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.

Tour of Redmond Dairy Farm - Milking Facility (part 1/4)

Several weeks ago we bought tickets for our family to tour the dairy farm where they produce the raw milk that we buy each week. We thought the boys would appreciate a change of scenery and an educational experience.

So today we took a 1.5 hour drive down to Redmond, UT. I'm not gonna lie, this place wasn't easy to find... even with the little signs on the road. At one point we hit a moo-ving road block. But I only had to stop once for directions.

We managed to find the farm down a dirt road, about a 1/2 mile off the pavement.  Things were already started when we arrived but we were able to catch the farm tour with the first group.

We started the tour at the milking area.  The farm has over 100 cows that they milk twice daily.  The milk goes from the milking area threw a filter, through a cooler (which drops the temperature of the milk to 38 degrees) and into a holding tank.

While we were in the back room with the tank they talked about how their milk is always bottled and in the stores within 3 days of milking the cows.  If they have "extra" milk they use it to make cheese.  We got to sample some of the cheese and taste the milk.  We also got a brief explanation of difference between raw and pasteurized milk and some of the benefits and additional dairy products that you can make using raw milk.

Michelle was really excited about the extra options available from raw milk and asked several questions.  She also asked to see the cooler where the bottled milk, cheese and eggs are stored until they are shipped to the stores.

We also were able to see the egg cleaner.  It looked like a super-sized set of tooth brushes.  The eggs go through the tooth brush machine and come out clean on the other side.  It looked cool but I didn't get a chance to take a good picture.

That ended the first rotation, first part of the farm tour.

Cub Scout Olympics

Tonight our boys participated in the Cub Scout Olympics.  This year they let all the boys compete, not just the Cub Scouts.  That meant that all of our boys had a chance to try out their skills and see how good they are doing.

Since it's a cub scout event the boys started with the Flag Ceremony and a prayer.  Each boy received his score card and was assigned a team (by color).  Our boys were on the yellow team.

I'm not sure how they divided things up but the softball throw was a random event done at the beginning while everyone was gathering and being assigned teams.  If you arrived late you just ran over in between events and did it when you could.  I don't have any pictures of the softball throw.

The first event for the yellow team was the craft table.  There were a bunch of supplies on the table and you made something.  There were scores and awards, just supplies to enjoy.

After crafts we moved to the long jump event.  The boys did very well.  I didn't get any good pictures because I was trying a new feature and it just didn't work out.  But I did get a couple of stills.  Here Donovan just landed...

Aleky is preparing for his jump...



After the long jump we rotated to the sit-ups. The judges at this even requred the boys to do real sit-ups to count.  Even with this tight restriction the boys did very well.

After the sit-ups we moved to the 50-yard dash.  This was the boys favorite event.  I think each boy ran the event at least 6 times.  I should have caught the summer-saults version as the boys rolled down the grass.




Michael is in mid-celebration, just having beaten one of the cub scouts in his race.

The final event of the day was the push-ups. The boys really put in their all. Donovan was brave enough to go in the first heat. The other 5 boys went in the second heat. This one was too cute to pass up so we caught it (at least a portion of it) on video.

 

(video)