ER before she was discharged but I didn't make it. On a good note - she's fine. Her arm is in a splint for a few days but she is recovering.

The chickens seem to love having some room to run around. They chased each other around for a while before settling into the happy task of eating all the ants that had been biting my hubby for digging a hole into their home.
My hubby was childishly delighted that the chickens were eating the ants - every time he looked over at them scratching the nest he would beam.

I can't wait for them to start laying eggs! Hubby wants to make custard, I want flan and everyone in the house adores breakfast for dinner!

Each year we have continued to work on more projects. Already we have this years garden half way started! The kids will get the last of the fencing wood to add to their playground - so even though the season for yard work has just started, we are well on our way!
To the outer chicken yard we will be adding a dirt bath area, a chicken swing, possibly a few perch poles and a small mini salad buffet. (That's a lettuce grow box with chicken wire over it so they can't get at the roots.)

So for a fence that cost us 26.00 dollars (1 penny per piece of wood) I think we got quite the deal! I adore the cull section of Lowes!
Next project is the kids playground, planting the rest of the garden and then dismantling our fireplace chimney - but that's another story!

Chickens, Coop and Fencing

Last week we got half of the fence done. Tomorrow should see the end of the battle! We really need to get the outer day area fence done - our little chickies are almost full grown! They need the room to run around! Hubby and I are excited for the weather forecast, tomorrow is supposed to be 70 deg and sunny! A good day for the amount of work we need to get done.
We also need to plant the corn that hubby started indoors and is now several inches already!

Also my lettuce is coming up and I am very excited! Home grown lettuce is much yummier and sweeter tasting than what you buy in the store!

The small painted pink boards are for the coop, to panel around the edges, tucking in the chicken wire and will hopefully give it a finished look.

Today we took a rare break from school work for a quick play date at my bestie's house. 

The kids swung on swings, jumped on the trampoline, played with Patch and then after they had run themselves ragged they crashed and watched half of Wall-e. 

I love having some time with my BFF. We don't get enough time to spend together and just talk about random things.
She is 100%, one of my favorite people in the entire world! There isn't anyone I would rather spend time with, chat with, shop with, tell secrets with or sing with. Joy, pain, love, sorrow, we've been together through thick and thin.
I don't normally gush so much, but today we crossed yet another TMI threshold that we hadn't crossed before (which for two very blunt spoken women is saying something).
So here's to TMI, friendship and a future that we can't even begin to imagine!.


Also I am down to 205 pds Yay!

Easter Egging!

Last night when we went to lock up the house for the night, we found two buckets and two kites on our front porch. They had notes addressed to Prissy and to G'man! Indicating eggs had already been laid down and were waiting for the kids!

We'd been Eastered! A surprise Easter Egging!

Now before you wonder - yes I am that lucky, and yes I have some very amazing loving people in my life, as well as in my kids lives!

This morning while the kids hunted eggs, mama and papa hunted the givers! Our very good friends Shayne and Sara played Easter bunny and gave our kids much more than just candy! They have been smiling and feeling so very extra special today!

Also we finished painting the chicken coop and worked more on the outside fence. They are getting so large they will need to be able to run around the day coop soon!

Yesterday and today we worked on backyard projects. Hubby tilled the entire back garden. We fixed the tiller and ran into my besties sister - which is a whole other story.
Due to the amount of spring work we've been trying to get done, we had a very simple quite Easter dinner.
Here is the recipe and photo of dinner!

Whether you celebrate Easter or Passover I pray today was blessed and full of love.

Tears, Friends and Projects.

Saturday morning I attended a funeral for Louis Damolaris.
You may not know this about me, but I suck at lying, bright cheery words and false hope. A very good friend of mine chose to let me spend this time with her, knowing full well that I'm not the best at cheering anyone up.
You see both her and I, have buried people before. Early deaths, shocking deaths, painful deaths. She and I both know that tender sympathy and kind words are hollow.
Instead I sat next to her and cried.

Afterwards we went up to one of her favorite places and had waffles.

In typical, lets be a brat moment, I had the staff call out for Hot Stuff when our food was up. Her daughter is now embarrassed to be seen with me. (Love you Megan!)

We spent the rest of the day together with my best friend Margie. We ate, chatted, laughed, made fun of people and each other, yelled at traffic and watched Insurgent.
We didn't try to forget or avoid sensitive topics, we didn't try to paint pretty pictures of the future, we just spent the day together.

Sunday started off with a... broken window that we are positive the Wa-Um must have broken. The Wa-Um is our son's imaginary friend/monster. The Wa-Um has been blamed for everything since my son was two years old. Since NO ONE told us that it broke or how, it MUST be the Wa-Um again.
Dang! I really hoped that when we moved, we'd left him behind.

Our chickens are growing quickly and are adorable. So far they are very quiet and well behaved.
My bestie though has taken to calling me the Chicken Epi Lady. While I adore her, I am thinking up future pay backs for this one.

The Kitchen garden is done! We've filled in the dirt, separated the sections, and I finished planting it today! Now all I have to do is weed, water and wait. 

I hate wait.

I have to go now, hubby is calling me to help fix the window and he really, REALLY wants me off the computer! 

Early Easter, Dirt and TMI

Hubby's work once again did the Easter Egg hunt for the kids! We did the 4:30 hunt, but due to how many employees they have, they also did a 5:30 hunt as well.

G'man went nuts and came away with more candy than I think any other kid got - his bucket was FULL.

Prissy was just happy that she got to take a photo with the Disney Princesses!

Both kids have enough candy to make them sick for at least a week! Easter isn't even here and already I'm wishing the candy far far away!

My sister ended up in the E.R today and will be going in for surgery to remove her gallbladder soon.

Prayers for her health, safety and finances are greatly appreciated! 

My kitchen garden dirt (half topsoil/half compost) arrived and needs to be shoveled into the bed area.

We are hoping its enough dirt - if not we may need to buy more.

I think between the pile and the rest of our own compost pile we will have enough. Hubby is slightly worried.

He is such a perfectionist - I don't know how in the world he's managed to be married to me for so long and stay... somewhat sane?

My grasp on sanity slipped years back - if I ever had a hold at all.

I am still working out daily and still losing. Its slow but I'm seeing progress! 

Also in a weird, what the hey, TMI moment I got a new tiny cute torture device called an Epilator. This is a mechanical tweezer machine that rips the hair out of your body. The first minute or so is quite painful - it fades and you are left with incredibly smooth arm pits and legs.

Seriously my body hasn't been this smooth since I was 12.

If you want to have smooth skin for swimsuit season and can handle a little pain, you should look into one!