Gidean Plays in the Firepit

I don't normally clean out our firepit.  Most of the time we let the fire burn itself out and the remaining ash doesn't cause any harm.

I suppose they still haven't cause any harm but Gidean certainly discovered that they are very dirty.  With a little help from his big brother Quinten he was able to get his hair done too!

Needless to say, I felt a strong prompting to dispose of the ashes from our firepit to reduce the childish hair-styling instincts my boys have demonstrated.

Clay Creations

Michael check out a book from the library called "Simple Clay Projects" and has been asking and asking and asking me if we can make them. I finally had a few moments here and there so we started creating. Over the course of about 2 weeks we made the dough, formed the Creations, let the creations dry for a while, painted them, sprayed a finish coat on them, and put on Google eyes. I had lots of fun with my boys and I think the boys had fun too.

Not Quite Big Enough

Here we are at that end of a hectic day! We're scrambling to get dinner ready, to cook the goodies and get the Relief Society activity prepared. Our table was covered with supplies for the activity so we decide to go to my neighbor's house to eat dinner. Michael was attempting to carry the main dish to our neighbor's house. Apparently the dish was bigger than he was.  It came crashing down our front doorstep. Not sure what to do for dinner now!

I know we'll look back on this one day and laugh. After all, our neighbor could do it on the spot. But things don't look quite as funny when you're hungry.

A Little Miracle - Auto Help on Hand

As we were heading up to a Petersen family reunion we needed to take a potty break. Since we were already stopped we decided to take a lunch break before completing the final leg of our outward bound journey.

As we were finding a park/playground to stop at we noticed that distinct odor of engine trouble. We pulled into the nearest parking spot to examine the plumes of steam billowing from under the hood.  As we were penning the hood another cat pulled into the otherwise abandoned lot. The nice lady (Maddie) stops to inquire about our predicament.

(steam blowing from an unknown source)

(staring at the engine, clueless)

(hands of an angel)

(removing broken connector)

(the busted part...only $5)

Apparently her family is highly versed in auto mechanics (her brothers own a auto shop in town) and she starts pulling stuff apart to try and determine the cause of our distress.  Since the suburban was still streaming we thought we might figure it out quickly. It wasn't immediately obvious so she called her father who lived nearby.

Dewaine, the father, shows up. He adds some water to the radiator, has me turn it on, and knows the problem in 2 seconds. It was a busted "T" connector. He pulls the busted piece out and we run down to O'Reilies to get a new part (under $5). We come back and he pops it back in place in 2 minutes. Problem Solved!

This help was so timely that we know it was Heavenly Father looking out for us, a tiny family miracle. 

We finished lunch and were back on the road like nothing had happened, except our hearts were full of gratitude.  We were only delayed about an hour!

(putting the new connector in)

(Dewaine, the angel of mercy)

Tour of Redmond Dairy Farm - Salt Mine Tour (part 4/4)

After making some inquiries we discovered that, due to liability we would not be able to tour the actual mines.  That was disappointing because that sounded really awesome.

We did get to see a short video that talked about the mine and showed a few of the highlights and landmarks inside of the mine.  After the movie was over we took a quick look around the place and snapped a couple quick pictures.

At least we now know where our salt is coming from.  And it looks like there will be plenty where that came from.

Tour of Redmond Dairy Farm - Pasture and Chickens (part 3/4)

While Quinten and I were waiting at the bathroom, the rest of the family got to see the grass production shed.  Apparently, it only takes 7 days to create the grass that is fed to the cows to keep them healthy and happily producing milk.

The older boys were able to help load some of this grass onto the trailer.  Our hay ride would take us into the cow pasture and where we would get to feed the cows this wonderful grass.

With the grass loaded the group hopped onto the trailer to start the hayride.  This is where Quinten and I caught up with the group.

Our first stop was to visit the cows and drop off the grass feed.  The boys couldn't hardly believe their good fortunes!  The were able to stand up, sit down and move around while the vehicle was in motion!  They didn't even have to wear seat belts.  Since we were the third group to go through the pasture they cows weren't exactly thrilled to see us.  The didn't mind getting the grass but they weren't really hungry either.  But it was still fun to be up close and personal with those cows.

David, Donovan and Michael thought it was great to run behind the trailer and then jump on, after all, we were moving slow enough that everyone could feel safe.  We were lucky, it was someone else's kid who stepped in the cow pie!

From the pasture we headed out to the chicken coupe.  We were able to see were the chickens hang out all day.  The farms collects about 500 eggs per day from these range chickens.

Our boys were lucky enough that they got to personally experience the joy of collecting eggs.  They were allowed in the hen house and were given the task of extracting the eggs while the chickens were still inside.  Each of the boys thought that was pretty fantastic.

Michael was entrusted to safe-guard the eggs all the way back to the farm and was not allowed to let a single egg get broken.  It sounded good but he abandoned his post   The boys decided it was more fun to run along side or behind the trailer rather than ride on it.  It used up some of their youthful energy but it really made the rest of the kids jealous.  The parents didn't know how to tell their kids that they couldn't run along side of the trailer when our boys were.  But since I didn't see the harm it I let my boys run.

Once we returned from the chickens our tour of the farm was concluded.  They had a bucket of salt rock that the boys found.  Michelle was already interested in the salt mine just across the street (dirt road).  So she began to inquire about the salt mine and if we could take a look since we were already there.

Tour of Redmond Dairy Farm - Lunch (part 2/4)

After touring the milking facility we had a chance to have some lunch.  Ironically we didn't have any raw milk but we did have hamburger!  There were options for hot dogs too.  They had also prepared some baked beans and some potato salad.  However, they did have some homemade ice cream using the raw milk.  That was pretty good stuff.  Too bad they didn't provide their recipe...

Just like anywhere we go to have a picnic lunch, the boys are easily distracted.  David made instant friends with the cute blonde sitting next to him.  Donovan sat at the end of the table and slowly ate his lunch.  Michael, Aleky, Quinten and Gidean couldn't sit down long enough to completely eat their lunch and were all over the place, especially over by the fence corralling the cows.

About the only time they sat still was when the ice cream was distributed.  With ice cream in their bowls that paused at the tables.

After lunch I grabbed Quinten to take him to the bathroom.  Who knew that the line of 1 little girl would take 20 minutes!  But we managed to catch up with the group just as they were starting the hay ride.