I Worship at the Feet of Caroline Ingalls

I was enjoying my quiet house at 10:45 all by myself. My DH was busy praying at the temple about some big changes in our life and I was taking a very hot bath. When what do I hear? But the mad squawking of chickens trying to jump the coop. I immediately bound out of the tub, narrowly escaping a swift landing on the tailbone due to the wet floor and race over to the window. Frantically, I grab the first thing that cannot break and throw it in the general direction of the noise. No, it wasn't to shut those hens up, but to scare the SKUNK! Yes, we have had a visitor in our backyard for a couple of weeks now. Evidently he likes free range eggs just as much as me. I'll give him that, he has good taste. But I am sure my neighbors don't like having chickens wandering around in their front yards...I mean it is suburbia after all.
So I was pissed. That dang skunk wasn't going to keep doing this. And being the stubborn woman that I am, grabbed a red silky robe and ran down the stairs to finally take care of that skunk once and for all. No one was messin with my hens!
I frantically searched for a flashlight and turned on the porch light. I grabbed the hoe that just so happened to be teetering right next to the sliding glass door. Only when I stepped out, did I realize that I was still dripping wet and not fully clothed, but I was on a mission.
The hoe in hand and flashlight staring down that skunk I made my move...called him like a hide and seek game...come out, come out where ever you are little stupid skunk! Oh yeah, I knew I could be sprayed at any minute but I had a firm resolve. The only thing going through my mind was "I wonder how Caroline Ingalls would deal with this?" After searching high and low for the skunk and finding 2 errant chickens perched on the fence, I decided that Mr. Skunk was gone and it was more important to save myself the embarrassment of trying to chase chickens down the road. I shook Christian awake and he unconsciously made it outside to help me get the birds. Surprisingly easy actually to catch birds in the middle of the night. So now the hens were back in their house. The porch light was on and then I realized that I probably had just given my neighbors a show....still in the first thing I grabbed, a red silk robe...NICE! So not a Caroline Ingalls thing to do!

Oh Caroline, can I meld the farm life and the city life together much longer? It was easy when the coyotes ate all the skunks and the big dog scared off the little critters. Now I still get dead mice on my doorstep from my cats and I enjoy the fresh eggs, but I can't just fly outside half naked to chase down a varmint in the middle of the night. Dang it! Oh Caroline what would you do?

I've been labeled...

Huh?  Evidently they have developed a name for me...Femivore.  Check out the article and see what you think.

Brrrrrr......

Oregon, did you turn into Idaho this year?  What is with your single digit degrees this week?  Ok, so to make it all even more unbearable, the propane tank was empty Friday night.  No worries.  I laughed.  It's only money right?  268 bucks for 2 weeks of warmth...a price to pay for living out in the country?!  But when Monday rolled around and the propane gods said they couldn't come until Friday, Momma got a little pissed.  Dealing with the cold wasn't so bad because we did have a wood stove that heat the kitchen up somewhat and those little ceramic heaters do a good job heating up the bedrooms upstairs.  Hot water, was a little to hard to come by.  Just when I thought I was finished with my canner, I had to drag it out to boil some water.  My kids can go for days without showers, but Mom and Dad, it's every other day at the very least.  On Tuesday they informed us that they could come give us 125 gallons to get us through the next 3 weeks.  That's right folks, 3 weeks and we will be living down in the valley!!!!  Meanwhile, the chickens are in a makeshift coop in the garage so they wont freeze and that dang rooster got me up at 4:30 this morning (the garage is right underneath our room).  But despite all this frigidness, I am in high spirits.
1. Sold the piano so we can pay for the move, bankruptcy, Christmas, and winter gear for everyone.
2. The Eurovan is back and only cost 500 to fix.  The transmission wasn't going out, it was just a gasket.  Evidently there has to be fluid in it to run properly...YOU THINK?!  That other mechanic was a nut case.
3. Patrick got his promotion last week.  Which means a pay raise and a company car and gas card! Yippee!
4. I am turning in my application for admittance to BYU-I online degree program (not independent study...)
5. I have bought paint for 4 rooms and have already started using the rollers ( haven't touched a paint roller in almost 3 years)!
6. It is so clear and sunny here that you can see Mt. Bachelor!  Really!  
7. We might have this place rented, so we can leave with a light and grateful heart.
Other stuff is happening that is good too, but some of it, I can't really talk about, because it's not mine to share, but needless to say, December is turning out to be a very good month.

Keep warm everyone!

Breakfast Beverages

I heart coffee. Growing up, I think I had my first cup when I was 13 or 14. When I lived with my Dad, I'd drink at least a mug every morning if not more. I love the smell and the taste. When I go down the aisle in the store with the coffee in it, I take a big wiff. I know I know, going to HELL! This is what family I happened to choose to come down to. We were coffee connoisseurs. I can tell the difference between a good french pressed cup and one that is instant..yuck, if it was roasted wrong, etc... Last cup of coffee I had was when I was 19 and caved for an iced mocha. I've repented and reformed. I steer clear of all things coffee because I know it's a hot button for me. I realize that it is just plain awful for you, lot's of tanic acid and caffeine. So I began down the long road of other breakfast beverages.

Pero is a staple in my house. Hot cocoa sometimes is just too sweet. The kids think I'm nuts. We have had a hot water dispenser in the last 3 houses we've owned and I will never not have one. It makes breakfast beverages a snap! Our new house has one as well. I also enjoy a hot cider with a little Carmel syrup and a dollop of cream with a dash of cinnamon. Herb tea is also a great choice. Can you see that I love hot drinks? They get me going in the morning when I am freezing. I can still get that "coffee" fix without going against my religious leaders or health professionals. What's weird is that $168 dollars worth of propane doesn't last a month and that its 63 degrees in my house and we have no hot water. Pero, you saved me this morning....but I think Postum was the best.

Being Sturdy

So sorry that you have to read all of my thoughts this month. But I promised myself that I would do this, so be patient....

I think I was born in the wrong century. When I was a young girl, I was scrawny and scrappy...think Anderson except a girl. Not only was I thin, but I was tall too. Being stuck between two brothers and having no sisters, I learned to take care of myself. I could do anything my brothers did. I wanted to fish and camp etc... Defending myself from flinging dog crap and the occasional wrestle mania on the living room floor was just how it was. Then puberty hit and my parents got divorced and I turned into a girl with hips and all the other important parts.

Now, I hate it. I hate that I can lift 2 fifty pound feed sacks at a time. Moving furniture singlehandedly, not a problem. Fixing broken stuff, my husband even fully admits that I am more skilled in this area than he. Healthy as a horse, yep that is me. No weird bizarre things are wrong with me. I have a strong back, strong arms, strong legs, a strong heart, all of which don't add up to a very feminine picture. (maybe that is why I love all things girly..cooking, sewing, decorating, etc...) Sure, I can handle alot. My pain tolerance is high. Bugs and dirt don't freak me out. Which leads me to think that I must have been meant for the mid to late 1800's not the 21 century.
Everywhere I look, their are petite little dew drops that get their nails done and are scraping in at 5'2".

Don't get me wrong, I love that I can be independent and strong...gettin it done! But sometimes a girl wants to feel towered over and small. Like she is just too fragile to lift that sofa or carry in the bags of groceries by herself. Sometimes being tall sucks.

Ok...now you know my secret desire. I want to be dainty just for a day...see how the other side lives.

What prompted this? I got a tooth pulled. It didn't hurt. No drugs afterward. I have a gaping wound in my mouth and I could care less. Makes me feel like I should have been a pioneer popping kids out on the trail and hoeing a row the next day. I know I should be grateful, I am. Just sometimes I want to feel like I need someone to protect me...so don't need that either. I have already taken on 6 black street smart girls in a battle to the death for $20 when I was 11. Intimidated?

Mondays...

Extreme Makeover Home Addition is my guilty Monday pleasure. It starts my week off right by remembering how blessed I am. Crying my eyes out sounds like fun first thing Monday morning doesn't it? Well, it works for me. Right now I'm eating homemade Whole Wheat Oatmeal Crackers that are just yummy. Last night, my family couldn't decide what was better, the Carmel Apple Crisp or these crackers. This leads me to wonder when did we become so dependent on the supermarket shelves? My crackers didn't have anything in them I couldn't pronounce or chemically processed up the ying yang. I fully recoginize that it takes tons more time to make everything by scratch and some of you just don't have the time. (Literally took 20 minutes to mix and bake 2 pans of crackers...less time than it would have taken me to go to the store.) But I do have the time. So instead of instant oatmeal from the store, I made my own last night...24 bags of Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Packets. And now I'm off to the pumpkin patch to buy real pumpkins and cook them so I can have frozen pumpkin puree in my freezer. You never know when a craving for Pumpkin Chocolate Chips cookies will strike and I have it on good authority that Safeway's supply of Pumpkin puree is going to be severly lacking this year due to some supply issue. So there you have it peeps. Fall is underway and the baker in me is coming out full swing.

Canning

So I know it doesn't look all that impressive and it isn't organized like I want, but this is my pantry. Well at least it's one half of my pantry. What have I been doing lately? Isn't it obvious? When a batch of tomatoes ripens, I drag out the canner. When the peaches were at there peak? I dragged the canner out. After I picked raspberries? I dragged out the canner once again. We were lacking an apple tree to get free fruit off of this year, so I purchased a bushel off of a roadside stand on my way to McMinnville to buy the last Juicer/Steamer on the continental USA or so it seemed. So in between coring, peeling, and cooking apples, I steamed grapes for juice. I thought I might get a couple dozen quarts out of the vines at our house, tops. But what I realized is that I am poor judge of amounts. After canning 44 quarts of white grape juice and 10 quarts of concord grape juice, I took back my kitchen. 17 quarts of applesauce, 7 half pints of apple jelly (which is really apple syrup since I forgot to add pectin but it still tastes divine) and 54 quarts of juice, I think I need a little break...like eat a whole package of cookies break...like drop a bomb in the kitchen rather than do the dishes break...like just go buy new drip pans for the stove instead of scrubbing off the burnt on fruit sugar break....

But alas, we have grapes growing on the deck and over the trellis that still need to be picked....so in reality, I still have more to do. Hazelnuts to roast, grapes to pick and jelly to make. Don't get me wrong, I love fall. I love canning, so much so that my canner is starting to peel off it's impervious coating from the bottom...but part of me is doing this because I cannot stand seeing things go to waste. It makes me vomit a little in my mouth. All these luscious apple trees around my community with their windfall fruit circling around their roots, makes me want to cry. So if you hear of a lady who died from mushroom poisoning, that would be me. I think I am going to go out to the forest and forage for the little poisonous buggers just so I can feel like nothing is going to waste...did I mention that I have 2 huge crabapple trees that are calling my name?...Somebody save me from my insanity!!!!!

Oops!

Well I am obviously no judge of cat anatomy. What we thought were 2 boy cats, were actually girls. And now, going with the prevailing theme of this home, we have a nursing cat and one pregnant one. Shadow and Shade are girls and after much pleading and tears, we now have inside cats for a while. Momma Shadow is up in our closet despite many foiled attempts to get her to like the comfy box in the pantry. So every morning, I see 4 little babies huddled together in the corner. There eyes are starting to open and they are about a week and half old. She gave birth to them out in the barn and kept moving them around. We would find the kittens in the weirdest places, like in an old flowerpot, laying in a box of rusty tools...etc. So now, until they are given away, we will be housing cats inside. Shade is the most affectionate pregnant lady I have ever met. She loves being inside and gets lots of loves from my kids. She hates the kittens however. Hope that changes though because I do not want to bottle feed kittens again. Hopefully she gives birth soon so I can get them both fixed together. Fertility reigns! Good thing Patrick has been fixed!

This Week

I've been sick. Patrick is sick. Evan is sick. You think that would afford me more opportunity to blog, but no. My camera's battery needs charging. Saturday was great fun. We went to a Tri-Ward breakfast in the morning which was enjoyable. We can't miss any activities, or else we wont see the adults in our ward. Then we came home, I made Vanilla Cupcakes with BlueBerry filling and fresh Strawberry Buttercream Frosting for our next party. We live next to some amazingly wealthy people who spend months in Thailand. They have art shipped over...how would that be? The kids had fun swimming and I chatted with fellow neighbors about the wonders of Sherwood. The kids won fireworks from the HulaHoop contest and Brighten is a pro Limbo girl. Next, back home to throw together a quick salad and then off to BBQ with friends and a quick jaunt to Cook Park for a Fireworks show. It was great to meet so many new people.
Sunday, we had friends over to eat the huge amount of leftovers we had. The kids had a great time, and I found a kindred spirit. I see political discussions in my future. Monday, we hung around the house and the kids put on a play. My kids are so creative. I just wish they'd learn how to pick up the aftermath. Tuesday, we ran errands, bought crafts, and spent the day with Aunt Jennifer and the cousins. I made dinner and Jenn and I made Raspberry Freezer Jam. She marveled. I showed her it really wasn't that hard...and it turned out yummy. It was a small price to pay to hold that new little baby for hours. Babies rock when you just didn't give birth to them. I'd be open to having more if the didn't come out of me!! (I did just say that, even though I want to strangle the 5 I have...better wait till I am a grandma...I'm gonna rock as a grandma!)
Wednesday, Park day was rained out. I bought a pattern instead and the kids had a spa day. Nails got painted. Thursday, I think I might have spent the whole day in bed...Momma was sick, and still am. Been praying for a friend whose son ran away. He was found after 3 days. Relief! Friday was a blur...I weeded the garden till it got dark, but besides that, I don't think anything productive got done, well I did clean the bathroom and organize the art closet. Saturday, we cleaned. We grocery shopped. We took the kids to a drive in and saw UP. And today we skipped out on church because Patrick and I are both hacking and don't want a bunch of 18-20 month olds to get sick. Hope next week is more productive and I my voice returns to normal.

Em's Garden in July

I'm too sexy for my garden boots!


Only a few more of these left...


We have a few hundred of these baby grapes...I could have a vineyard up here.


Baby Acorn squash beat all the rest.


Very first ripe blueberry...it promptly got popped into my mouth...yumm!


Most of them still look like this.


It's calling my name


The first tomatoes hiding.


These are such a great snack.


Not enough to freeze, but enough for a sweet salad addition.


You cannot imagine what these smell like!


This lavender one is so fragrant, it's intoxicating, especially in the hot sun.


There is beauty all around.


Shastas are over 4 feet tall.


And the lavender is covered in bees and bunches are drying in the pantry.
I love my garden!

Summer Dreams

In my dreams, my summer would be a well structured day with daily chores, outings, meals planned, house cleaned, and school subjects studied in a creatively deceptive way. We all would dress in calico sundresses and seersucker shorts and sip lemonade under the apple trees on our lunch picnic.

The children would frolick around and laugh, have imaginative play for hours on end, and keep their rooms spotless.

They would read the scriptures on their own and brush their teeth without me having to remind them. I would get sweet notes and drawings left on my pillow at night. I'd wear cute aprons and spend hours in the kitchen making great food
and the children would happily offer to do the dishes. The house would smell like blueberries and lavender. The sheets would hang out on the clothesline and I would read a new book every week...don't you love my lala land????

Reality is sooo much different. Having one of those days? Me too.

Who Rules the Roost?

Now for those of you totally uninterested in chickens, please feel free to not read this post. If you are the least bit shocked at "natural life" then don't read on. If you are extremely PC, please do yourself a favor and don't finish reading.



Now all of you that are still reading, I warned you. This post is not for the faint of heart... We have a lesbian in our midst! Now stop gasping....It's our big chicken, Chubba Wubba. Ever since our Rooster, Lindon, bit the big one, she has taken over. And boy did she ever! This is the animal kingdom at it's best. For about 2 weeks, the "girls" were out of there minds. Not having a male around, they didn't really know what to do. We lost 2 chickens to a predator during that time. They just wandered too far on the property and didn't stay close. That was the Rooster's job, to protect his ladies. He did a good job too. He was a looker, that guy. We all felt sad when he passed and didn't really realize the significance of his presence. So the biggest girl took over. She is now the head honcho and all must fall in line under her tutelage. If you have ever heard the phrase, pecking order, it really is true. She asserted her Masculine traits and mounted every single one of her sisters. I was mortified! My husband and I couldn't stop laughing!!! Really it was funny. But secretly, no matter how feminist you are, I consider myself pretty up there, (not card carrying) you understand that no matter what kind of relationship you are in, their is one who plays the masculine role and one that plays the feminine role. Chickens are no different. We have 5 laying hens now and we are raising 6 chicks that are now 8 weeks old. Low and behold, the 6 chicks that we have are really 5 girls and 1 boy! So move over Chubba Wubba, Pecker ( my 5 year old named him that!!!!!) is going to take over any day and things can go back to normal in the Coop...so funny, so sick, but oh so true!
This is what he will look like in a few months.

Update: We had to put the 6 little ones back in their little coop, because low and behold, the rooster is getting hen pecked. His head is bleeding...and I just proved my point. Give it a few weeks, and they will be getting along swimmingly.

Slavery

1 can of compressed air + 1 green lighter + 1 bored boy = Slave Labor for a day!

Testosterone is flowing out of my 10 year old at record pace right now. He has tons of pent up aggression. Sawing down dead tree limbs, rounds of wrestling with little brothers, heated matches on the Wii bowling or Tennis, and some serious back talking. He has played his last crying card with me though. My soft, serious, boy is changing into a tween and it all happened in a month. Most of the time he is still his sweet hugger self, but lately, I feel like taking a stick to his behind. Ahh, the joy of parenting. He could have burned the barn down. Instead of beating the crap out of him for putting his brother and sister in harms way, not to mention him, he is my slave today. I've had the stairs vacuumed, the dishwasher emptied, the main floor picked up, his room spotless, and it's only 12:30. Granted I'm sure every 10 year old boy has a fascination with fire, but he can "play" with fire on the 4th with adult supervision. This is how kids get their hands blown off and burn down the house! What is the pull towards fire? Is it some kind of natural cave man instinct? 413,000 images for flamethrowers on Google, and plans for homemade ones...men! He is drawn to candles, fires, lighters, fireworks, etc. My little pyro is paying the price for his really bad choice today. I'm such an unfair mother....good thing he is going to be starting Football next month.

The First Unofficial Day of Summer

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It's the last day of school for these kids until Sept 8th. Brighten has the dreaded puffy eyes from allergies.

Madeline's last day of Elementary School. She coordinated outfits with her friend while she was "chatting" with her online last night. When did she grow up? Next year, I'm teaching her how to curl her own hair. (She is starting to proofread my posts, the little stinker!)

These Foxgloves are like a weed in my yard. They are gorgeous. If you've ever driven up to Mt. Hood in the Summer, you'll see these along the road.

My Peonies in full bloom. They have to be one of my very favorite flowers. I really love their fullness. They remind me of what roses used to look like before they hybridized them all. I love roses, but only heirloom ones. They bloom full and thick and you just don't get that in hybrids.


I have 2 clematis vines growing in the front...they are so fickle. If you can grow one then count yourself as a good gardener. Keep the base cool and shaded and you'll get these gorgeous, huge flowers.


I made my kids empty out the RV after school. I plan on putting them to work on a project everyday just so they will look forward to school and give me a break from listening to the WII. The California Lilac in the middle is covered by bees everyday right now. It's so cool to see them at "work" and yes, we have a red barn. We are getting rid of the RV this month so our yard wont look so white trash anymore...


Look what I found today! Underneath dirt and bushes, I found these stairs leading up to the road. Yes, even in the country, you should have some steps from the road. It's got to be bad Feung Shui or Karma or something that you let your stairs get covered. I unearthed them for a few hours this afternoon. Made me feel good to accomplish something today...just look at that pile of branches and bushes I pulled out!

The Circle of Life...

Most of you out there know that I am a certified tree hugger. My husband is quickly learning the ropes of my environmental indoctrination. Well, sometimes the best laid plans are destroyed by the harsh reality of nature. Picture in your mind the exciting chase that ensues between the hunter and the hunted. Mutual of Omaha...Sunday wildlife special....prey and predator...you get the picture? Well our wonderful puppy Roman has already killed a rooster...shear luck for us. Roman is not even a year and is already quite the hunter. Well today, while my husband is away on extended trip to Utah, our humane trap had an inhabitant. A furry grey ground squirrel was lured in by the peanut butter. Now, I have gotten over their "cuteness" when I step into one of their lovely holes in the ground. So I was glad to capture the little bugger. Christian, being the very good cub scout, loaded it into our jeep, with the intent of letting it go in a field up above our house. The dogs come barreling up the hill behind us (their favorite form of exercise) and I didn't think anything of it. Christian grabbed the cage and put it near the edge of the field and let it go. Now that squirrel was pretty happy to leave its cramped quarters. Until, the lion, Wilson "pursued" the freed prisoner. Wilson is not the quickest dog. Roman, on the other hand, is a stealth bomber. The squirrel took off up north and that is when the Mutual of Omaha scene began. The prey and the predator in the fight for your life dance, with the audience of squealing kids and grossed out mom. He shook that squirrel to death in his jaws. I booked it out of there. I bet you money the kids will have nightmares. I will dream of the lion chasing the zebra in a Sunday special about the ugly truth of nature. Sometimes the best laid plans fall apart before your very eyes...maybe I should contact PETA and fill them in on the fact that us Humans are not the only barbarians in the animal kingdom...go figure.

Apple Pickin' Time

Hi everybody. Greetings from Helvetia, Oregon!


So ... yesterday was Saturday the 23rd of August and me and the kids (this is Patrick speaking) spent most of the morning picking apples off one of our apple trees here on the farm. Maddy was there too, for most of the time, though she isn't in the pictures (she didn't like her picture and just made me delete it; oh, joy ... the pre-teen years march on!). ;0] Lucky for us she's the "responsible, reserved one" of our kidlets. We're hoping the others will follow her example in the next 17 teenage years to come. Yikes!



As I was saying ... APPLES! A week or so ago Em and her friend Stacey canned a whole bunch of applesauce from one of our other trees and it is so delicious the kids have almost finished it off in just the last week, or so it seems. So, our first chore on yesterday's "Cinderella Saturday" list was Tree # 2. You can see in the pictures that they're good apples for sauce versus apple slices and such. They have lots of brown spots and bug bites and so forth. They're yummy, though, and we came away with another 70 or 80 pounds this time around. We're looking forward to more of Emmy's wares ... maybe even an apple pie or cobbler or something like that.



Em seems to be in heaven ... gourmet chefing, growing green stuff, chasing chickens and living off the grid as much as we possible can. We both are! We're not there, yet, but give us another year...!? I'm sure we'll be hooking up solar panels and installing a generator and making our own fuel out of potatoes or something like that. We shall see. ;0)

Personally, I'm happy too; I love our life and I cherish our "not-so-little" family (at last count we are up to 19 'family members' .. me and Em, 5 kids, 2 dogs, 11 chickens and 2 goats ... and that's if you don't add in all the snakes, mice, squirrels and lizards, many of which the kids bring home at night). We used to have 11 chickens but the rooster named "Dinner" turned into chicken noodle soup.

Most of all, I love my Em.

Enjoy the pictures! They usually tell the story better than I ever can.

Patrick

Howdy, from Old McPatrick ... EIEIO! :0)

So ... like my dear, sweet, jam covered, dirt-plastered, hand-blistered, compost heap building, garden growing, fresh-bread baking, domestic goddess of a wife explained, I'm really NOT much of a handyman (or, at least, I really haven't been in the past.... I've been a firm believer in hiring professionals to do what professionals do; after all, time is money, right?). That being said, however, living on a farm brings out the best in folks, I guess, and I'm finding all kinds of interests (and talents) I never knew I had, or even knew that I wanted.

WHEW. That was a mouthful. I do have to admit, though, I'm actually really ENJOYING building stuff here on this farm we are so happy to call home. We built a fence around Em's garden (me and Christian, with a little forced help from my family while they were here for the Fourth). We built a kennel for Wilson (our dog, aka Aslan, the Lion) and his escape-artist side-kick, Roman the Lab. And NOW--the masterpiece, to date at least--our 5 x 6' chicken coop, for the other seven "memberini" of our family (that's 'little family members,' in Italiano, in case you're curious).

(The view from the back side)

I mean it, though: I'm finding a great deal of satisfaction in building things from scratch and making lots of sawdust and wood shavings fly. Yours truly ... who didn't put in his own yard in Utah, didn't finish his own basement (yea, right) in South Jordan as well, doesn't even change his own oil or fix broken sprinkler heads, etc...! Now I'm telling Em that, "as soon as we can afford it, I want to buy a whole wood shop full of equipment" so I can get serious and build her tables and chairs and things like that.

In reality, I think my favorite part is just working with our kids, talking, laughing and sharing stories, etc., while we measure, saw and hammer on stuff. Christian absolutely LOVES creating stuff, and I really enjoy seeing him so excited. Anderson, Brighty, Madeline ... even Evan: they all pitch in. They all enjoy helping, and it's really satisfying seeing them all so happy and so excited about where we are living and what we are building of our lives.

(The Big Siblings: our 4 largest)

Heck, we stood outside last night for almost an hour after the coop was done, just admiring it, joking about the chickens "enjoying their new 'mansion' versus the tiny condo they were in before" ... not wanting to say good night and go in; it really was a lot of fun. The kids are learning how to work harder. We are spending more time as a family. We're, little by little, creating more independence and greater self-sufficiency, which is our ultimate goal. It's wonderful. Like Em said, as we were building the fence early this month, "We're not building a fence, we're building a family." I echo her thought: "We're not growing crops or livestock, we are growing kids." So they have a few extra slivers, grass stains, mosquito bites and bee stings." They also find snakes and lizards and chase squirrels each day. They're eating fresh veggies, will soon have fresh eggs and we're looking at getting a dairy cow as soon as we can. Yummmm! I can't help but believe that it will all be worth it one day when they look back on these early years and--we hope--say they never would have wanted to grow up any other way.

(Daddy's little helpers...!)

So far they are THRILLED ... and we are too! Our own little brood--Maddy, aka Intellibella, Christian, aka The Big Brain, Brighten, aka Doctor "B" (our future veterinarian), Anderson, aka "Speedygonzawesome," and Evan, aka Budda--WE LOVE YOU. I LOVE YOU...!!! And, Emmy, aka Wonder Woman ... you know how much I adore you, babe.

Thank you for sharing your lives with me. I love each of you with all my heart.

Daddy-Patrick

The Chicken Coop

The past 2 weeks at the Laing household have been fairly uneventful...not! During our ward campout, Evan decided to throw up. As we rushed home, he threw up 2 more times and then again later that afternoon. Consoling a baby that has a fever and cannot even keep Otter Pops down is tough. I am not going to include pictures...sorry! Thankfully the fever broke and his illness was gone by that night.

On Sunday, I became the Young Woman's Secretary in our Ward. We have 24 beehives! Patrick got called to teach the 8 year olds in Primary. Not sure what he thought really about receiving that call, but so far has done well and is needed for some unruly boys in the class.

My landlord invited me to her parents farm that boarders a part of our property. She explained that the 1 acre of Blueberries was bursting forth with fruit and it needed to be picked. Well I picked 20 lbs in 2 hours and didn't even get past the first row. She showed me around there 2 acre vegetable garden...hello? What do two people do with this food? Give it away to everybody and anybody! Nice! The elephant garlic and red potatoes made a nice addition to the foil packet dinners we had that night.



The dogs decided to run away last week. Roman showed up in the morning. We spent the better part of the next day looking for Wilson. It afforded us an opportunity to meet some of our neighbors. Finally the next morning, we resorted to signs. As soon as the first one was hung, someone from Animal Control called and said they were picking up a golden and it might be ours. Sure enough, it was. They had chased a bobcat or deer up the road and into someones property that has dogs. Of course, they didn't want to leave and the owners decided to kennel them for the night. Well resourceful Roman dug his way out and Wilson, being the hulk of a dog that he is, could not get through. You should have seen him shaking in the back of the Animal control truck. I don't think he'll ever wander off again.



My husband is not a handy man....but he has singlehandedly designed and built a chicken coop and run for our brood of seven hens. It's not the prettiest thing in the world, I'll give you that, but he did it all by himself and it only cost us $12 for hinges and hook and eye fasteners. Everything else was scrap wood from around the farm. We even found two rolls of chicken wire. Christian helped extensively, as well as the other kids. Patrick actually enjoyed building this! I think I am winning him over with my environmental, self sustaining, hippy ways!

Domestic Goddess

Today I was in rare form. We, meaning me, have been sick all week. There is nothing worse than being sick in the summer. But as the sun and my son woke me from a long slumber, I realized I felt pretty ok. Now there is nothing like a full day in bed to completely disrupt your plans so I had loads to get done today:
1. Launder 7 loads, some with yucky stuff in them
2. Pick up raspberries, buy various canning items, make raspberry jam for the first time ever!
3. Make Lunch and Dinner incorporating leftovers for frugality and creativity
4. Get kids to eat said items and not even know
5. Find more hidden fruit trees on property...another apple, cherry, 2 apricot, 2 peach...sweet!
7. Make yummy monster cookies...
8. Balance checkbook
9. Fold laundry while watching Kitchen Nightmare on FOX.com
10. Take pictures, download them, write post
All this accomplished while loving husband is working late and kids are all at home driving mommy crazy. Don't you love summer?

Family Reunion on Long Beach Washington

A fun time was had by all this last week at Long Beach Washington.
All of Patrick's family was in attendance.
They all made a grueling 14 hour drive to Oregon (some with babies!) to have a wonderful time on our farm. Patrick put them to work building a fence around our garden. The guys had a great time together getting something accomplished on the "farm".
During our week long get together, we ate like kings,


the kids played,

and the parents relaxed.

It was great. During our stay on the beach the llamas escaped yet again to our neighbors down the road. This time our landlord came and got them and put them in her parents pasture. No more llamas...Yeah!!! Now I have to figure out what to put in our pasture. I really want a cow!